tamsin

heartening to see the majority of this thread is opposed to encouraging the bstrds. particularly felt 53's comment referring to, in effect, the convenience of the few inconveniencing the many. phuket immigration has reputedly always been the most corrupt in thailand. taksin came in and put a stop to small scale corruption, hence the 'if you have any complaints' notice (now abandoned), prominently displayed last year. now many reports of downright rudeness, and a flagrant disregard for any 'rules' amounting to outright extortion (and just to get a handle on the mindset you're dealing with here, just why do they make a show of pocketing the money, and leaving their wallets open? peasants). how many of you, when you first came here as tourists, paid a 100 baht tip for a 150 baht massage. a 50 baht tip for a 50 baht tuk tuk ride? or a couple of hundred baht tip on a 200 baht bill at some family run eaterie by the sea? until you began to learn you were unsettling the local economy? and not just that, exclaiming 'oh, that would be ten times as much in my country!' that's how they've all become greedy. and not just for the farang. the locals also. (and for those of you who are about to leap on the 'but we have more money then they have', really, ask yourselves ... why?).

and by the way, those of you who enter the ti office wai-ing, smiling and sawasdee crapping all over the place are making yourselves look downright pathetic, not just to the rest of us, you should hear what the officials say about you. respect and dignity are a two way street.

My lovely frangipani tree is covered in little white cotton wool type creatures (never see them move), who distort the leaves, making them curl up. I spray them with a very potent (so I'm told - it certainly smells very bad) insecticide, but they're back again after only a couple of days. What are they?

i have recently cut my hair off by accident. i used to go to Cut and Curl in Central, but the last time i went there i told the woman to trim it and tidy it up but i wanted to keep the length. i was reading a magazine and by the time i looked up my hair was in a pile on the floor.

so i decided to not go back there again.

i recently discovered West One Salon, which is the one Natalie8 mentioned.

yes, its expensive - 2800thb for cut and colour, but man, does he know what he is doing. i have met few hair cutters in thailand who i feel comfortable with but George, the owner, is top of the list for me. he does a great cut, suggests different colours that will suit you, as opposed to saying 'what colour you wan?' and i have walked out a happy customer two times now (out of two visits).

so, if you want to splurge, george is the man.

You've only been there twice, next time it'll be 3,000. then 3,200 ... Better you keep a list of the alternatives on this thread. Keep 'em coming.

Anyone have an EV DO Aircard from CAT working well in Saiyuan?

Here we go again. I ASKED IF ANYONE HAD VISITED THE LOCAL IMMIGRATION OFFICE IN PHUKET RECENTLY. Those who are unable to answer my very specific question need not bother to reply.

Has anyone any direct experience with Phuket Immigration regarding the showing of proof of 800,000 THB recently? Are they insisting it be in the bank in THB three months before. Or is it still depending on which miserable sod you get when you turn up.

Under Thai law it is very much in the favour of the man, i.e. he can divorce you at the drop of a hat for playing around and seek compensation from the other guy. You however on the other hand have no such rights under Thai divorce law. In fact it is considered cudos and good face/status for the man to have a second wife (Mia Noi) or a Gik (girlfriend) and you cannot divorce him on such grounds either so be aware of this nuance.

With regards possessions, the Thai law is very specific on this one. What you had before the marriage remains pretty much your own property. What you acquire 'together' after the marriage is split 50:50. If you want to buy a house here together, well you will need to give him a "gift" of the money for the land and show that you have no claim for it as a foreigner although there are ways to protect yourself here.

If you are planning on living in Thailand and it all fails and you want to protect yourself then simply do a runner back home and the divorce will happen after 1 year on the basis of abandonment.

If you have any kids then forget anything about having rights to joint custody as the rule/law seems to support the notion that the kids will go where ever the family want him/her to go and that may mean back to his parents or off to where ever you run away to... but the man will usually have the final say on this.

Thailand does not have a "let's stiff the other party" rule that are so prevalent in the West and so it tends to come down to how well you can negotiate with the ex partner and/or her family or in some cases how quickly you can run.

When all has been said and done, if you want the best protection for you then I do believe you should get married in Thailand because the UK/USA law will try and simply stiff the one with the highest assets and earnings which in this case sounds like you whereas in thailand it comes down to how trusting and foolish you were in the relationship.

A very big thankyou to Jersey UK, Dragonman and Casanundra for the constructive replies to my post. I hope that those 'romantics' (have you found out who his THAI girlfriend, wife, children are yet?) carefully consider all the comments made, particularly regarding the pre-nup.

I never wanted to marry anyone, farang or Thai. But was thinking about the benefits of not having to visa run etc. (Lets be honest - a lot of farang men envy our being able to get a year's hassle free visa). But, have decided I will die as I was born. Free. So it's hey ho and over the border I go. Thanks chaps.

You really need to think this through because marriage of convenience probably will not work in the long haul. Needs more depth to it then that.

I'm sorry I don't appear to have made myself very clear. I'm not looking for advice on the 'emotional' aspect. That's my business. I'm looking for advice from those who are able to advise on the practical issues. I have visited several lawyers on unrelated matters in the past, and have been given a different answer to the same question by each and every one of them. So before I embark on yet another search for yet another lawyer (and for those of you out there who haven't yet consulted one, Thai lawyers don't seem to have grasped the fact that they are merely there to interpret the law for their clients, and not give their purely personal perspectives/judgements on matters which you have taken it upon yourself to consult them - I know how it's supposed to work, I was a lawyer in the UK, very different here).

However, it seems as though I will, after all, have to resort to another round as there seems to be a dearth of those on this site for whom purely practical advice can be given.

My partner and I have been together for several years and I'm considering marrying him. (He keeps asking). What are the benefits of this? Will I still have to leave the country every three months - I have an O visa, and a Thai registered business, with which I bought some land to build a studio. Also, being a UK citizen, will I eventually be able to claim the Married Persons Pension, more money, even though he's not from the UK? And what about my company, does it automatically revert to his ownership upon marriage, or will it be joint or still in my sole name? Another thought is divorce. Would he be able to divorce me on some spurious charge, (look, she was fooling around with the binman okay) (sounds paranoid, but have been around here a long time ...) and claim half my property?

Any and all advice from those who have been there and done that appreciated. Thanks.