iluvbeaches

1000 baht is a bribe. A bottle of whiskey is a present.

Need to learn to read between the lines now that you are "yellow book" ed.

Do you play tennis on a table? No. It makes a "ping pong" sound. Also from a non American.

I use GC but it's one with a mix of things and it definitely helps me with hunger. I have 500mg 30-60 min before a meal and I eat 50% less. I don't think it has any other effect on me.

You are only allowed to be registered to one house book or residence. Maybe that's what she meant.

Usually use taxi from Swamperaband bus from DMK when going into Bangkok. I did try to use the airport link once recently. No problem if packing light from my perspective but MRT was a hassle due to bag checks.I had a small rolling bag and a medium sized backpack. Kids in front of me however had large overstuffed backpacks. Probably took more than 15 minutes, as we had to totally unpack and repack our stuff.

It's really strange but many people say this to me. I always take the airport line to makkasan, express if possible, because I don't like taxis without seatbelts. When I go to the mrt it's just zip open zip closed in the air conditioned subway in a minute.

Do you mean the phraya Thai side to bts is slow?

Ouya for 99usd works very well and is small. I use the wd live hd at home without a fault.

Likely the note is good but I just got a retina mini and love it. Always felt the bigger iPad was too hefty this one is just right.

Used Samsung tabs before with friends and they are pretty well made more a question if you like iOS or android. I just prefer iOS apps they are generally better quality even if they cost money.

You can use windows 7 or 8 on a MacBook Air. Good solution.

Try sixt I always use them and they pretty much always have the best price.

Beautiful photos.

Even in your 50s you can add healthy exercise that is less time consuming and more effective. I have yet to see anybody show more effective workouts than high intensity in interval training. You can use many DVD sets like p90x, asylum, insanity, etc. start slowly and be careful with your body if you are new or come from a sedentary lifestyle so you don't hurt yourself.

In the end diet is about 40-50% with the rest from exercise and genetics. So the focus should be at first on proper diet while gradually adding more exercise. More focus on stretching and warm up the older you get.

When I moved to Bangkok I went through all the adds on the several sites you listed. My efforts tended to result in only frustration. There is no professional real estate industry here and many of the online listings are actually unavailable (simply listed permanently whether they are occuppied or not). What worked much better for me was simply looking around and asking at decent looking buildings in the areas I was interested in. I knew I wanted to be within walking distance of public transit and that the BTS connects more areas I am interested in than the MRT so I checked areas I could access via BTS. Online listings were helpful in establishing an idea of what is available at what price where so I used that to narrow down the areas I was interested in to those that were most likely to accomodate my needs/budget. I then found it most productive to simply walk around and inquire at buildings in areas I felt I would like to live in.

Well that's a load of crap, you can't ask for details at a condo, because the units are privately owned and they will give you a card for an agentcy. The staff at comdo deal with sales, not rentals, Why would they help you? Their job is to sell all units and keep the owners happy and the condo running smoothly.

If you were talking about an apartment, then it wouldn't have been over 8-10k (thats what an apartment is, old building for people who can't afford condoes) and no real agency would work for that kind of money. So what do you exactly expect? And it's free unlike Europe / America, you expect professional companies to loose money helping poor farang on a low budget?

I move once a year with an agency and never had a problem, certainly couldn't have found my 90k condo and done all the paperwork on my own. With them running paperwork, contracts and company cheques all around BKK during the day.

This isn't true. I rent out one of my condos and only use the juristic person office in the building. People come by and ask for rental units and the staff there shows then.

I've lived in three thee buildings, all do the same if they are privately owned condos.

I recommend you do this. With agencies there is no accountability, many who advertise on craigslist and other sites can disappear on a moments notice. With a juristic person office you deal with a biz that can't disappear. Your agreement is with the business not an individual.

I stand corrected. It is quite seldom once every 45 min or so. 30 should have been better planning.

Spoke to a friend of mine in Phuket. If he is only a director and shareholder he does not need a work permit. Only if he engages in active business activity ie. soliciting clients then he would. Signing documents required by government offices is not work. Although it maybe easier and cheaper just to use DHL!

There are lots of wonderful men and women in Thailand.

Sadly many keep their guard up due to living in a new place with less self esteem and miss out on meeting quality people that they would enjoy the company of. I've seen it with coworkers and I've seen it with friends.

The best way to meet quantity people is to stop looking, do things you like doing and meet people in the same situation. Be open to new people and try to keep your guard flexible because you never know!

Not really sure why there is so much negativity towards WD HD live. Great box, very cheap, downloads metadata for your files, plays spotify / netflix, no cinevidia, plays 3D movies, two USBs to be honest plays everything except FLV.

Only negative it is a bit slow rehashing files on hard drives and is a slow network machine. But for the price haven't found anything nearly as good.

Went to Thailand for the first time in January and did: Bangkok, Phuket, Phi Phi, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao

Going back for longer this time December - Jan and thinking of doing;

Phuket

Phi Phi

Krabi

Suratthani

Koh Phangan

Koh Tao

Koh Samui

Suratthani

Koh Lanta

Koh Yao Yai

Phuket

Will getting between all these places be easy enough? And all good places to go to?

Thanks!

Skip all that and stick to Samui, Tao and Koh Phan ngan. Sounds like a lot of work just to tick off destinations. Phi phi and Krabi sucks for more than a day and Phuket well short story you get a better Phuket in samui. Stay in lamai and you will have fun.

Unless you are flying in there from abroad then I would recommend you just fly to Bangkok and get to Surat Thani and take the boat if you are on a budget. Otherwise BKK airways is nice and easy.

Just my opinion.

Good advice I will pass it along to some people who have asked.

Not likely as you simultaneously have to show the funds came from abroad to satisfy the condo act requirements.

But if he/she transferred in the monies you could tell them you sold half of it and that should work though that likely won't be practical.

As for owning a condo as a foreigner just google condominium act which allows, if conditions are met, foreign nationals to register as owners to apartments.

The problem is I have funds in a bank in country 'A' which account is in my sole name. But I'd like to purchase a condo in Thailand in joint names with my sibling. My sibling and I do have a joint account in country 'B' which account was used to purchase condo in Thailand before. But now I do want to make use of the funds in country 'A', and if I make a transfer of funds from 'A' to 'B', and then subsequently from 'B' to Thailand, I will be making two remittances and will surely lose out in terms of exchange rates charged by the banks involved.

So I was thinking if I could just purchase the condo in my sole name and do a subsequent transfer to both of us. It's not a purchase, but like a "gift". I'm not sure if Thailand makes a distinction between co-ownership and joint ownership.

I know what you mean I'm just saying the land office won't allow you to put your siblings name on the title because the requirement is that you get the foreign exchange transfer certificate showing that the person brought the monies in. But I think if you set up a joint account in country A then it would be doable. Not sure though probably best to get a translator and go to the land office to find out for sure.

Not likely as you simultaneously have to show the funds came from abroad to satisfy the condo act requirements.

But if he/she transferred in the monies you could tell them you sold half of it and that should work though that likely won't be practical.

As for owning a condo as a foreigner just google condominium act which allows, if conditions are met, foreign nationals to register as owners to apartments.

Wearing pants in city environments, shaving and not sweating like a monkey is a good start...

Every few months, years there are populist laws like this planned or supposed crackdowns. But nothing ever actually happens besides a few photo ops. Consider it the "tuk tuk mafia" or "jet ski scam" of the real estate industry. Impossible to get rid of because everybody is in it and makes money off it especially wealthy Phuket Thais.

But it is quite funny when every few months there seems to be a big group of "I told you so" people hoping for some big crash. Sadly in the 10 years I've known people to invest this way I have yet to read of one actual news story about someone losing their investment property. Just many "a friend of mine lost his property" - well if he did his wife took it off him.

What is the contact information of Ian on this site or via email? Perhaps private message.

I'm a business and private user of Bangkok Bank but it would be nice to have that information for emergencies because the area I bank in has few fluent English speakers. Thank you.