ludosiam

It's interesting that noone had brought up the fact that families are regularly split up in places like the UK, US, Australia etc due to one member being deported for not meeting that country's visa requirements.

But I don't suppose that's important, because those people being deported from the west are black, brown or yellow, whereas we are white and should naturally get special treatment.

Bendix, is this a fact or your opinion? Every Thai I have met so far here in Thailand who had previously stayed in Germany with husband / wife has told me that staying there is made much easier than it is in Thailand for foreigners. Visa requirements for a foreign parter as per Ministry of Foreign Affairs: marriage certificate and German passport of partner. No income statements, no 90 reports, no annual extensions.

Don't forget, if he want to enter Thailand with without visa (visa on arrival) he needs a valid ticket out of Thailand or could get trouble checking in. It's not enforced strictly but could happen.

Or panic like the missus the other morning when we had a dozen Sai Din (blind snake) slithering over the front porch.

True - I found a nguu din (blind snake or flowerpot snake), showed it to the missus and she told me that this one could kill me!

Re - entry can be done at the airport. After check - in you'll walk to the immigration section, last time i did it there the office for re - entry was on the left side of the passport control. takes about 20min., passport picture and boarding pass is required.

Most of the replies were not really any helpful I think! The way I see it you have 2 options: apply for a better paid job in the trading business, some applications and research about companies would be required. Other option would be to try and start a small trading business yourself, if you are in that business for 15 years you certainly must have some contacts there. Wish you good luck with your family and hope you can sort out things the way you hope for.

As far as I know the company issuing a tax invoice is liable to pay tax for the amount stated even if the recipient doesn't pay. Therefore tax invoices are issued only after payment has been received.

Thanks for the explanation Patrick. I have installed an ELCB not only for the showers but directly on the main feed. It has triggered twice after heavy rain causing some trouble, but have "trained" wife and daughter how to solve the trouble by isolating the faulty circuit. In both cases it was the water pump installed outside and back to normal after a while. Must be an insulation fault at the motor I guess.

I'm very surprised that the possibility of a "safety cut" hasn't been mentioned here. This device is a current detector that detects any difference between the "live" wire and the neutral wire and in case there is a difference of a preset current locks off all electrical supply. For personal protection 25 - 30mA is sufficient and the issue of ground or no ground isn't that relevant anymore. When I did built my house I had a galvanized earth ring system put into the foundation, costs were a few 1000 THB and preferable to ground rods in my opinion

Watch the vietnamese dong ... the next devaluation, if any, will come from there and hit all the asian currencies ...

and then the sky will fall

Yes, indeed, Naam. Those traders in London, New York and Chicago speak about the dong as if King Kong fell into the klong in Hang Dong, and dong is more important than dung, and quite a bit cheaper. Let's see if dong becomes as valuable as the old Turkish lira. By far more important than the pound, dollar, euro, etc.

Seriously, does the dong occupy even a fiber of any basket of Asian currencies? Or is right down there with the kip?

Wouldn't a devaluation of the dong make exports out of vietnam cheaper than Thailand? Surely would have some effect on the Thai economy I think.

Can anyone figure this out?

Late 2006 when it gained to 35 they were panicking and trying to weaken it to keep it above 35, but now that it's weakened from about 31 to 33 they want to strengthen it again.

Fuel was much cheaper at that time. lower Baht = higher fuel price = increased inflation. I'm not an expert in this field but wouldn't increased inflation put pressure on the Baht again leading to a longer downward trend? Don't get me wrong - I'm an exporter and paid in USD, surely like the trend after all the increases from my supplier.

When I checked in last time from Germany with LH the guy on the next counter was refused because no onward ticket or Visa on hand. Some Airlines might be stricter than others but since you like to stay for a year or longer I'd say it's better to get a 1 year multiple entry, check with the Thai consulate what documents will be required

I have gazillions of ants around the house as well, spray them with chaindrite gives me peace for a while but they usually6 will be back. Chalk does kill ants by drying them up as far as i know but they do not carry that back to the nest. There is an ant bait available in green boxes for about 60 Baht called asr ant killer, small yellow pellets inside and this stuff is getting carried back to the nest where it kills effectively. This works best for me.

I still recommend Koratfarang.com for an update on how the local community is like. Hope that the Admin will approve new members soon, he just might be busy in the moment. Until then you can read it as a guest.

Welcome to Korat then. There are activities like playing golf, hash house harriers had their first run last sunday, a couple of good food places as well. We do have quite a few expats up here for sure and join for a few cold ones on a regular basis. Sorry for Koratfarang, quite a few people do wait for their registration, I'll try to find out what has happened.

Jingthing, I believe I got your point, although I have to admit that I don't suffer from this proble as I live in rural Isaan. What I can't understand is that people feeling insulted by different cooking style for farangs. Don't you thing this could be because restaurants have learned from previous incidents happened? Restaurants do try to cater to their customers in the best possible way (usually) and I'm sure they do not try to insult us by putting less chilli in the pot.

It's unbelievable that people living in Thailand are feeling they're insulted by getting not enough spices with their food! When my wife, born in Isaan travels with me she usually doesn't like the Thai food, for example in Bangkok as it's not what she would get back home, would this be a discrimination against Isaan people then?

First of all there are good and bad restaurants, like everywhere in the world, so choose one that serves your taste buds. Racism would be something negative but when a cook tunes food for western taste buds he does in his mind do you a favor. If you're telling the waiter that you like to have Thai food Thai style it should be ok.

If you wait for the government to change your sockets at home my guess is that you'll wait a long while. I have the house fitted with EU style sockets, cut off all rubbish 2 pin plugs, repalced them with proper ones and that's it.

Lopburi3, thanks very much for the info. This they haven't told my friend, now, he's about to obtain the proper visa (based on retirement) either from the Laos embassy or get a tourist visa and convert as you've mentioned. He does qualify for retirement as he had this kind of visa before but he's a little sloppy with deadlines

A friend of mine was about to apply for a non immigrant Visa at his home country Netherlands. At the Thai embassy he has been informed that he can enter Thailand as a tourist and later convert into non immigrant visa. Does that sound right to you? As to my knowledge there is no way to convert the type of Visa inside Thailand.

Near Korat there are 4 golf courses: Suranaree (Army), 9 holes and dual pricing, Rooks, 18 holes and dual pricing, Tiger (Airforce), 9 holes and no dual pricing, Voyage, 18 holes and no dual pricing

It could have something to do with the current political situation and the court rulings against political parties coming up

I had asked the immigration officer in charge about this matter, according to him exiting and re - enter Thailand does "reset" the 90 day period.

Quote:

The action on the policemans account. But the trigger has been surely Ms. Reisig - for me she shares a big part of responsibility for her death boyfriend - and that after staying here a year.

I might say until you haven't stayed here longer that 3 years you know nothing and should behave careful and always friendly. But even then some do need longer to learn.

maxi

With all respect for other opinions, let me add that there are a great number of Thais running into this kind of trouble as well with loose police cannons, and I do talk from first hand experience. The incident in pai might have been avoidable with a lot of experience from the foreigners side, but all responsibility for the death is with the shooter. No matter what has happened in detail (we might never learn the full truth) nobody can explain to me that 3 potential fatal shots were needed for self protection, I bet the police officer wasn't a bad gunman and could have easily hit an attacker in the leg. Accidental shooting is out of question anyway.

Some of these thoughts are around in my head since a while as well. First of all, Thailand has a more livable climate than northern countries such as Russia, Norway etc....and plenty of land to produce food from, some right now being converted into fuel. Once these bio fuel industries are able to work more cost effective and with higher yields Thailand might become a highly standardized country. Hope that will be after I'm gone though, I like simple standards combined with friendlier people better.