misterphil

Does any one know of a good big bike shop or a mechanic in Pattaya that can tune my Honda CB400 Super Four? There is something wrong with the carburettors and the mechanic in Chiang Mai tried to set up the carbs but was unsuccessful. When I pull away it has a flat spot at around 3,000 to 4,000 rpm and is very difficult to get going without revving the balls of it. Also when trying to cruise it doesn't like it and seems to be urging as if it just wants to let rip. Very annoying when riding and needs to be sorted out ASAP. When ridden very hard its great but impossible to take it easy on it.

Thanks in advance.

Thai customs are very difficult for us westeners to understand. Don't listen to the wg.. let your wife pay her mother out of her allowance. you shouldn't pay her anything as this will become a problem down the road. let your wife take care of it. yes, as westerners, we are looked upon as atm machines that never empty. this is a hard habit to break them from. but, you need to start with the MIL.. don't start paying for the sisters.. this wg must be out of his mind or doesn't understand he's being taken for a ride. hang tough...

Exactly !!!!

let your wife pay her mother out of her allowance. you shouldn't pay her anything as this will become a problem down the road. let your wife take care of it.

This is what you should be doing, don't listen to that crackpot saying you need to pay 500,000 baht sin sod, did he? He's a complete head na ball if he did and needs a good slap. And as for paying for the sisters too. I hope he's getting his monies worth out of them.

Festival Shopping center North Pattaya. The outdoor store near the Big C

Well I work in Ethiopia and live in Thailand and need to be vaccinated for my job. Without my vaccinations I cannot work where I am now so what would you do?

No Vaccination, No Job!

No Job, No Money!

No Money, No Honey!

Is that a good enough reason?

i don't and cant recommend vaccinations for anything or anyone

if u study the facts u will learn they are dangerous and not even effective

don't believe me?

http://www.cafemom.com/group/4388/forums/r...il_id=350658678

Yes they stamped and signed my safety passport and gave me a stamped and signed Department of Disease control International certificate of vaccination. Give them a call, they speak good English.

For people living in Pattaya and the Chonburi area it's possible to get the Yellow Fever vaccination in Laem Chabang. Just had mine done for 550baht with certificate. Easier than going to Bangkok.

Port Health Office, Laem Chabang Port. Tel. 038-401112

See attached for full Thailand list.

I think the blame game needs to be stopped.....

The kid could have been monitored better...he wasnt....and most 14 yo's arent monitored as closely as younger kids....That is not unusual and blame shouldnt be put on the stepmum....imagine how she feels right now. BTW who was the white guy in the pics......there was a family group of five....mum, 2 boys, sister and who? Was Dad there as well?

The lifeguards didnt respond as quickly as they could have done......chances are even if they did they couldnt have saved the life of the kid, he had been missing some time before they were informed. I agree that once informed they should have reacted better but...would it have made a difference?

The grill would have been easy to lift from one side, there would have been no water resistance due to it being a grill not a solid plate....things in the water usually seem lighter as the water supports it....once out of the water it becomes heavier.

The park itself.......thousands of kids have been there and this hasnt happened before......was it foreseeable......probably not....you cant protect people from every possibility.

A tragic accident caused by a kids curiosity and sense of adventure....

From what my wife has told me by translation of the Thai TV News there was Dad, Step mam and 3 boys. Yesterday the TV was saying that Dad was working away in India but thats just the media with a story I guess.

Pattaya Daily News website has a video clip of during the boy is missing and after they find the body. Very disturbing so be aware. Get your wife to translate what the Step Mum is saying, total neglact on the parks side.

The grill weighs 21kg so roughly it would be a 3rd of the weight under water, 7kg easy for a 14 year old boy to lift.

Pattaya Daily News reporting it here

with image grabs from a gut wrenching video clip (that is at the bottom of the page)

very sad..

Just watched the video clip on Pattaya Daily News and my wife translated what the lady was saying.

"She says that she tells the life guards, the security and the Manager that her son has gone under the grate in the pool and he is missing. She asks if they can look for him and they tell her that its not possible for him to go under the grate and refuse to start a search for him"

How deep is the pool at the grates in question

Anybody know?

No more than 4 foot deep in nearly all of the park.

Just been watching the Thai news and they are saying that it looks like he has lifted up the grate on the bottom of the pool and swam under and got stuck.

3 Thai men managed to lift out the grate easily under the water so I would of thought a 14 year British lad could easily lift it.

Question is why arent these grates secured?

Hi Simon,

You dont need to purchase the tickets, just make a reservation. We get ours from a travel agents in Pattaya on Soi 3, they are 100 baht and shows her name, dates and flight details.

As for not having money in her account, she needs it. If she goes for an interview for the visa and she is asked "what will you do if you have a problem with your boyfriend in the UK and you want to go home?" What will she say? If she has the cash in her account and she can prove it she can say at the interview that she would contact her embassy and ask for assistance home. Remember you have to cover all the bases and these questions do get asked at interviews.

If you dont have reciepts for the places that you stayed when you went to Lao with her but do have the same visa stamps in your passports say this in your cover letter. If you have any photos of you and her with her family include these in the application.

Look at it as the entry clearence officer would, you say you met your g/f last year and you went to Lao and Cam. with her. He will want to see evidence of this and you can proove it by showing them the same visa stamps at the same time and the photos of you both in Lao and Cam.

If you say you met your g/f in Thailand last year they will want to know where, in a bar? in a restaurant? in a bus stop? in a shopping mall? everything has to be covered.

If you say that she is going to the UK for 3 months and you both decide to stay a bit longer thats fine, she will more than likely get a 6 month tourist visa if its granted and she is entitled to stay as long as the visa is valid.

Remember allthough you are helping your g/f apply for the visa it is actualy her that is applying for it and she needs to make it look as good as possible, and has to make the application look as if she really wants to go to the UK.

Dont forget to cover all the bases, if you tell the entry clearence officer something about your relationship then you need the evidence to back it up.

Chok Dee (good luck)

Hi guys.

Thanks a lot for your replies. I think I'm feeling even more nervous about my g/f getting her visa now than before. Not because there's any good reason she might be refused, but because there seems to be even more evidence/documentation to provide than I previously realised, and hence more opportunity to make mistakes.

A general question about the length of the visit. As I understand it the length of a tourist visa is 6 months? The plan for the visit is to spend some time sightseeing, but also to spend some time living normal life. Obviously she can't work on a tourist visa, so by normal life I mean I go to work, she stays at home entertaining herself and preparing delicious Isaan food for me. We need some time like this so she can see how she gets on with England and find out if she can settle here at some point in the future. I don't think it would be a good idea to say all that on the tourist visa application. I'm thinking I should state that she is coming over here for a couple of months just for holiday, sightseeing and meeting friends/family. She could then stay longer than that up to the length of the visa. Does this sound like a particularly good/bad idea? Any obvious problems with this approach that I may have missed?

Regarding flights/reservations. On the visa application my g/f will state her intended date of travel. I'm reluctant to spend money on a flight until the visa has been granted just in case it's refused or delayed due to the extra cost of changing dates on tickets. Is providing the intended flight numbers and dates adequate, or should I just bite the bullet and buy the tickets?

My g/f has family and a job to return to after her visit. Are there any other reasons she should state? What's the best way of phrasing this on the application?

Does my g/f actually need 40K baht sitting idle in her account? She has more than that passing through her account each month with her salary and the support I send to her.

7by7 - I've got all the necessary bank statements, payslips and mortgage documents together thanks. No emails though as my g/f's not online. I will tell the truth (with the possible exception of length of stay) and not attempt to make the application look better than it is.

Misterphil - I met my girl at the beginning of a month long stay in Thailand last year and then visited her again for two and a half weeks in April/may this year. While we spent all that time together I don't have receipts for anything we did together. We spent time in Laos and Cambodia, travelling by coach and staying in hotels arranged by a travel agent, but I paid in cash and didn't keep the receipt. We flew to Isaan on my last trip to visit her parents, but I paid for the flights in cash. Both times we stayed in Bangkok I paid for the hotels by cash and didn't have any reservations. Is the embassy likely to find this lack of evidence suspicious? We do both have the appropriate stamps in our passports for travelling to Laos and Cambodia, and the dates match on those showing we travelled together.

Apologies if it looks to you experienced guys that I'm getting myself hung up on details here. I just want to do my best to make sure everything goes smoothly, we'd both be really upset if she can't come to stay with me.

Thanks,

Simon.

PM me as I sent you info on UK visas but it didnt post correctly, dont know why. Trying again.

Completed VAF1

6 months minimum proof of communication

Photos of each other

Emails from each other

Gordon's phone bills with your number on them (originals and copies)

Cover letter from Gordon explaining how you met and inviting you to the UK

Proof of where you are both going to stay in the UK (mortgage statement/rental contract) If she is to stay with your parents you will need an invitation letter from them and their mortgage statement/deeds for their home.

6 months bank statements and any savings from Gordon

Proof of work from Gordon

6 months pay slips from Gordon

Proof of Tik's employment (if she's unemployed she needs to explain why and where she gets her money from for food etci.e. from you.

Cover letter from Tik's employer saying she can have the time off.

Tik's bank books and photo copies of all pages

Money in Tik's bank (minimum 40,000 baht)

Proof of any assets, house, motorbike, car, land etc.

Copy of Tik's Thai ID card

Tik's Passport

Copy of Tik's passport

All immigration pages from Gordon's passport showing his entry and exit stamps in all Countries and signed by him.

Copy of Gordon's passport

Flight Itinerary/reservation of when you plan to go

Reason for the trip

Any hotel reservations with both your names on them

Travel insurance for her.

Reason for return to Thailand (this is the main reason for refusal)

Needs to be presented in a clear plastic folder and in order.

Hi.

In a few weeks my girlfriend is applying for her first visitor visa for the UK. I think between us we meet all the criteria:

- She is working and her employer will write a letter guaranteeing she can go back to her job

- I have a house and earn a good wage

- I have over six months of bank records and proof of supporting her

- We have evidence of relationship over 6 months from telephone records and photographs

What I'd like is some good general advice please as I want to maximise the chances of the visa being granted. What are the main things I can do and things I shouldn't do? Are there any good tips for filling in the visa application form?

Although I earn a good wage I don't have much in the way of savings. Is this likely to affect the chances of the visa being granted?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Simon.

Hi,

I was in the same boat as before, although I have applied for many work visas in many different countries I wanted to get this one right the first time as I didnt want to upset my girlfriend if refused. I used one of those visa agencies for my girlfriends first application and she got refused and a BLACK refusal stamp in the back of her passport. I questioned the refusal as we had everything together correctly and after 3 stressfull days she was asked to come back to the Embassy with her passport and she was granted the visa. The reason for refusal was she had no reason for return. I now do them for her myself and have also done them for friends with Thai wives/GFs.

Its a bit like going to a court of law, you have to present your case and you have to present it well. You have to cover all the bases or you WILL get refused. For example, if you say my girlfriend lives in Issan and she gets the bus to meet me at Suvarnaphumi Airport and then we both head down to Pattaya for a 2 week holiday, the British Consulate will say where's her bus ticket, wheres your flight itinery, wheres the taxi reciept of 2 people going to Pattaya on the day you flew in? and wheres the reciept from the Hotel you both stayed in (with both your names on it?)

She will need to get information about her parents, their age, address etc. Its not as easy as people think and if you dont have everything together you will get refused and the black refusal stamp in her passport! Tell her to ignore the touts outside the VFS office offering to check her file as they dont know what they are doing and it will be a waist of 300 baht+.

Heres a check list of what you will need and if you cant get all of it together dont apply.

• <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Completed VAF1 <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">6 months minimum proof of communication <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Photos of each other <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Emails from each other <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Your phone bills with her number on them (originals and copies) <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Cover letter from You explaining how and where you met in Thailand and inviting her to the UK <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Proof of where you are both going to stay in the UK (mortgage statement/rental contract) If she is to stay with your parents you will need an invitation letter from them and their mortgage statement/deeds for their home. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">6 months bank statements and any savings from You. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Proof of work from You (work contract) <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">6 months pay slips from You <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Proof of Her employment (if she's unemployed she needs to explain why and where she gets her money from for food etc i.e. from you. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Cover letter from Her employer saying she can have the time off and her job will still be there when she gets back. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Her bank books and photo copies of all pages <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Money in Her bank (minimum 40,000 baht) <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Proof of any assets, house, motorbike, car, land etc. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Copy of Her Thai ID card <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Her Passport <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Copy of Her passport <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">All immigration pages from Your passport showing your entry and exit stamps in all Countries and signed by you. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Copy of Your passport main page. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Flight Itinerary/reservation of when you plan to go <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Reason for the trip <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Any hotel reservations with both your names on them <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Travel insurance for her. <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt">Reason for return to Thailand (this is the main reason for refusal)
  
• Needs to be presented in a clear plastic folder and in order.
  

You should also get her to sign a Data Protection act letter aswell, here's an example.

Chok Dee

British Embassy

Visa Section

1031 Wireless Road

Lumpini,

Pathumwan

Bangkok 10330

Thailand

Dear Sir/Madam

Re; My Visa (tourist) application for Miss Wanpoo Longsay (Tik)

I give you my full permission in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1988 (UK) to contact any person with regard to my visa application for the UK.

Yours Faithfully

Signed here..................................

Attached is a copy of my ID card and passport

Hi.

In a few weeks my girlfriend is applying for her first visitor visa for the UK. I think between us we meet all the criteria:

- She is working and her employer will write a letter guaranteeing she can go back to her job

- I have a house and earn a good wage

- I have over six months of bank records and proof of supporting her

- We have evidence of relationship over 6 months from telephone records and photographs

What I'd like is some good general advice please as I want to maximise the chances of the visa being granted. What are the main things I can do and things I shouldn't do? Are there any good tips for filling in the visa application form?

Although I earn a good wage I don't have much in the way of savings. Is this likely to affect the chances of the visa being granted?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Simon.

Check_list.pdf

Can anyone help me find out why i cannot see my maps on my etrex legend hcx? Been trying for days to get my Garmin Thailand StreetMap v9 NT on sd card and still cannot get them to show.

Please help...............

I copied the zip file as instructed but i still cant see my maps on my etrex legend hcx.

Just copy the zipped file onto an SD card and insert in your Garmin, No need for Mapsource or unlocking, Work fine.

Empty SD card, Create folder GARMIN insert zipped File in it, It is already unlocked and will work directly from there no problems.

Found all this out tonight while trying to sort mates Bargain Nuvi 310 from Tesco that only comes with THAI MAPS You can change the Language to English and Text, but when you use the Garmin all roads and writing on maps are in Thai, so even when you search for a place only Thai Language comes up But allsorted now, New Thai 8.1 loaded and working fine, Loaded the Full Asia Map too as a trial, that works fine too !! Well here anyway But shows all the other country maps loaded, so sure will be fine in other countries too!! Amazing how all these Guys find all these unlocks and solutions !! Worked for my mate though !! Just wish i had known when i spent 11000 Baht on original software from ESRI then another 7000 (New Price) with my new Nuvi 770