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4 hours ago, paul1804 said:

Countries Tariff Rate Effective Duty and Tax Burden 14th January 2020

 

USA, France, Italy, Chile and other countries under WTO agreement 390.46%

Australia 294.92%

New Zealand 275.81%

 

I don't believe there has been a final decision by the authorities on how much the reduction will be. Maybe the excise which is very high will stay the same and the actual tax which is much lower will be reduced. Can you really see the beer makers in Thailand allowing especially imported wine to be competitively priced against beer? I don't think so!

Now you know why wine is ridiculously  priced in restaurants in Thailand!

Can somebody please explain this Thai fanaticism with excessive decimals to the point of 2/3 of Sweet Fanny Adams in virtually every statistic and dataset used.  

And while I'm at it, most countries have even done away with their former smallest coins that can't even buy you a free kick up the jacksie, but here we have coins worth literally nothing and a wheelbarrow full may almost buy you a small beer.

I was so captivated by the infomercial my brain was actually saying to me "But wait, there's more....."  well before I got to the end.

Probably need new starters for the fluro lights.  But confusing why the power sockets die.

This must be an anatomically correct mannequin. 

Otherwise I have no idea why they would blur out the "nothingness" of the crutch area.  Gob-smacked.

I look nothing like a Russian but years ago when every other tourist was from Russia I learned how to say "No!  Foxtrot Oscar!" in the mother tongue.  Niet! Otvali!

Very useful when numerous young Russian blokes approached me while having a quiet smoke outside Central Festival putting two fingers towards their mouth and gutturally uttering (read shouting) "zigaretta".

I'm sure my pronunciation is tragic but it got the job done. 

11 minutes ago, ThaIrish Sean said:

When I first came to Thailand I would take a bottle of Irish whiskey over for the father in-law.

Jameson's

Bushmills

Tullamore Dew

Then the airport ran out of decent Irish stuff so I got Scottish single malts.

Glenfiddich etc 

I then heard a whisper that he wondered why I was bringing him all this rubbish when all he wanted was Johnny Walker red label ???? (we call it paint stripper)

I saved my money and got him the paint stripper ????

 

 

 

 

Is that the same as Johnnie Walker_TM?

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Excellent post.

 

Re the OP, no, I'm not scared at all. Either I get it and die, or I die of something else just as painful and unpleasant. As one that survived cancer but had my life ruined by the treatment, I'm on borrowed time anyway, and my allotted 3 score and 10 is in my rear view mirror anyway.

I admire your spirit and fortitude.  Reminds me of my octogenarian friend with a 45 year old Thai wife and when asked about the age difference, replied "well if she dies, she dies!"

14 hours ago, Maybole said:

I have always found that transferring money in my home countries currency and getting the Thai bank to convert to Baht has produced a better rate. Wise, however, will not do this, but their rates are good and fees modest.

 

I have Wise accounts in multiple currencies.  I just deposit my home currency in bulk into my Wise domestic currency account and buy/sell other currencies within Wise as I see fit at virtually no cost and at interbank rates.

Because my Kiwi dollar is volatile I will often buy USD, GBP, EUR or AUD and hold it in Wise and then flick it to Wise THB account when I need it.  I transfer THB from Wise to my Kbank account as and when necessary.

EDIT:  forgot to add that Wise have an international debit card also.  So I can use that card in Thailand at any outlet and it debits the Wise THB account.  If I buy on evilbay it will debit whatever the currency is required by the seller.  Beats the hell out of paypal or your domestic card/bank on the rate used even if you haven't got that currency in Wise.

Because I hold multiple currencies in Wise, I make a few bucks just dicking it between currencies and as I always have plenty to come and go on I'm rarely forced to buy or sell at a bad rate.  If the rate is against me on THB I'll convert THB to USD or NZD instead and then wait a day, a week, or a month to flick it again. 

I once mistakenly bought NZD 10K worth ofTanzanian Shillings (don't Wise when you're at the bar) and didn't realise for 4 days - flicked it back to NZD on Wise and scored NZD300 profit.

15 hours ago, Graemej100 said:

What an idiotic post.

Thanks - that's the effect I was going for.  

21 hours ago, mark5335 said:

That's good advice to be cautious, and that was an interesting case. Apart from freezing his assets did they also restrict his ability to freely come and go from Australia or did they try to prevent him from leaving as well?

He's a Kiwi but lived and worked in Aussie and was a resident tax payer there.  He also holds a British passport and was coming and going to SE Asia on both passports.  He hasn't been back to Aussie.  

He hadn't actually been working in Australia for about 5 years before the mongrels decided to have a go at him.

The thing about Australia and Australians you have to be careful of is that "they" trust their government far too much,  It's a historical part of their psyche (maybe it comes from the convict genes of the 18th century) , because somewhat ironically, their government has done a very good job of administering the country for two centuries. Look at the pandemic situation - they have been literally in home detention for a year and because they as a people have ultimate faith in their government, they accept it like docile sheep. 

The same can be said of the Kiwis. Far too trusting and far too docile.

23 hours ago, George Aylesham said:

Its easy to mock someone else's accent isn't it?

I'm a Kiwi.  If I want to mock the accent of the esteemed leader of my country,  I think I have every right to do so. I'm also 3.75% indigenous Maori - this gives me the inalienable privilege of mocking my white slave masters with legal and moral impunity.

In my previous Moo Bahn I would typically pay 500-600B a month - government rates. I can't remember the consumption but that was for three adults and a child.  One of the adults didn't take 40 minute showers or routinely leave the garden hose running overnight.

35 minutes ago, Mitkof Island said:

The Thailand Pass site works so badly it seems fake.

The fact that it seems fake is the trademark of every Thai website.  That's how you know it's real.

And the wheels on the train go round and round............