New girl (!) - question re skype conversations?

[falcon999]

Hey guys, just got back from my trip to Thailand last weekend, LOS was amazing as ever! - and I've met a new girl

The first ten days were mixed - I was so happy to be in Thailand, but couldn't help but feel pangs for my ex-gf, plus I felt somewhat hardened to Thai girls as a whole after the breakup. However, in the last week of my holiday I headed down to Pattaya (my first time there) and ended up asking out a girl who worked at the guesthouse where I was staying - we spent the rest of the time together, and since we've got back we've been Skyping every day

For obvious reasons, the last thing I want to do is rush into another relationship, but at the same time things are going great and I will likely go out and visit her sometime in the reasonably near future (when time + money allow.) After that I guess I'd like her to come to the UK.

My thinking is it makes sense to lay the groundwork now in case things do work out - i.e. get a log of all our contact. One thing I've noticed is that Skype webcam calls don't show up in my Skype bills on my account. I guess this is because they're free - however it also means there's no record!

So have any of you guys found a way to provide a breakdown of Skype webcam calls to show to an ECO? It just seems a shame as we're chatting for over an hour every day but none of it is getting logged on my account.

Thanks in advance

[Tribal Fusion]

I've just been reading your "thanks for everything guys" thread again, so after reading it, I went to your first post about your ex-girlfriend. There was something that didn't add up to me and that was when you said that she worked in a massage parlour in Bangkok, was very attractive and spoke very good English, but it was not a boom boom establishment. I lived in Bangkok for 9 months last year and 4 months this year, without generalising too much, if a girl is very attractive, speaks very good English and then decides to marry an older farang whilst being your girlfriend, it is highly likely she was or still is either a bargirl or a freelancer! Most of the non naughty massage places in Bangkok are staffed with older ladies and gay men, there were lots in a mall near where I stayed, their English was quite limited as it was a mostly Thai area. Thailand is littered with casualties, be careful.

I thought your plan of teaching English in Thailand was spot on, Bangkok is the place to teach. I have two friends teaching there and they earn 42000 baht and 65000 baht a month respectively. If you really want to find your dream Thai girl, then you need to live and work in Thailand, take a year out from work, do the TEFL or TESOL course in Bangkok.

The UK is a dreary and grey place for most of the year, apart from summer. A young man like you will find the girls in Bangkok that go to the smart/trendy discos, work in offices and have degrees will love a young farang to be with.

[colin244]

Some good girls out there tribal who speak ok english and are attractive as well (wifey included but PHS not BKK)

colin 244

[Tribal Fusion]

It was the massage parlour bit, only a observation, but all of the traditional massage places that I've seen/walked past, well, they were not attractive, English speaking, no, although some of the gay men/ladyboys would always say massage to me!

I've been to quite a few seedy places in BKK and Pattaya, damn good fun, but it never went any further. When I met my wife I had already done the scene, knew what to avoid, she was attractive, spoke ok English, from Isaan, but a normal regular Thai girl.

I'm only commenting falcon999's previous girlfriend, not his current girlfriend.




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[Harvey at home]

Falcon I have helped quite few people with their applications in the past and have come across this problem before,

when this requirement for this type of evidence was more of a high priority it was when there were only letters, phone calls available for the Bods in the UKBA to check the genuineness of an applicant.

I have suggested to people who now use Skype, Messenger and other VOIP type methods of communication to make a note of this in their application, this note together with all the other types of evidence that you will be providing should be sufficient for the purpose.

[falcon999]

I've just been reading your "thanks for everything guys" thread again, so after reading it, I went to your first post about your ex-girlfriend. There was something that didn't add up to me and that was when you said that she worked in a massage parlour in Bangkok, was very attractive and spoke very good English, but it was not a boom boom establishment. I lived in Bangkok for 9 months last year and 4 months this year, without generalising too much, if a girl is very attractive, speaks very good English and then decides to marry an older farang whilst being your girlfriend, it is highly likely she was or still is either a bargirl or a freelancer! Most of the non naughty massage places in Bangkok are staffed with older ladies and gay men, there were lots in a mall near where I stayed, their English was quite limited as it was a mostly Thai area. Thailand is littered with casualties, be careful ...

You've got a point mate, I doubt I'll ever get the full picture behind her meeting the "new farang" - I'm sure I probably wasn't told half the story Ostensibly she met him through one of her friends when he came to Thailand, but who knows right?

Re moving to Thailand (without going too much off the thread topic) again you make some very good points, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't given it serious consideration. It might be something I'll still do - don't get me wrong, I miss Thailand/SE Asia every day, and you're right - the UK can be seriously dreary, but long-term it just seems to be a better place to base myself than over there.

I've been reading through your settlement visa threads - is moving back to the UK something you're doing reluctantly for economic reasons, or will you be happy to come home you think?

... I have suggested to people who now use Skype, Messenger and other VOIP type methods of communication to make a note of this in their application, this note together with all the other types of evidence that you will be providing should be sufficient for the purpose.

Cheers mate I think I'll start having to take screenshots of the times/dates we've spoken on Skype - like I said it's really early days at this point, but I can't imagine many worse scenarios than getting to the point of a visa application, then having no evidence of months and months of contact lol!



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[prioritypress]

As regards to your ex - had similar things (with an ex)..it's a numbers game!

Like a lot of women (not only Thai) they're looking for the "BBD"...Bigger Better Deal!

Be careful not to jump out of the frying pan into the fire!

Nick

EDIT - I still think you should jack your job in and go over there for a year or two. Let's face it...exactly the same thing might happen with this girl...long-distance relationships are a nightmare...

[Tribal Fusion]

I decided to base myself here because she can earn more money, she was earning between 8100 to 10000 baht per month in Bangkok and in 3 weeks of moving here she is earning £193 per week. I'm struggling to find work here in the UK, but I always knew that I would, wrong age, been in Thailand twice in the last 2 years on extended breaks.

Nick is correct, best thing to do at your age is to go to Thailand for a year or two. I did one half hearted long distance relationship with a Thai girl, met her the first time I went to the Thailand and then met her again six months later, but there was no contact in the interim period. Went I got back from second visit to Thailand, I kept in touch by email with her for about 6 weeks, I was going to go back after 3 months to see her again, but my suspicious nature and odd answers to my questions I posed and then the emails stopped, nothing ever again, didn't bother sms or ringing her after that. I did see her again on New Years Eve 2010/2011 in soi 7 Pattaya, she was walking down the soi with the same freelancer and ex bar girl friends, I said hello and she said hello back, never seen or heard from her again!

I don't to say every Thai girl is the same, because they are not. I've been in the internet cafes in Bangkok and the girls have been sitting on the webcam with their boyfriends, asking questions like is Oslo cold? and saying would I like Oslo? If they are skyping one man, who is to say they are not skyping 2 or 3 or 4 other guys, someone will either get a visa for them or sponsor with money transfers, or if they are lucky both! It's all about the visa, it's a face thing, it's also moving up the social ladder, all the girls that have had visas boast about them, my wife included.

[toddmeister]

I've been in the internet cafes in Bangkok and the girls have been sitting on the webcam with their boyfriends, asking questions like is Oslo cold? and saying would I like Oslo? If they are skyping one man, who is to say they are not skyping 2 or 3 or 4 other guys

I've seen this in action myself. Was once in the internet shop where a girl on the computer next to me talking to a boyfriend. As soon as she'd finished talking to him she text another guy and he appeared on skype soon after.

- - - Updated - - -

[Tribal Fusion]

I've seen this in action myself. Was once in the internet shop where a girl on the computer next to me talking to a boyfriend. As soon as she'd finished talking to him she text another guy and he appeared on skype soon after.

I'm quite nosey, so I would listen to the conversations, gave me a laugh for an hour whilst I was reading BBC Sport and downloading some music onto my flash drive!

[vanbobble]

if you use Windows Live messenger for video calls it will log the exact times you made video calls. You just have to look in the history file (options in Windows Live)

[bingobano]

You can down load software called skype call exporter and it will export all your call history from skype, showing date time and duration of each call.

[falcon999]

I've seen this in action myself. Was once in the internet shop where a girl on the computer next to me talking to a boyfriend. As soon as she'd finished talking to him she text another guy and he appeared on skype soon after.

- - - Updated - - -

Lol yeh I've sadly seen that many a time! In fact on the second day of this trip, I was checking my emails/facebook in this internet cafe in Khao San Road, and I could hear such a conversation going on right next to me. "I miss you so much, teerak..." this pretty, scantily-clad girl was cooing into the microphone. "Yes, I go back home to Udon now, don't worry, I just help my mum this morning with the rice... Thank you for the money you send me..."

Later that night I was in a club (again in Khao San) and I spotted the same girl, lip-wrestling with this young backpacker guy... I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor farang back home, no doubt dreaming about his sweet Thai girlfriend!! Poor guy

[Tribal Fusion]

I've seen some quality stuff in Bangkok like that, maybe start a new thread. Khao San, young and trendy, not many farang with Thai girls down there, but in Soi Cowboy, older and less trendy, fat, old German guys or possibly another European country with bad taste, dressed in sandals, knee length socks, shorts nearly down to their knees, disgusting shirt in some bright floral pattern, a go go girl on his arm, packet of viagra in his pocket and a heart attack after his short time!



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[Terence]

Falcon 999
In answer to your question about Skype. You can print a copy of the Skype pages showing proof of your conversations. This is what you have to do

Press the print screen button
Press the start button and go to All Programs
Click Accessories
Click Paint
Click Edit
Click Paste
Click File
Click Page Setup
Click onto Fit To and change 1 to 1
Click Landscape
Click File
Click Print

You will now have a hard copy of all the info you need of each call for the ECO

I hope this helps
Terry

[falcon999]

Wow, thanks guys for all the responses - 24 hours after the original post, I've had loads of great advice and found exactly what I was looking for, that's thailand-uk for you Managed to find a Skype exporter which works great most of the time, but seems to be somewhat temperamental occasionally and crash, but if that happens I can always print-screen stuff I guess!



Not meaning to go off topic, but re me and Thailand - if you'd asked me two or three months ago, I would have said I'd be living over in LOS by the end of year, teaching English and living the dream Now though, I'm not so sure - don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Thailand and SE Asia, and having spent nearly 6 months out of the last 3 years over there, in many ways I feel far more at home than in the UK. To say it was heartbreaking to go through passport control at Survanabhumi (knowing that the daily grind in the cubicle awaited me!) would be an understatement.

But two things hold me back from taking the leap - money, in that I don't have a house or any assets (other than my car) to fall back on, and despite earning a reasonable salary for my age, various trips/visas etc. have meant I've spent pretty much all my earnings (and then some!)

And also my career - filled with a renewed sense of optimism from LOS, in the few days since being back I've been manically applying for better/more rewarding jobs in my industry, and surprisingly have actually had a pretty good response, with 2 telephone interviews and 1 face-to-face already lined up. I guess I just worry I'd been throwing that all away...

It's certainly a difficult conundrum - but not a unique one by any means, in fact I'm sure pretty much everyone on this board has struggled with a similar dilemna at some point of their relationship with either a Thai girl or Thailand the country!

[Tribal Fusion]

The UK is for immigrants and Thailand is for ex-pats. I'm here because it benefits my wife to work in the UK and earn money she could never earn in Thailand, thus taking me out of the equation of being the provider for her family.

Do you work in a call centre falcon999?

[prikphet]

Want retire at 60 to Thailand with relatively comfortable and easy life, or you want to be teaching for next 50 years searching out the Happy Hours? (Pro's and Con's to both)

Obviously doesn't apply to all Teachers or all ex-pats but I'd imagine a there's a large percentage of Thai Expats who made a hasty decision after a divorce / mid-life crisis who are now in this position. I've used Teaching as that seems to be the most popular career choice.

[Tribal Fusion]

Are you still teaching in Thailand prikphet? Your right about the pro and cons, it's a tough one. I didn't mind teaching in Thailand, but I didn't give a proper go, so that's a regret for me, maybe stay here for a couple more years and then go back.

When your young as falcon999 is, retiring to Thailand at 60 is long way off, I'm 43 so maybe an easier choice and more difficult to kick start my career in the UK now!

[prikphet]

Nope I done a TEFL 9 years ago aged 32 in Chiang Mai, decided Teaching wasn't for me and come back to UK after 6 months it was the best decision I ever made I got a lucky break with a local company with Global offices and managed to travel quite a bit (I'm in IT...Zzzz).

The guy I was travelling with stayed and hasn't been back to the UK since, stayed with his Khmer wife in Phnom Penh and loves his life teaching too.