chicowoodduck

Hold onto your hats folks, just wait until they figure out how much they can make by charging a small fee for your 90 Day Reporting!

The fun just never stops in LOS!

Thanks Chicowoodduck,

My licence expires on the 11 march, Given that you get three months to renew your licence, I'll leave it to my break after march which would be April.

Then I'll take time out and visit Pattaya and renew it then as I'll have no problems in getting the residence certificate from my condo

thanks for the helpful information every one.

Just make sure you have the original of BOTH the medical and the residence certificate....they would not accept my copies. :-(

My 1 year expired the middle of February, so went in 3 months early to get my 5 year. :-)

Did my 5 year at the Pattaya LTO a few weeks back. They needed a medical certificate (original, not copy), residence certificate (original, not copy). I was 1 day early (can renew 3 months out), so they made me come back and all went smoothly from that point. I went early (8:15 am), so was first in the farng line. It was a mess after me for sure...loooong lines and long wait time to process paperwork. :-(

You can do 90 day reports by mail. Info: http://bangkok.immig...php?page=90days

Thanks! I like the thrill of a field trip! :-)

Chaengwattana.

Sounds like the end of the world as I know it. :-) And the best way for the newbie on the BKK block to get there, no sense re-inventing the wheel, eh?...:-)

By Bangkok skytrain Exit at MoChit station then take a taxi to Chaengwattana Road, Soi7.

Chaengwattana.

Sounds like the end of the world as I know it. :-) And the best way for the newbie on the BKK block to get there, no sense re-inventing the wheel, eh?...:-)

As of February 1, 2013 my new address will be in Bangkok (On Nut area), so where must I go to do my 90 Day Reporting, re-entry permit, etc., etc. paperwork?

Best way to a man's heart is with a knife!

She gives 5k to her mom and her room rent (Maybe around 3k-4k?)

so she has 11k left for herself and her kids.

If she tighten her belt. She can live with that amount of money.

but Since she has kids, I think give her 25k per month is OK. but shouldn't give her more than that.

Time to wake-up, smell the coffee and piss her off. I'm sure she has a Thai bf to support and they can be expensive!

To the OP, Bangkok sucks, you are just a slow learner.

The rest of the country is better, in varying degrees.

"Bangkok sucks" is a bit harsh, but not too far off the mark! Maybe that is why I like to go to BKK for short visits only.

IMHO....it all boils down to what you want and can tolerate. To each his own!

It might be a time for a change in the scenery for you as change is sometimes like a vacation.

And me? After having lived here since 2007, I often dread the thought of going back home (USA) for a visit, as I'm "homesick" for the Land of Vertical Smiles within a week, but that's just me.

The best advice is to leave them alone for a few hours, they usually figure out that they have been a bitch to you and make up pretty quickly. It does not take much to set them off and given our predisposition to want to debate the facts in any dispute, it can escalate quickly. Best to just give them some space and wait for them to calm down.

Just beware, sometimes revenge is best served cold!

Oh my GAWD, not an ARSENAL fan! But, I'll forgive you that little peccadillo.

I just tell them the truth. "I'm from Canada"... even though I'm often mistaken for American. I just take that insult lightly. Us Canadians are too polite to let it bother us.

I just tell them I'm from America, even though I'm often mistaken for a Canadian, eh? Not to worry, I take it as a compliment as those "Canuks" are so darn polite despite the fact that they didn't get a star on the U.S. flag for being the 51st State in the Union! Hee hee! (a little Canadian humor coming through).

Take the Roong Ruang bus. (Pretty much the first ticket booth). They have regular and Motorway buses, but the difference out of Ekamai isn't that great, you often get stuck on Sukhumvit.

Don't ever get stuck on one of the local buses that stop everywhere. What should be a < 2 hour trip can turn into double that.

The direct service from the airport also deserves special mention; very convenient when flying in or out of Bangkok.

Thanks, I give it a whirl next trip home from BKK. If nothing else, maybe have a change of scenery?

As for the airport bus, it's run by Bell Travel from the North Pattaya Road Bus Terminal and I think they have a wbsite. I like their service and I recall 200 baht for the 1 hour 30 minute trip from Pattaya (leaves at 8, 10, 12, 2, 4, 6).

I know just what you are talking about and I've never been able to figure it out either. It NEVER is the same route twice. But the time difference only seems to vary about 1/2 hour. That is NOT what you get on the local bus though. That trip WILL take up to 4 hours or more... and all for the saving of about 30 baht.

Been there and done that! I somehow got on that local bus a few years back and remember that after FOUR PLUS hours we pulled into Pattaya. It took me 30 minutes to get the feeling back in my legs!

Over the past several years, I've done the "adventure" bus trip from Bangkok's Ekamai Bus Station (Eastern Terminal) on Sukhumvit Road to Pattaya's North Bus Station on North Pattaya Road. I say adventure, because the bus route to Pattaya is never the same. Sometimes the route is via the motorway, sometimes through the rice fields or backroads, but never the same path twice! I'm wondering if different routes are at different times? I always leave BKK in the mornings between 9 am and 11 am and would like to believe that they have an express service directlly to Pattaya instead of a 12 ton Blue Taxi that seems to have multiple stops.

If you transfer money from the U.S., no need to fill this form out as the financial institution you transfered the money from takes care of the U.S. Treasury reporting.

Please cite your source for that. It's clearly spelled out that you must file a FBAR (report of foreign bank and financial account) if you, at any time during the year, go over $10,000 in aggregate of your foreign accounts.

It's highly unlikely Treasury keeps an account on everyone sending money abroad. To keep tabs on all the nitnoy amounts being sent abroad -- then adding it all up to see if $10k is topped for accounts belonging to any one person -- is not feasible from a cost/benefit angle. We little folks aren't being screened.

For large amounts, the SWIFT coding system, and others, do have the ability to track the fat cats. And if such a fat cat doesn't file a FBAR, I suspect this would sound an alarm. And then the laws governing FBAR filing can be severely applied, as intended.

Having said that, if, indeed, Treasury knows how much money you've sent abroad -- because your financial institution has told them -- then even more reason to file a FBAR, as the law requires. If they know it -- and you don't file as required -- then you're maybe setting yourself up for some problems.

Again, it's the fat cats they're after, and who they track -- not us paupers.

But it takes little time to fill out the form -- and the fine for not doing so is substantial. So why take the risk that Treasury, hurting for money, finally does get access to everyone's finances abroad -- and then comes to the realization that it has a new source of revenue from expats who don't file required FBARs.

Just another US govt. "hoop" to jump through and what the 'ell, I'm retired with nothing better to do!

Just think CYA (Cover Your Ass) and enjoy life in the land of Vertical Smiles!

I've seen to posters in the shop 100 points for a beer cooler 200 for a chair etc.

this is for all purchases and offered to everyone.... but i always lose the stickers and cannot be bothered with it...

The bar girls love those darn little stickers!

Maybe try a longer period over here first, give yourself a year and see how it feels, your will have covered all the variations in weather by then and have given it long enough to know what you like about Thailand or miss about your home country.

Sound advice for sure! Don't sell the "farm" until the first few crops come in! I did several scouting missions before pulling the plug on life as I know it in the US. Now that I've been here for several years, that sound you hear at the BKK airport once a year is security dragging me on the plane kicking and screaming for another "holiday" in the US! "To each his own!"

With all due respect (or not) to board members, if this policy was strictly enforced, for 80% of all male foreigners living or visiting in the Kingdom, it would be Hasta-la-bye-bye...but of course, its not going to happen..

Are you saying 80 per cent of the expats living here in Pattaya are criminals? Must mean 8 of my 10 friends are "jail birds!" IMO you best check your statistical facts or source, you might be off the beam a bit?

Was last in UK in October 2007

Going again in April this year (Great Songkran Escape)

Ahh, the Great Songkran Escape!

I go back to the US once a year to take care of business, visit my family, and to avoid the stupidity of the falangs here in Pattaya who make Songkran a two week experience in terror! Isn't taking two "stupid pills" a day a requirement?

Of course I'm more than happy to make the trip back to my home here in the Land of Vertical Smiles, even if it means the discomfort of 24+ hours of travel time!

I disagree with the majority here. Plenty of times girls go around kissing guys on the cheek because hey think it's funny/sexy. It was only just last weekend my friend was walking around with kiss marks on his cheek.

And which set of cheeks got kissed?

For sure 15 years is a long time, so if you feel it's time to go, it is.

I have only lived here for 5 years, but had been travelling here for 20. Lived in my home country 40 years and was quite happy to come here as I love the food, and the government of my home country was a mess (GW Bush).

You talk about racism, but that is everywhere, I don't think you can single out Thailand there.

I wonder if you'll spend a year in your new location, then decide, maybe Thailand wasn't so bad after all.

Good luck to you.

The grass is always greener in the neighbor'a yard. No place is perfect, that I have found. One just has to adjust and learn to live with the imperfect.

All you need to do is go to Carrefoure or Tesco and buy "mattress covers". If you have a double or queen sized bed you need to buy 2, they are cheap and soft, about an inch thick and make hard mattresses much softer.

Quite true but for about 150,000 to 200,000 baht you can buy a good western style mattress.

Yikes! 200,000 baht is my rent for the next 2+ years!

Oh do I ever agree with the OP!!!!!!

Thai mattresses are so hard that IMO they are an utter waste of money since the same effect could be gotten by just sleeping on the floor. Particularly can't understand shelling out a small fortune for spring mattresses that are as hard as the floor.

Like OP, I absolutely cannot sleep on hard beds, I'm awake all night in pain. May have something to do with the fact that I am a side-sleeper. Lying on your side on a hard surface it is impossible to have the small of your back supported, and the hip and shoulder bones areas get painfully sore within 15 minutes.

As for the mattress covers or for that matter even the fold-up foam mattress things, insufficient.

Not to sound like the Princess and the Pea, byut I've tried piling as many as 3 together atop a Thai spring mattress to no avail.

At home I have a thick foam mattress I bought many years ago but they no longer seem to be available in shops. You could try latexinnovations as suggested by prior poster.

This is the reason why I prefer 5 hours of driving to spending the night in a hotel in Bangkok when I need to go into town. It would be a sleepless night.

And also why I have come to dread staying in a hotel anywhere in Thailand as almost all of them likewise have these torture devices for beds.

Luckily in Cambodia, where I have to stay in hotels often, the opposite is true . Foam mattresses are produced locally and are what one usually finds and unless very old (in which case they may sag a bit) they are marvelous -- they give way where they need to accomodate a shoulder or hip while still giving good support to the back. In the 5 star places one may encounter spring mattresses but the management can always come up with a foam one on request and pretty much everything below 5 stars has Cambodian made foam.

So if all else fails, OP, a trip to Cambodia may be your answer.

I'm a side sleeper as well, and because of the hardness of my so called mattress, the pressure points on my shoulders, hips, knees and ankles gives way to a tossing and turning night to relieve the aching. If I do sleep on my back, my snoring keeps half the Soi up! Just have to find a decent foam rubber pad in Pattaya. FYI - When living in the US, I was fortunate enough to have a "Sleep Number Bed." Now THAT was like a little wedge of heaven! OP

The sexiest thing:

When she tell you she is an orphan!

Pissed myself on that one! Now wish it was true!