isaanistical

Not to mention little things like the Blitz. "day that shattered innocence" - pure fiction (which is not what I really mean).

So many people appear not to understand that Skype's main USP was calling to landlines and other corporate numbers where whassap and the rest don't go. Plus, I had skype numbers to receive calls - they just vaporised and again whatssap and co don't help. many thanks for that link. I certainly cannot find any skype option in teams profile as mentioned by some posters.

(asuming you meant 'reparations'. 'Repetitions' would be reprehensible) How far back should these payments go? Biblical times? Prehistoric? Just asking for a friend.

For some time I used a website https://123tvnow.xyz that provides really good sport coverage, especially important stuff like footy and cricket. Every few weeks it goes off the air for a few days then re-appears. Now, I have been unable to get into the site for weeks. Anyone else use this channel and if so, has the URL changed? Or is it down for the foreseeable? (I have tried with and without various VPNs, .com extensions etc, no luck). There are alternatives but none was so user-friendly and reliable as 123, so any info would be welcome.

Just that if you are US, you might think "hyperbole" was a football match

Hyperbole. Bit like irony. Bit like "bronzy" or "silvery". You American?

In Bangkok? (BIB)

Sorry if it was misunderstood. You re-make my point, which is that many here have to trek thousands of km to an IO while Samut Prakan is probably (since they relocate back to the riverside) the easiest in Thailand to get to. I thought the OP was making - at least - a mountain frm a molehill.

talk about making a crisis out of a drama.... The amphoe is 200m across the car park from the IO (which is a 5min walk from the BTS, it's not exactly away in Isaan). She can do it by the time you have got your queue number and sat down.

Play golf? You ever hit Nicola Sturgeon? Golf is for male sexist pigs, according to a recent paper (no, seriously): “How Men Use Symbolic Masculinity to Network Through Golf” (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gwao.13271). Golfers really should be ashamed of themselves! Sociologist joins a bunch of Geordie golfers for a round and earwigs their banter: “The flight path of golf balls and golf challenges they faced were ... given names rooted in heteronormative and misogynistic language. [t]he men developed their own jargon based around the sport. I observed shots being referred to as a PHILIP SCHOFIELD: a shot that appeared “to be straight but ended up being ‘bent’” SALLY GUNNELL: an ugly little runner NICOLA STURGEON: to describe “a nasty little five-footer”. Report goes on forever, berating these nasty men. It was “supported by National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise and Research England.”

short answer: NO.

It is chanote - looking at the doc now. That appears to be the only good thing about it!

No, not a sign on the property - we had not considered it! We are not exactly local, and though the circumstances are not like yours, there are some touchy aspects (in his family, whose 'present' it was and they rather expected him to keep it) to be got round. Anyway, does a sign on the property EVER work (I got so used to seeing them everywhere but they stay up for years!)

Thanks for this. Couple of thngs I had not even considered. The land in question is about 500km away, though - would a land office (presumably has to be the relevant changwat?) respond by phone or does someone actually have to go there?

My step-son (khun thai) wants to sell off a piece of land (never built on) that he will never use. It's just 7 rai but should be useful to someone and he wants the cash for a business idea. The question is, how does he establish roughly what that land might be worth? When I search google, etc, all I get - obviously - are answers relating to farang buying/selling. How do Thais go about working out what their land is worth (per rai) in a particular area? Also, is there any government tax on sale of land that Thais have to pay (naive question, perhaps) beyond a 3 percent fee if an agent is used. [I searched for this in the TV forums but surprisingly can't find anything]

Allowing officials to take brown envelopes is a terrible idea. Everything about Thailand's administration (and that of many other countries) is a terrible idea and topping a few to "encourager les autres" would get my vote (er, I don't have one). I don't say all officials are bad, but all are bent. Even the good ones - who do their jobs diligently in their community - will happily accommodate one in return for a little something. And that is about something else - the rate for the job. To be serious, "Pay peanuts, you get only monkeys". The diligent local cop, or local council guy, gets a pittance. No great incentive to refuse my occasional "pourboire", is there? But - and we all know the reality - pay better and you don't actually get rid of the corrupt(ion). You have to somehow weed out the baddies BEFORE rewarding the rest. And that is something no administration in the region, perhaps in the world, has learned to do.

You just arrived? There are no good guys.

A "dangerous idea" for the pollies themselves, though. Far as most of us are concerned, they can purge each other to infinity. Sell tickets.....

and this anti-corruption party is led by............ a general. Am I missing something, or is it just TIT?

I have to admit the rabid bias against VFS is mine, not my friends'. They don't know about them (yet). Just that I recall my own dealings with them. But you made me think again: the Thai guy already has an ample file with ImmiAccount online, so would he maybe not be dealing with VFS at all but applying direct online? If so, thanks for prompting me to consider it!

Sorry if my comment was unclear - I meant VFS' connection to a tourist visa they could screw up with 8503 before he gets back into Oz. I have on multiple occasions personally (I'm UK, unfortunately) had good, fair and reasonable dealings with Immi in Oz and the precise opposite from VFS in BKK, hence my own scepticism.

Yes, point noted. They are both competent to apply on their own and would do so. As I said before, I only worry for them regarding the initial visa for him (the blushing groom, as it were) from BKK. If they are/he is at the mercy of the VFS clowns, anything could go wrong.

So it seems to be just a matter of making sure the Thai guy (speaks great English and has been in Oz many times before) gets some sort of entry that doesn't have 8503 on it. But that's a bit of a lottery, isn't it, when applying in BKK? Does it help to use an agent (cf visas and extensions for staying in Thailand)? Thanks for replies - being sent on and discussed.

Thanks, much like what I thought. But if you have to be in Oz to apply for the 820, and as you say the usual 8503 says no further stay, isn't that a bit of a Catch-22? Her husband would need some entry visa that can be extended while the 820 is processing (yourlinks suggest up to 2-3 years). Is there a readily available* visa class that would get him INTO Oz to start the 820 process? *Frankly, my own experience of the %%%%oles at the agency the BKK embassy uses is they haven't any idea of how to help (I'm UK and I have had problems with them trying to stop me getting to Oz!), which is why my friend is worried.

Yes, asking for a friend. She is Aussie citizen, he has only Thai passport; but he has had numerous previous visits and visas to Oz. They want to live in OZ ( obviously!). Seems like a marriage visa (820) is not impossible but expensive and may take up to three years according to the Immigration website: anyone got useful info on that? And is it best to marry in BKK or wait till Sydney to do the legal bit? Get a tourist visa here and then convert once in Oz? Any other ideas? Any constructive advice gratefully received and will be passed on. Cheers