ProThaiExpat

Flackjacket: I agree with your post entirely including Modernform's willingness to provide discounts. I have bought things from them and am a very satisfied customer.

I would have, in fact, bought my kitchen from them, had they had the high gloss "euro" style cabinet I wanted.

Rounded edges with no "mica" reveal is the break point from average to above average quality. My recollection is they have predominately wood finishes, and while very attractive, if you like a "wood" look, not what I was looking for.

Dutchy2:

If would appear from the essential information you provided that "vote buying" is now being accomplished on credit, ie. a promise to pay in exchange for the vote.

Unbelievable!!!

Today's headline in the BKK Post qotes Thaksin's plan to rid the country of corruption by giving low level police and government workers pay raises.

I guess there is no corruption among high salaried goverment officials and people are only corrupt until they have enough money to live on, as he was quoted, ie. corruption in Thailand only exists among the needy.

Thanksin should be successfult with this plan, just as he was in ridding the country of drugs in just six months last year. I believe he actually "declared" Thailand free of drugs.

I suspect so. Any dermatologist under 50 should be able to use modern lasers and remove tattoos as best as they can be removed. If you are contemplating it, I would interview some of the dermatologists and plastic men in CM and determine what laser they propose on using and when it was developed.

Wouldn't let them use one developed more than five years ago. Internet research, especially plastic surgeon web sites in the U.S. will give you insight into what lasers they are using for tattoo removal.

Good luck.

There will be taxes to be paid at the time of transfer of the property at the land office.

Further, there is tax on the income from the rental.

Surely there must be a more relaxed attitude toward visas for Thais travelling to the U.S. in a "group tour" where roundtrip transportation is provided and guides supervise the tour and its members?

Does anyone know? Any experience in the tour business? Are offers to "take care of all visas" by tour operators bogus? Do Thais going to the U.S. on a "group tour" have to go through the same documentation of Thai ties that individuals do?

Bob Chittie: So many posts and none to the point. Must be frustrating.

Without making too public my background and experience, I offer you the following:

The general legal advice provided regarding debt collection by U.S. lawyers to their private clients is that the amount in queston must be 100K USD or the process is not economically feasable, and that is debt collection in the U.S.

Large creditor companies have debt collection staff who can become knowledgeable in a given state laws, and effect collections at a much cheaper rate.

However, it is my guess that, unless the individual credit card company has a debt for collection in excess of 50K USD, they will write the debt off as uncollectable, post it on the credit reporting network, and be done with it.

Tracing your assets to Thailand and in Thailand is another problem for them. In the U.S. most of your asset information is collected by the credit agencies through applicatons for credit you make when buying on credit, where you voluntarily list your assests. This information is transferred to your credit profile and available to all.

I am unaware that this is done in Thailand, if you haven't gotten into the credit system in Thailand, even if there is one. While Citibank is here and in the U.S., they would be the most likely to be able to do it, but I doubt it.

You might take a look at your most recent credit report in the U.S., obtainable for a fee on the internet. It will indicate if your debts were "written off" as "uncollectable". That status indicates no further collection effort will be made.

If the debt is two years old or more, unlikely collection efforts will be made.

PM me if you want to explore the issue further.

Dr. Pat: It is getting better, it would seem, this being an example.

The Bangkok Post had an article the other day about a U.S. pedophile, extradicted from Cambodia to the U.S., pursuant to a relatively new "long arm" statute permitting the U.S. to convict pedophiles guilty of those crimes abroad.

Hopefully, the new law will meet consitutional tests, as the law is clearly extraterritorial. If there is a legal basis for requiring U.S. citizens to obey the law of the U.S. wherever in the world they are, then, as Martha Stewart would say, "it is a good thing".

On the other hand, since within the U.S., the age of consent varies from state to state, a violation of a federal statute would be required. The new law, upon which the conviction was based, was enacted to prevent international human trafficking, and may be federal, I just don't know.

My answer to your question is YES.

It is a good idea to keep your wire transfer documents to "back up" your bank book showing the transfer from abroad by their bank book "code".

You may eventually need a bank letter showing the amount on deposit, source institution and country of origin, but your wire transfer documents will always help in that respect.

Why take take chances with Thai bank staff, document your transaction yourself. Any Thai official who reviews the transaction will be impressed with photocopies of your documentation, each page signed by you. They really love paper!!!

I commend to you teachers out there the film showing on HBO this week, whose title does not come to mind, but staring Kevin Kline. (The Emperors....)

Having encountered only a very few gifted teachers in my many years of formal education, I have always admired the "type" of teacher protrayed by Kline.

It is modeled after the English "don", I believe, and certainly a model teacher who speaks only correct English.

Perhaps I am a "purist" when it comes to speaking and writing English, that is one who aspires to speaking and wriitng correctly, without a regional accent. I would aspire to an accent one might call international. The BBC days of Edward R. Murrow come to mind.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, I am reminded of the story of the black ghetto fellow who was attending a very "pissy" cocktail party and in making the rounds, addressed a rather elegant lady as follows:

"Where are you from?

The lady replied: "Where I come from, we don't end our sentences in prepositions"

Wherein, the man replied: "OK, where do you come from, mother######er?"

People who are considered "welll spoken" can come from the U.K, the U.S., France or wherever. Accents can be charming and makes speech more interesting to listen to as long as the accent doesn't get in the way.

The danger with generalities is there are so many exceptions. One would like to agree with the many posts regarding the quality of the accents spoken on the BBC, and perhaps they are speaking of the BBC aired in England. They certainly can't be speaking about BBC World News seen on channel 54 on UBC in Thailand.

There is one female news reader, who was on assignment in Bagdad during the war there and shortly thereafter, who is now reading news in the evening and she is barely intelligable.

Perhaps because she is so unattractive, but my guess the accent is Scottish?

I change channels when she comes on because the hard clip to the accent is most annoying and could hardly be touted by any reasonable person to be a standard one would ascribe to.

Can anyone name that "mistake".

I have had a couple sessions with Prayot, the dermatologist at Rama 1 skin clinic who is there three days a week, used to be only once a week, he is at all other times at Rama II.

I don't particulary like the guy, zero bedside manner, but he seems competent.

He did a biopcy and an excision with stitches of a samll c lesion last year on my hand and it went well.

Last week he did five skin blemish removals with laser and the outcome was good.

I suspect he can handle surgical removal of most skin cancers. My first proceedure cost 1800 Baht and I thought the charge reasonable. The laser removal was 600 baht a blemish, which I thought was high. He says he is cheaper than Bangkok, but I took the Yanhee Hospital web page with prices to show him he cost the same as BKK.

While there, I consulted with a underemployed, overaged, plastic surgeon about turkey neck removal and was quoted 75K for outpatient. Yanhee quotes 40k with overnight in hospital with meals. My guess is that when you are dealing with laser, optional and plastic surgery, they feel they can "milk" farang, as they don't look at that type of surgery as necessary.

otherstuff1957. Your county clerk or registrar of voters in your home county is repnisbile for acknowledging receipt of your registration. I would follow up and not quit until you have an acknowledgement of your registration.

Your question whether your "fantasy" is fullfillable in Thailand generated the adverse reaction from members who chose not to be gentle with one who is not really in touch with reality.

I wish you good luck in fulfilling your "fantasy", but like all "fantasy", there is little relation to reality so your chances of success here is next to nil and I think that is what the previous posters were trying to convey.

If you disagree that your question is an attempt in "fantasy" fullfillment, you might direct your attention to your question where you specify that you want "college girls" to be warm, loving group sex participants, but be prostitutes as well and academy award winning actesses to boot.

jayenram: If the "chang" consumption doesn't interefere with your life or cause you problems, I wouldn't worry about it, except the issue of the effect of the daily use of alcohol, over a protracted amount of time, on your body.

The conventional wisdom is that if your body never gets the chance to rid itself of the alcohol, the "pickling" process continues unabated such that future health risks are inevitable.

The tolerance for alcohol increases with prolonged use, so the quantity of your consumption is really not relevent to getting drunk, only to the effect on your body. "Cheap drunks" are fortunate, in that it doesn't take much of the "poison" to get them "buzzed" "relaxed" or in whatever state your objective is when you start to drink.

My neighbor drinks before noon every day he is here in Thailand. However, he works on an oil rig, so he has 30 days every other month to let his body "dry out" and recover from his clearly "alcoholic drinking". He would be termed a "binge drinker" by some, although there are many days here where he is not fully "drunk" or out of control but he does drink everyday without fail when he is here.

lopburi3: Got me!!

The site has the form to download for registering as an expat, and also links you to the state of choice, so you can get addresses to where to mail the form and any local rules.

The registration form is generic and coplies with the federal law that permits non-resident absentee voting. When I researched absentee voting in my state, it was misleading, in that I came away with the impression that you have to have a current residence in state.

The law, as detailed in this website, makes it clear that you only have to list a former residence or the residene of your parents if you have never voted.

I found the website very clear and informative of the whole process.

Chingy: I am with you on that. I seem to always end up voting against someone, rather than for someone for President. I likewise was not successful lastime.

Our only hope is that the current strategy is to keep mum, out of the way, while the incumbent self-distructs, ie. don't get in the way of the self-distruct. I think we can expect more policy statments from the contender as election day gets closer.

For one who should know better, I was surprised to learn I could vote in the upcoming national election, even though I am a resident of Thailand.

Did you also know that you could vote in the national election even though you had never voted before? You use your parents place of voting in such a case.

You can get all the information you need to register with your county clerk in your stateside home county on the website, OVERSEASVOTE.COM, state specific with links to your county clerk where you last lived in the U.S. and all the forms necessary to register and obtain an absentee ballot.

Do it!!!

Would a moderator please capitalize the s in U.s.in the title of the thread please, I don't know how.

Non-specific urethritis is not as common as it was 40 years ago since they have more refined lab tests now that define more spcifically the invectious strain. Clamidiya is very, very common and used to be called non-specific. Make sure you don't have that. Some Asian strains are very drug resistent. You are wise to search for specialist.

Pianoman: Hopefully, you have made sense of the many preceeding posts.

Your topic question refers to a 'RETIREMENT" classification for a non-immigrant O-A visa.

You speak of providing the embassy of your choice a letter from your employer that states you will be receiving income for "consulting", which could be interpreted to be employment, something forbidden in the "retirement" classificaton.

You do need to clarify this issue, and perhaps a re-worded letter from your employer indicating your status is of a retired person receiving a pension from them. While you clearly can satisfy the financial responsibility requirements of 800K Baht on deposit in Thailand once you renew here, immigration will ask you what sort of retirement payments you will be receiving as they want to know from what source you will replenish your retirment fund as time goes on.

It would appear the only advantage to obtaining the retirement classification in the U.S. is that duty is waived on your household goods when entering Thailand.

Otherwise, gettting a reitirement classification is easier here in Thailand as indicated in my "canned" post detailed below.

"Basic “retirement” classification questions answered!

Terminology is important in this area!!

Normally, entry into Thailand, from a foreign country is accomplished with a VISA, obtained from a Thai consulate or embassy abroad.

Entry into Thailand without a VISA, is permitted at the airport for thirty days, for aliens from visa waiver countries and is based on an ENTRY PERMIT.

As explained by immigration on their website, VISAS are the sole province of Consulates and Embassies, entities attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Entry into Thailand without a visa, deportation from Thailand and regulation of the length of your stay, including entry and re-entry, are the province of the Department of Immigration, a police agency, staffed by police officers on assignment to the Immigration Department. The officer in charge of the Chiang Mai Immigration Department reminds us publicly, that immigration is a police agency, not a service agency and its function is to regulate, not provide a service.

There is no such thing as a RETIREMENT VISA.

There is a long stay classification for aliens termed "RETIRMENT" and the requirements to qualify for this classification is essentially a verified Thai bank account of 800,000 Baht (alternatively a pension) and being at least 50 years old.

The easiest way to get a long stay retirement classification is to do it in Thailand is on the 3rd floor of the main immigration building in Bangkok.

The difficulty in obtaining this classification abroad is the differing requirements from Consulate to Consulate and Embassy to Embassy and far more stringent than in Bangkok. Sydney’s consulate told me in no uncertain terms that each Consul General had the right to interpret the regulations any way he wanted and in Sydney, I needed a police clearance certificate from my home country, among many other things. Cambodia said forget it, don't even try.

The “long stay” retirement classification is based on a NON-IMMIGRANT O VISA (retirement) and a change to this visa classification can be accomplished in Thailand on the 3rd floor of the main immigration building in Bangkok only, providing you have entered Thailand with a VISA, even a tourist visa, as was the case with me.

It would appear that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given the authority to change visa classifications to the Immigration Department in this instance.

Thai immigration’s document “requirements list” is as follows” (obtained from their website)

Application for further stay to spend the remainder of life

in the Kingdom of Thailand

1. Immigration form 7 (Tor Mor 7)

2. Copy of passport

3. 4 cm. x 6 cm. photograph

4. 1,900 bath application fee

5. Financial Evidence:

- Bank account pass-book, bank statement

- Evidence showing reception of pension accompanied with Thai translation certified by the embassy or consulate of the country paying the pension

- Evidence presenting other sources of income or evidence of money transferred from overseas

6. In cases of having dependents (husband/wife, children), the applicant must provide evidence indication their relationship. Evidence must be translated into Thai and be certified by the embassy or consulate of the aliens.

7. Health Certificate for those who apply for further stay after Nov. 14,2002.

8. The officials reserve the rights to examine or ask for additional documents, if necessary.

Name Webmaster (203.156.96.*) [ Saturday 15 May 2004 เวลา 16:16 น ] Comment No: 1

To obtain your change of visa classification on the 3rd floor of the main immigration building, you need to take with you a bank letter stating you have the required minimum 800k Baht for the retirement classification in a bank account (anything other than a fixed rate account). The letter should include the date of the transfer of the funds into your account, the source institution of the funds and the country from which the funds came.

The STANDARD BANK LETTER, one that merely states the amount on deposit on any given day is INSUFFICIENT for the change of status process, while it is fine for any annual extension thereafter. This was the case with me, others may have got by with the standard letter.

There is an option to qualify for retirement financial status through pension verification, but that is a very difficult approach, requiring an Embassy verification of the pension. (You need strong pension entitlement or promises to pay letters for the Embassy to get their verification) The difficulty is the individual immigration officer involved may choose to explore the stability of the source of your pension. Conceivably, the pension could be terminated or suspended for a number of reasons during the year and you would then be left penniless, if no other funds were available. Thus a savings account in Thailand in addition to qualifying with a pension is a better approach if you can manage that. A combination of the two also qualify to meet the minimum requirement.

The health certificate that is required is obtainable from any emergency room of any hospital (preferred) or clinic. Exam may not even occur. 50 Baht or more is charged.

Your signature on all photocopies of all documents, including every page of your passport, is required.

4cm x 6cm colored photograph (suggest you take more than one).

No Embassy letter is required unless you are trying to qualify financial responsibility through a pension.

No police or criminal clearance document is required.

Dress very well, be extremely polite, try to keep your head at or below that of the officers involved, don't stand over them when they are seated as that is seen as very intimidating or threatening.

Most importantly, have a mental frame of mind that you will do ANYTHING required of you, including numerous trivial and unnecessary tasks when requested. Your mind set is that you are not going away, you are there to stay the course until the document sought is obtained.

Your first extension under your non-immigrant 0 (retirement) status will probably be for only 90 days. I was given two 90 day extensions and then an extension for the balance of the first year dated from when I entered the country.

Expect 30 days between the application and the approval, ie.two trips to immigration to allow for processing. After that, extensions can be obtained from any immigration office.

If you anticipate leaving Thailand on occasion in the forthcoming year, it is suggested that you obtain, at the time you apply for your retirement classification, a single or multiple re-entry permit. Once you have your retirement classification and leave the Kingdom, you lose your visa classification and must obtain another visa unless you have a re-entry permit. There is some information to suggest that a single re-entry permit is the only one to get as you lose the multiple re-entry permit after the first exit.

I will be happy to answer any specific questions you may still have regarding retirement classifications if you want to PM me or post it.

CAVEAT: Individual discretion is always a factor with immigration police officers, so don’t be shocked if your required to do other things or produce other documents. Remember, your there to do whatever is required by the individual officer to get your long stay classification. Humility goes a long way and feigning ignorance, even stupidity, will engender sympathy and a helpful attitude on the part of the immigration officer, to the point that he will actually help you to take care of the “problem”.

Good news. I have been paying 19.95 per annum for the 10mb storage and will welcome the savings.

350torana: No difference between alocholics that are binge drinkers and those who sit on a bar stool for hours and sip their poison, both end up in the same state.

You father's advice would have been good, if he had added, "in the same quantity". However, people drink beer a lot differently than they sip or drink hard liquor, likewise wine. One of the "methods" alcoholics try to use to "cut down on their drinking" is to switch to beer or wine. Doesn't work, as they all contain alcohol, and as the body becomes accustomed to alcohol in the system, it sends signals to replace it with more, as the body metabolizes what's already there. Thus, you just drink more beer or wine than hard liquor inorder to maintain that "buzz" level.

One of the mental concepts that must be erradicated in the alcoholic is the belief that "if a little is good, more is better".

Dutch: Call Khun Goi at 053-216-491 and she will be happy to help you with any information you need. If you email me at this screen name at hotmail.com, I will send you a couple of pictures of my cabinets so you can see them instralled.

I would sure appreciate help from any CMiers who have seen a stand-up freezer, non-commercial type, in any of the the appliance stores, or elsewhere?

If BKKers have seen them in any chain store, their branch in CM would probably have one or could order it from BKK.

Many thanks.

Dutch: I have installed a half dozen kitchens in that many years of many types, from Ikea ready mades to high end designer kitchens. Your comments at the end of your last post suggests you are not interested in "low end", that is getting what you pay for and the quality for price. I installed an "outside" Thai kitchen for smelly Thai food for you know who, from local sources but my inside kitchen, open to the "great room" is the best quality I could find.

Heavy duty hardware in the drawers is the big thing to look out for. If the door continues to close in the last two inches of its inward travel after you have removed your hand from the handle, you are at the level of quality you may want.

Likewise, the big difference in kitchen cabinet design in the past few years in the west is large drawers below the counter cabinet. They make so much sense, and they eliminate that silly design where you open lower cabinet doors and then pull out a sliding shelf to access pots and pans in the back of a shelf.

I have a dishwasher, so it is a dream to just transfer dishes from the dishwasher on one side of the kitchen to drawers on the other, a continuous motion not involvings bending over to empty the dishwaher and then standing to put the dishes in an upper cabinet. Also, Thais are short, so if they are doing the dishers, they love not having to reach overhead.

Of course, I am talking about a custom kitchen installation. The problem with buying pre-made cabinets is fitting them into your space. The use of fillers is important to make it all fit.

The happy medium is the custom installation that uses "boxes" which have been standardized. The "custom" supplier has a list of standard "boxes" that fit most configurations and uses a computer or a kitchen designer to "arrange" the boxes to meet your requirrements and fill up the avalilable space. Good design eliminates all but a couple of inches of "filler" where the box meets the wall a little short.

Once the boxes are mounted on the wall, the pre-made doors matching the box size are installed. The doors come in the various finishes offered while the boxes are simple white melamine covered particle wood.

I found my cost for my custom kitchen here in Chiang Mai to be one half the cost of the same quality in the U.S. My neighbor just had a local make from scratch his wooden cabinets and believe me the quality isn't there, the design isn't there and the wood is subject to termites or wood worms.

I have seen the cabinets at Home Pro and find them expensive and not amenable to a true custom installation. HomeKitch's quality is below that of my choice of

Teka. The parent company is German and if you have seen their appliances around in the various shops, you can see the quality.

Since you are talking about a substantial amount of money for your kitchen, it would be worth it to contact Teka in Bangkok and find out where the closest store to you is. I will do it for you if you PM me. A low cost flight to wherever a Teka store is woud be well worth the expense. They may even send a manager type to you to do the measurements and finalize the deal. Certainly, you can fax measurements and get prices prior to an actual meet. It is 2500 Baht roundtrip Issan to Chian Mai on Phuket Air now, so you could come here easily.

Since the manufacture and installation comes out of Bangkok, the quality is maintained. The cost per linear meter of cabinet is the determining factor in the overall cost of your kitchen, measure the walls upon which you plan to hang your upper cabinets, then measure the space below them for the lower cabinets and add any "islands" or "free floating" lower cabinets you may have. You can pretty much determine the cost yourself if you ask for a quote of per linear meter of upper cabinets and per linear meter of lower cabinets and then just add them up. Sink, stove, granite counter top are separate. You can get accepatable Thai granite from local shops a lot cheaper than from Teka.

I had them do the cabinets in the bathrooms as well. Euro-design, high gloss finishes. The only quality I have in my 200 sq. meter single story house is the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and the sliding mirror doors from Home Pro.

The fact that the installation teams came from Bangkok makes the big difference. I saw the kitchen cabinet installers actually take apart a "box" to cut it down to size and install it, and have Bangkok ship up a door to fit overnight. The installers are paid by the job, not by the hour and they sleep over until the job is done. Took them three days for my very large kitchen and two baths. They were able to correct mistakes made by BKK on the job. Truly world class. I have yet to have a material failure in two years. When you think of how much you use a kitchen on a daily basis, is worth going for quality.

On the other hand, if the kitchen is for a Thai who operates in the kitchen like most Thais do, then it is not worth the expense. A local install would do. My kitchen is part of the living room, dining room and entertainment area, "ie. the great room" concept so the "furniture" look needs to be there.

I would be happy to help in any way I can, if your interested in this approach, just PM me. The manager of the store in Chiang Mai speaks fair English and I could always help out if need be. I enjoy kitchen design, so it would be fun for me and I like to pay back my good fortune, as I am retired. I believe you can get a much better job, better quality and cheaper than Home Pro. I had cabinets put all the way to the ceiling, thus ladder required to reach the top one, but I liked the look. Double the cost as I was adding a whole additional linear length of cabinet to the job. If your Thai does all the cooking and you rarely go in the kitchen, lower and smaller cabinets save big Baht. The shelves inside the cabinets are adjustable of course.

Good luck.