QED

thanks guys, i will google them. just would like to know which concourse does thai air use to board the planes, if you know

Varies randomly. As the 'host' airline you would think they would have a dedicated area, but as they are too cheap to pay the airside fees they normally end up at the end of a 15 minute bus journey in the middle of nowhere (which then of course takes an additional 15 minutes taxiing so they never leave on time).

Unfortunately my company have a deal with them so I have no choice, if I did they would be very near the bottom of my list.

Louis Tavern and CIP are one in the same, as far as I am aware these are the only lounges you can pay to enter. There are 3 or 4 of of them on variousconcourses. Don't expect too much, they have beer, very limited food, no toilets, showers or smoking areas. I used to use them before I attained ROP Gold, they are better than sitting on the concourses though I guess. I had an annual pass through my work and just used to take a few beers down to the smoking room, then go back and restock...

I had my first look at the actual phone and have to say that it IS a big phone, too big to put in a front pocket. My friend carries it in one of those little bags that goes around his waist. I think they call it a fanny pack. He likes the phone but readily admits that it is not nearly as handy as a pocket sized four inch screen phone.

I bought one a few weeks ago and always carry it in my front pocket. I was scared of the size at first, but it is not as bad as I expected, and I am just used to it now. Brilliant phone, I cannot think of one negative point about it, really pleased I was able to get past the size issue and just took the plunge.

If she can legally hire you then you do not need a degree. That is only for teaching jobs or if you are hired as an Engineers lets say.

When I was hired for a Thai Oil company they asked for my degree when they applied for my WP but am not really sure if it was necessary or not.

Keep in mind there is a list of jobs that expats can do in Thailand and if you do not fall into one of those categories then she cannot hire you.

You can get that list by searching here in this site.

Sorry but you are wrong you need a degree if someone is to employ you or you are doing a job that a Thai person cannot do and his wifes company must be valued at 2 million baht if she is to offer a workpermit, This is fact as we spent 5 months trying to get a WP for a relation of mine and always the problem was the lack of education, We had no choice but to forget getting the work permit.

Sorry but you are wrong. I have 2 expats working for me who do not have degrees.

For certain occupations it would be expected, but only a requirement for teachers.

I pay my gardener a 1000 baht a visit, and she's only here for 90 minutes. But, then there's not much do do on a balcony garden, so she takes care of other chores.

Haha, good to see you back Ian

OK, not my sub-forum and not my business what you guys discuss in here. Trouble is I hit 'view new posts' and this keeps popping up.

This is not in any way anti-gay, but, if I were to post something similar in general topics - such as "gays are stupid - here is a (dubious) link to prove it" I would be banned from TV in seconds.

However as a downtrodden minority group (in your eyes only), it is quite acceptable.

Sorry, but you are doing your 'cause' no favours whatsoever.

Are you on crack?

Haha, he is a bit random. In the crack probably rather than on it.....

I have to go to work in China for a month in a couple of weeks, never been before, I will sample the goods and report back late March :-)

why not call it the 7 nations cup as north ireland is under british rule do they not have there own team, i aint racist but why not have there own team as the uk has 3 teams when they can have 4, the teams, as i see should be rep of ireland the uk, france and italy,,and the uk should not split there team into 3 teams in the uk, but all it should is the gb or uk team alone playing 3 another team 4 nations my view, but who cares

It began as the 'Home Nations' back in the 19th century, with England, Ireland Scotland and Wales (Ireland was part of the UK then). France joined in 1910, Ireland became independent in 1921, and Italy only joined in 2000.

So as it started as a competition between UK nations, why do you know decide that the UK nations who originated it should now play as a single team? What should become of the Calcutta Cup? Triple Crown?

Or as I suspect, do you actually know nothing about it?

Some points: 1. At your age you are over 50 and therefore meet that requirement. 2. If your monthly INCOME is enough (over 65,000 Baht or about $2200 U.S. dollars) you can qualify for a retirement visa/extension based on that without any need to show a balance in a Thai bank account. You may need to have this certified by your embessy here in Thailand, and your embessy may require you to show proof (i.e. financial or bank letter) to verify that before they will verify. But it's possible to do it that way. 3. Wnen you are retired you are not allowed to work in Thailand....but I don't think they would care about work outside of Thailand, because work outside of Thailand has no Thai tax obligation anyway as long as it is entirely performed outside of Thailand. 4. I would attempt to apply initially for a non O visa in Canada at a Thai consulate and use the reason for application as "to enter Thailand for the purpose of completing the required steps for retirement there"....or some such wording. What you want them to understand is that you are going to Thailand to retire, want to have a non O visa to make it easier to do that, and will apply for retirement at your local immigration there for retirement visa/extension. They may not agree with that, or they may give you a single entry 90 day non O visa...I don't think they will allow a non O multi-entry good for a year. If they will not give you a non o visa....then try for a tourist visa. You can convert a tourist visa into a non O in Thailand. A single entry tourist visa will give you 60 days on entry and can be extended in Thailand for another 30 days....so 90 days total. Use that 90 days to get all your paperwork together, and in the last 30 days go to the local immigration office with all the required paperwork and apply for your retirement visa/extension. 5. When you do get your retirement, you must do 90 reporting. The immigration will explain that. 6. When you are retired and on 90 day reporting, if you leave the country for any reason, you must have a exit/re-entry permit to keep your retirement visa current. That can be done at immigration.

Mostly good advice, however if the OP is leaving every 6 weeks he will not have to do 90 day reports until he retires properly in 12-18 months.

My understanding is the new requirement is a blood test for only syphilis rather than the previous appearance test just for stage three syphilis requirement.

You go to the hospital with a list of things to check. I tried Ladprao hospital first, and their blood tests could not do the drugs test, and they said they used to do Urine tests for drugs, but these were not accepted now for Work Permit medical so they sent me away. Went to the one on Suk Soi 40 then. The list is as printed above somewhere ; Booze Drugs Syph Elephantiasis Leprosy TB All done by blood test, and you get a certificate at the end having sat with a doctor for 5 minutes. Cost me 500 baht in total; 250 for the blood test and 250 for the certificate. On the certificate you can see the results for each of the tests. This is ALL for the work permit, and the list I had was attached to the application form for me to hand to the hospital.

I renewed my WP 3 months ago. I had the same list and handed it to the Dr at my local clinic. 2 mins later I was out the door with a certificate after paying 50 baht. This is in Rayong province.

My point is, it seems to vary from province to province how rigorous they are. Best bet for the OP is find someone with recent experience in the same area as him, and listen to them only.

As per my post earlier it is definitely not a work permit requirement.

You are quite wrong here, a health check is a new requirement since last year for work permit renewals (normal work permits, teachers do follow different rules altogether). One of the checkboxes on the test sheet, indicating for what is tested, is 'Drug Addiciton', besides Alcoholism, Syphilis, Elephantiasis, etc. My blood test was done within little more than half an hour, cost (I think) THb 300 or something in that ballpark in a government hospital. It was pretty much one of those in-out things like the eye test for the driving licence, and seemed more like something, where the hospitals have taken the old, usual THb 50-Test where your blood pressure was measured away form the street clinics to make it hteir own little money spinner. As such I would assume that it is a very unsophisticated test, and with Amphetamines the main worry of the government here, that the test will target them. If you have not come into contact with Marihuana very recently, I do not think that there is much reason to worry about it. In any case: if you are really worried, why not do something very simple: have a friend who also has to take the test -- and not in your particular circumstances -- simply ask the doctor, what drugs the test might screen for...!

It will vary from province to province I am sure. But ask yourself, did they do an alcoholism test? Or an insanity test? No? So why do you think they need to do a drugs test?

My annual WP medicals are still the 50 baht 'are you breathing?' type affair. But I do have an annual medical for my employer, which is completely separate, and includes drug screening. I have no issue with that and just accept it as part of living and working in LOS, but many employers who know it is not acceptable in most Western societies, try to disguise it as a WP requirement.

@ OP, I still think your employer is lying to you....

And if you did have any points, the nice police staff at the station will happily erase any points accrued on your license for a fee.

However when I got this offer, they failed to note I was collecting my British license.

Now there is a business idea, lol

Cheques are well used within the corporate world still here in Thailand. I suspect if you as an individual tried to make a purchase by cheque you would not have much joy.

In the UK the main difference between a cheque account and a savings account (cheques aside), is the ability to have a proper Visa/Mastercard debit card, but you can do that on your savings account here so I see no benefit really. You might get an overdraft on a cheque account also, if you are in to that kind of thing.

Dunno how a discussion about prices turned into a p1ssing contest about who knows more about global currency mechanisms.

But, if you can't beat 'em.....I get paid in THB and had a really cheap holiday in England a few months ago, using my simpleton method of 50 THB/1 GBP I found most things to be about the same price as here (excluding petrol and cigarettes), not so a few years ago.

Long may it continue....

From what I understand, the points system is only applicable in BKK, and then only if your license is confiscated and you have to go to the station to pay and get it back, ie. not roadside 'fines'.

I receivced a photo of me doing 136 in a 90 zone a few days ago (from nearly 2 months before). The letter was in Thai so I asked my secretary to read it thoroughly and see if there was any mention of points. Nope, just 400 baht fine. This one, if you don't pay they will not let you renew your tax disc....errr....square.

points not applicabel on automated fines as above, cause they dont bother/need to identify driver, as owner is responsible for fine

drunk driving caught and sentenced/fined, automaticly 6 months wait for renewal of DL. No points needed

Well that just depends on your negotiating skills

From what I understand, the points system is only applicable in BKK, and then only if your license is confiscated and you have to go to the station to pay and get it back, ie. not roadside 'fines'.

I receivced a photo of me doing 136 in a 90 zone a few days ago (from nearly 2 months before). The letter was in Thai so I asked my secretary to read it thoroughly and see if there was any mention of points. Nope, just 400 baht fine. This one, if you don't pay they will not let you renew your tax disc....errr....square.

You will get 90 days - did it many times on the last day when I was on the same visa.

Living within your means in a modern day and age earns points towards free flights, booking said free flights from the comfort of my office is also nice

Do you really believe that these "free flights" are for free? What company in their right mind would give anything away for free?

I cannot really answer that but what I can say is that I have a Thai Amex Card, I use it for shopping, hotels, petrol, travel and some restaurant meals, I pay it off every month so don't pay interest. I take advantage of all the bonus points offers, 5x points on my grocery shopping at weekends, and built up sufficient points for a Business Class return trip to Hong Kong for my girlfriend and I, I have sufficient points for another round trip, I have had the card for a little over three years.

Clearly the money to pay for these flights has to come from somewhere, but it doesn't come from me.

There are many arguments for and against credit cards, but properly managed they are very useful, debit cards have their uses but my experience is that whilst you can pay for anything with them you cannot usually use them as a deposit for a rental car or at a hotel. A mate of mine tried to use a debit card when renting a car in Florida, the guy wanted a credit card for the deposit, when my mate explained he didn't have one the car rental guy said something along the lines of "if your bank don't trust you with a credit card, why should I trust you with one of my cars"?

Exactly, it's only the cheap charlies who can't get a credit card who berate them so strongly. The lady doth protest too much meethinks....

So is it a work permit requirement? I am being told it is. I called one hospital and they said it was a new work permit requirement. Another one said it was not.

As far as the police urine tests done in discos, they target Class I drugs only, not cannabis. The unfair thing about this is I know many expat tecaher strung out on Xanax that they buy illegally at pharmacies.

As per my post earlier it is definitely not a work permit requirement.

Definately a work permit requirement here in Surat Thani Provnce and has been since early last year.

Wrong - the WP requirements are clearly stated on the labour department website. Can't seem to post a link but you may be clever enough to use Google?

I guess I can understand how someone can go for a BG when you factor in the weather, culture and all the other bits that go along with it, but there are so many other non BGs to chose from. I find it confusing.

Also, what about STDs? Now correct me if im wrong, but I'd read that 25% of all new hiv cases in england are from guys who have visited los and were thinkiong with the wrong head.

"I came here to build a relationship" with a bg?

Wow that is some statistic - hope you can back it up with a link?

Thought not, utter nonsense..

^{Well I finally did it and bought one - wow! is all I can say at the moment....}

^{Size not an issue so far, will see how I feel after a week or 2 - might have to look for a man bag}

^{Edit - corrected tiny font size.}

No problem as you will still have 6 months validity even when you leave. I travelled once a few years ago on a Uk passport with about 3 months to expiry, nobody was even slightly interested then.

Cash money has always worked for me. I've never understood why people use "plastic cards". You think it's for free, but it's not.

What a(nother) riculous comment. You have never had to book international flights, hotels, car rentals etc. etc. online? Do you stuff your 'cash money' up the telephone line?

Some of us need to travel a bit further than the local 7-11 and girly bar. My debit card is Visa, my credit card is Mastercard, and my Amex is, well, Amex. Not every card is accepted in every country, so if I have one they don't accept I pull out another one - understand? And yes they are free, they are all cleared every month.

@OP, I really wanted a Citi ROP card. It gives 1 mile per 20 baht spent, I worked out I could probably get 4 or 5,000 miles per month. As I am already a gold ROP member this would give me lots more upgrades. I have to report however that they have not once replied to either my calls or emails, so have decided Citi as a whole are not worth dealing with (here in Thailand). My UOB Platinum has always worked well, after 3 years I now have enough points for some hair straighteners or a toaster, lol.

OK, back on topic.....

I am sorely tempted to buy a Note tomorrow, but would like to hear from anyone who is using it as their main phone for a while. I am worried I will struggle with the sheer size of the thing - and it will be my main phone dragged around in my pocket 24/7.

My BB Torch bit the dust last week (drunken moisture ingress - long story). I was thinking about getting a tablet, and need a sat-nav, so the Note offers good value for me personally, if I can live with it as a day to day phone.

Actually, when you re-enter Thailand, they will staple into your passport a form with the exact date of your next reporting time (example: Feb. 6 return, report May 5). Easy.

Totally wrong - the date stamp will be the date of your visa expiry.

OP - you have had only one sensible answer so far - that was the first one