dsfbrit

Thanks for the info Firefoxx.

I noticed when I was googling around there were a lot of Ebayers selling them at increased prices.

If I were to buy the chipped one, then would it cause me major problems down the road do you think? I will be playing on:

- Pal TV

- 220/240 volts

- Will buy games in Thailand

and need the instructions in English (hey American will do I guess )

Thanks again for your help.

I was reading this thread as I am interested in buying a Wii.

AS this last post is a couple of months old now I was hoping someone could help me with an update - things change quite quickly in this area.

I am not a long term 'gamer', but fancied the idea of the Sports games to play with the family. Mainly my wife at first. That would no doubt lead us into trying and buying more games.

So could you please tell me what's the latest thinking on where is the best place to buy a Wii, that is 'legal' and with all correct manuals etc... I have been through the 'chipping' route before for DVD's and dont want all that hassle again.

I live in Pattaya, but could go up to Bangkok to get one.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

edit: the wesite Friefox mentions has the US version for 15,500 Baht. Would that play OK in Thailand or will it need additional kit - ie to 220 volts etc... Does it still have the Mod chip ? Or is it standard US build?

I have looked all over for low calorie drinks. The only thing I can find - apart from water - is Pepsi Max or Coke Zero.

Full of caffeine.

Recently back in the UK I went into Tesco and they had loads of low calorie orange squash, lemon squash etc... just add some water - really refreshing.

But not over here???

Any thoughts???

you are a desesperate man from ????? just drink water and if water here is not good for you ! import from your country like amerigay in vietnam war 30 years ago !!!!!!!

Amerigay?

Hmmmm! I wonder??

Mark:, I wondered if there was a hidden meaning there as well ??? I was only desperate for some variation in my drinking habits - honest

Awayfoe: Come off it - are you saying you only eat boiled rice and fish for each meal every day. Its called variation and is one of the joys of life.

Blimey I dont smoke, nor drink, eat unhealthy food, nor take advantage of the pleasures offered in the bars of Patters. I don't even pollute the planet with unnecessary carbon. So Please Please Please allow me to at least sample the as yet unknown delights of some fluid that isn't bl**dy water.

Macx: If I were able to take one or two small sips of certain fluids - I wouldn't have had to give up the booze four years ago.

edit: by the way I tried lime and soda water yesterday in a pint beer glass (courtesy of x local pub in the UK) with ice and it was delicious - so thanks for that tip.

Thanks BambinA,

My Thai wife read both these sentences and said she would probably say it this way rather than the shorter sentence - which surprised me.

The thing is she only speaks Thai, so trying to ask her how to say something means I have to form the question in Thai - so it can get very confusing with a sentence like this!

Mobi: I recognise that experience - I guess Ungabunga has the better time in bars nowadays! Sadly I dont think drinking San Miguel Light is really the solution I was looking for.

I have had low calorie tonic in the UK and it was fine... mind you think it was mixed with gin at that time

I spent quite s bit of time trying to explain this to my Thai teacher today and failed miserably - canot find it anywhere - any thoughts??

Get a New Teacher!

Ha Ha indeed - but maybe she should get a new student! I have been learning Thai for over 2 years now for 2 hours a week and still cannot speak/understand Thai fluently. Curiously I can read and write Thai pretty(very) well.

When I explained this to her - I expalined it in Thai (we only speak Thai if possible) as the Scenario of:

'If I wash my car during a long drought - then 5 minutes later it will surely rain'. Not really Murphy's law, as Murphys Law is more general, so I came back and tried to find a saying that fitted this pretty closely - and I could only find Sods/Murphy's law.

Oh well - off to find that dictionary Thai dictionary used by withnail.

edit: looks like that disctionary is available in Thailand so will order it tomorrow - thanks again for the replies

อะไรที่ผิดพลาดได้ก็มักจะเกิดขึ้น

à-rai têe pìt plâat dâai gôr mák jà gèrt kêun

I'd like to take credit for the translation which unfortunately I can't. (Oxford River Books Eng - Thai Dictionary).

However I do understand it and I'd say it's a pretty good definition. Whatever is unfortunate/wrong tends to happen.

Thanks for that - I will take it with me to my next lesson. I am going to google for that dictionary as well - haven't seen it on the bookshelves anywhere.

BigSnake - Over the past 2 years I have looked in every aisle of the big Supermarkets in Pattaya. I spoke to the managers of several of them - with no result. I have emailed several of the suppliers here in Thailand and Tesco in the UK - no replies even!

As for 7/11 - I look every time I go in - but nothing - just cans of diet Coke and Pepsi Max Bottles- oh and of course water!

Weho - agreed - the thing is I am fed up drinking water. I could try the green tea. I was drinking a lot of normal tea, but that has caffeine. I now drink Decaf coffee as an alternative. Trouble is Decaf coffee has Caffeine in it - according to a news item on Fox News I saw a couple of weeks ago!!!

Jimmy The Mook - maybe thats the way to go! Perhaps I could find a recipe book somewhere - or come up with our own! I have made some drinks recently out of water and lemon and some other bits and pieces - which was OK.

Mobi - I gave up the booze as well - nearly 4 years ago now. One problem I have is that when I drink with friends - I have to drink something to be sociable - have a glass in my hand. I tend to prefer a beer glass - as it feels more 'natural' so I drink a LOT of soft drinks in an evening! It would therefor be nice to have a change from water! and something easy to make. Soda water sounds a good idea as a base along with some lemon juice, lime juices etc... Time to get mixing methinks!

Emcross.Ben@H3Digital - me neither - I guess the Thais are just not interested? Or is it just the Brits and Americans that are hooked on this type of drink???

Anyway thanks for the feedback - I reckon looking further in the supermarkets is a waste of time - making - my own is the best approach - I will give it a go!

Now if I could just find some healthy Yoghourt I would be in heaven!!!

I have looked all over for low calorie drinks. The only thing I can find - apart from water - is Pepsi Max or Coke Zero.

Full of caffeine.

Recently back in the UK I went into Tesco and they had loads of low calorie orange squash, lemon squash etc... just add some water - really refreshing.

But not over here???

Any thoughts???

I spent quite s bit of time trying to explain this to my Thai teacher today and failed miserably - canot find it anywhere - any thoughts??

SOD'S LAW - "inf. If anything can possibly go wrong with a test or experiment, it will. Originally applied to the natural sciences, the use of this law has been extended to cover day to day living and reads simply, 'If anything can possibly go wrong, it will,' to which has been added, 'and it will happen at the worst possible moment.'" The U.S. equivalent is "Murphy's Law." From "British English: A to Zed" by Norman W. Schur (Harper Perennial, New York, 1987).

apetley, do you have an example of that template.

I would rather send the funds from HSBC to Kasikorn bank the same as you.

I have spoken to Kasikorn bank and they say I have to specify a 'Correspondent Bank' in the UK or else the conversion will take place in the UK! The Correspondent bank is Barclays. Not impossible, but another thing to go wrong!

I was going to try this method in a couple of months time, but as I need to get some funds here fairly quickly (like the OP, I too am short of money for my visa application) , thought I would use my HSBC Bangkok account instead.

Long term HSBC UK to Kasikorn would be great.

Thanks in advance for any feedback

Astral, a similar thing happened to me. I was transferring 8000 pounds, to HSBC Thailand, so I was also very upset.

Trouble is it was my fault as the method I have used for several years - didn't specify transferring to Thailand in pounds.

I made a formal complaint to the bank (HSBC) UK and was going to take it to the Banking Ombudsman - but I am stuffed.

The trouble is - now that I have delved into the subtleties of Onshore and Offshore rates - the TV banking forum was really helpful - I have lost my nerve on transferring funds.

I will make my next major transfer next week and this is after I have spoken and emailed HSBC in Thailand and UK.

One thing I wanted to be sure of was that a Correspondent Bank would not get involved in the wrong way and maybe make the exchange before it got to Thailand!

Good luck with yours mate, it sounds like you have a reasonable chance.

Which banks were involved?

I think it depends on several factors:

- how old is she

- does she want stability for the kids

- how much is the house worth

- how much will you contribute to the relationship over the next years.

- was she playing you for a total mug or does she like you.

From a practical viewpoint, if the house is worth around 3 million Baht (say) and she is no longer with you, then she has a house worth 3 million Baht and that is it.

She will then have just the income from whatever sources she derives income from. Prostitution can provide a reasonable income while you are young, but not so good as you get older.

So if you are quite wealthy then you have the leverage of the money you will provide in the future to give her and her kids a stable lifestyle.

So I would say to her that you are a bit concerned about your future and would like to have a 30 years lease put on the house. If she flatly refuses, then try cutting the money you put into the relationship to an absolute minimum so she sees what life will be like without your regular income.

To be honest it then depends on the last point above, was she playing you for a complete mug! If not then this may work.

The trouble is, if you do divorce, then she may be entitled to maintenance as well.

Good Luck mate, we have all done some dumb things in our life - lets hope this can be sorted out.

edit: whatever you do dont buy any more furniture, nor car, nor motorbike, nor etc... spend no more money thanyou have to until you are sure - its easy enough to make up excuses to avoid those costs at least

Sorry to be a pain about this, but I just dont want to get screwed by the UK banks again.

I actually have a bank account with Barclays - would it be safer to go via the Barclays route for the Sterling transfer as that is one of the banks listed as a Correspondent bank.

I will be doing these transfers for many years to come (I hope!), so I am quite happy to put quite a bit of effort into this to get it right.

Thanks again for the advice.

WilliamIV - thanks very much for that - much appreciated indeed.

I will speak to them again and when they tell me they dont what I am talking about and make me feel totally dumb - I will fax/email them this info and see what they have to say!

Thanks again - I will let the forum know later if any money actually arrives and at what rate.

Yes, it's KASITHBK, but you should be very careful to get the exact transfer instructions from Kasikorn, including their "correspondent bank" details for sending pounds. Otherwise your bank in the UK will convert your pouunds to baht at the offshore rate and send baht to Kasikorn. You should tell Kasikorn that you want to send pounds to them.

I am going to make a sterling transfer between HSBC UK and Kasikorn.

After a recent bad experience with Offshore rates (not to Kasikorn bank), I am making sure I understand the system completely.

I have therefore phoned both HSBC and spoke to Kasikorn and they say I shouldn't need the 'correspondent bank' details. I am very wary of anything they say though.

Could you confirm this is required - in the meantime I may make a small transfer and see what happens.

Thanks for any feed back.

I am on your side Madcow. These Estate Agents are selling potential misery and uncertainty to unsuspecting Farangs.

Lets not revisit the Foreign Business Act issue in depth, but anyone with access to TV and some honest Real Estate articles knows the true situation with these companies.

Sadly there are still unsuspecting people out there who are still reading the wrong articles!

Anyone out there pushing the company route as 'normal' practise deserves no sympathy for you wasting their time (an act it appears you were not guilty of).

However you have given me a good idea - I might go and waste some of these characters time myself!!

I may even start up a website called 'letswastetimeofconmen.com' - then maybe they wont have so much time available to rip-off the gullible!!

Nikkijah,

Did you make this transfer Halifax-Kasikorn.

Could you give feedback on what you had to do in the end?

Was it easy and the charges as expected ? You got the full onshore rate etc... ?

It would be easier if I did this in future, I have just started doing HSBC UK to Kasikorn, but if I could do Halifax direct without too much hassle I could get rid of the HSBC UK account completely.

Thanks for any feedback

My wife is from Issan and I can assure she has never received any money from TRT.

She and her family would vote for Thaksin/TRT tomorrow if given the chance.

She simply says that all the parties are corrupt and at least Thaksin tried to do something for the poor whilst stuffing his pockets - unlike the other parties.

I suspect TRT will reform as TCT (Thai Chawp Thai mak mak) and will win another landslide!

Yes agreed Doctorman.

I have had CSloxinfo dial-up in Banglamung (about 10 km outside Pattaya) for 3.5 years and very reliable.

I go to the Pro Language and computer school and pay 15000 baht for 60 hours. Its near the bus station in North Pattaya. So I guess you got a good deal.

Its properly licensed and I have been there when the government inspectors have come to check/certify the work permits.

I have been going for a couple of years now, so my Thai reading, writing and speaking is pretty good now, not sure I need to go any more, but I enjoy going! sad or what.

They are pretty good I guess, but as I have always had the same teacher, I cannot speak for the quality of the rest of the staff.

How is the course going?

I suspect you know there is a thread on TV for learning Thai and asking questions etc???

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showforum=43

Thanks Jockstar, I thought I had posted in the football forum - I am new to this area of TV!

dsfbrit

Any ideas - UBC, Sophon?

I have just returned from the UK and tried to stay the extra couple of weeks to watch the games, but it wasn't practical.

The playoffs started this Friday.

I have already missed one game I have a week to find somewhere and 2 weeks for the final (if they are in it).

I will fly to Singapore or whatever if there is a venue that has the final.

HELP!!

Any ideas - UBC, Sophon?

I have just returned from the UK and tried to stay the extra couple of weeks to watch the games, but it wasn't practical.

The playoffs start this Friday.

HELP!!

Thanks guys - i'll give it a go and good luck with the div 2 playoffs - forest might be playing you next year...