Scouse123

A long time ago I used to have a few pints with my mates every weekend, but over the years I've been drinking less and less. A few years back I was down to like 2 beers a year, a small glass of single malt 2-3 times a year, and a shot of schnapps at christmas. Today I haven't been drinking any alcohol in two 2.5 years since I'm on a strict non-carb diet.

I really like both beer, whiskey and of course a nice frosty cold mojito , but I rather stay clear-headed than indulging in alcohol.... Life is too short to go about having a buzz in the evenings and headaches in the mornings.

Hehe,

I seem to be following your style!

I am on very low carb and high protein.However, I was quite a big drinker or social drinker ( I was very social! ) and enjoyed it with my mates.

Up in the sticks, I felt less inclined to drink as not many mates up here and found I was drinking for the sake of it. I tend to get guys calling on me to drink who live outside Thailand but come for extended periods either to bring their wives/girls home to visit family, who live with them abroad, or to visit girlfriends here for a month or six weeks. They get bored after a while, and liked to visit me to booze!!

Weight became a small problem as I can drink a lot and unfortunately for my wallet, it doesn't affect me very much (unlike others) with the exception of weight gain.

I stopped a lot more recently, in November last year, I just didn't fell like it. I had however, stopped twice for two month periods in 2015. No health reasons for stopping at all.I just woke up and stopped.

I also like a few cold mojitos and a few LARGE glasses of red wine when in Cambodia.

I like drinking but just decided I like to be slimmer more.

I have no problem with drinkers, teetotallers, reformed drinkers or piss-heads, however, I try to live by a rule (even when I was drinking), and that is never to attempt to force a person or embarrass them into drinking or indeed anything they do not wish to do.

Guys,

Bear with me as I am not fully getting this thread.

OK, I am on retirement extension and I am registered at the same house for many years and have the yellow book. I frequently leave and travel to various countries within the region. I seldom am in Thailand for 90 days, but will be on this rare occasion. I am due 90 day report next month and report to Sakon Nakhon. To my knowledge, I can also do this by mail or online.

When I entered Thailand in December I came through the airport and was stamped in after filling in a TM 6 card.I am not married but I am unsure if that is even relevant.

I then went home to my registered Thai address. I did not fill out any such form TM30 and never have done in the past nor report to local police station.I do not know where to obtain a TM30. Was I supposed to as nobody told me and this is the first I have heard about it??

Sakon Nakhon immigration is a separate province to where I live.

I spoke to the public prosecutor yesterday and he told me that these charge will be dismissed and the case will not go ahead "For Sure".

We already know that from Barry Kenyon the founder, an ex tourist immigration advisor at Jomtien office.

Yes, and he was also the British Honorary Consul for Pattaya for many years.

Apparently, from reports, this ' bust ' did not start from the Police. I want them to get their 5,000 baht back instead of the pathetic face saving accusation and an obscure law that there was more than 120 playing cards on the tables, because they had no evidence of gambling.

Overstayer from next month will have to take a finger scan according to Immigration HQ (Source: Sakon Nakhon Immigration Chief). The System comes from Singapore

It's a woman, the boss up there at Sakon Nakhon, isn't it, or it was!

Why would they be involved in finger printing overstay?

They get some from Laos but I would have thought the foreigners going there would be for extensions, you wouldn't go there for overstay, would you?

I thought it would be the nearest international crossing point or airport? Sorry, I am asking out of curiosity!

Fingerprint overstay for enforcement of blacklist. The question is whether they will fingerprint all or those over 3 months. Since they will be using it for entry, I suspect they will be fingerprinting all - including those that were already inside when the fingerprint scanners became operational.

But, Sakon Nakhon immigration is not a point of entry or exit to Thailand. So why would they want to scan fingerprints?

My point is you go there for an extension or a 90 day report. You do not go there to enter or leave Thailand. There must be something I am missing as to the purpose of this so called fingerprint scan. I would have thought the only places requiring these are ports of entry and exit to the Kingdom.

Got it guys,

It arrived today. 5 weeks after applying.

Overstayer from next month will have to take a finger scan according to Immigration HQ (Source: Sakon Nakhon Immigration Chief). The System comes from Singapore

It's a woman, the boss up there at Sakon Nakhon, isn't it, or it was!

Why would they be involved in finger printing overstay?

They get some from Laos but I would have thought the foreigners going there would be for extensions, you wouldn't go there for overstay, would you?

I thought it would be the nearest international crossing point or airport? Sorry, I am asking out of curiosity!

Nothing naive about the comment.

I am in Siem Reap all the time and this story is a hot topic.. The guy, his movements, his addresses ( he owns a couple of properties ) have all been reported back. His name and photos are all over the Cambodian forums and details of his crimes.It has also already made the Cambodian news both TV and print.( google it )

APLE the French NGO is deeply involved in this case and they have considerable power and success in this area of paedophila and has won many cases. However, their main interest in this one is getting him out of Cambodia.

I think you will find this is big news in Cambodia and all those in authority that need to be aware, are aware.

This will get dealt with. Many times the documentation can be a bit slow arriving and sometimes the translations and paperwork has to be just so to follow on and make an arrest.

It just seems extremely difficult to accept and sympathise with the guy when she is saying the overstay is 3 years plus.

How can anybody be completely incapacitated and unable to get their affairs in order for this length of time??

Seems a stretch.

I have had friends with serious illnesses who have had operations at famous hospitals in the city and immigration have been more than happy to help and even had designated areas and officers sat at desks in Bumrungrad hospital once upon a time. The losers here unfortunately could be the poor wife and children.

The top and bottom is the foreigners turn up on behalf of their governments in the vain hope that something is being done to protect the ' intellectual property rights ' of the companies from their respective countries, on this occasion, France;and then hand support money to stamp this practice out to those in uniform who are the very ones behind this practice in this first place.

So, for ' keeping up appearances ' a few token arrests of nondescript Cambodians and a bit of a kerfuffle to justify funds paid for by foreign governments to police and stamp out the illegal trade and then all back to normal.

Pathetic, it happens with drugs as well, all the time, it's a shame foreign governments do not stop throwing money at it thinking they are doing something to stem the tide of fake goods, copies of designer gear and drugs.

A different approach needs to be considered and looked at. They have tried this method for the last 50 years, guess what? It doesn't work!

Incidentally, Poipet / Aranyaprathet seems to get worse by the month. Full of the lowest scumbags, chancers and shysters from both Thailand and Cambodia, from the guys in uniform right down to the pretend nurses at the vaccination stations and all the rest of the crap including the ' bussed in ' mafia controlled beggars.

I always fly now in either direction as its the best way to avoid this nonsense at that border crossing.

Hi,

I am just back from local tax office who checked online and handed me the printout, all passed and said cheque will be with me at latest in the next two weeks ( subject to when a batch gets sent out) and I have no need to worry or be concerned.

Thank you very much indeed for your detailed response. I will go up to the revenue office today as it is quite near and check and also look online if I get no joy

Big thank you!!

Guys,

Help required please.

Up in Isaarn as I think it's a separate office to Bangkok regards returning tax paid on yearly bank interest on fixed deposits,what is the usual length of time after submitting and clearing the paperwork to the cheque arriving??

I was told 15 days and the past three years, that has been about right, this time however, We are into five weeks now into 2016 and no sign of it??

I also am not sure if I can track and trace on their government website, I cannot find it at this place below, but I am not sure where to look.

http://www.rd.go.th/publish/

Some microfinance can accept deposits and some cannot.It depends if they reach the Cambodian central banks criteria.

If they do not. They can lend and accept repayments and interest but not accept customer deposits.

The central bank, has a few times increased the amounts which must be lodged as security with the central bank to strengthen consumer confidence from outside and inside the country.

i liked vietnam when i had my own apartment.

did not like police coming in late at night and checking room for girls when i stayed at hotels though. they even checked the bathroom, in closet etc.

it's not legal there for foreigners and locals to be in the same room after a certain hour, could have really been a bad scene, and everyone watches and reports.

How long ago was this? Hard to believe police checks would still be happening in 2016. Talk about the State intruding into people's bedrooms.

Guys,

I have three friends all living and working there with Vietnamese girlfriends who they are living with and unmarried and these girls are from Hanoi.

They are not ' bar girls ' but these guys have had no problems at all with Police I have been many times and never had my hotel room checked and actually never spoken to a policeman except on two occasions, once, when I was passenger on a motorbike in Halong and the other one was when I laid and got into a museum at lunchtime.!!

I found police very low key, and that's Hanoi, the capital.

Yes,

The post however, was mentioning relocating from Thailand with a view to Myanmar.

Vietnam will never be a destination for the sexpats and I doubt very much Myanmar will be either. I also am of the belief that the go go bars and massage parlours of Thailand are on the slide. Many of the sex workers now look fat and the wrong side of forty! Those that aren't want UK and Europe prices and more.

I personally have no interest in those areas of life but I am interested in the likes and dislikes of living in different countries of S.E.Asia.

To me, and it has been a long time coming, but I honestly think Vietnam will rocket in tourism way before Myanmar. The big boys are looking at long term and getting into Myanmar but that is the likes of Coke, Pepsi, KFC etc etc.

I can't believe people are viewing Burma as a possible retirement place or even considering relocating.

Waaa...aaaayyy too many will miss their Big Cs, Tesco Lotus, Central world and Foodland for them to make a move. It needs another ten / fifteen years before it will offer anything other than a two week tourist destination or a lonely planet walkabout! I was there in 1991, there was no traffic problems in Yangon then!!.....

Any expats considering making a move from Thailand around these parts, it is Cambodia and if that's too small and scruffy, which I think it is, Vietnam.

Women in the cities, plenty of unmarried nice Vietnamese ladies available for LTR, beautiful islands and beaches, safe country, low crime rate, very cheap beer, scenery, country of contrasts, easy visa scheme and a good bus and air network.

It's a no brainer!

why would you recommend cambodia over vietnam?

Hi, You haven't read my post properly! No way have I rated Cambodia higher than Vietnam, Vietnam has got everything!

I was praising Vietnam!

"Any expats considering making a move from Thailand around these parts, it is Cambodia and if that's too small and scruffy, which I think it is, Vietnam. "

I can't believe people are viewing Burma as a possible retirement place or even considering relocating.

Waaa...aaaayyy too many will miss their Big Cs, Tesco Lotus, Central world and Foodland for them to make a move. It needs another ten / fifteen years before it will offer anything other than a two week tourist destination or a lonely planet walkabout! I was there in 1991, there was no traffic problems in Yangon then!!.....

Any expats considering making a move from Thailand around these parts, it is Cambodia and if that's too small and scruffy, which I think it is, Vietnam.

Women in the cities, plenty of unmarried nice Vietnamese ladies available for LTR, beautiful islands and beaches, safe country, low crime rate, very cheap beer, scenery, country of contrasts, easy visa scheme and a good bus and air network.

It's a no brainer!

Well,

In your ideal world you may be correct but we are dealing with the real world.

You sleep with dogs and don't complain when you wake up with fleas!

Many, by their posts here, know little about how it works up in the sticks.

Nearly all shops, bars, restaurants AND Gold shops I know up here extend.credit or they would get no sales as all villagers would bad mouth them leading to a blockade with even those who have cash and can afford to pay!! This is because they never live within their means and are always awaiting sons, daughters and various other relatives to pay them. Police in the restaurants and bars are some of the worst for obtaining credit and then " forgetting "

As I say, even the Gold shops here give credit and then give themselves the headache of sending collectors each week to get a sum of money at an extortionate rate, this is where the policemen you see sat on their backsides in the gold shops come in in the event of non payment as well as local thugs.

We have a woman who hails from Hua Hin around here married to a local Thai man who is from Isaarn. She screams, curses and shouts in the worst language on a regular basis at both customers and her husband. She goes and bangs on village doors for money screaming at them. Guess what? I have been up here the last eight years, and in Thailand twenty two years, this woman is still in business and her shop thrives. She does extend credit, but is astute as to who has money coming in monthly and who doesn't .

For posters to say " No credit " I say, " Good in theory " but I also would suggest any foreigner not to get involved in your gf flight of fancy to make money,most or nearly all are not business minded so not only will you not get paid and make enemies, your gf will end up being ostracised in the village as stingy and forgetting where she came from!! She will then get angry with you, when you try exert pressure to get your investment back.

Some posters are right, instead of an outright refusal, you suggest they go borrow from the bank or give you something of value less than the debt they wish to have as a guarantee. Invariably, they will disappear and try an easier " Mark " but you won't have the worry and stress of chasing a debt that they cannot pay and you don't fall out with them.

Thais do not like saying no to their peers who are usually relatives or extended family. They would sooner give, not get back, and spend their days eating som tam and gossiping about the offender!!!

Isaarn style.....!!

another farang suicide..., good Police work boys, let's go get some breakfast....

No time for breakfast, they are too busy ' rummaging ' through his stuff!.....................

Wow ! All these people talking about Thailand and Thai culture, yet it is actually a Buddhist ceremony, not a Thai one !

Do not confuse nationality with religion.

:-)

and Therevada Buddhism is embedded in Thai culture.

If the OP wants to live the European life over here, he should not have moved or built his house amongst the Thais or moved into an ex-pats development on an estate far away from Thais where they sweep the roads daily, ensure the rubbish is collected and you get a free salute from the security guard.

However, make sure it's not a British estate, they love noise at Xmas and New Year, the Australians? Well, they are no better as they like their Australia days as well as Xmas and New Year, don't forget Paddy's day with the Irish and the ' wake ' that follows a death..............

We all get frustrated at times but I certainly try to to allow things that I have no control over upset me. The post from the OP, you can almost feel, he hardly slept in anticipation of the noise this morning! You need a hobby or interest to keep you busy elsewhere.

Your garden looks nice though.

5.30am I was lifted out of my bed when they fired up the speakers again. Another day to endure.

All as you are doing is working yourself up into a temper, you cannot change what is happening. Get in your car and go out!

You cannot talk about ' laws against this and that ' in these situations of family grief. You will end up in a nasty situation. A lot of people forget the very reasons they moved here such as freedoms, low levels of interference from government busy bodies, being able to do as you please within reason and, to be fair, a lack of rules and regulations. You are now wanting to bring in the equivalent of ' noise abatement society ' , It's not going to wash!

A poster mentions they didn't have the electric for speakers and amplifiers years ago, I agree, but they =got together and had their instruments and bongos and white whisky, you can't change them!!!

I have my own land and walls around it with no neighbours but noise still travels through from the village on any celebration and neighbours up to 0.5 km away can be heard clearly when they have a celebration. Turn your TV up or put in earplugs or go out!...............you are heading towards a stressful day otherwise.

Thais, Laotians and Cambodians are all similar in the fact that whatever they event, ,marriage, funeral, they have to have it LOUD.

I would like to ask you, have you ever been to a Cambodian wedding?? Then you know what loud and din is!!!! and it goes on for days and days depending on how rich the bride and groom's family are, depends on the length of the celebration.

I got invites from the local Toyota dealer as a ' special promotion for good customers ' I foolishly rolled up there expecting a nice finger buffet and a civilised look at new cars and pick ups. I arrived to " balloon heaven " and tables all the way up the entrance , a sound system that Phil Collins would have been proud of, skimpy dancers and watered down orange juice with food, the likes of which, that I won't even go into.

It turned out it was a party based on good sales by the staff and we were invited as we had assisted them in achieving this by buying a bloody car! The same as the local computer shop or ' Advice centre ' as they are calling them. Invited down for a computer promotion, to a stage, same skimpy girls, sound system for U2 and no promotion on computers, they were celebrating joining the ' Advice centre ' franchise and we were there to make up numbers.

Nothing you can do about the noise, either go to a hotel for a couple of stress free days and chill.

If you attempted to complain you would get nowhere, be classed as a ' grump ' and probably end up with a good chorus of ' go home if you don't like it ' You can't go to the police, they will be there and so will any official of any consequence.

In Cambodia when you apply for permanent residency / citizenship you have a test, well there are quite a few requirements but one is, to say you fully understand the traditions and cultures of Cambodia and are willing and prepared to learn, join and embrace them!