MW72

I live in a small soi  and we have 5 dogs on the street (2 are mine). Never seen any poop. It's a mystery. I think the dogs cross the small stream at the end of the street and poop in the farmland. Very considerate of them. I wish the chickens would do the same. Not sure what the city dogs do with there poop.

1 hour ago, SiamBeast said:

How about keeping them but forcing them to adhere to a strict set of rules:

 

- No high-fructose corn syrup in any product, no exceptions

- No MSG in any product

- No meat cooking under the sun

- Eggs must be refrigirated

 

Those who break the rules get a warning, then lose their right.

No need to refrigerate eggs.

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-heres-why-we-need-to-refrigerate-eggs-20140714-story.html

I would agree on the other points though. I've never been ill from eating street food but a little bit more hygiene and less of the junk additives isn't a bad idea.

I have 2 passports. One is my personal one and one is a business one with visas for a couple of countries. I enter and leave Thailand using my personal passport. After I get to Dubai I have a connecting flight and at check-in in BKK they always ask if I have a visa. I just produce the second passport and everything is sweet. Both my passports are British but I wouldn't expect the Thai/Canadian situation will create any problems for your wife.

2 hours ago, Rob of Rayong said:

Thanks for your advice. It is always worth considering the darkest outcomes.

There are always family tensions under the surface in village life. A lot of it caused by jealousy!

 

What I am unclear about is that if you took a lease on the land why do have to give money to your wife as well? I thought it could be a very nominal fee?

Could you not have built the house with your own money?

 

Even if you walked away, the house  would still be yours and they could not touch it until the lease expired. The house being separated from the land.

 

I guess if you married it complicates things. 

 

 

The lease was for the house and the land. The value of the lease was the builders estimate to build the new house. I could have paid the builder myself but I work overseas quite a bit so it was just much easier that she dealt with everything. I'm not into this idea that you can own property but not the land. What is the point of that? It's all or nothing. In my case I'm happy for her to be the legal owner of both.

If it gets to the stage that I walk away for any reason then there would be no reason for me to try and stop her using the house. That would just be an added stress I wouldn't need. She would be welcome to it.

The lease route is viable. I did this myself. GF's Father gave her some land, had the chanote checked out by a lawyer, lawyer knocked up the 30 year lease, paid the 30 years up front and she used that money to pay the builder. Be under no illusions. As Petermik stated, never invest more than you are willing to walk away from. I live in a small village in the north. The oldest sister lives next door (married to Pooyaban), 2nd oldest sister lives across the street, father and oldest brother live in the same village and 2 more sisters live in the next village. Everything is great at the moment and we all seem to get on but in the future if things go tits up and they want me out then I will walk away. You hear plenty of dark stories of people mysteriously dying or disappearing. Even if that didn't happen can you imagine how uncomfortable it would be living in my house when no one wants me to be there. Your circumstances may be very different but it is worth thinking about.

4 hours ago, paulbj2 said:

Over the top completely! A really, REALLY stupid comment! Ridiculous "Thai bashing" nonsense!

 

Until I retired I used to work in a government owned building in Luxembourg City. Legionnella tests were carried out regularly on the water supplies and air-conditioning units in that building and the detailed results were provided to everyone who worked there. Those tests almost invariably came back positive for Legionella despite the best efforts of the building maintenance team to eliminate the damned bacterium using chlorine gas to disinfect the water systems and God knows how many other disinfectant chemicals. Legionella is not easy to eliminate, permanently.

 

This bacterium is a big problem throughout the world; it is present in the hot water systems of most hotels, offices and domestic dwellings. Do you ever get the hot water or air-conditioning systems where you live checked for Legionella? 100:1 odds on, you'll find it in the shower heads and in the water system.

 

The thing that worries me more in Thailand is the use of the "misting" systems that are often installed outside bars and restaurants. The supply pipework is usually in direct sunlight so the water inside the pipes, when it is turned off, will attain the ideal temperature range for the development of thriving colonies of Legionella. Then when the system is turned on, it will likely eject an aerosol of concentrated Legionella bacteria all over anyone in the vicinity; that should be a matter of real concern to health officials!

Completely agree. An over the top story with no information for people to make an informed judgement. Most water systems contain legionella. The key is the concentration and if it can be produced in an aerosol. What the maintenance regimes in these establishment consist of is another question. 

There have been numerous small and isolated outbreaks in Dubai recently and I know of one not so long ago in Scotland whose origin was never determined.

You will only be upgraded if economy has been over booked (at least on Emirates). If economy is not full then you can forget the upgrade no matter how smartly you dress or how politely you talk to them. Last year I had 4 complimentary upgrades in a row from DXB to BKK and even one on the return leg. Since then I have had nothing. I have even tried to upgrade with miles or cash but business has been fully booked so no chance. If economy is overbooked then they will give upgrades to platinum members first, then gold, then silver, then blue so it help if you have a good Skywards tier level.

Edit to say Chickenlegs just posted the same above but...

Doesn't look like an overtaking move. Not close enough to the truck in front nor fast enough. Looks like his attention was focussed on something other than the road ahead and he drifted over into the oncoming traffic.

Swampy now has the KLM/Air France lounge which is better than Louis Tavern. I get my Priority Pass free with my bank account but a few guys at work pay for it and they all seem to think it is VFM. Most lounges are 3 or 4 hours but the Marhaba loung in T2 DXB is only 2 hours. Never been kicked out if the lounge isn't busy. Download the app fro your phone and it will tell you all of the lounges.

This has been going on for longer than Obama & Clinton have been alive. SSDD

No no no no its  ALL lies I tell you, theyre  all in it together, The  Russians  the Chinese the Japanese............ I even believe the Moon is a hoax, there is no moon

We went to Italy this year and to get the visa we had to show proof of travel insurance. We used Allianz on Petchaburi Road BKK. I can't remember how much it cost but there were many different levels of cover available and it seemed relatively cheap to me.

22 minutes ago, Strange said:

 

If you are inside the Tessabaan, yes likely you need some drawings but hardly not "architect" type. There are plans all over the internet that are more than enough and there are standard Thai Gov approved house plans as well that can be easily modified. 

 

Outside the Tessaban in most cases you do not need any plans submitted to the local authority. 

 

It is not nearly as hard to build a house in Thailand than you are making it out to be and the rules and regulations (of lack thereof) are stone age. 

You are correct. There are standard templates available. I didn't mean to make it sound hard as it isn't. It is really straight forward. You take a copy of the Chanote to the architect, discuss what you are looking for, he will knock up the plans and submit for approval. Very easy and peace of mind. There are regulations concerning boundaries, windows facing adjacent properties etc. Whilst in most cases no one gives a damn, I would rather pay the little extra for the architect and make sure everything is above board. The added benefit of using the architect is that he organises all of the contractors. One less thing to worry about.

If you get the Chanote in order as other have suggested, your next step is to see a decent architect. He will submit drawings to the local authority who will give the green light or not to the design. There are building regulations in Thailand so don't listen to those who suggest you can build what you want. If you do you may be ok or you may spend a lot of money only for some jobs worth to demand you pull the whole thing down. A good architect will build the house and provide a contract which you should have translated. If you are just building a wooden shack like the locals then crack on.

Inshallah

8 hours ago, sujoop said:

Very similar to New Years Eve 2006 bombs (and others) following Thaksin's ouster:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/01/09/politics/politics_30023641.php
 

Neither insurgents in the South nor any group made claims on current attacks
(similarly and oddly, nor did the Uighurs group claim Erawan attack)
 

Directly after confiscating 46 billion of Thaksin's ill gotten gains in 2010 things really escalated.
Now,  following the referendum and facing imminent confiscation over rice  scam will it again?
Yingluck hit with Bt286 billion damage bill over rice scheme:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Yingluck-hit-with-Bt286-billion-damage-bill-over-r-30291926.html
 

Who knows who is behind the current attacks?
However, the pattern looks rather familiar.

Is that pattern similar to the 50 or so bombs detonated in the 10 days leading up to the Mother's Day bombings or are you looking at these bombings in isolation? Have the Southern insurgents claimed responsibility for the first 50 bombings but denied involvement in the others?

Just because one group or another has previous history of such acts doesn't make them guilty every time. I am sure that would be what the government would wish people to think rather than think they cannot secure the Southern areas and protect the population. 

I love Jimmy's humour. Nothing is off limits. I can already see the headlines "Thai netizens outrage at farang comedian". 

I hope he is well informed about the Lese Majeste laws.

Whilst I have some sympathy for the girl, as she was seriously injured, as a Brit I cringe when reading the full article and read her quotes. She wants to blame everyone but herself when it was her own actions that caused her injuries. <deleted> she is 19 not 9. She is legally an adult in the UK and is old enough to drink, smoke, drive, get married, have sex, but obviously not take responsibility for her own actions.

Sadly the UK is becoming a litigious society like the US.

10 hours ago, lucky11 said:

 

 Look! I don't have to prove anything to anyone.

 

 I know, through my research 'the whole story' on health and specifically all of the lies put out there by 'big pharma', 'big food' and the whole of the US health industry and world governments with their 'upside down' health (advice). The lies and fabrications on virtually every aspect of health related issues is staggering and is designed to fool the unwary and gullible public. I could reveal so many things that you wouldn't believe but I won't bother as it would be a futile exercise.

 Why don't you continue supping up the propaganda put out by these money grabbing organisations and companies and I will carry on protecting my health and dealing with anything that besets me (I don't suffer illness any more and cured my 'incurable' ulcerative colitis in a week having suffered with this for 40 years)!!

 

This is what I mean by actual case examples - my doctor advised me against doing what I did but I ignored him and cured something in myself that THEY say was incurable. Wrong, wrong and wrong again - never trust a doctor after his diagnosis!! Fix yourself naturally, it is so easy for virtually any disease you can name.

 

I am not offering advice but simply revealing my own personal experiences and self educating on the matter of health.

I make a point of not believing anyone who exclaims "Believe me" and then says "Look! I don't have to prove anything to anyone."

Here's my own health story. For 44 years I've not had the best diet, I smoke, I drink and I don't excercise much at all. I have no allergies and never had an illness except for a minor cold or flu. If you want to be illness free like me then follow my strict health regime. This is my case example. My doctor also advised me against this lifestyle but what would he know? He's been brainwashed by big pharma and every government on the planet. He just wants to make money out of my misery. That's why doctors become doctors. Most people are too gullible to know this. 

On first viewing I think I quite like the new format. On my PC just now and my Android app isn't working so I'll reserve judgement until it is back up and running. Checked my profile and I have to say I am a little disappointed that my date of birth is in the M/D/Y format when the majority of the world use the D/M/Y format.

The private-pensions short-fall is a story which will run and run, on top of the unfunded government-pension, it's very bad news. And the government advice not-to-panic, well if ever there was an alarm-signal, then that is it !

Personally I just hope they hang on long enough, for me to be able to draw my money out (in a tax-efficient way), before it all falls apart.

There is no efficient way to draw your money out of a final salary company pension.

If you mean private pension, they were always a failure and always will be, mainly because most of them are run by crooks.

As for the continued claims that people live longer, mainly lies.

People have had broadly the same natural length of life for the past 4,000 years.

(excluding child mortality and death due to war, etc.)

I wonder how the statistics would stand up if abortions were included as 'deaths'.

Hargreaves Lansdown say,

The UKs gold-plated pension system is starting to look tarnished."

The UK still has a gold plated pension system? I though they had nearly all ended more than 10 years ago. Killed by the Conservative government.

So this little grizzle must be about investing money from previously accumulated assets. The ones that Brown was stealing from.

Well if the Labour government stole from pension funds in the past, up to the current government to make up the shortfalls.

Not sure why you think the Conservatives killed pensions but for my own pension it was Blair and Brown who did the killing.

I had a pension with the engineering federation I was associated with. Most companies payed into the pension. Along came Labour and decreed that all companies should provide pensions. Sounds like reasonable plan except in my trade at that time you moved with the work. Maybe 3 months at 1 company then 2 years at another if you were lucky.

The upshot was that all of these companies that used to pay into one industry based pension now had their own schemes. This meant that no one would pay into my original pension fund. I had a choice of having lots of small pension funds or none at all. I chose not to bother with the pensions and invested the money I saved into my property. At the time I even contacted the Federation to ask if I could make voluntary contribution to keep the fund topped up as my employer would not invest in the fund. I was told I could only make voluntary contributions on top of what my employer paid and as he wasn't paying that meant I could pay my own contribution.

I would like to think that is not the case any more.

I am not too familiar with private pensions in the UK(hence not saying much about it), but in Australia with have "private pensions" but it is called superannuation.

Basically the government brought in a rule that employers had to contribute a set amount(9%) of your salary into a super account you cannot access until retirement. The way it was set was designed so that you employee doesn't lose anything, they basically receive 9% more and it goes into a retirement fund(obviously some employers take advantage and pay a salary 9% less so the total package is the same), you can then choose where to invest these funds. This also can cause problems, for example the people that were close to the retirement age when the markets dropped lost alot of money and did not have the time to make it back.....but that is their risk as they chose the investment(really you can take risks in the early years, but when you start to get closer you should inverst in safer options)

You can also have any employer pay into any fund or as you move jobs you can transfer out of one and into the other and you can make extra contributions tax free too(a good way to avoid tax if you are close to retirement age, get you salary put directly into you super)

Then once retirement age comes along you have a nice little nest egg and if you don't have enough the government then tops up with their own pension.

It alleviates the pressure on the government funds and ensures we can all have a relatively comfortable retirement(so whenever you here an Aussie complain about the pension ask them about their super....they should have some).

I literally love Super(I used to work in the industry) and think it is a wonderful thing that helps everyone involved(except maybe the employer who has to pay into it), but there are still a couple of things that are not perfect.

The biggest one is you cannot be told what and how to spend you super and once it is spent you are eligible for the government pension(not that i want the gov to tell me how to spend my money).

So if I so chose, when I retired I could withdraw in a lump sum, buy a gogo bar and lose it all in 6 months and then claim the full government pension....whereas the actual idea is you spread it out over your expected life term to give yourself a stable income without relying on the government.

I don't know how long ago this problem you had was, but I would assume(hope?) they were just teething problems and there is a more flexible(Aussie) way of doing it now.

I think you would correct to say they were just teething problems and I am sure things are more flexible now. This happened to me back in 1997 when I wad 7 years into my career. 4 of those years were as an apprentice so my contributions were minimal. We had a similar set up in that I would contribute 5% of my salary and my employer would double that. All tax free. At the time the industry pension was one of the best around but due to Government not thinking things through it was taken away from me.

The private-pensions short-fall is a story which will run and run, on top of the unfunded government-pension, it's very bad news. And the government advice not-to-panic, well if ever there was an alarm-signal, then that is it !

Personally I just hope they hang on long enough, for me to be able to draw my money out (in a tax-efficient way), before it all falls apart.

There is no efficient way to draw your money out of a final salary company pension.

If you mean private pension, they were always a failure and always will be, mainly because most of them are run by crooks.

As for the continued claims that people live longer, mainly lies.

People have had broadly the same natural length of life for the past 4,000 years.

(excluding child mortality and death due to war, etc.)

I wonder how the statistics would stand up if abortions were included as 'deaths'.

Hargreaves Lansdown say,

The UKs gold-plated pension system is starting to look tarnished."

The UK still has a gold plated pension system? I though they had nearly all ended more than 10 years ago. Killed by the Conservative government.

So this little grizzle must be about investing money from previously accumulated assets. The ones that Brown was stealing from.

Well if the Labour government stole from pension funds in the past, up to the current government to make up the shortfalls.

Not sure why you think the Conservatives killed pensions but for my own pension it was Blair and Brown who did the killing.

I had a pension with the engineering federation I was associated with. Most companies payed into the pension. Along came Labour and decreed that all companies should provide pensions. Sounds like reasonable plan except in my trade at that time you moved with the work. Maybe 3 months at 1 company then 2 years at another if you were lucky.

The upshot was that all of these companies that used to pay into one industry based pension now had their own schemes. This meant that no one would pay into my original pension fund. I had a choice of having lots of small pension funds or none at all. I chose not to bother with the pensions and invested the money I saved into my property. At the time I even contacted the Federation to ask if I could make voluntary contribution to keep the fund topped up as my employer would not invest in the fund. I was told I could only make voluntary contributions on top of what my employer paid and as he wasn't paying that meant I could pay my own contribution.

I would like to think that is not the case any more.

What we really need to move Brexit along smartly is a terrorist attack in central London carried out by Muslim immigrants.

I have a palpable sense of your eagerness for this.

Ms Andry's wish is justified. UK's EU membership is the reason that 2.7 million Muslims live in England (not counting the Muslims in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and British overseas jurisdictions).

time is a dominant factor. without Brexit UK's Muslim population will double every 6 years, 4 month and 21 days.

UK's Muslim population is predominantly Pakistani & Bangladeshi. How exactly does EU membership relate to immigration of people from non EU countries?
I think you will find a good many of these immigrants came due to the UK's clonial past and nothing to do with EU membership.

it seems you don't excel in detecting irony, sarcasm or the meaning of an emoji

What we really need to move Brexit along smartly is a terrorist attack in central London carried out by Muslim immigrants.

I have a palpable sense of your eagerness for this.

Ms Andry's wish is justified. UK's EU membership is the reason that 2.7 million Muslims live in England (not counting the Muslims in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and British overseas jurisdictions).

time is a dominant factor. without Brexit UK's Muslim population will double every 6 years, 4 month and 21 days.

UK's Muslim population is predominantly Pakistani & Bangladeshi. How exactly does EU membership relate to immigration of people from non EU countries?

I think you will find a good many of these immigrants came due to the UK's clonial past and nothing to do with EU membership.

PARIS (AP) - France declares three days of national mourning after attack in Nice.

How about a 3 day campaign to round-up and deport all undocumented Muslim immigrants, migrants, and refugees...likely more useful in preventing future atrocities.

You don't learn do you?

The guy was FRENCH!

Some words I will not write come to me when I think about your evident lack of brain!

He was born in France, hence his French passport.

But as it is, he also had the nationality of his country of origin.

By his deeds he showed he hates the French.

So he is not French.

I hate to break it to you but, if he was born in France then that makes France his country of origin despite his ancestors roots.

Duh!!!