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grain

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Everything posted by grain

  1. The big plus factors they're looking at are a long term stable relationship, plenty of money in bank accounts, accommodation for the applicant, and reasons for the applicant to return and not want to stay on in Oz. If you tick all these boxes there's no need to go with an agent. The online process is easy to follow, step by step, and it works fast. We're currently in Perth now. And my TGF will squeeze in another visit in Dec before her visa expiry date.
  2. Very sad news, I certainly hope for the best outcome for her.
  3. In all my years in Thailand the only Thai males I've really liked and gotten along well with are the musicians. Those guys don't have the usual anti-farang bias found in most Thai men, as the Thai musos greatly admire farang musicians and musical genres. In general I've found them to be very friendly guys and we have a common interest in music, whereas I have zero in common with the rest of Thai males.
  4. There's been a recent surge of farang attacking Thais, and this one just about takes the cake, what concerns me most is if this trend continues are all of us going to be tarred with the same brush? We all know if you get into a fight with a Thai, then other Thais take it as an attack on all of them and seek revenge. It's not going to be much fun for any of us if we start becoming targets for revenge.
  5. agree, probably the only cities in the South worth living in for an expat are HatYai & Phuket.
  6. Cheers, I agree with you. I'll be looking into and see. It is definitely better to have your own vehicle. Thanks again.
  7. Peter Green was another, totally fried his brain with too much acid and ruined his career and his life. But so much seems to depend on the individual. Both Morrison and Hendrix did copious amounts of acid, even performing while on acid, and it worked for them.
  8. In Australia in the 1970s I personally knew several people who had totally fried their brains from doing acid. No way could they function in the so called normal world any longer and hold down a job, all they could do was live in communes or join the Hare Krisnas. The singer Wendy Saddington was a prime example, she was a secretary but cooked her brain with acid and spent the remainder of her life in some communal sect.
  9. A few useless pricks like these are going to stuff things up for the rest of us if this kind of behavior continues any further.
  10. This isn't news. This is just normal everyday Thai life, especially for Thai police. You read this and think so what? A Thai cop has a young mea-noi. It's about as important piece of news as telling us a Thai cop parked his car and sat down and had a bowl of noodles.
  11. Cheers mate. Yes a friend of mine does the same thing. Anyway, I'm starting to go off the idea now, it seems like a lot of stuffing around just for 1 week. I can leave my car securely in Ubon city, so I'm swinging towards that now.
  12. Also remember what Einstein said: “if World War III is fought with nuclear weapons, then World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
  13. Insurance is not compulsory for Cambodia, I never had it for any of the trips I made. Whether it's available at the border as an option I don't know. Maybe someone else will know and give you the info. BTW: after discussing taking a car into Lao with my wife I'm starting to go off the idea, it seems excessive rigmarole just for a one week trip, and it would be a one time only event, not something I'd be doing frequently. I do have a contact at Ubon city where I can safely leave my car for a few days, and we have done that in the past. So I think we'll just do that, then take the usual cross-border bus to Pakse. Pakse is small enough that you don't really need own transport to get about, and when we go to 4000 Is, there are organized travel/tour agents at Pakse, plus if there will be 4 of us we could look into booking a van just for ourselves.
  14. Just remember the true story of the man in Europe who was wondering the very same thing prior to the outbreak of WW2. He could see that a full on world war was coming so he carefully studied a map of the world, and after considering all the factors he selected a tiny remote island far away in the South Pacific where he could safely live a self-sufficient lifestyle. So a couple of weeks before Hitler invaded Poland, this man departed Europe and relocated to safely wait out the approaching war on the island of Guadalcanal.
  15. You say: Out of the last ten trips to Lao I’d had the cops try to shake me down for money many times So did they actually shake you down or did they merely try? If you did have to pay them money, then how much did you pay? I saw a video on FB recently of cops in Vientiane trying to shake down a couple of backpackers on a rented mc, it was an attempt by the cops, the 2 European backpackers argued the toss with the cops and after a few minutes the cops told them to piss off. So I get the feeling the Lao cops try this mickey mouse stuff but if you hold your ground they drop it fast.
  16. Many thanks Sydebolle for all that very detailed information. Very much appreciated. I do own my car myself, it is in my name. My Thai partner will be traveling with me. There may be another couple, an Aussie with a Thai wife. But I don't see any need to include them in all the documentation. They can hop out the car and cross the border in the usual way and I'll met them after they have cleared immigration. As for Cambodia. I've driven in several times in different cars at different points of entry. I entered 2 or 3 times from Trat to Koh Kong, and about 3 or 4 times from Surin to Siem Reap (via Osmach). The procedure is so simple compared to Lao. Last time I drove into Cambodia was probably about 1 year before the pandemic lockdowns, so unless there has been some changes, which I doubt, this is what one does. At the Thai border there's an office that deals with motor vehicles, close to the office that does your passport. You need to get your exit stamp in your passport like usual, then go to the vehicle office with your PP and the car blue book. Fill in a form or 2, no charge that I can remember. Then you keep your copy of the vehicle export form as you'll need that when you return. All that took about 30 minutes last time I did it at Chong Chom. Then you drive down to the Cambodian border and do the same thing again. Fill in your forms for your PP to enter Cambodia and get your visa and pay the visa fee, then drive down a bit further to the vehicle office and show them your blue book and your form from Thailand and fill in some more forms there. Again I can't remember if I had to pay for this, I might have been asked for a tip and gave $5, can't remember. Then off you go. Every time I drove into Cambodia I always returned via the same entry point. I was always asked by the Cambodians if I was coming back via the same border crossing and said that I was. I believe if you want to enter via one point and depart at another, then there may be extra forms. On this I'm not sure, but someone will no doubt post here soon explaining further. When it was time for me to return to Thailand I just drove back to the Cambodians and returned the form with them, got my PP stamped out, then drove to Thailand border and returned forms to them, did my PP and went home. Every time I drove into Cambodia it wasn't for long, usually we stayed about 1 week. Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
  17. My car's got Chonburi plates but I moved to Korat about 7 years ago and since then have been renewing it in Korat. I'm off to Australia next week, for 3 months, so when I return I'll check with the Pakthong Chai transport office. Thanks for the info.
  18. Many thanks ZZZZZ, so in my case I live in Pakthong Chai, Korat, so first I have to go to my local transport office in Pakthong chai, that's where I pay my rego every year. And I'll get the car PP there? Is that correct? And the temp permit and insurance I do that at the border at the time I'm actually leaving Thailand and entering Lao? Is that correct?
  19. OK thanks, some useful info here. Now some further questions for you: 1) "the Thai car department, where you pay your car tax, A car out passport" Is this at the Thai border? What is the car tax? And how much is the car tax? How much does the car out PP cost? 2) I don't have an international driving license but do have a current Thailand D/L. So I believe that is legal for driving in Lao? 3) "Do be careful were you park" Careful where? At the border area or in Lao in general?
  20. Next Nov I want to go to Pakse and 4000 Islands for approx 1 week. I'd like to drive my car from Ubon across into Lao, and return to Thailand the same way. I've never driven my car into Lao before but have taken it into Cambodia several times. It's my own car, registered in my name and I have the current documentation (blue book + insurance) So what's the procedure? Is it fairly straight forward (as it is for driving into Cambodia)? Anyway I need to know about in advance?
  21. "Lure" and "Hub" they just love using those 2 words 😆
  22. Next Nov I want to go to Pakse and 4000 Islands for approx 1 week. I'd like to drive my car from Ubon across into Lao, and return to Thailand the same way. I've never driven my car into Lao before but have taken it into Cambodia several times. It's my own car, registered in my name and I have the current documentation (blue book + insurance) So what's the procedure? Is it fairly straight forward (as it is for driving into Cambodia)? Anyway I need to know about in advance?
  23. Right on. Years ago when I was living down South some expats did this for the local orphanage, then after they handed the large sum of money raised to the boss, the expats found out they had bought a new fridge and a TV for the staff lunch room, plus other stuff, and very little, if anything went to the orphans. So after that they decided never to hand over cash, but buy things like packets of baby formulae and diaper's and food for the kids to use. But then it was later found out some of the orphanage staff were selling these products off to the local market.
  24. My phone is dual sim, every year I buy one of these DTAC sims from Shopee just for the unlimited data, so one sim is set to calls/text, the other sim set to data. But the most recent one I got from Shopee a few weeks ago also has unlimited calls and text to all Thai carriers for one year, so now that sim is set to both data + calls & text. My old sim remains in the phone because that's the number many people have, including official things like banking.
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