joekicker

Immigration is supposed to ask if you have a return/onward ticket, but usually don't bother. Don't COUNT on it not happening, but probably it won't. Most visas have a "use by" date of six months from issue. Again, this is not written in stone (nothing in Thailand is) but it is usual. If you have a three-entry multiple, it might be longer. Almost certainly, it would not be shorter. The answer to your third question is "it's up to the embassy/consulate where you go." But if the visa is still valid, why get another one? NOTE: The answer to the above question is probably what you would have to say to the embassy/consulate. Just what they would do is pretty much unpredictable. My own personal prediction is they would cancel the previous visa and give you another one, all other things being equal, but please bear in mind my balls are not made of crystal. .

Wally, thanks for your excellent report. I'm sure it will help lots of people in the future. Do keep it up to date for a bit if necessary. js007 and others: Of course you can transfer money, anywhere you want. The cost is between you and your bank.

Yes, Tom, I agree with the polls and I personally think the general ambience and IN-AIR service on Asian airlines and even some from the dying continent -- BA, give them credit, hooda thunk that? -- are superior. (I would personally rate Qantas up there, by the way.) But this story was about ground service, pretty much. And in the end it wasn't about polls, it was about the author's personal experience on one flight. You've never had really horrible ground service from an airline? Not ever? Well, my experiences have been better. My ground services have been better with US airlines than Asian. Also my wife's. The difference between me and the author is that the author, based on a single flight, says US ground service sucks. I wouldn't make any such silly claim and yes, it's silly, to be kind. US airlines' in-flight "service" very often leaves much to be desired, but to be fair, the very worst "service" is on domestic flights where you have to bring your own food and buy your drinks, and there aren't a lot of smiles. It's not hard to beat that, and most non-US airlines beat it, especially Asian ones. No argument about that from me. I have never had horrible ground service from a US airline and I could take up a couple of pages with horrible Asian airline experiences. But my point is -- THAT'S ME, not you and everybody else in the world. .

Steak Lao is a chain of really excellent, middle-class restaurants serving Thai food. (Yes, correct; not Lao, and not a steak on the menu, although there are arguably Lao (northeast) dishes and a dish called Steak Lao, which is not a big slab of meat.) This particular Pattaya restaurant -- I don't know it, but if it is part of the chain, it will be (Trink word) toothsome. If it's a ripoff stealing the name, then buyer beware. The Pattaya Mail says it is owned by "Ad Carabao," as the post above says.

Not much question about the attractiveness of the Asian stewards, for those who prefer their boys metrosexual, with an "h". But I've had nothing but good service from American carriers, on the ground and in the air. United has bent over backwards to the point of obvious discomfort on two occasions that Mrs Kicker needed help really badly within the last five years. She was in worse trouble, and got far superior help to that described by this whingeing traveller. I have been moved to an earlier flight on a US carrier, or a later flight, in and outside of the US on numerous occasions. Recently, totally unasked, a United ground agent for no reason that I could discern simply arranged a different flight itinerary that took me an extra 1,000 miles (credited, I might say) and got me to my destination 3 hours earlier than my travel agent scheduled. People who travel have horrible individual experiences. I have refused to go near Cathay Pacific for more than 30 years because of consecutive screwups in my flights. But obviously a lot of people like Cathay to death. It would be WAY out of line to slam Cathay or Chinese airlines because on two occasions they were totally, spectacularly incompetent, rude and offensive to ME. I think this is a stupid story. The only legitimate stereotyping would be the obviously better looking Asian women serving you, but let's be honest -- "air hostesses" are basically waitresses. If you eat in a restaurant based on the booty of the staff, you're going to miss a lot of good eating. And when push comes to shove in a real emergency, do you REALLY want a 20-year-old, 98-pound person in charge of doing everything? I have never had a really bad incident on an American carrier. It would be really over the top, uninformed and ridiculous for the New York Times to carry my story saying US carriers were always good and always provided excellent service based on my experiences -- even though I have (apparently, by the author's description) flown one hell of a lot more often, with a hell of a lot more airlines than the author of this questionable piece. .

rb, Can we keep the conversation to English?

Spit on a pig does not sound like an appetising dish, let alone famous.

Taltos, without a visa you should be fine for 30 days, as you surmised at the start, no problem.

That is correct, except that what you get the second time is not even technically a visa,but a 30-day permission to stay. One arrival, one departure uses up one visa. Next arrival, you start over. The wise thing is to get a multiple entry.

Point, game, match. Martial artists fight seriously in competition or self-defence. And why would a violent person go to the trouble of learning martial arts when he can just carry a baseball bat or, much easier still, a gun? "Gimme your money, man, or I'll snap kick." Yeah, very effective for a mugger.

Found this on PPrune, a pilots' forum: This following extract is taken from the blog of an American who moved to Dubai earlier this year…. April 30th: Just got transferred to work and live in beautiful Dubai, UAE! WOW!!! Now this is a city that knows how to live!!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. It's like New York City minus all the crooks, murderers and drunks. What a place! I watched the sunset from a deck chair on my beautiful bedroom veranda. It was so beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here. May 13th: Really heating up. Got to 95 degrees today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car, and everything is fully air-conditioned. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper. May 30th: Had the backyard landscaped with tropical plants today around our lovely pool. Lots of palms and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here. Heat is no problem at all. June 10th: The temperature hasn't been below 95 all week, even during the night. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected. July 15th: Fell asleep by the pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 90% of my body. Missed 5 days of work. What a dumb thing to do in this lovely city. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this. July 20th: Kitty (our cat) sneaked into the car when I left for the office. By the time I got to the hot car for my lunch break, Kitty had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $60,000 Audi. I told the kids that she ran away. The car now smells like Wiskettes and cat shit. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. July 25th: The wind sucks. It feels like a giant fucking hair dryer in here!! And it's hot as hell. The home air-conditioner died. The fucking AC repairman charged 500 Dirhams just to drive over and tell me it was broken in fucking Hindu/English or some language that I couldn't understand. July 30th: Air conditioner still broken. Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now because it is 7000 fucking degrees inside. Bloody 2,000,000 Dirhams house and we can't even go inside. Why did I ever come here? Fuck the sun. Fuck the wind. Fuck the freakin' ocean. And fucking locals walk around dressed in white tablecloths followed by little black female ninjas. Fucking crazy town. August 4th: It's 114 fucking degrees today. Finally got the ol' air-conditioner fixed. It cost 2,000 fucking Dirhams and got the temperature down to 25, but the fucking humidity makes the house feel 30 fucking Dubai degrees. Stupid terrorist repairman. I hate this stupid fucking place. August 8th: If another local wiseass cracks, "Hot enough for you today?" I'm going to fucking whack him all the way back to his goddamn desert. Fucking Dubai; by the time I get to work with all that fucking traffic and heat, the car's radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like a baked cat!!! August 9th: Tried to run some errands today because it is fucking Friday. Wore shorts and sat on the black leather seats in my Audi. The seat was so fucking hot I thought my ass was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and my fucking ass. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass and baked cat. August 10th: The weather report might as well be a fucking recording. Hot, humid and fucking sunny. Hot, humid and fucking sunny. Hot, humid and fucking sunny. It's been too hot to do anything for 2 damn months and the weatherman dude wearing the fucking white tablecloth on TV says it might really warm up next week. Does it ever rain in this damn fucking place? What is next, a fucking hell freezing over wave? August 14th: WELCOME TO HELL!!! Temperature got to 120 today. Now the air-conditioner's gone in my fucking Audi. The fucking Audi serviceman said, "Hot enough for you today?" Fuck him and fuck Audi. My wife had to spend the 7,000 Dirham to bail my ass out of jail for assaulting that stupid fucking Paki bastard wiseass. Fuck Dubai! What kind of a sick demented fucking idiot would want to live in this shit hole? August 15th: Fuck this place. I'm off back to New York.

Interesting. The first BG I ever heard of that got rich wound up as the single owner of Siam Country Club, not a million miles from Pattaya. She was also probably the best go-go dancer Bangkok ever had, ever. She sure is rich today.

Yeah, with a 7-2 record including five fights in Korat. You would be very disappointed to learn how the WBC works at that level, I think. Mr Suleiman does like his Thai antiques, for sure. True, real, world-class fighters are very rare in Thailand.

Yes about the scoring. You may notice that very few Thais have the upper body strength, development or indeed attention to it that westerners have. The whole thing that starts when you're a kid is different. Thai kids are taught that going out and kicking down trees is a Good Thing, but western kids learn that lifting weights is. I believe you'll find the muay thai scoring is the result, not the cause of this. A good western boxer will kick the spit out of a muay thai fighter in a boxing match without doubt. He might well do it anyway, but legs are longer than arms of course. For all the attention it gets in Thailand there have been a VERY few good boxers come out of this country.

You first. That's not snark. That's actual.

FEEL the paranoia. Amazing how many people think laws are passed for, and enforced on, foreigners. The anti-gambling laws do not exist for your pleasure or exploitation either one, trust me on this. Thailand really is a country, you know, as real and as interesting as your own, if not more so. Plead ignorance of the law, plead ignorance of Thailand, you might get more sympathy. "They're just doing this for me" is super paranoia, plus of course backed by a lifetime of learning how noble was the white man's burden. You're not that important. Really you're not.

Like the actor said in the Watergate movie: Follow the money. Wouldn't you?

What's another word for "synoynm"?

The Thai embassy is very unlikely to ask to see his travel arrangements. He can always say he is picking up the ticket next week, anyhow. Short answer: 99% yes.

I wonder if that's a Pattaya thing. I've just never heard of this in the Big Mango, either at the vehicle office, the licensing office or the driver's licence. Driver's licence seems to want foreigners' passports, and you used to have to get an embassy letter, a real scam, that one, by many western embassies - big baht to fill in a couple of blanks.

Helloooooo! No one is saying who this letter (which I never heard of) is addressed to. Is it the Vehicles Registration Department? Or who? And who do YOU give that letter to? I'm still reeling from the accusation that you can get a letter from the immigration department, mind you. Talk about a revelation. I always liked those people, but a personal confirmation letter? I am so totally impressed!

It's possible the ministry has decided to not issue licence plates to itinerants. I sure haven't heard that, but why would I? There does have to be a name on the ownership/registry of course. Maybe they've decided that a little more paperwork is a Good Thing. It IS the government after all.

Who did you buy it from? Sounds weird. Are you sure that wasn't for the benefit of the finance house? The bank/finance company/whatever can demand whatever they want. Even the "letter from immigration" is weird. Never heard of such a thing. Learn something every day I guess. addendum: I have actually been involved when a policeman stopped a farang and insisted (without asking for money) that foreigners cannot have a Thai driving licence. That took half an hour to straighten him out, just that one simple point. So I am not SURPRISED by anything weird, just curious.

Ownership doesn't depend on a visa. If you can own something you can own it with any visa, or no visa at all. Sale and purchase of a car is strictly between the buyer and seller. If the owner will sell, the buyer can buy. If you buy on time, the ownership of the item (car, say) stays with the financier -- NOT the seller, and NOT the buyer -- until it is full paid, at which point the buyer gets the papers. The ownership papers don't depend on the visa, but may (for land, say) depend on the nationality. In the real world, no finance firm is going to finance purchase of a car to just any person existing on 30-day airport stamps -- but the firm could do that if it wanted, and probably this has happened a few times in specific and controllable situations. You can walk in to lots of places and put down enough cash and drive out in YOUR car if you want, no matter what your visa or lack of it.

There was a wonderful Usenet group on real, actual Darwinisms, that was attacked so much by do-gooders, mostly from the dying continent of course, that the core split off and formed a private mailing list. It continues today, it is wickedly evil, makes total fun of stupidity, and the more bloodily fatal the better. With the first complaint about tastelessness, you are off the list -- and rightly so, it's about Darwinism fercrissake! As Vonnegut said (paraphrasing) if you think nature is your friend, you don't need an enemy.