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Just make sure you walk away from the surgery with handfuls of antibiotics and pain killers. No point in suffering unnecessarily. And don't expect to be able to work (or even think straight) for at least a week.

And they haven't taken long to take action. Dozens arrested already.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/14/nigeria-arrests-dozens-anti-gay-law

Interesting to note that the arrests are all in the northern part of the country - that is, the predominantly Moslem part. None in the Christian south.

McDonalds and 7-eleven the only places with non-spicy food locally? Personally I've never found anything remotely edible in a 7-eleven. And as for McDonalds, I believe it was Anthony Bourdain who said a Chicken McNugget was the most disgusting thing he'd ever put in his mouth - though unwashed warthog anus came a close second.

Anyway, putting aside my prejudices against junk food, surely there are other western-style fast foods available: KFC, Burger King, The Pizza Company, Pizza Hut and (rather better) Scoozi which also does a range of pasta dishes? Most of these will deliver.

And what about Japanese food? Fuji, Ootoya, Zen, Oishi, Yayoi and possibly a few others. Some of the dishes may be spiced up a bit for Thai tastes (and are inevitably accompanied by the totally inauthentic Korean kimchi), but it's easy enough to avoid the chilli if you want to.

There are also a few places serving German food and beer in the suburbs, though harder to track down.

If the OP mentions where in suburban Bangkok he lives people might be able to give more targeted recommendations.

For Feral Hosting the download speed (i.e. from them to your computer) for the two cheapest plans is limited to 505 Mbps (see their website).

You won't get that on a single FTP connection, but by using segmented transfers you can get closer to that figure. You can automate this using LFTP. However, that works best if you wait until the download is complete.

If getting a download quickly is important to you, then use RSYNC which can start transfer to your PC whilst the torrent is still not complete.

Check out their Yellow Pages page which has several 'phone numbers for the hospital.

http://profile.yellowpages.co.th/505767242220001

On the liquor stock, Are you talking about LIQ? That's a good tip- just had a quick look at that and i think i will put some money into it.

On January 8th 2004 LIQ closed at 14.56. Ten years later on January 8th 2014 it closed at ... 14.56 (source: Google Finance). The level of income may look good, but as an overall investment this is just mediocre. 7.5% a year before tax isn't something to write home about. Over 10 years to date it under performed the S&P 500 by around 50%.

I'm 42 yrs old, brit- this is where im putting my pension funds-

- US blue chip dividend stocks- oil companies, JnJ, McD etc set to reinvest the dividends automatically- will set this up this year and leave for 10-20 years. When i retire i will collect the dividends and use as an income stream.

- One or two rental properties in Asia (have one , fully paid off)- get a decent building which has a management office and agent to find tenants- i pay them about 10% of my annual rental income but well worth it since they do all the work- when you are retired the less work managing properties the better (esp if you are in ill health). .

- Annuity- just before retiring i aim to buy a package of annuities that will give @2,000 USD per month - a nice solid, reliable foundation pillar to a pension.

- Luckily i also work for a company with defined benefit pension- so depending on how long i can work with them (job security sucks) and when i retire this should give me 2,000- 7,000 $ per month.

Im not eligible for any UK state pension since im not paying NI.

Critical issue is security- try and get relatively secure income streams (annuity, fixed pension) as the foundation of your pension- if you are only relying on dividend stocks and a draw down pension fund (e.g 401K) you spend your retirement stressing and budgeting for fear of money running out!

If you're planning on retiring to Thailand this is seriously risk. US stocks, annuity, pension - all of them exposed to exchange rate risk. It makes much more sense to align one's income sources to one's home economy and the neighbouring area. For me, one third of my equity investments are in Asia (excluding Japan, China) and a further 5% specifically in the SET.

As for "buy and hold" of blue chip stock, blue chip stocks don't remain blue chip for ever. Of the original DJIA components, only General Electric remains. Where are American Tobacco Company and US Leather Company now? More recently Bank of America, Alcoa and HP have all been dropped. Companies rise and fall. Their business can become irrelevant and the management can fail to adapt to new market conditions (think Kodak, Polaroid).

Whilst security is important, annuities are a terrible investment given current bond returns. You are also dependent upon your annuity-provider remaining in business. Over what could be 30 or 40 years, that might happen. Personally I prefer to draw down from my investments. Taking 4% or less per year and the money should never run out, so no sleepless nights for me.

I presume the OP has at least tried the Thailand Post website using the tracking number to see where the parcel is. (Sometimes this will track all the way to destination, but at other times stops at Suvarnabhumi. It's very inconsistent.)

Why not just send your old passport to a relative/friend in the UK with one item (I have a birth cert for instance) and have them post your handwritten downloaded application and docs to the passport office in the UK, then have them (friend/relative) send by registered post back to you here in Thailand? Seems less hassle/cheaper to me.

Why not? It's illegal. You're required to have your passport with you at all times in Thailand. Plus when it comes to transferring your extension of stay to the new passport Immigration will pick up on what you've done.

Buttttt, if your 'extension of stay' has expired around the same time as the need for renewal of your passport, you could simply apply for a new 'extension of stay' when it gets back to Thailand, no?

Interesting point. Previously a new passport issued from Thailand would show as being issued by FCO, rather than the passport office. Not sure whether this will continue. And if not, how will Immigration be able to tell the passport has been sent out of the country to be replaced?

That is just one of the reasons, which is why I mentioned it together with the other reasons. The main difference is that the companies can meet that reason legally, the others they can't. Which is why all these guides are working illegally.

So obviously the other reasons are important to the employers.

If you read the article, all the Chinese nationals had work permits as translators. They were not illegal.

If they were, they would already be in IDC.

They weren't working as translators - they were working as tour guides, which is illegal.

And they're not in IDC because Immigration police weren't involved in the matter.

Why not just send your old passport to a relative/friend in the UK with one item (I have a birth cert for instance) and have them post your handwritten downloaded application and docs to the passport office in the UK, then have them (friend/relative) send by registered post back to you here in Thailand? Seems less hassle/cheaper to me.

Why not? It's illegal. You're required to have your passport with you at all times in Thailand. Plus when it comes to transferring your extension of stay to the new passport Immigration will pick up on what you've done.

You can substitute local dried fruit for things like glace cherries and dried apricots - readily available in any supermarket. Dried pineapple is especially good.

I've never seen it in Isaan. It is one vegetable along with leeks that I miss

Leeks are often available in Makro. Buriram store has them most of the time.

What you're seeing in Makro are almost certainly not leeks but Japanese Onions which look very similar.

Difference discussed at length at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/508188-fresh-frozen-or-canned-leeks/

I'm no expert, but could it be Bocourt's Water Snake Enhydris bocourti?

your own dog? no need for rabies shots if he (the dog) wasnt bitten by unknown animal in past month.

Possibly wrong on two counts:

1. If the dog spends time outside on its own, it may have been bitten without the owner knowing. A bit from a small mammal, say a squirrel, may not be obvious.

2. Dogs may carry the rabies virus without showing any symptoms. (The science here is uncertain, but given that rabies in humans is almost invariably fatal if treatment isn't started before symptoms appear I for one wouldn't like to take the risk.)

I can answer #3. Last week I checked into opening a US dollar account with Bangkok Bank.

They charge .25% fee for incoming money. They pay .5% interest. Minimum balance is $1100.

The 0.25% fee is subject to a maximum of 500 Baht for incoming payment by SWIFT.

For full details of fees &c. see

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/Accounts/ForeignCurrencyAccount/Pages/FCDFees.aspx

and

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/DailyBanking/Accounts/ForeignCurrencyAccount/Pages/ConditionsandFees.aspx

For interest rates see:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/WebServices/Rates/Pages/FCDRates.aspx

(Currently a magnificent 0.1% for USD savings account.)

I'd always assumed that (excluding UK property) all interest income within a QROPS was tax free - and if an investment paid interest net of tax the custodian would reclaim the tax. I was therefore shocked to receive a copy of an Annual Tax Summary from Cofunds stating that several hundred pounds of income tax had been deducted at source from two interest payments and hadn't been reclaimed. (The investment concerned was Aviva Investors Asia Pacific Property Fund.)

Cofunds refuses to deal with me directly (even though I'm the designated investment manager), and an enquiry through the QROPS scheme manager has not provided a meaningful response.

Questions: Am I right in thinking that income tax should have been reclaimed on my behalf? Is there any reason for the tax not to be reclaimable on an overseas physical property fund?

Thanks.

Just got back from Villa at The Paseo, Ramkhamhaeng. They have imported swede in stock. 275 Baht/kg. First time I've seen it in Thailand. (This branch of Villa, which only opened very recently, also has celeriac, Australian leeks and witloof along with a few other exotic fruits and vegetables.)

I very much doubt swede is grown locally, so there's virtually no chance finding it outside the expat-oriented supermarkets in Bangkok and possibly Chiang Mai.

Shoddy reporting. There's no such thing as "Chinese-speaking". There's "Mandarin-speaking", "Cantonese-speaking", "Hokkien-speaking" &c., &c.. Most Thai-Chinese originated in Teochew so are "Teochew-speaking". What languages does the illegal guide speak? Is it just possible he was covering a language that the local guides don't?

At Promenade all you have to do is drive up in your Porsche or Ferrari and the security guard will move the cones to let you in.

NotTheNation explains the thinking behind all this http://notthenation.com/2013/04/supercar-drivers-demand-better-supercar-parking/

You can not invest in an ISA once you are non-resident in the UK. (You continue to get the tax benefits on existing ISAs, however.)

You can only invest in a personal pension for a maximum of 5 tax years after you become non-resident (which is a good thing to do because of the tax relief).

Advice such as "Steer clear of financial advisors, they just milk you with no redress if they give the wrong investment advice" is not helpful.

Some products such as QROPS (offshore pensions) are only available through a fianancial advisor,as are many wrap accounts (which give discounts on initial and annual management charges on funds). As for "no redress", there are plenty of cases where redress has been given, for example, over the Arch Cru debacle - and not difficult to claim compensation either.

With financial advisors the important thing is to know the end result you want and to make sure that you understand what the advisor is proposing, particularly the investments suggested and all associated charges and fees.

It worked for me (until the point where personal data has to be entered).

(Windows 7, IE 10)

It's just at that point where it all falls apart. Typing every character is a pain. I have yet to be able to complete the first of the seven pages without the whole thing lockup up completely.

I'd be very interested to hear whether anyone has actually managed to complete this form (or for that matter the new 90 day reporting one which is very similar).