cbatson

I thought one could apply for permanent resident status after three years on a non-immigrant class O visa...?

Chuck

Thailand is small enough that a single satellite could watch the entire country. Then it would be a simple matter to look at the "videotapes" and figure out where the truck of stolen explosives went.

On the other hand, I had a lot of problems here just with satellite-based internet...

Chuck

You can find CDs of the King's in music stores throughout Thailand. I don't know details, but some seem to be him playing and others of his composing. I have never heard of a public performance, though.

Chuck

Ive been a devout vegetarian for 6 years now, and on my last trip i found it almost impossible to eat good food.

I have been vegetarian for six years, three of which were in Chiangmai. I haven't had much problem getting veggie food when eating out, but you generally have to ask to have it prepared specially, taking care to remember to mention no meat, no eggs, no fish sauce, etc. You'll run in to the occasional cook who will downright refuse to make a veggie meal for you (not sure why, I think they're afraid it won't be tasty because they've never made a meatless dish before), but these are few and far between and you simply don't patronize them again. And sometimes you have to settle for the standard fried veggies or a salad. The way I see it, I can't be as choosy as when I'm in my home country, nor should I expect to be able to get the same kinds of foods as I'm used to from halfway around the world.

This surprised me a lot because of my preconceptions about Buddhists being a mostly vege lot!

This surprised me as well, and is a very interesting topic. One of the Buddhist precepts forbids killing. The typical Thai interpretation is that consuming an animal does not violate this precept. The butcher sins, but the eater does not. It seems most Thais take a literal approach: "I don't want to sin, so I will not kill animals," rather that a more holistic view like, "Buddha says not to kill animals, because animals are a form of life, and we do not want to harm other lives. Consumption of meat implies ultimate harm of animal life, therefore I should not consume meat." On the other hand, I have yet to see a Thai who won't smack a mosquito in half a millibleeb. What surprises me the most of all this is that the majority of monks in Thailand will eat meat. Part of that I imagine is that a monk may not refuse any offering, and so if offered food containing meat must accept it. However I know of no rule that requires a monk to actually eat said food. I think here a monk has a choice. If it were me in the robes, I would accept food with meat and then pass it on -- to my fellow templemates or temple children.

Chuck

Don't know about Bangkok but here in Phuket a Thai driving license seems to be as good as a passport.  It is also accepted on internal flights as proof of identity.

Foreign driver's licenses with a photo apparently can also be used for domestic flights. I have never had a problem flying domestically with my U.S.-issued driver's license.

Chuck

I need to get some fingerprints from paper as evidence in preparation for a criminal case, but I'm having difficulty convincing my local police department that such a thing is possible, even though the technology has existed for decades. Does anyone have any thoughts on where I might get the paper examined using standard and accepted techniques, by an organization or agency whose findings would be admissible to and "trusted" by the judicial system as reliable?

Sorry, I am not at liberty to discuss details of the case.

Thanks,

Chuck

There's plenty of people in the Bojyoke Market in Yangon who will trade Baht for Kyat. Have a local take you. Or, your guest house can change it for you.

Chuck

Hello, no one's said anything here so I'll just take this moment to share my (male) perspective. The behavior you describe is, in my experience, abnormal for Thai females who are aware that a male already has a girlfriend, especially if the girlfriend is present. Such behavior is demeaning to your boyfriend (the girls assume he will be impressed by their shallow gestures), disrespectful to you, and shameful to the girls who do it. Maybe you're hanging with the wrong crowd or in the wrong atmosphere?

On the other hand, being at the receiving end of this kind of behavior is probably not something new to your boyfriend. He must be used to it by now, and thus it probably does not carry much if any significance with him. In fact, probably one of the things he likes about you is that you're different. If you're going to stay in Thailand with him long term, I suppose you'll have to adjust and get used to it too, since while it is an annoyance, if you trust him it's not a concern. Or change who you hang out with.

Good luck,

Chuck

I personally am left feeling that gay prejudice here in Thailand is much higher than in the U.S. (the only other place I could be qualified to compare to). Although I am strictly heterosexual, I do experience (more than the usual amount of) staring when I, say, go out for lunch or dinner with a male Thai friend as a group of two. Also, I have a small build and am quiet and polite, and friends of my girlfriend have suggested to her that I am gay, or at best bisexual, and that she should be careful about leaving me alone with a Thai male!

Sometimes the culture here is really difficult for me to understand. There doesn't seem to be the same intensity of dislike toward ladyboys, for example.

Prejudice in any form is not pleasant to experience. But it could happen anywhere.

Chuck

Contact the Dell free call number, which I forget, and ask them to mail the new keyboard to you.

They probably wouldn't agree to do that. A couple years ago I brought a Dell desktop system from the U.S. Quite foolishly I forgot to flip the voltage switch in back, and fried the power supply when I plugged it in. I pulled out the power supply, and tried to look for a replacement locally, but Dell uses a non-standard power supply. There were some extra wires needed by the motherboard that standard power supplies don't have. Well I looked on the power supply case and lo and behold there was a sticker that said, "Made in Thailand." So I emailed Dell tech support to ask how to get a replacement power supply. He said the power supplies made in Thailand were for export only and could not be purchased in Thailand. He suggested I cart my whole desktop system to Malaysia just to replace the power supply! So I asked him for the address of the plant that manufactures the power supplies, figuring I could go bribe a guard for a replacement, but the Dell tech support dude steadfastly refused. He also said they would be unable to ship a power supply to me in Thailand. In the end, I had them send the power supply to my dad in the U.S., and he shipped it to me from there.

Long live Michael Dell!

Chuck

It helps if you know and trust the maker of the brew. I have heard that some makers' brews (either intentionally or unintentionally) will contain toxic additives (what exactly I don't know). Also it should be noted that production is illegal without a license, and I'm not sure about transportation and consumption.

Chuck

For the past three years I have been very happily using a Datek Online brokerage account in the U.S. to wire money from my account in the U.S. to my account in Thailand. I could request a transfer at any time via the internet, the money would arrive within 24-48 hours, and for a fee of only $9.99. Life was great.

Last year, Datek was bought by Ameritrade, and of course customers were promised nothing but greatness was to come of the transition. Well my own account was finally transitioned to the great Ameritrade this month, and now I can no longer request wire transfers via the internet. Now I must fax my requests and the wire fee has risen to $30.00.

Just thought I'd take this opportunity to solicit experience and opinions regarding U.S. banks that offer online foreign wire transfer requests at reasonable rates. Any recommendations?

Chuck

The City Hall said I needed a Thai I.d Card to do this or could not have my name on the deed.

Unless you are a Thai citizen, you cannot have your name on the title/deed as an owner. However, I have heard that it is possible for a foreigner to be the lienholder of a property (say you loan money to a Thai to buy a house), which gives you the legal right to force the borrower to sell the property in the event they default on your loan. In such a case your name would be on the title/deed as a lienholder. This is the same as is done with banks that make housing loans, and the bank is entered onto the title/deed as a lienholder.

Chuck

(The vast majority of) Thai women are happy to shower you with true, unconditional love so long as they are properly funded.

I speak from experience.

Chuck

I currently use IPtv and although it more or less works, there are frequent daily problems. I live in Chiangmai and am now looking to move to a place that has ADSL service. With any hope ADSL is less bad than IPtv.

Chuck

Dear Eastender,

The traits you mention are common for Thai women. However, I do not recommend courting these types. There are plenty of reasonable Thai women, though they are a bit harder to find. I seriously recommend moving on, the sooner the better. The jealousy you are seeing can be neither subdued nor removed.

In my last relationship, the woman was jealous to the point I didn't have any female friends any longer. Then, once all my remaining friends were male, I was accused of being gay. In the end, I found out she was the one cheating on me.

Chuck

Surin is absolutely correct. She can as long as you sign away any claims against the land by you.

More than that, you will have to sign a document saying that the money used to buy the land belongs to a Thai national. If, in reality, you paid for some or all of the land, you should also have a contract between yourself and your wife saying that the batch of money used for land purchase was given to her by you unconditionally. There is a legal term for this, "hi doi kwam sanay haa". I cannot emphasize the following strongly enough -- be extremely cautious about doing this. Afterwards you will have absolutely no claim to the land or the money used to purchase it whatsoever.

If you have a child with Thai nationality, I recommend putting the land in the child's name instead. The child's Thai mother would have to be listed as a custodian on the title, but she would be unable to sell the land without a court order.

Chuck

IT system development and maintenance seems to be a general issue here in Thailand.  Major websites with huge traffic are consistently broken: missing pages, broken features, stale links, errors, and more.  Jorjae.com's ecards that once worked were broken for months, and finally I gave up.

My ISP and its website are the same way.  I have net connection issues every day.  They constantly have random employees tinkering with their systems who have absolutely no clue and have no business touching a computer!  Why they can't just set it up and leave it working is beyond me.  Yes, I have actually seen them at work.  They click this, adjust that, fiddle with this, without knowing what they're doing, or putting a setting back after realizing that changing it had no effect on the problem at hand.

Perhaps I'm overgeneralizing here, but overall I get the feeling that there's a culture of mediocrity as far as IT in Thailand goes.  There doesn't seem to be any desire to do things "right" or take the effort to test that what you have done actually works.  I find the lack of pride in one's own work disturbing in these cases.

Then there's non-technical issues too.  Like my bank, which has an online banking service, but requires me to go and fill out a paper form in person at the Ayuttaya-era bank in the boonies where I originally opened my account.  Then there was the time I was charged 500 baht for depositing a check from a different Amper within the same province.  OOOooo don't get me started on the "banking system" here...

::

Chuck

Many, many phone numbers (669-661-.... and 661-555-....,667-138-..., 666-113-..., 665-140-...) How to know where these numbers originate?

Hello. First remove the initial 66; that is Thailand's country code.  Then check the next digit; if it's a 1, 6, or 9, it's a mobile phone.  With so many different mobile phone numbers, seems likely she might be using roadside stands.  We are left with two numbers: 667-138-... and 665-140-...  The 71 area code might be mistaken for somewhere in the south, but it's actually another mobile phone number.  That leaves only the 51 area code number, which if I'm not mistaken is an actual non-mobile number somewhere in the north.

Chuck

Add a "printer-friendly" link to news pages.

Thanks!

Chuck

I've heard various stories about the rules of foreigners owning vehicles in Thailand, but I don't know what the real deal is.  For example, I've heard that a foreigner may own only a motorbike, if one has a work permit.  What I want to know is, may a foreigner legally own a normal car (i.e., be the named owner on the title or "tabien rot"), and if so, under what circumstances (is a work permit required)?

Thanks,

Chuck

Thomas,

Explain to her and have her watch your tongue and shape of your mouth as you say "err" or "red."  In particular, the tongue should not touch the roof of the mouth, but should be curved slightly upwards.  The mouth will take a shape similar to pronouncing the end of the vowel "o," but not as pronounced.  Be sure she understands it's different from "raw reua."  Also, there's computer software available that will listen to a speaker's pronunciation and compare it with the pronunciation of a native speaker's.  Practice as many times as is necessary, the computer will never get bored or frustrated!

Chuck

For my two cents, I will add to what the others have stressed.  If you don't have Thai citizenship, avoid real estate "purchase" transactions at all costs.  You will only end up regretting it.

1) Set up my own company under my name- 40% mine and 60% thai (to 6 other people each only owning 10% each), leaving me the majority share holder(the other 6 people are needed to create a thai company...so im told)

As for this, I've heard that if the company is more than 30% foreign-owned, the land department will investigate the company.  Also I'm told that companies pay an income tax rate of 15% monthly, and the minimum income for a company for tax purposes is 10,000 baht per month.  Therefore, just to maintain the company legally you will have to pay 1,500 baht per month of tax.  In addition to any other filing and/or accounting requirements mentioned by the others.  I stress this is what I was told when inquiring about establishing a company for the purpose of "owning" land, and as I've never actually established such a company, I don't have any other first-hand experience or knowledge to back this up.

Chuck

what Thai visa possibilities are open to the self-employed foreigner in Thailand when the work performed is in no way connected to Thailand. The work originates from the USA and I am paid by a USA company; however, the work can be done anywhere. If one engages in such work for an indefinite amount of time in Thailand, what would one's status be according to Thai immigration law? Is this no different from owing a business in Thailand, for work is work?

I worked that way for a U.S. company for over two years.  At first, I came to Thailand on a class B (business) visa.  I had my boss (in the U.S.) write a letter saying I was being sent to Thailand for business purposes.  The letter indicated my length of tenure and salary.  I then sent this letter along with my class B visa application to the Thai consulate in Los Angeles.  Lo and behold, my passport came back with a shiny new class B visa in it.

According to what I've read about Thai laws, one should have a work permit.  However, I called the work permit office to inquire and they didn't even know how to begin to deal with my situation, so they said forget it.  I believe primarily because there's no "establishment" existing in Thailand that I work for -- I'm just here by myself and work at home.  I don't know that the one stop office would issue a work permit for this case.  If anyone out there actually was able to get a work permit for this situation, I'd love to hear about it.  Please check out this thread for more information.

Chuck

...when he pointed out some troublesome statistics published by the US Department of Immigration (INS).

Dear Bill,

Where can one find these statistics you mention?  I looked on the INS website but was unable to find this.

Best regards,

Chuck