khunPer

It's with AXA. Their smartcare prime 2 plan 4. Had a couple of claims in the past with me being a clumsy bugger. Never a problem and I didn't pay a penny in private hospital. As much morphine as I could handle!

Problem is I'm 68 and the cheapest private insurance is way too expensive .

Some companies offers a senior PA, Bangkok Bank for example have one up to 100 years of age (PA 1st Senior Plan), costs from about 2,000 to 5,000 baht/year depending of coverage. Kasikorn Bank may also have one. SCB changed in theirs, so they have separate PA for foreigner that is a bit more up-price, but also with higer benefits. However, most Thai PAs don't cover much for medical.

In my experience Thais who marry Thais marry around the same age. My in-laws are the same age, my sister-in-law and husband are the same age, cousins, friends, etc, all within a couple of years of each other. Most poor, divorced Thai women with children take what they can get. Sad, but society sees them as damaged goods, old, used, etc,. unless of course they are well off, then every Tom, Dick and Harry is queuing up.

But these same Thai guys have no problems keeping a younger mistress or visiting a brothel.

Out cultural baggage gives us the urge to marry the woman we want to sleep with, theirs doesn't.

I see your point, but then after xx amount of years of marriage I doubt there are many men who don't have the urge to sleep with someone other than their wife. I'd say it's pretty normal considering men think about a sexually related something every minute or so. Some act on it others drown out the desire through booze or long working hours.

You may need to cover yourself by a PA (Personal Accident insurance) or travel insurance, in Thailand you never know unless public transport company, don't depend on the carrier have one.

Depending if looking for a provider or...
–Presume most, if not all, younger women dream about the handsum young prince at the white horse – ops, in the white Lambourghini...!

I have a child in Primary at Onnrak School. That is not an International School, but a private Thai School with English programme. It is a very nice (and new) school where about half the teachers are British or native English-speaking – we are happy to use it. In my opinion seems like a good combination of Thai language and culture and some degree of International level – many books (fx Science) are in English and follows British primary standard.

To my knowledge, from when we checked the schools here, Panyadee in Chaweng Noi (just south of Chaweng) is a British certified school, following British term (Onnrak follows Thai term, which is about half a year pushed). The main reason we did not choose Penyadee, however it appeared very attractive, was, that at that time they did not have a school bus service and we live quite a long way from the school.

I think, that if you only look for a one-year school solution at Samui before moving to Britain, you should seriously check Panaydee.

We have friends using ISS (previous called Blue Water School), one kid were moved to a boarding school in Bangkok (which may be better if you are going to continue education in Thailand), another kid were moved to Saint Joseph School in Nathon (do not know the exact reason).

About the comment in a post above about private school standard compared with public schools: If you are looking for a school with some level of English and understanding/standard beyond what’s going on in Thailand, you shall look for a private school, don’t expect much more but Thai during primary in a public school. Even the private school fee may seem relative expensive (depending on your financial situation), you do get something more than from a public school.

Saint Joseph in Nathon is a Catholic private school (they do not teach religion), which many Thai families use. To my knowledge Saint Joseph in some degree is better than the public Thai schools and has a lower fee than the other private schools – it is a quite big school and they do provide a fine minibus school bus service.

Normal practice to my experience in Thailand seems to be:

Seller pays broker commission/fee and tax at Land Department,

Buyer pays transfer fee at Land Department.

"We want good tourists to visit Thailand - not the [type of tourist] who does not want to enter because he or she has to pay Bt500 as an entrance fee," Pradit said.

I would presume, that the so-called “quality tourists” or “good tourists” are those who can afford and do have a health insurance in their baggage.

The problem may rather be the low budget tourists and low budget long time visitors/expats.

The good quality tourists may not be scared away because of a 500-baht entrance ticket, but then the entrance fee may be in excess as same tourists are already covered by their travel insurance (might be the whole idea: more money to distribute). A compulsory insurance check at Immigration would make more sense – just like many European (and presumable other) countries do before issuing a Visa – and those not able to present a valid insurance must “buy” the entrance fee.

However, then some people may count on, that they now can save the health or travel insurance, as 500 baht only may be cheaper – perhaps rather sell them a normal insurance at Immigration. For sure insurance companies will pay a commission and an administration surcharge may also be possible to claim, so the visitors learn to cover themselves before entering Thailand.

It’s fair enough that visitors don’t suck resources of the Thai emergency and health system. That’s same kind of check when expats extend their Visa at Immigration, they need to show a steady income or a bank deposit, so they can cover emergencies.

Just a heads up there is a big problem with this bug killing many of the coconuts in Koh Phangan and Samui. The chemical treatment you put on the tree annually to keep the pests off make the coconuts inedible for 4 months so if in your area if this issue is present I wouldnt bother growing coconuts. Supposedly when Yingluck came here last year and also visited Samui she launched some sort of invasive pest to the kill the coconut killing pest and we all know how those grand plans pan out. Massive backfire.

Samui bugs: Seems like the bugs only attack the inland coconut palm trees, in those palm trees by the beaches – or very close the beaches – there are no or almost no bugs, presumable because of the salt from the sea (the wind carries the salt a bit inland).

Just an off topic remark: Originally the Hainan Chinese population of Samui grew cotton, but the got pest in the cotton plants and gave up, changed “business plan” and began growing coconuts, quite successful and became the main quality coconut supplier, according to the Samui history. Now pest came again… However the coconut business is quite small at Samui today, the Chinese had once again changed their “business plan”, this time for tourism, and started to build small bamboo huts with coco palm leaf roofs for the backpacker invasion – and the most worthless land for growing coconuts little later brought the farmer families a fortune, now piled up with mainly high-end beach resorts.

The garbage truck driver charged?? I can only guess his truck is like the one that collects our rubbish during the night no warning lights, in fact no lights at all.

I often drive at Samui at night and have never even seen a working garbage truck without warning lights and big spots at the back, so the staff can see what they are doing during their work – they normally try to sort the garbage for reusable items. They park at the side of the road, but if other vehicles are parked, then the garbage truck will stop in 2nd position.

Driving at high speed anywhere at Samui is absolutely reckless. Speed limits are around 40 km/h all over the island – varies from 30 km/h to 50 km/h; yes, sometimes bit confusing signs stating both 40, 45 and 50 within few hundred meters, even the new 30 km/h pedestrian zones are mixed with the older 40 km/h signs – so many signs, that any driver must know high speed is not safe. However, we do see reckless high-speed drivers and we do see many accidents with so smashed vehicles, which presumably have been driving (much) faster than 50 km/h.

Speed limit's don't vary from 30km/h to 50km'h max this is not correct when you know please post again.

Many thanks for correcting me – and please inform what the speed limits are around the island Samui...?

the annual check up is one big joke, they check the Horne, lights, exhaust fumes omissions,

and that is all, no other safety features or equipment such as breaks, steering mechanism

is being looked at, and forget about the engine, they simply act as non of those cars even

have an engine,

fortunately there aren't many clackers on Bkk roads, as many of them end up going up country

of even to neighboring countries.

Some places the annual check-up is copying the chassis number, printing out a standard letter to the Transport Office and recieving 200 baht

It is standard practise to charge the surviving driver. Then an investigation takes place to decide whether to proceed with or drop the charges.

Hi Edwin, I htink you might want to re-read the article. It didn

t say the NZ chap was driving fast, it said he was driving in the fast lane. It went on to say that he drove into the rear of the garbage truck as it was parked to collect garbage which hints at the fact he was parked in the fast lane. Which is probably a crime even in Thailand?

Alwin, you need to re-read the article. It says that the garbage truck driver said that he was parked on the side of the road and that the car driver was operating at a high speed. So, using your noodle, you would have to conclude that, in order to hit the garbage truck and do the damage shown in the picture, one would have to be driving on the side of the road.

My guess, poor guy had a heart attack with his foot on the gas pedal and CRASH! May he RIP.

There are only one lane on Samui roads – sometimes plus a so-called “shoulder” normally used for parked motorbikes and cars, and garbage trucks if no one else park there – the only “high-speed” lane has various speed limits from 30 km/h to maximum 50 km/h.

The garbage truck driver charged?? I can only guess his truck is like the one that collects our rubbish during the night no warning lights, in fact no lights at all.

I often drive at Samui at night and have never even seen a working garbage truck without warning lights and big spots at the back, so the staff can see what they are doing during their work – they normally try to sort the garbage for reusable items. They park at the side of the road, but if other vehicles are parked, then the garbage truck will stop in 2nd position.

Driving at high speed anywhere at Samui is absolutely reckless. Speed limits are around 40 km/h all over the island – varies from 30 km/h to 50 km/h; yes, sometimes bit confusing signs stating both 40, 45 and 50 within few hundred meters, even the new 30 km/h pedestrian zones are mixed with the older 40 km/h signs – so many signs, that any driver must know high speed is not safe. However, we do see reckless high-speed drivers and we do see many accidents with so smashed vehicles, which presumably have been driving (much) faster than 50 km/h.

Yes

May be a good time now to buy some Thai stocks at low going rate.

Too many variables. Title, age of trees, access to the land, how desperate the owner is.......

I think the owner sounds pretty depesperate but the wife has the details not me. I think it is academic anyway but really looking for a get out. It is 100 rai and the owner is asking B 6 million. At a push I could come up with half a million but the wife thinks that I have a secret stash of cash some where. I just want to prove this is overpriced, which it sounds like to me. All I know is the trees, at least some, are prducing rubber now.

100 rai for 6 million sounds quite Okay in my opinion, that is 60,000 baht/rai. Not sure about landprices in Surat, but up north they sell plain farmland on low title deeds for 60,000+ a rai, some places way over 100,000, and with rubber trees already in place prices goes up.

If you don't buy it, please leave the details for us other TV-members, many of us may be interested for that price.

You don't need to marry for your child to have 2 passports. Sounds like your both content the way it is. Stay that way.

Depends which country you come from – if father from Denmark a child borned in Thailand with a Thai mother has no rights at all for a Danish passport.

I wonder if writing to the Princess on grounds of compassion would have helped? After all, she used to be nothing more than an ordinary run-of-the-mill real estate agent in Australia before she married the Crown Prince.

Surely the Royal family could have the final say?

Monarchs in Scandinavia have entertainment value, no political power.

True – we are not living in Hamlet's age, but there are still someting rotten...!

(Earlier quotes deletes, as too many to be allowed posted)

From the previous topic on this matter, it was stated mother was training to be a teacher. Nearly exactly the same commentary, questions & observations as this topic at:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/675210-thai-danish-7-year-old-to-be-deported-from-denmark/

Still not seeing any definitive mention of her occupation. But my recollection is "training to be a teacher" is kind of low paying? In fact, when my nieces were training to be teachers, their income was in the neighborhood of -$15,000 per semester.

The point I'm trying to make is that there is a lot of the story not being told in the articles I'm reading. And I wonder why?

All I'm seeing is a heart tugging story of a little Danish girl being ripped from the first grade.

How does the mother fit into the story? What is their financial situation and outlook? Has she (the mother) learned enough Danish to contribute to society there? Will they be a drain on the welfare system? Were there avenues to permanent residency they neglected before the stuff hit the fan?

You are right about the OP article not mentioning the full case, including the mother’s work and that the family is self-supported; that article is a follow up on a previous article.

The Danish media, which you may not know about (due to language etc.), flows with information and heavy debate. For example have one of the FaceBook groups in less than 24 hours got “likes” from that many people, as represent 1 per cent of the Danish population.

The main case is, that the Southeast Asian migrants normally are very well integrated in Denmark with language and cultural acceptance, hard working and self-supported. On the other side Denmark receive masses of badly integrated mainly Muslims asking for asylum. (There are also a some bad gypsy cases reported in the media.) They tap the social welfare system for support, and try to force their Muslim culture into the Danish system by talking about being a minority – which unfortunately works, as European politicians ever since WWII are scared about being considered racists or stepping on minorities. Furthermore there are a lot of serious crimes among people from this group; they make out a substantial number of all criminals in the country. It is very difficult to expel these criminals as they have claimed asylum. Furthermore the open borders inside the so-called Schengen Countries (most of European Union and some more European countries) makes them move around more or less freely and settle or seek asylum in that country, which gives the highest cash welfare; for example Somalis entering Europe in Italy, flying up to Denmark, flush their passports and personals papers in a bin or toilet, and immediately demanding asylum.

What seems like a major part of the Danish population are feed up with this, because at the same time social welfare for, for example old retired people have been cut for the original Danish population due to the country cannot afford it any longer. Some of the badly integrated persons and families cost the society millions of Danish kroner (1 million dkk EQ ca. 180,000 US$) – there are no official statements, but an official Norwegian reports states, that in Norway each asylum seeker will cost the society more than four million Norwegian kroner (about 700,000 US$).

Im’s mother was under education as social worker (SOSU) and both those jobs – and a teacher job and other normally considered low wage jobs – are that well paid in Denmark that you can live from the income.

That the little girl do not speak other languages than Danish is very likely – true according to the many media reports – as coming to Denmark at an age of 3½, where she hardly have a language, staying in a family where Danish may have been spoken for various reasons, and having Danish mates and attending Danish school – her future were expected to be in a country with that language. Thais seems to adapt Danish language more easily than English, as many sounds in the language and the extra vowels are closer to Thai than for example English – not unusual than Thais in Denmark speaks (much) better Danish than English and therefore will speak Danish with a non Thai-speaking spouse, rather than English.

In this particular case – according to what have been written in the media, searched for by journalist and first local politicians and now parliament politicians getting involved – there seems to be “no hidden agenda”. This is just a very sad story about a bad working system (laws), which were made to protect the country from wrong immigrants, and ends up expelling the goods ones – and that is why the story hit the front pages and protests from the people.

I'm Danish and ashamed - obviously Denmark prefer the massive immigration from the muslim world....instead of the usually hardworking people from SE Asia

On what do you base your "hard working people from SE Asia?"

I see no mention of the mother's means to support herself and her daughter, or am I missing something? I did see a reference to the fact that they aren't on the dole, but that could change quickly if they're allowed to stay and the step-father's money runs out.

Or is this just a Muslim bashing post? If so, my apologies for getting in the way.

Yes, you are missing more than something – the whole point in the Danish discussion and protest. Some of the Danish politicians are even now raising the case to parliment level.

And by the way, the family were fully self-supported...!

Nice, how some of you already begin to hi- jack the thread and stir up the usual "this is what they do to good citizens...but the rapists, Muslims or terrorists they let stay..."- idiocy!

But that is actually the case, and that is a major part of the Danish discussion in media and protest.

For example the authorities can revert an expelled Somali pedophile rapist – he did rape a 10 year old, tried to rape another 10 year old, and did rape a young woman in her twenties – and let him stay in Denmark, even badly integrated. But this well integrated Thai family has been expelled, even they never received any support from the authorities and the mum Suthida is doing a Danish education within social welfare, so the little family also in the future can take care of themselves. The Minister of Justice, Morten Boedskov, has even been quoted for in a TV-interview saying that Muslim gang-members with dual nationality do not need to be afraid of being expelled after have committed a crime.

According to Danish media the authorities (Minister of Justice) can find a way to let Im and her mother stay, if they wish.

That’s why many of us Danes feel so ashamed of being Danes right now…!

You don't see so many Western female sex tourists in Thailand, because it's not their major destination.

There are hundreds of thousands in Africa, Turkey, Arabic countries and the Carribean, though. They are all supposed to be "strong independant women".

You forgot Bali and Koh Phangan (Koh Samui) – yes, they do come here...!

»Has anyone seen/heard a Thai male - farang female couple?«

Yes, a lot...!

Thai male/farang female couples are quite common at Koh Phangan and Koh Samui – personally I know many. However some do not last forever, just like with farang male/Thai female, so here are also single farang ladies staying alone with their mixed children, and some Thai men with ex-wife and kids abroad.

The “farang-ladies” looking for males in Asia will primary go to Bali or Koh Phangan (& Koh Samui), both spots are among ladies famous for that.

When staying by the riverside don't forget Grand Palace and Wat Po. A candlelight dinner cruise onboard an old Chinese junkie boat is also recommendable; or an outstanding dinner buffet at Oriental Hotel (both seems little up-price in Thai money, but when converted to a Western currency pretty cheap).

When staying up north near Sukhumvit, you can choose a hotel like Baiyoke, Bangkok's highest tower (309 m), and stay in the Space Zone, some 250-meter or more on top of Bangkok with an outstanding view. Good (huge) breakfast buffet and nice dinner restaurants on the top floors. You can check rates and book on the hotel's homepage; it is fairly affordable even in Space Zone.

Baiyoke is close to train station (100 meters, Airport line), from where you can ride 1 station and change to Skytrain and Underground. Near to the hotel, walking distance, you find the shopping malls. Closest are Pantip Plaza, where you can find all kind of electronics, blue ray movies etc.; and Platinum Mall with 1200 fashion shops. Further behind are the two major big shopping malls, Central World and Siam Paragon. The latter has Southeast Asia's biggest saltwater aquarium in the basement and a newly opened Madame Taussaud Vax Museum on top top floor (you do not mention where you come from). Dusit Zoo, as mentioned in another post, is a 100 baht Taximeter ride from the hotel (do not use tuk-tuk for that, they will overcharge something like double price).

You can use so-called Fund Books from the banks for investment. You will be part of a portfolio the bank takes care of (buy/sell). Fund Books are, as any other investment in the capital market, risky – you may gain (sometimes a lot) and may loose (sometimes more than a lot). Several of the banks have excellent web pages in English about their Fund Book portfolios.

I have been using both Bangkok Bank and SCB (Siam Commercial Bank), and Kasikorn (farmer) Bank seems to be very good as well.

You can choose different conditions for Fund Book, both accumulated and with dividend. The so-called LT or LTF (LT = Long Term) funds are based on minimum time of five years, as there will be no taxation on the gain after five years. Other funds with taxation are available, and you can choose market portfolio like Thai Stocks, European, Asian, Gold, Capital and so on. The outcome depends of course on the market, but some years I’ve seen rise in going rate up to around 30 per cent and dividend payout from circa 3 percent and up to 10 percent.

If you wish to choose stocks yourself from the SET-index, you will need an account by a broker, they have an Internet platform available. Day traders often use this solution. I am not familiar with the conditions, pros and cons – surely some other TV-member may be able to advise you.

30 % is what i am looking for

if i invest 30000 eur, then i get 10000 each year? Probably you can also loose 30 %, I dont believe this investment is very safe

But 5 years is a little too long.

So after 5 years you get

30000

40000

52000

70000

91000

So after 5 years you get 91000 eur??

Or is my calculation wrong and you dont pay any tax?

THat just sound too good to be true. You can live only from interests, this is too fishy and risky for me I think

If you gain 30% every year, your calculation is correct. However I said I’ve seen rise in going rate up to around 30 percent and dividend payout from circa 3 percent and up to 10 percent, not that it is every year for sure.

Some of the banks have excellent web pages in English with historical graphs over performance of a portfolio compared to the market. Normally you may count like a double up, 100% up, in going rate over 8 to 10 years, which together with an ongoing dividend is not so bad as a long-time investment compared with bonds or simple bank deposits. However, a historical graph is no guarantee at all for future performance. The Thai LTF has tax benefits; I am not sure about taxation of gain on the other type of portfolios, may be 15%, but for sure some other TV-members may know more about it.

I think, if you wish to make big money in a rush, you shall pick some companies yourself at a market you know – did I see a headline earlier today about Twitter and a double up the introduction day? – but you may also face a huge risk of loosing a major part of your investment in a rush. You gave some potential investment examples yourself in your next post – but remember, historical performance is no guarantee for future performance.

I have been using Thai LTF for some of my girlfriends and daughters savings, and a bit of my own, and I am considering trying some of the other portfolios from Kasikorn Bank to see how they perform over the next year. Of my own money I have so far only been testing with smaller amounts to see how the Thai market works, and if a long term investment inside Thailand can secure for local inflation and give an outcome/dividend/interest you can live from.