w11guy

Suvranabhumi airport seats and spaces very unfriendly for any napping comfort. Also just about everything is closed. Good luck.

I think the OP was looking for helpful replies. Luckily he got some.

Why buy when renting is usually a better investment? Foreigners can't own the land the house is standing on, and land is really only the true value. Who actually NEEDS a palace to live in? You can only occupy one room at a time. Essentially, you only need one bedroom for every occupant in the house, and a kitchen, living room and bathroom. Anything more is excess.

It depends on individual circumstances. I have always preferred to buy for the simple reason that I can renovate the property to my tatses and I can stay as long as I want. With renting you can't make alterations you may want to it and it is difficult (for me anyway) finding somewhere that suits me perfectly.

In Bangkok you would be much better off buying if you were planning to stay in the same place long-term, provided you have the cash to make the purchase. Suppose you found a property that was $200K to buy of $10k/year to rent (based on 5% yield). If you paid $200K cash that you had sitting in a savings account earning 2% interest, it would be costing you $4k/year in lost interest to buy. Renting would cost you $10k/year. So by buying you would be $6/year better off. Obviously there are other costs involved, but in these circumstances you would be much better off buying.

Everyone has different circumstances thought, so each person has to decide what's right for them.

Surely if someone will pay it then "that's the market price"

That's not really true. If someone is stupid and pays $200K for an apartment that other people in the same block only paid $100K for, it's not really the market price. It just means someone was incedibley stupid. Sometimes, during bubbles, almost everyone is incredibly stupid. The 'market price' may be $10k this year but it may be $50k next year. What you say is mostly true during normal times, but property and other assets often gets into bubble territory.

I did ten straight months in the u.k back in 2008, after living in Thailand for the best part of ten years. I can say without doubt, it was the worse ten months of my life, if living in Thailand is 10/10 and being in a uk prison is 0/10 i was at 1/10 for the whole time. I hated every single solitary second of that dark dank hellhole called Great Britain.

Most people in the world would love to live in the UK. It is one of the best countries in the world for most people. Ok, so you don't like it, but if you gave it only 1/10 I would suggest that that is down to you personally. If you can't enjoy life in the UK with all it has to offer, then I feel really sorry for you. It is one thing missing another place and taking time to re-integrate, but I just can't fathom how anyone could have such a bad time. I love Thailand, I love the UK, I love many US cities and I love lots of other places. I would have a great time living in any of those places. Some may be 10/10 and some may be 7/10. But even in some bad places I think I'd have a good time in some respects. Life is what you make it.

Take her to the ATM machine.

Seriously though, how long have you been together?

ianwuk

Judging by your cynical and un-original remark I'd say you have been shafted a few times too many.

But then, considering you don't even bother reading OP's post and title either that does not surprise me.

They have been together 2 years, smartass.

You and Larry should get on famously in the Biergarten or some such and bitch about gold diggers.

I have never been shafted by a Thai girl, reading stories on here is enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.

The cynicism I also learnt from here through all the negative posts and responses people post.

I apologise EvilDrSomkid and to the OP and hope that they had a nice time with their girlfriend

ianwuk

So because there are so many cynics on here you decided to become one as well? Can't you think for yourself?

It's hilariously funny that so many people don't think he should get involved in the politics of another country. But hang on a minute. The USA, UK and many other countries are only too happy to stick their nose into the affairs of almost any country they disagree with. Not only that but they are happy to allow hundreds of thousands of civilians to be killed. But that's ok, it's only colleateral damage. There seem to be plenty of double standards here. I don't hear you all saying how wrong it is to be involved in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

there really are some <deleted> in the world - this idiot could face 5 years in prison for this shit

Should be 20 years they get...travelling used to be fun....now it is almost fear....oh how the world has changed.... hope the FBI will get the culprit and then give him/her a nice bit of water sports....ie water boarding

Travelling is as much fun as it has always been. I don't see what you have to be fearful of. Travelling by plane is one of the safest forms of transport. More people kill themselves through the food they eat. Try to keep things in perspective.

great! another year, another tourism problem..

This isn't a tourism proble. It's a very minor oil spill in one area of Thailand. Not sure how that translates into a tourism problem. Maybe you are like the many others on here who just love to see the negative in everything. Tourists love Thailand.

I'm sorry, but I'm serious when I ask:

Why is it so hard to catch the perps?

Because the police are worthless...either lazy (i.e. no money in it for them), cooperating with the perps, or just plain incompetent. Really sad...

All countries have difficullty catching terrorists. Not sure why so many of you are singling out Thai police as being incompetent. USA have spent the last decade trying to capture Bin Laden and he's still on the run. And how much do think has been spent on that. If the USA can't capture one man after spending tens of billions of $s, is it surprising that most terrorists are hard to catch?

Just a couple of criminals going to work where there are plenty of opportunities (i.e., Thailand). I expect their length of stay in Thai prison may be a little longer this time around.

You mean Thailand has cashpoint machines, so there are plenty of opportunities to steal them? A very strange comment. There are plenty of opportunities for criminals in all countries.

The report says that normalcy is returning to tourist numbers not to the country, as some of you seem to be suggesting. I have noticed more tourists recently, so I have no reason to believe the report is incorrect.

The Thais will agree not to give the death penalty in order to get the extradition. If he doesn't get extradited to Thailand he could get extradited to the USA or be tried in teh UK. In you are a UK citizen you can even be tried for something that is a crime in the UK but is legal in the country you committed that so-called crime. So if the legal age of consent is 15 in a particular country and you have sex with a 15 year-old in that country, which is perfectly legal there, you could be tried and convicted back in the UK, because it is illegal in the UK. So it stands to reason that if you commit a murder in another country you can be tried in the UK. I can't see him getting away with this murder as some have suggested.

I also think that if he flew from a 3rd country, such as Cambodia, then the UK authorities would have requested that he was allowed to travel so that he could be arrested in the UK.

I don't see why anyone should be knocking the Thai police. You are confusing what's written in the press with what evidence the Thai police actually have. They don't make everything public for obvious reasons. It's no different to the UK. Thailand is a much poorer country than the UK so it should be obvious that they don't have the same amount of resources to devote to cases, but that doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing. Some of you expect them to do as good a job with a fraction of the resources. That just isn't goint to happen. It's the same in all countries. You have to work to your budget.

Why does most of the ones involved in this tend to look like the same guys you meet outside a football-match, screaming and fighting with fans from the other team?

These are NOT people with an ideological goal, they just like to be a part of something.

I agree with you. This is just a typical British chav who loves nothing more than a good bit of violence. There are too many of them in Thailand.

I'm always kidding my Thai wife that most Thai soaps that have a background theme of really rich people, big houses, new cars, golden chandeliers ain't the real Thai world. Sure, I know there are some Thai's born with a silver spoon in their mouth but the Thai soaps seem to give the impression many, many Thai families live the rich life.

Now she knows this, but she still prefers to watch the "rich people" type of soap over the occasional soap with the theme of a poor family...and my wife comes from a poor family...guess she had enough of being poor as a kid...dont' want to watch shows about it...been there, done that type thinking.

And of course the "Thai Soap Super Star of the Hour/Day/Month" is always a big driver in what show gets watched.

No-one watches soaps because they think they are real life. Soaps in the UK and other countries don't bear any resemblance to real life either. Do you think Coronation Street and Eastenders is the real UK? Soaps are just escapism and fun to watch for some people.

KingPower is a particularly nasty company. Owned by the government that sets import duties for luxury goods at an impossible 200%.

To then set-up its own company selling designer goods cheaper than any one else can legally afford to.

While I certainly do not condone any act of terrorism one can understand the resentment.

The import duties in this country are painful. I would love to not have to drive a Japanese $hit box. However government officials are the only ones permitted to flaunt these laws.

This could be seen as stance against corruption.

Thailand is not a free market democracy but when the Government go into business and get special treatment it does take the wee wee a bit.

if governments back home did this non of you would stand for it. Perhaps certain people here have had enough.

What a load of incorrect statements.

1. King Power is NOT owned by the government, it is a private company, publically listed I believe abroad, and granted a license by the AOT to run retail at their locations which was given to them by the TRT govt again at the new airport; they do not a monopoly on selling duty free/bonded warehouse but because they have complete control over the airport space, it is extremely difficult for another retailer like DFS to come into the Thai market.

Import duties on luxury goods range from 5 - 200%+, with most of what King Power sells probably in the range of 15 - 40% at a guess; watches, jewelry, ready to wear, accessories; the luxury brands HAPPILY sell to King Power just as they sell to other duty free operators worldwide.

Luxury brands are quite easily a market ANY entrepreneur can enter into provided they can secure one of the few brands not already represented in Thailand; most luxury brands CHOOSE 1 distributor excluding duty free for each country worldwide.

Government officials in theory have to pay the same amount on cars as everyone else; only Ambassadors and embassies I think get to buy vehicles completely duty free. Your statement is nonsensical in that BMWs and Benz and others are all built here and under the same regulations as the Japanese cars for local assembly; just like everywhere they cost more.

Virtually every country in the world grants monopolies or oligopolies to run duty free at the airport; they are tightly controlled. As I recall, Heathrow is perceived as one thing, but in fact in a past study had the highest prices on average of duty free worldwide, but that was complemented with some of the cheapest highlight items (mostly liquor). While duty free operators don't pay duty, they do pay a concession fee as a proportion of revenue.

Your comment that a bomb injuring an innocent security guard is somehow a stance against corruption is a viewpoint that I find abhorent; deliberately injuring someone in this manner is a cowardly childish act undertaken by someone with a sub standard IQ.

If they believed similarly to your diatribe written above, then perhaps one must question their grasp on reality, and ability to actually learn or understand facts.

I agree with most of your post, but if you think bombers/terrorists have a sub-standard IQ, then you are sadly mistaken. Many terrorists are highly intelligent. They may not care about the lives of other human beings, but that isn't a measure of IQ. We will never get to the root of the problem if you think they are just a bunch of low-IQ people. Terrorists often have genuine grievances and planting bombs is they only way that governments will listen to them. For years in the UK we were told that the IRA were just a bunch of criminals. Now we are told that what they wanted all along is the way forward and some of their supporters are in power.

Ohhh BIB and their detective skills.

Case open and shut and all under 60 mins and still have time for lunch.

Clearly guy had the money to check into VIP room, clearly he was not an expat to stay at At Novotel Suvarnabhumi Hotel, so why would someone with money, a tourist at the age of 30 climb outside???

RIP to his family.

What utter rubbish you write. The man was on business and wasn't a tourist. Business people often stay in VIP rooms. The case isn't open and shut; the investigation is still going on. He had been drinking. Maybe he was stressed with work and drunk and didn't really know what he was doing. There could be lots of explnations. That's why the police are investigating.

Check your facts. He didn't climb down. He jumped or he fell. It's easily done if you are drunk.

Really people on business often stay in VIP rooms? What company do you work for?

Can you please post an update once the case has been concluded and no foul play has been found.

Yes a stressed 30 year old drinks few beers then because of stress he climbs outside and because of stress starts to climb the building and of course he was so drunk that he did not know what is vertical and what is horizontal.

H was so drunk that he managed to climb 4 floor but then fell.

You considered joining volunteer police? with your theory's all the cases will be solved in a much shorter period of time.

Ohhh BIB and their detective skills.

Case open and shut and all under 60 mins and still have time for lunch.

Clearly guy had the money to check into VIP room, clearly he was not an expat to stay at At Novotel Suvarnabhumi Hotel, so why would someone with money, a tourist at the age of 30 climb outside???

RIP to his family.

Ohhh dear, very anti-police. They must be responsible for everything.

I guess when you are an expert arm-chair detective yourself it must be very hard to have any police meet your high investigative standards.

Anyway, I dont want to hold you up, another episode of CSI starts shortly

Bring back Colombo & Ironside ..2 of the best detectives ever

They would have it sorted out right away. I didn't think there was anyone still alive who remembers ironside. LOL. Are you from Wales?

Ohhh BIB and their detective skills.

Case open and shut and all under 60 mins and still have time for lunch.

Clearly guy had the money to check into VIP room, clearly he was not an expat to stay at At Novotel Suvarnabhumi Hotel, so why would someone with money, a tourist at the age of 30 climb outside???

RIP to his family.

What utter rubbish you write. The man was on business and wasn't a tourist. Business people often stay in VIP rooms. The case isn't open and shut; the investigation is still going on. He had been drinking. Maybe he was stressed with work and drunk and didn't really know what he was doing. There could be lots of explnations. That's why the police are investigating.

Unless this guy was doing a stunt for a Spiderman movie, then there are an awful lot of facts missing from this report.

What is the point of it if there is only part of the story?

The point is that it is interesting news that people like to read. If we waited until all the facts were available many stories would never be reported because all the facts sometimes don't become available. I can't really see the point of your comment.

More on the stats. You're more likely to get murdered in Thailand than you are in the USA. But for most people the fear of being assualted is much higher and much more likely than the fear of getting murdered. In the USA you are over 24 times more likely to be assaulted than in Thailand. That makes the USA appear pretty violent to me. I'm sure we could all dig through the stats and find all sorts of interesting comparisons. What really counts to me is my own, my friends and my families experiences. I don't know anyone in Thailand who has been assaulted, mugged, robbed or murdered. I know people in London and NYC who have been mugged, assaulted and robbed. I know more people in Thailand than I know in NYC. I feel safe in all three cities.

Statistics can be distorted to say almost anything you want. According to the murder statistics posted you are more likely to get murdered in the USA than you are in Yemen. Even though I now know those statistics I would still rather visit the USA. There is more to a country than just one set of statistics. Even across a country some places will be safe than others. In Thailand it seems that most problems are around the prostitute areas. The problems happen less often in tourist areas away from thr prostitute areas. Every guide book, even ones about Thailand tell you to take sensible precuations, as you would in any country. If you walk around falshing your cash, it is obvious that you don't deserve to be beaten up and robbed. But it is in your own interests not to do this in any country. Hang around with prostitutes, flash your cash, argue with locals and most likely bad things will happen to you. This isn't surprising anywhere. I don't think Thai tourist authorities claim that Thailand is utopia. To me living in Bangkok is not much different to living in any large city. There are good and bad areas, good and bad people. That's life. Hang out around the better areas and you will avoid the trouble. It's the same in London and the same in NYC.

He said what the problem is. He can't sell his condo and he isn't rich. Most of the world isn't rich, why is that such a surprise or something to be ashamed about?

I'm sure it hasn't taken 20 years to sel, his condo. The situation didn't suddenly deteriorate overnight. If he can't sell his condo then the price is to high. If it sells it at what it's worth he will find a buyer. He is not trapped at all. Sell his condo and move. Or rent it out and move. Even if I was destitute I'd find a way out of the nightmare he seems to be living in. Selling his condo is just an excuse not to actually do something. Most of his problems seem to be self induced. Why doesn't he buy the drugs in advance instead of leaving until the last minute/ Why does he only use 4 restaurants. This guy needs to sort his life out and stop blaming others. I have lived in some <deleted> places in my time. I left and found somewhere better. I didn't stay and complain about everyone. And I was poor at the time as well. He has no excuse nt to move. He doesn't need to sell his condo before moving. He can rent it out.

I have the misfortune to live in Jomtien. I can leave? No, I can't. The condo I own represents most of my assets and until I sell it, which I'm trying to do, I'm stuck here.

Today 22 Aug. 2010, an average day in Pattaya:-

9.00am rang Fascino Pharmacy Central Pattaya to ask if they stocked a drug an ill friend required. They did stock it but were out of it and offered to order it. I asked if their N. Pattaya branch would have it and they said probably it did. I rang there and got a gentleman who interrupted me before I'd finished my question with "No have." I told him their Central P. branch did stock it. I spelt the name of the drug for him using the British A phonetic alphabet. This proved too much for him. Eventually he got the name of the drug (I think) and he told me to hold on. He turned on the music and left me holding. After 4/5 mins I hung up. That shop has 4 tel. numbers and I rang all four and got no reply with several attempts.

Fortunately I did get the drug in a Jomtien pharmacy. The man who needed it is a farang in his 80's and suffers from panic attacks.

At 10.00am I ventured out and took a baht bus to the Continental Bakery. When I got off I paid the driver on the driver's side. He threw a rage yelling that I had to pay him on the other side and then snatched the money out of my hand.

I ordered breakfast in the Continental Bakery stressing that I would like the bacon well done, dry (heng heng). It is usually a problem getting crispy bacon here. Sure enough it arrived done Thai style i.e. lightly cooked. I pointed this out and the staff started a loud conversation among themselves, punctuated with laughter. I was informed it was well done.

Next I went to Tesco S. Pattaya to do some shopping and afterwards stopped at the open market nearby. I then took a baht bus which stopped at the Thepprasit/Thappraya junction. The driver ordered me out. As I paid him I asked if he wasn't going to Jomtien. He snarled that I had to take another baht bus in Thappraya road. He then turned left into Thappraya road and headed towards Jomtien. (I have done this route before. If there are Thais on board you do not get dumped out at the junction.)

I am now at home and thankfully have no need to have to face the gratuitous nastiness that is the daily lot of farangs in Pattaya. I will however have to endure the screeching from the bars that have sprouted around the condo building since I bought the unit 20 years ago.

I am assured by a Thai business woman that the vast majority of Thais "hate" farangs.

My advice to anyone who isn't stuck here, as I am, is to leave, and to those thinking of coming here, don't.

If it's so bad why didn't you leave years ago? Why have you waite so long. From what Thais have told em they don't hate farangs, they just don't like the old farang men who come to Thailand to buy sex. Imagine you lived in a seaside town in UK or USA and old men from overseas came in their 1000s to buy sex, wouldn't you end up hating them. Most of this nastiness that most people report is in prostitution areas. Why someone decides to move to live in such areas I'll never understand. And then they wonder why there is so much trouble. The answer is simple. Just have a think about it.

My ex-girlfriend ended up working in Soi 6, Pattaya. I managed to enrage her Thai boyfriend by having almost free sex with her for five years but he was restrained by the thought of how much money he was going to get when I sold my house in the UK. However, I sold it but told them that it was still rented out and after I finished with girl without any dosh as compensation (I don't give money to girls who have Thai boyfriends) the Thai guy went ballistic, beating her up and threatening to kill me if I set foot in Thailand again. I have come twice since then and both times he approached the hotel owner where I was staying about planting drugs in my room (luckily they don't seem to have any serious Mafia connections and the hotel owners actually warned me off)... anyway the relevance of the above, is that the girls in Soi 6 almost always have Thai boyfriends and they get all wound up and enraged and will attack ANY farang that takes their fancy, just to prove that they are real men, etc.

BTW I did report the Thai guy to both the Thai police and Interpol, the latter as he was trying to play the big man by stealing my letters and getting his computer hacker mate to get into my UK bank records (some of the paper statements the ex-girlfriend had access to) - pointless as they have no idea where I live or where I have moved my money to. I then texted the ex-girlfriend with the info that I had alerted the police, from the safety of the UK... you can imagine how enraged that would make the Thai boyfriend, the idea of a farang setting thai police on a thai man.

Basically, then, even if you have done no wrong, you may be standing in for some other farang who has wound up some Thai men and is not available for a beating.

Needless to say, my next holiday will be in the Philippines

Your post is so funny. Any man anywhere would be enraged if another man had sex with his girlfriend once let alone for 5 years. I'm surprised you're still alive. Can you really blame the boyfriend?