thomas3940

Mouse is correct,Ive lived in Pattaya for 12 years with my Korat wife.The majority of girls in Pattaya and Bangkok are from Korat,Surin and Buriram.There is a bar at KS Pavillion Hotel,in the car park,not far from The Mall Shopping Centre,the drinks and food are reasonably priced and they have a live band.

Polar Bears? Brit's? The name seems more Canuck than British?

try fishing in Rayong

You forgot bring a blank envelope for other fees

Just in case some of you are unaware of the etiquette required when visiting the Pattaya Immigration Office in Jomtien, all is explained below:

Three chaiyos to the Immigration Department

Dear Sirs,

This is in response to widespread whining from expats who visit the Pattaya (Jomtien) Immigration Department.

First, three chaiyos to the Immigration Department for the very courteous and professional treatment of me on my 4 August visit. Simply great.

Now, for the whiners, here are some tips based on my own experience of 15 years in Thailand and some observations of other Farangs’ behavior.

1. Visit the Immigration Department a few days in advance to pick up the right forms and to verify exactly what is required. Fill the forms out at home in advance.

2. When visiting the Immigration Department, wear a suit: if you don’t have one go get one. Don’t show up in shorts, a ragged tee-shirt, and retread flip-flops.

3. Shower and shave before you arrive. Don’t drink before arriving. Use breath mints. Bring originals of all documents and countersign copies in blue ink. Use a briefcase, not a plastic bag, for your documents.

4. Upon arrival at the Immigration Department, wai everyone in uniform. Speak softly and politely. Remember the magic of “Please” and “Thank you”.

5. When tendering your documents or fee payment, use the traditional Thai polite way of preferring documents by offerings the documents in the right hand while the left hand supports the right forearm.

6. If a problem arises, don’t make demands for a supervisor or a favor. Much better to say something like, “Oh well, I might have made a mistake. Can you please tell me what we can do about this?”

I hope the above will be helpful. Keep in mind “Khaam dii pai, Khaam dii maa.” What goes around comes around. Truer words never spoken.

Sincerely,

Arthur Lee Gordon

Pattaya

I must make a point of taking my camera along next visit, on the chance of getting a snap of this clown in action.

Him performing as per his advice in points 4. and 5. should be entertaining...

Source: Pattaya Mail Letters

You may wish to get BUPA or Blue Cross prior to going in? Charges seem to change from day to day!

You will find the Thai Embassy in Australia to be very helpful too you! As you are a parent of 3 Thai Nationals and your wishing to have them keep there Thai heritage you will see the Thai will be most helpful! Make sure you have good health insurance for yourself and the kids and hire an English speaking nanny that can also be a tutor.

"Life is Easy. Why do we make it so hard?"

Published: 8/29/2005

“Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard?”

Jon Jandai

To be given life is the ultimate gift. When we are first born we have the right to cry or laugh. When we grow up we have the freedom to choose the way we want to be. Humans were born with rights equal to every other living thing but because of our unlimited desire human life is often of less quality than most other animals.

A small bird wakes up early in the morning singing a song waking the other birds, merrily looking for food, spending a short time to get all the bugs and grain she needs to fill her small stomach, then spending the rest of her time playing, singing, and courting. She spends a few days to build her beautiful nest. She doesn’t work too much to get the food she needs everyday. Her life is easy. She has a lot of time to play and enjoy living together with the other birds.

Humans have small stomachs as birds do. Just to have enough to eat we too do not have to work a lot in one day. If we want to build a house, we can build one in a few weeks. We can then have a lot of free-time in our life to play and enjoy life together as well. Now days people choose to work very hard, at least 8 hours per day. They work like machines just to have some food to eat even though the food they eat is not good quality. They eat the old plants and animals that have been dead many months in a can or in frozen packages. They have to live in a crowded house like a termite. If they want their own house they have to spend at least one half of their life or maybe all of their life to work for that house. Life is busy and hectic all the time.

We can see only complications with no space for beauty and freedom. We create suffering for ourselves because we don’t know the purpose of life. We are blinded and our soul turns to darkness. We can’t see beauty. We can’t enjoy living. We have only fear growing in our minds everyday. We begin to distrust other people. We cannot be friends with others around us, even relatives or family members. Our lives are lonely, even though the world is full of people. Even though we have a lot of material goods and wealth we still feel like it’s not enough. Even thought other people give us love, we still don’t trust them. We are even disturbed by the rooster’s morning call and we’re proud to say in the middle of this confusion and suffering that this is development and we are civilized.

Why do humans choose to live their life in a difficult and complicated life like this? What do we receive from our hard work all our life? Why is the simple and peaceful way not attractive to people? Life is easy, why do we make it hard?

If we think we are the most clever animal in the world, why do we make our life full of bitterness and suffering more than any other animal? Why do we have to work harder than other animals? Why do we make our lives so boring? Why don’t we have time for our kids and family or even time for ourselves? These are the instincts of all life. In 24 hours we spend more than 10 hours struggling with what we call work or said nicely, “making a living”. We spend on average less than 8 hours sleeping and 2.5 hours a day eating, maybe .5-1 hour bathing/dressing. This leaves 3 hours left for ourselves and our family in our day. Mostly we spend this time intoxicating ourselves with entertainment such as drinking, going to parties, shopping, watching movies or watching TV. Even on our day off we love to spend the time on entertainment. We don’t see the importance of spending time with family or ourselves because we think we don’t have time. So we are not different from machines or robots because we have lost our heart and soul.

Our kids are like our pets. We take care of them enough to feed them and keep them safe but we neglect to think about their mind and soul. Kids want to be loved and cared for and to feel close to their parents but we think it’s a burden so we push them away by sending them to pre-school. Then we appease ourselves by telling ourselves we’ve done the best by them by giving them good food and expensive schooling so we can have more time to give to working and we can tell ourselves that we work for our kids. But we don’t know if the kids want what we give them or not. We assume we have given the best to them. If the kids know how to compare, they must be jealous of other animals like ducks seeing their whole family playing and looking for food together. But to be born as a human kid is so lonely. They become orphaned even though they have parents. They spend more time with strangers than their parents.

We are losing our instincts. We are destroying the system of life which our ancestors developed and lived successfully with for many thousands of years. Now we become the only animals that work this hard. Even in the past people didn’t work as hard or long as they do now except slaves and prisoners. What made people see slavery as progress or development? What is the reason people choose to live like this? Life is easy, why do we choose to make it so hard and complicated? What makes us think life has no choice when in fact we have a lot of choice?

Food for thought.... Austhaied

Chiangrai has 2 spectacular Golf courses and it's only a 1 hour and 15 minute flight out of Bangkok

It's not hot like Pattaya and it's Green,green,green. Surrounded by beautiful mountain and trees.

It's a heck of a lot cheaper too!

My friend purchased one, parts can be difficult to order! He had to wait 2 weeks for 1 part

I have been to Pattaya many times and I'm still miffed on the Taxi cab thing? Why no air conditioned cabs, they don't even have many tuk-tuks. I have heard mafia and other colorful stories?

What's the real beef here! Sometimes it's darn hot and there is many senior citizens in Pattaya, wouldn't a nice air-conditioned taxi be nice.

How can a taxi cab service get started as I'm sure the Thai would like the work opportunity?

Did I say Mafia

Sounds like Farang copying Thai? 2 Expat's Clubs or possibly some lads can't play good in the sand box together? I'm starting my own club boo hoo!

The pattaya City Expats Club which meets at Henry J beans at the north end of Beach road every Sunday morning is the best club. The other club which meets on the same day at the Grand Sole Hotel on 2nd road is more commercialized and not that personal.

Barry

Do they have any regulations here in Thailand?

Very sad and condolences to her family if she has drowned as seems most likely...Shenaz Kapoor sounds like a great person. Hope this story of her generosity and social concern may help to break down some of the stereotyping of Muslims which seems to predominate on TV posts.

It is a sad story.

One wonders if regulations in the rafting industry do not need to be tightened up a little.

This woman seemed to be a kind woman, I agree, although --to be fair-- one might say that it is easier to be generous when you have a million in your pocket than when you don't! However, to her credit, she did help out!

I hope someone finds her alive, but the odds are poor.

It is indeed good news to hear that she was a muslim woman. It shows once again that skin colour or faith does not make you a bad or good person. Seeing the world in black and white usually is the issue, however.

PS: I never got pocket money when I was 22 from my parents and I was not able to go to Thailand for a year.