Goinghomesoon

Martha I tried many off-the-rack traditional outfits here in Bangkok prior to my wedding. There is a whole area in Chinatown that is devoted to traditional Thai clothes for weddings. I only purchased a few bits and pieces as I already had others. But finding a whole set would not have been a problem, even in my size. I am about the same height as you and considered an XXL in Thailand (US size 12-14). I have no idea about any companies that might ship though, unfortunately.

Hi Bina

My hubs was on his parents blue tabiaan baan.

Parents subdivided their land and each child got a portion.

Hubs then got new blue tabiaan baan in the address of his piece of land. He just had to ask at the Amphur & provide land docs & ID card.

Chanote is ready to collect at the land office, hubs has to go in to pick it up and pay the land tax which they said was only a couple of hundred baht as it is farming land and being transferred from his parents, apparently familial transfers get some sort of discount.

We haven't bothered with a will here in Thailand. S'pose we should think about it, even though hubby has no assets here except this little land block in the middle of nowhere with no electricity..... Not sure about you but I don't think I would ever live permanently in hubby's village if he was no longer around. I wouldn't have a problem with his land reverting to his parents and/or siblings...

Sales must be pretty good at our Tops, Nanglinchee/Yen Akart as they only had 2 bottles of traditional flavour left when I shopped earlier this week. I picked up the mushroom flavour somewhere else, I don't think our Tops carry it. Used it in vegie lasagne and it worked perfectly. Teenage son eats a LOT. He cooks a whole packet of penne mixed with a whole jar of traditional sauce, he eats it straight from the saucepan. I could see us buying it by the case if we had space.

Funny isn't it, I don't like Central World/Zen and end up wandering in circles there. It's too big I think. Chidlom is smaller and laid out similar to my favourite department store back home but with better sales

Shopping in Bangkok last time I was there I found a department store with a huge selection of bras. Many well known brands which also listed the size in US and UK sizes.

It was on Silom, between the BNH soi and they first skytrain stop. Central, perhaps? Wish I'd paid more attention now

Hi SBK

Yes that's Central Silom, they have a huge underwear section but not so many big sizes. The Marks and Spencer section is pretty good. The M&S at Central Chidlom is better though. They have racks of bras (including sports bras) and some large sizes. They also have a proper fitting service.

GHS

Well hubs is now firmly attached to our cat and he & daughter have ganged up on me to 'at least investigate' taking our cat back to Australia from Thailand.

Oz quarantine is very restrictive. Cats must be imported from an 'approved' country. The nearest approved country to Thailand is Singapore. The cat must spend 6 months in Sing (30 days of which is in their own quarantine) before being eligible for import to Australia. On arrival in Australia she would then spend a further 30 days in arrivals quarantine.

Sounds like 7 months in kitty hel_l to me, but there you go....

In Singapore she would need to board at a cattery for 5 months (after she finishes her 1 months Sing quarantine). Anyone been through this/got any recommendations of places?

I am retired so don't have a work permit, I was invited to apply for a Thai Airways branded Amex Credit Card. Didn't really need or even want one but sent the form back out of devilment, my credit card was courierd to me a couple of weeks later, and I am now using it to rack up my Thai miles.

I have the Amex/TG Platinum card too, just showed my passport and letter from employer confirming my income (as most of my salary is paid into offshore accounts). The TG miles are nice but I particularly the decent discount we get at a couple of our favourite restaurants.

The Embassy's website has a very complete list of what should be provided at

www.austembassy.or.th/bkok/DIMA08.html

We had almost everything on the list and got a 12 month multiple entry visa issued within one day (for non-working partner with no assets and no savings).

Try Furr Purr in the soi behind the Robin Hood pub on Sukhumvit. Right up the back of the soi on the right. The owner is usually there & she speaks English.

Did you specifically discuss public holidays when you hired her? Got anything in writing, even if not a formal contract, that you can refer back to?

Yes she might be trying to 'play' you and see how much she can milk you.

Or she might generally believe she is entitled to all public holidays. If you didn't spell out ALL her employment conditions when she was hired then you might find she has very different expectations than you have. Either way it sounds like the perfect time to renegotiate to something you can both live with.

Have asked around friends, nobody knows anyone. We have a final-year Australian high school student visiting and needing a tutor for a week over Songkran and 2 weeks in July who needs help structuring essays. Where does one go in Bangkok to find a teacher for a short amount of private work?

Hi,

I wonder if you can help. I had heard of a yr long rehab program in thailand, so i googled it and hit upon this forum, and your discussion about operation dawn.

I wonder if you have the time to let me know more details please.

Since reading your post i have emailed them to ask for information, but not heard back.

I am in Perth, Western australia. I have a 31 yr old brother who has been a heroin addict for about 10 yrs. He has recently started using speed.

We are DESPERATE for a long term program. urgently.

I cant really get much real information from their website, so anything you can tell me would be great.

like, where it is, do they take foreigners, can people get in immediatly, how we go about making contact etc etc. and what the program is like.

thanks for reading.

PT

PT your distress is understandable. Is your brother on-board with a plan to send him into rehab overseas? I don't want to throw cold water on the idea, but what if he escapes or leaves the program and relapses in Thailand? Travel insurance won't cover any health issues arising from drug use and your family could be up for a big bill if anything happened to him. And if he relapsed and got caught with drugs in his possession he could be looking at a l-o-n-g time in prison.

Not saying don't try but do consider the context of how things work in Thailand.

Although hubby and I appear very different on the surface (especially with our different income levels), our family and educational backgrounds are similar. Neither of us finished high school, we both come from tight-knit, poor farming families and have each endured our share of hardship. Both of us escaped the land and moved to the city to work in minimum wage jobs. I've worked my way up the corporate heirarchy a bit. Hubby hasn't. People see us and automatically think our relationship can't survive. The reality is that I have more 'life experiences' in common with him than with most of my fellow expats. Sometimes people focus too much on differences and not enough on similarities.

Of course each couple is different so you have to find what works for you. My man and I made a point of getting to know one another away from our social groups. We were just learning about each other, but already the stereotypes were in place. Most of his friends assumed he wanted my money, most of my friends thought I had the female version of 'Yellow Fever'. I have the sense it might be difficult to get to know someone well under the constant barrage of teasing and comments. Or maybe I'm just not thick-skinned enough Some of those friends have dropped by the wayside, unable to deal with the 'spectacle' of our relationship. Conversely we've made some great new friends along the way.

The money thing is also so individual. The value my husband brings to our relationship is not related to his income. Yes it helps that (a) I easily earn enough to support us comfortably; and ( his family do not make any financial demands. But he contributes so much in non-monetary ways. He is a kind and gentle person, has taken on my children as his own and happily does a lot of "dad stuff" with them. He is learning to cook, fixes stuff at home, washes dishes and attends work functions with me. He is making a big effort to improve his English and is learning a skill that - hopefully - will lead to a job in my country when we leave here. We laugh a lot and can't imagine life any other way. We are happy and our situation is right for us.

Skyhi I say be wary, as you should with any new relationship, but don't be afraid to try.

I too would love to hear from the ladies on thai visa "what brought them to thailand"

I was transferred here with my company. Thai hubby and I will leave when my contract finishes.

I've only been to their lunch buffet. I'ts nice to look out on their lovely garden area if you are near the window. There is not as much food as the buffet at the Marriott nearby but I think the higher quality choices are still fairly similar. My Thai colleagues like ISO better than the Marriott but I would say they both aim for different clientele. ISO would be fine for a casual meal with expat or hi-so Thai friends whereas the Marriott is more business-oriented.

Firstly I would suggest she read the recent thread posted here about one person's experience with the Thai family court system as it is a very good and informative read www.thaivisa.com/forum/International-Child-Custody-Issues-t222371.html

Secondly has your friend involved the Dept of Social Development & Welfare? If the children are being deprived of adequate contact with either parent then they may be helpful and they have English speaking social workers (at least in Bangkok).

Interesting Dotcom. I was always under the impression Khmer 'beng' and teak were one and the same. When we lived in Cambodia it was always translated that way. We have a big old wooden storage chest made of it and it is really beautiful. Bloody heavy to move though.

Thisisme, although I am now married, I made several international moves as a single working mother, including when I first arrived in Bangkok. The moves with a young male teen were definately the hardest, no doubt. And my teen is a very easy-going young man.

One of the hardest issues - especially if you've not had an expat assignment before - might be that many children in the big international schools have access to a LOT of money. Even though I have a good expatriate package I just couldn't compete. That's really hard on a young teenager who desperately wants to fit in. Of course there are many kids who don't fit that mould, but most kids will see the flashy/rich ones first.

Overseas I've found there are not many options for young teens to make friends outside their school. A lot of this is language-barrier related. Because of this they spend a lot of time in school-related activities, so it is really important to find a school that is the right 'fit'. Back home my son trained with a swim squad based at a public pool. In addition to his schoolfriends this gave him friends outside school. But in each of his overseas schools the swim team has been based at the school. If your teen is not comfortable in his school it could have a bigger overall effect than it would back home.

I suggest looking up BAMBI Bangkok, while most members have younger children there is at least one with a son a similar age to yours. They are an invaluable resource to have around.

I'm trying St Louis next week (my first time at acupuncture). Quite looking forward to being a pincushion

Well Bina, May in our part of Isaan is really, really stinking hot and sweaty. Bleaugh. The yucky kind of hot where I just don't want to go there. No rain normally, but this year seems weird, these last couple of weeks we have already had a couple of random days with rain here in Bangkok.

Hubby is about to go up north for 3 weeks for temple festival (new roof, any excuse to party and eat free food) and will stay on his Dad's farm. It's pretty much as you describe, a rundown country shack, no electric but one solar panel (thank you Mr Thaksin) which runs a light and a radio and maybe a fan (if you turn off the light and radio first) and little coal burner for boiling the kettle. Other than that it's a few cows, fishing, tending the fruit trees and riding the ancient creaking bicycle to Mum's house in the village for major meals. Or boiling the kettle and cooking instant noodles and instant coffee and whatever can be picked or caught on the farm.

For me it takes at least 2 days to slow down into the Isaan groove. Even then I'm not very good at it. Neighbours think I'm hilarious, often ambling aimlessly along country roads "just looking". Hubby tolerates my walking habit and occasionally shuffles along too. Along with my sun hat and mosquito repellent I always take a ton of novels and Suduko puzzles printed from the net. Oh and a few hidden tubes of Pringles to be consumed when hubby is not around. When he goes off to do 'boy stuff' tramping through the bushes and doesn't need me around, I retire to the hammock. it might be hot and sticky but I always come away well refreshed.

How can they expect someone in a mental state to make an agreement that they will repay the outstanding bill over 7 months ? The person isn't in a fit state of mind that he can say he'll work continuously for the next 7 months. I scratch my head.

Yes Coventry I wondered the same. His long-term girlfriend apparently signed a ream of papers on his behalf. We suspect she's now his guarantor in case of non-payment. I have no doubt the hospital would have preferred the patient's signature, but when they asked him to sign his name he wrote a page-long diatribe about something entirely irrelevant.

We just gave 1,500 baht to the temple to help pay for their new roof. A lot of families gave more and some didn't give anything. Other than that we don't contribute much at all, just a few bits and bobs here and there at different festival times. When the temple roof is ready there will be a big party and each family takes a big pot of food. Hubby & I will pay for the ingrediants. I don't mind because mother-in-law will do the hard work of actually cooking it, so that works fine for me.

Well today's outcome is that they didn't agree to reduce the bill but signed an agreement for the patient to pay the hospital from his salary over the next 7 months. So the welfare office really does work. And because they come from outside the hospital they are quite impartial, or so we found in this case. It was just really hard to find their office. If we hadn't been 'tipped off' by our friend we would never have known they were there. The social worker told my hubby they are not permitted to walk around the hospital, they are instructed that patients must find them.

Somdet Chaophraya was actually our first phone call after the patient was hospitalised. But he needed surgery to repair the physical damage from the self-harm. SC said they would not take patients who require wound care because they don't have adequate facilities or staff. They did say that once healed, if he has not responded adequately to current psych meds that we should bring him in.

Hi, thanks Sheryl that information was very helpful (thanks Coventry too although we didn't see your post til we got home tonight). We had a pretty successful outcome and used your info to maximum effect

The two most important things that we found were:

(1) the need - as usual - to engage the help of an influential Thai friend who knew the hospital system well. She advised the famly members on how to approach the situation and assisted through her medical contacts to put some selective pressure on medical staff.

(2) that every govt hospital has a Dept of Health welfare office. In this case it was hidden on the 8th floor of one of the back towers with no sign on the door. This is where patients who are destitute or unable to afford to pay in one lump sum can negotiate to make regular payments, or have their debt written down (or written off in extreme cases). The welfare office also turned out to be excellent advocates for the patient. After reviewing his file and making some calls the head of the office immediately rang the ward and requested a psych assessment. As you can imagine, this made the main treating doctor very displeased, which made the subsequent return to the ward quite unpleasant.

The best surprise of the day was that the psych was a very approachable, down-to-earth older lady. She talked to the whole family as well as the patient and actually took the time to take extensive background notes. Actually I shouldn't be surprised, but after seeing the other doctor operate it was a nice reminder that most medical staff are professionals.

Thanks to those who posted, the information was invaluable and hopefully our family member is now on the road to being stabilised.