billd766

I was 60 3 months ago.

Now I am on the rundown of my life with about 25 years to go if I am lucky.

I was offered a contract in Iraq at the beginning of January for around $US 100,000 a year and I didn't take it. Last month I was offered a job again and I was told to name a price (but not a silly one), it included accommodation and flights etc. I thought seriously about that until I was told about another guy who works through the same agency. He was supplied with armed guards, driver and vehicle etc, hotels and flights supplied. He was being driven to work when a roadside bomb took out the vehicle and everybody with it. He earned a lot of money but left behind a girlfriend and a 2 week old baby he never saw. The death benefits for his family, g/f, baby etc. USD$ 0.

The worst thing to happen to you there would not be to die but to become a paraplegic or a quadraplegic and not be able to do anything and then have to be looked after for 20 or 30 years.

Is it worth it to me?

Not a chance, but if you want it enough, it will be your choice and your life on the line.

If you go then may all the gods be with you as you may well need them.

Zoning. Now here is a concept no Thai can comprehend. I live in a residential mooban. Down the street are !) Bottled water factory 2) Squid factory &3) Bakery. My Soi - 101/1 is covered in clay balls which no one gives a flying ###### about. Let them breathe that crap. They deserve it. Reminds me of the song "Paradise" by The Eagles.

Dot com

I live in a residential Soi off Sukhumvit 93 which is a dead end soi.

Just opposite my (rented) house someone is building a 5 storey 80 room apartment block. Nowhere else along Sukhumvit 93 that I can think of apart from 93 Building is there any thing higher than 3 storey shop houses. There will be parking for about 10 cars, The water pressure is so low now that I have to use a water pump and it only took me 4 months to get a phone line. The only good thing about living here is that the trash man calls 3 times a week and even they have to back up the Soi to get to the end, and they cannot always do that if there are badly parked cars.

Fortunately for me I am moving anyway to a rented house about 5 km away off Udom Suk but I will miss the local friends I have made here.

At the weekends I go up country where my wife has a house and apart from the next door neighbour the nearest other neighbour is 1/2 a kilometre away. She has a place which backs onto the forest near Mae Won national park where most of the pollution in the air is coming from the charcoal fires that people cook on.

I went to Poipet on Thursday for my first trip on Jacks bus and we were not stopped or checked anywhere.

There were no problems (apart from getting up early) and the bus and staff were very good.

I hope that I do not have to use it again but if I have to I would not hesitate.

Hi Lopburi3

Thanks for the info.

I will try that in the next week or two.

My apologies as this was originally posted elsewhere in the forum in the wrong place.

Is it possible to get a 90 day Non-Imm "O" visa from Penang.

I screwed up my Thai wife visa by forgetting to go to Suan Plu and get a re-entry permit before I went to the UK a month ago.

When I came back through Don Muang last month the would only give me 30 days and I went to Suan Plu on Tuesday and they (gently) that I had to start again.

I went to Poipet today to get another 30 days to give me time to start again.

Which would be the best (and nearest) country to go to?

I am 60 and married to a Thai lady but no children.

I had the Thai wife visa but screwed it up (see above). i ahd not been out of the country for over 18 months and forgot about the re-entry visa before you go.

can anybody help on this?

Is it possible to get a 90 day Non-Imm "O" visa from Penang.

I screwed up my Thai wife visa by forgetting to go to Suan Plu and get a re-entry permit before I went to the UK a month ago.

When I came back through Don Muang last month the would only give me 30 days and I went to Suan Plu on Tuesday and they (gently) that i had to start again.

I went to Poipet today to get another 30 days to give me time to start again.

Which would be the best (and nearest) country to go to?

Pepsi

I bought my pick up a couple of years ago on finance and the original offer was 25% down and the rest over 2 to 5 years.

Eventually i had to put down 50% and i chose to pay over 2 years.

I was also asked for my work permit which i did not have at the time (it came a little later).

After I paid it off I changed the registration to my wifes name and was again asked about a work permit.

By then my job was finished and I was on a Thai Wife visa and I told the car registration people that. The answer was mai pen rai and they completed the paperwork no problem.

The finance company wanted 1300 baht to register the car in my name and 6200 baht to change it to my wifes name (at the same time).

I had to take the car to the Land Registration authority (I think) on Sukhumvit road near Sukhumvit 62. Took about 10 minutes and the paperwork was ready in 4 days.

I had no real problems.

What has happened to the grandfathering option for those people who already have a visa, in my case a Thai Wife support visa?

I went down to Suan Plu last week after a change of passport to get my visa transferred.

No problem there but I asked an immigration officer ( a captain I think ) and she said next year it would be 400,000 or 40,000 baht income per month.

Can anybody clarify this?

I had to provide photos etc when I first applied and I had to take my wife for the initial application. I was glad that I did because she talked with a friendly lady at Suan Pluand we had no problems. We also had a visit as well.

When I renewed this year my wife came for the first interview only and no other problems after that.

I will be going again tomorrow as I had to get another passport and the same lady at Suan Plu said that my current visa would be extended to complete the full year instead of the 8 months I was given. She also told me that my wife does not need to come this time.

I have had no problems (touch wood) and find that all the people are helpful and friendly at Suan Plu.

I had the whole rigmarole nearly 2 years ago at Sukhumvit 62 to get my licence, but I renewed it last year easily.

I went with my wife yesterday and was told that I was 2 months early (I cant read Thai and forgot to ask the wife) and the lady said come back at the right time and you then get a 5 year licence.

The cost was about 120 Baht I think.

If yoy go with a friend or wife etc whoo can speak Thai and English it is easy there, provided you live at that end of the city.

The first time I went to Mor Chit and they sent my to Sukhumvit near 62 as I live at Sukhumvit 93.

Moral always ask first.

I have followed this thread with interest as my wife has about 13 to 15 rai in the North / Central region about 50 km from Kamphaeng Phet and she is slowly planting it for farming. This is the first year and we got caught by the lack of rain and no reliable water storage system. That will change later as we will build a decent storage tank and also drill a well.

We actually had no water from the main supply from the road for nearly 2 months and had to rely on what we could store and what we could obtain from the stream and could buy.

She is not in this for money as I have a pension and we can survive on that.

We have a couple of local people working for us on low wages but they stay in a house we built for them and have only to buy some of the food they need as we give them rice etc.

We are not rich or "showing off" our wealth and we only have a pick up truck that is 2 years old and my wifes 10 year old Nissan Sunny.

If we need a tractor then we rent from the locals and a good friend helps out when we need it and we return the favour when they ask.

If there are any "farang farmers" in the area I would like to know of their experiences.

i have seen about farangs in the local village in the past couple of months so at least I know that I am not the only one.

I live in Bangkok during the week and go home at the weekends, and yes it is nice to smell the fresh air and hear the local noises from up to a km away.

The farm is on a tarmac road not far from Mae Wong national park and we are surrounded by hills.

Unfortunately the telephone line stops about 4 km away so we have to use mobiles to keep in contact and that is not so good when it rains.

Other than that I love it up there as it is peaceful, clean and quiet.

Even the locals in the village seem to know me now.

I also noticed that just about everybody in Thailand has a cell phone. It seems to me that most of the people really don 't need them, it's probably a status symbol for them. I guess you could call that materialistic.

No that is called PRACTICAL if you are on the move a lot.

Also installing a phone at home was / is not very easy.

Now looking at the models that some people have may verge on materialistic:-)) but .........

My wife is Thai and I have known her for 11 years and we have been married for the last 4 years.

She lives up country and needs a mobile phone as we have been on the waiting list for a land line for over a year.

Also she does her best to control my urges to spend what i have in my pocket just in case money goes out of fashion.

I love her dearly and marrying her was probably the best decision that I ever made.

I don't know about the visibility but a good site for the weather can be found at: -

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/48380.html

I used a company called Hong Kong Transpack to ship my goods and chattels from the UK to BKK and shared the container with a friend.

HK Transpack did all the paperwork with 2 separate companies in the UK, cleared everything at Customs and were very reasonably priced.

I paid only once at this end.

I assume that that it will work the same the other way.

The contact I used was Kerry Matisin and he is on 0 2661 4368.

I hope that this may help you.

How can I get connected through AIS?

I am an AIS post paid subscriber and I have a Nokia 6100 which is WAP enabled.

I live up country and the nearest land line stops about 4 km away and the telephone company will not extend the line until thry get at least 30 subscribers.

Most people go and buy a mobile and don't bother to wait for the landline.

I am number 19 and have been waiting nearly a year but still no luck.

What can I do to connect my PC and get to use my emails and the Internet?

I have just been to Suan Plu this morning and signed on for my 90 day extension a couple of days early.

I am staying in Bangkok and go up country to see my wife at the weekends and when I explained this to the lady she said that if I went up there to live I can just post my stuff to them and that there would be no problem at all, at least from Immigration.

When I renewed my Thai Wife visa in January they would only give me an 8 month visa because my passport would expire then. I spoke to another lady at Suan Plu this morning and she said that when I get another passport she would give me the extra 4 months without any problems at all.

When I go there I am usually neatly dressed, polite and quiet and cause the staff no hassle at all and in return I get good polite service and any information and help that I need.

If you think that Thailand gives you a problem consider that a friend of mine wanted to marry his Thai lady friend who was pregnant with his child at the time in the UK. After the baby was born she had to leave the UK and go back to Belgium where she was living before and it took them 3 years to get permission to live in the UK and in that time she could only see her son outside of the UK.

I love Thailand and intend to spend the rest of my life here with my wife.

As for the mobile immigration van opening times, if you need to know what they are, telephone the Immigation Department or go and see for yourself.

Don't bitch about it as the Thai authorities are trying to help you.

Rmemeber it is their country, their rules and if you want to stay here, accept that fact.

If not then leave. It is your choice.

About a year ago i got confused with the 90 rule and applying for a Thai wife support visa and overstayed by about 6 weeks. I went to Suan Plu and the staff there were polite and helpful and sent me to another building where I pais a fine (and I apologised for the overstay).

Since then I have been very careful about the 90 reporting period and I usually go 4 or 5 days early. I am reasonably dressed and polite and I have no problem.

Perhaps I am lucky.

I have been working in the Cellular phone business since 1987 and i have worked all over the world and I have never heard of this happening anywhere. Perhaps it is true or not but I don't think that it is possible even if it is raining hard or a thunderstorm. i would also be interested in what qualifications the Dean of the university has in the cellular industry or if he was just headline grabbing.

Wouldn't it be better to ban the government and keep the water throwing for Songkran?

They tried to ban it last year but it made no real difference where I lived. We just threw less water at the police who didn't mind anyway. Up country where we live now there is not much of a problem as we have very little water anyway.