mickj88

lol Phaethon beat me to it .

I agree the bogus url should be removed, @ £399 for a spouse visa I am sure that's too expensive, in fact I will find out soon enough as will be applying for one myself in Feb / March.

The link to the Hull consulate is www.thaiconsul-uk.com

Hope this helps

My wife and I are currently residing in the UK with a house in Issarn, We have been trying for a baby for around 5 years now and no luck. About 2 years ago we went to see the doc and got referred to our local hospital, after tests I was given the all clear but the wife was found to have "blocked tubes". She went under the knife and one was opened.This was 8 months ago, since then she has been on fertilzation enhancing drugs but is only allowed these for a period of time which wil end in 2 months.

The hospital has informed us that after this time our only option will be IVF and we would have to pay because I already have a child from a previous marriage. The costs here in the UK are between £6,500 and £7,200 which I am sure would be a lot less in LOS.

Does anyone have any recent experience in this matter ,if so I would be greatfull for your input as my wife is planning on coming back to Thailand for goood in March next year with me following once I have sold up here in the UK.

It strikes me as a waste of money, Thailand doesn't need an air force at this moment in time.

It would make more sense to spend the money elsewhere on other things.

If they feel they need some air defense then why not let nato have an air base there or the US/ UK airforces have bases there.

oh i forgot they would not issue work permits for the foreign forces or if they did,the red tape required would take too long to get through !!

There are far too many people speculating on here without facts to back up their views.

The only true fact is that all of this trouble stems from one thing and one thing only and that is that one person is to blame for the current state of things in Thailand......Sonthi.

If he hadn't of gotten stupid and overthrew an elected and therefore legal and world recognized PM/ government then this would not of happened.He should have collated any proof of irregularities and put them forward during the next election.

I don't agree with a lot of what the reds have done just as I didn't agree with the Yellows disrupting the airport etc but replacing the ruling party should have been done legally and the people of Thailand should have been given the chance to elect their government ,instead of the army instating what I see as a puppet and illegal government.

I have no alliances to any one in Thailand politics just as I don't in the UK in fact the way I see it is "who ever you vote for ,the government wins", but that does not stop me respecting that everyone has the right to vote and that this right should be given in any "free" country.

It is my belief that had Sonthi left things alone that the majority of the troubles over the last few years would not of happened so the fault lies with him and his generals .

So the point of the rubbish being caused by ferang will be proved over the next few months as visitors to Thailand drop by some 60 to 70% due to the troubles .

I know of around a dozen people that have canceled their hols already as the British embassy ( and many others) are telling people to avoid the place.

This means the litter problem should be greatly reduced and therefore to rat problem will also diminish (I think not).

maybe that was the plan all along , maybe the red shirts caused the trouble to keep ferang away so the litter would be reduced

[ Last time it cost me 250 baht, since the police had a "driving-without-helmet-pocket money-day", which cost me 200 baht. Strange that after I had paid the ticket, I could continue driving without helmet ]

Should ask your guy to cut it helmet shaped next time ,you may not get stopped then

On a slightly different note i went to our usual 7-11 type shop in the local town for some milk but they had none,went across the road to a different sop bought some and the cheeky git asked me for a tip.My wife was with me and told them where to get off .As I am only in the area for a couple of months a year on 2 occations they must not of recognized me where as the other shop know me as I use them all the time when in LOS.

My wife and I are coming to live in Thailand in at some point in the next 18 months to 2 years.

We already have a house that was built 2 years ago and is in my wifes name but I would need some kind of income as the £30,000 I will have after i sell up in the UK will not last for ever. (I will have nearer £40 -£45k but figure I would leave £10k in a Thai bank account to cover my spouse visa application)

My thought/ question is, If I was to invest all the money into a small business ,obviously that would be in my wifes name. Would my or could my investment be on a personal loan basis plus interest so that my wife could pay me a set amount each month as a loan repayment to give me an income till the loan was re-payed ?

So say if she was to pay me £500 per month = to repayment + interest = to £6000 per year. Therefore it would take her 5 years to repay the loan + however much interest say 5% = to £1.500 so that would be another 3 monthly payments.

Would this be OK to work it this way in Thailand, providing we draw up a loan contract through a lawyer of course ?

Just a thought as I would be getting my initial investment back ,could even double the re-payment time to 10 years and 6 months @ say £250 per month .

just looking for an easy-ish way around the whole complicated Thai business ownership laws etc.

I know many people use the Nationwide flex account to draw money from UK accounts as for many years its been the cheapest way to draw money from Thai atm machines.

Today I got a letter with bad news for all, the next generation of flex account cards WILL NOT I repeat WILL NOT be usable in atms outside of the UK.

The new cards will be issued from July onwards, they can still be used anywhere in the world as a debit card but no longer as an atm card other than in the UK.

I imagine this may affect a number of people on here. It certainly will make it more expensive for my Mrs to send money back to her parents when we are in the UK, it shouldn't affect you "full time expats" or at least not too much.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news people but thought you would all like to know about this now so you have time to make other arrangements. Apparently Santander are doing a worldwide free withdrawal account but it is only available to those with a mortgage through them .

Coming from the airport go through the entrance arch into the city, straight on through the roundabout for about 400yards /meters.On your left just before the entrance to the shopping mall( on the right) is a service / gas station.The rent vehicles in there, I got a Honda jazz from them 3 years ago and it was 800 baht a day which was 100 baht a day less than avis at that time. so over 12 days meant i pretty much got a day and a half for free.sorry I cant remember the name ,just go into the shop and ask at the counter I am sure the have a selection on vehicles.

I usually book online these days this year I have booked with these..

http://www.fastcarhire.co.uk

It costs around 1000 baht a day for a pickup over a 10 day period.

Hope this helps.

Its not really up and running properly as yet.It is not due finished and running at its full potential till 2011/2012 ( its a 3 year build project), the government are supposedly spending some 2.5 billion baht on making it a big touristy place with a complex full of endangered species . They will be trying captive breeding and also there's to be a large aquarium.I read somewhere they were putting a water park in as well but cant see it myself.

It is indeed at Kohsuankwang (7KM East) around 8km from our house.As we are currently back in the cold and snowy UK I haven't had chance to get out and see how they are getting on with the park but will be having a look when we come back (will be after all the songkran nonsense).

If it does all get built to its full potential it should be a zoo to rival Changmai's so here's hoping, it is ideally situated almost half way between Udon and Khonkaen and khosuankang like many of the local districts may benefit from any tourism.

Never done the bus but have done the overnight train ,i think its about 380 baht to khonkaen so should imagine a little more to udon ,from around 457. its a long trip about 8 1/2 hours to KK so can add another hour or 2 to udon, you do get a bed of sorts though.

I have just got a price of 5,598 BAHT return with air asai for 2 of us but thats for april so think the price is up for songkran.

You could hire a car for around 1200 baht from thai rent a car and drive up dropping the car at udon will cost around 500 baht on top for gas but still is cheap if your not travelling alone.

Did you know there is now a visa office in Khonkaen , just a thought may save you time and the trouble of going to vianchen but if you have to go then I would agree that Udon seems to have more to offer.

This seems to have turned into a brit bash fest, The op was not about bad behaviour (which I have seen in Thailand form all nationalities even Thais).

It was about how many brits die there compared to other world wide destinations.

I have been coming to los for 6 or 7 yrars and was informed of this fact in a daily newspaper some 6 years ago read by a friend of mine 2 weeks before I flew out.

I would be interested to see how many aussies ,yanks and other nationalities are involved every year in fatalities. I would bet there would be as many involving them as there are brits,its just that their foreign offices havent posted figures like the UK has.

Yes there are some total planks around but they certainly aren't the majority, and not all the fatalites are involving drunks/ bad behaviour.

I knew a guy who died on a bike a few years ago going from phuket to his dads house at the country park ,he just got caught in a heavy rain storm and came off and slid under a truck. He wasnt drunk and had ridden bikes for years in los, it was just a tragic accident.

This will not put me off coming as i have always known there is an inherent danger in visiting developing countries, besides that, my mrs would not be happy if we didnt visit the family and would accuse me of dissliking them if I stopped coming

1, if he drew out £1500 he would of got it from the teller in the Lloyds bank.

2, the Thai teller may not have recognized the new style £20 note,

3,around 5 years ago I was changing some cash in patong and the teller wouldn,exchange a bank of scotland £10 as he said he didn't know what it was,

4, only 4 years ago i drew £500 from barclays bank over the counter, 5 mins later went to pay it in at yorkshire bank only to be told that 2 of the not real , took them back the the branch who issued them who exchanged them for me.I think they only did this because I had banked with that branch for over 16 years and the staff new me pretty well.

5, what happened to innocent till proven guilty ?

6, while watching Thai global network news last week there was a raid on a counterfitting opperation in Bangkok where they found millions of fake baht, whats not to say thet they were printing other currencies as well, lets face it you can buy fake dvd's cd's , footy shirts ,and other clothes so why not money ?

I am not saying that its a scam but anything is possible, He may well be guilty and if so then sum num nar, but till proven I have an open mind as mistakes are made by all of us at times and the teller may have made one.

Sum num nar,

He deserves all he gets, and for those who feel sorry for his daughter, do you not think she will grow up better off without a drug runner for a father who could well be a smack head himself.

The little girl may just now have a chance at a normal decent upbringing as long as she can get over the stigma of her idiotic father.

No matter how hard things get i would never risk drug running its a dam_n right stupid thing to do especially in Thailand.

My friends wife is from Bang Fang. it is out to the west of Khonkaen, you can fly to khonkaen airport and instead of heading to the city centre you head the other direction for about 8 to 10 km. I seem to remember there is a motorcycle shop on the left hand side of the road and if you turn left takes you into the main area.

I dont think the population is much higher than maybe 1500 t0 2000 people and there are no hotels .

I am not sure where your travelling frombut dont expect the comforts of Bangkok or Pattaya once there your in "the real Thailand", I found the village a great experiance when I first hit Issarn, we now have built what I can only describe as a proper house so I can have all my softy western conforts .

I would suggest staying in one of the khonkaen hotels once you arrive and maybe getting a taxi to bangfang for your first visit at least then if your uncomfortable you can head back to the hotel where you have AC and dont have to sleep on the floor.

I am sure you will have a great time and am certain you will be made to feel really welcome as issarn folk are very warm towards ferang.

have a great trip if you make it.

I was stopped for being in the wrong lane, I told my wife to tell the officer that had I of been in the left hand lane I would of crashed into the the 3 trucks that were travelling at 25kms an hour , she didnt she told him it was my first time driving in Thailand instead.It worked as he waved me on without charge.

Depending on what your little road trip is looking for , I would suggest carrying on past KK to Udon as there is a larger night life scene there, specially when there's football on over the weekend. Theres even a gogo there if you can find it.Coming up from Pattaya Udon would be a little more like what your used to and its only another 90mins drive or so.

Thanks for the replies Gunga & Bob, I will be returning to los on sunday so will go to kK on Tuesday and have a shop around. We have the plans for our house so can work out the room area from the plans to tell us what size of units we will require. i was just wondering if anyone had an actual company that they could reccomend as thats usually the best for of advertisement.

We always fly down from Udon as they have direct flights to Swampy and a choice of times.

This of course means having to drive to udon but for us is only 45 mins to an hour.

If you wanted you could fly to Dom Muang on Nok air and then a taxi to swampy , it depends on what time your flight out is .

Last year our house was finished in Issarn halfway between KK and Udon, At the time we did not put in any air-con units but I am now looking to do so.

Can anyone recommend someone in eithr Udon or Khonkaen as weare only an hours drive from the 2. I know bigC are selling units from 16,900 THB but assume this doesn't include install costs and would ideally like to get a whole installation package if possible.

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.

Good posts,

Carib though I thought you reply should read " they volunteer so they think they are needed".

There are a lot os small minded morons around I blame it on their up bringing .

My parents have just been to LOS for 2 weeks and did not make any presumtions about Thai-ferang relationships but my mum did comment that there seemed to be alot of older ferang with younger thai girls ( when we went to Phuket/ patong ). I explained that in some instances the girls were actually older than they appear and pointed out that my wife although 26 years old gets asked for ID in the UK as she looks a good 9 or 10 yearsyounger than she is.

My dad then pointed out that there are a large number of bar girls in patong and I addaed with the fact that they provide for their families with monies given by the ferang. She replied saying that she was only making a comment and not judging the girls.

One thing these volunteers dont realise is that the older thai generation are set in their ways , for instance 2 years ago I supplied the funds for the materials to build my inlaws a house. when the house was finished I asked what had happened to the toilet (as marked on the plans), the reply from mother in law to my mrs was " we are putting a Thai toilet in a lean-too outside. I am pretty sure that when Mother in law stays at our house ( 2 indoor loos) that she actually goes home to use the thai toilet.

Some years back wealthy friend moved his aging inlaws from issan ahere they lived in an old wooden house on stilts to a fully renovated and furnished town house, it cost him £24k and thats 5 years ago.After living there for only 3 weeks they gave him the keys and returned to there old house (obviously preffered the floor to the sofa/ bed etc). Its this kind of thing that these peace corp types don't see .

we have just had a week in Karon , its very quiet and is family friendly.

The beach in nice but you can't swim as there is a strong rip curl. we stayed at the old phuket hotel which is 100m from the beach ,it was cheap and cheerful, by this I mean it wasn't a high class place but was clean and the pool had a kiddies pool next to the main with seperating safety bars. the rooms are made up daily and there is a small soi you walk up on the way to the beach with a number of resaraunts on it ( Ging was our favourite as we found the food there was great value and my wife hitit off with the staff).

Personally I prefer Samui to phuket but I feel there are a few more attractions in Phuket and seeing as we had my son (11 years old) and my parents (68 and 66 ) with us ,we decided on phuket this visit.

I would suggest paying a visit to sawadee.com to look for hotels I use them about 90% of the time when booking hotels in LOS.

The German - Thai solar panel company is in Khosuankwang between Udon and Khonkaen. If you seek out jibber on this site and send him a PM I am sure he will give you a contact or even help you out himself as he works there.he is a ferang so no problem with his english.

i thought abpout installing solar panels at our house but with the electric bill only being about 450/ 500 baht a month idint see the point at this moment in time. I may look into it when I am spending more time in LOS but till such a time its not economically viable for me.

Nappies made from bamboo are indeed very soft. My friedns wife has a small reusable nappy business and sells them .She actually wanted me to source the materials and see if I could arrange manufacure of them in Bangers.Great idea I thought ,but to be honest her business just hasn't taken off and unless it does I dont intend spending my time trawling round Bangers doing the research for her( unless she stumps up some funds for hotels etc.