Sporting Dog

Thanks for the quick replies.

Mighty Mouse's suggestion would be the best solution so I'll ring the embassy tomorrow (always a bit of a challenge) and find out if it is still possible.

However I expect that we'll have to go down the spouse visa path. The missus is getting a bit antsy about how long it will take - I tell her it will probably take at least 3 months - and that doesn't go down too well.

Once again thanks for the replies

I am about to return to Australia with my thai wife.

She will be getting a temporary settlement visa (which leads into permanent residency??) but hasn't yet started the paperwork.

I recall someone mentioned in a thread a while ago that you can apply for a tourist and a settlement visa at the same time.

I would like to do this so she can return at the same time as me.

1. Is this possible?

2. Can she apply for the settlement visa in Australia if she is there on a tourist visa?

3. Is it better to do the paperwork/ doctors vists etc in Thailand or Australia?

She has already had two tourist visas to Australia so I hope getting the tourist visa will be relatively straight-forward. We were married in Australia - but we haven't registered the marriage in Thailand but I don't think that will matter?.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Charles Darwin

Black francis

Shane MacGowan

Paul Keating

Gary Ablett

and whoever it was that invented surfing!!!

My mum bought a diamond ring and diamond ear-rings at MBK last year - they were valued back in Australia at double+ what she paid for them.

I don't know if she was just lucky...she drove a hard a bargain, paid about half what they originally asked, walked away and returned a day later.

She was happy.

This afternoon a bit before sunset - like most weekends - I went for a ride on the motosai. Through the rubber plantations, villages and up to the mountains. Lots of 'hellos' from the kids and smiles from others, had to to dodge the cows being driven back home, the mangy low dogs get a bit frisky when it cools down, the bugs smack you around the face a bit as the sun goes down. Lots of food being cooked at the local roadside stands makes me hungry.

Got back to to town so I went to have a quick beer at a friends place - very relaxed, a bit of discussion about Toxin, and some place someone ate last night - good but expensive 250bht for meal for two and beer!!

Now the missus is cooking up plates of wonderful food in the kitchen.

I'm going home soon and these are the things I am gonna miss.

And then I just had to nip down to the corner shop for some nam pla...the conversation with the teenage girl there had us both laughing but I managed to get the right stuff!!

I've had to change my Singapore Air flight again - no problem even using the BKK office. I know the plane will be good - like their website. That is why they are the best airline....AND they were the cheapest airline from OZ-LOS-OZ year ticket.

Torrents are great - get utorrent (picotorrent) or some other program and get 'em before someone figures out a way to stop it. If you have a good connection you can get a good movie in a few hours!!

I couldn't be arsed reading the last six pages BUT I go for a ride on my bike around the countryside from where I live (South of Krabi) and there is definitely people living third world out there...and most don't seem too bothered about it!!

The kids seem to be having more fun than those I see back in Oz and I know family is a reality out there so......

Yes, the Thumarin near the railway station looks OK and it had a banner flying on it the other day - 380bht for room and ABF!! That could be the best option.

I suggested The Thumrin Thanee because for people coming from overseas and earning real money and not baht, hotels in Thailand are relatively cheap.

My opinion.......

Last time I looked at the rooms at the Trang Hotel, they were pretty horrible - smelled bad etc. I was quoted a price (I think) of 550bht a night but that was for staying for a few weeks.

The best hotel is the Tumrin Thanee, I think you'd get a room for a about 1400-1500baht a night and I know you'll find it on the internet. Also the Wattana Park Hotel and MP Resort Hotel are on the net but both are not as central.

Trang is easy to get around and organise a trip to the islands...just spent the long weekend at Koh Mook - high season and long weekend so it was PACKED - sometimes there were up to 10 people on the beach at the same time!!!

I like Ireland, lots of good pubs.

Is this in the right forum???

Don't go to Samet, there's lots of islands down here that are MUCH better!!

I agree with PB.

It seems you've got all the answers anyway so I don't know what the point of your post is.

I've met and worked with people like the OP....do yourself and everyone else in thailand (farangs and Thais) a favour and stay home.

Some good ones listed..

DAs Boot - a classic

Delicatessen

All Hal Hartley's movies

Nil By Mouth - it stills shocks me!!

Dead Man - with Johnny Depp

The Big Lebowski

Land and Freedom

Fortune Tellers...had it a few times when I stayed in that area.

Gis' the lottery numbers if you're that good.

Leave 'em to the thais!!

Buying a computer is the easy part...keeping it running and used properly (in an educational sense) is INFINITELY harder. In my (limited) experience with computing at school is - no-one can administer the networks properly, no-one wants to get involved, the students waste their time in computer classes and finally the money would be better spent on reducing class sizes, creating a better curriculum or providing better text or library books.

To me this exercise has NOTHING to do with educating students...we have 100+ computers at my school but VERY little work of value gets done on them. I have taught IT this year and NEVER again!!

I'm in Thailand - I moved here because I thought it would help when my wife moves to OZ - and i guess it will.

My wife has had two Tourist Visas to OZ and all I can say is that too much is better than not enough.

And don't worry, if you have to move to Thailand it will

1) be frustrasting

2)challenging

3) different to what you expected

and probably a TOTAL BLAst!!!

The problem I have now is that its getting close to the time to go back to Oz and while it will be good to go home, there are MANY things I'm going to miss about Thailand. I could easily stay and certainly returning to live here is an option for the future.

Either way - wife in Oz, or you in LOS, you can't lose!!

Good Luck!!!

I think you could work at an international school and earn 100,000+ if you are an accredited teacher in the States.

<No links please.....KK>

and what he says above.....

Given Thailands academic reputation and TOEfl ranking I'm sure students will be flocking here.

The foreigners will be able to buy a degree just like rich thais can.

Oops just re-read OP....its a PUBLIC RELATIONS campaign not an educational exercise so probably a few glossy brochures, maybe a website....but behind the facade nothing changes.

Yeah it was sarcasm, Mr Genius. (thats sarcasm too!)

Thai really is in trouble if it can't make money on this route. Every time I've flown the plane has been full or close to it. Quite a few times I haven't been able to get a seat on the day I've wanted.

Also the overnight train Trang-BKK is often full....sometimes it can be quite difficult to get out of Trang.

Hopefully Nok will be cheaper but if there is high demand they probably won't be.

That's cool - there's nothing in Trang or surrounding areas!!!

My mum told me never to pick my seat in public!!

I've been to Samet a couple of times - it's a nice island but overcrowded and expensive!! I thought the accommadation was &lt;deleted&gt; for the price....the beaches are nice tho'. The beachside dining is good but last time I went I ended up in Bumringrad Hospital on a drip from food poisoning (when I told them where I'd been they suspected Typhoid, been some cases previously!!). Of course this could happen anywhere in Thailand but Samet felt to me a bit like 'paradise spoilt'.

In the time it takes to drive there from BKK you could fly down south and find some REAL paradises. And even with the airfare it won't cost any more than the same amount of time at Samet.

However I'm sure you'll have a good holiday at Samet

The cave was fantastic....KM is very quiet (even tho its high season) and has a beautiful beach.

And there's many more islands out there....and its easy to do from Trang.

But don't tell anyone!!!!

Pak Meng!! If the tides out it'll be a long walk to get underwater!!