narisarasgroove

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

I dont know, I dont have enough facts to say anything other than they wanted to arrest her and she took a leap.

 

Do you know them? Are they rich or poor? Is money involved? Love triangle?

 

I wish I would have been a member here when they started awarding omniscience to folks.

I live in Romkloa and apparently the story is that it was a revenge/grudge attack for incidents that happened 20 odd years ago when her sister was bullying or hitting her as a kid.

Police were around a couple of days ago with a picture as she was caught passing near our place on a video cam at around 3 a.m. that morning. 

9 hours ago, Why Me said:

Yep, got my non-O retirement extension at CW last month with agent help. I had 800K in my bank for 2 months prior to that which is what the agent asked when I contacted him last  year.

 

After the visa was stamped I repeatedly asked the agent (based on accounts here on TV) about what minimum I should keep and how long. Nothing. Just make sure you have 800k for 2 months before your next renewal. See you next year.

 

So I am guessing there is no requirement to verify a minimum X for a period Y after renewal in their IO rule book. However, again guess, there is something there to the effect use your judgment/discretion to decide if the money was temporarily borrowed ...

 

I would be careful with that. The required time for money to be in the bank before the extension is granted is three months not two which you may or may not be aware of and although you say you are using an agent I would be careful it doesn't come back to bite you.

Due to my own stupidity I ran foul of that rule on the first extension I did and although I was out by just a few days and literally a few Baht I was told I would not get the stamp in my passport. I was however given an alternative by a nice female officer there and so all was well that ended well, but I was warned that it was a one off and could not be done again.

Thanks for all the input and clarifications. As I originally said, I was very skeptical myself but was keeping my fingers crossed. Have to get my wife to ask the woman again and see what comes back.

5 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Are you sure they didn't change over to the marriage extension, that requires only 400k in the bank?

 

You need to leave a minimum of 400k in the bank all year around for the retirement extension, that's reasonably new.

As I said, this was from customer to wife so it is second hand to me but the way my wife explained it was that she had been told it was a new thing just recently and definitely no mention of a visa change to marriage. Her English is pretty good so I don't think anything was lost in translation. 

I did my yearly retirement extension at Jomtien the other day. I use the money in bank method.

When I picked up my passport no document was attached which would tell me I have to show funds still in bank in 90 days, neither was I told anything.

Does that mean this is no longer required?

That said, if it is still required to keep 800K for 90 days and 400K for the rest of the year, how would it be possible to change banks during the year?

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I have to admit to being a bit confused by this post and wonder if someone can clarify for me.

The reason being that when I do my yearly retirement extension but I have never had a document attached telling me I had to show funds in 90 days. I have always made sure the cash in the bank was at the correct amount (800,000) three months before my extension was due and have been told at immigration that the photocopies of the bank book need only go back three month and they did not require a full years worth of copies. I am wondering what makes the difference to have different rules.

My extension is based on a Non-O visa and is done at Chaengwattana. 

Wow! I feel sorry for the original poster. With all the negativity being thrown around about Thai women you would think we were all living in hell on earth.

Of course there are your schemers and scammers here but I know that many expats are here in Thailand running from the scheming, scamming ladies of their own home country.

Maybe I just got lucky but I met my lady in 2005 and we married in 2007. It was not the first relationship for either of us so we did not go into things blindly like love struck teenagers.

Originally from a country farming community she had also lived and worked in Bangkok and had 2 girls by an abusive husband who she left after 12 years. 

We have been together through good times and bad, built a business (mostly her hard work not mine), and work as a team in just about every aspect of our lives. I get on with all her brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles etc and who rarely ask for anything and financial support is given to them when really needed but is always payed back in spades in many ways.

A good Thai woman is no different than a good woman anywhere and a little loving, loyalty, and respect goes a long way.

And I am not alone. I have friends here in Thailand who have been married just as long and longer than I have who are well happy with their lot.

So I say to the OP, go with your gut, don't be blind to the obvious signs of problems that may be right in front of you but by the same token don't be in too much of a hurry to throw away what may be the future love of your life. Good luck.

1 hour ago, kingofthemountain said:

I get your point but i have one question

(And it could be the answer at your problem)

What kind of containers was used to store and transport the rice before the plastic ones?

Good question, well presented, deserves a sensible answer. Unfortunately I don't have one. I have however thought of just that myself and have yet to dig much more and actually find out.

I would say however that times change and what may have been good many years ago may not be such a smart idea these days. For instance, when I was young in UK most shopping was done on a daily basis walking to the nearest shops and one string bag or suchlike was enough for a visit to the greengrocers and the butchers. These days with huge malls, supermarkets, and suchlike that style is just no longer an option. Also it may be that whatever was used then may not be readily available now. I just don't know yet. 

If I find out I will let you know.

Different skill sets for different environments. When I was a kid there were always road maps around as my Dad did a fair bit of driving and as usual you tend to pick up skills without realising it, especially at a young age. I suspect there weren't that many road maps around for the local villagers all those years ago and ergo no kids to be curious about what Dad was looking at.

It applies equally the other way. I haven't met many Thais who don't know how to open a coconut or a durian in double quick time but I sure as heck have trouble doing it. How about you?

According to what I have read it is only the major store chains that are subject to this new ruling about plastic bags but they are saying that by the end of 2020 it will most likely apply to all stores and markets etc.

We have a rice shop and use plastic bags of various sizes for customers who want anything from 1 to 15 kilos (one tang) of rice. If the ban comes into effect for all we can think of no suitable alternative that is locally available for our customers. Paper bags would almost certainly be no good (and where would they be found) for anything more than, at a guess, 5 kilos and during the wet season and when the humidity is high would most likely become even weaker. I can foresee similar problems for other small traders with similar products.

I cannot see customers bringing their own packaging for more than 1 or 2 kilos as many find it just too heavy to carry far (especially the older generation) which is why we deliver larger loads locally.

I am not saying that cutting down on the use of plastic is not a good thing but as usual the rules seems to have been made as a knee-jerk reaction without any thought to alternatives for customers and for traders.

My wife also tells me that the gov had an agreement with the plastic bag manufacturers about the date this was supposed to be implemented which they then, without consultation, brought way forward. As a result the factories have ben caught left-footed and unprepared, lost business, and been forced to close laying off scores if not hundreds of workers.

Hmm! Should I waste my time doing this poll about wasting my time.......or not. Have to ponder this. Then again, maybe that would be a waste of time. 

Thanks Ubonjoe. I have worked with technical issues all my life but for some reason can never seem to get the Thai visa rules straight in my head so thanks for the simple explanation.

I am in need of some work permit advice that I am sure some of the seasoned members will have at their fingertips.

I live in Bangkok with my Thai wife and currently hold a retirement extension and am aware that under the current rules I am not allowed to work.

I have been offered a position with a local company who are prepared to do all the paperwork regarding applying for a work permit etc but I am still unsure of some of the facts surrounding what I would be required to do and how it all works.

I have googled the topic and found the requirements from my side but it all seems to be aimed at someone just arriving in country. So my questions are:

1. Is a work permit a type of visa in itself or is it an extra stamp in your passport and you still need another valid visa to support it?

2. If I applied to change my current retirement status to married status - which I believe allows me to work (correct me if I am wrong please) - would that be a sensible route to go or are there other options? 

Any other advice, positive suggestions, or points of view are welcome.

Thanks to all.

When the thread started it seemed to be all doom and gloom and I was beginning to think I was the only person with a Thai wife that was a hard working honest person. Thankfully now others have chipped in with their stories I am happy to see that is not the case.

When we married I was working in the middle east and we both had the foresight to see that when that finished we would be struggling without an income. She suggested opening a rice shop in Bangkok which we did. I fronted all the cash to start the business and supported it with my income during it's initial non-profit year or two. When that cash was no longer needed to support the business she invested it in land.

18 baht sold on the first day which was very disheartening for her to say the least but 8 years on it is now our main source of income. We have payed of the mortgage on the property, paid all the utility bills, school bills, etc and most of that has been from the income generated by the business and in the last 18 months it has been 100% from her efforts

I was forced into retirement 18 months ago at age of 61 and my wife would not hear of me looking for more work. Her philosophy was ( and still is) that I had done my bit and now it was time to relax and she would take care of everything, including me. She has worked damn hard to build the business and my belief is that we have the customers we have because of who she is and the tremendous service she gives.

Yes I help out a bit and lift a few sacks when needed but because of immigration rules I don't do much more that may cause problems and my main job these days is toward the running and maintenance of the home. Got to do your bit and I do so willingly coz I love her to bits.

Sounds like the same one I picked up yesterday trying to download a movie torrent. System restore didn't clear it and a virus scan found nothing (using Avast). I use Chrome and it looked to me like it was infecting the browser so I uninstalled it and tried to do a fresh install which failed each time I tried.

Resorted to my trusty time honoured system of using Acronis to wipe my drive and re-install the saved image which I back up frequently. Took about 20 minutes and works every time I have a computer problem.

OP. Before I give any “advice” on your situation I would like to give you a brief idea of myself. There is a reason so bear with me.

Like you I am into music. Have played guitar to semi pro level for 40 years and now do music production for my own pleasure. At age 7 my music teacher told my mother to save her money as I had no musical talent whatsoever. Mum listened. I didn’t.

Careers advice at school told me I wasn’t smart enough to be the draughtsman that I thought I wanted to be at 14 years of age. For the last 10 years in the Middle East the system drawings that I did for my own benefit were used on the countrywide telecomms network.

I wanted to go to sea as a merchant navy radio officer but again my parents were advised that I wasn’t qualified or smart enough for that. Joined the Air Force and learned a trade. I have worked the last 40+ years in electronics and telecoms.

I am now retired (62) and, with my Thai wife, have a successful rice business in Bangkok. Damn! I would never have predicted that in a million years.

I have lived and worked in many places around the world including Oman, Singapore, Germany, Brunei, Cyprus, and Gibraltar. And guess what? I had to leave school with not one single qualification. We had no money and the family needed me to work. Simple as that.

I am not saying that lack of qualifications is a good thing, especially in the world as it is now which is a different place to when I was young and qualifications are deemed to be more important than they were then. What I am saying is keep trying to follow your dream. And if you really want to you will find a way. You are obviously a go getter and I admire that. I have met many very well qualified people in my time that were lacking in any ambition and many in common sense too.

Keep your head on your shoulders and go for it. Yes, plan for the future and do what you have to (If it includes going back to school then so be it) but don’t let anybody tell you “can’t do that”. If I had listened to all the “professional” advice I was given over the years I would definitely not had so much fun. Nobody knows what the future holds. You might live to be a hundred and you might fall under a bus next week.

Just three more quick points. First. There is a thing called an Elite Visa here in Thailand. It costs a lot (500,000 Baht) but might be worth having a look at that if you have the cash. Google it and search this forum. Loads of info available.

Second. Upgrade your ideas on the cost of living here. Yes, things are cheaper than in many places around the world but you say you are a big guy physically and the 30 – 40 baht meals you are talking about are for your average Thai person. My guess is you would need more calories. If you want food you are used to (we all do) it is not so cheap. Also things like aircons burn up electricity and if you are not used to high heat and humidity the cost can be quite high. I’m sure you are getting the picture. Think of a number then double it.

And finally. Unless you get offered a job such as by working for an international company, the legal job market here is virtually non-existent. If you can make money online then I think that may be about your only option as virtually all work here is exclusively for Thai nationals.

That’s my input and I am sure there will be many that disagree but the great thing about advice is you can ignore it if you want to.

Good luck and if you ever do make it here let us know on the forum.

OP

It sounds as if you might have a infected pilonidal sinus.

Seek medical assistance this problem will not go away !

There are many modern day techniques of providing a "local anesthetic" which do not involve injecting into abscesses or sitting on people !

Thanks for the reply and info Sunnyjim5. Haven't heard of pilonidal sinus infection before so looked it up. Judging from the many pics online my problem doesn't look quite the same, but then again I am no medical expert so I will bear in mind your input.

Meanwhile I shall give it a bit more time and keep trying to draw the thing out.

Cheers

Oatmeal makes a very good poultice. basically all that matters is a vehicle for heat, and one that dries up exerting some slight suction as it does so. Other ingrediants will have no effect.

Reason 1 is nonsense, local anesthetic most definitely is used here. And if for some reason the doctor tries to omit it, refuse.

Can't help you on reason 2 other than to point out that the longer you wait, the worse it may get and the more extensive eventual cutting might have to be.

Have not tried the oatmeal so will give that a go. The extra info was useful too, thanks.

You sound like you speak from experience and I hear what you are saying about reason 1. As I said, I was basing that info on other peoples experience.

However! About 20 years ago when working in Brunei I had a really bad abscess due to a dental problem. When it ripened the facial surgeon cut it to help it drain. He gave me a local into my gum while sitting on my chest. I soon found out why he adopted that position as the pain was beyond belief when he injected into the abscess and apart from trying to throw him across the room my screams were heard throughout the place. He told me later that the anesthetic doesn't work on infected areas hence the reason why I assumed other peoples stories omitted the use of a local.

If you know different or can shed more light on the topic I would appreciate hearing it. A day without learning something new is a day wasted.

My Mother warmed milk bread poultice worked well.Try that. Not sure how warm the milk needs to be.And think the end or crust of the bread is best with cut side down on boil .Simple warm the milk,soak the bread in the milk when heating. When warm but not hot apply .Donot get it to hot it can burn ,then you must wait for that to heal before you poultice again

Thanks for the input. I have tried the bread and milk poultice but for whatever reason it didn't work for me. This one is proving to be one tough mother.

I occasionally suffer from boils and abscesses and right now I have a doozy that is about 4 inches long and quite deep under the skin. In the past I have applied a poultice to draw the nasty stuff out but this one is defying all attempts at this.

I have tried various remedies garnered from the net with not much success and alas a lot of the ingredients, creams, etc that are quoted are almost impossible for me to find in Thailand. As yet I have not come across one pharmacy that has heard of the concept of a poultice which I find strange as historically they have been around for a long, long time.

My question is, has anyone any experience of making a poultice here using local ingredients? If so can you let me know what they are and, if possible, in Thai too so that I have a chance of communicating my needs to the local pharmacist / market trader / or whoever has the goods.

I know some will by now be saying “Go to the doctor and get it cut out you idiot” and that is a fair point expect for:

Reason 1: I have searched the net and found from other peoples experience they all seem to say much the same thing. It hurts like hell because no anesthetic is used (don’t know why). Not in to pain if it can be avoided.

Reason 2: Without getting into too much detail it starts in a place that makes it painful to sit and ends next to my two best friends. Unless I am at deaths door I am not letting anybody get that close to them with a knife.

So! Anyone with any experience of the ways of the local witch doctor, wise old Grandma, or snake oil trader, I await your wisdom with bated breath.

PS. I live in the Bangkok area so should not be too difficult to find your recommendations somewhere. I Hope!

Our house is a 4 storey shophouse style place and, as with all but one of the neighbours, there are bars fitted to the windows. The neighbour that had no bars was burgled a few months ago so obviously the bad boys do watch and take the easiest pickings.

I agree with other posters about the fire risk and for info it can be overcome fairly easily. We fitted bars at strategic windows that have a hinged portion that opens up to allow a person to exit if necessary. They are kept padlocked during normal times but can be easily unlocked and opened in the event of an emergency. Keep the keys on a hook in the vicinity of the window but not within sight or arms reach of an intruder at the window.

20 odd years ago when I worked in Brunei a friend had an electrical fire start in his garage which knocked out all the lights - it was around 9 at night. His house was fully barred and the doors locked. He kept all his keys in a drawer and struggled to find them in the dark. Luckily he managed to get his family to safety but the story stayed with me.

Be safe but also be smart. Know where the keys are and let family and guests know too.

We have a shop in the Romklaow district of Bangkok and also had a visit from a policeman today. I was having my afternoon siesta (as you do) and missed it but according to my wife he was advising everyone locally to be vigilant and report any suspicious people or suspicious behavior, or criminal activity as soon as possible.

He also photographed ID's and took phone numbers of 7 or 8 of our neighbours and friends. The reason given was to have a record of who's who locally so that any calls coming in to the station could be verified immediately as to whether they were from real people or just a hoaxer wasting time - at least that is what I think the gist of it was - and all calls would be in confidence.

There has been a fair bit of army & police activity in the area recently trying to clean up the streets a bit and they even arrested a local "mafia" extortionist (at 5.30 a.m.) making money from the local traders. I am told they eventually let him go with a warning to stop now what he has been doing as he already has enough money!! (You gotta love 'em).

So maybe, just maybe, something is slowly being done about corruption at street level and better times for some of the folks, who pay and pay until they have nothing left, may be ahead.

Yeah it is not perfect, and yeah I can see that there are huge holes in the thinking etc etc but it looks like somebody is at least trying.

Before I retired last year I worked in the middle east and traveled to my family in Thailand 3 or 4 times a year and did the upstairs taxi thing for the last 4 or 5 years.

Before you all jump up and down and call me a skinflint etc. hear me out.

I live fairly close to the airport (Rom Klow, about 15 mins in a taxi) and if you use the airport taxi's for a short journey they get pretty upset as they sometimes wait a considerable time before getting a fare and feel such a short journey is not worth the airport fee and the journey back to the airport where they have to wait in line again.

I recently had family members come on holiday and because of the suitcases etc we used the airport taxi service. The driver was definitely NOT amused and loudly proclaimed his displeasure. Unfortunately we already had our ticket which he was obliged to honour. Yes he got a reasonable tip but the fact remains, sometimes it is beneficial to all to use the upstairs option.

PS. Never once had an upstairs taxi driver try to scam me for the airport 50 Baht as in the video. Always been straight on the meter and the usual tip.