Chimp

23&Me, wife is Southeast Asian, Chinese, Korean, Southwest Asian, and Ashkenazi Jew. Although you take these tests with a grain of salt, if you speak to family members it appears to be fairly accurate with the exception of Ashkenazi Jew and Korean.

My wife and I tore down my MIL's dilapidated home and built her a new one.  Because she is an only child we knew that she would inherit the home and it was an investment in her future.  In addition, whenever we are in Thailand we have a place to stay which makes our visits enjoyable and stress-free.  After visiting Thailand dozens of times over the past 30 years we have decided that Thailand is not in our future as a potential retirement location.  As a result, we gave our interest in my MIL's home to my wife's cousin and family.  They have taken ownership of the property so there is no going back.  It was money well spent, just to see the joy and pride that my MIL had when we had the housewarming and when family and neighbors come to visit made it well worth it. At the time we built, the baht was weak and the price of the home was less than the cost of most new cars. No regrets.

I love the weather:

The Royal Thai Consulate in Vancouver, Canada is still issuing METVs according to their website.  You can contact them at:

Royal Thai Consulate General in Vancouver

1040 Burrard St,
Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2R9
Tel. (604) 687-1143
Fax (604) 687-4434
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.thaicongenvancouver.org

http://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-pay-your-taxes-or-lose-your-passport-1447971424

Get your Tourist Visa before November 12th or lose your opportunity.

I was visiting my FIL (Buddhist Monk) in Nakon Sawan and met a man from England who was a monk. He wrote a book named Phra Falang. You might try to find a copy of it and see if it may give you an idea what it is like being a monk in Thailand.

We had our translations done through a company in Lampang who in-turn had it stamped by the MFAs. We paid a little over song pon baht. Where I went wrong the last time is when I made my statement on the affidavit I used my wife's current name versus using her maiden name. The people at the amphur said I had to change it to my wife's maiden name and then have it re-translated. We ran out of time and had to return to the U.S. We basically have to start from scratch. The person in charge of the process tried to be helpful but she was not familiar with the process herself and kept referring to instructions provided in a manual. After finding something wrong with the paperwork on four different occasions my wife has found it very frustrating and said she is giving up on getting it changed. Hopefully she will change her mind before our next visit in December.

You take the original marriage certificate to the U.S Consulate and fill out an affidavit swearing that the marriage certificate is a true and accurate document. After you get the affidavit stamped by the consulate you would have the marriage license and affidavit translated into Thai. You can get the affidavit in PDF format via the consulate website. My wife and I are going through a similar situation with my wife's ID. The name on her ID is her maiden name and we are trying to get it changed to her married name. We have been back to the amphur at least 4 times trying to get it fixed. Hopefully on our next trip we will get her ID changed and also get her Thai passport renewed.

I have had to episodes of severe sciatica via bulging discs. The first episode lasted 9 months and eventually resolved itself. I did do exercises, etc. that I assume helped resolve the issue. Second episode lasted 11 months. I was scheduled for surgery but started to get slight relief about three week before I was to go under the knife. The surgery was cancelled and I was pain free two months later. I have been pain free for almost two years now. Although surgery is necessary for some, if there is any chance of getting relief without it, you are better off. My understanding is a person who has surgery and a person that doesn't, within 10 years they will both be in the same condition. Keep in mind some patients are worse off after the surgery.

I had an MRI in both cases and also understand that MRIs are not in favor now.

Thank you for the post. Great information.

Jenny,

My wife's family is from Lampang. When we are visiting we see falangs shopping at Big C routinely. I will admit that we see few young people your age but we do occasionally. I love it when we are in Lampang visiting but I'm not sure I would be able to live there for an extended period of time. Good luck.

My wife's cousin caught her husband with another woman and stabbed him to death. The BiB arrested her but released her when the family, including his, thought it would be better for the children if she was home to care for them. Very sad day when anyone is murdered. I'm sure he will have plenty of time to reflect on what a poor decision he made.

B-52s never spayed agent orange.