Gonzo

Hi Mick, I think Aussies still only get a 15 day extension when doing a border run, after arriving in Thailand with a 30 day without a visa stamp.

Bloody hell. You were not born before your hero died the honorable way. and neither was I.. The good news is that Dortmund beat Arsenal in the Champions Cup on your home turf.

Arrived back from Singapore yesterday at 9.30 AM. Managed to get the last 2 tickets for the 10AM ride on the bus to the Jomtien terminal. It cost 134 THB each for the missus and myself. I am not trying to save a few baht, but the bus is a far better option as far as I am concerned.

The way I look at investments and currencies, I find it difficult to guess what is in store for us in the short and long future. All the old more reliable investment rules seem to have gone out the window. Normally, I would transfer more money into my Thai accounts whilst here in Oz. I will refrain from doing so this time, despite the Aussie $ having tanked a little against most currencies and likely to go down further. We had a good run with our currency exchange for quite some unlike many other Western countries.

Hi Gary, Dongtan Beach is no more of a gay area these days than other parts of Jomtien or Pattaya. As a matter of fact the best and upmarket condos are situated along Dongtan Beach, unlike all the substandard places between Soi 1 all the way up to your Soi Chayapruek, with the filthy beaches and countless dirty beach umbrellas and annoying vendors.

Your " little country" must be doing something right other than flogging the Aussies at Rugby Union. The Kiwi $ has appreciated nicely against the Aussie Peso over the last couple of months. Talking about money laundering, when I did my tax return recently whilst having a holiday in Oz with my Teelak, I was required to declare all of my assets abroad, including the bank account in Thailand, the little condo in Jomtien and even the Vios. They are certainly tightening up.

Over the last few years I transferred amounts of between A$ 20 000 and A$ 80 000 from my bank in Oz to my Kasikorn bank account. As far as I know there is no limit on how much you can transfer to Thailand from Oz, but any money transaction over A$ 10 000 will be reported to the Australian taxation office. That should not be any problem as long as the money has been obtained legally. My last transfer was A$ 40 000, which equated to about THB 1.2 Mill. On my transfer form from Oz I told my bank to note living expenses as the reason for the transfer. When I went to my Kasikorn branch in Jomtie

That is absolutely correct. From arrivals at Floor 2 go down to Floor 1 and buy your ticket to Pattaya for THB 134 next to Gate 8. The bus is a very comfortable ride and is better than going by taxi. The bus from the airport will only stop at Pattaya Nua, Pattaya Klang and Pattaya Tai on Sukhumvit Road before proceeding to the terminal next to the Threppasit/Thrappaya terminal, right in the front of Jomtien View Talay 1A. If you know your way around a bit, it is easy to get a baht bus to your hotel from Nua, Klang or Pattaya Tai or the terminal. This question has been beaten to death

My best friend.

Brilliant. Keep finding good stuff like that. Cheers

There are no "fake" ED medicines sold in Thailand. They are most likely manufactured in China or locally, but work as well as the Pfizer stuff at a much lower cost.

I read in the Sydney Morning Herald that undefeated Black Caviar had a trial race and will be coming out of retirement. The owners must think there is a lot more money to be made.

Two of the very best

According to this article some of Java's problems have not been resolved as yet. http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/critical-fix-for-java-security-flaw-released-20130114-2cocw.html

Thanks for that. You know what you are talking about. Cheers

Actually, I started this thread after reading about the problems with Java on the Sydney Morning Herald, before it was mentioned at the Expat meeting yesterday. Brian Maxey gave an excellent presentation for the less technically minded phone and Internet users yesterday. He is a gifted speaker. Firefox automatically disabled Java on their older browser version, because it was unsafe. On their latest version they reintroduced Java.

I disabled Java. Better safe than sorry. Hotmail and Gmail are working fine and I don't seem to have any other problems.

Should the average home computer user disable Java after the many warnings in the media? http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/experts-urge-pc-users-to-disable-java-cite-security-flaw-20130111-2ckog.html