loveandlaughter

By the by, you are supposed to have onward or return ticket if you do not have a valid visa in your passport. I came back from UK recently on return from Thailand and was asked - could show B visa so okay - one time before had to buy ticket on at airport.

So that will be the situation.....might also be for short hops in from Singapore, HK or wherever...,.

Just a heads up......

Some countries - Nepal - for instance, only allow five months stay in a year.

Enjoyed the speculation on money trails and the economy.

Also as the "old and in the way" poster stated whatever visa you have going in and out through immigration is never anything but a headache, it always makes me nervous.

How power corrupts......

Just like Tony Blair back home, Taksin doesn't want to move on.

Will this help in the elections? Is he still allowed to head his party there ae the electorate has already voted against him?

How will this not fail to undermine the Thai publics faith in their democratic process?

I've done this myself and know others who are still doing visa runs.

This might be just the thin edge of the wedge as what if the "easy" visa places such as Hull, Cardiff, Colorado close and Non-B means "real" business sponsership? After all didn't some minister or police complain about undesirable farangs on 1 year visas?

As to English teachers......well I gather Taiwan lost it's shine, Japan was oh so long ago....Thailand never any money......Czech republic? Dubai?

Heads up on Mexican place - MIGUEL'S - i think is name.....opposite Sompet Market just before the corner of Moon Muang.

VERY GOOD and you can add on extras........

This is the Mexican you've been waiting for!

Two places:

Mungala on Rachamanka Road.

And opposite Wararot Market in the Chinese pharmacy.

Treatments around 5 - 600 baht a pop.

The latter used to do home visits although this was some years ago.

Try it out it is a fun experience.....feel rather like Gulliver with all the needles in place

Index Living Mall very nice.....more stylish than Home Pro. We have our eye on a couple of nice pieces from there. The prices are much the same as Home Pro, some things substantially cheaper.

There's more flair with the designs as well......enjoy.

Good thread.

In the end there is a mixture of exsisting superstores and small retail......the edict is about "expansion" not contraction.

There is a lot of argument in the West as to the effects of super/hyperstores on the local economy and it does seem sensible that Thai politicians look at the situation and adjust it to suit the country's economic model.

A good look at the arguments against stores like Walmart is by John Lanchester "The price of pickles" in the London Review of Books The price of pickles

As a family here in ChiangMai we shop day by day at the local market, early in the morning (then you avoid the wilted vegetables ) and use big stores for dry goods, kitchen paper, oil, sauces, dog food etc. We do like the Deli and imported stuff from Rimping (cheese and wine) though these are relatively expensive anyway due to tax on the wine and importing.

What is neat here is that there are so many markets still going strong and it would be a shame to lose that over the long term.

I would hope Thailand does not have to blindly follow every Western trend and can maintain a diverse economy.

What impressed me in Carrefour (which we don't go to at all often) was the Doi Kham (Royal Project ) produce being sold there which is local to us and not food imported from China.

Tesco Lotus and there are two in ChiangMai, is less inspiring and is good for bulk buys. They push on with the "roll back prices" idea which is a staple of the supermarket creed that does put pressure on smaller businesses.

As to franchise businesses that is another matter. I'm personally not keen on them and relish people doing their own thing and keeping their individuality.

I'd have thought that the best thing about Thailand for all of us is that it is the East, and for us somewhat exotic.......there isn't much of that in Tesco is there

Thai Visa tough on crime and the causes of crime

There's a lot of the hang em and flog em brigade here.....just a week ago it was the JoBennet suspect who turns out to be not in the frame after DNA tests.

Why not wait and see before rushing into judgement, in the UK there will be due process and he will have his day in court.

How can you complain about the shortcomings of the Thai legal system when many of you would form a lynch mob at the drop of a hat.

Most murders in a domestic situation are sad occassions where someone loses control completely, good to just remember that the next time you get a little hot under the collar....

As for the real point of the thread, the Thai immigration and police worked well with Greater Manchester and caught up with the suspect, it probably wasn't so difficult as (in most domestic cases) the man is not a career criminal on the lam.

I'd have thought that if for whatever reasons you had bludgeoned your wife and children irrevocably turning your world upside down you would hardly be in the happiest or most balanced state of mind......just think about it for a minute.

From a Thai perspective murderers suffer a terrible karmic burden, there are hel_l realms in Buddhism and the prospects for the next life are pittiable, you might be reborn a pariah dog, veal calf or the like.

PS: there's another mind of a murderer piece in todays Observer (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk" target="_blank"></a>)

as Martin Amis writes about the last days of Mohammed Atta (www.guardian.co.uk)

My wife and I went to a sales pitch in Bali......I felt sorry for the kid (Balinese) accosting in frony of Kuta McDonalds......it was a way away by the time we'd been taken there I already wanted to leave nice appartment though, the wife had her photo taken in the kitchen she was so impressed , but do they make it hard to say no......they kept bringing over another salesperson who then takes you to the next stage and if you listen for an hour you will get a prize.....thankfully we had no money to be parted from so we were the wrong people in the first place.

Tippy still remembers our lovely wasted afternoon and we still have the photo. Since then we run from these kind of people For the original poster.....do yourself a favour don't join them it's the worst kind of sales culture there is....

Agree with much of this

First POWER

What about love, trust and friendship.

My wife and I are buying a house for the two reasons of growing family we need the space, and second it is in the long run better to own than to rent.

Sure the house is going to be in her name, that's the rule for houses, and if the worse came to the worse that would be her asset.

I think what some of the posters seem to want is no responsibility so they can walk away without any costs, or they are afraid of the woman not being what they hoped for and only "in it for the money"

If that's the case it is rather sad.

Bill by the by seema a nice guy! The one thing that makes the nappy change fun is that my baby keeps smiling through it all never mind what lurks down there!

This is from Saturday's Guardian - British newspaper.

Seems that what the man said to the police in Bangkok is confused as to the facts of the case and he may be amking it all up

DNA tests to decide if JonBenet murder suspect is fantasist

· Questions raised over bizarre remarks to police

· Ex-wife casts doubt on credibility of confession

· Questions raised over bizarre remarks to police

· Ex-wife casts doubt on credibility of confession

DNA testing will decide whether John Mark Karr, the man arrested in Bangkok in connection with the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey, was involved in the six-year-old's death or is a fantasist.

As prosecutors awaited Mr Karr's return to the US from Thailand doubts surfaced about the bizarre nature of his confession and remarks he made to Thai police during questioning.

Thai immigration police said he had confessed that he collected JonBenet from school and drugged her with chloroform before sexually assaulting her. But the child beauty queen's body was found on Boxing Day 1996, during the school holidays. No traces of chloroform were found in her autopsy and she had not been raped.

DNA was found beneath the girl's fingernails and on her clothing that came from a Caucasian white male. Authorities have never said whether the DNA matched anyone on an FBI database.

A DNA mouth swab test was carried out on Mr Karr in Bangkok. The results are unknown. He will be given another test when he is handed over to prosecutors in Boulder, Colorado, where the murder took place.

"DNA is the big ticket, the 600lb gorilla in this case," the former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman told the Rocky Mountain News. "If his DNA doesn't match, that's a huge problem for the prosecution. If it's a match, then it's game, set and match for the state."

Other doubts surfaced about Mr Karr's credibility. His former wife said that she was with him in Alabama throughout the Christmas of 1996. "She cannot think of a Christmas while they were together when he was away from the family on Christmas Day or immediately thereafter," said her attorney, Michael Rains.

A series of emails between Mr Karr and Michael Tracey, a British academic who has made three television documentaries about the case, also cast doubt on his state of mind. In one, he asked Prof Tracey to recite an ode called JonBenet, My Love at the child's grave. "JonBenet, my love, my life," it read. "I love you and shall forever love you. I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness - this darkness that now separates us."

In other emails Mr Karr expressed sympathy for Michael Jackson at the time he was facing child molestation charges, compared himself to Peter Pan, and referred to children as his peer group.

Prof Tracey, of the University of Colorado, who alerted police to the emails, said: "Let him have his day in court and let JonBenet have her day in court and let's see how it plays out."

Further details about Mr Karr's background emerged yesterday. He was married twice, both times to 15-year-old girls, and had three children.

This thread goes on and on.

John Betong are you trying to justify yourself now to your peers

On the Hull form/site it clearly says you must apply while in the UK.......it even says it again when it tells you all about visa runs and stuff.....not the kind of thing the staff in London would bother with

As to reusing rubber stamps to save money

You got away with it once when you had the Houston visa this time tough luck.

You should try and sort yourself out before you find you cannot get back to Thailand whatever.

Leave for a few months.....go travelling or something.......new passport and proper visa even just tourist 60 days somewhere.

Other things...... the guy in Cambodia who said about rubber stamps being easy to fake.....that's why they don't have them, more or less anywhere anymore.......this is why would like to hear from Thai Flyer how they are at airport when he arrives.....just out of interest. I too have just finished on a "rubber" and will be getting another in a few days from Hull (please note John Betong that I am writing this from Manchester). One doesn't want to find later that the stamp is no longer "legal tender"

Just wondering.......

Do they no longer stamp "used" over visas once they are redeemed fully or rejected as in this case?

Be interested to know how Konangrit's friend goes on coming back with what is now a very old fashioned visa style.

Our friend here definately not the innocent......

How he entered from Cambodia would be a thing as coming from UK you would arrive at Bangkok airport and be giving a flight number ex UK.

He's lucky to get any stamp and not be deported.

Best to leave Thailand make new passport and start over

Have in a wild moment contemplated his move myself but thought better of it

Mind you the little note does draw attention to his visa for the next station

By the by the Hull consulate are a company of ship's chandlers and none of them are Thai nationals and it does say on the website that applications are made in UK only.

It's much of a muchness.....

I'd guess the stats might be of some use, though I doubt they will get honest data, as it's nice to give yourself a dream job and hefty pay!

The American thing is also on the UK visa application form.... have you been a member of a terrorist group etc.

Hands up who put down yes? Osama?

Hi Sunbelt

I run a small business

What would be the possible situation if we wanted to amalgamate with another larger company and set up a work permit under their exsisting work permit for a sister business in a different province they are in Bangkok we are in ChiangMai. Would both branches need capital or only the "parent" company.

Our business is skills based with no capital required apart from building rent. Would it be possible for us to pay tax seperately to the local tax office so for all intents and purposes we are two companies but joined on paper.

Unbiased Ovenman..... so more a hobbit I guess than a troll!!!

Enjoying this thread........

In Pakistan on your way out from Karachi airport the cops at the road block would stop the taxi and try and get to see your money........ and to practice sleight of hand as well....... in Karachi with armed "police" it takes a lot to keep a handle on things.

I know my missus would worry not the least at how tempting the money would be in my pocket to spend on CD's and DVD's....... let alone thieves etc....... a friend had a bag snatched off the front of a scooter in ChiangMai the othernight.

These sort of things are so demeaning....... why not go the whole hog and start up with FEC's?

Where are these destitute foreigners? What does the Thai govt spend on them?

There really seems no thought behind all of this.

Here's a new one. Posters have gone up at Mae sai advising that at some point soon you will need to show evidence of funds of 20,000 baht to make another monthly stamp.

I haven't seen this for myself when I was there a week ago but friends who were there this weekend told us about this.

Anyone seen the same or knows anymore about this?

There seems to always be ChiangMai going the the dogs stories though at the same time there is money being put up for improvements.

The new crossings.... I came home from Bali after three weeks away and there they were. At first it was more or less travel as usual, not so much action at the crossings, now the traffic does stop.

There are metered taxis....we took one from the airport home......there are also red and yellow songteaws which are in effect local buses.......there is perhaps coming some sort of tram or metro rail project.

Five Star hotels...... well there are quite a few little Bali style developments already......Tamarind Village.......good conversions.......the House....... and those ideas trickle down. If The Chedhi make something really nice other places copy.....accross the road from me for example there is a landscaped mini garden to brighten the side the old Anodard Hotel's cafe....... good ideas do catch on.

As for signs and billboards...... it's the latter that are too much..... and as that is bigger firms regulation should be easy enough.

Through our business here we meet a lot of visitors to Chiang Mai and they are not complaining. It's good to discuss and then to improve on stuff not to simply put everything down.

Some of the things that are posted such as buying a book "Can Asians think" are frankly insulting. The idea so kindly spread over hundreds of years that westerners know better is what has prompted developing countries to set their model of development as being Europe ( in the last centuries) and America now. While Vermont might be iddylic the US model is more likely to be Los Angeles.

Even in the UK there has been a lot of rethinking city architecture.... read Prince Charles writings and the various reactions to them. My home city of Manchester a drab industrial town with some grand Victoriana has over ten years remodelled itself to look very good and vibrant. We put back in a tram system, redid the public gardens completely, built and converted old buildings in the wake of the IRA bombing and the city feels completely different to in my youth.

I should think that Thailand can manage things the same way also. Bangkok mow has a skytrain and an underground. Metered taxis outnumber tuk tuks.

I do feel reading the postings that a lot of you put down the prospect of positive change. If evryone feels world weary and that life is only getting worse then it will do.

Thanks for the info.

Are you saying that for a first time O marriage visa I just need to take in the wedding certificate and nothing else and that the means testing is one year later for extending that visa year by year?

On this visa are you still doing visa runs every three months also?

I want to have a visa that can simply run and run. So I also want to be in on the grandfathering lower income requirements.

Should I apply for the O marriage first as a replacement for the present B and then try to get a work permit?

Also Thai banking is in wife's name not mine do I need to be joint account holder?

Thanks for the help

I am a new poster and would like some advice regarding my situation.

Last year I applied for a non Immigrant B type visa in Hull using a letter with the heading from the small clothes shop my girlfriend and I had started in ChiangMai. In the letter I stated I required the visa to source things for the shop, which is true as we do import from Bali.

My girlfriend and I are now halfway through the marriage paperwork having made a ceremony and that will be complete and registered in the next month.

at our home we also run a small yoga studio where I teach students, usually around six at a time, maximum 14.

My B visa will expire in May and I have plans top go to Singapore in April and to re-apply there. Is this visa easy to renew if you have one already in your passport?

Should I be looking for a marriage visa and having our bankbook with the shop money and yoga income in it as evidence of income?

I haven't applied for a work permit as for the yoga the capital invested has been absolutely minimal, and am not sure whether the shop counts as a business that I can be involved in and again the capital held in stock is only a few thousand pounds.

If I had a marriage visa it would have to really be on income from working as we don't have the money available to just sit in the bank.

Can you offer some advice. At the moment while our shop is registered and we pay sign tax we don't pay income tax. It's more Mom and Pop than Marks and Spencers.