jimbo38

I came in to the forum too late to post this in the thread about the Aussie woman and the bar mat.

This should give an idea how things are handled in other countries.

I had the food concession to the biggest and only "beer garden" in Surfers Paradise, Queensland Australia.

One night an individual who had been downing quite a few beers decided to take a handwoven, very expensive wall hanging with him when he left the bar. I wasn't there at the time that he took it and a couple of pictures as well, but the girls informed me about it when I got back. I knew what he looked like so I went down the street to the next bar and there he was. I asked him where the stuff was and his mate, a guy about 6'4" 250 lbs etc. said, "oh, so that's what he wanted my car keys for", "Here you go mate, it's the blue holden right out front" and he handed me the car keys. I opened the trunk or boot, took my stuff, gave the keys back, shook my finger at the kid and told him not to do it again and went back to my beer garden. THAT WAS THE END OF IT!!!!

If you work in an industry that supplies alcohol to people you are going to be faced with some very stupid things happening. With as many drunken Thai nationals as I see around the place the Thai officials should recognize this. It's part and parcel of dealing with the "drug" alcohol. That's one reason why I would rather see people getting high on pot than getting drunk. They're much more pleasant to be around!!!!! And, no, I don't do either of them.

"Well, ATMs have been around for at least thirty (30) years, so it did take a while"

It didn't take them thirty years to start charging at the ATM. As soon as people got used to being charged for using the teller inside the bank they started charging for using the ATM.

I use a Credit Union in the USA. I don't get charged for the first four withdrawals per month at other ATMs and have unlimited withdrawals at the CU's ATMs and I never get charged for going inside and using a human being teller. For every 1 dollar I keep at the CU that's one share of the CU that I own!!!! Every one needs to take their money out of the banks and put it in a CU. Put the banks out of business!!!!

arrrgggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a plain "mai tung krab" works every time for me. No problems at all.

Make the bags stronger. Well, that is just the problem. They used to make them much thicker and stronger than they are now but some hot shot accountants decided they could make more money by making them thinner. Thats when everyone started double bagging.

The garbage cans disappeared from Grungtep's streets when people started putting bombs in them. It happened almost overnight.

Many supermarkets in the States will give you money for using your own bag. In the Grand Canyon we get a 10% discount on almost everything in the store if we have our own bag.

It only takes about an hour or so to use the internet

Ok, here goes. I'm 70 and have spent more than 30 years all over Europe, Middle East, Africa, South East Asia, Australia, etc.

First: Fast Internet???? 5555555 We have 2 mbyte dsl that downloads most of the time at around 2-4 KBytes!!!!! The most it gets up to is about 40 KBytes.

Second: I live in Chiang Rai. I'm spending about 10-12,000 baat per month. Cook all my own food which I buy from the local markets. My current rent is 5000 per month. I live what would probably be described as a very active monk's life.

I have ridden my bike 1000 miles per month since the start of this year. I'm am self studying Thai language. Speaking and reading. There are plenty of things to keep me busy and keep my mind active up here.

Also, I eat from street vendors if I buy prepared food because I can see them prepare it. If the restaurant is one with the kitchen out front that you walk by then that is ok as well and they usually charge the same as the street vendors.

There is enough dislike of foreigners up here to go around but I find that most people are quite friendly. I don't think I will ever make a deep friendship with a Thai because they don't appear, to me, to do that like we do in the States.

Drunk driving is a real hazard if you go out at night. I don't.

"Prueng nii" is Thai for "manana". Get used to it.

It's very easy to get railroaded and or scammed by cab drivers, govt officials, police etc. That usually happens more in the big cities. But, 99.9% of the market people I deal with charge me the same price as they do Thais. I know the going prices of fresh fruits and vegetables and just walk away from someone who is trying to rip me off.

The first time I came here I was wearing rose colored glasses. I've now gotten rid of them. Most of the young girls I know here are ones who worked with me in the Grand Canyon during their summer vacation, so they are mostly engineers, dentists, accountants etc. smarter than your average Thai. I was quite impressed with them. Now that I've met drunks, beggars, lazy people etc. the initial impression has been taken down a few pegs.

If I manage to get the retirement extension in early may I will probably go back to the States for the summer. I think that I need a few months in the States each year to keep my feelings on an even keel. Otherwise I might just get to start hating the Thais. I know several older guys who do the same thing. 8 or 9 months here, 3 or 4 months back home. It costs a bunch for airfare but I spend so little here that it isn't really a problem.

Likes: I really like the weather here. My body operates well in heat. The tropical fruit selection is great. The dam_n rice is addictive. I only eat brown rice and jasmine at that. If I can get it I eat black rice and red rice as well. In the States I use habanero hot sauce. I get hot sauce about the same hot scale as that here. I eat it for breakfast. Oh yeah most of the fruit is fresh from the field. I can ride my bike quite safely almost everyday. Even on the freeway.

Dislikes: I miss the Ponderosa pine forests. Really good multigrain bread. Cheap good technology items. Even though I'm starting to speak quite a bit of Thai, I can't understand one single word that they say. Reading Thai is almost as bad as listening to it. (But then that should help keep the alzheimers at bay for awhile) Going downhill around a sharp corner on the bike at 30 mph and running over a burmese python. (luckily only about an 8 foot baby). I really can't handle corruption. The other long timers can tell you hours of horror stories. Most of the dislikes are just about universal. As you said everyplace has it's good and bad.

Yeah, Switzerland is a nice place to visit, but talk about conservative. Wheeew

There's more but that's enough for now.

BTW, dropping out is great. More people should try it.

Ok, I have worked in the Grand Canyon USA with several hundred different Thai girls over several years.

Whenever I took them to the Bus, train, Airport etc. in the USA, they always give me a nice hug to say goodbye.

When I came to Thailand for a visit. Most didn't want a hug in public but would give me one in private.

Some would want a hug in public and they say they don't care what other people think. Usually when that happens I'm with at least two or more girls and give them all a hug.

So now I always ask if they want a hug or not.

BTW, I am 70 years old. So the deadbeats will always think the wrong thing no matter what we do. And when I touch a girl it is strictly in friendship. I am NOT making a move on her.

What gets to the deadbeats is that sometimes I will have a meal with 4 or 5 girls at the same time. That really messes with their minds.

But I have observed that usually Thai men don't touch Thai women so that's the rule that I follow. I would never touch a stranger to me. When in Rome, etc.

Forget about the "Pit Bulls". All dogs are capable of killing people.

I ride a recumbent bike thousands of miles each year. On the bike I am close to the ground and I am something strange in the eyes of every dog. I am chased by dogs every single day. Now, I can tell which dogs are really dangerous and those who aren't . I carry a long flag and can use it as a whip. If I hit the ground with it or sometimes the dog and they quit chasing then the dogs have been trained to behave. But some dogs keep on chasing. Even after I get off the bike and chase them with rocks etc. they will come back at me when my back is turned. Some times the owners are standing there laughing about it.

The first week in May I take my last Rabies injection, and in Sept. I take my last Tetanus injection required for a pretty nasty bite I got on the back of my right hand. It cost me over 4000 baat at the local hospital. I know 3 other people here in northern Thailand who have been bitten. And I've only been here a few months.

Some people take resposibility for keeping their dogs civil. Others do not. And those people are criminals as far as I'm concerned. I see school kids who are afraid to walk home past certain houses because of the dogs. If a dog bites someone without provocation then the owner should be thrown in jail for 4 or 5 years. There is no excuse for allowing their dogs to harm anyone who is not on their property.

What on earth is it with dogs in this country anyway?. It seems that every house in the country has 3 or more dogs.

Ok, finally some actual written rules. Thanks alot for that. So it looks to me as though the time requirement only applies to the 800,000 bahts in the bank only. If you have 65,000 baht per month income there is no time restriction and if you use the combo of income plus bank you only need to have the bank account valid on the day you file for the visa. But if you are using the bank account only they want you to have had the money in it for two months before you apply the first time and at least 3 months before you apply each year after that.

This now makes sense to me. They put the time restrictions on to prevent people from getting money in the account for a couple of days only. Then the person would give it back to whoever he borrowed from and would be in Thailand with no money. If you have a steady income you will be able to pay your own way.

Embassies and Consulates should know these things. That written excerpt is very understandable.

I'm going to check into this retirement thing now.

Does anyone know if it can be done at Mae Sai immigration office or would I have to go to Chiang Mai?? Mae Sai would be way better for me because I'm staying in Chiang Rai.

Thanks for all the info.

The information came from the Los Angeles embassy. Like I said I can't get information to agree from any two consuls. And I'm posting it here to try to find out what is right!!!!!! Just what is your problem anyway??? I understood that I could put things here to try and find out what is what. By the way where are you getting your information from??

The information I got was that they didn't want people to live on the money deposited in the bank. I guess they wanted the bank to be able to use that money for loans etc. The info that I got from two different consuls were so far out of whack that it didn't even come close to one another. This was all coming out shortly after the military coup to get rid of Shiniwatra.

Let's say that I have an annual income of 400,000 baht, just to make things easy, then you say I only have to put 400,000 baht in a thai bank?? And it has to stay there for 2 or 3 months then I can use it to live on and bring the deposit back up to 400,000 baht the next time I apply for the retired visa??

So how do you get the 30 day extension to a 60 day visa?. I'm assuming that can be done inside Thailand by going to a Thai Immigration Office. And is it advisable, or would it be easier just to go back to Laos for another 60 day visa???

I don't know if they have recently changed the retirement visa or not. The 800,000 baht has to stay in the bank for the full year. The last time I checked they were checking the bank accounts at various times during the year to make sure that the full amount was still there. The interest rate is next to nothing here and in some cases it is exactly nothing. The Gov't keeps raising the monthly income requirement so that it exceeds what most people get on Social Security in the U.S. You would think that they would be happy to have people spending that pension money here.

It is impossible to get the same information from different consuls. I was told that multiple entry visas are legal only if issued in the home country.

Are you saying that I can do a 60 day run to laos for a 60 day visa back to back to back etc.?? Instead of doing a 30 day run to Mae Sai just do a 60 day run to Vientiane??

Benjawan Poomsan Becker--- Paiboon Publishing

All of her stuff is available in Siam Paragon Bookstore. The best that I have come across so far. And she insists that you learn to read and write if you go beyond beginner level.

Rosetta is good in that you can slow down the spoken word. Try Pantip Computer Supermarket.

I am able to speak enough to get most stuff done but cannot understand one single word spoken to me. Therefore I am concentrating on reading and writing for the time being.

Some of you guys are making silly, smart aleck comments.

Here's my situation, I have a 3 entry 60 day visa. I wanted to extend that with 3 each 30 day visas. I'm not riff-raff. I am 70 years old and I pay all my own bills, thank you very much.

My plane ticket cost me $1135 U.S dollars. But someone has just added about $450 "tax" to it to take the price to over $1600. I want to stay as long as I can to make it worth the price of the ticket.

You have to get the multiple entry tourist visa from you own country so I have to fly back and forth. If it was legal to go to Laos I would do that in a minute and save about $1400!!!!!

I don't understand this learn Thai language thing. I have taken a local class and am in the process of teaching myself to read and write. Are you saying that if I take a class with certain schools, probably not available in Chiang Rai, that I can stay for a full year or years??