bobmac10

I need to download these forms, and according to the Thai consuls in Australia they can be downloaded from their websites however they don't seem to be there.

Can anyone assist?

thanks

I am on Non-Imm. O valid for 1 year (mult.ent.) which I got in Aust.

The woman at the Thai consul told me that I could extend it by my married status if I deposit 400K THB in a Thai bank account.

I have had more than this in my Thai bank account for a while now so I thought I might go for the extension.

Do I extend it to a married visa when I go back to Aust. prior to the expiry of the Non-Imm O visa?

The visa expires on the 25 January and I will be back in Australia on the 13th January.

Will they extend the visa to a married 1 year visa at the Consulate in  Australia (subject to providing the required documents etc)?

thanks in advance,

I read this column in the Bangkok Post recently.

It's a very revealing and I think true assessment of the Thai character.

I am absolutely amazed that it made it into print.

I wonder how many Thais read it?

<<<<Link to Bangkok Post removed>>>>

Hey Fried, why don't you stop telling me what to do and argue the issues? A casual observer might say your posts are full of bias about an earlier era in Thailand.

I didn't ask for your criticism on my post, I asked if anyone lived in a place in Thailand where the modern life hasn''t arrived yet.

I would genuinely like to hear from posters who live in small towns where old ways are still common.

I think you may have confused the subject slightly.

My wife's mother died and the step mother was as bad as any in a fairy tale, she got beaten everyday and had to bring water in a jar from the temple, about a kilometre away. She was pulled out of school after two years and sent to look after a kid a long way from home at the age of 9. She learnt silk weaving, as well as all the associated skills necessary. 'Harder than planting rice'. She then came home, her mother continued to be bad until she died, which was the only occasion my wife ever heard her say thank you.

Her husband died early when she had three kids and she was left with 8 rai to plant with rice, by hand, walking behind a buffalo, harvesting by hand. Second husband drank all her money, divorce. Sister dies in childbirth, she takes on the boy. Kids coming home from school, no food, they go to catch frogs, rats or whatever else is to be had.She then taught herself to read and write Thai and speaks and writes English better than most school teachers. She's great and much respected. (except by young kids that look at her traditional dress and shoes).

So we are talking about the good old days, right? They were the good old days because we were 40 or 50 years younger. Disease, hunger, people literally working themselves to death, little music or dance...

come on.

Well it's a sad tale but not everyone had a life like that.

My wife and her family all rice farmers, never much money but plenty to eat.

Social life was very good, lots of festivals at the wat, I remember the lam wong evenings where the local boys would buy tickets to dance with their favourite girl under the gaze of the family, the girls would shorten their sarongs to show a bit of leg, very innocent and charming.

No-one was upwardly mobile, everyone was the same i.e. farmers getting by but extremely happy. I never saw a happier bunch, they would sit around evenings talking and laughing for hours.

I guess I'm saying that despite the improvements in the income of most people, they work longer hours, don't socialise as much, borrow money to buy things and then have to work harder to repay them.

Children are nowhere as respectful as they used to be, that is the one thing that has really changed.

Anyway, as you say, those days are gone in most of Thailand, but I was just wondering if there were places where the modern lifestyle had yet to arrive.

My point wasn't to post a 'sad story'. I, as well as a couple of other guys here, am / are trying to explain that what you thought you saw through rose coloured glasses when you were young was only a part of the story. I would say that most people in 'my' village are reasonably happy, we have some black sheep, but in general life is ok. The kids are respectful, the ladies demure and attractive, they no longer have to go cut sugar cane for ฿200.- a day which, despite the fact that they now earn in a naughty fashion, has to be better. Nobody goes hungry, my wife tells me that they work less hours than 40 years ago thanks to the machinery.

There was a lot of malaria as well as other untreated diseases in those days, incest was common, dietary insufficiencies had their consequences, village justice was harsh. Working conditions not far from slavery were common. It's not all about dancing and eating.

We no longer have village festivals but district festivals, the odd funeral or marriage livens things up.

I do believe that you only saw the good side, you have to live in these villages for years to get to know what is really going on.

I get the impression you are trying to tell me I need to take off my rose coloured glasses?

I've been here same house same street 39 years.

Do I qualify?

Drugs are now commonplace, young people getting hooked on ya ice.

Two bars have opened locally, on a weekend full of young people off their heads on what, I don't know, maybe drugs certainly alcohol.

This is all new.

People putting their farms in hock to buy a Hilux and then losing them.

These are all new phenomena.

Yes medical care is better, but have to queue for hours to see a young intern who just hands out pills like they are candy.

Pluses and minuses.

My wife's mother died and the step mother was as bad as any in a fairy tale, she got beaten everyday and had to bring water in a jar from the temple, about a kilometre away. She was pulled out of school after two years and sent to look after a kid a long way from home at the age of 9. She learnt silk weaving, as well as all the associated skills necessary. 'Harder than planting rice'. She then came home, her mother continued to be bad until she died, which was the only occasion my wife ever heard her say thank you.

Her husband died early when she had three kids and she was left with 8 rai to plant with rice, by hand, walking behind a buffalo, harvesting by hand. Second husband drank all her money, divorce. Sister dies in childbirth, she takes on the boy. Kids coming home from school, no food, they go to catch frogs, rats or whatever else is to be had.She then taught herself to read and write Thai and speaks and writes English better than most school teachers. She's great and much respected. (except by young kids that look at her traditional dress and shoes).

So we are talking about the good old days, right? They were the good old days because we were 40 or 50 years younger. Disease, hunger, people literally working themselves to death, little music or dance...

come on.

Well it's a sad tale but not everyone had a life like that.

My wife and her family all rice farmers, never much money but plenty to eat.

Social life was very good, lots of festivals at the wat, I remember the lam wong evenings where the local boys would buy tickets to dance with their favourite girl under the gaze of the family, the girls would shorten their sarongs to show a bit of leg, very innocent and charming.

No-one was upwardly mobile, everyone was the same i.e. farmers getting by but extremely happy. I never saw a happier bunch, they would sit around evenings talking and laughing for hours.

I guess I'm saying that despite the improvements in the income of most people, they work longer hours, don't socialise as much, borrow money to buy things and then have to work harder to repay them.

Children are nowhere as respectful as they used to be, that is the one thing that has really changed.

Anyway, as you say, those days are gone in most of Thailand, but I was just wondering if there were places where the modern lifestyle had yet to arrive.

I was hoping to hear from those who know or have been to places in Thailand perhaps near where they live.

there a a couple of small towns within a 30 minute drive from here where it's still very quiet, no major road passes through, the pace is very slow there.

I really wanted to get into discussing the Thais themselves and the way they are.

It seems to me that modern Thais are losing their culture so quickly it will be gone in another generation.

i liked the old traditions, for example each house had a jar of water with a ladle out the front which was filled every morning for people passing by to have a drink.

Each evening, everyone would go out and walk around the village visiting friends, just dropping in without phoning first.

"...children helping their parents at home instead of playing in the internet cafes..."

Is that a bad thing, or a typo?

Er... sorry yes it's a typo

"...children helping their parents at home instead of playing in the internet cafes..."

Is that a bad thing, or a typo?

No, I don't think it's a good thing.

I've been to the internet cafes and seen the games they are playing on line, very violent and they seem to spend hours and hours there.

Mum and dad at home working, it used to be children at home helping out with the chores.

I live in a small town in the North. I've seen such radical changes in the past 40 years, from buffalo carts to pickups. everyone walking to riding motorbikes, children helping their parents at home instead of playing in the internet cafes, and money the new god, the wat is a place to go to pray for money.

I know it's a worldwide phenomenon, but I remember how I was charmed by the country folk and their simple but happy lives here.

I wonder if such towns still exist in isolated places?

I think Australia is one country that will still have to obtain a visa on entry and pay cash US dollars for it.

Total BS

just shows the amount of respect he has for ordinary Thais.

Oh wow, really?

What a surprise.

i smell a rat

It could be that the Thai people know more about the problems facing Thailand, and the approve the steps that Khun Prayut is taking to remedy them, than a few sad, interfering falang who have to express their worthless opinions on this forum whenever any mention is made of this Government

I suppose your opinion is not worthless?

Khun Prayut has done his homework well and in planning for this coup he placed a high priority on the regular dissemination of propaganda.

Every week we have these phony polls which give the Thai nation an insight into what he wants them to believe.

Of course, with his huge ego, he needs to be loved and adored, and so this week we have this little gem.

All I can say is that the Thais I mix with take a very sardonic view of these poll "results" and carry on waiting for the day when they can express their democratic right to vote in a government of their choice.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha he he he he he ho ho ho ho ho ha ha ha ha

Oh sorry, I forgot to include Smedly in that list.

Joc , for once in your life stop being negative and spilling your nonsense.

This is Pattani where Buddhists are killed every day.

Doesn't matter low ranking or not ......he is a Buddhist monk.

I understand your feelings against him but please show some sense, as I don't think you lack of it, but you are just trying to be clever.

Rubl, Robblok, Costas et al.

You want to believe this so badly that you will suspend disbelief.

Suthep is as much of a monk as I am.

The only reason he is pretending to be a monk is because he was told to do it by the Junta after he had served his purpose of destroying the functioning of government departments.

"Go and cool your heels for a while and lay low".

What better way to try and garner some sympathy and respect than to become a holy man.

Of course those men are his armed guards.

There are millions of ordinary Thais who would love to shoot him or worse.

I bet he sleeps with guards around him 24/7.

So, go on, living in your pretend world.

When things start to turn really bad here maybe you could be the farang apologists for the strong men appearing on TV each night.

Telling everyone, don't worry about the disappearances of a few people, they're probably in hiding.

All good here in Thailand, come and enjoy a holiday in the land of the free.

It's just another example of how the junta intend to run Thailand with their appointees in all the positions of power.

It's all going to end in tears.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ho ho ho he he he ha ha ha!