ballbreaker

The demands follow a day of protests that saw thousands of cab drivers threatening to no longer take passengers, citing being muscled out of fares by unregistered “black sign” cabs.

The second demand asked that serious steps be taken to combat the “black sign” taxis and rid them from the airport.

Okay, what the heck are "black sign" taxis?

Private cars (black on white license plate) that owner is offering service as taxi. They are represented by one of those nice and some not so nice people that approach you after you exit customs and ask if you want a taxi. Usually dressed in nice blazer, can be male or female, and tend to clog the arrivals area. Some people refer to them as mafia taxi.

If you're serious ..... http://www.busitek.com ..... get their prices as reference and get a few hundred baht of at Jedi Cool.

Thanks for the link it's great. Still need some more advice on actual names of parts I should get, cmon guys!

If you want more detailed suggestions then you need to state how much money you have to spend for new PC build.

Whom ever you decide to use make sure you have looked at some of the homes they have built. You might also knock on the door and see if the owners are happy with the work and verify your guy was the acutual builder. Just make sure he is tied to the community and is not some migrant builder.

No money up front.

First place to start would be the business who's name is on the case.

As someone already mentioned its under the BTS platform opposite side of Sukhumvit from Lotus. You just wait till you see one coming and give the arm wave and hope he stops.

A past GF of mine works at the airport and always took the 552 bus until she could no longer take lack of schedule and some drivers not even stopping. At times she waited at least an hour and other times 2 buses would arrive within sight of each other. The final straw was the time she waited an hour and a bus appears but drove by without stopping and she was waving and jumping up and down. After that she started taking a red and white bus that travels from Sukhumvit out On Nut road(Soi 77) past the airport and somewhere around Lat Krabang she would change to mini bus that ran into the airport.

I think Honey Hotel on Soi 19 is your best choice for that price.

Could someone please tell me when the doors open at Immigration, Saun Phlu and what time start handing out the numbers? Have to extend my Retirement Visa on Tuesday.

Thanks!

Why on Tuesday?

Anyone know when it is scheduled to open?

If lucky last quarter of 2009.

Why is the responsibility of footing the bill for the house up to you? Does the wife have brothers and sisters if so then the cost should be shared if a house is to be built.

If you do decide to build a house then make it small. It should not cost more than 200K baht in my opinion.

My wife and I lived in a small house we built on the parents property for months at a time and it was totally adequate for our needs. It measured 4 meters by 7 meters and provided more than enough space for 2 people. Its was patterned after a studio apartment in Bangkok.

Would farangs that buy land and houses for a Thai GF do the same for a GF in their country of origin.

all posters. thank you all, for your help. I think I will just come on down, and try it, have been befor,but not like this, have stayed in the hotels and thought them and the city good

rentals look ok riley76

I like the city of Korat but found it to be boring after 6 months of living. Although it has a few restaurants that offer western foods its gets old after a while with so few selections. If you plan to cook some of your meals that will make it better but Korat still offers very little to do with your time. Something as simple as wanting to see a movie in the theatre becomes a major chore finding one playing the english sound track. These and other reasons are why I moved down to Bangkok where you can live just as cheap depending on lifestyle.

The gold card is issued by the Tambol or Amphor office, not sure which, where you live and are on house paper.

I have one comment about the gold card and in general the slow process of government health care. Regardless of health problem you have to deal with local Tambol or Amphor doctors before getting referred to province hospital. If your lucky and the local doctors are good then diagnosis will be done locally and you will not need referral.

In my wifes case she spent a month going back and forth to local hospital and getting different pills without doing much more than a blood test. The last time they once again gave her more pills to try and come back in two weeks. I said screw this and took her to a private hospital (St. Marys) in Korat. It took about 2 hours and they found the cause of her problems and it would require surgery. The surgery was scheduled that same week at St. Marys but all followup treatment was done at the government hospital (Maharat) in Korat because surgeon also worked at Maharat and said it would be covered by gold card.

While receiving followup treatment at Maharat the wife found out it would have taken 3 months before the surgery could have been done at Maharat. All this would have been covered by the gold card but it doesn't seem to carry much priority. Another example: she needed CT scan done but it would require her returning to Maharat everyday until she could be fitted into schedule and most likely would take a month but if she checked into the hospital it at our expense it would be scheduled in a few days time instead. CT scan was covered by gold card and we paid for private room to jump the que.

In my wifes case it would have been extremely expensive for the followup care in a private hospital but the gold card picked cost up totally in government hospital. I would say have both gold card and private insurance and then judge when to use.

You could contact BUPA Thailand or search for other such providers on the internet or insurance forum this web site and then contact for quote on coverage you desire. I pay around 23k baht per year for 500k baht coverage per illness for my age group (I'm 59). It only covers in-patient care which is what I chose for coverage. Someone younger will pay less.

I didn't think you could get any type of visa if you entered on visa waiver.

I am not sure how to word this but is the FETF only required if you should at sometime wish to sale said condo and send funds out of Thailand.

If you have no intention of ever wanting to send money out of Thailand should you sale condo then is the FETF required?

Contact ASUS direct and give them all the details on your problem. You may get better results.

Perhaps its due to the lack of monetary benefit for the country from your visit. Why should a country hand out visa's that benefit only the individual and not themselves.

Stop complaining and be happy you are allowed the quick turnaround even if you must pay 200 baht.

Bella Napoli on Suk Soi 31. Can use chefsxp to order.

you say its a shaker,have you tried having the wheels tracked and balanced?

This sounds like source of problem to me.

It should show up when they check balance of tires but make sure all tires are round. I once had a brand new tire that was out of round.

Sent you a PM that provides you with some info.

The letter from your embassy will work for sure. Some people have provided the letter from immigration and had no problems and I provide a letter from the local Amphor office with help of wife and it was accepted.

Remember this is Thailand and some transportation offices seem to interpet regulations as they see fit.

Hi, will be moving to Chiang Mai in November and will need to buy a car. It does not appear that there is too much differents in price between new and good used cars. I am sure that new drivers are bound to have a "few fender benders" until he learns the "rules of the road" If there are any rules, it seems like every one just makes up their own driving rules! So seems like I should practice on a used car. Any advice on reliable used or new car dealers in C.M.? Would like to hear your experiences in regards to cars or trucks..... Ken

You sound like someone that should not be driving if you feel a need to practice with a used car.

Ok everyone has been dicussing ways to go about submitting proof of ones residence and there have been three mentioned. 1. going to the Amphur office... had my wife check on that and that is a negative, striclty reserved for Thai..

I have never been asked for proof of residence at immigration.

In reference to letter from Amphur, I and wife were able to obtain letter as proof of residence from Amphur when I applied for drivers license.

I agree with kiakaha post above.

I think my Thai vocab is poor but I have managed to learn and correctly speak words I use on a daily basis, like addresses.

People here on retirement visa can also be married to a Thai but prefer not using the other type visa.

If what you say came to pass I think this country might not be a place I wish to live anymore.