traveldog

CMsally that is a great post, thanks for sharing! Sorry bout your leg fang but

it could be much much worse. You will recover it's just time so use it wisely!

I am more grateful with each passing year as so many have so much to suffer

through. Every day is precious!

I said more but was including Russians as westerners so my bad, I guess. Anyway, 14 years living in Phuket, married for 8 to a lovely Thai gal. Still happy but probably moving to a quieter province which is what I see many doing. The rural areas where I never would see a western person are now being commonly found, and that seems normal. I have seen several old hands leave but more than replaced by the incoming tide who seem to think even here in over crowded, traffic snarled and greedy Phuket life is pretty great compared to where they are from. I feel the same. I too have researched and visited many other possible countries to relocate.....but there are always drawbacks, such as crime, cost of living, weather or amenities. Anyway, nice thread, interesting to see what people think....not what they know

OP, this is the Khrusapha address but you will need a Thai to help you if you don't read Thai as it is written in Thai:

http://e-accreditation.ocsc.go.th/acc/index

Good luck!

Well, back to the OP, I went to Lemoentra and tried the cheeseburger. As mentioned by the OP, they use very good quality ground beef and it is cooked very well, properly seasoned and accompanied with tasty sauce, cheese, tomato, lettuce and onion. I enjoyed this burger along with the chips. At 200 Baht, it is not cheap but for me worth the extra money than I would usually spend. The owners are friendly and anxious to please. They have a surprisingly ample menu of Thai and other western foods. The wine selection looked good and the coffee smelled great-though I had no room for either after the generous meal. Give it a try if in the area. I for one will go back and try some of their other offerings.

I haven't got a "Bonk eye" , but the vision in one of my eyes is really bad and has always been in comparison to the other. I was told nothing can be done. If he wants them to straighten it they can , but vision wont be improved

Yeah, he wants the eye straightened and I think his vision is okay. He has seen some doctors here in Phuket but wasn't really happy with them so was thinking somewhere else? Thanks

Rutnin Eye Hospital on Soi Asoke in Bangkok is always a good place to start. I've been going there for glaucoma problems for 20+ years now, cataracts, too.

Identify the problem, then decide if your friend wants to stick with Rutnin or try another place.

Mac

Thanks for that Mac. I will forward that on to him. I believe I have heard of this hospital too. Thanks.

Hello a friend is in need of correcting a crooked eye problem. Does anyone have an experience with this in Thailand?

Any recommendations appreciated. Thank you very much.

traveldog

Lauren and Yooyung make some great comments and I can relate. I am old and will be retiring soon but also say it is well worth teaching at my school. I enjoy it immensely and get on my good days far more from my students than I could ever imagine. I taught for years in the US and it just doesn't compare. Yeah the system sucks but there are good people at my school and lucky for me they do value my contributions. I am saddened by the yearly exodus of decent teachers to greener/easier pastures and can't blame them for leaving....but the continuity of the teaching really suffers doesn't it? No matter where you teach if you are in it just for the financials I doubt you will be satisfied, maybe more so here.

I don't really know what the nuts and bolts of the reform will mean but in the past it didn't really mean much that actually helped. I could teach forever if they made it easier to teach, allowed legal part time work etc...but that will not happen. Oh well. For those that are staying to teach I commend you for doing your best under sometimes daunting circumstances. Good luck.

Starting at 11K is not a lot of money. Also they don't just sit on the beach....at least not at Naiharn. The current group

are the best we have had and I have witnessed them do several good rescues as well as prevention work. Have you ever

done Life Guard work? The contract term of one year is ludicrous and needs addressing for sure if they hope to retain

staff.

I bought new jazz couple months ago. Very happy with the car. Understand the poster talking bout not seeing the front nose end of car...it kind of sucks. However for me the space inside especially with rear seats down is more impressive for my needs. Great car and also believe the older models rarely make sense compared to new here in Thailand.

I will second the recommendation that lik gave regarding good mechanic in Rawai. His name is Muud and is very honest IMHO. Will usually tell you when to bring in the vehicle so he can have a fast turn around. He will need time to get the part etc....anyway he has worked on my truck for over 5 years now and done a very good job.

That sounds a bit off to me too. I think you had better find out if you are "leasing" instead of buying. That

is also a very small down for a new car? But if all true you did well!

Thank you Mario for the quick reply. I will go to Phuket immigration tomorrow and see if I can do the switch there....somehow I am

not very hopeful but you never know. It would be great to avoid a trip to Penang if I can.

Hi,

This applies to me too. I am currently on 1 year extension of Retirement visa and started working again. The school I work for say I must leave the country to make a new visa. I am married to a Thai and wondered if I can avoid leaving the country. It sounds like you are saying I can get a work permit if I can change my Retirement visa (non O extension based on retirement) to Marriage visa( non O based on marriage) at my Phuket Immigration office. Does that sound right? Thanks for any help.

Hi all. I recently got my International Driving Permit in Phuket as I was going back to USA and no longer had valid US drivers license. If you have a Thai Drivers License you can easily get one. Pay the money(I think 300 Thai Baht), show your Thai license and they will have you come back to pick it up in a few days as it is issued from Bangkok. Valid for one year.

where exactly do i show my thai licence and pay the cash?

Hi again,

My wife just reminded me I paid 500 Baht for the International Driving Permit at the licensing office in Phuket-same place you take the Thai Drivers License testing. Just in case you or anyone is interested.

Hi all. I recently got my International Driving Permit in Phuket as I was going back to USA and no longer had valid US drivers license. If you have a Thai Drivers License you can easily get one. Pay the money(I think 300 Thai Baht), show your Thai license and they will have you come back to pick it up in a few days as it is issued from Bangkok. Valid for one year.

Where will it be in Phuket please?

So my retirement visa is not really looking that good, though I used to have a non imm B when I did work maybe my 9 years of living here will help though only married to my wife for 3.  Gee what an ordeal just to take her to see my country which to be honest I have no real desire to do and even less so with all this...thanks to Kamnan, Prothai and others for their advice...3 more weeks till my wife goes for her interview will report her outcome.

No apologies needed, I think I have pretty decent ties, condo in my name, renewed retirement visa, marriage cert, and wife too with house and part time job...but still we have the 20 year age difference and frankly it seems the whims of the interviewer come to play. What ever happens happens...we would lose the ticket but more importantly my sister in the US is just dying to see us....thanks again.

Apologies, I didn't mean to imply that those on retirement visas had weaker ties to Thailand than those who are working here. I meant only to highlight that someone who stayed in Thailand from time to time on visa exempt entries or tourist visas would be viewed as transient and thus not a particularly strong "reason to return" for a partner applying for a US visitor's visa.

"Compelling Reasons to return to Thailand" are the magic words.

Very true and two significant elements of this determination are (1) the perceived strength of the relationship and (2) the strength of your (not only her) ties to Thailand. If you are here on a visa exempt entry or a tourist visa, the consular officer is more likely to think that you are returning to the US and trying to take your GF with you than if you have a non-immigrant visa and a work permit. Marriage will certainly help with the "strength of relationship" part, but if you have few demonstrable ties to Thailand yourself, even that may not be enough for a B1 (visitor) visa.

So my retirement visa is not really looking that good, though I used to have a non imm B when I did work maybe my 9 years of living here will help though only married to my wife for 3. Gee what an ordeal just to take her to see my country which to be honest I have no real desire to do and even less so with all this...thanks to Kamnan, Prothai and others for their advice...3 more weeks till my wife goes for her interview will report her outcome.

Yeah, they have been having problems lately.

Pumps seem to run slow too.

Mmmm. I always put gasahol in my bike.

It's now 7 years old and 68,000 kms on it.

Didn't know you weren't supposed to. (don't tell my bike, I think it likes it)

Yeah Fiddlehead, me too. My honda wave bike is 8 years old and gasahol powered since it's been offered. In fact my old beast sure runs

a heck of a lot better than our brand new honda click....what a turd, more like an underpowered toy. I am also wondering about some

members having problems with "magic pumps" at lemon...I always watch em like every other place and not had a problem...maybe I am just lucky.

Thank you again ProThaiexpat, I had no idea this was going to be at all difficult and was going to send my wife in kind of unprepared. I mean we have traveled to other countries so I will include that as well as all the other documents you suggest. This has been a watershed of information and I think a must read for all who are considering a holiday back to the USA with their wife/gf. I'm keeping all of the more useful bits of advice in a document entitled "compelling reasons to give us the pleasure of visiting the USA with a speedy return to LOS"! Again thank you!

Land/home assets in the Thai citizen's name, bring the originals (and copies) to the interview, preferably pre-marital IME (even if it's a Thai-Thai marriage) or at least dating as far back as possible, usually shows intent to return. % wise a huge portion of Americans have never even seen their title deeds, so chanotes are probably more symbolic of a permanent foundation over here.

I think we may have had 1-2 tourist visa denials in the family out of almost a hundred trips.

To Heng and others with experiences. Do you think we should translate the Thai docs (marriage reg, chanotes) into English? Did you?

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Well there is a quite a bit more information for us all to chew on. I figured it was a slam dunk for my wife and now I feel a bit queasy about the whole thing. I am definitely taking advantage of ProThaiexpats advice about making the booklet with compelling evidence for returning to Thailand....that is a whole lot more than what is implied from the US embassy website. Looks like some more preparation work is in order. Thanks again everyone for the help.

yeah jdl, that helps explain what kind of people are doing the interview....sounds pretty grim and a bit unfair. My wife and I have a 20 year age difference which frankly I have never considered an issue..hmmmm well personally since I can't come with during the interview I will just have to trust my wife's ability. Her English is pretty good and she is fairly confident and has a winning personality....in the end if the man/woman interviewer says no that will pretty much give me another perfect reason to not step foot in the good ole usa ever again. Sorry for my sister who we are going to visit but then again she can come visit us here a lot more easily!

Thanks for your sharing and good luck to your brother and his wife too!

jdl, why was your brother's wife denied the visa? They tell you why don't they? so when you re-apply you can do better. AFAIK they are trying to keep out those who intend to illegally immigrate-which is why she should be prepared to offer evidence that she isn't and it sounds like you now know what these things are. My wife is going in a few weeks for her tourist visa appointment armed with her present job to return to, her house chanote and copy of my passport which will show that I live here as well as my chanote on my condo (maybe overkill?) and of course the return air ticket...if you have these should be ok, no?