TheRascal

He was only made to write "my name is...", he was on a re-entry permit of an existing visa. Someone else I know is coming back next week and as it's actually after 12th I'll be interested to see if that makes a difference.

4 x 2 hours a week isn't that much, especially in a class environment. I did 5 x 2 hours for a month 1 to 1 tuition at Baan Aksorn, now that was an intense course! On top of that there was about an hour of written homework everyday.

Right now I do two mornings a week at a school and then a few hours 1 to 1 tuition to really practise my reading and writing. I'm quite happy at that and making reasonable progress. I think I make more progress in two hours 1 to 1 tuition than I do with a couple of weeks of the standard lessons.

If you search these boards there are 'crackdowns' in 2009, 2011, 2013 too that never ended up being more than rumour.

The other crackdowns do seem to be amounting to something though, people getting turned away at borders, questioned at airports etc. A friend of mine on an ED visa was made to write in Thai at the airport to prove he was studying.

Olive oil is worthless from a health benefit perspective once it's heated. Great on salads not good for cooking.

Unsalted butter from grass fed cows is great as is coconut oil - although it's more expensive than other oils 250-300 baht for 500 mil. I use the coconut oil for cooking almost all thai foods where the other flavours will take over the coconut flavour (which is slight). For something like eggs where the flavour can easily be tainted I use a little bit of butter.

Read the articles about different oils and fats on http://www.marksdailyapple.com/.

Do front loaders heat up to the required temperature?

My condo has a top loader that came with it, brand new with the plastic still on and it's absolute balls. The floor it's sat on isn't completely flat (yay Thai construction!) and it goes absolutely mental on a spin, can't fill it too much or almost breaks the window on the sliding door to the balcony and then beeps for about 15 minutes and shows an error on the screen. Also as it's cold water only it's crap for washing cotton shirts after a long day out somewhere, after 2 or 3 washes and not really getting clean the pits start to smell. I just use a laundry service for shirts now and just wash socks and boxers in the machine.

The victim's brother has been quite active sharing news on Facebook - seems like the kid is pretty seriously messed up.

others don't care if you come to class or not.

Let's see how long they last.

I wonder how bad it would have to get to make expats leave Thailand. Getting fined 20,000 baht for not carrying a pasport might do it for me. That's not chump change.
If farangs actually got sent to jail for that would make me think hard if I want to stay here.

They're not saying 20,000 baht for not carrying a passport though. It's 20,000 baht for failure to produce one- which is different. Like if you had to prove you weren't here on an overstay and had a valid visa for example. Not about going down 7-11 and being stopped by the police and immediately fined 20,000 baht.

The penalties are absolutely no big deal. Why overstay in the very first place.

When I was on my first ED visa the school made a mistake with the documents for the extension. At Chiang Wattana they asked me if I planned to leave the country (the visa was multi-entry), I told them I was visiting the UK in 7 days time: "There is no problem, you pay fine at airport". 

I was pissed at the school but at the time that was the advice from immigration themselves!

Regarding carrying my passport at all times I'm going to wait for further clarification. For me if it ends up being the rule it's the rule, I'm not going to moan about it but my guess is that it's for people that can't produce a passport at all (i.e not in the requested timeframe), not someone who fails to produce one when stopped. I may be wrong but let's wait and see. 

I'd expect that if it was actually "carry your passport at all times or there's a 20k fine and a chance of jail" then it would cause a problem with genuine tourism, not just us sour sods who live here. It would only take a few people to be fined a reasonable sum (which I'm sure a Brit on holiday for example would consider £400 of their spending money to be) or spend the smallest amount of time in jail and it started to be reported in western countries (where people are more than aware of the condition of Thai jails) and I'd guess it could impact visitors. There's certain situations where carrying a passport just isn't practical, unless all beaches are going to install some kind of locker facility then it's very high risk people leaving their passport with their clothes while they swim

That said I got a new ED visa in London last week, paranoid at my friend's report I had a document explaining where my money came from translated into Thai, printouts of my savings account showing I had enough funds and 40k THB in cash... sailed through without a question and a nice smile from a very friendly guy on the desk. 

A friend of mine re-entered a few weeks ago, he's from the UK, he had an ED visa and had gone back to the UK on a re-entry permit. On the way back in he was stopped and grilled for 10 minutes as to whether he was actually studying Thai and made to write some simple Thai. 

WordPress is the only choice. Easy to use ...and you can do anything and everything you want to do with WordPress plugins....even if you don't know anything about coding/design.

You can do anything you want... assuming there's a reliable and maintained plugin that does what you need it to do, otherwise you could find yourself in a situation where you've got a plugin that you need to maintain or enhance and no-one available to do it.

My suggestion is coming up with a full specification of features that are essential and features that are nice to have then Google terms like

"ecommerce software"

"ecommerce platforms"

"ecommerce solutions"

"auction software"

etc and then go through all the options comparing costs and features. Finally you need to consider the availability of good developers for the platform you choose and how much they charge. For example Magento is an amazing ecommerce solution and very fully featured but from a development perspective it's very complex and Magento devs command £500 a day for contract work. Of course it's possible to source people cheaper in different countries but the costs vary widely.

The final consideration is that if there's nothing similar to what you want to do then you should pay for a custom development. There's no point in hammering a square peg into a round hole and I've seen projects that have spiralled out of control cost wise once a person has decided on a very non custom feature for an ecommerce platform that then needs building in.

If your idea is solid but you don't have the budget for it then it's worth looking for developers who'll do it for a reduced rate in exchange for equity, I know a few devs in the UK who work like this, if you think about going down that route drop me a PM and I'll give you their details.

Change it so that when you change profile/bg pic it doesn't post it to your timeline, that way no one can comment on it or add stickers. Easy.

I've commented this on the other thread regarding this card but I'm going to do so again. 

3 years ago I sold my 50% share in a business I had run for 8 years. Also around the same time before I moved out to Thailand I accepted an offer to develop an online application in exchange for 50% equity in the company. This solution is now working, profitable and requires no input at all from myself. This has put me in a position where for the time being I can have a reasonable lifestyle without working. 

I'm about to apply for a tourist visa - the Elite card sounds perfect but for me it's too much of a risk. If it was guaranteed that you got a 5 year visa with no chance of the rules being changed and the visa being revoked in the future then it would be a no brainer, however being able to afford £10k and gambling £10k on something that's already had a shaky history (if accounts on the forum are to be believed) are completely different things. 

Internet speeds in Asia:
 
http://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/Images/TSOL/Photos-Gallery/Nation/2014/05/04/net%20speed.ashx

There's no way these speeds are accurate for Thailand - True claims my internet is faster than that but in reality it's absolutely piss poor, whether this is due to internet monitoring or censorship who knows. I'm visiting the UK now and the Talk Talk crap broadband my mum has is much faster than my True account which is apparently twice as fast. 

Thanks Joe, I was having issues loading their site on my phone. I'm in London and was about to book my train ticket back "oop North" but wanted to make sure I left enough time.

Hello all,

Any idea how many days it takes, is it apply one day and collect the next?

Thanks

These are some of the things Thai girls have told me regularly:

• Rain will make you sick
• Maybe you're sick because of the weather
• Don't shower too late, it will make you sick
• Don't drink cold drinks or eat ice cream if you have a sore throat

I understood it from my ex who while a lovely girl wasn't educated to a high level, however I get it from all types of friends and girls I date even girls who are educated to a much higher level.

Well, not to be a smartares, but...

getting wet in the rain and going into the aircon will make you sick.

weather changes can bring on a lot of allergies, which make you feel bad.

#1 again...and then being in the aircon, which thai people might have on before sleeping

cold drinks and icecream usually have a lot of sugar, which will inflame a soar throat

it's not inexperienced.

I should have been clearer, I meant getting wet full stop, not sitting in air con afterwards. For the cold drinks part the phrase they use is usually "don't drink cold water"

These are some of the things Thai girls have told me regularly:

• Rain will make you sick
• Maybe you're sick because of the weather
• Don't shower too late, it will make you sick
• Don't drink cold drinks or eat ice cream if you have a sore throat

I understood it from my ex who while a lovely girl wasn't educated to a high level, however I get it from all types of friends and girls I date even girls who are educated to a much higher level.

And what about a large number of Thai men. Who want to be women! I see this every where now. Disturbing.

Why disturbing, what happened to live and let live? Or is it disturbing that you're struggling to control your "urges".

Yes but the Thai Man wont buy a house and car and put it solely in her name, fork out a fortune to replace the dying Water Buffalo, operation for Grandma, take care of someone else's kids and pay for all of the living expenses and walk away with less than airfare when he gets his arse kicked out the door.

Neither will most Westerners.

When the Thais read about some foreigners paying millions in dowry they start expecting everyone to pay like that!!!

Some Thais, a small percentage. Don't tar an entire nation with the same brush.

well i guess then it has nothing to do with thai girls getting comfortably looked after by one or more farangs

Again, some kinds of Thai girls.

...I have yet to meet a Thai woman who has been a victim.....

....maybe because they go 'all out' on the foreigners knowing they have no rights in this land...???

Maybe you should spend time with better quality people. I know many more Thai girls who have been "victims" if that's how you can term it, not one of my male friends have been cheated on or had money taken from them but almost every Thai girl I'm friends with has been messed around or cheated on by a Western guy.

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The seriously cashed up visa you refer to only works out to 100k per year and if you deduct things like Airfares, Visas, Visa runs and all the associated whohaaa, it seems like a cheap visa really.

100k per year is only about 3k usd and if you deduct about 2k for all the above mentioned whohaa, then you've bought yourself a visa for only a couple of thousand baht per month and a whole lot less drama Im not sure this calculates as seriously CASHED UP.

Else wise, it would seem, Thailand does not want people that fall into the under 50, no cash and no job type and not wanting to study unless they are just visiting on a tourist visa, once or twice.

When you have the funds to stay many years here without work or study. And you are younger than 50. Why not go for the Elite card 5 year visa. Yes it's 500k. But it will maybe save you from doing 30 visa and border runs. Those would also cost a lot of money

I'd always be concerned with this kind of visa that it could be taken away on a whim. You're not paying for the visa, you're paying for the Elite card of which the visa is a benefit - it states in the small print it's discretionary. My guess if that bonus was taken away there would be no refunds.

I hear what you all say and the logical decision would be to say no. But is it that bad a thing to listen to your heart and do what you think you should do and that you know will make her happy?

Am I taking a HUGE risk in doing so?

What risks have you taken and have they paid off?

Where did you meet her and how old is she?

Yes, it is a bad thing to listen to your heart in instances where there's a significant chance you're being manipulated.

I wouldn't but then the cultures are so different. There are aspects of Thai culture I warm to and personality traits that make me want to stay and never go home. If she has a way of asking for things that differ from what I am used to at home then I can live with that. Burping in public and clearing her throat in the bathroom and tipping more than I would are all attributes that are different but acceptable.

This analogy has been used before in this thread so I am replying to yours not to be direct to your reference but in a general way. No offence intended.

Thai culture doesn't dictate that you should buy a girl a house.

If she's suggesting to you that you'd pay anywhere close to that for a wedding and Sin Sod, her and her family are laughing all the way to the bank.

Not to be rude but if your girlfriend thinks it's acceptable to burp in public (hint - it isn't) then my guess is (no offence and correct me if I'm wrong) is that she's from an impoverished background and probably left school pretty young. Couple that with the fact she's already been married and has a child already then the amount a Thai would pay for sin sod would be... well to be honest they probably wouldn't go there, but on the tiny chance that they did they wouldn't pay a penny for the "privilege".

You haven't as far as I've seen mentioned where you met her but if it was around the "naughty nightlife" industry or you suspect that she has ever worked in this capacity then her family should be paying you.

But here's my conclusion - you wouldn't do it in your country, it's not Thai culture to do so (unless you count a particularly tiny subset of Thais where the culture is to get westerners to buy them houses) so don't do it.