Pib

So the bottom line is that you worked as an English teacher here for a typical Thai school, for example, and only paid the standard Thai taxes, even if you also filed US taxes, you would not be earning SS work credits, correct?

If you ain't paying Uncle Sam SS deductions, then he's not giving you SS work credits.

I heard a good one the other day.

Personally I can't quite believe it, but it may be true...

A Farang was taken to the Police Station (Pattaya) and arrested for painting the outside of his house. The house he had leased by way of a 30 year plus 30 year option.

The police gave the reason for his 'arrest' - He was doing a job that a Thai could be employed to do.

Ok. Farangs can not take part of this type of employment. But it is surely only a 'job' on private propety once a contract for the work is tendered.

To say that the work undertaken is for profitable gain is open to conjecture.

Most bizarre.

Anyone heard of anything like this before?

Maybe it was a color the policeman didn't like.

Just a thought ....by using ... do you mean getting cash from an ATM in Thailand ?

if Yes its a cash advance charge of probably about 3 quid every time you get cash out

dave2

No, these weren't cash withdrawals from ATMs, but purchases made at places like HomePro.

Maybe it's a currency conversion fee of around 1% like most U.S. credit cards charge, whether it's a debit or credit card.

We Americans should not confuse patriotism with sound fiscal policy, nor think that most Republican congressmen are fiscally conservative.

You got that right!!! The political party of George W. Bush (a.k.a., fiscal conservatives according to their hype) has spent money like a drunker sailor! They have also been asleep at the wheel for the last 8 years in regulating U.S. financial markets which impact most other world markets. Or should I say, intentionally applying very little regulation as their train of thought is little to no regulation is very good thing. I think we have found out that train of thought is a train wreck! As an American, that's my humble opinion.

Hello I may be moving to Ban Chang, Rayong. I'm an avid cyclist and outdoor enthusiast. I am wondering what the roads are like there, are there lots of places to bike, is commuting around the city centers easily done? What is the area of Ban Chang like? Is there work available in outdoor education or bike touring? I am also interested in studying massage therapy and natural medicine, are there any places in Rayong or Pattaya to look into? Any advice is much appreciated, thanks!

Ban Chang and Rayong are defiinitely more basic than Pattaya and Bangkok. You will be living in pretty much a Thai environment with just a springling of western living. Don't think you would have much chance at a job/work permit unless you happen to line something up with a oil/chemical company.

Dear all

I woulkd like to ask you for help here. I am from Spain (educated in Scotalnd), scientist, possibly moving to Bangkok by february next year. I will be working as a postdoctoral researcher at Mahidol Uni for one year and extensible for one more. My salary would be around 30000 bahts... Here my questions:

1.- Is that the culture so different from western countries?

Answer: Cultures vary greatly from country to country, and even vary within each country. Will Thailand be a change from Spain or Scotland?--you bet it will be!!!

2.- Is the heat bearable?

Answer: It's bearable, but Thailand is in the tropics and being in the tropics means hot-to-hotter and humid. And running an air conditioner costs money.

3.- Is it possible to live off 30,000 bahts per month? If I brought my girlfriend (something unlikely), would we be able to live with such as income?

Answer: For a westerner/farang, you would struggle unless you ate at street stands all the time (this food change will be a shock to your system) and avoided most night life and buying many things you may consider a basic necessity in the west. The girl friend is going to make the frugal spending even harder to do.

4.- The uni and the group I would be working with sounded excellent and really nice. Is Mahidol a, so to speak, prestigious university?

Answer: I can't speak to the status of the university, but "sounding" prestigious is easy to do many times; living up to the promise is a different story.

Summary and Recommendation: Thailand is definitely different than Europe/U.S./western countries...don't take such a big step of moving to Thailand until you have visited the country several times for several weeks each time; "and looked at the country from the standpoint of living here versus partying here." It's a great country, but it takes some BIG adjustments when settling down for the long term in the country.

Here's my Yellow Book story which resulted in me getting my Yellow Book today.

Turned out to be a pretty fast and painless process here in Bangkok (at least in my particular situation). Basically, forms-wise the government office needed:

- A copy of my passport's main pages (i.e., the first few pages)

- A copy of my passport's page showing the O-A Retirement Visa

- A copy of the wife's Thai ID Card

- A copy of the wife's Blue Book/Tambien Baan

- A copy of our Thai marriage license

- Two photo's 1 inch by 1 inch in size (got them at Lotus with graphics added suit & tie)

- One form which provided my basic info (name, date of birth, etc) to include my mother's and father's names (the wife and her friend completed the form in Thai for me)

- The government official completed another form

The government official then spent about 45 minutes checking/comparing the document copies to the originals, writing addition info on the form we completed, and completing another form. I think we were suppose to complete this second form, but he completed it for us from info on above mentioned document copies. He also free-hand wrote quite bit of data on the bottom third of both forms like passport number, marriage license number, and other data. I think the additional data/info he wrote was needed to support issue of a Yellow Book. He had my wife and a witness (a friend who accompanied us) sign one of the form's to attest my residence was indeed in Thailand. One of my pictures went on the form we completed and the other picture went into a log book. The wife and I were then sent with a half inch width worth of documents and the log book to his supervisor. His supervisor asked me a few questions like why I was retiring in Thailand, what was my previous job/career, etc. This interview took about 5 minutes. The supervisor coordinated-off/approved the paperwork and we were sent back to the first government official. This official then took the approved paperwork and then spent about 15 minutes at the computer which generated by Yellow Book. The whole process took approx one hour and 15 minutes and was accomplished in a professional manner.

Note: your Yellow Book application experience may not be the same.

Now please tell us how you really feel about all the dogs roaming about in BKK..... Please don't hold back.....

I wish there wasn't so many dogs roaming the roads and streets of Thailand; but until neutering/spaying turns in a enforced law in Thailand please plan on continued weaving and dodging the dogs when driving.

My best guess is that the OP has a problem with the physical line. Can you post your DSL line characteristics (margin, attenuation)? (You can usually find these in the modem/router's management system.)

Could very well be since I think many TOT users get good speed most of the time (i.e., approaching the speed being paid for). But since the OP is getting low speed all the time, I would agree a physical connection/quality of line problem exists. When I run SpeedTest.net tests within Thailand/Bangkok I always get 1700+Kbs speed on my 2048Kbs TOT line, regardless of time or day. And for the great majority of the day I get 1000 to 1700 Kbps speed to international sites in the US/Europe/etc, but about 10% of the time (varies by day and time) I can only get around 200-300Kbs download speed to international sites. I expect this is caused by TOT's international bandwidth being max'ed out.

Now if I could wave a magic wan and fix Thailand's international bandwidth limitation, then we could all just complain about the general 2048Kbs limitation due to the quality of the phone lines. We could then concentrate on longing for that 6Mbs (or more) speed @ around 30 USD that some of us got us to in other countries through the cable TV, DSL, etc., lines.

Here's my TOT GoldCyber stats from Bangkok (Khet TalingChan) to "London" 15 Oct 08 @ 9:02pm Thailand time.

And here's my speed when doing a Bangkok to "New York" speed test a few minutes later

Earlier in the day the speed for both locations was above 1500Kbs/was much better/faster; like I said earlier it depends on the time of day for me at least. TOT leases its international bandwidth and I expect they try to minimize bandwidth costs during the day while maximizing profits.

Time for me to go to bed...what the heck am I doing running DSL Internet speed checks this time of night...I need to come to grips with the fact that Thailand Internet speed/bandwidth is about 5 years (or more) behind the U.S./Europe.

Below is what my TOT GoldCyber (2048/512) cranked out from Bangkok (Khet TalingChan) to London on 15 Oct 08 @ 5:56pm.

Here's my TOT CyberGold 2048/512 (1000 Baht/Mo) speed in Bangkok (Khet TalingChan) on 15 Oct 08/9:15am Thailand time. Actually squeaked out a little more speed that the TOT DSL line is rated at (i.e., I got a 2067 kbs download on a 2048 kbs rated DSL line). But like I said above/in an earlier post, a few hours from now the speed could drop down (or not) to the 200-300kbs range...not a lot of rhyme or reason to the speed depending on day or time of day.

While most lipoma's are minor outpatient affairs, please note that infection can occur that can complicate things. This happened to me about 15 years ago when I had a lipoma removed from my right rib cage at a hospital in Hawaii. While the surgery was a piece of cake and I was in and out of the hospital in two hours (maybe 45 minutes in the room where they did the minor surgery), the infection which occurred several days later drove several unplanned followup visits. Infections can occur from a surgery done at the best (or worst) hospital/doctors office in the world. Please consider the possible need for follow-on care/visits in choosing who and where you get this minor surgery accomplished.

Here's my results to Dallas from Bangkok (Khet TalingChan) at 7:03pm Thailand time using TOT CyberGold (2048/512). But I will the first to say that tomorrow morning or mid day the below test results could drop significantly (or could be a little higher/better). Although I always get around 1700 to 1800kbs download speed for sites "within" Thailand regardless of the time of day, the "outside" of Thailand (international bandwidth) can vary (drop) significantly during certain hours of the day.

Here in Bangkok I just got my 2009 Fotuner delivered today; went on contract to buy it 3 days earlier. No shortage of 2009 Fortuners on the lot. When going on contract I made it clear I wanted the English language owners manual. The dealer said "can do" but it would take about 3 months to get them. However, when picking up the SUV 3 days later the dealer said he had a surprise for me--it was English owners manual (no charge)...also got the Thai language owners manual. The English version owners manual for my particular 2009 Fortuner model is: OM991-83GED-OME.

Greetings,

I'm looking for help on the following question, Does US Naturalization effect Thai Citizenship?

My Thai wife and I have lived in Thailand for many years, but she applied for US Citizenship, and has passed the test and is about to be sworn in. Does anyone know if this will cause her to loose her Thai citizenship or have any effect on it?

Thanks,

Tex

She retains her Thai citizenship "unless she renounces her Thai citizenship with the Thai government." Dual citizenship is common although most countries "prefer" (not mandatory) you to have only one citizenship. The U.S. Supreme Court settled the dual citizenship issue about 15 years ago in a decision which says foreigners do not loose their native citizenship just because they become U.S. citizens....and you can find info on this subject in the U.S. State Department/Naturalization website. And as you've seen in other posts, the Thai government doesn't take away Thai citizenship unless the person "formally renounces" Thai citizenship with the Thai government. Get the dual citizenship...get the best of both worlds.

This is not a problem. Immigration and airlines are familiar with dual nationality and when she shows both passports they will understand she doesn't need a visa or anything for travel between Netherlands and Thailand.

Yeap, agree. My wife has dual citizenship/passports...and uses the Thai passport to enter/exit Thailand....and uses her USA passport to enter/exit the USA and most other countries. When exiting Thailand on a Thai passport the "airlines" will want see the foreign passport/visa during airline check-in to confirm the traveler can enter the foriegn country; Thai immigration will only want to see the passport she originally entered on...and even if she uses the Thai passport on the next exit they may not even catch the fact she entered on the Dutch passport...however, but, since she is in the system as entering on the Dutch passport the 90 reporting requirement would probably catchup with her sooner or later. So, it would probably be best to leave on the Dutch passport on her next trip. Then when she comes back and enters on the Thai passport she won't need to worry about a yearly visa, 90 day reporting, etc., as she is just another Thai citizen living in Thailand.

Summary: after she exits Thailand on the next trip using the Dutch passport "then" always use the Thai passport when entering/exiting Thailand and only show the foreign passport when asked by the airlines or immigration....and then tuck the Thai passport away in her purse for the remaining portion of the trip and just use the foreign passport except when she reenters Thailand...then pull out the Thai passport again.

My personal experience with batteries in tropical environments is after18-24 months that the battery failure rate increase dramatically, even with brand name batteries.

My dart throw indicates the dollar will gain strength for the following reasons: Euro/UK interest rates heading down, US interest rates heading up in late 08/early 09, US getting a new President, Iraq conflict to wine down, oil prices heading down, and US stock market seems to be ahead of rest of the world in shaking off this subprime mess. And in terms of the Baht/Dollar exchange rate, the ongoing Thai government turmoil will continue to strengthen the desire for dollars.

Thanks to all for the responses. Right now I'm leaning towards Ji-net. They are one of the ISP's for my TOT line and from searching ThaiVisa, doing some Googling and checking out Ji-Net's web, it seems like Ji-net generally gets good ratings. While I realize DSL quality and reliability can be greatly influenced by phone line quality, distance from the phone company central office/junction bank, etc., I've generally found it useful to get that general feedback/crossfeed before buying a product or service and then trying to filter out the feedback/crossfeed from those folks who seem like they might be challenged by even turning on a light switch.

I've been with Bangkok Bank for about five years and been very happy with their service...and most of my wife's family (Thai) also uses Bangkok Bank.

I agree...thanks for the info, but I'm not having much luck with neighbors since there doesn't appear to be many DSL users in my neigborhood and the neigbors always seem to be at work. But I'm still hoping to hear from some folks based on their real world experience...becaue at least that would gives a fair indication of the quality of service. Thanks again.

What would be your recommendation for a DSL service provider in the west Bangkok area? Based on your real world experience from the speed, reliability, and price standpoints. Big thanks for your recommendations/feedback.

Regarding the Thai government possibly easing up on the restrictions any time soon (or over the next decade) regarding land ownership by farangs, I won't be holding my breath. And if unrestricted land ownership was permitted by foreigners, I expect Thailand would get bought overnight.

I don't think you can mail documents to them unless you are a resident of Hawaii and requires an actual visit to the honorary consulate.

You can deal with them by mail, at least there was an example of that recently here on this forum. However, it was intra-Hawaii (the fellow lived on another island), so no help in identifying residency restriction.

Is this just a gut feeling-- or do you have indication of restriction? (I know some honoraries -- Denver and Miami -- restrict applications to state residents. Many others don't, however.)

Interesting that the Embassy has no mention of notarization. Oversight, or good sense?

The LA Consulate still requires notarization (per their website). Plus, they're adamant about "single entry only." I can't think of any valid reason to use LA for an O-A (or any visa) -- even if you lived within walking distance.....

Just a gut feel that they only support folks who are residents of Hawaii region or can actually visit their office. Hawaii falls within the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. area of responsibility. It's good to see that the Thai Embassy in D.C. no longer mentions notorizaton. It's not realistic to get true notoraization on certain documents like a doctor's medical certificate...like the doctor is going to sign the certificate in front of a notary public.