hansnl

How can you seize assets such as bank accts. if you have no suspects and no prosecution.

The fact that no suspects have been identified also begs the question how can they state it is an international gang.

How can they be sure of nationality if they have no names.

Well, that is the billion baht question.

Of course, only foreigners can do so much wrong.

Sun 4 Jan 09, 6:53 pm

Housekeeper wanted.

Khon Kaen City

Pimanchon #1

Single falang man and 3 cats.

3 days per week, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Easy work. Must like cats.

PM Mr. Rex

Thank you.

Mr Rex

I might know someone for you.

Please be so kind to tell me if you are still interested?

Hansnl

You have things similar to this in the Uk with the train disasters a few years back, the result is the same, spend millions on an inquiry and identify all the faults then pass it onto the government who pretend to take action but dont and then low and behold 4-5 years later its repeated again and followed by the usual "why weren't lessons learnt" type headlines. Time makes people forget otherwise there would'nt be more wars.. the war to end all wars etc etc. Same with anything like this people are generally lazy and greedy and "it wont ever happen to them"

As soon as things are left to"forces of the market" safety will be scrimped upon.

Because it does not bring any gain, it only brings cost.

Now, a few days later, interesting things come to light:

- no more insurance;

- no safety implements;

- illegal business

- owner gone with the winds;

- and so on

Now guess with me: owners are..........

Just the other day, I was stunned when a taxi driver told me he was originally from Vientiane but his family had arranged for him to take over the identity of a dead Thai child when he was 8. This was 29 years ago.

I know this used to be fairly common but I was surprised he was admitting his effectively illegal status to a complete stranger, i.e. me.

It used to be quite easy to take over identities in many countries.

I do know children and adults, officially a child of a mother, but in fact a child of one of her daughters.

Face!!!!!!!

Still happens and can happen if the child is born at home!

And yes, identity takeover still happens.

And after having done that, de facto, you are the dead person.

If the dead person was never declared dead, obviously it must be alive.

The man you are talking about, well, obviously he must be Thai, he must be him, because his ID-card says so, and the admin in the Amphur agrees.

For Farang this might be a big deal, maybe not so for Asian people?

However, I know of cases in England and Holland.

Rather recent even!

My electric bill is running at about 10k a month. Whereas, my neighbours is only 4k per month. We both seem to have about the same electric needs (swimming pool pump, air con in two rooms at night etc), but my bill is double his. In fact, he leaves his outside lights switched on all night, and I turn mine off about 10pm. I did wonder if someone was skimming off my meter and had it checked by a local. He says the meter is clean.

The only thing I can think of is that my ceiling lights have halogen light bulbs (about 4 lights per room), while his uses the energy saving bulbs. But could this really be the reason for such a big difference?

Suggestions appreciated before I switch to my own personal generator! Just kidding.

Try to find out how much the ac-units use, one by one.

Means you have to check the numbers, switch off one unit a time.

Older units often take care of much higher bills.

Check the state of the ac units, pressure, whatever.

It might help, be it a bit of pilfering, to put some extra pressure in the unit.

The cooling will be stronger, maybe it will help.

The best way, if your ac units are older, buy some modern energy saving units.

The investment pays for itself.

I had 2 older units, running a bill of 6000-7500 baht per month.

Two new units from Daikin running on one compressor.

Bill went down to 4000-5000 baht per month

Are you sure there are no unknown users of your electrics?

and from another expat web board comes this predictable gem.

Originally Posted by buriramboy The misses just translated something for me on Thai Rath and she says it's saying it was farangs lighting fireworks in the bar.

Obviously.

And besides, most victims are also of that breed.

Let me guess, the owner(s) is/are..........

So, the end result of the research into the fire will amount to something like this:

Fire started by illegal firework, thrown by farang visitors of the club.

All exits were blocked because the visitors all tried to get out together in a disorderly fashion, which made the exits blocked.

The owners are not to be blamed.

visas for thailand are a joke ,the non im b if I understand it is for one year but you have to leave the country every 3 months ,so really its a 3 month visa that can be renewed.what a pain in the hole !!!!

my thai wife lives with me in Sydney and glad she doesnt have to get out every 3 months .one day I would like to go and take our kids to live in Thai for a year or so ,to go to school ,learn to read and write Thai,the wife and kids have Thai and Oz passports ,but me 'dad' has to Pee off every 3 months .

and if I understand correctly ,a Thai bloke can bring his farang missus in no probs .

Lets just hope they change this stupid law for all the hubbys out there,but I wont hold my breath.

thanks ,angry aussie

Why, you think, is Thailand called the country of smiles?

They just have one on you!

hi all is wondering if anyone new the cost and distance of getting to kk from udon thani and if a cab is available

thanks all blighty

No meter taxis available in Khon Kaen or Udon Thani, in KK tuktuks, in Udon skylabs

Private minivans, depending if a Thai can book for you or not, 500-3000 baht.

Best bet: Bus services, airco and non airco from the bus station.

Cost: 100-245 baht

Time for 125 km, depending on which company, 1,5-2,5 hours

Train service, a few trains in the evening and by day.

Cost, depending on class, airco or fan.

There are a lot hotels in Khon Kaen, priced reasonable.

Fid yourself one a little outside the centre or off the main roads and streets, much more reasonable priced!

Nightlife?

Around Kosa hotel!

In these economic times, the nightlife will start to bloom, I guess

Visit Fairy Plaza or Tukcom for meeting people (Hello darling?), or even Tesco or Big C!

A lot of bars to be found with offerings around lake Bueng Kennakorn, ask any Tuktuk driver.

Per ride 60 baht max, 100 in the night, anywhere within Khon Kaen.

Try to find a farang who knows the score, nr 1 Bar, Cheap Charlie, Eric's and so on.

Thanks for that added bit Mario.

So at the end of my 12 month visa, I can get an extension if I am bringing 65,000THB into Thailand every month from my UK bank. (Which I am)?

It would also suit be better if I can get a Thai bank account - so that I can do a direct transfer - rather than the ATM's.

Thank you

Data

attention

I found out that using the ATM might be a cheaper way to get your money.

If you transfer baht fom a UK-bank to a Thai bank the exchange rate from the UK banks is horrendous and the transfer provision is a silly amount.

It will be a little better if you transfer GBP to a Thai bank, the exchange rate from Thao Banks is generally better for the customer, and if you can choose for shared costs, you pay not so much transfer provision in England, and very littlte or nothing at all in Thailand.

Now find out the exchange rate by ATM which is generally much better, and look into the costs for using the ATM.

Maybe the daily limit you can withdraw by ATM is 20,000 or 25,000, that might be a small problem, costwise.

But, trying is knowing.

As long as you have room for the sticker and your exit/entry stamps it won't be a problem.

Two or 3 pages will be plenty.

But still better to take care of a new passport before it gets an emergency....

Even better, when applying for a new passport, ask for a so called Business passport.

It has double the pages.

It is more expensive, not much, but it is much handier!

OOPS

You did already apply for a new passport.

Sorry

Small print, and so on.

Next time, apply for a bisiness passport

Sorry

With a difference i suppose,all i would like for Xmas is a nice crusty english bread roll or some german brod, or any un-sweetened bakery bread, please, not tescos french bagette, they are ok, but i really would like a euro style bread from a bakery for a change,

To wake up xmas morning and have a salmon and cucumber crusty roll or smorgasbord or german black/brown bread with cheese & jam would really make my day, and cheese shops/suppliers too would be nice,

Thanks in advance and Happy Xmas to all forum members and readers, Lickey & Pan..

Ahhhhhhhh

Now there you go, wouldn't we al want that?

At least those of us living in Isan.

There was a time Tops had some European/American style food.

There was a time Tesco had some.

Sometimes, Makro has some good French Style Baguettes and stickbread

And to go to Bangkok or Pattaya for obtaining the wanted articles, is going too far

For bread I go to the bakery of Kosa Hotel in Khon Kaen.

Good UNSUGARED bread, German style bread too!

I presume, there might be a hotel or bakery in Udon, making the same thing.

There are more Farang in Udon as in Khon Kaen.

I bake my own bread, when I am in the mood, all the ingredients can be obtained in Tesco.

Next time in Europe, buy yourself one of those bread baking machines.

Chuck in the ingredients, close the lid, switch it on, and lo and behold, after some time there it is: BREAD WITHOUT TOO MUCH SUGAR.

Good luck

Merry Christmas, and all the best in 2009

Please can anyone suggest the broadband options for my area?Thanks

If you are living in somewhere in the neighbourhood of a telephone exchange, try TOT or TT&T

If not, try CAT wifi.

For Thailand, all are reasonable.

That's the whole problem, the people didn't get to vote for a new PM, he was just ushered in by the PAD. If there were a real vote, Taksin would be right back in, because he is still the best of the worst.

I guess the peaceful Thais in Esan will need to "re-educate" the Hi-So Thais in Bangkok about what is really important in life, which isn't always being greedy.

Also, the folks in red will only attack the actual people they are angry at, that's why they are not beating up motorcycle taxi drivers and police, but the actual MP's that are trying to take over the Gov't again by force instead of having a real election.

There were real elections, and now the majority of the chosen MP's decided to form a new Government.

That is called democracy, making compromises.

Maybe difficult to understand for someone used to a 2-party system.

And, let us not forget, that during his time, personal gain for a few cronies was tuned to a very fine degree.

Problem is ... in economic good time it would die down and everyone going back to their business ... unfortunately Thailand is going to see unprecedented lay off and thousands (if not millions) people with nothing to do but being angry ... recruiting ground for perpetual unrest ?!

Yes, 'Seneque', there are going to be a lot who lose their jobs in tourism who will feel : "PAD lost me my job".

But also, after a time of protesting the idiots who are not political, or even up to earning a bit of money as paid 'protestors', but relish a 'rumble', start to join in.

In the West, they latch on to football for their 'rumble thrill', but anything will do, and here yellow shirts v. redshirts is available.

It won't all settle down soon, though.

The people of the North and the Northeast know full well that the 'powers that be' in Bangkok have lived fat at their expense, and now the emergent middle-class want to climb on the bandwagon.

Thaksin was clever to work out how to make election success out of it, but the fact remains that he delivered on his promises. I was thinking of that this afternoon in our new district hospital, looking at people in outpatients who, when I first came here, would not have been able to afford their treatmen.

As far as the people up here are concerned, Thaksin was the best Prime Minister that they ever had. (The fact that he 'got up some noses in Bangkok is not something that is held against him here---if anything, it's the reverse!).

There is a four-word phrase that I hear that sums it up: "We not take Chuan".

You have very misplaced ideas about Mr T.

Through movies and stories like this, majority of farangs to me are people ready to have sex anytime. Not true to every farang of course. Can't they think of other places instead of temples?

Through personal observations, stories heard, things seen, teen pregnancies seen, and so on, I think the majority of Thai are having sex all the time without restrictive measures. Probably not true of all Thai, of course.

I have opened two Thai bank accounts, one rather recently at Kasikorn Bank, without a work permit. In fact, they didn't even ask about what visa I was on. I realize conditions vary bank to bank, region to region, immigration officer to officer. No doubt some people are caught in a Catch 22 hel_l, but I doubt most of us are.

See my motto, the one about Murphy's law?

Chico: I think you did qualify financially based on your pension. It is not new for immigration offices to ask for, maybe require, to ALSO see that people qualifying with pensions have a Thai bank account, even though the money in it is not needed for qualification (in your case anyway). The other poster who said that just showing the bank book is usually enough in such cases (people fully qualifying with pensions) is probably correct, but the only difference is that you encountered an officer who asked for a bank letter as well. As you learned, getting the bank letter is no big deal.

Bottom line, based on your info, no big policy change. Perhaps one or more officers is requiring bank letters for pension qualifiers, but that is not a major change in FINANCIAL requirements for qualification.

Jingthing, there are many banks that will not give you a bank account without having a workpermit. (TMN, BT, + more)

Having a card from the bank "at home" and available ATM's, what is the need for a Thai Bank (income only)

Being an old age pensioner, you will not get a work permit.

So here we go: What then?

No workpermit, no bankaccount, no stay?

And getting a letter from your friendly bankmanager might become a problem, when your living address is 172 km from the nearest immigration office!

Worst case scenario:

day 1 Bring the paperwork-go away, get a bank letter.

day 2 Return with the paperwork and letter from the bank

day 3 So sorry, office closed, whatever reason

day 4 Collect the passport, if ready?

Lost: 4 days and 1376 kilometer.

And getting a bank letter might become a problem if the bank manager has no idea where you are talking about, or maybe, phom phut Thai maidai and the bankmanager phom phut Ankrit maidai.

The above happened to a farang in Khon Kaen.

Indeed he had to go there 5 times because the passport was not ready!

And during that time the Khon Kaen police fined him for 5000 baht, because he did not have his passport with him.

Paperwork from the immigration police: not important for KK Police.

Just wondering if they moved the O-A Retirement Renewal target (requirements) when I wasn't looking?

Today, December 9th, I was at the Jomtein Immigration Office at 8:30 AM armed with THREE signed and dated copies of the following: all of my passport pages, U.S. Embassy (Bangkok) pension verification letter, U.S. tax returns, pension verification letter from U.S. govt., passport size photos, completed TM.7 form and 1,900 THB. Being number 04 in line, I was at Station 8 in a matter of 20 minutes. The gentleman looked at my pension letter and said, "You need Thai bank deposit verification letter, come back later!" I told him my pension (85,000+ a month) was all I needed to meet the money requirement. He replied, "No, you need pension letter AND Thai bank verification letter." End of conversation.

I returned later in the morning to Jomtein armed with my TMB bank letter and picked-up the number 64 wait in line number. This time, some 5 HOURS LATER, I sailed through the process with the gentlemen at Station #8 not wanting to see any multiple copies of anything.

Now all I have to do is to return on Thursday (Wednesday the Immigration Office is CLOSED) to pick-up my passport and new one year O-A visa and try and find a BIG dumpster to throw all my WASTED exta copies into.

Typical case of early morning sickness.

It is "or", "or", or mix of both.

IT'S IN THE AIR THIS MORNING

See my motto down below, and remember that any variation on the theme "if it can go wrong, it will go wrong" is available and usable in Thailand.

In this case, if it can be asked for, it will be asked for!

I m glad the Thai authorities continue the amazing Thailand promotion 2008 started so successfully by the PAD building on Mr. Taksin's unique talents. Well done ! It is not unexpected and as a so much disgusted longtime tourist I had taken action long time before. I feel vindicated.

1.) I got a longterm residence visa. Of course, NOT in Thailand, much cheaper elsewhere and better terms anyhow. Plus clean beaches, cheap sea food, the rest I leave for your imagination....

2.) I pulled out all the money from the bank. The memorable expression on the faces of bankers will stay for me for a long time. Make more money from those assets now, by the way.

3.) I did not buy that condo in Thailand. Rent in other parts of the area is so cheap, near/at the beach of course (near in meters not minutes by car). Anyhow, who wants to risk his money in Thailand when I get for it interest elsewhere? Pattaya is anyhow going down. Traffic and polution like in BKK... The water, well, take a piss at best...

And where might that be if I can ask?

And I would like to know as well!

I think that is not a problem. I normally entered Thailand with a tourist visa or a non immigrant visa. I always used the service of Siamese Visa. They are professional.

When i tried to get a visa to go with my boyfriend to England, they were not exactly very accomodating, after the 3rd attempt i was allowed to visit. I was shocked at the way foreigners were treated at the airport and made to wait while all uk citizans cleared customs. Not 1 foreigner moved through customs in over 40 min, my boyfriend was not happy at the way we were treated and when he complained was told to go and sit down, foreigners never have that trouble at our airports

Really????

Wrong stamps, uncivil treatment, VERY long rows, and so on, and so on

Q. how can an opposition party form a (coalition) government WITHOUT an electorate mandate?

1 The PPP did NOT have the most votes, but due to the election system got the most seats.

2 A coalition government combines votes to get a majority, and thus the "mandate" to govern.

3 Please explain what in your eyes means a electoral mandate? The right to do anything you want? The right to ignore a very big part of the electorate that did not vote for you? The right to steal the country blind?

Now everybody sit tight for the next round of changes.

Just as everybody is getting used to the rules, they are changed again.

And that seems to be getting the biggest problem of Thailand.

Yes, you can get an annual extension (each year you want) based on retirement if you are currently in Thailand on an O visa. You can even convert a 30 day stamp or tourist visa to an O visa IN Thailand and then get an annual extension based on retirement. You do, however, need to QUALIFY for this. Be over 50, have pension letter from your embassy or 800K in a Thai bank for at least three months, or a combo of both. Good luck.

And!!!!!!!

In the case of a 30-day stamp, only 9 days old, 21 days to go.

If you do this the first time the 21 days are, or might be, important.

Next time, not so important any more.

Oh, you know, the visa rules in my home country and here in Britian, where I live now, are far more demanding then Thailand's rules.

In Australia, forget just arriving on a plane.

In the UK, unless your from the EU, which makes you a conditional citizen of the UK, you must get a visa. Getting these visas is no simple matter - some of the Thai people I know here have to prove, in part by paying for expensive language courses, that they are here for legitimate purposes.

I'm not sure about the US, but I do know they've tightened up lately.

It saddens and surprises me that I regularly hear from some disgruntled Australian's, Briton's and American's that the Thai's are 'so bad' to us.

It is problematic that the visa laws do cause such inconvenience, but we 'can' get into Thailand, all of us!

Many Thai's cannot get into my country at all, not for any reason.

How welcoming is your country to Thai's?

Are you really benefiting Thailand by being there, as some suggest, or are you self-seeking benefits, but using the 'I'm benefiting Thailand' cliche in misrepresented, but, self-serving cliches?

etr

BRAVO Couldn't agree more!!

Yes, you are right, indeed it is vey difficult for Thai people to enter any of the European countries.

Why should that be, you think.

Maybe, just maybe, the EU countries found out that a lot of Thai people enter the country on a visa, and then disappear.

Most come to the EU with a financial guarantee from someone in the EU, and most don't bring much money with them.

Now, the farang going to Thailand, nobody needs to guarantee him, he spends his money, is ripped off most of the time, wants to stay some longer or forever, and cannot do that.

Because of the immigration laws.

You see the difference?

I do!

If you spend money while being a tourist, money from abroad, one way or another you benifit the country you visit.

If you go to atcountry with no money, with a guarantee, you do not benifit the country you visit.

Simple

Could it be that they are in some way trying to benefit the crippled airline industry? This is Thailand you know.

No, of course not, they just blame the farang for all the self-inflicted troubles.