matthew777

I think the number is now up to 548 with lockdown starting 10 PM Sunday

in Thailand "sweetened condensed milk product" is everywhere. It's exactly what it says a "milk product" made from palm oil and milk flavors. What I want is genuine sweetened condensed milk or genuine evaporated milk.  Does anyone know a source? 

I have a good friend who purchased a used Proton Savvy with their French designed fake automatic transmission. The engine is solid and I want to swap it our for a manual. In America I would go to the wrecking yard and just buy a transmission. Does anyone know where I can do that in Thailand? 

You just need to install a proper "P trap" and your smells will go away. 

A question about this.  What would prevent this person from just walking into the casino zone at Poipet and then getting a tourist visa for Cambodia. Then just entering Thailand via the land border legally? I guess the question is how good are the records to catch this type of action? 

Here is another link stating that you can work anywhere you want with your work permit:

https://duensingkippen.com/thailandbusinesslawblog/?p=270

On Monday I went to the immigration office in Sukothai to do the TM30 as my wife's family's home is in Sukothai. Immigration refused to  have anthing to do with it and said "you have  work permit you don't need."  I have the impression that the heat is off on this thing too. 

What you need to do is go to the embassy and solemnly swear while  holding up your right hand that the diploma is  true and then they will give you an  embassy letter affirming this. There is nothing on the the diploma. I have a diploma that is legalized and I have the same diploma authenticated with the state department. Thailand rejected this and said I had the do the embassy like everyone else. 

I taught there for 2 years and it's a solid school. They have issues that are common to most International schools in Thailand. The Korean students that do attend raise the bar substantially and this should not detour you in any way. 

My Thai wife and I also have two children. We fully plan on homeschooling our children much like yourself. I am a teacher here in Thailand and as a teacher I can tell you that you are making the right choice with your children. There are active home school communities in Thailand  that you can join that I hope would have made this process easier. I do know the largest home school communities tend to be in the Chiang Mai, Chaing Rai region. This is I believe is largely due to the large Christian communities there.  Having worked in Chiang Rai I can safely say that if a student came to our school, that was home schooled, they were heads and shoulders above everyone else. Your children wont be just ahead of their peers they will be years ahead of them. As you have discovered Thailand is about style over substance. Asia tends to be a culture of superficiality, where looking like you are learning is far more important than actually learning. You will have zero problems getting your children enrolled into college or other high schools with your choice. The international schools abroad are so poor that it's recommended that all graduating students get their GED in addition to their "international school" diploma. 

Regarding 50HZ vs 60HZ this should not be a concern. If you have normal AC motors, it just means that it will rotate slightly slower at 50HZ vs 60HZ.  Japan is half 50HZ and half 60HZ with no problems there.  The only product I have ever heard that HZ change is a problem is with older clocks that run off of house current. With most clocks now being run on batteries this is just not a problem anymore. 

A great source of tools is actually China. Most of the Stanley FatMax line of tools are manufactured here. Hilti makes most of  their rotary hammers here. SNAPON's "Blue point" tools are all made here and very cheap.  

If you want a car lift in your home garage they are shockingly cheap. 

China and Thailand have signed a free trade agreement and most power tools, and heavy tools are all duty free to import from China.  Lincoln Electric makes alot of its professional welders here in China as well as ESAB. I believe you need "COO" Country of Origin certificates to pull this off. 

I really need to find a competent importer who can facilitate this. 

The best way is to go get her in person. If you go through exit immigration together you should have zero problems. Avoid Clark, you will have better luck with Manila. 

The whole problem is the Philippine immigration officers and not Thailand entry. 

Its not just the women who are offloaded the men are offloaded as well if they suspect they are working here. 

The issue not not fear of being trafficked or sex issues. The whole thing revolves around only one thing, money.  Its a money making game. The Philippine government wants a cut. They have this whole overseas worker system in place and it of course costs alot of money to join, If they did not offload the workers then no one wold join in. Those on vacation or going on exotic trips with their  foreign BF's are not the ones they are after. They are after the Filipinos who are working abroad. They want the social security tax and all sorts of other fees and taxes. 

You would think that transcripts would be the gold standard here but they simply are not, You really need an actual diploma. 

You can get your diploma authenticated by the secretary of state in the state you live in. 

If you are already here you can fill out a notarized letter in the local embassy stating that everything is correct and they probably will accept that.

My best advice is to get your Diploma authenticated while in America. China now requires that as well as more and more countries. You only need to do it once. 

I have dated not one, but two different immigration officers. Both of them seemed to think it was a relatively trivial manner to be added to, or removed from, the blacklist. Now I admit this was prior to these rules being in place and things may have changed. But based on their attitudes I don't think it takes as high of level officer as you might assume. You could easily take a "no cure no pay" policy with the right attorney and deal with it risk free.  Your wife could handle this in country. If you can solve it this way you would be ok.  

My school has recently requested all the teachers to go out and explain to our land lords that they must comply with the foreigner reporting laws. (section 38 of the 1979 immigration act )  They have given us letters in both Thai and English,  and every day bug us if we are doing this.   I explained to my school that my responsibility is to do 90 day reporting, and I am not a Thai home owner.

I feel awkward telling Thai people about Thai laws and asking Thai's to comply. Is that my job?  Does Thailand really want falangs to come into their country and start enforcing Thai law?  This is crazy.  

I understand the need to comply if I am living with a spouse who is a home owner, I appreciate the information. But my home owner does not even speak English.  

I have this Krung Jai feeling that's its not really my place to do this. Whats next, asking Thai people if they have paid their income taxes. Should we as teachers set up special falang road blocks to make sure Thai people are wearing their seat belts?  

Am I out of line in my sentiment here? 

5-6 hours from the border to Dawei? Wow. I heard somewhere it should only take 2-3 hours. If that's the case, then how long does it take to get from Dawei to Moulmein? According to google maps, about 6h24m (although the road shown is not the most direct one) but perhaps that estimate is way off. I'm wondering if I should go to Hpa-an that way rather than my usual trip via Myawady and Kawkareik.

The reason it takes so long is that the road is under construction. When I came in they were replacing the boards on a bridge and that was a three hour delay. The road is a mess. They are paving it by hand, positioning each small rock piece by piece. In my entre life I have never seen such a slow labor intensive road building process before. It's 190 KM and you are traveling an average of 30km an hour.

Here is the link in google maps to the border crossing:

https://www.google.com/mapmaker?ll=13.896228,99.082972&spn=0.032244,0.03695&t=h&z=15&utm_source=mapseditbutton_normal&lyt=large_map_v3

I just came to and back from the closest Burma land crossing. They do not have "visa on arrival" so you will need to get your visa at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok. That itself is a colossal hassle. The line begins forming well before the 9 am open time, and at 11 they just lock the gate. Tough luck if you did not get in line early enough. The border crossing is very easy to find. It's 66 Km outside of Katchnaburi. The Thai immigration is set up with two modular containers and they are fully linked to the computer immigration system. I drove my motorcycle up there and as soon as I had my departure stamp they just let me through. You will drive for 2 kilometers or so in a kind of no mans land. You will pass an army outpost as well as a Myanmar police outpost. Neither of them will care one bit and just wave your through. You will then come to a military base and gas station of the KNLA (Karen Nation Liberation Army) They will be in full army fatigues and fully armed. They wont bother you at all and you can get gas if you like. A half kilometer or so past them in the Burmese immigration. They were helpful and nice actually. You can catch a van into Burma and that will cost you 1,000 THB. The 160KM trip will take 6-12 hours depending on the traffic and condition of the temporary bridges. You will pass many KNU and KNLA check points, and you again have nothing to fear from them. Very few foreigners are going through this check point at this time. You really need to have your own transportation to use this crossing. Don't be alarmed when the beautifully paved Thai road instantly turns into a pretty nasty dirt road. I was in Burma one week and stored my motorcycle in a KNLA military outpost 2 KM in from the Burma official crossing.

One thing I have to say is that everyone will bend over backwards to be helpful to you at this crossing. It's not really feasible unless you have your own transportation, but I recommend it if you can use a visa agency to get your visa for you hassle free.

During the floods we could ride the toll roads in and out of the flooded areas. It was a blast. Highly recommended.

I really do recommend the mag wheel. As soon as I moved from spoked to mag the number of flats immediately went from one or two a month to nothing. You also must adjust spoked wheels. If you don't they will fail, it has happened to me two times. I will never ever go back to spoked wheels.

Flats are very easy to repair on a tubeless tire as well.

I am hearing an increasing number of problems related to the Philippine airport emigration not permitting its citizens from leaving the Philippines. This apparently stems from several Pinays arrested in Japan for prostitution. In the past it has been a hassle, but now it seems no one is getting out without the third degree.

What is the formula now to have a friend, wife or GF come and visit you in Thailand. What have you done to ensure that they get past the airport gauntlet?

Have you heard similar reports?