TheSiemReaper

You can leave anywhere on one passport and enter anywhere else on another. In general, when entering by air - they won't be looking for entry/exit stamps from a previous destination anyway. Mainly because many people won't have them (for example an EU national landing in Bangkok won't have a stamp in or out of the EU).

There will some sort of guest house or home stay on the ground but I doubt you'd want to stay there... that's a proper backwater border crossing and gets very little traffic indeed. Why Kamrieng? Staying in Poipet (and then going back in at Poipet and travelling inside Thailand) would be much easier; though Poipet is a bit of a dump. Battambang is nice and you can find something cheap. You'll almost certainly need a taxi to the border from either Poipet or Battambang.

I used to suffer from chronic hay fever back home. It was incredibly severe. Then I moved to Asia and it stopped happening. It's been nearly 2 decades since I suffered from allergies. Honey is not an effective hay fever cure; though if you believe that it is (a la any form of placebo) you will see an abatement of symptoms. For a little while at least. Then you'll forget how much you believe in honey (because it becomes routine) and the allergies will return.

News flash -- Dave is working on the beans! He said he offered them before and he said "no one ate them". That's because his beans are American picnic style beans, nice and thick -- a fork will stand up in them, with onions and meat (ham and bacon) added, plus molasses, brown sugar and other goodies. I said, no just open a can of Heinz and plop that into a warming tray. I think the Brits and Aussies want to slop up the sauce with their bread -- whole grain, of course. (He has that covered already.)

I think he was a little appalled with the suggestion to simply open up a can of something and serve that to customers. He did think that maybe he could water down his standard really good beans and add catsup so you you'd have a "gravy" from the beans.

So come on June 3rd to see what he develops.

It really has to be Heinz. It's such an absolute breakfast standard that places in the UK (and elsewhere) advertise that the beans are Heinz beans on their menus. Nothing else comes close to the "right" taste. And beans covered in ketchup are a hundred million miles away from that taste. Thanks for trying though Nancy. :-)

I'm sorry, but to us Heinz beans taste like baked beans watered down with ketchup. I looked up some recipes from British websites for what they claimed were "baked beans just like Heinz" and was shocked to find absolutely no meat, no molasses, no brown sugar, and one heck of a lot of tinned tomatoes. I can't imagine baked beans without ham and bacon. Just tomatoes, some herbs, garlic, maybe onion and Worcester sauce and Tabasco sauce. Sounds like beans in ketchup to me.

Whereas we can't imagine the kind of monster who would put meat in baked beans. ;-) Different strokes for different folks as it were but it really is a deal breaker on breakfasts for me and Sausage King's beans aren't Heinz either. I thought their breakfast was OK for 129 Baht but not OK enough to go a 2nd time.

News flash -- Dave is working on the beans! He said he offered them before and he said "no one ate them". That's because his beans are American picnic style beans, nice and thick -- a fork will stand up in them, with onions and meat (ham and bacon) added, plus molasses, brown sugar and other goodies. I said, no just open a can of Heinz and plop that into a warming tray. I think the Brits and Aussies want to slop up the sauce with their bread -- whole grain, of course. (He has that covered already.)

I think he was a little appalled with the suggestion to simply open up a can of something and serve that to customers. He did think that maybe he could water down his standard really good beans and add catsup so you you'd have a "gravy" from the beans.

So come on June 3rd to see what he develops.

It really has to be Heinz. It's such an absolute breakfast standard that places in the UK (and elsewhere) advertise that the beans are Heinz beans on their menus. Nothing else comes close to the "right" taste. And beans covered in ketchup are a hundred million miles away from that taste. Thanks for trying though Nancy. :-)

Congratulations... now we're on "every man is a pedo and can't be trusted." This is the reason that there's a huge shortage of male teachers in the world. The assumption that every bloke who interacts with a child is somehow suspect. It's the suspicion which led to the British tragedy of Dunblaine (when a guy who cared for children all of his life was suddenly alleged by the community to be a pedophile; to date not one child has come forward to even suggest he acted inappropriately but hey better to be unsafe than sorry right?).

"Some kind of ban should be imposed on men from inviting children to their homes unless accompanied by an adult relative."

Would prevent a tutor from having a 14 year old come to their home to learn piano or English (or whatever). It would prevent children from visiting their friends' homes. And so on...

Knee-jerk stupidity will not cure pedophilia but it will make the world a much more miserable place to live in for everyone.

If we cared about children - we'd make sure that pedophiles were offered every possible means of help to control their impulses without hurting children and we'd throw the book (and away the key) at them if they did hurt children. This might actually prevent kids from being harmed but that's too logical for most; much better to assume that every man is animal who hurts kids right?

Though... it's worth noting that the vast majority of children who are sexually abused (the world over)... are sexually abused by a relative. So perhaps it's time to ban all men from becoming fathers too?

You're not honestly trying to suggest that the Dunblaine massacre was the fault of the community for wrongly suggesting that Hamilton was a paedo are you? If I were wrongly accused of being a paedophile, my reaction would not be to murder 16 5-year-old children.

What you would do is absolutely irrelevant to what he did do. All the post-massacre analysis shows that he snapped after being ousted from a lifetime of kind service to children (Hamilton was a sad, lonely man apart from his work) because of a community that decided that a "normal man" couldn't be involved with children without being some sort of child molester. No, the massacre was not the "fault" of the community - Hamilton was deranged in his response - but they sure did trigger the response all the same.

Congratulations... now we're on "every man is a pedo and can't be trusted." This is the reason that there's a huge shortage of male teachers in the world. The assumption that every bloke who interacts with a child is somehow suspect. It's the suspicion which led to the British tragedy of Dunblaine (when a guy who cared for children all of his life was suddenly alleged by the community to be a pedophile; to date not one child has come forward to even suggest he acted inappropriately but hey better to be unsafe than sorry right?).

"Some kind of ban should be imposed on men from inviting children to their homes unless accompanied by an adult relative."

Would prevent a tutor from having a 14 year old come to their home to learn piano or English (or whatever). It would prevent children from visiting their friends' homes. And so on...

Knee-jerk stupidity will not cure pedophilia but it will make the world a much more miserable place to live in for everyone.

If we cared about children - we'd make sure that pedophiles were offered every possible means of help to control their impulses without hurting children and we'd throw the book (and away the key) at them if they did hurt children. This might actually prevent kids from being harmed but that's too logical for most; much better to assume that every man is animal who hurts kids right?

Though... it's worth noting that the vast majority of children who are sexually abused (the world over)... are sexually abused by a relative. So perhaps it's time to ban all men from becoming fathers too?

Men, that invite minors to their residence, and they are the only adult in the house??

Why even put yourself in that situation?

Especially in Thailand, where perverted farangs and building jumpers go for one reason or another..

If parents care for their children, they should teach their kids not to go into strangers homes.

Dim wits voicing their support/opinion - that

pedophiles should be helped to control their urges.. Unbelievable!

You're saying, don't worry about these sick bastards..

Unless they hurt a child "again" then they should be locked up?

It's too late by then knucklehead!

Those sick shits that molest children....

Should die!

My opinion!

Your opinion is your opinion. I am saying we stop them from offending in the first place and that means teaching them to control their urges. I'm not sure which bit of "if they hurt a child" they should throw the book at them and throw the key away wasn't clear to you. But stopping someone from offending in the first place is far more valuable than punishing someone once they have; at least from a child's point of view. Though it may not be as macho and satisfying as "they should all die" to say.

This is particularly important when you consider that current estimates place somewhere between 5 and 20% of the population as having pedophilic tendencies. E.g. there are more kiddy fiddlers in the world than there are gay folks. Extermination seems both unlikely and genocidal in that instance.

When I was in China I regularly had children in the house and was the only adult around... they were variously dumped on me by the wife and her friends before going shopping. The house we rented, peculiarly, was owned by a toy manufacturer in Hong Kong and thus they'd all sit and play with the insane amount of garbage he'd left in the house and watch TV while I worked. There are plenty of perfectly acceptable reasons for a child to be in a home with a man without it being a case of child molestation. "Stranger danger" is something valuable to teach. "All men are pedophiles" not so much.

The key to a good breakfast is myriad. You need good eggs (neither too runny nor too hard), toast (with butter not spread), fried bread, black pudding, English style streaky bacon (though back bacon is just about acceptable too), English sausages (nothing that resembles a lousy hot dog please), fried mushrooms (ideally portobello mushrooms but will settle for button or even oyster mushrooms - the local cheap brown mushroom need not apply for the job though), Heinz baked beans (no cheap and nasty alternatives will do), hash browns (or other form of fried potato but none of them too greasy), grapefruit juice (or at a push sanguinello orange juice - must be bitter not sweet), and a great cup of black coffee. You may if you are feeling daring - throw some grated cheddar cheese into the mix. Must be accompanied with salt, pepper, and HP sauce. I'd happily pay a massive premium for a top quality breakfast but sadly... these things seem not to be in Chiang Mai. There are a couple of places in Bangkok that come close though.

Yup, it's the "like for like" that people fail to take into account in the comparison. I can get "cheap" in Cambodia but not "cheap with quality". In Thailand I can get "cheap and quality". My mate pays 4,200 Baht a month rent in Chiang Mai for a small one bed apartment with cooking facilities, air con, a fridge, a telly, etc. and free Wi-Fi and a generator backup for power cuts too. I've never seen anything remotely equivalent in the budget range in Cambodia. Not even close - sure I can find something for the same money but it will be a dump barely fit for human habitation.

Congratulations... now we're on "every man is a pedo and can't be trusted." This is the reason that there's a huge shortage of male teachers in the world. The assumption that every bloke who interacts with a child is somehow suspect. It's the suspicion which led to the British tragedy of Dunblaine (when a guy who cared for children all of his life was suddenly alleged by the community to be a pedophile; to date not one child has come forward to even suggest he acted inappropriately but hey better to be unsafe than sorry right?).

"Some kind of ban should be imposed on men from inviting children to their homes unless accompanied by an adult relative."

Would prevent a tutor from having a 14 year old come to their home to learn piano or English (or whatever). It would prevent children from visiting their friends' homes. And so on...

Knee-jerk stupidity will not cure pedophilia but it will make the world a much more miserable place to live in for everyone.

If we cared about children - we'd make sure that pedophiles were offered every possible means of help to control their impulses without hurting children and we'd throw the book (and away the key) at them if they did hurt children. This might actually prevent kids from being harmed but that's too logical for most; much better to assume that every man is animal who hurts kids right?

Though... it's worth noting that the vast majority of children who are sexually abused (the world over)... are sexually abused by a relative. So perhaps it's time to ban all men from becoming fathers too?

This may turn out to be a bit of a problem. If the chanotes were used as security and could not be used as security for the loan - that might turn out to be fraud (you'd need to speak to a Thai lawyer to confirm/deny on this - it's a best guess not a fact) and the wife might be looking at jail time.

Debt in Thailand as with pretty much everywhere (except the Gulf of Arabia) is a civil matter. You cannot be jailed for debt unless it involves a crime (such as a bounced check or straight up fraud).

"They" is a gender neutral pronoun now - at least according to such esteemed organs as The Washington Post or New York Times. There's nothing wrong with its use in this context and it does not automatically mean that the OP's partner is same sex or transgender. Even if it did, why would it be necessary to attack them for the use of a pronoun in a question about banking?

To answer the actual question meaningfully - it is next to impossible to guarantee a bank loan as a foreigner. In part because of the kind of arrangement that the OP suggests; you'd have a million foreigners countersigning loans for their tilac in Thailand and then running off home and withdrawing their funds on the way out the door. I tend to agree with some of the other posters that you might be better off giving this as a gift if they really are your partner. It's not exactly a huge sum of money is it?

"they" refers to more than one.

Wall Street Journal, among many others, says otherwise - http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-they-be-accepted-as-a-singular-pronoun-1428686651

Get with the times.

I think there's a major disconnect between Americans and Europeans here. While you might expect American banking to be ultra-modern; it's really trapped somewhere in the dark ages and even the use of cheques/checks is incredibly common still.

European banks are much more advanced. Chip and PIN is common on all card types and is often mandatory. Nobody writes checks any more (many countries have scrapped them entirely). Many of our countries are on their way to a cashless society (if they're not already there) - something that the US is a hundred million miles away from at this moment in time.

So in essence both sides of this debate are right and they're both wrong at the same time.

On a side note - I instill financial responsibility in my partners by making them save the money they want to spend. It's something I learned the hard way... credit is almost always a bad idea.

To answer the actual question meaningfully - it is next to impossible to guarantee a bank loan as a foreigner.

Right, except that it isn't. I've guaranteed mortgages, etc.

70K is a bit of an odd amount to go to a bank for though. What is it for actually? If for something like buying a motorcycle then just get that financed.

I do get what the OP is trying to do though, instilling some common-sense responsibility with financial matters, over some vague commitment to pay money back some day, somehow.

Mortgages are somewhat different - in that the main form of security for the loan is the property itself. A loan for less than $2,000, on the other hand, is unlikely to be secured on anything of genuine worth.

Calling someone racist is a serious allegation. There are endless examples of racism on ThaiVisa that never get challenged. However, calling a failure in customer service idiocy is simply not an act of racism. So, chill out chaps. You can disagree with the use of the word "idiot" (though, in fairness, who hasn't brandished that word when confronted with flawed customer service both here and back home and everywhere else in the world?) but calling Nancy a racist is out of order.

That sounds about right to me. Taxes are high on imported stuff. I paid about 50% on my last purchase of imported shoes too (we have a similar foot size). I'm not sure how you'd save money by travelling to Singapore unless you're planning to go by bus and then intending to sleep in a cardboard box under a bridge. Peculiarly packets under a value of $100 seem to attract no tax at all.

Time to head to Eastern Europe where they can already spell "Chernobyl". I can think of nothing in this world more terrifying than a South East Asian nation operating a nuclear power plant. I'd rather the lunatics of North Korea developed the bomb and long range ICBMs.

Don't go to the consulate - go to any travel agent in town, give them your passport and cash and they'll handle it all for you. (Takes 3 days).

As for where to stay? Street 172 - Silver River is popular enough and in a decent place for cheap eats and bars. If you want girly bars - anywhere between Streets 104 and 136 will do.

Don't wander about late at night on your own - take a tuk-tuk or a moto. Other than that, you'll have fun in PP.

So if i got my passport to a travel company before 10am Monday i could get it back Wednesday 4pm?

I'd aim to have it with them on Sunday evening around 6... but theoretically, yes.

"They" is a gender neutral pronoun now - at least according to such esteemed organs as The Washington Post or New York Times. There's nothing wrong with its use in this context and it does not automatically mean that the OP's partner is same sex or transgender. Even if it did, why would it be necessary to attack them for the use of a pronoun in a question about banking?

To answer the actual question meaningfully - it is next to impossible to guarantee a bank loan as a foreigner. In part because of the kind of arrangement that the OP suggests; you'd have a million foreigners countersigning loans for their tilac in Thailand and then running off home and withdrawing their funds on the way out the door. I tend to agree with some of the other posters that you might be better off giving this as a gift if they really are your partner. It's not exactly a huge sum of money is it?

Agnostic with strong atheistic leanings. I'm not 100% sure that there's no deity or deities out there - just 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% sure

Don't go to the consulate - go to any travel agent in town, give them your passport and cash and they'll handle it all for you. (Takes 3 days).

As for where to stay? Street 172 - Silver River is popular enough and in a decent place for cheap eats and bars. If you want girly bars - anywhere between Streets 104 and 136 will do.

Don't wander about late at night on your own - take a tuk-tuk or a moto. Other than that, you'll have fun in PP.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hospitals+chiang+mai&oq=hospitals+chiang+mai&gs_l=serp.3..0l2j0i22i30l8.985226.988656.0.988905.20.16.0.3.3.0.190.1747.0j13.13.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..4.16.1758...35i39j0i67j0i131j0i3j0i20j0i131i67j0i22i10i30.gI4CNo03oq0

For a full list of hospitals. Call one and ask.

Go to a hospital or a GP immediately and take whatever you can to minimize the risk of infection. Is it likely she has HIV? No, not really. Is it possible? Hell, yes.