Azul_Blanco

For the Nakhon Si Thammarat leg:

Khanom is great. It's my favorite beach area in Thailand - much better than Samui. I like staying on the main beach - 10k stretch. Golden Beach hotel is good (great staff) and is in the middle.

Make sure to drive up to the 3 or 4 small beaches just north of the main Khanom beach. They're all great and there is a good chance you'll have them to yourself. 1 More Beer at the south end of Khanom is a nice place for food, atmosphere and drinks. There is a very nice couple managing it and they're a wealth of information on the area.

NST city is alright. The main temple Wat Pramahatat is a gem. Lots of old side streets around town with the occasional Rattanokosin house mixed in and lots of old temples. The museaum in town is very good as well. For drinks I like Rock 99 in Bowan Bazzar.

Jim Rogers has been a great person to follow regarding the commodities boom. He called it correctly in 2000 and made his fortune during the 70's-80's heading the quantum fund with Soros. The fund went up 4,000 percent while traditional investements were having a very hard time.

He knows his stuff and excells at pointing out what is going on currently. He's got a new book coming out in 2 weeks focued on China and commodities - it should be a very good read.

Khanom is a great place to get away for a while (or live). The main beach is a soft white 10k stretch of sand. The water is very clear for a mainland beach.

I love southern Thai cooking so no need to mention specific restaurants as there are great ones everywhere.

For a break from Thai food, I found Khula Bhula a great option in Khanom. It's on the main beach road in Khanom toward the south side of Nadan beach. As mentioned above, the Irish owner is very nice guy and good for a chat. I visited Khula Bhula after seeing Daren's post. I'm a big fan of ruben sandwhiches and was well taken care of there. I took my uncle with me who is a strict vegetarian and he had no problem finding plenty of things to sample.

My wife is Thai and we want to purchase a piece of property in Thailand. The puchase funds would be coming from outside of Thailand.

I've heard there are controls on taking money out of Thailand and wonder how this would effect our property purchase.

Example: If I buy a property or 4 million baht (with funds from outside of Thailand) and sell it 5 years later for 8 million baht, would I be able to take the whole 8 million baht out of Thailand?

Is there any documentation or structure that I would need to take the 8 million sale amount outside of Thailand?

I'd appreciate any advice.

Palm "wood" does not really have any value. It's not really a wood, more a large plant stock. Rubber wood is quite valuable. The numbers you have on production starting times are correct. Keep in mind that though they do start producing at those ages (3-4 years for palm, 7 for rubber) the production is not high when that young.

There are a lot of good figures on palm from Malaysia (in English) that you can find on the internet.

As for land price. 35-40,000 thousand baht per rai barely makes sense to me for exclusively agriculture land. You will still turn a decent proffit in the long run at current crude palm and rubber prices but there is always risk in owning a farm/plantation - floods,fire,insects etc.

If you're paying anything over 40,000 baht per rai for agriculture land, it makes much more sense to me to just put the money in a cd earning 6-7% per year. Way less risk (depending on the currency - I'm not a US Dollar fan!).

The land is for agriculture use in Nakhon Si Thammarat. We purchased it a few years ago. Land prices have increased a-lot since then. 40,000 baht a rai is still a standard rate on basic agriculture land though. Your wife might be looking at land too close to a city or town?

For 35,000-50,000 baht you should still be able to get decent agriculture land with a good title these days. I just passed on 30 rai chanote in Chiang Yai for 40,000 baht per rai.

World usage is around 85 million barrels a day. The range given in the article would equal a world supply of anywhere between 2 - 9 days. A drop in the bucket.

After the production expenses and Chevron's take, I don't see that there will be such a huge sum of money that allows the Cambodian government to be any more corrupt than it already is.

Thanks for the input.

We had the soil tests done before planting and have been maintaining fertilizer according to the tests. The land was briefly used for rice but was just left sitting for almost a decade before the palm crop was planted. The soil was in reasonably good shape. The trees are looking good now but are only 1 year old and not producing fruit bunches yet. I was a bit worried that the water level was so near the soil surface but so far so good!

^Timber,

Just curious for an opinion,

My wife's oil palm crop is planted on old rice land in what was once a low and flood prone area south of Nakhon Si Thammarat city toward the coast. You may be aware of the large project started by the King in the area to better drain the area (Chiang Yai).

Anyway, the area is dry most of the year now and the tree's are looking fine 1 year on. We've adding A LOT of drainage cannals to the land to help the water along when it rains too much - nothing is high and dry either.

Have you seen similar approaches in other areas? I'm out of Thailand most of the time and cannot compare. Oil Palm is a recent development in that area and there are no mature plantations to compare it to.

What general problems have you noticed in plantations that are on old rice farms? You mentioned in your last post that you think yeild could be 50% higher in a lot of them. Thanks.

My uncle is currently assisting charities in Thailand and is thinking of having his foundation based here.

Has anyone worked with a lawfirm doing something similar? Any suggestions?

His foundation is currently set up in Hong Kong. It allows him to donate all funds worldwide with the requirement that roughly 20% is used for charitable causes specifically in HK. He would prefer a similar arrangement in Thailand because the money would go so much farther here. We are not aware of what structure charitable foundations take in Thailand at this point.

I appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

The price paid to the grower is determined by the fruit bunch weight and the going market rate. It's been about 2.5 to 3 baht per kg lately.

I have not found much info from Thai websites but luckily there is a wealth of info from Malaysia and much of it is written in English. There average production per ha there is about 20 tons per year.

100 rai is equal to 16 ha.

Not a bad return. Hope this helps.

My wife purchased 100 rai in Nakhon Si Thammarat last year. The land price was 15,000 baht per rai (title has been changed to her name at ampur). It is being turned into an oil palm plantation. We are not going to be living in Nakhon Si Thammart but nearby around Songkhla and were worried about not being able to keep an eye on a rubber crop so we decided on palm. It seems that a lot of rubber production goes missing when the owner is not around to watch it.

Palm is harvested twice a month and we can be onsite during the harvest. It has been a bit of a worrying start with the recent heavy flooding down here. About 100 trees were lost of the 2,000 planted. We are now having to go in and raise a low patch on the property which can be done for about 1,200 per rai.

The prices I have seen for existing palm and rubber plantations is over the top. It seems much better to buy raw land and do it yourself if you have the time. Palm will take 3-4 years to start producing and rubber will take about 7.

With the current prices for palm and rubber it seems land can be a good earner in the future. I'm betting commodity prices continue to rise though. I am hoping with the advent of bio-diesel that the palm price can be at least stabalized where it is now and hopefully move higher.

Feel free to PM me if I might be of help.

I started that thread a year ago about pre-fab homes. I found Delice Thai Co and a few others that I cannot remember off the top of my head. I recently found an interesting company out of Phuket using pre-fab steel skeltons with Aussie technology. Here is a link: http://smarthomes-thailand.com/

Check out a site called yahoo

He works out of Jomtien. He has some good tips. There are also pictures of his previous work in the area.

I also like looking at coolthaihouse.com

It tells of one persons home building experience. I belive it was in the Pattaya area.

I apreciate the response. I'm resigned now to not worrying about it. She wanted to do it and I wish her luck. We don't live in the area and it gives her father something to watch over in retirement so everyone seems happy. I was curious though. It all sounds shady when you try to compare it to land use laws in the West, but... mai bpen rai!

My wife took some of her investement money and just purchased a bit of land near her family's home. It's wasn't too much money so I didn't question her too much about the title. I believe it's called a Tor Bor Gor.

She says this:

The land was given to the original owner by the government quite a long time ago. She has paid this person and went to the ampur to change it to her name. The document has been given a new number in her name and she is now waiting on a stamp to make it official which she says will take about 3 months to get. At this point the land is hers but with the title it will have she will not be able to sell it. The land is only for agricultural use.

Also her father helped her arrange the deal and he's an honest guy and holds a admisnistrative position in the local government. He doesn't seem worried about it.

I'm much more familiar with Chanot and Nor Sor Sam but then again you do pay the premium for a good land title. Has anyone had any experience with the above mentioned type of title? My wife claims that if she does have a crop grown on it and pays taxes on that income that she can eventually have the title changed (upgraded). True?

Thanks.

.

Sounds great! I could always use a nice tan. Just a moment while I write a check...

You might take a look at everbank.com

Forbs ebank of the year 4 years running and FDIC insured for 100K. Many options with good rates. I've found them easy to use though I was a bit nervous about using an internet based bank at first.

They also have good options for CD accounts in a number of currencies. These are also FDIC insured.

I think the bug spray isn't such a good idea either. If you are living there long term you don't want to be around that stuff daily. It has to be bad for you to take anti-malarials year in and year out. Just look at the Thai's around you. They are not dropping left and right are they? Just know the early symptoms and if you are unluky and get sick treat it early.

elliotwave.com is a good place to go for the deflation angle. I'd welcome it but we'll see...

I've noticed a lot of people talking about gold and commodities on some of these threads. I've been following Doug Casey on the sidelines for the past 5 years but never subscribed to the newsletter. From the bits I did read of his he made a good case for gold a few years back which I purchased and I did quite well with some foreign currency suggestions of his at everbank.com (which is a great way to buy foreign currency cd's BTW)

Anyway, I know that International Speculator is all about gambling but is there anyone out there that's been using it for a while? How did it work for you? Generally good advice? I'm only 27 and have only been following financial markets for about 5 years so I would appreciate any one who has had experince with this. It's a pricy subscription!

I second the Kitco.com suggestion. Very easy. I've also used Asset Stragtegies Inernational (they have a website) to buy bullion though I have not used their Perth Mint Cert option which I've heard good things about. You cannot purchase gold bullion at these places with a credit card and will need to either do a wire transfer or send a check. You can go to kitco.com right now and secure some coins at a price not much above the spot price. Keep in mind that coins such as Krugerrands (and I belive Eagles) do have an ounce of gold in them but also a bit of other metals so that they are harder. Maple Leafs and Aussie coins are 100% gold.

I think the gold price is going to go up in a big way so I wouldn't bother trying to save a few bucks here in Bangkok by buying bars. Coins just seem so much easier to move when you want to sell and you'll have a lot less worry about getting ripped off.

No problem udon. I kept the links on my computer for reference a while back. When I wrote you saying that I think Issan might be a bit dry I had the section you pasted in mind. On the otherhand, Southern Thailand is close to the too much rain side of the spectrum. I think this would be great for someone in central Thailand. I've been trying to find a map that shows teak's natural range in Thailand but have not come up with one yet.

Anyway, costs are not so bad and my wife and I have a few smaller plots of land (5 rai or so) scattered about and did not want to take the time to put plots that small over to agriculture or other labor intensive growing (rubber, palm oil). The trees will be ok in 20 years and we figure at about that time we'll have kids ready for university. We figure it's a good way to help 'em with the cost.

I'm heading back south mid December to get everthing finalized and get the trees in the ground. My wife's father is a good resource of info about this. PM me in a few months if you are still interested in this and I'll probably have some more info for you.

I'd be a bit worried about weather patterns in Issan in the future though. Global warming seems to be the hot topic these days and while you won't be living in a desert anytime soon I think it will get consitantly drier each year up there.

I've seen the 40k residency deal in Panama. I think the minimum investment in hardwood tree plantation would be 40K USD to get the visa and many companies have set up to sell you a plot for the minimum 40 thousand. The problem is that you only get a few acres for your money. I'm sure you would do much better there if you were on the ground. 40K is about 1.6 million baht. You could plant 50 rai in Thailand for that money.

Here are some websites that can help:

http://forests.org/archive/general/manteak.htm

http://www.forest.go.th

http://www.dedp.go.th/reports/energy.asp?

http://www.dedp.go.th/reports/document.asp...&name=sitener42

http://www.custom.go.th/cgi-bin/statistic/normal.cgi

http://www.fti.or.th/nfti/group/

http://www.fti.or.th/nfti/group/thai/g02/panel-index.html

http://www.fti.or.th/nfti/group

http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/37/Trees.html

The last website if for escapeartist.com - it's a fun website but full of people trying to make a buck. Anyway, if you read between the BS it's great for ideas and some info.

I think Issan might be a little dry for teak trees? I'm more familiar with the south though and don't know much about your neck of the woods. I know that the Thai government has different programs around the country and you might be able to get your hands on some free trees to start up with.

I'm only 26 so this works out fine for me but I think at minimum that this is a 20 year investment.

I forget the name of the department store at MBK (Japanese name) but they have it in their booze shop. Not too expensive and a few to choose from.