connda

In all honesty, some farangs go dressed as slobs, looking like they have just come from a garbage can, I find them offensive as well, not an ounce of respect, if you go to immigration have a shower and wear clean clothes, that's a good start

I personally dress business casual when I go to Immigration, but I don't particularly give a rat's behind what anyone else chooses to wear. What business is it of mine? Or anybody else for that matter. Of course then again, I grew up in a country and culture where conformity wasn't high on anybody's list. Never had much respect for lemmings or sheep.

It shouldn't be a big deal for anyone. I wouldn't go into a government office in Australia dressed for the beach. Why would anyone think you can do that here. Respect is universal.

You obviously have never been in a DMV office in America.

I have seen Russian girls in Chonburi Immigration in their bikini!

They were wearing less clothes than a go-go girl at work and surprised that Immigration Officer didn't even want to talk to her - other Russians had to explain to her to go home and wear decent clothes first.

I would have serviced her without a moment's hesitation!

No tight pants or mini-skirts: The average Uni student wouldn't be allowed to attend classes.

I really would like to see all satellites go off line, just for 3-4 days... It would be chaos

What people don't realized, all cozily wrapped in their normalcy-bias, is that we are over-due for a Carrington Event X-Class solar flare. Hopefully instead of an X-40, maybe we only get hit with an X-15 or so: just enough to cause limited chaos without destroying the entire electrical infrastructure, including the electric pumps supplying water to the 400 odd nuke plants around the world. If those all melt down, we have an 'extinction event' on our hands.

No, what the psychopathic world leaders need if for the public to freak out just enough to demand change, in other word, to get off their butts and shield the primary electrical grids from such events.

But agreed. A few billion people would be all freaked out because they can't access their favorite social media network and post selfies of themselves with an awesome Aurora Borealis in the background night sky.

I'll toss my two cents worth in considering I'm using legally prescribed diazepam to withdraw from doctor perscribed benzodiazapines. But let's define some terms from the point of view of someone who has a lot of experience with this particular class of drug. Addiction to me means you 'crave' a substance; you have to have it. Think heroin, nicotine, alcohol. Benzodiazipines such as diazepam, in my case, aren't something I crave, but, long term use for what ever your reason (anxiety, anti-convulsive, sedative, insomnia) will cause changes in your brain chemistry and once you choose to stop - chances are you will go though withdrawals. The severity of withdrawal vary significantly from person to person. So I have no physical urge to take them, but if I don't, then as the drug flushes out of my system I start into a pretty nasty withdrawal.

I use lorazapam for insomnia primarily because Ambien is a prescription drug here in the LOS, and a visit to the doctor plus a 30 day prescription at a private hospital will set you back 4000 to 5000 THB. Not cheap. A 30 day prescription of lorazapam or xanax (faster acting / short half-life benzo) from a doctor at a public clinic will cost you about 100 THB. It's a no-brainer to understand what drug most people will choose to use, as in my case, for insomnia.

The problem with benzos are they eventually stop working unless you up your dose, and I stop at 2 mg of lorazapam once it stops working, and then I taper off the drug which takes me anywhere between 15 to 20 weeks of very slow, tapered withdrawal. 2 mg of lorazapam is equivalent to 20 mg of diazepam, which I cut at a rate of 1 mg per week.

So, for anyone who chooses to stop taking benzos, I recommend looking up The Ashton Manual online. The title pretty much says it all: Benzodiazepines: How They Work and How To Withdraw. I work together with my doctor using the taper schedules in this book. In fact, for anyone who chooses to stop using benzos, you should consider printing off the taper schedules for your doctor and include the URL to the site http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/ . If your doctor won't work with you, find a different doctor. My experience is that Thai doctors are really good at prescribing benzos, but seem to know next to nothing regarding what to do when it comes to stopping their use, or perhaps they really don't want you to stop because it is a cash cow money maker especially if the doctor is running a private clinic possibly in conjunction with their 'day-job'. This includes general practitioners and specialist such as psychiatrists. Just an observation after dealing with quiet a few doctors regarding this issue when attempting to find a doctor to help a Thai person I know establish a taper program to permanently quit benzos after they were initially prescribed for a panic disorder that had run it's course. Having had insomnia for about 15 years, and having gone through this cycle a few time here in Thailand, personally I think I'm going to permanently stop their use at the end of this taper. As I get older and now being retired, it really doesn't matter if can't get to sleep until midnight and then wake up at Zero-Dark-Thirty unable to go back to sleep. I'm just learning how to deal with life without sleep.

Check your smartphone,

Check your smartphone,

Zombies, zombies, zombies,

'eh 'eh 'eh.

An interesting conundrum.

Let's suppose corruption was wiped out in Thailand.

Let's suppose the education system here actually worked in terms of rewarding merit.

Let's suppose the divide between abject poverty and obscene wealth was reduced so most Thais had a decent standard of living.

IMHO, we falangs might find Thailand no longer needed us. Or we could no longer afford to live here.

Be careful what you wish for.

At my age, I'm pretty sure I'll be long gone, cremated, and ceremoniously poured into the River Ping well before that Utopian dream is realized in this country.

Fukashima Buffalo calf. They have any nuke plants or industrial run-off in the Sisaket area?

There Is A Submarine [to the tune, There is a Mountain]

First there is a submarine,

Then there is no sub, then there is.

Oh prime minister. Oh prime minister. Oh prime minister, I need more baht.

- A tip 'o the hat to Donovan for the interesting song and creative thought-provoking parody

The law I believe states that they can build to within 50cm of the boundary. If they do they cannot have any windows on that side of the house, nor glass bricks that can emit light onto your property. I have been through this with a new house being built on a 9 mtr wide plot next to me. They built the walls within 30 cm of the boundary and their plans included windows and a roof overhang that would have dumped all their water onto our land.

My wife tried talking with them politely about the law, but the neighbour started getting angry with her, so she put her foot down and they had to dig up the columns and beams on our side and move them 20 cm. You don't piss my wife off!

As you can imagine, the neighbours don't talk to us.

I to had a problem except I was way when the build took place they were 80 cms from the border but with the roof overhang it meant water coming onto our land . I went to planning who instructed the owner to cut the house in half but then 4 days later I was summoned back to planning and the same officer told me he had changed his mind ( it was clear that over those few days money had been exchanged ) I got very angry with the planning officer and said I would take it to the highest court in the land , to my amazement the next day a whole team came from the planning department they made the owner take all the windows out as well as move the air conditioning the roof overhang also had to be shortened on top of this the planning officer told me I could build as close to the border as the neighbour had done needless to say the neighbour was not happy , all this was because he wanted to sell / rent the property as being with a seaview which was correct as you could see a metre of sea from the lounge window. I decided to plant a beautiful flowering tree just within my border line 7 years on it is huge , shades his house and the sea view is no longer and any water that comes off the roof is swallowed up by the tree !!!!

Under the circumstances that was a great idea, and a good idea for anyone who comes out on the losing end and has their land encroached on. Get a wall up on you property boundary, and then plant trees, plants, vines, bamboo, shrubs all along the wall. Within 5 years, you won't even see your neighbors house any longer. Just a jungle. Bamboo works really well. In our case though, the surrounding neighbors all look out for each other, so we want that clear line of sight between our homes.

There is a setback rule but most neighbors do not object and thus both parties are allowed to build to wall and remain neighborly.

In our mo-ban know of one case of this being legally enforced (over 40 years old and about 300 homes) and both properties are now abandoned.

We had something similar with our neighbors that they needed to modify part of our exterior wall in order to built a gate. Being neighborly we just say, 'Mai bpen rai'. Without a gate on their property, people walked across their land as a short cut from the other side of the village to get to the soi that goes past our home to the main province road through the village. We sort of welcomed the gate due the the fact that it cut down foot traffic past our homes by about 99%. We all look out for each other.

You need to go back to the 90 day online reporting site and after accepting the conditions click on check status. Then enter your verification number or passport number and etc.

Yes, I did. It says: Not approved

and under "Approval Comment" it says:

approval comment.jpg

which I don't understand

From the way I read it, you're allowed expiration date doesn't match what they have on file. At the end they say kaw you daw which would mean continue to reside. I see if my wife can make more sense out of it. Thai ain't my native language. lol

Just asked my wife and she comes up with the same thing, although without knowing the context, we don't know what they exactly mean by expiration date. Visa expiration, 90 day expiration? Don't know. I'm thinking your Visa expiration date that you giving them is different from what is in their files. Just a guess, but you might want to recheck what you submitted.

There is absolutely no legislation, rule or law that includes a home visit as a condition of obtaining an extension.

Home visits are made at the discretion of the Immigration office and while I sympathise that the IO's expenses may not be fully covered, that's an issue they should take up with the Government, not the foreigner.

Hypothetically, even if such a charge was introduced as a 'one off', 3,000 baht is absurd.

I travel 5 hours return trip to Immigration. Fuel 600-700 baht.

Allowing for a spot of lunch for 2, 1,000 baht would easily cover the expenses.

Yes, so in the OP's situation you would have refused payment?

I would have asked to see the Immigration regulations where such a charge was levied, then a supervisor or senior officer. Failing that I'd have warned the senior officer that I intended to report the incident to 1111 and take it further if necessary. It's exactly that kind of corruption the present PM is trying to stamp out.

I think certain Immigration officials may try to extort 'tea money' from someone who isn't confident about their business

at hand and appear vulnerable. If your confident and know what your about they won't try it on.

I also don't think there would be repercussions in the event of a complaint. In fact totally the opposite, they'd be more wary of you and know your not someone to be messed with.

Corruption only exists because some people do nothing about it.

I would have asked to see the Immigration regulations where such a charge was levied, then a supervisor or senior officer. Failing that I'd have warned the senior officer that I intended to report the incident to 1111 and take it further if necessary. It's exactly that kind of corruption the present PM is trying to stamp out.

Your statement hits the nail squarely on the head. Exactly! Corruption only exists because most people do nothing about it, generally out of fear of some form of reprisal, or, because they are receiving something themselves (for example, vote buying).

This is the norm. They get an allowance to visit you at your home for any new application. However their expenses only cover the trip there by the cheapest means, ie; bus. In order for them to travel by pickup, they need money for fuel and food. This is similar to the BIB having to buy their own weapons, guns and transport.

The government doesn't pay enough for expenses, so this is the only way they won't be out of pocket.

I admit it's wrong but what does the government expect.

It's a one off and off-sets expenses. If however, the office is very close to your home then I would be pissed off as well.

Remember, this is the office you have to go to every year for re-newal. Don't bite the hand that feeds you and all that. Good luck.

Remember, this is the office you have to go to every year for re-newal. Don't bite the hand that feeds you and all that. Good luck.

Which is implicitly condoning corruption: Be afraid my friend, and don't rock the boat or they will get you. That's also called extortion.

Sounds like he needed some lunch/dinner monies :-) However, only hearing from one side, who knows, maybe the extra new fee came in last night, things are always changing, not just here in Thailand, but all over :-) Can you imagine what is going on in Europe with all the migrants flooding in over the borders by the thousands :-) What was okay yesterday, may not be the same today/tomorrow......

If it is legit, the I/O should have no problem writing out a receipt. No receipt is equivalent no proof of having received payment, which means the money can 'disappear' and no one can prove anything.

Best to leave it alone if you want your Visa!

You make a headache for them and you will get it back big time.

Which is exactly why corruption is endemic in this country and will stay so: Fear of reprisal.

Then you wonder why there are signs in immigration and other government offices stating, "No Photographs Allowed.

You could document corruption and post it to social media before you yourself are tossed into jail. Corruption does not like transparency. And 'whistleblowers' make great targets.

So why would someone go to Samui without being able to actually swim in the sea? I can swim in a swimming pool in Bangkok, too. This is what they are afraid of so I do not expect any big campaign but rather a huge effort to sweep it under the carpet.

Definitely they kill more people than shark attacks. Wouldn't stop me from swimming in the ocean though. Living life to it's fullest is full of risks. "You pays your money and you takes your chances", as the old saying goes.

1. Isn't zinc gluconate worth trying ?
2. Google "box jellyfish zinc gluconate"

I don't know why Scientific American couldn't be linked to. If I'm incorrect mod, apologies and delete.

Don't Pee On It: Zinc Emerges As New Jellyfish Sting Treatment

By Christie Wilcox | December 12, 2012

Nothing can turn a fun day at the beach into a nightmare faster than a jellyfish sting, as Angel Yanagihara, researcher at the University of Hawaii, learned firsthand when she was swimming off Kaimana beach in 1997.....

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/dont-pee-on-it-zinc-emerges-as-new-jellyfish-sting-treatment/

Summary: The toxin create holes in red blood cells that then leak potassium into the blood stream which can lead to cardiac arrest. Zinc Gluconate looks promising and has been used topically on a long distance swimmer attempting a Cuba to Florida swim through box jelly fish swarms.

Excellent article. 555

Time to build more prisons. They can call them Internet Reeducation Centers.

Interpreted: Obfuscate, confuse public, then ram legislation through parliament hoping no one will notice.

They can call it The Golden Gateway: where the government mines nuggets of golden information from a unsuspecting public. That should be much more palatable.

Here we go again...?!?

I wonder if his wife will double down and have 4000 pairs of shoes.

"I have pour taosan pairs of choose." Yeah, lived in the PI for awhile. Lol

Marco, Aquino. Aquino, Marco. Marco, Aquino. Aquino, Marco.

Bush, Clinton. Clinton, Bush. Bush, Clinton. Clinton, Bush.

That's sort of the trademark of a Banana Republic political system.

Sweden puts out some great movies that the US then remakes into mediocre movies Lol. I like watching Swedish movies in Swedish with English subs. The last set:

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Excellent. Now that I'm talking about it, I might get the books.

The American version is a joke compared to the original movie. That's probobly why they only did one movie of what should have been three.

Agreed! The difference between night and day. It's unfortunate that the average Kim Kardashian, reality TV watch, clone can sit though a movie with sub-titles. Gotta have a remake, and the remakes are generally sh*t.

Thank God that we in Sweden had subtitles on all English launguage movies and TV-shows. I think i learned more from that than I did in school. Not perfecly as you probably can see, but I didn't have to hear John Wayne saying "up mit den Händen" instead of "hands up" as I had to hear when in Germany.

I have a friend for the Netherlands who I originally thought was American when I first met him. Perfect non-regional US accent. He said he picked it up watching US movies. lol