williamgeorgeallen

after some second thoughts on swimming in fresh water in thailand we went looking for swimming pools today. found a pretty good one behind the big green hardware shop on the 348 just out of town. bit run down but smelt like there was plenty of chlorine being used and had 2 filters running. my son had a great time and i was happy to cool down. 100thb for both of us. also found out today that there is a big market in town so we went there and i was impressed with all the cheap food and drinks. my son loved the bouncy castle. think i will last 5 months here ok.

i would advise to anyone to avoid starting a company in thailand. having said that i have one. i am a 49% share holder, my lawyer is 25% and the mother of our 2 kids is 26%. my company does not have alot of assets and the mother from my kids has a vested interest in keeping the company running as she gets her monthly sallary from it. the lawyer gets quite a bit of work from doing the books etc so hopefully they wont make problems. again, i would strongly advise you dont start a company in thailand. also you should be budgeting for a minimum of 150K thb per year for your work permit and visa. that is a bare minimum, and does not take into account additional payments to the police or immigration.

as a side note i am considering taking my name off as a share holder as i think this is going to draw alot of heat having a foreign majority share holder in the coming years. i will hopefully sell my business before then.

hope you and other listen to the advice here. 8 years i have had a business. it is a real business employing thais and paying plenty of tax. almost every year it gets harder to get the visa and work permit. thailand has alot of problems and they seem to love saying it is the fault of foreigners. you may ask why they let us open businesses. i would think it is because they know it is almost impossible to compete with thais who do not have to deal will the expenses and red tape we deal with. also they know we will loose plenty of cash as we fail. come to thailand to enjoy it. dont waste your time trying to make money here.

i would advise to anyone to avoid starting a company in thailand. having said that i have one. i am a 49% share holder, my lawyer is 25% and the mother of our 2 kids is 26%. my company does not have alot of assets and the mother from my kids has a vested interest in keeping the company running as she gets her monthly sallary from it. the lawyer gets quite a bit of work from doing the books etc so hopefully they wont make problems. again, i would strongly advise you dont start a company in thailand. also you should be budgeting for a minimum of 150K thb per year for your work permit and visa. that is a bare minimum, and does not take into account additional payments to the police or immigration.

I will stick with Chang...

I don't mind it but the alcohol content plays havoc with me next morning.

sweet. i had to switch to leo to get the big bottles. will be nice to go back to singha. no way i would go to chang, think it is called chang as it feels like you had an elephant stand on your head the day after drinking it.

Just ask her for an itemised breakdown of her expenses.

Then explain to her how to economise.

Like not spending fortunes calling her farang boyfriends for example.

Or giving her Thai boyfriend drinking and gambling money.

this is excellent advice. find out what she is spend all the money on and tell her she can have extra if needed. my girl does it on 15000thb/month with our 2 kids. i cover accommodation and school fees as i want them to have better schooling than a 15K allowance can afford. i hope you try to get her to itemize her expenditure, i suspect she will not bother and that will be the end of it.

Nothing wrong with the swimming pool on the left, 1-2km out, as you head out to Lahan Sai. As for the recommendation for 'NR Beach', I'd give that a miss mate. I wouldn't let my dog go in that water let alone kids.

disappointing to hear. had my hopes up a little high on that one. fresh water was a bit of a long shot. i might still get a canoe to paddle around. how much does it cost for that swimming pool? my son would swim every day if he could and my daughter will start soon too.

Lam Nang Rong is very nice.I was there last week. Nice and clean. Not sure if it is the same one as mentioned here though. It is locally known as Nang Rong Beach but actually nearer to Pakam.

went there yesterday. 3 good reviews on trip advisor. is a great place and we all had a great day out.

Take a look at the western-Thai relationships around. Most of the men want a very, very young girl. Many of the men that enter the country to stay for the long term are of retirement age. The only way they're going to find the "looks" they want is to pay. It's exceptionally rare to see a western man with an age appropriate woman. As such, they're willing to pay to play. That's their choice.

I'm 32 and my wife is 31. She has a masters degree in marketing, speaks three languages, has never asked me for or about money and we have a great relationship. Good people do exist, even here. You're just not going to find them at a bar or on a Thai dating website. Go out, be friendly, speak a little Thai and impress a girl, things will work out.

i am not so sure it is that easy. there is a real stigmatism for thai girls against dating western men. i asked my pretty little accountant if she had a ferang boyfriend, she said no and looked a bit shocked at the thought of it. this is why it is typically only poor esan girls who go with foreigners. of course there are exceptions but they are rare. after a decade in thailand i dont know of many, infact i cant think of any off the top of my head.

Could i humbly suggest you get your head out the sand then...there was even a news article on this exact subject on TV middle of last year entitled " new trend of young Thai women with farang husbands"

And not as rare as you think

like i said i have done about 10 years in thailand. i meet alot of people through work and social activities. almost without exception the westerners i meet have esan girlfriends from poor back grounds. funnily enough most of the guys who try to get a more upper class girl just get them selves into more trouble than the ones trying to have relationships with the bar girls. like i said i have only had about 10 years experience living and working in thailand.

Take a look at the western-Thai relationships around. Most of the men want a very, very young girl. Many of the men that enter the country to stay for the long term are of retirement age. The only way they're going to find the "looks" they want is to pay. It's exceptionally rare to see a western man with an age appropriate woman. As such, they're willing to pay to play. That's their choice.

I'm 32 and my wife is 31. She has a masters degree in marketing, speaks three languages, has never asked me for or about money and we have a great relationship. Good people do exist, even here. You're just not going to find them at a bar or on a Thai dating website. Go out, be friendly, speak a little Thai and impress a girl, things will work out.

i am not so sure it is that easy. there is a real stigmatism for thai girls against dating western men. i asked my pretty little accountant if she had a ferang boyfriend, she said no and looked a bit shocked at the thought of it. this is why it is typically only poor esan girls who go with foreigners. of course there are exceptions but they are rare. after a decade in thailand i dont know of many, infact i cant think of any off the top of my head.

My experience with "nice caring girls" is worse than the pay for play. At least with PfP they're is little to no drama... My nice girls have cheated and lied. The bar girls ..freelancers etc..are a better option. Have you met her family yet? Good look with that.

all excellent points. stick to the bar girls, at least you know where you stand. i think the non bar girls are even worse than having a western girl. even worse is all the foreign men who are trying to kid themselves and everyone else that their girl is not a hooker. thats even worse again.

Good idea. As your wifes parents get older she will want to spend more time with them and it will help if you are both nearby.

Thereby limiting the amount of time she has for you possibly causing issues in your own relationship,if you wish to play second fiddle to her family go for it.

Do let us know how it pans out though.

Stoney, never a truer word said.

A difference between those of us who live here full time and the 2 week blow ins from elsewhere.

Heard it all before, oh save money , no need for hotel , buy house in village.

Who the heck comes to Thailand to spend 4 weeks in the ass end of nowhere, Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui etc etc.

Trapped in a village, no thanks, go spend your time and money elsewhere.

Farangs have told me, what used to be something to look forward to, soon became something to be endured, and finally something to be avoided at all costs.

As your teerak heads North on the smoking bus from Mor Chit to Assendsville Nowhere, go pour a coldie at the swimming pool in Pattaya and be thankfull you didnt go with her.

Yeah mate but surprise surprise not all of us met our missus in Pattaya or some bar in bangers. My missus was born bred worked and spent her whole life in Udon where I met her. She loves her family who coincidentally are great people and feels she needs to be near them. I could have put the foot down and forced her to move somewhere else but she would have been miserable. I was very apprehensive but ended up building a house not far from her olds. 5 years later I'm doing just fine it's different for me being a city kid but I can always get away if I want to. I won't live her forever but it's great for now and I did something for my wife that she will forever be appreciative of. So win-win for me. I understand Isaan might not be for everyone but it always surprises me the amount of vehmenance and hatred that's poured on the place. Probably just too far for some who can't stand not to be walking distance from their favourite bar, go-go or umpteenth coldie eh? Cheers

like everything it comes down to personal preference. the majority of us come to thailand to enjoy the cheap lifestyle in costal tourist towns with some ferang amenities. if that is you then you will most probably not enjoy living in esan. i am doing 5 months (one school semister) at the moment in nang rong outside burri ram and will be happy to be moving back to pattaya when the school semister finishes. all around us are houses paid for by foreigners, almost without exception none of the guys that paid to build them actually live in them. think this should serve as a warning to all those about to blow millions of baht on a house they will probably not want to live in.

If you can't speak Thai when they come over and they will come over all the time, specially when it's hot to be near the A/C. You will find you will have to go into another room or outside in the garden because it will drive you craze along with the loud nightly TV programmes which they all love.

You will not see must of you wife without the tribe being with her and it will get to her as well.

I tried it for 4 years in the end I said are you coming or staying up to you.

Best thing I ever did it was painful but worth it in the long run for both of us.

Good luck mate.

Go another room?

You seriose? Why just not say please shut up- let me thinks or I watch TV. Its YOUR HOME!!

ah, but it is on her land in their country. dont matter who paid to build the house, he dont own it any more.

i am staying in easn for 5 months for one school term/semister. good for my kids to spend time with their grand parents. i cant see why anyone would want to retire up country. samui, hua hin or pattaya (for us naughty pandas) are all far better options. try living up country before you blow any cash building a house. every ferang i know who built a house up country regretted it. i am now staying in a house built buy some italian guy for the mum of my 2 kids. i know he regretted it.

arrived a few days ago. rained the day i arrived for the first time in many weeks so hopefully the natives saw this as a positive sign of my arrival. water is limited so we are looking at getting a well dug, unfortunately many others are doing the same so the water table may now be very deep. have my son booked into the local catholic school as it seems to have good facilities. plan on doing an excursion to nang rong beach this week and go to nookies restaurant on sunday.

It will be interesting to see what the sentences are. A wrist slap will be a slap in the face for every farang in the country.

actually having a trial will put the event back in the spot light so it will probably be delayed indefinitely after the perps are released on bail. think this is the reason we so seldom hear of the outcome of high profile court cases. delayed past the statue of limitations is standard practice.

well that seems like a logical solution. why would anyone be against that? these tigers are endangered in the wild, any effort to conserve the species must be a step in the right direction. ok so some of them are going to be sold off on the side for god knows what but surely this is a small price to pay. sometimes the do gooders need to think with their heads not with their hearts. when i was a kid i would trap opossums and sell their skins, a nice little earner. then greenies got everyone to stop wearing fur. now possums have bread to the point they eat all the trees leaves and large areas of bush is dying off. to combat this planes are used to drop poison, much of which ends up polluting the ground water.

You make great points. Sadly, this place obtained tigers illegally. Which meant they were captured in the wild and used to make money. Which means, they are hurting conservation elfforts. If you want to conserve these animals, make trading in their parts illegal and close places like this. It's the same story with elephants. They are being taken out of the wild so tourists here can ride them. Definitely not conservation.

Opossums are not endangered species.

the point i was making was not about possums but was about the misguided greenies, now tigers are down to approx 3000 in the wild in thailand and numbers have been falling much like the number of wild elephants due to habitat destruction. the 13 000 tigers in captivity are now the species best chance at survival. like it or not.

well that seems like a logical solution. why would anyone be against that? these tigers are endangered in the wild, any effort to conserve the species must be a step in the right direction. ok so some of them are going to be sold off on the side for god knows what but surely this is a small price to pay. sometimes the do gooders need to think with their heads not with their hearts. when i was a kid i would trap opossums and sell their skins, a nice little earner. then greenies got everyone to stop wearing fur. now possums have bread to the point they eat all the trees leaves and large areas of bush is dying off. to combat this planes are used to drop poison, much of which ends up polluting the ground water.

i just changed from non im B to O visa based on my half thai kids. i got the O visa while in nz which was so much easier and cheaper than the B visa i normally get in thailand. both visas seem to work the same however. i stopped working but i believe you only need 2 thais for your work permit instead of 4. maybe someone can confirm that.

you get your thai drivers licence replaced at thai immigration? i just got back from re newing my 5 year thai drivers licence up near the regents school. 3 hour ordeal. think this guy is talking about getting his residency paperwork at jomtien immigration.

But look at the class of what is turning up ! One oilrig worker was worth 50 of these dregs of Calcutta, Bombay, and Peking

and they are making it so difficult for the oil workers to come here every second month to blow their wads of cash they are going else where. thailand is good in some respects for visas but why the hell would they be trying to keep out these guys.

Did this accident damage the image of Pattaya or the country ?

no, everyone had their shirts on so there was no problem with thailands image.

You know, maybe you going back to Canada might just bring you two together again.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder - sort of thing. Being around each other day in day out, with a wee boy running riot.

Doesn't really add to re-sparking a romance. Add on the financial bit.

You seem like a decent person, and so does she. I don't think you hate her nor do you seem to think she is a bad mother.

I hope things work out for you and your boy.

But why oh why did you marry her after two months!! Jeez!!!

When are men going to grow up!!!!

why do guys keep falling for the marriage trap? it is a stupid out dated tradition. only thing it is goof for is to help get a non imm O visa.

gotta look on the bright side sometimes. not so many bright options these days in thailand.

i have done 8 years in pattaya. rents have come down. i rented a room in view tallay 1 for 6500thb/month. can get breakfast for 89thb. still drinking 60thb beers in rompoh market beer bars. girls still happy to take 1000thb from me although i am a bit bored with them. i earn my money here so i dont know much about exchange rates. of to esan for 5 months next month, suspect it is even cheaper up there.

just back from jomtien immigration. the shop beside the office where the philipinos work have a big sign on the wall saying education visas for 16 900thb. seems like a good deal.

How many hours of study is that. Four hundred are needed to get a total stay of a year.

While the rules may be the rules.. Its not reality to not admit that shops 'next door' to immigration offices often have 'special offers' where different standards apply.

the philipinos in the shop next door are very helpfull. i was in getting some paperwork to renew my drivers licence. for a small fee they get the right paperwork, fill it in and photo copy everything required. they used to go get everything processed in immigration for 500thb. for years i never went inside immigration. yesterday they wanted 3000thb to go into the immigration office which was a bit much. i went inside myself and was amazed at how efficient everything had become.

told my friend about the 16900thb study visa. he is going to check it out this week.