khunPer

In my opinion: Yes...

AIS sells a little SIM-card router – both WiFi and RJ45 connection – that works on 4G and 5G...????

It's monsoon-season on Samui during November and December – that's why accomodation is so cheap up til just before Xmas – you can have outstanding days with sun and calm sea, and you can have utterly horrible two weeks with storm, high waves, and so much rain that parts of the are flooded. November-December on Samui is just like playing the lottery, sometimes you are lucky and win a jackpot...???????? And if you don't win the lottery...???? – just the get best out of your stay and enjoy the alternatives to the beach, like the main road in Chaweng...

I found it opposite last I visited Pattaya – food seems to be very expensive there due to being a major tourists destination – however, it's a question of what you seek of food and knowing the goo more local restaurants. Instead of the low season bargain at W with a candlelight dinner for two offered for only 15,999 baht – I shall add, for the matter of good sake, that it included a bottle of the house red wine, but service charge and tax came on top – you can find good meals in street kitchens from around 50-60 baht including free drinking water, and local restaurants for about 80-120 baht for a delicious Thai-dish, farang food often from 150-200 baht and up. Pretty much up to you...

There are so many pharmacies on the islands and I presume they all are "the best" – just like the pancake men with their street kitchens, each of them have a sign saying "Best pancakes on Samui", and probably also Phangan – personally I use either my local so-called mum & dad-pharmacy (it's a pharmacist lady owner) or the chain Morya, which has branches all over Samui...????

Some are – if you are handsome (not handsum) enough – almost that lucky...???? I know a good looking younger successful business owner lady, in her later 20s, that sometimes look for a handsome young worked-out man in the nightclubs. She don't have time for a regular often too demanding boyfriend. If she find one lucky enough to get her, she will join him to his hotel, and after she got what she wanted, she will not only leave, but throw five 1,000-baht notes on the beds, so the young handsome man don't think he got something for free; no, she bought him...????

–and you can be up against hard competition on Samui with the many young handsome worked-out foreign men, even you have bahts in your pocket...????

Some of them can be too young... –others have past last selling date...???? –to say it very Thai-style: "Up to you"...????

Not on Samui...

If you are looking in Lami bars, you're looking for sex-workers, and there you'll find all kinds of the profession from extremely professional gold diggers to new arrivals just looking for a boyfriend and future husband – and provider of course – the latter might even be difficult to barfine for a sex only date. If you wish to enjoy nightlife away from the bar-scene it's mainly Chaweng, both the beach side and its parties that is on way up again after Covid lock downs, and the trendy pubs, and the clubs on the land side of the road. You both find professional freelancers there, and plenty of "normal girls" having a night out with friends – they might not be interested at all in a farang, or not interested in a sex-date – and lots of young, younger tourist girls and mature foreign ladies. Another trendy place to meet folks – and girls – is Coco Tarms in Fisherman Village in front of The Wharf, it's busy from the afternoon. Also the walking street and evening markets there on Mondays, Wednesdays and especially Fridays is good to meet other people. Local girls – and local young men – will often hang out later in mainly Ma-Ha-Te, Old School Bar and places like Kongsiam, it's all places with Thai live music. ????

To my knowledge: 1) Both yes and no, for foreign workers a work permit is needed plus 2-4 thai employees that gets a salary and preferably pays into Social Security. 2) 10 percent fixed rate. 3) If you don't add the dividend on the annual tax return form, the final rate is the already withheld fixed 10 percent dividend tax. 4) As foreigner with a work permit and extension of stay based on workpermit, you need to show an income and pay income tax of that income, typically 50,000 baht per month, but salary rate is depending of your home country.

How does that fit the proposed longer opening hours for the nightlife...????

How does that fit the proposed longer opening hours for the nightlife...????

Bad news for budget tourists that stays for 300 baht to 500 baht per day...

When you transfer with Wise you can choose the transfer to be shown as FTT (Foreign Telegraphic Transfer) in you bank account or bank book, a function especially used by retired expats that get extended stay based on income method. Check carefully Wise against Internet bank rates, for amount from around 50,000 baht and up my Danish bank is cheaper then Wise, when looked at the final amount that ends up in the Thai bank; I always transfer i DKK and let them be exchanged in Thailand, it's a slightly better exchange rate. I tried two identical transfers at the same time, my bank was a little bit better than Wise, their fees are too high, my bank charges same fee – 50 DKK = circa $8.5 – independently of transferred amount...

I don't know if I'm average expat, but I've only been to Pattay twice. First time in 1987 – where I stayed at Royal Cliff, and don't recall any towers, but a number of okay restaurants and a loong bar that I never visited – and once again in 2004, where I found out that it is had become "no go" for me... But luckily we are all different, what I prefer somebody else don't like...

????

Some of us locals use the weather forecast to check what the weather is likely to be in both the very close future and a few days ahead – however, if you ask a local what the weather is like, it can be me telling you that the sun is hing over Maenam Bay from a clear sky, while someone else can tell you that it's pouring down in Lamai; will that be of any help? – an excellent regularly updated weather forecast by the hour is this one HERE. If you wish to know how the downpour situation is right now, then use Surat Thani weather radar, where you for example can se the rainy clouds over Lamai and the clear sky over Maenam... – use the loop option to see how the cluds are moving – link HERE. If you wish a graphic prediction of the future, the this one HERE is excellent, times are UTC/GMT...????

I haven't measured it, but enough for the girl's Youtube and Netflix streaming, and my news-reading and little online work. AIS states it's from 2-4 Mbps with 4G, but it really depends on where in the huge World you are connecting to, some places can be slow even with a thick fiber. AIS states up to 2Gbps for their 5G network.

The air distance is shorter from Utapao than from Suvarnabhimu...

I have one as backbone to the fiber, it works fine. The speed is depending on if you have 5G in the area or only 4G. The little AIS router I have, has both WiFi and RJ45 connection... Edit: For the order of good sake I should add that it's not a pocket device, but a desktop thing, Mine is the 4G version that looks like this...

Indeed, but I understood the opening question was about air-travel...

I've seen posted that a previous entry by air counts at one of the two entries, when doing a land border run – do you know if that is correct..?

I would take a flight instead, about same price and some 15 hours shorter travelling time...

Not from Utapao/Pattaya...