rishi

After having lived in the inner moat area near Thapae Gate for 5 years, I moved to Lampang about 1 1/2 year ago. Except for whole-corn rye bread, sugar-free musli and Bier Stube's menu item 21 (Chicken in Red-wine) Lampang serves my needs in every respect. Since my Lampang doorstep is only 105 km away from Thapae Gate, I can get my needs fulfilled, regarding those three items, merely by a day off from the thread mill once a month. Haven't regretted the move from CM to Lampang one single moment.

Although, I share the opinion that they mostly serve as a household aid by eating those probably deadly insects, I must admit that I do hate it when they sh.t on my monitor, though.

I Googled 'em and learned that they lay little eggs that look like white bird eggs, but are just the size of the end of your little finger. They lay the eggs in quiet dark places, to hatch at the beginning of the rainy season when insects are plentiful.

Actually quite a bit smaller then the end of the little finger. I remember one day when our phone stopped working. I opened it up and found dozens of those little white eggs in there clogging up the bell.

Wow! A phone with a bell, that can get clogged up! Glad to know that the good old days aren't completely gone, yet.

"I'm referring to the little green lizards, about 3 to 5 inches long that you see all over the place"....

Wonder what kind of critters you actually have been invaded by? The lizards, I see all over my place and fitting the size, never touch my food and they're all pale beige/light-brownish - so, although they do tend to adapt a bit color from the environment, I can't quite relate to what you may refer to. - Are your furnitures, walls etc. all green?

God, I am so sorry. Please avoid it until firther notice. We had the all clear yesterday but got attacked again and now have all clear. But best to avoid it for now. I will tell you when it is perfectly safe. I am so sorry. This sucks. Pim

... besides cleaning what's on the server, make sure the staff changes all passwords and that anyone having access to the server gets their own computers cleaned as well!

It'll take a couple of "clean weeks" - i.e weeks with no reappearances - before google, etc. will remove their warnings.

Can recognize the picture from a situation I was in last year. I'm a web developer and a bunch of my clients got their sites infected. It turned out that some Chinese had invented a BRAND NEW virus, which infected my work computer and picked the passwords from the program I used for FTP and thereby gained access to modify source code on the server at will. --- What these culprits did was to add a few lines redirecting visitors to my decent clients' sites to some Chinese malware site that attempted to download virus to the visitor's computer.

No, I'm not careless. I have virus protection installed that gets updated 4 times a day - the keyword in the preceding paragraph is "BRAND NEW". New vira surface all the time and not even the most powerful virus protection can protect you against a virus that isn't registered in their database.

To those who have visited the sites in question in this thread, without warnings of any kind, I'd suggest you get your computers scanned with an updated virus scanner before you log in to your web bank next time.

Probably considered a non-option by most. but it's an option nevertheless. As is evident by this thread, earthly possessions, once acquired, tend to become a pain in the a.. and cause a lot of worries. Give it away - problem solved.

Just read the Stickman's latest weekly column which discusses the topic of this thread. While I'm sure there are expats coming and going every year, I'd tend to agree with the Stickman that more are coming than leaving. Much more...

Stickman's personal gut feelings aren't any more reliable than your gut feelings... Got any reliable research report data to back up that claim which is in contradiction to my guts' tales as well as to the tales of the dried up coffee remains in my coffeecup? To me it seems that more farangs are leaving than coming.

Not quite familiar with the exact location. How far from my 43M 2-bedroom concrete box would I have to climb/parachute/crawl/walk to get to my 10M+ wheels?

If you don't know what the hel_l I am talking about, Nonduality is a spiritual-philosophical tradition, that is based on the notion of the Unity of all life and hence, sees no true individual existences, although from a relative point of view such differences seem to exist. Some of the greatest teachers of Nonduality include Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, Ramesh Balsekar, Poonja and Eckhart Tolle.

Actually, you left out one of the more - if not the most - prominent teachers of non-duality and non-existence of individuals. He lived about 2553 yars ago is is commonly known by the name Buddha. One of the things that made Buddha special as compared to the Brahmins of his time was that he brought the Vedantic concept Advaita one step further than e.g. Nisargadatta and others adhering to the original Vedanta version. Roughly spoken - the main difference between Vedanta and Buddhism is that while the former leaves room for some sort of individualism in the shape of Atman - such things are totally void in Buddhism.

I don't live in Chiang Mai, but if you want to get familiar with the Buddhist version of non-existence of individual selves (anatta) and ultimate voidness (sunnata) I can recommend "Heartwood from the Bodhi Tree" by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu as an excellent primer. You can find an online version at:

Heart Wood from the Bodhi Tree - Buddhadasa Bhikkhu - Project Buddha Society

thank God for thaivisa.com

I've been driving myself crazy trying to find latest developments in Chiang Mai, especially after the rising violence and riot in Bangkok! This is the first I found. I should definitely postpone my June trip to Chiang Mai!

Arigato!!

The Chiang Mai subforum of this site tends to be better for measuring the local climate - you'll find it at:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Chiangmai-Forum-f28.html

hate to burst bubbles, but Lamphun (city) is not in Chiang Mai. It is the capital of the province of same name, which you'll enter about 15 km south and east of the moats - so officially no curfew in lamphun if the provided list is correct.

Wow, can you imagine..even the bars and Seven Elevens were closing by 9pm tonight in PATTAYA PATTAYA. I live in the Naklua area so I don't know about Walking Street. The new Central Shopping Center Beach Road closed early today (good idea). The police in this city aren't the type to be "pro-active" around here so I imagine the Reds could still do their urban damage if they wanted to. (I heard they were gathering around Big C tonight...rumor?)

Next, are the Red thugs still blocking the entrance to the Laem Shabang (sp) seaport?

I just did a loop around Pattaya at 10 pm. Everything is closed. Every restaurant, every bar. A few street vendors are still out trying to make some last minute sales. There were some girls sitting in darkened bars trying to pick up some business. No street girls along the beach. Every 7Eleven and Family Mart is closed. Walking Street is dark.

Assumed, your loop was made in a motor vehicle - not much of a curfew, I'd say...

once the "poor" red shirts figure out looting ( and burning) is on the programme, they will really get with distruction

Ridiculous statement..

--- case rested after a second thought ---

Quite a lot of foreigners do have full citizenship but what I really meant was for foreigners to dissaprove of the red movement in any way.

Do you have a source for the "quite a lot" part?

The Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) has announced curfew in Bangkok and nearby cities and provinces in the North and Northeast earlier placed under emergency law.

People in areas under curfew are not allowed to leave their homes from 8pm to 6am, with immediate effect.

State authorities are allowed to perform their duties in the restricted areas to restore peace and order.

The curfew order was signed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva late this afternoon.

source: Agencies

- 2010-05-19

I'm in Lampang - a city that has often been named "red stronghold". In case that curfew order has been both ordered and submitted to local authorities, they apparently couldn't care less. Passed by the usual sleepy police both, strategically placed in the center of a circle that with a radius of 150 meter would include the major goldshops, the main municipal offices and the central police station - the single officer, manning the booth, was as bored as he always has been. I was on my way back from the largest "mall" in this province (with BIG C as the main shop) and went past such potential terrorist targets as the main compound for the provincial police and the governors residence. Not a trace of anyone having taken the slightest notice of things happening in Bangkok.

This all refers to the situation in Lampang today between 20.30 - 21.30... Knock on woods.

Frozen accounts banned from transactions and money exchange, according to BoT

Specified six corporate include Worth Supplies Co Ltd, BBD Development Co Ltd, BBD Property Co Ltd, SC Asset Corporation, Ruaychai International Group Co Ltd, and Ruaychai Merchandise Co Ltd.

Thai bourse suspends trade in Thaksin-linked SC Asset

BANGKOK, May 19 (Reuters) - The Thai Stock Exchange said it had suspended trading in SC Asset Corporation on Wednesday as authorities had ordered that its bank accounts be frozen.

Stock Exchange of Thailand Torched

UPDATE : 19 May 2010

Protesters have torched the Maruay Library at the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

The SET is located in the Klong Toey area, right next to the Queen Sirikit National Convention center.

The fire is not yet under control as of 3:36 P.M.

http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/tan/ViewData...?DataID=1029532

If a group did this in the west or Singapore, Japan, yes even China, the international press would be calling them TERRORISTS. Why the reluctance of the international press to do so with these Thai reds?

... probably awaiting the blue stamp from some government - can't imagine journalists wouldn't be more than happy to use the term at first chance. Blame press reluctance on the lack of public statements from governments, yet not quite ready to call a spade a spade.

Frozen accounts banned from transactions and money exchange, according to BoT

Specified six corporate include Worth Supplies Co Ltd, BBD Development Co Ltd, BBD Property Co Ltd, SC Asset Corporation, Ruaychai International Group Co Ltd, and Ruaychai Merchandise Co Ltd.

Thai bourse suspends trade in Thaksin-linked SC Asset

BANGKOK, May 19 (Reuters) - The Thai Stock Exchange said it had suspended trading in SC Asset Corporation on Wednesday as authorities had ordered that its bank accounts be frozen.

Stock Exchange of Thailand Torched

UPDATE : 19 May 2010

Protesters have torched the Maruay Library at the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

The SET is located in the Klong Toey area, right next to the Queen Sirikit National Convention center.

The fire is not yet under control as of 3:36 P.M.

http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/tan/ViewData...?DataID=1029532

If a group did this in the west or Singapore, Japan, yes even China, the international press would be calling them TERRORISTS. Why the reluctance of the international press to do so with these Thai reds?

... probably awaiting the blue stamp from some government - blame press reluctance on the lack of public statements from governments, yet not quite ready to call a spade a spade.

Looks like this is very very far from over.

Central world, Paragon, MRT, other important buildings are on fire.

Central Worl, Paragon, Emporium, etc. aren't important buildings except for the owners and those whose lifves are cornered around beeing seen shopping or eating a 100+ bath icecream cone such places. MRT stations are important buildings - particularly to those that never had money for even a motorbike. While blowing up luxury malls, 5000+ hotels and banks at least makes some sense in what some claims to be a class strugle - surely, blowing up the MRT station in the the poorest part of central Bangkok is just plain stupidity - since it is bound to turn away a lot of poor suckers - which thereby can foresee a lot of extra distress in their future struggle for making a living - hat would otherwise have remained at least a bit supportive.

.... I am in a good mood though ....

Having lately read trough about all posts in the first pageful of this forum, it's quite apparent that you already know the drill and what's coming to you. The best advice I can think of is - assumed you didn't let it be with that one drink, while still in a good mood - when you wake up tomorrow: try to recall the sequence of thoughts/moods that led you from the state of being happy and thankful for not having drunk for 32 days to the situation where you now sit enjoying the drink which might be both the first and last drink you'll be enjoying in the forthcoming wet period.

Ups - i realize i missed the point I intended to make, which was triggered by the question: "Why is Chiang Mai the worst possible place?" (to start a low key hobby-sort of business, providing income) - the parenthesis my assumption.

I don't know if it's the worst place, but it must come close due to the circumstance that there are about a trillion retirees in this city, all with a lot of spare time on their hands, quite a large percentage has required a lot of expert skills in their previous live and quite a large percentage of these are more than happy to help humanity free of any charge because they've got all their pension plans etc. to support them.

Not much to be said really. Quite nice that skillful retirees help out less educated without charging a dime ....

I'm already retired but considering some part-time work that I could do over the internet. I'm looking at Chiang Mai as a retirement destination and wondering about other possibilities such as starting a business. Not sure how easy this is but if the money is available then how easy is it for a foreigner (without a thai wife) to start a business in Thailand.

If you've got the required amount for fees etc. - starting a business in Thailand is a piece of cake. The only question is: How much are you willing to spend on this hobby of yours? - (that is money spent on legalities plus money spent on refurnishing the place - maybe for the place' third time in two years - plus etc. minus the few hundred baht a day you might take away from nearby members of the abundance of retirees running a - more or less - copy of your prospected hobby establishment.

Essentially, you ask a foolish question on a foolish place. - The better question to ask - yourself, not a public forum - is: "I've got this idea of a business in CM, how do i beat the competition - particularly the part that can afford to run this kind of business with loss?

Hmm... Just dropped into this thread due to its heading: "Tourist numbers drop by almost one million"... After reading through the first pageful of posts, which DID relate to the thread-title, I jumped to this last page, to check if there should be something to reply to with respect to the thread-title.... Sorry to see, (at least) the last page full of posts seem to be some discussion of how well crime-statistics are performing depending on degree of development in this or that country ... I must admit, I'm a bit disappointed that the thread apparently has turned into something that will be fooling someone interested in the topic promised by its title and not particularly interested in the quality of crime statistic. Seems to me this thread is long time overdone, but never mind - enjoy your piggy back exchanges.

Hi,

Although the heat seems over for this time - she talked nicely to the dogs and didn't slam any doors when she closed them after walking by my workstation last time - this last discussion with threats of police, lawyers, and divorce made me think a bit about alternatives for extensions of my "permitted-to-stay-until" stamp. I'm currently on my fourth 1-year extension on grounds of being married to a Thai but am both old enough and rich enough to meet the requirements for an extension based on retirement. My current TW-extension is valid until October this year. All in all, I've got no immediate problems (I think), but I wonder about the available options to switch from a TW-extension to a retirement extension with as little hassle as possible for a guy in my situation. I know that its perfectly possible and am just concerned about minimizing hassle and costs.There seems to be three possible situations, each with their set of question(s):

1) No divorce procedures launched. Can I go to immigration and get a new 1-year extension based on retirement although there still are several months left on my current 1-year extension based on marriage to a Thai?

2) Divorce procedures launched and ALL relevant authorities properly notified: I figure the situation would be similar to situation 1) except for eventual law inflected bounds on the bank account where the required 800 K sits. Would a divorce procedure in progress mean that those 800 K aren't valid means for a retirement extension?

3) Divorce has become a fact: I figure this means that my TW-extension is absolute from the date the divorce is a legal fact. Would I then get the 7 days extension as for job/wp cancellation that applies to non-imm "B" extions or is the situation different when it's a marriage that has been cancelled? Could I for example go down to immigration and right away apply for a retirement extension (assumed I still got 800 K on a Thai bank account in my name)?

I'm not asking for advice about go talk to a lawyer, nor going to take any advice as a legal fact. I'm just posting to see if someone has some experience in similar matters, they don't mind to share.

I

Could someone please confirm if you apply for O immigrant visa in the UK if your married to a thai that it would be free of charge for the normal 1 year period which is usually 100 pounds.

Why worry? - 100 pound is nothing! - (Nah, bear with me, I'm just joking after having read through a huge number of sad threads about the pound / baht exchange rate on this board).