oldgeezer

Don't know why you don't trust HP. Best notebook on the market for the money.

or try ' Toys 'R' Us '

Like it.

Find myself humming 'matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs' for some reason....

500,000 Baht might get you a well used SUV.

Team Thailand,

I'm sure this Q has been answered many times, however, considering the current ecomonic climate the answers may be different.

I am considering investing in real estate in Thailand, I have a decent track record in Australia in this area, however, taxes (income & land) in Australia are making me consider Thailand as an option for my favourite form of investment.

So interested in your thoghts and experiences in regard to:

- Property in Bangkok (target expat community or professional Thai's etc)

- Rural cities (I will be living near Sukhon Nakon Issan) so opportunity for Uni students, hospital workers etc

- Capital grow opportunities

- rental return

- property management

- tax, if any

- market direction

- current value for money

- security of investment

- capitalimprovements

and anything else you may consider relevant.

Thanks in advance for your input

Are you aware you, as a foreigner, cannot own land in Thailand?

In most countries I'm aware of, if you go to a department store to buy a bed you end up with an expensive Sealy, expensive frame, etc.

When in Bangkok would someone go to buy a cheap bed. Not looking for necessarily high quality mattress, box springs and the like. Even a futon that doubles as a sofa could work. Perhaps even a bed you'd buy for a teenager.

I'm interested in something in the 5-8K range whereas Robinsons seems to have only in the 18K+ range.

HomePro has many mattress options, from very inexpensive to luxury.

I have bought a number of packets of McGarrets Quick Cooking Oats from Foodland who have a BOGOF (buy one get one free) offer at 38.25 baht per (two) packet(s)

I have tried making some oatmeal biscuits/cakes (with sultanas) in my microwave with a fair amount of success, but somehow feel that my feeble amateur results could be improved on.

Any suggestions out there for microwave (or pan) biscuits??

I tried a couple of these recipes. OK, but I finally broke down and bought a countertop oven. Not a toaster oven, a full size one. Now I can bake up cookies, banana breads, cinnamon rolls and all turn out great. Good Luck.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,micr...cookies,FF.html

My wife has a friend who travels back & forth to the US on a 10 yr tourist visa.

On her last trip she got married to her long time business partner in the US.

They did not know that it was improper visa wise. Also have no intention of doing adjustment of status as she needs to go back & forth.

She does not want to immigrate nor get a green card as their business demands that she travel back & forth many times a year. He is still mainly based in US but also spends months in LOS too.

Anyway on her last trip they pulled her aside at the US port of entry & questioned her. Told her she would be turned away at the gate the next time she comes to the US if she uses the same visa. But did let her enter. Now she is probably in the system & will be flagged unless she gets a different visa.

So now she is leaving the US & wants to know exactly what visa is she to apply for?

Stumps me because I would have thought her 10 year visa would still be ok since she is non immigrant & no intent to adjust status.

Does anyone know what visa she should now apply for when she returns to Thailand so she may continue to travel back & forth for both business & visiting her husband?

If she will conduct business, she must have a green card. My Thai wife has 10 year U.S. visa and gave up her green card years ago for the same reason, so she can go back and forth as tourist. Did she declare she was going to do business?

In any case if she gets a green card, she can still travel back and forth but cannot leave U.S. for (I believe) more than 3 months. At least that is what it used to be. U.S. embassy could help with more specific answers.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

What nationality passport are you using?

Most people have a visa prior to travel or obtain a visa exempt entry stamp on arrival for a tourist stay of less than 30 days.

Only about 15 countries are allowed to buy a 15 day visa on arrival. But that office is open 24 hours a days if you are one of them.

If you have visa or visa exempt entry status you go directly to immigration desks and get stamped there.

Hi,

I am British. I only want to stay for the 30 day duration, so does this mean all I need is the stamp? If so can I get this stamp at any time?

Thanks again.

You will have to go through immigration desk to get to baggage claim and customs. Immigration open 24/7

Great Post!!!! Thanks for that.

I think I will google plans for a smaller version. Just my wife and I.

You the man.

Thanks to all. Once again proves this site is the real deal.

Last time I re-installed windows XP, I had to perform over 150 updates. Since then, I have installed windows SP3. If I am to reinstall winxp, will I still have 150+ updates to perform or does sp3 include?

Wife's laptop needs winxp repair.

Thanks to you gurus out there

"How much time have you spent in Thailand?"

You've made me curious. How is that relevant to the OP's question?

The other three I mostly understand.

The nature of the questions lead me to believe the OP was not very familiar with business in Thailand in general. There are several good books on the subject of "How to do business in Thailand". If OP was a newbie, I was going to suggest further research might be helpful, without being negative in general.

hi guys

iv been doing some research on thai visa and im lost basically i want to buy a business in thailand and i want to live there i dont mind going home once or twice a year but i dont want to be doing border runs every few months whats the easiest way to go about it

thanks

To give a reasonable answer, we would need some questions answered:

How old are you?

Do you have a Thai wife?

About how much do you have to invest?

How much time have you spent in Thailand?

What do I need to bring to the immigration office? I guess just me and my passport,

Thanks

You can download the form from the immigration website, or fill it out at the office.

Form:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/download/pdf/tm47.pdf

Or you can mail it in. See instructions:

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=90days

I am wanting to take my girlfriend to the UK in April 2010 to meet my family (and also because I want a break from Thailand) and we are looking to only stay for 10 days or so. What are the requirements to allow her to go? She is 22 and is currently a student (although by April 2010 she will have graduated).

Is there some sort of list of requirements or documents that I can look at? Is the whole process easy or hard? What is the failure rate and what are the main reasons for failure?

Many thanks.

Ian

Biggest reason for failure is usually lack of financial incentives to return to Thailand. Large Bank account, substantial land holdings, no police record, etc makes it easier. "Compelling reasons to return to Thailand". She would also have to pass an interview (without your presence) if the U.S. I would guess UK is similar.

You must have the financial means to support her and a letter of invitation from your parents wouldn't hurt.

With respect to U.S Social Security, the GENERAL rule is upon your death, your wife can receive 1/2 of your benefits, when she becomes of retirement age. I have the same problem. I have been married for over 25 years to a Thai and she still has 12 years to go before she becomes eligible for SS as she has no eligibility of her own.

How did the Police gather all this medical information so quickly from a room-maid? Does she speak German?

Why would she have to know how to speak German?

See this site for much info in SE Asia snakes.

http://ecologyasia.com/verts/snakes.htm

I just bought an HP duo quad 2.66 ghz, with 4gb ram, 24" bright screen monitor, upgraded video card and added internal wireless card. Plays latest games at full resolution and does not drop a frame. Central Bangna 34,000 baht.

This replaced my Dell dimension 8200 which was RAM upgradeable at 700 USD for 1gb Rambus Ram. Also noone wanted to work on Dell as many parts need to come from Dell. Years ago Dell was best buy. Now poor and overpriced.

I have owned 4 dell pc's and two laptops over the years. Both daughters laptops became boat anchors after one year as did a few hundred of other people's. Now very overpriced, service poor. In Thailand they only market servers.

2 weeks ago I got my laptop back from service center.

After 1 year with multiple blue/white screen - cpu full speed in idle -

and never ending "driver problem", they finally changed both mainboard and cpu.

When I got it back, I did not install any other program.

12 days later, and the driver problem starts again:

- not see the mouse

- not see usb dongle (can not online).

- not see wifi network.

This last for a few hours up to 1-2 day. Then without anything, it works again!

1/2 year ago uninstalled Vista and install XP, still driver problem, so back to Vista.

Experts, what to change now?

1. Which driver is it?

2. Did they check video card?

3. Is it in air conditioned area.

Try setting it up on a stand where it can get lots of air circulation. Sounds to me like cooling problem.

I've attempted several times to replicate mango sticky rice which I was buying in Bangkok when I was there, all of which tasted consistently the same when bought from either Carefour, or my local street vendor on Sukhumvit Soi 55 right round the corner from Thong Lo BTS.

I've been using imported Thai Coconut Milk, and Imported Thai Palm Sugar. I would like confirmation as to exactly what is used in Thailand because with these ingredients my sticky rice tastes absolutely nothing like the sticky rice in Bangkok nor does the coconut creme. I suspect this is due to to the Palm sugar. Do the Thai's use Coconut Palm Sugar or just plain old white sugar?

Making the rice itself is pretty simple and has no effect on the overall taste of the finished product. I don't even think the local vendor used specifically glutinous sticky rice, it just seemed to be normally cooked jasmine rice or sometimes black rice. sure it is sticky but this is because of the sauce mixed with the rice.

Anyone have any suggestions? I've searched this forum with no results.

Wifey says put coconut milk and white granulated sugar into the sticky rice while hot, be sure and keep stirring with wooden spoon. Big pot rice, 2 cups sugar, 1 can coconut milk.

Can i get a rough idea how long it takes on average from touchdown to clearing immigration and customs, thanks!

Depending upon airline can be 1 km walk from gate to immigration, 5-15 min immigration, 20 min baggage, 5 min customs if take nothing to declare line.

These are averages. I have done whole route in 20 min and 1 hr 20 min.

My extention to stay (retirement) expires on 25 october

Can I extend before that time. How long before?

Can't find anything on the site, so thanks

I just did my extension at Suan Plu 2 weeks ahead of expire. I believe you can do it within 21 days before.

Does Anyone know any good websites I can search on for condoniums in Bangkok?

My favorite is www.acuterealty.com.

Easy search, lots of photos and search by area.

I'm in my early fifties and have a plan to establish myself on a legal 1 rai of land by the time I'm 65. I'll be able to draw a pension from my home country from age 65, and might do a little bit of teaching to supplement my income (thought won't need to through economic necessity). I'll have a BSocSci in linguistics achieved in the year 2010 (from NZ), and I have a T&T cert. I've read of age being a factor in the hiring process in countries such as Japan & Korea. Will I have a problem of finding employment in the age early 50's to mid 60's?

I am curious about how you as an alien, plan to aquire a legal 1 rai of land.

Hello,

Could anyone tell me how much a small apartment, studio or one bed room would cost to rent in Bangkok, somewhere fairly near a Skytrain station would be good?

Interested in modest places but that are clean, safe and secure.

Cheers!

I have found this website to be the best (large, most informative and easiest to navigate) in BKK for all real estate.

www.acuterealty.com