JimsKnight

From the authorities at Chiang Mai Immigration today.

There is an old regulation which has been in place for many years, but has seldom previously been enforced. It is the same regulation used for hotels and guest houses which at the discretion of Immigration can be applied to private households as well.

Chiang Mai Immigration has now decided to enforce this regulation for private homes also:

o The house owner, the person (or company) which has the “Registration Document”, (Tabien Bahn) is required to register a Farang living in their home or visiting, within 24 hours of arrival.

o This applies to any Farang, regardless of family, husband, children, partners or just friends. It also applies to tenants in a rental, even short stay guests MUST be registered at Immigration.

o It is only required once per person, no periodical re-registration!

o There is no fine for late registration, as long as Immigration did not find out..

o There is a fine for no registration, unless Farang is registered before the Immigration find out.

o This is the duty of the registered house owner, not the Farang in question.

o The original passport, not a copy, of the Farang is needed, as they need to see arrival date. A photocopy of the passport will only be accepted, if all pages are included.

o There is no fee for this registration “service”

They say of course people can take their chances, but all it takes is a phone call saying that there are Farangs living at a certain address, or an accident, or a traffic check and the Farang will be checked against the registration file. If the registration is not done, the house owner will be fined.

(They are also cross checking house owners registering Farang against the 90 day registration records. They expect to use this process to find Farang who have not been registering as required every 90 days.)

The registered owner of the house needs to register the Farang in question in the building on the left hand side as you enter the Immigration compound. This is where the 90 day registration used to take place.

EDIT: Here are the forms that the landlord needs to fill in and present at immigration:

RegistrationP1.pdf

RegistrationP2.pdf

What a fruitcake rule!

Are they expecting us to be plotting a farang rebellion and conspiring against the Thais or something.

Unless it makes headlines I wouldn't worry.

Most ordinary Thais probably don't even know such a xenophobic rule even exists hopefully

"Pull your money out of Icesave! NOW!"

I did.

Not the best advice, but the best advice I can say in recent memory.

Prevent the recession? It's already started. To prevent it you have to consider if it is even preventable in the first place!

So, depending on the mindset which you follow, the one side (a narrow majority) will say, perhaps rightly so, that the global crisis is part of a boom / bust bubble cycle that repeats itself because of the nature of a free-market, mortage-based economy.

Not the governments fault directly but more of being caught in the spotlight of it happening on 'its watch'.

Memories of the last one fade, people get caught up in the boom and say 'It won't happen again', but it does and comes as a shock.

It vindicates some opposition governments who are said to of encouraged Boom boom times it when they were in power xx years ago. Sometimes preventable

Another school of thought says that it is a direct result of governments meddling to bring about a global banking system, a New World Order conspiracy angle. Never preventable.

Alternatively just because it was incapable of doing the right thing and getting greedy for growth without responsible precautions, a conservative angle. Usually preventable.

Take your pick.

So in some of the paragraphs yes, in others, no!

I've called the other bank (halifax) it seems that, save an extraordinary BACs recall (usually only used against moneylaundered and organised crime) my money should arrive from its escape pod tomorrow.

The guy started offering savings accounts there and then! The fly travels from one spiders web to another it seems!

I was listening to the Iceland PM and he was very pissd off with EU countries, but he reiterated that the Nordic countries were helping him greatly, but the none-norse countries were very disappointing.

Whether he classes the UK as a 'Nordic' country is debatable but when a pressman asked him if the UK 'helped' Iceland he said he wouldn't name individual countries.

I was warned on Saturday that Icelands banks had really gone in over their head on the borrowing and mortages side of things.

So heeding this I pulled about nearly 50,000 Euros out.

It was 'processed' on the Monday (yesterday).

I gets a phone call at 1000 hrs today telling me the 'news' bombshell:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle4898553.ece

I check Icesaves website which confirms everyones worst fears:

http://www.icesave.co.uk/

My moneys not even hit the otherside yet and I'm fearing it might be in a limbostate somewhere.

My Icesave account transaction history, reassuringly says its been 'processed'

What about the other expats out there? I would think that they'd be having kittens if they are relying on interest from this type of account!

Anyone affected by this in LOS / TV?

This is pretty much across the board guys, Thailand just feels the effects and fallout a bit later in the day so to speak.

I know Chiang Mais Pantip Plaza was a lot quieter early this year than the previous years, more shutters down, the top floors deserted and some of the middle ones have more vacant areas.

I nearly got burned from a supposedly 'safe' bank in Iceland's Icesave account (landski).

I pulled my cash just in time as now you can't withdraw anything at all from them or deposit it.

Now it will be a UK bank that farms my money. For how long who can tell?

I know that I'll probably take an ounce of gold with me to LOS, just-in-case the banks in the UK I draw my money from go tits up

Sounds interesting but my Bike is in Chiang Mai and I'll be going in the opposite direction lads.

Might see you coming past the opposite way though

Me too, apart from an unfortunate skateboarding accident in my mis-spent youth

On a typical day, leaving the house, unless you work as a money launderer - how much do you carry?

Have your cash-carrying habits changed over the years?

I used to carry 10k baht plus, but wised up following a 'near-miss'

So as I've got a bit older its usually 1000 - 2000 baht in pocket. If I'm touring then about a 1000 more.

AND

A decoy wallet containing cheap and obsolete currency is my 'main' wallet in case of the remote chance of an armed robbery.

A Bank card held separately in another pocket.

Well I need a single implant doing and am 50/50 whether to get it done in LOS.

Can everyone here sound off and say if they've had a GOOD and SUCCESSFUL implant operation for dental work in LOS, how much and where did you get it done.

Thanks

JK

Somethings gotta give!

Any genuine reform of our monetary system must include two basic elements: fractional reserve lending (such as described

above) must be prohibited, and private banks must be forbidden from creating money, whether as

loans or otherwise. The Monetary Reform Act does both. It also incorporates means of doing this

that include paying off the huge national debt, and stabilizing the economy.

Hi Mask,

Which country has an existing system that operates in the way you propose the US's should, under the so-called Monetary Reform Act?

No country does because the central banks are controlled by the same international cartel who create the 'business cycle' for their own personal profit

it's the Borg from the gamma quadrant who are creating all these problems. we Klingons are aware of this fact since a long time and apply adequate defensive tactics. any Borg who poses as Klingon (like G.W., Greenspan, Paulson or McCain pose as Americans) is easily decloaked with a device our scientists developed a few years ago. once decloaked we catch them with steel nets (kinda.. sort of), circumcise them and send them to our colony "New Hope" to mine Trilithium.

I know that being in Pattaya automatically qualifies you as brain damaged but you should really just sit in the corner and take your brain medicine. Commenting on things beyond your understanding is dangerous for your mental well being

Get your panzer fired up Naam, this guys being a gimp.

I think the PPP are just as bad.

It was one of the first things I noticed here, on the tv, and it drives me crazy too..so irritating I have trouble having those shows on around me, you would think the sophisticates in the television media would have done away with it , I think the 1950's was probably when it was last used in the west, but what can you do except accept that its different here?

Yes, I have trouble being in the same room when Thai TV is on. It is all, without acception, so bad. The sound effects are terrible.

It's very slapsticky. They take elements of the western media but not the once high-concept ideas alas.

They seem to prefer the slapstick mentality bless em.

I have a problem with Pigeons sitting under the over hang of my house, especially near the balcony. They crap all over the place and within a few days of cleaning up they have messed the place again. Does anyone have any idea how to get rid of them? I was thinking of making a game of it by using a BB gun, but I'm not sure how successful that would be. My other idea was a toy plastic snake, but I have no idea where to get one.

Any better ideas?

A catapult / slingshot with nearby stones as ammo??

If nothing else it'll pass the time and discourage them

Who or what is this animal-excuse for a man!?

I know this is not unknown in LOS but the nature of the attack is quite chilling, and in a small city province too!

Hope the low-life ends up in a mangled mess to teach him a lesson!

Safe in the long run with bricks & mortor,short term blip on the housing front,nothing to worry abt.I've got properties in the UK which rent out and things are fine.Give it another 5-10 years things will be fine and property UP TO 50% more than now.Pointless panic selling.

EPG

You could be right, you could be wrong.

I really think now though it is the waiting game.

The next 2 weeks will be interesting and we *should* have a clearer picture then.

Dr Naam will likely have his Prototype crystal ball fired up too

Bro, this is exactly what's needed. But too many people want the easy and slippery money cause they've been spoilt like rotten kids.

The USA had a chance to get back to their roots but they've gone to the credit and mortage 'Growth' mentality again alas.

Hi

I have a Work Permit that expires every three months and I have to do my Visa Run before it expires.

Anyway, I was wondering if I have this kind of Work Permit, can I own a car in Thailand?

If I can own the car, I would probably not be able to get financing from the finance company, but if I pay cash in full, approximately how much discount can I get from the dealer? Btw I'm looking at Honda Jazz...

Yes

The contaigous factor raises some interesting questions.

With the condom only providing so much protection is there a cream or salve that can provide a barrier to the surrounding skin?

I think if there is for any folks out there on the prowl for a man or a woman might be better protected than just the condom / usual Contraceptive.

35 years old and 2 properties with a third on the way?

dam_n dude you are chasing the bricks and morter on that one.

Being a perpetual traveler I really just play the rental game. I think the housing market is an overrated choice these days.

So with the big bail-out palaver now going ahead I will be watching the £ rate very closely.

Some say the £ will rise now because of the bail-out but I really do play it on the fence with this kind of game.

It could go either way really.

stuff you do outside of your house and the internet?

None of your business mate

I often eat breakfast in a cheap Thai place with a very nice family, This morning their 12 year old girl was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Job Wanted, Many Positions Available" with pictures of stick figures doing the sex positions of the Karma Sutra. I tried to point out the pictures and tell them that a girl her age could get bothered while wearing such illustrations, but after a big family talk, they seemed to come to the conclusion that it was not hurting anything.

Would you have said anything?

Well done UG mate, 5 stars for this Thread.

If I knew them or was familiar and in a position to speak easily to the parents I probably would have yes.

I didn't come here for sex. It was the last thing on my mind. And I'm not voting in this ridiculous poll. Oops...it's not a poll

Don't be so lame Tarzan!

Show some Man Power!

Yeah the crazy folk can make life interesting. But it really gets fruity when farangs go crazy out here.

There was a guy on Koh Tao who, as a bit of an eccentric was quite a celebrity in Chalok Baan Khao area.

Well he disappeared after losing it a bit and no-one heard of him for a while.

I'd arrived on the Island and I picked up on the story when he returned back to Koh Tao. More crazy than ever he'd ended up in the nut house in Surat Thani for a few months. He'd been released and made his way back to the island.

But he'd gone well over the edge and had delusions of grandeur to the extent he truly believed he was the Thai King!!

He started hanging out at Bhudda View dive center again and making himself look a bit crazy.

His parents were expats in Indonesia or Borneo and someone got them to come over and take care of him.

It was a bit sad really. He'd obviously lost his way, no-one was sure of the real reason.

His parents arrived and chartered a speedboat to take him back to the mainland.

One of the divers who knew him accompanied him back.

We asked him what he was like and he was so far gone he didn't recognise anyone, only barking out orders like 'You! Bow down to me!' over and over as if he was HRH!

Sure wasn't or isn't a dull place on Koh Tao

In all seriousness I think he was lucky, some farang just end up on the kerb if they're crazy...