Darrel

That was probably what I saw. 24in is big enough for my needs. I would buy one of those you mention but I've got a 2 year old one doing nothing in the UK and will bring it back here in my suitcase later in the year.

I'm wasting my time talking to you.

OK. Probably best to give someone else the benefit then.

i replied to your "last month" and not to the 4 year old opening post.

The post in question was made on June 27 2011. If that is 4 years ago for you then that may well explain some of the things you say. It should certainly give you some remarkable insight.

For the rest of us mere mortals the post was made yesterday and referred to the period since June 2 2011, and if you concentrate on the period in question (June 2 - June 26) the EUR has indeed fallen. It is only since then that it has gained back what it had lost.

Indeed. Not much point making any sort of comment about anything if criticism is to be rendered generic retroactively.

At 300 baht, it is a very good deal. Order water for 30 baht, or something like that. The tea is excellent and comes in a full pot, and at 120 baht or so, is not going to break the bank.

I have yet to meet anyone who has been there only once.

All that ++ sounds expensive to me, compared to what is available elsewhere.

You may have just met someone who hasnt been once and isnt going to.

Especially as it seems I can be sure of not seeing any screaming kids in those other places, as they will all be at the Hilton.

I noticed a 24in monitor in one or another shop here the other day: I think it was 7200B. Seemed quite good value.

Still not seen anything in Pattaya over 24in, apart from Apple screens.

You're still not looking at things correctly. All currencies are primarily traded against USD. .................

During the time that you mention (after Christmas), you have conveniently overlooked the fact that the Baht did not depreciate against the USD at all, so no, it would not have had anything to do with an outflow of capital from Thailand. If that was the case then it would have depreciated across the board. Instead, what you witnessed was the Euro appreciating, not the Baht depreciating.

The EUR appreciating and the THB remaining conveniently pegged to the value of the USD, the currency against which you say all others are primarily traded?

Sorry, we will just have to disagree about that.

I dont think that the USD has anywhere near the importance you seem to place on it.

EURTHB was 43.34 on june 1 and is now trading at 44.05 - do you call the EURo's appreciation of 1.6% vs. THB "fallen"?

Try discounting the large increase that happened in the last couple of days and basing your month up to time when the OP asked his question.

I bought our original home for less than 2 million baht and then a few years later bought the home next to ours for 2.8 million baht and eventually combined the houses. Our home is now worth about 12 million baht.

Has someone actually offered you that figure or is that just guesswork based on the asking price of other (unsold) properties?

300 all week M-Th

400 Friday

A shame but not surprising. The only one I liked the sound of was the seafood Friday one, but for 400++ I think I would rather go to the Thai open-air place in South Rd twice and have a beer each time! Or even the hotpot buffet in Central, for 285.

Will certainly go and look at the Hilton next Friday though, just to see what they have.

Along with the plague and biblical swarms of locusts etc there really cant be anything worse than families. They reduce eveything to mediocrity and banality, with an offensive soundtrack as an unwelcome bonus.

I was trying to point out that the reasons behind current movements of the USD are mostly large global ones, and not small local ones due to elections etc.

Unease about (not in) Europe makes the USD stronger generally, and this affects the USD/THB rate as the THB is not a global currency to be bought in and out of like the EUR or GBP or SFR etc.

The THB lost 10% of its value against the EUR in the few months after Christmas, but that didnt coincide with large stockmarket sales or other capital flight (at least not in any reports that I saw). This was a much bigger movement than we are seeing now.

Also this:

http://www.hilton.co.uk/ts/en_GB/hotel/content/BKKHPHI/media/pdf/BKKHPHI_Hilton_Pattaya_foodflyer01_download.pdf

From another forum:

300B++. 12th floor.

Monday = sushi

Tuesday = Italian

Wednesday = soup and salad bar

Thursday = Asian noodles

Friday = seafood

Saturday = dessert and ala Carte menu

Sunday = Sunday Brunch and carvery 1200b, not 300b!!!

I have used 1and1.com...... Excellent, reliable, low cost.......They also do name registration

I wouldnt call them excellent but they arent bad. They arent very helpful if/when you want to transfer out and the European arm, which I use, is decidely bogged down with rules and regulations. I have several dozen sites with them.

I find that domain name registration is usually cheaper when bundled in with hosting, and I also find the total cost is often lower in Europe these days.

I've been using GoDaddy for a few years when I needed U.S based web servers, they are cheap and reliable.

And the CEO is a grade A arsehol_e who should be strung up by the neck.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=godaddy+elephant+killer

Anyone who supports Godaddy in any way shape or form should be strung up with him.

next weeks elections, foreign investors pulling out of the SET and repatriatring cash.

If so, the GBP and the EUR would also be rising (unless one assumes that only USD are invested in Thailand, which seems unlikely). They aren't.

The EUR has fallen against the THB over the last month, so has the GBP.

The USD has also risen against the EUR and GBP over the same time and clearly that has nothing to do with the Thai elections. More likely to do with general unease in Europe, I suspect, and these moves are just mirrored in the THB/USD rate.

Would you class this place as kid friendly......

Any play areas or is it all upmarket ?

I sincerely hope that anyone under 16 is completely banned. Nothing worse than hearing brats misbehaving when you're trying to enjoy a nice meal, especially if you have paid 300B for it.

Low season prices? Quite a few of the big places are advertising "specials" at the moment.

300B for a 5* buffet seems quite cheap though. Is it 300++? What do they have?

"I wonder who is buying these properties."

People who are spending someone else's money, I suspect.

Hehe. And here I am thinking that anything over 50k/sqm for a full-on sea view and walking distance to a bahtbus is a bit expensive.

My mother died of cancer at 66, my father at 72. I suppose I'll be lucky to see 70.

Personally I am far more worried about living for a long time after a stroke or getting senile than I am about dying young. At least if you're dead nothing nasty can happen to you.

And given the way the world has gone so far downhill over the last 20 years, I dont think that the next 20 hold much promise. I am so glad I travelled a lot 30 years ago. It was worthwhile travelling back then and I enjoyed every second of it to the full. Now I'm not so sure.

.....your wife would then get a one-year dependent extension of stay piggy-backed to your extension.

Never really understood the logic in that. Assuming that the 800K deposit is to prove enough ressources to pay for living and possible medical expenses, I dont see how two people can qualify on one deposit. Only housing actually costs the same for 1 or 2 people, and I suspect that if I was married my wife would have me spending far more than I do now on a day to day basis.

This nonsense about how poor people look down on you for giving them a decent salary or tip is most enlightening.

It all depends who is getting the tip.

A relatively poor shop-worker being tipped would be grateful. A relatively rich shop-owner getting a tip would probably think the tipper is an idiot.

Both would say thank you though.

Around Soi Diana and in LK Metro.

Yes, the lights were out but the open beer bottles were totally in sight.

........watch the rice growing......

Never bored.

I just lost the will to live.