RMN

Does anyone have an address in Bangkok for me ?

Hi everyone,

What would be good places to go to to buy beautiful and colorful kimonos in Bangkok ? Reasonable price would be a plus.

Thanks a lot guys, that's really exactly what I was looking for.

The wife is big on Sci-Fi and Fantasy, I guess we'll have to go to Kinokunya on one of the first days (but then I'm afraid she'll spend the whole vacation reading and I'll be alone for sightseeing ).

Hi everyone,

Very simple question : what would be the biggest, most impressive bookstore in Bangkok that sells english language fiction books ?

Need to impress the wife on our next trip, she's a complete bookworm.

She's also partial to manga in english language.

Ticket for Grand Palace also gets you entry at Vianmasek Teak mansion. I didn't go, but might be worth a stop in.

If she likes architecture and/or beautiful furniture, you definitely have to take her to Vinmanmek Mansion. It will only cost you the taxi if you already go to see Wat Pra Kaeo (same ticket for both). The (free) guided visit in english is quite good, and the place is amazing.

Good luck with your surgery.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a large townhouse or single house in Bangkok, on Sukhumvit or in the Lumpini park area.

Our requirements :

- must have at least 2 large bedrooms + home office space or 3/4 large bedrooms with ability to convert some into home office (1 of the bedrooms at least should be on ground floor, for an old person with limited mobility)

- must have maid's room

- must already have or be 100% guaranted elligible for high speed internet access

Access to BTS, swimming pool and/or gym is not required but is a big plus.

We would move in probably only in Q3 2009, but as we'll be in Bangkok from february 8 to february 19, I'd like to take this opportunity to start visiting houses.

Let me know if you know anything that matches this, or if you can recommand a farang friendly real estate agent with good prices that could have that kind of house.

Thanks.

Thanks for confirming that.

Will she need to go to a neighbooring country to make the change to Retirement Visa ? As I mentionned, her mobility is a problem (she needs special accomodations for travel).

Another question concerning my mother's retirement Visa : does she need to do the retirement visa application before going to Thailand, or should she got to Thailand on a 90 day Visa, then talk to immigration there to get her retirement Visa ? How many days remaining on her 90 would she need ? With a double entry, can she do that on the second 90 days ? Is there any company that could offer visa run services for a person who is aged and borderline handicapped, like she is ? (taking into account the newest law changes on land based visa runs)

MTL Ae, thanks for the proposition. I'll definitely be contacting you since I'm looking at the different options for language schools right now.

Thanks to both of you for the very reassuring replies.

Every one of you would have to apply for it's own visa. You and your wife can come on the grounds of education and your mother could apply on the base of retirement. Retirement requires an income of 65,000 baht a month or 800,000 in a Thai bank account to be able to get an extension of stay for one year. Seems she meets that.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Could anyone tell me what kind of delay I should expect between asking for the visa and getting it ? So as to know when to start the procedure to have everything ready in november.

Hi everyone,

I plan to take my family (of 3, me included) to live in Bangkok for a year starting in November 2009. Here's the situation :

- My wife and I, would be learning Thai in a language school, applying for a Student Visa. Neither of us would work. We have some income from rented real estate, in the 1500+$/month range.

- My mother who is retired, would I guess be on a retirement Visa. Retirement pension is quite high (2500$+/month)

The three of us are french citizens. Nobody would be working (this is a test year / vacation year, maybe we'd go for something more permanent after if we like it there).

My questions :

- Is there a way to apply for all 3 visas together, or should everyone have a separate file ?

- When should we start the application process to be ready for November 2009 ?

- Any other suggestions for how to make that smooth / efficient ?

Let me know if anymore details are useful. Thanks in advance.