Ned

I can remember in Patong in Dec 1975, at a time when farang were thin on the ground (maybe a dozen in Patong) an Austrian guy was robbed and murdered on the beach after he went out for a walk after dinner. They caught the scumbag the next day when he tried to cash the bloke's traveller's cheques in town.

No, nothing new.

Is Thai beer preserved with formaldehyde......or is this just urban myth?

Guy today tells me that a random alcohol check in beers here revealed a range of between four and fourteen percent for beers marketed as between five and six plus.

Thanks for your replies everyone but it seems that the jury's still out on whether you can extend a non o (retirement visa) in any office in the land. Looks like I might have to go and ask the mob in CM about it....unfortunately.

Well Thetyim, that is not what happened to me (one year visa) and my two farang friends (tourist visas with weeks to run). All three of us had our TM cards removed, we were stamped out and we left our passports with the Burmese, not on the Thai side. The one photocopy (not two anymore) we kept in place of the passports whilst in Burma.

We made it clear that it was a day trip only and not a visa run.

Is this happening to anyone else or did we simply run into an official who didn't have a clue?

Some real rude dykes at CM who I'd rather not have to sit opposite again. Last time it took me almost 3 hours to get the twenty minute job done. Most of the time that I was sitting in the office, the official was either chatting and laughing with all the other clowns (workplace must be sanuk you see) or having a coffee break. Either that or the fat mole's rectum was so clogged with clay that she had to sit on the bog for hours to clear it.

All my paperwork was hunky dory and I'd already extended the visa a number of times. I can also converse freely in Thai so there were no misunderstandings. It was a Friday afternoon so perhaps the monkeys were all getting excited and couldn't stop chattering and shrieking before being let out of their cage. Whatever the reason, the work was unprofessional. A number of times the official had to correct mistakes she'd made because she'd been too busy bragging about the cheap price she'd paid for a set of screwdrivers or something about food and not concentrating on the task at hand.

I forgot to add that no payment is required any more to the Thais. The Burmese require 250 baht.

Yeah Lordfoul, I told her I was only going for a few hours. In any case I wasn't carrying any luggage so that I was only heading for an excursion would've been pretty obvious. On re entry the official didn't ask me why I'd been stamped out.

I went with two other guys and we all had to get only one copy of the front page of our passports.......not two as previously. When I queried the photocopier she said this was the new procedure. My Thai partner had to go a few kilometres back up the road to get all the relevant paperwork. The photocopy caravans near the border post are now gone.

So in other words if you go over the border in Mae Sai for an excursion with a non O visa make sure you have a re entry permit. The farang sitting here with me here have never had to use a re entry permit at Mae Sai before. By olden days I mean about a year ago.

These are not sombre affairs. Just go along with an envelope if you want, sit and eat, walk to the crematorium, sip your coke and ice and if you're called upon by the family to do anything , just copy everyone. No need to look or feel sad....unless that's how you feel.People will think you're weird if you come on with all that stuff. Recently I attended a funeral in CM and the crowd observed a minute's silence for the deceased. All very dignified but the first time I'd seen that. The key thing is to remain dignified....and you don't have to look and act sad to do that. That's what I reckon anyway. As Ringo said: Act naturally.

I'm no scatologist (ie. one showing excessive interest in excrement) but I think it makes a difference what sort of faeces was flung at the enemy. Human shit definitely has more impact than say, a shovel load of bufflao or dog waste. Wouldn't you agree? Now let me tell you about this cat I saw......................

I have a one year non O visa (retirement) valid till Dec 2006. Went over the border at Mae Sai the other day. The official this time tore out my departure card and stamped me out. Coming back in I had to do the paperwork and got stamped in till Dec 2006. No problem for me as I already had a re entry permit (multiple , as it happens.) A mate of mine with the same visa was thinking of heading up there next week but he doesn't have a re entry permit and is afraid he'll only get one month at the border and forfeit his retirement visa. He reckons, though that the official shouldn't have torn out the old departure card as I was only going for a few hours and I already had a non o visa. ........like in the old days.

Any ideas anyone. Cheers.

Can i extend my non O visa (retirement) at any immigration office in the country?

I've been living in CM with this visa for a few years now but after my last session at immigration there, I'd prefer to do it somewhere else next time.

Cheers

A farang near -neighbour of mine reported a sick chicken to the village headman last Saturday and was told to kill the bird then bury it. Not satisfied by this response his wife rang the district office who sent out an inspector the same day. The next morning (Sunday) a team arrived with disinfecting chemicals which they sprayed his yard with and air rifles which they used to shoot his remaining five or six birds. The sick chicken was taken away for tests. Haven't heard anything yet.

You'd reckon this would be happening all over the country. What's all this crap about "a bird flu free country"!!

No need for us to email you Thomas for the details . How about just telling us expats who you care so much about what it is which has improved your health so dramatically. Sorry mate, but it sounds like another scam to me.

HM also said, (The Nation), "People these days tend to wonder if we'll survive." Who is "we", I wonder?

The lawmakers here ie the politicians and cops probably have kids who have been spending too much time, in their opinion downing booze in bars around town instead of coming home at a reasonable hour.

This is their naive attempt to get the brats under control.

No master plan in action here. Not possible as planning is not part of doing things.

Import slaves from the poor neighbours to do the heavy, dirty stuff for a plate of rice and exploited western trained experts to do the brainwork for a shipload of grain. What a sad bloody indictment of the Thai education and vocational systems eh!

I suppose a lot of the oil rich states of the Middle East were able to exploit western expertise to develop their infrastructures but they had the cash. So has the PM and the mega rich Thai elite I suppose but they won't be parting with their booty, that's for sure and certain.

Brought some back from oz at $5 a 200g bag.......product of India (where it all comes from apparently.)

My wife's son has lived in Bkk for 9 years with his 10 year old son . When the time comes for him to study in high school, unless he can find a sponsor ie a Bangkok property owner, he will have to return to the place of his birth, Chiang Mai to study. Now that might be alright for those with relatives willing or capable to put him up and look after him .....but if not then the kid will have to drop out of the system after primary school (as most kids poor kids from the provinces do).

What a brilliant system to ensure the Bangkok elite have a steady supply of low paid slaves at their disposal.

Burmese farm labourers in my area in Chiang Mai are on about 70 baht a day, perhaps more depending on the urgency of getting the job done in a hurry.

Increasing their numbers will of course put downward pressure on unskilled and semi skilled wages for the Thais too. Seems that the govt has given up on improving productivity through better job training and education and the age old reliance on cheap labour to get profits is taking on a new complexion with the arrival of the neighbours in larger numbers. Nothing new though when you consider the Chinese coolies who arrived last century and now have one of their own as the Thai CEO. Maybe in a hundred years a Khmer descendant will be PM and his cabinet will sit around chatting in Khmer just as the present boss does in his ancestral language of Chinese.

Glad I'm a whitey in Thailand. That's all I can add.

Replaced the ceiling in the living room(60cmx60cm plaster tiles known as kiwbaa) with a gypsum one insulated with the fibreglass in foil stuff previously mentioned and the difference is remarkable. Cost was 400 baht a square metre for everything.

It's a big town as the previous writer said. ....definitely not a nice small town. It was a nice town back in 1978 when I first went there. The river was wide and the banks were lined with houseboats. Now the "river" is a muddy, concrete lined canal at best......more like a drain like nearly all the rivers in the land. Went to the flying vege restaurant for phak bung fai daeng but the walk back to the hotel my wife wasn't too keen about. Looks like the sort of city which has taken back a lot of the dregs who couldn't cut it in Bangkok. We definitely won't be back.

Like a leaking canoe.......Capsizes real fast.

I happened to travel down to Bangkok last week for the first time in a year and I've got to say there were very few farang around Sukhumwit at least. Eveyone up here is expecting the usual wave of arrivals soon but somehow this year I can't see it happening. Can you?