daxbr

USAA Federal Savings Bank provides free ACH transfers to Bangkok Bank, which does make a charge to receive them.  The resulting cost are about as low as you can get them.  USAA provides excellent service, such as its bill pay service.  Since their customer base is military, they don't blanche at US expats.

Those late night street bars and restaurants are perfect if you are in off an International flight late night and can't sleep.

I once rolled in about 2AM, showered up, put the head down, time change dilemma the lights just wouldn't go out. Off to the street,few big beers, a Suki taken care of by some local female talent who had joined me, down at 5AM up at noon good as new.

I love them bars too, particularly my favourite - the original VW bar on soi 7, outside Park Hotel.  It's been there years.

As for taxis from that part of town back to my place on Soi 24, I've never had a problem getting one to put on a meter at any time of the day. A simple 'pai soi yip si, krab' always seems to do the trick.

The easy solution is to stay away from that area entirely. Patpong did the same thing before Sukhumvit Soi 4 became popular and then Soi 4 later chased the punters over to Soi Cowboy. Then, when Soi Cowboy got too popular and raised prices, everyone moved to Pattaya. I've heard that due to greed and jacking prices too high, Pattaya bars along walking street to Soi 6 area is chasing the punters elsewhere. Due to ridiculous high prices, I'm not sure WHERE the next little hotbed of iniquity will surface. When you can buy a small Chang for 40 baht from any nearby 7-11 shop it seems pretty silly to pay 180 for the same thing at a bar where all the tired looking women are over 40.

I was once by an ATM and this Indian guy said I had a long life.  He just stared at me.

I gave him 1000 baht to go away.

Seems it's OK for Che to be cool but not Adolf. Che was a despot too.

As for Hitler chic, it's just another round of the elder generation being upset with those crazy kids. The younger generation always pushed the boundaries and long may that continue.

Your grandparents probably shook their heads about rock n' roll the same way you are shaking your heads about this.

Storm in a teacup.

As already pointed out, Stalin put Hitler distinctly in the shade with his prowess for putting millions to death, and you don't have to look very far to find other runners-up, so what's the big taboo with Hitler? I for one came here to escape the strychnined, egg-shell tip-toeing that passes for daily existence in the "mustn't offend anyone" West. grow a set & stop projecting your insecurities into what everyone knows to be one of the most polite cultures on the block.

The OP is a little confused.  You apply for the O-A in your home country and then do 12-month extensions in Thailand.  You do not ever need to have had a visa (or even have set foot in Thailand) before applying for an O-A.  You will need to submit a medical form, criminal check and meet certain financial requirements, although the funds don't have to be in Thailand.  Funds will have to be moved to Thailand eventually to support the 12-month visa extensions, unless you're proving financial worth by demonstrating a sufficient pension income.  That income doesn't have to come into Thailand, although Immigration offices in Thailand may ask to see proof that you are bringing in funds to meet living expenses (otherwise they suspect you're earning income in Thailand)

You also can apply for a 90 day O visa in your home country.  The 90-day period will commence upon entry to Thailand.  Then, that visa can be extended for 12 months due to retirement in Thailand during the last 30 days of visa validity.  You will need to meet the financial requirements, which will mean funds deposited in a Thai bank if the income method isn't used.  Some people have delays in setting up bank accounts and transferring funds, which can be a problem.  The money should be in Thailand for at least 60 days prior to the first visa extension, 90 days for subsequent visa extensions.

The further complicate understanding, there is another route for person from a (tourist) visa-exempt country like the U.S. to obtain a "retirement visa".  Enter the country on visa exempt status (i.e. just show up with your passport) and immediately open a bank account and deposit 800,000 baht (or get an income verification letter from your embassy/consulate).  During that 30 day visa exempt period, go to the local Immigration office and request a 90-day O visa for the purpose of setting up retirement.  They'll want to see that you're on the path to meeting the financial requirements, but obviously they don't expect the funds to be aged.  During the final 30 days of that 90 day O visa, execute the process for a 12-month extension due to retirement, as outlined in the previous paragraph.  Not every Immigration office will do this "two-step" process.  Chiang Mai will.  Other offices may send you to Bangkok.

The net result of any of these three methods will be a 12-month permission to stay in Thailand due to retirement.

We should be frightened of Global Warming, it is no joking matter. Anyone with eyes, ears and half a brain can see well documented reports of people losing their homes and/or livelihoods due to rising temperatures and sea levels. Many progressive signs leave no doubt that a great change is taking place.

What might be debatable are the causal relationships with human activity. Which implies the possibility or not of our ability to affect the change or its rate.

The separation of evidence for these two hypotheses  is extremely important and often obscure. This raises the temperature of political and scientific communities somewhat! The mistaken stand that because the cause is not completely clear no action is possible or at least a waste of money cannot be right. That we must take defensive action against Global Warming cannot be denied by intelligent informed people.

it's now well established that the 'Global Warming' frenzy/scare is just an eloborate racket to generate new tax revenue for the NWO.. (Alex Jones assures me ) so i would safely say totally ignore this thread...

however, as 2012 approaches.. more than a few prominent people are predicting a major magnetic polar shift/flip within the Earth's axis itself (according to George Noory & his numerous guests on Coast to Coast AM), so property atop the highest Doi's may well be a wise investment in the months to come...

...of course, this whole subject could be total baloney with absolutely nothing to worry about at all..  

Dear Readers
This is a sorry and cautionary tale - read only if of a strong disposition!!  Reposted as previous post disappeared.

I expect to be called a fool but want to expose a few truths about the ease with which you can lose every piece of property you own.  Own in this post refers to non-freehold rights over property since obviously with just a very few exceptions Thailand does not choose to allow non-thais to own freehold property - the reasons being many and sinister.

There are many angles but I will only cover here those that have affected me.  My background is that of a property professional from the UK who moved to Thailand about 10 years ago.  I purchased a foreign freehold condo in Bangkok - this being one of the safest property assets to buy, has been mercilously saved from being taken from me although the ex-girlfriend who I allowed to stay there for 5 years rent free after we split, and having been on good terms all that time completely stripped the place when she left including the fitted wardrobes as thanks for my generosity and yes there was a rent agreement with schedule of furniture.  

Anyway that is not the crux of this story.

I moved to Phuket and married a lovely girl.  I didn't marry formally with papers because if you are formally married and the woman wishes to buy a property then you have to sign a document saying you as a foreigner have no rights over the property and basically have given her the money. Not a good situation in my book.  Anyway we had the unofficial ceremony and over the next 7 years had three of the most beautiful children imaginable - I love and adore them to bits.

During this period I purchased two sizeable pieces of land worth about 30 million baht between them.  I used some family trust money for one piece and have a foreign partner in another.  These pieces were held in seperate Thai companies all properly set up with various Thai shareholders, loan agreements etc. to cover the land.  Everything set up by two different lawyers who had done a pretty thorough job

.I also puchased a home held in the name of my wife with a 60 year lease assigned and registered at the land department in my name.  I also purchase a house for refurbishment and, to help a dying friend out. another house which was converted to a restaurant as my wife wanted to try running one. (I had the idea that it could be sold or leased when she got fed up as most Thais do with anything requiring any effort.)

Everything was running pretty smoothly with me unaware of the Tsunami of problems about to befall me.  After opening the restaurant a few months ago my 'wife' began acting a little strangely.  Firstly eating out late with the staff, then going out drinking with one or two and then not coming home afterwards leaving me at home with the kids sometimes and taking them to stay with other staff whilse she went out other times.  

My wife is not a bar girl and never has been by the way.  Everyone thinks she is charming!!  Anyway for some reason, I forget exactly why, I was checking up on the land parcels and it became clear that the land was no longer in the company name.  It had been transferred to my wife's name and subsequently she had taken out a loan with a right of redemption on the land.  Basically that is a loan registerable at the land office on the back of the Chanote with a fixed period given to repay the loan and interest.  At expiration if not repaid the loan becomes at large and the property becomes owned by the lender.  The same thing had happened to the other piece of company land.

I wondered how this had happened realising of course that my darling wife had cheated me.  In fact she had gone to the Company Registration office armed with a copy of my passport and forged my signature to effect the complete change of the company structure leaving her as controlling director, transferred the land into her own name at the land office as she could then sign in the name of the company and then with the land in her name taken out a loan with a money lender at a rate of interest between 3 & 5% per month.  

Interestingly the maximum allowable interest chargeable under law by an individual or company (excluding credit card companies for some reason) is 12% but that does not stop the Thais.  The loan agreement simply fails to record the amount of interest payable.  Try arguing that one in court and hope for a solution in less than a decade!!

Anyway I was led then to check my other property.  The lease on my house had been cancelled by using just a passport copy and a forged signature and again a loan with right of redemption taken against the freehold in her name.

The lease on the hosue to be renovated was never registered as we needed a mortgage from the bank to finalise the purchase of the house I am now living in (at the moment) since her family failed to pay back an ealier loan.  As there was a mortgage on the property no lease could be registered and of course the bank will only lend money to Thais so I could not register my lease or borrow money with a lease already registered on the house.  Nevermind I thought we are a family unit, happily married (though not legally) and with three beautiful children, and a worry free life ahead of us.

It turns out the bank mortgage has been repaid and again money borrowed on the property with a registered right of redemption.

The restaurant was bought in her name - another Chanote just a few months back.  She told me she would register the lease after the Restaurant licence was granted from Bangkok (BS as it turns out) and after spending 3 million doing the place up and 4 million buying it, I now find that the property has been registered in the name of two Thai ladies who appeared the other day out of the blue demanding interest from me as wifey hasn't paid.

So here I am no property left in my name - about 60 million baht's worth, 3/4 of which supposedly protected by either a lease or held in a company name.  

To add to it all my wife had jumped town on pretence of sorting out business in the development into which she has supposedly sunk most of my money without my knowledge., leaving me with the three kids having made sure she took the kids passports with her.

So what would you do in this situation bearing in mind this concerns about all the money I have, I thought I had it mostly protected.

I am now taking care of three kids 7, 5 & 2 on my own, was trying to take care of a new bar/ restaurant at the same time with the police constantly asking for tea money or for this that or the other police 'benefit' event and my wife refuses to pick up the phone.  Oh and to add insult to injury I suspect she is having an affair with a low life who recently came to the bar to work as a chef.  To clarify we have been living together nearly 10 years and most of that time staying together so she was not having an affair before syphoning off the money (i.e. that is not the reason for the 'theft').?

What would you do in this situation?

As an aside a friend of mine has been trying to get his passport back from his wife who took it supposedly to get a visa which has never materialised.  His wife has been sorting the visa renewals out for years with no problem but has now disappeared.  Imagine the above situation with a missing passport - would that change what you could do?

Sunny Valentine, on 2010-08-13 22:52:47, said:

Please tell me how anyone can track where you surf if you use a proxy server with an encrypted wrapper? That's how all of you guys use a proxy, right?

Quote

Anyone with a little know how can set up a plain proxy, ideal for caching webpages and forms.
A different matter then what we are talking about, isn't it.

Unfortunately the ICT minister will never know who's illegal or not.

What we are talking about here is local IP numbers given to us by ISP's, the IP number we get from their DHCP servers, we are inside their network whilest big companies operate with their own public IP number on the outside.

A VPN has all the feautures to block any sniffer from distinguising the destination for the client, isn't that a breach of the law by itself.
Really difficult for a legislator to allow for use to certain destinations and usage and disallow for others.

If using a proxy within Thailand, the proxy owner can give out log files to the authorities but I think most proxies are outside Thailand, at least the ones farrangs use.
What you do is disguise yourself who you are and where you go and do with both a VPN client and an encrypted proxie connected outside Thailand .
Please enlighten me if I'm wrong, because then I have been wrong for 25 years working in this field.

I work as a systemdeveloper/system architect with network communication security as one of my main interests, one of many.
I started out with assembler in 1980 (for fun) on a CP/M machine, then C, C++ and now C# among others.
I made the communication package for EirCom in Ireland 2002 for their customers to connect to Internet.
Anyone wants my CV?
PM me and I'll send it over.
I'm not saying this to impress, only to make it clear that I'm not using google to find answers when I reply or post .
Cheers!