Does anyone have any experience with opening a US dollar bank account in Thailand? I would need personal checks too. What does it take?

Passport with O visa and cash, checks or swift transfer in said currency last time Bank of Asia wanted me to open said type of account. Didn't bother to do it though. If I bring money to TH it is to spend it in TH so I keep it in THB.

http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,16...7_LIDen,00.html

I had a foreign currency account, in US$, at Bangkok Bank here in Bangkok, minimum 10,000$ required to open account and it has to be wired in from the US. More like a savings account, no checks provided. However did earn interest, but at a very low rate.

I'm waiting for a reply from ScotiaBank. I need an account that allows me to have funds automatically debited by companies in the US monthly. They can't do it unless the account is in US Dollars. I don't want to deposit $10,000... Anyone else have any ideas?

With a US Dollar account can you deposit a check from a US bank conveniently or does it take just as long to clear as with a Thai Bank?