loveandlaughter

Hi Sam Lowry

I am also trying to make soap bubble mix.

Would appreciate any help as to your recipe and results. All the US recipes on line require Dawn detergent or Joy both Proctor and Gamble brands (in UK it is Fairy Liquid) which are not available here at least not in Rimping or Big C. So I would like to know how you got on as my first mix I could not get bubbles to float off the string without popping though I tried in the chill of evening and my string is very thin which is probably detrimental.

Any help here would be much appreciated....

My mix was 400ml Big C detergent 14% SLS 3.5% other main surficant - so a strong one

4 litres water

40ml Glyerine

20g Personal Lube dissolved in hot water

one bottle teddy bear shaped bubble mix from toy shop

Many thanks

William

Hi Thaiphoon

In regard finally to the WP3 form. Do I just have a receipt stating I have applied for the work permit or does the form lead to a letter? I don't know what this is and have seen only a copy of a WP2 form, which is a form to apply for a work permit. Is WP3 the same?

Thaiphoon

The link to the index page on the Ministry site is not working. Can the WP3 application be made in Phuket province? Is there an office there? How long does that take? Do I need to be present or can it be applied for by someone in the company?

Do the company documents have to be originals or photocopies with a company stamp on them?

To apply for a non-imm B visa in Penang what do I need?

I have been offered a contract with a large enough company but what documents do I need exactly for the Non Imm B visa?

Do I have to have applied for the work permit?

If so how do I do this?

The company is in Phuket, is there an office there for the work permit or does one have to apply to the Ministry of labour in Bangkok only?

How long does this process take?

Is Penang a good place to do this? Or is Vientienne better?

Your website states that a letter offering a job is enough or should I have an employment contract?

Please can anyone help with this?

To apply for a work permit - are there local offices, especially is there one in Phuket or does one have to apply only to the ministry in Bangkok?

You guys

Have you never once fantasized about robbing the bank?

No safety glass, no buzzers, helicopter chases and so on......real easy....

Best to look at what keeps you on the straight and narrow

Ah well

Not that I would rob a bank.....

Really can't see what the interest is in this.

The worst time ever in airports was queues in Manchester due to all the security measures which went through the whole departure concourse.

Immigration in Thailand, yes it takes a while but it's no different from anywhere else, some officer scrutinising the passport, tap tap tapping at the computer and waiting for a reply.

You can wait just as long if not longer then for either your bags or the taxi.

Why not serve ice-cream or coffee?

And sure we'd all love finger print scans and iris recognition - have you guys not seen Bladerunner, Gattaca and many others - that sort of stuff lets big brother in by the backdoor.

Regardless of what is done there will always be a queue, delay or something that is travel. You also have to wait the other ends getting your boarding card, checking luggage, stamping out......

I need to get a new visa.

I was here on non-B which expired.

At moment I only have a 30 day visa exempt stamp from border entry and am planning to go to Laos in October to apply there - either for a two month or double entry tourist visa.

I want to then make this into a yearly permit based on support of Thai wife and child.

Would I be better taking an 'O' visa in Laos on the basis of marriage certificate? Will this be simple to obtain or would it be easier to get the Tourist visa and then go with the TM 7 form to immigration here in Chiang Mai?

I'm presuming it cannot be done without a proper visa in the passport now.

Also am meeting the support requirements on the basis of Thai bank accounts with 40,000 baht per month. Does this have to be deposited as a single lump sum or are the looking to see that the balance is 40,000 and up each month?

Is the financial side needed to show the Thai immigration in Thailand or for settting the visa in Laos?

Can anyone give some recent information.

I want to get a tourist visa, two months extendable for one at immigration Thailand without leaving country preferably.

I want to go to Phenom Penh for this.

Will there be any problems?

I have come off a non-B and have two 30 days in my passport (am leaving at the end of second one)

Do I need to show some ticket to Europe or whatever for the Consulate?

How long does processing take?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Passing and publicising the "ban" might have the effect of simply drawing attention to the dangers and encouraging the use of "no hands" headsets.

Not all laws are a "cops and robbers" game. Passing it as a law gives more weight than simply a public safety announcement.

Terrible load of sanctimonious gossips here.

There are three or four posts where the people knew the couple, read them and it is a more complex story.

Most of you see only the words "17 million" and "Pattaya" and off you go........

Still interesting to read the view!

From Guardian newspaper UK:

'One minute I was in a beautiful place ... the next there was death all around me'

· British survivor tells of 16-hour ordeal on ledge

· Fiance among eight swept away and killed by floods

Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok and Karen McVeigh

Monday October 15, 2007

The Guardian

A young British woman described yesterday how her fiance was swept away by a torrent of water and drowned as she clung to a ledge in a Thai cave hit by a flash flood that claimed the lives of five other hikers and two local guides.

Helena Carroll, 21, from Solihull, near Birmingham, was eventually rescued after clinging to the craggy face of the pitch black cave for 16 hours.

Her fiance, John Cullan, 24, had saved Ms Carroll when he grabbed her as she slipped and almost fell as they desperately climbed to escape rising waters. But she last saw him when he lowered himself into the raging torrent in an attempt to seek help, fearing they would both die if they remained in the cave in Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand.

Article continues

"I cannot believe I am the only survivor," she said, hours after her rescue. "I can't believe my John is dead. One minute I was in what I thought was the most beautiful place in the world. The next thing there is death all around me."

The couple had been in the vast Tham Nam Thalu limestone cave complex for some time before they heard a roar of water and seconds later saw a German boy aged 10 and one of the guides swept away, followed by a Swiss couple and their teenage daughters.

Other guides in the area famed for its tigers and ancient rainforest do not take tour groups to Tham Nam Thalu during the monsoon because of the dangers of sudden, devastating floods. Police had erected signs warning against visiting during the rainy season.

But the British couple were oblivious to the risks when they set out from their simple cottages at Bamboo House, about 40 miles (60kms) from the lake, on Saturday morning - intent only on another adventure in their holiday of a lifetime.

"We had to decide whether to put down the money for a house or go on holiday," said a distraught Ms Carroll, who works for the industry training provider Empower. "We decided to take a holiday and up until then it was a dream holiday in the most beautiful place I had ever been to."

The excursion involved a boat trip on Chaiw Lan Lake and an hour-long trek through the forest, before they reached the cave mouth.

They descended into the chasm using torches handed out by their two Thai guides to light their way. Ms Carroll said they saw spiders and bats as they moved through the waterfall-studded cavern before hearing the torrent behind them. "I saw this rush of water coming towards us," she said. "John and I started climbing. The first thing we saw was the tour guide and 10-year-old German boy being dragged away, then the Swiss couple and their two lovely girls.

"As we climbed I lost my grip and slipped down but John grabbed me and pulled me up. We kept climbing higher and found a ledge. We were all alone in the dark. We could not see anything as all the torches had gone."

The couple debated their next move and Mr Cullan, who works in the asbestos industry, eventually decided he had to raise the alarm even though his finance believed their best chance of survival was to stay put.

"John said: 'If we stay here we're going to die'. But I said we should stay," she said. "At least we were safe there. But he decided that he would get into the current and flow with it. He thought the current would take him out, then he could bring help to rescue me. He slipped into the water and that's the last I ever saw of him. He let go and he was just gone."

Alone in the darkness, Ms Carroll clung to the ledge, shivering and listening to the rumbling torrent. She lost track of time before she saw a bright beam of torchlight and cried out to alert the rescuers.

At first she was told only that many people had died and their bodies had been found eight hours before her discovery yesterday morning. But it was only when she was taken to the makeshift mortuary that she found out that she was the only survivor.

"I saw John's body in a box next too one of the beautiful little Swiss girls," she said. "It was awful. John is a big man - 14 stone - and everybody remarked how big he was. I wanted to be left alone but it was impossible.

"I can't believe I am the only survivor. I can't believe my John is gone. I want to go home as soon as possible, but I want to make sure John is taken care of."

Ms Carroll called her parents and told them she was fine.

Police identified the foreign victims as a Swiss family, Benno Fisher, 49, Stalder Fisher, 48, Ambarea Fisher, 17, and Sarah Fisher, 15, and Eddie Gaempe, 10, of Germany. The boy's mother did not go on the trip as she was ill, but believed it would be safe as he was in the company of other adults.

One tour operator, who has been taking visitors to the national park for eight years, said they never travel to the cave during the wet season as the waterscan quickly rise without warning.

"Our tours to the cave begin at the end of October, when the water is OK, up until the second week of May," said Paa Nipattong, Trekking Thai Ecotours manager. "We do not take tourists to Tham Nam Thalu in the rainy season at all."

About a year ago there was someone on the boards who did just that.

Sent the passport away to get a better visa.

The guy got caught out as he only went so far as Cambodia and was recrossing overland.

I think hypothetically that as long as you returned by air and had been away a fortnight say it might work out. For EU or returning yankees you don't have entry exit stamps for your home country anyway.

What might then let you down is the flight number on the immigration card, though I suppose you could be returning by way of Malaysia, but the exit stamp would be for that day coming back to Thailand......so on close scrutiny not good enough.

To be real safe there would have to be a second pair of exit/entry stamps for Malaysia.....which brings you into shady territory and risks trouble in both Malaysia and Thailand.

If you were so concerned why not just disappear and simply do without a visa?

If you were not staying in hotels there is no reporting in so as long as you didn't want to leave Thailand..........

Well thant's anarchy!!!!!

The graphic is funny if you know that Zidane's nickname in France is the White Cat.

Hi

My friends said there may be a short workshop for THAI KIDS before the game.

Anyone know about this? Do they need to sign up or anything?

Thanks

Anyone have further on bomb last night at Tesco in HangDong Chiang Mai.

My wife received calls from friends who live near there. They say two people killed but not appearing on news as yet.

Anyone who lives near with info on this?

I can't seem to start as a new thread so if a super moderator can bump this up a pace would be welcome.

Stamps or days? Wait and see Lopburi, wait and see......

All governments find gambling a difficult issue. Do they make money from it (national lottery etc) or worry about the social issues?

This has always been the way.

You can say Nanny State and all that, but some people do need to be protected from themselves.

Old begams out there......

The missus says.....

Methinee is half-half American Thai

Family in America

Her Thai is not so good

She won "miss beautiful" (whatever beauty contest) when she was 17 and is now 29 or so......not so sure on this one maybe younger!

That's all for the pedigree etc

Certainly good looking

People love ghost stories to be scared....my thai teenage niece especially.

The OP's wife sounds to be more than a little unsettled, and also remember that Thai folk seem to get bored easily if alone.

We have three teens, one baby, wife , dog and myself, so there is always someone around.... and I am probably the one who sometimes sits in my reading room alone.......

The OP has not mentioned neighbours etc......

This might be a situation where they have fopund a place with the good intention of having a large house with grounds somewhere away from everyone else....... and for many people this doesn't work. You could do the same taking a house in the outback, moving to Alaska or the Yorkshire Moors......

There may be no easy solution to this one.

After wading through all this, can someone refresh me as to the point of it all?

Is this a who-dunnit or a moral fable, or is the poster wanting some advice from strangers a few thousand miles away?

Moderators get with it as there are better stories like this in KOOSANGKOOSOM magazine

What a shame about the festival.

As Wolfman said it's difficult finding the sponsers and the record industry here......well Carabou after all those years had to invest in branding an energy drink as the artists make little from record sales.....

Thailand is not going Islamic, but there seems to be a resurgence in traditional (buddhist influenced) values.

We have a teenager living with us who pays her way through college by being part of a singing troupe (Mor Lom style) now her Dad doesn't like it and wants her to stop since the Queen said all that about "coyote girls".

To many Thais (and that includes youngsters) "good" girls and boys don't smoke or drink......

To the "this is (or is not) America" posters......the UK press has quite a bit about banning alcopops and the like, underage binge drinking, yobbism and so on.......

There does seem to be a growing feeling of maliase throughout world society and it may simply be that there is no moral ground as anything goes as long as it turns a profit for someone somewhere......

Well now we have climate change, corrupt governments everywhere, militant islam, declining health, obesity, etc etc etc......

And all that is something there seems to be no escape from anywhere in the "globalised" world

You could add as a world trend "immigration problems" - curtailling of freedom of movement.....

Something has to give......and it will be sooner rather than later.

And Mao Kao I bet the girlie bars go next here my friend.......

We do live in interesting times

Funny thing is if you read the UK papers, making very cheap cheap flights is considered enviromentally terrible.....

By the by Hagler.....what the Bhutanese are doing is trying to protect their culture and enviroment by limiting mass tourism. Sir Edmund Hillary and the WWF have said recently that Everest needs a rest as the pollution there is becoming terrible and that's despite over a decade of civil war in Nepal.

The trains in Thailand are very good and you will get there. If you are so pushed for time, maybe even the long haul flight is too much, why not go nearer to home to the seaside?

Samui changed for good with the airport in the first place......

An interesting thread.

The only reason to advocate always urbanisation is on a "growth at all costs" model.

The better way is quality of life.

The motorbike and mobile phone do make life easier and make villagers less cut off.....especially from medical services and the like.

However progress need not always be rampant consumerism.....that seems to only breed divisiveness as communities divide between haves and have-nots.

Education need not simply be a means to an end, it could lead to a livelier interest and interaction with people and the enviroment.

It's the self serving corruption that needs to be dealt with and the idea of public service being just that......

Sad funny story......

Very stupid retailling in Pattaya..... why do all criminals always fall foul of GREED

By the by the law he's breaking is the one that registers pharmacists and allows only qualified ones to sell proscribed drugs. This as anywhere in the world is to prevent quacks giving out harmful medicines.

As to V8's and souped up taxi drivers........aren't the rules of the road such that eventually you gracefully retire and garage the car ( maybe occasionally giving it a polish ) and not keep blazing away until you finally blow a gasket