clinique

Interestingly it also assists the Government to increase its Gold reserves at a much cheaper price ....

Interesting to see from some minimal on-line research, which countries are currently increasing reserves of Gold during this "crisis" .. they have brought upon us...the taxpayers. And im pretty sure they dont pay the etail price of almost $1,000- per ounce. So if the price keeps going up does wonders for their balance sheet doesnt it..

ive had emails from Paypal too, but generally they are from [email protected]. This is NOT the paypal url.

Also Paypal will post messages on your account.

As with ANY financial /banking related website NO-ONE should ever respond/reply to unsolicited emails.

Open a new browser window and enter the financial institutions URL diretly and goto your account and use the secure email.

Every bank/money firm tells you do do this..

SO why open sus.. emails..

Again I ask,, (rhetorically) oh where did all the illgotten millions/billions from Wall street go..... 3 gueses first letter G...

Thought the "Saudi incident" years ago was the largest in living history.... ?

yes but we arent supposed to talk about it - are we !

how about Ayutthaya ??

using khun is not required to introduce yourself, if you use it with thais they will understand that you dont understand,,

Only 90% , thats generous of you !!

Since there are about 50 million thais already driving who just bought a car and "paid' for their licence - why would you bother.

Getting a licence after all is not about passing the test its about how much you pay the guy out front for his 'servcie' - still about 500 baht i beleive.

Oh and petrol here is about 30 baht alitre, which fora one hour lesson doesnt get to GBP 5 -

Toilets south of the 60th parallel and north of Mexico are free, plentiful, and cleaner than many Thai public toilets. You can walk 300 meters in a fancy Thai mall before finding a toilet.

Mai bpen rai makes a lot of sense, often. At other times it's absurd.

You don't need to ride a 1000 cc bike or drive a big car with 400 cubic inch V8.

Only 300metres, you obviously havent been to Central KadsuanKeauw in Chiangmai....

You can go to Immigration in Suan Plu in Bangkok on Monday and get a 7 day extension - especially if you have proof that u are waiting for the Indian consulate.

30 day tourist arrivalscan get 7 days extension - last time i heard it was 1000- baht..

Do it yourself,, dont pay the hawkers at the door...keep your passport with you..

Smile and be respectful - no problem.

Perth still does multiple Non -O's, but dont go in looking like a scruff !! Or as someone i once overheard there say " im only here because other consulates wont do it??

Duh !!

Charlies for the atmospere and Charlies style..

10 or 20 baht does not come into the equation for me.

Thanks for clarifying. Will purchase beer.

(To his defence though, they did spell Carrent as one word. Avis doesn't spell it that way, they spell 'Car Rental' with a space in between.

I don't even notice the small stuff anymore. Heck I'm happy when I open a menu and it doesn't say:

ข้าวผัดปู

Cow Pat Poo

Fried rice with Crap

or fried cow with crap... K or C ?

need to know do you WANT the condo in YOU name..or joint.

could try these guys, helped us get aloan,, despite the name thye work all over LOS.

www. secondhomechiangmai .com

try View Doi in Santhitham

brand new, 5k.mth, no noise, no students, good managers.

053.230603

Typical moronic question , could you not at least try to be a little original ?

Not moronic at all. You so anti thai why you even on this forum!

Wouldn't it be very boring here if every poster and post was a verbal happy face for Thailand? I for one welcome diversity of opinion here. I also find it intolerant to suggest people "go home" just for expressing negative views. If people want to go home, they will go home, its their business.

Let me be the first one to say that diversity in opinion is a great thing here. However there is a difference between the overwhelming majority of us who live here and love it, but have beef with some of the stupid crap that goes on (ie rip off race based pricing, crappy business, land ownership and immigration laws ect) and those who just bitch and complain about everything here.

For those who can find no redeeming qualities about Thailand, and are constantly complaining, I think "Go the "F" home is exactly what they should be told"

More for their own sake then anyone else. Like I said before, I ain't gotta walk a single misreable step in their shoes. Yuck.

Huey, Im with you on that..100%

yup had experienc ewith this one ,,

you may end up having to send it out and bring it back again ???ooh expensive

Like the guy who bought the soon to be opened hum.."alternative lifestyle hotel and entertainment centre" in CM.

Was told he's paying 500k a month (plus all operating costs and utilities) to lease it for 6 years. This figure was arrived at by the owners "averaging" their monthy profits over the past years - <deleted>...

And he is renovating and upgrading from his own wallet... total about 30 mill...

ANd he has never heard what happens at the end of a lease here,, once youve spent all the money to upgrade it..

Guess what suddenly the owner wants it back !!!

Deep pockets but where is the busines sense..

Yup. More details please.

or Try these guys,,

secondhomechiangmai .com

despite the name they work all over,,,

worked for me..

BBL branches open 08.30 except in shoping malls which open the same time the mall does 10 or 11. Advantage of the mall branches is thye stay open till 20.00 (8pm)

Other banks some open at 09.00

Some branches close at 3.30pm , some 4.00pm, some 4.30pm -who knows why !

I posted this in the Pattaya forum but think its usefull here too.

On the 12th september I went into the Tuk Com (Pattaya ) branch of Siam Comercial Bank

and asked if I could "swipe" my card ( yes ) and if there would be any charges ( no )

so I ask for 80,000 baht the teller takes my card ( Nationwide Visa Debit ) and passport.

I sign 2 bits of paper.... 5 minutes later I'm holding the cash.

On arriving home I check my bank account online to find the transaction has not been processed yet.

I check online again today and see.

15-Sep.-09 Cash SCB.Tukcom Pattaya Sub BR CHONBURI TH 80,000.00THB at 55.775. £ 1434.31

so it took 4 days ( 2 weekend days ) for the transaction to go through...in the meantime the exchange rate worsened a bit

12-Sep.-09 Cash Bay/Com Building Pattaya CHOLBURI TH 1,000.00THB at 55.991. £17.86

We can see from these 2 transactions that,

1. doing a "cash advance" as SCB calls it.... incurs no charge from them,

the 0.85% Visa charge is passed on as usuall by Nationwide though.

2. Ayudthaya ATM's are still fee free.

3. The pound is sliding again

CaxtonFX will charge 2.5% on transactions here in Thailand

if using thier Euro or Dollar card.

Please note that if you use your Euro or Dollar card outside the Euro zone or United States respectively there is a 2.50% charge on all transactions, including ATM withdrawals.

As for the Global card they still get you with 2.5%

# The exchange rate applied is fixed at 2.5% from the prevailing interbank rate.

Nationwide still seem to be the best deal...........

Same for me, I can use all banks except KBank and Krung Thai to withdraw over the counter cash advances with no fees using my o/s cards. Some branches will give up to 300,000- baht, some 500,000- per day.

KBank will only do 20,000- per day over the counter or by ATM.

If i am stuck I can also use the ATM outside to get more. But this then is subject to any limit your issuing bank has put on the card for ATM withdrawals ie: if the card is limited to $1,000- per day then thats what you an get, BUT over the counter no problems. Best is BBL, SCB or UOB.

Something interesting for Americans wanting to open an account with Siam Commercial Bank. Siam Bank has a New York branch that you can open an account with online. Open the account online then have the account transferred to a branch in Thailand.

I think not. Kindly post the link for opening a personal account at this purely commercial office.

Agrred, and its not as simple as just transfer it to Thailand...Rules here are not the same.

Thanks alstaxi, what about transfers from overseas? Are they as quick and reliable as BB?

More so, with KBank if you transferring US$ Can$, GBP and you transfer it from o/s before 10am Thai time it will be oin your account by 3pm the same day. If it isnt just call the overseas section in BKK and it will be there. Done it many times..

BBL on the other hand - on some occassions like now ive waited 10 BUSINESS days ,,, what they do with the money..I dont know..

they will check your name and date of birth on their immigration computeres. so I would not try it.

what anthony 77 says is correct in Thailand. When entering you must complete your entry/departure card which is stapled in your passport. All details of your passport and TM card are entered and MAINTAINED on Immigration computers.

So they know when you use more than 1 passport.

I know because I have more than1 passport and ahve been asked by Immigration (2 times in 25 years) to see the other passport. Normally they are jsut curious to see you are not up to anything illigit...

But they do keep the info.

In other countries I dont know - assume its the same where they scan your passport / UK no because no one even looks.

Is the passport computers connected internationally - some but not all.

Thanks Time Traveller! Thats encouraging advise.

i have no intention of working for thai clients so thats not a problem.

I was certainly considering cambodia as an option since the cost of living is low and aquiring a business visa is much easier. I had no idea about the internet speeds. i was assuming they would at least have boradband.

Im still slightly confused about the visa issue. Of course it states in the 2008 working alien act that i cannot work without a permit. Thats pretty clear. Whats confusing is that when i called the Thai embassy in the uk (hull) and told them that i wanted to work in thailand as a freelancer, they told me it was not a problem providing i can provide evidence of my freelance work, ie company docs etc. They told me i could do this on a non-immigrant visa type B.

I then quoted...

"Section 51. Any alien engaging in the work without permission shall be subject to an imprisonment of not exceeding 5 years or a fine from 2,000 baht to 100,000 baht, or both".

They told me that as long as i had a business ( visa I would not get into trouble if caught working providing it was not for a prolonged period of time.

Do the embassy know what they are talking about? If not they really should!

in short NO.

The visa does not allow you to work.

You must have a work permit. for ANY kind of work.

Yes you may sneek thru, BUT if you get caught result is the same..

Hello guys,

Been following this thread carefully but still unclear. So I'm sorry if I make you go over this again. I am in a similar boat with KT's friend. I entered Thailand with my US Passport and while here I got a new Thai Passport. What will happen if I leave Thailand using my new Thai Passport with no entry stamp? Will it cause a problem with US Customs or Thai Customs, if any?

You will not have a problem getting back into the states or leaving here.

The problem will be that yoo will have an entry into Thailand that does not show a departure in your US passport.

Best to use the US passport when you leave.

as i understand it,

you must enter and leave any country on the same passport, when youget to your destination you can use another one.

you CANNOT enter on one passport and leave on another..

anyone care to differ ?