MangoKorat

A MENO based on marriage is not intended for people who live in Thailand with their wife - its intended for those who work/live elsewhere but visit their wife regularly. Therefore, people who in fact live in Thailand using a MENO are technically abusing the intention of that visa. I would repeat that I am in no way criticising people who do that, I would probably have done the same if I was still married as my local immigration office can be really awkward on extensions of stay. That said, Thai Immigration are now abusing the requirements - 400,000 in the bank covers a 12 month stay when using the extension of stay method - a MENO only gives you a 90 day stay so why 400,000? Using the income method: proof of 40,000 per month should be easy enough for those using the visa for its intended purpose unless their earnings are 'grey' and unrecorded - in which case they will have to either be 'creative' or use an agent. What I will never understand is that a married guy who probably supports his wife and maybe has a family is required to show 40,000 per month whilst a single guy on a B visa has to show 50,000 per month.

Well you learn something knew every day. I've seen people post on this subject before but I'd no idea that computers had an inlet fiter or dealt with earths differently. I'd always presumed that getting a belt off anything meant an internal short. One thing I found before I changed over to UK sockets was that many older Thai style sockets and switches tend to 'leak'. I used to often find a very low voltage (2 - 4v) on the negative side of sockets and once got a belt off a light switch. Those faults disappeared when I changed them and completely when I went over to UK sockets.

Didn't I read somewhere that the Thai authorities were going to stop that? I rented in Bangkok many years ago but when I saw the landlord's charges for water and electricity (almost double), I almost backed out of the deal. Fortunately the landlord really wanted to let the property and backed down - allowing me to pay the actual cost. I would guess that a lot of newcomers to Thailand aren't aware of this situation until after they've signed a lease agreement. Leases usually specify what you will be charged but don't show how much above the actual cost that is.

Good luck on finding someone reliable that's available for just a few hours per week. You'd be much better off selling the car and using a normal taxi service as Bob suggests above.

Still getting your attention then.

Strange. I thought you didn't pay any attention. A word of advice, don't give up the day job - you'll never make it as a comedian.

Oh you're so funny. Hardly surprising that you started this topic - you obviously feel out of place and you probably are.

There are people who don't like foreigners in every country - the UK is getting better but there is still a lot of hatred/fear here. I've come across Thai's who appear to look down on me - oddly mainly in the UK. However, I think a lot depends on who you mix with and where you frequent. I have many good friends in Thailand and most of them are Thai, some have given me a great deal of help and regard me as family. When I'm in Thailand, most of my time is spent in the company of Thai people and I've always been made very welcome in my area. I have also experienced the other side, the females that are out to fleece you and the childishly drunken Thai males. You just can't generalise but in my opinion, if you don't mix, if you sit in a 'farang bar' drinking every day and isolate yourself, you're never going to be regarded as welcome. The foreigners that I know and others I've met that work in Thailand and socialise with Thai's, get along very well and are respected in the main but you're always going to find the exception.

I'm not here for attention thanks.

That it may well be but the address on the tin is in Bangkok so I doubt they are subject to import tax. Other imported products are marked as such and some have tax stickers on them - no idea if that's a requirement.

I wasn't meaning the very young! If you want to call something 'shallow' - read the OP!

Well said, it must be remembered that the OP is talking about a partner. If you're single and looking for some fun on a night out, of course you go for the youngest, sexiest you can find. But talking about 'trading in' a partner, thinking that they've aged and you haven't is just fantasy.

If you think its reality then why have a relationship in the first place? Women are not the same as cars that you can trade in. The older you are the greater the likelihood that a younger female is more interested in your wallet than anything else - nothing to do with guys aging better. If you feel how you do, why not just pay for play? You can have whatever you want that way and you know the score.

I'd guess that Thai people most likley hate mysogynistic g i t s called Bob Smith

Agreed

With regard to electronics - TV's etc. just about everything I can buy in Thailand is cheaper in the UK. That said, there are some really cheap prices for some goods on Lazada but I've had mixed experiences with quailty on them. There's a lot of fakes on there too. Food, when bought at supermarkets is much more expensive in Thailand. Baked beans for example Ayams, a Thai brand are 75 to 90 baht per tin in Thailand whereas decent beans in the UK are less than 25 baht. Milk, bread - well up, cheese - crazy. That said, veg and meat can be bought cheaply at local markets as long as you don't mind flies walking all over them/low quality cuts. Interestingly though, food in the UK is much cheaper than it is in most of Europe. Food at restaurants - way cheaper in Thailand. Beer - much cheaper in Thailand. Trainiers - I just bought a good quality pair in the UK for less than 900 baht. Unbranded/unknown trainers can be bought for less than 500 baht in Thailand but the ones I looked at didn't look like they would last 5 minutes. In fairness though, I bought my trainers at the discounter TK Maxx where I buy most of my clothes/shoes. There may be an equivalent in Thailand that I am yet to find. Flights back to the UK - always more expensive BKK-UK-BKK than UK-BKK-UK. Labour, Car Parts, DIY materials - usually much cheaper in Thailand. Petrol/Diesel - much cheaper in Thailand. I used to find that everything was cheaper in Thailand - that's changed now, especially for food. A weekly trip to Tesco (Lotus's) probably costs me 10-20% more in Thailand than it would in the UK.

I would also state that I used to deal with the Royal Thai Consulate in Hull in the main - formerly run by the Consul Mr. Alan Taylor. Alan was very aware of just how rude the staff at London could be and hinted to me several times that he himself sometimes had problems with them.

Oh dear, sorry to upset you - I have taken note of your comments but I need to have more in order to provide a balanced view. I cannot measure my usage because: A. I do not currently live in Thailand full time. and B. I have never lived in the situation I will be doing so I don't know how much electricity will be used by other people. I can only work on averages which is why I asked in my reply to Crossy if 10kwh would be appropriate. I think it is probably better to install a system that is capable of providing more than is actually required as I think that in the main, electricity requirements go up rather than down. Please also understand that I have to google a lot of the terminology used here. I have never had any experience of solar power so for example, I have no idea what a Hybrid Inverter is - if I tried to explain how an automatic gearbox works, would you understand? I'm learning but it takes time.

I would rather have real world figures - given by people living in Thailand. We have several members here who have long standing solar installations.

If you read my posts fully you will see that I was asking if 10kwh was a reasonable assesment for an average house.

I have no idea if they have improved or not - their website is still a mess and clicking on many of the buttons simply takes you to a page that has nothing to do with visas etc. I'm pretty sure they know about that but they do nothing. I've pointed out mistakes on their website previously - politely. All I got was an attitude of 'how dare you, a stupid farang, tell us that there are mistakes on our website? Our website is not there to provide you with information - we will do what we want with it'. During Covid, their information was often at odds with that coming from other Embassies and Bangkok and they seemed to think the best place to provide information was on Facebook rather than on their website! I've also had several phone conversations with staff at the RTE London over the years and found their attitude to be very rude and condescending. My then wife (Thai) also spoke to them during Covid and also said they were rude. If they've changed their attitude now, that would be very helpful but given that there website still doesn't work correctly, I find it hard to believe they've changed. Contrast that with the staff at Ho Chi Minh - who I've always found very pleasant and helpful.

You clearly don't understand. I am suggesting/asking if I can place solar panels over my septic tank/soakaway area and if so, how many sq m of panels would be needed to supply my house.

Look, we could get into a really deep debate and essentially, I agree with you. My thoughts overall on climate change is that the problem stems from the fact that there are just too many people on the planet but that's a different debate and something that is just about impossible to deal with. None of that really has a place here - I am trying to deal with things as they are and not how they can be. However, I take on board your comments on heat recovery and will give it some thought as to what, if anything, I can do about it. The water heater you suggest would indeed provide hot water 'for free' at some times of the day but it wouldn't work 24/7. Heat recovery is a growing item in Europe but it only works in built up areas where many sources can be incorporated and then it is used for heating. I'm looking for cooling. I don't see how I could make it work in my plans. Simply saying that I could use the heat from an air source heat pump to compliment the solar water heater is easy - doing it is a different matter. Air source heat pumps are large cumbersome machines whereas I believe solar water heaters are best placed on a roof - I can't immediately see a way around that but I will look at it. My thoughts on using solar are genuinely environmental - how would it be if like the majority (currently), I simply installed aircon units and ran them 24/7 using grid electricity that is produced using predominantly fossil fuels? Or should I simply sweat? How would it be if a ran a 3.2L V6 engined truck rather than the 1.4L hatchback I currently run to simply get one person from A to B like so many do? I do what I can and please remember, that the environmental measures I will incorporate into my new home will have a significant cost - a cost that I am unlikely to recover. That, whilst huge amounts of energy are being wasted all over the world. Think about internet servers that enable our youth to constantly surf on their phones needlessly. 'The Cloud' that uses massive amounts of electricity to enable businesses to store their data without the need for huge hard drives, display lighting in city centres where nobody goes etc. etc. Sorry but I think that what I am planning is entirely good for the planet. It may not be the best I can do but it is 100% more than the majority of the earth's population is doing.

Jeez dem Indian Mafiosos is serious man. Would be 'Mafia' types in the UK have Pit Bulls and Dobermans but Lions is a whole different matter. Looks like they don't have dogs just patroling the grounds and biting intruders - they have Lions eating them!! Although the one in the photo looks a couple of years away from eating much more than a rabbit.

Now you've thrown the cat amongst the pidgeons. Coming from construction, a flat roof is a big no no for me - I'm immovable on that, they are nothing but trouble. However, I understand the need for access to/cleaning of the panels and this is something I hadn't given much thought to so far - now it seems crucial. What we will be building is essentially a farmhouse with some outbuildings around it. Although we have a blank canvas of around 8 rai on which to build, every sq m given over to the house is one that is lost to production and the land is very productive. We are very fortunate that the southern aspect of the site looks out onto beautiful open farmland and that is something I don't want to compromise - the outbuildings must stay behind the house. I had imagined that the solar panels would easily be incorporated into the south facing roof but that now needs some thought. Whilst it may be possible to design a roof that can be accessed - there will be a cost associated with that. The outbuildings will clearly be shaded by the house so are probably not suitable and may not be large enough. However, as can be seen on the plan below, there will be an area to the left of the house that will incorporate the septic tank and soakaways - that land falls away from the house site naturally so is ideal for this. I suppose it would be possible to use that area for ground sited panels and thereby not wasting land? Forgive my ignorance but is there a calculation that gives kwh per sq m of panels? As I say, I'm undecided on the amount of electricity that I wish to produce but its probably better to look at producing all that is needed, I can always work backwards from that - I'm guessing but would 10kwh be sufficient? How many sq m would be needed to produce that amount? My neighbour in the UK has ground sited solar panels - in the field behind my house and I've always hated looking at them - now I'm considering doing the same myself 😁. I have not given sizes on the plan below as they are undecided but take it that the house will be around 15m x 9m. It will be 'up on stilts' with the vast majority of liveable space on the first floor. My current house is like that and I quite like the arrangement - parking under the house etc. I plan for 2 bedrooms (en suite), an open plan living room/kitchen and some storage space on the first floor with a large balcony looking out over the farmland. It is likely that there will be a further bedroom (en suite) and a laundry room on the ground floor so not tiny but not a really large house. Other than aircon on for most of the day, I don't think my lifestyle is any different to most people so I guess I'm 'average' in terms of electricity useage. As an aside for the moment, the only way that I may differ from 'average' is that I may well have a car lift in one of the outbuildings. Lifts are predominantly 3 phase so I doubt I can be entirely off-grid. I don't at this stage, even know if 3 phase is available in the location. Single phase lifts are more readily available in the UK nowadays than they used to be so I guess they are also available in Thailand. Anyway - just something to keep in mind for now and its a 'would like' rather than a 'must have'.