ceejay

Also, some things are very expensive to import into Thailand, which has high customs duty rates. You could end up paying more than the goods are worth in import duties and VAT. In particular, all computer equipment is classified as business equipment when imported in this way. You need to do some research with a qualified shipping agent before you go down this road.

Two years back, the company I worked for moved cities and gave me the option of early retirement or going with them. Once I had worked out I could afford retirement there was only one choice I was ever going to make. It helped me that I was only 2 years off my planned retirement date and had been planning to retire to Thailand for 3 years anyway, so it was more a question of bringing things forward than a sudden change of plan. What I have done is divide the last two years equally between Thailand and the UK (October-March in Thaland and April-September in the UK). I am now about to make a full time move to Thailand. Doing it this way has had several advantages: -It has given me the opportunity to make sure that I really do want to live in Thailand full time. It isn't the same as being on holiday, no matter how long or frequent the holidays may be. -It has allowed me to check that the place I have chosen to live (Chiang Mai in my case) is right for me. -It has given me time to build up a small circle of friends in Chiang Mai. Everyone needs a bit of support sometimes. -I have already got a small condo that I rent full time (saved carting stuff backwards and forwards from Thailand) -I have already sorted out a Thai bank account and a retirement visa. These, and other things like them can, of course, all be done if you just up sticks and move to Thailand immediately, but to me it felt much easier to do them before I was fully committed and still had a base in the UK, so that it would have been very easy to go back if I decided that Thailand was not for me after all. Personally, I have never missed work (something some friends thought might actually be a problem for me). I went home one day and got up the next morning as someone who had other things to do.

I was there three years ago for the candle festival. You could try the Takraw courts in Nong Bua park as a cruising area. Don't know if it actually is used as that, but there were a few groups of gay boys hanging around the courts in the evening. I know you like a good Wat, Christian. Don't miss Wat Ban na Muang. It has an elephant gateway, and not one, but two buildings in the form of boats. It also has a Chinese cemetery inside the grounds, which is unusual.

Yes, it has to be in cash, in a Thai bank and must be in an instant access account. For the first extension, it must have been in the account for at least the 60 days immediately prior to the application. For subsequent extensions, that becomes 90 days.

Congratulations! Are you planning on staying in Thailand permanently now? I got my retirement extension in January, and have been in England since April sorting things out. But, a week from now, I get on the plane on a one-way ticket to start a new life in Thailand. The start of an awfully big adventure!

The O-A category still exists on the Thai Embassy website ( http://thaiembassyuk.org.uk/?q=node/49 ) but the description has changed: To applicants aged 50 and over who wish to stay in Thailand for an entended period without the intention of working. No mention any more of the need to be a retired person at this age. If you look at the download "Visa application pack" on the Hull Consulate website, then you will see that this type of visa can only be issued by the Royal Thai Embassy, and so that is presumably why no mention of it is made in their (Hull's) "Additional Evidence........" doxcument.

Mae Sai, where these reports are mostly coming from, is a special case. It's not a full international crossing point. You need a further permit for onward travel into Myanmar which may or may not be granted so, potentially, anyone who leaves Thailand by that route may be sent back from Myanmar. In practice nearly everyone who crosses at that point does in fact come back the same day. Myanmar has made something of a business out of Thai visa runners, issuing day passes at the border to people who have no full Myanmar visa,unlike Laos or Cambodia where you have to get a full visa to enter. You can see why Thai immigration have started with the Myanmar border for a crackdown on back to back visa exemption runners (other reports are coming from Ranong) as that is the basis on which most foreigners cross that particular land border. Google translate makes a hash of the announcement about further changes in August, but it seems to be saying that, from then, persons entering by air who are also suspected of being "back to back" visa runners will be refused entry. I can't see how that is going to affect the typical holidaymaker with a return or onward air ticket, which you are supposed to have anyway. I guess all it will add up to is actually checking that at immigration (which has never happened to me in many visits. What seems to have happened at Mae Sai is that the immigration officers there have been ordered to implement a new rule as from today, with no guidance as to policy and no hope of getting it until Monday, because they're all off for the weekend in Bangkok. It's not good for visa runners - and not meant to be. For the rest of us I'm guessing that all will be made clearer in the next week or so. Until then, my advice is to sit back and have a cup of tea.

My own guess, for what it is worth (not much) is that little will change. This was hardly unexpected and Pheu Thai had contingency plans in place for the disqualification of the whole cabinet. As it is, the Constitution Court has only disqualified 9 cabinet members and has said that the remaining ones can continue in office as caretakers until a new cabinet is appointed. The court has also refused to order the speedy appointment of a new caretaker Prime Minister. So, it will be business as before for the the truncated cabinet. Sure, there will be demonstrations against the decision, but my guess is that Pheu Thai will, mostly, contain them in the North and North East, and continue it's policy of avoiding any clashes that might give the excuse for a coup. As to when it will end, TMax is right with "Who knows?". There may or may not be another election in July and I can't see anything much happening before then. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if nothing has changed by this time next year.

It's not unique to the USA. Four years ago, it happened to me at Heathrow. Rather than immigration people, it was uniformed police. Disconcertingly, they took me aside after I had passed through the boarding gate, while I was on the way to the bridge to board the plane, although they were at pains to say that it was "only routine" and that I would not miss my flight. They flicked through my passport, asked me how many times I had been to the region before, where I was staying this time and then let me go. No reason given for it, and I didn't ask. When I returned from that trip, it was the only time I have ever been stopped at Customs for a search on the in to the UK. A quick search of my luggage - absolutely no interest in computer or cameras, which were just put to one side while they went through the case - a few questions about where I had been, where I had stayed - and on my way. Probably just coincidence but, if you are paranoid, you can believe they were checking the outbound story against the inbound one....

I think Alexx makes very good suggestions. Travelling on the overnight sleepers is very comfortable (I have traveled from Bangkok to Nong Khai and back by train) and costs, for a first class sleeper, around 1200 to 1300 baht each way. That's the cost of a hotel room, so you effectively get to travel for free. If schedules are tight to make a flight back home, they can always fly back. They could hire motor cycles at the destination city and use that as a base to tour around. If they are biking around then the journey is the must see rather than the destination. Suggestions are (all places I have visited, and mainline railway terminals) Chiang Mai. Endless opportunities for touring around on bikes, either in Chiang Mai province or farther afield to Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Nan or other neighbouring provinces. Spectacular mountain scenery and many pretty little towns to discover along the way. Nong Khai Westward through Loei to Phitsanulok and Sukothai. More spectacular mountain scenery in Loei, and the cultural sites in Phitsanulok and Sukothai (a world heritage site) to visit. Ubon Ratchathani Following the Mekong north through Amnat Charen, Mukdahan and Nakhon Phanom. There's not too much in the way of "must sees" here but there are some beautiful little towns and villages along the way and you get to see a side of Thailand that many toursts do not. No need to book hotels for any of these. With your own transport, you can find hotels and guesthouses wherever you go, so economically priced that it's cheaper than staying at home. If they want to do a motorbike tour, then it would be worthwhile checking if their Bangkok hotel will store their luggage after they check out. Some will (and for nothing too) and this will save them lugging a load of unnecessary stuff around with them.

The judgement has been announced. The court has, on first reading, found entirely in favour of Cambodia and awarded all of the disputed territory to them. Thailand has been ordered to withdraw all troops and other officials from this area. It will be interesting to see what the Thai press make of it - not to mention the ultra nationalist groups.

The Japanese certainly claim the oldest dynasty still in existence. If they are to be believed, their monarchy traces a continuous line of descent going back 2,600 years or so. Wow! Just imagine how much more impressive this record would be if he'd got the job while he was still Gorm the Young! (Sorry - couldn't resist that)

It's not worth worrying about. Many of the hotels in CM offer a free airport pickup with their own transport and, even if they don't, there are plenty of red songtaews or, if you prefer, tuk-tuks, to be had. In fact, I never knew there was a metered taxi rank at he airport.

This one, near a cliff edge in Pha Thaem national park mystified me (and still does)

There's a lot of history behind a very different attitude in Europe and North America, Devint. Black people are present in those places because they were enslaved by the European colonial powers and shipped of to the Americas to be sold. Slavery may have been abolished (through the course of the 19th century) in these countries, but the myth of racial and social superiority of white over black lived on for much longer (and for a thankfully decreasing minority still does live on). "Black face* shows are particularly offensive. They lived on until the late 1970's in the UK. In an era when black people were, generally, not considered good enough to appear on television you had all these white guys, dressed up in blackface, giving an infantilised portrayal of black people as childish clowns. That was part of a long and ignoble tradition of lampooning the black man as amiable, but childish, not really fit to make decisions for himself. It was a stereotype used to defend slavery against the abolition movement in the 19th century. Blackface is profoundly offensive. It is irretrievably linked with white supremacism, as much, in it's own way, as the Ku Klux Klan or the National Front.

Granted, I am not the most observant of people, but I hadn't even realised that the Agoda link was there until this thread came along. I'm here for the message board and the link to that can easily be read at more than arm's length which, for me, the Agoda link cannot so I've just passed it by. Maybe it would help to make it a bit more obvious?

I think it's Germany - that sign may have the word "daily" on it, but it also has the word "Platz". Is it the line of cobblestones that marks the route of the old Berlin wall?

I've never been able to see the point of it myself. Allow 3% interest for having 2million baht in the bank, 20,000 a year membership fee and 100,000 a year depreciation on the original fee, then it's costing baht 180,000 a year. That's a lot of rounds of golf and spa treatments. Anybody who can afford to drop that amount of money will probably be able to find a personal "government concierge" (at a much better rate) to help them with any little difficulties they may have with officialdom. They'll probably also be going through fast track at the airport, on the back of first class tickets.

Quote from Wayne Brock, the Chief Executive of BSA: Compassionate? That sounds to me as if Mr Brock views homosexuality as some sort of affliction to be pitied, and that far from feeling that a wrong is being righted, he views it as an act of generosity, charity even with an essentially straight organisation admitting gays out of the goodness of their hearts. That hardly puts gay scouts on an equal footing. Compare this to the official UK Scout guidelines which can be found at this link: http://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/search/?cat=377,378 This quote is from "Being Gay with an Adult role in Scouting:

Update: it seems they are lucky to be alive. One of them nearly got to a police car and was shot at very close range in the upper body, according to a short video on the Daily Mirror website.

I think that the short answer to this is that both US and UK police shoot, if not exactly "to kill" but in a way that is likely to cause death. In an emergency situation, with police or public lives at imminent risk, they will shoot at the torso, because it is the biggest target. Surviving a 9mm bullet wound in the chest is largely a matter of luck. So were the Woolwich murderers lucky? Perhaps not. I was intrigued by the questions raised by FH's post and looked up the Metropolitan Police's policy on the use of firearms. Apparently (google "Operation Kratos") Metropolitan Police Firearms officers are trained not to shoot at the torso, but at the head or legs, if they suspect they are dealing with a suicide bomder. This is to avoid detonating explosives. So, it rather depends on where they were shot. If in the torso, then they were lucky to survive. If in the legs, then it wasn't out of concern for their survival, but for the safety of others.

Real equality comes when sexuality is a non-issue and it is impossible to infer the sexuality of the customer from the level of service provided and the attitude of the staff. Why should such a business give special support to gay causes? I know this is not the case all over the world, but in the Americas, Western Europe, Australasia and parts of Asia we are getting there. In these places we may have to get used to the idea that we have to give up outdated romantic notions of ourselves as a persecuted minority and accept that we are just ordinary Joes.

If your flight to BKK arives on time, the earliest you can arrive at Don Muangis between 0100 and 0200 the next day so you're only going to get around 3 hours sleep before you have to check in for the flight to Bali. I'd go to DMK and I'd book the Amari hotel which is literally just across the road from the airport, with a walkway connecting the two. That would minimise the time spent in taxis which would matter to me if I only had 5 hours between one flight landing and checking in for the next.

I guess the stuff that was available 30 years ago, when NIrish was young, would have been powdered potash alum, the same material used in styptic pencill. If I remember right, the aluminium in it causes fibrinogen, the protein in blood that makes up the structure of blood clots, to coagulate.

And, at the same time that they entered into talks with the UK government that ended in their making this tax payment, this company with a "great employment program" presented their employees with a new contract that cut paid breaks, sick leave and maternity benefits. Some were told to sign it or lose their jobs. All were ordered not to discuss it with the press.