khunPer

Crawshaws Solitors for company registration. Bo Phut (near Fisherman Village traffic light). 077 246 081. www.crawshaws.com

Thanyapak Co. Ltd. for accounting. Bo Phut (road to Fisherman Village). 077 425 215.

@exaviar

To answer your original questions about a place to live:

"We want to live in the south of thailand near the coast. We do not want to live in a busy city, but yet close to one so we can get the things we need. We like to live in peace and quiet and perferable in the country or away from busy highways or big shopping areas."

"So these are the things we are looking for, if you could recomend a town or area that I can start research on so i can make sure i am finding the best place for our family and that we will feel comfortable and safe for the children that would be wounderful. I Know its hard to find everything we want but maybe someone can recomend an area with most of our requirements."

Please, let me for the first agree with the many posts about Visa - you may find a serious problem here. There is however an investment Visa, but that requires quite a bit of capital invested into a specified number of possibilities. Taking care of your private investments, should not be considered as work - but working with some Internet based business, may be a question of Work Permit or not. Some do work with foreign Internet business, and keep a low profile. Any other kind of work requiers a Work Permit (Non B Visa from abroad and a Thai employment agreement). You may be able to establish your own limited company, but you will need qualified legal advice.

I will not recommend a place, but as you wish to live in the south, I can tell about the area I live in for six years - which may fit (some of) your requirements - then you can do your own research. Normally I will recommend to invest in a shorter trip, perhaps some weeks, and check out the possible areas, before making any decisions.

The place I am living is Koh Samui, the second biggest island after Phuket, and just opposite, in the Golf of Thailand.

School:

Koh Samui has two International Schools (one very British) and an English language based private Thai-owned school. You should count around 150,000 baht for school. There is also a catholic semi-private school, St. Joseph in Nathong, but it is merely working like a Thai school. Most schools have a private bus service.

Internet:

You can have landbased lines, but may expect interruption. Two ISPs will be preferred, and just the normal home subscription, as the only benefit of the professional line is a six times higher price (I have tried it). Choose instead two normal home lines for a third of the price, and change between them, if there are any network problems. Price around 600/m baht for a 7Mb line. As back-up you may have a GSM/3G acces (fx. 400 baht/m from DTAC), but only GSM works at Samui (at the moment), so it is really a back-up with oldfashioned slow modem speed, but it can work with the stock market.

Quiert areas:

You may find many places at Samui, very quiert and private. You can rent either within a walled and guarded project or just rent a house, either at the hills (mountains) or near the sea/beach. For 30,000 baht/m (1,000 dollars) you may be able to find something, but with your staff requierements and signalled lifestyle, I think you may merely need to spend the double. The south and the west side of the island are extremely quiert and with beautiful (sea)views. At east there are some locations, but that is also the main tourist area. At north, you may also find very attractive and very quierts spots, but there are also tourist areas.

Staff:

Your house may need space for accomodation of your nanny and housekeeper or maid. Good English speaking staff may be a problem to find, so you may need a good housekeeper to be in charge. Also, Thais may decide to change job without warning. Normally a housekeeper salary is between 7-10,000 baht/m plus accomodation, but if you require good English skills, do expert a higher or double salary. The local administration (the Amphor in Nathong) will have a "one stop" office, where you can find a English language leaflet about the social security system (10% of the salary) and if you shall pay that, as employer.

Concern about nightlife:

As one poster said, that you will only see 1%, is quite true. 95% of the in Western language so-called prostitution, are for Thais and you will hardly notice it. Of the remaining 5% only 35% - that gives around 1½% of the total - aim at Western customers. That is what you see at the tourist destinations. Some areas there will be ladybars spread more or less all over, and in some areas the ladybars are concentrated and avoidable, if you do not wish to visit or see them.

At Koh Samui there is no bars (or nightlife) at the south and hardly any on the west side (apart from some for Thais in the village Nathong). Up north very little, some few bars at the main road between Maenam and Bo Phut, apart from the Bang Rak area at the Big Buddha peninsula. The east side have some mainly dedicated areas in Chaweng and in Lamai the bars are spread all over. There is a lot of party nightlife at Samui, so especially the Chaweng area may be a bit noisy.

Shopping access:

Living in quiert area, you will need transportation (car) for shopping etc. There are Shopping Malls in Lamai, Tesco-Lotus, and Bo Phut (Chaweng), Tesco-Lotus and Big C. Furthermore a Macro wholesale. There is a smaller Tesco-Lotus in Nathong. There are shops all over the island, many of them 24-hour Seven-elleven or Family Mart - however at south and west, a bit limited, as the areas are very quiert - and yet only some 30 minutes drive to shopping, cinemas, airport, ferries etc...

Close to big city - apart from the very good shopping possibilities at the island, a big city will be Surat Thani on the mainland (1½ hour ferry + 1 hour drive) or Bangkok (1 hour by air).

Frown upon religion:

At Koh Samui you will find a (I premuse small) Christian community, Church of Samui. South of Lamai on the east side is a muslim community, called "Muslim Viallage". In Chaweng is a Jewish center. The original old villages have Chineese temples (the original inhabitants are Chinese). All over the island are buddhist temples (the majority of Thai people here, also the Cineese roots). I cannot imagine any religious problems, here or elsewhere in Thailand.

Most places in Thailand you can live your own life style (culture), no one really cares - as long as you respect the Thai traditions and norms (espcially the King and Buddha). Remember, you are self invited guests in a foreign country and culture.

Lower expences and enjoy the beauty of the beaches:

Koh Samui and her 50 sisters are a marine park island group in the southern Golf of Thiland. You will find lots of beautifull, stunning beaches and nature to enjoy. However, the expences really is a question of what you pay now in your homecountry and the life style you are looking for. Yes, you can live in Thailand for almost nothing (the Thais do so) and you can spend a fortune (some Thais also do so). If you think of Thailand as a cheap option, you may be disappointed - up end style or Western style can be relative expencieve.

To compare: I live a quiert life at Koh Samui with a household of my spouse, our 6yo child in a private school and a combined nanny/maid. We use in average around 1 mio. baht/y, excluding rent of house (as we own it) and lease of car (as we bought it).

I hope my information may help you and I wish you luck in your serach for a place to live in Thailand.

Hydrogen Peroxide is any concentration is commonly know as bleach or rocket fuel and is caustic in any concentration, there is absolutely no scienfitic/medical evidence that there are any medical benefits of ingesting HP, whether drinking it or sniffing it ...!!!.....its all hippy dippy/new age rubblish.

Hydrogen Peroxide is not "good" and natural product.....its produced industrially.....no such thing as "organic" hydrogen peroxide.....drink it or sniff it at your peril....

Not really,

hydrogen peroxide is naturally produced in organisms as a by-product of oxidative metabolism. Hydrogen peroxide has also been found as a natural part of healing water, fx. from the famous Loudes in France (0.25%). Ozon and water produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide "natually" in rainwater and snow. Even known for almost 200 years only recent scientific studies, published 2009, found that hydrogen peroxide plays a role in the immune system. But as I said: "...do not be become fanatic. Do your research..."

Just to refresh what was posted earlier...

"However, be aware of the 35% solution - which is clean and therefore food grade, compared to 3% and 6% solutions - but also very caustic (have to be thinned). In cleaner solutions hydrogen peroxide is a part for explosives (the 2005 London bombs) or rocket fuel.

Hydrogen peroxide 35% - which can be obtained in 1 ltr. bottles from some of the Thai pharmacies - is actually very good to clean water systems and wells.

I can assure you 35%, 3% or 6% solutions are not produced naturally, in rain water, snow or as by-product of the metabolic process,they are produced by an industrial process...so there is nothing natural about it...

lets assume for a minute that there is benefit at a low percentage, ie the 0.25% cited above....why are people messing about with what is a very strong caustic at 35%. 3% or 6%..?..typically hydrogen peroxide (bleach) used on hair is around 6% and that strips all the colour from your hair... .....but the morons are advocating drinking/sniffing this crap....its ok provide you "thin it !!!"....absolute <deleted> and completely irresponsible to make statements like this

The food grade referred to has nothing to do with it being ok for you to ingest...all it means it could be used to clean equipment/surfaces without leaving residual contaminent's

Did your mother never tell you not to mess with the cleaning chemicals under the sink ?....

Will say it again...hippy dippy, new age bullsh*t

I know it may be a bit our this thread now, but someone added a little strange post about hydrogen peroxide and other healhty waters as a cure against Diabetes II. I just wanted to give a bit of explanation and draw attention to, new scientific studies. I did NOT recommend to drink it, what I said was: "...do not be become fanatic. Do your research..."

Perhaps my reply to the vodka-joke has been misunderstood - however I do dare to drink a vodka/RedBull with dash of it;o)

We all accept, that vitamin C is healthy - we cannot live without digesting it in one of other form, as the human body cannot produce vitamin C natually. Vitamin C is a caustic acid: "Ascorbic acid". It comes from natural sources or it can be produced (synthesized) industrially - as in many vitamin pills - and is also used for bleaching (photographic industry), cleaning (fx. swimming pool surfaces) and plastic manufacturing. But we still need and gladly digest vitamin C, due to the antioxidant properties. There are some interesting semilarities to "natural" hydrogen peroxide in cells (immune system) in the 2009-study. A higher than normal intake of vitamin C is actually recommended for Diabetes II patients (and a lot of other diseases, even cancer) as part of a diet and change of lifestyle.

Because something may be caustic or dangerous in high concentration, it may still be good and heathly in thin solutions - what about the explosive nitroglycerin and heart diseases?

down lights that will keep geckos out of the roof space. What's wrong with me??

Homepro has a selection of downlights (we called them pot lights in Canada) that have glass covers. I bought a square variety with covers for the outside eave lights and a round version with covers for inside the house.

I use the ones with glass cover from HomePro all over my house. Some models have a sanded circle in the middle of the glass, which prevent irritating downlight. I choosed LED bulbs, which often are directional, and that looks very nice trough the glass cover with sanded middle. I did spent quite some time testing different models of LEDs (220V, 3-5W, E27) and I ended up with different types in the various rooms, like bathrooms, bedrooms etc. One one tiny gecko inside in a year - the small ones seems to find a way in, but often not out again - in some 100+ lamps.

For outdoor use, be aware of rust. You can find models, which are made of zink instead of iron (cheap quality steel). When the chassis and metel in the covers begins to rust, it not only damage to lamp (may be difficult to unscrew cover), but also make marks on the ceiling. Might cost a little more - but cheaper than changing the whole lamp after one or two years.

Hydrogen Peroxide is any concentration is commonly know as bleach or rocket fuel and is caustic in any concentration, there is absolutely no scienfitic/medical evidence that there are any medical benefits of ingesting HP, whether drinking it or sniffing it ...!!!.....its all hippy dippy/new age rubblish.

Hydrogen Peroxide is not "good" and natural product.....its produced industrially.....no such thing as "organic" hydrogen peroxide.....drink it or sniff it at your peril....

Not really,

hydrogen peroxide is naturally produced in organisms as a by-product of oxidative metabolism. Hydrogen peroxide has also been found as a natural part of healing water, fx. from the famous Loudes in France (0.25%). Ozon and water produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide "natually" in rainwater and snow. Even known for almost 200 years only recent scientific studies, published 2009, found that hydrogen peroxide plays a role in the immune system. But as I said: "...do not be become fanatic. Do your research..."

The famous Loudes in France, must be a new famous place ...

Sorry for mistyping, should be Lourdes ("Our Lady of Lourdes").

I pick only one issue: Education.

Well, international schools are expensive (big business in Thailand). In my class at a local university I have mostly students who graduated from the Thai system and only a few who have graduated from international schools or from abroad. My students have enrolled in the English-language curriculum, and we teach business (BBA).

In my experience, it comes down more to the family situation than whether the students where educated in the Thai or the international system. If I had children, I would send them to the Thai schools (especially here in Bangkok!) and teach them values and business practices in our company.

Forgive me, but I think the kids are being spoiled at international schools. If I had money and didn't care about kharma, I would open an international school in Thailand. As I said, it's big business.

That said, there are other points in your post that I disagree with. But we are already hijacking this thread.

Very interesting post, indeed. Vise words to think about.

Thai schools may become better over the last decade than their reputation.

Hydrogen Peroxide is any concentration is commonly know as bleach or rocket fuel and is caustic in any concentration, there is absolutely no scienfitic/medical evidence that there are any medical benefits of ingesting HP, whether drinking it or sniffing it ...!!!.....its all hippy dippy/new age rubblish.

Hydrogen Peroxide is not "good" and natural product.....its produced industrially.....no such thing as "organic" hydrogen peroxide.....drink it or sniff it at your peril....

Not really,

hydrogen peroxide is naturally produced in organisms as a by-product of oxidative metabolism. Hydrogen peroxide has also been found as a natural part of healing water, fx. from the famous Loudes in France (0.25%). Ozon and water produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide "natually" in rainwater and snow. Even known for almost 200 years only recent scientific studies, published 2009, found that hydrogen peroxide plays a role in the immune system. But as I said: "...do not be become fanatic. Do your research..."

Murgatroyd, I can help you to reduce your medical expenses very significantly. Your first reaction may be to ignore the advice, but before you do, please research the suggestions. There is plenty of information on the internet about them.

1. 35% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide....

Hydrogen Peroxide - now it has been mentioned - really is a very good and natural product for many purposes.

However fairly or totally harmless in small doses, do not be become fanatic. Do your research and you will find quite a lot of usefull information on the Internet.

Many countries, including many states in USA, use Hydrogen Peroxide to clean water (instead of chlorine). The chemical formula is H2O2, which is water with an extra oxygen atom. The oxidation cleans and kill bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide therefore is better for cleaning than chlorine and completely harmless. NASA use a hydrogen peroxide generating system in space to clean water and a semilar system is available - down at this planet - for chlorine free swimming pools. Aluminium containers for food are cleaned with hydrogen peroxide (food grade) and hospitals are using it as a sterilant.

In health, hydrogen peroxide has a semilar oxidation effect as vitamin C. Recent studies are described in Nature and Wikipedia has a quite comprehensive article.

However, be aware of the 35% solution - which is clean and therefore food grade, compared to 3% and 6% solutions - but also very caustic (have to be thinned). In cleaner solutions hydrogen peroxide is a part for explosives (the 2005 London bombs) or rocket fuel.

Hydrogen peroxide 35% - which can be obtained in 1 ltr. bottles from some of the Thai pharmacies - is actually very good to clean water systems and wells.

As tailspin wrote: "Bartender...one vodka and peroxide please...." may well be a very healthy cure - but for me: Please mix the vodka with something and add only a dash of HP;o)

... i am looking to come live in thailand on 60000/ month, and i will have to pay rent, thats what my wage will be , untill i get my super, i have about 16000 aud as back up, i am now starting to worry???

60,000 baht/m + 16,000 aud as back-up sounds fair enough. It all depends of your lifestyle and what you expect, from living in "paradise". The 800,000 baht/year - or 65,000 baht/m - recommended by Thai immigration is actually a quite fair average figure. You can live happily for less - and you can easially spent a lot more.

I have been through semilar consideration some nine years ago, when thinking of moving to Thailand - now I have lived here for six years. First of all, you may consider to have a fixed deposit in a Thai bank of 800,000 baht to qualify for retirement extensions of your visa - or a mix of a fixed deposit and a certifed monthly income, totalling 800,000 baht yearly.

Think of what you expect from staying in LoS. Where and how do you want to live. You can find a decent bungalow or house for 5,000 baht/m or you may chose a better quality house for 15,000 - 20,000 baht/m.

Heath insurance etc.? If you do not have, you shall either expect some 40,000+ baht/y or set a lump sum aside. Thai public hospitals are quite okay, as mentioned in another post. In Thailand our are on your own as an expat, so you will always need some cash deposit, just in case something happens - even you have an insurance, you may need to pay and claim back.

Daily expences for food can be within 500 baht, so around 15,000 baht/m excl. transportation, clothes etc. and other expences, fx. a evening out. It easily totals up to some 20,000 - 25,000 baht/m. Thailand may not be as cheap to live in as many people think, if you want a kind of Western style life or the lifestyle you remember from holiday trips.

More important is the question, are you going to live alone? - or with a Thai spouse? The latter may easily add another 20,000 bath/m or completely change your budget.

And where do you wish to stay? Up north at Isaan, you may find a house for some 3-5,000 baht/m - do you wish to live there? Or shall it be at Phuket or Koh Samui, where you may spent 15,000+ bath/m for a house.

Do your dream about living in Thailand include evenings out?

fx.

15,000 b/m House rent + expences (Electric, Internet, Water)

25,000 b/m Daily average living expences

5,000 b/m Health insurance or emergency savings

10,000 b/m At disposal for ?

I must admit, I adjusted my initial budgets quite a bit - started out with some 50,000 baht/m. I tried to visualize the lifestyle I could afford within my budget, waited a few more years and have been able to live a bit more like the dream of a "life in paradise". Do make space in your budget for installation costs - like rent deposit, furnitures, electronics, kitchen apliances etc. - and unforeseen expences of at least 200k baht.

The skilled massage therapists I know, recommends only massage every second day. Furthermore every second time, shall be foot massage (reflexology). A skilled therapist may find exactly where to press and which stretch exercise to perform - almost like a healer. The acupressure points and the stretch exercises origins from eremit munks and was found described on the walls at the Wat Po temple in Bangkok, now famous as massage school. It may some times hurt at the beginning of a cure - because something is not in the right shape - and you may need several sessions. However, many of the massage ladies may not have enough education and/or experience to heal you, but you can still enjoy a good relaxation. It may take some time to find the right places and therapists.

I have massage two or three times a week and change between full body Thai-oil-massage and foot massage. I have lived here a couple of years and found some good therapist to choose from. I belive in the Thai massage as preventive health cure.

I have that, but you will need a kind of protection before the UPS, as overvoltage may destroy the UPS - I've lost 4 UPS' due to voltage spikes, before I learned to protect my systems. You may use a lighting/spike protection panel or plug - or more advanced use the automatic over/under voltage cirquit braker with a magnetic switch. That is worth installing on all sensitive groups, like aircons and water pumps, which may be destroyed as well by under voltage. Will cost around 1500 baht (protector + magnetic) for a single phase - cheaper than replacing for 50-100k baht spoiled electric equipment.

An UPS may deliver up to some 350 Watt, but only around 15-30 minutes (aprox 7 Ah at 12V). If you wish a power failure safe lighting, let one 400 Watt UPS run a total of 100-150 Watt LED lamps (i.e. 25 pcs. 3-5W bulbs). You can extend the power-failure-life-time by adding one or more external 18Ah 12V batteries, each external battery may give you 2 hours when using around 100W.

Good info. Not familiar with what is high lighted in blue. Could you provide more info on those as we have a lot of lightning around my area and for the price sounds reasonable. Thanks.

There are many protection plugs/panels models on the market, look for "surge protection". I found a single plug (Toshino) available in Tesco and Home Pro for around 150 baht. My preferred panel is from the brand "Belkin" - as they seems to be "state of the art" and gives you a Warranty (40,000 baht of damaged equipment). The prices are between 600 and 1,000 baht, depending of the number of outlets and max. spike current.

The protection may just be a set of a kind of capacitors and easy to make, however not worth trying to do yourself, when one can buy it for around 150+ baht.

Brakers/magnetic - there are to my knowledge two brands of "phase protectors" available here. I used "WIP" (Work Improvement Products) model W-OP2 (Under and Over Voltage with adjustable time delay), Code 6009. I tried the 3-phase (including unbalanced voltage) on the main power braker, but then the supply may be cut to often and need to be reset manually, which is not good at night. Therefore I rather use the single-phase for each individual cirquit needing protection, like pumps and aircons. The magnetic switch I use is a Mitshubishi S-N10.

The fun part will be getting the Thai sparks to understand.

We have UPS outlets (these will be red) and non-UPS outlets, all UPS lighting, fans on UPS, not sure about the water pump yet (probably on the UPS, but will have to watch out for the start current), water heaters and aircon straight off mains.

Will you be using standard outlets or non-standard (like a Malaysian outlet). Just wondering because red to a Thai probably means hair dryer, hair straightener, electric grill and other hot things. In other words have you made them Thai-proof?

I have UPS outlets in all rooms - just mark them clearly with an "U" or "UPS" and tell, they are for special use only (computers, TV and the like) - not for hairdryers, vacuum cleaners, irons, rice cookers etc.

Remember to use earthed outlets, especially for computers.

I have all the UPS' placed central at the machine room - one UPS for the TV-set in each room, one UPS for general lighting up to 100W etc. Most UPS models gives a high warning beep during power failure, so keeping the UPS' away from the living area, gives you a good night sleep during a power break. An UPS may work some 15-30 minutes with a LCD/LED TV, but will not last with a plasma screen, as the plasma screen takes to much power.

You cannot run a waterpunp from en UPS, you will either destroy the UPS (the inverter part) or the water pump. An UPS inverter delivers a modified sine-wave. However a fan will work.

Just a thought - how about a separate circuit (easy if you are in the construction stage) and running all LED lighting off a UPS to avoid the equipment destroying voltage fluctuations so common here in Thailand. Also helpful during a power outage. Like I said, just a thought. Personally I would never pay the premium price for LED lighting after having experienced the destructive voltage swings here in the North East without some kind of protection.

I have that, but you will need a kind of protection before the UPS, as overvoltage may destroy the UPS - I've lost 4 UPS' due to voltage spikes, before I learned to protect my systems. You may use a lighting/spike protection panel or plug - or more advanced use the automatic over/under voltage cirquit braker with a magnetic switch. That is worth installing on all sensitive groups, like aircons and water pumps, which may be destroyed as well by under voltage. Will cost around 1500 baht (protector + magnetic) for a single phase - cheaper than replacing for 50-100k baht spoiled electric equipment.

An UPS may deliver up to some 350 Watt, but only around 15-30 minutes (aprox 7 Ah at 12V). If you wish a power failure safe lighting, let one 400 Watt UPS run a total of 100-150 Watt LED lamps (i.e. 25 pcs. 3-5W bulbs). You can extend the power-failure-life-time by adding one or more external 18Ah 12V batteries, each external battery may give you 2 hours when using around 100W.

Actually, I'm about to do all the lights around the building with LEDs and debating whether to install transformers to run them or buy the bulbs which will run directly on 220V. I'll have 20 of them running for about 9 hours a day and try to keep a good record of their performance. My present experience indicates the claimed lifespan to be about as accurate as energy saving bulbs, at least six of which have failed in my present abode after 800 hours or so. We're talking 6000 baht on bulbs here so I'm banking on a better result.

I made a new house with nearly all LED bulbs. However, some of the 220-volt bulbs available in Thailand (seems like all comes from China) blows up after quite short time. When a LED bulb blows, it may also blow the mains fuse. It seems to be the tiny transformer or cirquit board inside, that do not last - the LED itself is okay. May be caused by bad manufacturing or the often changing voltage and spikes in the Thai-supply.

When using low voltage LED bulbs - 12 volt - you will need the special transformers for LEDs. A normal electronic transformer for halogen lamps may not work at all or just flahing the LED, due to the low power consumption (1-5 watt) in the LED bulb. A normal transformer will always work - however, if you use a 50 watt transformer, you will tap around 50 watt from the mains, even using a 1 watt LED, so you will not save any mains power. However 1 oldfashioned 50 watt transformer may run 10+ LED bulbs and allows you to use fairly long wires from the transformer to the LED bulb - however you will loose a little power and end up with some 10-11 volt. Philips makes a high quality 4 watt LED bulb, warm white and dimmable, using a dimmer and a normal transformer - unfortunately quite expencieve (1080 baht). In principle you may dim all LEDs, when the power supply is low voltage DC.

I have more than 200 LED bulbs in my house and have so far (1 year) only had problems with some of the 220-volt models.

A (dollar) millionaire is defined by Forbes as 1 mio. (USD) nett assets, excluding the primary home.

@ lazygourmet: Yes, you are right. Remind me of a British saying (must be from the filthy rich there): "Money is something you have, not something you talk about!"

@ steelerian

Nathong is the "capital" of Koh Samui, where the gouverment offices are and the car ferries comes in (North West on the island).

@ Rooo

Good mechanics here (lika Dan Auto) will be able to search for 2nd hand parts from mainland or Bangkok. Parts will be shipped with night bus and arrive next morning (if you call before 12 noon). Sometimes faster to get an overhauled 2nd hand part, than ordering a new from factory or import - not to forget: cheaper.

@ doingok

The picture post above was to show, that Samui was like that after this years unusual storm (blue waterbottles coming from the sea during a storm, may come from far away - not only the local Tesco-market - or being dumped by a fishing boat).

It is correct, that all beachfront resort do a lot of work keeping the beaches nice and in good shape. Both Lamai and Chaweng beaches are all right now - so are the other Samui-beaches with beach front resots.

Enjoy your visit to Samui, the beaches and the stunning nightlife;o)

Attached pictures shows Maenam Beach (Samui) 3 and 4 weeks after the March 2011 storm. Picture 1 + 2 are from front of Lolita Bungalows and 5-start Santibury. At the end Santibury gave up manual cleaning and used a macro. Same did 5 or 6-star Micha Wan. The 3rd Maenam Beach picture, 200 meter further east at the public beach entrance and ferry to Had Rhin, shows the 2nd public clean-up by the Amphor and local volunteers, a month after the storm. The beach is not yet as clean, as it used to be, more dirt are coming in almost every day - even in front of the 5-star resorts.

I have a friend who build a house around 100 sq.m. at Isaan some three years ago. Labour costs 70,000 baht. So that quote sounds fair enough.

However, he ended up with a cost of some 2 mio. baht for all, including decoration and funitures.

Material costs really depends on your choice of materials and decoration. Normally count some 10,000 baht per sq.m. all together (construction, labour, finish) - especially if you want a nice bathroom and Western style kitchen. Leave space for a 10-15% margin in your budget, as some products are traded at market prices (cement, steel etc.) and you often may add some extra here and there. A complete westerns style kitchen (modules and hardware) may well end up at 200,000 to 500,000 baht, depending on your choice.

Normally a wood house will be more expencieve than a cement/brik house.

May be worth checking Cement Thai Roof Center for a complete quote for roof construction, including steel work. Cement Thai do it in galvanized steel and gives you 5 years guarantie on a complete job (steel work, heat protection (insulation), water protection, roof tiles). Very fair priced, specilist work and even cheaper than many constructors will quote a roof for. A leaking roof is a headache and a Thai solution with cement on a roof do not last.

Dan Auto, have branches in Maenam and Nathong.

At Maenam between the Police Box and the Post Office - the manger speaks very good English (been living in US).

At Nathong just after the traffic light and the Caltex gasoline station on the way south to Lamai. The owner speaks fair English (not often there), whilst the foreman hardly speaks any English, but still understand problems with cars and do a good and fast job. Reasonable and fair prices.

How clean do you want the beach to be?

This is between Lamai and Chaweng beaches.

This is not anywhere on Samui.

Nope I've never seen anything like that on Samui.

Oh yes, Samui can indeed look like that - after the monsun or after the storm in March.

Family and nightlife: Chaweng may be much better than Lamai - the latter mainly girly-bars and aftar-party at Fuzion from 2am (dedicated House music). Only on Saturdays boxing at the barcenter stadium. Chaweng have has a superior night life and a nice beach.

"Wondering what Islands that's great and doesn't have all trashy tourist invasions lol. Thinking of Kui Samui or something alike, beautiful islands - for photography, relaxing and so forth. Also, when I'm there, where is good place to get there (boat or plane - good travel agency there) would love some suggestions, thanks! "

Koh Samui do have quite a lot of turists, however depending of where to stay, as there are still some more quiert areas.

Accomdodation from some 3-400 baht (primitive backpacker huts, but may be at the beach) to around 2000 baht for good value at a quiert beachfront (fx. Maenam). More expencieve and luxury may be priced from 2500 baht and up to the end of most people's immagination.

Koh Phangan, the nieghbourh island, may be a better choice. Up north you will find the bautiful nature and quierts bays, fx. Thong Nai Pan.

You can rent a bangolow straight on the paradise-beach for some 5-800 baht.

The smaller Koh Tao & Koh Nangyuan (a bit up north) are mainly divers/snorklers paradise, but indeed worth a visit (fx. day trip).

Many visitors take them all, and spent some time at Samui, some at Koh Phangan and a trip to Koh Tao. Easy to get around with catameran and the many small ferries and speedboats.

There are about 50 islands all together, many as marine park only. November/December is the rainy and stormy monsun-season (storm/heavy rain may last for about a week).

You can reach Samui/Phangan by Air (Samui), by bus/boat or by train/boat. Transfer to Koh Phangan/Koh Tao by ferry, boat or katameran.

From Bangkok:

Direct by Air to Samui are Bangkok Airways (BANGKOKAIR.COM some 25 daily flights from BKK) or Thai Air (2 daily flights). Early morning and late evening flights are resonable priced, the others are quite expencieve (about 4000+ bath one way). Tranfer time 50 min. to 1½ hour.

Alternative by lowfare Air to Surat Thani and bus/boat transfer to Samui. Transfer time aprox. 5 hours.

There are also direct flights from Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Krabi and Phuket.

Bus from Bangkok to either Chompun (continmue with Lomprayah catameran to Koh Phangan/Koh Samui) or via Don Sak and straight to Samui by ferry. Transfer time 10-15 hours. Price ca. 1.000 - 1.200 baht.

Train from Bangkok (leaves 6pm) to Surat Thani and bus/boat to Samui. The train ticket (buy it at the central station in BKK) includes transfer to Samui and is for 2nd class sleeper 6-700 baht. Tranfers time ca. 16 hours.

I renewed my retirement visa in the Spring by wiring in 800,000 baht into my Thai savings account 3 months before renewal. All smooth at the immigration office and renewed easily. This year I don't think I will spend all the 800K (less going out I guess). Can anyone answer with certainy the following:\

Does the 800,000 have to be wired from outside each and every year OR is it sufficient that there is a balance of 800K even though some of that money was wired in for the prior year.

In other words does a new 800,000 have to be transfered inside each and every year for renewal???

Is the immigration officer looking that 800K was wired into Thailand within the last year regardless of any existing balance?

Thanks ahead of time

No, you just have to show the immigration, that you have a balance of 800.000 baht to cover for your expenses, that the money has been available for minimum 3 month and any transfer of that money, originally came from abroad, as you have no work permit.

A good trick is, to place the "retirement visa extension" money - or some of them - at a fixed account, giving you a higher interest. Several banks offer that. Immigration accepts fund at fixed accounts, but do not accept funds at so-called Fundbooks (fund places in bonds or stocks).

Open another account (fx. with a ATM cash card, which you cannot have for a fixed account) for your daily expenses and top-up with fund from abroad at that account. Immigration do look at, that your moneys for expenses comes from abroad (as you have no work permit), but not really how much you spent. However any income from interest or profit of investments in Thailand are legal. You may place some of your funds at the fixed account and some at the ATM-account, but in total, you need minimum 800.000 baht (best with a little more) when applying for your retirement extension, and that balance must not be less than 800.000 the last 3-month before your extension.

If you want to use more than one bank, please note, that you will need a verification letter of balance from each bank. Some banks, fx. SCB (Siam Commercial Bank) charge your for a letter for each account, whilst others, fx. Bangkok Bank will place all accounts as a total balance in one verification letter only.

Denmark is a quite difficult contry to obtain a Visa for. I am Danish and have tried it several times for both Visa by invitation (GF) and Tourist Visa. You will need to check the actual recommondations at the website for the Danish Embassy in Bangkok (http://www.ambbangkok.um.dk).

A tourist Visa may be the easy way to do it. That will require, that the applicant can show evidence of fund and provide an itinerary for the whole Schengen stay, including prepaid hotel bookings. If the applicant is going to stay private, an invitation must be included with the Visa application. The host may then recieve a letter from the Danish Immigration Service and must respond positive within two weeks - so count for some 1-2 month before a Visa may be issued. Most important, besides showing funds (may be a Thai bankbook) is, that the applicant can provide evidence for Thai affiliations (business, work, family), so that the applicant is not visiting Denmark for obtaining permanent residence.

For Invitation Visa (which may be up to 3 month, but best to apply for less, fx. up to 2½ month), the applicant (or the host) shall provide evidence for relation (family, friendship, GF). Furthermore a written Invitaton (same procedure as above). Actually the written invitation is quite important and shall include all details about the stay, the relationship, the hosts and his/her finacial situation. A previous Thai-marriage may not be checked. When not a visit to a relative, but rather a friend or boyfriend, the Visa may be more difficult to obtain (the invitation letter is important). The Danish Immigration Service may wish to check background and financial situation of the host. Most important is (again), that the applicant can provide evidence for Thai affiliations.

In both cases a return ticket must be shown, when obtaining / pick-up the Visa, together with a travel insurance policy (both Bupa and AIS has one, which covers enough).

See the present checklist (in English/Thai) for Visa application at:

http://www.ambbangkok.um.dk/NR/rdonlyres/B8C81FB6-6ED6-4A9E-96A1-A64945E72AAD/0/visavisittoparentsotherrelativesorfriendsjan2011.doc

See pre-printed Invitation form (English) at:

http://www.nyidanmark.dk/NR/rdonlyres/EA3D30FE-96C0-4F79-907D-07325DF34157/0/vu2_en_invitation_visa.pdf

I shall ad to my comment #37, that my archietct told me to keep and take good care of the original set of drawings with the stams and signatures from the office issuing the building permission, as proof of ownership of the house, as theese drawings have my name printed as owner on each page.

At Samui, I did have to bring that set of original, stamped drawings to apply for the house book, and an employee from the office did come to inspect the actual building site, compared the house with the drawings and took photographs of the house, before they issued the house book.

Anyway, the quote from Philip Bruce's book may help the O.P. to have the house transferred into his name - depending of precedures at the local Land Department.