Awk

You don't have to report again until 90 days after your re-entry.You only report when you have stayed in Thailand for 90 days since your last report or entry.

Thanks - Saved me a trip down there.

Walt

I was there a few days ago, and although the queue decreased at a good speed of two minutes per number, I still

had to spend almost one and a half hour there to do my 90 day report. I grabbed some extra forms and will

mail my report the next time.

Thank you. I am planning to go, it is not that easy as it is almost a 10 hour return trip and I work (and the wife seems to think it is next to impossible based on a 30-40 minute call to BKK). If they are open on the weekends it would help.

You mention one possible loophole, a temporary salary increase. Could this be for say 3 months (to qualify for 40,000 a month), but previous 3 years tax receipts indicate a lower salary.?

Also, is it fixed that in the 3 year period one needs to have paid 50,000 in tax? As I cannot see, even if I did get 40,000 (under the tax system with a son and wife) I would be required to pay such - I get my tax done by and verified by the govt. and at a conservative estimate it would need about 5 years of tax to equal that. So, this is an inconsistancy.

The wording on this point in the 2009 ministerial guidelines was thus:

"3.2 Applicants with direct personal ties with Thailand, such as those married to a Thai citizen, those with children who are Thai citizens, or those who graduated from an institute of tertiary education in Thailand should have an income of not less than 40,000 baht a month supported by a letter of confirmation of monthly salary/income and must show evidence that they have paid tax for not less than 3 years; or they should have paid personal income tax of more than 50,000 baht per year for the 3 tax years prior to their application for naturalization."

At its most literal this seems to mean that you need to show evidence of earning 40,000 a month in the last year and evidence of paying tax in all three years. I don't understand what the point of the alternative qualification of paying 50,000 a year in tax for all three years which is clearly a more stringent condition that no one would choose if they had the option. Whatever alternative you choose, you still need to provide a letter from your employer confirming salary and the three years' of audited tax receipts. The guidelines don't really make sense here and may be a hang over from some previous guidelines. The only way to clarify this is by asking Special Branch. I can't remember them ever making any comment about the amount of tax I had paid, although it was comfortably above 50,000 a year but, as mentioned, some people report having been praised for paying a lot of tax in their Interior Ministry interviews.

Is it not possible that the alternative, paying 50,000/year in tax, is independent of the requirements clearly

belonging to, at least, the 40,000/year income alternative? I.e., could it not be that the requirement for a letter of

confirmation is only a requirement for the 40,000/year income alternative?

The point of that, if so, could be to allow people who live in Thailand but work outside of Thailand (e.g., people

working shifts, 2 weeks on (outside Thailand), four weeks off (inside Thailand) to also qualify, if they find

it worthwhile to donate 50,000/year to the Thai "IRS".

If so AnnoyingParent could presumably qualify that way, if he manages to get together enough money to pay the

extra (otherwise unnecessary) tax, bringing his total paid tax to 50,000. Presumably he already pays some tax,

so perhaps there is not so much more needed.

Sorry to hear that.

Ignoring the reputation of the people running that particular bar for ripping of customers and getting aggressive, I have

at times wondered how many have been killed by cars outside there at night-time. Sometimes I've seen cars driving down

stretch of road in the night so fast that I've more than half suspected they wanted to hit someone.

If the service charge went to the staff, I would not mind it too much, but many restaurants keep it and the staff get little or nothing. They also don't get tips because patrons think that the service charge takes care of that already.

If I noticed (before ordering) on the menu that there is a service charge, I'd get up and walk out.

Don't like it myself either, but I've noticed that "Cafe de Naga" (if I remember the name right), right next to "John's" around

Thape gate have a 10% service charge, but unusually enough, this service charge is baked into the price you see displayed

at the counters, etc.

First time I was initially annoyed when I got the bill and noticed the 10% service charge, but then I noticed that

the total was what I expected. I.e. the cake at the counter says it costs 80B, and that 80B includes the 10%

service charge on your bill.

While I still don't like it, that's certainly a very fair way to do it, as the price you see is the price you pay.

Hopefully the staff there do got the 10% eventually.

New Nokia ones are good for battery life, although they are not high end ones as market mainly is in developing countries. But good option if your aim is to make call and sms.

The i-mobile phones have worked ok for me, if what you want is a very basic phone to call/sms. Prices start around 1000B.

Don't internet prices normally go down over time? I was paying 799THB unlimited three years ago. Notch another one up to CAT marketing!

Yeah, I thought so too. In addition to rising the price for the "unlimited usage" they also got rid of all their "limited usage"

plans. :-/

And of course I left out Chiang Mai buses out of the equation too, those are also cheap. (Comparable to BKK aircon buses I think). Pretty useless, but cheap.

• Do you know a CM bus route?
• How frequent are they?
• Do you know the bust stops on that route, or is it anywhere a person puts their hand out or rings the bell.

I ask because I've never used them.

If I'm not driving, then Songtheaws or Tuk Tuks are so convenient.

I've taken the one that goes between the flower/Warorot market and Lamphun a couple of times. I don't remember the price, but yes, it stops where you want it

to stop. Think it was going once an hour, perhaps between 08 and 17 or close to that. There is/was a timetable at the stop at Warorot.

It also stops for you if you want to get on it somewhere on it's route.

I think for the most part, I eat a variety of cuisines, including those from the west. We don't moan about that because we are used to it, having no doubt done the same in our home countries. It doesnt have to be expensive either.

What I do like to moan about is people whinging because not everyone has to survive on 20 baht meals, and the people that try and twist that to being someone not being worthy of living here. You will find many Thai people eating international cuisine, albeit perhaps a Thai with a bit more money than another Thai. That must really put your head in a spin!

That reminds me about being at an Italian restaurant a month ago, at the Arcobaleno. The food was fine, but I was quite surprised to see that of the six

tables in use at the time (mine included), three of the tables consisted of what at least looked like Thai-only groups/couples.

Try asking Phil the owner at The Real Centre of the Universe. Phil has dedicated sessions for Lap swimming 06.30-09.00 and 16.00- 17.00.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun JonWilly,

Dare I ask where the "Real Centre of the Universe" ... is ? Just the thought of it has me going in circles, now.

If you go to www.google.com and type in "Real Centre of the Universe", it will be first hit. Everyone should learn to use Google.

To the OP, I have not seen any such shop in CM. When I was in Hua Hin half a year ago, I noticed that the "main/nicest" shopping center

there, "Market Village", had a Speedo shop on the first floor. I was only interested in a pair of training fins, but if my memory does not

deceive me, they had a resonable amount of other Speedo stuff there also. If no other alternative, I guess you could try Googling for the shop

and hope to mailorder from them.

Only want to second the many other favourable comments about the Pizza and Pasta place, and especially the service.

Went there the other day, and had a nice pizza. Unusually enough, they also give you three (if I remember correctly)

choices for what kind of crust you want, rather than only what kind of toppings.

The biggest surprise was however how a minor mistake was handled. We ordered a medium (16" I think) pizza, and at the same

time as delivering the pizza, the waiter informed us that they had made a mistake, and baked us a small pizza rather

than the medium pizza we had ordered. Oh the tragedy ... I couldn't really tell the difference myself (14" vs 16"?),

but the waiter, and what I assume was the owner/chef, in the kitchen, apologized and said they'd make us a new medium size pizza

pronto, free of charge, and wondered whether we would like a different topping on that one?

Many thanks, and we'll take the second pizza to go if possible please.

Never experienced service quite like that before, and when in addition the pizza tastes like it does, I'm a fan too now.

"please use hair dryer only for the hair on your head"

No kidding!

I am deadly serious. Apparently, some ladies also dry their nether regions with the hair dryers provided in some Shanghai gyms. My colleague told me after she recovred from the shock of seeing it.

Never seen it before myself, or even heard ot it, but just a few days ago I saw some dude with the hair dryer stuck down the

back of his boxers at CalWoW. :-(

Dude, they are not price gouging non-thai people, they are price gouging ignorants. ;-) Some places have fixed prices where a small discount can sometimes

be negotiated, but CalWow is not one of them. You want to pay double, triple, or more, the staff will happily take it.

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Nice try on baiting me buddy but I bought 2 - 3 month passes and they gave me 1 month free pass with each so it was actually 8 months. They asked for much more than 5500 baht for each but negotiated what I thought was a fair price for each or what I was willing to spend and that was 11k B for what turned out to be 8 months not the 3-4 months you speak of. They are or were price gouging because they have a faulty business model that will as some point fail and they are attempting to use new members to bail them out.

Maybe. Dunno how their books look myself.

Hmm, hmm hmm. Exactly how dirty is it there?

If I hadn't already bought a life time membership at calwow some years ago (for the same price as as you paid for 3-4 months of training it seems. But don't worry, some less ignorant people than me paid less than that too) ...

Apples and oranges bro, what does what you paid for a lifetime membership some years ago have to do with this year or 2011? I paid $180 or 600 baht for my new iphone some years back (2008), christ I must be an moron because I can't find a new one (or 4th generation) in Thailand for under $600 or 19k B from Apple Store here.

Amusing analogy, but while the Iphone now is very different from the Iphone 3 years ago, CalWow is pretty much the same, and so are their prices as far

as their "life time" membership is concerned.

Just relaxing this evening, not on ThaiV much but if anyone interested I have a California Wow update from when I left because I felt they were price goudging western or non-thai folks.

Dude, they are not price gouging non-thai people, they are price gouging ignorants. ;-) Some places have fixed prices where a small discount can sometimes

be negotiated, but CalWow is not one of them. You want to pay double, triple, or more, the staff will happily take it.

One thing I will miss about FT is the ladies asking me for my phone number or on a date Nice staff and people but it is kinda dirty there and the equipment could be in better repair but overall it wasn't bad but the motorbike parking sucked royal.

Hmm, hmm hmm. Exactly how dirty is it there?

If I hadn't already bought a life time membership at calwow some years ago (for the same price as as you paid for 3-4 months of training it seems. But don't worry, some less ignorant people than me paid less than that too) ...

You can get CAT CDMA at their office in Airport Plaza, but then send you to Pantip for the trial modem. Doesn't make a lot of sense but there it is. Your next question is: can I just get the CAT CDMA at Pantip and save a trip, and I honestly don't know but I think not, because it isn't exactly an official CAT outlet you're going to at Pantip.

Fortunately you can, or at least could, get everything done at the CAT shop in Pantip. Might be worth noting that they used to have a couple of totally clueless

women working there before, and some more clued in male engineers who dropped by more on occasion. If you already know what you want, no problem dealing with the

women only I expect.

It [the sandwich] was two slices of bread split in three,…

First off, the sandwich is not 2 slices split into 3. It is 3 slices cut diagonally to make 1 ½ sandwiches which is our standard serviing. Which your photos clearly show.

…with a chunk of roast beef in between.

As for the chunk of roast beef, I am puzzled. Your own photo shows only slices of roast beef.

I did not mean to imply it was a single clump of meat. It was an accumulation of slices of roast beef,

chunked/grouped/put together, or whatever word you want to use.

..and I only realized after eating the mini-salad that came in a small separate finger-sized that it was the "Mustard-Horseradish sauce" mentioned in the menu.

In your photo,I also see the mustard horseradish untouched in a small glass bowl right behind the salad.. The mini salad is a separate thing. Not even advertised. Something we just throw in.

Ah, that's nice. Please excuse my misunderstanding about this then.

Having a few minutes earlier had no success in understanding whether I could, as the menu seemed to indicate, chose between rare and medium roasted beef when ordering the sandwich

Our staff remembered you well and said one of their problems was that they couldn't understand your Thai. They tried to communicate with you in English and you refused . You probably would have had better luck since the staff is used to dealing with English restaurant words.

I do not wish to offend your staff, but I do not consider that correct. I think my Thai knowledge is

unfortunately virtually non-existent, so I would never attempt to use it in a situation as complex as this,

and would certainly not refuse to speak English. After trying to make myself understood in English by pointing to

the menu where it said rare or medium several times, it became obvious to me that this particular staff at least had no

idea what I was talking about, so I tried to use some Thai, but obviously had no more luck with that.

I pondered, while eating one of the three sandwich pieces, whether I should bother asking the staff about the missing ingredients.

Couldn't you have just asked about this before you started to eat the sandwich? Did it really require pondering? The staff should have included the tomato and lettuce in the sandwich. Perhaps they patronize that deli in Hollywood referred to in the following post. They told us that most patrons don't want it so they decided unilaterally not to include it. They shouldn't have. Thank you for bringing that to our attention.

Hehe. Yes, that might be the case. I'm afraid I have never frequented any of the undoubtedly fine

Deli's in Hollywood, so if that's how it's done there I can only apologise for my lack of culinary education.

Good luck I at least managed to keep my feet of the table, though it of course took quite a bit of self constraint

on my part.

But to be honest I did not immediately notice it. I started eating it, and was initially more interested in the bread,

which I due to your line of business of course had some special expectations towards. The bread was indeed very fine,

but after chewing for a while, I thought to myself that "hmm, the bread is fine, beef too, but why does this taste so dry? Is this all?". I then checked the menu again and saw that indeed there was supposed to be more to it.

After chewing for a while I decided to ask, and after another moment of confusion, I was brought a plate with three slices of tomato and some lettuce.

Again, was there some kind of momentum issue involved? Once you start to eat you can't stop?

No, not all all. Merely, I was not sure what was going to happen or whether it was worth bringing it up.

After pointing out the missing ingredients with the help of the menu, the staff apologised and indicated she

would fix it. First I wondered if she would come to take my plate back and adorn it with the missing ingredients,

so I waited a little. When that did not seem to be the case, I thought perhaps she would make me a new sandwich instead,

but wasn't really sure. Anyway, it was my very late breakfast, and the bread tasted very nice, so I thought I might as well continue to eat while I wait to see what happens.

In addition, the napkin my utensils were packed in was visibly stained on the front, though the utensils looked clean.

Not good. I would have sent it back.

Yes, I could have done that. But I'd be very surprised if anything else than wrapping a new napkin around the

utensils would be done on most restaurants here, which is of course pointless. The table had enough papernapkins,

so I could do that myself

if I wanted.

PS. It appears one can not chose between rare and medium roasted beef on the sandwich, which I'd agree would be quite unusual, though impressive, if possible. At least I did my best to order the rare version,...

Perhaps one could if one tried to accommodate the staff and used English as well as Thai. As noted before, the staff didn't understand your Thai.

Well, again I do not wish to offend your staff, but even though I might be as stupid as a brick, I would venture

to suggest some more training of at least some of the staff might be beneficial for your business.

I do want to thank you for taking photos, though. Since it shows that many of your comments were not as justified as they might have been and has set my mind considerably at rest.

Indeed, the proof is in the pudding.

Still, since the meat you got was medium or medium rare , and not rare, we will offer you a second sandwich and non alcoholic beverage at our expense. I will PM you a code word.

Thank you, but never mind that. Perhaps I will return in a few months when what is perhaps some startup problems have

been resolved.

The photos really look promising. I will definitely pay you guys a visit when i am in CM end of the month.

May i know what kind of beef you use for your sandwiches ?

For our roast beef it's New Zealand grass fed beef

I dropped by a late morning to try the New Zealand roast beef sandwich.

I also ordered a cup of coffee. The coffee was good and the possibly

the hottest I've ever gotten here in Thailand, but the sandwich?

It was two slices of bread split in three, with a chunk of roast beef

in between. No tomato, no lettuce, and I only realized after eating the

mini-salad that came in a small separate finger-sized that it was the

"Mustard-Horseradish sauce" mentioned in the menu.

Having a few minutes earlier had no success in understanding whether

I could, as the menu seemed to indicate, chose between rare and medium

roasted beef when ordering the sandwich, I pondered, while eating one

of the three sandwich pieces, whether I should bother asking the staff

about the missing ingredients.

After chewing for a while I decided to ask, and after another moment of

confusion, I was brought a plate with three slices of tomato and some

lettuce. I had in the meantime finished the second of my three sandwich

pieces, so I ate two of the tomato slices there and then, and decorated

my last sandwich piece with the remaining slice and some lettuce.

In addition, the napkin my utensils were packed in was visibly stained

on the front, though the utensils looked clean.

Your mileage may vary of course, but I think I'll stick to Amazing

Sandwich myself, even though it's unfortunately some years since

they moved out of the centre.

PS. It appears one can not chose between rare and medium roasted beef

on the sandwich, which I'd agree would be quite unusual, though impressive,

if possible. At least I did my best to order the rare version, but got

something that was medium-to-well done.

All this because some tight b'stards won't pay 300thb to get into a club in which they get 300 thb back in vouchers off drinks (SO ITS FREE TO GET IN). The people that are moaning about it are probably the ones that go in clubs and buy a bottle of water all night which Thai's never do, which is the main reason that clubs like this charge the 300 thb. Unbelievable !!!!

I've yet to see anyone complaining about the cover charge itself. The only complaints have been about the fact

that the cover charge is only applied to a certain race/group of people. Some have even explicitly spelled

out that they would not mind the cover charge as long as it was not based on race, but you still did not get it?

Do you get it now?

ok def dont need to dish out that much. I guess Ill go to the local gym and ask

California Wow at Airport Plaza have a machine they use for this. Step on with both feet thing and

get both your weight and other details. No idea about the accuracy of this, but

I think everybody who is interested in joining is introduced to the machine, so

suspect if you show up and say your're thinking about joining, they will have you

step onto the scale so they can "asses" you. Will probably have to suffer an extended sales pitch

too, though.

Why is it everytime Thais do something wrong someone defends them and says they arent aware of they're doing. They get away with so much here and to be honest its because we let them.

Everyone gets away with a lot in Thailand, ever notice that? There are downsides, but all in all It's one of the things that I really like about this country.

Students parading around as Nazis - seems to be a bit of a tradition. Previous ThaiVisa threads haven't really come to a conclusion what it all means - most likely a combination of ignorance and a misunderstanding of history (i.e., Nazis are "cool" in some history books - surely some mistake). Maybe some day the participants will realize this. Maybe they'll never know.

One thing is for sure though: There is no danger of Thailand developing Neo-Nazis or suddenly becoming a Nazi state. Those that run around in Nazi regalia obviously have no clue about the history. Those who don't probably have never heard of it. There are other problems in this country, if you've noticed.

Is it ignorant? Sure. Evil? No.

You know I see your point but I just don't agree anymore. I used to think it was misunderstanding and perhaps ignorance but now I really do see it as evil intention to hurt.

Unfortunately I think you are giving too much credit to what the children have learned at the Sacred Heart school. Based on

my experience, most Thais know very little about history, both their own and the rest of the worlds. While this does not make

them any more stupid than others, it does sometimes make them look so to the rest of the world, especially when events like

this occur.

I would be very surprised if any of the children knew what their actions symbolize, and thus think it would be wrong to consider it evil

intent on their behalf.

As the saying goes, never attribute to malice what can easier by explained by ignorance or stupidity. Perhaps the children saw some videos

about marching nazis and thought it looked cool.

Someone needs to release the photos, you send this to the western papers and there is a big chance they will run it on their site, we have to stop putting up with this crap

This on the other hand sounds like a good idea. Hopefully the idiot tag will then be put where it belongs, on the school and the

teachers there. If it's published wide enough it might also make the parents, who may be equally uneducated about this particular segment

of the worlds history, more aware about the level of education their children receive.

After all, what parent would like his child to look like an idiot to the rest of the world due to bad teachers?

Ignorance on the childrens part is excusable, but ignorance on the teachers part is not. Teachers who are so poor at their job

should be put to more appropriate use, such as cleaning the bathrooms at hospital wardens for those suffering from food poisoning.

Strangely enough I've previously read positive comments about the Sacred Heart school here on TV. If I had a kid in that school now

I would however very seriously consider whether I was getting my moneys worth, even if my kid was there on a scholarship with all expenses paid.

Secret recipe. It's a chain and they have a branch at the fourth floor of Airport Plaza.

Think I've tried most of the others mentioned here, some twice, but would not bother to mention

any them favourably.

Edit: except "Why Not". That restaurant I have yet to try.

About a year back my old Thinkpad laptops display stopped working. I took it to a couple of shops in Pantip Plaza that I'd seen

recommended here, but the problem was not fixable without a new motherboard. I also got the chance to spend some time in

Beijing, where I managed to get Lenovo there to take it in for a look, and after a day or two, they delivered it back to

me with the same message: new motherboard required. Too expensive for this old laptop I thought, so I've been using it as a

displayless server after that, since otherwise it was working fine.

Last week I took the laptop to a random repair shop in Pantip plaza again to get a new powersupply for it. While talking

with the manager (?) of the shop, I got the impression that he, apart from speaking fairly good English, also was a

bit knowledgeable about the Thinkpad, I for no good reason mentioned the display problem and my previous lack of success.

To get to the point, he was fairly certain the problem was either a) or , and he could fix it in a day.

And he, or rather, "his expert" as he referred to one of his staff as, did it, at the estimated price.

May break down in a week or two for all I know, but so far, looks like it is working fine.

So let me recommend Mr. Khong at the "PW" shop at the second floor of Pantip plaza, close to one of the electric stairs.

Phonenumber: 08 9560 2584

I also saw they had a lot of CRT monitors they were soldering, so I'm guessing they repair most computer stuff.

Oh and btw, my other Thinkpad laptop, a T61 with a dockingstation, was stolen last week also. They didn't take the

battery for some reason though, so if anyone reading has a T61 and wants an extra battery ...

anyone gotten a re-entry permit at the airport in CM when leaving on an international flight, lately?

When I was leaving in the evening three months ago, I noticed there was a desk with a re-entry sign on it.

Thought I'd go check it out, but it remained busy for as long as I was waiting in the departure queue,

perhaps serving out a re-entry permit.

Nope. I tried to get a stamp a few years back with a fresh TR in my book. They just smiled and said no.

Returning in May used to really mess up my travel plans. Also three month window on double TR. Now, I recall getting six but things are so crazy I don't see any consistency anywhere.

Short answer - no

I suspect the poster might find this, as most other things, vary depending on who you deal with. I never had any trouble

getting stamped in on a visa exempt entry even though I had a tourist-visa or non-imm o visa in my passport that I could

have used instead. Last time was last year.

Everybody needs according the Thai Immigration law a visa when required.

Only children below 15 years old can't be fined or jailed for overstay.

So yes they need a visa but there are no fines for overstay.

I don't know if she can get problems in the future when you are returning to Thailand and she has lengthy overstay stamps in her passport.

In the same vein, I wonder what would happen at a police checkpoint. Everybody else gets out their passports and

permission to stay, but what happens with the child?

Ok, I can see what your saying. But why? What is the point of posting it?

Perhaps after some years of operation, they finally got a positive testament from somebody?

Presumably decent schools get enough positive statements to not bother starting a thread

about it when they get one.