jaideeguy

Seems like we have 2 fronts are invading LOS now...............the Russians from the south and now the Chinese from the north and no one speaks well for either army of tourists except for the 1 in a thousand Russian girls in a bikini.  The Chinese wouldn't dare to wear bikinis.

I'd rather pay a few baht for a clean toilet than use a dirty free toilet any day, but I do get a little pissed off when I pay 3baht and find a dirty toilet when the attendant is just sitting on their ass and not earning my 3 baht..................

What I tell my friends coming up to visit and want to go downtown for a night out bar hoping is that CM is a family town and it's a pathetic boring place after dark with exciting Loy Khrow as the falang night owl soon finds out. It was the same 15 years ago and still remains a sad excuse for nightlife unless you like old over the hill women 'entertainers', katoys, or sad old expats.

Stay home, save your money for the real action in the southern sin cities.

Shot......Yeah, I've been following Jingthing's thread on older Americans repatriating to the US and have gleaned a lot of info, but as I said, it seems to be slanted towards the single expat and having a Thai/Falang family does complicate the situation considerably...............

Impulse, thanks for those tips and I will look into that area that I've only driven through many decades ago, but I do have fond memories of Austin and even have an old friend there. Also, good suggestion on selling Thai trinkets there to help with income.

Lao.....will also look into Athens GA, Savannah and Tucson AZ

Rupert, I didn't mention that I spent 3 decades on the Hilo side of the Big Island and that will be my first stop and home base while I check it out after 20+ years away. I know to expect some good changes as well as some bad and to expect the cost of living to have increased a lot, but the weather and the clean air and water can't be beat anywhere in the world, and you're right in that it would be the easiest place for a Thai to adjust to. Volcano is nice when the sun is out, but mostly it's too damp, cold and gloomy for me.

Thanks for the input so far.............

Seems they want kids to grow up to be mindless gorms!.....

Religion, civic pride, history, (Thai history only no doubt)..........this will move the country forward!

This will create an army of worker drones. This is one of the crazy idea's of the Junta I dont support.

Seems some people are stuck in the past.

Just give them a good education and lead by example.

you hit it rob......worker drones with shaved heads, uniforms and obedient brainwashed minds that don't/can't think outside the little bubble that this country is trying to mold it's self into. Now, they are messing with history, what next?? No more foreign language [evil English especially] and the rest of the world will follow the clever Thais!!

My house has been on the market for a while now and I am advertising on a few free ads as well as with a few agents and I have noticed that there are a large segment of the 'buyers' that simply use the agents to get a free tour of the city/country with no real intent to buy and waste my time as well as the agent's. I partially blame the unprofessional agents that allow themselves to be fooled by these insincere, rude fake 'buyers' that invade my privacy in the pretense of looking for real estate for a free tour when they get bored looking at elephant camps, wats, trekking and other activities and decide that it's much more fun to be driven around and invade other people's privacy.

End of rant......................

My Thai family's immigrant visa is approaching completion and I have a short list of where I would like to settle my family.

My considerations are: [not necessarily by priority]

1] cost of living, as we'll be on a tight budget to start with.

2] comfortable climate..............not extremely hot or cold.

3] good options for schooling my 2 teenage Thai kids.

4] job opportunities for wife, probably in the sales or service industry as her 3 yr college degree is useless in the states.

5] Asian friendliness................food shops and access to Asian foods.

6] access to a good VA medical facility for my increasing medical issues @ 67 years.

My first choice is Hilo, Hawaii as it meets almost all of the above considerations, except for #1 and #6 [unless some miracle occurs]. Also, I have lived there for many years before moving to Asia and still have a few contacts and know my way around, but the cost of living a decent lifestyle in that paradise has increased faster than the mainland.

A couple of plan B options for cost and quality of living would be Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon or any other suggestions would be appreciated

I have been gleaning JT's thread on older Americans repatriating to the US but it seems to be slanted towards single expats and with my 'baggage' of a good Thai wife and a couple of children, there are many other considerations.

Your suggestions, experiences and reasons for your choice appreciated..............

Nachonchai Air. 1st class.

Individual back seat screens and comfortable electric seats.

Plenty of leg room.

http://www.nca.co.th/first_class.html

Yeah, that looks comfortable and NCA has a good rep for safety and reliability.

Which brings up a couple of questions.........

We'll be going to the US embassy on Wireless road and maybe spending a couple of days down there so can anyone suggest any clean mid range family hotels either near the bus terminal or preferably near the Embassy................

and 2nd ?? is..........does NCA use the main Mo Chit terminal??

Thanks in advance

Lots of companies to choose from, but what company has the safest and most comfortable rides down to BKK now?? Reluctant to go for the double decker types as I've heard of too many accidents.......they look too top heavy.

Also heard that Nakornchaiair has a new VIP service on their lower profile bus that now offers roomy airplane style seats with individual small screen TVs.

Any recommendations???

The 4 of us be going down to BKK to do some business with the US embassy. This will be a budget trip and we'll be taking the bus down with the 2 kids and maybe staying 2 nights. In 13 years in country, I don't know BKK much and would appreciate a decent clean quiet place near the embassy. 2 rooms actually unless it is a decent sized suite that sleeps 4.

Any suggestions?? Don't trust agoda or any of the other on line sharks,as I've found that I mostly get better rates in dealing with the hotels directly.

Treat the dead better than the living................. great video again, thanks RV guy.

How can anyone complain about foul smells when foul smells are the norm all over Asia. Rotting fish, chillis, open garbage everywhere, burning anything anywhere at any time, smoke belching vehicles, dead animals, open markets, open sewers etc etc. Asia is a stinking continent and an occasional little whiff of 2nd hand tobacco smoke ain't going to kill you.

With the famously filthy air in the north, how can anyone complain about a little whiff of tobacco smoke?? What's so much worse is the several month's long smokey season that comes every year, the constant smoke belching of motorcycles, diesels and the inconsiderate burning of garbage all over the country................that will do you more damage than a casual whiff of tobacco smoke IMHO.

I'm a smoker and I try my best to be considerate of others by never smoking indoors [even in my own house] and will take a puff down in the carbon monoxide filled parking garage down under the superstores and still get dirty looks from the passers by.

And all the hype about 2nd hand smoke issue, I think is highly overrated, but I do spare as many as I can of my deadly 2nd hand smoke, especially children..

Bottom line........................CM [and Asia in general] is so full of smoke that you shouldn't bother coming if it bothers you, or stay in a clean hotel like the 'Downtowner' where all rooms are smoke free.

If I go 5 or 6 days without shaving, my cheapo Phillips won's cut the brush so I have to use a barber's shears to pre mow my beard, which has always been tough and fast growing. I've always hated the blade type wet shavers as they give me a rash. Now, I do my shaving while driving and save much time but get funny looks from people that maybe think I'm talking on the mobil phone?

"OBEC to quickly whip up plans to improve Thailand's education system"

The headline says it all in that it will be just another hastily unthought out process instead of a careful, well thought out plan to really fix a broken system.........................just another 'band aid' to repair decades of corruption, inept teachers and a system that is designed to pump out obedient robots for the factories, service and tourist industries. Teach the kids to think......................outside the box and stress that more than the dress code.

Oh, and dump the dummy teachers and make them push brooms for the school system clean the toilets and let some new blood in to the archaic system of tenure.

Oh, and teach them that the Thai language is USELESS outside of this little 'bubble' in SE Asia. Thai should be a 2nd language and English the 1st, the world has accepted English as the language of science, medicine, law, love, travel, and more. Where else is Thai a useful tool other than watching Thai soap operas and game shows??

my 2 satang............

That is ridiculous, you can't expect a country to give up its language or push it into second place because so few people speak it outside of their country. Language,more than buildings and history,is a heritage which forms the people,it is who they are.What about Myanmar,Cambodia,Laos,Malaya,Korea etc. are they also to relegate their language to second place ?

OK, I'll back down on English as a first language altho in the Philippines, English is unofficially the most common language because of all the dialects and Tagalog is the official language, but half the country doesn't speak it. I will amend my statement to be that more Native English speaking teachers are desperately needed and all the science subjects should be taught in English .............to open more doors to the students.

"OBEC to quickly whip up plans to improve Thailand's education system"

The headline says it all in that it will be just another hastily unthought out process instead of a careful, well thought out plan to really fix a broken system.........................just another 'band aid' to repair decades of corruption, inept teachers and a system that is designed to pump out obedient robots for the factories, service and tourist industries. Teach the kids to think......................outside the box and stress that more than the dress code.

Oh, and dump the dummy teachers and make them push brooms for the school system clean the toilets and let some new blood in to the archaic system of tenure.

Oh, and teach them that the Thai language is USELESS outside of this little 'bubble' in SE Asia. Thai should be a 2nd language and English the 1st, the world has accepted English as the language of science, medicine, law, love, travel, and more. Where else is Thai a useful tool other than watching Thai soap operas and game shows??

my 2 satang............

SPT...........for the record, I was not implying that your company was a 'shark' company. I was just offering my experience and simply using common sense and your own research and I didn't mention as a back up and confirmation, I employed a structural engineer to approve my drawings and then added more steel.

one very important step is to dig a much larger and deeper hole than needed and use a lot of gravel fill as a stable base, especially if you are in a clay soil area.

I've done a lot of legal and illegal building and my moto was always 'when in doubt- over build'.

SPT................do you have any 7+ year old pools here in LOS??

Having built my own 84 cu mt pool with common sense and my smart friend Google to advise and a good Thai general contractor to get the man power and equipment, I discovered that it's not 'rocket science' and built my pool that is still level and no leaks after 7 years and saved myself 50% of what the 'sharks' quoted me. My neighbor went with a local 'shark' contractor and built a much smaller pool for more than twice the price per cu mtr I paid and had many issues with leaks, fittings etc.

If you do go with a pro, make sure that you see one of his pools after 7 years............

Are there really that many new rules that will be enforced on foreigners or that foreigners are likely to breach in ignorance?

Mostly red foreigners wanting to point out the problems feeling they are being attacked.

The OP has already started 2 alarmist threads about it. His Blood-pressure must run high after his favorite government was put on their place.

His 3 finger salute topic and the one about the army coming to check private homes were hilarious.

Most foreigners will have absolutely no problems unless they want to antagonize the current junta.

oops, I didn't post fast enough as a rat snuck by, but to reply to his last ...............

"His 3 finger salute topic and the one about the army coming to check private homes were hilarious."

But true!!

"Most foreigners will have absolutely no problems unless they want to antagonize the current junta"

Not always true as we know that so many laws in LOS are enforced at will or whim.

I've heard of quite a few and that's why I think it's an important Falang public awareness topic. The wife tells me of some that I haven't heard before, like the most recent custom's crackdown just yesterday, the three finger salute ban, etc. and apparently in a coup, ignorance is not an excuse and you are guilty.

Please let's not let this topic get political and get locked as TV is under the martial law rules and quite strict about political discussions.

So, could I ask the usual TV keyboard warriors to not comment unless it is a contribution.

I would like to humbly suggest to the mods and admin that a new pinned topic for all the 'new rules' that have been added since the coup started and keep on coming at us. Maybe it might save some unknowing Falang a bit of grief.

No need to discuss politics or comment on the morality or discrimination of the rules..................just the rules as they occur.

Anyone else on board on this simple, but helpful request????

What happened to trust?

Trust a bar girl??

Trust is the last thing you want to bring to LOS...............

Notice I said bar girl, as there is some trust here, but it took me a long time to realize that you can't rent trust as you rent a bar girl.

I found a non bar girl out in Issan [the BG factory] and we're still together after 12 years and we have nurtured mutual trust over the years to the point that she is my most trusted friend and wife.

simply put 'easy come/easy go'

I've been struggling with my Samsung smartphone for over a year and I need some patient tutoring on the basics of the proper use and shortcuts etc.

Can anyone recommend a shop [and name of person to contact] who speaks decent English and can guide me?? I'll pay for the service, of course.

Or, any expats that know smart phones care to help me for a fee.............lunch, cup of coffee, beer??

Thanks in advance...............

Just asking ...................and as usual the same no serious answer from the bored keyboard warriors that think they are funny and mostly have nothing useful to say.

Finally tx with a decent reply, thanks...............what's this about eating sandwiches?? I did hear something about that, but never heard the whole story.

I've heard that a three finger salute was banned and punishable by the military and asked my wife 'which three fingers?' and she held up [first from the thumb] three fingers side by side and then another version with three fingers up with the first 2 in a V with the last two together and said that was also banned. Getting kinda confused about this finger policy and scared that I may accidentally have my fingers held in the banned position, as I occasionally get these finger cramps.

Can anyone explain the exact 3 finger position that is banned and what is the origin and meaning of it??

I did recently see it being used in 'The Hunger Games' movie, but that couldn't be the origin..................or could it??