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Sorry, Thursday when calling for my taxi again, the same voice message came through, so I had to walk to my neighbor.

I have just had a horrible experience with AIS.  Have used them for about 10years, no hassle.  Hassle started this past Wednesday, could not dial out, a female voice speaking Thai was saying something.  I later understood that I should go to an AIS office and register, I already did that many, many years ago with passport etc.

so off I went to an AIS office this past Wednesday, they took photos of my passport and worked on their computers for around 20 mins, and said all was OK.  All was fine the whole day and evening.  I wake up on Thursday, I.e. yesterday and wanted to call for my taxi, got hold  of a neighbor who could call my taxi company.  Again, off to the AIS office.  They sat at their computer, smiled and said all OK now.

well, this morning, the same thing happened.  Off I went to the AIS office again, the third day in a row! Same story, 5 mins on their computer, and was promised its all OK finally.  It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow morning.

i have no clue as to why this has happened after 10years of having my tel no, also, registering with passport when this was initially required.  

Has as anyone else had this problem? What to do?  HVe been advised that I could change from AIS to True.  Opinions, would be grateful to hear.  

Well, I smoked 2-3 packs a day for 30 years or more.  2 and a half years ago I quit and took up vaping instead.  For me, the whole thing is raising your device and inhaling and blowing out.  Start with higher level nicotine and,then reduce that dose.  Maybe in the end you can get to 0 nicotine.  For me it’s the moving of a cig or an e-cig to the mouth and inhaling, a habit over many years.  A nicotine patch is not going to help that.  

However in Thailand, vaping is prohibited, probably in order to protect the country’s tobacco industry, so take care.  This has been what stopped me from,smoking cigarettes. Hope this helps.  

Have no clue why it had such a sick smell.  There are so many flavours of the liquid you can buy.   I have been told that the type I buy is completely odourless.  Ha, ha, I was even in hospital 2 nights after having been scratched by a feral cat and needed antibiotic fluids 24 hours a day.  Reading and puffing my e-cig under the sheets, no one ever knew. 

Actually,  you can buy on line in Thailand.  Delivered within a couple of days.  I gave up smoking almost 2 years ago, could not have done it without the e-cig.  

Re person who mentioned that it stinks, I don't know, mine does not as confirmed by hubby who was loathe to my smoking for over 40 years.  Guess it depends on the flavour that you choose.  

Guess you can google the info of where to buy on line in Thailand.  Don't want to give out the company name here.  

I travel quite frequently in and out of Thailand, no hassle.  Where I had a hassle was in Dubai, they confiscated my 4 e-cigs and directed me to their tax-free shop to buy cartons of cigarettes!  Guess it has to do with countries not knowing how to deal with taxes on this, since it is not a tobacco product.

I don't often reply to articles, since I get inundated with emails. However am getting a bit upset with people complaining about people's ability to use English in the correct way. As far as I understand this is a forum for expats from all over the world. Complaining about someone's ability to use the English language in a correct manner, even British people may fail your test.

How many of you speak Italian, Spanish, French, Mandarin, German etc. Those of you who complain about the lousy English are normally the ones who ONLY speak the English language, and even that at an uneducated degree. How many of you have taken the time/effort to learn other languages, but sit in your armchairs and chastise people who speak better English than you speak another language. Sick and tired of hearing this, having lived in 15 different countries in my life and made an effort to learn the languages.

Ok , off topic, keep your aggressive dogs on a leash, but we live in Thailand!

How is a "poor" father to know how to approach police and lawyers. He is probably humbled in the wrong way and does not dare approach them. How sad indeed! I hope that this being exposed in TV, something good will come out of it.

I must say again, there are certainly too many Soi dogs. I feel sorry for them, underfed and few people who care for them. However, the municipality should take care of this problem so as to allow both children and adults walk the streets in safety.

I love animals, but feeding the Soi dogs only augments the problems. Those who don't feed them have problems. As I have mentioned earlier in this thread, I don't dare walk outside of my community area, have been bitten several times, and my husband on his bike pretty severely. This without any provocation at all.

It is sad that one cannot take a walk outside the "complex" knowing that the odds of getting nipped or in the worst case bitten by a soi dog is very high.

Dear Nikster, first of all I do not believe that this little girl will be ok for a long time. Her face will be permanently scarred and will take many years for her to gain faith in dogs again, if at all. Furthermore her scars will be a liability to her in the future. I do agree, that this particular dog was not a Soi dog, and the owner(s) are responsible. However, Soi dogs seem to me to be a menace. If I walk outside they come up and snarl and act very aggressively I know many people who live around here who have been bitten or nipped around their heels or ankles, this developed into infectious wounds. However, I am aware of many Soi dogs being friendly and begging you to take them home with you.

As regards paying for street lamps, doubt I and a number of falangs could pay for street lamps along a 10 km road. It should be in the interest of the community in general to clean up the roadsides from all plastic rubbish that gets thrown out as well as having some street lamps. I know this is Thailand, and yes I can leave and live elsewhere which I am lucky enough to do when I feel like it.

In many ways I appreciate the disorder here, that's why I live here when I feel like it. I accept the potholes in the pavements, the smelly garbage lying around actually, even though I complained about it. But street lamps would solve a bit of the problem of people being robbed of handbags when trying to walk to a local restaurant by guys on their motorbikes.

In fact I lived in China for 15 years commencing 1998. In the beginning it looked the same as here now. Children were squatting and doing their shit in channels at the grocery markets. Pavements full of holes. However 15 years later, what a change. Streets clean, pavements clean, no garbage or plastic bags anywhere, air cleaner, the government did something about it, and this was in 15 years in Shanghai. Now we won't discuss economy here, let's talk about priorities. No one seams to care here about plastic garbage everywhere. I know that I've gone off topic, but the problem with Soi dogs, street lights etc remains an issue here. It all belongs to one topic, I.e.cleaning up the streets and helping to make it safe for everyone.

Some soi dogs do seem to get aggressive, guess the answer is to have a pack of dog food if one dates to venture out on the sois. Not always practical though. I love all animals, I must say, but do not like to be confronted with a pack of aggressive Soi dogs. I would love to take long walks, but this stops me from even thinking about it. Well, those are my humble thoughts.

Another thing that at annoy me is that there are no street lamps along a Soi in Hua Hin that leads to rather large Thai as well as expat communities. Apart from the viscous Soi dogs, it is pitch black, so not conducive to walking to a local restaurant at night.

Must say I am sick and tired of the Soi dogs. I live in Hua Hin, and cannot take a walk outside my gated community because I know I will be attacked by the numerous wild dogs running along the streets. It's sad, I can't even take a15 min walk to a nearby restaurant due to my fear of being attacked by the wild dogs.

My husband walked to the nearby temple and was bitten by the dogs that the temple looks after. The monks assured my husband that their 20 or so dogs were rabies vaccinated. He still needed tetanus injections. It is truly a menace here in Thailand.

I don't understand why nothing is done about this!

Whatever happened to the saying "when in Rome do as the Romans do"?

I believe that Europe has been far too complacent, to the detriment of their own citizens, be they unemployed or senior citizens. I believe that Sweden is contemplating taxing their senior citizens even higher who already live with meagre pensions even more in order to help with the ever increasing costs of refuges/immigrants.

Indeed, it is noble to assist others, but your own "family" should be taken care of first. Citizens are (rightly) feeling that they are being shunned by their own government.

A few months ago, as I was sitting in my taxi, I passed motorbike driver who happened to have "Traffic police" emblazoned on his back. He had no helmet. Neither did his 5 yr or so son who was standing on the motorbikes front of him. I was tempted to take a photo from my window, but he turned around and looked at me, so decided not to. Incredible!

Dear Emilymat, that is funny but so true. Just being alive kills us in the end, no one can argue with that. Just the timing!

Yes, I know that Australia and many other countries ban tobacco smoking from public areas. However the same countries allow GMO foods which are sprayed with poisonous pesticides and herbicides that we all innocently end up eating, unless we are smart enough to chose organic foods. We end up eating our meat from supermarkets which are full of hormones and antibiotics that farmers inject in their livestock. I'm not going to get lengthy on this, but it is rediculous to say that a whiff of tobacco smoke is so harmful, when your government allows you to ingest all other poisons.

I can't help but laugh when people sit on a side walk cafe and inhale all fumes from traffic, but get rabid if they happen to sniff a few single fumes from tobacco. Enough said.

I am sick and tired of all people screaming about smoking. I stopped smoking 6 months ago, however am vaping instead. I can't stand hearing about squeaks about smoking. We have GMO foods, CAFO meats, animals injected with hormones and antibiotics, the GMO foods require herbicides and pesticides that are sprayed in abandon and then sold over the counter in our super markets.

We have polluted waters, we have lead and fluoride in our tap water, we have arsenic riddled chickens, we have pesticides on all fruits and veggies that we eat daily. We have smog in cities, we have petroleum fumes, and yet complain about the occasional whiff of tobacco smoke, get real.

we go to doctors and ingest tons of antibiotics. We use pain killers that are opioids, we get poisoned with vaccines, and yet there is the rabid squeak against tobacco. Well, if you don't smoke and get a whiff now and then from someone smoking, I doubt it will kill you. However the above mentioned items certainly will. Those are my sixpence thoughts on this subject. Smoking has been around since ancient times. I understand, not good for you, but please put it in some perspective instead of behaving like a rabid dog.

Weeeeeeeell chum, many are easily influenced by scaremongering...When I was a kid mum and dad smoked, we had coal fires where above the grate a black stain appeared on the wall....Coal smoke....In the winter we had a couple of paraffin heaters to warm the place up, diesel oil, set the wick flame wrong and the room was full of black smoke, breathed that in for years...Mum and dad breathed in spent munitions stuff during WW2. Mum and dad expired in their late eighties, I am late sixties, I still have a ciggy, go to the gym and lift weights cos l like it.. Had a business near a main road with constant traffic, breathing in that stuff ever day for 25 years............And folk worry about smelling the odd fag.......Bwaaaaaaaaaah.........Gawd........

I am sick and tired of all people screaming about smoking. I stopped smoking 6 months ago, however am vaping instead. I can't stand hearing about squeaks about smoking. We have GMO foods, CAFO meats, animals injected with hormones and antibiotics, the GMO foods require herbicides and pesticides that are sprayed in abandon and then sold over the counter in our super markets.

We have polluted waters, we have lead and fluoride in our tap water, we have arsenic riddled chickens, we have pesticides on all fruits and veggies that we eat daily. We have smog in cities, we have petroleum fumes, and yet complain about the occasional whiff of tobacco smoke, get real.

we go to doctors and ingest tons of antibiotics. We use pain killers that are opioids, we get poisoned with vaccines, and yet there is the rabid squeak against tobacco. Well, if you don't smoke and get a whiff now and then from someone smoking, I doubt it will kill you. However the above mentioned items certainly will. Those are my sixpence thoughts on this subject. Smoking has been around since ancient times. I understand, not good for you, but please put it in some perspective instead of behaving like a rabid dog.

As far as I know, not one hotel in the rest of the world being situated on the beach does not supply comfortable beach beds, for sunbathing front and back. People want to be on the beach, recline, read or dream. They don't want to be by a pool, that they can do at home, those who have pools. Do you think that people come here to lay by a pool, no they want to lay on a co for table bed to sunbathe fro t and back, on the beach. Good luck, Thailand, I used to go twice a year d enjoy the beach, lay on my comfortable bed, read, take walks on the beach, enjoy some cold fruit and water. Now I'm supposed to lie on a beach towel in the sand, thanks but no thanks.

Thailand will lose tons of people because of the inconvenience, this is a ridiculous rule. Hotels should be allowed to have their guests being comfortable on the beach.

Certainly can understand the infringement of unregistered companies selling their deck chairs, which are uncomfortable to start with.

Traveling to Thailand and having to cart your own sun bed and umbrella is only for back packers, not for people seeking a good time with good food and service. These rules just invite people who won't spend money here. Sorry, what a bad choice!

Are hotels allowed sun beds on the beach?

What happened to "when in Rome do as the Romans do".

Each government has an obligation, in my opinion, to take care of its own citizens first hand. Indeed they are the ones who have and do pay taxes. It is irresponsible to overload your country with asylum seekers/refugees to the detriment of your own citizens.

I'm not saying never accept these people, calculate the cost and see how many you can afford to bring in without significantly decreasing the wellbeing of your own citizens.

Why should Europe change its rules, build mosques and other ammenities just to serve refugees. They want to come, they must follow the rules of the land. In fact if I went tho their countries I would have to follow their rules. Why the heck is this so difficult to understand?

Generally, I consider myself quite liberal, but enough is enough. We will soon not have a swedish/French/German culture, is this what we want and vote for?

First of all, thanks, bazza40, for your info, a much more informative reply than I got fromTV. Be that as it may.

As regards of how people feel in each country, it's quite easy. I have received many questions about where was the best place I lived. (I did mention that I had lived in many countries ranging from 3-15 years at each time).

This rather lengthy post is in response to how we feel and respond to living abroad and the complaints that follow.

The best country is where you can make yourself understood and fit in easily to the culture. In my case, strangely enough this was South Africa, which at the time was considered the worst place to live in during the 1980's to 1994. The reason for this was that I could develop my own company and be who I wanted to be. My husband had a work permit and was working for an international company.

In fact, at the time South Africa promoted foreigners opening their own companies, and in my case employed some 40 employees. These 40 guys would have very little prospects in finding jobs. I am a landscape designer, and decided to open up a garden service as well as a garden design service. Well, South Africa as such benefited from my company by me paying VAT and other taxes, as well as employment benefits for my employees. After a lot of hard work, I was voted amongst the top of 10 landscape designers (out of 200), it took me years, dedication and hard work to earn. I also assisted with ideas to the English Chelsea garden show ideas, where South Africa got many awards. But here in Thailand I am not permitted to work at all! Well, I am not a spring chicken any more, but my mind and my designs are considered stunning. And yet here, I cannot use my creative ideas.

I actually did help a large garden design center here, free of charge, and they were rather flabbergasted at the design ideas. Not saying any thing wrong with Thai garden designs, not at all, but all Thai garden design authorities were quite intrigued. But no way for me to work here. In fact worked with a rather well known professor of horticulture here, he lamented the fact that I did not get a work permit. I changed a lot of his thinking about garden shapes and how to create illusions in gardens.

This is the probably one thing I have against Thailand, they are not prepared to take on good talent from abroad, neither do they want to adopt international ideas.. I can understand that they want to keep their national heritage gardens as they want. But in my opinion, they should not be afraid to incorporate other ideas, just like fusion cooking.

Oops, another thing I hate, and that is the lousy pavements and hanging electrical wires. The government is thinking about buying submarines, why not get electrical wires going under ground first, pavements and roads safe without pot holes. Then we can talk about spending money on submarines, internet gateways etc.

It's really a shame that Thailand makes it so hard for foreigners to open up own businesses here, the country could actually really benefit from this. Creating jobs for Thais, and adding to the well-being of the employees' families, in my opinion, should be a blessing to this otherwise rather backward society.

We (foreigners) at least me, employ maids, pool and garden service, so keep several people with jobs. Just imagine what we could do to aid the Thai economy if it were easier to start a company and employ even more people. We would not be stealing jobs from the Thais, we would be educating more of them to learn new skills.

Well, that was six pence of my thoughts. Love it or hate it. Hugs to you all who love Thailand, including me, but perhaps wish for a government who saw the positive sides of having educated foreigners being allowed to educate the uneducated. Ciao

First of all, this is a great place to "vent" if one has the need to do so. I have lived in at least 12 countries, ranging from 3 years to 15 years per place. Must say the sum of complaints might add up to 8, but the topics of complaints differ. It would be the same wherever I lived, but non of my complaints puts me really in a bad mood. What I love here in Thailand, paradoxically makes me at times irritated. The climate is great, yet at times too hot to take walks and on top of it be confronted with wild dogs. On the other hand I. Europe it gets too cold to enjoy the outdoors. It seems to be 6 of one and half dozen of the other.

Pls help me with this site, I'm not computer savvy and when I send a reply like this I get 100's of emails to my phone. It is said that I can change the configuration, have no clue how to. Laugh at me if you wish, but a sincere reply would be very much appreciated. Thanking someone in advance.

This is a bit confusing. So if my daughter comes to visit for 4 days and visit her parents for 4-5 days, one of those precious days should be spent in going to immigration. My husband and I own our house in Hua Hin, and actually will discard this ridiculous idea, I guess to our own peril if someone decides to report us.

I cannot help but feel anything but contempt for a country like Sweden for treating its own retired citizens like dirt. Old age institutions feed their pensioners worse than prisoners in prison. Sweden arranges for apartments and large hand-outs to immigrants/refugees whilst feeble, retired citizens live dismally, after having paid taxes for over 50 years.

Sweden loves the attention of basking in the glory of being such a Good Samaritan, meanwhile their own elderly citizens struggle to stay alive. Shame on Sweden.

BTW, I am swedish by birth, but thankfully have not lived there many years.

This article claims that the single gateway has been cancelled by the government??? I guess they chose a new name for it, since only yesterday it was announced that there will in fact be a single gateway. What will it be??? I can't (well sadly can) understand this behavior!

Wasn't there an article written by the IMF the other day, down grading the economic growth in Thailand? Furthermore it was discussed that the junta's short term solutions were not sustainable. Until Thailand upgraded technology and quality of goods, the outcome was dire. It further mentioned that Thailand was behind the rest of the ASEAN countries.

I really have a hard time understanding these so called positive domestic prognosis, when the rest of the international community says the opposite!

As regards tourism, who the heck is happy being on a towel in the sand on the beaches. Sorry, but people over a certain age (even young people) are not happy not having a comfortable sun bed, being able to read or whatever. They don't come here to lay by the pool, they want to relax in a sun bed on the beach, read, get up and take a long walk and return to their comfortable sun bed and watch the waves. They also like a cold glass of water or a light lunch served. Are not even hotels allowed to have sun beds on the beach? There is no beach resort I know of in the south of France, Italy, Dubai, Africa, Spain, Portugal or the carrabean that does not offer comfortable sun lounges on the beach. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe hotels here in Thailand are allowed to have loungers on the beach. If not, I think Thailand will lose a lot of so called quality tourists.