NordicMan

If your child has some athletic talent (or even just avg. potential and you can afford to get him/her started early), you might want to consider the IMG Academies in Florida. I'm waiting on an information packet from them now for my kids (not yet born or conceived, but planning ahead never hurts).

Good advice. My pal got a 4-year scholarship to University of Florida, for playing on their soccer team. My pal was in division 3 in Norway (as in, he is not very good), yet got full board and free tuition. not a bad deal.

I'm not so sure of this girl though... she can't speak english anyway.

cheers

nm

Is it just me, or are we seeing an increase in the shootings of farang here? Or are the media just taking up these stories more and more?

Hope this guy is okay, and that the shooter is caught.

It's impossible to tell if there is a real increase in farang shootings based on anecdotes in the newspapers.

In England there has been a steady decline in violent crime, but the public actually perceive the crime to increase. Rarely is public perception of crime level in sync with the actual levels.

Until I see some real statistics on farang shootings in Thailand, I would be very careful about judging an increase or decrease. Is the murder rate per farang capita increasing? There could be more farang living in Thailand now than 10 years ago? We need to see yearly murder rates, which I am sure is recorded (and available??), compared with farang population.

Who can remember how many farang was shot 5 yars ago? 10? 15? Killed by knife? I certainly don't remember.

Looking at photos of Pattaya, I don't think there's much doubt that more farang live there now than 15 years ago.

Cheers

NM

I was hoping somebody can recommend a good freight forwarder for shipping household goods and some furniture. I would like to ship door to door and I am located in Pattaya, so I am assuming the Chonburi port is close with many companies.

I have had good and bad luck with shipping companies shipping in other countries so I was hoping somebody had used a service like this before to recommend.

Thanks all

If you have a whole container (or many of them), send me a PM, I work for a global shipping company.

If it's a few cubic metre, try ECU Line or WSA Line. You'll easily find them on google. If you prefer to save a few dollar and don't mind potential delays of a few weeks, use the local small forwarders.

Cheers

NM

I would have to agree that to send a Thai youngster to boarding school is not at all unusual. I have seen a number of Thai children in both Thai and International boarding schools. Either because there is no good school upcountry or parents don’t want kids going to school in Bangkok.

St. John's is supposed to be pretty good but I don’t believe they have boarding. St Joseph's in Sri Racha is also recommended, and they have boarding.

I would recommend Satit Udomseuksa Academy in Jomtiem. They have just a few boarders right now, but are trying to get more. The curriculum is Thai, but there is a lot of English and a large number of the kids speak English at home. The fees are very reasonable, about 70k a term (2 terms a year), including boarding.

TH

Thanks for the tip, I will contact Satit. Curriculum in Thai, and 140k/year is just what we were looking for, as my original post stated.

Rgds

NM

Hi,

My thai wife have a daughter from previous marriage, who has been living with her father's family for most of the time. We would like to give her a better education than the regular village schools, and are looking for a thai boarding school. I can find plenty of international schools at around 400-500k baht/year, but that is quite a bit over our budget.

Searching the internet has not provided much results, mostly english-language schools.

She's 15, just finished Matayom 3. Her English is almost non-existent. She does generally very well at the village schools. In addition to a better education, we would also like her to mix more with "city-people".

Can anyone recommend a thai boarding school, preferably in Bangkok?

Many thanks

NM

The wife and I are considering to buy a house in Pattaya for renting out. We do not plan to live in it during holidays.

Our budget would be up to about 5mill baht.

What is a common rental yield, or monthly rent, on a house of approx this value, with a private swimming pool and garden patch?

What occupancy rate can we expect?

I do understand that the income and occupancy fluctuates a lot and involves some luck, but I am looking for some averages to help base a decision on.

Are rental yields higher in Hua Hin?

We prefer to get something in a touristy area reasonably close to bangkok, so ended up considering primarily pattaya but also hua hin. Phuket etc. are a bit too far away for easy access.

many thanks

NM

Unless your wife is Thai, forget it. Read the other related posts on this site regarding house purchases.

Pakboong, thank you for your response.

My wife is Thai.

I have read a good number of related posts.

Do you have any information you could share?

many thanks

NM

The wife and I are considering to buy a house in Pattaya for renting out. We do not plan to live in it during holidays.

Our budget would be up to about 5mill baht.

What is a common rental yield, or monthly rent, on a house of approx this value, with a private swimming pool and garden patch?

What occupancy rate can we expect?

I do understand that the income and occupancy fluctuates a lot and involves some luck, but I am looking for some averages to help base a decision on.

Are rental yields higher in Hua Hin?

We prefer to get something in a touristy area reasonably close to bangkok, so ended up considering primarily pattaya but also hua hin. Phuket etc. are a bit too far away for easy access.

many thanks

NM

a very small drop in a very large bucket. but it's nice to know that at least in some countries "prostitution is illegal" really means that it is illegal; ie: the authorities will arrest you for doing it.

Prostitution (in itself) isn't illegal in the UK.

There are laws against running a brothel (as in this case), streetwalking, kerb-crawling, etc., but the actual act of being paid for sex is perfectly legal in the UK.

(That's why the people with all the adverts in the phone booths could only be done for littering).

As for visas, please tell me you're joking... The UK (until recently), didn't check people's passports on leaving, so has no idea how many people who went there as tourists for two weeks, or on a business trip for a few days, actually left when they said they would (hence the Home Office having no clue whatsoever how many illegal immigrants there are in the UK).

If someone is asking to go for a week on business, or two weeks on holiday, especially if travelling as a couple or more, I believe it's relatively easy to get a visa).

The fact that the UK is now checking passports when people leave means that it should get less easy over time. (i.e. The company sending 3 people on a business trip where only 2 people come back, or the couple where only the man returns "might" be picked up on now).

I don't think it will matter much whether they know you haven't left the country or not.

Even if they know you didn't leave on time, they still can't kick you out before they actually find you. And that's quite hard. The thai hookers will still get kicked out when they get nicked without a visa by police during random searched of the hooker flats. And once kicked out, they won't get a new visa to england... before they buy a new passport from someone in the village back home who physically look like them. (until england introduce biometric coding on the passports)

I do know it is almost imposible to get a visa to the USA and pretty sure that Britain must be the same.

All you need is to google for Asian Girls London and similar. Or see the ads in some local papers. the girls, regardless of nationality, will frequently advertise as singaporean or japanese - because these countries don't need visa, and the chance that police will come to check visas are thus lower.

getting a visa is not almost impossible. some hints: a) marry then divorce british guy. student visa for english school, then overstay (probability of getting caught is very low, if you're caught you will just be deported anyway). ask any foreigner in your home country (england?) and they can tell you at least ten ways to get a visa. it didn't take long of mixing with thais here in London before I had heard more stories than I wanted to hear.

rgds

NM

We need to keep in mind that there will usually be a difference between the INTENTION of the law and the actual law text. It is difficult to formulate a text that will exactly cover the intention.

We all know the INTENTION of the law is that foreigners cannot own land in Thailand. There is no doubt about that. Clever people have found ways to circumvent the actual legal text, but that doesn't change the intention.

However, as we know the INTENTION of the law, and we know that the currrent practice of buying land through companies is a nothing more than an exploit of a loophole, it should come as a surprise to noone that the loophole will not be tolerated forever.

Judging from other people's posts, this isn't even a semi-legal loophole. It is plain illegal, just that it takes quite some time and resources to investigate a company in detail and the authorities have not previously bothered much about it.

-NM

Odd normally Euro/UK passport holder have max staff and foreigners get the 1/2 cue line.

these days it is an offence punishable by amputation of the left hand for an immigration official to keep a foreigner waiting at immigration at any point of entry into the uk .

Don't get me started on this one! .......and it does annoy me that if I had an EEA/EU passsport or whatever they are calling themselves this week (and we were married obviously) would get the family permit for free with little hassle at all.

I have an "EEA passport", and as far as I know, it's been called EEA since January 1, 1994... EU and EEA are two different things. What do you mean they change name often?

You're right, getting a visa for my Thai wife was a breeze - she got a 5 year visa with virtually no hassle at all.

However, you do forget one thing... her EEA family permit does not lead to a british citizenship in the end. That's a pretty big difference to the visa your wife has, don't you reckon? Which visa would your wife like to have?

Not sure about on the street, but at home i would like these (on my gf not me)

open the pic to see full size and you will know what im talking about.

When the pic is small it looks like normal tight pants

Google a bit for "exotic dance wear" "sexy dance wear" "clubwear" etc. and you'll find lots of internet shops selling similar clothes. Pay attention to sizing, if your gf is small or regular by Thai standards, some shops won't have small enough sizes for her.

Taxi driver kills toy-wielding pillion rider

Prasert has been charged with premeditated murder.

--DPA 2006-03-01

Sure......He got up this morning and said to himself..... today I will ram a motorcycle and kill the person that points a toy gun at me!!!

All replica and toy guns are banned in most western countries now, but we forget....TIT

Which Western countries are they banned in? They seem to be on sale all over Europe.

You may take the bus over to Pnomh Penh and pick up a nice second hand Vietnamese AK47 or AKS-47 for US$100. Add a Colt 1911 .45 to that, for $300. Handgrenades can go for $20 each, very useful for home protection

Ak's for $100! $20 for hand grenades! I should have gone shopping in Pnomh Penh....could have used those items when I taught high school

Actually, there were SO many bad teens perhaps a laser guided bomb would have been more useful.

I'm not so sure about hand grenades for home protection...you'd hate to make such a mess of your livingroom.

For further improved home protection, look around a bit and you'll find Vietnamese B50 rocket launchers as well (similar to the Russian RPG-2) for a couple hundred $, plus around $100 for each rocket. Not very modern, effective rangs is only 100-150m, but it may come in very handy when the burglars (or schoolkids) try escape in their vehicle. Shove a rocket up their a*s and you can be sure they'll never come back to harass you. You can buy pretty much whatever you like in Pnomh Penh. I haven't seen it, but assume you can get some landmines to bury in your garden as well. With a properly stocked arsenal, you'll never feel scared in your home again. You may of course consider moving somewhere else instead?

cheers

-nm

You may take the bus over to Pnomh Penh and pick up a nice second hand Vietnamese AK47 or AKS-47 for US$100. Add a Colt 1911 .45 to that, for $300. Handgrenades can go for $20 each, very useful for home protection - perhaps a tripwire on your front door? No need worry about license either (in Cambodia). Getting a license for them in Thailand is a different issue though.

Alternatively, look into the taser x26 (http://www.taser.com/self_defense/index.htm), which is a stun gun with a few meters range. For home protection, the taser is naturally a lot better - will knock out a drugged-up burglar, you don't get problems with killing someone, and you don't need to worry about getting a license (correct me if i'm wrong on the last one)

cheers

-nm

I just bought two suits from embassy fashion (www.embassyfashion.com), which is run by an english guy. I was happy with both the cut and the material. I work in a suit environment and need good quality suits for work every day. Paid 18,000baht each, with 2 pants and 1 jacket. I have a fairly athletic shape and at the fitting, they took in the waist and made it to a slim shape that accentuated my bodyshape very well. For the same price I can buy a Hugo Boss red label (the slimmer cut than the black label) suit in Germany (where I am on business trips frequently)... I can't tell you which one is better, I like and have both.

If I was him, I'd make sure the girl really is pregnant and really with him. I've had two ex-gf tell me they were pregnant a few weeks after i dumped them (one malaysian, one singaporean). In both cases they just made it up.

Photo and more details here

http://www.thairath.co.th/thairath1/2549/p...feb/21/p1_7.php

Not welcome for the next 3 years .... after spending how many tens of thousands of dollars on education fees and contributing how many years cost of living expenses?

Same same Thailand... the govt knows that long-term tourists spend vast amounts of various currencies here. Time to re-think "long-term tourism policies". Methinks!!!!!

I reckon I spent A$75,000 (US$55k) while I was there, money I brought in from my home country. Anyway, with 192 (or so) countries in the world, there's still a few left where I'm not banned.

-nm

I think that Thailand is quite kind to people who overstay a little compared to other countries like Singapore, Australia, etc.

Not really.

I overstayed in Singapore once. Arrived there by plane, got a 30 day visa. After a few days, one of my friends invited me for a daytrip to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. Had to stamp out and in at the immigration, of course. What i didn't notice was that my new visa to SG was only 14 days. I didn't think more about it until staff in the hotel I stayed in noticed my visa had expired 3 days ago and kicked me out of their hotel. That was a Friday. All I did was to go down to the immigration office on Monday morning with an SG friend and say I'm sorry, misunderstanding etc. No problem, got a 14 day extension immediately.

As previously written, I also overstayed in Australia, by 5 months - I was a full-time student and extended my studies by one semester. I thought the University would handle the immigration issues, as they were involved when I arrived there in the first place. Of course it was my fault for not doing anything about the visa. As I walked past the immigration in the airport, i was taken aside. Some discussion, I explained why and what had happened - some stern remarks and I was told I was not welcome for the next 3 years. Nothing else.

-nm

I must say that after 4 years in London, my wife strongly dislikes it. At least once a week I'm told that I need to find a job in a new country. Well, she was here 3 years before she met me, then left UK hoping never to come back, and then she ended up getting married to me and dragged back here again. Bad luck for her.

The winter puts a serious damper on her mood. She just last week discovered that the undersuit for my scuba diving drysuit is perfect for wearing at home every day (thinsulate and fleece, I would sweat to death if I wore it indoors). her mood is a lot better in summertime.

We live in central London so there are a few oriental grocery stores in Chinatown, there are restaurants open pretty much all night, and there is a Thai karaoke pub 500m from our flat that is open all night (unlicensed of course, Bangkok style). We go to the oriental grocery stores twice a week and she make som tam almost every day. She's a bit of a party girl also, loves to dress up and go out. Lots of places to go, but the nices ones all are quite costly so we can't go out as frequently as when we lived in Bangkok.

Oh, and she speaks good English and works full-time as well. I guess having things to do is important.

I'm not English either and live here mostly for the work opportunities. When something good comes up in a warm/tropical country - SG, HK, TH, indonesia, middle east etc, we're both out of here.

-nm

Has anybody had experience or know people that have received their MBA from Sasin Graduate Institute of Business (Chula). I am mostly interested in Sasin, but would like to know also about Thammasat or other MBA programs.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

As far as i know, Sasin is not featured on any of the three most common rankings of MBA (FT, BW, Economist). Might want to doble check though. if you're purely looking for an MBA with high reputation, I would go somewhere else.

Sasin does give you an opoprtunity to stay in thailand, helps you generate a thai network, gives you the opportunity to learn thai (since you're there).

I'm not convinced of the quality of teachings, but I have not been there. It is affiliated with Wharton, but that doesn't mean it carries Wharton standards. I did my MSc at a very well known university and several of my teachers were guest teaching at other universities. In their opinion, guest teaching is clearly lower quality than resident teaching. I'm doing my MBA part time at another top university now, but haven't asked my new teachers for opinion on same subject.

You need to decide what are the key criteria for your selection of university. If you're just looking for the most well-known university, with the aim of landing as high paid job as possible in consulting or investment banking, Sasin is probably not your top choice.

nm

Sasin isn't featured in the global rankings but is consistently featured in the Asian rankings.

So, it really depends on how much location matters.

If you need to/want to stay in Thailand, then Sasin is a good choice.

Slightly further afield but still in the region, you may want to look into the MBAs on offer in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Even if you want to stay/work in Thailand, it may not be your best choice. The question would be, will the better reputation of another university be more important than the thai network and thai language skills you have obtained at Sasin? If you are able to get into a top-20 MBA, will the additional reputation of that overcome the benefits of Sasin, while looking for a job in Bangkok? I would assume so. If your end objective is to work in Bangkok, and you are not able to get into a top university, rather somewhere in the middle of the rankings, then perhaps Sasin would be a better choice.

If you enter a two-year mba somewhere else (or any mba program which have an internship component), you may be able to secure your 2-3 month internship in Bangkok. This could give you both a top name on your cv, and some experience and network in thailand.

again, it goes back to your objectives - what do you want to do after your mba. what are your options - can you be accepted into a top mba program, and can you finance it?

If you spend US$120k for two years at e.g. Carnegie Mellon (including living costs), you may not be able to afford working in Thailand afterwards. To repay your student debt, you may be forced to work in a high-wage country. However, your chances of getting a high paid job will be higher than if you go to Sasin.

-nm

In australia if you overstay your visa you get locked up for years.

There was 1 case were we locked up a overstayer for more then 10 years

I overstayed 5 months in Australia - unintentionally. Didn't even know about it before I was walking through passport control at Brisbane airport when they pulled me over. Nothing happened except I was told orally that I couldn't return to Oz for 3 years. No papers signed or anything, just a discussion of why it had happened.

(I was a student and extended my studies by one semester and forgot to extend the student visa - my mistake)

Has anybody had experience or know people that have received their MBA from Sasin Graduate Institute of Business (Chula). I am mostly interested in Sasin, but would like to know also about Thammasat or other MBA programs.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

As far as i know, Sasin is not featured on any of the three most common rankings of MBA (FT, BW, Economist). Might want to doble check though. if you're purely looking for an MBA with high reputation, I would go somewhere else.

Sasin does give you an opoprtunity to stay in thailand, helps you generate a thai network, gives you the opportunity to learn thai (since you're there).

I'm not convinced of the quality of teachings, but I have not been there. It is affiliated with Wharton, but that doesn't mean it carries Wharton standards. I did my MSc at a very well known university and several of my teachers were guest teaching at other universities. In their opinion, guest teaching is clearly lower quality than resident teaching. I'm doing my MBA part time at another top university now, but haven't asked my new teachers for opinion on same subject.

You need to decide what are the key criteria for your selection of university. If you're just looking for the most well-known university, with the aim of landing as high paid job as possible in consulting or investment banking, Sasin is probably not your top choice.

nm

http://www.global-security-solutions.com/P...andTracking.htm[/url]

Interesting but i think it's too much for my "little" needings.

Thanks Oishi StarHub seems very interesting, what kind of earning is enough for a decent life in Singapore (without nightlife and fun)?

2-3 times more than Thailand?

How much for a 1-2 rooms clean&quite&safe apartment for rent under the Starhub range (far from pollution too and near to green zones)?

Is it possible a cheap life in this country?

What kind of air card do you suggest me for Singapore?

does the Sony Ericsson GC79 works well?

Suggestions?

Ask yourself first why you want to live in Asia. Singapore and bangkok are two different planets. I have lived in both. Society, atmosphere and life are very different. Weather are fairly similar, at least it's warmer than where you come from.

Singapore is a lot more expensive than Bangkok. Salaries are naturally also a lot higher.

If you're making your own money and you think you can live anywhere and your income level is not related to where you live, there's no point in trying to live a "cheap" life in Singapore. For the same money, you can live a lot better life in Thailand. Or Indonesia for that sake. Assuming you want to run your online business, I'd look into living in a warm, cheap and friendly country (Thailand). You can't have it all - Singapore is more conducive to doing business and more practical and conveninent but this comes at a cost.

-nm