jgarty38

Can anyone say anything positive about any tuk-tuk anywhere in Thailand?

They are noisy, dirty (terrible pollution!) , rude, dangerous, dishonest and all around bad news.

I guess it may be part of Thailand's identity, but I feel they should make Tuk Tuks a thing of the the nostalgic past.

Yes, I can say something nice about tuk tuk drivers, at least the ones here in Aranyaprethet. I am always greated with a friendly smile when I pass walk past them sitting in their tuk tuk's. We have used them quite a few times in the past (before we got our car) never been ripped off, ok, had to bargain over the fare. It costs us around 200baht for a 22k trip, then they have to ride back to town. They would help load up the shopping and unload at home, always with a smile. I am sure that there must be some bad tuk tuk drivers here in Aran too, but there are good and bad all over, farangs too, yes?

I know the shop in Aran, yes it is hard to get a smile from the people there. I kept greeting them with a smile each time I enterd the store and of the 3 men working there, 1 of them smiles back. We would be sorry if the store was not there though would we not?

Tesco in Aran? I sure hope so, and soon please. Its a 7ok trip to Makro and Big C now, I will welcome Tescos, is it true or just someones dream?

HI, you guys are talking about the office near the border. There is an immigration office in Aranyaprethet town. Its very near the police station, walking distance from the clock tower. I have used it a fair bit, mostly for my 90 day reporting. I have always been treated well and fairly, the office is very rarely busy, saying that if all you chaps start using it.....The one on the border is a faste of time, try the one in town.

anyone have any hotel reccos for the border town of Aranyaprethet (opposite Poipet, Cambodia)? I will not be crossing over into Cambo but staying on the Thai side. Any small clean bungalow or resort will do (a pool would be nice and it gets ###### hot and dusty over there).

Thanks

Hi, there are a few hotels in the town, the best , with swimming pool is the South East Aasia hotel. Its a short tuk-tuk ride from the bus station and its less than 1000 baht a night. I recomend it.

I am a near 70 year old uk pensioner, lived here for a couple of years and yes, the pension is frozen. Not my privet one though. What happens after I kick the bucket I dont know, would love to find out. My privet pension will pay my wife 50% on my death.

[VE LOOKED ON THE MAP AND CANT LOCATE ALTHOUGH I CAN PURSUE IN LOCAL LIBRARY IN MORE DETAIL

I CAN GET THE THAI CONSUL TO HELP

YOU ARE MY FIRST HOPE

CAN YOU RELATE THIS INFO TO PLACES IN THE LOCALE?

ONCE I GET IT RIGHT IN ENGLISH I CAN GET IT TRANSLATED

THEN IVE GOT A CHANCE

CAN YOU HELP?

JIM

Hi Jim, I think you are from Liverpool, right? I am from Wallasey across the river from you.

I wonder if you are still involved with the lady from Khok Sung? The reason I wonder is that I and my (thai) wife live nearby. We have been here nearly a year now since our move from Chaing Mai. I am retired and my money helps to pay for the expenses of running the rice farm.

If your still "in the area" it would be good to get together with another Merseysider( I am a red by the way)

Good luck to you anyway

I intend to get myself a decent inexpensive car soon. My wife and I like the look of the Hyundai elentra but I cant help wondering why they are so low in price. Is it a spare parts problem? or is the car unreliable?

Ant hyundai owners please enlighten me.

My wife is a very happy woman now. Most people in the village talk and smile at her, many call at our home to talk. She is popular now.

Her father though is still a lover of his Thai whiskey(as are many men in the village) every day if he can. This is a fact, not Thai bashing. He shows his care and love is for the one daughter working in Bangkok, the lighter skinned daughter. He has not been told that she has a Thai boy friend and a baby, she has visited him only once in a year.

My wife, the dark skinned one, takes care of all his needs and is always there for him, but gets no thanks for it.

Let me add that as an old get I remember the days in England when if you had a pair of shoes to go to school in you where well off. I also recomend the book A ragged trouserd philanthrapist.+ Excuse my spelling

My wifes story of her life as a child and then as a woman has come out over the two years of our marriage. It paints a nasty picture of life in a Thai village and came as something of a shock to me.

As a girl my wife was very shy, this because the people she knew would always tell her she was ugly, she was darker skined than her siblings who being lighter where seen as beautiful. As an eight year old she had to run errands and do what little jobs she could just so she was able to buy a pencil or an exersise book for school. Her family would not help her buy things like this.

At the age of twelve she left school to earn a living for herself, again, no one in the family wanted to help her. She first found work in a Bangkok book store, then later in a factory. At times she would travel back to the village to see her family but was never welcomed by them, well not until the time she went back with some hard eared money.

Yes, that was different, sudenly the family where so friendly, she had friends too, now people who never spoke to her before would stop and ask where she was going. She tells me this is not unusual, if you have money you have friends, if poor you dont. Ok, it can be like that elswhere I know, but it seems the Thai women can be so bitchy to each other.

I wonder if anyone else has come across similar attitudes?

I married my Thai wifer in Sept 05. I am in the processe of changing from a tourist visa to an O visa, married to Thai national.

Last week, armed with aplication form(can be downloaded), proof of marrage, and of earnings, with a letter from the British Embassy to vouch for that, wifes I D and house registration, in her name, photographs of us in and outside the house, birth certificate of son and wedding pictures. Alas the wedding pics where nearly a stumbling block, they wanted the pics of the wedding reception, we did not have a reception as we moved up to Chaing Mai the day after wedding. They also asked for proof of my legal right to get married. I had my copy of my degree of divorce but they wanted a letter or copy of one from the British Embassy. In the end they where ok over the lack of the letter.

I only had 2 days remaining on my visa so was told to get a 7 day extension. Then was told to come back to the Imigration in Bangkok in 1 week. Thats when I will find out if I get my change of visa. One Imagration lady who was very helpful, cute too, told me on my asking, that it would be approved.

A bit long but I hope it helps.

I am quite sure you will need your spouse with you. Have no experience under the new rules but that was always requirement number one before.

You will need 4x6cm photo for the TM.7 application. You really should have the wife call immigration and get a current list as web site has not been updated and if you have to change a tourist visa you will be subject to two sets of rules.

Yes, I will be changing from a tourist visa, how will that affect me? That was a good point Loburi, to phone the immagration, could you let me have either their number or their web site?

Many thanks for advice.

have lived, and been wed to my Thai wife for 16months now. Am going to Bangkok on Jan 5th to get(I hope) a 12 month visa. I know I need to show min of 40,000baht a month, also wedding cert and house registration in wifes name. Birth cert of (wifes) son, and photos on wife and I in and around house. Do I need anything else? I would hate to go to Bangkok and find I have forgotten something. Oh yes, my passport and wifes ID.

Thanks for any advice.

I must say that throwing coconuts at cats makes a change from throwing balls at the coconuts in the fairground, there must be some good shots killing all those cats.

hi guys, being an Englishman myself I know the importance of a good cupa, I have found that the Tesco ones give a decent cup, its what I use anyway, those yellow lipton ones are so poor, not worth bothering with.

just 10 mins of light rain here today in Sa Kaeo district, could do with some more.

we moved from Chiang Mai to near Aranyapethet last September. After trying a few firms we ended up getting a normal(5ton??) truck to move us, cost 13.000baht. we had expected a bigger vehical but what you expect and what you get are two different things in LOS.

It was a nightmere of a journey, 20 hours in total with our dog tied to the tail gate, poor mut. I know that plenty of big trucks can be hired at a cheap rate, I did it in the Pattaya area too. Just remember you get what you pay for.

A lot depends on the part of the country you live, in Chain Mai area they can get 2 crops a year, in the Sa Gaeo area only 1. This is all down to rainfall. The north gets good relyable rain. If they get a lot of rain the rice farmer is happy, with good luck and hard work he should get a decent crop. So its not easy to say how much rice a field would yeald, if the farmer does a good job of sowing the seed and planting the shoots, then feeding the growing rice he will get a very good crop.

I recently helped the local farmers to thresh the rice, it all goes into big bags of about 80kilos a time. they paid only 600baht a bag. many farms gave only up to 50 bags, 30000baht, that has to last a year, less some kept back for food and seed for the next years crop. The Thai farmer is a poor man, I wanted to find another crop that would grow in a semi arid ground so they could have another crop to grow during the 6 to 7 months that the ground is doing nothing, I failed in that.

The Thai rice farmer in this district is now faced with a long lay-off period of 6 to 7 months before the next rice crop is sown. Lack of rain water the cause.

Not being a farmer myself, a towny from Merseyside, I need advice, is there any kind of crop a man could grow in a dry enviornmant that could earn him a decent return? Idealy one crop from December to about June or July, then the rice crop from July or August to November.

Any ideas guys?

Greetings! I am new in town.

I cant get membership at the Amari. Can anyone reccomend a similarly nice pool with drinks, trees etc in CM which I could join?

Many thanks,

Steve

I had the same problem last september looking for any swimming pool we could use. My wife and I now go to a couple of "village" pools where for a charge of 40b you can swim all day. These are large clean pool, the one in Wangtan has a resturant alongside a second(alas name unknown) has a sauna for only 30b. I live in a sall place called Pi-gun-thong, near Wangtan on the Hang Dong road.

I love a regular sesion in a suana so can anyone tell me where to find such in Chiang Mai?

Hi guys, I am heading into Chiang mai in 3 weeks time9September0 and one need will be a car for transport, cant afford a new one so can anyone help on where to look for a decent 2nd hand motor?

Pepi, with the police in Thailand money talks, if there is something in it for them you would get some action.

I must say that I think the police in the UK are no longer the guardians of justice they once where. They are now a seperate society to the British public. How many cops in the uk shoot someone nowdays and seem to get away with it?