theoldgit

^^^^

And that's the very reason the police in Thailand are a disgrace and cannot be respected.

All this red shirt lark must be really winding them up, they have to do real policing now, albeit not very well, they will have a lot of ground to make up when all these shenanigans are over and they can get on with the only thing they know how to do properly, extort money and threaten people.

I'm somewhat satisfied with True's programming, considering I'm in a foreign country.

What I'm not satisfied with is the quality of its signal. Forget about HD...just give me a normal quality signal.

I totally agree, my signal strength usually runs about 16%, I'm on cable, so I wouldn't really hold up much hope of getting a decent HD signal.

Is the HK Disney land as good as the US one? The Paris one is a pale comparison.

And the HK Disney is a pale comparison to the Paris one, but still worth a visit.

I use China Airways as they are fairly cheap and have good flight times, I then stay downtown fairly near a MTR station, or as madam says "we stay near BTS", the system is very good with easy access to Disney.

Sukhumvit is always busy, why don't you use the expressway? Depends where you are driving from I suppose.

"Officials and other personnel working at Immigration HQ have been instructed to go home"

Maybe that's why "nobody pics up the phones"

Yet another pathetic sob story. ----------------This man gets pis*ed (2K bill) volunteered to go with people he did not know ------------------- and then wanted to go to Soi Cowboy -------------- how stupid is that ? If in 97 trips he has learnt nothing this man must be mentally deficient and his son shou;d have been taking care of him.

All "victims" are volunteers !!! Stop whining

You joined this forum just to make this stupid comment, or are you too ashamed to post under your proper user name?

7b7 beat me too it again, now it's my turn to type faster.

Your wife could probably get a 5 or 10 year visa if she could prove she is a regular visitor, and in the circumstances you mention she would probably get one, in her position a settlement visa wouldn't be appropriate anyway.

Long term visas don't come cheap, 5 and 10 year visas cost 21,840B and 31,720B respectively, and you need to be aware if you apply for a long term visa and a shorter one is issued there is not refund of any of the application fee.

I was being satirical, never had to pay tea money in over 10 years Of course having the family with me and my wife's mother doesn't take any sh%t from them. In a polite way of course

I wasn't trying to be pompous, as I say it's the majority view and something I have to admit that I have done, but I still think it's very wrong.

Unfortunately my good lady is very timid, until she gets home that is.

I'm with guys

Sorry officer, here's 100 baht, see you tomorrow, would you like cash in advance, then you can just wave me through

This I suspect is the majority view, and of course everyone is fully entitled to their view, but it is one reason why the police force gets away with the corruption and extortion that is within their ranks.

Of course the bribes that people happily pay to the police when they don't confirm to traffic regulations, which I would have thought were there in the interests of road safety, rather than the understandable inconvenience of going to the police station, are only the very small tip of a very large iceberg.

Do you mean cable or satellite? the mention of your balcony confused me as I didn't understand the relevance.

I was told by the Immigration Officer who renewed my extension of stay last year that it counted as a 90 days report, I now know he was wrong, though I believe the first extension does.

The work experience girl who discovered the fact when I went to make my next 90 day report, nearly wet herself with excitment when she discovered the error. The fact that I was given incorrect advice by the IO, who was sitting nearby with his head down and that it must be obvious that if I hadn't been given the incorrect advice I would have surly reported when I was in the building, fell on deaf ears, I still had to pay the 2,000 Baht.

I was very unimpressed with the unprofessionalism shown, but there was no point in arguing. I know now to get advice from TV and not listen to IO's.

I have asked the British Embassy if they will give a statement based on Nett or gross income. After more than 4 weeks the embassy still can't be bothered to reply.

Ah yes, that'll be in the too difficult tray.

Corruption is not an inconvenience it shows a lack of integrity and honesty by the perpetrator and using whilst in a position of trust or authority for dishonest gain is reprehensible.

It may just be easier to hand over a small amount of money to get on your way but the longer this practice of extortion is accepted, the police cannot be taken seriously. And what about the number of Thai people who begrudgingly hand over money, is that ok? they probably cannot afford it.

And before any bright spark makes the usual suggestion, I am home and I'm going nowhere.

I'm going this week, I will report back.

I suppose that if the tax has already been deducted at source, and shown on the evidence, they are correct in showing the net figure as that way they way they are correctly confirming the income available, will have to wait and see.

But I haven't yet been brave enough to try them! Good luck....

Thanks for that, hope I will be able to report back in due course.

You can do either, though it's no cheaper to take it to the Embassy as you still have to pay the courier fees to Hong Kong, suppose it might give you peace of mind,and it might help if you don't live in Bangkok.

http://ukinhongkong.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for...ssport-renewals

And there was me thinking it was always farangs who were involved in these terrible activities, really awful.

Edit - whoops, didn't read it correctly, seems they were procuring these kids for foreigners, I really don't know which is worse. Without the pervs there would be no market and no need to traffic the kids, and without the trafficers the pervs would have to go somewhere else.

One thing I did notice was the complete absence of any police officers or troops.

I have just come back from the Siam Square area, Red Shirts have succeeded in closing everything down, ok it's pretty good humoured but the majority of "rent a mob" protesters have no idea what they are doing to the economy, though I suppose closing places like Siam Paragon doesn't really bother them.

The Government are between a rock and a hard place, they cannot let this go on for ever, nor can they go in heavy handed.

Well I have booked Ethiopian as they seem to have the best price for my journey requirements and the added benefit of 30kg of checked luggage, only time will tell if I have made the right decision, or there are offers nearer the time.

As a matter of interest this if the price of the various carriers, including all the add ons, that had suitable flight times:

Ethiopian - 8330

Royal Jordanian - 9105

Air Asia - 9136

Emirates - 11530

Thai - 23345

Cathay Pacific - 28580

Have to say I was amazed at the large price differential.

They have been running every day for months but it is not in service yet, they are either testing or training drivers, I don't know which.

Try orient thai ...they might crash as they have a bad record but i flew with them last month and booked 2 days before departure for 5.400 baht, The food is <deleted> and the flight was delayed 2 hours coz the pickup with the stairs reversed into the bus but still its the cheapest offer,

Be a devil...put your life on the line and live dangerous

Did consider them, but there timings were no good for me, I would have needed another nights accomodation which would have cancelled out any savings.

Yes, cost more than Ethiopian.

I'm looking for a cheapish flight to Hong Kong next month, and about the best I have been offered, that fits in with my schedule, is Ethiopian Airlines.

Not a carrier that initially sprung to mind so I wondered if anybody has flown with them of late. especially on this route?

Note: I had originally posted this on the SE Asia Forum, on reflection I should posted here.

You are absolutly right to highlight the dangers with submitting false applications, but the problem is that Immigration Advisers and Agencies are not regulated in Thailand, anybody can set up business offering immigration and visa advice.

Anybody who allows any agency or advisor to submit false evidence or forged documents really deserves anything they get.