billd766

I am living in New Zealand at the moment and I am using Firefox 3.03 and tonight if I am lucky I can read 2 or 3 pages before TV hangs. I have been reading a thread and sometimes it will hang going into the next page on the thread and the only way I can read anything is by resetting the wireless link.

This has been going on for 2 or 3 days now and I am starting to get p122ed about it.

It only happens on TV.

My mate here uses the latest IE version and has exactly the same problem.

Khonwan is in the land of deep fried haggis for a short while but he will be looking in frequently bearing in mind the time difference.

1) spend some time with different family members, trying to get to know them on a one-to-one basis, and;

My take on this would have been, that you should have done that well before marrying your wife. This is called 'due diligence'.

As her family will become a big part of her responsibility when they get old(er) -- a point I have by now accepted as being part of local life -- a good understanding between the family and you should have been achieved well in advance. This is not only true with regard to financial expectations (eg are they really in need or just taking the piss), but also if you can accept their personalities and ethics (eg hard-working friendly people versus useless drunkards).

This is only possible if you have known your girlfriend a good long time before marrying her. A word of warning: if your wife comes out of a totally messed up family seeing you as their financial salvation, chances are that she herself is missing a lot of personal traits to make a relationship work.

Putting your wife between your expectations and those of her parents 'after the fact' is at best unfair, the outcome most often not the one you would wish for.

That worked for me as I knew my Thai girlfriend for 5 years before I divorced my UK wife and we married 2 years later. Now 7 years later we are still married have a 4 year old son.

We built a small house for my wife to live in while we built the big house and now her mother lives in it and when her dad gets fed up in Bangkok he is welcome as well. I have supported them for years with a small amount monthly and helped them when I could and they have helped us as well.

Perhaps I am among the lucky ones.

The Family is her life.

as well as your bankruptcy

Do you know this for a fact or as many people seem to do, just speculate?

I am 35 and 2 years away from retirement, i would not call myself an old geezer

You're going to retire at 37? I hope you have millions salted away. Otherwise, what are you going to live on in the distant future? You are unlikely to make any major money in Thailand. If you know her well enough & long enough, I would consider bringing her to your country & see how it goes.

I think we have to assume that Jimmy is minted. At least that's what he'd like us to believe, like so many other posters here.

Yes hahah, since I started reading posts here I seriously began thinking I was extremely poor compared to 90% of the posters here. But then I began to notice how often posters bring the topic money up, and start saying 'well its not the money but the principle that matters', 'you need at least XXXX of cash otherwise you can never survive in Thailand'. And I remembered how 90% of the long stay farang in Thailand look like, and they sure don't look like they are loaded nor that they come from backgrounds that could indicate they have some money coming. Neh, Thailand is for the 'poorer' westerners that do want to live abroad but can't afford an other country. Pity many people on the net try so hard to be someone different then they actually are.

And to the OP: don't get married, don't invest, don't buy homes, and find someone not half your age, and then it might, with lots and lots of luck, work out.

MBL

So let me see.

You notice how often posters bring up money by saying that "its not the money but the principle that matters. That is true in some cases but not all.

"You need xxxx amount of cash otherwise you can never survive in Thailand"

100% correct as there is no social security network here in Thailand especially for non Thais. On the other hand you also need xxxx amount of cash to live in ANY country.

I f you see me in the local village you would think that I am poor and cannot afford nice clothes or look as though I have no money coming in. Actually that is not true as I am doing quite well thank you very much.

I am not one of the "poorer" Westerners who want to live abroad but can't afford another country. I actually WANT to be here in Thailand (although I am working and living offshore at the moment) because that is where my Thai lady and our son live comfortably with a nice house and a bit of land and her own business.

I am married with a 4 year old son, a wife who is 21 years younger with her own house, land and business which I willingly paid for and yes it does work out for me.

By the way I DO live in Thailand and NOT NW Europe (been there and done that years ago) and I have done on and off since 1993 and not just a visitor who comes over now and again and knows all about Thailand and all the westerners who live here. :D

I am leaving it all to my second wife and second son.

My first son is 30, living in the UK and worth more than me.

He knows and understands this.

your first line !!!!

I TRUST THE WIFE!

Are you sure?

Well I have known my wife for 15 years, married for 7 years with a 4 year old son.

I am sure and have been since the first year I knew her.

Therefore why wouldn't the OP?

My wife's mother (my mother in law) lives with us in a small house we built and all of us are happy with that while her Dad lives in Bangkok with the rest of my wife's family. He is welcome to live with us full time also.

Hi

A very nice reply

roy gsd

No it wasn't !

It bears no resemblance to the OP's situation. I suspect (no evidence) that he has known his wife only for a short time, certainly, he does not know the 'in-laws' very well. and has never met them. I doubt that billd766's mother in law is a drunk......

Thanks for thr vote of confidence roygsd.

No she is not a drunk and I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw her drink any alcohol.

She is a nice old stick and can speak about 3 words of English though she can understand my mangled Thai and she has a good sense of humour. :D

Out of curiosity younger people normally respect older people and son in laws should respect their wife's parents.

What should I do as I am a couple of years older than my mother-in-law?

your first line !!!!

I TRUST THE WIFE!

Are you sure?

Well I have known my wife for 15 years, married for 7 years with a 4 year old son.

I am sure and have been since the first year I knew her.

Therefore why wouldn't the OP?

My wife's mother (my mother in law) lives with us in a small house we built and all of us are happy with that while her Dad lives in Bangkok with the rest of my wife's family. He is welcome to live with us full time also.

I don't mean this in any way judgemental but do you think that it is right (maybe not the correct word) for someone who is mixed race never to live there or speak the language etc. I know a couple of kids who are half Thai who would have some difficulty finding Thailand on a map as they have never been there.

I know circumstances often dictate what we do in our lives but I personally think we owe it to our kids to let them experience both cultures.

My son is 4 and lives in Thailand with his Mum (and me when I am not working offshore) but as I am 64 I will probably take my family to the UK to show them where I came from. However as most of my family are dead apart from my son from my first marriage he won't meet any relations and we will never live there so he will never know what it is like really.

However I will still teach him English as that will be of use when he gets older.

Which immigration office You are using while staying in Nakhon Sawan? Which is nearest?

Was just wondering when somebody will respond to this question...

I am on a retirement visa and presumed the only choice for 90 day reporting was Maesot??

There is one in Ayutaya although I haven't been there personally,

regards

Madyakka

I live in Klong Lan Pattana about 125km southwest of Khampaeng Phet and I have always gone to Suan Phlu in Bangkok.

I have been tracking the GBP / THB exchange rate since 1st December last year and it looks a bit like this.

Bills_BBL_Forex_02..xls

lots of leather and chrome,

........ to seduce the unwary into buying a lemon.

those fords are from the dark ages..... with a bit of chrome slapped on every now and again to tart 'em up a bit.

toyotas and isuzus sell in vast amounts for a good reason.

I have had my Ford Ranger 4 door, 4x4, 2.5 turbo diesel since December 4th 2001.

It has nearly 180,000 km and I have had very few problems over the years and apart from a leaky radiator they have all been fixed by the Ford dealers.

I am offshore in New Zealand for a couple of years but when I get back I will be looking for a new pick-up. I read in the BKK Post recently that in 2010 Ford will be bringing out a completely new model.

I have had a Toyota for 4 months as a company car in PNG and the Mitsubishi here in NZ and I not overly impressed with either of them so I will probably go for the Ford. :D

Our son is 4 and he looks 100% Thai which is fortunate for him as his Dad (that's me) is old fat, and not the best looking guy in the world.

:D

Does that mean that I will pay tax at Thai rates instead of UK rates which would be better for me?

This old debate goes on and on. There is always someone who has a better idea and a new scheme how to own property. The bottom line is that you will NEVER legally own property in Thailand. It is usually accepted now that the number one rule is to NOT spend more than you can walk away from. Unfortunately some are ignoring the important rule number two and that is to never be worth more dead than alive. Some poor souls who ignored that rule no longer have to worry about that either. Nearly every farang murder here in Thailand is related to money and property. My life is worth more to me than a piece of property that I can easily do without. My Thai wife's happiness is also important to me. If she decides at some point that she no longer wants to live with a crotchety old fart, I will pack my bags and be out of her life. The happiness she has given me this far is worth everything I have given her.

I second that in spades.

At 64 I have figured out that whatever I own in this life isn't going to come with me when I die.

I want my wife and son to have it when I am gone.

The happiness she has given me is only excelled by the joy that our son gives me.

Thanks for all the answers.

It seems as though True Image 11 is the way to go. I will see what happens at the weekend when I get some time.

I would like to reformat my laptop and I have copied my D drive to an external hard drive using Partition Magic which was no problem but when I tried to copy the C drive it wouldn't copy it.

My D drive is my working drive and the C drive is where the operational stuff is carried such as the OS and windows xp etc.

Can anybody please help me?

:D

I am now working in New Zealand and having access to all the food that I can't buy in Thailand I was like a small boy in a cake and sweet shop.

The result of that is that I gained 10 kg in the last 2 months and I was back up to 123.8kg.

Part of the problem here is that the portions are much bigger here and the other part was finding food that I haven't seen in a long time like chocolate biscuits and cakes.

I used to eat 2 sandwiches for breakfast, 2 large filled rolls plus a pie for lunch, biscuits with my morning and afternoon tea AND a large dinner. As it was winter I was drinking Ovaltine with full fat milk and a couple of spoonfuls of brown sugar.

So I went back on the diet once again and now I am on the second week of the diet and I have lost nearly 6kg in the last 10 days.

By Sunday I will have done my 2 weeks of strict diet so I will go back to eating properly again with smaller portions and I have even bought a bicycle to start exercising when it gets a bit warmer. Currently it is around 10 deg in the morning warming up to around 15 in the afternoon.

The main reason that I am doing this is that I am now 64 and my Thai son is 4 and I want to be alive to see him graduate from college or university which means I need to be around for the next 20 years so I need to lose weight, exercise and stay fit.

I just discovered this site, I have been living in the Nakohn Sawan area for about two years now, Ban Phot Pisai, to be exact. I have just browsed the thread and am wondering if anything has been set up for a farang gathering in N.S. I would like to get to know a few english speaking people in this area, also9 would be interested in some golf.

Last week of November I'll be there. Won't go golfing though; don't have clubs and don't care for the sport. However, I'm up to meeting a few fellows that live in the same area.

Let me know when you get here and how to get in touch, maybe we can put something together.

I am over in New Zealand but back end of December and early January. I live 125km from NS near Klong Lan

I am over in New Zealand and I downloaded Firefox 3 a few days ago but I have not noticed much difference in download speeds.

I do have broadband rather than a dialup.

Bendix, my grandfather used to have a saying: the first the horse kicks you, it's the horse's fault; the second time the horse kicks you it's your fault. I'd be willing to bet that quite a large percentage of ThaiVisa posters fall into the following catergory (as wrong as it is to stereotype people): minimum of mid 40's, white, previously married, and moderately wealthy.

Now assuming that is true, they've had experience of buying houses before. And they thought that they were in love till Death did them part. And through whomever's fault, they're now divorced with the ex taking their hard earned trust, love, money, and house. Is it so wrong to ask and offer advice to prevent it from happening again? Does not the whole "Hope for the best prepare for the worst" have any validity?

I agree with billd (who is an excellent fellow). If you can't afford to walk away from it, don't bother. If you have any suspicion that it won't work out, it probably won't! However, unless you just can't live without the best house on the block, there's no reason the vast majority of ThaiVisa posters couldn't walk away from a 500K THB house. And how much more house do those aforementioned people need?

To the OP. I simply told my wife if she ever tired to screw me over, I'd just hire the local builder to drive through my half of the house. Of course, the understanding is that my half is the kitchen and lavatory! I don't think that things should ever come to that, but having a contigency plan never hurts anything.

Thanks for spreading the truth about me Dave.

I will be back home over the Xmas/New Year and I will shout you a drink or three.

If you are not there I will leave them with Khonwan.

Bah, I was just lying to score free beer out of 'ya. Are you currently installing more cell towers?

Unfortunately I need to go back to Nakhon Sawan before then; we're getting new subcontractors in and I need to be here for the transition. However, I'll be back in November and then again in February for the daughters birthday. You're invited if you're there at that time!

I am still building the towers but I am now in New Zealand for a couple of years and I only get home every 6 months.

I would love to be there but the music I am hearing at the moment is that of some cash coming in to buy more land.

The only problem with leaving the beers at Khonwans is that they may evaporate before you see them.

See you some time.

We live 65 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet and about 11 months of the year we get municipal water which I store in 20 x1500 litre concrete ongs or the Thai round storage tanks.

We only use that for general use such as laundry, showers, toilet flushing etc. It goes through 2 filters before we use it.

We also have 2 x 3000 litre stainless steel tanks which we store rainwater in all year round and over the last 5 years so far we have had no ill effects.

:D

Bendix, my grandfather used to have a saying: the first the horse kicks you, it's the horse's fault; the second time the horse kicks you it's your fault. I'd be willing to bet that quite a large percentage of ThaiVisa posters fall into the following catergory (as wrong as it is to stereotype people): minimum of mid 40's, white, previously married, and moderately wealthy.

Now assuming that is true, they've had experience of buying houses before. And they thought that they were in love till Death did them part. And through whomever's fault, they're now divorced with the ex taking their hard earned trust, love, money, and house. Is it so wrong to ask and offer advice to prevent it from happening again? Does not the whole "Hope for the best prepare for the worst" have any validity?

I agree with billd (who is an excellent fellow). If you can't afford to walk away from it, don't bother. If you have any suspicion that it won't work out, it probably won't! However, unless you just can't live without the best house on the block, there's no reason the vast majority of ThaiVisa posters couldn't walk away from a 500K THB house. And how much more house do those aforementioned people need?

To the OP. I simply told my wife if she ever tired to screw me over, I'd just hire the local builder to drive through my half of the house. Of course, the understanding is that my half is the kitchen and lavatory! I don't think that things should ever come to that, but having a contigency plan never hurts anything.

Thanks for spreading the truth about me Dave.

I will be back home over the Xmas/New Year and I will shout you a drink or three.

If you are not there I will leave them with Khonwan.

:D

Some of us out in the sticks have only been waiting 5 years for just a land line so I use my mobile and EDGE from AIS.

I went to the real thing last year (as I do most years) at home with family and friends which is what it is really all about.