Kaymcdonnell

Just arrived at Phuket Airport. Three international airplanes arrive at the same time and there must be 1,000 people waiting. I can see myself there for an hour. I am feeling that it is ridiculous that there are only 8 immigration officers for all these people. Then i hear someone say that they are going for the FAST TRACT line and paying 100 bht. So of course i go also. So in the fast track, some lines (lots of them) some named Elite Card, Lots and lots of 100 bht notes are going right into the pockets of immigration officers.....including my 100bht. Who needs the Elite Card.....Lot of officers available and in in seconds.

By the way, i was not offered a receipt.

Now TAXI, price 900bht to Rawai, no other option.......Ahhh, back to Thailand!

I think a big point that many people fail to grasp about the original post is that the change (last rule made on previous Friday and enforced on Monday) was done too rationally for people to get the correct paperwork. So lets assume that 50% of the people in Penang were as some of you quote (working the system) there were also genuine school teachers there from genuine jobs, possibly doing a very good job educating students of all nationalities. these people were already in transit with all the correct and legal paperwork.

The whole point is lack of communication and forward thinking.

Surely all you negative responders can have some sympathy for them??? Or maybe you are too negative of anyone or everything that is not as perfect as you?? Or you are getting commission on sales of the ELITE CARD.

Well the point is they came from legitimate schools and maybe once the legit ones learn the language or course required, they could become excellent teachers so the kids. They are not all bad........

I think a big point that many people fail to grasp about the original post is that the change (last rule made on previous Friday and enforced on Monday) was done too rationally for people to get the correct paperwork. So lets assume that 50% of the people in Penang were as some of you quote (working the system) there were also genuine school teachers there from genuine jobs, possibly doing a very good job educating students of all nationalities. these people were already in transit with all the correct and legal paperwork.

The whole point is lack of communication and forward thinking.

Surely all you negative responders can have some sympathy for them??? Or maybe you are too negative of anyone or everything that is not as perfect as you?? Or you are getting commission on sales of the ELITE CARD.

Why would teachers need a education visa? Surely they have work permits, right?

Sent from my LG-D858

Well i might be wrong, but i understood they had to get a ED visa to get a work permit?

Well i think it is good to inform people about what is going on as many people want to know, i am just using this forum to inform. If this is bad and the negative people want to post silly things, then up to them..

Forums are to keep people informed.

Kay - you are providing a service for which a few people should be grateful. The only thing you are guilty of is a little naivety in not knowing that at least half of the posters on these forums are knuckle-draggers and mouth-breathers.

Actually i knew what to expect as i have posted many things. Most of the people that send out negative comments are not even brave enough to use thre own name and hid behind the forum. I don't ever take it personally, i have leaned to have a broad back living here so long. There are some nasty ******** out here along with the good ones. They know who they are.

Sounds dramatic, they might need to helicopter in Kate Aidie to a report on this terrible situation

Well it is dramatic to some people, happy for you that you do not have to worry

There is so much going on here , nobody got their passports back and the immigration did not open this afternoon. Now they just announced that they will change the rules again and you can get your education visa in thailand in future. This must have been very stressful for everyone in the visa office here

they say that there are hundreds of people waiting outside the closed embassy here

There is so much going on here , nobody got their passports back and the immigration did not open this afternoon. Now they just announced that they will change the rules again and you can get your education visa in thailand in future. This must have been very stressful for everyone in the visa office here

It's good to tighten these rules.

It was a free for all and kept the drifters in.

Hopefully some will give up and get out.

Muay Thai training shouldn't be suitable for this visa.

Sent from my LG-D858

I do not really understand the education visa but at the end of day, can they please inform people in advance... anyway i know already this will not happen

Why not use creditcards?

Where you ever young and excited to travel?

I am sure if thy contacted their parents they could get out of the fix, but they want to do this alone. But really is this the point??

Why not use creditcards?

Where you ever young and excited to travel?

What new rules

So the statement is like this

Certify Letter from school, study time table, all must have Endorsed by Education Department Starting from 20th October.

I am lucky i do not need this kind of visa, but i must say that the people here were not informed before they left Thailand and some with limited resources. Very sad for some people.

Now it gets worse. There is so much chaos at the embassy that the passports are not coming back. The busses are waiting to take people back the th passports are not coming back. The say the embassy has closed its doors until 4.30???

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You might be waiting a long time for a property crash in Phuket.

It has never happened, yet and I don't think it ever will.

The best you can hope for is a slowing of price increases, or, at best prices remain the same.

The reason for this is that most property owners own their properties outright. Property buying using a mortgage is rare for Thais and almost impossible for foreigners.

There are always distressed sales of houses by foreigners, but, land prices, so far, have never gone down as there is usually no pressure to sell.

That it didn't happend, doesn't mean it can't happen. But you made a good point that in nearly all cases there is just no need to sell. Unless the owner accumulated somehow debt that he needs to pay off. So we conclude there are not many buyers, the prices are high and there is no pressure to sell (apart from foreigners). That means the market is small and slow moving. That's a conclusion that seems fair enough. A few sellers aim for the moon in case they get lucky and otherwise sit back and relax.

Doesn't look like a market that is very attractive for a property agent though. And there are lots and lots of property agents around.

Thailand is mostly Buddhist.

A few things can be learned from this religion:

Number 1: Chainsaw is rightL Stop worrying about money.

It's accumulation has nothing to do with happiness.

Number 2: Patience is a great virtue.

Most Thais have a lot more than farangs.

That is one reason why prices don't go down.

Another idea we can learn from Thais: Live for today.

(And be glad you didn't take that trip to Nepal to hike the Annapurna circ this October)

Number 1: that's not true at all. Best proven by taking the inverse example: if you have no money you'll likely run into some pretty shitty situations that make you quite unhappy.

Number 2: I didn't experience this at all and I interact with Thais quite a bit. They have a big advantage though: they are Thais - no visa problems, no headache about ownership of land etc. Of course that is a huge advantage regarding property.

Number 3: What mostly happens is "Carpe Diem gone wrong". Most people (Thai or foreigner, doesn't matter) don't understand the concept properly. If you take it literally and don't plan ahead, well, you'll find yourself in a similar situation as outlined in Number 1. Why do so many people and whole countries run into debt they can hardly pay back? Proper foresight is the key to prosperity in the long run. It's the difference between a place that is still nice to live in within 50 years and one that is a dump within 5.

KayMcDonnell: let's make an experiment. You are a real estate agent right? So your job is it to sell me - as a potential buyer - some property. So go ahead and try to convince me why the current prices are fair and why I should buy one of your properties. I swear I will give my best to understand your arguments and realize the value a property has for me.

If you find it hard to do so, and maybe not only with me then it doesn't reflect well on the market.

HI well that is a challenge. I do not remember saying that the buyers were wrong. I also think that many properties are valued too high from sellers. There are bargains around. I do not know anyone buying land to loose money. I am just asking if there is a bright spark out there who knows when things will be more prosperous. It is easy to say that things are bad, what i want to know is who can say when it will be prosperous again?

One lady here has been welcome in Thailand for 30 years and now stuck in Malaysia with a big problem.

I am in Penang in a broker agents for visas. He gets something like 100 people a day asking for visas at this time of year. It is utter chaos!!!. The new rules just arrive on Friday and all the paper work the potential education visa hunters are applying for are being rejected!

So next step is a tourist visa as they have belongings in Thailand and need to go back to collect. They need 20,000 bht to show at the border to state that they can stay one month in Thailand. So Western Union is in full swing! Those without WN are asking other people on the bus for a loan until they get over the border. This is utter madness. In 15 years i have never seen anything like this.

WOW people are crying.......

So each year for what seems like forever all everyone who is anyone keeps telling me it is going to get worse before it gets better. I have been hearing this in the property market for years. When i first started out it was great. Can some really talented person out there predict when it might get better? There must be a bright spark out there somewhere?

Good luck

unreliable workers, and Thais wanting new stuff (properties) make it very difficult

II know some reliable workers, so that's not a problem for me.

Maybe most Thais want new property (or maybe not), but it's a myth that they don't buy old property. I know many Thais that have bought old property. I didn't see much difference here to the UK. Lots of new condos in places like Bangkok, so of course people will be buying them, but plenty buying older houses in central Bangkok. Most Thai people that I ask about this say it's not true, and I suppose they know best. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. A Thai person just bough an old house in my street, so there you go.

All the profit is mostly in the land, buy a bargain piece of land, build a small house and sell that off plan. I am into real estate and I see a number of people doing very well doing this

I know the naka festival ends in a few days, is it long after that?

Can anyone please tell me when the children go back to school after the long break in the north east?

The cigarette butts with their dna found on the beach is part of the strong evidence against them. Now these boys were both very drunk from beer and wine. Were are the bottles that these two drank from I wonder?

Very good point!!!!!

I have not heard anything about beer or wine bottles along with the cigarette buts left on the beach by very drunk murderers? Also when he was running past the 7/11 i did not see the guitar that has been mentioned?

you will need lots of coats of different earth tone colors, i did about 100 coats over a period of about 4 days i think

Hmmm......think it would be less labour intensive to just haul some real rocks to your pool.

I have some real rocks to sell?

I predict you will see a lot of motorbikes going against the traffic, at night without headlights just to make it more exciting :-(

This is already happening, there are hundreds of them, seriously dangerous!