FarangFB

21 minutes ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

The use of 'alien' in legislation is a normal and appropriate use for it.  In law, an alien is any person (including organizations) who is not a citizen or national of a specific country.  Thailand is just using the English terms used by English speaking countries. 

Would be cool if in a distant future the A word becomes forbidden to Thais but acceptable only for farangs to talk among themselves.

I could go up to you and say "sup my alien", but if a Thai called us that we would be deeply offended. 

2 hours ago, monkfish said:

The reason Thai's are still wearing masks is that they want to perceived as being good people and they are worried to be judged or bullied for not wearing one. If you see Thai's glaring at you in supermarkets when you don't wear one it's because you are being Judged as not a good person.
It's all part of being a Buddhist nothing to do with Covid anymore.

I think it's even beyond that, it's that Thais are afraid of being judged by others if not wearing masks (even though most don't give a damn), so they collectively wear it. The more "Thai" the location, the more they will wear. Pattaya and Phuket are pretty chill, I'd say less than 5% of the farangs are using masks and maybe around 70% of Thais.

But non-touristic areas of Bangkok are hardcore. I've been to Mega Bangna recently and it was properly packed (Saturday), I've walked past thousands of Thais and not even one without a mask. The only person I saw with no mask besides me was the only other farang I walked past.

These people will continue using masks for years no matter how optional it becomes.

13 minutes ago, userabcd said:

Handsfree should also not be allowed.

 

The driver is distracted whilst concentrating on what they are discussing on the phone.

With your restriction suggestion all motorbike delivery services would go extinct.

2 hours ago, edogthong said:

I really wish they would do something about all the motorbike drivers who drive around at night with no lights.

This is crazy dangerous and I see it daily, including on some special ramps and highways that motorbikes aren't even allowed. Also quite common in Isan highways which already lack illumination.

16 hours ago, jonclark said:

What a lot alot of expats often forget is that many, many people here not only have to support themselves with daily expenses, but also have aging parents at home, who with the absence of any sort of welfare or pension are entirely dependent on their kids to support them.  So a 300 baht daily wage is split many ways.

Maybe if we walked a mile in their shoes we would have a better understanding of their lives.

The problem is not supporting elderly parents (which I totally agree with). It's quite cheap to support a couple of old people in Isan. 

But many girls in their early 20s have to support parents who are in their 40s or even late 30s. In many cases they end up supporting also grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers etc...many of which don't do any work and only rely on a slice of the money the girl sends every month.

Then they run into debt from buying land/houses/motorbikes or even gambling and the pressure on the poor girl is very high. If the money stops coming all hell breaks loose.

3 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

And this maybe the only real income in that household.

And for many brothers, uncles, dads, moms a good reason to sit around all day gambling and drinking instead of working.

Not the case in Bangkok, every time I go there is constant a parade of Mercedes, Porsches, Alphards and models above.

Shopping malls are packed, luxury brands (Chanel, LV, Gucci etc) are in most of them and with so many customers they have to set a queue outside the door. 

Omakase restaurants (can be north of 5000b per person) are often fully booked. 

Unless you're at least in the high 6-figure earnings (USD), you'll feel kind of poor in Bangkok.

22 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

In other news: Person got beaten up because he removed a parking-reservation-object from the street...

Almost happened to me once, once I parallel parked between two very large plastic bottles (just enough room for my car). When I came back later a Thai guy was fuming that I parked there and started kicking the bottles (lol). I got out of there quickly.

I understand when it's a small business, they don't really have a competent authority to formulate the text.

But this <deleted> sign at Pattaya intersections. They couldn't have formulated it in a more confusing way.

Am I supposed to turn while it's red? Do I wait for the green to turn?

Any other way they wrote this it would be more clear:

"Only turn on green"

"Don't turn when it's red"

"Wait for the green light to turn"

1 hour ago, proton said:

well as offering a bounty on dead dogs brought in by the public,

if they do this there will be people breeding dogs just to kill them and bring in for the bounty

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

If Thailand seriously wanted more tourists they could start offering discounted rooms more, sub the national carrier to drop flight costs, try to get the baht weaker, 

Yeah let's cut earnings from those who have been mostly affected in the past 2.5 years (hotels, air transport). They're are already heavily discounted, I live in Thailand and when I go to Bangkok there are many great hotel choices for the cheapest price they've ever been. Even under 1000b you can find some quite decent places.

The baht has been the weakest since I've been coming here (2010).

I can blame 10 other things for lack of tourists but not the baht or the hotels.

Looking at the photo the building had open space in ALL sides, absolutely no excuse to have just one door.

On 7/26/2022 at 12:27 PM, BusyB said:

The broke people I know own small Honda's to get to work, and the cheapest mobiles because they need the connectivity. Yes there are the profligate. They are a minority in my experience. I don't know a single person who's done something like that. The people I know are happy to have enough to put in the bike's tank to get to work. 

Quite the opposite here in Pattaya, at least from my experience. All broke Thais that I know live by the day. If they get some unexpected 10k baht they will party/drink that money in the same evening and be broke again the next day. Zero planning and never save anything.

As for the broke farangs, it's even worse. Pretty much all broke farangs I know here have no baggage (no family here, no dependants), and manage to be broke even when just carrying their own weight.

On the other hand, almost all farangs that I know that have kids/family (and a shred of honor) are doing fine financially despite all the extra expenses.

I never forget a friend that I had, totally broke living on a monthly VA pension. One week before his pay he ran out of money (he was making more than me at the time) and asked me to borrow 5k baht, which I lent. In the same evening he went to a bar and rang the bell (spent like 3k that evening), then I got angry and he justified himself saying that he could just eat cheap Thai food for the week and the 2k would still be enough. 

He paid me, but then next month he was broke again one week before his payday.

28 minutes ago, AndyAndyAndy said:

I think you can put it in you kids name no matter the age. ????

 

Only problem is if you want to sell property or re-mortgage the house this would have to be approved by a court. As the kid is too young to make a decisions and parents can't make decisions for the kid in this matter. Which is actually good, because it protects against your wife selling the house or taking a loan against it.

Cool, thanks. Do you know if the house can be in the name of the 2 kids at the same time?

9 hours ago, peterfranks said:

Buy it in your kids name. Your wife will have control over the property until your kids are 18 years old, but she can't make any decisions that are against the kids interests.

 

She can never sell or impound the property without a court agreement.

Seems to be the way to go then, thanks!

6 hours ago, Delight said:

 The only method that suits most of your requirements is to set up a Thai company the joint directors with 50% ownership will be your wife and 18 year old.

The ownership will pass to the serviving  party.

 

Also you may be able to include the 5year old -at the start.

That is the justification for using a company

That is my initial thoughts.

That said -the only true solution is for you to seek professional advice.

I would approach an accountant -not a lawyer.

Accountants are experts in company law.

 Lawyers-as I would see it-are expert in laws associated with land ownership.

Maybe speak to both.

Possibly you could purchase life insurance to cover the event of your early death

Thank you, good one about the accountant, I didn't think about that.

Also one important question I forgot:

5- In case of a divorce, and wife gets a new guy with potentially more kids involved, would that affect my kids getting the house in the future?

Farang here on a marriage extension. One kid from the wife previous relationship (almost 18 yo) and another one of my own (5 yo). Both kids Thai nationals.

I'd like to buy a house and I wish it to eventually be passed on to the kids after me and my wife are dead. Obviously I can't have the house in my own name and I think my youngest kid is too young to have his name on anything, right?

Few questions:
 

1- Is buying the house on my wife's name the easiest way to make it be passed on to the kids in the future?

2- If she dies and I'm still alive, what happens?

3- If I die while the house is still not fully paid, and she can't afford the rest of the installments, what happens?

4- Can two people be "owners" at the same time?