soap

ThaiPauly,

I think you have been missinformed.

With respect to Thailand, your state pension will be frozen and remain at the value it is from the day you leave the country. There is no mechanism to pay GBP100 to secure a full indexed linked pension.

With respect to 33 years contribution, there is no answer until the White Paper has been debated in parliament and the laws on pensions changed.

But do not hold your breath: As I say above, I fully expect the laws to change the regulations on what constitutes a year you need to pay and a year you need not. I expect that to be based on childcare or care of a sick/old relative.

Before stopping NI Payments you should contact the Department of Work and Pensions and get a pension forcast.

My view is that I shall continue to pay NI until I see black and white regulations that say I have paid enough to get my full pension.

Meanwhile I frequently write to my MP and the press to protest the feazing of overseas pensions.

hello guest house

i would not pay them until i knew what time limit do i have before payment is due,

i also have paid 33 years contributions, now they say that i owe 325 pound from the1998-1999year

i just dont know if this is correct or not, but its like knocking your head against a brick wall trying to get a straight answer from them,but they have said that i have untill 5th april 2009 to pay without penalty,also they remind me that for the year 2006-2007 the amount due will be 392.60 but i have till the 5th april 2009 to pay without penalty and the final time limit is 5th april 2013.

so no way am i paying another penny till we see whats going on

Hi

I'm going to try and bring my GF over to the UK on a visitor visa towards the end of this year. A few people have mentioned using the services of companies in BKK that specialise in helping with visa applications. I was wandering when the general opinion on the forum was on these companies.

Do they offer a valuable service or could anyone with half a braincell and access to some friendly folk on this forum be able to make the application just as well?

I have a little more than half a braincell but I don't want to balls thew whole thing up!!!

Cheers

Taz...

if you are bringing your gf over for a holiday it should be much easier than if you were applying for a settlement visa. my wife has been over to the uk twice on holiday,no appointment needed at the embassy,45 minutes later,thank you have a nice trip. mind you that was over 8 years ago but i think the principle is still the same, if you only speak the truth you cant tell any lies,if you do have anything to hide the embassy arn"t stupid they do this day in and day out.

for me i would go to the embassy and find out exactly what they require, thats what they are there for if you are not sure ask again if everything is in order your gf will get a visa,i dont think paying agents tens of thousands of baht is going to make any difference

i used to allways book with pp air travel on uttarkit road (the indian guy)and would reccomend him to people until last year when i heard some bad reports about them, so i went and asked them to qoute bkk-man return,the WIFE dealt with me (enough said) she qouted me 2,500baht more than what i had been qouted from chaingmai and then told me there was no availability to come back in the january (this was june ) but if i paid another 5,000 baht she could get me on the flight.

my advice go and ask them for a qoute, the guy mr songcran i like him, then check on www.travexnet.com/ from chaingmai they have a very good web site that qoute about 30 air fares bkk-lon then decide were to buy your ticket.

if i remember rightly i was in pattaya for the last world cup and the local cable operator sofhon(i think) showed all the games in english ( i remember ron atkinson was doing the commentary they beamed it in off astro/solar sports dont know if they can do it this time but its worth checking out

whats all the fuss about,why does everyone want to put the boxing gloves on nowadays, even just talking about noodle shops and restaurants.surely we have all got the nouse to follow the crowd and then make our own minds up,for me i followed the noodle crowd 15 years ago to the shop opp thai inter, and for beef noodles you wont get any better than the shop about 200 metres past the clock tower on the right hand side(formerly opp edisons )for me what makes theese 2 shops stand out is the stock they make for the soup and over the years the many many friends i have had a lunchtime bowl of noodles with in theese 2 establishments, some times waiting patiently ouside for a seat proves to me that you cant get better than the best. i would just like to mention a little kao soi shop out of the way so you cant follow the crowd but this woman makes the best kao soi in chaingrai(in my opinion)the way she makes the curry, its cavier compared to the dish water they serve at the big c and what value for 15 baht, the shop is 150 metres off the highway soi 7 rimcock side (behind the 3 furniture shops and the esso garage) most times if you go after 12-30 she has sold out .

dont no much about the restaurants in chaingrai has i live on the outskirts and dont go in much in the evening plus the fact i married the best cook in chaingrai anyway

I had the local dynasat guy at my place this morning and he copied the latest update or code for me to my box and said there should be no worries from now on. Another farang friend in the area tells me that this happens every six months or so.

Anyhow I know the situation now and wont get so worried next time. The only problem was that I missed the first state of origin match in sydney (Ozzie rugby league).

Thanks to all that contributed advice

if dynasat have downloaded the new software for you it should be ok (we hope)for a couple of months,in the meantime ask them to show you how to input the code manually,you should be off for less than a hour a day next time they upgrade their software

And this morning it was back again around 09.50 till 15.50.

It looks like a daily pattern.

In my opinion it cannot be the code,because it is coming and going.

Anybody?

i think whats happened,every time the key changes ie 00 or 01 it updates the code, if the key is 00

that key is on the old soft ware and the box can auto update,if the key is on 01 its on new software and the box cant auto update, a thai agent guy explained to me saying its got something to do with the E,C,M,( i think). the new software can auto update the 2 keys

i cant agree with asia wolfie with regard to the lack of good value middle class accomadation in chaingrai within walking distance of the night bazaar,the nim see seng, diamond park,golden triangle inn and the chaingrai inn hotel are all decent budget class hotels, plus plenty of back packer accomadation all within walking distance of the night bazaar.

i agree the expat community as snow balled over the last 10 years, in the old days every one knew each other nowadays if you go to a birthday/house party,rest assured 50% are strangers to you, the amount of farang i speak to who have settled here more so in the past

2 or 3 years is amazing, i think if they promoted chaingrai as a retirement city you would be overwhelmed by the response

cracker

you must of got that one out of dickie lewiss or the blob

hello boys and girls.

i am still in the kindergarden stage with computers,any help appreciated but please no hi tec stuff i know i would grasp it'

i bought this computer over 4 years ago,i blew the hard disc about 2 years ago (lightining hit),replaced that, i used to have a t.o.t user name and password it was ok if you went on early morning,i only wanted to click onto a few web sites and read some emails.

but since ive found you lovely boys and girls and my daughter has started to use the internet to help with her homework (i cant help im stupid) i have in stalled the t.t+t max high speed internet .

i want to know what to tell the shop so he thinks i know what im talking about.

1) i think its got windows 98 installed(dont laugh) can i upgrade to something better

2)the arrow on the mouse sticks at times,i have to restart again

3)sometimes i get a messagefrom explorer telling me an error as occured

4)many times when i start up i have to activate desktop recovery.

5)the longer i stay on the computer i feel the more sluggish it goes.

any opinions valued, thanks

Perhaps some pictures might encourage others to participate.....

There are some aspects of this Hash that sound interesting,,,need i say more.

i would not recommend taking a picture of my backside going up a hill but i would second everything svenivan posted,good exercise ( i did not think i was so fit) good company from the evenly mixed thai and farang hashers, good banter from the grand master for the day ( sorry forgot his name)

excellent food and drink organised by our hosts for the evening win and his charming wife(beautiful house)

thank you, seeyou the 3rd saturday next month

all good qoutes fair play pissed up jocks the 2 of us we got attacked by around 8 thais 1 of us paid 100g`s where no room was used , and 1 only was was kept in and fined so make of it what u will ,sorry to the pattayans but i/ we faced the price in a foreingn land

can only say sorry for letting ourselfs and u down , end of it let it lie, espesially after the sad events last week we`ve been lucky

sorry

the stupid jocks !!

thanks that you took our point of viev , god bless

I wouldn't call that lucky. Attacked by 8 Thais ? But no mention of that in the initial story ? Didn't think it was worth reporting to the police ?

Paid 100g's ? (you mean 100,000 baht ?). Seems pretty steep price for rooms you didn't use.

"with the two men who were also becoming more violent as the confrontation continued"

Not the best way to deal with the police here. The initial story mentions that the one who was arrested was released without charge a few hours later. No mention of a fine.

As for all the comments here. Well, this isn't the first time the folks here have heard stories like this. In fact, it is stories like this that have given people from a certain country the reputation for being hooligans where ever they go.

After hearing so many of these stories, the folks here tend to be a little cynical and jaded.

the guy has come on the forum and said he his very sorry over the incident ,but you and one or two others would rather take a report in the pattay city news (big deal) as gospel ,has far has i can see this as been blown up out of all proportion it must be a very quiet week in pattaya. no murders,shooting ,drug busts this week to get your teeth into.

they have gone overboard on the booze ok i dont condone that but lets face it they are on holiday and there are 2000 bars in pattaya hoping your going to go overboard on your bin,"its allowed".

you have not taken into account the language barrier, if they cant speak a word of thai and even if the thais can speak english im sure it would be hard to under stand their accent.

then you go and brand the people from scotland as hooligans,thats a matter of opinion i would rather have a scot has a friend than someone who reads a story like this, then wants to brand the people of scotland as hooligans.

this story should have been one of the posts in the "dumbest thing ive done when ive been drunk"

not making headlines in the pattaya city news.

well at least mr kerryd his giving the scousers a day off

Must have been those 2 and, as you can see.....they were drinking Carlsberg in the afternoon already

LaoPo

good for you maddog for coming on and clearing things up.

i thought by the picture you were saying to your mate.

"aye jimmy do you know your balls are hanging out."

and jimmy replies

"no maddog but yu sing it and ile join in the choirus"

These coils are wonderful things. Just one tiny problem. Getting the two apart. Usually they end up in pieces over the other side of the room. Anyone else have a problem with these.

hello lampard

cant help you with the coils but would like to tell you about my effort to combat the mosquitos.

i have a old pair of wellington boots (wellies) that i wear when pottering around the garden etc,

i noticed if i went to put the wellies on or just moved them i would see all theese mosquitos flying out so i started giving the wellies a very little squirt of insect spray,the results have amazed me sometimes ive killed up to 35 in one hit i think they must like the smell of my sweaty feet when its time for them to get their heads down ,i found that if i did not wear my wellies for a couple of days the results were not so good i put this down to the lingering insect spray,so nowadays i use the electric tennis bat you can buy for under 100baht,i just shake the wellies ( no problem if you are still feeling the effects of a hangover) they fly up and get BQ on the bat

dont go and buy any thai baht from the uk, all i can say about the likes of thomas cook is "at least dick turpin had the decentcy to wear a mask"

if you want to check the rates go onto the thai banks web sites ie

bangkok bank or siam city bank you will get the true rate from them,i got 70.4 for cash this morning

we are on are second sanyo cooker(i say we but what i know about cooking you could put on the back of a postage stamp) we had the first one for about 8 years all it ever needed was to clean the auto switch,we gave it away to friends about 2 years ago and has far has i know its still ok . the new one we bought from makro for about 5,500baht ( i think its still this price) the new one is a replica of the old one so the model is tried and tested,

my wife has just said"sanyo dee" and she should know

Start by asking yourself what you want from our life in Thailand, what kind of social life, what kind of circle of friends, do you like to live away from people or do you like to be surounded, is this girlfriend the girl for you who you plan to stay with.

Do you want to live right next door to your g/f's parents in the middle of nowhere? and have you considered what that means in terms of the life style you will live?

Then think about what kind of home and where it needs to be to meet these criteria.

If the answer comes up rural Kampangphet, then ask yourself what if things go wrong between the two of you, can you stand to loose the investment in this house?

My advice would be unless you've given these things a great deal of thought, then do not even think of building a house on any land owned by someone else.

There is absolutely no need to build on someone elses' land, so why take the risk?

i absolutely agree with guest house unless you are 100% sure that this his the girl for you (i hope she his)and you are sure you can live in the family compound ,if the land is far from the nearest town/city you will find it very hard to sell if you want to sell in the future,

being next to the inlaws i think is a big negative i am not saying in all cases it does not work but many times over the years people have told me it as been one of the main causes of breakups.

just take one step back and weigh up all your options or you could finish up joining the many many falang members of the thai zip goes a million club .

i dont like being morbid ,i hope everything goes well for you but just be very careful

hello topfield

you force me to hopefully have the last word.

to quote from the siam city bank web site.

the bank then changed its status from a state enterprise to a private commercial bank on 25th november 2004.

i asked my seven year old son to find this web site has part of his homework, he found it.

think about it

My own experience, which covers a couple of decades, is that Thai banks generaly offer tourists some of the tightest FX spreads I have ever seen anywhere in the world and have the additional advantage of never charging fees.

Anyone complaining about the rates here ought to try changing money in Australia or the US. Then you'll find rates that really ARE rip-offs and fees imposed on top of those horrible rates.

hello old asia hand

of couse we did not complain 15 years ago when it was 36-40 baht for one pound,

that was the rate,take it or leave it i must admit when it went to 89.6 to the pound i felt i was ripping the banks off.

nobody tells me that when the dow closes saturday (thai time) the thai banks send men in black out to alter thier exchange rates for the weekend only if the baht as strenthened,of couse not they set their weekend rates and keep to that rate.

if topfield got 71 plus for one pound good look to him but i thought that all transactions went through the computer if that be the case do they have different computers at bangkok airport than

they do in the centre of bangkok.

come on mr topfield before you have the last word see if you can click on to the thomas cook fx rates were FUNINLY ENOUGH you will find the cash rate for thai baht is 61.5

second chaingrai

if you like the cold weather ,its very cold this morning

just getting the tailend of a storm somewhere.

you can get everything else you ask for here as well

hello topfield

im afraid i must disagree with you on a couple of points, are you saying that the uk banks(we are talking sterling) change thier fx rates, lets say good friday to easter monday every day over the easter period i would say no just as the thai banks have been closed for the past 4 days due to a holiday.

if you look at the thai banks fx web sites that i have just looked at you will see they all give a buy and sell rate,the siam comercial bank fx site is updated six times a day no matter if the rate is up or down.

the only major thai bank that i know and its only partly owned by the thai goverment is the krung thai bank and that is listed on the s.e.t.

if you want to use words like rip off and scam why dont you go into a thomas cook fx shop in the uk and change a grand sterling into thai bhat,then you will know the meaning off rip off and scam

BIGGEST FOREIGN EXCHANGE RIP OFF IN YEARS.

Today 14 May 2006 exchange rate for Sterling travelers cheques

Siam Commercial Bank 69.65

Bangkok Bank 69.85

Thai Military Bank 69.60

True rate Bloomberg.co./Yahoo financial 71.80

Siam City Bank 71.40

THE THAI BANKS ABOVE ARE RIPPING OFF THE TOURISTS WITH THE ABOVE RATE BY HOLDING THE RATE FOR FOUR DAYS.

WHEN BAHT RISES RATES ARE IMMEDIATELY REVISED DOWNWARDS.

A RED ROSE FOR SIAM CITY BANK

i agree come monday morning that the rates you post for siam city bank will be offered by all the banks give or take a satang or two but i find it hard to believe that at lets say bangkok airport, for the past couple of days siam city bank rates have been over 1.5 bhat better than the other banks.

i would like to know if anybody obtained this rate from a siam city exchange booth, i have just checked the siam city fx web site the last rate was on wednesday at 3-5 pm the rate was 69.90 bhat for one pound

i am entrusted with two tasks on the hash,the first is to take care of the tailenders so they dont get lost, i have to FORCE myself not to run very fast.

my second task his to have the beer box ready and to sample the first beer to make sure there is no impurities in the can, so if i come flying past you hanging on to a thai farmers motorbike with 1k to go i hope you understand i am not cheating

i would recomend

www.travexnet.com/

i will be there

come on its a little bit of fun, nice walk/run,good exercise

does not matter how old you are,what else are we doing on a saturday afternoon,all welcome