khunPer

You can own a condo if 51% of the condo owners in the building are Thais; i.e. your condo is within the 49% quota that is allowed for foreigners. It woeks same way as shareholders in a Thai company limited.

I think that "The Man with the Golden Gun" movie is so yesterday now that nobody cares anymore, young folks don't know the film and would likely be extremely disappointed if they did...

I played songkran without sun protection – wet and didn't feel the burning thing up there above the fluffy white things – however, I'm extremely disappointed that all my sufferings didn't make it to the news...

Land-of-Smiles might be modest, here is the to me known Thai gender list (quote)... (Straight) Male A man who likes women. (Straight) Female A woman who likes men. Tom (Tomboy) A woman who dresses like a man and likes women or Dees. Dee A woman who likes manly women or Toms. Tom Gay A woman who likes women, Toms, and Dees. Tom Gay King A manly Tom who likes Toms. Bi(sexual) A woman who likes bisexuals, Toms, lesbians, and men. Boat A man who likes women, Gay Kings, and Gay Queens (does not include Ladyboys). Gay Queen A womanly man who likes men. Gay King A manly man who likes men. Tom Gay Two-Way A Tom who can be both a Tom Gay King or Tom Gay Queen. Tom Gay Queen A womanly Tom who likes Toms. Lesbian A woman who likes women. Kathoey/Ladyboy A man who wants to be a woman. Adam A man who likes Toms. Angee A Kathoey who likes Toms. Cherry A woman who likes gay men and Kathoey (Ladyboys). Samyaan A woman who likes Toms, lesbians, and women, and can also be any of them.”

Now, my reply was quite personal. However, sure, there is something like 18 possible amazing genders in all kind of rainbow-colours...

As always, there are a lot of factors to consider when "investing" in property, especially if you are looking for gain rather than a home. Thailand might not be the ideal place for property as gain investment, especially in the more affordable end of the market. In general the saying in Thailand is that a building lose value over time – being used and become old – while the land under the building gain value.

Actually more than one lawyer suggesting it – are you a Thai lawyer?...

"Best things about Thailand"... Girls, girls, girls...

What I refers to is however the lawyer-method, I never had to use it myself, but my lawyer advised me about it – and yes, after the law was tightened concerning nominee shareholders – and yes, you need an experienced lawyer with knowledge in both company set-up and property registration to handle it...

Friday 4th July and Saturday 5th July by Chaweng Lake, 13th anniversary of Alternative Rhythm Riders... Charity for: Purchase medical equipment for Koh Samui Hospital, rescue workers in Koh Samui area and promote tourism on Koh Samui... Admission ticket without charity t-shirt: 350 baht. Entrance to the concerts through the pirate ship that is built by the lake...

First thing always to remember is the old saying that runs something like: "To make a small fortune in Thailand, you need to begin with a big fortune". There are of course several successful businesses with foreign ownership, but there are also many small businesses that gives up – and some investors that lose (all) their savings. To establish a company at present you'll need 2 shareholders and minimum 51% owned by Thais. You cannot use nominees, the Thai shareholders might be asked to prove that they have their own funds for the investment. According to lawyers you can control the company by using preferred shares, where the foreign shareholder(s) owns a number of preferred shares with 10 votes per share, while the Thai shareholders owns normal shares with one vote per share. Another method can be that a Thai shareholder has preferred shares with no voting rights, but instead a guranteed dividend payout of for example 4% of the nominal amount of the shares. Both methods might let you gain voting control over the company. In short, you need to find one or more Thai business partners that can legally afford to invest in your company. When a company buys land, some land offices will only accept 39% foreign ownership. If you have 49% foreignownership, this can often be arrenged by temporary transferring 10% of the shares to Thais, and then revert the shares after land title deed is registed. Another possibility is to lease land on 30-years agreement. There is no such ting as 30+30 or more years, or 3+3+3 years' rental agreements. When renting land for more than 3 years it need to be registered on the title deed in the land office and a tax of 1% of the total agreed lease sum for the whole period shall be paid. For one working permit for a foreigner you'll need a company capital of not less than 2 million baht and 4 Thai employees. You cannot expect to be a tour guide, this work is reserved for Thais. In general a foreigner can only perform management jobs and jobs requiring special skills. Russians and other foreigners might run a business on the edge of the law or in a gray-zone – it might cost them some fees for cookies in some tea money boxes – now and then you can read in the news about these illegal business getting closed by authorities. The benefit of moving one's savings – or part of it – to Thailand is that you are free from currency exchange rate fluctations. However, it's difficult to gain a reasonable profit or interest. The Thai equity market lives a kind of it's own life, only partly affected by the the World market. It might be a good time to invest, as the stock prices has gone down during the past few years and are low know – but bear in mind, they can fall to an even lower value, if foreign stock investers continue to money of out. However, a number of large well-run Thai companies can in average give you a paid dividend around 4% per year after withheld dividend tax. 4% is the average hand rule of what you gain when not into (very) high risk investments. Establishing a business in Thailand I will consider as high risk. You really need to do your home work of demand for a kind of business, rather than outliving a dream of what you wish to do, or what would be nice to do. 4% dividend from a good 6-figure savings – which depends of which currency the six-figures are in – might be more safe than opening a business. You might also find more fun to enjoy your life when not running a company in a foreign country with different rules than you might be used to. For your info: I have – i.e., 49% ownership – a Thai company limited that owns a n umber of land plots, which are rented out; furthermore the company has some othe activities. I'm only a shareholder and board member – director – while dauly managment is a Thai. Furthermore I have private investmen ts in SET-equity – SET is short for Stock Exchange of Thailand – that gives me the around 4% dividend, which adds some extra to my retirement pension and savings from abroand. So, I fully enjoy my life in "Paradise"...😎

Sad, really sad, but same old story...

I know, but the problem is not the transformer from high voltage to low voltage, the problem is a broken low voltage cable/line. In my case salty corrosion in a connection on the line by the beachfront.

To my knowledge neutral is grounded on every second mast. Both remaining phases worked perfect as 220 volt supply.

Thanks for the hint, that might be useful for some on Samui. My three phases on a good day with sunshine and tailwind... On a bad rainy day with headwind the voltage can be as low as around 90 – the lowest I've seen – and up to over 300... Voltage can even shift rapidly... I use a few automatic voltage stabilizers and numerous UPS units to protect sensitive electronic equipment, which so far probably have saved lots of electronic lifes from fatal electrocution...

Yes, single phase; i.e., 220 volt. You need one for each circuit or phase with sensitive equipment. Photo is the inside of my protection box for my three aircon circuits, phase-protectors with magnetic switches...

A difficult balance with wild large animals sharing living-space with humans.

Hopefully the foreign driver will be number 28,809+1...

Yes, a Norwegian man ran around and killed five people with a crossbow in the town Kongsberg in Norway in July 2011 – the method and choice of weapon might seem familiar to Norwegians...

Or just Phanom Rung-inspired – the temple in Buri Ram Province – and don't forget that Siam Reap once was part of Thailand. In fact, the present Cambodians should be very happy that they still have the original Angkor Wat, after Rama IV gave up moving the temple complex and had to settle with a miniature-copy in Wat Phra Kaew next to the royal palace...

Plenty. I'll tell slightly detailed, as others might be also be interested in how it worked well for me and her. 1) For the language gap I invested in en English language school to improve her already modest English. Doing that is a benefit for both me – if the relationship lasts – and her, as good English skills improve job possibilities and salary. The same school also had en IT-course, so Word and Office got included in the tuition. We are back in 2004, where IT and computers were uncommon in Thai school-system, even rare in many government offices. I had her to quit her work as receptionist in a small hotel or guesthouse, se she could learn full time. I paid her living costs and we had long-time rented a bungalow bungalow in a different part of the country, to where she had been working; i.e. she moved from Hua Hun to Samui, if you wish the details. The rest is a matter of mutual trust in each other – thais are also sceptical about farangs... 2) Culture gap is depending of both parts, if both are ready to learn and accept other culture. Part was leaning my future girlfriend about my Western culture. So the following European summer I "invited" her the visa-possible periode three month to Denmark, and furthermore started with more impressions of European culture by a holiday to Paris in France. Visiting neighbouring Sweden was self-understood, also some of the Danish cultural stuff like castles, museum and other events. Living in my country was a compromise of two cultures, where we had Thai food when she cooked, and I made farang-food when I cooked; and when we were dining out it was foreign food for her. She also learned how to make farang food and was an excellent host for summer garden parties taking care of BBQ-steaks and accessories. The following two years we repeated the same in the summer, having holiday trips to Italy – Rome, Neapels and Venice – the next year, and Britain the third year. Each year new culture events to visit in Denmark. We mingled with my Danish friends – only one of them had a Thai wife – so there was not what often happens when a Thai girlfriend visit a farang in his home country, where the circle of friends change to be Thai-oriented – the whole idea was to teach about my home country's farang-culture. The plan had all time been that I would change four seasons with pleasant all-year-summer – she was not interested in moving to mu country, she told me right from the beginning – so, the remaining 9 month of each European cold period I commuted between Denmark and Thailand, 6-7 times a year ("Always look at the bright side of life": THAI punished me with a gold card and always upgraded me to business class, my lovely girlfriend never tried a monkey class trip to Europe...😀). After I moved to Thailand we still travelled to Europe as tourists, and also visited Singapore and Cambodia. In Thailand I would buy her any books she wanted – she loved to read, and there was no soap-opera TV in the bungalow – to improve her interest. She chose mainly Thai-translations of Western book, among these the Harry Potter-series and Dan Browns book beginning with "The Da Vinci Code". This was great, as we could enjoy the films together when they appeared, and furthermore first years European trip to Paris included Louvre, which was part of the da Vinci Code – the reason for my choice of destiantion, because it had meaning for her – next year Rome and the Vatican, as that was the following year's Dan Brown-book. 3) Our age gap is almost 32 years – me from 1949, her from 1981 – but I works well. She considers me to teach her due to my longer life-experience. I need her to teach me about Thai culture – many of the several books about Thai culture and relationships came later – it was especially important when visiting the Isaan-area, where she originated from; she comes from the Khmer-area. Also, I'm more into contemporary music than nostalgic 60s and 70s stuff. And then I like partying in the nightlife – that one of the reasons to chose Samui – and enjoy the funky newer music; I'm actually a fair, if not cool, dancer and prefers house music. Age gap becomes small in time. I was more than double her age when we met – 22 vs. 54 – now we heading for only one third, 44 vs almost 76. We still head out in the night life together, enjoys concerts together, both dine out or candlelight dinner for two at home, some times shopping together – some times better to be alone, when I look for things a man is interested in, and she wish to try an endless row of clothes or similar check of makeup – seeing new films or taking a trip up to Bangkok for some event like a concert, etc. Furthermore we daily talk about what happens in the news, both Thailand and the World; She would normally by little more up to date with the Thai news as I have to wait until ASEAN NOW and other English sources gets it translated next day, while I might be a bit on the forefront with World news. But we also – and that might be equal important – give each other time. So, she is better of alone with her friends than taking a farang to sit alone in a corner not interested in what girls chats about and hardly understand it, if he was interested. The same when some of my Danish friends visits me. Subject might not be of interest for a Thai – some talks much about the happy old nostalgic time – and often change of language to Danish is preferred, as not all are that good in speaking English, which is needed to be polite to the Thai, sitting by the table. In that way we avoid boring situations, when we do not share interests. - - - A young lady with no children might be interested in having family, and since I never had found money and time for it at home, I was also interested in having an heir. Therefore the single moms in their 40s in my home country, who was interested in me, had no interest at all from my side. So, a young girlfriend would be a perfect match – and we got a daughter together, she is soon leaving the teen-era. In conclusion: "Nobody is perfect", but "some like it hot", a young or younger partner og spouse – we are not married, just boyfriend/girlfriend, it's more easy. So far we have been able to share a fair level of culture and interest for 22 years; and as I'm planning for at least 22 more years, she might at one point need to accept to take care of a grumphy old man...

Thanks... it's indeed very true...

Not unlikely at all. It's totally depending of personality and life-style. I met my present Thai girlfriend when I was 54 and she was 23. So, about same age difference. I'm 75 years young now, and we are both still in prime of our life and in same both mentally and physically place...

But might mean something little later this year if you are tax-planning – the government want more funds invested in Thailand – however, if the government survives...

She can walk out, if she so wish. But, she might have obligations to the mama san – if what she say about money and getting started is true – and she might (also) get a split on the final bar-fine. It's not umcommon that there is a (kind of voluntary) sum to be paid, and prices might have increased to 50k baht... Also worth to remember that a 58 year old man might not find love only from 26 year old stunning lade – even she is a single mom – she might first of all need for a stady provider for her and her 8 year old daughter, and also the lottery ticket for an upgraded better future. However, it can be win-win and work well – and love can grow in a benefitial relationship...