bifftastic

doubt if you could get a finance deal without actually being there, how would you or your wife sign the papers? I'm sure, if it's a dealership, you could arrange for a bank transfer if you bought it outright, but, again, there'll be paperwork to sign won't there? Sounds like you'll have to get someone in the family to buy it, with your money, then sign it over to your wife when you next go there.

Further delving into the FCO pages (safety and security section) reveals;

"Protests have occurred in various parts of Thailand and there is an ongoing risk of clashes between groups of protestors. During the weekend of 24 to 25 April pro-Government protests took place in Pattaya, Lopburi, Lampang, Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani, Mookdaharn and Korat."

See the page here

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living...curity&pg=2

Anyone notice a pro-govt. protest in CR?

It's all about personal expression, in my opinion.

Personally, I don't like the small roses or what ever, on the back of the shoulder, all depends on the quality of the work too. My g/f has always been a bit of a rebel, tomboy when she was young and left home asap, much of her early life mirrors my own. She's got a tat which I like, she's had it for about 12 years. She's like me, don't give a <deleted> if people like it or not. With regard to how Thai hi-so might view her because of it she said 'when they see my face and hear my voice they already don't like' tattoo or no tattoo she's lo-so and so am I

Love

West Ham United

West Ham United reserves

Anyone who's playing Spurs

Hate is too strong a word but have an avid dislike for

Spurs

Newcastle (not really sure why!)

and, of course, The Bermondsey Pikeys

I think you should wear that at immigration when you get to Thailand

People have been warned since early Feb. 2010 about possible problems and still they came why are they crying foul play now..........?

I must have missed those volcano warnings, yeah serves them right.

I wonder what they will say when the english take to the streets and start tearing that place apart in a few months time .

Important point that about travel insurance.

Sadly, I fear, the days of the English/British people taking to the streets are long gone.

You do all realize that the governments around the world really only issue these warning and advice to cover their own ass. In today culture of; due diligence and getting a law suit slapped on you. I have no really experience of governments, other than those in fortress Europe. The political party are just making sure if poor old Joe Soap takes a round to the nut, his wife doesn't sue her countries government for not warning her. That's all the UK government would want wail fighting for re-election.

Am I being a bit cynical? Does anyone really thing that a countries government give a rats ass about their individual citizen. Get yourself arrested (blatantly bogus charge) in a country other than your own, or have a problem that would warrants your countries assistance (via your embassy) All the embassies do is suck up and try and find outlets for whatever their country is selling that day. The only time they get all bleary eyed and give a toss over one of their citizens is when the story gets out over an individual, who is proved to be innocent and rotting in some hel_l hole, they will only react should it damage their image or pocket.

A government issuing warnings because they care about their citizens! Right! Pull the other leg it's got bells on.

OK. Flame on……………. Flame off!

Absolutely spot on mate. It's the same with the hundreds of safety warnings that appear everywhere in the UK these days, they don't care if you hurt yourself or not, just that you were warned before you fell in that great big hole they dug in the road, or whatever it is.

I wonder if they even think about having invalidated people's travel insurance with this announcement?

I seem to remember someone did post something like that, can't see it now though, try a google search and add the words 'thai visa' that should throw something up. Although, as is the nature of these things, situations change, so don't use the map (if you find it) as 'gospel' and take a tin hat on the skytrain with you

Bigamy would be a big mistake, in my opinion, and is un-necessary, also, as pointed out, it would mean that your second marriage wouldn't actually be a marriage at all!

have the monks round and have the full buddhist ceremony with all the family, then, if you want to, you can pursue the legal aspects of getting your divorce, but your g/f's family, and the two of you, should feel better as you will have made a commitment with the ceremony.

Don't go to the Amphur with a document saying you're free to marry when you aren't, it will bite you in the arse later on.

Don't give him the car until the funds are clear in your bank account. Not your paypal account, your bank account. Paypal is very secure, they charge you and the exchange rate isn't fantastic but it works quite well.

You have to jump through a few hoops to get your bank account linked and verified.

I believe the scams you were referring to were fake paypal emails showing funds had been credited to an account, followed by the scammer hassling for the goods...can't remember the details, anyway, once the funds are actually in your bank then you can sign over the car.

As someone posted before, people use paypal to buy cars every day on ebay.

to follow up .. like i am trance dj and have tons of good psytrance.. so let us make some killer party.. i have all the stuff except speakers... we can pool in and rent.. hope that you all interested.

unless you can make it appealing to the retired expat crowd,,,,doubtful or the locals in cr,,, doubtful, or find a space to have said party in cr,,, once again doubtful or get any one from the bigger cities to come all the way up for your party,,, doubtful... stick to the beaches in the south

I don't know; Its too late now, but I reckon he could have held a successful trance party in our Village just after songkran. We've got loads of speakers and allways seem to have a few more people in a trance after a week on the Lao Kaow

We'll have to organise something for next year. It could well turnout to be a Killer Party indeed

I reckon your in-laws would love to grab a handful of him

Nice photo's, that's at Sob Ruak isn't it? Great big shiny golden buddha, big elephant statues where they want 40 baht for you to climb up and have a photo? Souvenir shops and a pub on the corner of the car park? nice to see it again, I'll be back there in a few weeks time. It does seem as though the water levels have risen a bit, are the cargo ships getting through now?

The other thing is, how many Western women would stick it out for long with a guy who is dead broke?

I did, for quite a long time. Yes I was the sugar momma, lol.

I don't think the main difference is Thai women vs. Western women. I think it is more a matter of women who need a man for financial support vs. those who don't. (No judgment either way, everyone has different circumstances in life.) Lots of my female friends are the breadwinners in their relationships. Not all of us women equate men with money.

My English ex g/f always earned more than me, in fact, when we met I was proper 'on me arse' as we say in London and she was my 'sugar momma' for a while it never really was an issue with us, just how it was

...the rules don't seem so hard and fast as I originally was informed (or maybe she just doesn't give a stuff about what everyone else thinks of her).

6 of one half-a-dozen of the other I reckon I still don't get the 'putting my hand on her head' thing though

SBloke

As I tried to indicate, what bothered me when I first got here was that holding hands in public places - have yet to see the Thai woman with a Westerner seem happy at the public display, so natural in the West. Here, it seems like possession of a chattel.

My g/f is very comfortable with that, in fact, when we're walking it's her hand that looks for mine, she will often then place my hand on top of her head, the significance of that, if there is any, escapes me hopefully it's not possession of a chattel as you mention!

She maybe quite the rebel, as I haven't seen many other couples. Thai/Thai or Thai/Farang doing the same.

My wife is 34 and I am 54

You`re taking advantage of each other.

The old Farang gets his spring chicken and the much younger female gets financial security, help for her family and some status within her community.

It`s a sort of business relationship as long as the money lasts.

I certainly wouldn`t say that paying for it guarantees loyalty from the young female. Fine, if you are happy with that, good luck to all concerned.

All couples 'take advantage' of each other. If you look at the literal meaning of the words 'take' and 'advantage' take can also be substituted for 'give'

with regard to the looks or comments, my ex g/f (English) was 12 years younger than me, this generated no looks or comments, my Thai g/f is 13 years younger than me and one of the first questions I'm asked by my friends is 'how old is she?' expecting her to be in her 20's (I'm 46)

so far, no negative comments other than 'oh I suppose she wants to come over here then?' with rolling eyes. I reply 'have a look round mate, why would she?'

I agree that 'paying for it' doesn't guarantee anything, but there are financial implications in any relationship. If money is the only reason then that's very different, but there is often a financial 'imbalance' ie. one partner earns or has more than the other, that doesn't necessarily mean it's purely a financial arrangement.

check this thread out http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Cross-Border...ai-t351779.html

Just checked the Channah banner and it doesn't work! here's their website http://www.channahthailand.com/

Hope it helps.

Good luck

[my point was if the op is a farang and he gives money for his wife to buy the house, it's illegal, full stop, no arguments, according to current thai law.

As far as I can gather, it's not illegal to give your wife money. If it were, the world would be a very different place! What you have to do, when that money is used to buy a house, is to sign a document stating that you, as a farang, understand that you have no rights over the house and that it is owned by your wife. This is, I believe, because Thai courts distribute assets gained after marriage in the case of a divorce, in this case it would conflict with the law forbidding foreign ownership, hence the paperwork.

There have been many many threads on TV discussing this.

There's also much talk of 'why put money into something you don't own' etc. My view is, it's a place for you and your wife/family to live in, who cares who 'owns' it? I've had mortgages, paid rent, owned property/land. It doesn't feel any different when you open the door, nor does a rent payment feel any different to a mortgage payment. What matters is how you, and the people you live with, actually live in it. It would be nice if the kids could inherit it, which leads one down a certain path, but the whole ownership issue can become too much of a focus, in my opinion. And, if you let it, can drive a wedge between you and those sharing your living space.

Is there any particular reason, that you're aware, of as to why they forbid this kind of transaction from abroad? I guess the accounts are for UK residents but plenty of people are resident in the UK and still need to do this whilst abroad.

Cheers.

Sod's Law !

The only reference I can put my hands on is:-

Online service usage

The online service is intended for use by UK residents only. Before viewing the site from abroad you should ensure that you are not breaking any laws or regulations of the country you are in. You must not use the online service to apply for products whilst outside the UK.

I have also seen a message that is worded " You can access your accounts overseas but you MUST not undertake transfers or payments..."

Ah ok, they probably want to restrict everything to having originated in the UK as they're under UK law and aren't familiar with or don't want to get involved with any other countries possible banking restrictions.

Good point about 'being on holiday' and having the card sent out, a few people have posted before about banks refusing to send cards abroad.

Where is it? How much do you want for it?

it's the same rule for all UK high street banks, including mine (Nationwide).

Nationwide allow you to do online SWIFT transfers

They do NOW, but this is a recent service enhancement.

Halifax specifically FORBID making transfers if you are overseas (you can usually get away with it).

Really? Wow I didn't realise that, thanks for the info. When you say you can usually get away with it, do you mean they don't really monitor it and as long as you've logged in correctly it should be ok?

I remember when I did the direct SWIFT transfer the extra security option of then calling me with a 4 digit code which I had to enter to enable the transaction to go through, although seeing as the options included my mobile phone that wouldn't have prevented me doing that from overseas (pop the UK sim card back in, wear the roaming charges and it's done)

When I access my UK bank through moneybookers, the access is actually happening from Germany. I've never had this security option pop up then.

Is there any particular reason, that you're aware, of as to why they forbid this kind of transaction from abroad? I guess the accounts are for UK residents but plenty of people are resident in the UK and still need to do this whilst abroad.

Cheers.

Anyone been to Glow? Suk soi 23 http://www.glowbkk dot com/

Not a fan of trance myself but I do love deep/tech house and a little electro or breakbeat will do wonders for my soul too :-)

I've seen their website and the music they have streaming on there is ok, just wondered if anyone had actually been?

Thanks

I'm afraid all the UK banks are much the same.

Mine (Halifax) are ok. aside from being money-grabbing wank*rs, which is a given, seeing as they're a bank.

I can do SWIFT transfers internationally if I wanted to, they're expensive £9.50 at this end and then Bangkok Bank took another 700 baht and it can take 5 or 6 days for some reason, but when I do bill payments or transfer to other UK accounts it takes less than 2 hours and is free. I use Moneybookers.com for transfers to Thailand and on their screen I access my Halifax account directly and the money is instantly transferred, again for free. Then from Moneybookers to Bangkok Bank, takes about 2 days, depending on bank closures, and they take 200 baht. So with regard to online stuff they're pretty good.