bernie66

Yes you have to have a licence to buy it because the register it when you buy it.Better to buy a used one because it will already have a tag on it. basically just drive away on it.If it is new you have to go get a tag and registration. I had cash in my pocket but i still had to have my wife come sighn for it and show her drivers license. Getting a thai drivers license seems to be easy although i havent got mine yet because you have to forefiet your old one.good thing for you because yours is going to expire.so valid drivers licence and a visa other than a tourist visa.you can call them they have an english number.just google thai drivers licence

Pi Noi at Big Buddha temple, too. Best Thai artist I know and great tattoos. Second shop on the left when entering the temple area.

NOI IS THE MAN! I have been around the world more times than i can count.Noi is the only dude who has ever impressed me. I wish i wasnt so covered so i could get some really big pieces from him. Their are millions of tattoo dudes out thier but very few artist.Noi is a well know painter that has been apart of shows presented before the king. He was an artist first and started tattooing to supplement his income. He is the only artist in asia to ever be sponsored to lecture at a tattoo convention in the united states. I have been planning to go stay thier for a week to get him to fix all my mistakes but just havent had time. Anytime i get down thier though i go to see him just to spend a day talking with him.he is the guy you sit down in front of and just give him your skin.tell him some things you like and let him do what he does. Create beautiful art! I wouldnt let any one else in the world touch me but him.

Sho chu, i hope the thai and the Japaneese have little in common. The Thai are very loving people and family interaction is 180 deg. from the Japaneese. The japaneese dont show affection at all less a grandfather playing with thier grandbabies. Ive seen this.After i brought my japaneese wife back to Oki she was so happy to see her mom she cried and hugged her.her mom asked her what those people had done to her and she let her know she didnt like to show emotion in this way. I walk up to my 80 year old thai mother in law give her a big wet kiss and a hug. Niether of us have ever been able to understand one single word between the two of us. All my thai brother and sister in laws play and love on each others children as if they were thier own. Japaneese dont even hug and kiss on thier own children. After living in Japan for 4 years and having a Japanese ex wife. I learned that their investments are nothing to get excited about. They could create jobs for the Thai but only dead end ones. Unskilled labor jobs as to give thier worker no leverage over work conditions or policies.A Thai could work for them for 30 years only to see advancement opportunities past to kids brought in from Tokyo with no experience. All managorial positions and good paying jobs will only be held by Japaneese.God help the Thai women that have to work for their business men. Even if they have an equal position to the other men at a meeting or dinner party they will be expected to serve them drinks and food. And if their attractive then their is a put out or get out policy that it very clear in modern Japan. And if you’re the secretary’s husband then you get to deal with her mental anguish of performing sex acts in between filing sessions to her bosses and upper management. Not knowing why your beautiful new wife is loosing her mind and wont tell you a thing about what’s going on is so much fun. In Japan work comes before family. I pray I got away from this by coming to Thailand. Any attempt by the Thai to seek compensation for an accosted secretary will be met by groups of companies packing together like wolves. Threatening wide spread layoffs until the problem is taken care of. The only people that will prosper are the Japanese and the Katoi.

Got to feel sorry for the kid that was caught with the weed. Being the only bust of a publicized raid gone bad. The poor chaps going to get more time than the guys that raped the 9 year old girl last week.

hey dave,you sound like the man i need to ask! did you have to bring proof of income or employment or is that just the first time? is the money in the bank enough? does it have to be in a joint account or can it just be in your wifes name? i am about to get an "O" but i worry that when it is time to renew in a year that i will be looking for another job and unemployed. from what you just said they didnt ask for proof of income or employment

Go outside the country and get a non imm O multiple based on marriage..

Rinse repeat every 15 months if things dont change..

15 months? i thought a non im o is 12months... if i leave the country i can get a non im o without having a job?

Thank you sunbelt i will walk in your door in 4 weeks from today. but my question still remains so after i get a "non-imigrant O" for one year.....how will i renew it if i DONT HAVE A JOB! DONT WANT A JOB! DONT NEED A JOB! I want to sit at home for over a year. watch my wife pop out a baby. then see my child start walking and say daddy before i go back to work. i will have money just not enough to pull 40,000 in interest. it would take 10 million baht in a one year account to pull this in annually.

will i have to take my chances on multiple tourist visas after my year is up?

i hope not because ive been doing it for the past three years in my wifes account . i am most probably wrong but i could have sworn that i read on this website that taxes are takin out by the bank upon withdrawl. Then you get them back after a year once you prove that the money was in the country for one full year.

im going to find one in BKK next month myself. What sells me hands down on the LCD is the life expectancy. yesterday i read 20 yrs. on www.tigerdirect.com. i would just buy a standard TV but the thai havent invented the closet yet so i am desperate for space. i am also consediring buying a drill some wall ancors and a tv stand and mounting my wifes old set to the wall. Still have to price the wall mounted stand to decide

Hey Guys, help me get this right because I am not sure how I am going to pull off a non immigrant O. My Job will be ending soon. I currently have enough money in the bank. I currently have a job. But in my line of work, this is subject to change with long stretches of unemployment in between jobs. I am married living in BKK but entering on tourist visas because I am only home 2 weeks every 4 months. I cannot wait until I my current contract is up to get a visa because then I can't prove income right? If I get a non-immigrant visa the next time I come home its going to expire while I am at work and out of the country. What then? What do you guys do when you're in between jobs? A legal office told me to go with an "O". Is it better to pay a legal office 30,000 baht to file my Non- Immigrant O. Or should I do it myself? What happens if I go without a job for one year and fall below the 65k required? I have no physical residence in the States anymore. If I was made to return to the USA and had to get a job their, the high cost of living would eat up all my savings keep me from ever being able to save enough money to return. Neither my wife nor I want to live in the USA. What would you guys do if you were me?

married to a Thai ?

yes a thai wife. i am working in afghanistan and dont know how long i will be employed. my concern is what will they tell me to do if i were to loose my job in june '08 and my visa was to expire in july'08. how would i get an extention if i were unemployed and looking for a job. when the war is over i want to take some time off i have been in this hel_l hole for three years and have spent a total of three months with my wife. how will i take some time off if my visa is about to expire and i have no job. is sufficiant funds in a thai bank account considerd income or current employment only? i am only 35 so no pension and i will never have one. here is the feed back i have got from a legal office. does 30,000 baht sound right?

Dear mr. bernie66

We can apply a 1-year non-immigrant Marriage visa for you but it will be better for you if you can ask Non Immigrant O from Thai Embassy by showing your marriage certificate and when you come to Thailand apply for one year marriage visa.

The main requirements are:

1) Marriage Certificate

2) Proof of income amounting to THB 40,000 – 45,000 per month. If income is not sufficient, we can combine your wife’s income to average 40,000 Bath. If you’re currently on a Tourist visa, we will change this visa to an initial 3 month non-immigrant visa, than extend for another 9 months

For your proof of income, you can ask the letter from US Embassy in Bangkok when you arrived to Thailand.

Our cost for this service is THB 30,000. This includes our service fee, government fee to the immigration, transportation fees as well as taxes.

Best regards,

legal office in bkk

Hey Guys, help me get this right because I am not sure how I am going to pull off a non immigrant O. My Job will be ending soon. I currently have enough money in the bank. I currently have a job. But in my line of work, this is subject to change with long stretches of unemployment in between jobs. I am married living in BKK but entering on tourist visas because I am only home 2 weeks every 4 months. I cannot wait until I my current contract is up to get a visa because then I can’t prove income right? If I get a non-immigrant visa the next time I come home its going to expire while I am at work and out of the country. What then? What do you guys do when you’re in between jobs? A legal office told me to go with an “O”. Is it better to pay a legal office 30,000 baht to file my Non- Immigrant O. Or should I do it myself? What happens if I go without a job for one year and fall below the 65k required? I have no physical residence in the States anymore. If I was made to return to the USA and had to get a job their, the high cost of living would eat up all my savings keep me from ever being able to save enough money to return. Neither my wife nor I want to live in the USA. What would you guys do if you were me?

Some facts I read recently in a BKK post article - I thought I post them here because despite the fact that I am very interested in these things and have been here for almost 2 years, this was all news to me.

- CAT has a monopoly on the International Gateway (IIG) but True now has a license to connect to overseas providers directly.

- CAT charges 24,000 baht for 1Mbit of international bandwidth vs. 15,000 baht that international providers charge

- IIG was out for a total of 230 hours in 2006, vs. the international standard rate of 8 !!!

- Thailand has 10.5 Gbit total bandwidth vs 80Gbit in Singapore and 100 Gbit in Hong Kong

Feeling your connection is slow? Just look at the numbers...

you forgot the firewalls the government has to block certian websites and content. in my opinion this is the culprit. it bottle necks all information in and out.

meanwhile the girls are probably still padlocked in cells, wouldnt you people be better off venting your anger on helping them somehow, dont know how but just a thought

As in every country I’ve been to. Only crime that produces revenue for the police or some government division, of is in the forefront of their priorities and press. All we have to do is figure out how to link the kidnapped children with drug distribution and they will all be caught over night. the only bad thing is that they will get about 10 years more time in prison as the people who kidnapped and raped them.

how is decriminalization going to change these choices for many drug takers?

Well friend, decriminalization will lower the monetary value of it to such a great extent that Steve the peddler would not be able to turn a profit. Bernie would not buy crack from Steve because Bernie would have a key of coke in his refrigerator. And it would probably last him over a year because Bernie , being the majority of users, has a job and no time to stay high all day. Steve on a peddler level would run out of such a demand that he would have to get a job to eat not being able to turn small amounts of coke into large amounts of crack that supports him so well. Thus leaving a stalemate at the addicted level because the majority are moderate users only scoring for a party or holiday get-together with family or friends. It would leave importers with a dilemma as well. they would have to import such huge quantities to pay for transport that it would leave them exposed to be easily found by customs at every embarkation point. lets say at a %400 percent tax that could pay for real social problems like job programs or to fight Muslim extremist. he he he. And remember carrying guns, extortion, murder, racketeering, and robbery are still illegal protecting poor Steve from his neighbors. But now we can just call the crimes what they are. And now we can pay the police take care of these crimes instead of watching them happen so that their undercover drug operation isn’t uncovered. The only problem I see worst than what we already have is that people are going to have to actually commit a crime to be arrested. A reformed addict will be able to get a good paying job because he doesn’t have a list of felonies on his record or doing more time in prison than the murderers, rapists, and child molesters that are let out early to make room for Steve. I think if you sat down with Steve and have a beer in Amsterdam you might find out he ant such a bad guy after all. Or you might find out that the idiot would be addicted to coffee were it illegal.

Personally as a these days non drug user, I still think the whole thing stinks of hipocracy..

Every society on the planet (except the eskumo's oddly) have an intoxicant of one kind or other. Many sane and serious discussions can be had about the social damage associated with smoking weed versus drinking alcohol with its domestic violence, crammed friday night A&E wards, etc.. Cultures through the world have had positive experiences and perceived thier worlds differently and more emphatically with a veriaty of psychedelics.

Yet rotting your brain (and liver) drinking Lao Khao at 9 in the morning is socially tolerated and legal and yet someone chosing to smoke a joint is breaking the law and has the associated risk and punishment. If that person wishes to purchase anything to smoke they have to mix with the criminal elements of society to do so and those profits from the sale of illegal intoxicants make powerful and rich those real gangsters that work in the industry.

We will never win a war through prohibition, the only way to make a positive effect is via education, and emphasising social responsibility, and responsibility for ones actions and deeds. We seem to be able to have responsible drinkers in society, we accept that young people (and not so young) often do stupid things when drunk, yet we tolerate that intoxicant with all its issues.

To me the question is far more about what is morally correct than what is legal, for instance it is totally legal for me to order and have posted here to Thailand Salvia Divinorum AKA Diviners sage, its not classed as illegal yet is one of the strongest psychedelics on the planet akin to DMT, use it and you visit the space pixies for a bit. Now just because that legal does that mean that young people and developing minds should have easy access to it ?? Should it be something used carelessly daily or even weekly ?? Of course not. But the whole legal v illegal classifications systems is fundamentally floored. Abusing alcohol is far worse than light use of most other things, the key there is the user of an intoxicant (including a drinker) versus the abuser of an intoxicant. Thats not something that legislation will decide, its only something that education, social guidance, having a personal moral compass and some measure of self control will ever hope to control.

Making things illegal does not make them go away, it merely makes criminals of the people that choose to do them.

AMEN,

My nephews and neices lived in a run down area of Bangkok that was rapidly becoming unsafe due to the increasing use of drugs by some Thai several years ago.

Thanks to Mr Taxin's no messing about shoot the bastards policy, the last time I was there the area had returned to a degree of its previous normality.

I am sick of the bleeding hearts liberals and their misguided softly softly approach to drugs.

Tomorrows kids need a chance in life and I would gladly volunteer to pull the trigger on anyone dealing in drugs and corrupting the children of any country.

Forty years of nonsense and pussy footing has only fuelled the problem of drug abuse!

Are you telling us that the rundown area of Bangkok would be safe if no one was getting high down their ? If drugs have this magical ability to transform the innocents of the children into these monstrous beasts of burden unleashed on society. Then why is it that the Dutch have the fewest problems with drugs than anyone else in the world. I am really, really tired of drugs being the worlds scapegoat. the world is being brain washed to believe that crime would be non violent if drugs were not involved. Drugs do this and drugs do that! How do you know if you never did drugs. If coffee were illegal then children would want it, organized crime would sell it, and the police would move it. And every night their would be coffee murder on the TV so the cops could get more money to save our children. It’s all going to come down to one decision. Either give up all public rights to privacy. I mean give the police the right to inter your home anytime they want with random drug screening at every street corner. Or stop trying to catch everyone getting high. Drugs are not making people do crimes. The monetary value you make of it through prohibition makes it prevalent with the poor and more attractive as income. The value you give it through interdiction causes people to obsess with it and do crimes in its name.

Three days ago the maid was thunderstruck finding a cobra in the house. Security guard took care of it and killed the snake.

Yesterday, there was another cobra spotted in the garden. That's at least one too many, so we suspect them nesting there.

Any advice what to do?

We live in Pattaya, Maprachan area.

make a small box or get an aqarium.something you can see into with a secured lid or a lid with a "big" rock on top. about 3/4 up th side of it cut a 1 inch hole.get some metal screen made of pretty desent sized squares with squres about 1/4 inch holes.big enough so that if you cut off a row it would leave pretty long spikes that would cut you.but squares not so big that a snake could get his head through.roll the screen into a cone and fasten it pointing into the box through the 1 inch hole.make the bottom of the cone about as big as the snakes head you saw.this will be the rough end you cut leaving spikes from the wire exposed.bend the ends slightly in and cut them sharp. put a couple of little quail in the box and maybe some quail eggs.mice if you have to.but snakes go crazy for fowl. they only chase mice when they are hungry. make shure the quail are larger than the hole you make so that if a snake with a smaller head gets in thier the bulges in his stomace will stop his escape. FYI a snake that is digesting food is very irritable for 24 hours. let them sit for 24 hours and they will be as happy as a puppie with a full belly and fairely harmless.if you deside to remove the snakes warm your hands and it will make them docile."they are cold blooded"to quick a drop in body temperature makes them agressive. raising thier body tmp makes them feel good and docile. thier really beautiful creatures i would not kill them either.

'

Bernie, fortunately for most of us heavy types there ARE a fair number of people who like us just the way we are- but when it leads to our early deaths that's no good for anyone! The guy I dated last had a previous BF who'd died of diabetes- not the way I wanna go.

Marshbags, mentioning diet and exercise per se are not against the rules here. The guidelines state that posters should not aggressively *hijack* any threads giving one type of advice by suggesting a different kind of advice- this is a support forum, not a debate soapbox. This particular thread is kind of open ended, so you can feel free to go on... and on... ... If you are not sure what the rules now are, please check here.

Hey Steve, my father died from diabetes. I wasn't trying to make light of this .this was only the first three sentences to catch someone's attention. They edit everything I say here. They cut out my entire log leaving only sentences as to make me sound like an idiot. I wrote that their are some excellent amphetamines that a doctor can prescribe in very safe doses. Fasten being one to ask for. I lost my first wife because of my weight , lost my father because of his weight. Please accept my apology if what they left of my comment sounded uncompassionate. The editors here change everything I write. They are upset because I compared how the world deals with Muslim indifference to violence on non muslims as to how Americans deal with Black Americans indifference to violence and crime on non blacks. That is that they both cry victim but do nothing to police their own communities.

you can do like me and marry a woman that loves fat guys

you can change from beer to liquer

but man you are in thailand!!!!!

<snip>

The fun has just begun! This is the easy part. Wait until you get her in the states. My first wife was Japanese. Now I am doing it again with my Thai wife. We were married in Sept. The INS is the most crooked department in our government. They are extremely arrogant and rude. Once you get her in the U.S you will have to take her to file a 950I something or another every year until she gets her green card. This can only be done in certain cities that are 14 hour drives apart. New Orleans and Atlanta are two. Can you say extortion! They are going to tell you they lost the paperwork and you have to pay another $750, file the form again, and return next year. Try that after a 12 hour drive...They love to pull this on the Mexicans. The only reason my ex got hers in 3 years is because she did Trent Lot's secretary's nails. GET A LAWYER TO GO WITH YOU EVERY TIME YOU TALK TO THEM! And now I here we have to appease the Department of Homeland Security. They have to make sure my 5ft wife doesn’t have mad bombers disease or a member of the Taliban. They are going to go to interview the people you write down as contacts. Granted I haven’t got that far yet. But a guy I’m working with was telling me about it. I would not marry after going to the States if I were any of you. Make it a done deal so that there is no question. I am in a difficult situation because I am homeless in the states. My house was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. I live in Bangkok with my wife and work in Afghanistan. So I know I am going to fail because they demand a physical address just so my wife can travel back and fourth. I will never be able to travel on a tourist visa because the time allotted by the visa. But I’m going to try anyway. They are real bastards so just go with the flow and expect the worst or you will give yourself ulcers. " Those who trade liberty for security have neither !"

But WAIT--we don't want to offend any Muslims by saying that JI was responsible! Maybe we should just take this whole thread down. It's not politically correct to draw connections from terrorist bombings to a suspected terrorist organization!

you got that right.so we can stand by with our thumbs in our rectums and prey that when it happins again our wives or children are not on the street. Besides issues such as drug interdiction are sooooo much more imortant. hey ,thats what we need! about 2 months of drug trafficing news to make the people forget all about it and who thier real enemy is..

i saw a poster for a 150cc raider by suzuki. and i think honda makes a 150 sonic.. this is the one i will get if mine ever craps out. i might buy it anyway it looked pretty cool in black. its a little bit bigger than the other scooters and still small enough to get in between cars in traffic. i would get it and put the widest tires and nastiest breaks on it that will fit.thats what im doing to my honda dash.

The plans for my house specify some electrical outlets(plug receptacles) to be placed 1.3 meters high. Other outlets listed in the plan have no height listed.

What is the general height of outlets in new construction?

Thanks,

Eric

on a switch its 50 inches to the bottom of a switch box.15 inches to the bottom of a recepticle box.you should have a recepticle every 6 feet on a wall.if it is in within 3 ft of a water source. it should have a ground fault interupted receptilce or circuit. but in thailand i would be most concerned about the fact that they ground nothing.

I have had almost every bike made including a $30,000 harley.But ive never had as much fun as i do on my $400 2-stoke 125 in bkk. Its just fun as hel_l to explore bkk on a scooter. Its not a optimal place to learn ,but dude your riding a MOPED! Just because you can ride a weely down the autobon doesnt mean you can handle traffic in BKK! So dont worry about skill as much as riding posture and having your wit about you %200. Be aware of all cars around you front and back,at all time. i count vehicles by their color as i go so if i have to make an unexpected turn. if you look over your shoulder and see a black car that was not thier before then its a pretty good asumption that he is driving fast or weaving in and out of traffic. then you know he is the one to watch out for. alot writtin about mirrors here. There is a one two three here you should really think about. you have to keep sight of 360 deg around you at all time. use your mirrors for this.glancing at them to watch traffic thats behind is as important as watching traffic in front. turning your head to watch traffic behind you is stupid because you are no longer looking forward. If a large amount of traffic is comming up on you, speed up!. dont wait until your going to turn to realise what is comming up behind you or riding your ass. 1,2,3= signal, look in the mirror, and then an over the shoulder look before you execute. but always monitor whats behind you.dont get tunnel vision. i think your mistaken about size and power. Its just like she said,"bigger is better." having a more powerful bike will help you ESCAPE dangerous traffic situations not cause you to hit them. you want to get out of the way quickly and a powerful throdle will do this.aswell, powerful tourqed bikes can slow down and and even stop in the rain without having to hit your breaks so that you dont slide and wipe out. get the biggest cc bike or traffic will constantly overtake you and put you in dangerous riding postions = ie. THIER BLINDSPOTS! "DONT RIDE IN ANY VEHICLES BLIND SPOT!!!! Use your signals, riding posture, and lane usage to give the vehicles around an idea of your intent. I mean that if it looks to someone behind you that your going to turn then they are not going to ride your ass. Pass pass pass and pass and pass again. if your in front of them they see you! Dont habitually ride agints the curb. then you have know where to go to avoid hitting something.Always expect that a car is going to hit you or slam on the breaks. I mean always look for a "Path of escape". If you dont see an escape path then your in a dangerous situaion and you need to drive faster that the traffic around you and get the hel_l out of it. ALWAYS BE SCARED! This keeps your adrinalin up,you wits about you,and helps give you a proactive reaction time. Find someone to ride with on the weekends so you can discuss situations you come across and learn from others mistakes not yours. Bike modifications in bkk is really fun.I spend alot of my free time going around to custom shops and looking things i can do to make my bike ride better.i found a guy at LHK motors near ratchidapesek rd that speaks english that will sit thier and talk shop all day long.Great guy and he knows what parts of town specialize in certian parts. tires,rims,used parts,ect...If you want your bike to look neat.look at the aftermarket parts availible for a model before you buy.thier are lots of magazines for this in every bookstore.and they will have advertizements for shops with location maps. Im going to have my scooter tricked out in may when i come home. you can ride down thier with me if you like and i can show you where to go.