Bredbury Blue

People often go on about the Koel being annoying, the noisiest bird, but personally i love their sound - the sound of Southeast Asia for me. I get Koels in my garden, but the noisiest (not in decibels but persistence) for me is the common tailorbird, they never shut up morning till night.

No feedback on the health package, but the wife and I between us have had 3 surgeries in recent years at Bangkok Christian and it's a very decent hospital with excellent doctors.

I very much doubt that text about approving/signing by Employer would be seen by the Labour court as a reason not to accept your resignation so long as you gave your notice to them as stated in the contract; it's more of their administrative reason than a legal requirement. Not a nice situation to be in when your employer is difficult or threatening. If they continue to be difficult, and as you are leaving anyway, the best thing to do is advise them if they continue to be obstructive, you will go to the labour department and file a complaint against them. My experience of the labour department when I filed a complaint is that they are very pro-employee. In my case I went to file my complaint at an office which was on Rama 4 near Hualampong (don't know if its still there). My wife explained in thai my complaint (I possibly showed them my contract). I had to file a statement on a form (the official dictated to my wife in thai what to write and my wife wrote for me). I got my day in court a few months later (success).

Could you post the actual clause in YOUR contract. I'm sure it won't stand up to scrutiny. They have a clause where my notice needs to be approved by them

Bet it was hopping around and not flying.

After seeing the bird above, we drove to the Thai-Cambodian border, and just past Thailand’s narrowest point, where there's a mountain range/jungle one side of the road and the coast on the other, had a pair of toucans fly right in front of the car. Made my day! In my 4th decade here, been to many national parks, and NEVER seen toucans before. The wife (thai) had also never seen before.

Poor picture i know, but is it Indochinese roller or Indian roller. Beautiful blue under it's wings in flight. Banchuen beach, Trat.

Never obtained reentry permit at Swampy. Can you remind where exactly is the airport desk(s)?

Had the same problem in 2006. Foreign company I worked for terminated me on the spot (took them to the labour court and won compensation). I therefore had to quickly transition from their WP/Non-O to a Non-O (support thai wife). As it was complicated I used a law firm (friend's firm). Worked well, so if you can afford it employ the services of a lawyer. Costs, but takes the stress out of it and will be done properly.

Question for anyone: Can he only apply for re-entry at CW or at the airport, or can he apply at any Imm office (like Samut Prakarn, which is quieter that CW)?

See my response to Britmantoo.

I received a letter from the pensions lot telling me exactly how much to pay for each year with a gap. The years were from 2008 to 2023. Each year paid counts as one of your 35 years. It wasn't alot to pay so I paid it. It was very easy, the only problem is, with the 05 April 2025 deadline, the NIC/Pensions offices are swamped and can't cope.

Another storm in a teacup. I must have been here too long as I'm always referring to other whities as farlang.

Interesting development. Until recently my NIC page on the HRMC website, showed (i) i had 16 years of gaps, showed (ii) my "Current estimate based on NI record up to 5 April 2024" and (ii) "Forecast if your contribute NI until 5 April 2025" pension amounts i would receive were £30.10 and £23.87 respectively less than the the full new State Pension amount for 2024. The backdated payment for those 16 years of gaps i made in January 2025 (for the cheaper Class 2 contributions) still hasn't been credited to my account according to the website, but, the website today now shows: (i) that 4 of those 16 years that were gaps are now full years, (ii) my "Current estimate based on NI record up to 5 April 2024" is now only £5.11 less than the the full new State Pension amount, and, (iii) my "Forecast if your contribute another year before 5 April 2025" is now showing the full new State Pension amount - very confusing! It could be that the payment i made for 16 years Class 2 has been credited to the 4 years at Class 3, but that does work as the amount i paid would be insufficient to pay 4 years at Class 3. Looks like i'll have to do another call to Future Pension Centre (+44 191 218 3600).

I did. I received a State Pension statement letter from PT Operations North East England, BXG 1AN, UK in Sept 2024 which itemised the 'Class 2 NICs shortfall rates' i should pay for the 16 years of gaps. I paid that amount in January. When i phoned +44 191 218 3600 and spoke to a lady in Glasgow in February, i gave her the letter reference, explained the total amount for the exact 16 year period.

Then I meant the other way round (i.e. website says pay Class 3 but on enquiring i was informed to pay the cheaper Class 2). Thanks for the correction.

Then you should love Ayutthaya. An hour away is the giant Buddha at wat muang in Ang Thong.

I'm in a similar situation the OP. I've lived overseas for some time and paid annual voluntary contributions, and I received a letter saying I'd paid enough to receive full pension, so i stopped paying NIC annually. Then unknown to me they brought in the new state pension, and a year ago a friend tipped me off about the deadline for paying backdated NIC by 05 April 2025. I got myself a HRMC website account which showed under the new pension system I would fall short of full pension but could pay a lot of money to backpay the more expensive (class 2?) NICs to catchup to get full pension. I commenced writing to the Pensions dept in June 2024 and sent the necessary form to enquire how much to pay (as i wasn't convinced by the amounts the website said i had to pay, seemed too much) and after sending 3 letters (twice I sent the form) I finally received a letter late 2024 informing how much to pay for each year for the cheaper NICs (class 3?) as backdated payment to receive full pension. So I was right, the website says I have to pay the expensive class 2 but on checking was told I could pay the cheaper class 3. In January 2025 I made a payment for the cheaper class 3 amount ( from mu Uk bank account to their bank account) for the outstanding years between 2006 and April 2025. There is an explanation online of the banking reference you have to create when making the payment so they know it's from you. February 2025 having heard nothing I called. 30 minutes wait, put through to a lady in Glasgow. She confirmed she could see the amount I paid and the relevant people would be in touch soon. Having heard nothing I filled a form in online in March 2025. Form says 10 days for reply. No reply. End of March did the 'call back form' before 05 April deadline date, required to ensure catch-up payments before 2019 can be paid. No reply yet. My HRMC online account for NIC shows the same as it has for the past year (that I have alot of unpaid years at the expensive class 2), but my Pension page online since 05 April now shows my estimate and forecast pension have increased alot compared to the amount before 05 April, so I'm hopeful I've almost sorted out my pension problem, but i can't be sure. I will probably call them again in a week or 2 to check out the true situation with my NIC, my payment and my pension amount. It's not easy is it!

I agree with you on Si Satchanalai. Been a couple of times over the years. Hire a bicycle outside the park for pennies, ride around visiting the ruins, every time I've been I've been one of the few people visiting (just the way I like it). Really great place. Once stayed at the Sukhothai airport hotel (really nice) which is about half way between Sukhothai and Si Satch and a great place for visiting both places.

If you don't have an interest in old wats / historical ruins then this is not the place for you. We do, and had a great 3 nights here. Stayed at Baan Khung Thara Ayutthaya บ้านคุ้งธารา อยุธยา on the river bank in one of their bungalows, nice place, nice people, quiet, had 3 real good restaurants within 5 minutes walk, and would definitely return. You could also stay longer in Ayutthaya by using it as a base to visit the towns in the hour in a 90 minute radius after seeing the sights in Ayutthaya. Personally, I loved it in Ayutthaya.

My experience is, in your early years here in Thailand you find the term farlang offensive, but after you've been here a while, and particularly if you have Thai spouse, Thai friends and Thai family, you no longer find it offensive and it feels natural to use the word farlang yourself.

And on maybe on your 5th annual renewal you should get more benefits for passing a spoken Thai language test...like do bi-annual renewals and not annual, na

I checked online and it was a huge sum for unpaid years at class 3. I'd been paying class 2 over the years I've been working here, so I wrote to them, not mentioning what it says online, and as i expected with working in Thailand, they wrote back quoting a very reasonable amount at class 2. I would therefore recommend the OP writing (or calling) to get an assessment, as the website assessment seems to assess on the basis of working in the UK, and act quickly as there is a 5 April 2025 cut off date for backpaying some of the earlier years.

So how has your thai progressed in the 6 months. Presumably you are now married (congrats if you are) so how did your speech go? Interested to know as a fellow student of thai.

Enjoying sitting in the garden and using the App to work out the bird sounds I hear so often but don't know which bird is singing it. Pleased to work out one sound I hear frequently is the coppersmith barbet. Must make the most monotonous call of all birds, as described by wiki The call is a loud rather metallic tuk…tuk…tuk (or tunk), reminiscent of a copper sheet being beaten, giving the bird its name. Repeated monotonously for long periods, starting with a subdued tuk and building up to an even volume and tempo, the latter varying from 108 to 121 per minute and can continue with as many as 204 notes.