Ned

I saw last night that all games at Euro 2004 are to be shown live in India but no mention so far about the situation here. Rumour has it that we'll have to watch the tournament on Thai channels only.......ie ads every few minutes with the picture reduced to postage stamp size in the top right corner of the screen. Please tell me that replays of games will be shown on UBC later on the same day. Cheers.

Taxexile.......I couldn't agree with you more. 'Freedom', Thai style.

Chances are not one of us really knows what really happened last Wednesday nor since Jan 4 for that matter. In the meantime try to avoid the coming onslaught of the martyrs.

What happened in 1997 to foreigners' savings accounts in Thai banks like the Bangkok Bank? Did they lose all their money? If not, why are so many people so worried about putting money into such uninsured bank accounts now?

I was in Hua Hin once and there was a restaurant with two large menus out the front, one in Thai the other in English. Fried rice on the Thai menu was 20 baht and 30 baht in English. I ordered a plate of the Thai stuff. Here, being able to speak and read Thai was an 'advantage'.......If you spotted a 10 baht coin on the footpath would you pick it up? Hasn't helped me though at national parks or zoos to be able to speak the lingo.

On another matter: I wonder how all the Japs, Koreans and other assorted foreigners such as Indians and Malays feel about having to pay ten times the Thai price?

Why is it that the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala happen to be some of the poorest, if not the poorest in the country. Could it be that the current troubles have their roots in dissatisfaction with an economic situation which sees the wealth of the area being pillaged by the Sino Thai cabal running the country from Bangkok?

I know it's a long shot but does anybody know if it's possible to get health insurance for myself and my non official Thai wife as a 'family' or will we both need to get separate policies? Is the cost of the premiums the same for farang and Thais? Cheers.

And the situation is going to get much much worse as the city expands, the numbers of vehicles increases and the attitudes of the rural folk living in villages ringing the city think it's a joke to worry about the smoke from burning leaves and plastic bags which shroud their villages morning and evening every day. It really is a sad, pitiful situation. Meanwhile the govt has big plans to expand polluting industries and even talks of a steel industry for Pracuap Khirikhan and Kanchanaburi. Polluting industries like petrochemicals and paper mills are slated for expansion as well as further cement expansion. Car sales are soaring and smoke belching vehicles choke the streets of Chaing Mai. The whole country is going downhill so fast environmentally and my plans to stay here long term really are looking a bit uncertain I must say. The place really is filthy and getting worse. What do you reckon?

What's it like up in Laos over Songkran? Can you escape the madness in Vientiane?

Are we talking about the national anthem ie the one played at 6pm or the royal anthem ie played at the cinema?

An article in yesterday's Nation said that money placed in a bank account for the purpose of getting an extension for Non Imm visas is not to be touched as the amount has to remain above the required figure. eg 400,000 for a marriage visa,.If you happen to get checked and are found to have less than this you will be deported, according to the Nation. My impression was that this money was to be used for living expenses and needed to be topped up when next applying for a visa in a year's time. Which is correct?

As I said earlier.....it all depends on how much you've got. Myself, I've got to watch my finances and will be able to survive any nasty turn of events. I also know where the closest airport is so when the anti foreigner pogroms begin I'll hopefully be able to get out. Darling.....where did you put my medication?

All I can say is that you guys are either loaded or broke.......and perhaps super generous... 'What's mine is yours and what's yours in mine".......Indeed.

Don't tell you haven't got a secret bank account somewhere....'cause I'm pretty sure your partner has. Sorry fellas but TIT.

When my good woman finds anything in the local press involving farangs she always fills me in on the story. I would guess that even in the Thai press most stories involving farang would go unreported but even then it's very obvious that the English language press nowadays seems to completely stay away from nasty things that happen to foreigners here. Must be a govt directive wouldn't you say?

I live in a village in Chiang Mai, a province so far spared a red zoning for bird flu and the place is crawling with chickens. So far I haven't heard of any dying of the flu but then again if any did I'm sure the locals wouldn't tell anyone anyway, much less move to cull any survivors. The villagers also raise hundreds and hundreds of pigs right next to their houses and these filthy creatures are tied up in small pens and lie around in puddles of shit and urine. Chickens spend a fair bit of their time mingling with the pigs, jumping up on their backs and pecking around in the pig pens looking for scraps. The stench of pig shit is a constant annoyance to those people not raising pigs themselves (a small minority) but as the headman has pigs there is nothing these people can do. In addition more and more pigs are being raised as the profits from village whisky production is dropping dramatically since the imposition of a taxing regime.

The point of all this is a fear I have in the wake of the discovery of the bird virus in cats that the virus will make the easier genetic jump to the pigs. THese are expensive animals and all attempts will be made by the villagers to cover it up leading to a potentially very dangerous health situation indeed. Do you agree?

As usual the same old confusion with things official!

Djinn reckons an International License is needed to avoid any written tests....a national license (in my case from Australia) is not enough and I'll have to spend hours there being told in Thai how to drive safely and then have to do a written test.

Maejo Man reckons that a license from" a recognised country, not Botswana" plus the colour test and other documents, is all you need to get a license on the spot....ie no lecture and tests.

Sounds like which registry you apply in is the important factor here, doesn't it?

I wonder what the story is up here in Chiang Mai. Looks like I'm going to have to pay the registry here a visit.

Officially the death toll is now four but today's Sydney Morning Herald reports ten suspected deaths so far ie Wednesday 4 Feb in Thailand. Strange?

To Lovecam, the diabetic: The medical examination consisted only of reading my blood pressure and a doctor listening to my heart.

To Oldfart: I'm Australian and it was my first Retirement Visa application. All i needed was a letter from the bank and the health certificate. I was asked about my sources of income abroad and also my educational qualifications. No proof of such was asked for. I'm sure that being able to speak Thai and having a uni degree helped my cause as I got the visa sorted out in less than an hour. Now I only have to report back every 90 days to confirm my current address.

Oldfart

I sorted out a Retirement Visa the other day in Chiang Mai and because I had more than 800,000 in a Thai bank account I didn't need a letter from my embassy certifying that I receive a pension. THe medical certificate had to be from a hospital and not a clinic.

Doc, I suppose I was just wondering why all these farang are getting so nervous about changes which have yet to be officially announced. .....unless I've missed something in which case I'd appreciate it if someone could fill me in on what changes are really and truly going to come into force next July. Not rumours of doubled funds required in bank accounts and suchlike but comfirmed changes.

djinn, Just shows you that it depends on the immigration office and/or the officer. Perhaps another officer might have been content with the medical certificate from the clinic and not sent me a few kilometres and a couple of songthaew rides down the road.

Doc Patpong, The medical certificate was required for a Retirement Visa. I turned up at Immigration in Chiang Mai with one from a doctor at a clinic but was sent away to the nearest hospital to get one from them instead. There they took my blood pressure and a doctor listened to my heart before handing over the certificate.

I was told that hospital certificates have been required since August.

Have people forgotten that this is Thailand and as yet no official announcements regarding rumoured changes for next July have been made. It's all hearsay and out of control rumour which is running the show at the moment as far as I can see.

On the subject of medical certificates for visas just remember that certificates from doctors working at CLINICS are NOT accepted anymore. You have to get one from a hospital. I found this out the hard way in Chiang Mai two days ago.

For what it's worth I suggest not getting all uptight about this topic before the rumoured visa changes of July 2004 are officially outlined. Then if the feared new regulations are such that they threaten your continued residence here, you'll have to work out what best to do under the new rules. I've been here now almost 3 years, not a real long time I know, but at least long enough to have seen other rumoured, draconian "new visa regulations" come and disappear without trace. Why don't we wait and see what the government has in stall for us .......officially....before getting all upset about it and encouraging writers like Khun to have fun stirring people about their coming, feared forced exodus.