SGD

1997 through to 2006 was fuelled by people from the USA and Europe experiencing fx rates way over the norm to the degree that many established a new norm in their own heads with no reference to the economy or anything else tangible, thinking they would just get comparatively richer and richer. Their wealth was not earned, it was not saved, it was largely free money which miraculously appeared as their house prices rose. Now they are finding out that their plans were as solid as a house built of cards.

My Pattaya time doesn't go back nearly as far as my Thailand time but I did live on the ground in Pattaya for some years. Pattaya certainly wasn't as laid back as I first found Samui but neither was Samui the same at the time I found Pattaya. Bangkok was somehow more stable, less changed, or so it seemed.

Outside a few corporate types, Pattaya was run on much friendlier lines. Business was seemingly about getting by and having a good time, not screwing the last baht out of the mug punter. Now they want your last satang as well.

People were friendlier but I largely put that down to their lack of materialistic desire. Shelter, food, sanook seemed to be the order of the day. No need for thousand dollar i-this or i-that. No expectations of becoming rich and little desire to leave Thailand. Now most want all the crap they think they need and yet, even if they have fleeced some sucker of his life savings and had him build houses in the jungle, they still revert to type and pi55 all the money away in no time at all. Then back to the bar.

They are living in the 21st century but their ability to cope with it is limited by their 17/18/19th century social development. Oh, and the rich Thais still screw them over as always.

..... Make this a positive issue NOT a bar closer issue.

But the very headline in this headline grabbing post by Thai Visa is 100% about bar closures !

If you bump someone off and you don't want to go to jail forever then you are going to have to come up with a better hiding place than next to the freezer in your cellar.

Ain't that what crocodile farms are for ?

I haven't kept up to date on this as it is still some time away but I thought I'd ask around and perhaps get some feedback.

Currently she is coming up to 18 months in the UK. She's studying to pass her Life in UK test and is now passing online so a real test is coming up quite soon.

As I understand it, we get to around 2 years (she travelled a day or so after getting visa) in the UK and we send off the £991 for ILR and then wait or pay £1377 for it to be done on the day / within a week sort of thing.

Not sure just what we need to put together for this but I'm sure it is fairly straightforward. Probably some evidences similar to the visa etc.

Then for the UK citizenship it is another year, applying 3 years after you entered and costs £851 http://www.ukba.home...es-feb-2012.pdf Then wait for the ceremony.

When would you be able to get a UK passport ?

Have I misunderstood anything ?

Can you also please inform your readers that they must never post their passport from Thailand to any other country for any reason because there will not be any evidence in their passport to show that they exited Thailand.

So you can explicitly send your passport from a country other than Thailand for any reason you choose, such as the renewing of a Thai visa.

..East European men tend to be kind of proud and self-centered and being on holiday makes them feel like masters of the world (I have money, I pay, I am king).

Ain't that the truth. Bring back communism, the Berlin Wall and restricted travel.

Chasing the lowest cost for everything is an Australian trait I have seen in many people I have met from that country. Unfortunately that desire to get it for the cheapest price possible is paramount even to the desire for quality. A big steak is better than a tasty steak seems the motto.

For TukCom or the Soi Bukhao market on Tuesdays and Fridays, we just park at the temple complex on Pattaya Tai Road near 2nd Road.

Costs 20 baht for as long as you want to park.

Beats double or illegal parking, with possibly a 400 baht ticket.

Since when did the temple raise its parking fee to Bt20 from Bt10 ?

You have to remember that the number of retirees is rising exponentially and we haven't seen masses of old people being forced to visit the idea of medical care in old age.

Personally I think there will be relative carnage. People won't have the money and often their home countries won't want them back.

Just go to any thread about living costs and 90% plus of folk are on about how little you can exist on rather than how nice their retirement is. I suspect that once you cut through the rubbish, the true picture is that the vast majority of retirees are broke or near broke and they simply cannot afford to retire anywhere else. The flip side of this is that those with substantial retirement income have decided to retire elsewhere.

Get a house. You could pick up a decent house with private pool for 25k and up though you'll find more avoiding agent mark ups. You don't then have "Pattaya" thrust in your kids' faces every moment of every day as you would in an apartment on Jomtien or Pattaya beach. A lot of estates have 7/11s.

You'll need a car. Living with kids and using baht buses is not a long term proposition.

I lived there with a kid, both in my apartment and then house. There is no comparison at all. Once you go to a house, all apartments seem a step backwards.

what exact area did you want to stay, ????

That is the exact point I want to avoid.

If I suggested I was willing to pay BtXXXXX a week, I would like to see just what sort of property that would get me in a number of places. I can already drill down through agents after picking a specific place.

I lived in Thailand and have been to a great many places and there are some I would like to visit for the first time but I am not set on any one area or indeed any season. I want to weigh up the value of each place so that I can choose at ease.

I rented a large house with pool last year and it was quite successful but I had to choose a location, then find agents, then ask about short terms rentals and finally ask about dates.

Is there a resource, a website really, where you can see houses from more than one location at the same time so that you can compare say, just what Bt25,000 a week or Bt150,000 a month gets you in different places.

Obviously, with some places more popular than others so that prices will not be the same in Phuket as in Nakhon Nowhere for example.

Most small businesses are not true businesses at all. In their place you could put a number of operations and make money (or lose it) as the location dictates the profitability for most. Of course you can alter this at the margins through good or bad management but the fundamentals are driven by the location.

Thus, a profitable business sees their landlord jack up the lease / key money payments when you come to renegotiate it at around half way through a 3+3+3 and if you don't like it, you can leave. The problem is that your "business" is only profitable in that location and it will likely fail if you move it.

Hot money built these white elephant places and fools rushed in when steadier hands held back. The problem is as stated that the owners would rather have no income due to holding out for too high rents whilst letting the place going to the dogs through lack of maintenance.

Westerners have to understand that many Asians make the decision to purchase before they enter the shop. That is, they are going to buy whereas we will probably only buy if we feel it is good value or we may be comparing prices.

That is why you have the "flies round sh*te" clowns swarming on you because they assume you are going to buy and will buy from the loudest or on their "advice".

They also assume you are as ill educated and as lacking in knowledge as they are.

Of course the child support case is mentioned first by the "reporter" and the police - there is money involved !

I'd put it in the bank if uncomfortable having such an amount in the house. Whatever happens, you'd better have it handy for a year or more and even then, you will need to know if your missus can keep her mouth shut forever. And I mean forever.

Why not just post it here ?

My efforts thus far have come up against various Shengen signatories who do purport to offer longer term visas to certain qualifying classes akin to a 1, 2 or greater year multiple entry visa. However, when you dig into it, these seem usually for specific reasons; study, work etc. and not merely for tourism. I am trying to see whether there is an angle for investment but not holding my breath.

As ILR (with passport back) is still a year or so away and a UK passport 2 years away, then it would be really useful to get a 2 year visa as this could be used for a wide variety of countries. It would also permit the spontaneity of seeing a cheap Ryanair deal to somewhere and jetting off the following day, which is impossible at the moment.

I would stay well out of this. If you are planning on staying in Thailand for any length of time you do not need enemies amongst the locals. It might well be far more than your conscience that's keeping you awake at night

True but if the deceived guy is a friend of the OP, then surely he has a greater loyalty to him or are we just to throw away our spines and morals at the airport on the way in ?

Wife is in UK on settlement visa but not yet ILR but we wish to travel regularly to Europe. At present we need to get a visa for X months but is there a way to get a longer visa for a Shengen country ?

We are looking to buy property overseas and cannot really wait at the behest of various embassies each time.

If the guy is a friend and you need to counsel him on it then do so. You may save him a lot of money. However, I may not be so demanding as to outright scupper her application if there is less at stake.

However, her using a sponsor or not and using my friend would be critical in my decision.

Married, travelling together, accommodation booked etc., should be fine but not so easy on their own unless prior history.

I looked into it a couple of years ago and it seemed relatively painless.

And do you really think that all these debts will be wiped out ? of course not, the BiB will have a field day collecting on this.

The gravy train really came in with this one.

A good investment ? most probably no. A risky investment ? absolutely.

Invest the money outside Thailand in equities or even have some invested in Thailand and use the growth of that investment to fund any future land purchase.

I though of buying land and then woke up and realised that my kids are rather more worldly wise than to want some paddy fields in the back of nakhon nowhere. With the money they will have from more liquid investments, they can buy as much useless land as they want, or not !