tlcwaterfall

Yes, I know it's just the way it is, but when a person has a one year visa, this 90 day report stuff is simply rediculous and smacks of big boss Thai man lording it over those untrustworthy aliens. At best the policy is overbearing, and at worst it's xenophobic.

I don't know why you feel that way. In my home country, and probably in MOST countries, you have to report your address, and ANY change of address, on a regular basis.

There's lots of reasonable reasons for that, on of them being. If they had to get in touch with you in case of an emergency, how would they find you ? Or if you lost your passport, and it was turned in to the embassy, or the police.....how would they locate you ? Maybe you don't worry about that, but THEY do.

I don't find it too inconvenient, even though it's a fifteen minute drive to Immigration, but there's no charge, and they have treated me really nice on every visit. I've renewed my yearly visa three times now, and I don't even mind that. They're very polite, and accommodating, and it only cost 1900 baht, or about $60 American, just about what it cost me to fill my gas tank at home.

I admit, there are a few strange customs over here that are very different than I'm used to at "home", but the GOOD outweighs the BAD by so much that I just ignore the "bad" and enjoy the "good". And there's plenty of "GOOD" to enjoy.

Cheers, and I hope you stay here a long time, and enjoy every minute of it. ErnieK

And would you still be so happy to drive not 15 minutes but 3 hours, thats right 3 hours to do a 90 day report. And then 3 hours to get home possibly on the same day but the next day if they need to keep your documents overnight?

It has been reported that our local office in Kap Choeng is being closed as of October 1 and we now need to travel to Korat to do the 90 day reporting which to say the least is very inconvenient and costly. Very happy for you and others if your local office is close by but there are others around this beautiful country that are not so fortunate.

Our only hope is that eventually they accept 90 day reports by post which would be great. This change affects many farang in this area.

Previously we travelled to Chong chom which is 70 minutes by bus one way which was not so bad but this latest change is annoying but as previously noted necessary to keep a check on the inmates, sorry I mean foreigners.

Some years ago I decided never to visit the US.

Awful country with awful rules.

But I like the Yanks.

Absolutely agree..........

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this.

ph

Yes, thank you both for staying out of my country.

I, too, am a Yank. It is my country, too. The security is phony. They lie. They will always say "random check," even if you are on a list. The poster that observed that most terrorists are already legal is absolutely correct. Homeland Security, et al, use fear to get away with phony searches to catch drugs, laundered money, porn, etc. Searches for those things without probable cause are absolutely unconstitutional, so they use the pretext of "national security" to carry out these otherwise unlawful searches. ABSOLUTELY THE MOST UNPLEASANT PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN INSIDE THAILAND, BAR NONE, WAS THE U.S. EMBASSAY. I am not proud of this situation, but I am not stupid and blind either. I am not some "constitutional crank." I am a recovering lawyer and did a lot of work in the past on constitutuional issues. I am just sick to death of what has happened to my country. The most sickening part is probably all the dishonesty about it and the way the sheep just sop it up. Geez, I could go on and on, it's a sore spot, but enough. I hope to NEVER go through US Customs again.

Excuse my ignorance but what is a "recovering lawyer" What are you recovering from? lol

The pinned article is right on target...........it did seem to leave out the obvious xenophobia that is growing in Thailand. I was struck by this:

Thailand, instead of doing everything it can to attract foreign visitors and their money, instead is doing its best to discourage those who do come ever to return....The future in Thailand is bleak indeed. The country is plunging relentlessly and with increasing speed into an abyss, and the really sad thing is that, despite the effects of the recession, a large part of it is self-inflicted.

Thais see themselves and the center of the universe........and they refuse to listen to reason, especially when it comes from the terrible "outsiders." The education system is a disaster.........students do not know how to think rationally.

What I am most fearful about is what will happen when a large cohort of young graduates discover their dreams are just that..........dreams. My guess is that the social chaos we have witnessed recently is nothing compared to what will happen in the future if the status quo is maintained.

And those that rule (a tiny fraction of the population) continue to have no desire to share any of the economic pie with the masses. So, there is no reason to assume the status quo will not be maintained.

In the short term, the economy will likely rebound slightly.......only because the govt. has borrowed money from future generations to pay for large stimulus packages. But that will only be a short term solution.

In the long term, Thailand-Titanic will sick further into the depths.......xenophobia will increase.........and more social chaos/violence will result.

None of this had to happen......that is the sad part.

Funny..everytime theres a thread about the ills of Thailand that little wooden puppet shows up

By your reasoning i suppose the theory that Thais dont want us in their country is feasable:

After all Thais blame us for all the bad things that happen in thailand...decline in values,materialism ect

so why would they want us here? they'd be crazy to invite more trouble

As for the decline in the tourist trade..WELL..once again,its DEFINATELY all OUR fault..see,the thais have got it right again

If my being here is a pain in the butt for Thais i am happy to keep on being one..

At least it keeps me away from those pesky ....... taking over Sydney and Melbourne.

Pesky...... As....? Mu.....? Please tell us more!

Have sex with lots of 18-25 year old women I like to tell people that having lived in LOS a decade I have aged 10 years, but the women I have sex with haven't aged a day

Are you an old guy shagging these girls? That's gross.

Not his fault if they think him 'handsum man" He probably does not charge them too much for the privilege of shagging him anyway.

Just got a WD TV - works fine but costs 5500 BHT here at Hardware House International.

Good: Menus; Can use hacked firmware that adds lots of features, plays all formats including H.264 and mkv and has 1080p output.

Bad: HDMI port is loose (gonna warranty return this I think). No internal storage. No NAS (though the hacked firmware allow playing from NAS). Movie preview not working.

I just saw several new devices released in the USA, one Digital Cowboy one looks very nice. I have no idea how the WD TV compares to the popcorn thingy... I am sure there's tons of info on Google on that.

Would this help? I purchased this media player/recorder at Tukcom for 6000 Baht and then put a 1.5 tb harddrive into it. Total cost of 11000 Baht and it works very well. Expensive but in my opinion well worth the cost. Easy to transfer files from laptop and you can record tv if you want.

I have all my movies and tv shows on it as well as all of my music. You can put photos on it as well so it really is a great device. Very easy to set up too.

Purchased at MCS Thailand (third floor I think) in Pattaya and owners name is Max and he can speak good english.

Thanks a lot guys. Your posts were very helpful. I've just contacted Siam Commercial Bank and waiting for their reply.

Would be most helpful if you could post your findings about this topic. I am due to visit my home country soon and have a SCB debit card with a mastercard logo on it. Would like to know if I can use this card to access my SCB account when in Australia.

I think the retirement visa monthly minimum of 65,000 baht is about right. My SS income is just a bit more, and I can live fairly comfortably here but I wouldn't want to try it on much less. A lot depends if you are happy renting or want to buy a home. Renting a very nice apartment in Jomtien or BKK is not very expensive. But if you want to buy a home, you would need to have the cash available outside your monthly income to do so because saving up to buy the home would take a long time. Unfortunately I need to go the saving route but we have found a cheap almost-new farang built home to rent in rural WNY for only 2,500 baht/month plus air con so it will be possible for us to save to construct our new home in 2-3 years. Not too bad but much longer than I would like of course. But if we lived in the states we'd be living in a crap apartment somewhere so LOS really works for me. Life threw me a major fast-sinking curve ball a few years back and all my assets poofed . I never, ever thought that would happen. As somebody above said, thank God for a fixed pension, in my case U.S. Soc. Security. Now we just need to hope the O administration keeps the $USD from weakening much more.

"For "us" to save??"................. For "you" to save, right? This comment based on the assumption it is your income that is being 'saved'.

Some suggestions for you to consider, before giving up control of all those carefully accumulated savings into a home you will not own (which in effect would be a transfer of wealth from you to someone else). This statement would not apply if there was a joint-ownership status.

Upgrade to a comfortable rental home, and keep those savings in your control. In Thailand "money is power" and transferring it into acquisitions you do not own, you lose that power. In this culture, money is the only power Farangs have. They often have nothing else.

The only way I would buy/build a house I do not own, would be via a mortgage, where the mortgage is in the name of the owner of the house. No mortgage qualification - rental. I would pay all monthly mortgage payment costs of course. No problem there. It is just my preferred "pay as I go" model.

Retaining those savings in your name (if she cannot mortgage qualify), achieves three very important objectives - #1-You maintain financial power, #2- You encourage an ongoing good and faithful relationship and #3- You leave an inheritance for her - the proverbial carrot.

This is what I mean by back-end loading, as described in my other posting in this thread.

One needs to find a balance of risk-reward that protects the interests of the lady and the Farang. I find too many instances where their is a great financial imbalance in the lady's favor. That is not good.

Perhaps this doesn't apply to you, as maybe you are an ex-pat veteran. But could be food-for-thought for others.

Very very intelligent and thought provoking post. All of us would do well to read it carefully and apply these principles to ensure our continued wealth, health and happiness.

Thankyou.

Hi,

Does anyone know how I can access Ebooks and audio books through the internet? Two reasons for this as follows.

1 I am running out of reading material here and to get my book collection sent here from Australia would I feel be too expensive.

2 Books I can buy/borrow here are in small print and difficult for me to read.(I know I can get reading glasses if necessary)

What I would like is to be able to read/listen to books on the net(Download and keep) as with an E book I can increase print size on computer to read easily and with audio book I can just sit down, relax and listen.

Also Ebooks and audio books on computer take up room only on the harddrive and hey I don't have to dust them or worry about the dog chewing them up lol

Any advice would be most welcome. Thankyou.

What's the brand and model of your modem?

I don't know how Catcom works but I guess you have a modem that is plugged into a phone socket, and your computer is plugged into the modem. Does the modem have room for a second computer to be plugged into it? If so, you can switch off your computer but leave the modem on. This way, the other computer can get online even if your computer is off.

Otherwise, you get a router, plug it into the modem, then plug both computers into into the router. Leave the modem and router on all the time when either or both computers are used.

--

Maestro

I have a Catcom usb modem which plugs directly into my laptop usb port. No phone sockets here as we are 12 kms from town and no landlines available.

I have spoken to another bm(thaimite) who knows the modem I have very well and has offered me some very good advice to solve the problem. Advice from bm is as follows. I need to purchase either a wifi dongle or crossover ethernet cable for the p.c and then enable internet sharing on both p.c and laptop. To buy a usb router would cost between 10k and 12k and they are hard to obtain.

This will allow both of us to be on internet at the same time but when I go away I will need to leave the usb modem with son who will then plug usb modem directly to his p.c. This is not a problem as where I go I always have wifi at hotels.

Thankyou everyone who has kindly offered help and in particular to thaimite who has been most helpful in explaining everything to me in layman's term as I really know very little about computers.

So by the end of this week I will purchase hardware, either dongle or ethernet cable and problem should be solved. I will post again when everything is working well.

To do this you need to enable Internet sharing on your PC, and then your GF's son needs to connect his PC to your laptop using either wifi or with and Ethernet crossover cable.

If you need detailed step by step instruction please PM me.

Not sure if I was clear with my first post but we actually would like to do the following if possible.

1 Be on the net at the same time.

2 When I am not home would like son to able to access the net without me having to leave modem plugged in to my laptop and on net.

Which operating system are you using?

Windows vista on my laptop and Windows XP on p.c

Hi,

Need some help if possible. I have a usb modem through Catcom which I use with my laptop.

Girlfriend's son wants to share my internet connection on his P.C. Went to 2 computer shops today and no one seemed to be sure how to do this properly. Showed us routers and adapters, none of which seemed to be what was required and store staff were not sure how to help us.

I am not computer literate but did use a wireless router for my cable connection back home in Australia to send signal around the house. Initially had wireless but did not work that well so ended up getting it all hardwired. This worked very well.

Now of course I have a wireless usb modem so I am not sure how to share the internet signal with the P.C in son's bedroom.

Can anyone technologically smart people tell me in layman's terms if and how this can be done please.

So you have employed a maid with benefits...

Ass, gas or grass......nobody rides for free

Every man, everywhere in the world, pays for it.......one way or the other

....and with this post you have dispelled another myth...My friends have always told me, Canadians dont have a sense of humour...

They must have a sense of humour, guess who the country next to them is? If the actions of that government and their people dont make you laugh nothing will lol

BTW this post is in jest. I do not want to be hunted down and have my emails and phones tapped- again!

haven't people got better things to do on a sat night than to read this s**t

No because their Thai partners have spent all the baht and they have to stay home due to no more baht being available. You know it is true!

Oops it is Saturday night and I am reading this too. I will go away now and wonder what happened to all the money. lol

Oh <deleted> I am out of whisky, will have to wait until my teerak has a win at the new casino so I can drink again.

Got to go now as my ISP is due to cut me off as I have not paid my last two bills. Oh please Teerak please win tonight!

Well I first came to Pattaya more than twenty years ago and believe me it is infinitely better today.

I think the big problem for many farangs is that Thailand is no longer that cheap compared to their home countries.

You cannot come to Thailand anymore on an average western salary and live like a king that is a fact.

Thailand has a higher standard of living now and expectations and much greater for many Thais.

It is all for the better imho

Well maybe not like a king, but certainly a prince. Let's take an average american salary as 2000 US a month - that is probably way low.

That is about 70000 Baht a month. Even in Bangkok you can do well on that.

In Pattaya it would get you a one bedroom in View Talay easily. And you could party and eat western almost every day if you wanted.

Keep in mind that 20 years ago there may have been less choice of western goods as well.

Current average social security check is about US$1040 per month........hard to make it on that. Pattaya-Jomtien is a retirement place mostly. It used to be fairly easy to live off of a small pension........now it is not.

Many things were better in the past (80s and 90s):

cost of living was less in real terms,

crime was not an issue,

visas were not an issue,

xenophobia was nowhere to be found,

no traffic jams,

no parking problems,

less people pollution,

much less stressful environment,

nicer class of farangs

Jomtien Beach still had the beautiful shade trees

the real estate hounds were nowhere to be found

Everything just seemed more relaxed and easy and fun. Even the Thais seemed much nicer back then.

I think a lot of people will agree with what I just said.

Pattaya, like so many other resorts, had a Golden Period, not too much development but just enough to feel like you were still in the exotic East but with some Western facilities....that was the 80s-90s.

It was a fun time.........that period has gone and will likely never return.

And we do not want that "period" to return. Today's Pattaya has so much more to offer than before and is still relatively priced for the average falang.

Cheers lads.......................................a lot of nurses must read Thai Visa, cause 5 or 6 came in to see me while I was there. A couple of Doctors too. Anyway my results came back negative. Oh sorry, that was the brain scan. My test results for my run down condition will be here in a couple of weeks. Looks like I've got that long at least. Oh yas.............all those wanting Christmas dinner this year, can you pay by next week.

Martin, I have met you several times and you are a gentleman. I wish you a very speedy recovery from this terrible disease and I am sure I will see you again in the Farang connection.

I have only been in Surin for 5 months and have enjoyed your hospitality on many occassions (When the g/f lets me go out) and I truly believed from our conversations that you had beaten this condition. I have been in Pattaya since June 19 and did not know you were ill again.

Again my sincerest wishes for a speedy recovery.

Regards

Mark

I will be there. tlcwaterfall

Maybe the beach road freelancer was working off a potential 'ticket' for this wanke_r MIB or they were off-duty <deleted> buddies? Either way, live and learn. The key was you "losing you cool" which played right into his hands. It cost you 400 baht and the lost time. Don't even think about making a movie of this but thanks for the warning. It is really appreciated.

Losing his cool was the key to what???

He'd already been ticketed.

Agreed. He simply displayed a normal human emotion of not being happy when being treated unfairly.

If we all accept this type of behaviour and pay the fine and walk away it encourages the crooked authority figures to continue these criminal type actions.

"Don't even think about making a movie" Why the hel_l not? Do you agree with what happened to this guy? Why should he not try and expose this criminal practice?

Take the movie and send it to the relevant authorities and the press. Post it on Youtube and the Pattaya forums. I think we should all try to stamp out this corruption if we can. At least have a go and it will make these individuals think twice about doing these things in the future.

Sorry for the rant but I am sick and tired of falangs being "easy targets? I know we are but if we just lie down and accept everything it will get worse not better.

For a few days I had been aware of rumours that it might actually be safe to enter Central Pattaya.As the accuracy of these rumours has now been confirmed I can save some baht by cancelling my mother in law's daily shopping expedition.

Can now save up for that motor bicycle she keeps asking for.

You mean the one with no brakes but a really big and powerful engine! Just remember to incease her life insurance to the max. and ensure you are in her will. Only joking but as they say "up to you"

Great News. Hulu Desktop has been released.

http://www.hulu.com/labs

It really is a polished piece of software. Use it with Witopia and your good to go. If you login with your hulu account you can alter the Video Quality settings to suit your internet speed.

Great on a Mac Mini connected to a LCD. Works with Apple Remote and also Windows Media remote.

Just downloaded Hulu and it tells me I can only watch programs if I am in the United States! I of course am in Thailand so not much help to me I am afraid.

However it does point to the future of what is going to happen with our tv shows.

If anyone can give me some hints on how to access good quality movies and tv shows(other than downloads which take forever) this would be much appreciated. My internet connection here is slow.

I read that and went, there but for the grace of god....

A couple of years ago, I slipped in the bathroom (wet feet on tiled floor, and not being careful about it). Fell down hard, and my elbow landed on the metal foot of a plant holder. Shattered the elbow and broke my shoulder. But I'm happy that my elbow hit it, and not my head, or I'd be dead like this poor guy.

Sometimes an accident is just an accident.

Agreed "Sometimes an accident is just an accident"

But if you wish to remove someone from your life you would want to make it look like an accident! Thats why we all need to "take care" no matter how much we think we are "loved and needed"

Once you are dead it's too late. Be careful now!

I just do not understand why some people think that everything has to be cheap in Thailand. There are transportation costs and customs fees for anything imported and all kinds of taxes. Of course, some things will be more expensive that they were in the country they came from originally.

You have gone from saying "people that say Thailand isnt cheap is talking crap to THEN giving examples of why it IS more expensive, and ask "why do people think Thailand has to be a cheap place to live"!!!!

Make yer mind up which is which <deleted> lol !!!!

Right, here are some price examples of what i was eluding to earlier (and, btw, these are prices in "Rip Off Britain" i am quoting, and, to save any exchange rate arguments, the rate i will be using will be at the "halcyon days" rate of 70 TBH to GBP).....ready???:

I just packed 2 pair of denim jeans that i bought for the equivalent price of about 200 baht each pair. These were of the same quality and workmanship as those you see in markets and stalls around the town, and probably made in the same factory/sweatshops in the Far East as well and are sold, starting from..........maybe, lets say 450 if you haggle the price down. While i got those, i also got 3 polo type shirts at 3 for 700 Baht. Again, these were of compatible quality as those you see around Pattaya for MUCH more. OK they havent got all the fake labels on them, but still

I also managed to get an unlocked mobile phone for the equivalent price of 800 Baht. Not an all singing, all dancing one, but one i could lose and not care about. I saw the EXACT SAME model on sale in places in Pattaya for a fixed price in excess of 1000 Baht. And, btw, the one here in UK felt a MUCH better quality, i feel.I also looked at an Apple Iphone clone ( the Chinese ones) on sale inPattaya for over 4500, but i was quoted below 4000 for it in UK.

While on the subject of quality versus price i had the pleasure of having a friend and his Thai wife stay at my house for a few months while they sorted out a permanent move to Thailand, which they have now done. While they were with me we all went out shopping together, some of which was for stuff they would put in container and ship out there. That container was full as fuc_k with stuff that SHE (remember, she is Thai and a fiercly patriotic one too) had said is either cheaper in UK, or, if same price of better quality.

I could go on and on listing comparisons, but i think you can NOW see the other side of the coin?

But one last thing to prove a point:

Before i left for UK for my vacation in Thailand/Pattaya, i bought a replica football (soccer) shirt for the son of a friend of mine out here. It cost me the "rip off Britain" price of the equivelant of about 2,000TBH. This was with custom name and numbering on back. It was 100% guaranteed authentic, cause i went to the actual club shop to buy it. This shirt was made in Thailand. I saw a very somilar one on sale in the 2 outlet stores in Walking Street the other night for 900 TBH MORE that i paid for it.......and i have my doubts about the ones in Walking Street being authentic. This was WITHOUT the lettering/ numbering i paid for in the price i quoted earlier.......made in Thailand, transported to UK, sat in an expensive to operate shop and STILL came out cheaper than in the place it was made. Maybe you would like to explain THAT one? Something thats made in a country thats sold in that country at a higher price than another country that its been shipped thousands of miles to

Perhaps you need to get out of the dusty bookshop of yours and make a trip to your home country and see the other side of the coin at 1st hand . You may get quite a shock......as i did

And, dont forget this debate was about why PATTAYA is dead. See above for a few examples as to maybe why.

I have been to many places in Thailand and never felt so "ripped off" as i have here in Pattaya of late

Never used to be like that

Penkoprod

You make some excellent price comparisons re clothes!

But the ladies in rip off Britain are more expensive are they not? Do people come to Pattaya to shop or to enjoy the company of beautiful ladies for a reasonable cost?

Most men don't come here for the shopping lol

Saw it in Best Supermarket up by the dolphin roundabout this afternoon.

Thanks guys, you have made my day!

Does anyone know where I can buy vegemite (Aussie delicacy) in Pattaya? And also good quality gravy.

Any help appreciated. Thankyou.

Could someone please confirm what I need to do for my first visa run. I believe I need the following.

Passport with visa stamped already in passport CORRECT

2 passport photos CORRECT

Photocopy of passport main page and visa NOT FOR BORDER RUN

2000 baht fee NEARLY

If I need anything else could you please advise me accordingly.

Also Do I need to do visa run before my visa issue date or my arrival date? ANSWERED ELSEWHERE

Thankyou in advance

Hi

I have taken a few mates to do runs fairly recently and its a painless operation, it takes about 1/2 hour to exit&re-enter Thailand.

I live just outside Surin towards Presat/Kap Cheung/Cheung Chom border. Its one straight road all the way there and you may want to consider dropping into the Immigration Office at Kap Cheung as you will pass right by, in order to get one of their leaflets detailing requirements for your Retirement extention.

They are a helpful bunch BTW and if I can be of any help, feel free to PM me.

DAVE

Thankyou everybody for your help. I have organised taxi for May 25 and will call in at Kap Cheung on the way re retirement extension.

Good advice Dave, thankyou.

Just a thought. When I apply for retirement extension should I then get a single or multiple reentry permit as I will need to go back to Australia late this year or early 2010.