Enzian

Say I'd like to go from LOS where I am to Vietnam (where I have in-laws) before the end of the year, a modest request I'd say. Will Vietnam look at the low rate in Thailand where I've been Covid-free for months, or at my US passport? And if I even get to Vietnam, what will Thailand look at when I try to return, my US passport or my stay in a safe country?

But a problem of these arrangements just mentioned is that if the property goes up in value during the marriage, or improvements are made with "community" income spent, the other spouse may gain a community interest in the increase. Income earned during a marriage by either partner is the one thing around the world almost impossible to keep separate, even with a prenup; trying to over-ride community property rules is generally considered to be against public policy.

I've looked into this because I almost got married here, and I believe it is a lot like many states in the US, where it is possible to have separate property, and separate property purchased with separate property, which cannot be touched by the other spouse, but it is important to identify the property as separate from the start of the marriage, and really KEEP it separate with no commingling. I can recommend a law firm if you PM me.

I have a US passport but I haven't been in the US since the first half of last November. I went to Germany for three weeks and then since Dec. 6 I've been in Thailand except for a two week trip to Vietnam before the shutdowns started. But it likely goes by passport, not history of location, so the headline "allow in visitors from Thailand" is misleading, because I'm "from Thailand" but wouldn't have a chance-setting aside the question of whether I would want to go there at this time.

"God save Thailand."

God protects, saves if you will, drunks and children, and He has a special subcategory of these for Thailand which will come through.

With the increased cases in the US I'm not going to be seeing my close family members in CA any time soon. Too dangerous at my age, and can't return to Thailand without quarantine if possible at all.

Recently read a good piece about the history of communist insurgency in Thailand, but that was long ago, and tho Thaksin is more recent he is gone too.

I used to install doors and windows for years. That would be an illegal glazing in the US.

It's funny, I've had GFs here walk into glass doors, and into full length mirrors in low light; at least they were not hurt. I did it myself in Cologne a few months ago thinking to enter a restaurant, felt very dumb.

This is still a stone age country trying halfheartedly to adapt to modern enlightened societies (which have their own big problems, but at least they have the traditions and history). Things work here because of cultural consensus and consent, not because of any rule of law. The upper levels of the financial system needs rules, but the rest just proceeds by conventions. The hypocrisy about prostitution is one of the conventions. The system isn't corrupt, corruption is the system (I didn't invent that).

3 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

Technology is really changing "The Game". Why walk the streets, or have a cut taken by pimps/bar owners etc, when they can just get punters via their smartphones

I apologize for going into detail, but except for business guys passing through and the like, most guys would rather hang around a woman, seeing her in person, before making the decision, rather than ordering on-line (and especially since pictures lie). I have the impression, and the dating sites actually say, that the self-identified "freelancers" on-line don't do all that well.

I hate to jump into this, but I wonder if things like the Roi Et case mentioned above usually come about not because of the impropriety of the IO's action, but because he or someone in the office rubbed wrong someone higher up? In other words, it may in practice come up only because of interdepartmental frictions?

I'm grateful for the low numbers of infections here, but... sometimes I wish they WOULD throw me out of this country. I'd go buy a right to stay I've heard about from Portugal, spend my final days wandering around the art museums of Europe, and eff this place.

3 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

For those who wish to transfer money to TL now (800K) the exchange rate sucks and you will lose big time. That said 15 K for agent is looking good.

My last retirement extension renewal was with a bit over US$30K in a FCD (Foreign Currency Deposit) account; no requirement that the money be in actual Thai baht. The problem was that with that kind of account, my bank, otherwise very good, doesn't provide a conventional bank book, only a magnetic card to use with tellers and managers. When I renewed I had the letter from the bank that everything was good, and some monthly statement print-outs, but the officer in charge could not get his head around the fact of no simple bank book. We called the bank's 24 hour line and they confirmed to him on the phone that that is how they do things. Finally he had me do a hand written statement and sign it, and he finished the renewal. My girlfriend talking to him in Thai made a ton of difference, but she and I are split; next time I may need an agent or a new girlfriend to explain!

Re Masterton's post above, I have this fantasy of going into the Immigration office in Chang Wattana and yelling No human is illegal, I have a right to be here and I don't have to do no stinking' visa renewal you all fascists...  it would be pretty funny.

"5000 per month"? I seem to recall a figure of approximately 65/day on the roads on average, pre-Covid, though that may well not have included those who die in hospital or elsewhere later than the accident. So 65 X 30 is 1,950. I agree it would be good to have a better overview, of everything.

Racism is stupid, and Thai racism is no exception. But some Thai racism is the result of misinformation and indoctrination, and for the victims of such I have Buddhist compassion.

3 hours ago, CorpusChristie said:

Surely you have 24 year old prostitutes in the USA ?

Sure, for 4 or 5 hundred.

This topic and thread have potential, but can any of you people come up with more specifics?

Last Saturday around 4 PM the were two ambulances in the center of the Sukhumvit-Asoke intersection, a young man was on his back, had on a GRAB vest or jacket, I watched them stabilize him and finally get him into one of the ambulances.

I had 6 bikes till finally sold the last one in my 40s after nearly going over a cliff toward the ocean in Marin county. An accident with my first one in Germany when I was 21 should have been my death, but I landed just right. 

I never get on a bike taxi in Thailand, I'm crazy but not that crazy.