chatette

Yes, Verasu has a good -- if expensive -- range. They will outlast most of us, tho.

I began going to Mahidol Dental about 12 years ago and still have the same dentist, even tho I left the country for four years. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. The cost is exceptionally reasonable but that's not why I go there -- I could go anywhere and my company medical insurance would cover. It's because the dentists are exceptionally good and don't over service, as is my experience of private dental clinics here. My daughter, aged 11, has been going there since she was less than a year, when we first took her for familiarization visits, and she still has the same pediatric dentist. Husband, too, is a client.

The link from my earlier posting on the topic refered to above: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Dentist-Hosp...l&p=1402784 appears to be broken, so click here for map and contact details: http://www.dt.mahidol.ac.th/en/maps.html

The location is 6 Yothi Road, Rachathevee , Bangkok 10400, nearby Victory Monument skytrain and accessible from Rama VI Rd. The hospital is part of the Mahidol University, so there is no commercial interest on the part of the dentists to make money from your mouth. Many of the dentists are professors and also have their own private practices.

If you prefer somewhere more commercial and are in a hurry, I can suggest http://www.bangkokdentalcenter.com/ , which caters to foreign visitors wanting extensive and fast treatment.

I'm looking for a minbus operating between Bkk-Ban Phe. Is anyone familiar with such a company and contact details?Typically take the Transport Co. coach, which is quite fine but takes rather a long time. Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi, Q1: correct on all points. Q2: No and no. Q3: no, no, yes and no. Q4: correct, altho there is a six month limitation on arrival and tax free entry of personal goods, altho you should confirm this with your shipping agent.

Good move!

And just to clarify, if your husband is a salaried employee, his employer ought already be paying withholding tax from his salary and he would already be lodging a tax return each year. If he is self employed and hasn't been paying tax, he should declare a nominal amount and pay tax on that once a year.The payment point is at a revenue department office, not the amphur. They are very professionally run and the officers will even fill in your tax form for a token fee.

If you plan to work, be sure that your tax is properly paid and keep all the (yellow) receipts that you get from the revenue office. They are really important as they are needed for visa renewal and should you decide to pursue citizenship, which is really easy for women and a great idea if you can have dual as it makes life just a whole lot less complicated.

For my part, I spent about 10 years on a category B visa that didn't involve my husband at all, other than listing his name on the form. Was quite good as I was never considered a dependent and didn't have to rely on him to visit immigration with me when the time came.

The citizenship was done as his spouse (otherwise much more longwinded to get), and my years of income tax statements were submitted as part of that application, too. One thing you want to try really hard to do is to not break the visa now that you have it as the citizenship or permanent residency depends on stay over several years on the same visa, so be sure to get multiple reentries when you get the 12 month O as SBKs advised above. As you have a single entry, you will want to get the 12 month one and reentries asap after arrival should you plan to leave the country within the first three months.

There's a lot of info here: http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php

As for the discrimination by the immigration official, sounds like you just had bad luck striking one of the few bad ones. I've only ever struck a couple of dodgy officials on the paper round and one of them overstepped the mark, got pinned and then demoted and the other, who I'm sure was drunk or hungover, was sidestepped by his peers who spotted what was going on.

I have friends who sent their (French-Korean, long-term living in Thailand) kids to neokids for several weeks during the summer break to pickup on their spoken Thai and literacy who were very happy. Just got an email this morning about their camp and daycare programs during the Oct. Thai and international school breaks and am looking into them.

Word of mouth is the way to warn others of the agency ripoff, which is clearly separate from the maid fleeing with what's akin to a month's salary.

As a veteran of hiring help in Thailand, a few tips. If hiring from an agency, always sign a contract and have everything in writing and clearly understood. If there is a language issue, take someone with you to the meeting who can translate clearly. Never hand over money for a service without the transaction written up.

On maids: always try out a helper for a few sessions on an hourly rate before formally hiring from an agency or privately. There is always the risk that the person may jump to a fulltime offer in the interim but that is surely better than landing someone who is incompetent and/or dishonest.

Get a photocopy of the person's ID card, contact details and home address (not necessarily household registration as that may be elsewhere) from the outset, even for an hourly arrangement, and have it translated if you don't read Thai. When you formally hire someone, go to the person's house -- drop them there for example -- so you know where they are located and they know you know.

Never hand over large sums of money and run a daily petty cash book for your helper to fill in and insist on receipts for purchases. Even if you don't read Thai, you can read numbers and they must tally.

Never let up on the vigilance or you will be presenting an opportunity for your helper to get into trouble akin to leaving a stuffed wallet on the seat of a car with open windows in a crowded street.

I have only hired one `rogue' over many years in Bangkok and that was a decade ago from a Villa ad and I didn't insist on a try out period first. She touched the wallet for small amounts that would have been much larger if it had not been that the petty cash book enabled me to identify the small ripoffs (overstating volumes to increase the booked price for fresh market purchases).

My various helpers before and since have complied unquestioningly and happily with the system, which also protects them from allegations of cheating.

Good luck.

We used safety and booster seats with harness and are now down to basic seat belt, without which the car doesn't move or is stopped if it is in motion.

The ignorance of basic road safety in Thailand is disgraceful and encompasses much more than effectively harnessing children. Philo's comments on dealing with this, however, are totally unconstructive and defeatist.

As several people have mentioned, one can apply one's own rules when in control of the situation and try to avoid those in the hands of others of a different mind set.

There's a few agencies. I have had dealings with this one: http://www.thaikidshome.com/ and would have hired a woman but ended up hiring someone who was refered by the maid in my office. I chanced upon this Web site http://www.perisko.com/ yesterday while looking on http://www.pantipmarket.com/ , which may well have others. Newspapers have ads, too.

Do some google research on what to ask for when hiring someone. An agency will typically do some screening then you have to do your own research. Word of mouth and/or references from previous employers are obviously preferable. You can also ask the person for a national police clearance, which will just tell you they've never been convicted of doing anything bad, and a health check if you're worried about reliability. You can also assume that a person whose family is located nearby will be less likely to suddenly take time off to go back home for family-related events.

Ideally, you will ask the person to come and work for you for a several days on a casual rate to gauge the performance. You should set tasks as well as not mentioning things that obviously need doing to get an idea of initiative. If you need cooking skills, ask the person to prepare a couple of dishes from recipes either in Thai or English, depending on your language requirements. You should have the person work while you are there and while you're out so that you can get a feel for having them about and for their ability to do things while you're not.

I give my helpers a list of routine chores and a daily menu and randomly ask for extras. I've found, over many years, that it's much easier for everyone if helpers are told what to do than expect them to show any initiative, which may in the event be misplaced.

I also have a daily cash book in which grocery purchases and other incidentals, are entered each day, with receipts when available. You should make a show of seriously checking the entries, signing them off or querying anything dodgy or inappropriate. I had one helper many years ago who was touching the wallet by overstating quantities and prices of fresh food bought from the local market. I found this out because I checked the prices since they seemed high. She was dispatched in a taxi none the wiser of my findings with an extra month's pay and `Thank you but I don't need you any more.' Cheaper to pay her off than have a disgruntled crook who knows my address and routine out there.

Bangkok is very safe to go about alone at night for women as well as men, assuming you take the same precautions you'd take anywhere.

Well my daughter's school year ends at the end of this month and there's two months to fill. She's off to Chiang Mai to the Prem Center's `Adventure Camp' for a two week program that sounds like great fun. Wish I had holidays like that when I was a kid. Then back for a week `relaxing,' as she puts it, then a week horse riding a the Nonthaburi Equestrian Sports Center, then she and I will go to Mae Pim coast for 3 weeks (my longest break in years), and then another two weeks before the new school year starts.

Was looking to put in a week or so at the Harrow School sports program but, after numerous phone calls and emails over the past month, they've yet to be able to give me a price for the transport too and fro or the program....That chase started with their ad in the Bangkok Post: two email addresses, both bounced back....Go figure.

Having lived nearby Ruam Rudee School for about 10 years and having undertaken the horror commute of driving too and from central Bangkok all that time, I'd recommend finding a housing estate nearby the airport skytrain link. Until it opens, you will have to either taxi or take one of the many commuter van services downtown. Once it does open, you will have a straight run. Somewhere with a skytrain stop nearby Rom Klao road or the outer ring road would mean you can travel easily and your children are not spending dreadful hours commuting too and fro, also.

Another option would be Perfect Place behind the school and taxi too and from the skytrain stop morning and night using Rom Klao Road

I use UOB and have no complaints. Can pay down credit card, most bills etc, altho have to go to ATM for third party transfers not on the system

BFD, It's not 10 days of thinking. It's 10 days of 'letting go' of thoughts, sensations, feelings. You don't follow the thought, feeling, sensation at all. You acknowledge it then move your mind back to your breathing or walking or eating or whatever technique you happen to be focusing on. The purpose is to clear your mind, which you'll find one of the toughest things to do. It's amazing how much goes on in there. Although I don't practise often now, I still use the technique to quieten down when I'm feeling stressed about something. It's great.

I sent my daughter to the local day care during the international school break when we returned from 4 yrs abroad during which she'd forgotten all of her Thai (thx to husband not bothering). She was 8 and, altho the day care is for babies, tots and after school care, they were so delighted to have her that they assigned a person to teach her to communicate at no extra cost to us. None of them spoke any language other than Thai and she was fluent and literate by the time school resumed. When she was 4 she was dumped into a French language kindgergarten. She picked that up in a snap, too, and is now fluent in 3 languages.

I'd recommend Thai only, not bilingual or he'll retreat to his comfort zone. Check out your local area for day care centers if you're in a Moo Baan. If you're more downtown, I'd recommend Neokids. That's not where my daughter relearned her Thai but I've used it since during holidays when I've needed day care. See http://www.neokids.co.th/ If you don't read Thai, you'll need the help of someone who does.

You need to register the birth of your child at the Thai embassy in Montreal. They will then be able to issue a passport for your baby. Have your husband check on the documentation required with the foreign ministry here before you leave. He can also find out the name of the person at the embassy that you should contact and let them know of your situation so they are expecting you. You can actually look yourself on the foreign ministry's Web site: it lists all the embassies abroad and officers manning (peopling) them.

You and your husband can also change your status to O visa with multiple reentries by presenting your marriage certificate and other documentation. You can do this right now. It's very straight forward. I'd advise doing this before you leave Thailand to save yourself the bother when you're abroad. You'll have enough to contend with as a single parent with a new baby.

Congratulations and hope it all goes well.

It's a shame you must go back to Canada for the birth. There's very good birthing facilities and support in Thailand's larger cities. Have you checked in with BAMBI?

Then again, of course, you may have completely different reasons for opting to go back home.

Good luck.

I prefer the Mahidol University dental clinic, staffed by dental teachers. See http://elearning.dt.mahidol.ac.th/en/sitemap.html for links to contacts, map and transport options. Certainly cheaper than regular clinics, altho I use it for quality and reliability rather than cost. Thai speaker may be needed for initial appointment.

Ask on the interactive section here: http://www.xpats.com/ I'd reckon the cost would be just short of 100 euros if you have a clear run. The train is the best bet if you don't have lots of luggage. Seems bizarre, tho, that you'd stay in Antwerp for a conference in Brussels, which has hundreds of hotels.

Be very careful about lodging applications and moving abroad as Thai embassies have nothing to do with the citizenship process. We had also seen otherwise on the documentation but the reality is they don't and I can assure you it's nothing to do with embassy staff being obtuse or difficult (at least in regard to citizenship applications) as my husband worked there. The fact is, the process is totally controled by the police department and the Interior Ministry. To have furthered the application I lodged a year beofre moving abroad, we would have been obliged to return to Bangkok at extremely short notice for the final Interior Ministry interview. Although we had advised the Special Branch officer who was handling our case that we'd be abroad, such a notification was received by our house minder two days before the interview was scheduled and we called the office to remind them that we weren't there, enquired whether someone at the embassy could conduct on behalf of IM and were told not.

The risk of not responding to two such notices is that your application is trashed on the assumption you're no longer interested. Even if you are here, I'd advise using the telephone to chase and check on the interview. I was called in for an interview within 2 months of notifiying my return but didn't get the letter until after the event as it had been delivered registered, no one was home to get it and the registration card was overlooked until it was too late. We called until we got thru to someone who scheduled me into the next group, a month or so later, and I got my rather useful ID card some months later.

I also heard that Cabinet will approve bicycles, roller bladers and skateborders using the ring road, too, altho they'll have to travel in the opposite direction from the cars or face fines of 300,000 baht.

I got my no-frills Siemens at Powermall at Paragon. I don't remember exactly how much it was...a little more than you're seeking but not that much more. You'll have to watch classifieds for cheaper, I expect. We run ours once a week: stocked up on the crockery, cutlery and glassware.

Back to the original OP, I'm Thai and European and know many others like me. And, contrary to one poster above, I didn't have to change my name. Of course, since I'm not Asian, it's rather moot until I show my ID or passport: my Thainess isn't engraved on my forehead, so it's assumed I'm 'just' another farang in sweat land. But if the point of the OP is to show disparity in Thais holding European citizenship to Europeans holding Thai, that will surely be held up. Invariably the economics will prevail: citizenship of a so-called developed country is invariably more valuable that that of one that is perpetually developing (the state of pavements is a good measure). I am a Thai citizen of convenience, not of need. I can choose where I want to live, whether it's New York, Bangkok, Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing or Sydney, in no particular order. Thais with only one nationality who are not wealthy, and that is most, ordinarily can not.

They do charge foreigners and Thais differently. Another option, although further afield, is the national science museum in Pathum Thani. It's much cheaper and far more extensive. Makes a great day's outing. Has indoor and outdoor play areas, all with a science bent, and fabulous exhibits on three floors in one building and a single in the other.

I personally don't mind the kids' museum but I know several parents who criticize its upkeep.

A friend of mine has her Filipino helpers enroled in Thai language classes, which enables them to stay in Thailand as students. She brought them with her from HK and explored the WP path but found it more costly and troublesome than the student visa route.

If it's beach you're after rather than town, you could look into renting a National Park bungalow at Khao Sam Roi Yot. They are right on the beach and certainly the cheapest accommodation, other than a tent. It's not much further along and there is plentiful local seafood and other Thai dishes sold locally. Check the national park Web site.