Brigante7

I'd say that on 25,000 per month things would be too tight for comfort, especially if the exchange rate worsened any further. The medical aspect is a big worry for most older expats, though the costs of routine treatments are cheap. Also the UK pension will not be increased with inflation because Thailand is a country where this does not apply. I do know one man in a similar situation, who built up a greater comfort margin by doing part-time English teaching in a school (no qualifications), but this is in a smaller NE city. P.S wrote this before seeing post 2 but I will leave it as it is.

If he opens a Nationwide account to get his pension paid into then he will get the inflation increases and use his cashline card in Thailand.

Not 100% legal but if he's paid his NI contributions all his working life then why not?

For those Americans that are here there are 4.5 Liters in a Gallon which means in the UK right now petrol costs £4.59 per gallon which is equivalent to $7.80 / Gallon, and this is cheap. Aren't we lucky ?

Anyone in the UK who is pissed off about high fuel costs should start with their own <deleted>' government first. Approximately 56% of your petrol cost is government taxation. That's the power of central government in depriving you of your right to keep more of the money you have earned and spend it as you see fit. Instead, they take your money and spend it as they see fit. That's taking it up the gazoo with no lubrication each and every time you have to go to the pump. I'm substantially unsympathetic. (BTW, Yanks are only slightly better off, where state and federal tax accounts for roughly 15-25% of the cost.)

56%? I wish, try more like 80%.

as far as i can tell airline prices and other items from food to clothing prices have stayed the same?

whats the deal?

inflation?

did they just decide that they can make more money charging more on less volume?

In a word, Yes. Seems like Thailand is just the same as the UK, robbing cun_ts.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Thaksin's wife a convicted criminal and isn't there warrants out for Thaksin's arrest? If so then they shouldn't have even been let into the country in the first place, send them straight back and once they have either been freed by the courts or served their time then by all means let them apply for for asylum.

The massage is done by blind (sightless) men and women. Its one way they can earn a living and keep face. They don't have to beg.

Thanks for the reply, I had a feeling it was along those lines but I thought that it was to obvious an answer.

Pardon my ignorance but <deleted> is a blind massage?

Makes me glad that I've no stocks & shares, about £1,000 in savings, no debts and am mortgage free although I am paying for other peoples greed through higher utility, fuel and food prices.

I don't now where he gets his info from but you cant just walk in and get an Indefinite leave to remain visa for the UK. he is not even guaranteed to get a 2 year spouse visa.his lady friend will not even be able to apply for the ILR till 2 weeks before the end of her 2 year visa.It will not be cheap either , my mrs' spouse visa cost about £350 some 3 1/2 years agoand I am sure the ILR visa now costs in the region of £1750.

A 2 year Limited leave to remain visa is £395 by post and £595 in person and an Indefinite leave to remain visa is £700 by post and £950 in person. An indefinite leave to remain visa can only be obtained by going through the life in the UK test or by attending, completing and passing an ESOL course, which my wife is going through now.

Hi,

I've been searching through this forum, and I can't really find an answer to my question. Basically, I am looking into buying a house in thailand wih my wife (with cash borrowed mostly through UOB, with my funds). Now, I understand I cannot own the house outright. But is it possibe to out it into my baby's name? He is only 2 years old, but is this still possible? I have read elsewhere about getting a usefestruct (or something) and will look into this, just in case all goes wrong (heaven forbid) but if I could simly put it in my child's name, would he then be the rightful owner? I'm just a little concerned, if something happened to my wife, I would have no rights to the house that I had paid for.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi Cowman1, I'm in the same boat as you, I have a 1 year old son with UK/Thai passports and I want to put our land in his name when we buy next year. I trust my wife 100% but not her family. I want to make sure that if my wife dies then everything doesn't go to her family and my son is catered for.

I asked this question before but I never got a definite answer.

I have caused some problems for a lady in Thailand and need to send her some money £100-200

She says she has a bank a/c and I read that I can do an electronic transfer.

I bank with HSBC

Can you advise?

Are you in the UK? If so then send it from any Post Office, don't know how much HSBC will charge but PO is quick and easy, all she has to do is go into any branch of Siam bank the next day with her I.D. and colect the money. I think PO charge £24 for amounts up to £999 and I've always had a great rate as it is sent in GBP and changed in to Baht over there, hope this helps

Think you should read all the posts....dont think this guy is interested anymore in sending money to this girl

LMFAO, true, that's what happens when you read Thaivisa after drinking to much.

Where were they born?

Do they have US passports?

Can you not travel to Thailand and bring them home?

You might think about the fact that around 30% of thai people carry TB, though not all these the highly infectious kind.

This is the reason why all visa apps fpr more than tourist visit demand a certificate stating clear of TB for UK

Please provide a source for this statement.

The U.K. goverment demands that all Thai nationals who are coming to the UK for moore than 6 months must have a TB check, I know this because my Fiance, now wife, had to have the test.

I have caused some problems for a lady in Thailand and need to send her some money £100-200

She says she has a bank a/c and I read that I can do an electronic transfer.

I bank with HSBC

Can you advise?

Are you in the UK? If so then send it from any Post Office, don't know how much HSBC will charge but PO is quick and easy, all she has to do is go into any branch of Siam bank the next day with her I.D. and colect the money. I think PO charge £24 for amounts up to £999 and I've always had a great rate as it is sent in GBP and changed in to Baht over there, hope this helps

Have been bitten many times in LOS but twice was very bad, I was in bed very ill, hot sweats, severe shits, badly swollen ankles and the last time I was in Los I got bitten just before I came back home and 3 days after coming home I was in bed for 1 week delerious and eventually had to be taken to the hospital suffering badly from hallucinations, scary stuff but apart from that it's been not to bad.

My 1 year old son Vincenzo, the wife is already planning on him becoming a famous TV star in Thailand, lol.

My 1 year old son has my wife's (Thai) eyes and issan nose and is tall for his age and is much leaner than most kids his age, he has never had any baby fat, whereas I still have all mine, lol.

I'm 1/2 Scottish & 1/2 Italian and my wife is 3/4 Thai and 1/4 Chinese so our son has a crazy mix, he has beautiful olive coloured skin and goes very dark in the sun very quickly.

My wife speaks Thai to him all the time and I speak english to him all the time and he understands both, I would speak Thai to him but when I try my wife just laughs at me.

Situation totally normal there (Thai wives laughing at our Thai language attempts!).

What a great cultural mix there!

Wonder if he's going to be a bagpipe-playing racing driver, moonlighting as a Thai chef in a Beijing restaurant?

Good luck all round!!

LOL, yeah, thanks.

Only the Royal Thai Embassy in London use the sticker.

The Consulates in Hull, Birmimgham, Cardiff and Glasgow use a stamp.

Since when did Glasgow issue visa's? When I went through last year I was told by the consulate that Glasgow does not issue visa's.

My 1 year old son has my wife's (Thai) eyes and issan nose and is tall for his age and is much leaner than most kids his age, he has never had any baby fat, whereas I still have all mine, lol.

I'm 1/2 Scottish & 1/2 Italian and my wife is 3/4 Thai and 1/4 Chinese so our son has a crazy mix, he has beautiful olive coloured skin and goes very dark in the sun very quickly.

My wife speaks Thai to him all the time and I speak english to him all the time and he understands both, I would speak Thai to him but when I try my wife just laughs at me.

I sell ice cream in Scotland and am thinking about opening a place with my wife (Thai) when we move there, atleast they have the weather. Probably rent a shop to set up business but have to discuss it with the wife (Boss) first.

Cheap, basic and clean with good A/C.

City lodge Sukhumvit soi 9 is good, have good deals for 3 night stays, A/C is great and perfect location.

Slightly out of the city I would like to see a low-rise motel with plenty of parking and a swimming pool (Just like the many they have in the USA) or are there already some and I just haven't seen any?

Contact lenses if you wear them. That yearly required checkup in a lot of states is annoying for those with nearly frozen vision (mine is unchanged for the last 15+ years).

Slightly off topic,

Couldn't believe that contact lenses were more expensive in Thailand than in the UK.

To start with it is not Falang it is Farang

That would depend on which rominization you are using... and the one I used, it is falang

So, start with that.

The "falang" / "farang" spelling argument has been done to death and only the pedantic amongst us really care how it's spelt.

I always thought it was spelt Farang but pronounced Falang due to Thais pronouncing the letter R as L, my wifes sisters name is spelt Rung but is pronounce as Lung.

it is not farang. it is not falang. it is ฝรั่ง

learn to read/write thai then there will be no need for petty "my transliteration is better than yours" debates.

Then you had better tell my Thai wife that because she spells it Farang but pronounces it Falang.

Pac Man, Asteroids and Space Invaders on the old Atari games system back in the early 80's

Here here and I would also ad Galaxing to that and Hero, and of the modern games, nothing comes close to Doom, Colin McRae 2 & TOCA 2 Touring cars.

Well, Chaimai, I am a single male with TGF and really looking to kick back and relax after working over twenty years.

I am not retired but trying to take couple of years off before starting again.

I am not looking to party anymore and from what I hear Pattaya is very active party town.

Fact that Pattaya is close to Bangkok is plus but I want peace and quite. Beautiful beaches and breathtaking sunset is must.

Carefull with taking a couple of years off and then going back. I took a couple of years off in 1984 (on my 50th birthday) and never did make it back to work. Found out it is way to much fun being retired.

Let me confuse the issue a little more, my wife and I live in Cha Am about 15-20 minutes north of HH

Since you not into the party scene it might suit you.

It is quieter than HH

No night life

IMHO better beaches than HH

Less expensive than HH

Closer to BKK

Not as close to mall shopping

Great fresh food market

Not yet discovered by farangs much

A nice place to live.

But suggest you come to LOS rent for 6-12 months and look around. I think it is a nice place to live.

Spent 5 nights in Ch-Am in February and 1 night in Hua-Hin, my opinion,

Beach far superior in Ch-Am

Less tourists in Cha-Am

Better food shopping in HH (Cha-Am doesn't have a big supermarket)

Amazing seafood in Cha-Am (So says the wife)

Cha-Am smaller and better layed out

Far less choice of farang food in Cha-Am (I don't like Thai food).

ok guys I am pressed for time but you can not tell me you never ever watched that. It is up to you if you like it or not I always say I can get my appetite but I eat at home

nobody will admit to that

want another bet ?

Not only have I watched it in Thailand, I bought 500 DVD's and brought them back to Scotland.