dragonfly94

Thanks for the advice, I'll be getting new ones then.

The visa rules say that photo's for the form TM7 have to be no older than 6 months old. I still have a lot from last year I could use, do they get the old form out and actually check the photo's when applying for another extension?

Tried three times this morning at the same ATM to take cash out. Each time it failed and said transaction time out. As I did it as fast as possible in the end I don't think this can be the reason, anyone know why it failed? Plenty in account and correct pin.

A guy in our condo just told me when he went for his extension on grounds of retirement this week, as he has for a number of years, they said they needed a medical report and also the bank book needed to be updated the same day as application.

Are these new rules or old ones rehashed, or is it just who you get at the office (Bkk). What sort of medical check do you need as I am going next week so don't want to get turned away. I have never heard of these requirements before and was not asked last year, bank book was done a couple of days previous.

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to, but perhaps it is this...

Thailand has a law that all internet users must be registered with ID and all traffic logged and tracked to that ID. For tourists this means passport. Whether there is a charge beyond that is up to the internet provider (coffee shop or whatever). There is a hefty fine attached for non-compliance, as it is designed to allow the police to track down terrorists and other nefarious perpetrators. If I remember correctly it is of the order of 500,000 baht plus jail time!

As of a year ago most internet cafe owners in Khao San were completely unaware of the law and giving access without registration. If this has changed since then then I'm surprised... it requires a substantial investment beyond the usual adsl+wifi setup to have that kind of traffic logging and tracking.

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As far as I see nobody is taking any notice of this law at all, never seen any registration in a cafe anywhere in the country. Even when we got internet at home were just asked for a name and wife just gave her nick name, no ID asked for. Like many things in Thailand this is just a joke, hel_l we even bought beer at 4PM in a 7-11 last week

While it's not unknown for Chalerm to travel overseas to meet up with fugitives, it is unusual that this time it's not a family member. He must be getting good at it by now.

Chalerm has a very good heart and also visits people in Hospital. After an unfortunate incident in a club where it is known someone was accidentally shot dead he visited a friend of ours in hospital, also shot at the same time. He even gave her 400.000 baht and moved her to a private hospital, never mentioned in court but no point anyway when people can get away with cold blooded murder.

he pistol whipped a mate of mine for daring to overtake him, and his sons have bashed and beat up and shot various individuals over the last 10 years all of which have never made it to trial thanks to dad's help.

good heart....yeah right.

Our friend was working as one of those beer promotion girls. He fired off a number of shots, when he visited her with the 400.000 to keep her mouth shut it was infered that it would be better for her family if she took it and said nothing, adding blackmail to murder to the family crime list

While it's not unknown for Chalerm to travel overseas to meet up with fugitives, it is unusual that this time it's not a family member. He must be getting good at it by now.

Chalerm has a very good heart and also visits people in Hospital. After an unfortunate incident in a club where it is known someone was accidentally shot dead he visited a friend of ours in hospital, also shot at the same time. He even gave her 400.000 baht and moved her to a private hospital, never mentioned in court but no point anyway when people can get away with cold blooded murder.

Mmmmm. This looks like an attempt to divert attention from the embarrassing flop that was the summit, and the then postponed summit.

To be honest its a very weak charge. I doubt many people will be fooled by it.

why not they were fooled by the 'corruption' charges which only led to a conflict of interest verdict, pathetic persecution of a political opponent and as such the pot calling the kettle black as this lot are even more repressive and vindictive than T was.

Thanks, not for me but for the Mrs-birthday surprise. She thinks she's getting gold again, but not at this years price!

Anyone know a driving school, preferably in the pra kanong area where they speak a bit of English, and what the cost are.

Anyone have an update on this poor guy murdered by Thai wife last year. It was in Roi Et, he was 69 and murdered by wife and Thai boyfriend. She had sold all the property he had bought and was facing a 50-50 split in divorce proceedings so they murdered him to get it all. Since the arrest have not seen anything about a trial.

Seems we must go to different Cinemas

as I to have never seen one with more than 15 people it

And tio me thats packed

I hope you are not paying the asked for price, those Cinemas are a rip of i expect you get a mate to let you in via the exit door after the anthem has played, after all why pay when you cheat your way, at other people cost of course.

Now I don't buy them because they are bloody awful quality, but I can see there's going to be a tea-money bonanza down Sukhumvit in the near future.

Check again buddy, if you have an honest vendor and you request it he will only sell you perfect quality DVD's. I buy from the same vendor all the time and only get good DVD's.

surely there is no such thing as a GOOD copy DVD and honest vendors sell genuine ones, not fakes which bring millions for organised crime from the mean and shortsighted buyer. The subtitles are almost always appalling. Funny thing is if you go to a shop like CAP at Seacon many genuine films are less than 100 and some 49 baht. Don't be a sucker buy the genuine article, I always think fakes say so much about a person

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I do go out everyday and I dare say that I have seen similar things to the things that you say you have seen.

I guess we have to determine what being polite is. If being polite is bassed on non verbal simple physical actions, then I have to concede that Thailand fails in that department. Have you noticed that banks, medical clinics and post offices have recently introduced a ticket system to handle the queues (lines) Thais do like to cut in front, I perosnally speak to them in their own language and they soon get back in line.

The point I was struggling to make was that if you actually speak Thai and speak Thai with Thai people you will be shocked by the politeness of the language. It is a language built on respect ( written language developed by a past king of Thailand) . Every person is considered to part of a big family within the vast rich fabric of Thai society. They do have a very polite way of speaking and interacting here.

But if you are just a newbie Farang walking fromn your condo to Big C I guess to be honest you wouldn't have have a Danny.

I do understand what you say and Thai's can say what they like, but it does not have much to do with the way the behave. Speaking Thai will not stop them pushing in, slamming doors in your face or shoving you aside to get on the number 40

is there an easy way to check the speed of your connection provided by the ISP I am pretty sure ours is less than it was when I stared paying for it

I think the Thai people are the most polite race that I have ever come across having travelled and lived in many obscure places around the globe. It is a different type of politeness. They will not hold the door open for you but they will sit smiling at you when they completly disagree with what you are saying. - This is in my opinion a form of the highest level of politeness and only works if you speak Thai.

You should get out more and see some of the things I do. Daily I see Thais pushing in ahead of others to get served, pushing their way on and off public transport with no regard for the old or infirmed. Last week I saw a crowd pushing to get on a bus when a blind man with a stick was being helped off by the conductor, they just pushed the guy aside. Being Thai I imagined this guy could speak it! Do those who say 'when in Rome' do the same? Thais are some of the rudest people in the world and worst when they are in a group, confront them about it though and they are usually gutless and just look at you as if you are the crazy one.

I was talking to a Brit (why are they always Brits?) in a bar in Surin about 18 months ago. He claimed to have been blackmailed by two people on a Thai related internet board, forget which one, to the tume of 40.000 baht. Seems he had made a few negative posts about a club, he also called in a Brothel on Sukhumvit. I remember him saying something about a French guy was involved and that he and his wife had been threatened with libel proceedings and him being blacklisted by immigration if he did not pay up. He was told that this place was part owned by the police/mafia and that his negative posts had cost the Brothel a lot of money.He seemed serious about it and still seemed worried even though he had paid up they carried on with threats. I told him to keep off the internet.

Two years ago I heard a story from a business aquanitence in Chicago who had just been on his first trip to LOS. He had been to Pattaya and had a ball. Meeting a bar girl he had exchanged email address's and phone numbers. When he got back home he started to email the girl and things soon got pretty hot with her suggesting they exchanged naughty pics, he sent her naked pics of himself and thought nothing of it. Shortly after he started to get emails by someone claiming to be from the Thai Police telling him what he had done was a criminal offence and also that the girl in question was under 18. he was told unless he sent 50.000 via Western Union that he would be arrested next time he went over to Thailand, he never paid, but has not been back either.

Thailand sis full of nuts, crimminals and inaduquates. Some of them were not even born here!

Of course the Red movement will be back, but any kind of armed struggle is just silly and stupid and counterproductive.

Oh I dunno it worked in 1776 and many times since then

In over 2 decades of living here I have noticed that a common mistake made both by westerners and by Thais when dealing with westerners is to assume, upon seeing that the rules one is accustomed to are not being applied, that there are no rules. When a westerner whose socioeconomic status is higher breaks the rules by establishing a friendship, sometimes all that is perceived is that "the rules"have been broken, which to some people signals a free-for-all. That the westerner in fact has rules/expectations may not be understood at all. Or, in an effort to frame the relationship in terms that are understandable, they may decode that the relationship is one of benefactor/patron to beneficee -- because the equal relationship you had in mind just doesn't translate in this cultural context.

It might be the drink but I have read this four times and it still makes no sense. Why are people always stating how long they have been here? do they think it gives their opinion more value than somebody who has been here a couple of years, from what I have read on here not as often as it should.

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Things you describe are pretty typical and happen all the time. What makes me laugh are the guys who think their wife/GF is not like that. I know a guy whose wife rips him off on a daily basis but he just cannot see it. Recently the bitch found some locals in banock to cut up some of their wood which was going to take about two weeks. She 'knocked them down' to 100,000 baht, funny how this round number seems to apply to so many things. My friend thinks he got a good deal, not bad pay back home never mind in Buri Ram My wife does this sort of thing a lot but at least I know and it's normally only a few baht. Of course the biggest scam is sin sod and it goes on from there.

I believe nobody has ever got an email reply after asking a question using the online feedback link. Better call 1111 and ask for immigration.

--

Maestro

we tried 1111 with what seems now like a simple question. Spoke to 4 or five persons over about 20 mins who did not know the answer the last giving us another number to call who never answered. Far better to ask here, unlike immigration you are more likely to get the right answer.

My friend used this dentist last year for extensive dental work and was very satisfied.

Sunchawee Nimmankiatkul, DDS

www.oraldentalcenter.com

Check out their website for details. She is located in Amarin Plaza on Ploenchit road in Bangkok. Tel: 02 252-8688/9

I go here after being ripped off at the dental hospital on suk soi 49 who charged 5000 baht for a simple filling have found her very good and no reason to change, also she will not do work it not needed

On BBC worldnews, defiantly full sized tanks, with red shirts doing vioctory dances on them with wood and steal bars in their hands. The Army guys had big smiles, welcome to LOS !!!!

Looks like it will be a new difinition of 'low season' this year. A real shame for the silent majority.

Always knew they should have been colonised by the Brits and had some common sense and honesty knocked into them. You don;t get this sort of carry on in Singapore now do you?

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You forget that the law they accused Khun Thaksin is made by the Army after the coup and it brings Thailand to a joke stage having 4 PMs in one year.

People are always carping on about Thaksin being corrupt, but from what I understand the only thing they nailed him on was a 'conflict of interest', hardly corruption and something that would not get anyone a prison sentence in most modern democratic states. He helped his mrs buy a bit of land, big deal so would I if I were PM. Thaksin was the first PM to even notice the rural poor-that's why they love him and why others hate him, nothing to do with 'corruption, just about the long time power mongers getting their snouts shoved out of the trough at long last. I'd certainly buy Thaksin a drink any day.

If you wish to see some great examples of Thai graffiti go to www.bangkokeyes.com, its a monthly blog mostly on the bar scene but usually ends with some photos of incredible graffiti, they also have an archive and its a good place on bar scene history

whats this BNE was here I see all over bkk?, I imagine it's some sort of rap crap dj