BarnicaleBob

4 hours ago, farcanell said:

Washingtons oldest allies in Asia?

not the Philippines?

thailand certainly didn't do much as an ally in WW2.... 

The U.S. and Thailand have had a good working relationship since 1818.  During the U.S. Civil War, Thailand even offered to give military assistance to the U.S. 

The U.S. relationship with the Philippians did not start until 1898 as a result of the Spanish American War, which ended in the Philippians becoming a colony of the U.S.

The Philippines did not gain independence and become a nation until 1946 or 47.

Here is a link to a map to the BBQ store on Canal Road.  Keep in mind that the only Western style gas BBQ (this store has them) in Thailand are very expensive, 20,000 baht range.  https://goo.gl/2K2Kwk  

You may want to look for on of the cheap oil drum conversions made into a Thai charcoal BBQ, they are very inexpensive 1,000 to 1,500 baht but only last a few years if left outside.  

I agree with StevieAus about the Ford dealers in Chiang Mai, their service is just not up to par with the Korean and Japanese car dealers. 

About your on-line business, don't take this to the bank but I was once told that if you own a business in another country and all your customers are from someplace other than Thailand and all your financial payments are made to a bank outside of Thailand, you should be able to legally check on your business on a daily bases on-line from Thailand without the need for a work permit.

I would wait to purchase my vehicle until after you arrive in Chiang Mai.  I say this because sometimes there can be problems on ownership transfers that could go on for weeks, especially on used vehicles.  Also, if there is a problem with the vehicle that the seller did not tell you about, it is very difficult dealing with him when he is 500 kilometers away.  As for housing, you will have no problem finding a nice place for under 15,000 per month. 

You have to give the owner of the place congratulations on his entrepreneur skills. 

The Thai passport is easy to get, just need Thai ID card and 1,000 baht.  She can file for it and they mail it to her in about a week.  Where you big problem will be is getting a visa from the country you want to take her to.  That can be a long drawn out process depending on what country.

5 minutes ago, JohnMiller70 said:

Where was her insurance?  A nurse with her son driving a motorcycle in another country. Surely she thought of the insurance before traveling. Or not? Not very responsible for a nurse. And can't her friends and family manage to gather 60k???? 

If you would have read the whole story, you would know that she had insurance but it did not cover her for driving a moped.  So her only mistake was to rent a moped without reading the fine print on her travel insurance policy

I would suggest she go to America as a tourist, get married there if she agrees, return to Thailand and apply for a marriage visa.  It should only take four months or so for the marriage visa and immigration will be happy to see that you followed the immigration rules.  It is also a lot less expensive to file for a marriage visa in Thailand than to go to the US on a tourist visa and then file for a change of status.  Not to mention it being the legal way.

Orang37, may I ask what the total cost of this surgery was?

I think tourists arriving in Thailand should have travel insurance at least.  However, those that retire to Thailand and live long term, getting insurance above a certain age is impossible because no Thai insurance company will insure them at their age.  So if the Thai government requires all persons tourist and expats to have insurance, the Thai government will need to provide a means that will require Thai insurance company's to cover anyone of any age at a reasonable price.  Its called spreading the risk, maybe a new concept to Thai insurance companies. 

Can anyone tell me one benefit to having this new 10 year visa?

1. You still have to do 90 day checks

2.  You still have to do an annual check of which we don't have the details on yet. 

3.  It isn't really a 10 year visa, it is a 5 year visa that you can extend another 5 years, what is the fee for the extension?

4.  10,000 baht cost for 5 years comes to 2,000 a year, that is 100 baht a year more or 500 baht more expensive for the 5 years.

5.  So not only does it cost more and you still have to go to immigration the same number of times but you must have 3 million baht rather than 800,000 or 100,000 baht income rather than 64,000 baht.  

What is the advantage of this so called 10 year visa?

For me, the 100,000 baht income or 3 million in the bank is ok, but the $10,000.00 health insurance may be out of the question as I have been turned down by every company I've applied to.   I wonder if they would settle for $10,000.00 in a Thai bank if one could not get insurance?

I read a story from an American news organization about cute hilltribe kids at Wat Doi Suthep steeling things like watches from tourist as they posed for photos with them.  The story goes on to state that the parents of the children were present and may be forcing their kids into this type of behavior.  Does anyone know if this is true?

http://nypost.com/2016/09/26/sneaky-kids-rob-tourist-in-thailand-during-this-picture/

If you are going to be in Chiang Mai for that long, you may also want to consider living outside of the city.  Places like San Sai, Hong Dong, Doi Saket and a few others have large numbers of westerners living there.  The home rental prices are less expensive than in the City and the people seem a lot more friendly.  Of course you need to think about transportation and it would be a good idea to purchase a used car (they are safer than motorbikes).  Having a car will not only make your trips to and from the City easier but will afford you the opportunity to take weekend trips to nearby places of interest such as hot springs, mountain parks, temples or wats, tribal villages and so on.  

Prices: 

Used cars can be found from 100,000 baht on up.  Really good ones in the 300,000 baht range. 

Rental housing in the outlaying areas can range from 5,000 baht a month on up.  For example, I live in a Doi Saket area moo baan (housing development), a nice furnished 2 or 3 bedroom 2 bath house, with AC, and a western style kitchen rents on average between 6,000 and 10,000 baht a month. 

I have a friend in Germany who wants to send to me some private label wine from his vineyard to me in Thailand as a gift for personal use (not for resale).  I realize there may be an import tax to do this and would like to know if anyone has any information on the following:

Is the importation of private label wine from a licensed winery in Germany allowed in Thailand?

Any idea on how much the import tax would be?

Any idea on what the limit he would be allowed to ship to me (he said he would like to give me one case of 12 as a gift)?

Any help I can get on answering the above three questions will be appreciated. 

Going back to what the OP stated; it was one occurrence that he had experienced with one or two Thai persons.  I am sure that the majority of educated understand the advantages a Thai student has if he/she learns English.  So let's keep in mind that the opinions of just one or two people does not truly reflect the opinions of all Thais.  However, it is a shame that school administrator would not understand this important advantage for his students.  But again, this is just one administrator that may or may not have an axe to grind for personal reasons and I'm sure the vast majority of other school administrators do understand the importance of knowing English. 

Here are a couple of points for Thai school administrators know or should know. 

1. English is at least a second language to almost every nation that the majority of tourist that come to Thailand, including many Chinese. 

2. International business around the World is normally carried out using English.

3. ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations, uses English as their official language for transaction of business and cooperation. 

Because of this, any Thai who wants to succeed in almost any large business would have a much greater advantage if he/she spoke English.  

You could just rent a postal box at your local post office and when the box comes they will put a paper in your box to advise. I think they will hold the box longer than two week if you have a postal box.

I have a sticker and use the road sometimes. I used it today and they were still checking for stickers as I drove through.

I think you guys are over thinking this. Very simple. We do parties for the orphanages all the time. We used to do a few orphanages for Thanksgiving. The kids love it. If you are associated with an orphanage, have a friend who is associated or want to do something nice for them this is your chance. Don't want to help us, them, yourself? Not a problem. Try not to ruin something nice.

David, if you find someone who has an orphanage that they want to attend this pizza event but does not have transportation I have volunteers from the VFW with SUVs including myself that will do the transporting. PM me if we can help.

It might be time for the Thai military to get involved in cleaning up this scam. For some reason the police haven't been able to do much about it. Sooner or later some of our Chinese tourist are going to wonder into one of these joints and get beaten up badly or killed, maybe then someone will start to look at it more seriously.

Plaza 89 is on the Chiang Mai Lam Phun Rd or hwy 106 about 1/2 kilometer south of the expressway 1141 that runs from the Airport to the Promenade Mall. https://maps.here.com/directions/drive/mylocation/Chiang-mai-89-plaza-...-Get-Smart:18.753561,99.008777?map=18.75356,99.00878,15,normal&fb_locale=en_US

I recently went to the hospital for a check up nothing serious and the nurse who took my blood pressure had "Practical Nurse" on her name badge. Can anyone tell me what a "Practical Nurse" is? I thought all nurses were practical.

There are several levels of nurses or people who work in hospitals.

The first level is nurses assistant which may in some countries called an orderly.

Second level is Practical Nurse which in some countries are call LPNs or Licensed Practical Nurse. They are somewhat restricted in what they are authorized to do. They are the ones that take your BP, temperature and weigh you in when you arrive at the hospital.

Third is a Registered Nurse also called RNs who are authorized to do many things in a hospital. Some of the things they do include dispensing medications, interview you as to what your problem is and things a little more advanced.

Then there are specialty Nurses that have had extra training in a particular field such as Surgical Nurse or Emergency Medical Nurse.

Then there are technicians that are not nurses at all but may work in radiology, therapy, laboratory and a few other things. They are not actually nurses but sometimes look the same.

Most of the 7-11s and Tesco's have it in their automotive section. It may be listed under battery water, which is distilled.

The bus you took to Chiang Mai was most likely one that was not licensed to deliver you to the bus station in Chiang Mai. This happens all the time every day and they let off their riders out on the Chiang Mai Lamphun Road in the Norg Hoi area. It is also common for such buses to not have proper tickets as they are not properly licensed to deliver people into Chiang Mai. So you can use that information for filing your report. You should try one of the other tourist police offices with this new information and maybe you will have better luck. Being that the Thai government wants to look pro-tourist safe to the rest of the World they are reluctant to take criminal reports of suspected thefts. I suggest you approach the new tourist police office as victims who simply lost their property while on the bus rather than accusing a Thai of having taken it. You will at least get a report then for your bank and insurance company. Good luck and try to enjoy the rest of your stay here.

Beer Lao dark. beats any Thai beer.

I agree, Beer Lao dark is my favorite beer that can be purchased locally. I always keep some in my frig, in fact I think I will go grab one now.