tracer

We tried to book at a couple of places for the w/end and were told full until after the new year. Anyone on the ground know better please, we were looking at between 1500 - 2000/night?

I find that quite surprising. Seem to be plenty of vacancy signs for guest houses along Nanai Rd in Patong.

Considering the many hotels complaining about no customers...

Personally I think that hotels with regular returning customers have few if any problems. Its the expensive places which have problems!!

Have a check anyway for THE CLUB in Kamala. (use google) and ask (email is answered).

Alfredo, I donot see where you went to immigration..

Can make a big difference sometimes. Anyway, most of the civil servants anywhere will be willing to help is it saves them a headache and that can be done by asking a question politely and quietly (ie not when there are a few hundred people maybe pestering them all day...).

The sooner one gets out of that 200000 or 300000 people group, the better.

Immigration CAN extend a visum when they want or not when they donot want...

AND, every one of their customers they work out of a line waiting with similar questions, the better for them.

I myself stay in Phuket and while I see many people complaining, they really never gave me a bad time extending the visa.

Never been asked to pay extra either...

But at start of high season (which likely this year will not come anyway) and many people stuck you arent going to find Immigration in the best of moods!!

Looking back what you write, you likely should have visited them when the shutdown started and ask for a month extension.

Costs money but you are more flexible as it even allows you to check with EVA air for flights from Singapore/KL to Austria..

ok, whole problem doesnt seem to impact me as I am retired and if necessary can fly in and out.

BUT it would by GREAT to get rid of the timeshare conman..

They pay 1000 baht or so to stay legal... per day...

Obviously there are other groups using similar ways (g) but they donot bother me if they end up making pants and Tshirts...

Agent in Penang:

If you use one, your choice obviously, keep in mind it kind of frees time up, you can go shopping and you leave the office of your choice do the work. Make sure to take enough photocopies, passport photo's or whatever you need. I am not going to tell you were they are as its almost impossible not to stumble over agents! Make sure they have an office you can find back!! Personally I got fed up doing my visum trip.. And considering that like many farangs you get damage in Thailand from Motorbikes driver by Thais you will probably go and do the the same as I do, just stay at home!!

While I have many friends in Penang, at present I prefer them to visit me.

no doubt driving here is a risky endeavor.

i think the best strategy is: number 1- to be ultra cautious driving anywhere in thailand. don't be afraid to run your headlights 24/7 (even tho the thai's will flash you that you 'forgot' to turn your lights off!- at least they are noticing your presence!).

********************

I seem to have heard that new bikes have lights on 24 h/d as its the law.

********************

OK, I am hear about 23 years. I spend before that around 10 years driving in Europe. Never had an accident.

In Thailand: MANY

Obviously everyone blames me but I drive careful, I LOOK, I have lights on ALL DAY...

In January this year the last one: Car with DOUBLE trailer (A LONG ONE) behind it.

Phukets roads aren't made for those cars!! Not much I could do as car disappeared and I was on the ground.

Just a thought. The OP mentions the non-B but does not say if it's a multi-entry. I think I am correct in saying that if it was single entry then it would have expired when the OP left Thailand. Could the fee mentioned by anything to do with the re-issue of a non-B ?

When doing 90-day reporting he's on extension of stay.

seems the easiest way is to check dates of visa (ie check ALL stamps on latest visum stamp in your passport especially valid until etc and if you have with you have it checked somewhere what you have....).

Many thanks and I want tomorrow to goto a local lawyer to talk the problem over. It may tie in with another problem as I have as example that 800000 sitting in a Thai Bank and prefer to use it for the kids to study.... The way I hear it is possible to legally use the money for that and immigration cannot make a problem.... Daughter 1 started study in Songkla university and number 2 may follow followed by the smallest boy. Oldest boy and youngest daughter are no problem.

Anyway I was told that to do it legally I had to go to umpur etc.... so it sounds like part of the route is the same.

After that time may be worth thinking about signing that document and tying the knot. Your wife and the kids may appreciate having other options at some stage, Glad yours lasted so long and so well. Thanks for the review of the hospital food. I will keep it in mind. But you never reviewed the nurses.

Never got around to that as I have to go back in October to have a talk with another doctor and have to make a choice what can be done. I seem to have a broken wrist which has healed itself.....

However I have pain so clearly something isn't right.

To be honest after all this time I see no use signing ANY document. Nothing changes and if it does , well....

Just fixed my computer again so now I can print that page out and take it to a lawyer...

Thanks and I will respond as soon as their is new news.

proces is explained here:

http://www.mfa.go.th/web/473.php?id=3167

Edit:

One parent accompanies the child, signs the parental consent form, and submits a notarized consent letter of the non-appearing parent.

You van have it notarized at an amphur.

I saw that Sonkla had e-passport but reading the paperwork I notice that a problem may be that we never legally maried in Thailand as it would have interfered with other things ....

23 years ago the way we did it was necessary, not now!

I have a bunch of kids and we just made a passport (Thai) for oldest daughter. She HAD one but lost it or better mama lost it coming back from Malaysia... I had to go to hospital in Songkla so youngest son and the rest went with me to Had Yai...

Except oldest son (useless) and daughter nr 2... (working)

Leaving the hospital aside (reasonable food though) the immigration was very fast and as I am getting a bit older and less able to walk I would like last daughter to be done differently...

WHAT does one need to supply so that ONE parent is enough to go along and get a passport...

This time I want to go myself as I have to go back to hospital and daughter nr 2 (doesn't have a passport) and daughter nr 1 (has the passport or will have it in the weekend...) Mama has no time to go...

please try to give accurate instructions as sitting in Songkla with incorrect papers will not be funny... Also I assume there may be other older farangs with the same problems.

If I had to do it from knowledge I would say having lawyer make form with me , mama and daughter or maybe Umpur or Salakahn should be enough but..... one doesn't know.

By the way wife still angry at ticket seller in Hadyai who cheated her......

I agree, make a lot of noise and see what happens if it is a genuine relationship. But the law is the law and his previous attempts that have failed might also be held against him anyway...............................

Look at their side: they got now 2 extra Thais living in Australia....

Today I was just too late to get my visa from the Thai Consulate in Amsterdam. Unfortunately my flight from Amsterdam to BKK is fixed for this Sunday 12th October. So no chance here in ASD to get a visa before then. Before leaving Thailand on 15th September, I had used up my 90 days stay on exempt visa. I guess the Visa on Arrival is not an option for me because it is only for certain countries and only for 15 days.

Does anybody know if there is another option for me to get a visa in BKK or at least an entry?

Please please, got my hopes on all you wise men and women to help this idiot, who got himself into trouble.

Cheers

Arthur

So what is your nationality since as far as I know you get 30 days on arrival???

Most countries any way...

Any way if your passport is supposedly sitting in an embassy in Amsterdam aren't you stuck to Amsterdam or at least officially the Netherlands till sorted out???

Sure - 100% - I've been there just last week!

I saw it a month ago but wife managed to put all the Thai passport in a very good place. We cannot find any passport back!

Secondly with current upheavals I feel less like traveling with the familly (better they feel less coming with me to Had Yay where I have to go anyway.

Question is can application be done via mail?? And can they maybe send them back to Phuket? What has to be done in Phuket where we live...

Many Thanks but my daughter need a Thai passport to do last monts in Chani for study.

Tracer

In my opinion you can assume you can get about 1/4 of the maximum production over the years... As always it depends on kind of trees, labor, weather etc, (in Phuket), and almost nobody can give you a straight answer what can be made....

With current rubber prices its more then worth it.

Don't forget that production goes down after normally 20 years and then its replanting time... 6 years no income! There was some years ago a Malaysian system which tapped the trees every day, rain or no rain but as they didn't sell the taps no idea what happened to it... NO cutting required. I couldn't see it ever being a success in Thailand as farmers are a bit conservative! If you are interested check with the Malaysian Rubber institute...

At least 20,000Bt per day at todays prices selling the raw latex only IMHO. But, beware!!! Why is it being sold. I have oly 20 rai of trees@ just over 3 years old and I wouldn`t sell for 5 millionBt. Plus being a bit of a doubter/sceptic I probably wouldn`t want trees that I hadn`t put in the ground myself because I know exactly what type they are and where they came from. Have they been given the right amount/type of fertilizer on the correct regime?

If you have any experience of rubber trees then you`ll be able to make your own judgement. If not then take someone who has experience to have a look at the plantation and take it from there. In 25 years the sellable value of the wood will get you your 3 million back at@ todays prices. You`ll still have the land and made whatever you`ve made in between.

All in all, far to cheap IMHO. regardless of what title the land has.

P.S. The figures I`ve quoted are just my guestimates from what is being made from the harvesting farms neighbouring mine. I don`t want to get involved in a debate about returns from rubber farms and what split should be given to whom.

P.P.S. If it turns out that the land and the trees are fine, then it`s a definite bargain

Good luck,

Chang35baht.

Would that be 20k baht per day for how many days per year?? Based upon what calculation? I just can't seem to figure this out with the information given above, can you help?

I have found out the title of the land, it's Por Bor Tor 5. ( I think that's the right translation ).

On inspection I have been told the trees are healthy and growing well.

3,300,000 Baht

Happy birthday

My little woman says that a chanote would be better but if the bank is willing to loan money on the land, it will be possible to change the paper to a chanote later.

Hi Gary A,

Thanks for the interesting post.Please forgive me for sidetracking a little.As i understand it banks will only lend against full title ie. chanoot tee din ,or maybe nor sor sam.Please correct me if im wrong.I was led to understand that por bor tor 5 ,is just a form of title to squat registered with the poo yai baan and cant be used as collateral.

Another question i have is that the procedure to obtain a loan from a thai bank is very slow ,that is why people who "need money quickly" have to go to loan sharks.My wife reckons it can take 3 months to get loan approval from a bank regardless.

I hope it works out with the rubber plantation, another thing my wife says is that a lot of people who planted trees now find at 6 years they are not producing.She says that it may be due to lack of fertilizer or the wrong type of tree.She heard this from her friend in udon thani.True or not? I dont know.

regards ,

Dave.

Trees not producing at 6 years could be due to being 'sold' ripoff trees as mentioned elsewhere as seemingly one of the politicians sold lots of not producing trees to Isan.... seems being in a job for rubber growing doesn't help leaning about it as he also seems to have the same trees on his own land... Check what court cases were mentioned in connection with Taxin...

because we have a joint foreign currency account in both her name and my name.............and will have another at least 250,000+ in the bank account in her name only.

How can it be "in her name only" if it's a joint account....?

maybe because its a JOINT foreign currency account??? Sorry, looks to me the person asking the question may have a made a small mistake somewhere... Personally if both are farang it may be causing problems to join funds together...

Well I may be wrong, and if so I'll apologise, but I got told whilst out this evening by someone who is usually accurate that they had left China and flown to the UK, [possibly whilst their legal team was claiming their return schedule had been finalised.

Regards

More lies and deceit from the Thaksin camp.

The Thaksins departure from Thailand has got to be good news.

Hopefully political tensions will be considerably eased once it's realised they have finally gone.

And Thaksin can now kiss goodbye to ALL of those frozen assets of his.

And Samak will heave a sigh of relief tonight!

They can still return on time, all it needs is the righ plane..

I would recommend waiting till monday and anyway most of his assets in Thailand are in land, companies etc etc.

Anyone appointed to sort that out gets a job for life....

LivinginKata and I are still waiting for an answer ......anybody ?

Yeah, just go and pay the 25k bribe like everyone else

What ... 25K. You got to be out of your mind to pay that. Never ever heard of that amount being asked. Most I've even offered is 500 Baht.

never seen anyone being asked to pay 25k...

No you are the one who is wrong. We are talking about an OA visa and each entry is one year.

Sorry to ask...

I have been here 21 years (!) but immigration rules can stll be a pain!

As far as I know IF you ask for and obtain a 1 year extension (or essentially any kind of extension) you MAXIMALY can extend by 90 days... If this different for OA please let me KNOW...

More questions.

I presume that I go to the Immigration office here in Bangkok for the extension and do it.

I am thinking TM-7 form completed, wife's passport, passport sized photo, doctors note, and 1900 baht is all I will need.

Am I correct?

I have read the horror stories of long queues there and my wife absolutely can't be stuck there for hours on end. Will I be able to leave her at home?

Will this be straight forward or will I need help? Will they be looking for any other documents? And lastly, will I end up at the mercy of some bureaucrat who maybe is having a bad day or are they helpful there?

And PB that's a BIG negative on the snip snip.

I had last year a traffic accident (motorbike).

I was IN hospital and imigration started making problems.

I had a chat with doctor and he gave me a 3 months extension (which I needed as well!). End of problem... To be perfectly honest I could have done it in one week less....

Well a few things to bear in mind.

Last year I saw a programme on Discovery about rubber and 3 things stuck out. The world cannot grow enough of the stuff (Malaysia's white gold), and the synthetic rubber is nowhere near as good or economical. It only grows well within 15 degrees of the equator.

Rubber has been following the oil prices and even if oil does drop back, it is unlikely to drop below 100 USD/Barrel. Look at the growing economies in China and India. Those middle classes are all going to want cars.

I am in your position with 5 year old trees, and the locals are already saying they want to be the ones tapping the trees. The wife's son in law even saying he'll do the lot alone, but (if my maths are right) at 2000 trees and cutting 2 days and resting one. He says he can do 500 trees a night so I think that is 3 tappers.

I didnt see the discovery channel, but prices have gone up a LOT. It used to be about 10 baht/kilo when it was replanted the last time and now 100 baht...

They need regular cutting not 2 nights and then a day off as it may rain any as well...

Its the wrong way to keep those trees in production... If you want to know have a chat with some grandfathers in the vilage!!! We prefer Burmese Labour. NOT because we pay them less but we seem to loose less rubber (g). Only problem is various things which have to be paid.

Son in law: what is he doing at present?? How old??

Thats definately the worst one i have seen. Check out this site for more and people winding them up.

http://www.419eater.com/

Very first time I had a HAND written letter was in (I guess) 1976.

I was at that time in Thailand and used as standard slightly different email addresses for memberships/subscriptions etc.

Having 3 firstnames one can vary any thing and made it a flexible system. I had those scammers writing to me supposedly while my office was being rebuild making a mess of phones etc in underdeveloped Thailand... Beauty was that a surface letter took about 6 weeks to find its way to me(!) and if you start thinking how many contradicting letters you can write in 6 weeks....

Pitty was that someone in my office answered unasked a letter and gave them my number....

OK - I did that - Can you hit me back with something so I can see if it is working?

I find I may have maybe a related problem. Number of messages isnt increasing unless I log of...

Likely a virus. Equally likely written in a script.

I recommend a search for dougknox in google but be very careful NOT to execute a script. RIGHT click and EDIT to see contents.... Normally I PRINT THEM before modifying.

The scripts can be both very useful and deadly.... READ THE DOCS.

There is also a script mentioned which you have to look for as its not on the website. I have it somewhere but have to go and fix a computer. Will try to locate this evening (note I am in Thailand!).

Name is: xp_securityconsole.htm

DONOT mess around with that box even if you cannot see it!!

It may LOOK to be missing, doesnt mean it IS missing!!

as stated, im doing my morning emails whilst browsing, just opened a email from bbc and was gonna keep it in a folder, but theres no folder box any more?

anyone any ideas!

cheers

chris

Trial date set for rubber sapling scandal

The scheme was initiated by Newin in 2004, but irregularities came to light when farmers complained about the poor quality of the saplings, a million of which were reportedly dead when delivered.

- The Nation

If I read this properly they gave a heap of lousy plants to farmers to grow...

Has that now stopped and if not can farmers complain about lousy plants received.....

Reason is simply that it costs a lot of money / income.... and many years before real damage is known.

In short who will trust current goverment or CP to tell the truth...

Wife just saw it on the news and as seemingly many were planted in Isan (Chiang Mai!!!) I cannot see these poor Isan farmers being happy about it.... As mentioned earlier: if these guys get convicted the real damage is much bigger then most people realise as it may have taken 4-6 years to realise the trees may be small rubber trees but maybe without rubber and then replanting cost, loss of income cost, replanting etc all in Taksins home province.... Assuming thats true, I cannot see him coming back soon!!! They are still in the process of planning the planting for this year so it sounds kind of urgent to know where the last batch of good trees went...

Not just "many were planted"... the ENTIRE project was based upon planting rubber trees in Issan and the North...

The programme is part of the government's plan to extend rubber plantations, long associated with the South, to 36 provinces in the North and the Northeast.

- MCOT / Feb. 5, 2008

An additional tidbit, also from the basement archives, on one of the indicted...

Interesting that an Agricultural Ministry official would procure Agricultural products through the Agricultural Ministry for his own Agricultural land....

Meanwhile, a panel investigating corruption in the purchase of rubber saplings said they were trying to ascertain if former PM's Office Minister [AND former Deputy Agricultural Minister] Newin Chidchob bought the saplings from the project to grow on his land in Buriram's Satu district.

- The Nation

-----------------------------------------------

I wonder how many of the dead rubber saplings, that so many others got "stuck" with, got sent to his farm..... any?

one last tidbit from a different corner of the basement...

Banjerd Singkhaneti, head of the ASC sub-committee investigating the rubber sapling case, said if the accused were found guilty by the court, some would face jail terms ranging from five to 20 years while others could get life imprisonment.

- TNA / Feb. 19, 2008

amazing Thailand....

cheating with bad quality trees and then planting them on his own land...

One can tell one thing from this, he cannot know much about rubber trees!!!

However have these bad trees ONLY been supplied to ISAN???

Reason I ask is that the wife is aranging replanting this year but if the replacement trees are bad....

Lucky we are not in Isan!

Old ones being chopped at present.

Whatever, they have to sort out where these bad quality trees were delivered to.

Owners will find out anyway!!! The very first time a knife is put on the tree they KNOW.....