fountainhead

huh? who said anything about residency? he just wanted some mail forwarding. as for me, i moved from CA to NV in 2005. license, work, mail, everything... the CA taxman can chase me all he wants, i have a big 9.3% "fuck you" to shove up his ass. he'll have to come to Bangkok to get it though.

if you're in the states, get a box at one of these places: http://theupsstore.com/products/maiandpos.html it's a real address, not a PO box, so you can have everything sent there. then have UPS forward it to you. you'll need to leave a credit card on file & a deposit too.

FACT: streets have dirt.. FACT: if you eat dirt, you'll die. FACT: there is no cure for death. thank you for reminding us psychodad.

that wasn't intended to be a shot at all. i had just addressed posts of yours that i considered to be inaccurrate, and was trying to state that there were other posts -- not yours -- that also appeared inaccurrate (to my non-legal eye). i wanted to make it clear that when i was saying there were inaccurrate posts in the topic, that i was not saying that only your posts were inaccurrate, and that anybody relying on what was posted in this topic should... reconsider. i honestly missed your reference to "ask the authorities in your state," and it was because i was focused on 2 false statements you made in that same post: you can divorce her in thailand, since they will recognize your marriage, so long as the thai court's rules decide that they have the jurisdiction to grant the divorce. almost certainly false. the US recognizes divorces and marriages from thailand. the only issue would be if a US court ruled that a thai court dissolved the marriage when the proper jurisdiction was in the US. while that could be an issue for the OP, the thai woman would need to know she could re-open the case in the US and have the means to do so. (morally) right or wrong, it's apparent that the OP is trying to ditch his wife in a place where she has less (or no) legal options... getting a thai court to grant them a divorce would probably do the trick.

if you screw a person over in a divorce, such as stranding her in another country and then claiming desertion since she can't get back to the country, a court can re-open the settlement for another 3 years when she sues you. (edit: that's state specific to california) if you have a default divorce, the court represents her interests and divides the assets according to formula. you're still required to give her what she's due (though i think she'd have to request spousal support, so a default dissolution wouldn't give her that). (edit: again, california-specific) in many US states, the duration of post-marital spousal support correlates to the duration of marriage... for example, in california, if married >= 10 years, for life you really want to keep that clock ticking on a desertion plan that could backfire on you?

and i still think your blanket statement was wrong, as is your example here. the 2nd marriage is irrelevant, of course. it's like renewing vows -- since they were legally married already, both in the US AND in thailand. the divorce might hold, depending on whether US courts respect whether the thai court granted it with proper jurisdiction. if the thai court actually does have jurisdiction, US courts will recognize it, regardless of whether they were married in US or (and) thailand. in the OP's case, obviously the thai court shouldn't have jurisdiction (that belongs to some state court in the US), but who knows, maybe US courts will still respect the sovereignty of the thai court that would grant them a divorce...? my advice to the OP (assuming the whole topic isn't a wind-up) is to see a lawyer. while i'm not one, i recognize that much of what's been said here is completely wrong (not just joekicker's posts). just going through a divorce and reading a few nolo press "how to" books makes that obvious. i also realize that i'm not familiar with how laws between countries work, and might have missed even more mistakes.

jurisdiction for dissolution is far more complex than that. i have no clue about the thai laws, but in the US, a state court needs to have jurisdiction to dissolve the marriage. sometimes it gets complex because based on the couple's living/working locations, multiple courts could have jurisdiction, and typically men will want their divorce in a "no-fault" state, where the community property is only what's been made during the marriage. though the OP's situation sounds like a US court (should have) has jurisdiction, it's entirely possible to get married in the US, move to thailand, and find that your ONLY options for divorce are a thai court. very unlikely to be true, given that the US recognizes both marriages & divorces registered @ the thai amphur.

stroll on the beach? do you hold hands too? try stay on topic stinger, this is about good restaurants, not wooing women 1950's style. my comments on this thread: grimm, yes, pattaya food sucks on the whole, but phuket wholely sucks. at least pattaya has good pussy. cabbages & condoms: one of the few good restaurants in pattaya (don't go on family night when you might run into stinger wooing his woman) kiss food: the food is crap. people eat there because it's a sit-down restaurant not far from walking street open at all hours. the only thai women who will eat there are the ones dragged there by their ATM for the night, so it's not even a good place to pick up indies. there's a pizza place across and to-the-right of heaven above gogo off soi walking. don't remember the name, but damn good pizza.

i'm offended that '80s music is considered "classic," as in old. and i'm offended that music by "Dexy's Midnight Runners" is considered "classic," as in good.

My verdict: MCLDO! quit driving up the prices!

i was hoping not to have to bring the laptop, but found out today that that was a pipe dream... oh well, don't think i'll need to put in too much time.

MM (or anybody who knows), i just booked a week at the LK Metro... will i be able to get in-room DSL there for just a week, minus firewalls (or anything that'll prevent me from using VPN), minus logging onto a network (and getting periodically logged off)? i don't mind paying X baht for the service, i just need to know that i'll be able to do my work.

in a few more days you can start checking http://latestays.com (maximum bookings 2 weeks in advance)

interesting... i didn't think it was too late to book for april 11... i arrive pattaya april 13 and i haven't booked a hotel yet. in fact, i just booked my BKK hotel for march 30... and still have no hotels april 2-22. you try the LK metro yet?

good food, some pretty dancers, (at least) one of the owners is a complete asshole. i go there to eat but i'm always trying to think of ways that i can cost them more than the revenue i'm giving to them for my meal.

you've got to be kidding, right? the pizza in thailand (except pizza hut) kicks US pizza's collective ass. i guess if you like chicago deep-dish, you're SOL, but that's not real pizza, that's an american bastardization. if you like authentic italian pizza, you're way better off in thailand, in general.

thx. no stairs... yikes... it's a long way up to the penthouse. when i'm drunk i don't mind, but sober i don't know if i would want to hike upstairs in the heat.

get both. they're cheap and easy. you can get Hep A anywhere. from food if the person preparing it didn't wash his/her hands after a messy ass-wipe. Hep B is harder to get, but since there's a vaccination, why not just avoid worries? if you're going to fuck up your liver, doing it by drinking, not by needless, easily-preventable diseases.

cookie, maybe i missed it, but didn't see it after skimming this topic. does your guesthouse have a website? with a map of where you are on soi bhukao, pics of rooms, rates, etc?

yeah, that's the one i'm thinking of. the location map -- http://www.jasminecity.com/map.htm -- shows it on suk soi 23, just across the street from where "Love Scene" restaurant is (love that place).

"sand sea" is listed at 3100 baht/night on at http://latestays.com/ there are pictures and descriptions of services and activities on that website, as well as 3 other hotels on railay (none of which i've stayed at).

on the east side i've stayed in "Diamond Private." they're nice and have a view (especially from the pool), but you have to walk up a huge-ass set of stairs (up a mountain side) to get to the rooms. no TVs but hot water. can't remember if they had AC. i don't remember exact price, but it's around your zone. don't confuse with their nearby "Diamond Caves," which caters to backpackers. on the west side, i've stayed as "sea and sand" (or maybe "sun and sand"). a little more expensive... i think it was 2500-3000 baht/night. AC/hot water showers/TV. ground-level bungalows.

i stayed at the Rembrandt in 2005 and 2006, the hotel not the apartments, and it was guest-friendly. they checked ID, then let the girl up to my room for no charge. always wanted to check out jasmine... i thought it was on suk soi 23 though...? i remember it being across the street from one of my favorite restaurants there, and stumbling distance to soi cowboy. never see it on the online booking sites though.

phi phi, railay, ao nang, kho lanta... they're all beautiful. i can't comment much on ao nang... i just pass through there when i go to railay. i know that it has a language school and bars though. railay is a low-key, small peninsula which you can access only by boat. popular with rock climbers mostly (that's how i found it), but has a few gorgeous resorts that cater to "hi so" thais and westerners, including one of the most expensive in thailand -- http://www.rayavadee.com/main.html the scenery is stunning, the people are nice, the food is great. a bit more expensive and secluded than most touristed beach areas in thailand. west railay has a couple of upscale resorts, east railay is where the backpackers/rock climbers stay (has a nice but limited nightlife... bars open until sunrise but only 2 hookers in '05... but that was up from 0 hookers in '02!). kho phi phi is nice but way, way overtouristed. that does come with the advantage of having lots of restaurants, bars, a cabaret show, tourist packages (snorkeling, scuba, etc... from the island), a wide range of hotels and guest houses, and even movies (similar to kho phangan... all the restaurants entice people in by showing "movie features"). the downside is that it's crowded (especially during lunch time when all the day tours drop people off at the pier) and more expensive than just about any place else in krabi. krabi city... just a transit point in my opinion. kho lanta isn't visited much and is a "get away." a remote island with lots of long white-sand beaches. cheap food and guest houses. if that appeals to you, consider kho tarutao, lipe, rawe and adang at the far south of thailand. railay and kho phi phi have the nice advantage of not having cars (less noise pollution and relaxing to be there). i know that people drive in ao nang because that's always the taxi drop-off point before switching to boats to get to railay. if it were me... i'd go to railay... so far my favorite place in thailand. fuckin' a, they have a cooking school on railay now? shit, y'all better see it before the place is completely destroyed (aka developed). and i swear that the italian woman in that cooking photo was the woman who taught my cooking classes in perugia, italy... small world.

krabi is a province... where in krabi? ao nang, railay, kho lanta, kho phi phi, krabi city, etc...??