Firefan

He,he - thanks for the Wookie and 3-breasted girlie tips!

Back on subject

One of the attractions for me about Thailand (and in particular the more low-down bars and areas Incl. Pattaya) IS the many different types of people one meets here!

I sometimes get bored back home in Scandinavia where most of my friends, and places I go are so predictable/correct. Nothing wrong with that; but the variation here is stimulating.

One can always stick to high class places/areas if one do not want to meet people from a different "level".

I often explain the experience of some of the bars here, is like walking into one of those off-planet bars in Star Wars (still searching for the 3 breasted chick though! )! Never know WHO you are gonna meet, but I have had a blast walking in with an open mind and have met some people with a completely different view of life than me!

Sure some of them are bitter divorced men, some might have a shady history, and some are sex addicts - but their stories and life view can still be fasinating + there are a ton of other stories and types you can run into.

Any good bar recommendations for Star Wars like experiences?

Cheers!

Vernthai - tough situation and I think you handled it well - nobody can expect you to risk your life.

One poster mentioned that you might want to report it to the respective embassy. Meanwhile; no proper embassy will accept the info anomously and you would again have to consider the risks to you personally as you will be named. Tough situation for sure.

I am currently not planning to work in Thailand but own a condo in BKK and wish to stay in Thailand.

I am pursuing a non-em B 1 year multiple visa based on investment/condo. If that does not work out (condo was not purchased directly from developer) I would instead pursue a non-em b based on sponsorship as advertised on www.lawyer.th.com.(sponsor of this site). I will truely be looking for further investments here(and abroad) as is one of the "requirements" from Sunbelt.

Below you can see costs involved. Does anybody have any experience with this method?

Is Sunbelt not taking on a large risk by making sponsorship guarentees for their clients?

Can one renew/extend the non-em b visa after 12 (or 15) months or would one need to get a new one?

Any tips appreciated! Cheers!

One Year Non-Immigrant B Visa ( Multiple Entry)

1x Sunbelt Asia Sponsorhip Documents = 7200+VAT

1x Trip to Thai Consulate (Flight, hotel, misc) = 15,000

1x Visa Consulate Charge = 5000

3x Visa Runs = 6000

Grand Total = 33,200 *plus - you get an extra 3 months for a total of 15months

Hi Jeff,

Man, I have now read several of your posts and you seem to have some very interesting experiences! We gotta meet for a beer (or 10!) so you can share some of those!

As for the metal plate I had a friend with metal in the knee who had a special certificate from his doctor. He mentioned that the detector (you walk through) only reacted about 25% of the time. Believe it was mostly metal pins/screws he had though.

Cheers!

Some great thoughts here. We all seem to agree that financial independance means the FREEDOM to chose what we want to spend most of our time on - for some that is work, for others a list of other things.

I have friends that live for less than 50k/month,and that here in BKK with nice apt/pool Etc. so I have no doubt that 50k in the country side should still be sufficient. It would be wise to try to put a bit of that money aside for investments/longer term back-up.

Looking forward to the housewarming! Cheers!

Difference here is that shops/banks Etc. will misunderstand and will make their own even stricter demands ; work permit, parents birth certificats(originals only of course), your unborn sons school papers and so forth.

Cheers!

That is true. They would would also before the cameras only require one picture but if one did not have same one would officially be "fined" $10 (not $1 but maybe your friend was lucky) but no pic taken. Cheers!

I have flown via Phnom Penh International airport many times and there they have the cameras. Still one hands in 1 picture with visa (on arrival) application.

I am  guessing that in the future every country will do the pic thing...

Prior to PNH airport installing the cameras, I flew into Phnom Penh with a friend who had forgotten to bring his passport photos. The Cambo Immigration official duly collected an extra dollar from my friend for not bringing his photo, but they did not take one for their records!

I second Nam Kao's theory...

Some good advise already here.

I bought a couple of years back in BKK in the same price range. If you want some comments on my experience you can PM me. Some of the best advise here is the Subway/BTS closeness.

Cheers!

Motorola have had some problems getting it to market as you can see from the homepage (click on the forum for latest news). Some have come out in Europe and Asia apparently but Motorola have been finetuning the MPX meanwhile.

Have not seen it in BKK yet. Look at these pics: http://www.mympx.com/LeftImageStyle.aspx?s...ion=2&pageid=42

When it comes I gotta have it - normal phone size almost as the new Pocket PC version allows for smaller screens....

Cheers!

"......But take a look at THIS baby!!: www.mympx.com...."

Ohhhh Yes.......I Want That One!!!!

Any idea when, where & how much it will be in Thailand.....?

Rags

He he - Harmonicas predictions are always entertaining!

I hold both a commodities futures fund as well as a mining stock fund. The way that all nations are de-basing their currencies ("let's print some more of this paper to pay for wars/pensions/bigger administration Etc.") with no other guarentees than their word, I think it is wise to hold some metals/commodities/"real stuff" as part of a well diversified portfolio. Cheers!

English teaching or diving does not seem like bad ideas - generally hard for foreigners finding other jobs locally. Not impossible though. Cheers!

Most here on the boards are known terrorists with forged passports... aren't you!?

(bad) jokes aside; problem it that it takes forever for the border emigration staff to handle those things.... PCs and digital cameras for staff used to nothing else but a pencil and a stamp.... you do the math

Was something with street cleaning? Amazing Thailand....

My AIS (1-2-call) does the same. Every refill ADDS days to the expire date. Best is apparently to take the highest value cards as gives proportionally more days than the smaller value cards. Cheers!

I am impressed! I have the cheapest package w. True also (256/128 for 599B) in my condo - and I was thinking that the building telephone line+distance to connection point outside building must make a huge difference (just look at those phone lines hanging around!). I will check speed when back from travelling. Cheers!

I have the cheapest (256 Kb/s) True package and speed test shows as following:

220.6 kilobits per second.

Hopefully, this info helps.

Holy smoke! Maybe time to buy a car? Cheers!

I have flown via Phnom Penh International airport many times and there they have the cameras. Still one hands in 1 picture with visa (on arrival) application.

I am guessing that in the future every country will do the pic thing...

All longer term visas (not tourist) can get Thai DL.

Tourists can (normally) use national DL for 3 months (which technically re-starts at visa runs) but I would get myself the internat. DL from home country (due to insurances Etc) send yearly (some embassies have that service). Cheers!

I don't recall how you can get a driver's license without a work permit. Maybe someone can remind me, if it is possible.

Yes, you can get one with non "O" visa as well.

Financial independance which Richard has (within reason) is more important to me than not working. When one is financially independant one is in a much stronger position to chose to do "work" that makes one happy.

That "work" can be what we consider "real work" but can also be; reading, learning, relaxing,volunteering, doing sports, socializing and a bundle of other things we often remove/reduce due to "real" work.

Cheers!

Man. Sua Yai - you REALLY wanted to stay here!

Hope you have recovered.

Also hope you understand irony when you see it... this: normally indicates that if you don't get it from the text alone (which you probably should;) ).

Cheers!

Ah but some here love Thailand SOOOO much that they might even dislocate their own shoulder on PURPOSE just to stay!

He,he - the runner probably had his photo taken 24 times!

Richard; some good thoughts.

I am in my 30ties and have worked all over the world (mostly Asia) as an expat and have now decided to take a sabatical year - or maybe longer.

For the cost of BKK I could probably live of working (eh...in Thailand that would be "playing") with my investments/real estate only being my hobby and educational background anyways.

I do not see myself go bonkers at ALL but if it happens one can as another poster mentioned jump back into full time work.

It is a fantastic feeling having the time to properly read the news paper, not rush through the gym Incl. that sauna and steam, hang and read at the pool, socialize also on weekdays evenings(which the Thais do much more than we seem to do back home where we worry about the next work day), reading books, seeing friends, not having to travel to islands in the weekend only, doing visa runs mid week and so forth. Oh; going partying without feeling bad about the hang over in office next day is certainly a bonus too!

I might want to work again - it should be with investments, but my own investment income means I have the FREEDOM to decide the terms.

Cheers!