leo12345

Looks like the rain is coming in faster than the fire brigade did

Thailand is probably the WORST choice in terms of human environment; what I mean is that people there are shallow, uninteresting and very unfriendly( they LOOK friendly, but are not).BUT: in terms of food/accomodatation/transportation/security/ease of life/cost of living it's abolutely the BEST country in South East Asia.

Philippines: HORRIBLE food, more expensive, security problems

Cambodja: lack of quality at all levels, NOBODY speaks english, depressing atmosphere, everything is just imported from Thailand

Vietnam: nobody speaks english, quite hard people, lack of infrastructures

Malaysia:BOOOOOORING.... more expensive than Thailand, but in terms of quality of life the best choice after Thailand.

Indonesia - really - if you can afford it then Bali, if not on the main Island of Java or perhaps Sumatra.

I think it is slightly less foreigner friendly than Thailand and the other options you mention when it comes to visa'a etc.. but it more than makes up for that in other areas.

I would spend a few months there on a tourist visa before committing to a longer stint.

Malaysia is also worth looking at as it is possible to own property there.

Simon

Agree with everything except the description of Thai people. Maybe your experience was in the bigger cities/tourist areas? I've found most Thais I've met to be very friendly and very helpful. Exceptions for the ones working the hard core tourist areas...like the people who rent jet skis or work in the red light districts.

Actually not true

I have been working in hospitality here for over 5 years.

There are nice people but there are many back abbing 2 faced as well.

Now I do live just outside BKK and work in BKK.

My next door neighbor hates my guts because I am a young foreigner and have a nicer house. One time he wanted to fight me and yelled at me to go spend my Farang money on another place far from him.

On the other hand I have other neighbors that are nice.

I do not live in a tourist area and do not associate with red light district girls.

Some Thais are friendly and some are purely smiling assassins.

I have only met 1 normal ladyboy in my life and the ladyboy was post snip.

As far as my personal views, I would not be too keen on leaving my children alone with.

those weird looking houses near lannabowling at the corner of Ram hospital, inside the moat, are supposed to be haunted.

they've been for sale years and years and nobody seems to be interested.

Are ghosts multi lingual?

Depends on their previous life education

SwissT,

I've met extremely happy people in both countries that are at the 'bottom' economically. Most people I know at the other end are more comfortable, but not always happier.

If I had to choose, I go with Kerryk. More Thai girls in Thailand!

double that

And where did most ozzies come from in the early 20th century

Yep the english sent us to paradise and they stayed in that shithole

Amen.

The drug dealers on Pattaya beach show the drugs in their hands when trying to sell them and there are very few arrests and police quite often are only a few metres away.

Making sure their employee's are doing a good job

I suspect that there will be a big increase in illegal (as in no work permit) Cambodians and Burmese working in Thailand which will have the usual flow on effects in the economy . Some Thais will benifit, some will not .

This year nearly 900,000 Burmese aplied for work permits as the government opened up the doors for them for a 1 month period.

Now they are not working for low salaries as they claim they should be paid same.

You got that right Rob

Businessmen claim that if they have to pay someone 300 a day who is now only earning 200 because their productivity is low, say that they won't be able to pay the guys already on 300 baht an increase to reflect their increased contribution to the company. This will cause a lot of grief as it will seem very unfair to the hard worker on 300 baht to only get the same money as the guy that was on 200, he will demand a pay rise, and why not?, that or his productivity will drop, and again, why not? Also you could find supervisors on the same daily rate as their staff...how's that gonna pan out?

The whole idea is laughable and unworkable, even though they say its gonna be phased in, it just CANNOT work IMHO

Even worse is that the employee that is on 301 baht per day will not get any increase which will not end up well for the employer.

The whole salary range level will have to increase to keep happy employees all over the board

soap-dodging backpackers

:cheesy: :cheesy:

The name of the sauna should be revealed because certain saunas are known to be gathering places for gay people engaging in certain activities. Some of these saunas from what i hear are pitch black when you walk in. (im straight)

That has to be one of the funniest comments ever.

Are you being homophobic or are you secretly searching for a gay spa?

And how do you know so much about their operations?

Can't you just put oil in a wok on medium heat and fry?

I got one in Carrefore

Yes indeed, I saw them upstairs at the former Carrefour in Jungceylon a couple months ago.

BTW, I was told when looking at them, no, you are too fat and do should not be eating fried food. So here's a tip if you are plump, pleasingly so or not, , do not take a lady that has seen you naked when visiting the housewares department.)

LOL

Being around westerners every day more than the average Thai.

Of course they will learn the language faster.

I am very interested in why people want a maid.is it because both of you work long hours,or is it a farang on his own who cannot do the chores or works long hours.maybe you are bone idle,no criticism intended.

is there anybody outside bangkok who has a maid,now that would be interesting.

Actually many people need a maid.

I drive into BKK every day, my wife is at home with a new born and a 2yr old.

We need assistance @ home and there is nothing wrong with that.

We do not want to call the family every time for help as they have a life and we like our privacy.

When you say she lives outside of your house, do you mean in maids quarters, or elsewhere.

If she is living on-site, and from your description of her duties, you are being more than generous.

My friend employs 3 staff in Pattaya in his internet business. They work 7 hrs a day, 6 days a week for 6,000 per month. I would class these as skilled workers compared to a maid, and they have to pay for their own accomodation. And this is not in some village in the boonies, but in Pattaya.

A bit more detail: we're in the Sukhumvit area. She lives off-site, with her daughters who are employed elsewhere. She speaks no English.

I'm told that Bangkok-based expats often pay much more then this. Maybe they're paying for English-language capability? Or just paying a very generous wage?

Alot of house aid like to work in the Sukhumvit area. Burmese and Thai.

They like it because Expats know the salaries abroad and tend to over pay them here due to feeling sorry.

They also know that with Expats they will not have to work hard.

I know Thai people with nannies and maids that live in and have all meals provided and they only get 6000 - 9000 max with no bonus.

We have been looking for quite a while now and offer 10,000 but wen they know my wife is Thai, they decline and say they only want to be working with Expats.

I have intervied over 20 applicants and brought home a few and they are terrible.

Phuket should be the stplace for stamping down on drugs.

And in Phuket the police should be monitored first as they are the big guns

Pretty sure I have seen Milk of Magnesia and Epsom salts in the Pharmacy sections of Tesco's and in Boots in both Pattaya and BKK of course it may have been Watsons....but certain I have seen them...

ps when you write a post....try and put things in paragraphs, not trying to be an English Nazi, but you post is very hard to read...

Well I will not question your memory but none here in Udon at Tesco, Boots, Big , Watsons or any pharmacy I have visited. A pharmacist here who spoke very good English told me they can not sell it. I have no idea why. She told me I can get Epsom Salts at hospital but all the hospitals I have visited here are like a Chinese fire drill and no one seems to speak any English.

Anyway, Thanks for your reply!

Consider moving to Pattaya... you can get itterally anything in some pharmacies here...

Exactly, Pattaya, Phuket & some parts of BKK you can get absolutely anything fropm pharmacies.

Where are you living?

I have seen at some of the larger pharmacies at Victory Monument BKK have for sale.

haha the chained bite back

Blood test has been a requirement now for over 1.5 yrs.

As for the urine, I did not need to give a sample last time , however the other doctor checks have not changed much.

Holden Cruze is fast becoming one of the most popular cars in OZ now.

But I am still waiting to test drive the new civic before i go shopping.

The question apparently is, "are you wearing Tesco clothes?"

That was an amazing well thought reply.

Its a hard burden to carry but I always keep my heads up when it happens.

I suggest that you plan a trip to Thailand first and survey for yourselves what would be best suitable.

Every Beach / Tourist area has what you need and has nightlife.

However if you go to Phuket you will need to be maybe in Rawai as not too far from Phuket Town where most of the inter schools are.

Hua Hin is nice but I am not aware of any inter schools there.

Phuket would be the best bet for eveng you need and the nightlife is only in certain areas.

But definitely come see or yourself first.

Today we kicked out our nanny because she hit our 2 yr old son on the head.

Luckily he was not hurt but when we heard him crying and asked him what happened he was very quick to take us to te nanny, point at her and show us what she did.

Before the nanny started we interviewed her through an agent and we hired her because of her background was good.

We paid good money for her but 1 week after she came, she started showing signs of not knowing what she was doing.

When we asked to change her we were informed that we had to pay money first, (which was not mentioned at the interview with the agent) and seemed not so caring as at first.

We were worried about the performance and lack of care of the nanny and informed the agent that we would let the nanny go the next day and then this morning after i went to work my wife called me to inform me what happened.

We told the nanny to go and and said we are not paying her a full salary as she has not done even half of the jobs she was required to do, (Some might disagree with this) and especially the incident with my son.

Then the agent rang us up yelling so I informed her I was going to the police and suddenly she said not to worry and to leave it at that.

The agent's name is Khun Tip.

If anyone has used an agent by this name and unsure if it is the same please contact me to verify details ao you do not make the same mistake in using her to hire a nanny.

She comes across very professional but it is definitely a front. And any details she may show are falsified.

I do not wish that anyone have to go through any issues like this.

It does not matter wether it is from word of mouth or a professional company it is very hard to find a good caring nanny.