Gaccha

This worries me a little because I am planning to get a re-entry at Swampy when I leave the country. Last time I checked it was still possible, I don't know why anyone would want to waste time going to immigration, when I see threads like this it makes me wonder how long the airport will keep the system in place if it is not supported, and how I will know if it is discontinued.

The immigration office position on this is that they may or may not offer the facility to you. I have seen the facility closed during the daytime hours. You are taking a risk.

You still show the members' number of posts. But now the joined date has gone since the upgrade. Can we have it back? Or is it an option somewhere.

It is important to know as a quick and dirty figure for working out if the member has just got off the plane. Many of the mebers have hundreds of posts but are barely aware where Thailand is on the map.

Thank you in advance.

Looks like they are soft on the weekends. But not so soft on the eyes...

This product is so superior to all the other ones, it obviously can afford to charge.

...but if you think what it should be it is still not good enough. There should be vast numbers of sample sentences, divided by the particular usage of the word.

Her mother.......

If her mother loves you then you can do no wrong........

The converse is also true.........

Now then gentleman, it is safe to say that women are the same the world over, but it is not normal for Western mothers to hold the same influence over their daughters as Thai mothers do over theirs......true?

Quite possibly the opposite is true.

Simply because all situations and people are different.

Regardless of what some might insist upon

These scholarly derived ideals that: "basically, all the people of the world are one and the same" <deleted>.

This trope that the academics the world over have a cuddly, sweet, equality-is-inherent view of the world seems to pervade ThaiVisa and helpfully ties in with the working class anti-intellectualism of many users.... but it ain't true.

I posted a peer-reviewed academic journal article here and the thread was closed down. My post was not removed-- that would be the equivalent of attacking the entire Western Enlightenment-- but instead the danger of scandalous comments based around the article continung the thread led the thread to being closed. It is there to be found if you look.It is on the same topic. The article's position is light years away from what you are thinking.

I think it is very important that when you see people enjoying their lives, living in a place that does not constantly discipline and disable them into docile, submissive beings, you should immediately try to put a stop to it.

Just the opposite for me. Suan Plu is on the other site of Bangkok... two hours through heavy traffic for me.

Chaeng Wattana is usually a 15 to 30 minute taxi ride from my house. Easy to get to also.

...but since my post above, nobody chooses by the traffic problems, they choose on the basis of the looks of the officers.

The facility to obtain a Reentry permit from Suanplu rather than Chaengwattana is a godsend for many of us. But the facility requires that an e-mail is sent 24 hours before turning up.

...but the Immigration Staff are exactly as incompetent as you would expect, so be ready for it. I arrived and they duly informed me they had not received an e-mail from me. They also told the other 2 farang in the room. The laotians and burmese watched with a detached bemusement.

The immigration staff after a little persuading let me look at their computer. And sure enough, hidden in the 'trash' of their e-mail system were our Reentry permit applications. (note: their e-mail system has a Trash Box and Spam Box, so make sure you insist on checking them both)

...they immediately then gave us our permits. They had just told the Japanese lady, despite her flying the next day, they would not give her a permit. Once they saw her name in the Trash box, they sorted out the paperwork without any inspection of the contents of her e-mail.

...so we now know, the e-mail serves no other purpose than as an obstacle to deter visits from farang to Suanplu. They did not use the e-mails we sent, but simply determined whether to help us by whether we sent them. Another farang who walked in was immediately denied any assistance when he said he sent no e-mail.

...there is another reason for going to Suanplu, besides the location, the staff are strikingly beautiful now. It is almost implausible. See you there.

E-mail from them:

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Sometimes I mai loo i am doing it....

Very revealing. You write 'mai loo' and not 'mai roo'. Nobody with a Central Thai accent says 'loo'. You have been spending too much time in places with many Issan people...

My card doesn't have my name on it. Where did I go wrong? It is a debit card. It says 'privileged member' on it.

You have to order it from the bank, takes about a week.

Look under product details http://www.kasikornb...ges/KDebit.aspx I didn't bother with a photo.

Is the advantage merely that the security is better with your name on it (as the Bank says on its website). Or by having the name on the front, you found it easier when using the card to make online purchases...?

The virtual credit card companies all seem to not operate in Thailand. So the Kasikorn bank route is the way to go. I actually today opened my Kasikorn bank account just to get this virtual credit card.

There are limitations. Some companies, e.g. airlines, want to see a card. I would be interested to know if others have recent experience on this.

With your Kasikornbank account get a debit card, you can then register it, via an ATM, to use online which means you can purchase airline tickets and have a physical card to show the airline, you can even get a card with your name embossed on it.

As a matter of interest I have used my virtual card for Air Asia, they are one of the few that say they need to see the card.

My card doesn't have my name on it. Where did I go wrong? It is a debit card. It says 'privileged member' on it.

The virtual credit card companies all seem to not operate in Thailand. So the Kasikorn bank route is the way to go. I actually today opened my Kasikorn bank account just to get this virtual credit card.

There are limitations. Some companies, e.g. airlines, want to see a card. I would be interested to know if others have recent experience on this.

With your Kasikornbank account get a debit card, you can then register it, via an ATM, to use online which means you can purchase airline tickets and have a physical card to show the airline, you can even get a card with your name embossed on it.

As a matter of interest I have used my virtual card for Air Asia, they are one of the few that say they need to see the card.

...if you have the debit card registered for online, why did you use the virtual card when you knew Air Asia wanted to see your card...? (I'm intrigued)

i bought one before in the UK, in a lovely shop called Cash Convertors....

i simply walked to the counter, paid my money, and was given the card........

no account was required and no ID was shown

is there a service like that here in thailand???

I am fairly sure it is not. The virtual credit card companies all seem to not operate in Thailand. So the Kasikorn bank route is the way to go. I actually today opened my Kasikorn bank account just to get this virtual credit card.

There are limitations. Some companies, e.g. airlines, want to see a card. I would be interested to know if others have recent experience on this.

... a more interesting point to reflect on is the concentration on the consummerist cities and areas around the World in the floor themes. There was, of course, no Dhaka floor. It would perhaps have been nice to have a floor theme on the 2.4 million stateless living the Agamben 'bare life' in Thailand.

... the translation is-- joking aside-- genuinely bad. The 'Laew tae khun' is much closer to the English 'depends on you'.

This is crucial since 'depends on...' does not leave the final matter down to you, but shows you have a sway or influence in how the decision is made.

It would be interesting to study the genealogy of 'up to you', as it becoming the 'official' translation in Thai life.

...and the ferry pier is actually at the end of the 'Wat Klong Toey Nork' street. So ask the taxi driver for this Temple. Or walk from Lumpini Park MRT station-- surely no more than a 20 minute walk.

The 'Wat Klong Toey Nork' street is simply a 100 metre footpath. There are some non-canoe boats that cross the river, so if you have a bicyle, you can take one of them.

The apartment owners/ place you stay is required on a daily basis to report occupancy by any non-Thais. It is a criminal offence for them to fail to inform the police.

The area's called Pig Gut in Thai by the locals because of the shape it makes on a map, but it's divided up into a few areas from what I gather - Bang Krachao seems to be the Northern and Eastern End, Bang Nam Pheung the South Central side and so on. Still, I've never seen the legal designations on a map and the best way to get around is just to know which wat or main soi something is near. There's been massive development in specifically the last 2-3 years, as something changed (perhaps the scandal mentioned above). There are big new roads, tons of new 2-3 story homes, new apartment buildings and so on.

>>snip<<

Now that is what I call local knowledge. Superb.

Sorry to butt in again, but I've just remembered another nice incident.

My friend-- the General's daughter-- went up to some cops slurping noodles at 5am on a street stall, and they very kindly drive her, me and a friend around town until they found the 24 hour disco we were looking for. They then-- much to my surprise-- took off their tops, and joined us for whisky and soda in the disco for a few hours.

On arrival back from abroad, my friend's father-- a general-- kindly provided a chauffeur (a police sergeant) and transport ( a very plush car) through the traffic to my place.

I was fairly sure that every topic that could be covered has been covered by ThaiVisa, but I think I found something new...

A slightly edgy thing to do in Bangkok is to head to the 'jungle' across the Chao Praya river just south of Klong Toey slum. It is mostly coconut plantations, swampland and small hamlets. And it is indeed a very strange place when you think it is a mere 5 minutes taxi drive from Silom. I recommend the large and well-kept park in the centre of the jungle. I also recommend a 6 foot staff to keep away the feral dogs that are everywhere.

... but I digress.

What I found fascinating was the discovery that farangs live there to save money and to scratch by in their fantasies of paradise. The rents at 1,000 baht are a pretty good deal for such a good location. And if you can put up with snakes, monitor lizards and slash-and-burn farming then life may be pretty good. Obviously, there are no 7-11s, and no facilities recognisable to civilisation but they are a 1,000 baht for a month.

I was told they lived there in order to wait for permanent residency (PR). I am no visa expert, but I thought you needed a minimum income to get PR. Surely, if they are so financially distressed as to have to rent at 1,000 baht then PR is not on the horizon.

An Indian man told me he was there as a way to reach the West. Apparently, while the British embassy in India knows every trick to get visas to the West, the Brit Embassy is soft here and so many Indians work in Thailand for a few years to gain legitimacy to move to the UK. As he stood there in front of a man trying to catch a snake, I felt his fantasy was possibly more delusional than the farangs.

I found a condiminum-- the only building that looked designed-- several stories high with balconies in this jungle. Perhaps you can be enticed live there...

British and American universities have long had campuses around the World. This is only a development as it is in Thailand and is a British unversity. Typically, the universities take their brand reputation very seriously and so the level remains high. They usually try to recruit an international coterie of profs who will teach for a term and head home to their real universities.

...obviously this university is a very low level UK university but that still makes it tougher on standards than any local university. They will do pretty well but they will not be followed by other unviersities. The last big move was Nottingham University in China. That seemed much more logical. A massive market where the British Uni brand name is immense.

And what-- 6 months later from my last time to pose the question-- is the answer to the topic question?

(for technical reasons, in my case, it must have at least Android 2.2 and have .3 GB of SD memory)

Whatever phone it is, what price can it be got at MBK or CentralWorld?

Thank you!

Here is what you need. The basic 540 words in Thai/ Issan/ Northern Thai/ Southern Thai... and in japanese. All on MP3. If you don't know the Thai you'll have to work your way through it with an Thai- English dictionary.

It was pretty cheap as well. You can buy it in Kinokuniya CentralWorld.