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Well he did also say free/cheap healthcare, and it's a very valid point. If we are to be classified as Tax Residents and pay tax to the country, then we should be issued with residents ID cards to distinguish us from the other foreign non-residents/tourists. With these cards we don't pay the foreigner rates at national parks and historical sites, and we pay the Thai rates at government hospitals. That would be a fair system, but of course it ain't gonna happen.

It's not a simple case of good Thai girl Vs terrible Thai hooker, there are various degrees, there are lots of very nice, often well educated Thai gals doing bar work around the country, and then there are hardened whores with drug issues and histories of STDs working in Pattaya soi 6 and the Beach Road. I've known lots of TGs who did bar work and then married foreign guys, many went to settle in their husband's country and they made good wives, good mothers, good home-keepers, years later they are still together. I've also known some guys who got married to more hardened TGs and had dreadful times...their Thai wives gambled away heaps of their money, some would go off for extended periods with other guys they met. So there are many disaster stories out there, but also many happy success stories. As a general rule of thumb, the longer a TG spends working in the bar/nightlife industry the more men she has had, the more bad experiences she has had, therefore the more devious, dishonest and hardened she has become.

I've long been convinced that a great many, probably the majority, of Thai monks are useless, unskilled, uneducated bums who have nothing, have nobody, have no prospects, so they go to a temple and hey presto! They're a monk, a wise holy man that is instantly respected and revered, and cared for...free food, free housing, free toiletries, and have people groveling at their feet.

How is it known he was once a merc? Unless he's been sitting in Mr. Tong's bar spinning BS to the LBs.

Thanks for your reply, I guess I'll go back and try again, this time without my Thai partner. Do you happen to have a link to that Government accord which said 'No marriage necessary'?

I asked at our local amphur last year. I was with my Thai partner. I was totally ignored as usual and the official asked my Thai partner if we were married. She replied we're not married, she was then told for us to go get married then come back. Well, that ain't happening. I do know lots of guys who are living in other jurisdictions and are not married and have been issued with these cards and house books, so like everything else in Thailand it all depends on that person in that particular office.

I've lived in Thailand a very long time, and all over the place, I've had to move at least a dozen times due to unbearable noise. Some of the situations that have forced me to move from rented house and apartments that I really liked are: next door neighbor starting a metal work cutting, grinding, welding business in his drive way. Next door neighbor cooking and selling food in their driveway, including late night drinking sessions. Karaoke bars, funfairs, open-air cinemas, Ligae and Manora performances popping up overnight on vacant lots of land nearby. Anyway, I'm now living out in the rice farming boonies, it's lovely and quiet at night just as long as nobody dies, nobody is getting married, and no boys are becoming monks.

It's often down to one person, how that one person (usually a Thai woman) views something. One may well think of this as allowing residency to go to waste; while another may well understand how the global pandemic lockdowns caused this to happen. The truth is we really have no idea what is going on in the head to the person handling an application.

It's usually 12 months from date of grant. And 3 months stay per time. So one could sit on the visa for 11 months and 29 days and then enter for a 3-month stay one day before the visa expiry date. One can also get 2 or 3 trips out of a 12 month visa. But be cautious about staying in Oz 3 months then having a couple days in Bali or SPore then re-entering Oz for a further 3 months, some IOs will pull people up on that. I think the fact your wife held residence which expired due to the pandemic will work well in her favor.

With our phones the guy in the Vodafone store tried to enter the code and it didn't work. I've tried myself as well, no luck. I've read if Volte is not capable on a phone it cannot be added, it's to do with the rom. So while we're still on this trip in Oz it's OPTUS only, we return to Thailand early June, where our old Redmi phones will still work, but next trip to Oz in Dec it means new devices for us. But that's OK, I'm happy to get a new phone. As for you, if you have Vodafone working well now then you're ok, it's only folk like us still using old phones on OPTUS who will need to upgrade after Sept.

Thanks mate, nice info here, another Xiaomi is def on my short list. Also Google Pixel 8 Pro seems very good, and some reviews say the cameras are best. I've also read the Google Pixels overheat. So far my short list is Samsung A55, Google Pixel 8 Pro, one of the Xaiomi 13s.

That will follow after they become a hub of heatwaves.

RIP. I never met Colin Hastings but I was certainly familiar with his name, back in the 1980s/1990s when I knew many of the Bangkok & Phuket expat journalists and feature writers, they often mentioned Colin Hastings, so I gathered he was quite a big shot in those circles.

I've looked it up and it ticks lots of boxes, it's on my short list now. I can order it online in Australia and it works out about 13,000 THB.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations so far. We currently use Xiaomi Redmi Notes (mine is a 10, tirak's is a 7) and very happy with them, but we're currently in Australia on holidays and had trouble finding sims that work. Currently we can use Optus only, and only until September this year. So next trip we make in December we'll need new devices. Someone suggested watching YT reviews. Yes I agree entirely but there are so many, this is why I'm asking here for suggestions, when I've whittled the choices down to about a dozen I can watch the reviews and compare specs and prices. Anyway, thanks again and please keep those suggestions coming.

Any recommendations for an Android smart phone 5G VoLTE compatible, a good camera is important. Need dual sim, E-sim compatible, in mid price range. Need at least 6GB/128. Higher is better.

Not a good idea at all. Thais see you whacking dogs with metal pipes and you're a black-hearted foreigner, Thais will love the soi dog more than you, and will probably come and whack you, or call the cops.

Looks like he was just unlucky, probably got thrown off and broke his neck. Anyway RIP.

So it's not just grumpy old expats who get pee'd off with Songkran revelers, Thais get sick of it too. 😂

OK thanks for that, I'll play around with it and see what happens.

I believe you can but I don't have any code, I'm not clued up on such things. If someone had some code I'd be happy to try it.

Yep, if it's family/friends ask them to get WhatsApp, Line, or FB Messenger and can phone free. If it's a business or gov, then you'll be chewing up phone credits. Some businesses/banks will call you if you request. For example I chewed up a bunch of my mobile credit calling CBA from Thailand and they told me I could have gone onto their FB page and sent them a private message and they will call me from Oz. I later did just that and saved using heaps of my phone credit. Most business & people in Oz have free OS calls in their plans, so having them call you is better.

Hopefully there's a code wizard (HTML/JavaScript) who has a solution for me. I have a Blogger blog and I recently started a Page via the Blogger Pages Gadget. This page has grown rather long and I'd like to get pagination to make it easy to navigate. As far as I can tell Blogger has no way to get pagination onto pages. Do any of you people know of a widget or have a code that I can add that will put pagination onto a Blogger Page? Please be aware I'm not asking about pagination for a Blogger blog, I already have pagination on my blog. I'm only concerned about getting pagination onto Blogger Pages.

My hunch is it'll come, either this taxing foreign pensions idea will just fade away as it'll be too confusing for them to deal with; or it'll be strictly implemented. And if the latter then don't be surprised if Immigration start asking for a current tax receipt as a requirement for extensions.

I'm at Korat and every year I pop in approx 2 weeks prior to renewing my Ret' Ext'. There's very helpful staff at the information counter and they give a check list and the required forms. If I need to update TM30 then they tell me then. I fill the forms in at home and gather the required photocopies. On the day as my bank opens its door I'm the first person in, an hour later I'm at Korat Imm with the bank statements, and about 30 minutes later we're shopping at Makro.