bangkoksingapore

I read an article recently saying that foriegners are now allowed to buy land in Vietnam. I am not sure that I trust the Viet government enough to folllow through on this generous offer, but it does seem to symbolize that Vietnam is opening its arms to foriegners while Thailand is making it more and more difficult for us to stick around.

I have the following questions about Vietnam -

I am not yet of retirement age and I am married to a Thai lady. I do not work (early retirement). What visa possibilities are available for us to live in Vietnam?

What is the biggest and most useful place for information about Vietnam on the internet? Is there a Vietnam equivilant to ThaiVisa?

What is the cost of living in Vietnam compared to Thailand?

What is the public transportation like?

Are there grocery stores in Vietnam?

Are there ATMs in Vietnam?

What is the nightlife like in Vietnam copmared to Thailand?

Do perfer Hanoi or Saigon? What are the good and bad qualities about both cities?

if there is a global recession, naturally the property market shall suffer.

I have a Hong Kong mobile sim card and if I dont add money to it soon, my service will be interupted. Does anyone know if it is possible to purchase the Smartone Vodaphone top up cards in Bangkok?

Thanks.

Suppose that you are arrested by the Thai Police for something that you feel would normally be treated lightly. Maybe you got into a shoving match with someone else and a cop happened to be coming out of 711. Maybe your Thai girl friend took you too a party and the Cops decide to raid a dice game while you are there. Perhaps you went to an after hours bar that got raided. Someone half your size tried to pick your pocket and you caught him with a mean left hook. For whatever reason, the Thai police believe that you did something wrong and you are taken down to the police station.

What is your course of action? Do you call a lawyer. Do you call any of your Wife's powerful friends? Do you call your embassy? Do you allow the police to question you alone? Do you ask for an interpreter if their english is only So-So? Do you willingly sign a piece of paper that is not written in English? Do you offer money or wait for them to ask? Do you have the right to make a phone call? What rights do you have in Thailand? If you ask to call your embassy and they refuse, what should you do?

The examples I gave at the start of this post usually will not have you in very much trouble, but lets pretend that you did something more drastic. You felt the need to use self defense and hit someone with a bat. You accidently hit someone with your car. Someone brought drugs into your car without you knowing and it got searched. In these more serious circumstances, do your answers to the above questions change?