jinjok

on the beach is most likely ok as no one walks ON the beach

on the walk - as long as you avoid ladyboys or anyone really (thai) an dstay below pattya klang AND are not stumbling drunk -i think youre ok.

but im honestly off the beach by 11 and rarely RARELY pick up a skank lurking under a palm.

i think the farang loser/weirdo element is more scary for me

dell is crap.

asus is what id buy. they make great hw and good value.

a few months ago i remarked to a friend...whatever happened to all the babes with the gauze wrapped around their wrists?! must be more happy bar girls these years.

a cry for attention - a mere ploy in a pathetic cloying life.

what really happened was he diddnt pay his bill and she has big problems supporting family. im soooo shocked.

its never about love and we all should know it.

therevada buddhism also is inward rather than outward (fix yourself and the world will follow). buddhism can very much be a personal struggle to achieve enlightenment. it is not unlike a monk to attempt to remove himself from everyday realities and thus all the trappings and encumbrances of the venal/real world.

a monk is not necc a miracle worker although they should be readily available to consult with lay persons in need of honest guidance (sp).

dont also forget superficial nature of thai buddhism - monk 4 a weekend thing. kinda like george bush's tour of 'duty'.

the nation state is MYANMAR, the city is YANGON. you may not like th epolitics - but get it right. name change has been in for well ne' a decade++.

myanmar = the 'golden' land (for thieving govt officials perhaps)

incidently - yangon used to be good place to get visa years ago. honest. i think lp guide even had a mention. of course that was YEARS ago...

i have girl-friends (x bar girls) who enjoy going to go-go joints -esp if sister of friend is working at new one (but they need a guy to go w/ [me] ). they tip the girl and generally act like big spenders in the thai way.

but many, many girls incl these often remark about how attractive another is.

having said that - who knows. why dont you ask HER?!

dental hospital -top drawer work, not cheap by thai standards - used them now for 6yrs

great! - i value my teeth.

suk 49 bkk thong-lo xit

try something like bangokokdentalhospital.com

bumrungrad is the pat response that people toss out that dont really use dental svcs in thailand. i personally recommend dh. im sure more can sign on as well - all the diplomats go there for work.

first, i would say - i am sorry for you and your family. this is why i scoff at putting down roots when all my girlfriends ask me to marry them (for visa ;-) > this IS thailand.

next: alf, you have not been on this board long enough. it is nothing more than a bunch of arrogant, selfish middle aged men who indeed 'have theirs. further, many know little or nothing about the country and their idea of a visa run includes a plane or private car. they cannot speak more than five words of thai and include all the pat phrases. these guys have no respect for those who braved the thailand of old - living native/rustic, long plane flights, long bus rides, local food, living rough...no, its all about a/c, sat tv, fancy homes and tossing money about as if you are a loaded. all these things they were never in their home countries, they can be in thailand -including having a woman, because most of these guys married a lump -now they are freewheeling playboys critiquing go-go dancers. they come with lots of money and attitude, but no brains but remember the moto: i got mine.

for years they have bad mouthed visa runners. many as financially stable as they. maybe younger, maybe no inclination to get tied down and ripped off in a marriage - for this they get the stain, the mark - 'the visa runner'.

I cannot believe how self-satisfied and "I'm all right Jack" some people are. Especially the one with the moto "Sometimes I sit and think and sometimes I just sit." It seems also that sometimes you think with the part of your anatomy that you should be sitting on!!

The original post is obviously not about the rights of and consequences to the OP. It is about the rights and reasonable human expectations of the people he supports all of whom are Thai.

It doesn't matter a toss whether he is married or not etc. You don't have to be married to have a family and dependants. Those persons around him whom he has bonded with over many years are entitled to continue to share that bond (some admittedly more than others). But it is a Human Right that under International treaties cannot be taken away at the whim of politicians. It was the policies of successive Thai governments who permitted that to develop. He has a strong case.

I read in this week's Phuket Gazette about a Thai named Vasant Panich who is one of Thailands 11 National Human Rights Commissioners taking up the case of villagers who obect to alleged threats to their livelihood caused by the construction by developers of a pier and breakwater. Why don't you contact him Andy, or one of his colleagues. Don't argue on the basis of your right to stay but on the basis of your dependants' right to have you here. And good luck.

Also, I don't think that you have any obligation to stay on-line so that the poster with the anatomical function confusion can flame you.

years ago, albeit it was also a time when there were lots of dodgy guys, but few real criminals. we all watched each others back - now i dont even want to strike a conversation in a bar. everyone knows everything, has been in thailand one year longer than i and has more money than i shall ever dream.

spending less time in thailand gets me free from much - including selfish, prick farang who can live in a country for years and lack total empathy for the poor/native. they are indeed psychopathic in the literal sense.

GOOD LUCK ANDY and WRITE TO LATIMES AND NYTIMES!!

africans have been there for years. some years ago they had reasonable visa situation w/ lao as the countries were all tin-pot facist cum communist dictatorships. muslims have been operating in talat sao mainly selling fabric for years as well. its a small community, well behaved and onfen on the lamb from mother country or hiding out from war... that at least was the 90s

there is also a large african/muslim population refugee cum scamster cum monied but no-place-will-give-visa'd lot in bkk as well. they are families who have money, nigerians running dope, etc...

they just stand out because they are black :-)

they have gone back and forth on this bpass issue but its full on now. DONT misplace it as i almost did last yr.

but marking up the pp?!?!? this tells me that even in the new airport:

computers were down

computers CANNOT calculate days correctly

there is no computer system in place

london thai - you raise an interesting issue.

when a terrorist attack occurs do you as the govt...

open all manner of communication

shut down all communication and keep people

what makes most sense for safety, democracy and decency?

im now thinking its the junta not taksin - pure speculation.

jaidee: i had made this point earlier even though i did not know and still do not anything about the bomb or the crime scene.

im in states (for a few more mos) and reading this thread as info is pumped in its got taksin/trt all over it. but i would not rule junta out. it appears the thai media thinks so as well.

curious though - no media svcs looking at junta angle???

it is also curious as to the timing - someone mentioned earlier - youd think it would be set off at 1145. not earlier.

this is really fantastic - thai rak thai < already fingers pointing and already have pat denial. i would love to know what avg educated thai believes.

there is much more underneath bubbling ever upward - its starting to look VERY much like political insider job. all thru this post not a mention from thai media svcs that muslims are involved but they are seemingly implicate all sorts of political actors. they know much more than are fed.

i do not see why you would need a service. i detest all the adverts and smeary come-ons. i have applied for 10s of visa personally.

get the paperwork

READ the paperwork

DO EXACTLY what it requires

submit it

call follow up and be charming

get the visa

the best part of dyi is you LEARN the process

i for one find the ez visa commercials in pattaya both smarmy and annoying. real cheap come-on, half truths - you can tell that guy is a lawyer by the manner in which he set up the interview and ans his own questions. pcn is complicit.

i really do not care if they give me 7 days and a boot - what i will go ballistic about is them marking up my passport -because they cannot keep it all straight.

i very well might write the embassy about this.

attempting to enter a country is not a misdemeanor. if they dont want me, give me time to sort myself out and i will go. it is that simple.

NOTE: i have a pp 48+24pp. it used to be a blessing till all this visa nonsense popped up. it was such a mess that officials did not bother to sort it out. last trip to malaya and cambodia both imm's took much harder look at it - and asked questions. i even spoke malay and khmer to them -freaking harsh they were. i never get asked questioned... so im getting a new pp.

my prior comments were for travelers not teachers.

i can tell you certain korea runs a chk or at least fingerprints and pretends to

my hunch is taiwan does

china i think also - + medical and litany of other paperwork. japan as well.

for teachers - i think if everything directed thru proper channels, yes. 95% no.

dude- you are getting ripped. no matter what white guys are working on it.

my parents just built a custom in states - entirely their design and quality interior. they paid about us120 per sq foot.

further, you cite building issues - yeah, believe it and white guys are just as dodgy as thais when it comes to shaving material/labor to put more money in pocket.

ask yourself why would a successful whit guy who has a stand up business sell it off and move to thailand to build one off cottages?

rent dude - esp given the political/visa situation

quite odd if this was a muslim incident that the ksr area was not targeted. one, it has so many people. two it has throngs of isrealis. next, i find it curious that there does not appear to be any bombing in the south. third, it is further curious that a few months back taksin buddy was found w/ a 'bomb' on his way to ??? taksins house (or so taksin would like you to believe). finally, like bush&co this could be an excuse for junta to cling to power AND make it more palatable for financial markets to swallow.

i hope the authorities have enogh balls and intelligence to shake this out.

if i recall it states on the form it must be original -'no copy'. i have extra but too lazy to look - sorry

its no worry, dont over think it. get form fill out form wait in monkey line come back next day get visa go minibus ..

i had thought that the whole thing was already computerized. i throughly agree w/ gordon. unless they utilize computers there is no way this thing is going to be enforced, at least w/ any consistency.

further - there is no way they are going to turn out backpackers - those that appear to be bonafied travelers, im certain. further, they will not turn away the rich tourists coming into phuket and i venture to say even bkk (well dressed, dont smell of alcohol, jet setter or oil expat..).

people will not leave in droves - it will be a malingering process of people just not needing the hassle. im looking at returning to cambodia or maybe philippines. this summer maybe a trip thru china-tibet and into nepal-india. thailand will lose about 100k baht on that one.

will be interesting how it all shakes out -

i have little doubt that this occurs at a certain level, that is why only certain consulates are 'equipped' to deal with visas (read many countries do not issue/have not issued/give a hard time). the telecom infrastructure sucks and paeng-mak. i would guess that 10% of visa as subject to some sort of scrutiny outside home countries.

im sure most embassies are receptive to a point and certainly interpol. in fact, if there is a secure site that each nation set up for searching criminals - that would be ez for everyone to check though i doubt outside the west this exists.

my hunch is that you are judged by: are you a traveler or living in thailand (multi stamps in many countries), what does your pp photo look like? why type of visa/stamp are you living on? do you look like a train wreck or smell like booze?

xing border, computer systems are set up so if they dont get you know, they will later for the runners.

as much as i was 'turned into a runner' by virtue of pricey DOUBLE visa (let alone single), i honestly think there is some serious riff-raff in the country doing some very illegal things. i have no sympathy for this lot.

welcome to new world order brought to you by bush&co

brit summed it up nicely

i think one can throw in.... coup/hyped market/overheated housing market/govt free wheeling spending (taksin) as well as uncertainty forward > it was the straw that broke the kwai's back. equities traders are TOTALLY slagging thailand and remember the x trades appear to be closed.

i would not go near the market personally, but then again - im not a big gambler, even in home equity markets. i think they are all rigged.

the baht has four strikes: unstable govt/large national debt/influx of foreign capital driving B higher/weakening dollar - third world country. you can add total lack of transparency in markets even before coup (eg shincorp).

if the guy transf the money he is an idiot. this is buddha himself telling him to think twice...

does anyone think that they wont lock the funds?

does anyone think that the mgr of x bank will release the funds when he has everything to gain by holding them including not getting a smack-down by thai govt-mafia?

THEN he has to contend with the new laws in affect regarding home owership - I.D.I.O.T.

i am not aware one can change names on tickets. i do not think this is possible. i have NEVER known this to be the case.

1 week in bangkok youll need no jabs. im full on backpacker and you can bank on that.

hep a is good to have for long haul and hep b if you are planning to have sex. they have vax called twinnex = a+b.

of course ...tetnus is more important than the other shots you have mentioned and you might as well get the dpt which incls polio (booster).

you have NO need for japE (which is also a 2 month/3jab $$$ process and only needed in RURAL areas around livestock. dengue - no jab and it is endemic to s.e.a.doctors are totally clueless when it comes to these things. best to ask on the TT board or the like (TT, kh440, bootsnall...).

you also might want to "chance it" ;-p and get your shots in bkk, they are very cheap. tray bkk adventist. you can get there on bus #511 that runs from sukhumvhit to ksr.

flu shot is waste of time and money 60% of the time, typhoid vax only needed 'in season' and thought to be somewhat ineffective - ie cheap insurance but nothing to bank on (eg leave infected area immediately).

have fun