captnhoy

For what it's worth -

Today was my 8th time to extend my stay based on retirement. Here is what I saw that was new in my own experience. I had to make passport copies of my entire history of permission to stay spanning about 12 or so photocopies. Previously it was only for the prior year. I had to sign 3 documents that I had not seen before - 1) a statement that I understand the rules of staying, 2) permission to share my details and 3) a statement concerning any involvement in criminal justice system or court cases within Thailand. I have no history with law enforcement but for people who do there was space for writing the details, case numbers etc. I provided the usual 2 photos and they proceeded to take my photo using equipment the same as at the airport which I had never seen before. Also new to me I had to provide a hand drawn map to my residence. Unlike some other offices I did not have to wait fro approval from some other location. After about an hour of processing I did walk out with a new stamp good until this time next year.

I took the Admiral with me (Thai wife) and the office staff spoke to her about being excited about their upcoming days off. They said to her that the Ranong office would be closed for sure on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. They were hoping that the PM would also give them the 1st and were waiting to see if that would happen. Perhaps this is because Ranong is not so big but I think it underscores that your mileage may vary depending upon where you report no matter what the official news is.

10 years ago I HAD to come here and build a boat. If not I would have moved to SE Alaska, at least for the summer months. Now I summer in the US midwest and winter here. Leaving in 2 weeks.

I take back cashews. My friends all ask for those dried guppies with chilis in them too for beer-thirty. On return I stock up on coffee - much better and cheaper than here. Toothpaste, shave cream, blah blah blah

I got a tour of the Ao Nang Princess engine room some years back when she was out for maintenance. Not sure about that number 5 designation though. The one I saw was very impressive for a Thai vessel with big V-10 (?) Volvos. Everything was spotlessly clean and meticulously installed. Her cruise speed was 20 knots or more. This is a real tragedy, and if the same boat a surprise.

I know of a similar story in my small city. The farang did have a small quantity in possession. The judge sentenced that person to a 5,000 baht fine and a month or 2 of "probation" being piss tested. So the court was reasonable. HOWEVER the local police extorted her for 70,000 baht or they would "take her to immigration and have her deported". Heresay, but from a reliable source close to the offender.

I lived in Portland Oregon for 35 years and what a treat that was for beer. My steady research led me to cherish a good IPA.

This article says there are over 70 brewpubs in the city and that Oregon is the microbrew capital of the world. To my taste, Bud is like making love in a canoe. <deleted> close to water.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-bortz/bottoms-up-drink-your-way_b_1217263.html?

Your assumptions about mild winters are not always true. I lived there for 35 years and have seen cold spells up to 2 weeks in the TEENS with a bitter east wind. Frozen pipes, icy roads and all of that. Mostly it just rains but you never know when it's going to change. When the weather is nice it is unbeatable. There are numerous Asian supermarkets with just about anything she'll want for the kitchen.

500k and no debt is jack shit these days. Depends how old you are I guess. If you're 60 plus already then it might last you the rest of your life if you watch your spending.

Don't tell her anything. Even if you're a billionaire why would you set yourself up as a target? If you want to tell her something then tell her you can afford to buy a reasonably nice house in Pattaya, but you can't afford an SL series Mercedes. She will work it out!

I retired 11 years ago with $350k. I've lived well in Thailand, bought a small comfortable house in a small city and still have $300k. Depends on Money management - and my small pension kicked in at the mid point. She does not know what I'm worth but she knows we can do just about what we want to within reason. As for a Mercedes, I was so disappointed that I could not find a 10 yo used car that I would trust at a reasonable price. Still I found a 1 yo Altis with 5,000k on it for 200,000 baht less than new.

By Captain Hoy

Amen! My wife's good friend is the head English teacher at the local gov't school. Know what she can say to me? BYE BYE! I've also spent some good money sending a niece to private school primarily for the language opportunity. 4 years later as a 10 year old she cannot even say BYE BYE! The education system here sucks and it is by design. How can you have an elite society without the peons?

By CasualBiker

That's your mistake.. Private school.. The best Thai English teachers are at government schools!

Captain Hoy

Yeah says you. I offered the short version of the niece's story - 2 years private and then back into 2 years "advanced gov't". Same result. If it is not about parrotting the lesson she has no clue what I'm saying or how to respond to me. Beyond the obligatory "I am fine thank you". Carry on - I'm sure it is all very effective and I'm just having a run of bad luck because I did not run string around my house and all.

But I understand that (the majority of) Thais have NEVER been educated, taught to question and even reason.

They have NEVER been educated !!! I wonder why, I dont think it was because of the lack of money but the decisions of where it was important to spend that money and for what reasons....

What nonsense all Thais in the last 60 years have some form of education and certainly the under 35's have a decent education!

You think? I had a GF that was certainly not stupid and she didnt even know we had landed on the moon until we looked at it through a telescope I dont think she even realised what it was. I had to show her Appolo 13 and tell her this really happened. Until then the moon was for knowing when to plant the rice.

How can an education system that does not encourage questioning and passes everyone as long as you attend the exam at the end of the year be deemed a decent education?

I have had ladies working for be with Bachelors in various fields and their education was not up to my 1975 high school education, but then I try never to stop learning and question / analyze why and how, something that is sadly lacking in the majority of Thai society!!

As I stated previously 2000 schools in Thailand have no electricity, so computers are not going to be much good are they? How many children does this affect?

I think the key to your statement is ¨some form of education¨, that doesn´t make it a proper or decent education does it (or even an education at all).

When the current PM states that he couldn´t do a primary schooler´s homework as it was too difficult, that is a worry !!!

Amen! My wife's good friend is the head English teacher at the local gov't school. Know what she can say to me? BYE BYE! I've also spent some good money sending a niece to private school primarily for the language opportunity. 4 years later as a 10 year old she cannot even say BYE BYE! The education system here sucks and it is by design. How can you have an elite society without the peons?

We in the west are no better at demanding TRUE democracy than the Thai's are. Our two party systems, especially in the USA, are just a dog and pony show to make the public think they have a choice. But both major parties are indirectly controlled by the same multi-national mega corporations and the ultra wealthy global families that own controlling interest. It's called fascism. Mussolini called it "corporitivo" - "corporatism". But at least Americans are finally waking up to that which is probably why the last elections in 2014 had the lowest voter turnout in history and congress approval rating is only 7%. Sorry, I got slightly off topic but still relevant.

Quute right.

Ironically it's Yanks here that do most of the criticizing. They are so brainwashed thinking that they have democracy but subconsciously know they don't so love trying to bring Thailand down.

How do you know who does the most criticizing here? You have a way to keep score? As a Yank, I'd say Miami Bob did a very good job of summarizing a global political problem. And your response? Bashing Yanks. IMO the only change that will happen in the USA will be brought on by a revolution. A wise minority had that vision in the 60's. I was too young to see it then and too old to do it now. And where are YOU from oh great and mighty Sawan Chan who are so much better than Yanks?

I think he answers only to God, erm, make that A god.

Yeah, great input -THANKS. Looks like it's not worth the effort then. Also I did not know that CP bought Makro. I was trying to boycott CP after reading The Guardian's in depth expose on the fishing boat slave workers that support the feed industry for prawn farming.

I live in a small town in the south. The Phuket Makro has very good selection somewhat tailored to foreign tastes. When in BKK I always shop Villa Mkt or Foodland to take back good cheese, ham, etc. I have a Makro card and wondered what the BKK locations are like. I see that it will be a trek to get there though. The Bang Kapi location looks like it might be doable by canal ferry. Probably best to just go back to Villa but thought I'd check here,

Cheers - CH

I did that same trip last Friday but at noon. I went upstairs and got my taxi as he dropped a passenger at departures. Used the meter and about 115 baht to Mo Chit BTS. Got off at Nana right at Soi 6 and walked 3 minutes to the guesthouse. Traffic at that time will be much worse but still your best option I think.

Having lived in Thailand for 40 years I am still amazed to this day how little the people who live here understand the cultures of this area. I of course wouldn't have paid the extra US$7, but you have to know how to do it. This alas is the problem with too many expats they don't know how to do it, and they never will. These expats are the same ones who say when they are back in their home country about immigrants: "they come here and live and can't learn English or respect are culture". Sadly they come here and do the same the are hypocrites

How could we get you to take a page from BritTim's book and explain "how to do it"? After 40 years you must have much to share if you'd only loosen up a little and do so. With a teacher like you we could understand so much more. Then we'd all be happier and post pleasant contributions to the forums. Please, don't keep your techniques a secret. I'm sure your "like" button will be nearly worn out. You'd probably even get PM's thanking you for your generosity. I've only been here 10 years myself and still probably do not know even 25% of the secrets that you possess. You are so right about the language issue too. Unfortunately for me I cannot HEAR all of the tonal variations that are used in Thai language. So I think I have the word or phrase in my vocabulary only to get a blank stare when I use it. I bet you could teach me Thai too. Thanks for sharing.

Since they have no history of furniture, why buy it when you are away? I bet you'd be happier with the choices if you bought it in person. Other posters already told you how to get it home. I also agree with the oneday's post. I'd get a good mattress first and wait on the other stuff if I only could spend 10,000.

I shopped for my new home at Ikea in Bangkok. I hired a friend and his truck to deliver it some 800 kilometers away. My budget was bigger than yours and I'm quite pleased with the results.

I have no argument re Golden Bar - the owner is a very well connected Chinese-Thai who can pretty much do as he wants - but this is the first time I've seen Nana Hotel referred to as 'five star'. They've had the same website (complete with reference to a 'smashing disco club' which opens every 3-6 months to great fanfare and closes again within 6 weeks) for roughly 20 years and they certainly dont refer to themselves as such.

Well clearly they are not a five star hotel. My sarcasm on that must not have been clear. That's the point I was trying to make with the post that claimed it was only for 5 star hotels.

There are a couple of odd points in this story that no-one has so far commented on.

Hotels, along with the airports, are supposed to be exempt and the article clearly says, "a restaurant in a hotel called Everyone's Inn in Banglamung district was selling alcohol to foreign tourists". So why weren't they exempt?

The report says that the raid took place at 11.00 pm. Maha Bucha day finished at midnight, so was it really necessary to call out the army to uphold the ban for 1 more hour? Had the lady been a bit more cunning she could just have said, "Ok", waited for the police to go, and then served a bit more slowly for an hour or so.

Rightly or wrongly, it has been the custom in the past for the bars to start selling alcohol again from about 11.00 pm, although the go-go bars tend not to bother and give the girls a night off.

All in all, this story doesn't make much sense at face value.

The exemption to alcohol bans is limited to major tourist hotels. Pop into the Marriott etc and you can drink. AFAIK nothing short of real 5 star places are exempt.

Sorry to nitpick, buy HEY! This is TV right? I've seen the Golden Beer Bar serving when the rest of Soi Nana was dark. You know the one - out front of the FIVE STAR Nana Hotel.

Outside? You mean the place on the street? Even if the Nana was theoretically exempt that place wouldn't be.

If you are referring to the past, not particularly significant these days.

Actually I'm a seer and I was referring to the future. You want a pissing contest? OK - I'm in. Anybody have a drink at the golden Beer Bar at the Nana Hotel on the day in question? Jeeeez - another TV member who knows every <deleted> thing.

There are a couple of odd points in this story that no-one has so far commented on.

Hotels, along with the airports, are supposed to be exempt and the article clearly says, "a restaurant in a hotel called Everyone's Inn in Banglamung district was selling alcohol to foreign tourists". So why weren't they exempt?

The report says that the raid took place at 11.00 pm. Maha Bucha day finished at midnight, so was it really necessary to call out the army to uphold the ban for 1 more hour? Had the lady been a bit more cunning she could just have said, "Ok", waited for the police to go, and then served a bit more slowly for an hour or so.

Rightly or wrongly, it has been the custom in the past for the bars to start selling alcohol again from about 11.00 pm, although the go-go bars tend not to bother and give the girls a night off.

All in all, this story doesn't make much sense at face value.

The exemption to alcohol bans is limited to major tourist hotels. Pop into the Marriott etc and you can drink. AFAIK nothing short of real 5 star places are exempt.

Sorry to nitpick, buy HEY! This is TV right? I've seen the Golden Beer Bar serving when the rest of Soi Nana was dark. You know the one - out front of the FIVE STAR Nana Hotel.

I applaud her. While Thailand of course is a predominately Buddhist culture, it is not an ENTIRELY Buddhist culture. And yet this law is crammed down everyone's throat. One time I asked a man doing some work for me if he was Muslim and he said "No, I'm Thai". Evidently no one else counts.

Turkey noodle soup or beef stroganoff - it's a tossup for me.

Even volunteers need work permits. Was all his paperwork in place before critisizing others?

My paperwork?

Yep, copies of everything in a nice neat plastic folder. But that isn't the issue.

And here we have another misunderstanding. Callaway wrote "his paperwork", which I'm pretty sure means the volunteer who criticised you. What I consider as I fumble through this life is "You can be right or you can be happy". Unfortunately all too often I choose to be right.