billd766
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Posts posted by billd766
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Kuhn B at #88: It has only taken 17 years for someone who speaks in generalisations to tell me I was wrong and stupid.
Ah yes and maybe he has hit upon the true value of ThaiVisa.com: I have come on this website and -- while many have expressed appreciation for my assistance -- I have also been called a moron, an idiot, a despicable person, someone with his 'head in the sand' and 'mind in the gutter', Spazzbo, etc. which gives me good reason to maintain a lifestyle wherein I have limited if not zero interaction with farangs on any daily basis ...
The ones on TV with whom I may have some simpatico are not in the region ... and I just presume that the farang locals I might meet are in the former category ... and I much prefer the company of Thais who speak no English.
Well up in my village I am the only full time farang, my mate comes over from Denmark a couple of times a year and there is an Aussie who is back and forth as he works offshore a lot of the time.
Near the big village is a French guy who speaks very little English and a Dutch guy who is a good friend.
There is a Scots guy I know fairly well but he is about 60 km away by road.
I like my own company most of the time but now and then I get the urge to speak English with someone other than my wife and a couple of Thai friends but apart from that I live in a small village so I speak with Thais most of the time.
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A picture of the orchid can be seen here if anyone is interested: http://www.orkidespesialisten.no/Bilder/Vanda%20Udomsri%202416.JPG
Looks like a nice orchid!
It's beautiful but for me not worth 50,000 baht
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My son regularly eats at KFC (no McDonalds near us).
Usually once a month when we go for bulk shopping.
Well that is regularly.
The other meals (don't know about the school food) is fresh cooked Thai food and very little in the way of western processed food at all.
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Thank you so much for this. Just brought a very good condition 8 year old Phantom 200 with little mileage on the clock and by the condition it looks genuine mileage too. Did not get a user manual and my friend who has a Phantom 200 only has a Thai user manual so he will appreciate a printed copy of this too which I shall do for him.
Hmm I am fat also weighing 105 Kgs so what is this adjustment to the suspension I may need? Will have to look in this manual once it has finished printing (double sided as the other poster above). But I do have the original comfy seat at least. A truly fantastic bike and just the right size and power for what I need.
I am now creeping back up again to around 115kg.
On the bottom of each rear suspension there is a small metal tab which sits in a selection of semi circles of varying depths probably labeled from 1 to 6.
You need a C pin spanner of the correct size to turn the adjuster.
The highest setting is #6 which is the hardest and is where fat old farangs like me have it set. My local Honda place had the spanner and charged me 30 baht I think.
I went to Bangkok on Tuesday and back on Wednesday about 800 km round trip and averages about 25 km/l with the throttle wide open most of the way where I could.
I just wish it had a 250cc V twin motor ans slightly higher gearing.
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Totally agree with you mate, the lack of it being a 2 cylinder, the small tank and basically a souped-up 150cc puts me off.
I like Honda's, hate Kawasaki's but this 250 is not my cup of tea. It could of been the Ninja-eater, instead it's gonna get it's ass handed to it...
I'll have to stick with my old 400cc warhorse for a few more years yet as I'm not down-sizing for a single, no-way.
Time to give it a rest
If you want to criticize this bike, at least wait until it's been released, until you know the exact price, and until you have tried it out for a day. The price, styling and honda brand name I am willing to bet anyone that this will outsell the Ninjette 5:1 - my most conservative guess.
I just saw a new CBR150 at the gas station yesterday - wow. What a beauty. Honda has certainly done a fantastic job with the redesign; this is leaps and bounds better than what they had.
Gotta agree with Nikster in that you're talking trash about a bike you have yet to even see in person, ride, or really know anything about, other than a few "press releases", so you have absolutely ZERO to back up your comments.
There's a Youtube video showing a drag race for quarter mile between old CBR 150, Ninja 250, and Phantom. Yeah, the Ninja won, but for the first half the OLD CBR stayed with it, with the Ninja finally pulling away at top end, but still didn't beat it by all that much.
My own personal experience and opinion is that the new CBR is faster than the old one, and if that is any type of "barometer", then the 250 is definitely going to be faster, and while it may not beat the Ninja in the long run, I have a feeling that in the quarter mile it's going to be neck and neck, and the CBR might turn out to be faster than the Ninja over that distance. But until we can get some verified...as in racing magazine head-to-head competition...none of us will know for sure.
I will say this. As far as "curb appeal" goes, no matter where I go, people look at my tri-color. When I park it and go in somewhere, especially if parked at the curb in plain sight, there is always at least 1 person, and usually more, checking it out. That didn't happen with my old model. And it's not till you park the old and new side by side that you really see the differences.
Have fun and ride safe.
Has the Phantom finished yet?
If not it could be mine as the fastest I have got so far is 107 km/h measured with my GPS.
But mine did slog down to BKK yesterday and back up again today.
About 800 km with an average fuel consumption of about 25 km/l and I weigh over 110 kg.
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The rule would be B500 per day x three people, I think according to your post B1500 payable in cash at the airport. They just may give you the one days grace.
May save you money just to go to the airport, but go a little earlier than your flight. If all family members are on overstay 5 x 500 Bhat.
I just read the op again and to my surprise I read that the OP has a Thai wife and one Thai child who as far as I can understand cannot overstay in the land of their birth so how and where did you come up with 5 people?
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28% interest 'nuff said....... this is not serious, just a smoke screen. 'See we have an option from paying loan sharks' pay our loan sharks instead. Phish!
As far as I can remember in BKK the rates the loan sharks charged was 20 baht per 1,000 baht
per day
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Well sarahsbloke, you sound like a right barrel of laughs don't ya.
Keep burying your head in the sand, ignorance is bliss.
sarahsbloke is right on the money
the other thing he did not mention is dont buy a house
the thais will screw you one way or the other whatever village you are in
govoner, how can you talk for every village in Thailand? Been to them all? Have you been to mine? Of course not. Just because you have scummy family or neighbours doesn't mean that everyone else does as well.
I don't think he has been to my village either.
As far as I can remember out of the 20 or 30 odd farangs I know fairly well here in Thailand only one has not bought his Thai wife a house, possibly as he is not married to her.
I must have made a mistake 17 years ago in falling in love with my (now) Thai wife and buying her a house or two and land and divorcing my UK wife who actually got the house and land etc in the UK.
It has only taken 17 years for someone who speaks in generalisations to tell me I was wrong and stupid.
I am so sorry that I didn't recognise the error of my ways before.
I bow and scrape before your superior powers.
Up in the village where I live to my knowledge no Thais have screwed me yet though most of them have been friendly and helpful.
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I can (just) scrape in with the wind behind me at 41 baht.
Attached is this years rates from the Kbank website.
Last years was better. Sigh
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I think almost all the advice given on the first page of this thread is totally wrong.
1) Never wai anyone, you are telling them you are their social inferior which is clearly wrong as they all know you are rich and educated. Initiating a wai just indicates you are a fool. I pretty much only wave to Thais now ...... apart from MIL who does get a wai.
2) Do not learn the language, or do learn it but never let on. Then when those difficult situations occur where someone is trying to sell you their daughter (or the daughter jumps in for a direct sell) you can just pretend not to understand. (and what language are you going to learn, they don't speak central Thai in the village, and nobody teaches the local language anyway)
3) Never lend or give anyone money, that includes your wife, else they just think you are stupid with money. Have you ever seen a Thai village man give his wife or anyone else money EXCEPT ..... it is OK to give the pretty little 17YO girl money, all the other Thai guys do too. (I did up the age of the girl quite a bit so as not to offend the Mods sense of decency)
4) Always carry around a large bottle of SangSom, this avoids you having to pay for everyone elses drinks, they see you already have a bottle and also you don't need to drink their Ci-Seep. But you can let them have a glass from your bottle.
5) You will never fit in, so don't try, go your own way.
And who cares about what the poles do ....... apart from their dancing, which can be of interest.
You collected a bunch of cr@p I must say, but everyone to his own opinion.
In a next post I will give my experience how I got fit in into the village, here my reaction on this one:
1. Wai is a form of respect and always returned accept by monks and royals. I agree to not wai many people, not even your MIL, but in a social gathering you might not be able to wai first as the official (important) people will come to you and wai you which you have to answer with a wai. Easy as that, if you fit in they are happy to see and wai you.
2. Hiding behind "don't understand" is a foolish thing, Thais are very clever to make you aware of what they mean. Better reject propositions in their language, clear for all, don't forget to smile when you refuse.
The local language is called Lao, directly related to Lao from Lao country. It makes huge impression if you speak Lao, I do and still people are pleasantly surprised when they hear me talk Lao. You can learn it by buying a book "how to learn Lao" or get it from the internet, easy. Lao is a nice language and I find it easier than Thai, if you also control the different pronunciation you're a winner and easily fit in.
3. Nearly correct imo, only forget about Thai boys giving money to cute girls, they don't, are very stingy and prefer to buy lao kao and/or cigarettes with their friends.
4. Instead of your carrying around a bottle of Sang som, giving the impression of being an alcoholic, you can easily spend a small bottle of lao kao and be the farang of the month, costs 50 Baht...You don't have to drink yourself to be a nice guy.
5. You will fit in and go your own way at the same time. Many good points raised already by other posters. Main thing is "be positive", that results in greeting people, smiles (you ever found out how many people smile to you when you just have a little smile on your lips? I learned it here, it is a wonderful communication tool and it costs nothing).
So far my reaction.
Cheers
Joe
Pretty much how I get on in the village except mine is in central about 65 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet and they don't speak so much Lao, more hill tribe.
But the people really are nice and friendly.
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I'd think a small recovery to 53/54 should be on the cards - sterling has suffered beyond what would be expected - not so sure about the dollar though
That would be nice but apetly's 71 would be much nicer.
46 and 47 hurts.
71 would be orgasmic - better than sex (but probably would not last as long) mid-50s is the best we can hope for alas... some even predict going lower than 40 which will really crucify those on a visa that requires an income from UK.
One of them may be me but I am on a retirement visa at the moment and thinking of changing to a married one in July.
Just as a precaution.
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I'd think a small recovery to 53/54 should be on the cards - sterling has suffered beyond what would be expected - not so sure about the dollar though
That would be nice but apetly's 71 would be much nicer.
46 and 47 hurts.
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The big problem for Khampaeng Phet is that the nearest weather station to me is 65km away in KP and I have been tracking the weather since September.
Unfortunately there is sometimes a big difference between my place, KP and my mates place only 25 km away from me.
Same for me. Surin is 60 kilometers north of Kap Choeng so the report can mean very little for us. The problem is the lack of official weather stations.
I found this website recently that looks very interesting.
All about your own local weather station.
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The big problem for Khampaeng Phet is that the nearest weather station to me is 65km away in KP and I have been tracking the weather since September.
Unfortunately there is sometimes a big difference between my place, KP and my mates place only 25 km away from me.
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It may be a wile before i come back on this as I will have to make a small fruit and veg garden but you have given me a few things to think about.
I have a feeling that somewhere on my laptop are a couple of photos from a few years ago when I managed to grow several.
I will try to find the photos and post them.
I do remember the dogs played with the melons and killed them.
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I've never tried cantaloupe, but I've grown the usual watermelon.
I've also grown Galia melons before and they've grown best in raised beds with a lot of compost incorporated. I found a high proportion of cow manure in the compost to be good as the soil drains well but not too well.
Only allow 4 or 5 fruits to develop from one stem.
I should really keep a diary to work out the best time of year for planting because they can suffer from insect attack as soon as the seed leaves form and never have the chance to get strong enough to cope.
Good luck
Thanks for the information.
Do you plant the individual seeds in small pots first or just chuck a handful in as it were.
I think I can get potting compost down in the village but compost doesn't seem to be around here as we have very little waste other than melon skins and as for cow manure I haven't seen anyone raising cows closer than about 25km away.
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But obviously I'm the disenting miniority here.
More a voice for the silent majority.
I will totally agree with that after visiting, working and living in Thailand since 1993 you ARE the voice of the silent majority and there are a lot more of us than the whiners, whingers, moaners and groaners.
We just get on with life and if a problem comes along the we resolve it.
Common sense and the ability to get on with people in general are the key thing in life in Thailand.
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I found this on the BBC news website this morning as a comparison with Thailand.
UK lags on broadband and mobile
By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter
Britons love smartphones but have some of the slowest data rates
Continue reading the main story
Related stories
• Can sky-high broadband take off?
• Global broadband divide revealed
• Broadband Britain rollout delayed
Only a tiny percentage of UK homes have super-fast broadband and mobile speeds are slow compared to other nations, Ofcom has revealed.
In its annual International Communications Market report, the regulator said more needed to be done on fixed and mobile broadband.
Less than 1% of UK homes have super-fast broadband, compared to over a third of Japanese consumers.
Next-generation mobile services have yet to roll out in the UK.
Rest of the story is here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11889302
After applying for a landline in 2003 up here in Nakhon Nowhere I am still waiting and the UK is bitching that more needs to be done.
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Well done lads ,what a couple of eye openers !!!! looks like plenty to do if you make the effort to stay away from the juice ,,,,,,,,,,, all I have read about on another forum is DONT go and live in rural Issan because you will end up like all the rest ,pissheads , well its bloody nice to know some of you are doing something with your lives ,,,,,,,,,, as much as my MIL carries her age very well I dont think I could inject her lol ,,,,, only mucking about mate good on you
Sometimes if my wife gives me a bad time I think of giving her mother an injection as som nam na and I quite often say that I am off to stab my MIL though she is a good old stick really.
Most of the farangs I know around here in Nakhon Nowhere are not pissheads, some work, others do their own thing and more power to them.
I can do wiring and plumbing but carpentry is a skill I never acquired more's the pity. I can do it but the results are not for public viewing and I even failed that at school all those years ago.
As for pleasures of the flesh, we have several ducks, some geese are supposed to be coming soon, a lot of sharp knives and a wife with the ears that can hear for kilometres and eyes like laser beams.
I cook a lot for myself and I keep threatening to buy a cooker and make my own pies etc. I have made sausages and bacon and I have a bread machine but I have lost the books that came with it.
Life can be as good as you want it to be and only you can make it they way you want.
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I spoke to the Pensions department last week and they said
1 I can get my pension paid into my bank in Thailand
2 It would be through Citibank UK
3 If I was not happy I could change back
That is fine so far so yesterday I called Citibank 5 times to ask to be put through to the department who deals with there transfers and could give me a link to the forex rates on the internet.
One call put me through to the Department of Works and Pensions who actually pay my pension and are not Citibank at all.
Another put me though to a number which was unattended.
2 other ones went nowhere and the last one the operator hung up on me.
There is no way to email Citibank unless you have an account there.
The contact numbers are worse than useless.
Their complaints hotline number has been changed.
All I really want is a link to their online forex rates.
Can anybody help me with this please?
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On 9th December last year the Kbak TT rate was a fraction over 54 baht to the GBP.
Today it was 46.57 about 14% down in a year.
Painful but to me survivable though I have cut back on a lot of things.
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I live in Central Thailand 65 km southwest of Khampaeng Phet on the edge of the Mae Wong national park and roughly 1/2way between Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
It is a small moo ban, 1 street wide and around 2 km long and rural farming area.
I am up before 6 to feed the chickens and wake my wife and son around 6.15.
Put on my doctors coat and give my mother in law her morning insulin injection.
I go and see my 6 year old son off to school from the local village 6 km away,come back and eat breakfast, read my emails, the 2 English language Thai papers, my local UK paper and the BBC website news.
I finish that and wash up, hang out the laundry if there is any, spend an hour and a half each day cutting down the weeds and scrub around the 10 rai of land, shower and have a coffee then feed the cats up at my wife's shop and noodle place (closed down at the moment due to lack of paying customers).
Come back home and cook lunch then go online with TV and other forums, have another coffee.
Spend an hour in the afternoon catching up on odd jobs and then give my MIL her second injection.
Feed the dogs then shower and change.
In the evening go to my mates place where my wife helps out to eat dinner and get my first Sang Som and soda about 6.30 pm and maybe 2 or 3 more then go home and read for a while and usually in bed and asleep just after 10.
Some days I just loaf around or and some bits to the story of my life and where I came from for my son to read when he is older. Other days I may go out on my motorbike.
I am also trying to learn Thai and find the time to fit it in somewhere in the day.
I would love to be able to sit and drink all day but I did that years ago and found it boring plus I really don't have enough time to fit it in anyway.
Think of life as a challenge and be positive about it.
I have most of my health,some of my own teeth and hair, a still good looking wife, a great son. My MIL lives in a small house on the land and we keep an eye on her. FIL lives in BKK but he will probably come up here sometime and be welcome.
The weather is usually good, there are a lot of Thais in the area I know to some extent or other, I usually wave to the kids and get a wave and a genuine smile in return and to me LG, Life is Great.
If I sat and drank all day like a lot of expats I see when I go into the big city now and again I think I would go crazy talking about the same old things to the same guys all the time.
Not for me thank you.
Country living for me
but it is not for everyone.The food is good, the scenery (where I live in a valley is super
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My only question is ... do you really see yourself as the "golden goose"?
It's a figure of speech. I do of course not see myself as a stupid bird. But it's the same mechanisms behind. Killing the opportunity of long-term profit only for short-term pleasure, and harming others in the act. Same-same but different.
Do I make myself clear in this?
You make yourself v clear. But, do you pay money to her parents every month? If so it is likely to make her family think you are a 'golden goose'.
I pay my wife's parents an amount each every month.
Her Mum is a little younger than me at 66 and her Dad is 74 and retired.
While they both get a Thai "pension" of some 500 baht a month the money I give helps them a lot.
No it does not make me the golden goose as I discussed it at length and I am quite happy to help them both.
My mother-in-law lives in the small house we have on the land and my father-in-law still lives in Bangkok.
We have helped out here brothers before and the money was paid back.
No I am not a golden goose.
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I've had my ATM card with Bangkok Bank going on 10 years and have never had a "phantom" withdrawal. My understanding is that in nearly all of these cases, the "phantom" is someone closest to you who also has a card/access to your account. My question is: Do you trust your wife?
My answer is that I trust my wife 100% and have done for 17 years.
We have joint accounts, single accounts with 2 cards, she has been on several of my credit cards and I have never had a problem.
She has full access to all our accounts both in Thailand and in the UK.
I suspect that your understanding may not be totally correct.
BTW, how much do you trust your wife?
Uk Sterling
in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments
Posted
You just need a letter from your pension provider (s)stating the grossincome and take that to the UK embassy.
For a trifling 3,900 baht AFAIR from the last time they will give you a letter saying that you have shown this income in GBP to them.
Take that along to the Immigration office you normally report to and they will probably go on line and get that days exchange rate which they will then work out the monthly income and you should be OK.
You also need a Thai bank account in your name only but it does not have to be stuffed with money. I normally shove in 10,000 baht for a few times and take it out again to show movement and so far I have had no problems.