ianh68h

These people are a pain in the arse. Protests never solve anything.

Learn history......From France, Russia to Cuba and and and all was done by protests....

Yeah, but they were "popular" uprisings by the ordinary guy in the street. This is just one bunch of rich bastards trying to usurp another bunch of rich bastards. The danger will arise when Somchai from Nakhon Nowhere gets involved, that's the time to worry. At the moment though I don't see ordinary Somchai's showing much interest.

Spot on. You can't apply the norms of Western democracy here because we don't have one. This is Thailand.

PAD. People Against Democracy... Taking over tv stations? I though they are a law abiding mob.... I guess we can almost compare this to how Lennin or Hitler got into power back in the day.... Maybe a lot different today but still the same ideas are being used. Taking over tv stations, police station etc... Im dissappointed that some members on this forum are out there now supporting these people... Let's hope it will just be a minor event....

It is more about what is happening behind the scenes and away from the rally that will determine what happens. Though dramatic and maybe inflammatory the PAD demonstration is just a minor event in the real war, but it does send a message and it does distract from other players and issues.

Quite correct, the only hope is that the PAD will be seen to become merely troublesome and not a means to the end. If this happens be prepared to see its leaders in very hot water or maybe a long holiday in somewhere like China. In Thai politics what goes up must come down. The higher up it goes the further it has to fall. Or maybe they will just trip themselves up in the process, we shall see.

Wasn't it Thaksin who said: "Let them play their games. I prefer to stand aside and watch."?

Are there any TV links to watch on the internet?

Try http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/

Anyone willing to give (or provide a link) summarizing the main political parties in Thailand and what their platforms are? I'm afraid I'm not too up on PPP vs PAD vs whatever, and thought it might help me put this in perspective. No need to get into scandals or matters of opinion, just an overview of what they stand for.

This is the point. They do not appear to have platforms in the traditional sense. They are all out for themselves. This is the Thai way of seeing things and (tragically) the ordinary Thai sees nothing wrong with it. I just hope to God things eventually change.

I am in the middle of filling in a TM8 re-entry form. The last two sections say "I entered Thailand on..." and "I have been permitted to stay until...". Now I recently did a visa run to get an extension of stay on my OA retirement visa. Do I say I entered Thailand on the date of my visa run or do I put the date of my original entry?

Thanks

I started at 35k about six years ago in BKK. I've changed schools since then. Now I am making more than double that amount. My teaching load is lighter, I teach only the subjects I'm competent to teach (mathematics and physics) at the level I enjoy (M4 to M6). My present school is well-funded, well-supplied, and has forward thinking management. I am satisfied with the changes that have taken place in my career here over the last 6 years.

I'm a retired UK maths teacher trying to help my Thai stepdaughter with her maths homework. Language is a bit of a barrier and there are so many alternative Thai words for what I want to say I am a bit confused. Can you tell me which Thai words you use for: add, subtract, multiply, divide, decimal, decimal point, fraction, numerator, denominator, separate, together, answer, together with a few examples if possible, or else refer me to an online source I could use?

Thanks for your time.

Pinochet, Thaksin, same same.

Well, I for one will get out of any taxi or bus which pulls in for fuel while I am on board. I will walk to the far end of the forecourt until fuelling has finished befor reboarding.

Meanwhile I shall be watching "King of the Hill" with renewed scrutiny to pick up as many tips as I can about propane and propane accessories.

Yes, and you can also use a COMBO method, for example if the pension is under 800K annually you can make up the diff with a Thai bank account, and BTW, that does NOT have to be seasoned if using the COMBO method.

Can you elaborate a bit on this? I am on a retirement visa with a monthly pension of 60K paid into my Thai bank account. How much capital would I need to back this up? Would I need the capital residing in my (Thai) bank account for 3 months prior to applying for extension of stay?

Thanks

no chemical shit added.

Most countries, including Thailand, have food labelling laws that require the ingredients list on the label. Has anyone ever wondered why all over the world alcoholic beverages are exempted from this requirement?

I think it's because the governments collect a high excise tax on alcohol and fear that consumption might drop it the ingredients were listed.

I have to agree with all the negative comments about beer in Thailand. Even Heineken has a bad effect and I'm not a big drinker. I have recently found "Federbrau" which is the same price as Heineken, 4.7% and a refreshing change with no obvious after effects. Has anyone else tried it? Brewed in Ayutthaya but listed ingredients (if you can trust them) are just water, barley, malt, hops, and yeast. It says "all natural ingredients" on the can. I'll keep an eye open for "Kloster". Anyone got any views on "Asahi"?

I have to agree with all the negative comments about beer in Thailand. Even Heineken has a bad effect and I'm not a big drinker (and I don't like spirits). I have never seen "Thai beer" but have recently found "Federbrau" which is the same price as Heineken, 4.7% and a refreshing change with no obvious after effects. Has anyone else tried it? Brewed in Ayutthaya but listed ingredients (if you can trust them) are just water, barley, malt, hops, and yeast. It says "all natural ingredients" on the can.

Ive got some friends coming to Thailand soon and they have

Asked me ….

Are we allowed to bring 2 liters of alcohol per person into the country? ( Wine )

And ……

Cigarettes, Do you know how many per person we're allowed to take into the country??

Ive got no idea…. So can any one tell me please…?

Thanks …. Mumbo

I believe your currency regulation is several years old. There are no currency restrictions on bringing into Thailand, only taking baht out of Thailand presently.

CUSTOMS & DUTY FREE ALLOWANCES AND RESTRICTIONS

Tobacco....................200 cigarettes

Liquor.......................1 litre

Cameras....................No restrictions

Film...........................Reasonable amount for personal use

Perfume.....................Reasonable amount for personal use

Gifts...........................No duty free allowance

Currency....................Must be declared on arrival

Agriculture items.......Refer to consulate

Tell them to stick strickly to this as the customs people are like vultures, waiting to nab anybody over the limit.

I would not disagree wiith this advice, but my question is whether such restrictions are enforced on the Thai borders with Laos and Burma.

i am amazed that some people on here don't have this problem. about 7 out of 10 taxis refuse to go where i want them to. even when i go to a taxi stand (ie. siam paragon) most of the ones in line don't want to go. ie. the other day i wanted to go from siam paragon to rajaprarop road, not far at all. about 5 taxis refused, and the 5th one okayed it, but bitched about it the entire ride. ?!?! and that is just one example.

The Taxis using the stand outside Siam Paragon do seem to refuse a lot of passengers I agree.

What particularly frustrates me there however is that if a Taxi refuses the first person in the queue, the "Security Guard" manning the stand will wave that Taxi off without a passenger, call the next Taxi and try again for that same person, the first in the queue. It would make far more sense, and move the line quicker, to give the 2nd person in the queue the opportunity to take the first Taxi.

Patrick

Yes and No. The first person in the queue might not take kindly to what could be seen as queue jumping. (For all they know the second person could be going to the same place). It's also quite an effective punishment for the first taxi driver for being awkward.

Incident at Don Muang. Came back from Udon Thani Saturday night, pouring with rain. Went through the airport taxi procedure. I am with Thai fiancee and her 12 year old daughter. As we get in the taxi the driver makes a quip about going to Pattaya, obvious implication being that my fiancee is a bar girl. She has worked in a university for the last 20 years. She did not take kindly to this and an argument ensued. At one point I copied down the driver's ID (it was gloomy so I could't see the photo that clearly). When the driver noticed me he turned the taxi round and returned to Don Muang (we had been travelling 10 minutes). The inspector smoothed things over after a fashion but did not supply an alternative taxi. We ended up crossing over to the main highway to get a regular (non airport) taxi. This was in the pouring rain with a 12 year old (at least we only had hand luggage).

I want to complain but thought I'd come to ThaiVisa first. Now I'm thinking: 1) How do I complain and is it worth it? 2) Can I be sure the ID I copied down belonged to the driver? and 3) If the airport taxis operate as a gang what are the chances of reprisals if I do complain (involving submitting name and address)?

It's the scum that open their mouths without thinking who say "where you you? Pattaya?". You could be the Ambassador with a female Thai associate and they'd still say it. These are the uneducated folks who lives incredibly simple lives and don't have the brain scope to work out a) who might be offended by that and why, that not all farangs with thais met in Pattaya or like Pattaya and c) that they don't look like a Pattaya-bound couple. There are hundreds of them, all you can do is pity them. Single Thai students get similar smarm and dodgy comments when they travel with them.

This has happened to myself and my wife dressed up for a wedding leaving a very good serviced apartment. We weren't impressed - my wife asked him why would we want to go to Pattaya? He was flumoxed and said "pood len". I replied in Thai that this is not the way to joke, and not funny. We got out quickly and slammed the doors, which security coming over. The driver lost face and got a bit mad and went off sounding his horn, having lost a fair. But we knew that it's not the majority of drivers that are like this. They think it's funny, they want a big fare, they think farangs love pattaya, they're thick and stupid to say it...when you give them a serious response they may well not do it a second time. That's it.

You can complain to the main taxi HQ like I have done before, and they DO follow it up and the taxi driver gets a warning strike.

Thanks for this. How do I contact main taxi HQ?

Are you flagging down taxis in front of your hotel?

Taxis parked outside hotels are usually waiting for someone to take advantage of. They often don't want to do legit taxi work.

This is prime hunting grounds for them and controlled by a 'taxi mafia".

Honest taxi drivers are not allowed and intimidated.

About 2 nights ago at around 2100 I walked out of MBK with my wife, her brother and a friend from the states. She asked 16 different taxis and all refused....we wanted to go to Suan Phlu (near immigration) which is about 15 minutes tops....usually costs me about 70 baht to go there from Siam BTS area.

The funny thing is that they would usually ignore her and try to wave me over....I'd ask them to go to Suan Phlu in Thai and they'd say something like "300 baht" and I'd just laugh and slam their door.... I think I'm going to start tipping the legit guys 20 baht and tell them it's for not trying to screw the foreigner.

I try to make it a point to tell other foreigners who are getting in to the taxis to make sure the meters are running...my wife says that we should start writing down the ID numbers on the taxis when they refuse fares and call them in...but to who? and would they give a shit? Who knows....

One thing I've noticed is the taxi driver is not always the guy in the pic on the dash, I've had a few in the past month where the licensed driver of the taxi was "lending" the taxi to his "friend".... any one else get this?

An Army of taxi Cheats troll the Tourist areas. NOT INTERESTED IN TRANSPORTATION. ONLY lookng for victims to exploit.

You would think, a Taxi Company gets several complaints and the driver loses his job. Not in Thailand.

Complaints fall on deaf ears and the same criminal taxi drivers are out there, working over tourists, year after year.

Call the TAT and they tell you to call Tourist Police.

Call the Tourist Police and they tell you to go to a Police Station and file a report.

Call the Police say and they say "cannot do anything" unless "they catch him in the act".

NOBODY looks after the tourists, NOBODY.

Incident at Don Muang. Came back from Udon Thani Saturday night, pouring with rain. Went through the airport taxi procedure. I am with Thai fiancee and her 12 year old daughter. As we get in the taxi the driver makes a quip about going to Pattaya, obvious implication being that my fiancee is a bar girl. She has worked in a university for the last 20 years. She did not take kindly to this and an argument ensued. At one point I copied down the driver's ID (it was gloomy so I could't see the photo that clearly). When the driver noticed me he turned the taxi round and returned to Don Muang (we had been travelling 10 minutes). The inspector smoothed things over after a fashion but did not supply an alternative taxi. We ended up crossing over to the main highway to get a regular (non airport) taxi. This was in the pouring rain with a 12 year old (at least we only had hand luggage).

I want to complain but thought I'd come to ThaiVisa first. Now I'm thinking: 1) How do I complain and is it worth it? 2) Can I be sure the ID I copied down belonged to the driver? and 3) If the airport taxis operate as a gang what are the chances of reprisals if I do complain (involving submitting name and address)?

Yeah, I was in HK a few months ago and the taxis I took were great and a credit to the place. They might be older vehicles, but they were in far better condition than many you'll find here in Bangkok. In this day and age, with maps and such, it shouldn't be a problem to make it clear where you want to go. It's a question of profitability for some drivers, especially if they've been in a queue for a long time, waiting for a fare.

Not sure the taxi drivers can read maps. It's an education thing.

All the above posts seem to have been submitted before the sun sank beneath the yardarm on the relevant day 18 July (see George's original post). I've been away from the computer up in Isaan with my Thai fiancee so didn't know about 18th being alcohol free. My fiancee doesn't drink but it doesn't bother her if I do because I am strict about the yardarm rule (and because she displays the positive side of Thai tolerance). So when I availed myself of the opportunity of getting a decent glass of wine she never said a thing. Maybe it helped that we were in a quiet discreet commercial establishment.

Next question: How long is a multiple re-entry permit valid for?

At least I only have to ask these questions once (hopefully!)

You enter your visa information on the arrival card and before you leave the desk check that it is for one year entry. They will have to set a special date stamp to July 17, 2009 for your new permitted to stay until stamp.

Any travel you do after this will require that you obtain a re-entry permit to keep that July 17, 2009 date alive.

Be very sure you have a retirement OA visa and not a multi entry O visa as they are not the same. Perhaps your friend had the latter and got the normal 90 day stay?

I've just seen his passport and you are right, I have OA and he has O. Thanks again.

Another thought has just struck me. If I wasn't doing this border run I would be due to report to Immigration with a TM47 (90 day reporting) on 25 July. Do I still have to submit a TM47 on 25 July or does the 90 day reset itself to 90 days from the date of my re-entry to Thailand from Laos?

When I used to drink Singha beer I would always feel like I had been poisoned the next morning if I had had more than 2 bottles, I'd get sudden shooting pains in the stomach.

I mentioned this to a Thai friend, he told me the brewers put formaldehyde in to preserve the beer upcountry, for they may deliver the beer only once a week and the store refrigerator could only handle a few bottles at a time so the rest is kept at room temperature in the corridor. The formaldehyde is to preserve it.

Oh well, I guess I won't go off so quickly once I กลับบ้านเก่า shred off this mortal coil.

Nobody has for sure shown that Thai beer doesn't have an unacceptable level of formadehyde, and bannork has given the most logical reason why it might.

What do people think about Chang Light (4.2%) and Singha Light (3.6%)? So far the Chang Light agrees with me but the Singha Light doesn't. Does this mean the formaldehyde is higher in Singha?

Just out of interest, why are so many posters to this forum from a group called "banned"?

Hi

Any suggestions as to which Bar serves the best pint of Guinness in Bangkok? Any happy hours for Guinness? Just curious because I have lived here for a few years and although I'm Irish, I normally drink Leo.

Thanks

Best deal on Guinness is at the Witches Oyster Bar on Soi Ruam Rudee, near Ploen Chit BTS. Buy one get one free, so effectively half price, assuming you'll be drinking more than one pint (they'll bring your second free one after you've finished the first if you like, rather than both coming together).

Not a bad pint in there either for Bangkok standards: but there's nowhere that really stands out as serving the best Guinness - all pubs have their on-days and off-days I find. If the pub itself is fairly nice, such as the Bull's Head, The Dubliner, etc. then there's a higher chance that the Guinness will probably be OK. If the pub's clearly pretty crap, such as the Duke of Wellington on Silom or the Robin Hood on Sukhumvit, then don't bother ordering the Guinness.

To each his own. I like the Duke of Wellington, I'm not impressed with O'Reillys, and I'm happy to go to the Dubliner and Molly Malones while finding Bull's Head too "in your face".

It's actually quite a pleasant pastime hunting for the perfect Guinness!

You enter your visa information on the arrival card and before you leave the desk check that it is for one year entry. They will have to set a special date stamp to July 17, 2009 for your new permitted to stay until stamp.

Any travel you do after this will require that you obtain a re-entry permit to keep that July 17, 2009 date alive.

Be very sure you have a retirement OA visa and not a multi entry O visa as they are not the same. Perhaps your friend had the latter and got the normal 90 day stay?

I've just seen his passport and you are right, I have OA and he has O. Thanks again.

It would work but why not make a border run and obtain an extra year stay before you need to file the TM.7? There is always the chance of a delay when you are traveling. The cost will be the border run (2,000 baht from Bangkok) and a 1,000 baht re-entry permit for your October travel and you would be set until July 2009.

I am English age 61 with a multiple entry OA retirement visa expiring end of July 2008. I live in Bangkok.

I have booked a visa run to Nong Khai/Laos for 17/18 July, planning to exit Thailand and return on the same day. My understanding is that my visa will be extended for a year from the date of re-entry.

My neighbour has just arrived with horror stories of how he was given the wrong re-entry stamp when he tried to do something similar on his retirement visa coming back from Hong Kong.

Can I be confident that Nong Khai Thai Immigration will get it right on my re-entry, and how can I recognise that I have been given the right stamp?

Can anyone help with Thai script for:

"Take it in at the sides and a little bit off the top please"

Thanks

I think on balance your wife will always feel more at home in Canada than you will in Thailand. By that I mean genuinely feeling part of the community. What will you do about your business if you move? Can you guarantee an income in Thailand?

You haven't said where in Thailand your wife comes from but if it's Isaan then a book worth reading might be "My Thai Girl and I" by Andrew Hicks.