DGS1244

I was an Export man for more than 30 years for a UK company. Rule no. 1, never let your company choose your flights, times and routings for you. If you're lucky enough to have a division that do the bookings (a luxury nowadays) then nominate the flights and hotels yourself, that way you have control over your itinerary and airlines, and not some dopy girl in the office. Good luck with your travels.

How very true. always book your own flights. I got 'stuck' in Kenya once and the RAF sent me back to the UK on an Aeroflot flight (don't ask) never again. One airline that joined my banned list for life.

This could be interesting, are they going to start looking at all the empty property around that was bought with 'hidden' money?. There could be a lot of powerfull people who will wonder if they will loose a house or two.

'He said another regulation that needed looking into was the one prohibiting the distribution and consumption of alcohol in public areas and pavements, though this ban is already covered by the Land Transport and Land Traffic Acts.'

Who is kidding who, there are over 33 bars on the pavements of Sukhumvit Road after midnight every night, each paying the BIB 3,000 per night. I guess these all will have more than 3 wheels and be classed 'excempt'.

Ridiculous. Where's Pattaya?

In the sewer where it belongs

This Governor sounds a right miserable bugger

He is

After the previous Tsunami the powers that be at numerous meetings were told that voice actuated alarm does not work in this situation yet even after the last chaotic 'evacuation' proved this they still insist on it. They won't take advice and they will never learn, pity the residents and tourists.

Check a previous CM forum thread from a couple of weeks ago. Two local moving companies were recommended.

Tks very helpfull

Are you looking for a truck to rent for a day or two ?

Truck and driver ?

Full on moving company ?

How much stuff do you have as most charge per Sq. M

Looking for a full on moving company, tried the driver and truck too many breakages. Normal household stuff including office, fridges etc. but little large furniture other than a 2 seater settee

Does anyone know a good house contents mover in Chiang Mai? I need a company who can pack and move contents from Mee Chock area to Doi Saket, a short journey and not a lot of large items, no beds or anything like that. Any advice appreciated.

From what I understand, and I have transfered money between UK and Thailand a number of times both ways, is that any amount over 20,000 USD has to be 'approved' by Bank of Thiland and Bank of England and proof shown as to where it came from. As far as I have experienced there would be no tax liability if you have already paid tax on it and capital gains tax does not apply anyway. Hope that helps.

It has become a truism to me that people who have become expats are often, frequently, commonly, of two main types: the type that left home because no one would have him/her, and the type who left because he wasn't having the rest of them. The search for the latter type is frustrating and long, but often well worth it.

You hit it, I lived in Bangkok for many years then the sticks now CM and never had a problem meeting people who are sensible apart from the sticks that is. Try CM you might find things a lot different, just keep looking, forget the pi...heads etc. they are not worth tour time.

I was 'involved' in advising on planning after the last tsunami and the people in charged had not got a clue then, but as always new better than anyone else, especially a Farang. Plan for a Earth Quake, just makes you laugh. Tsunami,s if you are lucky, give you some warning, earthquakes normally do not. Japan has been planning their protection and response for many years yet they still suffer in major quakes as we all know.

Yes,Available in Rim Ping markets

why have an expensive camera when you are in Thailand walking around in Songkran , maybe its you who did not think.

Exactly. The subject could just as easily read, ' what kind of moron brings a $2000 video camera out on songkran '.

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Exactly, totally stupid but that is some Farangs for you. This is Sonkran live with it.

Friday the 13th, not so lucky for some. Lock them up and throw the key away!

Since when did Friday 13th become Good Friday this year?

Thai Re. do not want to pay anything because they don't have any money, the 7% retention that they were quite happy to collect off previously paid premiums has long disapeared. Unfortunately the Japanese companies all want 'New for Old' and are resisting any reconditioning or recovery of thier machinery, result one long legal battle ahead. The Loss Adjusters are doing their best to control the situation but when you are dealing with probably the largest amount of claims from one incident ever then there just not enough of them in the world to help.

Japanese do not cheat.

Thailand is a very corrupted country, and we all know that.

Define 'cheat' They (Japanese Companies) are qite happy to make money from the insurance by making 'improvements' without having to pay for it. and most of the large Japanese insurers are part owned by the companies they insure anyway. What it that but cheating?

Thai Re. do not want to pay anything because they don't have any money, the 7% retention that they were quite happy to collect off previously paid premiums has long disapeared. Unfortunately the Japanese companies all want 'New for Old' and are resisting any reconditioning or recovery of thier machinery, result one long legal battle ahead. The Loss Adjusters are doing their best to control the situation but when you are dealing with probably the largest amount of claims from one incident ever then there just not enough of them in the world to help.

Please , Please devalue the Baht then I can get back to a reasonable life style and be 'happy' pensioner again. At present it is way overvalued when you compare it with other countries and their financial status.

Yeah , its hard to hear the truth .... compare with Thailand , some red districts in other countries looks like convents . I wonder if all massage parlors, gogo bars,escort service etc ...would close there would be a huge drop in tourism revenue.

You can't expect the brothel owners (politician's & their families, military officers, police generals etc) to give up their tidy earner can you?

Pattaya and the likes of Nana & Cowboy are mere window dressing on the greater business that is carried on throughout the kingdom, largely unknown and unnoticed by foreigners.

The greatest percentage of the sex trade is Thai on Thai.

Pattaya without the sex business would be merely a beach and a few high priced hotels.

Thailand HUB of SEX.

How true, I was always led to believe that the sex trade in Thailand is 85% Thai Men, 10% other Asians and the rest 'The Farangs.' Go to any of the large "Thai" massage parlors in Bangkok on any evening (five 'used' to be owned by a well known celb) and you will find 400 girls sitting in the goldfish bowel all looking for at least three customers per shift, that's a lot of Thai men. In reality 'Farangs' are only a small part of the problem, which is why those in power could not care less what happens to them. When the parlor owner tell you that as a 'Farang' the price goes up threefold that should tell you something.

I was reading the other, now closed, thread related to this subject and thinking that I want to do something to help this battle against child abuse. I would be happy to set up a direct debit to an accredited agency working on this subject in Thailand.

Now this news appears and everything looks murky with this particular organization. I don't know the truth of what happened, how could I possibly? However I do know that the standards of governance in a charity of this type should be beyond impeccable.

This story looks like an unmitigated disaster, and defeats the willingness of people like me to invest in this fight. Terrible.

I am aware of the TV rule that lobbying of members is not allowed, fair enough, if it was then we would be getting bombarded with requests every day in the week. I do feel though that there is a well of goodwill and strength amongst TV members in regards to this subject.

if someone could pm me and put me in the direction of an accredited organization that I can donate to I would appreciate it.

We will win this battle one child at a time.

Three threads running right now about trafficking and HIV/AIDS. I have opinions about all that stuff. There is an organization outside of Rayong that takes care of HIV orphans. These are kids who are HIV positive with no family to take care of them. I give the organization money, time and used stuff that I don’t need anymore. You can google it. A number of Farang help them out and don’t get any money of publicity from it. Bars help them out too. Prostitutes cook and serve the kids food on holidays. The Thai government does not do much for them. I certainly would not send money to any charity based in another country like Australia, US or the UK. Not that they are all bad I just would not send them anything. I have been around Thailand for a while.

The trafficking sex slaves is phony today, the HIV/AIDS is not. Just my opinion but like I told my GF last night, I got to Thailand before you were born missy; and she turns 40 next year.

Your actions is just what this country needs, I belong to a group of "Curry Eaters' in Bangkok and we do likewise. Twice a year we travel to Surin and beyond where we donate money, food, clothes and other items to a similar orphanges for children with HIV/Aids. The most depressing thing is that the gouvernment seems to do little and at each visit the number of children decreases. Wish we could do more. Giving money to NGO's from abroad is just a waste of time, they just have massive overheads and look after themselves. When you look at all the money donated to Cancer relief over many many years you have to wonder if it was all really worth while, are we any nearer to curing the disease?. I seem to remember that when I was a tenager in the UK comments were made that the charity get about half a penny for research for every pound donated, makes you wonder.

I'd gladly give up my pension, provided they pay me back all my NI contribution.

+1

On that subject does anyone out there know exactly how many years contributions have to be complete for a full pension?

I've been told two different stories, one, twenty five tears and two, changed to 15 years to make the time same for women and men , the old equality thing,

Serious question looking for serious answer ( on thaivisa ) ?

It used to be 44 years but now it is 30 years. A friend of mine did 38 years the year before it changed and only receives 85% of the basic pension where another friend the following year had completed just over 30 years and now gets the full amount. Some people were unfortunate and fell in that gap, and according to the Pensions Deprtment "that was just unlucky".

A man with 70% burns is going to be in hospital a lot longer than a month, try a year or two, and that is even if he survives. I have a feeling the 'burns' were not quite as bad as they first appear.

Figures.

My current and previous girlfriends had no clue about contraceptives and STDs.

When I first came here 20 years ago every girl insisted on condom use for fear of HIV. Now they all say they don't like condoms and don't want me to use one. And I'm not talking about hookers here, but girls you would consider educated and with an ability to think about the future.

The 20-25 age group in particular seem to have no fear of HIV at all.

Not sure where you spend your time but in Bangkok I have found that the girls are more concerned abut condoms than they used to be. Perhaps you are picking the wrong girl.

Since the information has come out that in essence the " fire department" is run by the police, this lack of public faith in the fire department makes perfect sense. It should be perfectly clear to any long term expat here, that if the police are involved, there will be in fact payoffs to look the other when it comes to fire safety. The Santika pub fire springs to mind.. I suspect there are a lot of nervous farangs living in high rise condo buildings right now....

The fire department was transfered to the City, from the police, a long time ago. The compliance of fire fighting equipment, sprinklers, hose etc. is the responsibility of various departments of the city administration not the fire department. The quality and performance of such systems is the responsibility of occupiers and is down to them all times. In Bangkok from long experience I have found fewer than 5% of systems in buildings pass a annual test the first time or are even complient to code. Until occupiers are forced to take responsibility then fires and deaths from them will continue.

"Over ten fire engines rushed to the scene but it was difficult for firemen to reach the seventh floor with the hoses and the fire ladder was difficult to operate at the area had many power cables."

now they might realize why those pesky farangs have such strict fire codes in their high rises.

good luck all - getting out and recovering the damage.

Bangkok uses fire codes based on the USA NFPA codes. The codes are there but enforcing them is a different matter. If the building was sprinkler protected, and I believe it was, and correctly designed!!! then the fire should not have spread between floors. Someone somewhere has been negligent.