khaan

Thanks. Will have to get the old dictionary to try and decipher that lot!

If you just cut and paste those words into this program you will see the meaning as

well is the way it is written using transliteration

http://www.thai2english.com/online/

However people keep snapping them up when launched.

But I wonder how many of the purchasers were motivated mainly by an expectation of continued price appreciation? Do you really think it's likely with everything that is going on around the world that Bangkok property prices will keep increasing when simultaneously Shanghai and Beijing are slashing their condominium prices by 30%? What makes Bangkok so special that it deserves such premium?

lets see now... what should I buy for me and my family.... A safe high dry condo ....or????

enough said

What is the purpose of having a safe high dry condo if you have to swim to the local 7/11 anyway?

it is quite evident who all the condo owners are in this thread

They are too embarrassed to admit that the tables have turned on them because Bangkok has now become a place

where if you want to live there you need complete flexibility and to be able to move if the need arises at the drop of a hat.

Condo ownership does not give you that flexibility

better to rent your accommodation in Bangkok and invest your money in one of the other

many equally good and dry ( and not sinking ) markets around the world.

http://www.thaivisa....50#entry4834449

Floods Likely To Renew Interest In Condos: Thailand

Makes perfect sense to me.

.

Good luck with your "international" investment portfolio, but you certainly dont post like a content millionaire playboy so I somehow doubt it. Packing up and leaving at the drop of a hat is a euphemism for... sh#t , Im out of money, time to go home LOL

You know its true

Running out of money has nothing to do with it.

Packing up and leaving at the drop of a hat is because the water would have arrived yet again

and don't forget the La Nina conditions can last up to 2 years so you cannot possibly

tell that you will not experience the same thing again in the next monsoon season.

If you can't recognise the potential folly of investing in real estate where experts

are now predicting that within 50 years the city will be underwater then I can only imagine you are a

condominium owner yourself and you must feel uncertain? I can understand that

Unless Bangkok condominium prices were now dirt cheap ( which they are not ) I'm sure there will be many people

who will reconsider their alternatives.

A short history of the ED-visa schools:

1. First people thought you had to study 200 hours per year to get a ED-visa (which is very little, but hey, smart businessmen discovered a new business in this: the "ED-visa school").

2. Then they said it should be only 180 hours and 20 hours home work. (homework is also studying, smart thinking).

3. Then they changed hours to lessons, so they called it 180 lessons - and a lesson is only 50 minutes. (Great idea!).

4. After that they introduced online studying via Skype (I never understood why would you need a visa for that. You can do that from within your home country).

5. In the next step the students were not required to come to the courses anymore. In fact, a huge percentage of the students almost never shows up for the courses but the schools still give them the paperwork to do the 90-day extensions. (Any student of a "ED-visa school" will confirm this -- Isn't that wonderful?)

6. And now in the next step they call it online assistance, and there's no teacher involved anymore and you pay only half of what you paid before! So only 12500B for access to one website (Isn't that cheap!).

And now a little preview of the future:

7. the last step: the end of the ED-visa

The website (pasathaionline.com) is registered to:

OLAINTERNATIONAL

Phongsin Sinpibarn ([email protected])

1895/39-40 37/1 soi Phahonyothin Rd

Chatu Church

Bangkok,10220

TH

Tel. +66.0870242772

OLAINTER.AC.TH was registered in november 2010. The school is supposed to be 20 years old.

This is the manager:

http://www.facebook....100000160933451

He studied in Australia, so if you call the number above he should be able to answer you questions in English.

WOW kris -an interesting insight and viewpoint

So what exactly in your opinion was the ' philosophy ' of the Thai immigration to introduce the education Visa?

Was it introduced in recognition that the Thai government genuinely appreciated foreigners who

show enough interest in their country to pay money and to spend time learning their language?

Comparing it with other Visa classifications which in some cases make you jump through hoops,

I must admit I have always had this nagging feeling that it all seems a bit " too easy " to be real?

In other words -where is the catch ?

Do the Thai authorities really value the exporting of their language and culture so much

that they introduced a Visa which allows so many foreigners to stay here long-term where otherwise

many of these people would probably be unable to qualify for other types of visa?

Or is anyone in the " authorities " directly benefiting financially from this arrangement?

lets see now... what should I buy for me and my family.... A safe high dry condo ....or????

enough said

What is the purpose of having a safe high dry condo if you have to swim to the local 7/11 anyway?

it is quite evident who all the condo owners are in this thread

They are too embarrassed to admit that the tables have turned on them because Bangkok has now become a place

where if you want to live there you need complete flexibility and to be able to move if the need arises at the drop of a hat.

Condo ownership does not give you that flexibility

better to rent your accommodation in Bangkok and invest your money in one of the other

many equally good and dry ( and not sinking ) markets around the world.

If you want to spend less there are definitely cheaper schools but you get what you pay for. If that school got in trouble with the immigration do not fool yourself, you will be in trouble too and explaining to the immigration that you thought they were a good school etc will not help much.

Walen School - ED visa most reliable assistance.

Why would a student get into trouble with immigration if he/she has enrolled with a school which is accredited and authorised by the Ministry of Education? Does this not mean that its teaching methods (and presumably attendance/online class completion records) have been recognised as acceptable? If it's good enough for the MoE to issue the paperwork for a visa (and subsequent visa to be issued by a Thai consulate), under what circumstances would a student find themselves in difficulty if he/she had complied with the study requirements which had been authorised by the MoE?

Exactly. It seems to me MacWalen is trying out his scare tactics.

MacWalen unless you have any real evidence please refrain from bad mouthing them. I only want first hand experiences.

Has anybody else other than digital signed up with them or even heard of them before?

I also think it seems crazy that if students innocently subscribe to a particular school that subsequently finds itself in trouble

that the student should also be held responsible in any way? Although nothing would surprise me as far as

logic and the Thai government, this certainly does not sound correct and I suppose the only way

to verify if this is true or not is to seek confirmation from the Thai immigration Department?

I doubt you will get 1 year extensions, I think you will get 90 day extensions.

1 year extensions are nrmally only given to university students.

Can I just ask you to clarify this please? Are you saying if I choose to study Thai

at a University as opposed to a private school that I would get a one-year extension?

There are very real risks in many places; earthquakes (LA, Tokyo, Christchurch, etc), tsunami, fires, floods, nuclear radiation, etc. People keep buying in those places (often with insurance) and so the question becomes is there inherent demand to live in Bangkok or not.

We will just have to see how it all turns out.

now the " malaise " has even hit Hong Kong

HK home sales fall over 50% in October

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=486448&type=Business

The wealthy Bangkokians who dont already have one are going to definitely buy a condo or second home in nearby destinations that dont flood so that they have a place to play when the next one comes. I doubt anyone is going to trade the family house on a bunch of BKK rai in for a BKK condo and I doubt anyone is going to add a BKK condo to their current BKK holdings

I own an apartment / condo in Jomtien ( 17th floor ). The building is quite old but well maintained. It was built at a time when Bangkokians had spare cash and the ownership ratio is over 70% Thai to others. Normally, it's amazingly quiet with most Bangkokians visiting only once or twice a year. Not quiet now, it's choka. Luckily, I also have a house ' up country ' and can escape.......anyone want to buy a condo ?

bingo!

In case anyone hasn't noticed there is currently a slow motion train wreck occurring throughout Europe's economies which will shortly

be followed by USA and in China they are slashing condominium prices by 30%. It would be absolutely naive to think even without

these current floods that Thai's will continue to have so much spare cash in their pockets ?

Why would a sane person have any interest to buy a condo in Bangkok at this point? Pollution, traffic and now we can add terrorism and massive flooding to the list; welcome to Jakarta 2.0. Value will significantly drop within the next 50 years as the city is sinking and the capital will be move elsewhere eventually, so rent is the only sane solution for those unfortunate enough to be stuck in Bangkok.

What is good living in a condo when y you still have to comeout and try to get food and water in the flooded area or even in places thatare dry? You still have other logistic problem whether you live in a flooded area,house or condo

I am most interested to hear the response from the condo " bulls " to this particular question?

Well, I suppose it'd be easier to step over my balcony into a water taxi than it would be for you to remember just where you left your submarine

Yeah ? but who needs a water taxi if you saw what I got stashed in my submarine

What is good living in a condo when y you still have to comeout and try to get food and water in the flooded area or even in places thatare dry? You still have other logistic problem whether you live in a flooded area,house or condo

I am most interested to hear the response from the condo " bulls " to this particular question?

this is not rocket science. when you set interest rates super low nobody wants to have their money sitting in the bank. why? because they know oil is not going to cost only 1% more a year from now. why keep ur money earning 1% when you can buy a condo and earn 3-5% from a renter and enjoy the price appreciation? It will probably double in value in the next 5-6 years right?

there are two situations to the global crisis, debt deflation which will cause asset deflation or monetary inflation which will wipe out debts and send the value of paper money downward and all assets upwards.

no need to get blue in the face debating it, we will surely get the solution soon enough.

the one hilarious thing though is this rumor that all real estate in Thailand is purchased with cash in Thailand.

Good luck with that one going forward

Actually, parts of Bangkok were historically swamp and other parts weren't. Airport the new one is most definitely swamp, and the decision on how it was built in that part of the city is partly why Minburi and others on the east side of the city are underwater now; that's how the water used to flow.

Much of the inner city is reasonably solid sand. Water table is high, but that's not surprising given the geography. Using ground water is declining substantially now compared to 10 years ago.

Replacing the klongs and canals with roads works as long as you have the means to shift the water away quickly. Bangkok has that, which is why flash floods occur ocassionally but not with great regularity and the degree is usually reasonable and certainly on par with other cities with similar rainfall stats.

What Bangkok cannot cope with is the vast amount of water flowing south, partly caused by lousy management of the watershed since July (particularly in August/Sept) and partly caused by long term lack of planning to divert the water in a 1 in 50 year volume.

A sinking city doesn't help, but this would be a non issue with a few LA style bypasses for flooding and some high pressure pumps similar to what is used now for areas like Dindaeng...but going all the way to the sea - current ones dump back into the river south of Bangkok (if we care enough to allow Samut Prakarn to stay dry, not part of BMA though).

Incidentally, the Economist is not so strong for facts regarding countries or people in the corners of the world (reliably 'average' when writing on countries like the Pacific Islands, NZ, Thailand, etc - par for the course when you have stretched editorial staff covering multiple countries; I think the Thailand correspondent was covering 4 countries at one point a few years back).

As with most of their political coverage of Thailand, it's not the stuff of substance that we get served weekly regarding USA, UK, world finance or even some very novel and interesting topics. Compulsory reading over breakfast, sure... but with a little salt. For the eggs, they don't give you high blood pressure by themselves you know!

Now, regarding the so called GLUT. I cannot see this clear cut difference between Thai Chinese and Thais nearly as easily as some posters. The line is far less clear than other countries with widespread Chinese migration, with a much closer sharing of values; most of the Thai Chinese I know and work with, less than 1/2 would be full Chinese, most are mixed. I know plenty of money hungry pure Thais, and plenty of highly religious Chinese Thais.

The glut of condos is not supported by statistics or facts of the market (also due to non transparency); and even if there is over supply the latest promotions by the government will continue to distort the new /2nd hand market differential which is accentuated by access to finance. Access to transportation makes some sizeable differences between 2 buildings 100m apart now; the right buildings and right locations will always sell. And are selling now.

What I DO think we may see is a continuing drop in the popularity of further out estates, and a continuing shift towards the inner city; not just from flooding but also from transportation. Also...the government's market distorting crazy 1st home scheme is aimed at creating demand for mid priced condos mostly, and the benefits accrue to tax payers; many of whom work in the inner city. While the also market distorting car scheme might have previously helped the estates in suburban Bangkok, that one is mostly dead in the water literally, as the number of cars available to buy that are part of the scheme designed to basically enrich Honda/Toyota and their suppliers just slumped severely.

When you have the leaders (Prueksa, L&H, Q House, LPN) and even the me-toos of the property sector starting to do condos (SC Asset for instance) you know this is a shift in the WAY in which Thai people will live. Fact is, the average 26-30 year old looking to move out of the family house no longer thinks they want a house; more than 50% expect to live in a condo so they don't have to spend their time in a car. That's a huge shift from 2004, when condos were relatively new.

There are substantial differences between condos built now and condos built even 8 years ago at the top end of the market; which is why some have appreciated so much, while others drop. Costs to build (supply side) keep climbing. So you have the strategy at the bottom end (LPN for instance) getting more and more efficient at delivering and keeping prices relatively steady, and at the top end (the true top end, St Regis, Sukhothai, Ritz-Carlton) delivering condos that are worthy of the world's rich...perhaps beyond the reach of the average millionaire, but for which there is a substantial market of people who previously would live in their own housing estate - I believe St Regis and Ritz-Carlton are both mostly Thais who have bought; Sukhothai 50 50.

Steveromagnino even if you are right about what you've written ( and there is no guarantee that you are even remotely so ) then it still comes down to the fact who in their right mind would want to buy real estate with the real risk that you have to write off the investment over 50 years?

This means you need to value the property as you would when it is leasehold and nothing more which makes some of Bangkok's condominium developments very expensive indeed.

International Experts: Bangkok to be Submerged under Water in 50 Years

Well it was on topic....if the OP wanted an advertisment to themselves they can always post in the classifieds.

Same goes for cheap Charlie. It's just not polite to have done what he did

and if he is interested in learning the Thai language he should also be aware of Thai customs?

Commodities are up so far today.

Flying; thanks for your explanations on the silver/gold ratio swap technique. Presume your 2 current markers are then 35 silver/gold ratio for going to gold, and 60 silver/gold ratio for going to silver?

Where do you easily buy/sell silver here? Is it coin form only?(having a larger mark up normally).

Cheers!

Your welcome Firefan

yes commodities doing well today but it is still Sunday night here in the US.

Markets open in 6 hours

That also explains that I do not live full time in Thailand.

We stay here in the US most of the year. I am not sure about where you would do best there

for working with larger quantities of physical. But I have read that there are many good spots

depending on where you are there. Gold of course is not a problem in most of the larger cities

of Thailand.

Silver I am not so sure as I know due to VAT it is not as popular there.But still have heard of folks

doing ok in Bangkok & Chiang Mai

Yes my markers are 35 & 60 for now. But as I said I did miss the recent 60 mark when silver hit $26/oz

due to it being night here & I was unable to react. Yet I still think we will see 60 again & hopefully

I am in a position to move.

Also yes I stick with coins but I know others who stick with bars.

Just a personal choice

The last time I went from silver to gold I did as you say move at 35/1 but that time too I missed a better opportunity

when it briefly went lower. Sometimes it is better to stick to your premise...That time I got a little hopeful/greedy

but did learn a lesson

Chok Dee

I live in Chiang Mai and I dearly wanted to enter the silver market about three or four months ago but I couldn't

find anywhere that sold small ingots or bars . I could have done very well if I had bought silver then

but instead I was talked into buying gold.

so I purchased a series of 5 baht bars when the price was 26500 per baht but now the price is

stuck in a range between 24000 and 25500. dam_n !

. Oh, Bangkok is built on a flood plain, not a swamp.

You say that but the Economist magazine says distinctly Bangkok is built over a swamp?

Actually this article unbelievably is from 2000 and yet it could have been written yesterday?

Bangkok gets that sinking feeling

Apr 27th 2000

" ONCE known as the Venice of the East for its multitude of canals, Bangkok may soon resemble another fabled city: Atlantis. According to Thailand’s Department of Mineral Resources, Bangkok is sinking at the rate of up to five centimetres (two inches) a year, and the entire city may be below sea level by 2050.

For some 200 years, Bangkok, built over a swamp, has weathered annual floods. Every monsoon season, heavy rains slow traffic to a crawl and flood basements in some areas of the city. But the factories and housing estates that sprang up during Thailand's economic boom took much of Bangkok's ground-water, and as water has flowed out of the ground, the soil has sunk in. The government estimates that about 2.5m cubic metres (660m American gallons) of ground-water a day is pumped up in Bangkok, twice as much as can safely be removed."

http://www.economist.com/node/304819

Floods show what lies ahead for sinking Bangkok

by Amelie Bottollier-Depois

BANGKOK, November 7, 2011 (AFP) - The Thai capital, built on swampland, is slowly sinking and the floods currently besieging Bangkok could be merely a foretaste of a grim future as climate change makes its impact felt, experts say.

The low-lying metropolis lies just 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of the Gulf of Thailand, where various experts forecast sea level will rise by 19 to 29 centimetres (7 to 11 inches) by 2050 as a result of global warming.

Water levels would also increase in Bangkok's main Chao Phraya river, which already overflows regularly.

The apartment block may have its own transformer. Yes, the earthing arrangements would have to be verified.

One note on the 20 ohms earth contact resistance if it can be attained it would still not be low enough to trip an overcurrent device (MCB) on an earth fault in less than 0.4 seconds. However using RCDs the tripping time would be reduced to less than 0.2/0.3 seconds.

I was only talking about RCD's

An RCD will provide superior "earth fault current" sensing and response time, compared to a conventional MCB. Hence a circuit protected by an RCD device during a fault provides suitable touch voltage protection.

Earth bonding ( equipotential bonding) reduces the effect of touch voltage also.

　

　

20 ohms is for TT systems (IMO), which would not operate any MCB's under fault in time specified

0.1 - 0.5 TNCS/TNC/TNS systems, will trip MCB's providing the cabling has been installed correctly, ie correct size and length for the job

lets keep this simple for the people trying to follow the thread

And I thought learning to speak Thai was difficult?

this is all complete double Dutch to me ! But I am going to express my concerns to the owner when I see him.

But I was also thinking no matter how safe our own homes are, what about each time we stay

in a resort or a hotel in Thailand? there must be instances where they have cut corners and those of us

who are not electricians wouldn't have a clue just how at risk we might be?

Nan, I wish you all the best with the site. I did have some trouble finding your phrases hidden amongst all the adverts. Eventually figured it out. It might be an idea to direct people there when they land on your home page. (e.g. by telling people phrases are in the side panel on the left).

As this thread is headed New Online Thai Lessons I think it worthwhile mentioning to interested parties another new online learning site that just been launched that is also a boon for anyone wishing to learn Thai.

The Learn Speak Thai Online website is offering Beginner and Intermediate Thai online language courses. The lessons have audio clickable text, slideshows, flash card and matching word games. They have colour coded words with a clear phonentic system and tone mark graphics. Best of all they are currently offering access to about 100 free lessons and flash card games, no sign-up or purchase required. It's well worth a look.

www.LearnSpeakThaiOnline.com

You got no class pal !

i second that ! very rude cheap charlie

Until then you have to be very careful when you install new software, especially freeware!

Yes indeed. I also have to bear in mind at the end of the day nothing is " free "

They will want something back in return one way or another. I don't often get involved with freeware.

The program I downloaded was to turn YouTube videos into MP3 files which was the only way

I could get hold of a piece of music that I hadn't heard for a long time

So whats new about three tons of garbage laying around Thai roads & streets?

Try 30,000 tons, and (to answer your question), .....nothing new about it, except it's now waterlogged garbage.

Maybe some of the water-borne radioactivity from Fukushima will kill some of the toxic organisms that slowly flush down in to the bay, from the 10,000 acre cesspool known as Bkk.

Even in the best of time, there's asbestos dust (from roof shingles and auto brakes), dog poop from a million dogs, and a zillion other types of garbage seep out from Bkk.

Q. What's the one best thing a person can do for the environment?

A. Not have children. Each added child adds untold tons of garbage to this finite planet.

And costs $22000 USD per year to raise - an estimated $250000 per child from start to finish

So what happens after they are 12 then ??

I assume this expenditure didn't start until they were school-age ( 6 ) and hopefully finished when they were 16 or 17 - voilà !

So whats new about three tons of garbage laying around Thai roads & streets?

Try 30,000 tons, and (to answer your question), .....nothing new about it, except it's now waterlogged garbage.

Maybe some of the water-borne radioactivity from Fukushima will kill some of the toxic organisms that slowly flush down in to the bay, from the 10,000 acre cesspool known as Bkk.

Even in the best of time, there's asbestos dust (from roof shingles and auto brakes), dog poop from a million dogs, and a zillion other types of garbage seep out from Bkk.

Q. What's the one best thing a person can do for the environment?

A. Not have children. Each added child adds untold tons of garbage to this finite planet.

And costs $22000 USD per year to raise - an estimated $250000 per child from start to finish

thank you so much BB !:jap:

I don't know about you but I find this kind of thing so intrusive. surely they can come up with something to block

external sources from suddenly modifying the control of your browser without your express permission?

this afternoon I downloaded a program onto my laptop and shortly after that my homepage using Firefox automatically added a new toolbar to my homepage which I don't want.I was happy with what I had previously.

I went to the Control Panel to " add or remove programs " and I clicked on the uninstall for the toolbar but the toolbar is still there.

The details for the page are as follows

http://search.condui...SearchSource=13

Does anyone happen to know how I can remove all aspects of this add-on toolbar and restore it to what I had previously?

And the "vandals" breaking down the flood barriers, by any chance were they wearing Red Shirts..? We already know how much those guys love Bangkok and Bangkokians...

Of course, but some wearing different color outside as a disguise. These Red Shirt terrorists will never give up! They really hate Bangkok. Last year they tried to burn down the city and this year they do everything they can to flood and contaminate it. They will not give up untill Bangkok has been destroyed. They just don´t realise, that without Bangkok, they will be suffering too, as Bangkok is generating most of their means of living, how humble it may be.

Sorry.....sounds a bit paranoid, doesnt it!?

oh i see .......? the reds caused the floods