datcook

I have a friend, no it wasn't me, whose girlfriend after six weeks left and a couple of weeks later messaged him with a photograph of a tray of meat saying that this was his baby and she wanted B10000 for the abortion. Obvious that the meat in the photograph was not the result of an abortion and also he did not tell her at the time that he had had a vascectomy 2 years ago. when brought to notice never heard from girl again

Where was the Range safety Officer,

As a former Range Safety Officer with an Army unit  with students using anything from pistols, rifles, machine guns and even grenades safety was most paramount

Safety in Thailand - non existent

I have found that a water pistol filled with mineral turpentine to be most effective can be used at both ends but best results are achieved when deposited on rear end. A couple of squirts ensures that he gives you wide berth in the future. May taake a few lessons but will soon learn that you are not to be reckoned with.  555

I guess we will never know but why did the driver of the vios choose to go left when perhaps going right would have meant missing the Pajero or just cliopping it

My now  wife has now a "Permanent Resident" visa which is registered in her passport and in 22 trips to Thailand and back to Australia we have has no further problems

As I have said before and will say again it is about time that the authorities showed some guts and CRUSHED the seized vehicles. Until they do this the toll will continue to rise

How to stop the road toll

Only 17% pay fines. Easily fixed send debt collectors. no pay seize vehicles hold for say 30 days if not paid crush cars/motorcycles and make sure that the crushing is shown on national television. 

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago. Taxi Driver took off before I could retrieve backpack from Boot (trunk) of taxi. Contained some new Clothing, Book, souvenirs, keys (to house and safe in Australia), canon video camera and my International driving permit with name and (Australian) address on it. Total loss about  B100000. Taxi was photographed at a Toll point but no number could be identified. The authorities could Identify  me in Taxi  because of my distinctive white hair but could not identify the driver. Lesson learned - never place property in taxi boot (Trunk)

My wife  (Thai) and I have been going to Thailand from Aus on and off for the past 10 years. On one of our early visits we befriended a taxi driver and I can only heap praise on him for his excellent service. Before we leave Aus we call him and tell him what flight we are on and he has never failed to be at the airport to pick us up. He now knows the hotel in BKK where we stay and we don't even have to remind him where to go. We stay at the hotel overnight before returning to the airport for our onward flight to Khon Kaen, we arrange a pickup time from our hotel and he is always there at least 15 minutes before time. Of course I tip him well and this may be the reason for the excellent service, the tip I give may be a fortune to him but for me it is a just reward for his service

Do what I did - marry the daughter of a middle rank policeman get visit the "boss" of the large police station and discuss Certificate took 4 days

2 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

My experience was/is that as soon as Centrelink is informed that you have a partner/wife your pension will be reduced-in line with other posters experience on this subject.

 

I am about to apply for an "exemption" and will see what happens...

Please let me know by PM what happens

1 minute ago, bridge2bridge said:

But if you marry a Thai, and she is NOT an Australian Citizen then you DO NOT get a couple pension.

You only get a SINGLE pension.

I know this because i asked centrelink.

 

If this is correct then the Australian Government owes me many thousands of Dollars. Secondly do no believe what one person at centrelink  tells you. Go to 10 Centrelink offices and you will get 10 different answers 

14 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Not sure they would bother to send someone from Australia to Thailand to check up on my living arrangements.

They may not but you can be sure that there are many disgruntled expats that would only too happy to dob you in if they felt that they were being singled out for prosecution

8 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Not sure they would bother to send someone from Australia to Thailand to check up on my living arrangements.

Not only you but many expats living in Thailand

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

I don't know if this assists, but I have heard by many Ozzie Xpats here and there at waterholes that I have frequented over the years in Thailand, that if you are married to a Thai, your pension basically gets halved, suffice to say, I am happily married to a Thai since 2007, we are married in Australia and she has her citizenship, here in Thailand it was just a low key village ceremony and registered at the local Amphur, so I am told.

 

My plan before the OAP age is to offload some assets, so that I meet the asset test threshold, and divorce my lovely wife, say a couple of years beforehand, return and live in Australia for the 2 years prior to the OAP age and provide them with what they want, i.e. evidence of rent payments, lease, utility bills etc etc, my Mrs will fly in the same time as me, except a day later and will stay with me the whole time, she won't be on anything, won't be using her bank account, etc etc, and I won't know of her whereabouts as far as CentrLink are concerned, last I saw her was in Thailand, we divorced 2 years ago Mr/Ms CentreLink, go after someone else who hasn't contributed and is sponging off the system that my taxes of 39 years paid into.

 

This is providing the big fella up top says, yep, don't need you here yet, because if I am still breathing and able to fly to Oz by the age of 67.5 years or 70, I want a slice of the pie that I contributed too for 39 years, let's just leave at that, and I really do hope the others leave me some pie, but no skin off my nose if they drop the pension by then, or lift the age to 70, the once referred to term "the lucky country" has changed for the worse, anyways, I am living the dream here, slice of pie or not, plenty of Thai petite's to fill up my appetite when I crave it 555

Before you start offloading assets look very closely at just what your assets are and the assets threshold is, you may be surprised. it is now over $1000000 dollars and if you have this amount you probably would not need the pension

3 minutes ago, inThailand said:

A more fundamental question...why get married? It's common here not to get legally married?  

Marriage does not matter if you are in a relationship and your partner is not eligible for a pension of any sort you would only be allowed a "Single pensioner one partner eligible" rate. presently about $610 per fortnight against a full pension (in Australia) of approximately $870  per fortnight. BTW pension increases start today a whole $7 per fortnight don't spend it all at once

Take my word for it if you and your "carer"  are in a cohabitable sexual (LOL) relationship and Centrelink are able to show/prove that this situation exists they will reduce your OAP and if you claim that your "partner" is a "carer" they will insist that you apply for a "carers pension".  Having been in this situation and taking my claim to the top I have found that "You can't fight City Hall" and now I must be satisfied with the reduced pension 

It doesn't matter if you were married in Australia, Thailand or Timbuktoo, or if it was a legal marriage or a defacto relationship where the parties were living together, If you are married and you are eligible for an OAP and your other half is not eligible for any Centrelink payments you would be reduced from "Single Pensioner to Married pensioner one partner eligible" and a reduction of about $200 per fortnight. If you do not tell centrelink of your situation whether it be legal or defacto and they pay Single Pensioner rates and they subsequently gain knowledge of your relationship they will recoup any overpayment which could be consderable.

It would be interesting to know what the cost of these floods are to Thailand in regard to loss of crops, loss of homes, loss of life etc., against installing a adequate drainage system vented to the ocean or purpose built dams. From what I have observed the drainage system either does not exist or is grossly inadequate

It is reported here on both radio and television that the Royal Family have left Thailand and are now in London. Is there any truth in this report..

Maybe the government should subsidise the purchase of water tanks and the redirecting of some of the water that runs of buildings during rain into these tanks thereby placing less demand on the dam resources, just a thought

My wife and I will be going to Thailand (from Australia) in a couple of weeks time and returning in about six months. I will be travelling on an Australian and therefore do not expect to have any problems as I have been travelling back and forth to Thailand for the past 4 years. My wife however will be travelling on a Thai Passport with a permanent residence visa for Australia and in her Thai family name. Her Passport will expire while we are in Thailand and she will have to get a new Passport, that in itself will not cause any problems as she would present her past and present passports. Now the possible problems begin - we were thinking of getting her new Passport in her married name but do not know if this would present problems,

Any advise please