Kenny202

You seem to be wrong on all counts there. Proper junior teacher at a government school starts around 18k month. they can only get a job teaching in a govt school though if they pass the exam, a pass at a Govt uni teaching degree not enough, and they need to pay upward of 200k to the testing body to get a pass, lets call it a tuition fee. Private or teachers helpers on much less money....I had a GF was a very good teacher in a small private country school was on 8k a month. Would have been better of working in 7/11. My wifes uncle senior teacher was on 60k a month, plus an amazing retirement package. Government workers, police same deal. Can go from very small to very big money depending on the rank and position. Normal govt clerk, gardener etc 8-10k and depending on the position, how long they been there can be a lot more. Local stall holders and noodles soup vendors 30-40k a month? No way....not in a village anyway. More likely 10-12k, if they worked hard and were lucky.

Hmmmm I can't agree with this. Isaan villagers like to talk about sharing....as long as it is all one way. And in any case they usually have nothing you would want to help yourself too. I think we pass too much of this behavior off as cultural. In general it is not acceptable at all to go and take someone else's stuff in a village or anywhere in Thailand. Maybe family members taking advantage of your wife. Usually in a village you have very poor people and often some more monied people. The monied people....teachers, govt workers etc certainly don't have their homes open for open slather / help yourself. I remember going to mawlum or parties in the village. Buying a couple of boxes of Leo. A few bottles for myself and the rest for the cadgers across the road. They would drink it all then expect me to go buy more for them....mumbling Kie neow to each other lol, when they themselves had brought nothing. Knew some lovely people in the villages I lived in....salt of the earth but a great many incredibly entitled.

I think if you are seriously considering buying property here in your wife's name this is the only way to go. Providing she has the means / job to get a loan that is. Yeah you have stumped up a deposit and you can consider the repayments as rent...so a lot better to lose 300k than a few million. It also gives her an incentive to stay with you as well through the possible rough times. I don't advocate treating women here like slaves or cattle but this is Asia and you can not present people with opportunities to get the better of you. Wife or not. Its sad but true and any Western politically correct ideals will only get you into hot water here. Buying them a home and a whole bunch of assets in their name, in my book puts them firmly in control, and watch them change when they know you are in a corner...if not her, her family. I was told once Asians don't understand acts of charity or someone with a good heart. You are either considered stupid or someone who will be expecting something in return in the future. That has been my experience. Another story rings true here is the wife who told her husband in Thailand a relationship is always made up of an "abuser" and the "abused". The husband said I have never abused anyone in my life. The wife said oh good, I can be the abuser. I have been on both sides of the fence and I will never lose control of my life again

No, just hope can help some of the many who come here mostly with good intentions, thinking they are saving a girl when in reality it is they who need saving. Meet the family and try and blend in if possible 100%, and I have met some lovely Thai families where the caring sharing thing really works and no one is using anyone else, but have also seen the opposite more often where all you will be is an easy avenue for gambling / grog money. Amazing how many well educated guys come here...have been cautious all their life and put their life savings / future / life in the hands of someone has little more than a 6th grade education and maturity / intelligence level to match. Admittedly a lot of no good farang too.

Biggest problem is most of these girls can be amazing at first. Many show their true colors first few weeks to a month into the honeymoon period and its easy to weed them out. The ones playing the long game are the most dangerous. First thing I always tell anyone asking me about living here is DONT go and live in her village or even contemplate it until you have known her for at least 2 years. They usually just have too many skeletons there...ex boyfriends, current boyfriends or husbands...kids...gambling issues or debts, not to mention family dropping in and taking what they want whenever they feel like it. I have lived in 3 villages and everyone had a few women who had foreign boyfriends or husbands...usually fly in fly out types and as soon as the guy was gone the Thai boyfriend moved in. The other villagers see no wrong in this by the way. Happened to me big time. Luckily I didn't invest too much apart from emotionally.... and about $50k AUD. Not life destroying though. Long distance relationships can intensify feelings too. I know a couple of guys here at the moment invested everything and coming into the waking up stage. the future for them probably back to Australia trying to live on a pension with all retirement funds gone. Talking predominantly about uneducated / unemployed village type girls from a poorer back ground here. And by the way its not only old farang / young girl relationships that fail here. Know many blokes had major problems with older women too. Mostly about gambling and debts more than anything. Always seems to be an underlying expectation or entitlement when a Thai woman meets a foreign man here. Not of a better life....but a Disneyland style life where the money never stops pouring in. This is where the trouble starts in my experience. the guy comes here with his retirement money. Thinks he will buy a nice house, new vehicles....get set up comfortable. buy the wife a bit of gold, go on a couple of holidays then settle down to a modest life. problem seems to start at this point where the guy was expecting at some point to live on a budget, but the wife thought the money flow was never going to stop. This seems to be when she gets the idea she found this golden goose pretty easily, surely can find another one...and out on your backside. They are not all like this of course and you will learn a lot more about whos who and what's what after living here but its so easy to get sucked in early on in the piece, and for some it can mean game over. 1) When you first come here live in neutral territory away from her past and family 2) Do no buy property. Rent is so cheap here. Buying property you will never own and can lose any time doesn't make sense. And make sure the lease is in your name. Always maintain control of your life and belongings. Remember anything you have in someone else's home (even if you paid for it) is deemed theirs unless you can prove otherwise. It's great having your own place, you can make improvements, always something to do. But here it will never be YOUR place unless you want to buy a Condo 3) Buy vehicles in your name. Some dealers will tell you you can't, you can. They either don;t know or don't want to do the extra paperwork. Easier to put in your wife / GF name. If they wont sell you a vehicle go somewhere else. 4) Don't buy too many possessions until you are sure you want to live here long term. For many the gloss of Thailand can wear off after a few months to a few years. the golden rule is never buy anything in Thailand unless you can afford to walk away and leave it. 4) Make sure your prospective partner is bringing something long term to the relationship, other than a cute smile and slim little body. Most can't drive, don't work, know very little about anything outside of their village, don't cook, want to sleep all day and expect you to provide everything whilst giving nothing in return. This gets old fast. 5) If at all possible don't move in with a steady girlfriend initially. Play the field. Learn the game. Plenty of fish in the sea here. Unfortunately for most of us the reason we move here is because of a girl. Not to say use and abuse them, but until you find the right one. Go by the old adage....if it has wheels, floats, flys or has boobs....rent it. I would advise dating for at least 3 months before you let anyone move in. As a wise old man lived here a long time once told me....they are very easy to find, not so easy to get rid of. And "Thais are opportunists, do not present them with easy opportunities".

Hmmmm, dunno why but definitely working normally again since I cleared the pipe. It set on 27 degrees now and freezing.

Service guy coming next week so I wont be going to far with it. He comes and cleans it every 3 or 4 months, not sure if he is an actual tech or not. Would a blockage in the water drain effect performance? Is the temp sensor down there or something? Certainly seems to be doing better last 30 mins anyway

Got a reasonably new Samsung air con, about 3 years old. regularly serviced. The external filter is clean, I took it off this morning to see if it made a difference. Not much if any. Last few days seems to be really struggling. Has been a bit hotter where we are but no more than 35 or so and this thing normally goes well even up to 40 degrees. I read the instructions and checked the remote....everything is set right, its not on comfort or anything. We normally have it set on about 27 and works well. Last few days on about 20 and still seems like its not properly cooling. Like the compressor is cycling and getting cool air coming out but obviously for not long enough. One thing I did notice the other day was a bit of water dripping out the front of it (in the room), like the water wasn't getting away properly. Maybe some gunk in there or something. And the remote stopped working for a couple of days too. It was last week with the rain when it was really humid. I have since gone outside and blown through the pipe. Seemed blocked at first then gave way and a fair bit of water ran out, then the pipe was clear. Would this effect the cooling in anyway if the water was sitting in the bottom of the unit and not getting away down the pipe?

Absolute rubbish. If that is your expectation from a bank ....and yes my expectations lowered on just about everything the day I arrived here. This is a major bank for god sake. Notification or not, at the least they were meant to be back online 10.30am Saturday. I think I was finally able to do a transfer at 4pm, after making a trip to the ATM to sort my online / phone app password out. And as I noted this isn't the first time. If that is within your expectations good for you. In any case they can do what they like in the future. First thing I did when I got back online was raise my daily limit to a million baht and transferred the lot out

What do you mean on their app? So you gotta log into the app or go onto their website to get notification? Great. I get an email or SMS from my other banks. And yes you could log on at 14.00, but you couldnt do anything

For me I was able to access ATM, but website and phone app both said my password was outdated or words to that effect and to contact the branch. Lucky I was able to do it at the ATM

Advised how? If you go to their website? Which I never do. They were off the air for nearly 17 hours

Yeah I saw it on their web page, only after it was too late of course. Whether its been there or not for a few days is irrelevant as I never go on their website. I do most of my transactions by phone banking app. And that's only sometimes. I mean surely a major shut down of a bank surely prior direct warning should be given, and as of 2pm I still can't transfer money anywhere. The system seems to have came back online about 13.00, sort of....It is now 14.00 and after a lot of trouble driving around looking for an ATM that is working, I can log on but can not transfer to anyone. You talk about always someone else's fault....I got the same no internet connection, and when transferring to another bank "this bank is not available for transfer". Borderline criminal. Wife tried calling the bank all morning and of course no answer. This happened the day the first lockdowns were announced about 18 months ago....I think Bkk bank were offline for 2 days. Same cr#p. I assumed at the time they were worried about a run on the banks. And be warned, it looks like everyone's online / mobile pins may have been reset (which is different to your ATM pin). Mine was anyway. So guess what! you try and log on too many times with your old number and your account is locked and can only be reinstated at the branch. Who seemingly don't have much of a clue either. Happened to me last time so I was wise enough to go to the ATM and reset my online / mobile PW on the ATM machine before my account was blocked today. Last time it happened the people in the branch were acting like they had never heard of this before, mucked me around for nearly an hour. I kept telling them to call HO but they kept playing with my phone app getting the same message..... need to go to a branch to contact HO to reset / unblock account. Girl kept grabbing my phone off me playing with the app, as if it would suddenly start working....at one stage saw her scrolling through my photos! It looks like you guys have managed to log on again so maybe only me. I am so totally angry at the arrogance of this organization. One thing I have managed to do is increase my daily transfer limit and as soon as I can transfer again, all but 10000 baht will be transferred to SCB. Its an absolute outrage! I pity people in remote areas who can't easily get to an ATM or branch.

Tried to log on this morning to transfer some money and a notice their system down as of last night 10.30 pm until 10.30am this morning. I got no notification or messages. One of the rare times I only have money in this account and not my SCB. As of 12.00 midday their system appears to still be down online and phone app. We came back from holidays yesterday. Lucky wasn't today would have had a problem buying fuel etc on the way back. I can not believe the arrogant attitude. happened at the beginning of covid also. I am definitely moving my main money out of there and into SCB. Absolutely unacceptable. I doubt any other bank in the world would get away with it, particularly without proper notification / prior warning

On holidays in Thailand at the moment in area close to the Cambodian border. Have come across a lot of Cambodian girls working in restaurants, hotels etc and have been very impressed with them. Seem a lot brighter, intelligent and inquisitive than Thai girls. They seem like they are conscientious workers and take some pride in what they are doing. One other misconception I had were that Cambodian girls were all dark. The girls I have met this week very white and pretty, not that I don't like darker girls. Of course there are good and bad in all people but I think some broad generalizations can be made per all countries. For eg Vietnamese and Thai people are very very different, as are Laos people. I have read a little bit about Cambodian girls, whether it is true or not but generally they are said to be loyal and devoted wives. Team players. Very interested in your culture and interests. All of these things would be 180 degrees opposite to what I have found in Thailand. Good or bad Thais seem to live in the moment. Not a lot of planning or concern about anyone else, or anything else too much for that matter. Many very entitled. Moody, lazy even. I mean there are guys here in Thailand say they have happy and fulfilling relationships. I do know a lot of guys here that don't though. What is the general consensus on Cambodian women and people?

My wife got a similar story when she was going back to her village to be vaccinated as the queues in the city months away. Her village is actually in the same province as we live. This "headman" <deleted> is so archaic. I have lived in several villages and the headman usually barely has a 6th grade education. Usually voted in because of money handed out in the right places and large family... and generally any government money spent or improvements made in the area to the poh yai bans family's financial advantage and in the area they live. Just another greedy paw in the cookie jar.

Since done a bit more research. Ferry at first said single Astra or double Sino vax, or a test certificate in the last 72 hours. Today both the hotel and ferry said no requirements. Officially there is nothing required when travelling from a red zone to a red zone. Both our home location and Trat are red zones

Been a chronic asthmatic for years, got a lot worse moving here and rather than do anything about just used Ventolin increasingly more and more. Got onto a Seretide Accuhaler (The purple round one with the powder) and it has changed my life. 2 puffs a day done. Sleeping better, generally feel 300% better. One issue I have found is I am losing my voice a bit, and I sing. I know this can be a side effect of these inhalers, even thrush of the throat etc. Is there anyway I can overcome this apart from having a drink after? Are the aerosol puffers better than the powder inhalers? Any help or advice appreciated

Never wanting to invest too much in Thailand, a couple of years ago I bought a little sound unit for my PC. Basically a blue tooth Subwoofer / amp and 2 x passive speakers. Sherman brand (SB-55T ....50w RMS) I think it was under 2000 baht, but sounded surprisingly good, powerful and has been reliable. The sub woofer is good but the 2 x passive box speakers a little thin. Just wondering what sort of improvement I would get from getting rid of the original speakers and hooking up a couple of better quality bookshelf / desktop speakers. I was always under the impression the amp itself doesn't really vary much, its the quality of the speakers that makes your sound. That could be completely incorrect. Not after audiophile quality here, just a richer sound. I don't intend to spend a lot.....can pick up a couple of decent secondhand small (30-60w) Denon's or even JBL's for under 2000 baht. There are no specs on the amp or speakers....I see a lot of the passive bookshelf speakers are 6 ohm, some 8 ohm. Is that going to matter greatly? Any advice appreciated

No, Im trying to log onto Mor Phom app. Bkk hospital clearly should have given me a barcode or QR code. Sure will get all that after my second vax but when travelling in most cases one AZ vax is adequate to check into hotels, go on ferries etc

Never said it was. Its my reappointment certificate. Have only had the first AZ vax

It looks like they have English too, at least to log in

I scanned the QR Code I have but it only took me to the Bangkok hospital website to give a breakdown of what to expect after vax as the slip says. Its obviously not my personal QR. Mrs rang the hospital again, theyre going to look into it lol.

I did manage to finally scan the QR code on my certificate and it does direct me to their website but its only a guide of what to expect after vaccine. Its obviously not my personal QR code