EdtheTruth

The best yoga studio in Thailand, and some say all of Asia, is called Yoga Elements, and it's located directly behind Central Chidlom. They have many beginner level classes.

www.yogaelements.com

I have no affiliation with them, just used to practice there.

Hi folks:

I've got about half a day to figure out where to rent a powered speaker for an outdoor event taking place on Halloween Day. It doesn't need to be huge; one 12 or 15 inch speaker would be sufficient. Any ideas on shops in central bangkok where I could rent one?

I checked Amorn in Fortune already but they have speakers only for sale.

Thanks for the help!

-Ed

Well my new package got activated yesterday. All I've got to say is wildly inconsistent results. The Thai server is steady at 7 mbs, but all international servers are up and down. The first time I checked a server in Los Angeles I was shocked to see 5 mbs! But five minutes later it was 3 mbs. And an hour later it was 1.5 mbs. It seems that my international server average is about 2.5 mbs or so, but its almost constantly changing.

As for surfing, also strange results. A lot of websites (ESPN, Huffingtonpost) snap right up. But others, like YouTube, hang for 5 to 10 seconds before loading. It seems the more prominent the website, the slower it loads. Maybe those sites are being screened by the government? Who knows.

All in all, a bit underwhelmed. But it is faster than before, and it only cost me about 100 baht more than I was paying before.

I upgraded my 2.5 Mbs package to the 8 Mbs package on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning I got a nice text message from True that said I was registered in the system and that the upgrade would take place within 24 hours (which would have been Sunday morning). Well, Sunday came and went with no change in my speed. I just got off the phone with them, and the nice woman with excellent English said that the queue for upgrades was very long and that I should get the upgrade by Wednesday. (:

Sounds like the OP got lucky!

Whoops! I posted by last message to this thread by mistake. But it might be interesting to you TOT people what's happening at True.

I upgraded my 2.5 Mbs package to the 8 Mbs package on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning I got a nice text message from True that said I was registered in the system and that the upgrade would take place within 24 hours (which would have been Sunday morning). Well, Sunday came and went with no change in my speed. I just got off the phone with them, and the nice woman with excellent English said that the queue for upgrades was very long and that I should get the upgrade by Wednesday. (:

Sounds like the OP got lucky!

I have had PR for about 2 1/2 years now. It is true that PR itself is not a visa, and with PR you can stay in the country permanently without any type of yearly renewal process.

However, to exit and enter the country you need an immigrant visa and a re-entry permit (single or multiple). I'm staring at my immigrant visa stamp right now in both my passport and residence book. So PR itself does not mean you never need a visa again (unless you never plan to leave the country).

The immigrant visa and re-entry permit are good for only one year, so obviously if you leave the country every year you have to go in and get a new visa and re-entry permit each year.

On an interesting side note, I had a little problem in Room 301 this week. When I received PR more than 2 years ago, I paid for an immigrant visa and multiple re-entry permit. It turns out that I never left the country, and therefore the visa and re-entry permit expired having never been used. When I went in this week to get a new visa and re-entry permit, I was informed that my old visa had to be 'canceled' before I could get a new one (even though it had expired). This, of course, made no sense to me since the visa expired last summer. However, they claimed that there was a regulation that required a visa to actually be used, and that if it is not used it must be separately canceled. No big deal, except it added 1 day to the process. That is, they would not cancel the old visa and give me a new one in the same day. Luckily, I had exactly one day to spare: I'm leaving tomorrow for the States so all is good.

I'm curious if anyone with PR has encountered this issue because I had never heard of this before.

Folks:

Any of you successfully transfer video off of a Truevisions PVR/DVR? I know it has a USB port and an ethernet port. Are they functional? Any thoughts?

-Ed

Patrick:

What you are saying makes sense. I have a multiple re-entry stamp in my residence book now that expires in two weeks. My alien registration book also expires in two weeks. Those two documents should be totally unconnected, right? Also, I shouldn't have to get another re-entry stamp until I'm actually leaving the country, right?

This leads me to wonder about another question. I got my work permit last November. I expected it to last one year. But Sunbelt told me it could only last until my re-entry permit expired. At the time I just went along with it. But now it makes no sense. Does anyone know why my work permit was unable to run for a full year?

-Ed

A quick question for you residency experts out there. I received PR last year and in order to get the red Alien Registration book I got put on my mother-in-law's tabien baan in Ubon. Despite Camerata's excellent guide, I blundered hugely and only paid for one year. (For 800 hundred baht I could have gotten 5 more years, but I forgot about it and no one mentioned it to me at the police station in Ubon.) Here's my question: I know I need to get the Alien Registration book extended, but do I have to do it before I get a new re-entry stamp in my Residency Permit? In other words, when I go in to get my stamp in my blue book, are they going to ask for my red book and see that it's expiring soon, and make me take care of the red book first? Big difference for me because I know I can't renew my work permit until I get a new stamp in my Residency Permit, so I'd love to take care of that first and worry about the red book later.

Sorry for the somewhat technical question, but you know how it is here.

Thanks,

Ed

You guys seem really knowledgeable on audio here in Thailand. Do you know anywhere to purchase quality speaker components, such as drivers and crossovers? I want to do a DIY project and don't want to import all the parts. A lot of that stuff has to be manufactured here, but I'm not sure if it's in the consumer market.

I've seen a few cheap drivers on sale at Fortune Town for PA systems and such, but no hi-fi stuff. Any suggestions?

My understanding is that irrespective of the category under which your application was made, you will be entitled to the reduced fee becuase you are married to a Thai national. I cannot recall, however, if the fee reduction provisions stipulate a length of time that you need to be married before the discount would apply.

The provisions that are posted on the wall outside the immigration office do not stipulate that you must be married for any length of time. The weird thing is that my application clearly stated from the beginning that I was applying in the 'work' category. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I feel like I'm gonna get screwed on the fee, irrespective of what the law says. I'm leaning towards NOT bringing this up at my interview, because I don't want to queer their decision of whether or not to accept me. I'll just have to wait and see.

Speaking of the interview, I was going over the old posts and noticed several different types of questions were mentioned. I found at least three categories: your personal life/family, your job/career, and Thailand itself. Is this list complete? Do I need to prepare for any other areas?

Last, I understand that the written exam is limited to ten questions, but what about the oral part? Is it an open-ended interview where they just keep asking you questions? Or is it also a set number? Also, is the videotaped part just a presentation on your own, or do you have to answer questions while being taped?

Thanks a bunch once again.

-Ed

I've been lurking in this forum for quite a while, but self-interest has brought me out into the open. You guys have been posting really helpful information, but I have a few more questions.

I submitted my PR application this last December based on the fact that I have been working for a Thai company for 5 years. I got engaged to my Thai girlfriend in October, and we have a wedding planned in the States for September of 2006. While preparing the paperwork (and reading this forum), I noticed the different fees (roughly 200,000 baht if your single, roughly 100,000 if your married). Solely to save money on the fees in case I get accepted, my girlfriend and I went out to Bang Rak and got legally married 2 days before I submitted the application.

Now here's the twist. When submitting all the documentation, the immigration officer said, "I won't accept your marriage license because you've been married less than 2 years and you have no children." She absolutely would not take copies of any of the marriage information. However, the application form itself asks if your married and asks for basic info on your spouse (which I filled in). At the time, I assumed she was trying to tell me that I would have to pay the higher fee if I was accepted (although she never said that directly). Later, it dawned on me she could have just been letting me know that I couldn't use my marriage as a basis for the PR app. This should have been completely obvious though since on the app you must clearly state your basis for applying.

So now I am in a state of complete confusion. Any guesses? Am I gonna get stuck with the 200,000 baht fee even though I am legally married? I haven't re-contacted the office yet. My interview is in two weeks. Advice?

Thanks in advance. Again, this forum has been really helpful.

-Ed