joekicker

What he said. Look, then leave the immigration desk.

Yes. Well, that is two "ifs", neither of which exists.

An alternative for whom? Rice isn't a staple food in Thailand, it's part of the culture and tradition. On this particular subject, you need a lot more research. Plantain in Thailand sells like shark's fin at a Greenpeace convention, and for some of the same reasons. Next you'll be recommending sago and poi? Lemons, limes are sort of like rice. The fruit the Thais call manao is well accepted and entrenched in the market. Manao are an integral part of Thai food, and lemons (for sure) and even limes are not acceptable substitutes -- for the simple reason they cost three or 10 times as much and manao are PREFERRED to them. The market is very, very limited. There is already no shortage of lemons in Thailand, but almost no one wants to buy them, so they are hard to find on the market. I don't believe a farmer could sell 10 limes in a year, not at the price it costs to farm them. There are more turkeys than can be sold or exported right now, although the turkey-ham, turkey-bacon etc markets aren't exploited. Nothing a farmer can do about that. You will NOT sell turtles here, because greenies and history combine against them. Snakes are consumed here, but there is zero market for farmed snakes plus you'd have tree-huggers up in great arms. Thailand sells huge numbers of pears and strawberries, and exports them to the world in huger numbers. Cheap, imported Chinese pears are currently destroying the Thai farms. Apples have not done well here, so far. They don't grow well, and consumers are lobotomised to accept imports. Thais don't like cranberries, and farmers can't sell them in Thailand. Farmers can't start an export market, even if one may exist. There is WAY more goat here than can be consumed. Again, there is room for a goat-meat export market, but there's nothing a farmer can do about that. No sir, Thais will NOT eat anything, and one of the many, MANY things they won't eat, near the top of the list, is balut. There is a Buddhist/cultural problem with eating foetuses for starters. You don't know what you're talking about here. But to answer your question, Yes -- there is no problem buying balut in Thailand. There is a small market, well filled. Heh. Good one. But what you say about small farms is absolute truth. A small-farmer cannot influence markets. He has enough trouble merely trying to identify them and reach them with his crops.

Actually there are decent tomatoes. The problem, as always, is trying to get them to market, and then for shoppers to find where they are. This is one of the really, REALLY big problems for small-unit farmers in Thailand who have something valuable -- getting it to market.

1. Trying to "think" what the immigration guy at the airport might do is a terrible way to run your life. If you come to Thailand these days, THINK about getting a visa. 2. Trying to tell other people the state of affairs in Thailand going by what you "think" is perhaps not too instructive. I know you're trying to be helpful and don't mean a flame here, but other people should "think" about how useful it is to run their business according to what you "think" after a single incident where you're actually not sure what really happened. 3. Here's the latest skinny on the 90-rule: Like all laws in Thailand, this 90-day rule will be enforced willy-nilly, catch-can and when the officials feel like it. What happened to you has nothing to do with the next guy in line, or the line next week. Finally. Here's useful advice. If you're going to be in Thailand more than once this year, or if you're going to be in Thailand once, but more than a month, get a visa. They're cheap, dead easy to get in person or by mail and MIGHT save you some seriously inconvenient, expensive and upsetting hassle.

This is actually a fascinating story, which boiled down is "because leftist tree-huggers convinced them not to" about, oh, 15 or 20 years ago when there was talk of putting in massive gum plantations. Farmers were either convinced or intimidated into accepting that gum trees sucked all life out of the soil and would kill Thailand as a viable nation. It's not a bad illustration of use of environmental issues as a political tool that in the end had absolutely nothing to do with facts, environment or what was good for the farmers.

Absolutely agree that this is the horrible part. That's why I think there must be a story behind this story - someone or someones have done something that has really got up the authorities' nose. Sure. Bear in mind that no other visa type except retiree is affected. If he's working, for example, his family can still accompany him. In other cases, a guy married to a Thai on a spouse visa could bring his foreign kids. And so on. There are about a dozen different categories of non-immigrants, one of which is retiree and it's the only one affected by this sudden new policy.

This is definitely authentic by the way. I wonder how many people this affects. I don't personally know of any such case of a retired foreign couple or a retired guy with minor foreign children. Looks like someone pixxed off the authorities by having too many young dependents, who then got in trouble, that's my read.

Small farms are just a horrible way to make a living. When everything goes against you, you're destitute. In a really good year, you eat well for a while. But it's a bloody satisfying life and healthy.

Mexico of course, but there are sooooo many! I'd recommend southern Texas, better. If your wrist is just a shade limp, you might like southern California. There are a couple of restaurants that pass in Bangkok, but only in the sense you can't get really good stuff. Best in my experience is in the Rembrandt hotel on Soi 18. I believe it's only open in the evening. Thais don't like Mexican for some reason, so there just aren't any good Mexican restaurants. What exists is if you really like Mexican and need a fix. Better than Taco Bell, but hardly San Antonio or even Armpit, Nebraska.

Fruit seems to be the most consistently profitable crop. I think it's important not to get into fads, either, such as tangerines at the moment. Just something solidly good, and I'd have two, maybe three types. I'd look really carefully at durian, depending on where you're located, they're always a market bomb. Mongkut (mangosteen) seems a constant seller but with low upkeep, like rambutan. Unless you're up north, I don't think veggies is a good proposition. Even if they grow, it's hard to find good and dependable markets because everyone's used to getting them up north. Where are you?

Oh, sure, lie to the court. Why didn't the OP think of that?!? That's a good recommendation. She has a green card and a visa. She'd have to be stupid and not have a single brain cell and not have a single friend in America to stand still for that. And if she doesn't stand still for it, the OP goes to jail for perjury. Somehow, I don't think this really qualifies as excellent advice.

This is a send-up, right? Do you figure it's simple to find someone arriving at the precise time you are, alone, and already thinking about the joys of a joint cab ride to Pattaya? Or do you figure that if you can't find someone to pay the 600 baht, then your holiday is down the tubes? You might want to take the free shuttle to the bus terminal at the airport, and get a bus to Pattaya.

It certainly works for me. The teaching I do in here provides me a rather luxurious lifestyle really. In fact, next week is my turn with the Martin Airlines executive jet.

Wow, you're going to be around, too? That's great. I know people who have just given up on being here in thousands of years from now, the losers.

Reading the thread first can help you be helpful. You don't just "divorce her there" during a brief stopover in this case. She doesn't know she's being divorced yet. If there is an amicable settlement, there's no reason to go to Thailand to do it. If it is not amicable, then a divorce suit in Thailand will take a long time, cost a lot of money and result predictably in her owning him. Now if they had been married in Thailand in the first place, this whole thread would have read differently. If they both wanted a pleasant, amicable divorce, it wouldn't be here at all.

Hmmmm Mutual Admiration? That is also excellent advice HansumRob. It's unclear whether the OP expects TB to go to Thailand, but if she does, he can pwn her as you suggest.

It's a matter of paperwork. To get a Thai divorce, you first have to have a marriage the Thais would recognise. Now. You could bring all your marriage papers here, get your wife to take you along to the correct offices, and get all the translations and stamps needed to get the marriage papers in order so that you could then take her to the office and get a divorce. That could happen, yes. That didn't seem to be in your list of required options, however. You seemed to indicate she wasn't yet involved in all of this and probably wouldn't be too cooperative. If she agrees to get a divorce, there's no reason to go to Thailand to do it. If she doesn't agree to a divorce, Thailand can't help you, because if you SUE her for divorce in Thailand, she'll hand you your ass.

I'm confused why you're confused. You married in the US. Her being Thai has nothing to do with the marriage; a marriage is a marriage, and the rules are the same for all nationalities, depending on the state. Do you believe there are special marriage rules in your state depending on nationality? If so, shouldn't you ask the authorities in your state? "10 years" is immigration, nothing to do with marriage. You can't divorce her in Thailand because you didn't marry her in Thailand. You have to have a marriage paper to get a divorce -- makes sense, don't you think? You can marry and divorce her in Thailand (if she agrees) but you'll still be married in the US.

... at some bar or other, you're not sure. Look, you may have had a bad experience, and it's even possible you were screwed. But you made a very, Very VERY bad mistake walking out on a bill. That's unacceptable anywhere, and escalates a problem to an event. What might have been smoothed over suddenly because Very Important solely because of your actions. Don't do that. It hurts, sometimes hurts really badly.

Yeah, really, this is not something that's really vexing. When you get to Thailand, go to the supermarket and buy what you think looks good. They wouldn't sell it if local people didn't use it. Deet's has a good rep. But don't OD, either. You don't want to smell like an anti-insect stockholder (i.e. a Frenchman).

For me, yes but not in Pattaya. There is a price range in Bangkok, where I am, from about 150,000 to a million a year. But as I say, there are also up-front "joining" charges that you will have to take into account. Some of them are reimbursable. Oh, and don't forget uniforms and transportation and stuff like that. It can add up. St Andrews up the road from Pattaya is another good school, but again I'm sure it's nowhere close to $3,000 a year.

I don't know much about the Pattaya schools, but definitely more pricey than $3,000 -- and there are also first-time fees. Most of the ones I've heard about are more like $3,000 a term. Most of the schools have websites and email contacts.

Yes and no. Interestingly, pretty well all Thai taxis are second-hand Japanese cars. Of course they are brought in under a special deal by a big company. So far as individuals, you'd be better setting up a project to build a rocket and fly to the moon, it would be much less frustrating and possibly less expensive. Exception: Actual diplomats with diplomatic passports, stationed to Thailand.

You're NOT crazy. You're out of your mind. heh. Really. Bad. Idea. Technically possible, really bad idea.