botti

33 minutes ago, mickey rat said:

Absolutely nothing.

 

And as long as these human cockroaches remain in power nothing will change. 

Exactly, spot on ! But what are Thai people doing about this ? Only farangs need to bring these issues to the light ?

Lost battle !

When will they introduce the GPS Electronic Bracelet ? Or a chip under the skin ?

Wonder if Chiang Mai immigration will take note as they charge 500 Baht for a residency certificate unless you are willing to wait a month for it?

Bloody Hell Tywais, 500 baht for that is not to bad, are you that poor.

It's not a question of being rich or being poor, it's a question of paying the right price. And 500 Baths for a residence certificate (if you ever had one in your hands) is quite expensive (equivalent to about 2 days working salary for many thai workers).

Moreover, since normally this residence certificate is supposedly FREE OF CHARGE, the immigration officers have unilaterally decided, since few days - in the place I live - NOT to issue them anymore. That's the perverse side of the story.

If this is correct, the complainers have got a result...

You will now have to pay 2,400 baht (inc 100 baht for EMS) for a residence certificate from the British Embassy in Bangkok (Chiang Mai Consulate no longer issue them) if you can do it by post.

If not, you will have to travel to Bangkok, pay your 2,300 Baht at the British Embassy, stay over one nigh, collect the following day and travel back to Chiang Mai.

Great result...

Great mentality, Compliments for your support to corruption. You're really helping the government who's trying to stop such practices... Very clever !

And talk for yourself because NOT all embassies are releasing residence certificates to their nationals. And I don't know why embassies should do the work of the authority that delivers residence visas.... Very clever again.

Wonder if Chiang Mai immigration will take note as they charge 500 Baht for a residency certificate unless you are willing to wait a month for it?

Bloody Hell Tywais, 500 baht for that is not to bad, are you that poor.

It's not a question of being rich or being poor, it's a question of paying the right price. And 500 Baths for a residence certificate (if you ever had one in your hands) is quite expensive (equivalent to about 2 days working salary for many thai workers).

Moreover, since normally this residence certificate is supposedly FREE OF CHARGE, the immigration officers have unilaterally decided, since few days - in the place I live - NOT to issue them anymore. That's the perverse side of the story.

There is a difference between expats who live here & foreign tourists who are visiting for a few weeks. Expats should get a discount if they show a Thai licence.

I have traveled Thailand. Some National parks i would have no problem paying 400 baht. But some parks have nothing to look at & no facilities, which i paid 200 baht to park my car, walk around for 5 minutes to look at nothing & then leave thinking that was a waste of 200 baht. Making it 400 baht for all parks would mean the minor parks will get no foreigners visiting. They will be told at the gate 400 baht, then do a U turn & drive away. Looks like i'll have to be more selective when going to parks.

Sorry but not true. I've tried many times to show my driving licence but never could convince the people to have a decent price. If you are farang, then you're a farang....

It happened to me last year in Koh Lanta and I decided to u-turn. I tried to dissuade few european tourist to do the same but they did not really understand why I was refusing to enter the park. That means western tourist are still going to accept that unacceptable rule. And for those who have a "real" resident visa, it might be possible to pay the thai price, but for most of us, with retirement visa, we will continue to have to pay the foreign price if we want to visit monuments and parks all over the country.

Just to say that in my country, tourists are provided with special cards that allow them to pay less than local people. I think we should apply a sort of reciprocity for those countries that are making indecent profits with foreign tourists.

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Time to close the borders!!

Who has entered already can stay if integrating!! If not, a one-way ticket to Mecca!!

This is the whole point, islam is a way of life not a religion, they don't want to integrate, it's their way or the highway.
According to history muslims have tried to conquer the world twice before, 7th century and 11th century but have failed both times. For me personally Allah, is exactly the same as Hitler, they both had the same goal, to rule the world, only time will tell if his wishes come true.

Please don't mix up everything : Islam is a religion and 99.9 % of muslims are rejecting these barbaric terrorists. By posting such absurdities you are contributing to worsening the issue. And since we are talking about extremists, keep in mind that christians, and other religions, have also their followers. Open your eyes.

Last time we heard about cleaning the immigration status of illegal workers, it was about the Cambodian nationals => they went back home but Thais realized they badly needed them => Cambodians came back.

Same story here? No => Thais DON'T NEED English teachers from abroad because millions Thais speak a perfect English and can teach to the children.

You really must be joking when you say that Thais are speaking a perfect english. In Bangkok and other main towns there are some people who have some good ideas about the language, especially in the upper classes of the society. But you can go to many provinces where the level is very low, if not inexistant. In my wife's village I had the pleasure to meet with the "english teacher" and I was unable to have any conversation with him since he had no idea about english. And this is the sort of people who are supposed to diffuse the language among the young generations.

Moreover, in 2006, some english teachers (foreigners) were hired by the Ministry of Education in order to conduct an assessment aimed at evaluating the quality of english teaching in the whole country. The final report issued fully confirmed what I said above : a disaster.

I'm not saying that unqualified foreign teachers is the solution to reversing the tendency but they at least contribute(d) to improving the understanding of a second language in this country. 

I think the junta must authorise TVs to broadcast again very soon so that we don't have to read most of the stupid posts in here. Back to footie, better.

Just tell the general you are in Chiangmai and it would be impossible to drive to BKK whilst there is a curfew b/w 10 and 5.

No worries footix ! If necessary they will open an office in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai or Mae Hong Son or Nan or or or.....

So when is the General going to pay the rice farmers?

He should - as an exception - ask the previous government to fulfil their - never kept - promises

That happened without any warning, amazing Thailand....

A coup with warning. Have you seen that before ???

Well lets see now. There are varying reports on this incident ranging from "a bomb was thrown" to " a firework was set off". Irrespective as to what it actually was, and assuming that there is an element of truth in all reports then it should not be too long before the facts are made known given that as the opposition leader he was entitled to security personnel ( and I assume still entitled during this caretaker government phase) and of course addtionally his house has extensive CCTV.

Now we know that CCTV often is discovered "not to be working" during many police investigations but does anyone seriously believe that given the current political state he and his personal security advisors would not have ensured that it was working ? Not forgetting of course what were the security guards doing at the time of the incident ?

Therefore we should soon find out what caused the explosion and how it was deployed and from whom - of course unless it is just propaganda with the aim of either discrediting some other parties or attempting to "add fuel to the fire" no pun intended.

You certainly had some digestion problems last night. Let's have an herbal tea and go back to bed

I mean, what exactly happened? A power generator overheating or exploding???

Or someone knocked over a pot of oil on a gas stove?

Please read the comment posted by gr8fldanielle who might not be far from the reality.....

Nice.... For a botte of red wine costing 500 baths We will now pay 620... 140 % increase !

Do they realise that this is a commercial suicide ?

I've heard only good things about PCX.

But would also want to mention that there is practically NO maintenance

on scooters whatsoever, regardless how old they are.

Umm, with 1 freakin exception !! the tires !!

un-gawdly piss-poor quality or whatever the reason,

but the tires just keep getting flat from time to time,

and it is lethal if it happen on front tyre at any form of speed.

This does not happen on a big bike, the walls are so thick

you wouldn't know if you are empty air

I put Gloop in the tires. I`ve never seen it for sale here but I brought some back from England last time I was there (cheapest is found on Amazon). Tyres never lose pressure and it`ll seal small punctures.

Use hydrogen and the problem is solved

I have unfortunately read quite some unrealistic comments on this subject. I’m happily living in Thailand since few years and lucky to have an honest wife who’s working hard to keep our assets in good shape. I’m also lucky to have a more than correct revenue/pension allowing me to possibly cope with unexpected problems.

I would like therefore raise to your attention some issues related to your project as follow:

1. Due to globalisation, the cost of living in Thailand is in the increase and this is just a beginning. All expats living in Thailand since years have noticed that. Moreover, if you take into account the difficulties that are facing (and will increasingly face) occidental economies with a continuous devaluation of our moneys vis a vis asian growing countries, it is not difficult to predict that we will need to bring more in order to keep our standards of living in this country.
   

1. As mentioned in few posts, when calculating your budget, you must take into account more factors than just food, car, accommodation, beers and... girls. Many foreigners coming to Thailand are blindly omitting important issues such as medical care, insurances, house repairs and, of course as mentioned above, the growing cost of even basic products in this country.
   If you would need, as an example, 80’000 Baths to cover your monthly needs, you have to plan at least 50% more for the years to come to be on the safe side.
   

1. Your wife is planning to start with a business ? Fine !
   You are the only one here in a position to gauge her capacity to really build a durable and profitable business that will ensure to BOTH of you a decent revenue. You should however know that many of this sort of «businesses» in Thailand are ending with a big failure leaving people in deep trouble. All Thai women are dreaming to make business, only few succeed.
   

1. Please register ALL your assets in YOUR name. Yes, it is possible even if a little more complicated. If you would buy land, please make a contract with you wife protecting your personal interests. You have to get advices from one (or few) good lawyers who are used to work with farangs in Thailand.
   
   
2. I just would like to underline that the budget you’ve designed is far too limited, believe me. And don’t believe to people saying they have a comfortable life in Thailand with 20’000 Bath per month, or those who spend less than 2’000 for electricity with a 500 sqm house, it is only possible if you use candles.
   With that you just have enough to dig your grave.
   

These are the basic rules for a happy stay in this country

Good luck mate

2 pages already and no further info from OP. Most of the advice here is realistic.

My 2 baht:

No, you can't do it on what you have, or think you will have.

Budget at least 90k per month for the 2 of you. Forget about setting something up for the wife.

Are you going to provide the cash for setting up?

You would not believe how fast the money goes.

Its not just rent, car, motosai, food, clothes, utilities.

Its insurance, furniture, repairs, you name it.

Some more information on what you and your wife are planning would be good.

Why Hua Hin, for example? How old is your wife and what background does she have (education, work experience etc.)?

What background do you have?

this is the most common sense reaction in this forum so far....

Don't even start to plan coming to Thailand before having more to live (survive) here. And don't believe the guy who's spending so little electricity with a 500 sm house. Ridiculous

I forgot

Yes, AIS, in its office at the Mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, is displaying a number of maps showing the 3G coverage in the area. Why a company should not be able to tell you where it "sells" 3G ?

Hi again !

Well looking at the recent posts I see that I'm not the only one to be a little worry about this issue. I'd just like to bring some little complement of information

Yes it is true that 3G/4G is replacing CDMA in many contexts. In Europe they only use 3/4G and it works well. As far as I understand there are no drivers for CDMA in 64 bits. Maybe I'm wrong. And finally the idea of restarting my computer in 32 bits is a good idea. I never thought it was possible. With Snow Leopard I knew I could start my computer in pressing the "6" and "4" keys... but never thought it could work the other way around.... But, has anyone tried to to run Lion in 32 bits ? It looks quite strange and, frankly, why should I use an OS with all applications programmed to work in 64 bits ? And now I have return to Snow Leopard because of CAT. I'm just waiting the time I will be able to go back to Lion

Still, I really do not understand why powerful providers like CAT have not even tried to anticipate this issue. Amazing.

Actually Mac OS X since tiger or snow was always 64 bit, but they had 32 bit support for backwards compability. It seems they have removed 32 bit engine to force 64 bit for the future. If your 3G Usb device is supported by 3G supported wireless routers, you can try them. It is also possible to convert an old pc into wireless router with your current device.

What you say is very correct, but I should underline that at CAT office we tried all their devices unsuccessfully. Anyway the real problem is that they have no updated drivers available.... and - not to be too critical - today no-one wants to invest anymore in CDMA, except in the US....

Since the village I live in is just at the limit of AIS 3G coverage, I will make a try with their device, but I believe that the race on 3G is now on and I may wait a little before choosing my new provider. In the meantime I'm very sadly forced to keep Snow Leopard and use CAT as a provider.

Again, I'm fully convinced - and few posts in this forum are confirming it - that CAT is not far from loosing the market. Moreover they lack competent staff able to provide REAL support.

I'm probably a "special customer" since I'm a Mac user, but I faced serious problems over the past weeks.

Apple recently came out with its new operating system (10.7 - Lion) and I made the migration a week after it came out. Very bad decision because Lion runs in 64 bits. So, after the migration I tried to connect with my famous CAT modem (CDU-680) that I paid 10'000 baths 3 years ago.... but impossible to connect. I re-installed the driver unsuccessfully. I decided to visit CAT in Korat, and had really to insist to see a "technician" who after few phone calls to Bangkok told me that CDMA technology was NOT supporting 64 bits. When asking what to do to one of the CAT people in Bangkok, he told me there was no solution and that "I should better look for another provider....". I was even told that CAT was not going to make any effort for MAC users who represent an insignificant part of their customers... (they are very clever in CAT). Furthermore, I understood that FRANKLIN the US based company who provides the modems to CAT was not planning to issue a new driver supporting 64 bits for CAT.

In other words, I had to re-install my old operating system in order to connect again to internet.

This means that CAT is NOT upgrading its materials and that's looks quite gloomy. For this reason I would personally NOT recommend anyone to engage with CAT now as you may buy an equipment that is going to be operational for very little time.

For those who are lucky to be in AIS or TRUE 3G range you should definitely choose this solution that represents a better future than CDMA and CAT

Sorry ,I am not a tech. person, cannot understand it all. But I have Novatel Wireless Ovation MC760Which says Macs can use it.It adds OvationMC760 driver installer for Mac makes configurationQuick and Easy.Does that make any sense to you?

Well the answer is : NO.

My MAC worked well with CDMA/CAT technology until the MAC operating system changed. And since CAT/FRANKLIN have decided not to upgrade the driver (or the technology) it seems to me they are not looking at the future. And I would underline again that CAT itself advised me to "look for another provider". That says all.

I'm probably a "special customer" since I'm a Mac user, but I faced serious problems over the past weeks.

Apple recently came out with its new operating system (10.7 - Lion) and I made the migration a week after it came out. Very bad decision because Lion runs in 64 bits. So, after the migration I tried to connect with my famous CAT modem (CDU-680) that I paid 10'000 baths 3 years ago.... but impossible to connect. I re-installed the driver unsuccessfully. I decided to visit CAT in Korat, and had really to insist to see a "technician" who after few phone calls to Bangkok told me that CDMA technology was NOT supporting 64 bits. When asking what to do to one of the CAT people in Bangkok, he told me there was no solution and that "I should better look for another provider....". I was even told that CAT was not going to make any effort for MAC users who represent an insignificant part of their customers... (they are very clever in CAT). Furthermore, I understood that FRANKLIN the US based company who provides the modems to CAT was not planning to issue a new driver supporting 64 bits for CAT.

In other words, I had to re-install my old operating system in order to connect again to internet.

This means that CAT is NOT upgrading its materials and that's looks quite gloomy. For this reason I would personally NOT recommend anyone to engage with CAT now as you may buy an equipment that is going to be operational for very little time.

For those who are lucky to be in AIS or TRUE 3G range you should definitely choose this solution that represents a better future than CDMA and CAT

Look up www.koratfarang.com. If you can't find all your answers on there then give up.

wow... is that so serious ? is Bangkok too close ?