gonenative

Thanks for everone's interest in this thread. And especially thank you for the tips regarding vegetarianism in Chiang Mai. To answer some of the questions...

I am fluent in Thai. I have been coming here for ten years. I can read and write. So yes I understood what was being said.

As for the thread title, I wasn't trying to be literal. I was still shaken up when I wrote it and tried to be funny (I know a lot of people who would snicker at that title) but maybe that's not obvious to everyone. Sorry if anyone felt misled. But I think the 500+ words in the body should clarify the nine words in the title.

I am not vegetarian or, if you want to get technical, I am a "pesco vegetarian". I have a food intolerance to beef and pork so I often eat pure vegetarian food. If you don't know what "food intolerance" is then please google it.

I shouldn't have initially left my wife in the restaurant, although neither her nor I realized at first what lunitics these people were. As soon as I did I went to get her.

I'm still in disbelief about what happened to my wife and I right in front of Tapae Gate in Chiang Mai tonight. We went out for a late dinner at around 10pm and, being unfamiliar with the area, found ourselves on walking street (on a Friday when it's empty) without many options but the one open Thai restauarant called [removed]. We sat down as the only customers and ordered two vegetarian dishes, and said very clearly (in Thai by my wife who is Thai and well familiar with my condition) that my body has an intollerance for pork and we'd like our food to be vegetarian. When our Tom Yum came out we noticed it had a beef brothe. We pointed this out to the waitress who acknowledged this to be true then (seemingly kindly) change the dish for us. Having had many previous reactions to unwanted pork in my food while in Thailand, I asked my wife to confirm they didn't reuse the same vegetables in the new dish (which has happened to me before), and my wife very politely asked this. What followed is that the seemingly kind watress informed the proprietor that we were being picky (which we were but as politely as possible, only twice, and only due to health reasons) which led to the proprietor coming to our table to tell off my wife using all sorts of Thai swear words and name calling. This was incomprehensible to me since nothing rude had preceeded and anyway everything was already cleared up and we were happily eating our meal. My first reaction was just to get the hel_l out of dodge and I walked out and stood in front of the restaurant. My wife stayed behind to pay the bill, although she made the mistake of trying to reduce the price to only the vegetarian versions (which we didn't eat anyway due to the brewing confrontation). This inflamed the owners' anger even more and at that point they and the staff were physically blocking my wife from leaving the restaurant. I re-entered to pull her out next to me at which point the fat owner blocked the doorway. He then pushed my chest as to thrust me backwards into the restaurant. He had clenched fists and a face like he was ready to pummle me. I called to my wife to phone the police and one of the staff apparently pulled the fat owner back. (All this just because we wanted vegetarian food!) We were offering to pay the full price for the food at that point (both versions) but they still weren't letting us leave because we "threatened" to call the police. My wife did manage to call the police. After a half hour or so, when the police still hadn't arrived, and the fat owner apparently had some time to calm down, he simply told us to pay the full price and go which we did. After heading to the guest house and to our room, locking the door behind us, and calming our fear a bit, we headed to the police station because we were still scared. The police simply said, "why are you here? it's done and you are fine".

We were not anyplace seedy -- we were just on walking street in Chiang Mai, looking for a peaceful meal. Why did this happen to us?

I booked with K @ K on Tha Pai road. His price was the same as on line.

The difference was that when I changed my take off and return dates he handled it no problem. If I decide to change my return date I just e-mail him.

For me the less hassle the better and I can change it if I am a thousand miles from there office.

Be sure to let us know if you come up with a meaningful alternative.

Maybe last minute deals are out there. Just a thought.

Can you please tell me where is K @ K travel agency, or better yet send me his phone number or email address?

Anyone know the name of his restaurant? I'm wondering if I knew this guy...

Hello fellow islanders, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this. I checked the websites of FedEx, UPS, and DHL - all of them display an error when I enter my local ZIP code here on the island. The reason I'm asking is that I need some documents shipped (quickly) to me from abroad, so I'm wondering what are my options.

Honesty is the best policy and not every one who wants to get a visa will get one. I'm sure that the embassy has another take on the rejection. Perhaps: "this guy hasn't seen this woman in a year, and he considers her as a 'girlfriend'", but I could be mistaken. Rather than guess as the "probable" cause for rejection, why not find out the real cause? Notes and applications from previous visa attempts are used in subsequent visa attempts.

As I mentioned in my original post, I am in Thailand several months every year. My gf had plenty of proof along with her at the interviews that we have met recently. The interviewer was not at all interested in that proof. I've done the best I could to find out the "real" cause for rejection. But the problem is that the interviewers are not particularlly forthcoming about the real cause. Everytime we have received the standard issue "214(" refusal with no further explanation. It's especially frustrating since my gf had loads of evidence of ties along with her, none of which the interviewer was interested in seeing.

Last November I tried bringing my girlfriend to the States on a tourist visa. It was my first try at such a thing. I naively dove straight into preparing various supporting documents with the simple assumption that "honesty is the best policy". I prepared financial sponsorship documents and instructed my gf to describe the situation exactly as we perceived it , including the nature of our relationship. The result of all that work was a rude and abrupt rejection. I contacted a local senator's office who forwarded my complaint to the embassy. We got a response which was of little actual help, but it encouraged us to apply again. The second interviewer was polite but still gave the same rejection.

I came to Thailand in January and my gf applied to study the summer in an English language program in the States. She was accepted to the school so we applied again for her visa - this time a student visa. We figured we had a stronger case this time since (1) my gf is a English teacher for Thai students, (2) the period of study coincides with a break in the school term. Other than that we followed the same strategy as before in that I was her official sponsor and we described our relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend. The result was a third rejection.

I hadn't discovered this forum before making our previous interview preparations, else I think our situation would be better than it is now. From those experiences and now reading this forum, I now know the probable reasons for rejection were (1) we described our relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend, (2) I don't have a work permit for Thailand (even though I am here several months every year).

We still would very much like to spend the summer together in the USA where she can study English and meet my friends and family. I am thinking about applying yet again. However I fully realize we need to change our strategy. My questions are as follows: Will these three rejections (all since last November) make it nearly impossible for her to obtain a tourist or student visa any time soon? Does the embassy keep notes that they refer to from one interview to the next? If my gf finds another sponsor (probably one of her relatives) then can she feasibly deny our relationship at the next interview? I mean, if she's asked about it can she say we "broke up"? (actually our relationship goes through rocky periods, and is doing so now, so by the time the interview rolls around this very well might be the truth!). Is her applying using another sponsor a good idea, or is the situation at this point pretty much hopeless? (I mean, will we need to wait until we're ready to "tie the knot" and apply for a fiancée visa.)

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.