FairwayJack

I am a casual player (not so good, not so bad) looking for an opponent in Bangkok. I am flexible about time and location, drop me a message if you are interested.

Hi...I too have a history of playing tennis and do enjoy it. I wouldnt say im aweosme though but can keep a rallyquite well.

drop me a line 0870 154 525

I am a fair player. If knees were good, would be better. I have been a tennis teacher for quite some time. Want to hit some? But live in Rangsit. Where are you located and do you know tennis facilities? I do not. John

Hey John...noted you're in Rangsit. I live close by (near Pinehurst Golf Club). If you're game, we can have a hit at the Pinehurst tennis courts. I am 50 years of age and play 1-2x a week ...average in skill.

so, it looks like the visa will be uninterrupted but no more backrubs? I can live with that.. but I guess we will here more in the coming days/weeks.

I would like the family visa to be reinstated...not just the member. That is why I bought it. The golf, airport cars, massages are nice but not essential.

Many posts deriding Suvarnabhumi (??)....I live 20 mins from DM. Loved the convenience but I realize it's outdated. The new airport is much bettter and ideally situated between Pattaya and BKK.

Renting is our best option.....you never know what they will built next door. In my case, I rented a beautiful house on a golf course. The course shortly built a huge maintenance shop 3 yds away. Banging, painting, saws, radios, ....what would I had done if I owned the place ?? Gone mad I suppose.

What are the current requirements for getting an extension based on having a Thai child (I'm over 50 but not officially married to the mother) ?

Is copy of birth certificate with my name as father sufficient documentation ?

Is proof of money required ? How long does it have to be in the bank ?

Can this type of extension be used for working ?

(Currently I have a work permit and non-O visa extended until February 11, but Immigration may not extend again due to company losing money last year)

Yes, yes and 3 months......I just renewed my wife's support visa for our son....a new regulation is that the money (500K) must be in the sponsor's name only...not a husband / wife joint acct. Also make sure you deposit 20 baht into this acct on the day of your visit to immg. They will want to see an entry into your bank book showing the balance on the exact day of your application. Also get your bank to print out a separate balance statement and have it chopped. It duplicates your bank book but they want it anyway. I learned all this the hard way. Hope this helps.

Something like this happened to Eric Clapton's son...terrible tragedy. Does anyone remember that poor little girl who fell thru the railing at the Paragon mall on opening weekend?? We had a near miss just this weekend at Laem Cha Bang with our 1 year old. It is a fear I always carry....when we first moved to Thailand 5 years ago I had our long stay hotel weld add'l railings at tottler level. There was a 20ft drop onto solid concrete stairs and only a single railing at hip height.

This seems like another ill thought out and ill conceived idea. As southerndown has mentioned, not all Thais like Farangs in the country, and petty things like this often reinforce such beleifs.

I'd be interested to know whan they actually closed down the counter, and if they have actually given any prior warning that this was going to happen. I can imagine that this is going to cause a few problems in the coming weeks, and once again casuses further inconveniences to those that need a re-entry permit. I am glad that I have multiple rentry permit, as I can't stand going to Suan Plu. Luckikly I can do the 90 day report at Rasa tower, which is much more conveneint for me, and much less of a zoo.

The whole thing seems rather curious, given that they are now waiving visa fee's, maybe it's a cunning plan to stop people leaving the country.

Can you tell me where Rasa Tower is ?? Thx.

I'd like it if this new govt would reinstate visas for family members of Thai Elite card holders. I went and bought the Thai Elite card because the Thai HK Embassy told me my wife and 3 children could receive visas. Three months after I buy the card they changed the policy to the actual Thai Elite member only. I feel I was deceived.

Expensive oil is a good excuse.

This line was a commercial mistake since.... the beginning.

Furthermore, they could have tried to increase price... Instead, just "okay people, we close and we sell our airplanes, ciao !" (by the way, a few month before they were complaining that they... couldn't buy -new airplanes- enough...)

Anyway, Nation has other details (about orther routes, like London)...

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/06/07...ss_30074952.php

The sxxx is about to hit the fan. Not because only oil. But also because Thai Airways has a bad management... since too long.

I am surprise no one caught this bit of news: FLAG carrier Thai Airways will cancel its direct flight from Bangkok to New York and sell four planes used on the route as rising fuel prices cut into profits, a company official said on Friday.

'As of July 1, Thai Airways will not fly to New York because of high fuel prices. We have enough passengers, but the high fuel prices have put the airline in a difficult position,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Thai Airways will maintain its direct flight to Los Angeles, which will be the carrier's only remaining US destination, the official said.

But the airline may reduce the frequency of that route and other less profitable destinations later in the year, she added.

The airline's board of directors also decided to swiftly sell all four of its Airbus 340-500, which are only used for long-haul flights, she said. -- AFP

I read the Nation article....US $400 for a gallon. Is this true or a typo ??

I hear about, and know many expats (and tourists) who are bothered by mozzies.

I personally have never had a mozzie bite in my life, and assumed they didn't like me due to my diet/ smoking.

However my brother came to visit from the UK a few months back, and had a different theory. We sat outside the house for a few beers on his first night, and he did get very well munched.

He is in the UK Armed Forces, and has been to pretty much every sh1thole you can imagine. His theory (from vast experience, apparently were they have to throw 'bug bombs' in the toilet before they enter) is that;

Mozzie bite reactions are only down to your physiology. People (99%) have a reaction to the anaesthetic that they inject before sucking your blood. A few lucky ones don't have this reaction, and although bitten just as much don't know about it.

I heard lots of stuff about quinnine years ago, always a good excuse for a G&T, but I have read that this has been disproved.

I only ever drink beer, quite alot but only 2 or 3 times a week. I don't drink spirits, and never drink at home. I smoke, on average, about a pack and a half a day of Marlboro Lights.

I Know a guy who drinks the same as me (although quite alot more), and still has problems with mozzie bites. He eats a similar diet to me, and is not overweight (same-ish to me).

So, any experts out there have an answer? I must admit I would be seriously less inclined to stay here if I was worried about the mozzies all the time.

Sorry for the long post, but this has been on my mind for quite sometime.

Cheers,

SC

I get bit a lot...but I carry around a small tub of cortizone and this makes the itch disappear in minutes....won't help much if I run into bloody mary tho

Just had a few more marines in the shop and they said she was extremely drunk and there was some sort of small ledge/balcony with no handrail supposedly and she fell, they reckon she fell in the night but wasnt reported until the following morning as bypassers just thougt she was drunk and asleep on the ground

Also heard a bunch of marines had a punch up with the BIB on bangla..guess they have ruined theyre trial run of being allowed to stay on land!!!

I've lived in Asia for 16 yrs. Hung out in good time bars from Wanchai to Patong...never once saw American service men in a bar fight.

My GF likes to wash the new CRV in the blazing heat of the midday sun, that coupled to our water which is direct out of a tube well and probably quite hard has left a lot of I guess calcium deposit on the windscreen. At night it's so bad that it blurs the vision.

I've tried everything I know to get it off including: Windex with amonia, Mr. Muscle. and Magic clean. Dry cloths, wet cloths towels and polishing cloths and short of a new windscreen don't know what else to do. Anyone have any ideas?

I have a circular impression left by the suction cup of a window shade on my windshield !! It was so hot one day that the safety glass coating melted around the cup. (Car was parked at the time. Shield was stuck on the windshield above steering wheel.) Now I must drive around with a circle smack dab in my forward field of vision. I post this so others don't make the same mistake !!

Foreign investors still optimistic about Pattaya

BANGKOK: -- The Thai Government is currently taking steps to reassure foreign investors, one of Thailand's biggest money earners, that the present wave of political protests is a short term affair and isn't indicative of long-term instability.

Apparently, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama thought it necessary to reassure the British business community, in particular via the UK's Foreign Minister, David Miliband, that all was essentially well in the Land of Smiles and what discontent there was was merely a symptom of the democratic process.

Everybody here understands that street protests are normal in any democratic country and they don't have to hurt government stability," Noppadon said in a press briefing in London on June 3, 2008.

Mr. Noppadon's attempt to reassure both foreign investors and potential tourists was apparently in response to a recent report that Asian tourists in particular are shying away from Thailand because of the political protests, Malaysia and Indonesia, apparently issuing travel warnings to their citizens contemplating Thai holidays. Highly respected Thai commentator, Prawase Wasi, also warned that the Thai poltico-economic conflicts were discouraging investment and tourism and proposed the establishment of a national government as a solution.

All this popular mass protest recently witnessed in the streets of Bangkok, doesn't seem to have radically affected Russian and Scandinavian investors, particularly in Pattaya, however. In 2007, 889,656 Russians visited Pattaya, up 84 per cent from 2006, making them the leading market for the resort. According to Raimon Land's CEO, Nigel Cornick's recent edition of the definitive property guide "Why invest...... Pattaya", the Russians and Scandinavians have now displaced the Brits and Germans as the main property investors in Pattaya, which is particularly good news for developers in this fair city. And although the Russians have been coming here for the past 10 years, it's only in the past two that they have started to buy up Pattaya properties. Last year, according to Raimon Land, Russian property purchases accounted for 22 per cent, (USD 7.7 million) of condominium sales in their upmarket developments Northshore, The Lofts, Southshore and Northpoint.

The Russians, however, not exactly being super-linguists as any Pattaya-Jomtien baht-bus passenger can readily attest, do tend to place their trust in their own language speakers, which is why recently so many Pattaya Real estate agents have begun to recruit Russian speakers, as a glimpse at the classified Jobs Offered sections of the local media will confirm. Although some longer term Russian Pattaya residents have begun placing their children in the local international schools where learning English is far cheaper than back in Russia.

One new trend, however, won't gladden the hearts of the established Pattaya real estate agencies, however, that of the recent setting up of real estate agencies by authentic Russians, many of whom have direct links with the lucrative CIS tourist group market. Uriy Segal, the Russian president of Russian House, a newly set-up Pattaya property agency, stated "I think this year (2008), Russians will account for 40 per cent of property sales in Pattaya." Segal also commented that compared to Moscow, property prices in Pattaya are a bargain.

Although there is a growing trend for Russians to open their own real estate agencies, their local Western brethren can still count on substantial Russian custom, however, as can be vouched for by the likes of Raimon Land, CB Richard Ellis and Siam Best Enterprises.' ultra prestigious, Ocean 1 Tower. Russians, apparently, love to boast of their purchases back home and ownership in Siam Best Enterprises.' ultra prestigious, Ocean 1 Tower, as SE Asia's potentially tallest building comes top of the list.

For most Pattaya real estate agencies however, the Scandinavian local investor market is much less lucrative. Although there is a prediction by Colliers International of a huge incipient surge from Nordic RSH (retired and second home) investors, with Pattaya investments estimated at Bt1550 billion (2008-9), local real estate agents can expect to see little of this as the Swedish and Norwegian market in Pattaya is effectively sewn by up savvy Scandinavian developers who often sell Pattaya properties to their compatriots even before they come to what is now termed the Asian Riviera or mini-Bangkok, i.e. Pattaya.

-- Pattaya Daily News 2008-06-06

I just spent the past week in Pattaya. I couldn't wait to leave. Nothing but lurking looks at me and my steady university educated girlfriend. I wouldn't buy anything there. The infrastructure and environment is nothing worth investing in, nothing but sex tourists and protitutes. If you think there is more than that, you need your head examined. I would'nt gamble my money on Pattaya. There are many more places in Thailand to enjoy. Investing in real estate in another country is not an investment. Only spend as much as you are willing to lose.

I tell you ....I like Pattaya. I take my wife and 3 kids and stay overnight at a good but not expenses hotel. I play golf while she minds the kids, shops and relaxes by the pool. The children love the various activities. Last time it was jet ski races. At night we see friends who live there and have a nice dinner maybe see a show. Then we all head back to BKK only 2 hrs away. It is all well and good.

....except for a bit a traffic

I suggest Youtube for good golf lessons. Shawn Clement and Brady Riggs are very good. Here's a link

Rgds, Jack