OldAsiaHand

Sure, but they're the lame (and thin) 'Asia-Pacific' editions, not the real thing.

A good number of Thai men don't want anything to do with Thai girls who have dated foreigners.

Perhaps because now they know they don't have to put up with the kind of treatment than they generally get from Thai men?

Its near election time. Thailand is a very xenophobic country, and with the negative press just recently from a high-profile arrest of some <deleted> from the US; you'd have to expect some sort of reaction; even it is the usual wide-of-the-mark sweeping brushstroke.

Shooting yourself in the foot is a national characteristic here.

Ah, a breath of fresh air after all the self-important hullabaloo that's been spouted on TV about this topic. Thanks for the moment of straight-forward sanity. It really is pretty much that simple, isn't it?

The media business is booming here, but only for Thai-language publications. Just last week, two more English-language publications shut down -- Business Day and Thai Day. Just before that another had ceased publication -- Metro Magazine.

The English-language business here is very limited and it's hard to recommend anything. There's Thailand Tatler, of course (if you are interested in what passes for high society here); there's the Big Chili (if you are interested in Brit expats getting drunk and talking about rugby); there's Living (if you're interested in the lives and times of predominately Indian expats); there's Time Out (if you're interested in tourist-targeted restaurant reviews and bland features about people you never heard of); there's...well, never mind. You get the idea.

After the Nation and the Post, the only other coverage of substantive local matters is in regional publlication like the Wall Street Journal Asia and the International Herald Tribune.

......In contrary to what has been commented before, there are a lot of publishers in Thailand....

Oh, really?

Since you're apparently so knowledgeable and the rest of us are so wrong, why would you make a statement like this and fail to give even a single name or contact for all these publishers you claim to know about?

There are indeed a lot of publishers in Thailand, of course, but they publish exclusively Thai-lanaguage material (as well as a very limited amount of Chinese and Japanese language material), not English-language material.

If you know better, give us some specifics instead of just lecturing us about how smart you are. We're all ears.

Dear Forum,

How are you?

If there are no publishers based in Thaland are there representatives of the major publishers?

Are there literary agents?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

There's really no such thing as 'a representative of a major publisher,' at least not for purposes of the submission of new material. And all literary agents worthy of the name who represent English-language authors function in relation to the publishing industries of specific countries. Literary agents can therefore be found in the US or (to a very much lesser degree) in the UK. Well, to be entirely accurate, there are a small number of people in Australia who style themselves as literary agents, too, but the publishing industry in Australia is both very small and very insular. Unless you are Australian, you will not have any real chance to be recognized there.

The good news is that American literary agents will consider your efforts regardless of your national origin since the American publishing business is quite universal. The UK publishing business is more like Australia -- the fact that you are, or are not, British matters considerably and they aren't generally keen to work with new authors who aren't.

There are a world of sources online and in directories to help you locate literary agents to which you may submit inquires to generate interest in your masterpiece. The truth, of course, is that the odds against you are overwhelming -- not because you are in Thailand and they are in American, but because the odds against everyone are overwhelming.

She is...voluptuos compared to Thai girls.

Uh-oh. I think I can guess what this really means.......

.....I will only be there for 4 days though.

With the greatest of respect, how do you think you will get quality workmanship in four days?

My wife's work here is done pretty efficiently and with excellent quality, but the time required is measured in weeks, not days. If you have four days, you will get the four-day, tourist-type work which seamstresses deliver to people who can't tell the diffference. It will be inferior work, you will be unhappy, and then you will badmouth Thai workmanship.

You do seem to know the difference and expect good quality work. Save yourself a lot of irritation. Don't look for quality work here in four days. It simply isn't possible.

My comments weren't meant to address what was 'right' or what 'should be.' They merely reflected my own experience with how Thai women falling into these categories actually are treated by other Thais.

There are no English-language publishers in Thailand worthy of the name. Once upon a time, Asia Books published a few titles in English, even if they mostly dumped them on the back shelves after they did so, but they are no longer in the publishing business at all. There are also a couple of local English-language authors who self-publish under company names, but those companies aren't real publishers who publish other authors.

Yes, you're right.

What's more, there is also a general feeling among Thais that close association with a foreigner is just as bad as an actual divorce. A Thai woman who has 'consorted' with non-Thais is no longer fit to be the wife of a decent Thai.

We know a fair number of quite extraordinary Thai women in their thirties who, for one reason or another, are divorced from foreign husbands. Some of them are back here now, mostly for family reasons, and they find they are double-damned. They all know full well that their only chance of marrying again is with another foreigner. Thai men will have nothing to do with them.

According to the government all fares will drop to 15 baht once they complete 300km of new lines.

Another solution - buy a car, driving is cheaper.

I assume this is meant ironically?

Thank you, NovaBlue, for that moment of sanity. I'm sure it will be brief.

Nonsense! .... There are US/Thai citizens who post here on TV who can assure you that they did not have to surrender their US citizenship when they got their Thai passports!....This is a relatively recent change. Twenty years or so ago I think that your statement would have been correct.

No, it is still correct, so be somewhat cautious how you fling around your cries of 'nonsense!".

As a practical matter, the law may be unenforceable -- the FBI is not going to raid your home and sieze your US passport because you have chosen to take another -- but it is still the law that, if you swear allegiance to a foreign power as you do when you assume another citizenship, you forfeit your US citizenship.

"shall be permitted to enter Thailand several times . Each permitted time shall not be exceeding 30 days period, and the total period shall not be exceeding 90 days from the first day that the passport holder arrived in Thailand."

So the only change from what was originally quoted, is that you can enter several times within the 90 days, rather then 3 times within the 90 days...

In other words, if you enter Thailand on a Visa Exemption on 1st July, you can leave and return as many times as you want between 1st July and 28th September as long as you don't stay for more than 30 days consecutively. After the 28th September, you will not be permitted to enter Thailand on a Visa Exemption until 1st January of the follwing year (6 months from the date you first entered on a Visa Exemption). You could, of course, return before that if you obtained a visa...

I realize there need be nothing at all logical about the authorities' reading of the language you are quoting, but I do want to point out that, even at their worst, I doubt Thai Immigration would read the language as illogically as you do.

The phrase "from the first day" would seem to me to be obviously recognizable legal verbage meaning that the niney days of accumulated time for any six-month period is to be counted beginning with the first day the passport holder enters the country. It would not seem to serve any logical purpose to torture the language to mean that some sort of ninety day clock runs from the first day you enter the country and, no matter how much time you spend or do not spend in the country, that you cannot enter for another ninety days after that clock goes off.

I respectfully suggest that, particularly as a relatively new poster, you should be far more cautious about giving people what amounts to legal advice when you really have no idea what you're talking about.

Fox is good, but its clearly conservative while BBC and CNN are clearly liberal oriented. Watch all 3 and make up your own mind.

When I first saw this thread, I thought 'uh-oh,' here come the crazies.....

Thanks for injecting a moment of common sense and simple intelligence into all the hysterical, knee-jerk frothing.

Your total wire fees should not exceed something like $50.

The originating bank usually charges about $25 and the receiving bank generally charges another $10 or so (on inbound wires to Thailand, many up into eight figures, I have never paid more than B500 to the receiving bank). In between, clearing banks through which the wire is routed willl usually skim off $10-20.

All in then, a total of $50 in fees is about right. Without knowing more about the circumstances, it's hard to say exactly why you were charged so much, but it's way out of line with the norm.

....does Thaksin and all of his cronies have bogus PhD's???????

I wonder all the time why no one has ever bothered to do a modest investigation of the circumstances behind Thaksin's presumed doctorate.

At the time he presumably received it, the college that presumably issued it was called the Sam Houston State Teacher's College, a tiny local college in Huntsville, Texas. The chief industry in Huntsville is the Texas Prison System and so the local college there has always offered a lot of short programs for prison guards and policemen who want to receive certificates of additional education in order to advance their pay grades. My own inquiries, however, suggest that back then the actual earned degree that most people associate with the title 'doctor' was not.....

....ah, never mind. I've probably said enough there. Best leave this to some journalist who is in the business of conducting investigations, huh?

Agree I would never own or drive a car in BKK.I look at the silly farangs driving cars and figure they aren't playing with a full deck.Maybe they never had one before.

Why??? What is so strange about owning and driving a car in Bangkok? Some people don't live downtown and would prefer to be sitting in there own car for 4 hours per day listening to there own music and enjoying there AC rather than sitting in some stinking taxi or bus.

Cheers. Noodles

Uh-oh. My advice, Noodles, is don't get drawn in here.

This sounds an awful lot like the start of another of those frequent upheavals of class warfare among TV posters that tend to bring out the self-righteous idiots in real force. The I-live-on-less-money-than-you-do crowd here is both antagonistic and tenacious about the moral superiority of their chosen lifestyle.

Work permit?I am tired of ignorant people asking me for a work permit they seem to be programed and don't seem to understand that I have a retirement visa and don't work.I wish they would teach them to think for themselves.Why would I have a work permit if I am retired?????????

Jeez, man. Get a grip. It they could think for themselves, they wouldn't be Thai.

uh, yeah. a nation full of automatons is the is reason for thai banking idosyncracies.

perhaps the old asia hand should seek a nation with more acceptable inhabitants

Wow, what a great idea. Why didn't I ever think of that before? And, if I'm looking for folks who are smarter and better educated, there are sure as heck a whole lot of choices, aren't there?

Hi!

Does anybody of you know if there is a surfshop in Bangkok? I am looking for surfboards and skimboards...I hope you can help me

Matt

I thought I'd seen just about every possible question about Thailand on TV by now, but I have to admit that this one left me slack-jawed.

Can I nominate this guy for the highly coveted Howler of the year award right now?

Where can I get original Mac software (World of Warcraft, Civ IV) around BKK? I've trawled the likes of Panthip and Zeer Rangsit (I'm based north-east of town), but so far can't find anything but pirated stuff.

Cheers.

I've looked around for the...ah, 'non-original' stuff at both Pantip and Fortune and just been laughed at when I ask for Mac games. Where in particular were you looking? Just out of academic interest, of course.

As for original software, there are also authorized Mac dealers in Discovery Centre and at J-Avenue on Thonglor. On the whole, however, their software stock is poor and highly variable. Like most Thai merchants, Apple dealers here are interested in selling big-ticket items like hardware, not a full range of computer products.

Work permit?I am tired of ignorant people asking me for a work permit they seem to be programed and don't seem to understand that I have a retirement visa and don't work.I wish they would teach them to think for themselves.Why would I have a work permit if I am retired?????????

Jeez, man. Get a grip. It they could think for themselves, they wouldn't be Thai.

Jerry Jeff Walker.....'Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother.'

Just took a look at the link. For the record, they say the player won't work with Linux or Mac. So for further commentary it's over to your ordinary fellows who run the outmoded Windows OS, I guess......