Orac

I can't help but feel I am missing something here.

The money involved so far seems pretty small and you appear to have control still over the idea and having spent so much time planning could you not just find another investor. Surely better to know now that your investor hasn't the b**ls for this venture than when there is far more at stake.

To be even discussing the 20,000 Baht solution seems a ridiculous overreaction.

If you want to go down the naming and shaming route I think you should provide a few more details as to the nature of the business arrangements as I would be very wary about giving advice as you have requested on the limited details available - I would view a fall out between two potential pattaya beer bar owners very differently from two businessmen setting up a factory together to export textiles for example and cannot identify this from your posts apart from the point that you haven't responded on the WP issues that have been mentioned.

The note on farang surname impacting property purchase is rubbish.

TH

My wife bought two small plots of land (chanote I believe) a couple of months ago whilst I was back in England however, for one of them, she has had to register it in her mothers name as I wasn't present to countersign the documents - apparently we have three months to change this. When I asked how she had managed to register the other purchase in her name she said it was no problem as she was able to forge my signature????

I thought that Thailand rocognized legally binding marriages from other countries? My wife and I got married in the UK and when we went back to Thailand for a holiday, she changed her I.D. card (Took 15 minutes) and her passport to her married name (She had to get a new passport).

We had to get our marriage certificate translated, then her I.D. card changed in her home town then when we went back to BKK she handed her I.D. card, translated marriage certificate along with her old passport in and 1 week later when we returned to BKK she picked up her new passport, pretty straightforward to be honest. Her UK visa was in her old passport so she had to show both passports at immigration in Manchester because she was travelling on her maiden name but she needed her permitted to stay stamp in her new passport, she was still held up on arrival in to the UK as the dozy bird didn't like the look of my wife it seems and asked her 101 questions.

My wife says she can get a new ID card at any Amphoer? She is planning to do this in Chiang Mai. Is a translation of our U.S. marriage certificate all she needs or does it need certification or something?

A couple of years ago I was under the impression we could do this but ended up being told that we had to go to my wifes local amphur - might have changed since then though.

stop it, the guy us bisexual - he likes both gurls and boys. either live with it or dump him

My understanding from the OP is that this guy married her, they had two kids together and they have split up and he is refusing to support his own children. IF my understanding is correct I have nothing but contempt for him and to suggest that being gay or bisexual is some sort of excuse is just as wrong as if he had gone off with another lady.

I offer the OP my sympathies as she has obviously got herself involved with a 'wrongun' - gay or otherwise.

My apologies to the OP. Having supported financially my now wife and previously as my g/f, I had no idea of the sickness I was causing to someone neither of us had met or even knew of. I would appreciate your instructions on how I should spend my money in future and thus end your suffering.

My wife is due in March and her doctor (govt hospital in Isaan) is advising a 'natural' birth despite her struggling with diabetes in pregnancy leading to a 'large' baby.

Do other non Dollar countries first have to convert their currency to Dollar to be able to buy oil on the futures marketl?

Ore do they have some kind of special account with a bank that takes care of that?

I am sure there is an expert out there that can put us straight!

I really do not know, but maybe I think I know.

Maybe you should try changing your tag line to this - you might get a little less flack!

Cheers

Orac

What would happen if those oil producing country's stopped trading oil and other stuff in USD?

Nothing. Remember that the US gets most of its oil from its own hemisphere. Canada, Mexico, the Carribean and even Venezuala still welcome USD.

GK/Alex,

There are many conspiracy theories floating around and I have always viewed them sceptically. It would be nice to think that there is some shadowy being/group (or even country) with a masterplan behind everything and therefore somebody was in control and everything happened for a purpose (I have similar views on organised religion but thats another subject!) however I do not think we are as lucky as that and the problems out there are caused by mans own short term greed and stupidity, however, one that regularly crops up that I have never been able to get my head round is the oil trading.

The comment on where the US gets its oil is not really the pertinent question here but how other countries aquire it and how the transaction works. IF oil is only/mainly traded in USD how does a 3rd country buy it ie. if Belgium (random pick!) buys some oil and has to pay in USD for it where do they come from - since they cannot issue their own USDs they must surely get them from the USA in some way.

I would be interested in knowing if the USD is dependent/affected by these oil trades by 3rd countries and how it could be affected if anyone decided to rock the boat and use a different currency thus reducing the demand for USD - as far as I can tell Iraq tried (look what happenned there) and Iran (public enemy number one!).

Thanks

Orac

Or more accurately 1.38 and 2.4.

Unless your as old as me Dad and still call a half crown a half dollar????

I am a touch confused here PP, could you clarify as you appear to be saying that you bought sterling at a high of 2.4 ?? to take advantage of the 3.2 % rate

Sorry I was responding to Enquealstarion and his 'lifetime' range.

It was 2.4 in 1982 when I first learn the buy it high and sell it low principle.

The high it got to this time round was about 2.111

Sorry PP but still struggling to understand - surely you would buy low and sell high?

Or more accurately 1.38 and 2.4.

Unless your as old as me Dad and still call a half crown a half dollar????

I am a touch confused here PP, could you clarify as you appear to be saying that you bought sterling at a high of 2.4 ?? to take advantage of the 3.2 % rate

There are mosquitoes in Western countries too... If the OP is so worried he should get a course of Malarone from his doctor.

Surely this is only effective against Malaria which the OP does not appear to have started worrying about yet.

Gold in Bangkok was 7,000 baht mid 2000 when I first met my wife to be and over that time it's gone up 100% + but not even a whimper from the Jews of Asia until now, as soon as the price of gold starts fluctuating they can't shut up shop quick enough.

in 1992 it was 4300 ThB!

In 1992 EVERYTHING was cheaper by the amount that inflation has increased during the last 17 years

Point taken gwynt but an crease of nearly 250% over the last 16 years suggests that inflation has been averaging 15.625% someone has been lining their pockets with gold...please excuse the pun.

I would recheck your maths there - inflation is compounded so it would work out to about 6 % on average.

This is what i meant samui,as i dont find that comment one bit racist,as it was meant as a joke.

is saying or typing jews racist????

I think it could be more to do with the statement that all Israelis are Jews which demonstrates a breathtaking ignorance of a serious situation and also highlights that some of the intollerance seen on this forum is the result of some posters desires to cause trouble.

see what i mean,somebody comes on and complains that i dont know that all israelis are not jews,Did i say that on my post,no i didnt.The post was designed to see how people reacted,and you my friend weny right over the top.i win my case hands down.

cause trouble????

now you have gone nuts.

Though your initial comment was I am sure not mant to be taken seriously it highlights the need for some people to introduce contentious issues into some threads with the hope of provoking strong reactions that can then be branded intollerant - it is not only the intollerance of posters that has become apparent here but the number of posters that go out of their way to provoke such responses.

This is what i meant samui,as i dont find that comment one bit racist,as it was meant as a joke.

is saying or typing jews racist????

I think it could be more to do with the statement that all Israelis are Jews which demonstrates a breathtaking ignorance of a serious situation and also highlights that some of the intollerance seen on this forum is the result of some posters desires to cause trouble.

In which state are most of you?

* denial “No way can this be true. There must be alternative explanations. This simply can’t be; I would have heard about it.”

* anger “Goddammit! Those bastards at the Fed, in the government, in media have been hiding things from me, lying, and serving their own interests at my expense. How dare they!!!

* bargaining “If I simply change a few things in my life, perhaps that will be sufficient and I won’t have to really change. I’ll use efficient light bulbs, buy a Prius, and save more each year.”

* fear “I’m going to die broke. People will come out of the cities and eat all my food and harm my family. The future is going to be unbearably bleak. I might die. I might starve. I’m not built for a world that mirrors the dystopian nightmare of Mad Max.”

* depression “Crap, we’re screwed. What’s the point? I am powerless to do anything about this. There’s nothing that any of us can do, anyway.”

* acceptance “However we got here is unimportant – it is what it is. Let’s figure out how to navigate the future with the tools and advantages we’ve got, not what we wish we had.”

I usually get through all of these on a good night thanks to this forum, rolling 24 hour news and alcohol however my wife remains oblivious (thanks to Thai Soaps) - I sometimes wonder which of us is better off!

I like posting this, so I'll post again on this relevant thread. Now this is really scary stuff.

Though entertaining it really depends on the credentials of who wrote the piece which, if I am not mistaken, was the well known economist Jeremy Clarkson.

The Thai TRADITION of sin sot , in many parts of the civilized world , when one human sells another human to another human , it is called HUMAN TRAFFIKING .

This is a ridiculous comment.

I gave sinsot of B100,000 when I married which kept everyone happy. I has enabled me to have a very good relationship with my wifes family and I have even promised to let her out of the kitchen next year.

Maybe the UK could eventually become the holiday destination of Asians, who will buy up dirt cheap property in a year or two and travel around in tuks tuks in Brighton and the girls of the UK have to find work in the service industry :D

...........

(Obviously any moaners, whyngers, complainers can bguger off back to where you come from)

You're making it sound quite tempting if only something could be done about the weather!

How long is the TB test certificate valid for?

6 months

Just checked back and I budgetted for 100,000B for the village bit in the morning where there was a ceremony in my wifes house followed by a big piss up with food for the whole village plus more in a tent outside.

There was and a further 100,000B for an evening do at a hotel in Nong Khai for 120 people which was a good spread with food and disco.

If I remember correctly my budget figures weren't too far off with the main descrepancy being for the extra drink.

Because my wife wanted to take my surname after we were married there were an extra few days needed to change her documents. If she had kept her own name it would have been much quicker but, after we married in Bangkok, we had to go up to her local Amphur first to get her ID card changed and then had to submit her passport to MFA in Bangkok which took three days. When we got her passport back we then had to book for a TB check (next day).

One bit of info that nobody told me was that when we arrived in the UK she had to show the TB Test Certificate at Immigration before they would let her through (or take another test there and then) so as well as submitting it with your visa application make sure the TB cert is in your hand baggage when you come back to the UK as you go through immigration before getting your checked baggage.

They don't always ask to see the certificate. We had my wifes TB certificate in our hand baggage, but they never asked to see it.

It did seem a bit over the top to me since it is a requirement to get the visa which had been issued two weeks before and therefore would have been checked in BKK.

Nobody can cure flu,the bug mutates all the time so you can only ease the symtoms.

Sorry but we are looking at it from the blinkered perspective of western medicine. Chinese Thai doctors have had the solution for a very long time. It just needs a variety of different coloured antibiotic pills (which you only take if you feel the symptoms a lot), plus some powdered frog testicles, dried gall bladder of brown bear, any dried roots to hand and some lucky charms to hang up. (don't forget the donation to the temple/shrine of your choice) . It is such a shame that westerners have lost their instinctive faith in the wisdom of generations of ancestors.....

My wife was shocked at the primative standards of medical/health care in the UK when she came to stay with me and ended up having to have regular parcels sent by her mother so that she had the pills she needed as, in Thailand, pills are easily available to make you thin, make your her grow properly and change your skin colour!

Because my wife wanted to take my surname after we were married there were an extra few days needed to change her documents. If she had kept her own name it would have been much quicker but, after we married in Bangkok, we had to go up to her local Amphur first to get her ID card changed and then had to submit her passport to MFA in Bangkok which took three days. When we got her passport back we then had to book for a TB check (next day).

One bit of info that nobody told me was that when we arrived in the UK she had to show the TB Test Certificate at Immigration before they would let her through (or take another test there and then) so as well as submitting it with your visa application make sure the TB cert is in your hand baggage when you come back to the UK as you go through immigration before getting your checked baggage.

Actually a Thai wedding doesn't cost anything. The most important is the box at the entrance where people drop their envelope. Usually people don't bring gifts, just an envelope. What is inside depends of who you invite. Your wife should know. Just multiply the number of guest by the average "envelope" and you get the budget for your wedding.

I think you're mixing up Thai/Chinese with real Thai people.

Thai people don't only invite rich people to cover the costs - that's terribly stingy, horrible practise.

I've found that the Chinese seem to invite family and colleagues as that what their life is all about - work and money.

It's not about inviting rich people to cover the cost, it's more about redistributing wealth.When you get married, your relatives and friends give you money to start your family. Later, when you're better off, you pay them back, actually you pay their kids for their own wedding and give them the same chance that was given to you when you get married.

At my village wedding a couple of years ago my wife (and her family I assume) invited as many people as they could as this increased the number of envelopes received. Though the gifts covered the food/entertainment they came nowhere near the cost of the amount of whisky the village was able to consume at 8am in the morning so I would suggest limits/control over the booze if you do it this way!

Actually she (and the whole village) were just taking the piss.

It was one of the happiest days of my life and the village part of the wedding was by far the cheapest (and most memorable) bit of the whole occasion.

My point to the OP would be that as has been stated before, set a budget them work out what you can afford to do but allow for plenty of booze if you include an Isaan village bit!

Actually a Thai wedding doesn't cost anything. The most important is the box at the entrance where people drop their envelope. Usually people don't bring gifts, just an envelope. What is inside depends of who you invite. Your wife should know. Just multiply the number of guest by the average "envelope" and you get the budget for your wedding.

I think you're mixing up Thai/Chinese with real Thai people.

Thai people don't only invite rich people to cover the costs - that's terribly stingy, horrible practise.

I've found that the Chinese seem to invite family and colleagues as that what their life is all about - work and money.

It's not about inviting rich people to cover the cost, it's more about redistributing wealth.When you get married, your relatives and friends give you money to start your family. Later, when you're better off, you pay them back, actually you pay their kids for their own wedding and give them the same chance that was given to you when you get married.

At my village wedding a couple of years ago my wife (and her family I assume) invited as many people as they could as this increased the number of envelopes received. Though the gifts covered the food/entertainment they came nowhere near the cost of the amount of whisky the village was able to consume at 8am in the morning so I would suggest limits/control over the booze if you do it this way!