Stray

I had to get a criminal background check for my Vietnamese work permit. I hadn't been outside of Vietnam for over 3 years but they insisted I get one from my home country.

So, in your situation, I wouldn't worry about getting anything from the Thai authorities, just a police records check from the UK police.

If you have the same dramas as me (18 months to get a work permit), you'll be doing all the paperwork in another 12 months.

JVK International Movers can do door-to-door house removals from Thailand to Vietnam.

http://www.jvkmovers.com/

Good luck with your move as, due to the new Vietnamese visa regulations, I've just moved from Vietnam to Thailand.

Wet-suit booties might be another option for you, as used by body/boogie boarders. The better styles have rubber, ripple soles (for walking over sharp rocks and shells).

Not sure how they would stand up to exposure to what you're spraying but I'm sure some of the guys who hang out around the coast might be able to give you the drum.

Beer has always been cheap in Vietnam, but inflation is much higher than Thailand and a lot of other things are not any cheaper and some are more expensive.

I have lived in both places and much prefer Thailand for most things, but beer and Western food is better in the Nam.

Where's the best place in HCMC for a pizza UG?

Scoozi Pizza, on Thai Van Lung, District 1, Saigon.

Yes, the same chain you have in Bangkok.

Even in Ha Tien,in the deep south of Vietnam,I've used my Krung Thai Bank Visa Debit card in ATM's with no problems. It's worthwhile knowing that the normal maximum withdrawal from a Vietnamese ATM is 2,000,000 VND (a few machines allow 4,000,000 VND) this costs 20,000-40,000 VND per transaction.BUT,you can go into the bank,and with your passport, and debit card, withdraw as much as you want(subject to your own banks daily limit)with a lower bank charge.Also,if,as in many cases,the ATM has run out of 500,000VND notes and will only dispense 100,000 or even 50,000 VND notes,you avoid having a huge wad of low denomination notes.In the bank you still have to key in your PIN number into a hand held machine and show or have photocopied your passport,but I've used this method successfully many times.

Some banks (Agribank, Dong-A and Commonwealth) permit you to withdraw up to 20 million per day. In the case of Agribank, you can make 4 transactions of 5 million. Dong-A and Commonwealth both permit 2 transactions of 10 million.

In the case of Dong-A and Agribank, there is a flat bank charge of 20 000 per transaction, regardless of the amount withdrawn.

Commonwealth allows you several options of denominations while Agribank gives you a variety of 500k, 100k, 50k and 10k notes in each withdrawal.

Note that not all ATMs accept all cards. Visa appears to be the most widely accepted and was working well until my offshore bank changed to Mastercard. The Mastercard does not even work inside the bank when trying to withdraw money over the counter (Sacombank and Vietcombank. Also, these two banks also only permit 3 x 2 million dong transactions, per day, from their ATMs). Acceptable cards are usually well advertised on the machine.

Other banks may offer other options/features and I am only writing about the banks I have personally used and transactions that I have conducted.

His girl friend left when the money ran out ,wow never heard that one before.

"But my girlfriend is not the same as all those other girls."

Would love a dollar for everytime those words have been uttered. Oh, to be 18 years younger and a little less cynical . . .

Niran said, "It will also lower the risk of Thai children's identity being stolen by alien children".

My dog have more senses than this xenophobic moron.

Yea I saw that comment: Niran said, "It will also lower the risk of Thai children's identity being stolen by alien children".

I am still laughing but trying to figure out where that thinking comes from!

A lifetime of parroting nationalistic slogans mixed with education by rote, perhaps?

Not sure where Niran gets the idea that it will lower the risk of identity theft.

Isn't it through the use of lost/stolen/sold identity cards, passports and credit cards that identities are stolen?

Seems to me that it will increase the risk of identity theft.

Brother of GF, who lives in Ban Kruat, had shells landing in his property yesterday......

absolutely NO shells in Ban Kruat......please do not spread panic

we have already enough problems here

After trying to call all day (I'm currently in Vietnam), I've finally just managed to get in touch with my family.

Most of my family (women and children) have been evacuated from Ban Kruat because of the shelling. My father-in-law, who has remained at home, told me that our local butcher shop is no more as a shell landed on it.

My house is not in Ban Kruat town/village but I live just down the road. Regardless, it is still Ban Kruat!

You say you have enough problems already. What are those problems if not from the shelling?

here we go again.......just down the road....is that 20 km down the road?

panic attacks ....again.....

i really do not know if we are on the same planet...

please ask member "afarang" who is living in the center of ban kruat, he may confirm "local-butcher-shop-shell-impacts"

because i cannot.

actually i've had a pleasant day directly in the market of ban kruat.

the MOST EXCITING action today was a helicopter landing on a football field (on purpose)

but please....don't take my words too serious.....at the end "I" am the guy spreading life endangering panic again

EDIT:

i also cannot confirm ANY evacuation procedures in Ban Kruat.

there is a difference between an organised evacuation and running away by yourself

Ricci, Ricci, Ricci,

Nice attempt at flaming (there is a difference between an organised evacuation and running away by yourself).

This was an organised evacuation. The military arrived with buses and ordered all women and children to leave. Men were permitted to stay in order to guard against looting.

You may claim that Ban Kruat is safe but everyone was taken to Non Charoem.

Oh, and our place is 18kms from Ban Kruat town, according to my odometer. As far as I'm concerned, that is 'just down the road'.

Brother of GF, who lives in Ban Kruat, had shells landing in his property yesterday......

absolutely NO shells in Ban Kruat......please do not spread panic

we have already enough problems here

After trying to call all day (I'm currently in Vietnam), I've finally just managed to get in touch with my family.

Most of my family (women and children) have been evacuated from Ban Kruat because of the shelling. My father-in-law, who has remained at home, told me that our local butcher shop is no more as a shell landed on it.

My house is not in Ban Kruat town/village but I live just down the road. Regardless, it is still Ban Kruat!

You say you have enough problems already. What are those problems if not from the shelling?