koolbreez

His association with Thaksin goes back farther than that to their days in the, I believe, police acadamy(or military) officer preparatory class 10, where most of Thaksin's trusted persons came from, outside the family.

• The thing the floods of 2011 in Thailand affected in relation to hard drives worldwide was not the fully assembled drive, but the motor in the hard drive. With 90% of all hard drive motors coming from Ayutthaya, and those plants being flooded out the new supply of hard drive motors was what affected the price of hard drives from all manufactorers worldwide. Without the motor being manufactorered stocks of motors ran out, and the prices went up as the hard drive manufactorers supplies dwindled.
  

That's a pretty low order amount for a manufactorer here to even take interest. Thailand is the leader in HD component parts, not the whole assembled HD, specifically the HD motors, with 90% of them used worldwide manufactorered in Ayutthaya. You're looking at 10,000 order minimum to get into that network of suppliers. Thailand is not a small order supplier of HDs. You'll get the same wholesale price from a major manufactorer, like Seagate, in any location in the world, if you are set up as a ligitimate business, and can meet the minimum order requirements for the price breaks you are looking at.

You would do better to try sourcing that small of an order from Alibaba.com

Work with the USA for Peace, but not that dam_n NASA, and their weather project.

Two things were evident at the last demonstration. All the women were grouped at the end, and did not mix with the men at all. None of their signs promoted violence, as some of the men's signs did.

It rained heavily, and they weren't able to burn their Israeli, or American flags, and they did try. This last thing is undoubtedly why they are staging another demonstration, to burn their flags.

They were probably the laughing stocks in world radical Muslim fundimentalist circles with not getting their flags to burn, thus the reason for the new demonstration, this time in the morning before the rains are forecasted to fall. As a journalist if it does rain again (and it should), I can spin a pretty good angle on devine intervention...a second time.....hahahaha.

Get the three tourist visas in your home country before coming to Thailand. The extra cost for the third visa is cheaper than getting the 2 extensions at bt1900 needed to make it to 180 days 2 visas+extensions will give you(that might not cover your 6 months depending on the length of the months involved, and you could end up with overstay charges), and the cost of doing a border run an extra time.

You will have to do at least one border run either way, the cost of that can be cheap if VIP comfort isn't required, and you plan it yourself. You can also go with established border run companies for bt2000, and that covers the visa into the other country. That saves you about bt600+ depending on how you do it, and gets you out of the country an extra time to look around, instead of sitting at immigration all day waiting to get an extension.

Under the 3 visa plan you do an extra border run at bt2000 max as opposed to 2 extensions under the 2 visa plan at bt3800, and the extra tourist visa is cheaper than bt1800 by about bt600. It also saves a full day going to immigration for one of the extensions. The other day you would have spent getting the other extension is spent doing a border run.

The 3 visa plan also gives you breathing room if there is some problem leaving the country at the end of your trip when you planned to. You still have the ability to get a 30 day extension at the end of your trip(the airport might close from demonstrations again, or some other disaster might happen preventing you from leaving Thailand on time).

Always leave yourself breathing room in case of emergencies. Under the 2 visa+extensions plan there is no room for error in when you leave the country, especially for an unplanned delay, and depending on the length of the months involved during your trip you might still have overstay charges.

If the cop keeps his pension then higher ups were also involved, and he is a scapegoat. If he looses his pension then he was the last rung on the late night ladder going up, and took it upon himself to do what he did, even though all others up, or down would have done the same thing.

A few years ago a not as influential, but connected, son of a person was given 10 years for driving into, and killing a group of bus passengers, lets see if this driver comes close to that penalty. I predict the cop will get a harsher sentence than the driver who did this killing, and no word yet on how much baht the family of the killed cop is being offered as restitution.

If he is a formally trained, with certificate, executive chef, then he should already know how, and where to look to find a job in any country he goes to. If he is just a cook with no formal training then his only way is to open his own restaurant. No one is looking for a foreign cook. Does he know how to cook all Thai food extremely well? Does he know what a head chef is?

He is also going to face a serious need for a non-immigrant visa very soon. Has he thought about how he is going to get his long term visa so he can stay here? If your business is on the list of restricted jobs for foreigners then that avenue is closed.

They will hold that payment for 90 days/3 months, after which it will be released. There is no way around it. In the future with more sales you build up your reputation, and these holds will not be placed.

If you are selling from Thailand you can expect this to happen if you are new selling with less than 100 feedbacks. Thailand does not have the best of reputations for people selling from here. There are lots of scams, and paypal is right in checking you out to make sure you are honest. It is a shame not all people leave feedback, but that is their choice. They might be choosing to not leave feedback rather than give you bad feedback.

All payment avenues charge basically the same 10%, paypal just does it in two forms, Moneybrokers does it upfront. If you use Ebay then use paypal, then you have recourse if a sale goes bad, or the people you sell to have recourse. It is a safety net to protect the best they can from scams. If you use a different payment method then you give up this protection, and buyers will be leary of buying from you.

Paypal is owned by Ebay, and fully supported by Ebay, it would be foolish to use something else.

If you get a monthly statement be it online or by mail there is contact details, and their address, with your account number. Give the customer service center a call, and they will give you all the information you need. That is the first thing I would have done rather than asking here.

Most banks will open an account if you have a work permit. Kasikorn bank will open an account with just a passport, but each bank branch is different, so not all will do it.

Even though banks in Thailand have the same name, and you would expect them to be linked together, they are actually just like a franchise with their own local rules. The are not linked together under the same main branch. You can get charged a fee for using an ATM with your bank's name on it if you are out of your branches area. There is no real transfering money without a fee between the different branches.

Do a search for OTOP to source from in Thailand if you are looking to buy in volume. If you are just looking for personal use then there are a few shops at ChatuChak/JatuJak market on the weekends (the MoChit BTS station), and a few at MBK (the National Stadium BTS station), that have what you want.

If you are looking for large commercial volumes then Alibaba.com is where you want to look for international sourcing, mostly from China.

Victory Monument area to the Ratchaprarop side fits that bill, but it is Thai neighborhoods so knowing some of the language is helpful. I don't drink, but from the other prices beers might even be cheaper. Haircut/shave bt60, street food bt20-bt50, arobics in the park bt10 for 45 minutes, motorbike to the BTS bt20, rent with electric/water bt7400, or cheaper, or more expensive it just depends. Laundry bt20 kilo, lots of street vendors, lots of community atmosphere, lots of 7-11s, Much cheaper than anything on lower Sukhumvit. Taxi to lower Sukhumvit bt60, Movie theater 15 minutes away, shopping complex 15 minutes, van transport to most places 20 minutes walk, lots of medical at Thai prices in the area. Airport BTS a 10 minute walk. Lots of massage shops, and karaoke bars. Main garment area 1/2 kilometer away.

I've lived in this area for over a year, and am very happy, also it was above any flooding. It is a very relaxing area with everything one wants close by.

There is some good advice here, and some that needs to be emphasized. First you stand a very slim chance of making a profit even if you wanted to. Staff theft is a big problem in a bar with so much cash, and always a need by someone for some of it. As was mentioned you can not serve drinks, and run it yourself as a foreigner. You need staff, and to find ones you can trust, and that work is next to impossible if you don't know them already.

It is extremely difficult to get a non-immigrant visa owning a bar. Not impossible, but extremely difficult. The best bet being new at it is to get one connected to a hotel of some sorts.

It is very easy to piss off other bars in your area if you take their customers away, and they can be extremely vengeful. They already have the connections to make it very rough on you if they want, unless you have considerably more money than they do, and are willing to spend it all if the need arises. Pay-offs, and bribes get things done, and not only legal things. This is very important to remember if you are going to undercut established pricing.

Even with having a bar designed not to make a profit, be willing to work every hour it is open. If you can find a manager that does not rob you blind then you might get time away, but you can not count on it starting out. You have to plan on basically living there the whole time it is open.

If you do not have lengthy experience running a profitable bar in any other country, don't plan on learning in Thailand, you don't have enough money to even make it one year. You will be robbed blind from every angle, from the beer distributor on down to the cleaning crew, and everyone in between.

If you still want to try it then I would be willing to help you get started for an appropriate retainer. I am older now, and physically not able to manage bars anymore.

The cheapest way is as excess baggage when you, or someone else you know flies back to the UK. It is only about bt4k for up to 35kilos for excess baggage charges, and it is there when you, or your friend lands. Any duty can be payed on the spot if it exceeds the duty free allowance.

That is the cheapest, and surprisingly fastest way shipping something back to the UK. It is much cheaper than postal, or DHL.

Be very aware coming back into Thailand overland you will only get a 15 day visa exemption stamp, not 30 days like you did when you flew into the country, when you enter back into Thailand, unless you have lots of official tourist visas, or non-immigrant visa with multi-entry permit stamp, or single reentry permit stamp every time you reenter Thailand (obtained before you left Thailand).

Contact the Lao embassy for the requirements to bring your privately owned car into the country. No rental company will allow taking the car out of the country you rented it in in SEA unless prior arangements are agreed to in writing.

Think outside the box. Instead of figuring out if you need a static IP, create the things that do need static IPs on your computer. You have 1 meg upload speed, but I seriously doubt if you are even coming near that in any situation you have mentioned.

The biggest thing in having a static IP is being able to host your own website on your computer, and use the upload bandwidth you have effectively. If you were to pay for web hosting to match what you can do with your static IP, and bandwidth it would cost more a month than the bt500 you pay for the static IP. You can set up a web server, and an email server, you just need to get some simple software, and a domain name. You could even charge for these services if you found some customers.

Other than that a static IP is worthless to you for what you are doing now. The only advantage it could give you is not being disconnected occasionally if you always leave your computer on. Static IPs have real good uptime.

If you want to experience a little culture, away from the perpetual water fights in Bangkok then visit Sanam Luang park on the 13th for water day, and 14th for family day, then Wat Pho on the 15th for Monk's day.

The express line ends/originates at the Makassan station, two stops from PhayaThai station, and is bt90 one way. The City line ends/originates at the PhayaThai station, taking 30 minutes (10 minutes slower than the express line) to get to the airport at bt40 one way. It is currently the cheapest way to get either to, or from the airport into the city.

If you get in line to the front waiting for the next train you will get a seat as it is the originating station, so no one will be on the train from previous stations. I use it extensively from the Ratchaprarop station, living just a few blocks away, and traveling out of the country frequently on business.

Get on a bus to Nong Khai, and cross the border to Vientiane. Laos. Pay your fine at the border, and keep your mouth shut about why you overstayed other than you liked the country so much ,and lost track of time.

Go to the Thai embassy in Vientiane, and get two tourist visas at bt1000 each. This will give you plenty of time (with extensions 90 days on each visa) to get your real job sorted out.

From the sound of it the company that will hire you is not going to give you the paperwork you need for a non-immigrant visa before you come back into Thailand legally, and NEVER GIVE YOUR PASSPORT TO ANYONE. Employers do not keep your passport under any circumstance as you've I hope learned. That is the scam used to keep immigrants here working paying off their indentureship to their employers.

It is already going to cost you bt20k, and jail if they catch you before you leave. Get out of Thailand, and get tourist visas as fast as you can. A 3 month overstay if caught will land you in jail for deportation on the paying of your fine, and one-way plane ticket back to your home country. Just remember that part of overstaying that long.

As long as you are under 30 days from expire you can get another year extension if all your paperwork is in order. Just remember to get your reentry permit, and not be gone longer than 30 days or it expires anyway. If you are going to be out of the country longer than 30 days then don't bother extending before you leave as it will expire, and you will have to get a new visa.

There is another option open to you, but it depends on what kind of freelance photography you do. If by chance you are a photojournalist, and are published at least 3 times in the last year, with one of those you publish with willing to vouch for you with written documentation, then you might qualify for a type "M" media visa good for one year, that comes with a work permit.

The media visa is actually a very good visa to have if you qualify for it. If you don't, or can't in the immediate future, then an "ED" visa is your other option. With the blatant abuse of the "ED" visas you will have no problem getting one for the first year (they are only issued now for a total of 3 years), with your school charging around bt30,000 at the most for the 160 hours of class time required for the year. The second year might require a simple language test if they carry out with what was changed in the requirements to renew it.