I know about twenty Soi dogs in Thailand (so named because they hang out in alleys, or sois). They’re not well cared for  and, if this story moves you, sign the petition to improve their lives. If you’re in Chiang Mai you can volunteer or adopt a dog from Care for Dogs. They do heroic work caring for lost dogs who need homes.

I walk two miles around my neighborhood at dawn each morning. The streets are quiet and empty except for dogs. Soi dogs in Thailand are an independent lot. As far as they are concerned they have as much right as any Thai to walk or lie on the road and they expect humans – especially drivers – to respect that. Thais generally do, though there are enough limping, three-legged, and even two-legged dogs around to suggest that their rights are not always respected. though they do a fine job of barking at strangers, they have limits. If it is too early in the morning–before 5 am–or late in the evening– after 11 pm–they prefer to sleep. (Thai cats are well aware of this, as are the pigeons who know the cats will vanish when the dogs appear). Thai dogs will not bother you if it is raining, or chase you if the grass might wet their paws, or if it is too hot, or too cold, or if you are accompanied by a dog bigger than them.

Many people are on a budget, and are looking for a cheap dog fence. That is certainly understandable. However when it comes to the well-being of your pets, why take a chance on a cheaply-made product? Most dog owners see their dog as a member of their family. Doesn’t your family member deserves the best dog fence? Why take a risk when it comes to your dog’s health? While considering a fence in general consider the potential negative consequences of using an electric stimulation device on your pet.

People who’ve never gotten to know dogs find Soi dogs in Thailand frightening and I suspect that they’re responsible for most of the negative stories about them. If you like dogs you won’t have a problem with them. They’re more assertive than house dogs, since dogs are territorial animals and the soi is their territory and they have to hustle for scraps every day. Happily, Thais love dogs – though they rarely pet them, which Thai dogs are OK with – and I’ve never seen an emaciated one.

They’re numerous because Thais don’t commonly spay or neuter dogs. One reason that there aren’t too many dogs is a big market for dog meat in northern Vietnam. Dog-catching has been privatized by dog catchers who smuggle thousands of them across the border every month.

Like everything in Thailand, there’s a dog hierarchy, too. At the top are companion dogs: well-groomed, well-fed, often purebreds that are allowed to socialize with street dogs for a few minutes each morning under their owners’ watchful eyes. These are the friendliest dogs I meet each morning. They approach me fearlessly and enjoy being petted and talked to.

Below the companion dogs are guard dogs: serious looking and larger than the companions. They run loose in the yard and, in return for a protected space and regular meals, bark at passersby and, presumably, bite intruders. Below them are ‘gate dogs’ who  have adopted a house, live in the street by the gate as auxiliary guards. They stick so closely to ‘their’ gate that I assume that house owners feed them on a ‘no obligations’ basis. Both householder and dog retain their independence while deriving benefit from the relationship.

Next down are real soi dogs who live entirely in the street. They live in strictly hierarchical packs for mutual protection are most vulnerable to dog catchers since they’ve nowhere to hide. It is these guys who accompany me on my morning walks and whose social arrangements keep me entertained. When I arrive in their alley they congregate around me, apparently simply happy to be acknowledged by a human. At first they all wanted to be petted but, over the months, the novelty of petting has worn off. Now our greetings are largely verbal: warm words from me; yipping and tailwagging from them. Then we set off for a block or two so they can show off their human friend to the guard- and house-dogs. Then, with their status raised, they peel off and start exploring the exciting new smells that the morning brings. They’re as individual as any human and I find their interactions a constant source of interest and amusement.

Below soi dogs are the wretched of the earth: the strays. These poor creatures have neither turf nor a pack to protect them. Something has displaced them and they literally have nowhere to call their own. They slink around, ears pinned back, with anxiously wrinkled brows desperately looking for food and temporary shelter. Packs of soi dogs pursue them and, if they catch them, attack them viciously. Here’s a video I made of my local dog pack. Sometimes they accompany me for a few blocks; sometimes they ignore me:

The Vinegar Cure

The worst dogs I’ve encountered are the racists (surprised?). They ignore Thais but hate foreigners and feel it their patriotic duty to attack them. There’s one guard dog on my morning route and I would walk quietly past his house, enduring his bloodcurdling snarls and barks. One day his gate was left open and he came after me. I escaped unharmed but my morning was ruined. Happily, Thailand is the home of the water pistol. Thais consume more water pistols per capita than any nation on earth because, in Thailand’s climate, they’re fun, s’nuk. After choosing a compact, high capacity weapon (60¢ at the supermarket – always on sale) I loaded it with diluted vinegar. The next morning I heard the same racist threats but I had my equalizer ready. A few squirts (avoiding his eyes) followed by the sound of baffled, indignant whimpering. He seemed as much upset by our switch in status as anything! He was no longer the aggressor and he obviously hated smelling of vinegar which, to his doggy nose, must have been intense.

I repeated the treatment on Soi dogs in Thailand the next morning and that was the end of it. He still barks at me, of course, but his bark lacks conviction. The racist insults and threats of dismemberment have ceased. We encountered each other out in the street last week and, after a few halfhearted barks he backed defiantly into his open gate.

Prevention

1. Let sleeping and eating dogs alone.
2. Don’t approach dogs you don’t know. You’re probably entering their territory and dogs are territorial.
3. Don’t go near dog hangouts at night, like temple grounds, abandoned buildings, building sites, car parks and empty spaces.  Darkness is their friend, not yours.
4. Carry an equalizer. A rape alarm works fine. Umbrellas and pieces of bamboo are fine. Often picking up a rock is enough to discourage them.
5. Don’t run. It excites their hunting instinct. Walk purposefully as you draw yourself up to your full height
6. Fold your arms or raise them slowly above your head. This keeps vulnerable hands away from sharp teeth.
7. Don’t smile or squeal. Your smile resembles aggressive teeth-baring and squealing sounds like a wounded animal. Command them in low, strong tones.
8. Be wary of turning your back on them. Don’t hang about.  Commotions attracts other dogs. Walk on, possibly backwards.

There are tons of Soi dogs in Thailand, but Deputy Dog is a favorite. This golden labrador is a well-known character around Chiang Rai, the beautiful town 5 hours drive north of Chiang Mai. Richard Berry, who combines an idyllic Chiang Rai life with manufacturing the ultra-natural English Organics cosmetics (you can eat them – literally) snapped a few shots with his cellphone.

On a Lighter Note

There are tons of dogs in Thailand, but Deputy Dog is a favorite. This golden labrador is a well-known character around Chiang Rai, the beautiful town 5 hours drive north of Chiang Mai. Richard Berry, who combines an idyllic Chiang Rai life with manufacturing the ultra-natural English Organics cosmetics (you can eat them – literally) snapped a few shots with his cellphone. There’s no story behind this as far as Richard has been able to discover. This is simply how the dog likes to sit while waiting for his master to finish shopping. Here’s how deputy dog looks when he sees his master approaching:

Monks Kindness to Dogs

Thai temples are a traditional refuge for stray and hungry dogs and the monks beg for food for them every morning as they walk the streets, barefoot. Here’s what happens at feeding time:

The post Soi Dogs in Thailand appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

An Aussie, Michelle Hammond, writes that living in Chiang Mai saves her $23,994 a year:

Medical: Dermatologist visit without an appointment: vital signs, 10-minute wait, evaluation, CO2 removal of two pre-cancerous lesions: 996 Baht. (You didn’t think Chiang Mai’s cost of living was so low, did you?)

Two farang friends have just delivered baby girls in Chiang Mai hospitals. Each had a private room, one for four days. Their total was pre-agreed: 60,000 Bt (US$1700) each. Both were delighted by the care they received which, in one case, included an autographed photo of the entire delivery team gathered around the bed of the exhausted mother holding her baby for the first time. Another friend got bad food poisoning and went to the hospital in early July. She needed intensive care but every bed in the hospital was full so the doctor, not wanting to put her back in an ambulance, had his desk removed from his office and a bed installed for her. The bill next day was 1400 Bt (US$40). When she protested that this was too low, staff told her it was because she did  not have a ‘proper room’. A nurse called her at home that night to check her progress.

Automotive: I’ve been doing a lot of fast driving through mountainous roads lately and can assure you that even remote roads are well maintained in the Kingdom. But taking thousands of curves stresses wheel bearings, apparently, because one of mine went out. I discovered this when I went to have the Toyota’s front alignment checked after I hit a pothole (in the middle of town!) and the steering went weird. The shop fixed the affected wheel and moved it to the rear, then balanced and aligned the front wheels. They refused payment because I’d bought the Michelins (3,000 Bt each) from them and the work was covered by their lifetime warranty – a pleasant  surprise. There was no denying the wheel bearing problem (the grinding noise was obvious once they pointe it out) so the next day they came and picked up the car. It was back a few hours later along with a bill for 2,000 Bt. and the old bearing in the factory box that held the new bearing. Don’t worry too much about the cost of owning a car in Chiang Mai: it’s far less than you’re accustomed to at home.

Bathroom Installer: I consider Thai bathrooms more dangerous than Thai roads so decided to install three grab bars in case I slip. Home Pro, the hardware store that sold the bars quoted me 1,100 baht (Aimie was shocked at the price but this was too important to haggle) and sent around a man with the experience and equipment to drill tiles (a tricky business) and I showed him where and at what height I wanted each bar to go then left him to get on with his work.  Thais don’t give up any freedom just because you’re paying them and one of those freedoms is deciding how things should be done. This means you don’t always get what you expect – or want. He installed the bars neatly and professionally in 30 minutes but so far up the wall that I have little chance of grabbing them if I slip, as you can see from the height the door handle.

The garden installer came to put in some shrubs outside my front fence. All my neighbors have hedges and my fence looked naked without one. I told the crew where to break up the thin concrete outside the fence and left them to it. They had other ideas, as it turns out. Their idea is what you see in the photograph: a raised garden surrounded by bricks. It doesn’t match the rest of the street and, worse still, it gets 12 hours of direct sun in summer and the soil gets so hot that it broils the roots of anything but the hardiest weeds.

My hairdresser is an artist. He finds my ultra-short hair style an affront to his aesthetic sensibility. Every time I go for a cut – 220 Baht – he gives me the style that pleases him. Then follows a ‘yes but’ discussion during which I make excuses for the hairstyle I need (“I go swimming every day and cannot spend time drying it”, etc.). He shakes his head in disbelief and, eventually, complies.

I mention these three people not in any negative way, but to contrast Thai culture with our own: Thais feel freer to be themselves, express their own opinions, and ignore the master-slave relationship that Western employees are encouraged to embrace. And now to a different adventure:

The Plumber: I heard water running outside the house day and night for weeks, then came home to find a a water bill pinned to my gate for 9,761 baht – 30x times normal. A water inspector then showed up and located the leak in a water junction box (no the West does not have such things, and I’m not sure why Thailand does) in the yard behind the house. It was clear that someone in the past had attempted to repair it with what looked like black electrical tape, which had finally given way. The inspector sent a repairman who quickly set things right, but I was now in a tricky position: under Thai law I am responsible for everything in and around the house, but this strange box had water pipes entering it from other properties and the damage was done before I signed the lease. “Did you take a photograph of the old repair?” was Aimie’s first question. Damn! It hadn’t occurred to me that I’d need evidence. However, after some back and forth, the owner offered to split the bill.

Picked up cushions for the two Yang chairs (like the one in the picture). Total for two big cushions, cover and zipped outer covers was 3,180 baht. When I tried to pay, the lady behind the counter became concerned and explained that I had paid when I ordered the cushions. I find this kind of honesty typical in Chiang Mai. Cheating is quite rare.

Internet Bills: I dumped my unreliable Internet carrier, 3BB, and put in a direct fiber connection from AIS, whose equipment is much newer and more reliable. I’m paying 1300 Bhat per month for 30Mb fiber. Twice the speed for little more money and less down time. When you’re figuring your Thailand cost of living, you can usually get Internt free via WiFi in condos and apartments – so that’s a potential savings.

More Chiang Mai Cost of Living

Town gas is unknown in this part of the world, as is cooking with gas indoors. Most domestic kitchens are outdoors, with charcoal braziers. My house has a small Western kitchen with a two-burner stovetop with a small (15 kg) tank underneath. When it ran out last week I took it down to the local gas merchant and swapped it for a full one – enough to last me 6 months using it once a day.

Reading Glasses. After cataract surgery (below) I need reading glasses and, since I only use them at home, did not want fancy (2,000 baht) frames. Bought four pairs of reading glasses for 100 baht each and had the prescription lenses made up and inserted into them for 2,100 baht. Total for four pairs of prescription readers: 2,500 baht ($85).

Furniture: Took delivery of two yang chairs to match the big yang chair/bed/lounge (4,000 Baht each, above) I bought last month (12,000 Baht, below). These are popular locally since the sofa-style yangs double as occasional beds for unexpected guests – and unexpected guests are the most common kind here. They’re (very) solid teak and weigh a ton. I’m planning to upholster them with some fabulous silk from our local silk merchants, Shinawatra, who make beautiful stuff. Very expensive, though.

Refrigerators: This month’s shopping has been educational and fun, as usual. When we’re shopping together sales staff assume Aimie and I are married. She cracks up and tells me, “They call me ‘madam’ instead of ‘sister’ and congratulate me on having such a rich husband”. Their congratulations came when I went to buy a good quality(!) $200 mattress for the guest room (visitors have been lining up since friends learned about the spare bedroom). I was tired of defrosting the Panasonic refrigerator that came with the house and I fell for a tall silver Samsung with a separate freezer on sale at HomePro for 9,999 Baht, $330. Two guys delivered and installed it that afternoon and stayed to explain the controls – which was rather sweet.

Utility Bills: One advantage of condos is that the landlord pays the utility bills. The disadvantage is that she then charges you double what she paid. I was looking forward to saving a few bucks when my first round of bills arrived for the house but I discovered that, like so many aspects of Thai life, bill-paying is more complicated than it appears. For one thing, the bills are in Thai. For another, most companies – including the biggest – have hit-or-miss billing software. Why? I suspect it’s a combination of the facts that

1. Thais hate being told how to do things (especially by farangs)
2. They always assume that the Thai way is best, and
3. They can figure it out themselves.

One result is that my cellular carrier, True, does not bill me at all. Despite my pleas (and complaints, when my service is discontinued for non-payment) they simply tell me that their billing department is ‘having problems” and that I should ‘just remember next time’. The lady says it with the sweetest smile so I apologize and pay meekly. The water bill comes monthly on a cash-register printout slip. It’s about $5 a month and I can pay it – like most bills in Thailand – at any 7-11 store. Reassured by this knowledge, I waited a few weeks before paying the first bill  because there’s no convenient 7-11 near my house. Then I found to my dismay that I was ‘too late’ and would have to visit the Water Department on the other side of town. Bummer. The Water Department building is clearly signed – in Thai – so it took me a while to find it. I finally figured out that the building with the huge, shiny blue pipe and valve in front of it must be the right place. (Pipes and valves are beautiful, from the Water Department’s point of view, of course). Living in Thailand teaches you to look for contextual clues, that’s for sure!

Trash Bills: The trash bill is a bit of a mystery. There’s no regular trash pickup so, if I want it picked up, I must leave the bin outside the gate, in the narrow laneway, permanently. The big yellow truck roars by several times a week, but I’ve taken to carrying my trash to a local drop-off bin (a recycled blue plastic barrel) when I go out for my early morning walk. The standard trash bag in Thailand is a recycled plastic shopping bag, so that’s what I use, too. And since I started hauling  my own garbage, the bills (30 Baht/mo) have stopped. Trash collection is not going to figure heavily in your Thailand cost of living – as you see!

Rent: The least problematic aspect of Thailand’s cost of living is my rent (10,000 Bt/mo): I just transfer it from my online bank account directly to my landlady’s account with a few mouse clicks). On line bank payments are as easy here as they are there, thank God! More here..

So there you have it: bill paying is a curse that we must all endure since Adam and Eve made their rash decision to leave Paradise, and in Thailand it’s a mixed curse. But Chiang Mai’s cost of living is pretty hard to beat!

The post Chiang Mai Cost of Living appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

An Australian is recovering in a Thai hospital after being mauled by a young male tiger in a special tourist enclosure at an animal park on the resort island of Phuket.

https://youtu.be/9q9hFlzbWMs

Paul Goudie, from Werribee, near Melbourne, was attacked at the enclosure this week at the Tiger Kingdom tourist show after being given controlled access to a group of young tigers.

Goudie, 49, suffered serious bites to his left leg and stomach and is being treated at a Phuket hospital prior to surgery to avoid the risk of infection.

At the tiger park, tourists are invited into a special caged enclosure with handlers as part of the visitor experience.

“We did everything as the park people advised,” Goudie told reporters from the online news service Phuketwan at the hospital.

“I am not sure why it bit me,” he said.

He punched the tiger as it attacked him.

“When it did [attack] I had no choice except to whack it in the face a couple of times,” he said.

Thai authorities say Goudie, who has two steel pins in an ankle, may have moved awkwardly as park handlers assisted him back to his feet, with the unusual movement triggering an attack. The tiger was tasered by park staff, forcing it to retreat.

A visiting doctor at the scene provided assistance until an ambulance and emergency staff arrived.

“The handler was with us the whole time. The tiger was 15 months old. I was patting him, everything was fine. I just stood up to leave,” Goudie said.

Goudie is on a two-week holiday in Phuket with his family.

His son, 16-year old Jake Goudie, said the injuries were largely to his father’s left leg and stomach.

“The tiger couldn’t get a good grip on my dad’s stomach,” Jake said.

Thai officials said the tiger park was to be closed for two days while investigations into the accident were conducted. The young tiger will no longer have contact with visitors.

Goudie, who has a tattoo of a tiger, praised the park’s staff and said he was even considering another tiger tattoo.

“I don’t want anything to happen to the tiger,” he said. “I don’t want it killed.” Read more 

The post Thai Tiger Mauls Australian appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

Here are the Thai Festivals for 2016–2017

JANUARY

  Handmade Umbrella Festival

#Chinese New Year

FEBRUARY

  Chiang Mai Flower Festival: The beautiful Chiang Mai Flower Festival will be held from February 3-5, 2017 at Chiang Mai, Thailand. Hosted by the Chiang Mai town in Thailand, the Festival is one of the colourful celebrations across the globe. The festival is known for the emphasis on of the Damask Rose, a variety of rose native to the city, but also features numerous species of orchids, marigolds, chrysanthemums and other flowers. The Flower Parade consisting of floats, traditional dance and music is the highlight of the festival.The flower festival will run through February 3-5, 2017 at Suan Buak Hat Park, Mueang District, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
*Makha Bucha Day

MARCH

  Thailand Int. Balloon Festival
  Pattaya Int. Music Festival

APRIL

  Poi Sang Long Festival
*Chakri Memorial Day
*Songkran Festival

The post Thai Festivals 2016–2017 appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

The Thai government has approved a $23 billion infrastructure project including two lines that could revolutionize the region’s freight service, linking ports around Bangkok and in Singapore with Kunming and onward to Berlin. The pan-Asian rail network has been on the drawing board for decades. Some routes were mapped when British and French colonialists wanted to counter Russia’s Trans-Siberian railway. Now China is driving the project.

Singapore and Bangkok are closer to China’s vast southwest than China’s east coast ports. Singapore and Bangkok also offer access to strategic shipping lanes where much of the world’s oil is transported, along with service to he world’s fastest-developing nations in SE Asia. China has now pledged $11.4 billion to build two rail lines–one from Kunming (capital of Yunnan) to the Laos border and the other from Dali in western Yunnan to the Myanmar border. Both tracks must run through Thailand, the only land bridge to Singapore. Malaysia and Singapore have already approved a high-speed line to be finished by 2020.

Chalongphob Sussangkarn, a Thai government advisor, says China’s participation as a rail partner and a business competitor, is on everyone’s mind. “But, if you don’t have a link to southern China in the next 20 years, this will really be an enormous lost opportunity.”

Thailand was among Asia’s earliest exponents of rail: the Royal State Railways of Siam was formed in 1890 and, within 15 years, lines were running north and south. It became the State Railway of Thailand in 1951. But modernization and maintenance failed to keep pace. Investment shifted to roads as new policies encouraged private automobiles. Now the pendulum is swinging back. A daily air service opened earlier this year that connects KunMing and Chiang Mai. And here’s an item from last week’s APEC meeting:

BANGKOK: — THAILAND is more than ready to cooperate with China to develop the road-transport network that is part of the economic quadrangle linking Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and China, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told China’s President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing yesterday.

Prayut, who arrived in this Chinese capital yesterday to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit, met Xi and told him that Thailand appreciated China’s strategies in developing the R3A route – which when constructed could become one of the world’s prominent economic routes. China has been hailed for initiating the land and sea ‘Silk Roads’. The route would link China and Thailand through Laos.

Route R3A is part of the so-called North-South Economic Corridor that will link Thailand with Laos and China. The road route from China’s Kunming will cross the Mekong River at Huay Xai in Laos at the Friendship Bridge and enter Thailand at Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai province.

Government Spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp quoted Prayut as referring to a proposed railway project, that Bangkok was ready to cooperate with China in developing the dual-track rail link that would connect Thailand, China and other countries.

Prayut also thanked Beijing for continuously importing Thai agricultural products particularly fruit, jasmine rice, and rubber, the spokesman said. Both leaders agreed to hold further talks in a bid to alleviate problems and obstacles in bilateral trade of agricultural products between the nations.

Beijing was told that Bangkok backed its policy to use of the yuan as a common currency of Asia, the spokesman said, adding China would support business transactions in yuan to decrease currency exchange risks and costs. “They also hope the agreement on the Chinese Yuan and the Thai Baht Bilateral Currency Swap Arrangement which will expire next month, could be extended.”

Referring to the education cooperation between the countries, the spokesman said Thailand and China agreed to expand cooperation on science, technology, research and innovation because China had advanced technology and a forum could be held so scientists from both countries could work and study together more closely.

China also wanted to support the development of Thailand’s vocational education.

Prayut also invited his Chinese counterpart to attend the Great Mekong Sub-region Summit to be held in Thailand on December 19-20, the spokesman said. Read more…

The next we’ll hear is the cry, ‘All aboard the Singapore Chiang Mai Kunming Rail Line!

Book Thai train tickets here.

Read more about Thailand’s Kra Canal and the Belt and Road Initiative here..

The post Singapore-Chiang Mai-Kunming Rail Line appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

What Happens When Thai Immigration Visits Me?

The USA and the UK are relaxed about foreigners but, when Thai Immigration visits me I find that’s not true in Thailand.  Your registered Thai address turns out to be more important than some people think.

Chonburi immigration is the first province to start insisting that resident farangs stay where they’ve registered and finding offenders 4,000 baht. Officers there have been checking their records against foreigners residing in the area then fining people for being in the wrong location. In September seven people were each fined 4,000 baht for not being where they registered. Last Tuesday Canadian Luc Lafreniere had to post up 4,000 baht for not living at his registered address. This is not arbitrary: the fines are in accordance with regulations issued in 1998. Chonburi immigration are also fining people offering accommodation to foreigners who fail to report guests to them within 24 hours, so AirBnB hosts might want to pay attention. Yesterday a manageress at the local Pratumnak Inn was fined 1,600 baht for failing to report that a Russian guest  was staying in the building. Chonburi Immigration calls the program “Good Guys In, Bad Guys Out”. Expats call it a nuisance

Thais know that their country is the most wonderful, beautiful place on earth (since that’s what they’re taught at school and on TV) and everyone would like to live here. There’s a lot of truth to that belief. Thailand is a kind of tropical paradise. The beaches really are wonderful, the girls really are friendly (really, really friendly) and the food really is quote wonderful. Why go abroad, since foreign visas are so difficult for Thais to obtain? So Thais stay home and add their weight to the 25,000,000 foreign visitors who tour the country every year. Thais are their own best customers for tourism.

But what about those foreigners who want to stay? The law requires them to be self-supporting and law abiding. Problem is, millions of them are penniless refugees and migrants who sleep on a floor with a dozen others and do the hard, dirty work that Thai men and women disdain.  Given Thailand’s long, unmarked borders, tracking those millions would be a herculean task. So Immigration officers wisely devote most of their attention to farangs (white Europeans). If farangs’ papers are not in order, their reasoning goes, it’s likely that they’ll either be offered a bribe or get a commendation from the Bureau for catching the offender. It’s a win-win.

Two polite, smartly-uniformed (and very cute). English-speaking Thai Immigration officers came calling this week. They were doing house checks at farangs‘ registered addresses and my Swiss neighbor made it worth their while to ride down to my street (doubling up on one scooter, but both can claim mileage reimbursement, of course). They found my papers were in order and we got to chatting. They were clearly curious about my standard of living, “How much do you pay for your house?”.

“Ten thousand Baht”, I responded.

They shook their heads in amazement. A single man, living alone in a 3-bedroom house. Why a dozen Thais could live there in air-conditioned comfort! And he  pays more rent than Immigration officers’ salary! Farangs really are rich.

Chonburi immigration is the first province to start insisting that resident farangs stay where they’ve registered and finding offenders 4,000 baht. Officers there have been checking their records against foreigners residing in the area then fining people for being in the wrong location. In September seven people were each fined 4,000 baht for not being where they registered. Last Tuesday Canadian Luc Lafreniere had to post up 4,000 baht for not living at his registered address. This is not arbitrary: the fines are in accordance with regulations issued in 1998. Chonburi immigration are also fining people offering accommodation to foreigners who fail to report guests to them within 24 hours, so AirBnB hosts might want to pay attention. Yesterday a manageress at the local Pratumnak Inn was fined 1,600 baht for failing to report that a Russian guest  was staying in the building. Chonburi Immigration calls the program “Good Guys In, Bad Guys Out”. Expats call it a nuisance.

Here’s a video to prove how rich I am:

My Chiang Mai House #2: Plants and Flowers Arrive.

Coincidentally, the next day I discovered that my US passport had expired, so I went down to the Consulate for the first time. You can read my suggestions for visiting the US Consulate in Chiang Mai here.

The post Thai Immigration Visits Me appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

Lying, cheating and stealing are not confined to Thailand. They’re universal human behaviors and the older I get the less they bother me. But lying, cheating and stealing have a cultural flavor in Thailand that’s worth examining because we’re all going to encounter it sooner or later, and it’s not just confined to sex.

Knowing I would spend last Christmas in Australia a Thai friend offered to handle some tasks I’d been putting off: touch up the house’s interior paint; respray scrapes on the car; remove the failed outside garden and its brick wall; replace the sticky sliding door tracks; finish painting the front fence. For 10,000 baht (US$300) he’d handle it all.

I returned a month later to find that – if the jobs had been done at all – they’d been done half-assedly. The garden was gone but the bricks remain; the door tracks were removed but not replaced; my friend had found the car’s insurance policy, located a body shop accredited by my insurer and charged God knows how much to the policy as an ‘accident’. The body shop had done a quick, cheap spray job. The ‘commission’ will, no doubt, end up in my friend’s pocket and, though the work was minor, the car wouldn’t be ready for another week. My request that we cancel the job and pick up my car was met with changing excuses, so I rented a car while the bodyshop finished its overpriced work.

That episode stimulated my interest and I began asking expats this question: have you experienced lying, cheating and stealing more frequently in Thailand than you did at home? (I wasn’t too worried about their having rosy memories of ‘home’: most expats have a pretty jaundiced view of life back home). 100 percent of them answered ‘yes’, and so do I. The big question is “why?”.

Here’s my guess: most Thais have no interest in befriending farangs socially. Their culture, like all ancient cultures, does not accept new members other than by birth – and we don’t share their obsession with hierarchy and ‘face’. So a higher proportion of Thais who choose to associate with farangs tend to be from lower income groups and do so for monetary gain. As a good friend said: look at the Thais in your life and ask, if they were farangs, would you still be around them? Do you hang out with losers and crude people at home? If not, why do so in Thailand? Is it because such people are likely going to  hurt you? Then why are you letting the Thai equivalent of such people into your life? Thais…..liars, cheats and thieves? Only if you choose to mix with the tiny percentage that are.

The rest of the country? Some of the most honest, kindest and nicest Thai people you could possibly meet. Just like anywhere. And, when you do get lied to or cheated or have something stolen, ask yourself if your choice of friends – just as you would at home.

Finally, here’s someone who knows a bit about how the Thai girlfriend game involves lying, cheating and stealing:

The post Lying Cheating and Stealing in Thailand appeared first on Thai Retirement Helpers: Retiring in Thailand Made Easy.

My wife and I will be relocating to Chiang Mai in mid Oct. We’ll be bringing our dog and, in checking the airport website, it’s not clear if we need to contact them before arriving or not.  If you can shed any light on the subject it would be very helpful.  – Bob P.

I asked Mark Davis, a client and friend who imported his (very spoiled) dachshund, Scooter, whom you see in this photo. Here’s Mark’s advice:

I brought my dog from the US to Chiang Mai a few months ago. The process is a bit arduous but manageable once you know the steps. Your travel dates will be dictated by the timelines for you pet’s paperwork as there are tight requirements on the dates the pet passport will be valid. Here’s what’s involved:

1. Pick a travel date in the future and work the timeline backwards, leaving slack time for paperwork processing.
2. Apply for an Import Permit from Customs Office at Chiang Mai airport. If you are entering Thailand via Chiang Mai, the Import Permit must be issued by the Chiang Mai Customs office.
3. All vaccinations must be done more than 30 days before your travel date.
4. There is a Medical Certificate form available from the Thai Land and Agriculture Department that must be completed and signed by your veterinarian.
5. You will also need a US Medical Certificate for your pet: same information as on the Thai form.
6. The US Medical Certificate be completed by a USDA-approved veterinarian, then
7. It MUST be sent to the regional USDA office for approval and certification. This MUST be done no more than 10 days before your scheduled travel date!!!  
8. This completed paperwork is your Export Permit for your pet.
9. The timing is tight. That’s why your travel dates are contingent on your pet’s paperwork.
10. Once you have the Export Permit, scan and email it to the Chiang Mai Customs office so they can review them and issue you an Import Permit.
11. You must follow up by telephone when you send the documents.
12. During this process you need to book your airline tickets well in advance to make sure the airline has birthing space on the flight for your pet because most airlines have room for only a few pet crates per flight.
13. The airline may require their own set of paperwork for your pet.
14. If flying in the summertime book a night or in the early morning flight and avoid long layovers or transfers in the middle of the day. (The death of a friend’s pug occurred when airline departure was delayed in sweltering heat.)
15. Pick flights with the least layover time. KAL’s is the most direct flight to Chiang Mai.
16. There are strict airline requirements on the pet crate so check before buying a crate.  
17. Contact your airline to check requirements for pet transportation internationally.
18. Make sure there is plenty of water in the kennel. Freeze their filled bowl overnight and insulate it on the trip to the airport. It will time for the ice to melt.
19. Make sure they reserve birthing for your pet on ALL legs of flight.
20. Download Thai forms for Import Permit, noting vaccination requirements.
21. Have your pet vaccinated, then wait 30 days.
22. Approach your vet to complete the Thai Medical Certificate and have the US Medical Certificate completed. Your vet must be USDA certified.
23. 14 – 18 days before flight, have your Vet send the paperwork to USDA regional office for certification. Send via FedEx and include self-addressed return FedEx envelope.
24. Once you have the certified US Export Permit back from the USDA and the completed Import Permit paperwork, scan and send them to Thai Customs office in Chiang Mai.
25. Follow up with a phone call to make sure they do it.
26. The Import Permit from Thai Customs and the Export Permit from the USDA together comprise your Pet Passport
27. You’re now  ready to travel but remember: the Pet Passport is only good for 10 days.
28. When you arrive in Chiang Mai, customs will meet you at baggage claim, check the paperwork and collect a 1000 baht duty, so bring some Thai money with you.

Hope this helps,

Mark

P.S. Here’s contact information for Thailand’s central Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Services, Department of Livestock Development: Phayathai Rd., Ratchtavee Bangkok 10400. Tel. +66 (0)2 653-4550 – 7 ext. 4175 or +66 (0)2-6534925 Fax. +66 (02) 653-4929. E-mail : quarantine_dcontrol@dld.go.th

And here’s how Royal Thai Airways treats pets royally

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