doolish

Hi. If you want a good weather station got to www.dundee.ac.uk it tracks all weather sats. and gives you good idea of weather throughout the world, the only problem is that the Asia sat. had to be renewed and has not got grid on yet. It shows visual, infra red and rain. Cheers Doug

Hi asia. Don't know about Pat. but my Thai wife could not drive a car so I got her motor bike. I was lead to believe it was a matter of turning up at the veh. center and that was it. I drove her to the center in Udon Thani, only for her to be told she had to bring the bike there so that they can check that she can drive it, also there would be a oral test to check that she knew the highway code, signs etc. She's driven a bike for 20 years and has held a lic. before but let it lapse. Seeing how people in Thailand drive I was surprised at this. I obtained a International D.L ever year for the

Eman As I have said I do not live in the U.K. We do not have things like death duties etc. so they don't look into what you've got. Also I am going back home in August to get rid of house etc. if they did want something they would have a hard job getting it out of nothing. Oh i forgot maybe a couple of hundred pounds in my named bank account. Cheers Doug.

Hi, If you are married to a Thai the amount goes down to 400,000B. On going to immigration the other week they told me that if you get a R. Visa in another country IE home or across the boarder, in my case Lao, you will only have to prove that your yearly income is 800,000b, or 400.000B. On talking to a few retirees in Udon they say that they have to go to immigration every 3 months to verify there address in LOS and every year they go to the Thai embassy in Lao in V stay overnight and get a years retirement visa. I read in the Pattaya newpaper in Jan. that they are to phase out the retireme

Hi, When was the last time the U.K. pensions went up, a couple of years ago they give the pensioners a reduction on what I still call the rates. This year I'm still waiting to see what happens, i do not live in the U.K. but our state pension is linked to it and we also get a extra 40 pounds a week on top of the U.K. pension. I am living in LOS now got a house in Udon but I get my pension paid into my bank in the Island and do not inform the gov. that i am living abroad. I use my daughters address and return home ever year to show my face and to visit all relevant bodies to let them know I'm

Hi, Chumway, you can buy a house but can not own land. There are a few ways around it but being a old lazy bugger the missus got the land in her name and i got a 30year lease from her, i'm 66 now so if i'm around in 30 years time i will think myself lucky and will have had a good innings. By the way farang's are only allowed to own a percentage of condos in a complex if it is above a certain size, I do not remember the excact details but you have to be careful. The powers to be used to be lax on this but from my experrences in looking to buy a condo last year they have tightened up mgc, than

Hi, Thanks for your support, my head is still going round in circles now so if you could give me a couple of weeks i'll try and post some pics. but knowing me i might need more than one try. I've not had my phone bill yet, but it cost 5,000B for phone installation and 1,000B for internet. For this you get a telephone, a adsl modem a splitter and all cables. The phone company TT&T installed it all and even set up your computer. I believe the adsl con. for a 256k line is about 600B a month and the 512k line 700B a month, this is for 24Hr usage The tele line is the same number but can stil

Hi, Bought a house in Udon last Dec. moved in towards end of Jan. When I was buying the house i was told by a lot of people to rent first and buy after if i liked it. I'm glad now I didn't take that advice because I got 70B to the UK pound in begining of Dec, and on enquiring at the bank yesterday was told the exchange rate was 67B to the pound. On 15,000 thats 45,000B lost. The other thing is that the cost of the same house has rose by 200,000B and the price does not include furn.,aircon, hotwater, fridge, cooker, taxes etc. which was included when I bought. The house I bought was one of t

Hi, In Jan. papers over here they said they are going to stop the retirement visas and bringing in a alternative which should be easier but i've heard nothing more. I've just been settling into my house in Udon Thani and have not had the time to follow it up. By the way last year I was told by the Thai Con in Hull that you had to have had a O type visa before you can get a retirement visa. Cheers Doug.

Hi, Seeing you are not supposed to to talk about sex etc on the open forum i thought it would be logical to assume when talking about hotels a S.T. stay would mean a stay of up to 2 weeks. At least a few of you have some common sense Cheers Doug.

Hi. Bert who used to work in the Queen Vic., Soi6, has opened a new bar on Soi 6/1 called Tropacal Bert's, Same name as the one he had on Soi 0 but this one has 5 rooms for rent, the rooms are big with 6ft bed 3 piece suite, A/C, fan, Sat. TV, dvd etc. Looked at the rooms last night and they are great, and brand new building, he is charging 700B for short time rental which is a good deal. He is at the second road end of soi 6/1. Cheers Doug.

Hi, Bongo Bill, Incorrect, We had to have ear tests, along with others every 6 months and i can assure you that apart from my hearing going through old age, i'm 66, my hearing is good. It's funny but the high frequencies of jets does not trouble me yet I once had a house near to a river and I could not stand it. If i had a billion bhat i would purchase a house of my dreams but i can expect to hear a complaint from some one that it had a fault. Cheers Doug.

Hi, Flew with them 3 years ago, never again. Cheers Doug.

Hi, BigD, Yes its on a new development They had 6 two bed and 6 3 bed houses built. Most have been sold as they were selling at a special price, and I don't think that any future house will come with Furn, etc. The place is called Maliwan Villa, and is on the ring road about two kilometers from electricity place on the 210. Landy. The place is not right on top of the airport, but if it was it would not worry me. Spent 20 years working on a R.A.F fighter base with 3 squadrons of fighters and one squad. of air sea rescue. This was followed by 12years with B.A. so grew immune to the nois

Hi, Thanks every one for all your help, I fly to Udon on the 21 of this month so i should have a hectic couple of weeks until i've settled in and then I will send you reports about the place. Was there for a week before christmas and fell in love with the place, I looked at many properties and settled for a new 3 bedroom 2 bathroom bungalow that is near the airport and on the ring road. The cost with taxes, furn., hot water, air con. and the garden done was 1,080,000B about a quarter off the price for sim. prop. in Pattaya. Been out at night with the girl friends sister and the prices

Hi, Bought a house in Undon Thani, moving up in two weeks time, and was wondering if any board member lives up there. I would like to know if there is any expat clubs etc, I've done a search on the board but can't find much. If anyone has any suggestions about U.T. and where to go in the town i would be grateful to hear from them. Cheers Doug.

Hi Short, Prices in Pattaya are going through the roof. You would be lucky to get a 30sm studio for 1mB. I've been looking around Pattaya for the last 3 months, they were wanting 2mB for a decent basic single bedroom condo. I have just been up to Undon Thani and liked the place and bought a new three bed two bathroom bungalow, fully furn, tel, a/c, cooker, fridge etc for 1,100,000B. Move in next month. Cheers Doug.

Hi, My mates are coming here on Jan 5 from Man. with Qatar. Price including all taxes is 450GBP. Cheers Doug.

Hi T Most countries in the world base the insurance on the car and what group it is in. e.g. Insure a Ford escort in U.K. and then try to get the same price insurance on a Aston Martin. No chance. Cheers Do0ug.

Hi, Rex, Try GPRS in LOS you can get it all over the country, and AIS does it, and no telephone lines, if you get the right package there are about 160 countries throughout the world that does this so far. Try www.edgethailand.com and this will give you some details. Cheers Doug.

Hi, There are 3 classes on the 777-300 with EVA, they are Prem. Laural, Elite and ecom. IMHO it's not worth paying the extra 200GBP for the elite class, the food is the same, crap, and the service is poor. The seats in elite have fixed armrests so if the seat next to you is empty you cannot raise armrest to spread out. I was lucky when I came out in Sept. in econ. the center row, there was nobody in the other 2 seats so I could stretch out. The service was bad also. P.L. seemed alright and the seats although not horizontal, on a slight angle, seemed O.K. but this is beyond my budget. Che

Hi V, That's what I though to but when I recieved the tickets the return dates were blank. Cheers Doug.

Hi valentinoxxx, I am at present holding a 12 months open return ticket with EVA. Which I bought in the UK. Arrived out here 18 Sept 2005 and have to make return booking before 17 Sept 2006 in Eva econ, class with no extra charge to pay. They advised me to book my return flight as early as poss if I want a certain date, which I think is understandable. I bought this ticket in April this year from eastwest travel. The fare from London HR to BKK was 546GBP's inclusive of taxes etc. Cheers Doug.

Hi, The point is that if you just come over to Pat. for a 2 or 3 week holiday with plenty of spends you are OK but living out here on a fixed pension, have to watch it a bit. The B. bus drivers applied a couple of months ago to increase the max. fair in Pat. from 5B to 10B and were turned down and that the fare will remain at 5B max. for trips in Pat. I usually pay 10B anyway but on thinking, the amount extra paid over the 12 months for the 2 of us will be over 15,000B, the cost of 1 months hotel bill. Also if next year the B bus drivers get there max. fares increased to 10B and they start c

Hi, News in Pattaya last night showed 777-200 landing in HR-Lon. after nonstop from HK via America, only 35 bodies onboard. IMHO to claim a record the plane should be fully loaded. Cheers Doug.