Jaggg88

1) In Spain the cultural fare is far more interesting: art, music, theatre, architecture, etc, etc are some of the best in the world, and far superior to the dummy arts that you find in Thailand.

2) You can have damn good conversations and fruitful discussions with Spaniards, things which are extremely rare in Thailand.

3) In Spain, many kinds of alcohol and especially wine are far cheaper and far easier to find than in Thailand.

Those are the three things that come immediately to mind. I'd move to Spain if I could afford it, but I can't.

If you avoid the obvious tourist spots then Spain is cheaper than Thailand. Meals out are more expensive but wine is far cheaper ( I get a very decent wine from the Bodega for about 1.20 euro / 45 bht) Many Spanish people think my Thai wife is Spanish and always speak to her in Spanish, much to my pleasure as she doesn't speak a word of their language. My wife is a British passport holder so we get all the benefits of EU citizenship. They do get cold weather in the winter - it was wet and only 4c when we were there in February but just a week later it was 23c. The infrastructure is first class (paid for by EU grants) trains, boats, buses, motorways/freeways and airports. The schools are also very good. I also feel much safer on a ferry in Spain than Thailand.

The bottom line for me though is that my wife wants to be near her family so Adiós España and Hola Tailandia.

Christians pray to an invisible God, as do Moslems.

What difference does it make what religeon you are as long as YOU believe and don't interfere with other religeons.

My wife and son rarely pray and they are nominally Buddhist.

As for me, I am am retired Christian yet every time I open a bottle of whisky I offer the first capful to the spirits of the land where we live as a token of thanks.

Would you call that praying? If so, what religeon would you call it?

I would call that whisky worship - makes as much sense as any other religion

I have found ibuprofen gives relief to my back pain (after spinal operation) and sciatica. It does not act as a blood thinner so will not affect you in that manner. It also has minimal effect on the liver.

Long term use causes damage to the kidneys

2,475 Thb !so banks are not the only ones who take advantage of us.

regards Worgeordie

should the taxpayer pay for you.?

whemn you want to have a costefficient governement then you should be charged!

Cost efficient is fine by me but profitable!! A couple of years ago I read that the consular division in BKK made nearly £500m profit. Not bad for a not for profit organisation. 2475 bht is nearly £50 and it takes about 2 minutes work (I know because I've been there to have it done). I saw a job advertised at the UK Embassy for Thai staff and it paid about £700 per month.

My wife has just done this journey in reverse. Her Thai passport had expired but Emirates Airline accepted it as proof she did not need a visa for Thailand ( a 6 week stay). Thai immigration did not bat an eyelid when she arrived. They just said to renew before she exited Thailand. Please read 7by7's post as he is always well informed.

I attribute it to so much soy in the Thai diet which mutates and feminizes male chromosomes.

And more recently, the huge amount of hormones injected into the chickens has also messed up male chromosomes.

That, in my opinion, is why there are so many ladyboys. And I stand by it.

If you get out of the cities most of the chicken they eat is raised in the village without any hormones or any kind of drugs at all. There is a very high percentage of lady boys here in the rural areas...and I will bet a good many f them in the city and other sex tourist come from rural Thailand, just like many of the bar girls do.

Can you please explain how any diet can mutate chromosomes?

Is this new science or just something you came up with?

I believe DNA and chromosomes are established before birth and can't be altered after birth.

The best theory to date is that a hormone unbalance in the mothers womb can cause a male foetus to develop a female brain and visa versa for the female foetus. This theory is based on the level of Testosterone in the early development of the foetus. Too much and the female foetus develops a male brain and too little and a male foetus will develop a female brain. This hasn't been proven yet but it does make sense.

My son was born in the UK and my Thai wife took all the UK documents to the Embassy in London who registered his birth and issued a Thai passport. He has dual nationality which will help him when he starts a career. International travelling is also easier with a UK passport. I would strongly advise you to get dual nationality for your daughter before either or both countries change their rules.

How would a person teach English in Thailand if they can not speak Thai?

The whole lesson is taught in English - the teacher does not have to speak Thai. The teachers are supposed to have a degree but many do not, they just have a TEFL or ESOL qualification. Priority is given to native English speakers. Given that this guy is a convicted criminal he will never get past a police check. His biggest mistake was not bothering to apply for naturalisation so he is now paying the price.

Ive had 3 laptops and everything around the hd's has failed but never the hard drive itself. Still the faster bit works for me

rijit

Really? I'm an IT professional and 75% of laptop problems are HDD failures - most other issues are minor. SSD are really just a bunch of memory sticks - now I had a memory stick spend 6 weeks in the wash m/c (stuck under the rubber seal door seal) and after drying out still worked. Try that with a HDD.

You can book bassinet seats on the aircraft (I think all long haul carriers do them without charge). Its a bulkhead seat with a cot (bassinet) fixed to the wall in front of you which gives you and baby a break. We took our son when he was 10 months old and he was very good on the plane. There's no need to break the journey as at 8 months old everything is normal for the baby they will take it in there stride. However I would worry about not having aircon if it gets really hot. Perhaps you could hire a mobile unit from Trang. The mozzy nets are a must as its important not to let the baby get bitten as Dungue Fever is very prevalent now. We had a baby buggy with a baby seat attached and found this the best combo in BKK.

Som tam/ papaya salad. (no pla raa though)

This is one of the few healthy Thai dishes

A Pulse.

and the ability to take her false teeth out

This concerns Microsoft Security Essentials. I'm sure users can and will find other solutions.

Actually no, it concerns all MS Security products, Forefront, SCEP etc. Because I have 300 of the b*****D's I'm still stuck with.

AVG and Avast Free are probably the best bet for those clinging on, but they are little protection to an increasingly vulnerable OS.

I agree with your post except I don't agree XP is an increasingly vulnerable OS. Hackers and virus geeks attack the most common OS as this affects the most people and is the OS that they will most likely be working with. Linux is the most open unprotected OS of all but is rarely attacked. Apple users are always boasting that they don't suffer the same attacks as windows users but they are protected by the fact a common or garden hacker is not usually an expensive Apple user. We are about to move on to Windows 10 so lets look forward to the next round of battles with the hackers and virus geeks. I don't think an XP user has much to fear.

I sincerely hope N.Z. has the necessary balls to tell this regime where they can stick their archaic and repressive law......................

Some of the LM is something that would be highly illegal in every country....not only if it is about the King/President....I let it to your imagination what that might be.

But I have no idea what it was in this case. Other cases are known...

Not in my home country.

In the US, you can insult the head of State (the President) in the most explicit terms, 24 hours a day.

The repercussion will be that your friends may abandon you as a "whack job"; but there is no law against it as long as you do not make threats of violence.

Fortunately there is absolutely no comparison between Barack Obama and the most loved man in this country.

The Thais have their laws and the United States and United Kingdom etc, have theirs. End of.

But there is a comparison with Queen Elizabeth 2 who is head of state for UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other commonwealth countries but whose subjects are free to criticize or say how they feel about her without any fear of legal retribution. In fact they have regular debates about whether she should remain as head of state - this is called democracy and freedom of speech, something I think every world citizen should be entitled.

There are lots of threads and posts on here about the best solution for the dog that chases you

I have tried all of the suggestions and until I was bitten by one about a year ago just passed it off as one of those things you have to accept if you are a runner, walker or cycler like me

Not wishing to be hounded off my favourite sport I came up with a good solution which has been 100% successful and is is a golf number 1 driving club made out of graphite without the head.

Only weighs a few grams and can be easily stowed on a bike or maybe even finely balanced by a runner, for a walker it doesn't even look out of place.

Owning two surrogate dogs that serves as our kids I am also a dog lover and would not use it as a weapon on any dog but just waving it around does the trick and they quickly lose any interest in chasing you.

Just curious: If it's something lightweight, which it would have to be for running, and waving it the dog(s) proves it(them), it wouldn't be useful to protect you, would it?

Dogs don't like any kind of stick - even a light weight stick will sting like hell. Dogs look for fear so show no fear and wave the stick - you don't have to use it, just wave it.

here's my suggestion;-

Wife to Immigration Officer

Wife: "My husband has work visa but wants to give up work and get marriage visa"

IO: "We cannot change work visa or the extension to marriage extension, your husband must go to a consulate outside of Thailand and obtain a non 'O' visa which can later be issued 12 months extension to stay based on marriage."

Wife "Is there a cheaper or easier way to do this?"

IO: "Yes cancel work visa and just leave Thailand and return with a visa exempt (tourist visa) and we can convert that here to a non 'O' which can later be issued with 12 months extension based on marriage."

Wife to husband

Wife: "You need to cancel work visa and leave Thailand and return with tourist visa which they can convert to marriage visa here at this office - will take 2 weeks"

I doubt the wife fully understood all the instructions, as most of us didn't when we first came to LOS, so she opted for the easy answer - which is basically true but not necessarily the best advice.

I find it amusing that typically bottom of the barrell guys in their home country seem to think they get so Hansum when they catch a plane that they are eligible for hi so society!!!!

I would love to marry taylor swift but its going to take another 6 zeros in my bank accountant and for all the stars allign 4 times over for her to even look at me

Shakira declined my marriage proposal because although i can play guitar i can not sing.

I had a chance with Taylor but when I realised how tall she was I cancelled the date

Have to laugh, that many farangs believe Thai girls with even the remotest of Chinese ancestry are Hi-so, especially considering probably the majority of Thai people have a Chinese ancestor in their family tree somewhere, including women of ill repute and the underclasses of Thai society.

Any decent middle to upper class Thai woman would never consider getting involved with a farang, in fact most Thais believe forming relationships with farangs is a step down the social ladder.

I think that if a farang has to buy his way into a relationship with a Thai woman, says a lot about the lack of amour propre regarding all parties concerned. Anyone willing to pay millions of bahts for the hand of a Thai woman, has to be a very sad individual indeed.

Most Thais most certainly do not have Chinese ancestors in their family. If they did, this probably wouldn't be a third world country. Any Chinese-Thai I've met (and there are many, purely on a professional basis I might add) are all diligent, intelligent, financially tuned in and ambitious.

Therefore, most Thais do not have Chinese ancestors.

No disrespect to you or the Thais intended.

Agh no disrespect to you but 40% Thai people part Chinese.

ethnic Thai 75%, Thai Chinese 14%, other 11%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Thailand#Ethnic_groups_2

approx 9,400,000

Thais of significant Chinese heritage (14% of the Thai population)[1]

up to 26,000,000

Thais of at least partly Chinese descent (around 40% of the Thai population) (2012)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Chinese

Ah! some facts instead of opinions - very impressed

I have renewed my marriage visa extension for the third time now at Chiang Mai Immigration office and not once have they suggested I change to a retirement visa/extension even though I am 68 years old.

My thinking is that they would only suggest this if my pension was well over the 65K Baht requirement.

How many members on this forum renew their marriage visa extension at the Chiang Mai office and how many have been asked/advised to change it to a retirement visa/extension?

Just curious as so far I have had no problems.

I agree. If your monthly earnings dont exceed 65000 then why would they encourage you to change to a retirement extension. I suspect they do this as an extension based on retirement is less paperwork for them so if you earn over 65000 a month they want you to change. If the OP's military pension exceeds 40000 a month he could apply for a marriage extension and not worry about bank accounts, as Ubonjoe suggested.

I expect Sepp Blatter will join the UN when he's forced to resign from FIFA - he'll slot right in

Don't expect UeFA to help as France Spain and Russia all voted for Blatter.

FIFA is just a private company so we should setup our own - call it WIFA or something similar and invite countries to join. Once all the major countries have joined then FIFA's sponsors would withdraw and FIFA would fold. Any countries found guilty of corruption would be banned from joining.

If you use back ups that are synchronized then your back ups will also be infected. The encryption makes changes to your files so the synchronizing software detects this and backs them up overwriting your clean data. Some cloud storage sites keeps a history or archive of your files which allows you to revert to an earlier version - MS Onedrive does this with Win 8.1.

For those that aren't aware TOR (The Onion Ring) Network Project uses multiple layers to make it difficult to track people/servers, but not impossible. This is where Dark Net/Dark Web services resides. Everything illegal uses TOR (which is basically a vpn) to hide from the authorities which is why its called Dark Net.

Last year i was with my family on holidays in Nong Khai.I was running out of medication for hypertension. I was taking Aprovel 150 mg.

The cost,then, in Surin was 900 baht for 28 tablets.

I went to a pharmacy in the local shopping mall.and the price quoted was 2900 baht for 28 tablets.

These meds are imported from France!

I have not been able to find a locally made equivalent.

Irbesartan is the generic name for Aprovel - it is generically identical and much cheaper.

Nigel Pearson the hot headed Leicester manager who had a touchline punch up with a player an is known for his

short temper. An now his son gets upto no good. Wot a nice family. NOT

An as for Leicester wot a sh-thole.

I suspect you've never been to Leicester so why do you think you're qualified to describe it as a sh-thole?

An extension based on Marriage requires 400K in an account in his name only. If you base it on 40K income that income has to be his income and I don't think money coming into a business will qualify unless he is being paid a salary and paying taxes. That of course means he must have a work permit. These two amounts can be combined between income and money in the bank. I.e. 200K in the bank would mean he must show an income of 280K per year.

Wrong.

It has to be Income OR Money in the bank.

Cannot be combined .

If you apply for an extension based on retirement you can combine income and money in the bank for the total required but not for an extension based on marriage.