Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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If you like shrimp and calamari, this is the place.

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Oh, wow. Wow. Screw 2008, I'm coming sooner.

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someone who is willing to give more of themselves to make you happy..

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Ok yeah I'm definitely coming.

PS Thanks for the answers Degen but you missed my question about chinese food.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Pug, where'd u live in Chiang Mai? that is where I am staying now.

Who is KKF posting as now?

One other thing. You can get pure bred dogs here really cheap. I got a Golden retriever for $65, and that was paying a lot. If you go to the dog market you can pay like $40.

One thing that's kind of annoying about thai culture is that people are always asking how much you make/how much you paid for something.. "Tao Rai" means how much. I always hear my wife's family member's saying this crap. For those of you just visiting, it should't be an issue.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

First, I like the fact that this thread is growing about as fast as I can read it. Best OOT thread I've seen in a long time, and although I don't post I'm a religious lurker, thanks a million Degen. Makes me want to visit for a month or two, especially considering the cost.

I have come up with a few questions as I read through, but since I'm unmotivated I didn't write them down. I would have remembered them, except I'm a recovering pothead and I'm a bit drunk at the moment.

My closing comment is that I find it pissyourpants hilarious that at the moment, the bargirls.com site is experiencing difficulties due to excessive bandwidth.

By no means does this mean that I have tried to peep this site, and I know that none of 2p2 has either.

viva la biba, and go thailand

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

degen, where's a good place fore me too look to stay for a month or so? All the better if it's with more 2+2ers.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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hey degen, I'm coming to thailand and i have a feeling i'll screw up with the girls even there, will you make sure i get laid?

there are a few things i'm interested in doing in thailand and was wondering if you knew how they worked. i would like to do muay thai, learn thai cooking, and learn thai massage. anything you know about this, like is it easy to get into "schools" for these easy? how many hours is it? are there a lot of places to do these htings or just a few? thanks. oh and also scuba diving of course. and how about rock climbing?

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Hey, there's the adventurous bruiser I remember from a post asking what to do with his life a few months back. Cool -- there world is way too full of cool things to be bored, especially with the kind of access poker money affords you.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

PokerFink,

You will find very authentic chinese food. In fact, a lot of Thai's are of chinese descent, and take pride in that.

I'm not really sure about Japanese food. I eat at a chain restaurant called "Fuji" and its really good food, i'm just not sure about authenticity.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

ill feild it - generally speaking chinese and thai are similar but different. while the chinese use lots of noodles in their cooking, thais use more rice..however there are plenty of dishes that are similar (lots of the stir frys for eg). if your not into hot food, but like chinese, you'll probably find most of the thai noodle dishes to your likeing.

if i had to describe thai food generally, i would say its sort of a cross between chinese, malay and indian food, but its not really similar to any one of those in particular.

someone asked abt whether or not you should worry abt islam in thailand - i would say NO. i lived a good amount of time in the south (where a the majority of the thai-islamic population is found) and have never had any issues, as most thai-islamics are only loosely islamic and despite news to the contrary, you'd be hard pressed to find any radicals living in thailand - more likely they live would be based in malaysia but of thai origin or whatever.


-pug

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

C'mon Pug, The muslims are certainly an issue in southern thailand.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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1) I know about the 80K tax exemption, but what about taxes to Thailand? Are there any? If not, you basically get 80K of free income per year?


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I'm a tourist there. I'm not allowed to work when I am there. I am also not allowed to access Party or Neteller.

Claiming income would be like a drug dealer declaring his income, no?


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Thanks for an awesome thread guys. I think I will come visit. Degen, when you say "access" are you referring to pulling money out of your accounts for expenses in Thailand? You are still playing poker online while you are there right?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

southerndog, its never been an issue for me, though politically i'd have to agree. again, my family lives there and i see nothing that affects day to day life.

i dont actually remember where i lived, it was near that university, and it was a big mango farm...also near some sort fish farm. i lived there from when i was born till around 4, and we're renting the place out atm. many good memories of chaing mai, but i havenet been in ages.

edit: i think it was near maejo university (at least i remember we had to go through maejo at some point), and it was around 20k outside of the city. also, there was this awesome italian place, run by an old gent who insisted everyone call him granpapa (he was italian married to a thai i think).. hope its still around.. (this wasnt near the house, just a random memory)


Edited second time for attempted clarity

Edit #3 Found the restaurant i think

'Piccola Roma Palace Italian Restaurant, at corner of Charoenprathet Road & Sri Donchai Road near Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel +66 53-820297 / +66 53-271256 - open lunch & dinner. An unforgettable dining experience amid beautiful surroundings. Serving residents over 15 years.'

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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I'm a tourist there. I'm not allowed to work when I am there. I am also not allowed to access Party or Neteller.

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But you still do? Playing poker online (not too big of a concern) and accessing funds shouldn't be a problem, right? KKF plays poker just fine


Either way, awesome thread as others have said, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to visit next year. Maybe mason55 and/or Parlay Slow will go with me.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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I'm a tourist there. I'm not allowed to work when I am there. I am also not allowed to access Party or Neteller.

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But you still do? Playing poker online (not too big of a concern) and accessing funds shouldn't be a problem, right? KKF plays poker just fine


Either way, awesome thread as others have said, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to visit next year. Maybe mason55 and/or Parlay Slow will go with me.

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He was responding to a tax question, not allowed doesn't mean can't.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

So, it's cool to have multiple girlfriends. But, let's say you get sick of one, how do you dump her without her losing face and stabbing you?

How down are Thai girls with threesomes?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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He was responding to a tax question, not allowed doesn't mean can't.

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I'm not a US citizen so that part didn't pertain to me, but is gambling and whatnot illegal in thailand? Are thai banks ok with Neteller/Firepay?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Pug, I actually know of the restaurant you are speaking. Haven't been there yet, though.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Degen probably doesn't have a Thai Bank account. That would require a work permit, etc.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

While on the topics of banks.... will my visa/debit card work over there or how do I get cash/baht?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

southerndog, good, then i suppose i wasnt just rambling pointlessly:P

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

How do you get cash out of online sites/neteller?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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How do you get cash out of online sites/neteller?

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I have no experience in the matter, but I would assume they tranfer from neteller to their US bank and go from there.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Degen : Do you have a thai bank account? What do you do for money (not like what as a job, but like how do you get money around / out etc).

If they will let me into the country I may be in Thailand within a couple weeks or a month. This sounds amazing.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Guys, I think there are some issues with using Neteller and party in Thailand. For cashout issues and other banking matters, it may be best to have someone in the states you trust that can handle these things. Just realize you can travel here with $10k legally which would be a TON of money to have for a visit.

I am married to a Thai woman, so we have a bank account and stuff, and we are able to transfer $$ from the US.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Have you heard about the new policy about the visa on arrival ? It basically say that they will not issue more that 3 30 days visa with the borders run within a period of six months. So you cannot stay more than 90 days in Thailand this way in a a 6 month period. It was the way to go for the long-time tourits to stay in Thailand and it seem like it will not work anymore. You can apply for a 90 days tourist visa from out of the country, but nobody seem to know if they will issue them more than one time in a six month period. It concern me a little because I'm leaving for Thailand in one week and I was planning to stay there until mid-winter.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

IMO, the way Thailand handles visas isn't optimal.

Here's an underdeveloped country with people wanting to visit and spend their money OR work here and help people learn english. In return, they make it a MAJOR pain in the ballz. I am married to a thai woman, and I have to go through a big friggen hassle to stay here. I believe if I get a work visa or show them that I have money in a bank account, I am ok, but overall their process makes a lot of people unhappy.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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Guys, I think there are some issues with using Neteller and party in Thailand. For cashout issues and other banking matters, it may be best to have someone in the states you trust that can handle these things. Just realize you can travel here with $10k legally which would be a TON of money to have for a visit.

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Just a note - doing this sort of thing from a foreign country as long as you have access to a machine in the US is truly trivial. There are probably some legal issues, but with enough anonymizing you can get past them just fine. Someone who can ensure that you have a PC on US soil may well be enough, but if you can trust someone enough to have them do your actual banking that's certainly an option.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I think Thai women are fairly dramatic, and breaking up with them will not be easy.

In the thai news, all of the time you hear stories about so and so killing themselves or someone over relationships etc. It makes the news, and turns them into martyrs. Bill may not be aware of this cause its usually in the Thai language and he may not hear about it. The women see all of this, and it fuels the fire.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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How down are Thai girls with threesomes?

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Depends on the girl. I highly doubt an upper class college educated thai girl is going to be having threesomes with you. a whore will probably allow you to shove a baseball bat up her ass and spin her younger sister around on the other end of it, if you pay enough money.

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this would most definitely require a trip report if accomplished.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I had this information on thaivisa.com. But, If you can fly to a close asian foreign embassy and renew indefinitely your 90 tourist vise there is no problem at all, it will only cost a little bit more to stay in Thailand. Also, theres always this option : www.thailandelite.com or the investor visa.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

degen - i believe southerndog is right, having several girlfriends could lead to something very dramatic. of course it depends on the type of girl - if shes something akin to a bargirl (not actually a hooker say, but hangs out in bars for gifts) and you've been seeing her regularly, no problem. ditto if they know you're a farang looking for some fun, but if its in anyway serious ala southerndog, you could be missing a penis if/when they find out.

by the same token, alot of older thai businessmen have mistresses that their wives sort of know abt and thats generally ok..

i like your phrasing on with the baseball bat thing


-pug

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

think my stepdad is going with thailand elite - i'll letcha know what its like when i get a chance to talk to him

-pug

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Do you know a good tailor who could make me a quality custom suit? I imagine it would be the price of a good off-the-rack suit instead of the $5kish it would cost anywhere else. I'm a little short for an American so it probably wouldn't be that out of the ordinary for him.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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I haven't been there since June. I heard tonite that somebody cannot access Party at all right now. KKF is this accurate?

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Party works fine here (6pm 9/28/06) in Bangkok

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Have you tried to learn Thai?

I know it is not easy but you can get a hang of it. The grammar is super easy. I learned quite a bit having a college student come to my place about once a week to tutor me. Along with going through instruction books on my own and making flash cards. And my main Thai buddy and I would only speak Thai to each other for the most part, which helped a lot.

You will get a lot of respect from Thais if you make an effort to learn it. You will also eat much much better if you learn how to read menus in Thai so you are not limited in where you can go eat. And also learn directions so you can ask anyone how to get somewhere if you are lost.

Sure you will not be able to analyze things with folks but in my opinion if you are going to be a guest in a country, you should learn the language instead of expecting everyone to speak yours. I am not saying that is what you have done, but I knew a lot of other expats who made no effort whatsoever and I think their experience was much less rich, culturally speaking, than those of us who learned Thai.

KJS

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Looks like I am late to the party. 12 pages...damn.

Just got back from my visa run (Koh samui - Malaysia - Samui) 12 hours in a minivan but not too bad I guess.

KJS is correct: If you make an effort to learn thai then Thailand is sooo much nicer. I have a decent vocab building up and get a lot more respect now that I can communicate on my own.