Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

What a shame, there is no Turkey SubSubSubSubSubSUb forum.

I think this is my all time favourite, from a hot spring in the north of Thailand. . . "Yoda, you seek Yoda!". . .

Education in Thailand. Laugh my <deleted> ar$e off, I took the following picture in the grounds of a Thai university. . .

Firstly, I wish you both luck. My wife and stepdaughter became British around a decade ago. I advise one of you to have a handle on the entire process and oversee it from start to finish. Sounds like that's you. . . We decided I would be the person overseeing the entire process in the UK. In return, my wife is overseeing the process for my Thai citizenship. About your questions, it's not really clear exactly what you're asking. It's a long time ago now, my memory of the time is fading and the process may have changed, but we did none of it online. The documents and application I prepared for them, when mailed with registered post, probably weighed a couple of kilos. Everything was in that package, multiple copies and CERTIFIED translations of Thai documents, divorce certificates, birth certificates, grandfather and grandmother birth certificates, CERTIFIED translations of those, copies of name change documentation from first marriage, marriage to me, more translations of those. . . You basically submit everything they ask for. Too many documents is not a problem. Missing documents = pain, frustration and possibly a failed application and your application fee is lost. The case worker handling the application will probably try to contact you to give you the opportunity to remedy anything missing before failing the application but don't bank on that. I recall having to get my income certified by my employer at the time because pay slips were electronic. I had to print hard copies and get every one of them certified and stamped by my employer. It took a long time and wore his pen out. I had to include household bills proving we lived together, rental agreement with both our names showing the joint arrangement, I can't remember which bills but it was probably telephony services etc etc. Also included wife's National Insurance documentation. Obviously their Indefinite Leave to Remain cards were included. My stepdaughter was 'registered' British as she was still a child. My wife 'naturalised' British. The difference is that if my stepdaughter ever has kids, they will automatically be British, so she is in effect as British as me and might as well have been born there. We had a private citizenship ceremony at Northampton Guildhall. Only me, my wife, son and stepdaughter were in attendance. It was a special moment, not only for my wife and stepdaughter, but the finale of a personally very challenging process for me, (juggling the massive input of preparation hours, with my work life). We did it all alone, with no help or pecuniary support from anyone. I'll never forget the moment they took the oath were declared British Citizens. As my stepdaughter was a child, she was exempt from taking the oath, but took it anyway, with her perfect, Richmond-Upon-Thames English accent which she'd learned in just 3 years. I was so proud. As I said, good luck.

I worked in the hotel industry since my late teens (I'm 50 now) and I got my experiences from the bottom up. . . I started bashing pots in the kitchen of a hotel in my hometown in middle England. I then somehow got on the opening team of Eurodisney in Paris in what was the largest hotel in Europe at the time, this was a crazy time in my life. I stayed in the industry for a number of years, and then left for New Zealand and did various jobs. From New Zealand I went to Hong Kong Then Thailand, where I married back into the hotel industry, built a new hotel, founded an IT consultancy, had kids and settled.

Maybe a new 'Coffee Machines in Thailand' subsubsubforum to add to the clutter?

My family and I spent 3 and a half years in the UK. My postpaid DTAC SIM was functioning normally the whole time. I just kept paying the bills. Why don't you just get postpaid? It's easy enough.

I'm thinking about constructing my own SPD devices because we're losing loads of televisions and aircon boards. I have bags of MOVs I put in a delta on outdoor lighting, works a treat, but I want something that'll take a big hit that I can put on upstream 3-phase distribution panels. I'm still researching this but it seems to me these industrial strength surge arrestors are little more than banks of small MOVs in parallel. I could construct these myself with bus bars, some heavy cables and a case. In any case it's not just lightning you need to worry about. I've been having problems with snakes bridging thousands of volts onto the LV side of transformers (why I'm losing TVs etc etc). This is what a Golden Tree Snake looks like after putting itself across 32,000 volts. This one blew itself off the circuit and fell to the ground (it basically just exploded from the inside out). Others are little more than charred bones when they're pulled down. . .

Of course. I tell them I did it. Actually the Crown Property Bureau paid for it. I've no idea how much it cost but it would have been very expensive. It also has multiple transformers. I'm responsible for it. Right. It's business critical for me. I have a microwave backup link in case someone cuts the line.

We have our own private power grid that stretches around 2 kilometres. I have my own 6 core fibre private LAN hanging from it. I'm really anally retentive about taking care of it. If some idiot from an internet company comes to string their own cables, I'll cut them down. They keep coming, I keep cutting them down. Eventually the penny drops and they realise it's not a public road and they need to come and ask me first. . . I'm reasonable, I tell them they can hang their cables on the condition they follow my rules because I don't want my poles turning into the same spaghetti soup that's on public roads, and I don't want my cables damaging. I give them these (the Thai version) to make it easy for them. . . I also make them agree to take down any abandoned cables.

My mother in law poos on the floor as she shuffles around the house. I keep trying to get her to wear adult diapers but she won't. Just tell your wife this is how she's going to end up.

Interesting topic. I have very mild psoriasis. It caused me some problems as a teenager but now it's a couple of coin sized patches on both knees. . . I just had my third covid vaccine. First two were Sinopharm, my booster a couple of days ago was Moderna. I've had a mild fever, felt like hell and felt like my arm was punched, but it doesn't appear to have effected my psoriasis at all.

Hmmmm. Hmmmmmm. Let me think...

Credit lines are extended to hotels with a good business profile. No bank will sink money into a business doomed to failure unless it's part of a land grab or equity/real estate trade off. If the core business metrics were sound, they'll survive. We're surviving because we carry no debt. The 'Mom and Pops' were never really in business. It's just their hobby.

Could care less suggests you care. I never understand why north americans say this. No, we're not opposites. I'll stay anywhere clean when on the move. Family vacations need high standards. Life is short. I place value, in value, in any star rating. Incompetence and poor maintenance is something I hate. Most Thai chains have high staff turnover, poor training and poor maintenance. International chains invest in staff and maintenance.

Prime locations I said. I never stay at Thai managed hotels unless I absolutely have to. The lack of professionalism is endemic. In March I stayed at the Railway Hotel in Hua Hin, now owned and operated by Centara. The service is a mere shadow of what it was under Sofitel. They just don't go the extra mile, the food was garbage and the building maintenance is slipping. They'll just run it into the ground.

The hotel industry was in need of a cull. Just too many mediocre, badly managed hotels. Survivers will ultimately benefit from a leaner industry profile. The well managed international chains will be just fine. Examples the the Sukhumvit JW Marriott and other prime locations have had relatively high occupancies throughout the pandemic.

Very common for this kind of reparation. Wait 45 years until they're sucking their last breath and say, "This is for you to have a better life".

I manage a large hotel in the far north, over 200 rooms. I can tell you beyond any doubt the recovery is a myth conjured by TaT. We've not had a foreigner check in since April last year. We have actually fully reopened, but it's domestic Thais desperate for a break, and offices of the civil service using our meeting facilities and having a company jolly at the tax payer's expense... The irony of all this is that there has never been a better time to holiday in Thailand. My family and I have had 2 wonderful luxury beach holidays during the pandemic that we'll remember forever. Empty beaches, deserted coasts. It's like I imagine Thailand would have been in the 50's before mass air travel. In a way I have the pandemic to thank for that. We never really had many foreigners here anyway, excepting bus loads of Chinese churn and burn groups at bottom Dollar, and lord knows I could live without them.

We get a number of bookings up north from Bangkokians during the cool dry season, keen to enjoy the cool fresh air and mountain views. You can imagine their disappointment when daytime temperatures are blistering hot, the views are obscured by smoke and the nighttime air unbreathable.

Bangkok is an extreme primate city. It sucks in vast swathes of 20-somethings from the provinces and they mostly live in grim accommodation and have little money for working long hours. It's painful for the parents but the reality is the children are better off in the village, where they're registered. The vast majority of these children are loved.

The post you quoted appears to have been deleted. I guess it twerked the sensibilities of some mod, in any case it's completely true and broke no rules. Me and my siblings are presently involved in a huge land deal on the Thai/Laos border, something like 800 rai. The whole deal almost collapsed because the puuyai baan of the village involved didn't know what a cashier's cheque is.

You can buy ready grown trees. They're delivered in the back of a truck with a few square metres of soil and roots. They dig a big hole and drop the ready made tree in. We did this in our hotel way back when we opened to get the gardens established quickly. The mistake people make is planting too close to buildings. It's all very well growing right next to your house for shade and privacy, but. . . They get out of control without regular pruning and become hazardous in storms Rats use the branches to access your roof and then you're screwed

Actually @Gottfridis correct to say 'any bank'. There is no law preventing a tourist opening an account at any of the banks. They all have their own rules and their own rules are interpreted arbitrarily from day to day from bank clerk to manager. I've been opening accounts at various banks for a long time in various capacities. . . My first Thai account was at Kasikorn 20 years ago, I opened it with nothing but a tourist visa and a hotel room address. Next was BangkokBank, Non-O. Next was SCB in my new wife's home town. They said no, they wanted to see a work permit. I went back with a work permit, they opened my account. Some Banks will want to see a yellow Tabien Baan. I think any SCB will open an account for a foreigner with a Tabien Baan. . . but as I said, depends on the staff off the day. I stuck with SCB for many years but they never really tried to be a retail bank and I don't like their attitude towards farangs and rules on spending limits. . . "Farang diff'len lule", I think they have that line on a rubber stamp. . . These days I use KrungSri, who also furnish me with a credit card. I find them to be much more professional and their mobile banking app is great.

I went with warm white because I prefer to keep the feel of the old halogen lights.