Shiver

Not sure why all the focus on copyright. These agencies have taken down a company that supplies a service to millions of people (4% of the internet!!). These people could have any kind of information stored non locally, and all these millions of people have had their lives disrupted as a result of all these agencies (paid for by the people who's lives are disrupted). It's like banning internet under the guise of 'maybe there's kiddy porn', or some other knee jerk emotive subject. Sure it's a probably there, but do you cut down the tree because of a potential bad apple on the tree?

Time to move to TOR and build a MESH and just ignore these people. Reminds me of that song by Prodigy "%£ 'em, and THEIR law".

If we want to focus on Hollywood (what's that about anyhow, and what's the real contribution, profit, media message, mental programming?), If I want to pay to watch 90 minute adverts on how to be a sheeple it's my choice. Will they pay me marketing fees if I tell 10 friends about their product? What about their 10 friends each? Why is the fiat flowing only one way? This goes so much deeper than the article implies.

Finally, I happen to know an employee of said company, and imho their spirit, ideology, vision and societal contribution are centuries ahead of the agency grunt people, whose families should hold them accountable for the shameful damage they're doing to society for a paycheck. "Here, take this gun and point it at those guys over there in that country and I'll give you $100 bucks". "but what about the children of that person", "okay $200, whatever", "done. When I have $200 bucks, then I'll feel the happiness swell from within".

why did they pick fights with you? did you offend them? or are they approaching strangers to cause trouble?

I don't know. Just being there having a conversation with someone else seems to be enough. I think most of us have met the type. As a generalisation they're often farang Muay Thai fighters, or people who 'know' someone who's important, or they have 'more money than you'll ever earn' (which is usually the polar opposite of their truth). Maybe in their inflamed world when someone walks in the door with a different energy, whatever that happens to be, it triggers something in them. They're usually okay people if you can get under their skin, and more like confused little children than someone to be feared - but flying bottles/fists/knives aren't something to be taken lightly, so a bit of posturing is required.

Half the farang are here to get away from something and find a better life. The other half come here to try to get away from themselves, and oops, there you are.

Two significant posts above leapt out at me. One was saying to give the guy a break, and the other was about people like this, if they can deal with their issues can turn into really beautiful people later in life. Focus on what you want, and don't give energy to what you don't want. I've been picked on by people very much like this in bars in Thailand when I've done nothing wrong other than being there, but I have stated publicly to bar owners on occasion, that there are never any fights in any establishment that I'm in. That's not because I'm a fighter or a mercenary (I can't fight for toffee, or actually I don't know because I've never tried since I was about 7 years old), what I mean is I choose to generate an atmosphere of relaxation, compassion and understanding. I can make friends wherever I go, even though I'm shy and lack confidence, I do know a core need is that people need reassurance that they're good people, and what we see in the video is a artifact of that, a response from a guy that is saddled with ego and face. What I want in my life is what I eventually get. For those afformentioned individuals that tried to make fights with me - now they shake my hand and buy me a drink - never a punch thrown. They *want* to be liked and respected, just like anyone does. Give them that, and their anger suddenly looks a bit silly, but let them slide that one away and you've suddenly got a good friend.

Here in Udon (not really a tourist place I know - more a retirement home ), I've noticed that a lot more farang are single lately, and if they're the type that like extra 'services' then they're developing a 'pay as you go' behaviour. I also see that there's a trend towards archa beer for the regular die-hards. I recall in 2008-2009 a lot of people you would see daily around the city in the restaurants eating out, started staying village, coming into the city only once or twice a week, and in the years after that, even that behaviour was canned, and they stayed at the mom & pop shop in the village, before finally dropping their regular brand beer for archa, a brand which is probably thriving in this climate.

On the tourism side of things, now probably about (and I'm just guessing here) 1/3rd of the people you see at night are backpackers rather than resident or long stay farang, which is a dramatic change for this area. Not sure why the influx of new blood. It's a welcome addition imho (someone new to talk to), but they're not spendy (I don't have a business here so that's not bitchin', just an observation). From a selfish point of view, I think some financial recalibration isn't such a bad thing once in a while. Maybe we'll get a new style of 'thrift tourist'. That wouldn't please some, but I do think it might be good for the country and its people, even if there's a bit of pain involved.

Welcome to Suthep's two for one 100 baht store. Get one free, buy one. Good idea, I copy you.

That's just plain untrue. He had pancreatic cancer, which has just about the worst prognosis in the world of cancer. If he'd listened to his doctors they'd have give him the slash/burn/poison treatment and died a lot quicker. For the length of time he survived with the disease he did exceptionally well in fending it off. He made the right decisions.

The pancreas makes enzymes, and without those nothing else works, so actually getting any treatment in there is a heck of a challenge. I think he did very well (not that I'm a fan of his) compared to what would have been a much poorer quality of life following conventional treatment.

If Steve Jobs didn't think he knew everything and had listened to his doctors we would not be reading all these obituaries

You don't seem that knowledgeable about investment. No one living off investment income keeps the bulk of their funds in low return bank instruments.

Just in the US there are secure bond funds that deliver 5% and higher returns not to mention those less risk averse still invest in dividend stocks such as AT&T which has appreciated in value 10% over the past few years despite the recent minor correction and pays a dividend of +5%.

As far as fuel goes, the global oil market is based on the US$. As the US$ lowers in value versus other currencies, e.g., the Thai baht, the price of oil in baht terms lowers. This filters down to the pump price which has been lowering recently, especially diesel where this week the Thai government reinstated a 60 satang surcharge to the pump price keeping the retail price of diesel basically at 30 Baht per liter.

But then you don't seem to be a car owner/driver in Thailand either.

The stock markets have been kept afloat by QE which devalues currencies. Is the 5% a year gross enough to cover the rise in real inflation and dollar depreciation - do you feel richer?

I am not a car owner in Thailand but have read lots of posts about people complaining about rising costs in general.

Why does the minimum wage need to go up 70% if everything is so hunky dory? That in itself will create further inflation.

You are so naive. Some currencies have risen and some have fallen. It is a zero sum game. Do you understand?

Yes, I do feel considerably richer. I bought assets in Thailand 5 years ago and just by currency that investment has appreciated by more than 40%.

You do also understand that the minimum wage discussion is about politics ... right? It has nothing to do with economics just like it has nothing to do with economics in the West.

I would take a guess that UphillStruggle has, from what little I've seen in this thread, a very good grasp of what's really being done with the money. 40% in 5 years is not really much of a profit, if a profit at all (although many would love to have had this experience rather than their own). It is a partial hedge against inflation (aka tax).

if she was smart she would asked to be paid a commission for special services....or set up a union to negotiate a better package

In my imperfect relationship with my GF, (I call her my maid, which displeases her, lol!) I call the money I give her, her salary, to emphasise constantly that it is finite, which is fairly generous but limited to what I can do without causing myself financial issues. I take care of her, and she takes care of her family. I don't take care of her family, because that way it would be a bottomless pit. When the daughter is the bread winner (albeit just taking it from the farang) then she has a lot more sway in the family matters, and it can be quite interesting to see how little they really need when it's coming from *her* salary. Actually my Thai 'family' - the ones who matter to me, aren't related to my GF at all, and they have been my family since before meeting my GF, simply because they were the 'family' of a farang friend. I've never met my GF's family. This was a wonderful accidental setup, bringing unplanned clarity to my responsibilities and management of affairs. I recommend everyone do a 'family swap', then they have no pull on you, and you can have a good relationship with your surrogate family, which allows some latitude in posturing and explaining to the neighbours that they won't be expecting a fortuner and 10 baht gold any time soon.

Sorry for rambling off topic. Just thought it might allow a re-frame of the situation and create a set up that serves both the purpose of protecting your funds, getting your wife to adjust her wishlist and/or her relationship with her sister in order to get the car she wants, without doing anything divisive with your own relationship.

I think if she did that, it would be like setting a minimum wage at a level that is at the top of the pay scale already. Oh wait, politicians discussing that already. Better cancel the 'caben' TV so she doesn't get ideas. I do like the idea of pay as you go though, I could save a chunk doing that, and have a lot more freedom.

Geographically speaking, how close are you to the sister with her unaffordable truck? Perhaps they could share a truck between them and split the repayments? - generated from the business. This is bound to cause friction when their financial prowess inevitably causes 'ban chii' issues, that will cause a realignment of allegiance (sorry to sound cynical, but I've seen the movie too many times). When re-engineering something "Simplify then add lightness". You will have one less variable to have a headache over.

I'd like to mention a couple of things I've learnt here that may be a reminder even though you already knew them and forgot you knew them. I keep telling myself I'm going to print them on a small card to keep with me at all times, but never get around to it.

1. Thai people tend to be generous when they are able. It's when the crunch comes that you get the unexpected behaviour. There is a heirarchy to this as follows:

i) Children

ii) Parents

iii) Rest of family (siblings then cousin and equivalents, second cousin/aunty etc) - There might be some juggling of order here based on personal likes dislikes.

iv) Neighbours

v) Dog

vi) Farang Tirak

2. Remember or re-understand that although the wife may love the husband and the husband loves the wife, and it may even be an equitable relationship, there are two entirely different realities at play. By that I mean currencies of the game. Heirarchy of needs:

i) Gold/Land/House/Car

ii) Money

iii) Love

Those are different things to each party. For a Thai, the only time love will trump money is if the person in question has spent a long time in a society that values love more than money, and has little contact with the people living in the alternate society. The same may also be applicable (in reverse) to the farang, depending on their experiences that may or may not force them to learn different survival tactics over ideals. There is an exception to this rule, and that is if there is no family to exert influence over her. It's a life long debt she has to serve her parents. I've had first hand experience with this, when I had a GF (my girl *is* different, lol) where I made enough to be comfortable and live here 12 months of the year, but not enough to buy all the status junk that they feel they need. My call was that I thought I was doing well as a non-retiree to be able to live here without going back, and if she wanted more money then I'd have to go and live in UK which would be a deal breaker (I came here to make *my* life better, and secondly make the life better of anyone who had a connection to it). The discussions cease, but the family influence was too strong, and she was married within 6 weeks of the day I found out I wouldn't be seeing her anymore. I say this because it will be perfectly acceptable to her that you are away for most of the year (see above heirarchy), and pulling that card will likely find you being replaced. I know this will sound inconceivable, and to a Farang that would be the action of a cold cold reptile heart, but to them it's not about you, it's about practicalities and will be the obvious decision: "Farang have no money? don't believe him, find Farang that does. All Farang have money".

3. Thai people are hugely governed by 'face'. It will often be the cause of irrational decisions.

4. Thai people will always take the path of least disharmony. Conversely the farang will likely cause a lot of disturbance when he/she learns about something unfavourable to them, often proclaiming at the top of their voice "I want the TRUTH!". This will make all those around squirm with embarassment. It's important not to push this point too far as it could eventually lead to a machette job several weeks down the line.

5. Thais mistake generosity for stupidity. You can lose their respect by not fielding your half of the game, though they will still wai and smile since it's indoctrinated.

In my imperfect relationship with my GF, (I call her my maid, which displeases her, lol!) I call the money I give her, her salary, to emphasise constantly that it is finite, which is fairly generous but limited to what I can do without causing myself financial issues. I take care of her, and she takes care of her family. I don't take care of her family, because that way it would be a bottomless pit. When the daughter is the bread winner (albeit just taking it from the farang) then she has a lot more sway in the family matters, and it can be quite interesting to see how little they really need when it's coming from *her* salary. Actually my Thai 'family' - the ones who matter to me, aren't related to my GF at all, and they have been my family since before meeting my GF, simply because they were the 'family' of a farang friend. I've never met my GF's family. This was a wonderful accidental setup, bringing unplanned clarity to my responsibilities and management of affairs. I recommend everyone do a 'family swap', then they have no pull on you, and you can have a good relationship with your surrogate family, which allows some latitude in posturing and explaining to the neighbours that they won't be expecting a fortuner and 10 baht gold any time soon.

Sorry for rambling off topic. Just thought it might allow a re-frame of the situation and create a set up that serves both the purpose of protecting your funds, getting your wife to adjust her wishlist and/or her relationship with her sister in order to get the car she wants, without doing anything divisive with your own relationship.

respecting the majority, 49.9%

LOL!

Based on what did you qualify for a non-O visa?

Funnily enough for all the reasons I failed to get a tourist visa lol

Like I said I did have the TGF with me and that helped

so having too many back to back tourist visas qualifies you for a non-imm O visa?

I would imagine that you would be qualified, but that still doesn't mean that the staff want the extra work. They're not getting the 2000baht fee at the moment for tourist visas, and I do wonder whether this issue will just go away after the end of March when they start charging again. I know when I went to Vientiane a week or so into the free period they were still charging. I put this down to the communication of departments and one hand not knowing what the other is doing, but now I'm inclined to think it's just about money. I don't know if customer facing staff benefit from this directly or not, or whether it's influence from higher up. We'll learn soon enough though.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk of the back to back issue as I've heard of lots of people being refused (and some allowed) their 4th back to back tourist double sixty. I was wondering if a nice letter from an Abbot or Cheif of police to kindly let this person get what they request might help or not, since doing unpaid assistance, or learning about something other than language might qualify for one of the other kinds of visa.

[Edited to correct spelling mistake]

It doesn't take alcohol for people to kill, get rowdy and obnoxious and disturb the peace. If they want those actions to cease they should punish those actions. Blanket rules which effect everyone including those that are responsible, which I would say is the majority, is not right.

Amen.

While we're at it, can we have a ban on Karaoke machines please? Or perhaps a decibel tax. That way you can scoop the noisy alchol fuelled revellers, and other benefits would be manifold throughout the nation! Aye but the subtle knife would once again evade detection.

Someone gets stabbed and they ban alcohol? Why no talk of knives?

now we know why so many thai people die on cancer, it's not only high alcohohl consumption

think about the food you get in the restaurants here, even the expensive ones....

sometimes i see thai people picking veggies on the side of the road where a oil water mix makes the vegiies grow

It's one of the reasons we die of cancer. Probably the biggest culprit is the level of toxins we all absorb. If you were around in the days when lead was in fuel then that means you. Heavy metal chelation is a very successful way of reducing your chances of getting cancer. The reason I write this in a vegetables thread is this:

When fruit and vegetables are attacked by fungi or insects, they produce something called Salvesterols in the skin (Resveratrol is just one of them). Salvesterol Q70 is a particularly potent one. The human body has adapted to use these salvesterols, but in a different way. In treating cancer it's important to be able to differentiate between a healthy cell and one that we call cancer (a fungus actually). In a cancer cell there's one particular mutation which is a cytochrome called CYP1B1. Salvesterols will destroy a cell with this feature while leaving others alone.

This would be great news if the vegetation we eat contained a lot of salvesterols, but because they're grown with pesticides they never really learn to fend for themselves, so they never develop this defence. So it's not so much that they're failing to remove the pesticides that should be a concern, so much as that they never should be used in the first place. Today it's all about making beautiful flawless shrink wrapped produce. What we should be eating is the scabby pock marked vegetation that's done a few rounds.

If you're reasonably happy with the water source with regard to mineral content, one thing you could do is throw some silver shot in the bottom of a glass bottle (the more surface area of silver the better), and leave it out where there's plenty of UV light.

Seriously we used to use tap water for washing and cooking. This was in Chonburi province.

The tap water was passed though a triple filter, carbon/resin/ceramic to produce our drinking water.

In the UK water is treated with Fluoride to help prevent tooth decay.

That will not be true of any water source in Thailand.

Consider using a toothpaste with extra fluoride.

Flouride is bad advice. Apart from it making enamel harder (read Brittle!) it's one of the stronger halides (flourine, iodine, bromine, chlorine). Iodine is the only beneficial one, but is the weakest, meaning that any other halide will displace it.

Is the class half empty, or half full?

Niether, the glass is too big enough:rolleyes:

In the UK a few years back they introduced an ATM fee similar to this (though a much smaller fee, and didn't target only foreigners), and most banks adopted it. It was extremely unpopular, and people started moving bank because of it. It was quickly dropped!

I object to the double pricing foreigners are landed with purely on principle if for no other reason. Sometimes I've sat outside a museum or something while others go in, because I want equal treatment, be it 1 baht, or 150 baht. If someone wanted to withdraw 1000 baht per day, each day, the fees would stack up enormously. How do they know if I can afford it or not? Is it my ethnicity that determines that?

There is so much that foreigners could give to this country, not just money, but skills, develop new businesses, create employment, security, awareness of the world outside (approximately 99% of the world population is outside of this country, but who knew?). It doesn't happen because foreigners are gouged at every turn by officials and street vendors alike, thinking only for today. My business is outside of this country, and so is any money other than short term needs. I'd be happy to have everything here if they'd stop the BOHICA (Bend Over Here It Comes Again).

It's like watching your best friend damage themselves, and there's nothing you can do to help them until they decide they're ready.

I think finally I have a solution, in that TT&T who provide my internet have said that I can do the name change. I just need the cooperation of the existing name on the contract, which fortunately is a Thai friend that is still in town. That plus passport, driving licence, a few photocopies, a few forms filled in etc. That's the theory anyway. Will report back tomorrow.

I just spoke to a friend in Jomtien, who couldn't understand what the issue is. His GF went to check on the procedure for putting bills in a Farang name, and she said they looked at her like she was crazy, with words to the effect of "of course you can change the bills to a Farang name, why would you think otherwise?" Must be an Isaan thing, other parts of the country seem to be functioning better.

• 600 Billion expected income from 15.5million expected tourists equates to 38.7 million Baht per toursist !!! - I and every SME [Thai or Foreigner] in this sector would have no complaints if this bore any semblance to the truth

I read that as 38,700 baht, but that's because I assume these days everyone treats a billion as nine zeros (a thousand million), rather than a million million.

I think finally I have a solution, in that TT&T who provide my internet have said that I can do the name change. I just need the cooperation of the existing name on the contract, which fortunately is a Thai friend that is still in town. That plus passport, driving licence, a few photocopies, a few forms filled in etc. That's the theory anyway. Will report back tomorrow.

Here in Udon it's the quietest I've seen in in the 4 and a bit years I've been here. Looks to me like there's only the regular expats, and almost no tourists at all (not that it ever was a tourist hub - the concept of high and low season here is laughable). Of the expats, more are spending more time in their home country as their money doesn't go as far as it did.

I've only been to Pattaya fairly recently, and mostly only in the daytime, so have nothing to compare it with, though there are some familiar faces there. Makes me wonder if some of the people who used to stay in Udon that have plenty of spare cash have just got bored with how empty their watering holes are, and have regrouped in Pattaya and other places where there's a bit more going on. Of the two main farang bar 'streets' here, it's not unusual to be able to count 3 empty bars for every bar that has at least one customer, many places close 10-10:30pm because there's just nothing doing. Lots of staff, all sitting waiting and wondering if and when the next customer will come. The staff/customer ratio when aggregating the bars I would guess is something like 7/1, so plenty of time on their hands.

I'm not sure who's funding these places or why, but there still seems to be a stream of people who have the wonderful idea of opening yet another bar the moment one closes. There's more people than I care to hear about that are clinically depressed, counting baht coins as the notes are finished, and suicide attempts (self instigated, not the jumping from buildings variety).

True, was assuming this was for an offshore bank account, as that utility bill thing is a common request (with a lot of HK and Singapore banks for example). Does HSBC, Standard Chartered, etc. in Thailand require foreigners to produce a local utility bill (for locals they are satisfied with the bee's knees Thai ID card)?

It's to open Merchant Account facilities with a Dutch facilitator for our HK company. Business too difficult to even contemplate in Thailand. I have nothing in Thailand, not even a bank account. Just a suitcase

They did specifically state that a bank statement *wasn't* acceptable. They want passport, articles of incorporation etc. All doable except this *$!%&? utility bill. They won't be able to read it anyhow.

I wonder if anyone has any pointers on this. I have a need to show a utility bill as part of an identification process. I'm in rented accomodation, and have tried to put the water, electricity and landline telephone in my own name, but have been refused on the basis that either I don't own the property, or because I'm Farang. Does anyone have any ideas on this? The only possible way forward I can see is to get a bank account then get a mobile phone contract paid directly. Seems like a crazy way to fulfill a security check.

It's my understanding that Opium was almost eradicated during the times that the Taliban held power in Afghanistan.

The US invaded Afghanistan and then Opium production skyrocketed. The opium in Afghanistan now is said to be about 80% - 90% of the worlds heroin supply. The CIA are the ones running the heroin.

We have to watch nonsense propaganda on the news in the US about why the US military "allows" them to farm 90% of the worlds heroin. They say nonsense about how they don't like it but the truth is, this is their culture! and these murderers, and torturers, and all the other horrible things these soldiers do... they would never on earth dream of interfering with another person's culture. Complete nonsense.

The 'War on Drugs' is only a war on the CIA's competition. They want a monopoly.