theoldgit

A chap was recently trying to offload his card on Thaivisa, I wonder if he was successful.

I presume the government will reimburse all those that were sucked into this con.

I will watch this one with interest as we are travelling to South Korea next month, though travelling together

doubt u have anything to worry about.

You are right, note my earlier post that I submitted on our return to Thailand.

Flew into Seoul last week with my Thai girlfriend, she went through Immigration first and was asked if she was travelling alone, she told the female Immigration Officer that she was travelling with her boyfriend indicating me, the next in line, she was immediately stamped in with a smile, it was certainly more user friendly than our arrival in Bangkok yesterday.

I returned from a weeks skiing in South Korea only yesterday, we skied in Yong Pyong which is about 3 hours from Seoul.

The resort was fine and there was some good skiing, not too many challenging slopes but there were a number of good long runs. We stayed at the Dragon hotel and we thought it was fine. Whilst the breakfast in the hotel set up up for the day we felt that the other meals were a bit restrictive and mainly Korean, not really surprising, and not really to our taste. Evening meals cost in the region of 2,000 Baht for the two of us, including a couple of beers, so not really overpriced for a ski resort. There was also a condo resort on site but that seemed to be full of Korean school kids and a bit noisy. There were a couple of fast food places, burgers and pizza, but I did miss the apres ski bars that I was used to in Europe.

The slopes are open during the day from about 08.00 until 16.30, and again in the evenings and night time sessions until either 01.00 or 02.00, not sure which, and the slopes are flood light. A lot of people come for the day so the queues were longer in the afternoon than the morning, though we never queued for longer than a couple of minutes, even for the gondolier to the top slope. The slopes were well maintained and whilst it didn't snow during our stay the snow cannons were used to keep the slopes in good condition. It was really cold, -17C on Friday, and the biting wing really got to me.

On the whole we enjoyed our trip, and would certainly return.

We booked with www.winterfriend.com, who were fine, and you might feel the web cam of the resort interesting http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/guide/webcam.asp

Does anybody in Hua Hin know of a good chiropractor in Krabi - I am really sorry, I couldn't resist it, I of course never make mistakes.

Not really answering the question but True offer 2mb for 890 + vat, and you get a free wireless modem and free wireless access at their hotspots, which is a good deal if you have a MBK iPhone.

Last year I had similar problems with HBOS blocking my card, I had a number of lengthy calls to their call centres and things seem to have been ok since.

I asked for compensation and they offered me £100, I thought I would try my luck and told them it wasn't enough, they asked me how much I wanted and I said £200, to which they immediately agreed and it was in my account the next day.

I say I have had no problems since, on Friday I tried to draw 15,000 Baht from an ATM in MBK, it declined the transaction and blocked the card. I called their call centre again and they told me that the card had been blocked because I had attempted to withdraw more than the daily limit of £300, 15,000 Baht was £304 by their reckoning. Hells bells I used to be able 20,000 at a time - those were the days, anyway they unlocked it within minutes.

Off to Korea tonight, fingers crossed.

You can buy in Pattaya, sorry not sure of the name of the road, but, coming from downtown turn right at the roundabout just past Tiffany's and a garage on the left sells it.

Travel insuance is required, and the consulate will list acceptable insurers on their website. This was easy to obtain in CM as the insurers are used to the requirement.

will she need proof of travel insurance before applying for the visa?

also, someone told my wife that before leaving the UK for Europe, she needs to go a Thai embassy! i have no idea for what. is there any truth to that? do Thais have to do something to travel between EU countries other than get the right visas?

thx steve

You will need to provide proof to the embassy that she has a recognised travel insurance policy, Thai Visa Insurance can provide you with an acceptable policy though I am sure there are others, for instance I believe you can buy a policy at the French Embassy. I have heard that some countries will accept a declaration that you have a policy, but you need one anyway so you might as well provide the details with the application to save any hassle.

Your wife, or any other Thai person, does not need to go to the Thai Embassy before leaving the UK or indeed any of their embassies whilst out of Thailand.

Once she has her visa it will be checked when leaving the UK before boarding her mode of transport and again on arrival at the destination, unless on the Eurostar when it will be checked on departure from the UK. She is then free to travel around the Schengen countries at will and it's unlikely that it will be checked again, unless boarding a plane.

Just one point, you need to ensure that she has a multi entry visa if she returns to the UK.

Somebody hacked into my Hotmail account and sent spoof malicious emails to all my contacts, and managed to delete all of my stored emails, they then changed my password. Microsoft allowed me access again and restored all the missing files, only for them to be deleted again. They then restored them again, and I have put them somewhere safe, I now change the password every few days.

My Gmail account was also hacked into with malicious emails being sent to all my contacts, as well as the contacts of my contacts, amounting to almost 300 around the world. The settings of the account were changed to copy all my emails to a third party.

This person also got into my Thai-visa account, changed the password and the linked email address to their own, again a number of posts were sent in my name. I was able to get back in with the help of a moderator, I asked for my account to be closed, which it was though it was, I was a bit miffed at the "banned" label.

I know who is behind it, though proving it is another matter. Microsoft have been great, though Google not so, I have reported the matter to the police though I am not sure how seriously they will take it.

For the life of me I don't know how it was done, perhaps I was a bit lax with my passwords. Perhaps I should have spoken to you "Oxford Will" with your background you would have given me the answers.

The purpose of this posting is to warn others of how easy it seems to be to become the victim of a cyber assault.

1. AIS

2. No

3. No

4. Yes, check emails occasionally, also news pages, if on the road and if near a wifi hot-spot.

Just one question, how would Thai woman manage if the mobile phone had not been invented, and what did they do before mobile phones were generally available?

You can buy fresh sprouts in Villa and sometimes in Big C, and I love them.

What is the Immigration black list, and which country are you talking about?

Certainly if UK Visas think a false application has been made you would be barred from obtaining a visa for a number of years, is that what you mean?

Certainly there is a warnings index, but all that does is flag up your passport when you enter the UK and you could be denied entry.

I think you need to provide a few more details.

This thread has certainly opened up a can of worms, and I have been watching with interest, especially interested in the level of response.

I think there are three groups of people here, those who borrow with no intention of repaying and I would suggest that this criminal minded minority will blame the banks, indeed they will blame everyone bar themselves, though you may ask yourselves how on earth did they pass the banks credit checks.

Then there are the self righteous people who will decry everyone who finds themselves in financial difficulty, though in theory they are probably right, especially regarding those in my first category.

The third category, and I suspect the OP is in this group, took out a loan or ran up an overdraft with every intention of paying it back and his circumstances have now changed, and he is now not in a position to do so. You may ask why he is in Thailand asking the question on this forum rather than facing up to his responsibilities back in the UK, and I am sure his creditors will be asking the same.

I think the banks should ensure that such debts are managed in house rather than passing them onto these bully boy debt collectors, but you will probably find that the banks have exhausted all options before selling the debt, though I could be wrong.

I think that people in such a position as the OP should make a realistic offer of repayment even if it hurts a bit, in such circumstances the bank will probably accept a compromise, even if only 50%, certainly if a realistic offer has been made it is unlikely that they will be granted a court judgement.

Certainly £6k is not enormous for the banks but multiply it a number of times and you may see the route of the problem the world now faces.

Back to the question, as has been pointed out this debt seems to be a civil matter and whilst the debt collectors will use whatever bully boy tactics they can think of, they have no jurisdiction in Thailand, nor can they get your visa revoked. In fact a County Court has no jurisdiction in Thailand, especially as it seems your creditors are aware of your address in Thailand.

I would contact one of the many organisations in the UK who can advise people in your position, such as National Debtline, they will give realistic advice as well as advising you on the law, I certainly wouldn't inflame the situation by sending sarcastic letters informing your creditors how comfortable you are here in Thailand, as satisfying as it might be, it might come back to haunt you, and it's not going to go away.

I'm sure this has been posted before, I did try a search but nada!

Long Stay parking whats the deal?

Or just pay a little more and put the car in the car parks over the road from the main airport?

TIA

I used the long stay, it was a pain to get to the airport from the car park and even worse to get back, and only marginally cheaper than the short stay, that's probably why it was nearly empty.

I am sure that others would say it's good but I will never use it again, I have gone back to using taxis.

They got it. See this topic.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Embassy-Pass...ck-t235146.html

Yes, the party's on! ...but we won't really believe it until the visa is physically in our hands!!!

Don't forget to let everyone know the official result as soon as you have it, you seem to have a lot of people routing for you, both on and off the board.

I need to get some papers translated from English into Thai, there are about four pages, can anyone recommend an efficient and economic translator, I live in Thonglor.

Thanks

I needed to go to Thonglor Police Station yesterday to file a complaint, the officer was polite and helpful he understood my problem and dealt with it efficiently. This was my second visit to Thonglor, on my first visit none of the officers could speak very good English, so the PA to the officer in charge of the station was called for, and she translated for me.

On a side issue, a young woman came into collect the personal belongings of her father who perished in the Santika fire, she was treated with compassion and the belongings, cash, credit cards and jewellery were all handed over to this lady very quickly.

I read many stories about visits to police stations and dealings with the police, but credit must be given where it's due.

Edited for typo

I thought about a skiing holiday but rather than flying to Europe I have booked to go to South Korea where there are plenty of ski resorts.

I booked it all online with a company based in Seoul, Winterfriend, and we are going next week.

Slightly nearer and no visa requirements for Thai's.

Just a thought

It's actually only SGA, who code share with NOK Air, and yes they are currently the only people who fly from Bangkok to Hua Hin.

The flight is pretty good though a tad expensive and the with only two return flights a day their flight times are pretty restrictive, the first flight out of Hua Hin is at 14.40 arriving in Bangkok at 15.30, you still have to make your way into Bangkok from the airport, and back, so you will not have long in Bangkok before the last flight back at 18.40.

I think most people, but we were all trying to hide our excitment - and think of a funnier reply, I for one failed miserably

There is also Buffalo Bills Tavern near the Fish Market, think they have entertainment on NYE, I have always enjoyed myself there.

They will be available from True Move in a couple of weeks, not sure what their pricing structure will be or if it will affect the prices in MBK.

Every other shop in MBK has them for sale, so you will probably need to undercut them.

Have a look at Siam-Legal in Market Village, two of the lawyers I have spoken to there, male and female, both speak excellent English.

They are a branch of a international company, but I don't know what they are like as lawyers.

I will watch this one with interest as we are travelling to South Korea next month, though travelling together.

On a recent trip to Singapore she was not asked anything though on a trip to Hong Kong she was asked a few questions and I was aked to step forward to speak to the IO. On visits to Laos and Malaysia she was stamped in without question.