QED

Wow, doesn't sound like much of a holiday to me, but as long as you enjoyed it!

its not about holiday, its about getting to know their way of life and integrating myself into it, hopefully enriching all our lives as i do so, im no stranger to hard work, ive done it all my life, i have no delusions about ever becoming rich, all i want is a simple life within a family where i feel respected and loved and can live comfortably with a woman that i cherish

ps do you ever get used to thai music ????

Some of the more recent stuff I quite like, we have a few bars near me with good bands who play modern plus some classic rock stuff, some of which is good.

The old traditional stuff - no. Bit like fingernails on a blackboard.....

Under new regulations you will be required to do the 20 hour Thai Culture Course first as this is now required to obtain or re-new a work permit,

and when you do the Thai Culture Course you will also be told that all teachers must now obtain a teaching licence, to teach in Thailand

That is news to me. Do you have any link for that statement.

Me too, I have a renewal coming up soon and have not heard of this, please provide more info.

The Thai Language, Culture and Ethics Course is not a requirement when applying or renewing a work permit. Nor are the passing certificates of sitting the Professional Knowledge Tests conducted by The Teachers' Council of Thailand. What an applicant does need when applying for a work permit is a Teacher License or Provisional Teaching Permit or Exemption Letter from The Teachers' Council of Thailand. The same applies when applying for an extension of stay based on Reasons of Necessity 2.6 or 2.7 (Police Order 777/2551 and 305/2551). This all only applies to working in Basic Education Schools generally falling under the Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC).

Cool thanks! I am not a teacher, just renewing my WP, but the other poster had me worried.

Under new regulations you will be required to do the 20 hour Thai Culture Course first as this is now required to obtain or re-new a work permit,

and when you do the Thai Culture Course you will also be told that all teachers must now obtain a teaching licence, to teach in Thailand

That is news to me. Do you have any link for that statement.

Me too, I have a renewal coming up soon and have not heard of this, please provide more info.

Best short term deal I found in the UK was from Three.

Get a PAYG sim and put £15 pound credit on. Then choose their '£15 all you can eat data addon'.

For that you get 30 days of totally unlimited 3G internet use plus 300 minutes talk time and 3000 texts valid for those 30 days.

If you're there for a lot longer you can put another £15 credit on and repeat or if for just a few days they do a £5 data (or talk time) package as well. And no long term contracts to sign up for.

Don't 3 sims only work in 3 phones? or has that changed?

No I always use a 3 sim I'm my Thai bought Samsung Note. Great deal for 15 quid!

Off topic, but whore dust goes well with shrimps in our local restaurant, apparently. ....

Cannot upload the picture from phone, will try later

*face slap*

Off topic, but whore dust goes well with shrimps in our local restaurant, apparently. ....

Met my girlfriend in Oct 2012 As per topic query, what next? Maybe wait until you've established a relationship other than via long-distance on the telephone, of which she may (in theory) have several concurrently.

I've visited her 3 times, we intend to marry in October 2013. As it's so expensive to keep going out to Thailand and difficult to keep getting time off work, we decided if she can visit for a few months that will give us time to develop the relationship even further than it has, as well as help her decide if she wants to move to the UK. We talk on video twice a day, every day. We don't have and don't want one of those relationships where a Falang visits his Thai GF once a year and doesn't know what she does the rest of the time. And moving to Thailand for a few years isn't an option at the moment as I have a decent job here and am far from old enough to retire.

Wow. 3 times? Hahaha

I assume you met in a bar somewhere?

Closed. This is a public holiday. Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Only for the private sector, not for government.

And the topic is still open

Where do the water tank delivery guys get their water, do they suck it out directly from Mabrachan or the like or officially from the water department?

Jimmy

Down my way I see them sucking it from a muddy klong near my house

ask to check your bill. HD started out at 300 but i think dropped to 150 (with a loss of some channels notably Fox Sports HD which pissed me off as that shows F1). I want Fox Sports HD but i don't want to have to pay an extra 500 baht to get Platinum.

I still get all the HD channels. My bill shows 150b and 150b, which I am guessing is the breakdown of the HD services.

I get most of the HD channels free now, I am on gold and don't pay the extra

_{I am thinking of coming down for a few days over Sonkhran, can anybody telol me the best place to stay that is still a bit lively but not a 'Russian Ghetto'? Last time I stayed in Kae Bae but that was a few years ago and not very Russified then. Previously stayed in White Sands but understand that is getting like a mini Pattaya now? I don't want total seclusion with no bars/restaurants nearby.}

_{Also how about the ferries if I were to drive down on Friday or Saturday (12th/13th), will I be queueing for hours? What time is the last ferry from the mainland?}

_{Appreciate any advice.}

I call bs. I 'misplaced' my car after a few bevvies in a strange town. Next day I spent an hour on the back of a motocy taxi looking for it, then went to the local cop shop and offered a bottle of Johnnie Black to the first BiB to find it. Motorbikes and cars scattered in all directions, 30 mins later it was found in some deserted alley.

I thought for a few moments about reporting it stolen , but then realised I would be caught out same as the op.

Total cost for finding it, just over 1, 000 for the whiskey I think.

^{^ Hi SVB, Thai Airways. I have lots of documents, and no other choice really. I will update on here tomorrow.}

Good luck. Overwhelm them with paper. 'BBB'

Hope you get there!

Just a note for all, I didn't have a copy of the Myanmar company's Business Registration. As it was a public holiday over there I couldn't get one sent over, so Thai Airways refused to let me fly.

Just a heads up, it was a royal pain in the a#s

^{^ Hi SVB, Thai Airways. I have lots of documents, and no other choice really. I will update on here tomorrow.}

As I understand one must prearrange visa on arrival through a travel agent in Myanmar. You can't just turn up at the airport in Yangon or Mandalay and the visa online service for purchasing visas is still not functioning. Perhaps SVB can tell us the current situation?

Dibbler is correct.

"Visa On Arrival" is the terminology used by both the government and major travel entities in Myanmar, but unfortunately it is a bit misleading.

For Tourist visas - it isn't a visa on arrival, it is a pre-arranged visa - usually done through a local travel agent or company. The visa will be approved and issued before you arrive to the country, and then placed in your passport when you arrive (in most cases)

For Business visas - it is a Visa On Arrival - HOWEVER the documentation for it needs to be prepared ahead of your arrival. The visa is then issued on the spot, at the counter downstairs (in Yangon airport) just before the immigration counters

Confused? You should be, and its not just travellers who are being caught out. The airlines are not quite up to date either, and if you are going to attempt to go to Myanmar without a visa already in your passport - be prepared with plenty of supporting evidence (official looking letters stating that you will received your visa on arrival) before the airline check in staff will consider letting you on the aircraft.

Having said all of this - it can be done. I arrived to Yangon last month, and was given a Business Visa On Arrival.

I had to convince the Air Asia counter staff at Don Mueang to let me check in - I showed them some letters saying I was getting a visa on arrival, and they still hesitated. When they asked me 'have you had a VOA before?' I told them I had (I hadn't) - but I was able to show them plenty of prior visas into Myanmar.

SUMMARY - Do NOT rely on "Visa On Arrival" until these problems, the procedures, and the terminology is ironed out - both from the Myanmar side, and the carriers side (airlines).

Please feel free to post further queries - I will answer them as best I can.

cheers

SVB

Hi, anyone have any update on this? I have to go for a meeting on Wednesday but the embassy is closed on Tues/Weds for public holidays (just found out). It will be a business visa and I have a letter of invitation.

Just to clarify for the OP, I have held a work permit and relevant extension of stay for over 4 years, I travel outside Thailand at least once a month and have never done a 90 day report. It is obviously tracked accurately as never been a problem or even mentioned on renewal.

Thanks Fletch, some useful info there. I do have 2 condos owned outright in my name, but I don't want to use them as collateral as that really defeats the object of the financing. I have never lived in those condos, and honestly do not think I could ever live in any condo, I need my space and a nice garden.

She has a few rai of land that could be thrown into the pot as additional security, if they have the systems to cope with that kind of thing (ie. someone with discretion rather than a form filler).

I will look into some more options and update here.

After 8 years of renting here, I would like to have a property without the landlord hassles and restrictions on what I can or cannot do to the property. I could never live in a condo, but would like to buy a house with some land. This gives 2 options as I see it, first to set up a company to buy the house, 2nd to buy in my gf's name.

I am not comfortable with the company route as it is not strictly legal, and I would be worried that they would come to take the house away at any time. My latest thought was to buy in my gf's name, put down the minimum deposit (for obvious reasons), and finance the rest. This would be the same as paying rent to me, but she would own the house and we could do what we wanted with it. I am well aware of the potential pitfalls of this route, hence the reson for the minimal deposit, which would be nothing I could not afford, nor would care walking away from.

We spoke to a few banks that said no problem in terms of my work and salary, but we had to be married to go this route, which kind of put the Kybosh on it. We do plan to get married, but neither of us wants to do it as and means to an end, and plan to do it in a few years time when I can get most of my family over here.

She does work, but her salary is nowhere near enough to justify the loan we would need. One idea that was floated was to put some cashflow through her bank account for 6 months and claim it as self employed income, but that sounds like BS to me as they would want to see tax returns etc.

Before all you naysayers chip in with 'run for the hills', 'she's ripping you off' etc. etc., these were my ideas, nobody is ripping me off, and if I do lose a bit of money in the long run it would be insignificant, and I would be happy for her to have it. I would also put a lease on the property just for added security, although I would never enforce it, it would make her think her options were more limited.

So now I am kind of stuck, any other (sensible) suggestions?

You will be buying at the higher of the 2 rates. I guess the spread would be around 44-46 THB to 1 pound now, so to buy a pound with THB will cost you 46 THB. If you were changing the other way they would give you 44 THB for 1 pound.

Just work out which is the worst rate for your circumstance - that's the one you will always get!

>Perhaps this question has been asked and answered already but if so I've missed it.

There is plenty of natural gas on the world market. Why can Thailand, or the power companies, not purchase it elsewhere to make up for the shortfall from Myanmar?

This a 24" pipeline direct from Myanmar, you would need an inordinate amount of tankers and storage to replace that for 9 days

Wrong. The PL from Yadana platform to the Burmese/Thai border is 36". From there to the Ratchburi powerplant the PL is 42".

Sorry you are right, I was confusing Yadana and Yetagun, which also has a shut down at exactly the same time...

I went for a Business Visa last month and will have to do again next month. I was told that I must attend personally, no exceptions, but I saw many agents in each queue with dozens of passports. Anyone know the lowdown on this? I could really do without wasting another day doing this.

You can certainly send someone else to pick up the completed passport for you - I have done this for others on a number of occasions (Business and Tourist visas).

I have also lodged Tourist visa applications for other people too without incident.

However while I haven't actually lodged a business visa application on someone else's behalf myself, I know of someone who has.

Lets wait for some more definitive replies from other members - but I will also follow this up myself directly with the embassy and get back to you as soon as I can one way or another.

Thanks. I saw agents both submitting in the morning and collecting in the afternoon, for business visas, but not sure what kind of 'special relationship' these guys have with the embassy....

I went for a Business Visa last month and will have to do again next month. I was told that I must attend personally, no exceptions, but I saw many agents in each queue with dozens of passports. Anyone know the lowdown on this? I could really do without wasting another day doing this.