seeker108

I am happy they have introduced Mobile Service and Web-cam services, but do they intend telling anybody about them (or is it an in-house secret )?. If they have told us about them, then I must be very thick because I cannot find it or on a searching the Internet with a multitude of search options.

Maybe someone can enlighten us on what Visa can renewed, how documents are processed by Web-cam etc. etc. Maybe Sunbelt Asia, our sponsors, have some knowledge on the Web-cam extension renewal Services and options and are able to update us.

Sunbelt Asia in my opinion are doing a better job in keeping us Foreigners updated and informed than the Official Thailand Immigration Bureau is. Thank you Sunbelt Asia.

Regards

Dave

I also am not finding a link to this webcam service. I wonder how the first 19 found out about this. I also wonder if this is only available if your are residing in BKK or is it usable for those of us in CNX or how about those living way out in the country somewhere. This could be great for them.

Would be nice if someone could post a link to this or to where more info can be found.

Thanks

Seeker

The Bangkok Post link is connected to an article about alcohol consumption. Where is the original link? Would be nice for 90 day reporting service!!

until the link is repaired, once you get to the alcohol article change the last 6 in the URL (just before .php) to a 7 and the desired article will appear. But there is nothing more there than what has already been posted by George and gdhm above

Thanks Steve and keep up the good work with the web site.

Two worthwhile entiries in the veg friendly category in the Nimmanhemin area are Pasta Cafe on Soi 5 (high quality Italian restaurant with very reasonable prices and very nice ambiance). The other is on the small unnamed soi next to Hillside Condo 2. It has a sign out front saying organic vegetables. Though not 100% veg it caters mostly to vegetarians and has some of the best Thai vegetarian food in Thailand. Being organic is a rare bonus. The owner is a very nice lady and an excellent cook and she whips up dishes from scratch in record time, prepared exactly to your requirements. Prices are extremely reasonable. The only downside is that there is no real ambiance and you often get the cooking fumes blowing into the sitting area. Still, because of the food quality it is my most frequented restaurant.

Hi Steve,

Never had floaters but about 5 or 6 years back both my reading and distance vision started going way off. Both yoga and ayurveda recommend certain eye exercises for various eye problems. I practiced (in my typically lazy and irregular fashion) these exercises for a couple of months and during that time both types of vision came back to normal and I have had no problem since. From what I recall, it involved rolling the eyes and looking up and down and side to side without moving the head. I am sure the instructions were more detailed, but the details are out of memory now. However, I would suspect that some internet research may yield what you need.

Ayurveda also has a whole range of treatments for the eyes using oils and/or herbs. There are now a number of spas and even supposed clinics in Chiang Mai claiming to offer ayurvedic treatments. Most of these I know have no knowledge of ayurveda. The others I can not attest to the depth or breadth of their knowledge, but may have something. I am hoping to soon see a real, full-fledged ayurvedic clinic in Chiang Mai but in the mean time see what you can find either here or through researching the internet.

Cheers

Seeker

Out of all the Italian restaurants I have visited in the entire world, Pum Pui (by Top North Guest House) is my favourite yet.

Pom Pui used to be my favorite Italian restaurant in CM, but I now prefer Pasta Cafe on Nimannheimin soi 5. A lot of great Italian dishes to chose from and the prices are more reasonable (even though they recently raised prices a little). For me the quality at Pom Pui seems to have slipped whereas Pasta Cafe seems to compare with some of the best Italian food I have eaten in various parts of the world (and I grew up in a very Italian neighborhood in NY and have lived extensively in Europe). Also with the ambiance you would expect to be paying 3 times what they are charging.

I also like the pizza at both Duke's and "Mr. Chan and Miss Pauline's" (on Huay Kaew between Nimannheimin and Canal Rd., north side of the street).

And at this same chemical shop (Northern Chemical 053 223-866(7)) you can buy bulk borax (good laundry additive), boric acid (fantastic natural cockroach eliminator) diatamacious earth (a natural sand that repels ants) and about any other chemical or mineral that you could desire.

seeker

I bought a kilo of caustic soda at the chemical supply place on super highway near rincome a couple of months back for the price of the tiny packs you can get in retail shops. Worked great for hair in the upstairs tub drain. email or pm me and will be happy to let u have what u need

Has anyone had any experience with this particular dentist?

Normally I use Grace Dental Clinic for most needs, but the orthodontist there (who also is the orthodontist at Dentaland and CM Dental Hospital) does not yet feel completely comfortable with the "Damon" system of braces.

Dr. Waiyawut of Family Dental Care Clinic ( a small one-man clinic near Wat Phra Singh), on the other hand, seems quite comfortable and experienced with this system (and seems to be about 25% less than Grace and the others for this particular procedure though comparable on other procedures that I asked about).

My only concern is that the two times I visited his office there were no patients. Hence my posting here to see if anyone knows anything about him or the quality of his work. He seems quite bright and knowlegeable and I get the feeling that his lack of patients may be more because he has not done much in the way of marketing himself.

Thanks for any feedback.

Seeker

Heading up today and looking forward to a stop at the Charin Resort for some apple pie. Though Gonzo's "cherry pie" sounded interesting.

Never have stopped there before, but as far as I can tell MM and Gonzo are jesting about the special "pie shop" aspect of the place. Or maybe there is some other "pie shop" in Mae Sai that they are referring to?

Looks like I am going some time this morning. Just looked at the last entry stamp and noticed it expires today and not the 29th that I had been thinking.

OK, I have one possible passenger. No one else need/want to go to Mae Sai on June 28 or 29?

Seeker

Any takers? I will drive up and back same day. I don't plan to spend any time at the border, just cross the border to get my new entry stamp. That pie shop mentioned in the last thread looks tempting however and worth a quick stop.

PM or email me if interested.

Seeker

I just had a nice experience at the main restaurant at the Duangtawan Hotel. I called and spoke with a manager there by the name of Dechar asked what the price of the buffet was for the salad bar only and he said 100 baht ++ (as compared to 190 ++ for the whole buffet). This, BTW, is a fairly common practice at the nicer hotels to have a lesser price for salad bar buffet only and some of them have an impressive selection on the salad table. I used to eat dinner regularly like this at the Novotel in BKK for 150 baht ++ (- 30% for using AmEx card) and they had incredible improted cheeses and salmon salads and capers and asparagus and avocadoes and artichokes, very nice breads, etc., etc. I don't think they offer this now, but other hotels in BKK still do.

Anyway back to the Duangtawan. The manager seemed to have made this price on the spur of the moment when I asked and it may not be a policy set in stone there, so check in advance of going yourself (053 905-000). This month they are promoting mexican food and many (all?) of these items were on the salad table. They had a group of 300 that day before we got there, so things were somewhat wiped out and the staff was beat, but they made the effort to accomodate us. The mexican fare that we got was pretty good and they even brought us some Indian samosas as a bonus as the mexican food was mostly gone. All in all we ended up full and satisfied for less than 125 baht each incl tax and service charge and bottled water. Needless to say, I left a generous tip as well.

International lunch buffet M- Sa and Japanese lunch buffet Sunday. They also have Japanese dinner buffet 2 or 3 nights per week, but can't remember which nights.

I will go again soon as I want to try the cheese quesadillas that I missed and will report how it was again. As a side note, I must say that I was unimpressed by the looks of what I saw of the dishes on the hot food table. It all looked somewhat mass produced but that may have been because of the large group that day. The salad and Mexican items seemed to have gotten better attention.

Seeker

Interesting to see this question here at this time.

Yesterday I finally gave in after 15 years of requests from my mother to have a colonoscopy done. My father died from colon cancer 16 years ago.

Anyway here is the point. I was able to confirm what I always suspected that the mumo-jumbo you hear from the people who recommend colonics about cleaning out years of impacted crud on your colon walls is pure fabrication. I asked the doctor performing the procedure this exact question and that was his response. He has seen the inside of more than 1,000 colons and says they all show the same non-impacted picture that mine showed (fascinating to watch the whole journey on the TV while it is happening - like right out of "Fantastic Voyage"). The colon is quite self-cleansing. This is not to say there is no value in something like the herbal procedures used in say Ayurveda to cleanse toxins from the body in general and then flush them out from the intestines with a gentle basti (something like an enema).

Also the doc debunked things like cofee enema detox. The rationale with that is usually also that you need something strong to cut through the crud. Nonsense - no crud to cut through. Simple Ayurvedic or yogic cleansing will do the trick. If anyone can suggest some other reason for having a colonic, I'd love to hear it.

Seeker

Then I phoned a few friends in Ireland and England.............got through no problem and great reception.The calls, acording to Skype work out about less than 2 cents but I don't understand why I was charged $2 something for 11 minutes of calls.

Anyway my question is, is Skype known for overcharging or did I miss something?

Been using Skype for 1 year and never heard of them overcharging. Calls to mobile #s or special numbers (certain strange UK "toll-free" #s) can be quite a bit more than the 2 cent rate). You need to go to their rate page and look for the rate to the exchange you called. You can also go to your account page and look at your call list and you will see exactly what they billed you for each call.

Have fun. I really enjoy Skype and use it all the time. You can also call toll-free #s in USA and normal toll-free #s in UK for free which is very handy when contacting airlines, for example.

Seeker

. A friend of mine had 650,000 Baht stolen from his house along with the safe it was in. He had only put it there a few hours earlier and just popped out, when he got back it was gone!

Sad indeed, that was the best part of his profit for the year.he had so much cash as he gets paid in foreign currency and had just had it converted to Baht and was about to take it to the bank that afternoon.

B@stards

TP

my first thought: the money changer had an accomplice follow you home, or someone 'hanging around' the bank watching for people withdrawing/changing large sums of cash.

my second thought: a relative of the missus

Regarding your first thought......he recieved the money in Pattya and brought it to CM

With the amount of money involved, a pro would not balk at following him, even all the way to CM whether by car, bus, train or plane. I don't know the details and am not saying that this is what happened in this case, but it is definitely a possibility. A Thai friend lost 45,000 baht in this way a few years back (still in the same city however) . The pro just followed her from the exchange shop until she let her guard down before she got to the bank. She foolishly stopped at an internet cafe before the bank and her bag was simply gone when she was not focused on it for just 1 minute. Very risky, changing money and then carrying the cash. As implied above this is SOP at these exchange places. One must assume when changing large sums at these places (and even at banks) that it is noticed by someone who would like to have that cash.

To MM, my condolences. I'll certainly keep an eye out for the jacket and call you if I spot it. I've programmed your number into my phone.

It may be that you have finally been billed for all of the 1222 calls that you have made since 1/1. I had something similar once with international charges where there was nothing for months and then they all came in on one bill.

Not sure, but one possibility.

Bought a 2nd hand Panasonic from what seemed an honest shop in Delhi. Nice shop owner explained features and checked everything while I was there and told me he knew the history as he had sold it originally to first owner. This phone has been thru interesting conditions all over India and Thailand and still going strong - after 5 years! I guess my point is that if you are willing to take the time to find an honest vendor and check the phone carefully then you have a good chance of getting good bang for your baht. If you don't have the time and inclination to take these precautions, then buy new. I also now have a Siemens that I bought on the 3rd floor of Kad Suan Kaew a few months back which has served me well so far.

DTAC has a similar buffet plan (5 AM to 5 PM) but 100 baht less than AIS's plan.

You should be aware that many restaurants, (especially overseas,) have a policy of charging a "Service Charge", which has the effect of substantially reducing the amount of tips being left by customers. Some pass this on to their staff, however the majority do not, and the proprietors simply pocket the extra income.

I personally believe this practice should be banned unless the staff receive every penny.

Learn something new every day. I always figured the service charge went 100% to the staff and was just a way of ensuring that everyone left at least some minimal tip. Though I never really liked the policy as I felt tipping was your way of showing appreciation of good service. On rare occasions with really bad service I have left nada, but on occasion I have left as much as 50% with excellent service and a very reasonable meal price.

I will carefully investigate this in the future and shun any restaurant that does not give at least 90% to the staff (and they better have a good reason if they are keeping any part of the tip). I guess the exception would be if they are paying very high salaries and in a sense the service charge is helping to cover the extra salary.

Back to the initial topic. I am very interested to see this thread as I suddenly lost 2 secretaries and a maid for various strange reasons. The curious thing was that despite having been very responsible employees and well treated these 3 simply did not show up one day without the curtesy of any notice whatsoever (without knowledge of anyone previously doing this with me). And in each case they knew this would greatly inconvenience me. I think they would almost never do this to a Thai employer who had treated them very well (at least the secretaries). Anyway in interviewing more than 50 applicants by now, in every case, if they were currently employed, they always said that they would need to give at least 2 weeks notice and in one case 2 months notice. This was even in cases where the salary, benefits and work environment were better from me and they seemed to really want the job and knew they would probably lose the chance if they did not jump on it right away.

I have had many strange non-related events lately and I am chalking them all up to some unusual cycle of karma at this time. Even so the abrupt departures were a bit of a shock.

I am greatly heartened by P1P's experience as I have 3 out-of-town applicants coming soon.

Seeker

Thanks gents.

I guess one option is to forget about a work permit for myself (through my own business anyway). My main purpose is to own a business and have others work for me and be able to get 1 year extensions based on business.

The upside of the WP however is getting into the social security system with free medical treatments at almost any hospital of your choice. Good if something serious happens.

Hard to do a consulting business though, if I can't do the consulting. I'll have to mull all of this over.

I am hoping to get a non-imm B visa (or O if B is too difficult) for a Japanese friend of mine coming to join me here and was wondering if anyone has worked with any honorary consulates in Japan and if they, like their counterparts in UK or USA, are more liberal in their interpretation of requirements.

In USA and UK it is very automatic now to be able to get a non-imm B with just a letter of intent on your own letterhead thru an honorary consulate. I am hoping it may be the same in Japan thru an honorary consulate. Anyone hear or experience anything themselves with the honorary consulates in Japan?

I seem to recall from something you said earlier that there was at least one advantage that CM had over BKK, but can not recall just now what that was. Can you refresh my memory on that point.

It was about Vat required to get a work permit but that advantage has changed. IN CM they require the company to be in the VAT system now so now no advantage except in CM the work permit takes a month to obtain and in Bangkok, its 10 days unless your company qualifies for the 1 stop center, then its 1 day.

www.lawyer.th.com

Hi Greg, I was just glancing at this thread again when I spotted this comment of yours about the VAT registration. As a small company with an expected income of less than 1 million baht per month (I believe that is the threshold figure or is it per year?) I was hoping to avoid VAT registration and the need to charge my clients VAT. However it sounds like I will need that VAT registration in order to get a work permit. Can you think of anyway to avoid the VAT registration for my company but still get a work permit so that I can get my 1 year extension based on business?

Seeker108

You can either make a 3 or 4 day booking first then after you get here can either extend or shift to somewhere else or just make the booking for whole time in one central hotel and then enjoy visiting places in all directions. I would probably do the latter myself.

Aha now I get it

And now God capping of Songkran BIGTIME!

Huge storm just hitting Mae Rim right now and looks like all od Thailand getting it.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/busi...6hour_map_large

Hi Jai Dee,

Since shopping is one of your main programs here you should plan on spending a few hours of your first afternoon/evening at the Sunday walking market. Hundreds of local producers from all over, including San kamphaeng, Ban Tawai, Hang Dong, etc. are displaying and selling there. Best way to see in one place most handicrafts offered in the area.

For a nice Hotel, I think one of the best values is the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew, especially their deluxe rooms which are more like a mini suite (your missus will like the rose petals strewn on the bed).

It is well located being connected to the Kad Suan Kaew shopping Mall on Huay Kaew Rd, quite close to the old city, near the NW corner of the moat. If you want, PM me and I can help get you a discounted rate at this or about any hotel in Chiang Mai. Here, including tax, service and free breakfast, the cost will be around 850 baht per night for the superior and a bit over 1,000 for the deluxe. Really nice olympic pool as well up on the seventh floor.

There are other nice hotels in other parts of town. All depends on where you want to be.

Look forward to seeing you.

Seeker