JohnC

Vegemite is availabe from Best supermarket at the bottom of Pattaya Nua just back from the Dolphin Roundabout, Marmite is available in Tops, Friendship and Foodmart.

Well run a test via the internet and it said speed was 46 something, I am not technically minded so I presume this is the speed of my connection. When I say I dont have a phone I have a gprs modem whilst not actually a mobile I presume it does the same job therefore the 115kbps will be the connection speed between modem and pc ?

sorry I got distracted and left out a vital piece of information! duh.

when proceding down third road after the Pattaya Tai junction take a left at the next lights, this brings you up to Theraspit Road where you turn right and go down to the next junction and turn left. Alternatively after Pattaya Tai just carry straight on until you reach the flyover where you bear left and at the roundabout turn left and you are on the jomtien road.

I dont have a phone.

Go down third road to Theraspit Road turn right and it takes you to the junction, turn left for Jomtien

been using this during rush hour and again to day when sukhumfit was log jammed.

I found Tesco have a wide range of bleach, laundry products and bathroom cleaners like duck etc so next time you are having retail therapy browse round tesco cleaning products section (ours is next to the pet food!)

I was tempted by this offer but they could not confirm how long the 350baht offer would last and I was warned that this is similar to other companys that then end the cheap offer and you have to pay substantially more. My speed on ais gprs is 115kbps so how does that compare as it is very slow and I would love to change to something faster.

I use a company on Pattaya Nua they are in the same building as the balcony restuarant and came highly recommended from a friend that runs three large businesses and has used them for over 20 years. The work they did for me was excellent and they are very much above board and do not do shortcuts for ahem backhanders. If they do the work then you can rest easy at night. Contact details are

A.C.E.S. Advisors Co Ltd 151/35 Moo 5 Naklua Tel: 038 411427, 425108 Fax 038 425109 e mail [email protected]. The boss is a gentleman called Rachain Kluanklard Attorney at Law and they deal with thai companys and tax matters also personal tax. You can give them a call and arrange an appointment before you commit to anything but I cant recommend them highly enough.

I will do that thanks Gerd

I have been invited to a traditional christmas dinner this year and thought it would be nice if I contributed the xmas pud! Are there any problems in food products being posted to thailand? I would hate to pay for one plus post & packing for it to end up in some bin (or customs man belly)

Mix all ingredients and bake about 45 minutes

At what temperature? thx

Bump!!

Isnt retiremnet wonderful when you dont even know what day ist is! silly old fart that I am , the 18th October is of course a wednesday and the monthly meeting at the mission. I just thought that as some of us are already there it might be useful to kick off the Friends of Mercy Mission, I am happy to faciliate and organise this meeting and see where it takes us. As I said its short notice and maybe we will have to have another meeting later in the month or next month but we will see what respose we get. Sorry about the confusion, totally my fault, I am going of now to lie down in a dark room!

Well I looked at every pickup in the market and settled on the Mitsubishi Triton as I liked the quirky look and it the test drive convinced me. I disounted Toyota as I had one and the aftersales service in pattaya was nothing short of abysmal and I would not buy a spare lamp from them. They took three months to fix a fault on warranty, failed t calll me on numerous occasions and when I did finally get it in they left me stranded out on sukhumvit with no means of getting home.

I felt all the other models , chevvy, issuzi, etc were just copies of each other with no style or character. I also wanted to look at the new narvana as I have always liked Nissan but again they didnt even know what the narvanna was! similarly Issuzi and Ford said they had new models due soon but had no details. A car (or truck) is like a house its a personal choice what one person finds attractive another will find repulsive so basically its horses for courses and as I intend to keep this oen for around five years the resale value does not worry me. I had a mitsubishi in the uk and it was one of the best cars I ever had. So watch this space and if I have any problems you can be sure I will post them here!!

We will be having an inaugral meeting on Saturday 18th at 10:00 am if anyone can make it you will be more than welcome. I know its short notice but we have to start somewhere.

Gives rimming a whole new dimension! :

cheesy:

This is very difficult I am currently working with a group who wish to become registered, however I have been informed that there are only 13 yes 13 registered charitys in Thailand as they are not favoured by the people/government. You need a lawyer well versed in thai law and I am told it can then take years to get registered. I am currently pursuing this and if I learn anything useful I will post it here. One popular method is to get adopted by a like minded registered group and act as a project of theirs, I have been told this by a number of people during my enquiries.I hope this helps.

If all else fails it might be worth asking at the ex pats club that meets in the Gran Sole Hotel on second road every sunday at 11:30.

As a last resort you can borrow my cd s

Two things spring to mind, first you could download avast from their website www.avast.com home user is free. In the toolbox it has a facility to do a boot scan and in my experience finds most things. However, as you are already infected this might not work but worth a try. My second option would be to go to microsoft home page and download a trojan remover tool again free.

When I went in July I had got my bank letter on the friday and went to immigration the following week, as it was my first retirement visa there were a couple of minor hiccups. When I presented everything I was asked for my bank book which they compared with the letter and there was a diference of 10,000 baht which I had drawn out over the weekend although I still had the minimum in there. The nice gentleman said " no same no same" he then turned the bankbook page back so it read the same as the letter and photocopied it. On the pension letter the consulate prepared a letter for me (1800 baht) and told me to copy it and show him the original but give him the copy. This I did and the guy said keep letter for next year! As far as the medical certificate goes, mine cost 100baht so if I were going for my visa this week I would get one just to be safe !

O.K I know I said I could not get involved, however, having like many here visited the centre I am now involved in a number of initiatives for the centre. The idea of sponsoring a child has its merits I would suggest a better option would for people to financially sponser the mission for the cost of helping one child. This takes away the need for photos and updates of an individual, however it would not take a lot to set up a regular newsletter keeping sponsors informed of progress and events. Apart from the obvious financial needs the biggest problem is finding people who have the expertise and time to run any fundraising scheme and my observations lead me to believe that is the main weakness. Fred & Dianne are full time running the centre and do not have the time for extra curiculam activities. Mobi like myself is a retired falang and our input is minimal in relation to the wider picture, we can only do so much without it taking over our lives.

What could be done would be to set up a fundraising committee to share the load equally and each member undertake a specific task this then would not be too onerous. I have suggested to Fred he consider an open day when the missions work could be publicised, I have contacts in the media and can help with this but I am not a marketing expert so again if they had a fundraising committee this is a task they could undertake. I am open to views and opinions on all or any of the above as it is only my humble thoughts which in no way degenerates from the sterling work Mobi has and is doing.

I hesitated to join this debate because I feared I would degenerate into a verbose attack against other countries. However, consider this, Israel has had a programme of expansion since its oriigin and seems to think that land that belonged to their kinfolk 2000 years ago should be theirs by right. Get real with that mind set. USA belongs to the Indians!!! They pursue there aims relentlessly.

Secondly the USA seem to think they have a god given right to tell the world how to conduct their affairs, really? what happened in New Orleans? you can put an army half way across the world but you cannot help fellow americans, why:? I accept this post will generate numerous pro american repies but its time guys faced reality and not EVERYONE in the world has a love for the good old USA.

Firstly I must apologise, being new to Thailand I have not yet grasped the geography, I live in Pattay and if you are strugling I would give your dog a home. As we say in UK a dog is not just for christams it is for life. We can give him/her (I refuse to say it!) a good home along with our Thai husky where you can be guarented a loving caring home. Anyways let me know.

Hi From what you say you are coming here to learn more skills and will not be earning therefore I would guess you would qualify for an Education Visa which takes the hastle out of it. I cant give you precise details but I know a lot of guys do this to come here and qualify as dive masters with diving clubs. If needed I could make some enquiries but Im sure somone else on the forum could elaborate.

I opened an account with the Bangkok Bank last year whislt on holiday with just my passport without any problems. I regulalrly transfered money from UK via swift and recently did the same from Pattaya by faxing the swift form to my uk bank again no problem. They also gave me a visa electron card with my name and signature on it.However it begs the question of why you think you need a bank account here if only staying one month? Some banks allow atm withdrawals abroad with no charges and given the current situation that would be more safe than transering a large some into Thailand! In my case I now live here and the money was for major purchases however, I access my pension every month via atm from my UK bank with no charges.

I opened an savings account with the Bangkok Bank in Pattaya just over a year ago when on holiday here and just needed my passport. I have transfered money from my UK bank using the swift forms with no problem most recently yesterday when I completed the form online, printed it and then faxed it to my uk bank along with copy of passport and driving licence and the transaction was completed same day. When I opened the account I did not even have an address as I was in a hotel but did not seem to be a problem. I understand a number of Thai banks offer the same service so I am not trying to push the one I use!