wrestler7902002

Hello everyone.

Back in the day, I was a certified teacher of English, Mathematics, and Educational Media. I taught in public schools in America and enjoyed teaching very much. About 10 years ago, I moved to Thailand, where I bought a condo and have a 30 years lease on a nice home with a big garden. I retired from teaching. I've lead a modest lifestyle. But I became bored with the watering of the plants, going to the beach almost everyday, etc. I decided to get back into teaching. The average salary offered me was about 32,000 baht a month (before taxes). So I decided to travel overseas and landed a nice teaching position in southern China. I was offered a position teaching English, Math, and Computer Information Technology at a private school offering the GAC curriculum (International Studies division). The students were quite studious, brilliant in mathematics, etc. But many students lacked the "critical thinking skills" needed to travel overseas to continue with their university education in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, or New Zealand. Nonetheless, it was a great experience for me.

But this year, I've been teaching English at a University preparatory program in Saudi Arabia. The students have great critical thinking skills, but many students lack the motivation or drive for learning the English language. Some students would rather text message others using their fancy blackberries than learning to write formal letters, for instance. I think that this is probably caused by the fact that the students are "paid" by the university to attend classes. Anyways, the students are quite adept in technology, most majoring in the sciences (medical research, bio-tech, etc.)

There are many teachers from the UK, Canada, USA, etc. teaching in the preparatory program. The salary is great. The average salary (TAX-FREE) is the equivalent of 112,000 baht per month for 12 month contracts. Teachers get free accomodation and utilities, round trip flights to their home country....in my case, Thailand), free medical insurance, transporation to and from school, visa reimbursement, and shopping trips provided to malls, several times a week. The only expense we have to pay for is for food, which is relatively cheap.The only major drawback is the rather restrictive way of life, with no alcohol allowed, no cinemas, etc...quite different from Thailand. I don't drink, so that doesn't bother me one bit. I do miss the cinemas, though. There are a number of teachers having ties (pun intended) to Thailand....married to Thais, own condos, etc., but have chosen to work in Saudi Arabia, or other Gulf countries.

While living in Thailand, has anyone been offered and has accepted teaching English or other subjects in other countries outside Thailand? What have your experiences been?

I thank you in advance for your thoughts.

After 6 years living (but not working) in Thialand, I'm considering moving to Vietnam and to initially do some teaching, (I have Masters and Bachelor degrees from the UK, plus TEFL).

In order to minimise any problems in working legally in Vietnam, I want to obtain a police record check from the Thai police office in BKK, (as previously detailed on this thread).

I understand that one of the documents that is required for the application is your work permit or proof of residence. I have no WP and my name does not appear on the blue house book of my ex's residence in Phuket where I currently live.

Since I will have to come up to BKK from Phuket, I want to make sure that I have all the necessary documents.

How can I obtain proof of my residence address in Phuket? My name doesn't seem to appear on any documents, (although I do report my address every 90 days to Immigration).

Thanks

Simon

Sawatdee Krap, Simon.

I applied for an English teaching job in China. A chinese International language school sent me the contract; I signed the contract and they emailed me the contract back with the official Chinese stamp andf signature.

I have lived in Pattaya area for 5 years, on non-immigrant 0 visas. I went to the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok two days ago, got off the BTS at Chitlom and walked about 6 blocks. The Royal Police are located next to the Royal Police Hospital.

The only documents I had to give to the Royal Police were the following:

1. Show my USA passport and asked how long I have been living in Thailand.

2. Copy of passport main page and non-immigrant visa.

3. Copy of signed contract from Chinese school.

Filled out a 2 page questionnaire with required info like name, address in Thailand, religion, reason for wanting a police background check, applying for job in what country, parents name, degrees you have, etc.

Then I went inside the room to have my cute picture taken. Name and passport number put into computer.

Had fingerprints from both hands taken. Washed my hands clean.

Popped over few meters to desk where they checked for a minute all documents I handed to them.

Paid 200 baht to police colonel.

Given return ticket to me with date, your application number, and Royal Thai police address and phone numbers. They recommend calling before picking up the criminal background check. They told me to come back in 21 days. You can opt to pick up yourself, have someone you give permission to pick it up, or have them mail to your residence.

Whole process took about 20 minutes. Will go back in 19 days to pick up.

ps......dress smartly, nice shirt, black pants, nice shoes. If they happen to ask you for proof of resident, take along a telephone bill or electric bill with your name on it. I brought chanote for condo and house, electric and water bills, etc. but was not asked to present anything to them, except for 3 items listed above.

Hopes this helps.

Which consulate gave you a multiple entry type O?

Because Chicago never will.

The Honorary Thai Consulate in Houston, TX..........and they are super nice people to deal with.

Well I've been told before that you have to deal with your own local jurisdiction. That is another consulate cannot handle your application if you already have a local consulate. They will simply return your application. DC Embassy told me this once.

I lived in PA and had sent them the visa application along with paperwork and required fee to the Thai Honorary Consulate in Houston (all done by mail) and had never had any problem in getting the multiple non-immigrant 0 visa for the last 3 years. I never bothered to go through the NY or Wash. DC consulates/embassy. Hope this helps.

Are there any women police officers in Pattaya, or even in Thailand?

I have never seen a police woman at any of Pattaya's street corners, giving out tickets or helping the elderly across the street; haven't seen them on Sukhumvit Rd. with a chopper nearby, issuing tickets for right lane drivers or drivers not wearing helmets or not having a Thai driver's license.

I know they have female immigration officers, but no "Girls in Brown".....what gives?

Which consulate gave you a multiple entry type O?

Because Chicago never will.

The Honorary Thai Consulate in Houston, TX..........and they are super nice people to deal with.

I'm an American on a One-Year Non-Immigrant Type O visa. (Multiple Entry). On the visa, it states that the visa must be utilized before April 8, 2009. On my return from Cambodia a few months ago, I re-entered Thailand on January 31, 2009 and must depart Thailand on April 30.

To get an additional 3 months from the visa, what must I do? Do I exit Thailand let's say April 5 and immediately return to Thailand for the additional 3 months?

Would waiting a few days before April 30 and then leaving and re-entering Thailand the same day get me the extra 3 months?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Lockheed Martin's Stealth Blimp from 1982

Perhaps one of these stealth limps hovering over the troubled areas may not raise any suspicions.......just another UFO sighting.

Oh, and I hope they remember to inflate with helium, not hydrogen.

TOT high speed 2mb is working for sites in USA but slower than a snail's pace.

High speed 2mb = slower than a snail........I think maybe a Thai paradox.

Many websites outside of Thailand don't work for me, either.

When I go to speedtest.net, Bangkok's server is not on the map. Hmmmm......

During the past week, I've been experiencing problems with msn.com

I am using TOT's adsl Gold Cyber connection.

Prior to the problem beginning this past week, my home page was set to msn.com (America). However, this week when I boot my computer and click on Windows Explorer, my msn.com (America) pops up, but within a few seconds, I am always misidrected to th.msn.com (Thailand).

Whatever I try to do, I cannot get back to msn.com (America). I go to the tools option and it still shows msn.com as my home page. When I go to Tools, Internet options, and delete my cookies and click on my homepage, then it goes back to the normal msn.com (America) with a box towards the top, written in Thai language. When I click the x to delete the box or click on the Thai writing, it still stays on th.msn.com

Is anyone else experiencing this problem. Is there any way of fixing the problem?

Thankx in advance for your help.

Happy New Year

Look at the southeast asia forum. One well informed individual was posting about the casino bus that goes to poi pet. I need to kill two days to make my 30 day visa on arrival line up with my return plane ticket and have been looking at ways to stay out of country for a night or two. It seems like the casino bus runs daily and one can come back on a different day but I have not gotten that confirmed yet. 300 baht for the bus for foreigners. across from tesco lotus on sukumvhit in pattaya.

Does the casino bus depart from across Tesco, or is that where the office is located that runs the bus? who do i contact to make a reservation for that bus?

I don't expect poipet to be some clean tropical oasis, as i have no plans to step outside the nice-looking casino there, which apparently has live poker.

JerryO, please look at my response I posted. Hope this helps.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Visa-Run-Cambodja-t221498.html

Love the cool season in Pattaya. Warm enough in the daytime, excellent sleeping weather. Only drawback for me is when driving motorbike in late evening and rather cool driving 60 kmp; can't wear shorts, need light jacket.

Other than that, wish the refreshing cool season lasted all year long.

So you are saying that the new gold cyber fee is 590 baht even for existing customers? What is the current promised speed for gold cyber, 1 or 2 megs? Is there a way to pay 1000 baht and get increased speeds?

Everyone in pattaya who had the original goldcyber 1 meg package at 1000 baht was automatically upgraded to 2 meg.Also on a 1 meg connection you can never recieve 1.5 meg.I also guess your speedtest was done with a server within thailand because international it will be more in the range of 100kb.

OK, so are you saying that people now paying 590 baht versus 1000 baht for goldcyber are also getting the so called 2 meg connection speeds? In that case, I suppose I should apply for a price reduction, but I don't want a speed reduction. Still confused what you are saying, if a speedtest at night sometimes does show 1.5, you are saying that proves I am already upgraded to 2 meg service?

For the speedtest I am using the testing tool on thaivisa. Is that testing international or Thai sites?

Sawatdee Krap, Jingthing.

Check your TOT monthly bill and see what it says about your ADSL service. But I think you have already been connected to the 2 mb goldcyber service.

I also have TOT Goldcyber 2 MB service around Sattahip area. I use speedtest.net for checking my speed from B

ANGKOK server (normally my ping is about 60 ms. My download speed is about 1773 kbps. My upload speed is around 422 kbps.)

TOT reps in Pattaya once told me that the 2 mb speed is "guaranteed"? only from within Thailand and if its 20 % off the 2 mb I'm paying for, it's still acceptable to them. But I told them that this is the internet, you know.....world-wide, but they didn't have a clue it seems as to what I was trying to explain to them.

With speedtest.net, you can check your actual speeds from anywhere in the world. Just select the region by clicking on the box next to the round speed dial and move to the server location, example USA, San Francisco. Amazingly, I just tried it and the ping from San Francisco was 486 msm download speed was 2025 kbps and upload speed was 238 kbps. Normally the download from San Francisco is under 400 kbps. But perhaps not many people using the internet at 6:55 am here in Thailand day after Songkron. It all depends on the time of day, traffic, etc.

Hope this info helped.

Thaksin is a wanted, convicted criminal in Thailand.

Thaksin's visa to the UK has been revoked.

Where does Thaksin go now? In what country would he feel most comfortable living? What country would benefit the most from his arrival there?

Where could Thaksin go to rebuilt his financial empire?

Hmmmm.......Cambodia seems likely. Casinos, land development...............maybe the next Prime Minister of Cambodia.

If he is pardoned for his crimes in Thailand and/or the political atmosphere changes in his favor, Thaksin would be able rent a taxi from Phenom Penh and head for Poipet; he would then cross the border and hire a tuk-tuk to take him to Aranyapretet in order to catch the government bus to Bangkok. However, I doubt there would be enough room for the 63 suitcases full of shirts, underwear, and socks that he originally took on his trip to the UK.

Piece of cake!

Ah. An interesting post. So, bus plus visa fee is 300 + 1000 = 1,300. Visa run mini van packages are typically 2,200 or so. Do you do any Visa processing in advance or do you just hop on the casino bus, bring some passport sized photos and off you go? Do you have to make a reservation on the casino bus?

I need to make a visa run November 19. Might stay out of Thailand for two days in order to synch up my plane ticket with my next 30 day on arrival Thai visa. I arrived October 21 and m plane departs December 21 so I can't quite reach my dates with a one day visa run.

Can I come back on a different casino bus two days later? Is it worth staying in Poipet? Any reasonable accomodations there?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am trying to find the best way to get a "three" day visa run to make my 30 day Thai Visa on arrivals "reach" to my departure date.

Thanks.

Sawatdee Krap, my new friend.

Glad to see that someone actually read by post.

I'm on a one year non-immigrant type 0 visa but I must leave Thailand every 3 months. I always go to Poipet, closest and easiest way to get visa back to Thailand.

I wait on Sukhumvit Rd. in front of Tesco/Lotus. There are seats there so you can sit down and take a load off your feet. There's a small

RESCUE Ambulance (EMS) shack with a satellite dish on top of the roof. The bus stop is right there in front of the RESCUE small hut on the Sukhumvit sidewalk. That's where you hop onto the casino bus. If I want to leave at 6 am, I arrive at 5:30 am and wait there. The bus normally waits right there for 15 minutes and leaves precisely at 6 am.

There are several casino buses that go to Poipet.

There's one that leaves exactly at 6 am, another at 8 am.

I think the 6 am is better, fewer people. The passengers are mostly Thai (they pay 100 baht for round trip). As a farang, I get charged 300 baht, but that's OK. The seats are normally half full, but it's a double decker bus so can hold many people. Most passengers are Thai folk going to do a bit of gambling in Poipet. If they ask (and they never do), just tell them you're going gamblin'.

Being that the Tesco/Lotus stop is the first stop to pick up passengers to go gambling, the bus is virtually empty and you have your choice of seats. I normally sit on the upper leve. If you see a white sign on the seat, then that seat has already been booked in advance. But they are loads of empty seats.

You can reserve a seat in advance but I'm sorry I do not know the number.

The buses do pick up passengers to go to Poipet, maybe pick up passenger at about 8 stops, but each stop is less than 30 seconds. You'll arrive at Ronklua Market (Thai side) where you can do major shopping for clothing, nik-naks, etc. Trip time is about 4 hours. there's a toilet on the bus...thank God!

Normally during half way thru the bus trip, the bus attendant takes the Thai passports and they fill out the Thai return trip Entry into Thailand TM card for you. They fill it out for you on the bus and hand it right back within 30 minutes. But as farang, they never asked for my passport. The bus is never checked in Aranaprytet border guards so the bus just continues thru any checkpoint along the way to the Rongklua Market.

I always see many kids hanging out at border to help you by holding umbrella to shade you from the sun. Up to you to give 1 baht to them. Since you'll be staying a few days, not necessary for hiring 2-wheeled carts to take your luggage with you as you go thru immigration. Just bring a backpack on your shoulders.

When you arrive at the Market, you'll walk maybe 500 meters and go thru Thai immigrations (usually takes less than 10 minutes to exit immigration). Walk through the door, straight through into Cambodia).

2 steps process to get Cambodian visa:

1. Walk maybe 100 meter, then veer off to right hand side into Cambodian Immigration (basically small building). You'll fill out the basic form. The man outside can fill it out for you. You just sign the visa application, hand him one passport picture, and 1,000 baht). I normally have him fill everything out and hand him 20 baht for coffee money. Take a seat and wait about 5 or 10 minutes. He'll hand you your passport along with full-page Cambodian visa good for 30 days.

2. After getting your full page Cambo visa, continue walking past Casinos and maybe 200 meter down on right hand side, you'll see another Immigration building where you wait in line and show them your passport and Cambo visa and they run your passport thru the computer and put an Entry Stamp in ink into your passport. Depending on how many people in line, maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

After that, continue walking straight in city of Poipet, maybe 200 meters where you'll see a lot of backpackers hopping onto Taxis to take them to Battambang or Phenom Penh.

I have always gone back that evening with the same bus. The casino bus parks in the bus parking lot and stays there until it is time to go back to Pattaya. The casino bus normally leaves there at 5:30 pm if you took the earlier 6 am bus.......or it leaves to go back to Pattaya at 6 pm if you took the 8 am bus. Takes again 4 hours to go back, but its in comfort.

I imagine you can stay at casino hotels. There's about 4 or 5 casinos within 50 meters from Cambodia Immigration. You can also further venture into Poipet, but let me warn you in advance that there is basically NO trees, looks a bit 3rd world style buildings, and there's lots of mud everywhere due to heavy rains. I personally wouldn't sleep overnight in Poipet unless I stayed at the casino hotels.

After getting my Cambo visa, I sometimes take a taxi from Poipet into BATTAMBANG, about 2 1/2 hour drive and can rent hotel room cheap. It costs about 200 baht per person in back seat (400 baht if you sit in front seat with driver) if you go by taxi to Battambang. They normally sqeeze 4 or 5 people in the car. Taxis (Toyota Camry cars) are about 20 meter passed where you get you visa entry stamp. The road surface out of Poipet is muddy and rocky for about 20 minutes, and then the road is good all the way to Battambang.

Battambang is Cambodia's 2nd largest city, but it's nice to visit, many French provincial buildings, hotels, restaurants, more relaxed place to visit. The Cambodian people speak a lot more English than Thai people and they are super-friendly and like to learn English from farang (Barang in Khmer).

There's another option....you can go to Thai immigration and extend your 30 day Thai visa for up to 7 days...up to Immmigration. so that you can make your trip to Poipet, get your 30 day visa, and then right before it expires, go to Immigration and extend it for a few days until your plane leaves. But I think the Thai immigration charges 1,900 baht for that service and might not be worth it.

I hope you understand all that I have written to you.

In my experience, I find Cambodian people speak English better than Thai counterpartsar and are even more friendly than Thai people. They were NO problems at border concerning the Preah Vhear Temple.

I hope this information will help you. Please contact me if you have any further questions.

May your trip to Cambodia be pleasant and fruitful.

Wrestler7902002

Can some one tell me to which boarderplace they do the visarun from Pattaya please

I have been on a number of visa runs to Cambodia from Pattaya. I normally take the casino bus from Sukhumvit Road at 6 am in front of Tesco/Lotus, pay 300 baht for round trip. Arrive at Aranyapretet by 10 am. Cross the border into beautiful POIPET, pay my 1,000 baht for Cambodian visa and then venture by foot into Poipet and do some sightseeing. Beware that on my last visa run one week ago, Poipet had so much mud on the dirt road that nearly everything was at a standstill; even Cambodia Immigration officials were lending a hand in pushing the two-wheeled carts in order to keep the traffic flowing (yes, I know, slow as molasses). Do some gamblin' if you like at the casinos.

Then I head back to Ronkluea Market, get a bite to eat, shop around, etc. By 5:30 evening, bus heads back to Pattaya.

Yes, I know the visa run vans are so much quicker, but I'd miss out on experiencing the graciousness and hospitality of Cambodian Immigration and Cambodian people.

I doubt that Mr. Thaksin will ever see the accomodations at the Bangkok Hilton.

Two possible scenerios:

1. Thaksin will head for Cambodia and build a casino empire as well as getting his hands dirty in oil reserves in Cambodia. His political influence will still reach across the Thai border.

2. Thaksin will undergo a physical transformation, undergoing a a complete face change operation. He will settle down somewhere in LOS. He will live his life in a humble fashion and anonomously donate 1,000 baht to each of Thailand's 65 million population.

I'm an American citizen, just turned 50 years old, and going to apply for Retirement visa.

What paperwork do I need to give to American Embassy in Bangkok for getting Pension Letter. What is the cost for obtaining letter from Embassy.

If I go with the combination Pension and money in Thai bank (400,000 baht per year pension and 400,000 baht in Thai bank), is it necessary to keep the 400,000 baht in Thai bank for 3 months prior to applying for retirement visa?

What do I need to show Immigration when applying for Retirement visa for the first time? Copy or original of Thai bank account, original Pension letter from USA Embassy, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help. lol

Interesting article from Cambodian Information Center website concerning Preah Vihear:

http://www.cambodia.org/Preah_Vihear/?hist...+Khmer+Heritage

I have TOT ADSL and have been experiencing problems in accessing youtube.com.

It was working fine yesterday but today I can't even get into the website. Perhaps problems with youtube itself?

Maybe being blocked because of political turmoil in Thailand once again? Hmmmm......

I'm afraid that being able to actually download videos from youtube during the past month may have become a thing of the past.

You have satellite internet that's not working properly and the technicians says, "We think that somone take the caybin that connektid from your dish to satellite in the space. Wire now missing. When we find, we call you...."

After trying to explain the problems with slow internet, TOT lady says, "I cut your internet off. Now you no have problem. OK?"

Even if they do not know what's causing the problems, it would be nice to hear the words" I'm so sorry" but there may be no such phrase or anything remotely similar to it in Thai language..... Just a thought.....

Sawatdee Krap.

My interenet speed was slow for the past 5 days so I finally gave up and called the 1100 hotline two days ago. I spoke to the lady (Yes, unbelievable but there is an English-speaking person on hand) who took down pertinent info and asked questions like what website you having problems with, do you maybe have the virus, etc.

After telling her that my computer had no known viruses and the speed was super slow on all sites, internatinal as well as Thai, she said she would have technician look into it. Well today I received a pre-recorded message from Tot on house phone. What it said, I hadn't a clue.

But just for kicks, I restarted my computer and tested the internet speed with speedtest.net using the Bangkok server and.........Oh my Buddha! My ping which was 999 for the last 5 days suddently registered the normal average of 66 and the download speed was 1777 kbps, not 350 kbps during the week. I currently have the goldcyber 2M download so that isn't too bad considering the Olympics, etc.

Question: Is it possible that TOT's ADSL slowdown could be related in any way to the government's stance on keeping track of all internet activity starting August 23? Hmmmmm.......Just a thought.

If any of you are having problems, just give the TOT hotline 1100 a call and maybe it'll get things back to a semblance of "normality."

I just pray that my normal internet download speed remains around 1770 or so and doesn't degrade to 350. Wishful thinking, but " we can all dream."

Kuhp Kuhn Krap

Is anyone else experiencing the ultimate slowdown from TOT? Was fine two days ago in Pattaya area, but since then it takes 4 minutes just to log onto Thaivisa.com. So slow downloading from anywhere in the world, including Thailand.

When I run Speedtest.net from Bangkok servers, it takes 3 minutes just to enter the Speedtest.net website. Ping from Bangkok is 999ms and after 3 minutes the download speed was 379 kps and upload about 20kps.

I am paying for Tot goldcyber 2MB dowload and 512K upload service. Hmmmmmm.

Life is too short to muddle over 54 baht.

This has happened to me several times at large supermarkets like Tesco and Big C.

After I point out the error, I am always given the correct change back...along with a big smile and a wai....Oh, I almost forgot, there's always a "so sorry for mistake." If you believe that last phrase, then I have 10 rai of beach front property for sale in beautiful Na Jomtien for only 54 baht per rai.