Liquorice

Costas2008, on 20 Oct 2014 - 12:07, said:

Faz, on 20 Oct 2014 - 12:00, said:

Oh No! It's the MIL

Can't stop laughing with that.......especially when I bring her face in my mind.

So you can't be accused of having defective eyesight then

Oh No! It's the MIL

Ham, cheese and banana on buttered wholegrain thickly sliced bread.

OP, Having been married twice before I can understand your concerns.

Like others here, I would advise you don't rush into marriage. Time is on your side, spend at least 2 years living together, to find out the real woman and to learn more about their culture. Most Asian Countries are totally different to the likes of the USA and the UK, in so far as there are no fall back systems if you hit a bad patch.

Most women want security in their life. Most Thai's will get a 700 baht a month pension in their old age, hence why family bonds are so strong here, they have to look out for one another. When you marry, you will become part of taking care of the larger family as well.

If you can't accept the culture or their way of life, then you shouldn't live in an Asian Country.

To protect your own interests, I'd advise you only tell your GF/Wife about any assets on a need to know basis.

Provided you have a sufficient monthly income to take care of them, that should suffice. If their pushy and ask questions, then you should be seeing 'red flags' about the relationship.

Later if your content with your life and your wife, make a 'will' both in your home state and in Thailand detailing what assets go to who.

Just use common sense and go with your instincts, not your heart.

Your wife has serious 'face' issues.

The concept of 'face' is very important to Asians.

To embarrass or try to prove someone wrong can mean they loose 'face' in front of others and to loose respect in their standing in the community.

Some feel that bragging about what they have gives them a higher standing in the community, that they will gain 'face' and more respect

Unfortunately, this kind of action can also lead to jealousy and the loss of friends.

I wouldn't condone bragging about what you have, but it obviously makes your wife feel good.

When friends stop coming around and the invitations stop........you'll know why!

eng911, on 12 Oct 2014 - 19:19, said:

Thanks for the great answers guys. I should have said the local who installed it was a friend who is an electrician. He did use the large grounding rod as I saw that myself. I'll have another look in the morning to see what he tied into. He did provided a breaker switch outside the bathroom on the wall. I'll have a better look in the morning.

I went on and on so long about not having some local who says he knows how to do it. I was told the guy was an electrician. I too was first and foremost concerned with safety.

The other problem we have is water pressure. If any other tap in the house is on then the pressure is insufficient to trigger the heater. The pressure problem was one I predicted before the unit was bought. Sometimes the pressure is very low.

The water comes from a central water tower in the moo ban I guess. I was wondering why each house doesn't have a big tank that fills up from the central source? This would give you better pressure no? Village plumbing is not my specialty.

I'll have a better look at the install but I definitely saw the ground spike.

Tony

You'd need to fit a Water Tank and a Pump to resolve the water pressure problem. Quite common in Thailand.

The tank and pump need to be on a level surface, so I built a concrete base 2.5m x 1.5m x 6cm deep.

The cost for all materials, including 1000Ltr water tank, 250W pump, external socket for pump, pipes, fittings etc, around 14,000 baht.

I fitted a new Consumer Unit as well in that price so the Shower and the external plug socket had their own dedicated trip switch.

eng911, on 12 Oct 2014 - 19:19, said:eng911, on 12 Oct 2014 - 19:19, said:eng911, on 12 Oct 2014 - 19:19, said:

Thanks for the great answers guys. I should have said the local who installed it was a friend who is an electrician. He did use the large grounding rod as I saw that myself. I'll have another look in the morning to see what he tied into. He did provided a breaker switch outside the bathroom on the wall. I'll have a better look in the morning.

I went on and on so long about not having some local who says he knows how to do it. I was told the guy was an electrician. I too was first and foremost concerned with safety.

The other problem we have is water pressure. If any other tap in the house is on then the pressure is insufficient to trigger the heater. The pressure problem was one I predicted before the unit was bought. Sometimes the pressure is very low.

The water comes from a central water tower in the moo ban I guess. I was wondering why each house doesn't have a big tank that fills up from the central source? This would give you better pressure no? Village plumbing is not my specialty.

I'll have a better look at the install but I definitely saw the ground spike.

Tony

Thai electricians take short cuts.........if it works it's OK................safety, what's that!

Outside the property you have an electric meter. A tail from the meter will feed your consumer unit (live and neutral wires). The consumer unit should be earthed (grounded) by the earthing rod. Then all electrical cables should run from the Consumer Unit to the appliances, connecting the earths together in the CU.

What the Thai's frequently do when fitting a shower is to fit an isolation switch outside the bathroom door, but then they connect the electric cable to the incoming feeds (in the ceiling, between meter and CU), usually twisted and taped together. You'll be lucky if the earth is connected to anything.

Yes, the isolation switch will turn off current to the shower, but;

1. The isolation switch cannot be isolated, it is always live.

2. The shower isn't fused.

If you ever need to change the isolation switch, you have to disconnect the tails from the outside meter.

They do the same with Air Con units as well!

You can switch off all the fuses you want at the Consumer Unit, but the shower and Air Cons will still work...........frightening.

To install a shower correctly, first work out the cable size and correct fuse size.

Divide the Watts by the Current to find the Amps, i.e. a 4.5Kw shower is 4,500W divided by 220V = 20.45 Amps.

A 2.5mm gauge, twin and earth cable should be sufficient up to a 6Kw shower.

Fit a 6mm gauge, twin and earth cable for anything above a 6Kw shower.

Run the cable from the shower to a correctly rated double pole isolation switch outside the room, then run it to your Consumer Unit, connected to a suitable trip switch.

In your case eng911, the isolation switch and the trip switch should both be rated at 32 Amps.

KunMatt, on 18 Oct 2014 - 08:28, said:

KhunBENQ, on 12 Oct 2014 - 20:30, said:

I can not even imagine a decent farang living without my own water tanks and a pump.

We have two tanks with 3000 liter in total and a 250 W water pump,

A lot of threads about this on the forum.

Same setup we've been using for a few years, the pump is probaby a bit too powerful though. Our ensuite is about 20m from the pump and the pressure at the shower is enough to shoot a horizontal jet of water onto the opposite wall 2m away. I have to turn the faucet on just enough to engage the pump so the 4.5kW heater can sufficiently heat the water otherwise the flow is too much for the heater.

Sounds like you have a problem with the heater element in your shower.

I only have a 3.5Kw shower, 1000Ltr tank and a 250W pump about 5m away from my en-suite.

Like you I only open the water inlet tap half way to regulate the water pressure, but I have no problems getting hot water.

In fact I only set the temperature gauge at half way, or the water is to hot.

abrahamzvi, on 17 Oct 2014 - 12:32, said:

Faz, on 17 Oct 2014 - 09:32, said:

Surely you mean 'Registering a Thai baby' with the British Embassy as a British citizen, so the child has dual citizenship.

By law, if a child is born in Thailand it is automatically a Thai citizen.

Not quite. A child born in Thailand is NOT automatically a Thai national, unless one of the parents is Thai.

Please read all the posts first. We have already agreed and established that fact.

perdido, on 17 Oct 2014 - 12:30, said:

life might be a great deal easier, if some of the people posting, read over what they had written and corrected, improved or clarified it.....

OP = Original Post or Poster........................OK.

I'm sure all the posters understand the information including the OP.

Options and procedures are all that have been suggested.

It might make our life easier, if you explained exactly what you are confused about, don't understand, or, if you have a question............please ask.

You can do your report anytime from Monday 27th October.

When you re-enter Thailand using your re-entry permit, your next 90 day report will be due 90 days after the new entry stamp in your passport.

brewsterbudgen, on 17 Oct 2014 - 10:03, said:

Faz, on 17 Oct 2014 - 09:32, said:

Surely you mean 'Registering a Thai baby' with the British Embassy as a British citizen, so the child has dual citizenship.

By law, if a child is born in Thailand it is automatically a Thai citizen.

Not if neither parent is Thai!

Agreed, ........................but the OP stated his wife had a 5 year Visitor Visa for the UK.................so she must be Thai, which means under Thai Birth Registration laws the baby is automatically a Thai citizen, by virtue of having one Thai parent. Although the OP doesn't say, but I'm guessing the birth has already been registered at a District Office and a birth certificate obtained.

One amazing fact about registering a Thai birth, is the chosen name of the child.

A child cannot share the same name as a member of the Thai Royal Family, who apparently have special and unique names.

Surely you mean 'Registering a Thai baby' with the British Embassy as a British citizen, so the child has dual citizenship.

By law, if a child is born in Thailand it is automatically a Thai citizen.

OP, sounds like the problem you have is about the limited time you have to do anything.

If you struggle to get an Imm O Visa in Australia, get another Tourist Visa then do the conversion to a Non Imm O at Bangkok as Joe advised in #3.

Once you have the Non Imm O Visa, you can later get an 'Extension of Stay' provided you meet the conditions.

This option would allow you to manage your time more efficiently and prepare documentation without rushing and worrying.

gyrosman, on 16 Oct 2014 - 16:56, said:

For all tourist, if 200 baht is going to impact your beer comsumption, well 1f 7$ usd breaks the bank, stay home. Where are you from, paying sales taxes, service charge 10%, tips. Somethings need to fix here, but bitching when your on holiday for 200 baht, take it home.

It's not about whether your a Tourist or a resident here. It's not about the money either, it's about the principal of supporting corruption.

200, 500, 1000, 5,000 baht. Where do you draw the line with their greed gyrosman?

The practice of corruption can only succeed if everyone buries their head in the sand and does nothing about it.

You probably go home after your visit to Thailand and those of us that live here are left with the problems that you helped to create.

To put it in perspective, 200 baht will feed a Thai family for a day. I know who's mouth I'd rather feed.

Costas2008, on 15 Oct 2014 - 19:11, said:

transam, on 15 Oct 2014 - 19:00, said:

OP..................NO, definitely NOOOOOOOOOOOOO......

Just try........an extra cuddle and a kiss.......you will be surprized.........

She lets you kiss and cuddle her???

I bet she keeps that a secret

When you can survive without understanding why or how?

Seems more a cry for help, than an intended suicide attempt.

If you really wanted to commit suicide, you'd choose a secluded spot where your not going to be discovered for a while, not a public area.

By choosing a Tesco car park, he was discovered before he could kill himself, which was probably more his intention and will hopefully get some treatment for his problems.

My friend ate so many frogs, one day he woke up with a frog growing on his head.

He went to the doctors, who asked "How can I help you"

"It started with a boil on my arse" replied the frog.

Seriously, you must be hopping mad to eat frogs, unless it's Leap year

12DrinkMore, on 10 Oct 2014 - 22:39, said:

NanLaew, on 10 Oct 2014 - 22:25, said:

12DrinkMore, on 10 Oct 2014 - 16:04, said:

I have a Thai landlord.

When the shower heater stopped working I asked him to come and look at it.

He came.

He looked.

He said its not working.

I asked about a replacement.

He just laughed.

It did annoy me. So who is normally responsible for this?

When I had a property in the UK, the tenants used to even call a plumber in to replace tap washers. That annoyed me as well. Washer cost 20P, plumber call out 20 Quid.

You are the tenant using the shower heater so you need to replace it. If about 4500 baht means a lot to you, keep the broken one and when it is time to vacate the premises, you reinstall it.

You could also remove the new washers that you have purchased to fix drippy taps and put the worn ones back in.

So what's with the fair wear and tear?

The old one must have been three years old when I moved in. Surely the rent must cover something more than being simply income to the landlord? The life of a shower unit must be around five years or so. It is a fixture, the replacement should not fall to the current tenant like a lottery ticket.

And if I re-installed the old none-working unit, is that not a problem? Or is a none-working device fine? Just as long as something is attached to the wall?

The dripping taps issue was when I was on the other side renting out a house. A spanner and a 20P washer could have fixed it easily, but the tenant, acting through the agent, simply called in a plumber.

I have absolutely no problem replacing light bulbs and washers. But electrical fittings are surely amortised in the rent?

What happens if the aircon fails two weeks after moving in? Two months? Six months? Two years?

In your home Country their are laws concerning the rights of a tenant and the obligations of a landlord.

Here in Thailand, it's very much a case of a personal arrangement between the tenant and the landlord.

You rent as is, if anything fails you negotiate with the landlord.

Contracts rarely cover repairs to fixtures and fittings, because most fittings are cheap Chinese crap, that constantly needs repair/replacement.

I rented a nice looking house 3 months ago, but I found at certain times of the day the water pressure would drop so low that I barely got a trickle from the shower, the safety cut out in the shower wouldn't allow the heater element to work either, so a cold dribbling shower.

The Thai's will have a bin full of water and bowl for such circumstances and are quite happy to pour cold water over their head and body in order to wash............for them it's not an issue...........it's the norm in Thailand. A renting Thai wouldn't complain

A westerner however may find this unacceptable because we expect western standards of comfort and higher standards.

In my case, I installed a water tank and pump, the landlord agreed to pay half the cost.

After increasing the water pressure though every tap in the house started to leak, most snapped when I tried to replace the washers.

I ended up replacing 5 taps, not a fortune.

Now I have peace of mind, good water pressure day and night and a hot shower if needed.

The repairs benefited my expected standards, not the Thai landlords.

Sometimes if you want things done, you've got to expect to pay out of your pocket if it benefits your comfort and standard of living.

I pay 1/7th of the rent here, than I get for renting my home in the UK.

I'm even decorating internally at my own expense because I'm the one living in the house and I get the benefit out of it.

I'm retired so it keeps me occupied as well.

I get this message at the top of the Newsletter now:

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Report this suspicious message Ignore, I trust this message

Admin any advice?

No photo displays either.

Doesn't appear to fully download.

Maybe just an internet problem at my end

Does anyone else have a problem with this morning News Letter 7/10/14.

My cursor vanishes when I hover on any topics, even advertisements, so effectively I can't read anything.

Checked with previous Newsletters, no problem.

Something for the TV Admin to look at?

Jeez! Some you guys are unbelievable.

Let's firstly remember what this site is about.............to help one another.

I'm not surprised the OP hasn't been back to reply after the ridicule he has taken.

OK so his written English is poor but we all get the meaning and understand his post.

For some who have ridiculed his grammar, punctuation and spelling...............read your own posts, then get spell checker

If you want to ridicule someone's English ability, join an English Grammar Forum............then wait to be ripped apart.

Give the guy a break, at least he's making the effort to reach out for help and advice.

I bet this has happened to some of you posters, but you keep it hidden in a closet because you don't want to be labelled as 'stupid'.

Most of us have been 'shafted' out of money, by some scam or deceit, regardless of the amount of money.

The best and only advice we can give the OP is to get himself a lawyer, or walk away and learn from his experience.

Now I understand your statement Joe.

That leaves an odd scenario of what's happening in England then.

Liverpool Consulate will issue a single entry Non Imm O on the spot.

Can't comment about Birmingham Consulate.

Hull Consulate have to send single entry Non Imm O applications to London for whatever reason, for their approval.

Another expat who just arrived in Roi Et this week on a Single Entry 90 day Non Imm O (based on being over 50) also applied at Hull 2 weeks ago and confirmed he had to go back 3 days later to collect his Visa from Hull, after it was sent to the London Embassy for approval.

Hull can't or won't issue them.

Is something going on at Hull that we're not aware of?