JOHNMARTIN

In 1 year from now i should have about £100K ($200K) in cash to get out of England, i will be 33 by then.

My idea is to go to BKK and study Thai on a 1 year education visa, with the aim of becoming fluent in spoken and written Thai.

I am also going to be studying an MBA online from a top 20 UK University in September, this takes 2 years so both courses will finish within a few months of each other. (I currently run a business but have no formal qualifications.)

Now if we move forward a little over 2 years from now and ive got my MBA and made advanced strides at conquering the Thai language, my CV (resume) would obviously be better then it is now, but what would be the likelyhood of finding work in Thailand in the 100k+ Baht a month wage bracket, or is this still a long shot.

I mentioned the funds i will have as the next option would be to set up some kind of business, maybe importing and exporting though i want to be cautious with my relatively small amount of money, as it will be my only source of income and i am aware that many farangs have got through kind of money very easily and the thought of coming back to England once I've set up home in Thailand is my worst fear.

Am i being realistic to think an MBA and Thai language abilities would open doors for a farang in the LOS.

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions please

Hi

Are you from Mars or Venus or is this just from your anus!

Regards

Johnmartin

So i'm not exactly pulling my hair out about this, to be honest I'm just painfully bored and this is a good way to eat up a few minutes. So opinions please.

I met a Thai girl in Chiang Mai some 6 months ago. We got on really well and all that, spent about 6 weeks together just messing around, pretty much. All through that time i was very doubtful about the whole thing, I was pretty sure she was just your typical gold digging Thai chick. But she never asked for any money - although she did once mention that her 'friend' was in prison and needed some money to get out, but that was only 2 days after we met, and she never actually asked me directly and only mentioned it very briefly once - she never asked for money and was in fact quite a generous person, she would buy me food in the mornings and let me stay in her apartment free of charge etc etc. But still I remained doubtful, she was surely just playing the long-term game.

After a few weeks her birthday rolls home and i decide to conduct an experiment (by now i'm getting hooked on this lady - at one point i decided i would go and chill in the south for a while but found myself missing her somewhat so i returned to the north within about 10 days). Surely today of all days would be the day i would give her some money, and if i don't surely now she'll realise i'm not going to give her anything and she'll tell me to go sling my hook (or words to that effect - maybe 'you go home now, back your room, no more many free boom boom you'). So i didn't give her anything. Infact, as it happens, on the night of her party i recieved some bad news and found myself alone drinking myself into oblivion (a situation i'm sure many TV'ers can sympathise with), i finally rocked up to her party at about 2am smashed. No presents, no cards, just me, completely smashed. So did she seem to mind? Not at all, she was annoyed, thats for sure, but she was only annoyed because i hadn't turned up. She didn't seem to care about the lack of gifts.

A few more weeks of chilling together passes by in a second and before i know it i'm on a plane to New Zealand, this time missing this chick with some intensity. But still, she's blatantly a gold digger, surely? I decided to give it a few weeks of ignoring her phone calls and then surely if she's a faker, she'll give up. She left loads of messages pleading with me to call her and eventually i caved in and rang, had a nice chat and she seemed very pleased to hear from me. Now as i'm sure is normal in long distance thingys the time between phone calls began to grow. I never rang her but she would ring me. It had been about 12 weeks and although she was still a daily fixture in my thought schedule she had been pushed back to the status of 'oh yeah, those were the days', and i was now pretty sure i had been forgotten about at her end and that would be the end of the matter.

Until just now, when i see a voicemail has been left on my phone.

Yeah, you guessed it, its TGF. Asking why i haven't rang and that she wants to talk to me and all this and all that. So to reach the conclusion of this rather long winded scene setting story, i would like to pose the question:

Is she for real?

Hi

You have not provided enough information about your lady for us anyone to make a half sensible comment. For example does she work! how does she support herself? does she rent or own her home.

In thailand you will be aware these are very important topics. She sounds as if she is 'provided' for already and is engaging in a little side bet to see if something better comes up. No need to press for money etc etc. I think a NZ passport would trump any cold northern offers on her table. Thais like card games- I wonder why.

Of course this could all be wrong, but you have started it going and got us thinking and talking.

But to help you come to a decision I have to agree with you and say you are in 'play' as it were and YOU are expected to deliver. You will be given some time to do this however. Its all too clever by half and to smooth. Do you know what she did and with whom last year ? ask her and do it now - the answer may be interesting - Not

regards

johnmartin

Hi, I'm new, been reading the thread on pets into Thailand but still confused. We're retiring to Thailand early August and bringing our dog with us, we'll be using a pet transport company who arrange everything for us but they choose the flight which will undoutably be BA. The chances of us getting on a BA flight at short notice is minimal. Will our dog arrive on the luggage carousel or delivered into a cargo area and if we're not on the same flight how do we go about collecting her if on the luggage carousel. We do hope to arrange a flight for ourselves that will arrive a few hours before her flight but what if we cannot.

Oh my god!! are you sure the dog belongs to you!! Keep taking plenty of water with the pills and they might work.!!! I think the dog should arrive in first and you in the cargo bay!!

Thailand need you.

Regards

johnmartin

Hi

I must say the whole thing sounds very fishy indeed. The amount you are quoting is just soooo over the top its blatant. Man I can see the stitches from here about 16000 miles away!!! Well at least she has started as she means to go on!!

Get out and do it NOW!!

Regards

JOHNMARTIN

Hi Drew, I know you've only been together a short time and if you tell her the moneys not needed in her account and she does a runner, then you'll know exactly where you stand and what she was in it for. But on the other hand, if she still wants a visistor visa and she's genuine about your relationship, then great, send her the link.

In theory, if she's granted a tourist visa, it should make things easier for future applications, but you may need to show that your relationship had progressed and developed in the meantime.

It helps IMO if you are there together when submit your application at the visa centre. Get all of your info together and then submit it. I believe you can submit this info 3 months prior to her wanting to come to the UK, and the visa will be granted 3 months from the time you submit your application, but the interviewer told my gf that if she needed a visa for further visits then leave it untill 3-4 weeks before she wants to come.

We only applied 3 months in advance incase any problems arose.

You may get a decision within 3-5 days after submitting your application or she may be asked to attend an interview at the embassy which could prolong things by a further 20 days, but by this time you will know if she has been sucessfull or not.

My gf was granted her visa yesterday and we aim to use this as a way of testing the water. If she likes things over here then we will progress to the next step. We've been together nearly 2 years now, so the next step would be marriage. Upon doing so, we would probably apply for a settlement visa, but who knows what the future will bring.

Good luck mate.