patongphil

Hey you lot take a look at my boots - cool stuff hey.

The Taxi-Meter company price for a pre-booked taxi from the airport to Krabi Town or Ao Nang is 2,000 baht.

But if your hotel will do it for 2,500 baht, that sounds like a reasonable offer.

Simon

Ha Ha the family connection raises it's head again.

Malaria etc aren't a concern at all.

Motor vehicle accidents are a concern but they would be in NZ as well. Here more so, but definitely not enough to make me move.

Education is roughly equal, once you factor in home schooling/tutoring. One of my co-workers here helps his son with maths/science/English in addition to the school curriculum. I think he does an awesome job of it and hope that I'll likewise have the time to do the same with my kids, as I think it more than makes up for the deficiencies of the Thai education system.

Particularly as my father never had much time to spend with my brother and I when we were young, because he was always working. As a result I never really knew my father, he passed away when I when I was 8, many family friends etc see it as a result of stress/working too hard. I have always told myself that I'm not going to follow the same path, that I want to spend time with my children, as you never know how much time you have left.

I went to school with a lot of kids from Asian countries. Their parents primarily wanted them to have a western education to learn English (since their parents aren't native English speakers). These kids with their international schools and private tutors usually arrived at my school and blitz'd us in math/science, only their English let them down (and only for the first few years, then they beat us on that too). Deans honors was almost exclusively (maybe 80%) a list of Asian names, particularly when you consider only around 1/4 of the students at my school were Asian. The attitude towards hard work and study was simply ingrained in them from a young age, where studying, doing homework and having a tutor were all "normal", whereas kiwi kids worry about being called a geek or a nerd, since its not part of our culture to study that hard. As such, yes I think tutoring etc can make up for the failings of the Thai education system.

The OP is close enough to Khon Kaen to send their kids to better schools than I'll be able to, so he is fortunate and will be able to put his kids in a good position education wise.

Something surprised me about education comparisons between Thailand and the west. Met a couple the other day who had just returned from the

UK with a 9 year old daughter. Placed her here in a private school in Phuket and found she was way behind her peers who had only been schooled in Thailand.

The daughter by the way is in an EP class doing the standard Thai curriculum and is not in an international school.

You only hear rumours of the bad things about education standards here so good to actually hear something the other way for a change.

I have a great interest in all of this as we have a 2 year old and another on the way so read up and study all I can on the education options open to our family.

Good for you matt,while your in the uk raising your kids,i'll be here with mine.

Raising them in the bottom ranked in education of the 8 ASEAN countries.

Good call Jo, hope all that golf is worth it in the end.

There will be no mohammeds is my kids classes and no dole to prop them up when they fail.

Motorbike taxi operators???

Hey mister OP how many people have to tell you how many times that you will be wasting your time at any govt. offices.

The new, giant Tesco Lotus is going up fast in Chalong.

Anyone know when they will open for business?

I read somewhere that it was going to be early 2015, though the rate at which it's going up, that seems highly pessimistic.

Will put the big squeeze on Villa Mart once it ooens that is for sure.

It sounds as if you would be buying into an existing business rather than buying the business itself right?

In which case, specialist knowledge of the business itself is not essential, but you should "know" the present owner/manager and believe them to be straight and honest people (or at least know of no specific reason that they couldn't be trusted) plus you need to assure yourself of the legitimacy of any stated reason for the required investment (be it a need to take money out for personal use or to invest in something related to the business).

Then it comes down to common sense and the ability to do simple maths involving the following numbers.

1. The amount you need to invest

2. What that investment is secured upon (ie percent of "business" shares in a limited company etc)

3. What your expected returns are

4. What your recourse is if the expected returns don't materialise etc.

If you are satisfied that your return is reasonable and that the business can afford to pay you what it is supposed to pay you when it is supposed to pay you and most importantly you have a way to get your money out if it can't then it could be a goer but ALWAYS factor in that you could lose all of your investment due to an unforeseen reason, with any business anywhere but more so here.

Thanks for that. You are correct in that I am looking at buying into an existing business which is looking to raise some capital for an expansion.

All the numbers are fairly robust and I have been involved from the outside for a number of years.

I am only looking for advise on a basic tool to evaluate the actual worth of the company in order to assess the percentage I can expect for the baht invested.

I wonder how many of the posters in this thread are even remotley as successful in their businesses as the owner of WC.

The mind boggles - jet skis in the Similans wow.

Could this be the worlds biggest Choke coming up?

I have the oppurtunity to buy into a small business here in Thailand. It is a Day Care come Nursery school which has been operating for a number of years and shows strong profits.

What I need to know is how to put a value on such an enterprise?

Internet searches lead me to evaluate the "Goodwill" part at 3 times Weighted Annual Profit.

Then add this to the value of capital invested. to get the Full value.

Is this a real and acceptable way to evaluate the business?

A business generating a profit of 50,000 baht a month is fairly valued at 50,000 X 12X 3 equals 1.8 million in any REAL evaluation. If you can sell it for 12 million then do so and then run becaause the new owner will be after you big time.

Thanks much for those posts, OK so the Land Dept will give out this info, then ?

to further the question Do I go to the city hall, the District building or the Land Dept in Phuket town? The land area I want to inquire about is in a city.

.

Mate you will really be wasting your time trying to find out land sale prices from the land office. Everybody, and I mean everybody, grossly understates the sale values so as to reduce the tax payments.

You are only supposed to wear white if you are actively vegetarian at the time. And NO BOOM BOOM either.

From Kata towards Chalong about 20-30m before the circle on the right side (next to a green Pharmacy sign), the chicken rice.

Through the circle towards Phuket Town on Chaofa East, Hua Soi thai kitchen next to the Chalong poilce station.

A bit past the police station next to the purple Siam Commercial bank, the duck noodles.

Down the road past the yellow Ayuthaya bank next to gold shop (big red signs), the prawn/ pork noodles (Chinese-y style; full of Koreans).

Further down the road opposite the Flints-one bakery is the kanom jeen shop (their 'haw mok' to die for).

If you are on Chaofa West road, opposite the Honda showroom (where to road leads towards Kathu/ Wichit Police Station), there is a pork noodle/ rice shop; they serve satay as well.

I agree about the chicken rice shop just by the circle being tatsy but they really take the piss with their prices. Just todaythey tried to charge me 100 baht for a chicken and rice special plus a coke. Eventually paid them 70 baht and will not be back. Another case of farang pricing means they have lost a customer who was good for a few visits a week. Som Nom Na as far as I am concerned.

And this is the burning question: can we take frogs overseas?

Something I`ve always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask.

How do you think the French get home?

Most people around Sarakham head off to KKC or even Ban Phai to yak yak with other expats. Will depend on what side of Sarakham you are.

My Mrs. is not from Isan, she's not a farm girl, and she is not Hi-So Chinese. She is from Nahkon Si Thammarat, so I have learned to sleep with my eyes open.

Same here. Although, I keep my eyes closed and trust the wife to deal with any cat burglars in true NST style

People steal your cats

My Mrs. is not from Isan, she's not a farm girl, and she is not Hi-So Chinese. She is from Nahkon Si Thammarat, so I have learned to sleep with my eyes open.

Where/how did you guys meet? Here in Phuket? Buddhist or Muslim? I get alot of grief from other expats for having a muslim girl but she doesnt drink or gamble and seems very motivated compared to some of the lazy "kept women" I have encountered here.

Did you convert to Islam?

Go and have a look at Prachaup Kiri Khan - you will be pleasantly surprised. If I didn't have kids of school age I would be there in a flash.

Why don't you use a private (but fully legal/licenced) taxi service?

Some of my family members operate legal taxi-meter cars at the airport and the fee to Patong at any time of night is 800 baht if you prebook with them.

A little-known fact:

The rate is only higher at night if you use the taxi-meter office at the airport. but if the taxi-meter drivers (not only my family but any taxi-meter driver) has a prebooking with you and meets you at the airport with their signboard, then the rate is not increased just because the sun has gone down!

you can PM if this sounds of interest.

Simon

NOTE to mods - this is not my hotel taxi that I'm promoting - it is a normal yellow/blue taxi-meter service that operates from the airport, but a little-known fact about their service which they probably prefer night arrivals not to know.....

Good to see your family members are "only" charging 800 baht to Patong.

I did something similar when I moved out of my place in the UK.

I wasn't sure how long I would stay in Thailand for so I rented a storage unit and put everything in there.

After a couple of years I decided to get rid of it all apart from a few boxes, an almost new TV, pool table and computer which are stored in relatives houses.

I told my brother to sell / dump whatever he could and got him to handle it. I motivated him to do this by telling him he could keep any proceeds he makes.

My storage unit cost about 13,000 Baht per month so I'm making a reasonable saving, after two years it's no longer worth it and if I do return to the UK at some point in the future I'll just buy a bunch of new stuff.

Very similar to what I did. After paying storage for some 5 years I eventually phoned my nephew up and told him he could have the lot, sell or bin up to him. He made a few thousand dollars and I have saved much more.

Sometimes you have to make the call that you really will not be going back.

Wow looks like I have been hoodwinked here in that I have always believed service charge went to the staff 100%. To now hear otherwise, especially from the boss of a fairly large chain, certainly puts a different light on things.

Whay call it a service charge if it isn't really?

And the other ones at the intersection that peels off to icon. I doubt they will be actually turned on

Did not see those yet, even though I pass there every day.

The problem is that right of way is not very clear at quite a few intersections, including these.

Drivers on the main road have right of way in Thailand, and that road runs from Patak Road in Kata all the way down to Nai Harn Beach. So at the intersection in Kata (one way Kata-one way Kata Noi-one way Nai Harn/Rawai up the hill) traffic coming from Kata has right of way, at the 'Icon intersection' traffic coming from Kata going direction Nai Harn have right of way, and at the M&M/Cheers intersection traffic coming from Sai Yuan going direction Nai Harn Beach has right of way.

You sure you weren't a traffic cop in a previous life?