billd766

What a great ending. I don't suppose anything was said to the half wit that gave out the incorrect information.

If you read the thread she said this

Claire, 33, said: "I was told they hadn't been able to get to him - that he'd been crushed. There was a language barrier but that's what I thought she meant."

But the nurse was mistaken and Nick was in fact lying in a hospital on the other side of town.

Not that the nurse giving information was correct or incorrect but that Clare admitted that there was a language barrier and it was she thought the nurse had said.

It is not the same thing at all.

Not all Thais have a perfect command of English as not all English people have a perfect command of Thai.

My Ford Ranger pickup came with Michelin tyres as original equipment and I am now on my 3rd set.

My pickiup has over 200,000 km on it and the first ones lasted about 120,000 and the second set were worn as the tracking was out and I was offshore working so when I came back I replaced them.

I figure that with no tracking problems over 100,000 km is easy to reach.

One word of warning.

When you get the tyres replaced but a couple of tyre pressure guages and make sure that the tyre pressures ar at the car manufacturers recommendation. Thais have a tendency to over-inflate the tyres as "the car drives better",.

Wrong all it does is put less tread on the tarmac and wears the tyres out quicker.

There is one arguable element of justification for the government.

If the pensioner lives and spends in the UK the money goes round in the British system and gets taxed and retaxed and some of it gets recouped into the common coffers.

Pension income generated in the UK gets taxed anyway, regardless of where you live (assuming that your income is greater than the personal allowance).

The personal allowance for the current tax year is GBP 9,490.

As I became a pensioner in May of this year my pension after 44 years of contributions is GBP 5200 and the dependants allowance which I am in the process of claiming for my Thai wife will be GBP 3,380 bringing the total to GBP 8,580 and is in fact paid free of income tax where ever you live provided that your total income comes to less than GBP 9,490.

If your total income is greater than this you will pay 20% tax on everything above that amount.

Incidentally I have applied to get my wife a National Insurance number which will entitle her to a pension in her own right when she reaches pensionable age.

Someone sent me an email about this but I inadvertantly deleted it. :D

Could whoever it was please resend it.

Sorry

Billd766

There is one arguable element of justification for the government.

If the pensioner lives and spends in the UK the money goes round in the British system and gets taxed and retaxed and some of it gets recouped into the common coffers.

Pension income generated in the UK gets taxed anyway, regardless of where you live (assuming that your income is greater than the personal allowance).

The personal allowance for the current tax year is GBP 9,490.

As I became a pensioner in May of this year my pension after 44 years of contributions is GBP 5200 and the dependants allowance which I am in the process of claiming for my Thai wife will be GBP 3,380 bringing the total to GBP 8,580 and is in fact paid free of income tax where ever you live provided that your total income comes to less than GBP 9,490.

If your total income is greater than this you will pay 20% tax on everything above that amount.

Incidentally I have applied to get my wife a National Insurance number which will entitle her to a pension in her own right when she reaches pensionable age.

Someone sent me an email about this but I inadvertantly deleted it.

Could whoever it was please resend it.

Sorry

Billd766

There is one arguable element of justification for the government.

If the pensioner lives and spends in the UK the money goes round in the British system and gets taxed and retaxed and some of it gets recouped into the common coffers.

Pension income generated in the UK gets taxed anyway, regardless of where you live (assuming that your income is greater than the personal allowance).

The personal allowance for the current tax year is GBP 9,490.

As I became a pensioner in May of this year my pension after 44 years of contributions is GBP 5200 and the dependants allowance which I am in the process of claiming for my Thai wife will be GBP 3,380 bringing the total to GBP 8,580 and is in fact paid free of income tax where ever you live provided that your total income comes to less than GBP 9,490.

If your total income is greater than this you will pay 20% tax on everything above that amount.

Incidentally I have applied to get my wife a National Insurance number which will entitle her to a pension in her own right when she reaches pensionable age.

Up here in Central 65km southwest of Khampaeng Phet we have had 4 days or nights of heavy rain and thunderstorms.

My almost empty fish pond has nearly 1 metre of water in it and where they are building a bridge and a new road across the local klong the temporary bridge and tunnels they brought in have been washed away.

Weight issues aside, I suggest you fill it to capacity or else you need to put baffles inside to stop sloshing. A half or 3 quarters filled tank can have a huge weight redistribution very suddenly if cornering, with a resultant unequilibrium that will accentuate your list as you go around the corner.

Very good point Harcourt. Very important issue about braking here also when carrying liquids by road:

Whereas in normal driving we release the pressure from the foot brake just before stopping in order to get a nice smooth stop, when carrying liquids by tank (unless full to the brim) its very important that when you stop you KEEP YOUR FOOT PRESSURE ON THE BRAKE otherwise you'll find yourself, just when you don't expect, being launched forward again either over the line at lights, nose out into the main road at junctions, or worse, into the back of the vehicle infront.

I guess this is the type of tank the OP means:

Ebay tank

Fully laden tank (no way to baffle these!) + pallet & cage will be well over a tonne + unladen trailer weight = you need trailer brakes. Probably not by law, this is Thailand not England, but certainly by common sense.

The tank on Ebay is similar to the one I bought a couple of years ago in Khampaeng Phet for about 4,000 baht. It fits snugly into the load bed of my Ford Ranger 4x4 pickup and yes you certainly realise that it is there when it is full.

My son was born 5 years ago this month at the army run hospital literally just after the traffic lights where you turn left to go to Makro.

It is OK there and not too expensive though I cannot remember the prices now and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Just don't eat the food there as like most hospital food is is made to a price rather than to order.

However Big C food court is not far away with KFC and the Pizza company plus McDonalds and Pizza Hut also available.

For some reason my son was not into farang food at that time and he doesn't get much of a chance now either.

Has it been that long since you've been to Nakhon Sawan? No more McDonalds!

BTW, how are you liking retirement?

Also on a side note; my daughter was born at Sri Sawan; I didn't have any complaints about the service and the price was ok for me. I also took a tumble off a motorcycle and somehow caught the brake pedal on my ribs (I'm talented); felt like I cracked something. A chest x-ray, some care for road rash, and medicine was some 30 USD through the emergency room. I probably got ripped off....

Hi Dave

Retirement is not all it is cracked up to be.

I certainly didn't work this hard when I was paid to work but I have been clearing scrub and undergrowth on about 10 rai which hasn't been touched for nearly 2 years and it is hard work at my age.

As a reward for my hard work over the years for my family my wife said I could have a choice of a mia noi or a motorbike. As her choice of a mia noi for me was a 53 year old fat former katoey I now have a second hand Honda Phantom 4 years old and 5,500 km on the clock when I bought it.

Yeah right.

I am the 4th owner (all farangs) and though it vibrates a bit it is fun to ride.

Cheers

What a great looking house Bill. Love the design, thanks for sharing.

Thanks sendbaht

I had nothing to do with it as my wife decided what she wanted and got a good friend to design and draw up the plans.

She looked around at some builders up here and at their work, decided on the one she wanted and came to an agreement on the price.

She then stayed with a friend for a short while while we built a small 5 x 5 metre house, split down the middle as an open area plus a bedroom and a toilet and shower.

She then lived in that while the big house was built working as a sort of site manager with the builder buying all the building materials herself and in some cases collecting them.

If the builder had a problem or she wanted something different they talked it over and came to a compromise.

Not bad for a 38 year old woman who used to run a restaurant.

I kept out of it other than to supply the electrical stuff.

It needs decorating now as we have a 5 year old who wasn't planned but is the apple of my eye except when he was younger as I could never catch him or his friend drawing on the walls, but that is a small price to pay.

Including the land, and my wife had 5 rai before and I bought another 5 rai, the big house 10x12 metres, brick downstairs and teak upstairs, 2 bedrooms and a shower/toilet upstairs with a lounge, another bedroom and store room downstairs plus an open area and a 2 1/2 metre wide balcony on 3 sides. That plus the small house cost around 1.2 million roughly including labour and materials etc.

We are happy with it and the downstairs bedroom is for when I get too old and knackered to climb the stairs.

I have been coming to Thailand on and off since 1993 and working both in Thailand and offshore and I can't get enough of the place.

I have been married to my Thai lady since 2000 since meeting her on my 3rd day in Thailand.

We have a 5 year old son (and a 3 legged dog) and live way out in the sticks on the edge of a national park at Mae Wong, 65 km from Khampaeng Phet.

I know that there are a few things that annoy me about Thailand but out here most of the time people genuinely smile and are fairly happy though as it is mainly farming they do put in long hours of hard work.

I cannot really compare the view from my front door with SBK and no way is it as good from the back as cdnvic but it ain't that bad.

We live on 10 rai backing onto the park and my wife has another 10 rai down the road where she has a shop and noodle restaurant.

The picture with the palm tree was a shot of the sun rising

and the other one with the sala by the fish pond was a sunset.

The third is of the house just after we finished building it.

Because we are near the hills there are some really good sunsets and rainbow shots.

I used to live in a 3 bedroom end of terrace house and later a semi-detached house in the UK.

Isn't the issue here, to dig out the UK residents who have offshore accounts (and those in EU). For expats outside this area who don't spend more than 90 days in UK it isn't an issue. Though if things carry on this way UK could become like US and chase you down anywhere on the globe. After all Gordon is desperate for cash.

I have a military pension, a company pension and now a state pension and I have lived out of the UK full time for the last 10 years and working offshore for a UK company for 8 years before that.

My bank is offshore in Jersey and according to the UK government as all of my pensions were earn through the UK I have to pay income tax even though I have no representation, benefits should I return to the UK for a short period nor pension increases on my state pension.

My Jersey bank had already been on to me back in 2007 to say that at that time the ruling did not affect me.

From what I have read recently on the BBC news website is that the current government will legally be able to track down UK citizens whenever you use your passport or credit/debit card worldwide.

Should the current government lose the next election you can bet your last GBP that the security laws will not be rescinded.

As an example from many years ago when Margaret Thatcher was Education Minister in a Conservative government she abolished free school milk to the howls from the Labour opposition of Maggie Thatcher, milk snatcher.

When the Labour party won the election, did they re-instate free milk for school children?

If you believe that I have a contact with a man who is looking to get his money out of Thailand and if you send me all your bank details we can come to an arrangement for a percentage.

Come on, you know you can trust me.

The problem with looking for a bank that doesn't charge the 150 baht is that it costs time and money to do so.

At the end of the day I pay the 150 baht and get on with my life.

Much less stress that way and if 150 baht is really going to affect my life that much I would not be able to live in Thailand as I would be counting every baht and satang and worrying if I can afford to eat that day.

That seems pretty wasteful to me. I just remember where the Aeon (and up until now) UOB ATMs are and remember to get money when i am at those locations.

Maybe if you live way out in the sticks it could be a problem, but in Bangkok it's not that difficult to find a Aeon ATM.

And also depends on how frequently you use the ATM.

I probably take money 10 times per month...that's already 1500baht in ATM fees...which is more than my phone bill and only a little less than my electric bill...and for what..? Nothing.

You are correct but not everybody lives in Bangkok.

I take money out about 4 times a month and the nearest ATM to me is about 6km and the next is 17km away. To get a large choice of ATMs most of which charge the 150 baht anyway I could drive 65km to Khampaeng Phet or 125 km the other way to Nakhon Sawan.

I can think of at least 15 people living in this area who have little choice as to where they can find an ATM.

As you said in Bangkok and the big cities there are more banks but the number that don't charge are getting less every month.

I haven't used an ATM in a month, until today when I went to UOB and discovered that they are now also charging this outrages 150 fee. So my quesiton is;any other banks left who doesn't charge this fee? If not what bank should I use that give the best exchange rate.

Did you see that charge before the withdrawal in the process in the ATM machine, or after in the receipt? Can anyone confirm it?

My bank is Kbank and when I withdraw from my UK account the ATM tells me that I will be charged an extra 150 and do I want to proceed.

Answer yes and I get the amount I ask for, usually 10k baht plus another 150 baht charge for using the ATM and therefore my UK account is debited by 10,150 baht.

Answer no and the ATM cancels the transaction, returns my card and charges me nothing.

The problem with looking for a bank that doesn't charge the 150 baht is that it costs time and money to do so.

At the end of the day I pay the 150 baht and get on with my life.

Much less stress that way and if 150 baht is really going to affect my life that much I would not be able to live in Thailand as I would be counting every baht and satang and worrying if I can afford to eat that day.

The 85K income is what got you a retirement extension.

If you don't want a retirement extension don't show them the money for one. A lot of immigration offices will push you for the retirement extension if you have enough income or money in the bank.

Joe

I understand that NOW but it is what came out of my pensions from the UK and I DID tell them I wanted a marriage extension.

As I said before there is always next year in Nakhon Sawan, if it ever opens.

You are talking about doing your 90 days report. You can do this by mail, you don't have to go to Mae Sod. For doing your 90 day report you have a window of 7 days before and after the exact date.

Hi Mario

I realise that I don't have to go there but the point I was trying to make (and failed miserably ) is that the time I was there I did take note of the opening and closing times and like all good TV members I have the TV calendar which also gives me the public holidays. :D

I also downloaded a copy of the 90 calculator from TV.

Sorry for the delay in responding but I have just bought another laptop and I am trying to figure out how to make it do what I want rather than what it wants and I have gone from Windows XP to Windows Vista Ultimate.

I think you got an extension based upon retirement. That NON-RE stamp above the re-entry permit confirms it for me.

How much income or money in the bank did you show proof of.

I only had about 150,000 in the bank but on the exchange rate for my pensions it came to about 85,000 baht before UK tax

The red is retirement (or as the wife translates 'the last of your life').

Thank you, Bill, for attaching a copy of your latest extension stamp. The red stamp in Thai to the left of the issue date says it all: you are now good to spend “the rest of your life” (immigration jargon for “retirement” in Thailand.

Because a retirement extension is less work for the immigration office, some officers like to play this trick on an applicant and give him a retirement extension even though he applied for a marriage extension, when the money in the bank is enough for the retirement extension. Now you now why they all giggled.

--

Maestro

Sneaky little buggers up there ain't they. I actually applied for an extension for a marriage.

It seems to be the OP’s first annual extension of stay. The page in his passport to the right of the extension stamp has a visa, covered by the 90-day address notification advisory. Based on the information of the first post in this topic, it must be a single-entry non-immigrant visa, most likely non-O.

I wonder what, if anything, he wrote at the bottom of page 1 of the application form as reason for the application.

--

Maestro

I wrote that I requested a marriage extension

The paper on the opposite page was a 90 notice and was only stapled in and the Non Imm O visa underneath it was a 3 month one from Auckland to get me back on track when I came back from New Zealand.

It was not my first marriage extension but I have been working offshore for the last few years and the timing has not always been right for renewal.

The one before this which expired was for living with my Thai child and required no proof of income but that sadly has gone by the wayside.

Ah well there is always next year bin Nakhon Sawan.

My son was born 5 years ago this month at the army run hospital literally just after the traffic lights where you turn left to go to Makro.

It is OK there and not too expensive though I cannot remember the prices now and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Just don't eat the food there as like most hospital food is is made to a price rather than to order.

However Big C food court is not far away with KFC and the Pizza company plus McDonalds and Pizza Hut also available.

For some reason my son was not into farang food at that time and he doesn't get much of a chance now either.

Are you saying that you applied for a 12 month extension based on Marriage and they gave you the extension in one vist?

That is not the norm.

A 12 month extension is what I applied for and, yes it was all over in 30 minutes.

Exztensions are always one year from end of current stay now - long time ago it was from entry. Is your extension marked marriage/wife or is it retirement? Retirment with the 65k/800k normally has no wait period.

Yes I asked for a marriage extension and not a retirement extension and if I am lucky I have attached a scanned copy of the stamp.

I think I got it because I look younger than I am, I am cheerful and not complaining, dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers, have a positive attitude and also I am a handsome man or so my wife used to say many years ago.

billd,

My father dug a pond some years back in the USA, and the pond would not hold water to the level we wanted. Being in the oil drilling business he came across some mentonite from a friend and spread throughout the pond, by sprinkling over the water and shovel fulls along the sides. The pond has been full of water for years and only rises and declines with the weather. Friends and faming spread the bentonite over a two day period. (Free BBQ & Beer)

He shared his sucess with others in the area and they also met with sucess.

The main problem I see with with Bentonite is that I will have to buy it from somewhere, get it shipped up to where I live and get some local guys to spread it and it should be OK.

However I have talked to Watersedge above about the stuff he can get in Mae Sot.

That would be 900 -1,000 baht a truck load plus 5,000 baht per truck delivery.

Once I have put my initial piping in then which I need to do anyway I figure it will cost me around 10 baht an hour to pump perhaps 2 cu/mt or maybe 30 baht a day. If I compare that to 6,000 baht a truck load then it becomes a cost issue as I will get evaporation and have to top up the pond anyway.

Thanks for the information though.

It seems as though I have to really think this through instead of going at it half-assed as I did in the beginning.

I am a Brit living in Chiang Mai on a retirement visa. This was issued on 23 June 2009 and valid until 23 June 2010. I have to report to the immigration office every 90 days, and have a slip stapled in my passport showing the first date to report is today, Sunday 23 August 2009. Went there, but the office is shut. Pity that the nice colourful leaflet that they give you shows opening hours but not opening days.

I'll be there again on Monday, but what should I say if they tell me I'm in trouble?

Duh.

I am retired also and I was due to report to the Immigration office today 23rd August, however when I was there last month I took note of the opening and closing times so I went last Friday 21st.

No problem for them and also no problem for me apart from the 200km drive each way.

There are very nice people in the Mae Sot office and it is a pleasure to go there.

I went to Mae Sot Immigration office on 24th July to apply for an extension of my 3 month Non-Imm O visa.

I took every thing I needed and made 3 copies of everything I could find.

I took my wife and son that day and I only missed one photocopy.

There was one other farang at the desk so we went to the other desk and in about 30 minutes it was all over.

I was sure that as usual I had to come back a month later as usual for "under consideration" applications.

I went back yesterday and I intended to get a multi re-entry permit.

So I went in around 11.30 and I was the only customer and spoke to the same lady I spoke to last time.

She asked what wanted and I said I had come for my extension stamp.

She looked at my passport and said something in Thai to the other Thais there and they all started to laugh.

Thinks to myself I have a problem here and I asked what the problem was and she said that last time they had stamped my passport with the visa extension.

They had so I started to laugh as well and tell them that the farang has lost a few brain cells somewhere.

They gave the the re-entry permit and all was well.

We had a few laughs and I left for home a happy chappie.

This morning I checked my passport again and I found that I had entered Thailand on 26th May 2009 and when I got my extension instead of a 9 month extension they had given me 12 months until 23 August 2010.

So at Mae Sot they are very very helpful and friendly and for my "marriage" extension the whole process was completed in 30 minutes with no pressure in a clean and tidy office, computer linked to the outside world (or at least the Immigration Department somewhere).

The staff are professional and very farang friendly and apart from my first visit when the other farang used an agent sitting with him, (I suspect more as a translator as I think he was European with a poor command of English) there are NO agents pushing, shoving and shouting their way in front of you as there was at Suan Phlu the last time I went.

I asked when the new Immigration Office was due to open in Nakhon Sawan ans was told "next month" maybe.

If it is as good as Mae Sot I will be happy.

The moral of this is always check and if you are not sure ask for clarification.

It cost me another trip to Mae Sot but it was a nice day out anyway.

:D

Thanks for the iformation guys.

Iwas away yesterday and my wife has been down to a wat in Lop Buri which left my mother-in-law.

A nice old lady (though actually 3 years younger than me) who can't speak a word of English and I suspect my por Thai confuses the hel_l out of her.

My wife grows orchids and a few other items plus on the land we have pineapples, bananas, jackfruit, pomelos, custard apples red and green, papaya and among some others is this item.

It is about 25 cm in diameter and about 20cm tall and it grows on some sort of vine but my wife cannot remember what it was she planted ages ago and I have no idea.

Can anyone help me on this?

A letter I have from the UK Inland Revenue/Pension Dept states that, "the UK retirement pension can be paid anywhere in the world".

I gave it to a friend and he has his pension paid into a Thai bank I believe.

Yes, it can be paid to anywhere the world, but they will not pay directly into a Thai bank, they will only send a Stirling cheque to a Thai address or bank, so they are technically correct about paying to anywhere in the world.

I find their website pretty helpful

http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/ipc/co...es/thailand.asp

I have read on the Directgov website that they will pay direct into a Thai bank from this October.....copied from the site

How the State Pension is paid if you live abroad

If you live abroad then your State Pension can be paid directly into one of the following:

• a bank in the country in which you live
  
• a bank or building society in the UK
  

Payment to a bank in the country where you live

Your State Pension can be paid electronically into any of the following countries: Antigua, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Belgium, Canada, Channel Islands, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica (Commonwealth), Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, South Africa, Spain, St Kitts – Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America.

From October 2009 additional countries will be: Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Colombia, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen.

Payment will be made in the local currency of the country in which the bank account is held. No charges are made for this service.

Interesting, very interesting.

When I draw 10,000 baht from my LloydsTSB offshore account it costs me 150 baht , no problem, and around £2.80 depending on the exchange rate from Lloyds.

A couple of months ago I transferred 40,000 baht at it cost me £19 at Lloyds PLUS a further £12.89 for "our agents" charge, something that I had not seen before.

If the state pension can be sent to my Kbank free of charges that will be a good saving every month.

I am also in the process of digging a pond. We started early this year but after getting down 2-3 mtrs everything came to a halt, because of the same rock (boulder) problems as you. I decided to put everything on hold and see if the unfinished pond would hold water and same as you it will not.

Once I come up with an idea and remove the rocks (boulders) i will spread Bentonite throughout.

I know from experience if the Bentonite is spread properly it works 95% of the time.

David

Hi laser

I hope that you are lucky and end up with a fairly flat bottom and easy sloping sides.

You say from experience that Bentonite is good 95% of the time.

Was that you doing it yourself in Thailand or an experienced work crew.

Every day I am out the front of the house with a petrol strimmer with the rotary saw blade clearing away the scrub and brush from the last 18 months. It varies from 50cm grass and weeds up to nearly 3 metres with trees and rocks hiding in it.

After 2 hours I am trashed for the day.

Granted that I am 65, retired and fat and I am doing it now while I am still capable as in a few years I will not be able to.

It is a form of exercise and also of will power and I will be damned if so piddly area of ground will beat me though in truth it is more like 2,500 sq/m.

:D