NHC

I am looking for some insight into why the lady in my life wants to go to the temple for a week. She cannot explain it well enough for me to understand, so I am hoping some bright spark here might enlighten me

Something she also says about her being a Buddhist and me being one of those Christian people and harmony and some other stuff.

TIA.

As a so called "Christian" you should immediately know your position on this issue. First and foremost a Christian does not marry nor do they become involved in a serious relationship with a non-Christian. It's what Christ following Christians call being 'unequally yoked'. It's covered quite thoroughly in the new testament scriptures by the apostle Paul. Now, having said that, you obviously love her or you would not be with her right? Perhaps not. In any case, I would encourage you to discourage her from going to a temple for a week and perhaps instead, take her to a Christian Thai church service where she can hear the Gospel thereby seeing things from God's perspective. It could potentially be the best thing you could do for her. If she rejects your suggestion then perhaps you will see that in fact Christians and non-Christians should not be together. Try it.

NHC

[quote name='Dave the Dude' date='2009-05-06 08:34:03' post='2715463'

I have a waterlogged paddyfield ...

Dave

SUCKER!!!

I am trying to get a 20' container of house hold goods and personal effects from just southwest of Seattle through Thai customs in BNK and delivered to house in Phayao, Thailand and was wondering how to go about it as far as getting things through customs and such. I am married to a Thai national and will be starting a university teaching job in June. If anyone has had experience with this, I would greatly appreciate any insight into this. Thanks. RWT

Yes, I have experience with this exact situation. First of all use Rainier Shipping Company based the Seattle area. Here is their contact information.

Doug Wiviott

Director, International Business Development

I checked prices and reputation up and down the west coast of the US and found Doug to be the most competent and his price was fair.

Regarding Thai customs. Do NOT hire a Thai clearing company to clear your container through Thai customs. Here is what I did.

When the the container is getting ready to be off-loaded by the ships normal offloader in Thailand the ships expediter will call you at your Thailand phone number. They will tell you that your stuff has arrived and you should come down to clear it after such and such date.

At that point get your Thai wife to get directions to the Thai Customs clearing offices near the docks in Bangkok. Go down there with here and all your paperwork from the shipping company. As you walk up to the building a woman or a man will usually approach you and ask if you need help clearing your shipment with Thai customs. Here is where it gets tricky. If you seem to think that particular person is "ok" them go on in to the office with them and have your wife ask the officer behind the glass if the guy or girl that is helping you is "ok" or not. They will say yes or maybe say get another person to help you. It's your choice. Most of the customs guys will be honest and tell you if an urchin has attached themselves to you. They know them all.

Once you have established that you can trust the guy you are with then he will walk you and your wife through the maze of offices and paperwork required. As a Farang, it's best to keep a low profile and let your wife handle most if not all of the negotiations. The expediter will take you to several different locations until finally you arrive at the dock or warehouse where your container is. At this point you can have your wife instruct the expediter to bargain whether of not the container is "opened" or not. If they open it they will find extras to charge you for and generally will cost you more than you already paid at the first stop. So, have your wife pay a suggested amount to the customs agent sitting behind a desk upstairs at the warehouse to NOT open the container. That amount can vary depending on what is on your itemized list and how much money the customs guy need that month. I suggest that the amount should not exceed 3000 baht for a full container to "not" be opened.

Once he signs the paper you are almost home free. Now your expediter will negotiate for delivery of your container to your address in Thailand. He will already have the contacts for this. Usually a family member or friend that has a container hauling truck. That fee for delivery may be anywhere from 4000 to 8000 baht depending on where it must go.

This is the cheapest way to get your stuff. If you have the bucks and don't want to hassle it just ask oug at Rainier to arrange delivery with their Thailand based sister company. It will cost you dearly though.

Chok dee

NHC

Yeah, I like Obama...

Can I get ya another glass of grape cool-aid friend?

...sigh

<THE PROBLEM WITH THE ABOVE IS: The US banks do not allow a person to wire funds through wire transfer unless they are physically present at the bank branch to sign off on the paperwork. The one exception is if you have a co-signer on the account that can go to your bank in the US and personally sign the paperwork at the bank. That has been my experience being an American and also the experience of my American friends here in Thailand.

Thoughts anyone? GO!>

Not true. Depends on your US bank. I bank with BOA. I simply logged on, setup an "outside account", scrolled down to "Bangkok Bank", entered the routing and account number, and they send TWO small transfers (around a dollar each) to verify that the account is correct (no charge), and within 48 hours you verify that the amounts have arrived. Log back in, enter the amounts as transferred, and you are done. I then was able to wire $25,000 usd from BOA to Bangkok Bank, which arrived in my account in 48 hours. Wire charge was $9.00 usd. Maybe you're having trouble with your bank, but there is no law restricting wire transfers without you being there in person. There "may" be a restriction if your bank does not have a Thai bank on its list. BOA does. No problem. Everything accomplished over the Internet without speaking to anyone. From here on, it's a simple "transfer between accounts". Hope this helps.

Ok granted Bank of America may have this set up the way you describe. I deal exclusively with Wells Fargo Bank and my other friends deal with Washington Mutual Bank or Union Bank. We all pretty much collectively HATE Bank of America since they seem to ding folks for almost every bit of business a guy does with them.

At this point, that water has already flowed under the bridge, at least for me. I went "all in" about a month+ ago when the Baht was at 36.00. I opened up two accounts at Kasikorn. Both savings. One for the 800,000 and one for playing and building my house here. The one problem I ran into was the form required by the Bank of Thailand. The one that wants to know why you are bringing hundreds of thousands of US dollars into Thailand. (i.e. - what purpose) Well, Kasikorn LOST the paperwork on my big account and then they froze the funds and basically blamed me for not filing this paperwork with the Bank of Thailand. That was scary for a few days until I went in and sorted it out with the manager of the bank. (Fashion Island Branch) Amazingly, even after I demonstrated that it was totally their fault for losing the paperwork and that I had, in fact, filled it out and signed it, I never received an apology.

That's what I get for staying calm and smiling and nodding a lot. Bunch of Jackasses. TIT. Sigh...

The best way is:

1. Use your abroad e-banking system to wire the money into your Thai account. Make sure you transfer in your foreign currency, USD/EUR/NOK or so on. That way the transaction is exchanged in Thailand for a competitive rate. Usually takes 2 days.

2. All banks have counter Visa card machine. Withdraw (for my case) up to 250,000 Baht per transaction. And deposit to your Thai account. You will get Visas exchange rate plus your local banks markup (usually 1.5%) if any. Fastest way!

THE PROBLEM WITH THE ABOVE IS: The US banks do not allow a person to wire funds through wire transfer unless they are physically present at the bank branch to sign off on the paperwork. The one exception is if you have a co-signer on the account that can go to your bank in the US and personally sign the paperwork at the bank. That has been my experience being an American and also the experience of my American friends here in Thailand.

Thoughts anyone? GO!

My Thai 'ex' went to consult an important Mor doo (fortune teller) in her village yesterday on the occasion of Songkran.

This old woman said that in the future, 'farang' would rule Thailand!

Asked if the Thais would fight the farang, the Mor Doo said no - the Thais will fight and kill each other and the Thais who are not killed will welcome the farang as their new rulers....

It must be true - the Mor Doo said so

Simon

Interesting. If you think about it, another spiritual book says the exact same thing. ALL countries and peoples will come under the central rule of a all-poweful person. A world-wide ruler. That person will be the Anti-Christ according to the book. Now whether or not that person is a Farang (Caucasian) remains to be seen.

According to the Mor Doo it will be a Farang. I tend to agree. No surprise there since since Farang money is the single most powerful force in Thailand today.

THE FARANG BURDEN

I often have to quell my laugh

Upon hearing the Thai people say,

"Never have we been occupied..."

But look at them today.

Playing the quiet fools off-stage

We Farang wait in stealth

Long nosed hordes breach the gates

Our weapon is our wealth.

Unaccustomed to Farang ways

The indigenous stand in wonder

While puppet Thai's receive their bribes

And lawyers protect our plunder.

The Farang burden has come to this

Drunken sods, teachers and fools

Pack your sh*t, CV submit

You're wanted in Thai schools!

By NHC

Maybe he forgot he was in Thailand and not Canada.

Interesting to note here. When I was growing up in Hawaii during the 60's and 70's a statistic came out around 1979 as I recall that found that Canadians, out of all the different nationalities that lived and visited Hawaii were murdered more often than any other nationality.

That is not to say that Canadians were the largest nationality to reside or vacation in Hawaii. By no means. That would have been the Japanese at that time. Now, you may extrapolate this information any way you wish in relation to this story of the Canadian arrested in Thailand and now crying foul. But I think an obvious conclusion can be drawn about the Canadians...much like the French.

Paddy here are a few of the points made

Even people who never got used to the taste- or shall I admit tastelessness- of soy added it in hopes of reaping the benefits of those amazing nutrients. Isoflavones, genisteins, lectins, saponins, and phytoestrogens- don't these wonderful names signal a whole host of cancer fighting, heart disease preventing, cholesterol-lowering miracles?

What if I said that those fancy words are actually toxins and the soya bean is naturally loaded with all of them? What if I told you that big business soy ran campaigns like Soy 2000 to convince us that these antinutrients were beneficial? What if I told you that soy is not a complete protein, is not widely used in Asia, and is incredibly dangerous for human consumption? What if I told you that the Food and Drug Administration lists soy as a poisonous plant?

Here's a brief overview of Daniel's findings:

soy oil was the first and primary profit centre for soy, and soy was largely responsible for the spread of hydrogenated or trans fats

most soy is genetically modified

soy farming is wreaking greater devastation on forests, cottage industries, and family farms than the cattle industry. (If you mistakenly thought soy was a bunch of hippie farmers, like I did, Dr. Daniel tells it like it is: "Let's name names. Monsanto, Dupont, Archer Daniels Midland, Solae . . . Nearly all the old hippie companies have been bought up by the big boys. For example, White Wave is owned by Dean Foods. Some of America's largest food companies now manufacture soy foods or use soy ingredients heavily in their products. Think Kraft, Kellogg, ConAgra, General Mills, Heinz, Unilever Best Foods and Dean Foods.")

soy is a major allergen, and because it is used as filler in hundreds of products including meats and 'vegetable oil,' people with allergies may be at risk

soy contains goitrogens, which damage the thyroid

soy contains lectins, which cause red blood cells to lump together and may trigger abnormal immunity responses

soy contains oligosaccarides, sugars that cause bloating and gas

soy contains oxalates, which prevent calcium absorption, cause painful kidney stones and vulvodynia, a vaginal disorder

many plant foods contain phytates and phytic acid, naturally occurring 'pesticides' to keep plants from being eaten while growing. phytates impair mineral absorption, and in fact, remove many minerals already in the body, including iron, zinc, and calcium. phytates in many foods are alleviated by cooking - soy's phytate levels are high and stubborn.

isoflavones, lauded as natural estrogens, are serious endocrine disruptors, lowering testosterone, causing menstrual disorders, and cancer cell proliferation

protease inhibitors interfere with digestive enzymes, saponins may lower good cholesterol and damage intestine

that all of these plant chemicals can have benefits, and do exist in other foods, to varying levels of edibility: that soaking grains and fermenting beans are ancient food prep traditions

soymilk is far from a natural food: it is filled with rancid fats and high in sugar

soy cheeses are largely made with hydrogenated oils (safety level of hydrogenated products? ZERO)

some health problems that may be associated with soy foods are: bladder, prostate, colorectal, thyroid and breast cancer; precancerous lesions; heart disease; type 2 diabetes; malnutrition; stunted growth; flatulence; pancreatic problems; low libido: early puberty; anemia; zinc deficiency; osteoporosis; intestinal damage; mal-absorption and leaky gut syndrome; kidney stones; allergies; infant death; immune system disruption; thyroid disease - and the list goes on.

As I said after living with a vegatarian for a long time I believed it to be beneficial to good health. Seems not?

This is shocking! But no more shocking then this article. "Soy is making kids gay" You'll have to google it since I cannot give the link here. Google gives it top billing.

These series of reports blew my mind and made me look at Thailands gay population with some understanding as to why so many ladyboys abound. Proactive: Soy products and soy bean bi-products are officially banned on the NHC ranch and I've stopped humming Broadway show tunes. Although...I am tempted to grow the product and ship it off to Japan. Is that so wrong? Decisions, decisions.

NHC

Not to mention the 25% fee...on a 6 mil house that is 1.5 mil to add to the cost... not a bad earn if you can get it. Remember he is probably not just working for you at the same time, maybe 1 or 2 or more others also.

But that project managment fee whatever it may be, could save you millions if your having a house built & not supervising it for whatever reason.

Your be sure the builder has not disaperead with your money, this is not un-heard of believe me

There are many things to consider, "Why should I hire a Project Manager?".

Does anone have contact information for "excaliber"? He is not answering his PM's and I would like to discuss having a set of building plans drawn up ASAP. Any help with contact phone number or email would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys. Please PM me if you can help.

Cheers, NHC