FarangFB

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Are you serious?? Are you actually saying Thailand has a stable government????

Relatively yes, it does. Most of the other 3rd world countries are in a more volatile situation, including pretty much every African country.

There are many cons of living here but I can't think anywhere else in the world that would be better for me (and family).

Everywhere else has some or many of these problems:

- Overregulated 

- Wild Karens

- Imminence of war

- Very unstable government

- Dangerous crimes, gunpoint robberies etc

- Exploding homeless populations taking over entire neighborhoods

- Major drug usage issues

- Islamic laws 

- Population with dangerous conflicts about ethnical/religious differences

- Super expensive

- Unbearable heat (like 10-15 degrees hotter than Thai summer)
- Very unwelcoming to foreigners

- Can't get by with only English

- Severe lack of infrastructure 

As far as I know, Thailand is the only country that isn't plagued by any of these. There are of course other problems like corruption, stray dogs, road accidents, etc but it's still the number one place I can think of. 

5 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Daughter's Thammasat Uni tuition was in the shy of 20k per semester range, for 4 yr degree.  Actually about the same, as her non govt High School tuition.  As most state, monthly living expense is what really has to be budgeted for.

That's good to read, what did she study? 
 

4 hours ago, mvdf said:

My post showed the cost of studying medicine at Chula:

https://cu-medi.md.chula.ac.th/faqs/#E

 

The THB amounts represent the tuition and program fees only. The student is also expected to have additional money for living expenses.

 

Yes I understand, I was just perplexed at the discrepancy between this one and the other post stating 15k/semester.

9 hours ago, Andycoops said:

Wow.

My son went to Maha Sarakham university and did a mechanical engineering degree and I only paid 15000 baht a semester.

12 hours ago, mvdf said:

Chula's med school fees. Plus living expenses for BKK. 

 

Not sure if living on-campus is cheaper than off-campus. Friend of mine studied at AIT (Master of Engineering) and spent 20k THB monthly for rent and living expenses alone.

 

Ok I'm still a bit lost, so according to these 2 posts just for the university it could cost between 15k and 604k?? (daughter is Thai btw)

That's a HUGE difference.

My daughter is almost done with school and will move on to a university, she wants to join a Medical school in Bangkok (or perhaps another nearby area if good)

I tried looking their websites for pricing and the numbers there are too vague, does anyone have an idea of how much it would cost me per month/year? Hope they have a dorm on campus too because she'll be staying in Bangkok.

Doesn't need to be the best one, just something on the top 10.

This one happened to a friend about 12 years ago in the era of portable digital cameras. He bought a camera and when recording videos at night, there would be some weird vertical light lines in the video.

He took it back to the shop, and their solution was "make videos during daytime only sir"

17 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

You really think that "working smart" is earning "B60 to 10000" [sic] (sixty to ten thousand - read his comment) a month?

I'm almost sure he meant 60-100,000 but forgot the last zero. (see he put a coma like this 100,00)

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

My neighbour did.... but he had iron grills..... pity the screw heads were left accessible and very usable!

Very common, a friend moved to a house here and all the windows and doors have these grills, and all of them simply kept in place by like 6 very common screws. 

What many westerns don't realize is that in many cases Thai people have more money than them. 

Go to high end places in Bangkok and Pattaya. They're very busy, often can't get a seat in a luxury restaurant if you don't book in advance.

Look around in the streets and you can see Porsches and Benz (which are already overpriced by over 200% here). Over 95% of these owned by Thai people. Depending on where you go Lambos and Ferraris can be seen too and they can cost around a million USD here.

High end supermarkets doing very well, Thais love high end products and some western food. Korean/Japanese strawberries and grapes at over 1000b for a small box, and they get sold.

I won't even mention the girls.

The time of being seen as a "wealthy" farang with your retirement is behind you. You can still get by but you'll need to be careful with your expenses and avoid certain places. The reality is that perhaps 20% of Thai people are way wealthier than you and this number is increasing.

Is a person with a Thailand Pass (from early Dec) for a Sandbox arriving in Pattaya on the 12th this month ok?

All the data I found about the changes only addresses the people on Test and Go that should be good until the 15th. I couldn't find any reference to the people on the Non-Phuket sandbox programme.

Please help me out I’m a bit lost with the rules for previously issued Thailand Pass and Blue Zone.
 

A relative is coming from Brazil on Jan 12 under the blue programme (Brazil is not from the 45 countries on the list for test & go).

The Thailandpass was obtained in Mid December just before they changed it. Blue Zone, selected the hotel from the list (Sha Extra+) and from what I understood - test on day 1 and then stay 7 days without leaving the Pattaya area (but not locked up) and finally free to travel the country after a second test.

Today I went to the hotel to confirm everything but they seem quite lost, they’re saying they’re a test and go only hotel but not AQ (although we didn’t book for AQ anyway). The manager looked confused between AQ and Blue Zone, that's why I am asking here.

I've looked everywhere and I can't find much about Blue Zone arrivals, but it seems those who got the Thailand Pass in time can still stay on the agreed scheme if arriving before Jan 15th.

Assuming the Thailand Pass was already approved and issued, and the visitor arrives on Jan 12th, is everything ok? Just one day locked in hotel until the test results, then can go around Pattaya without leaving the area?

23 hours ago, 2long said:

which one is most annoying?

Funny, I find none of these the most annoying.

To me the most annoying is when I indicate properly like before a turn and the motorbikes proceed to pass me on the side I am going to turn, completely ignoring my signal and positioning themselves right on the blind spot. I never hit any but one day I'm gonna get old and not so nimble.

A few years ago Pattaya police announced a 5k or 10k reward for reporting illegal objects on the street blocking public parking spots - chairs, trash cans, private cones.

I really felt tempted to do it, I could find easily 10+ offenders near my house, but my cautious side told me not to.

Needless to say, those damn objects continued to block the spots and nothing changed. I wonder if anyone actually reported.

One time I actually managed to squeeze my car right between 2 large plastic bottles, one Thai guy wasn't happy about it and started shouting and kicking the bottles.

3 minutes ago, fangless said:

How many times have you run the same test at the same time of day.  Single/spot tests are meaningless.

I understand variations but when my download is under 25% of the advertised speed and upload is 3% then it's a problem regardless of the time. I'd understand half speed but if I'm paying a top 1199b/month plan I should be getting more than the 4G I used to pay 1890b/year.

I just got a truemove 1Gbps 5G to replace the old 4G, and I can barely tell the difference. If anything, it's slower.

Speedtest on my 5G gives me 200Mbps download and 30Mbps upload with 25ms ping. 

My 4G got about 100Mbps download, similar upload but ping was lower at 20ms.

5G also shows losses sometimes on speedtest, and when browing normally I get some unusual delays, I am in a central location of Pattaya, the 5G signal is full. Does anyone here have a good experience? I'm considering going back there and cancelling the plan.

1 hour ago, Uroller said:

Domestic tourism will be down because so many Thais have less money to spend because of closed businesses and being out of work!

I'd think that too but I'm always amazed by the amount of new Benz's and Porsches in Bangkok and even Pattaya streets. Also I would bet dollars for donuts that this new iPhone 13 will be completely sold out despite costing up to almost 70k.

They should just make one condition: the foreigner needs to live in the land he/she owns and that's the only property (immovable) they would be allowed to own.

Just like a marriage extension that you need to prove every year that you're still married with documents and photos, the land owner would have to periodically prove that he/she lives there.