khunPer

Just read the OP...

Happy because I never got married...

There is to my research no official statistics for resident foreigners counting the number, it has been based on estimates that vary from 500,000 and up to a million. Migrant workers from neighboring countries are not included. According to the Thailand Migration Report 2019, based on visas issued in 2017, the number is only approximately 200,000, divided as 77,000 for family reasons (marriage, children), 73,000 pensioners, and 50,000 due to investments. However, it is unclear what exactly these figures cover, whether they are visas issued by Thai embassies and consulates abroad, or extensions of stay issued by domestic immigration offices. According to the Ministry of Labour, there are also almost 113,000 well-educated foreign workers, so the total number is 313,000 if investor visas are included. A study by Mahidol University based on 2010 figures found that 2,581,141 foreigners lived in Thailand, of which 72 percent, 1,858,000, were from Southeast Asia (mostly guest workers), with 1.3 million Burmese as the largest single group. Among the remaining approximately 720,000 so-called expats, the largest single groups were 141,000 Chinese, 85,000 British, 80,000 Japanese, 46,000 Indians, 40,000 Americans, 24,000 Germans and 23,000 French. Financial news outlet Bloomberg reported that 80,000 pensioner visas were issued in 2018, an increase of 30 percent since 2014. The largest single groups were British with 16 percent, Americans 12 percent, Germans 9 percent, Chinese 7 percent and Swiss 6 percent.

I happily never married, so "wife's friends" are not a problem to me...

Well, His Majesty is flying B737 – which can land on Samui Airpoort – and he was captain on a commercial THAI-promotion B737 flight when he met Her Majesty queen Suthida of Thailand, who was a cabin attendant on that flight. He got a B737 with same registration placed in his private park in Bangkok, the former Dusit Zoo. He also owns private B737s that he has been flying in Germany and around in Europe, probably with a valid license. Based on these facts, it's quite likely that HM Vajiralongkorn is licensed to fly a B737, and that he did flew one of those to Samui. As crown prince HM was often guest on the island and arrived in a B737, which was parked at the airport during his visits. The airport could accommodate B717-200s and Bangkok Airways did use them on their Samui route. Bangkok Airways operated B717 from 2000 to 2009 and I've personally flown in them to Samui back in 2001. The B717 was based on DC9. The manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, merged with Boeing and the DC9 was renamed, since number 717 was never used. B717 has a take off run of 1, 905 meters and landing 1,402 meters respectively. The runway on Samui was by that time expanded to 2,100 meters. The ATR72 could operate on a shorter runway of 1,400 meters, while the airfield was originally built for Dash-8-200 aircrafts that only needed 1,200 meters. I think to remember, that the original runway was 1,500 or 1,600 meters. A B737-200 has a take off run on 1,859 meters and a B737-700 of 1,878 meters. Some B737 variants have take off run around 2,300 meters. When not fully loaded to max take off weight, an aircraft's take off run can be shorter. When THAI was flying themselves to USM they used B737s. The distance to the once suggested second airport in the southern part of the island is only 14 kilometers from USM, which might cause safety problems.

A major difference between Samui Airport and most other airports in Thailand is that it's funded by private money and the users pay for it – i.e. building the airport, maintenance and running service costs – instead of government money. The possibility of establishing another airport on the island is like zero, as there need to be a certain safety distance between two airports. There are some news articles about it, which you can find if you Google for them. Furthermore – my point of view – is that numerous budget tourists, who can still arrive via Surat Thani and using the boats or ferries like in good old time as @Tropicalevo said, might still not choose Samui due to higher accommodation rates that many other parts of the country. So, a second airport and/or budget airfares might not be enough to satisfy the budget tourists' demand. The island is already balancing on the limit of what it's infrastructure can supply. It's unlikely – especially with the present land-prices – that some will invest in numerous low-price budget hotels.

Yes, as long as somebody pays for it, it most likely reused, very few will pay for worthless stuff...

Just buy same model Mitsubishi pump again – easy to replace – 15 years in an excellent life time for a water pump in Thailand.

Samui begins to sound like a "cheap" or modest-priced destination to fly to from Bangkok...

Minors can own property, but there need to be a guardian. Be aware of that it's extremely difficult to sell or otherwise dispose of the property, while the owner is minor.

A foreign owner cannot have a name in the Blue House Book for Thais.

Yes, 90-days counts from date of entry or date of extension of stay – varies from one immigration office to another – just ignore it, it's a kind reminder from the online system, as you have used that before.

Thais choose Government Savings Bank as the government guarantee their savings and they might get a slightly higher interest. I've been using the bank for some child savings, kind staff, but seemed little old-fashioned in banking procedures. The interest was in the high end, but not higher than many private banks.

Yes, it's correct, it's been mention in the news.

A "hand drawn map" is a map drawn by hand – the old-fashioned Thai-way of showing way to your house number. No matter what you might think is better, if the immigration office asks for a "hand drawn map", then it has to be that. My local immigration office asks for both a Google Earth print with marked home position and co-ordinates, and the simple old-fashioned hand drawn map. It's not that difficult – I had to draw my first map on the floor in the immigration office after being handed an A4 paper, a ruler and a pen... Today I've scanned my excellent later map-drawing and use the same print every year – as I don't move – which has been accepted. I've removed my address in gray rectangle and the cross with my house, to make my drawing anonymizes to share it as example...

Yes, but if you are owner and thereby registered as host in the house book, you'll need to give permission for your girlfriend's name to be added. Her name will remain in the blue house book, until her name is added in another house book. Your name will remain in a yellow house book for foreigners.

Yes, private road can be a huge problem for both "right of way" and maintenance costs. The road will run over one or several title deeds. Make sure that there will be declared a servitude both about "right of way" and shared maintenance costs for all 7 title deeds, so nobody can block the road – for whatever reason – or deny to pay their share of maintenance. Yes, the road could be a separate title deed, but it might be administrative problematic if it's owned er by all other 7 land owners, especially if some plots change owner, as the shared title deed also needs to change owner with tax and fees involved. I'm living in a house behind a longer private road and we have had problems a couple of times. Last time – recently – from one land owner getting angry on another land owner behind his land, blocking the the road with a gate where passing the edge of his title deed. Unfortunately there are four additional land owners behind his installed and locked gate... About land-locked Property in Thai Law “Land-locked property” refers to a property that has no direct access to a public street, so the only way on or off the property is to cross land owned by someone else. The land-locked owner has the legal right to a “way of necessity” across an adjacent property. This legal permission is called an “easement” and does not need to be registered with any government body to be valid. However, its establishment is bound by the following: Easement can run across only one of the adjacent properties. If necessary, the dominant (land-locked) owner may construct a road across the servient (burdened) property. Care must be taken to cause as little damage as possible to the servient property. [ … ] The concept of servitude also applies to cases other than land-locked properties. A landowner is entitled to servitude right of way if: He or she has openly used a passage for 10 years or more with the intention to establish a right of way and without objections from anyone. Source-link HERE.

Thanks, but not really, I'm really not interested...

You cannot extend your stay if your fund deposit falls below the required amounts. Yes, you can use money for hospitalization, but then you can not extend your stay and need to return to your home country or make a visa run for a new non-immigrant O-visa, fulfilling the financial requirements. The rules changed about a decade ago, before that you only needed to show the deposit with three month maturing before application for extension of stay, and longer back just show that you had the money.

Yes, you always need ID when flying. A nine year old is old enough for an ID-card (7 years); otherwise a birth certificate (perhaps even a photocopy) might do it as identification – my girlfriend and I used the latter, before our daughter was old enough for a Thai ID-card. You should ask the airline, what they require of proof of identity for a nine year old child.

– especially dirty money, even if they have been washed...😀 However, even money from Vietnam and similar countries comes in a big pile of notes, it's relative small money in value; not a problem.

All the time women tries to touch me, or hit me in my butt – sometimes I even have to run away, just like when I was playing rock music in the 1960s...😎

No, never been interested...

Sounds correct...

Not where I live – Samui – I have my insurance agent to do the renewal job for free, it's including in the insurance renewal.