timinchina

I cant comment on bringing it IN to thailand, but be careful on entering the U.K. my mate got pulled and because he had over £1500 on him in cash they grilled him for 6 hours in a small room.

Nonsense!

Bringing 10 Grand cash out of the UK is likely to set of the alarm bells, so that letter may prove handy at Heathrow

Not true,UK exchange controls dictate that anything over and above 10,000 sterling should be declared and source of funds proven,12,500 Euros for most of EEC but I think you may find Thai Customs and Immigration a little less generous on this count!

If I was you I'd check with Thai embassy in UK for exact amounts.

There was a guy wandering around Tesco's the other day in flip-flops, knee shorts, a sleeveless vest and wrap-around sunglasses (indoors). Just looked stoopid rather than offensive.

Was it just his outfit or was there another reason to make malicious remarks about someone?

Do we really want, that everybody is like everybody else in this world only accepted if fitted personal ethic principles?

Never ever come to Tesco Samui btw. You would be shocked to see, that almost everybody of the crowds there is like that. Maybe they would think about you in the same way.Sad

Fact is,this person in Tesco WAS covered up on top though,even if only just.Last time I heard Wat Tesco hadn't yet been built in Thailand!

P.S.-Watch this space!

I've lived in Spain for many years and it's just as offensive there to walk around the City,enter a restaurant or hail a taxi topless as it is here.The logic being in a taxi/restaurant if you're covered in suntan oil/cream,the next client will be too!

If you go to Ibiza City or anywhere outside of "Lager Lout" San Antonio even on "party island",you will seldom see any tourists uncovered away from the beach area,Barcelona also.

Italy,Portugal are the same plus most Southern European nations!

Normal well adjusted people don't use internet forums (much)

I used this forum to find employment in Bangkok and I'm at work now!

Welcome to "Whingers Corner"!

How would you characterize your post?

So go ahead and tell us your happy stories instead of dropping your generalization bomb, why don't you?

BTW, yeah I enjoy living here very much, but it is a place on earth, and not paradise, so all kinds of things happen here, good, bad, and indifferent.

For example, I was recently pickpocketed on a baht bus and subject to unwelcome indecent exposure, do you expect me to DANCE A JIG about that?

Perhaps different for tourists who are more prone to ignore the darker realities that do exist here in spades.

I lived in Barcelona for 5 years before I moved over here,first to China and now to LOS,the chances of being pickpocketed here compared to Barcelona are miniscule.

I just think a lot of people here need to take a reality check and decide why it is they moved out here and what they realistically expected,that's all!

I'm quite frankly amazed at the number of posts whinging about whingers

Personally,I don't like to whinge but I think you mean "whingeing",don't you?

How did they flee with 8 million? It's not exactly the sort of amount you pull from the bank in cash without arousing suspicion and any other financial instrument could be cancelled.

And yes, I'd take it and run too.

Very simple,wire it out of bank to an offshore company with nominee directors and shareholders in another jurisdiction,once the money's hit it's gone!

(How would you cancel a bank wire once it's hit the beneficiary's account,can't be done!)

I've been reading various postings on this site for about a week now and I'm quite frankly amazed at the number of posts about any negative news in LOS,why not just rename it "Whingers Corner" and have done?

Does anyone actually enjoy living here?

Well this is shocking, what is the source for this information? For months Simon claimed he said something completely different that was not an insult aimed directly at the officials. Was he lying or is this information wrong?

Well he would wouldn't he?

Wouldn't you?

Oh no,here we go all over again!!!

Thats a little better at least you are showing some evidence towards your thinking.

Basic facts from me - I wasn't happy with immigration/crime/under acheiving education system/to big a welfare system etc....

Now this is my own opinion and based upon reading newspapers/on line journals/conversation with people and other sources of information.

Are you trying to make this easy for me? This is my central point. People such as yourself through the wrong perception of how life has gone wrong in the UK, have unintentionally truly messed the place up. My central contention is that it is you (not the immigrants/education system/welfare system)-- the Daily Mail reader-- that has ruined the UK. You must read my two examples again.

The truth of the matter is that most people have similar concerns which is supported by the Home Office poll which i put a link too.

Exactly. This is like shooting fish in the barrel. If you had shown otherwise my argument would have been lost. You can walk into any pub in England and immediately identify your way of thinking as the central discourse in those that identify with the language of the Daily Mail (the 'middle englanders')

Where are your ideas coming from about farangs being a force for good, pioneers for Western civilisation?

Are you doing a history or sociology course based around history of migrant movement!

I'm trying to be serious but cannot help laughing when reading/saying farangs see themselves as pioneers for western civilisations forces

Have you read why the other people came to Thailand ! go on have a read and then tell me if these people saw/see themselves as pioneers for Western civilising forces!

Have you checked the calendar lately

This is draining and way off from my central contention. Just as I totally blew away your position on the Thai thinking I could do the same with your thinking of foreigners. But I am not your performing Monkey. You need to do this yourself. Go out and read deep.

Try: Skair , Leslie, 2005 "The Transnational Capitalist Class and Contemporary Architecture in Globalizing Cities", International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 29/3 (Sep):485-500

Go out and get laid...please!

I think people who disregard others as fools if theyre one of the many millions who read the Daily Mail /The Sun as jumped up <deleted>, would these people be as superior as yourself if they read the FT? or didnt read the news at all? Or read whatever socialist sh7te you form your opinions from.

Groan. I don't recall calling them fools. I think their pereptual framework of the World is wrong. They are not well read. The sources for their thinking are inadequate and inppropriate.

It is interesting you think I'm socialist. I have, as you may now understand, a rather nuanced understanding of the World. I am certainly a libertarian, but to say more would be a parody of my position.

You must have been to a Uni mill to churn out such rubbish 2:1 in Business Studies im guessing.

No one thinks the govt have all the answers, just 50% of our money to come up with better solutions.

PS I read every newspaper theyre all free online before you try to come across as superior by calling me a Mail reader, but are Guardian readers ok in your eyes?

I'm not sure I can be bothered responding to personal attacks. Whatever I say, you will have a well-honed glib response ready for me.

To understand the World, you need to go beyond reading newspapers. You need deep reading. You must not feel that when someone knows more than you they are being patronising. Take it on the chin and try to better yourself. Anti-intellectualism is a curiously British characteristic. For the time being, you are being played by a complex nexus of government and media. I wish you well.

Bury your head in a book,that'll teach you about life!

Did you come to Thailand to lose your virginity at 40?

Whatever the reason/outcome of the move I think it takes a lot of courage to leave the norm's and "comforts" of home and try a new way of life in another Country.

I'm not an Expat (yet), I live in the UK, but I often look around me and wonder how many of my fellow Countryman would have the courage to make such a move.

I also have respect for the immigrants in the UK who have left their Homeland and try a new way of life here

It also takes a lot of courage to battle on in one's home country, sometimes, accepting the responsibilities of family life and doing one's civic duty in the country of one's birth.

I worked for many years as an expatriate - and I admire those of my friends who stayed in their home country, raised kids and grand-kids, had worthwhile careers as teachers, or in the military, or caring professions; while I was earning more money, living in company-provided accomodation, and moving on when I had had enough.

It does not take "balls" to run away from your responsibilities - which some, not all of course, expatriates have done.

FILTH - "Failed in London, try Hong Kong". Many expatriates are second-raters, who simply could not make the grade in their home country.

Sounds like you include yourself in that,don't beat yourself up so much!

I've just moved out of Barcelona to live in South-East Asia,I work in finance and ran my own company in Catalunya,saw the credit crunch coming and took a year off last year.

Fact is I've always made 10 times the amount of money working on commission as an expat.than I've ever made in miserable old Blighty,lucky me!

I heard even the Iraqis and Afghannis that sneaked into Britain under a lorry want to go back to their home countries now as they'd prefer to live in a war-zone than modern-day Britain!

I have respect for people that make their home there working as professionals paying the highest tax in the World for alcohol,cigarettes and petrol,whilst being afraid to leave the house after dark for fear of being set upon by packs of roaming,feral youths high on "skunk" and stella waiting to record "happy slappings" on their mobile phones...good luck to 'em all!

Respect...or maybe sympathy would be a better word!

I work as a financial advisor and if I didn't turn up in a suit,I wouldn't get the job!Plus everywhere in Bangkok,taxis are air-conditioned to -10 degrees!

If I'm wearing shorts and vest and know I'll be taking a taxi,I take a jacket with me for long trips otherwise my teeth are chattering by the end of the journey!

I have a double entry visa from Beijing,China.Does this mean I have to leave after 30 days to enter a 2nd time for another 30,then extend for 30 more days to make 90 or can I stay for 60 days without leaving then another 60 days,then extend this for another 30 days...thanks,confused!!!

What is your nationality?

For citizens of a western country a tourist visa is normaly 60 days, which you can extend by 30 days for 1,900 baht. After that leave the country and return and you can do the same again. So you can extend both entries by 30 days.

Keep in mind the expiry date of the visa. You must enter the 2nd time before that date!

Hi Mario,I'm British.

So I don't actually have to leave after 60 days,I have a 60 day double entry visa that I can extend for 30 days.

You say I must enter the 2nd time before expiration of the date on the visa,I'm guessing that will be about 90 days/3 months after it was issued but I will check,is that correct so far?

I have a double entry visa from Beijing,China.Does this mean I have to leave after 30 days to enter a 2nd time for another 30,then extend for 30 more days to make 90 or can I stay for 60 days without leaving then another 60 days,then extend this for another 30 days...thanks,confused!!!

Hey be careful! I'm Irish, I know girls didn't just go for me because of my hunky good looks and magnetic personality! You use whatever you have - and you sound jealous!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm 1/4 Irish, so I can direct a little self-depreciating humor at myself.

Neither is yours so stop lecturing others as though only you have the answer to all the world's questions.

OK, I'll do that when you stop lecturing me about what I can and cannot say or how I can or cannot say it.

So you're American then?

On reflection,having read all 40 pages of postings the whole thing seems to be a comedy of errors but the Thai officials don't seem in my mind to have done too much wrong in detaining somebody they believed to be travelling on a false passport.

There are conflicting reports as to whether the British Embassy at first confirmed or denied that the passport was false,unfortunately Simon was only seeing the whole process from his side,i.e,his bags coming back off the plane and the flight departing without him.

The other side of the coin being if he HAD been travelling on a false passport and the official had not been as thorough,that official would be severely reprimanded by his/her superiors.

The problem is of course the Customs must be allowed to do their job no matter how long it takes without being abused,verbally or otherwise,throw in the inefficiency of the British Embassy and you have a real recipe for disaster.

Was anyone really at fault here,probably not,the Embassy staff were sticking to their working hours,the Border control staff were just doing their job and Simon was understandably frustrated at missing his connecting flight and being kept in the dark as to why,had the passport turned out to be false the authorities would have been unwise in the extreme to pre-warn him as to the line of questioning they would be taking.

So now it just comes down to letting justice run it's course,hopefully lessons will be learned and Simon will be sent on his way,unlikely ever to return to Thailand...I say hopefully in the most optimistic way!

It just seems to be a case of mistaken identity but what if he'd been a terrorist on his way to begin a wave of bombings in London,this would then be a very different story,that's why the Customs officials must be allowed to do their job without interruption.

I can only wish Simon the best of luck and I hope he can move on with his life once this is all over,at least nobody died here!

Yes, it could be, just like if you go up to a policeman and tell him to F off, he might take you for a night or two in the cells and if he really wanted to, you could be charged with breach of the peace or something.

Remember that immigration officials are actually police, you can't go around swearing and being racist towards them and expect nothing will happen.

Hence my earlier comments.

The powers of H.M.Customs and Excise in Britain FAR outweigh the powers of any

police officer in any force throughout the land,the power they wield is actually quite frightening.

They can detain you and keep you locked up as long as they want on nothing more than suspicion,I believe they can also come and search your house on a whim,no warrant asked or required.

It pays to respect such powerful people even more than the police.I think the man in question,though educated in the Martial Arts was not educated in the etiquette of dealing with such people,he is now paying the price for that and will be suitably educated on his release!

Guilty as charged!

Another arogant Pom goes where he belongs.

There are clear messages posted at airport enterances warning about abusive language directed at custom officials.

Nice to see Thai authorities taking a stance over these eletist Engilish wide boys

How an un-educated Australian that cannot even spell correctly can have the bare-faced cheek to call ANY other race arrogant(NOT arogant,btw!)is just breathtaking!

For the record,I was in Sydney for the fireworks on New Year's Eve with a friend,we spent 5 days there and couldn't get out fast enough,miserable,moaning,whingeing Aussies,if you had more than 2 beers in the same bar they'd refuse to serve you!

We got hassled on the way in and way out,my travelling buddy put Bar Manager on his immigration card and they were asking him how he could afford to be there.He owns 4 pubs outright(now 5 actually)and is a millionaire but was being a bit modest,I'm a financier and suitably liquid too,we couldn't believe it.My friend vowed NEVER to go back there.Fortunately I've been to Darwin,Northern Territories,the Outback 8 or 9 years ago and had a great time so I MAY venture back there one day!

I don't see how anyone can really comment on this case,it's all just speculation unless you were there and heard him threaten the Customs Official with serious bodily harm.That said,a lengthy jail sentence even for that seems to be complete overkill,a couple of nights or even 3 weeks in the cells to cool down would have been adequate for such an infraction IMHO.

Don't know the guy or his newspaper but it sounds like he's a bit of an idiot,if he's so wasted he obviously turned up 15 years ago for the full-moon parties himself,now he decides he's had enough of them and starts slandering local people(who may or may not be innocent) on his own website!

I'm sorry to hear he got shot but if you play with fire...you're gonna get burned!

There's plenty of places he can go for peace and quiet in Thailand and if the island no longer appeals to him...move on!

Trying to change life on the island to suit himself is arrogance in the extreme,let's hope he has the good sense to NOT go back or continue his crusade...it doesn't take a genius to work out the next time he'll be leaving in a wooden box!

If he has any friends at all they should be doing everything and anything they can to explain this to him in no uncertain terms.

I don't know him or KPG but know it's a party island,I've lived in Ibiza,Spain for many years and the disco mafia there are infamous,anybody taking them on would be a fool,obviously the same goes for KPG.

I hope he makes a speedy recovery and am a complete neutral in this but I sincerely hope he is not stupid enough to return once he is better.

This is a very sad story...give me this girls phone number so I can tell her how deeply she has wounded you...it's the only way I'll be able to sleep tonight!

Think you'll find plenty of gogos owned by the BiB!The Peppermint on Walking Street being a prime example,I know because I have a friend who enquired about buying it!

I've flown business with EVA and they're not flat beds anyway,it's the equivalent of trying to sleep on a Hannibal Lecter style trolley minus the straightjacket and hockey mask!

Plus can you really drink £1,000 of free champagne and wine,the answer is no...although I have tried!