matseng

I usually drink bottled water, but if I'm out of them and don't care like popping down to the local corner store I drink tap water as is, and also make tea/coffee with it. No problems so far. I did the same thing when I lived in Dubai - and there I had friends that was so scared of the tap water they didn't even use it to boil potatoes or steam vegs. :-)

My point is that there is a huge lack of qualified software engineers in Thailand - can you point to any internationally known and used Thai developed software?

There might be a lack of qualified Thai sw engineers, but "point to any internationally known and used XYZ-country developed software" can be said about most countries.

Point to to some French, Hungarian, South African, Norwegian, Indonesian, Russian softwares that are well known internationally as in use worldwide. Without digging really deep you'll probably have a hard time coming up with any decent finds....

And I'm sure a Thai would work for less money than that.

Yea, they do. I recently hired a decent Thai PHP programmer and his asking salary was 35 000 which I happily accepted after interviewing him for an hour. Unfortunately his English isn't too good so I had to use an interpreter :-(

I say the same as Estrada. I've probably flown into Swampy or Don Mueang 50 times the last couple of years and used the "Visa Exempt" and I've never had any return ticket and I've only been asked a handful of times how long I planned to stay - they've never asked about return tickets or proof of income or how much cash I have.

The last 6 months I had a non-imm B visa, and when I travel with my wife we sometimes gets the question why she doesn't have a proper visa when I have it.

You apply for a business visa and a one year extension. The extension can be done by an agent without even needing to visit immigration. Once you pay the approximately US$400 price, you just move in and out of Cambodia as you please until it is time to get the next one year extension. No one cares whether you are working or not.

Hmmm... Isn't this a visa that is well into the dark zone of legality? From what I read and remember from reading so was this commonplace a bit back, but nowadays the govt have cracked down onto these "not kosher/fake" business visas. But maybe I remember it wrong, or maybe it was about another country.

Not wishing to sound Islamaphobic but both Malaysia and the Philipines are both quite hard core Isalmic states are they not ? Would you be very comfortable having to observe all their laws ? Limited booze, no bacon butties etc, and now some hardliners are slating smoking as being un-Islamic 'cos it harms the body.

Before I moved to Dubai back in 2006 I had the same feelings - but today I frankly don't care whether I live in a Islamic country or not, or whether my neighbors are Muslims or Buddhists or Christian.

In Dubai (which is the most western and least "hardcore" Islamic of the 7 emirates in UAE) all restaurants was closed daytime during Ramadan, you would get fined or put in jail if you even drank water inside your own car. But they had pork in the non-halal sections of almost all supermakets and all higher-end hotels had bars and nightclubs with plenty of booze.

In all of Malaysia (except a few stricter states in the north-east) you don't even notice that it is Ramadan except for all decorations in the stores and that all restaurants gets completely jam packed after sunset when the muslims is breaking the fast. Daytime all restaurants are open as usual, non-muslims are completely free to eat drink and smoke in front of muslims. I was almost disappointed because the nightly parties during Ramadan in Dubai was really nice.

Here in Malaysia most supermarkets, both small run mostly by Indians/Pakistani guys and the bigger like Tesco and Carrefour have both liquor and pork and many restaurants serve pork as well. Bigger shopping mall have plenty of bars and nightclubs.

So unless you actively seek to find problems with living in a Islamic country like Malaysia you can be perfectly happy here.

And the Philippines are a predominantly Catholic country I believe - at least in the northern areas.

...continued... But the main reason of selecting Malaysia was that back in 2009 when my stint in Dubai was over my wife and I wanted to just relax in SE Asia for a few years, so we looked into all available options for staying for a longer period legally.

At that time the only places with a longer term visa (or a relatively hassle-free 1 year visa) in the region ended up being Malaysia and Philippines. We ended up with Malaysia because the better visa option, better food and fewer typhoons.

I've got a Thai WP and a non-imm B, and also a MM2H. The last two years I've spent my time 50/50 between KL and BKK, before that I stayed for 4 years in KL.

I'm not sure what complaints about the MM2H you've heard, but for me it was an easy choice, and I encountered no issues during the application. It was just a simple form and a cover letter, then a wait for 2-3 month while they "processed" it. When I got the approval I had to deposit 300 000 Ringgits (about 3 million Baht) into a fixed deposit account on lien, get a medical exam and insurance. Done and done.

I didn't care about the perks like importing a car tax free or getting a maid with less red tape.

Penang is a really nice place, the tech/it community is growing there, but KL is of course a better place for IT, and there are some nice beaches - something that is hard to find on the west coast of peninsular Malaysia.

My wife and I are toying with the idea of moving up from KL into a smaller house in Penang since we like a change of scenery and now when living partly in BKK we don't need a 3000 sq.ft house.

If we compare Malaysia and Thailand in general we both enjoy Malaysia more. But we're married middle aged, so we don't really care about the availability (or lack thereof) of cheap booze and prostitutes. What we do enjoy is that almost everyone in the cities, even oooold people, speaks good english. In the countryside they usually know enough to have a simple conversation. People in Malaysia are generally more friendly and don't try to cheat you all the time - no "thainess" here :-)

What is all this talk about a serious breach of the data protection laws? A serious breach would be if someone got the wrong passport completely.

Heh... This (kinda) happened to me at the Swedish embassy in BKK about a year ago.

I applied for a new passport and about 10 days later I got a text saying that my passport was ready so I wen over to the embassy gave my old passport to the Thai clerk at one counter and said that I was here to pick up my new passport, she told me to sit down and wait until called.

Some minutes later a Swedish guy at the other counter called me over and asked me to sign the new passport while he voided my old passport by punching a hole in it. Just as I put the pen to the paper I had a peek at the photo in the passport and I though, "shit, I look really fat in this picture". Then I realized that it was not me, some other Swedish bloke also named Mats, but with Ericsson instead of Engstrom as surname.

Apparently the Thai lady thinks that all farangs looks the same and Engstrom / Ericsson is same-same.

So I was stranded in Bangkok for another 10 days without a valid passport before my real passport arrived. I was offered an emergency passport and also for me real passport to be sent to Kuala Lumpur which is my real home city nowdays, but I declined. Using an emergency passport seemed like more hassle than the non-refundable 3000 baht ticket I already had for going home the next day was worth.

I stayed mostly indoors in my condo the next 10 days since it was in the midst of the coup. Didn't want to take any unnecessary risks even if I would have been caught in a checkpoint with my cancelled passport they would probably just have accepted that. (I hope)

Different upbringings in different cultures/countries makes people act and think differently. What is the problem with that? Are you suddenly racist if you acknowledge that fact?

Things completely natural for a old Chinese farmer is completely alien to a young billionaires daughter in New York. The farmer wouldn't think twice before taking a dump in a hole in the ground or cook a dog for dinner, but both things would be completely unthinkable for the girl.

Is that racist? No. Saying that you hate all black people is racist (and stupid) on the other hand.

If you can't acknowledge that people are acting different depending on their upbringing (and thusly their ethnicity since upbringing and ethnicity are tightly linked) then you must have a serious PC-complex.

Why on this forum, people cannot be identified by something else that their nationality ?

A chinese blabla

A Norvegian blabla

Thai people blabla

Myanmar blabla

Then we have comments like : "i take back all the negative comments i made about thais, seems chinese take the cake" or "the Chinese should not be seated anywhere on an aircraft" ...

And after I see complaining about thai being racist ?

I think this forum has a problem

But I am open to discussion.

Cheers

C.H

Right, so what do you want do use as the identifier then? Body weight? IQ? Sexual orientation? Number of tattoos and piercings? Number of books read the last year? Income? Number of posts in the forum? Preferred dresscode? Religion? Meal preferences?

I can't see any problem doing generalisations of how a certain ethnicity from a certain social group behaves in general. As long as it is understood that it's an average and cannot be used for a specific individual.

Person should be banned from flying. Who cares if it's his 1st time flying. Did he not pay attention to the pre flight safety instructions from the cabin crew? Numpty

To be fair, I've never actually heard the cabin crew say: "please do not open the emergency doors except in a real emergency".

Perhaps they assume that people who are able to breathe and walk might actually have some kind of a functioning brain between their ears.

Evidently this is not the case in China.

AirAsia says something like this:

Don't open the door until being instructed by the captain saying "Evacuate, Evacuate, Evacuate"

Don't open the door until the plane has come to a complete stop.

Don't open the door if there's fire or smoke outside the door, or any other obstruction"

Blah blah blah, study the guide, blah blah, press the button or ask any of the crew, blah blah....

Strange as I heard this was on landing and taxing to the gate when the doors could have been disarmed - would not be possible after doors had been shut and armed after leaving stand.

Emergency doors cant be opened once the wheels are up, this wasn't the case here

That seems very unlikely to me. You really think you're not able to open the emergency doors if the landing gears hasn't deployed - like on a water landing or some other mechanical failure?

The usual stated reason for not being able to open the doors while in the air is the pressure differential between the cabin and outside air. You're simply not strong enough to open the door.

Person should be banned from flying. Who cares if it's his 1st time flying. Did he not pay attention to the pre flight safety instructions from the cabin crew? Numpty

If was AirAsia I wouldn't blame the man for not hearing the special announcement made for the passengers seated at the emergency exit rows. I fly AirAsia at least twice a month for the last few years and always sits at the emergency rows because of the extra legroom and not having the retards in front of me reclining the seat to the maximum. (Though it is very amusing to see them spend 5 minutes trying to make them recline before giving up )

Like 9 out of 10 announcements are made by someone with a really heavy accent as quickly as possible rattle of the instructions, this at the same time their horrible we're-still-on-the-ground music is blaring loudly from the speaker located just above row 12.

A few times when I'm the only one sitting at the two rows they look at me and I give them a thumbs up and they just go away...

My guess is that it's even worse in China.... Areoflot in the mid-80'ies was definitely worse. On several flights passengers was standing up in the aisles during takeoffs and landings still fiddling with their luggage in the overhead bins. (Insert relevant "In Soviet Russia"-joke here....)

I arrive at Don Mueang at least once a month and I always take the A1 over to Mo Chit and then the Skytrain and walk straight into my office at Chit Lom. It's so much faster than taking a taxi.

Don't ever try to take a taxi from Mo Chit to the airport, the tossers there will try to get 400 or 500 from you....

For me it was quite easy to do it all inside Thailand.

I entered on a "Visa Exempt" status and three weeks later I had a 15 month multiple entry Non-imm B visa in the passport (and a WP) done by a agent. She took care of everything, all I had to do was to meet her at the Labor department to sign the WP. And yes, also sign all copies of the passport for the visa at the same time.

Unless you left the country to get your multiple entry non-b visa it was not legally issued. You cannot get a non-b visa here in Thailand.

You can get extensions of stay and re-entry permits.

Well, at least it is valid since I've used the visa number to enter Thailand since then. I'm sure (well.... this being Thailand I might actually not be too sure about that ) the immigration computers would detect a fake visa number.

For me it was quite easy to do it all inside Thailand.

I entered on a "Visa Exempt" status and three weeks later I had a 15 month multiple entry Non-imm B visa in the passport (and a WP) done by a agent. She took care of everything, all I had to do was to meet her at the Labor department to sign the WP. And yes, also sign all copies of the passport for the visa at the same time.

Some years ago I opened a savings account at CIMB Thai whilst on a 30 days visa exempt stay. No issues whatsoever, but on the other hand I have a CIMB Preferred status account in Malaysia so I was ushered into a nice room with plush sofas and was offered coffee and cookies while they took care of all the paperworks. After a while they came back with a debit card and some papers to sign and it was done. Definitely a pleasant experience, I wish all my dealings with banks and official entities was like this. :-)

From what I've seen Thais can pick out the pompous farangs and love to watch them turn red & sputter after giving them a little aggravation.[/size]

Seems like you're coming with some prejudice here... In my experience there is no harm in telling the truth in a nice way.

In any case I will be happy to leave you the last word, that I won't doubt you'll be eager to take.

The truth? For many people it seems to be "Cheap beer and young hookers" - I don't think that it would be especially appreciated by the embassy staff. :-)

As a tech-head I don't care about the ads themselves, but the newish big LED -screens that are mounted in "landscape" mode at the platforms makes me very impressed over the very good luminance- and color-matching of each panel. :-) Speaking of huge displays, I wonder how many KW the panels outside Siam Paragon requires, they can't be cheap to run.

I've got like 50 or 60 exempt stamps in my last and current passports together with stays anything between 4 days to a full month, but always with a couple of weeks between the next entry. The DM immigration still lets me in without any comments, usually it takes 20 seconds to have it processed. It might help that I'm not dressed as a backpacker/beach bum. Proper shoes, nice trousers and a long-sleeved shirt.

They shouldn't let you in just because of this post... "I've got like 50 or 60" ???

The world is going to <deleted>

I don't live, work or even want to be staying any longer than necessary in Thailand - I live very happily in Malaysia on a 10 year hassle-free visa. I come here for business meetings and non-business meetups which I state in the checkboxes at the back of the ridiculous immigration card.

I've got like 50 or 60 exempt stamps in my last and current passports together with stays anything between 4 days to a full month, but always with a couple of weeks between the next entry. The DM immigration still lets me in without any comments, usually it takes 20 seconds to have it processed. It might help that I'm not dressed as a backpacker/beach bum. Proper shoes, nice trousers and a long-sleeved shirt.

Doing 10-12 roundtrips per year from KL I was not happy when I heard of the move. I found it very convenient to just hop on the ARL, change to skytrain at Piya Thai and then just walk straight into the building at Chid Lom where my clients are.

What I didn't realise then was that DM is so much smaller and faster to get thru compared to Suvarnabhumi that I can easily take the extra hassle with the A1 bus from DM to Mo Chit.

My record (without luggage) from the time I exit the plane to the time I was sitting in the A1 bus is currently 4.5 minutes. At Suvarnabhumi I wouldn't even be halfway to one of the immigration halls in that time.

So arriving I always take the bus & skytrain. Going back I usually take a taxi from my condo in On Nut. That is usually cheaper than trying to get a cab at Mo Chit, the w*nkers there wants 400-500 baht !!!!

I'm so happy I live in Malaysia on a 10 year visa when I see all this Thai visa shit. No hassles and the immigration guys here smiles and usually says welcome back sir at the borders. I go to Bangkok like 10 times a year for business and I always feel happy when I come back home to Kuala Lumpur. People here speak passable English even in the rural areas, in LOS you have a hard time finding a taxi driver with a usable command of English. And the food is more varied here - not that I'm not enjoying thai food, but it gets a bit boring after a while....

But I suppose that Malaysia never will be the next Thailand - being an Islamic country the liquor/beer is much more expensive and there's harder to find "GFs"/hookers here. The two things that it seems that 90% of the tourists are looking for.

You are the first non malaysian that I have ever said the food is good. Better than Thai ?

He... That's a good question. 20 years ago when I started going on holidays to south-east Asia I definitely would have said that Thai food is #1. But today I'm not so sure. Some of the Malaysian flavours definitely is an acquired taste, like the strange flavours of icecream, and belachan (the fermented shrimp paste). I seem to adapt and enjoy to if faster than my wife. With the mix of Indonesian, Indian and Chinese foods here there's so much more to choose from. I drink Cham and have pork/rice porridge for breakfast or a nasi lemak without batting an eye, something that my expat friends here never would do.

My stance on being an expat is like "Adapt yourself to where you live or gtf out of there."