mgjackson69

That is a tough situation for you.

I had a similar situation a few years ago, one of my wife's nephews took a cell phone from me. I did not say too much, just expressed my anger and disappointment to my wife. She in turn chewed his ass for about 20 minutes, laying the guilt on pretty heavily about how now maybe I could not stay around because he caused me not to trust the family, etc etc etc.

After that was done, his mother whipped his ass bloody with a handy piece of bamboo.

Interestingly, his younger brother apologized profusely.

As an aside just as I was leaving the Embassy and old guy, looked about seventy was entering with a very provocatively dressed Thai lady. He had a t-shirt on which read, 'I <deleted> on the first date', not exactly a class act IMHO.

LOL. Deary me! Would have liked to have seen what her T-Shirt read!

Maybe something along the lines of.......

"I keep my eyes closed and think of the inheritance"

Or just as likely, that Sex Pistols classic shirt that is quite often seen around the Kingdom, "F#$% OFF wanke_rS!"

"More surprisingly was that there was a police car with officer inside sitting on the other side of the road...and didn't do anything about what was happening..."

So, what WAS happening? A Thai guy spoke to you, and what would you have the police do to a Thai who has the audacity to speak with you?

"Officer...the bad Thai boy talked to me....and his gang members *looked* at me"

From my passport (USA), page 6:

"4. Alteration or mutilation of passport: This passport must not be altered or mutilated in any way. Alteration may make it INVALID, and, if willful, may subject you to prosecution (Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1543). Only authorized officials of the United States or of foreign countries, in connection with official matters, may place stamps or make statements, notations, or additions in this passport. You may amend or update personal information for your own convenience on page 7."

Certainly removal of a visa sticker would fall under the definition of "alteration or mutilation"

Get some pages added to your passport, if possible. For USA passport it is almost too easy, just needs a quick stop at the USA Embassy.

TiT...you can never allow enough time for something.

Better to have a bit of time for browsing the duty-free or to enjoy an expensive beer after clearing Immigration and having obtained your re-entry permit, than to be standing in a queue looking at your watch, and hearing an aircraft depart and wondering if it is yours.

Allow an hour, you should be ok.

If you bought the 40,000 USD house and she is now giving you the boot, I would say that she is stupid and you are well rid of her. Since you did not mention buying anything else, you have not fulfilled your requirements and a smart Thai girl would keep you around until:

- You have bought a few buffalo or cows for Mom

- You have bought the new Hilux Vigo or Fortuner

- You have paid for grandmother's funeral 2 or more times

- You have given money for "brother" who broke his arm in motorcycle crash

- You have bought her at least 6 baht of gold

If you are getting out having only bought the house, call it a cheap education.

Go home and do not come back, ever.

More scare-mongering by ever-expanding governments

I have seen it done both ways here.

Joins at the socket seem to be common where the house has an open ceiling.

I agree with you...why run the extra cable?

My friend was nabbed on Chit Lom Road. He had to go to Lumpini Police Station. Same story with Breathalizer...the officers kept messing with it, changing batteries, trying on themselves, etc. My friend was stringing it along, not doing it properly, etc etc. He was able to call his Thai g/f to the station, where she negotiated with the nice officers. My friend's g/f tried the Breathalyzer at one point...it showed her at .08, and she had not had a drink for a couple of days. The officers kept threatening him with "go to hospital, take out blood"...he said, "That is what we will do then". That threw them off that he would say that, he says it was obvious that was *not* what the officers wanted to do...it would screw up their payday.

End result? My friend sent his g/f out with his ATM card, he had to be put in a cell with an ugly ladyboy for about 20 minutes, the g/f came back with the money, out the door they went.

25,000 baht, no paper, no record.

I would call that reasonable, vs sitting in jail, going to court, paying some fine there anyway, possible deportation, at least a paper trail.

I had a DUI several years ago in USA. By the time I paid the fine, paid my attorney, paid to get my DL back after the revokation, plus having to drive test both car and motorcycle again, two trips to testing station, three court appearances, periodic visits for nine months to the probation officer, etc etc etc, the costs were most certainly over 1000 USD (40,000 THB at that time).

Edit: bad math...1000 USD = 40,000 THB in 2004.

In the case of a right turn, you will certainly have to take the proper lane for the turn...you can be ticketed for turning from the wrong lane also.

The trick is to not move over to the right turn lane "too soon"...whatever that might be. If there is a fair bit of traffic, you are going to have to start moving right sooner, to pick your way across the lanes of traffic, otherwise, you can just "jump across" almost at the last instant.

It does get to be a bit subjective...sort of like the enforcement of most traffic laws.

- We can read a map, and visualize our position on that map

- We can tell another farang how to drive to our house, and they are able to do so without calling back once

- We can have a phone conversation without saying "Hello!" every five seconds

- We can keep the same phone and SIM for several years

- We will buy the top-of-the-line microwave and sound system, and then haggle over a 150 THB shirt

The OP's dog almost certainly has some Australian Shepherd in the mix.

I understand the privacy issue...but really, why worry? It is not like that person in the queue knows you (probably does not). Why do you care if someone sees that your balance is 6 or 7 or 8 figures (bahts)?

Why worry? I guess when you're getting mugged on your way home because some unsavory characters saw a get rich quick opportunity, this would be a cause for worry.

I very seriously doubt that "muggers" are waiting around for the farang with the highest balance...get real.

What is the exact make and model number of your phone? It must be GSM1900 compatible in order to get a signal from either TMobile or AT&T. Also you need to have international roaming enabled with AIS. Drop them an email at [email protected] to request int'l roaming.

AT&T is on 850 (previously Cingular) and 1900 (previously AT&T Wireless) bands. If you have a tri-band phone (AisaPac-spec is 900/1800/1900, USA-spec is 850/1800/1900) you can get service in USA in most areas...quad-band is better. The Asia-spec tri-band will give you so-so coverage...I have not used a USA-spec tri-band, so I cannot speak to that...I would have to assume that it would be better.

GSM coverage is not ubiquitous in USA...many rural areas do not have GSM coverage. hel_l, in some rural areas the best coverage is on AMPS, the original analog cellular system (which the FCC gave the carriers permission to decommission this past February).

As the other poster mentioned, you need to enable International Roaming with AIS. I am not sure about the email...you can call customer care also.

Post the make/model of your phone and we can help you with the tri-band/quad-band aspect.

What is the difference between a bad golfer and a bad skydiver?

With a bad golfer, you hear, *whack*...... "PHUCK!"

Best fold up map I've seen so far is the one from Thinknet

MapMagic CD + Large Paper Map

[bilingual Version]

Road Map of Thailand 2005-2006

299 Baht

*

2nd best would be Michelin map # 965

New number is # 751

The road atlas is # 165 with a slightly better scale.

Surin to Khorat: Not long

I can recommend the MapMagic package...the bilingual feature really helps, my wife is learning to read maps.

Cheers but the wifey dont have an income, so we kinda stuffed, thats my question, what can you do if neither partner has an income....please dont say shouldnt be here...I have savings in the UK that keep us

Your wife would have an "income" if you made the monthly tax payments as suggested by lopburi3.

I did not realize that so many TV members were so fluent in Thai that they could understand enough conversation to generalize that Thai people always talk about money. I do know that I have never heard any of our Thai friends that we socialize with (who all speak English) talk about money however I do hear them talk about alot about food which seems to be a very important subject with the ladies.

A person does not have to be fluent in Thai to realize when they are talking about money. If you understand the words for the individual numbers and orders of magnitude it is pretty easy to pick it out of the conversations.

And they *do* talk about money....a lot.

My wife's mother point blank asked me what my salary is. My wife and I had previously had the conversation about how Westerners tend to keep that information a bit more private, and she really did not want to ask me for Mom...but you know how it goes, "Mom ask". I just replied back with a number that is about half of what I make. My wife knew the number was low, but what I said is what she told Mom. Mom was ok with that figure, end of story.

Westerners do talk about money, both directly and by showing off via conspicuous consumption.

The Thais are just more direct about it.

On our house in Chok Chai the house in in my wife's name (she took my surname), the electric is in her name (what a nuisance that was changing from her maiden name), the water is still in the previous owner's name (my wife bought the house 7-8 years ago).

All I can say is take what they ask for, whatever name is on it. The more paper the better.

I would bet a dollar to a doughnut they will do no more than glance at it, if even that.

You are being told a load of crap. In Thailand you can use any old name you like. My daughter has my name and me and her mother were not married at the time. My (now) wife's surname is different from both her parents surnames (for complicated and, for this discussion, irrelevant reasons).

In fact, the first attempt at my daughters birth certificate was a mess because they used my middle name as her surname (family name for you yanks). I told them to reissue it correctly and they did.

That last point does not surprise me....for the first couple of years that we were together, my girlfriend (now wife) was certain that my family name/surname was "G Jackson"

#15 isn't necessary. The Queen is the largest shareholder in the Bank of England, which indirectly controls the 'Fed'.

Taxes have always been promptly collected

Nice joke, though...

I didn't realize the Windsor's were related to the Rothschild's.

Cheers

Hmmm...it might be the Rosenthals

Methinks some people worry too much.

As a practical matter, I fail to see how a balance shown on an ATM makes it more of a security risk. I doubt someone is going to hang around in ATM queues looking for the person with the highest balance. Perhaps in an isolated situation that might be so, but in general...I doubt it.

I understand the privacy issue...but really, why worry? It is not like that person in the queue knows you (probably does not). Why do you care if someone sees that your balance is 6 or 7 or 8 figures (bahts)?

What I find interesting is when you see someone at an ATM with this "feature", they respond "yes" to the receipt, take a look at the receipt, then let it fall on the ground...

When you pass through Immigration, whether entering or leaving Thailand, the stamp will indicate the date that you passed through Immigration, not the scheduled arrival or departure time.

I have seen references here to *departures* being stamped on the day of the flight, although that has not been my experience.

I have never seen any reference to the entry date being backed up one day.

You have been staying here on one-year visas or extensions of stay?

We need more information to give you a definite answer.

"Crazed American".....

Is that not redundant?