klymr

Don't know if this really relates to the topic, but I had an interesting conversation with a worker at SCB last week. When I requested to open a savings account, was told "only with a work permit". I was further told this was a new Bank of Thailand rule. Asking this gentleman how intending retirees are to have 800,000 baht in a bank account 3 months before their intended retirement, he replied "Can't do." I decided to quiz him further about Thai bank policy and asked how Thailand was going to grow without foreign money coming into the country. He replied "Don't know." The whole conversation was really kind of bizarre. I ended our dialogue with one final question, "Does Thailand even want any foreign investment coming into the country?" The reply I got wasn't what I expected. He told me the country doesn't want foreign money or foreign people retiring here. So there you have it! I guess Thailand is off my list of countries for retiring to.

Have your wife get some motorcycle taxis track him down and tell the police the details. Might be some help...

I suspect he may be a local motorcycle taxi driver himself doing some extra side "jobs".

My Thai wife and I have been victimized by a mangy old Thai man twice recently. We moved to a new place so she could have a restaurant. Being a farang on a busy street I guess was to much for the criminal. He came by on a scooter with a woman accomplice. The wife's nephew saw the woman walking out of our home with the wife's purse as they were getting ready to open the restaurant. He saw her get on the back of the scooter and they drove away.

Four days later the wife and I woke at 6am to go buy food for the restaurant. (We had still been sleeping at the old apartment). Arriving at the restaurant with fresh food, the door was locked and we couldn't get in. The wife had her brother's number in my phone, which was at our old place. When I went to go get the phone, an old, fat dirty Thai man ran down the back stairs of the apartment building. I thought this very suspicious, so ran back down to see the man face to face as he exited the building. I went back up to our apt. and saw the screws holding the hasp were pried out of the door frame. After running back to the new place and telling her about the hasp, (I was still sleepy and not thinking!) my wife told me to hurry back there. When we both got there, the same old dirty man was coming back down the stairs. As we passed him, I shouted to my wife it was the man I saw before. We looked up the stairs to see our door ajar and I ran outside to try and catch the POS. The neighbors told me where he went and I ran to the wall behind our apt. and saw him running away. He was old, fat and slow. but had a good head start on me. My wife grabbed me and told me not to try and follow him as he might have a knife or gun.

Going back into the old apt, we found he had trashed the place. He only got a few worthless pieces of jewelry and some small electronics. He only took what would fit into his pockets and a small plastic bag he carried. My wife told me not to file a police report as they won't do anything to get our belongings back. (When reporting her purse stolen, they just smiled and told her not much chance of getting it back).

I want to ask if everyone would keep an eye out for a Magellan eXplorist 600 GPS unit, serial number 11866005246. The number can be found inside the case, under the battery. This was all I had a S/N number for. Also, is it to late to report the break-in? My wife says if more than 24 hours, the police won't help. Any help you can offer would be appreciated.

On Friday you extended or made application to extend your stay for one year. What was the new permitted to stay date put into your passport? Normally there is an under review period and you did not mention that.

This is not a visa.

There is no such thing as a multiple entry extension of stay as the talk about a re-entry permit confirms. Your stay will end the moment you exit Thailand unless you obtain a re-entry permit first. That can be either single entry at 1,000 baht or multi entry at 3,800 baht. Either type is valid until the current permitted to stay date in your passport.

The address report is due every 90 days if you are in Thailand on the date due. If you leave your return entry starts a new 90 day count and next report would be due 90 days from entry.

Sorry. I was mistaken. I did make application, but was told to come back March 23rd to learn the decision. The officer at immigration told my wife the new visa would allow me to stay until Nov. 28th and I think this is why I mis-understood. Thanks for letting me know.

The 400K isnt a problem. But your answer has made me confused as a previous message stated they dont take that into consideration on extending your visa, they take into consideration the 40k per month income for renewals.

400k is an old requirement, it is now 40k/month unless 'grandfathered'.

Naka.

I came to Thailand from the US with a single entry, non imm. "O" visa to stay with my Thai wife. I came on Nov. 29 last year. Friday I extended to a 1 year multiple entry with a notarized letter of income from the US Embassy with no problems. The US Embassy required no proof of income for this leter. Immigration told me I was to report my address to imigration every 90 days, no need for a border run. They stapled a form into my passport with a date stamp of when I'm due to report my address to immigration again. Very helpful indeed. I was also told if I leave the country and wish to return, I need a re-entry stamp before I leave or my 1 year visa is invalid and I then need to re-apply for the 1 year visa before returning to stay.

35. Hawking of goods.

I am in the gemstone business in the States, recently married to a lovely Thai woman on my last trip there. I am moving to BKK next month to stay with her and run my business from there. I have access to and am looking to sell the rarest gemstone on earth to Thai dealers. This gem is only found in the state where I currently live. Am I to be deported for "hawking of goods"? Quite likely a crash course in gemology is coming for the wife!!

I don't see slowing the expansion of the Big Box stores as a shame .... in the USA theyhave been fighting this battle against WalMart for years!

However WalMart would move into some areas killing the little specialty stores <hardware, plumbing, etc etc> and after those stores were gone and their sales didn't meet projections they woul close the big box store ... leaving the community with nothing!

I was in Tesco / Lotus just the other day in Bangkapi. I was suprised to see the very same banners, aisle directories, and shelf tags that Wal-Mart uses in the US. Any connection between the 2 companies? Maybe the Thais became wise to "Wally World" sooner than Americans did. I work for a company in the US who supplies Wal-Mart. They arrange 2 or more suppliers for a product and then threaten to take business away unless the suppliers lower their price. I could go on about all the criminal things they have done like hiring illegal workers from Mexico, not paying overtime pay for overtime work, etc., but it's all been in the news before. Sam Walton would be ashamed at what his company has become.

as i stated....

65,000 baht is not economy price  !  !  !

http://www.12flight.com/country/sweden.html

If I can get a roundtrip for atleast 28,000 Bkk to Sweden,

then it doesn't really sound impossible that a first class could be 65,000 baht

Has anybody here ever paid 65,000 baht for an economy ticket anywhere?

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I traveled Delta and Korea Air to Bangkok and back to Salt Lake City, Utah in April for 37,000 baht economy. With the rise in fuel prices the same ticket now costs around 39,000 baht.

Oh boy... been trying to avoid responding to this topic but enuff already...

Not surprisingly, we've read posts invoking all sorts of knee jerk reactions, conspiracy theories etc, the gammot.

To break this down, at least a bit-

Some Pondoks (Islamic schools) prey upon poor and uneducated kids (ripe for nurturing hatred) are the nucleus of the problem. They start by preaching hatred and alienation to innocent kids and later (combined with localised or 'formed' socio economic conditions) eventually produce a few who apparently believe murdering innocent people and becoming a so-called "martyr" is far preferrable to the dismal life alternatives presented, formed and nurtured. Similar to programming a cult member. Sick sick sick   

Throughout history, people seeking power have used various "holy" books (Q'uran, Bible, etc, etc etc!) to preach the same crap for their own ends. I lean more towards a Buddhist belief system but surely, if there is a God, there is only one and with many names.

I for one, won't be manipulated, nor intimidated, nor of such weak will as to "simply" condemn any entire faith for the cowardly acts of a few.

Instead of firing into crowds of demonstrators and piling the survivors like cattle to be crushed and suffocated in trucks again (this time with a self imposed mandate?) a better approach would be to infiltrate these Pondoks with intel and arrest the teachers and preachers of hate and follow the food chain up.

I'd rather be in a fox hole with a humanist/pluralist than any coward of any stripe. If one reduces his/her view to suspect ALL people of Muslim faith are bent on anarchy, you're not far removed from the greater fear (for reasoned ppl at least) that you're in grave danger of becoming exactly what you in fact fear most

Last, this whole news alert is a tempest in a teapot imho. By Monday, the govt's posturing will be softened considerably, or at least, great pains will be made to point out, the "enitire nation" isn't under house arrest as some seem to think. Geez!

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I found the commentary by Soumayya Ghannoushi, a Muslim woman living in London to sum up the whole matter of Muslim extremists.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/25D...2120BEA180F.htm

Useful answers.Thankyou. If I may vary the original question somewhat and ask: What are the official Thai rules for a farang actually Ebaying Thai products whilst in Thailand? I mean, presumably it cannot be done on a tourist visa so is there a visa obtainable that allows such a thing to happen without any fear of the said farang being chucked out of Thailand? I would guess there are many 'ways around the problem' but most of them could probably turn very sour if the worst came to the worst.  After all, s**t does happen and can come very quickly and very unexpectedly in the Land of Smiles.

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I sell on eBay from the US and have thought of having my Thai G/F in Bangkok email pictures of items from Thailand which I could list. She would in turn purchase the item and ship it to the buyer of said item. This way I don't actually need to reside in Thailand and can help her make money too.

Well this is what I been trying to say all along.

And I know that they sit around and laugh at the guys who send them easy cash to "promise to be good girls."

Ok maybe I was a bit rough at times but I dont think it is fair that only one side of the story was being told.  It is a very dangerous game these girls play and it is just a game.  Guys need to be made aware.

Anyways, there choice.

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My Thai G/F is a student after working in her brother's import business for 10 years. She set herself up to earn commissions from imports before she quit her job to attend school. Her commissions total around 8,000 per month and she helps her parents with this money each month. She continues to refuse any money from me to help her in any way. She would get a job and earn the money she needs before accepting any from me. Maybe I'm lucky to have found one who is different. She's told me of many Thai women she knows who are just as you describe, only after the "easy cash".