bifftastic

It all has to do with China opening up the commercial and economic highways from Vietnam to India and China to Singapore.. Did you notice all the highway construction from Mae Sai to Chiang Saen and from Chiang Saen to Chiang Rai? That's being done with Chinese money not Thailand. OH yea how about the new friend ship bridge to be built in Chiang Khong. Wake up China is on the move.

yeah those road works are a massive project, I didn't realise it was chinese money behind it, but it makes sense now you point it out, opening up the trade arteries indeed.

In that case the casino/hotel complex may be aimed at the chinese people rather than hoping to emulate the cambodian outfits who're after the thai punters. To me there just doesn't appear to be enough people with enough disposable income in that part of thailand.

there's a chinese trading company just outside sob ruak that will take you by boat, no charge, to the small market on the laos side on the condition that you visit the casino.

When we went we saw the construction close up. They've built a huge hotel, new roads, car parks, everything. It looks like a whole new town. When you actually go inside the casino it's quite disappointing, there's about 6 tables all playing baccarat and a roulette table. I'm assuming that later on there'll be more to it.

I think they're assuming it will be like the one's in cambodia that are popular with bangkok people, although my g/f says they've got a very long way to go to match them, apparently in cambodia you get food, drinks and, depending on how much money you change into chips, accomodation all for free.

I just don't think the new chinese place will attract the custom from the north of thailand in the same way.

It is worrying though, the influx of chinese money can be seen around sob ruak itself, lot's of well off chinese people wandering about. Also in Chiang Saen, in the small cafe we had breakfast in every day there was a regular group of chinese business type people, nice guys actually, smiles all round, a couple of them spoke Thai very well, according to my g/f.

It seems the chinese government has marked the Laos side of the golden triangle as one of their 'special enterprise zones' and is throwing huge amounts of cash into it.

On the face of it, it doesn't look like the Lao people are getting too much of it,the kids hanging round the market looked malnourished and unhealthy, the Lao people in the market didn't look that well off either, the boat driver, the minibus driver, and the other drivers that were working ferrying people about were all chinese, we stopped to pick up the drivers wife and the rest of his family on one leg of the jaunt, and they were all well dressed and looked a lot more affluent. So it seems they've moved quite a few people into Laos and, due to the porous nature of the border, they're splashing some of their cash on the Thai side too.

There were hardly any punters in the casino, not a great return on their investment so far.

I don't really know what to make of it myself, it would be a shame to over-commercialise the place, and it seems somewhat ironic that a communist regime would be doing it!

The one we visited in Myanmar was called the win win club, it was, basically, a great big 4/5 star hotel with a very small casino inside it and a few slot machines, not particularly exciting or full either. Same thing really, a few middle aged ladies playing cards, I found the whole thing a bit odd to be honest.

52 replies to the topic, must be a record.

Pity that only 4or 5 have any relevance to the original post.

Definitly seems that the replies are the problem not the poster.

You're beating a dead horse here. Time to move on, everyone else has, including the OP.

Maybe so, but with attitudes like yours how can this forum possibly interest any newbie in posting here.

I agree though, time to move on and talk about ................................beer.

personally, I find the opposite to be true. I found this forum to be very welcoming and helpful.

Back on topic, there is another way to approach this subject. Instead of trying to become a paramedic, one could devise an action plan for many common scenarios.

Think in terms of deep lacerations, severed digits, electrocution, dog bites, snake bites, eating bad mushrooms or getting into a bad batch of homemade rotgut. These are things that happen all the time and knowing who to contact, where to go and how to get there quickly could be very important.

Think about what could go wrong with you, your family or your neighbors. Then make preparations for what you would do. You are more apt to encounter blood, broken bones or poison than a need for CPR. Thinking about it in advance will save a lot of valuable time in the advent of an emergency. If you can't do it yourself, know where to go and the quickest way there.

spot on, it's planning what you will do in advance that avoids panic.

I think biff deserves a boost in reputation as well. Done, you are now at one.

As some one who's ThaiVisa reputation remained on the minimum possible for years under the old system let me assure you that being recognised as a prick eventually brings a sense of achievement.

thanks now I feel all warm and fluffy how many boosts do i need before the TV system announces to all and sundry that I'm a fully fledged prick? I need to feel that sense of achievement

i dont think giving his kid a beer or or a massage would have been much help.

exactly why it would have been useful to mention it in the first place

first aid for infants is, indeed, very different from first aid for adults. I have had first aid training as part of my job. It was, however, completely inadequate as it consisted of a one day course. It included how to put people into the recovery position, establish whether they're breathing or not and CPR. The instructor admitted it was next to useless as by the time we would need to use it we would have forgotten most, if not all of it. He did touch on CPR for infants but pointed out that, as is also the case with adults, you are likely to cause some damage to the patient whilst administering CPR. This is, of course, balanced out by the fact that if you don't do it they may well die. It is something that requires quite intensive training and regular practice. We had the CPR for infants described to us but were told that it should really only be a very last resort and ideally should only be done by front line medical staff.

He also pointed out that it is a skill in itself to know when CPR is necessary, so I would only use videos as a guide to understand how to unblock an airway or put someone in the recovery position, also to pass on accurate and useful information to the emergency services as quickly as possible.

Actual practice of potentially life saving and/or life threatening techniques should only be done under the supervision of suitably qualified professionals.

If you do it wrong you can do more harm than good.

If the OP finds suitable training in the area then it should be regularly attended to keep it all fresh in the mind. When someone is in an emergency situation it's easy to panic and freeze but if you've been regularly schooled it tends to kick in automatically.

I'm also glad to hear the youngster is ok, must be very frightening for all concerned.

I also feel I must add that I'm a bit surprised that some folk decided to use this thread to belittle other discussions about coffee and ticks and good/bad days and agree with VF that the OP's first post could have had more information, but hey. it didn't, and we got there in the end ay?

I guess there's always a risk, when you take part in open discussions on a public forum that some people will use what you have said in the past as some kind of rod to beat you with, still, as the mrs says 'they have mouth, if they want to talk, cannot stop, up to them'

cheers, Biff

no, this is the temple

the people coming out of the ground are either side of the walk way leading up to it

I live just west of CR, about 15,000-16,000 km (translated from my airmiles) and 30 more degrees north lattitude. So put me down for "farther out".*

[*Apologies for trotting out such an old joke . . . but, as a regular reader of the CR subforum, I didn't want to feel left out and also disappoint VF. I promise to visit in autumn so you can slap me silly then ]

I'm truly touched by how concerned people are for my feelings.

It surely seems that we have a lot of 'far out' people in the Rai. Apparently, the Rai is more a state of being than a location.

I'm in the 'didn't want to feel left out' section rather than non-disappointment of le farangue du village

what kind of favour do you think she's doing you? Whatever visa you want you can get it without getting married, apart from, obviously, the extension of a visa based on marriage. Why would you want to go through the considerable hassle of all the paperwork at immigration, proving you have the money, photo's of you and her in your home together, visits from immigration officials to make sure you're married, just so you can report to immigration every 90 days to show you still live together? Then, whenever she wants to kick you out the country she goes and tells them and you're screwed! There's other legitimate ways to get visas without hooking up with someone who's supposedly doing you a favour.

If you do go through with this, I think you'll find that it's you who will be doing her favours on a monthly basis, shortly after pay day.

Go get a non-immigrant type o from a nearby country or get an ed-visa or something, don't get married to get a visa extension, it's hard enough when you're getting married for the usual reasons.

Anyway, up to you, your life not my life, as they say.

I do like the way you casually ask if there are any potential pitfalls btw, that did make me chuckle

reason for edit; removing the words 'f*cking' and 'idiot'

Could it be that you are asking too much for your house?

so it would seem, how much do you want for it OP?

Hey Biff.

I know lawyers but have not used them for my personal business. The family here has used one of them quite a bit for small items.

I suggest that you do use one, as the language thing will be beyond you and you need to know exactly what it says.

Also keep in mind that you can inherit one rai in the case of the loss of your spouse if she is listed as the owner and the one rai should be the location of your house. The chanote for that one rai should be separate from any connecting rai. So, make sure that the will is drawn up as well, so that if something happens to her, you don't have to worry about someone fighting the usufruct. Better to be guaranteed ownership instead of only use of the house in the case of such a loss. At least your investment in the house is protected if you should lose her. The usufruct is more to protect you if the partnership should fail. Sorry to be morbid but life is life and death is too.

Yeah a will is important. We, none of us, like to think about it but the thing that worries me most is if she dies before the children are of an age to inherit the house. Who would the house belong to in the mean time?

This is the main reason for buying it in the first place as her family do not own any land in this province. They are originally from Korat and pi sao has married (not officially) into a Chiang Saen/Laos family who own the land/houses that everybody lives on/in. As far as relationships breaking down, well, we all take that chance whatever country we live in, so the usufruct, as I was given to understand it, would give me some kind of bargaining rights if things all turned sour. Having said that, if things turn sour they're sour and I can't imagine myself trying to take her to court to get money she doesn't have and succeed in taking her house away from her and her kids. I would, however, should she die, want the right to carry on living in the house, with the kids, until my own time is up.

So, it may be the case that a will is all that's needed. I understand the possibility of inheriting the house but then I'd need to sell it within one year or fall foul of the 'farang cannot own land' thing right?

Advice welcome,

thanks again

interesting stuff about that 'members' thing Kd, I'll have to get your advice on that when I need to get some stuff

I too, have had the mis-fortune to be mistaken for an Australian, but that was after I opened my mouth! Suitable admonishments followed

thanks for all the informative posts. So, if your house has asbestos roof tiles, what's the best thing to do? I understand that they may not be dangerous until they're damaged, won't removing them damage them? Surely, over time, they will become damaged anyway?

I reckon it's unlikely that any Thai builders who would replace roof tiles will remove the asbestos ones with any kind of precautions, so if you get them replaced aren't you just making a big asbestos cloud for you and your neighbours to breathe in?

I'm asking because I'm fairly sure the house I'm thinking of buying has asbestos roof tiles, but then, many of the other houses in the area probably do to!

What's the best course of action?

Cheers,

Biff

ah ok gotcha now

well I did say the next girl that falls in love with me will have to marry me, also said I'd had it with local girls. See how you got to be careful what you wish for?

legally married? Ok cool, that's part of the plan anyway. By the way, who's the 'he' you refer to?

Thanks for the replies guys.

The main reason for wanting this are the, supposedly, morbid ones. My girlfriend was surprised and unhappy that both our names could not be on the title deed as owners, her concern was that if something happened to her that I would be able to continue living in the house with her children. I completely agree that such circumstances don't really bear thinking about, especially since at the moment, I don't even have the possibility of living there at all!

Having said that it is important to plan for the future.

VF, if I understand you correctly, the kind folks at the land office did it all for you? Can you remember what the documentation was called in Thai? I did read somewhere that an usufruct needs to be placed on the title deed at the same time it's transferred, in your case it seems it was done afterwards.

Kandahar, thanks for the info, I'll follow that up.

This is all way down the live at the moment, as I don't even have the money to buy the dam_n place just yet!

One step at a time.

Thanks guys

ok, i know i don't really live there so i voted 'further out' which covers both locations 2km down river from Chiang Saen, Ban Sob Kham, and Stratford in East London one of which is a very beautiful, peaceful (apart from dogs and chickens) place populated by hard working decent people who like a lao khao or 3 in the evenings, help each other out on a daily basis, like a gossip and the occasional 'pasa farang' lesson ( i did try to explain that there are many many farang languages but could only reach the point that pasa farang for pasa farang is pasa angkrit!)

And the other is Stratford

minor victory, in my eyes anyway, during the last visit I persuaded the nephew (who's only 4) that I wasn't 'loong farang' but 'loong Biff' pronounced 'Bipp'

so i now have tales of a sad faced 4 year old on the hunt for 5 baht asking everyone 'loong bipp bai nai?'

one day it will, i hope, be home

ok, seems as though there are no personal recommendations for lawyers in the rai. Would I be able to use a lawyer in another province? I'll happily take recommendations from anyone who has had an usufruct successfully completed.

so sorry to hear that the end has finally come for carsten. I'm glad i managed to see him smile. I'm sad i didn't know him in better times. A big man with a big heart. Rest in peace Carsten.

double post sorry. Can mods remove this one please?

Thanks for the link. Have you used these lawyers yourself? I'm looking for some personal recommendations :-)

I'm happy to hear that Carsten is in a nicer place, although having heard bad things about public hospitals in Thailand, I have to say I didn't think the hospital in Chiang Rai was bad at all. Anyway, best wishes to Carsten from myself and my girlfriend. I just spoke to her and she asked how he's doing. Thanks to everybody here, I can tell her he's in good hands. Cheers, Biff

hi, any of you knowlegeable CR folks know a good lawyer who knows his/her way around an usufruct or sit thi gap gin ta lord shee vit ? Apologies for the dubious transliteration. I will be needing their services in a few months time. Someone who isn't averse to email would be nice as much of the communication will be long distance to begin with.

Cheers, Biff