Saan

19 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

If you are doing DIY things at your own home there is not a problem with doing it.

Doing a major renovation or painting the entire exterior of the house might attract attention of somebody.

The crux is that the home is not yours. The DIY you are doing is for someone else's home. 

NZ immigration should have Thai visas from your mother when she moved to NZ to get passport, visas, etc .

Use TransferWise. Best way of using funds from Australian and to Thai.

I had cleaning woman who 'threw' away various household items. Eventually I had to change term to stealing after she 'threw' away my mobile. It had fallen into waste bin beside my bed and she deduced I no longer wanted it and took it home. She first told me she threw it away.

I read your headline so knew you were talking about Australian dollars. 

That amount should comfortably see you through 15 months if you have no health or bar girl problems.

I've always been able to smile myself out of problems in Thailand. Try it it works.

I am very sorry to hear of your loss.

In many cases people who have had a long and happy marriage are more likely to remarry. I know it is very early for you to be thinking along those lines but in the future it might be the solution.

As far as I know there is no Australian consulate in Chiang Mai.

What about Mike Walther... or has he chucked it in?

Mike retired several months ago and his chosen successor has for some reason not yet been approved by the Thai authorities.

If you marry in Thailand divorce is a lot easier and only costs 100 baht. There are also other benefits regarding property.

They don't need to have any recalls. Everything made in Thailand is perfect.

I'm retired U.S. Navy as my screen name suggests. As a junior officer, I would stand watch as Officer of the Deck in port. When we opened the ship to the public, there were many times when the rules were U.S. only. The theory being that there was some sort of loyalty among Americans that they were less likely to conduct sabotage or espionage about the ship. It was all a matter of security, for which each state has the right. So Thailand is acting as they see fit to protect state interests. Try not to lose any sleep over it. It is not discriminatory in that many other nations act in exactly the same way.

I went aboard the Mighty Mo in Sydney and was shown above and below decks and I was an Australian journalist ready to reveal all her secrets.

She is a magnificent ship.

I furthered my espionage efforts by pumping a couple of her officers when I took them out on the harbour in a real boat with a stick and rags. I will also confess I plied them with alcohol to loosen their tongues.

Your reaction is a bit over the top, though I hesitate to say you are incorrect.

In all likelihood, though, they probably just don't want non-Thais observing and photographing the derelict state of the carrier. They also might not want Thai-speaking foreigners mingling with Thais as they go through their spiel about the glories of the ship and the Thai Navy in general.

You could possibly be right.

An Australian navy officer told me that when his ship made a courtesy visit to Indonesia many years ago the Indonesian navy had two warships given to them by the Russians. The Indonesians had long ago blown the boilers up yet to show their preparedness for sea they would burn oily rags so smoke appeared out of the funnels.

They eventually gave up the pretence and towed both ships out to sea and scuttled them.

I would guess that it refers to many of the unique Thai traits that bind the country together...

One example might be the familial aspect, such as referring to your waitress as "younger sister" - anyone can be called, younger sister, older brother/sister, the lady who sells the soup can be "aunite" whether a relative or not.

I have never heard a Thai call the waitress "younger sister", "nong" yes, but that does not mean younger sister ?

"Nong" does mean younger sister, or brother, and Thais use it all the time. Even for complete strangers who are younger...and "Pi" for older. The same terms are used for actual relatives as well. Kind of cool, I think.

Thank you Berkshire - I think this question is revealing much more about the posters than about the question of what is "Thainess" - which I assume is to be answered from a Thai perspective of what the word means.. and yet, people use it to bash... how sad.

Bashing Thais was not my intention but of course there is a certain element in Thai Visa who believe that to have an opinion about Thailand that doesn't agree with theirs is Thai bashing.

The question wasn't about Thais per se but their political leaders who are promoting Thainess for a politcal end. I could go on but I am sure anything more I said would be deemed as Thai bashing.

I doubt very much that these politicians the OP speaks of was speaking in English. Perhaps the Thai version of the word.

So what's Thainess from the farang perspective? It's exactly the same as being proud to be an American. Or being an Australian. Or being English. Or being French. Get it, OP?

No, I don't really 'get it'. I suppose you are talking about jingoism. But jingoism doesn't play a major part in Australian life. It may be more so in the other countries you mentioned.

I hear the word Thainess on the tongues of senior politicians many times since the coup.

Culture Minister Veera Rojpojanarat has even called for Thainess at the soon to be opened Bangkok International Motor Show.

But what does Thainess really mean.

Is there an official definition of Thainess that all Thais can apply to their daily life?

Will Thainess spring Thailand into the forefront of the world's nations or is it a step back into the past?

Can anyone help me with an answer or even hazard a guess as to the meaning of Thainess?

There is no "retirement" visa --------------however--------

Being 59 you can apply for an O/A (long stay) visa from the London Thai Embassy.

You will need evidence of finance (money in a UK bank equal to 800,000 Bht) , a police clearance cert. and a focused medical report.

The visa a a one year multiple entry visa which provides an initial one year stay.

If Thailand is exited/re-entered immediately prior to the visas expiry date a second one year permission to stay will be provided.

If travel is undertaken during the second year of stay a re-entry permit must be obtained.

During the final 30 days of the second year of stay a one year extension of stay (it is not a visa) based on retirement can be applied for. However, prior to applying for the extension you must ensure 800,000 Bht has been in a Thai bank for at least two months (60 days) .

Extensions of stay are renewable each year if requirements (principally financial) are met.

I couldn't wait to see who was the first to say 'there is no retirement visa'. Congratulations, you win.

But 99 per cent farangs when asked will say they are on a retirement visa.

I wish TV would introduce a pedant of the year award.

The low average life expectancy might also be contributed to by infant mortality rates which brings the average age dramatically.

I visited Huey Thung Thao, a beautiful lake just outside Chiang Mai on Sunday. For the first time for me dual pricing. I argued that I live in CM, pay tax etc but no go. So I stayed at the booth. Cars backed up behind and I just kept offering the money for two tickets at Thai price. They gave up in the end.

The OP should get a new chess partner. Most of those imitation cops couldn't get a job as a parking policeman back home.

Bugger, now it is going flat out. It sounds like a head full of cicadas.

It can be very distressing in the early days but now I don't notice it now days until some thoughtless (joking) person posts something about it.

But it is like soi dogs, I barely hear them and sleep through their barking.

A lot of self righteous, judgmental people out and about on this topic.

I hope nothing ever goes wrong for them as a bit of self examination might cause them to self destruct.

I wish the OP well and hope he cruises through immigration.

What constitutes a change of address?

If I were to go on a one month holiday in Thailand, still maintaining my home address, am I required to notify immigration of a change?

Vegemite. You will have to settle for Marmite.

I believe French citizens are amongst the lucky 23 countries who don't need a visa to visit Vietnam and are allowed to stay for 15 days.