TallGuyJohninBKK

I think it's a good topic and an important issue for expats, and well-deserving of airing and attention. Hopefully things won't get any more difficult over time.

I have an IRA that I'm looking to move in the near future for issues unrelated to this discussion. But the issues in this discussion are factoring into my deliberations about which brokerage firm to look to move my IRA to.

I also agree it makes sense to use a U.S. address and U.S. telephone number. HOWEVER, the VPN login concerns me. Wouldn't major firms be savvy to which IP addresses VPN providers use? Is it always the same IP address when using a VPN or do they float? If your address of record is in Florida and you're always logging into an account from Nebraska (with a VPN IP that might be identifiable as such anyway) aren't you kind of in red flag situation?

Jing, I've never had any issues with using a VPN. But have had when NOT using one.

As I mentioned above, my recommendation is, if possible, to use a VPN service that has servers located in or near where one's residence address is, just for consistency and uniformity. In reality, I think using an IP anywhere in the U.S., as opposed to international, ought to be OK. But these days, most good sized VPN services have server locations available in many major city areas across the U.S. So finding a "local" VPN server for your residence address usually isn't a problem.

As for VPN IP addresses, yes, they operate in ranges, and typically will change slightly with different log-ins. That's called dynamic IP as opposed to static IP addressing. But I don't believe that's terribly different than what you'd get if you were using a U.S. cable or DSL provider, where the default accounts usually are Dynamic IP ones. At any rate, I don't believe any of the financial firms discriminate against (or flag in any way) any of their customers just for using a VPN for log-ins.

BTW, re one of the issues being raised above, the bad situation where a customer is being forced to close their U.S. retirement account at a particular brokerage is not necessarily the same thing as being forced to liquidate/withdraw the funds and incur penalties, taxes, etc. Provided, of course, that the accountholder can find a different brokerage willing to accept the rollover. Right now, especially if someone is not promoting any foreign status, I think finding a rollover at a different firm ought to be generally achievable.

CM, thanks for the update... They've apparently changed the layout there for the re-entry permits desk since the last time I passed thru there.

BTW, although they aren't stocking this product at my local Makro right now, my local Villa in Sukhumvit is stocking this Casa Fiesta brand of pinto beans with jalapenos, 16 oz can for about 80 baht or so. Makes for a nice burrito filling addition. Also nice to see somehow the Casa Fiesta brand from the U.S. seeming to expand their presence in Thailand.

My local Foodland has several varieties of tortillas, and very few salsas, but nothing much beyond that.

My local Villa is much better, and these days are stocking both Rosarita and Bearitos brand canned frijoles... though not cheap at about $3 per can.

Meanwhile, Villa is the only local market I've seen selling the quite good El Sapo Thailand-produced brand of jarred salsas....

Thanks for the info.... The ones I tend to use are the yellow Tops markets...and those don't have any of that kind of selection.

But I'll check again next time I'm by the Gourmet market by Tops at CentralWorld.

As for the pricing at Tops, based on your photo, it looks like they're bordering on extortionate.

The jalapenos at Makro are selling for 82b vs. what looks like 109b at Tops.

And the 16 oz jars of Casa Fiesta medium chili salsa are going for 59b at Makro, vs. what looks like 172b at Tops.

Can't clearly read the pricing labels in the size of your Tops photo, but that's how the labels line up with the different jars.

Also, don't see any canned frijoles there...

... "and there would be no limitation of freedom of the press"...

Except of course closing down a few tv stations.

And unlicensed Red radio stations... And warning all news media to avoid publishing any info that could be considered detrimental to national security.

Ooops... Forgot to mention those little details.

And no mention of Surapong in all this... Tsk Tsk... Really missing him about now.

But seriously, I think, under the circumstances, there is some prudence in shutting down the incendiary, propaganda mouthpieces of both sides. Wish it wasn't necessary, but that's probably for the best.

But for the Foreign Ministry to get up and simply lie in front of the foreign representatives community here about "no limitation on freedom of the press" is pretty amazing.

Kind of reminds me of the Iraqi Mouthpiece Minister going before the world's cameras and proclaiming all is well, just before Sadam Hussein's regime fell.

FWIW, Tops also has an online shopping service that I use from time to time. Of course, it doesn't cover all their store stock. But in light of your post, I thought I'd check it.

Using Tops shop online, searches for "Casa Fiesta" or "Casa" or "Fiesta" produce nothing. And a search for "salsa" produces only one product, a 300g jar of Doritos brand salsa for 145b.

A search for "tortilla" produced only one product -- the bags of plain Danitas tortilla chips.

And of course, a search for "jalapeno" also produces nothing. Same for the search term "taco".

Where (what specific location) have you seen jalapeno's at Tops before?

I have a variety of Tops around my home in central BKK, and those stores stock little to nothing in the way of Mexican food products -- just some jarred salsas and Danitas tortilla chips.

It would seem from an earlier report that Chalerms house was one of those raided by the military today.

This was probably a follow up to the weapons found in a PT MP"s car yesterday.

No official reports of what was found but ...................well we wait and see.

Let's hope the story stays active.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/727296-army-keens-on-seizure-of-assault-rifles-in-a-thai-govt-politicians-car/?hl=+army%20+keen

This report pretty clearly says assault rifles, and that the car in which they were found belongs to an adviser to a caretaker minister. But of course, it doesn't say WHO.

Immigration has said they won't begin enforcing their new approach to out/in trips at the airport until mid-August. So right now, there really shouldn't be any change being noticed there, if they're keeping their word.

But save this thread until mid-August, and then let's see what kind of traveler reports are emerging from the airport.

Only one of the two immigration areas has a re-entry permit desk, so you must take care of which one you use to apply for a re-entry permit.

Mario, didn't know there were two immigration areas at Suv. never seen the desk to use re-entry permits I assume this is separate to the normal immigration desks, I have been lucky having had a Gold card before (now expired) I could use Fasttrack,. If there is a separate desk I assume this is much quicker than the normal queues. . Can you tell me where it is.

It is a desk before immigration check out in the south immigration check point, it is the immigration point located near the airline check-in area island 4 thur 6 or in that general area.

Yes, last time I visited there, the re-entry permit desk was just inside the entry-way going from the passenger check-in area to the Immigration checkpoints area. Walk through the entrance to the Immigration hall and immediately make a 90-degree hard turn to the left. The desk was at the far corner of the room. And it's BEFORE you get to the regular Immigration stamp-out desks.

Once you've already been stamped out by Immigration and into the departures area, I'm not sure they'd allow you back thru Immigration to get back to the re-entry permits desk since it's on the pre-stamp out side.

Last time I was there, the re-entry desk was just that... a regular simple desk with a couple of staff sitting there on chairs. It's not one of the bigger, fancier stations where the regular Immigration officers in the same room handle the stamping out process.

Supporting a Thai wife and children is a legitimate reason under Thai Immigration rules for a farang to remain residing in Thailand.

That is shown thru the availability of 1-year extensions of stay based on marriage done here in country via Immigration, or Non-O visas based on marriage done at Thai consulates in other countries. Not to mention the single time 60-day, single entry permission for visiting one's wife that also can be done here by Immigration.

Sometime back, I noticed a post on Sunrise Tacos' Facebook page with the Mexican food chain's owner meeting with representatives of the Makro grocery chain about expanding their supply of Mexican food-related products. I assumed, that was aimed at helping Sunrise with their supply chain.

Dunno if there's any connection not, but today during a visit to the Makro store on Narithiwas Rd near the Sathorn area, I noticed quite an expanded selection of Mexican food products compared to what they've typically stocked in the past -- including something I've never before found in a grocery store here before -- jars of sliced pickled jalpenos, Casa Fiesta 8 oz for 82 baht.

The overall selection isn't ideal, but altogether, it does cover a lot of ground. The available items as of today included:

--large, restaurant sized containers of refried beans, nachos cheese sauce and salsa.

--several packaged varieties of both hard-shell corn taco shells and flour tortilla/wraps, both regular and tomato flavor.

--individual/home sized jars of several varieties of salsas.

--seasoning packages for guacamole making and other items.

--and including my prized jalapeno jars!!!!

Unfortunately, I didn't see any home/individual sized cans of frijoles at Makro, although lately my local Villa market has been stocking an expanded selection of those, including several different brands and flavorings. But Villa's pricing of those is crazy high... I wanna say, close to 100 baht or more for regular 16 oz cans.

I don't know if other Makros around BKK and elsewhere are having the same Mexican food products selection. I suspect not. But at least the Narithiwas branch is heading in the right direction.

With all the misery that Tarit has been responsible for he can certainly handle a public admonishment at his expense. Too bad it wasn't video-taped. This is actually refreshing. We are seeing someone that is not Chalerm, who doesn't talk like Chalerm, and has a sense of humour ( unlike Chalerm ).

I find the OP report to be odd... in its characterization of the general's comments as a "joke."

Reading the account, it kind of looks instead like the General meant exactly what he said to Tarit.

Enough is enough. You've already screwed things up... Don't make it worse now.

Where's the joke in that? More like a gentle slapdown.

Most of the B.S. broadcast on the various banned TV channels could hardly have been called any variety of "news". Propaganda yes, news hardly.

On the other hand, it will be interesting to see what happens with the various "mainstream" news sources, including our beloved Bangkok Post and The Nation.

Will tomorrow's front pages be filled with sports news and cooking recipies??? I'd hope not.

Really, a change to one or the other should be easy.

Not quite. The Thai bank will want the name to match your passport exactly, so it would have to be the American bank that changed the account name.

I believe, in the past, it's been said that in order to process BKK Bank transfers from the U.S. to Thailand, the names on the sending and receiving accounts need to be the same. Not sure how much sameness they require, exactly.

No curfews (yet).

Keep away from the hot spots, if your car is damaged in a clash/military action: no compensation.

You live in Bangkok?

Today some intersections are blocked/heavy jams.

Some BTS stations jam packed.

Today I would avoid unnecessary travel.

I was out and around in central BKK this afternoon.

Didn't notice anything different/unusual on the BTS Sukhumvit and Silom lines or their stations when I rode them mid-afternoon.

Likewise, stopped by Makro to do some shopping and the store was pretty quiet... as you'd normally expect on a weekday mid-afternoon. No one was there rushing to hoard supplies.

By and large, people seemed to be going about their normal business in a normal way.

Jonathan Head @pakhead

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When asked about the status of the give Thai army commander Prayuth said "where is the government?" Sounding more like a coup now.

9:41 AM - 20 May 2014

Leaving aside the political bias of Head's tweet, I would assume the General's comment was made in the context of...

The supposed Cabinet was supposedly meeting today, but they weren't telling anyone where they were or what they were doing.

So not exactly surprising that a lot of people today might be asking: WHERE is the government?

On a more personal and direct level, can we presume that the immigration at Chaengwattana will be opening once again soon, so we who live in Bangkok can once again do our 90 day reporting there as we did before it was closed back in January.

Or is that to much to expect?

I believe part of the Army's directives today included allowing the rogue monk and his followers to continue their protest at CW... as well as the other protest groups in their respective locations.

So, unless the Monk and Co. disperse on their own, doesn't seem likely that's going to return as a viable Immigration office anytime soon.

This is the way I understand things as present:

--The military, by declaring martial law, has taken over all security related functions from the civilian government, including the Cabinet (whether anyone believes they're legitimately in power or not).

--AFAIK, the military has done nothing as yet to impact the current civilian government and the Cabinet, and their role in non-security matters (like paying debts to rice farmers, etc etc.)

--Presumably, the fate of the current civilian government and Cabinet will remain in the hands of the Election Commission and the Thai courts, in terms of the cases against Yingluck and the broader rice scandal cases involving other officials.

--If the military were to extend their control beyond security related issues, including removing the acting caretaker Prime Mininster and his sundry lackies, then that would be what would be defined as a coup.

12:27 pm

Peace Keeping Directorate (PKD) director Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha held an urgent meeting with the commander-in-chiefs of the Navy, the Air Force and the commissioner of the Royal Thai Police at the First Infantry Division of the Royal Guard at noon today to discuss the implementation of the martial law.

After the meeting,the Arny chief will preside over the meeting with all heads of government agencies and state enterprises and all sectors of the societies and independent organisation to brief the on the situation and guidelines to implement under the martial law environment.

He will give a press conference after the 2 p.m, meeting.

Meanwhile the army deputy spokesman refused comment on the possibility of imposing curfew in the capital tonight saying it depends on how the situation develops.

12:16 pm

Acting Premier Niwattumrong Boonsongpausarn held a special meeting of his remaining cabinet ministers today at an undisclosed place to assess the situation after the imposition of martial law.

No details of what it discussed or where it was taken place was revealed.

Does this mean Chalerm and CAPO are no longer in control?

Yes...exactly that.

However, whether they realize and accept that in their own etherial universe, who knows?