trainman34014

Very odd in Hang Dong. Sky the colour of a half ripe tomato !

Best thing to do is head for Lamphun where there are enough furniture warehouses with enough L shaped sofa's for anyones lifetime. Prices are very reasonable and they will deliver free to most parts of Chiang Mai. A lot of people will tell you they charge for delivery but different warehouses have been delivering to me over a three year period and non of them ever charge. It's 'the' place to go for choice and value.

I have just driven behind a 4 year old on a miniature motor bike, on the road, no helmet, following his dad who is waving traffic past , imagine if the toddler lost control and l hit him.

Just imagine how much money it would cost you if you did hit him because remember you are a farang and it's always your fault !

My question really is, are there any Thai or Foreign accountants in Chiang Mai who are familiar with the British tax system and could offer any worthwhile advice particularly in the area of self assessment?

Any help appreciated.

I am still looking out the window every day for the arrival of last years and this years Christmas cards.

Did it ever occur to you that nobody actually sent you one !

If I bring it back from the UK I will have to leave out some Cheese or Tea Bags or Brown Sauce or Blackcurrent Jam or one of a whole multitude of other goodies. Even with 30kilo's on Emirates and another 10 or 11 (should be 8) on board I still never have enough room but I'll think of something next trip.

Vintage Cheddar Cheese,100's of different teas,lots of Blackcurrant Jams ( I consume pots of the Steamline brand-it's full of fruit and not overburdened with sugar ) and probably Brown sauces as well as Pledge; all readily available in Chiang Mai so no need burden Emirates with the extra weight . By the way have you thought of beeswax , the traditional furniture polish also readily available on the doorstep in the honey shops.

Thanks for all the tips lads. I have actually got it sorted with Bees Wax now. Asmeron; where is this Steamline blackcurrant jam? I know all the other products are here if I want to pay the price for them but whatever I bring back is not only cheaper but for some strange reason tastes better ! By the way; did you mean Streamline? or was 'Steamline' some reference to my web name?

I've lived in Hang Dong area for three and a half years and always use the main Post Office on the main drag. I send regular mail to Europe including Postcards and I have never had one problem caused by the Thai Post Office. Any delayed delivery has always been the fault of European Post Office's through strikes or backlogs. I receive a lot of mail too and have never lost one item (yet). The delay to Airmail from the UK recently affected all countries and what normally arrives from there in 5-7 days has been taking up to 21 days but they all eventually arrive. When I enquired about these delays to the British Royal Mail I was told that there was quote, 'a massive pile up of backlogged mail at Heathrow'. The attitude was 'hard luck chum, we don't give a stuff'. Typical Britain these days.

That's because they crash a lot.

And how may times is a lot?

One time is a lot if you happen to be on board !

I've bought at the counters at Swampy a few times and it's pot luck on prices. Don't bother with Thai Airways as they think we are all millionairs; Bangkok Airways are the best and I've had it as cheap as 990 Baht but normally it's around 1,900 one way. You also get free use of the Bangkok Airways lounge opposite the gates and with complimentary food and drinks they are the No1 in my opinion.

its in tops (pledge)very expensive though,about 300 bht,i always bring about 4 tins back with from uk,its about a quid a tin in uk.

If I bring it back from the UK I will have to leave out some Cheese or Tea Bags or Brown Sauce or Blackcurrent Jam or one of a whole multitude of other goodies. Even with 30kilo's on Emirates and another 10 or 11 (should be 8) on board I still never have enough room but I'll think of something next trip.

Thanks all. I'll have another go.

Nong Hoy , Chiang Mai: works fine for me tonight. finally, I can open blog comments - blogspot entries were accessible yesterday, just not the comments. same with the blog providers from my home country. weird. now all back to normal, albeit still slow.

It's up and down in Hang Dong. Crap all day but now fine tonight. Never known it to be so bad until the last 3 weeks or so and I've been with them for nearly 4 years. To say they don't know anything about it and don't have complaints is crap. I know 4 people who have been complaining non stop for the last fortnight.

You can buy it at carrefour it's bloody expensive though!

Tried Carrefour today and they took me to the shoe polish ! Didn't understand furniture polish even in Thai.

Searched all the Supermarkets and a few others but no sign of any furniture polish anywhere. Any idea's? Seems Thai folks just never polish any furniture.

And as long as the people are not educated well enough to understand things any differently standards in every field of life here will remain the same. No need for Governments and all other so called 'responsible' people to change anything !

25 Litre bottles of water up 25% this week from our supplier. They say that the extra 5 baht is due to the impact of the high price of oil on, get this, the plastic shrink band they use to seal the bottle for delivery. I've bought hundreds of thousands of these in the past and they're probably still priced in satangs but with the pressure on fuel and other staples who can blame them for needing more. Only 5 baht but multiply your weekly spend by these kind of percentages and it really hurts.

With a few notable exceptions, I still maintain that food shopping even in the UK is pretty much as cheap as here if you maintain a varied (read interesting) diet. Mind you, I have done any grocery shopping there for a couple of years so I could be off a bit.

Sadly food prices in England are rising very fast with a 12.5% increase in the last quarter of 2010 alone. We were there for June/July and then again for November/December and it was really noticeable how much prices had increased in between times. When you live in CM for a few years and go back and live at British prices for everything it is a big shock. The price of Electric, Gas, Phones and Water are horrendous and just getting worse every month. That's not even to mention the price of Petrol and Diesel which went up by 15% between our two trips last year. For those who think things in CM are getting expensive; I suggest you go back to your Western home country for a few months and feel the pain of really high prices.

Strange this should happen to the OP as we were in Carrefour yesterday after noon as well. The sign is there about Coconut Milk right in front of the product and it clearly states in English and Thai that no more than 3 cartons must be taken by any one person or family on one day. We wanted five so I said to the Mrs I will take two and go to a different till but by the time we got to the checkout some 40 min's later I had forgotton. As I unloaded the trolley I realised and owned up to the girl thinking she would remove the extra two but she just said 'ok' and put them in our bags. Just lucky I guess as I could not find any at all in Tesco or Makro last week. Plenty of Oil everywhere at 47 Baht per bottle and 3 allowed in Tesco.

Heartfelt sympathy for the bereaved family involved and our thoughts go out to relatives of the other two girls who will hopefully recover soon.

Those of us who live here face these risks every day in a country where standards of cleanliness in Markets and many Restaurants leave a great deal to be desired. I am indebted to my Thai wife who seems to know exactly which foods to avoid in Markets and even Supermarkets and we rarely eat foods cooked in such places. There but for the grace of God go we.

Gentlemen. I have to thank you all for your important input as I have now resolved the problem and can access via Google Chrome. I have achieved this by using a combination of your idea's and advice over a 2 day period and I am very relieved to be able to return to 'normal' life. Well; my normal life anyway !

I will sometime come to the club when I can get into town because I am sure I could learn so much more from people that have a wealth of experience. However; I would probably only be able to attend a few times a year.

Once again; thank you one and all for trying your best to help me. It is very much appreciated......Brian.

What is your ISP? True, TOT, 3BB.. ??

Also check to see that your anti-virus or firewall isn't blocking HTTPS traffic (port 443).

ISP is 3BB. How do I find Port 443? Should it be on or off? Sorry; you are dealing with a computer novice !

Could be a nut loose behind the keyboard, I get this sometimes myself, but a few Valiums sorts that out.

Seriously though most likely something to do with our Internet browser, what are you using and is it updated?

3 Browser tried.......Firefox 3.06, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 8. It's not a Regional Block, as someone has suggested as I've spoken to the banks internet people. Tried everything that's been mentioned and seems I'm screwed ! Points taken about Internet Cafe's.

I thought it was illegal to bring cheese in at all - live cultures and all that - pickles ans preserves should be OK. So, I would have thought it was lucky you didn't get nabbed for the attempt to smuggle cheese!

My Mrs (Thai) did something I though humourous (in a stupid and pretty dangerous way!) - when she last came back from work (she's working in Europe at the moment and comes back on trips to Thailand) I asked her to bring a couple of Kg of Cheddar from the UK. When she got here, she didn't have it. She did have a clear platic bag full of plant seeds and seedlings (which looked like weed) - her friend had asked her to take them over to her mum (her friend works in a flower shop in West London). She said she couldn't bring the cheese because it is illegal - I had to inform her that so is bringing in foreign plants/live seeds and she may well have been arrested for drug smuggling if they had seen it and jumped to conclusions.

BTW agree with using postal mail - usually pay 7Baht when care packages arrive from home (with anything from underwear wth some room! - socks that are not 200% nylon - bits for the kids - frontline for the dog - etc) - she lists the items on the box in English and Thai and the total value - only been openned once (UK side - could tell by the UK Customs tape when it was resealled) - browb box with brown tape - address in Thai (written with a marker pen) and "Thailand" in English at the bottom.

I email my family in the UK. Spain, Eire, Finland, etc my address in Thai so they can print it off and stick it to letters or boxes - Thai customs seems to leave stuff alone when the address is in Thai.

Only time I paid, 700Baht, was when it was sent UPS(Address in Thai) - came from UK.

Received papers sent by DHL (with receipt within) - and nothing to pay this end at all (Address in Thai) - came from UK. Came unopenned - but was in a document pouch rather than a box.

Not sure if cheese is illegal or not but I bring loads every time and only been stopped the once and he wasn't interested in it or other food items. I have many pals who bring back cheese from Europe, Australia and USA, Canada etc and none of them have ever had a problem with it even if it is found. Now, if you try taking it into Aus'; that's a different matter altogether !

Given the number of Pizza and Burger threads on this forum you would have thought Americans were the only people here

Or maybe that just makes them the largest in terms of size/obesity

Just returning last month from Britain I was amazed to see just how large many people (particularly women) are becoming and how many Burger and Pizza joints there are. Seems we Brit's have caught up with our American cousins when it comes to getting 'Big'. However; only in the physical sense !

I know a lot of you are hot with computers so I'm hoping someone has an answer for me.

I signed up for internet banking during my last trip to UK; all ok and worked in UK but now I'm back here I can't log in on my computer (which is 5 years old). Tried it in Internet Cafe and it works ok so; what's wrong with my computer? Is it something to do with internet options settings, size of Ram or something more sinister that is going to force me to buy a new computer?

Any help appreciated.

I've often wondered if you have to pay tax on the hundreds of jars of Marmite, Branston, HP Sauce, Cheese etc etc.

I bet there's loads of TV members who return with 30-40 kg of nothing but items as exampled, as they have their clothes and everything else they need back in their country, with a relative or friend.

Anyone ever been asked to open their bags and been in such a situation?

Was there tax?

How much is 40 kg of good cheese worth here anyway?

Only been stopped once in 20 odd returns and he said 'Tobacco'. I said no so he said 'open bags'. He looked bewildered when the two bags that were opened contained nothing but Tea Bags, Cheese, Brown Sauce, Branston, Blackcurrant Jam and Gravy Granules. He turned to my Thai wife and said 'Tobacco'. She said 'don't smoke' in Thai and he opened one of her bags which was full of Cadburys Chocolate and at that point gave up without the merest smile. However; his partner thought it was very funny and was chuckling.