palm

A fuel surcharge with oil under $50 . At what price did they buy their fuel ??

Most airlines hedge their jet fuel purchases.

Happy Birthday!

Just got an email from 1-2-Go, they now plan to restart on 5th December, offering free Mama noodles on all flights, slurp.

I'd rather a free parachute.

Spending the same I'm afraid - luckily this bit of trouble affects me little.

Me too, and in fact October 08 was my highest monthly income for some time.

Anyhow now some good places to eat Turkish food, around downtown

There is a fairly new Turkish restaurant called Ibo near the Holiday Inn in Silom now. It was very clean when I went a few weeks ago, and the food was good; though the restaurant is very plain in that modern minimalist style.

It's in those new upmarket townhouses, apparently 'Bangkok's chichi Sun Square boutique mall'.

There is a review of it from the Nation newspaper: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/worldhotne...newsid=30075573

Thailand pays its raw material imports with foreign currency earned with tourism, ....

Would you please provide a reference for this remarkable statement?

thank you,

TH

Yes, I would like to see a reference about this too.

i see barbara windsor as the basket case , ken dodd as the punter , kenneth williams as the mate renting the house , hattie jacques as the som tam lady and sid james as the pattaya lawyer advising the punter. also bert kwouk in a cameo role as the motorcycle taxi driver. nicholas cage has agreed to play "lek" , the bearded katoey with a heart of gold who comes to the rescue of the lads and ultimately finds happiness in the arms of the punter after a traumatic sex change operation.

carry on pattaya dangerous will be a big budget production using traditional british humour and subtle pathos to document the ups and downs of life in pattaya for a group of british expats ,on the run from their home town of liverpool after warrants are put out for their arrests for hubcap theft as they struggle to come to terms with the cultural differences and unexpected turns of events that befall them as they chase love in that seaside town on the gulf of siam.

filming to start in blackpool , december 2008.

Brilliant!

Zorro, mostly people lose property here from the arbitrary and constant changes in work permit and visa rules. There is the odd fraudulent situation where papers are not in order, forged, or other shenanigans. Occasionally they become uninhabitable from lack of maintenance.

Plenty of ways to lose ones investment here, and new ones being invented every day. As for actually losing a condo as in "dam_n where did I put that last night" it is pretty rare. I think that is more related to developers improperly gaining rights to land (as in Samui) or building incorrectly (as the ones out by MoChit that were too high) or overselling to farangs as the Pattaya group like to do on occasion.

My previous post was sarcastic somewhat and was hoping wrong turn would answer. changes to visas wouldn't have an impact on ownership if I'm reading you correctly the person is unable to stay but the property is still his allowing him/her to sell or rent. Lack of maintenance is a concern as it is in other countries same with fraud and building outside parameters. I really don't see it being that much different to anywhere else of course unless were talking land in the wife's name

You are correct, the problem being is that it can be challenging to sell property when you are in it, but when you are persona non grata I think it might be infinitely more challenging. Then the problem of getting the money out of the country, the paperwork, etc. Not something I would want to face. Hard enough to get things done when here.

Regards the fraud, in countries with the rule of law, you might have a fighting chance. Here, you have little to no chance of prevailing in the Judicial system. Way too many proofs of that theorem to even open that can of worms. It is frighteningly different than the west as is any third world country where the law is used more to control the population than to protect them. That is probably the hardest thing for expats to come to terms with, its so alien to our thought process and cultural assumptions. Its this environment that sustains the fraud and forgery.

So if you know all of this as fact, maybe you could list a few examples where a foreigner has lost a legally owned property here. i.e. a condo. Can you then give us the links on the internet to these cases, and where the court case was held etc.

Or if you have trouble finding a few examples, maybe you can list JUST ONE SINGLE CASE of this.

I own properties in a few countries, and the Thai legal system concerning legal ownership of property is no better or worse than in most other countries.

I'm looking for business class flights from the UK to Bangkok. Where's the best priced place to purchase these from ?

Any recommendations as to which airlines, routes or travel agents to use ? Obviously I want the best price and I prefer flights that depart in the evening or late at night.

I'm not too bothered if I need to make a connection in Europe or the Middle East, I won't travel via Dubai though due to their over zealous drug policies so Emirates is out.

I can fly out of Birmingham or London.

check-out qatar website and do a ghost booking for the dates you would like to fly. If you click on the 3 days option you will get a choice of flights and tarifs.

BTW Qatar is one of the few airlines that gives you the cheapest options on their website.

hope to have helped

onzestan

Yes, Qatar are very cheap and good value for business class - only about 83,000 Baht including taxes BKK - Doha - Heathrow.

The seats only recline 160 degrees though, so not a true flat bed. Not on the ones I've been on recently anyhow. Maybe the A340 business class beds are true flat?

Ahh yes another one of Lao's posts quoting that eternal pessimist Jim Rogers. Jimmy (the sky is falling) Rogers has been a bear for the past 30 years and has missed out on every single major run in the markets over that time frame. Rogers has been touting equities in mainland china for a couple of years now, and has lost 60% of their value in less than a year, now he is taking a bath on gold and all the other commodities that he was hyping just 6 weeks ago. Good ole Jimmy is getting a bit long in the tooth, I sure hope he has something left to retire on

I've been telling you to short oil, short gold and go long the dollar for many months now, if you choose to listen to Jim Rogers then I hope that you keep enough funds dry so you can at least afford a taxi to take you to the poor house

Strange words from a man who was looking for accommodation last year in Chiang Mai for Baht 2.000 per week...and/or Baht 300/day...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Reasonable-W...85#entry1088485

LaoPo

Lao, is this really the best you can do? I think it was Palm and livinlos that attemted to bring up this triviality on multiple occasions, (even at this juncture I gave you more credit than these guys) but I did have the decency to answer them just as I will answer you. My wife and I spent about 3 weeks at a wonderful little guest house near the Ping river, that was convienent to the night bazzar, the moat ,Dukes and many other landmarks. This guest house was clean and the staff was incredibly friendly, I would highly recomend it to anyone, and yes the price was about 350baht/day. My intention in our stay in Chiang Mai was to research the real estate market (for a vacation home), golf club memberships , the health of the economy and to sightsee. We certainly could have stayed at a 5 star resort hotel and had the word "sucker" tatooed on our forehead the day we checked in, but then we would never have met the people that befriended us or found out from the folks on the street level just what was happening in Chiang Mai and in Thailand. The education was invaluable and the accomodations were more than adequete, we both thoroughly enjoyed our time in Chiang Mai. I know people that have to stay at 5 star accomodations, and once there they feel the need to throw money around and act demanding and obnoxious(the ugly American syndrome-although you could substitute Brit,German,Aussie, korean Jappanese ect.), I have always felt that these folks not only lack in many social graces, but usually miss out on a multitude of opportunities to see the real countryside and meet some really great people. Other posts of mine at this same time show my interest in purchasing a vacation home and a golf club membership in Chiand Mai, but of course I have never known you to be an objective fellow so why would you repost those posts along with this one? I guess the slant you show in your financial posts follows through in everything you do here. I hope this act of desperation here in no way relects on your current economic status. I have never wished any ill will on you or your family nor would I, we simply see the world from different perspectives and have had some strong dissagreement as to where economies, markets and currencies are headed. I seem to have been spot on so far exept for gold coming down to the mid $600's (although this will occur soon) so perhaps you are a bit miffed at my astute predictions, in any event I hope you and your family are doing OK, Vic

lol, so you stayed in 350 baht a night hostels so you could find out what was going on at 'street-level', and anyone staying in a 5-star hotel is demanding, obnoxious, a sucker, and lacks social graces?

Nonsense. Oil prices are high because of the New World Order, a highly secretive group of bankers, royalists and jews who want to reduce populations and implant chips in our skulls.

Who is the nut who says that Giant lizards really control everything?

David Icke - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_icke

Well worth a read.

Most foreigners buy land here by putting it in their Thai Wife/ Girlfriends name.

Some do it by obtaining a 30 year lease.

Some do it by setting up a sham company and using that to buy.

Some have proper trading companies and do it that way.

The bottom line is foreigners cannot buy land in Thailand.

They can buy a condominium under certain circumstances.

As for Visas , unless they are over 50 or married to a Thai it is not easy to stay here indefinitely. Possible but not easy.

It is very easy for under 50s to live in Thailand permanently. Just buy the Elite card. Current cost is around $45,000 per person - which gives you indefinite stay in Thailand for life.

So for just the cost of an average car, you can stay in a foreign country for life. http://www.thailandelite.com/

You could always take the Eastern Oriental Express from BKK to Chiang Mai

http://www.orient-express.com/web/eoe/journeys/3_81380.jsp

Real First Class with a price to match.

Quiksilver; if you added on the ethnicity of the foreigners buying condos, I think you'd find even less white western faces; much of the buying market here in Thailand are Singaporeans, Hong Kong Chinese and now more than ever, Russians and a few Indians and Middle Easterners.

That's certainly what I saw at the presentation I went to for the Prime 11 in Suk 11. One 'obvious westerner' there out of maybe 200 people. The rest were all Asian.

i don't think anyone can guarantee that prices will stay up but for 4 years we have been told that the crisis is coming, housing bubble ready to explode, and investors fleeing...

All I am saying is that maybe people cried Wolf in the past and now it seems less serious

- BUT this time around it just looks to me like a " perfect storm " brewing - i.e serious

economic problems PLUS insurmountable geopolitical problems at the same time

What about the Thai crisis in 2007? lol, how soon we forget.

. it's like gluing a Lexus sticker on a Fortuner...

A distinct possibility since Lexus and Fortuner are from the same company.

beg to differ your conclusions. but hey... everyone is entitled to be wrong

As long as Thailand offers the same product for a fraction of what it costs in the west in will be good Value for money and as you said people with money or even those who are less fortunate know this.

the high end projects in bangkok offer size,quality, service level and luxury that you can only dream to get for the same price in the west.

Add to that the low cost of living and its better value for money then anywhere in the west.

so if you are rich but not rich enough to live in a crummy apartment in Moscow for 1,000,000 usd or not rich enough to afford shitty little rundown house in London for 800,000 GBP or if the cost of 1.5 million euro is not enough to buy an overused apartment in Paris then BKK is the place were your dreams come true.

You are absolutely right. I was able to buy some nice properties here with a small portion of my disposable income without needing to sell any of my property or land in the 'west'.

I'm completely hooked.

Please keep up full daily efforts, this is better than Big Brother..

Yes, but so is having your balls nailed to a table top.

does and thai with a passport need a visa to go to hongkong?

thanks

Thai's do not need a Visa to enter HK or Macao. Your Thai friend will get a 30 day tourist visa stamp.

Save your self a lot of trouble and have Gadget Trend deliver one right to your front door. It will have the latest ESRI Thailand map and I'm sure you will get a free 2009 map upgrade. Any problems or questions and Gadget Trend will take good care of you. They have a guy named Art who speaks excellent English.

I found the people at GadgetTrend to be very helpful. Definitely recommended.

BingoBongo/ kokothemonkey,

PS: Just had a look at that GlobalHousePriceCrash site and koko/BingoBongo talking to himself over 15 pages Get over it mate.

It's the funniest thing I've seen a while. Everyone should go and read it.

Especially the post where he says he could not rent out his wife's place in Bangkok for 18 months.

Hi Tod, the GOM got his place yesterday, today I don't know because I didn't go. Tomorrow I will do though. I think Bino's way may be the only way to get in first unless the GOM's late.

Maybe the shop has a big cupboard, or store room, where you can sleep in overnight? Bring a sleeping bag, pack some snacks, that kind of thing?

I think ThaiVisa should give out an annual award to the opener of most popular thread of the year.

The Athenee Residence is complete. When we visit our units we can now even park in our designated garage spaces.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of what must be one of the very best new condos in Bangkok!

I can't believe people think anywhere doing 'buffets' counts as quality. Come on people - that's not a dining experience. Lining up to self-serve yourself food that was cooked hours ago, might be ok for breakfast (at a push) but it isnt fine dining.

There's a great french place in a back street around saladaeng. Buggered if i can remember its name though.

I think you mean Aubergine, which is not too shabby - where all the staff wear purple tops?

Has anyone tried Le Pre Grill? Another little French restaurant in that general area. Easily under 4,000baht for two.

I'll see if he's got any favourite seat in the Dubliner.