midasthailand

The Bridges of Maddison County, starring Clint Eastwood and some bimbo, worst movie my wife ever forced me to go to and even she thought it was crap!! Any movie that has Cint Eastwood crying is not for male viewing.

Hi all, I am arriving in Bangkok 17th Oct and will be in the market for a rental property . As I don't expect to be earning a fortune, I have budgeted for 10,000 Baht/ month. If anyone knows of any clean studio or 1 bedroom furnished apartments available in my budgeted price range I would appreciate it if you could PM me with details. Thankyou in advance.

Looks interesting, where exactly is Thong Lo say in relation to Silom/Sathorn? I arrive in country 17th Oct and will be looking for a place to rent for 1 year.

Well Shenanigans has survived for 10 years already, you cant say that about too many beer bars.

The old bar was in a crap location, downstairs in a basement which you could not see from the road, since the Marriott put up the wall infront of it after the Jakarta bombing. The new location is a vast improvement, and when the mall is fully up and running I think Shenanigans will clean up.

Simon the manager did a number of interviews on tv, but the interview that the OP is talking about was done with the majority shareholder who lives in England. You can take his comments with a pinch of salt. But if anyone thinks that Pattaya is not changing, is just kidding themselves. Yes there will always be an abundance of nighlife for us mongers, but there will also be alot more alternatives. 6 years ago the only fine dining establishments outside the major hotels, was Bruno's and Mata Hari, now they are springing up everywhere.

But for all the new malls, hotels and condo's being built, as we all know the basic infrastucture is just crap - same as it was a decade ago. I have lost count of the number of times beach road has been dug up, in the 10 years I have been here. They seem to start but never finish any of these road projects. As I understand the new Big C which is under construction in Central Pattaya, will run a new power cable down from Sukhmvit so I guess Pattaya Klang will be dug up yet again.

As for the OP saying that he was offended by these comments, I can only guess that he must be very sensitive!!!

Cheers

A couple of my Aussie mates have been running Jan Bar (now called Roo Bar) on Walking street for over 20 years and are still going strong. Seems to me if you are visiting Pattaya for the party/nightlife scene you would avoid places like Shenanigans like the plague, there is nothing there to interest the run of the mill western male tourist. As for the bus loads of Indian/Chinese/Taiwanese tourists, I always find it quite amusing to watch them being herded along walking street for the five minute gawk at the Russian Dancer in the window before being herded back to their bus.

And if you don't have 800 K? Also 800 K is not a few amount. How many thai people spend 800 K in one year, for living expenses?

There are many retired people that can't have 800k but have just about 30 /40 or 50 K a month. Just 30/ 40.000 baht a month you can living very well in Thailand.

If someone from a western country reaches their age of retirement and does not have a pension of ~$2000 USD a month or $25,000 USD saved, then how were they planning on surviving? If you do not have this minimal amount of money then you have surely failed in planning for your retirement. Or if you are retiring early, you should probably rethink that.

If you are truely retired and cannot meet this requirement, move back to your home country, get a job, save your money like crazy for a couple of years, and then come back.

Jim

Ever heard of a thing called DIVORCE Jim?

Thanks a lot guys, I'm no stranger to border runs so it won't be much of an imposition to do one run to Arunyapratet (I like the markets there anyway). Appreciate the responses.

Dave

Hi all, I went to the Thai Consulate in Sydney today to submit my application for a double entry tourist Visa. I am leaving for Bangkok on 17 October and assumed that this would be the start date for my Visa, but the consular official told me that the start of the three months is todays date 12 September and that I would have to use my second entry before three months from todays date, This effectively robs me of 1 month of my intended six month stay.

Can anyone out there confirm that the consular official is right and if so, is there any way for me to fix this so that I get my intended six months when I am in country?

Having noticed how knowledgeable you lot are I expect somebody will know the answer. Thankyou in advance

Dave

I am a 55 YO Australian with a pension income of 120,000 Thai Baht/Month. I intend going to Thailand with a view to retiring there, on a 3 month single entry tourist visa. My question is: Having had my Embassy validate my pension income and provide a letter confirming same, is it just a matter of presenting to Immigration with my passport and the letter? Or are there other requirements?

All advice gratefully accepted.

After36 years in the Australian Navy I finished with 5 medals: The Australian Active Service Medal with clasp East Timor, The Australian Service Medal with clasp Solomon Islands, The UN INTERFET Medal, The Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with four clasps and the Australian Defence Medal. Unlike the US military we do not get to wear the campaign medals earned by our ship since commissioning, nor do we get medals for marksmanship, being wounded Etc.. Pretty much the same as all Commonwealth countries Defence forces.

With respect to the Royal Thai Military service decorations, as has been pointed out in several earlier posts, because of conscription most Thai males have served in the military and would have been involved in some theatre of action where they would have earned the right to wear medals. Some 1600 Thai Army were in East Timor (I was there with them as the Liaison Officer between their Battalion HQ and INTERFET HQ). Most Thai military officers above the rank of Major will have been to Staff College, either in Thailand or overseas and will wear their Staff College Graduation insignia on their Right breast. Of course as with any military, the higher the rank achieved, the more decorations (after all we can't have the rank and file looking better than the General staff can we?).

At the end of the day, it would be a brave man that demeaned any decorations worn by Thais regardless of their current status in life because if they are wearing them they probably earned them and are justifyably proud of them.

Hi, I've been on for a while, I am an Australian retired Naval Officer and intend teaching English in Thailand. I am a Thai linguist and worked at the Aussie Embassy from 1996-98. I find this site most helpful and you guys all seem to be quite laid back so I shall continue to enjoy visiting Thai Visa.

Also, a year ago I (an American) entered Thailand on a visa waiver stamp, converted to an O visa as lopburi3 mentions, and ended up with a one-year extension for retirement. My experience is detailed on The express lane to a Thai Retirement Visa within Thailand and I know the process still exists and works today.

That said, however, Lite Beer has a good point that retirement in 2011 could be completely different

Many thanks for a very informative and interesting summation of how to go about obtaining a retirement visa. I will try your method and hopefully get the same result (even though I'm an Aussie).

I was told the other day that....

Naa neu jai suar young tur (face, body, heart of the tiger) from the bird+seksun song meant "she is 2 faced".

I then asked what does "Tur naa song" mean and he said "2 faced".

anyone confirm this?

Tur= he/she

Na = Face

Song= two

Tur Na Song= He/She is two faced =confirmed

Thanks peaceblondie, I guess I'll have to "suck it and see" when I come back to Thailand in October.

Unknown, with the following qualifiers:

a. It seems to be getting harder and harder for those with no real bachelor's to get the full paperwork as new teachers in Thailand whether as TEFLers or not;

b. Those who were grandfathered in under the older, more lenient rules are still seem to be ok under that former system.

It would certain make sense if this were the case- after 3 years in a classroom doing TEFL, you should've learned something from it.

Moved to Questions About Qualifications.

Sorry about that, as you can see I'm a newbie and I wanted to ask a question about my qualifications and their suitability to satisfy the current Ministry of Education rules. I have recently completed TEFL training in Thailand and I have the following Tertiary qualifications: Graduate Certificate in Electronics Analysis, Graduate Diploma in Electronic Engineering Management, Diploma of Engineering in Electronic Systems and Advanced Diploma of Thai Language.

Thanks for your help.