cryo

Blind drunk meets Blind greed ???? 

Obviously 200 Bhat was immediately spent so mother not informed and now mother scents a payout she can get her hands on. The only saving grace is that the individuals involved are severely uneducated which allows controlling influences to easily manipulate them for their own gain. The biggest problem is that no one is in the least surprised things like this can happen. T.I.T.

Ken.

Keeping the mid life crisis will be far cheaper and buy new as you will see little sun from under the bonnet of an old car. All my friends that have classic cars spend more time making them run than actually running out in them ???? 

Hi all I come to Thailand 2 to 3 times a year for 2 to 4 weeks to pay condo maintenance fees and have never been questioned but last month I was questioned by the lady on the desk who said 'NO VISA?" to which I pointed at the tourist visa I had just given her with my passport and she seemed not as easy as the immigration people usually are. I would say there is defiantly a change in the air as I have never been asked about visa's before and have always presented my passport and tourist visa and had them stamped then walked through. From now I will always carry 20k baht or equivalent which I usually have anyway when I enter Thailand or get a retirement visa from the Thai embassy in the UK to make my traveling life easy.   

Ken.

Hi all, my condo (4 rooms) is generally vacant the majority of the time and over the years I have had a few ceiling issues which if small and caused by a one off incident I generally fix/paint myself working on the assumption TIT . The only time I involve the neighbour above is if they have had a bathroom/kitchen revamp involving a so called thai plumber which is a guarantee of leaks being boxed up and walked away from . I tell the neighbour its not their responsibility as the problem lies with the plumber so get him back to fix the issue and charge him for any costs involved. I do not know why thai plumbers walk away whilst they know the systems are leaking I can only suspect they are used to dirt/concrete floors where such leaks just drain away over time. I have witnessed a few newly tilled floors that have had to be lifted to repair leaks that have obviously been knowingly boxed up prior to tiling??? If you insure your condo you are in a good position if a disagreement breaks out from neighbours above about costs as you can point out that you would have no problem if your water system had damaged the condo below you. The maintenance techs in my condo automatically assume that whoever owns the leaking pipework is directly/financially responsible for repairs caused to private property or communal property and are backed up by the management team if required. The issue above about drying up toilets is easily dealt with by cling-filming the top of the toilet before the condo is boxed up which will stop the water drying up for a few months and even with no water will seal the toilet, very easy to do and at very low cost. 

Ken.

2 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

And then there is the problem with having a work permit which would be the best way to end the practice as far as farang owners. Even if a farang could qualify the WP would entail at least 4 employees and declaring 90K payroll per month. Without work permit the owner couldn't lift a finger, manage, reservations, even talk to guests. I know this is the deal in the hotel/guesthouse business. To make it profitable like you say one would need to own a block of say 5-10 that were purchased at a steal.

10 hotels shut down by the local Hua Hin authorities yesterday for not having a Hotel licence. It's only a matter of time before this becomes the norm as I believe a number of these premises were quite large and well established.

Ken.

No mention of unregistered businesses, non payment of tax, working without a work permit, money laundering. AirBnB is not illegal but using it to avoid paying tax or running illegal non registered businesses is and the Thai government is aware of this and is dealing with it. The Thai government has never had the ability to monitor these issues until now, but it now has the ability to pull the relevant info patterns out into the open using big data systems. For those people who do not understand what big data systems are they are interlinked computer systems running algorithms that specifically look for given patterns which given a reasonable amount of data on individuals (tourist, renter, bank account, business, visas etc) can easily pick out regular rentals and check owners against business registration, tax, work permits, etc. Big data systems are in use around the world by all big banks, industries, tax offices and you will find you cannot hide from them unless you are totally unregistered and only deal in cash which in this day and age is impossible. These systems have been and are being installed in all main Thai systems like immigration, tax, banking, licencing, visas, and credit card systems because these systems and the software that backs them up have a pay back of only a few years and then it is clear revenue for the Thai government so its a no brainier and an easy sell and install for the firms involved. I work for a firm who uses such a system to monitor worldwide operations of their process systems and the management of the said systems and you would be very surprised  how quickly the big data systems pick up regular patterns showing failure and mismanagement which once known can save millions of pounds a year. These systems are the ones the Thai government are using/installing which is why they require new data streams some of which you will see in the near future and some like the TM30 registration reintroduction you are seeing now. the days of Thailand being a tax free nation for Thais or Expats will be quickly numbered in the not to distant future. Big brother is already here and has been in the UK for the last 10 years and unfortunately and the number of countries where this is not the case is diminishing yearly. To those who disagree with this I will say you can only fool yourself for so long before they catch up to you so make your self legal and above board because once found out or caught you will be a constant income source for the legal or illegal force of the law. Sorry to be so negative but this is the present reality in the western world and is quickly becoming the reality in the far east and is the reality in Thailand now and if you think not that's simply because they haven't called out your number yet :-( 

Ken.

The link below is possibly another case to look for some other retirement plans. Another nail in the head for Patters?

Ken.

The link below is possibly another case to look for some other retirement plans. Another nail in the head for Patters?

<<<<Link to Bangkok Post removed>>>>

Ken.

Its now become worldwide as I work for a large European gas/engineering company and getting any manager at any level to accept responsibility or make a decision is impossible. I wonder if its contagious as its no longer a far eastern trait :-) I have also experienced many of the above instances when in Thailand I just smile and think to myself TIT as if you worry about these things in Thailand you would put yourself in the Asylum :-)

Ken.

All I can say is brilliant and the dirty towels next to the loose tap is the cherry on the top. This gave me a smile that may last all night.

Thank You. ;-)

 This is not a one off incident I know of a few similar incidents in the last week so it looks like Skype has been hacked. By all accounts if you contact Skype they will ask you to link your Skype account to your windows Microsoft account?  and they appear to have no idea what's happening.

Ken.

The problem is that the air staff are frightened to address these issues as they are subservient to the quatari passengers. Although on in couple of instances on landing with KLM I've felt like kneeling down and praying :-)

Try the local 7/11 failing that their billing business is over the soi from the Bangkok Pattia hospital.

Ken.

Hi all just to note, it's within 24hrs or the first business day following arrival for those people arriving on a Friday afternoon or on a bank holidays.

Ken.

I will have a good look in the boxes in September but the consumer units are fully populated with MCBs so I suspect there are no free ways but I'm sure I can double up on some low power circuits and create a spare way as there is a very low load on both the bedroom power circuits only 2*11W LED table lamps and phone chargers with only two double outlets. Or I could double up on the lighting circuits as they are all now LED bulbs max circuit load 8*11W and some 4*11W circuits. I looked at the single way RCBOs when I tried to source the ABB double units but its a very expensive way to solve the problem. Thanks for the info anyway I think your idea to double up some low power circuits and use three way RCBOs, Its the best way to go to gain some initial safety in my condo and then when i retire next year Ill install an earth either with an earth rod or as I'm on the ground floor look for a suitable earth point in the basement. I had a Thai electrician replace a water heater and was shocked by their lack of understanding of cable clamping tightening connections etc I rewired the unit after he left as it appears that if its working its is O/K Ill be happy to get the condo electrics up to a safe standard when I spend more time in Thailand. The wiring and installation in my condo appears to be a fairly competent job but whoever did it did not understand the protection required although T.I.T  I also noticed that running 240V and cable TV to the same double box with no zoning appears to be a Thai stranded which could cause some serious upset to all TVs in the building if they ever get together.

Ken 

Hi mate I'm not in Thailand at the moment but I'm sure they are 60A. I'm in the UK till September so I hopefully source something suitable here and also looked for the ABB units on line and found the same as yourself. I'm presuming that being DIN units they will all be the same size as it's an electrical standard but knowing technology that probably won't be the case? 

Ken.

Thanks for the info mate I'm only in Thailand occasionally at the moment but hope to upgrade the system next year when I get more time. I'll have a look round and see if I can find two units to replace the main isolators as there's no extra ways in the two consumer units Thanks again for the info.

Ken.

Hi all can anybody tell me if the main switches in an ABB System proW consumer unit can be upgraded to RCDs and if so are they easily obtained.

Ken.

Groupy turned into grumpy = human age evolution.☺

Ken.

I find it odd that many of these people were called groupies when they were young and required a small amount of associated fame and are now called victims when they are wiser and older and probably require some cash to boost their state pention.☺

Ken.

Well I was a 'groupy', or something like that back then....But I do need some help with my pension now....