Oscar2

OP, please, define decent woman or share with us your fantasy about a decent woman.

Because, I, believe it only exists in your fantasy.

he probably means a non-prostitute or ex-prostitute from Isaan or a drug user.

if you think they only exist in fantasy then you are incredibly uninformed.

if you have good luck in Bangkok, why not spend some time there every so often and meet some girls? if they like you they will surely visit you in Chiang Mai. many years ago when i was single i had a nice g/f in Bangkok and i lived in C.M. my g/f at the time would come up and visit often.

i don't think anyone can honestly answer your questions. everyone is different. but if you have good luck in BKK - then go with it!

good luck.

i wouldn't fly Lion Air. i guess a lot of you weren't around in 2007 when the plane crashed in Phuket. i believe it is all the same company, no? many people were killed. close to 100 as i recall. i remember the images on TV. there was found to be gross incompetence on the part of the Indonesian pilot. i think a minute before the crash one pilot was trying to hand over the controls of the aircraft to another pilot or something like that. they have a terrible safety record even recently.

Many use a septic tank and greywater processing.

Note: greywater in Thailand appears to be all the liquid waste.

Perhaps the term septic tank is used differently from rural septic tanks I'm familiar with.. However this processed waste has to go somewhere. Where is that?

i'm fairly certain all construction around here involves underground septic tanks.

even places like Central, Tesco, Big C, etc. have huge underground septic tanks. i don't believe there are any sewage systems in place around here (although I could be wrong). but that would involve sewage treatment plants, of which i don't think exist around here.

one time many years ago the wife wanted me to take her to church one Sunday. it was somewhere along Huay Kaew long before all the development. i remember it was a on a huge piece of land. we went in and a farang priest who had to have been 85 years old but very fit and immaculately dressed in designer clothes, along with his farang wife (who reminded me of Tammy Faye Bakker), and about 6 Thai men all wearing white shirts and dark blue ties approached us and began interrogating us, asking us what we wanted, why we were there, who told us about the church, etc. (all in Thai). the old farang woman kept shouting at me "poot Anglit mai dai". the old guy told us that he had lived in Chiang Mai for more than 50 years. we were taken back of course but decided to go inside and see what this was all about. we went in and there were about 20 Thai men inside and about 10 Thai women, all in their late 20's-early 30's. the men all wore white shirts and blue ties and the women all wore conservative dresses. i was the only farang in there. every single one of the Thais stared at me and the wife when we walked in. the sermon was given by the old guy along with a very feminine young man in a very angry tone in Lanna dialect. it was very bizarre, almost like a cult or something. at some point the wife looked at me and winked and we made a beeline for the door and got in the car and took off as quickly as possible. it was one of the most bizarre things i've witnessed during my time here.

We just came back from a surprisingly good Japanese diner at the restaurant on Heaw Kaew Rd. opposite the Shell gas station just west of Kad Suan Kaew.

I'll admit that I went in with a presupposition that the food would be just OK, the menu choices limited, and the servings small.

I was wrong on all counts! The fish was fresh (although the maguro was just a bit soft from having been frozen a second time, but not enough to throw me,) and delicious, there were dozens of different offerings, and the portions western...er... yeah... not Japanese size, but western size! We had the sushi/sashimi set which included maguro, ebi, tamago, salmon, and kani, served as both sushi and sashimi. I ordered an extra plate of ebi-maki as well. The set came with tsukemono, miso soup, and Japanese rice, served along with the main tray of sushi. Everything was as fresh tasting as I had in Japan, and presented exactly as would be in a restaurant in Kyoto. Even the wasabi was tasty, although it was the powdered wasabi rather than the fresh grated root. As it happens, I prefer the taste of the powdered stuff so I was a happy camper.

Total bill for the two of us (both eating the same dishes) was 584 baht. My only complaint was that they gave me my change of 16 baht all in one baht coins.... Clearly a play for a tip. I have no problem with tipping in a restaurant, especially if there are a handful of coins, but I don't care for such an obvious ploy. Had there been a 10 baht, a five baht, and a one, I'd have left them anyway, and not gone away with a negative feeling.

But on the whole, as far as Japanese restaurants go, I'd go back to this one.

You only left 16 baht on a 584 bill?? Maybe you were not alone in having a negative feeling. I dont want to kickstart the tipping debate which runs on TV ad nauseum but even my thai gf would tip more than that, and she is a light tipper in my view.

in all fairness he did say was thinking of leaving 46 Baht but he was so put off regarding the change he only left 16 Baht.

Hottest part of the year....700 km from the gulf....add a little anti-freeze to the Ya-ba, and a few beers that are clearly marked as a year old.....dirty glass....dirty ice....A Thai going to RAM; that's suspicious in itself.

what's wrong with you? have you ever been to C.M. RAM? the patients are about 90% Thai like EVERY hospital in Thailand.

i'm beginning to think that the Maya will fail and that the Promenade will perhaps make it thanks to the Dukes and their businesses. although i could see one of the buildings being used for something else or sold outright as the cost of electricity alone has to be a killer.

Geez! With all the great restaurants within a five minute walk of Maya, I can't see why this is an issue.

there is nothing of interest within a 5 minute walk of Maya. 15-20 maybe...in the heat??? it would take about 10 minutes just to cross the intersection and be over on the Nimmanhaeman side.

you are joking right or just totally out of touch We own condos around Thailand in Bangkock Hui HIn Pattaya and CM and I know condos which owners have tried to sell for years in CM suddenly are sold.

It is a sellers market but IMO a bubble everywhere and just to much supply so a repeat of 1997 is going to happen only question is when in next year or next 3-5 years

However long term over last 30 years we've done very well but you need to be able to weather the bumps

appreciate your views,if its a sellers market why is there a condo very recently completed adjacent to meechok plaza in a very unique position i might add, not completely sold?????,during construction ,the cry was 75%sold and selling like hot cakes,dropped into there sales office y/day, approx 40% are not sold over the whole 7 floors,prices vary from approx 65 to 90 k a sq metre,the units i might add are very nicely finished, there we go and your call is a sellers market ,during my enquirys and inspections have found that this condo is not on its tot,and more to come providing they are finished and ready for hand over ...have a nice evening

I know the place as it's around the corner from my house. I don't believe 60% are sold. There is never more than 1 or 2 units with any lights on in the entire building. Never any cars parked there. Thais can't wait to move in to new places. You usually see them moving in before they are 100% complete and this place has been complete for months. The asking price is OTT and the location is terrible - right on the corner of a busy intersection. They are like hotel rooms where you can stand on the tiny balcony (no room to BBQ, sit, etc. - maybe hang some clothes to dry) and see your neighbor standing right along-side you on his balcony! 7-Eleven has already come and gone due to the lack of any customers.

that (mini) 7-Eleven lasted about a month. terrible place for one as there was no access. i guess they were counting on tenants to keep them in business.

another one for Steak of the Day in Mae Rim. superb!

for Thai food, the Lemon Tree off Nimmanhaemen at the end soi 17? (near Uniserv) is excellent Thai food at reasonable prices.

If your talking Western Digital external hard drive I can buy them off of EBAY. You can pickup a 2T for about $120 free shipping out of Hong Kong

why buy them on eBay when you can buy them here cheaper? makes no sense.

I have been to Dukes several times and never been much impressed with the food or the high prices. Mr.Chan and Paulines on Canal Rd. beat it hands down in both categories. But to each his own.

i love it when jealous competitors who seldom ever post come and make outlandish comments like that. i mean, come on... the family are good people and they have a number of places in town but the food......basically for the Thai audience.

This girl needs taking on one side and dealing with severely.

just what did you have in mind there??? beat her? torture her?

maybe the police having a word with her about culture and respect and levying a good size fine on her, but "dealing with severely" sounds a bit drastic.

i still say tourists should be given a handout and required to read it about customs in these countries. this was standard practice in the 1980's when i first came. it was given out on the plane upon arrival or upon deplaning.

I did some very back of a cigarette packet calculations & worked out that I would be £60-65 per month better off buying a 3MillionTHB condo than paying 22,000THB per month to rent.

Main assumptions were

1. Numbers above (e.g if the rent was only 20K, the difference was only £25 per month, if it was only 15k, I'd be better of by £70 per month renting

2. Assumed rent goes up at a constant yearly inflation rate of 5.3% (my attempt to cater for inflation & currency fluctuations)

3. Condo/maintenance fees of 5k per month

4. Time period of 11 years & 9 months (until I'm 60 & my pension kicks in)

5. I'd pay for the Condo in cash upfront so would be ahead/behind by anything it was worth minus lost opportunity costs of not having the money invested.

Completely flawed assumptions, but better than nothing to me

You are looking on the best outcome, why not look at the worst outcome ......

1. A 3M condo aimed at the foreigner market would probably be priced at 1.5M for the Thai market.

Assume you lost 1.5M the moment you made the transfer.

2. As the market is increasingly flooded with condos, why not assume rent reduces by 10% a year?

3. You are the only one paying the maint. fee.

4. Health issues force you to stay in your home country.

5. The bht crashes against your home currency, losing 50% of your upfront money.

Yep, my assumptions are all flawed too!

I don't understand the first one.

i don't either.

when these places advertise "80% sold out" that's a load of rubbish. it's marketing hype. one of the oldest marketing gimmicks in the world.

low season? high season begins 1 April, no?

only TV has problems. little message on the left says something like "waiting for googleapis" sometimes the wait can be 3-5 minutes!

i forgot to add that the driver of the car was fined about 1500 Baht plus he had to pay 400 Baht for something - i forget now, about 1900 total.

know it all said:

There are probably also more than a few who are old enough to get a retirement visa (yes, yes, just go with it), but can't get the police clearance certificate from their home country.

since when do you need a police clearance for a retirement visa?

i had to get one in order to get my retirement visa.

Did you see Dok Kaew, the new assisted living center a few hundred yards from the hospital? That's a modern facility, but the residents can use the facilities at McKean and enjoy walking the many low-traffic roads on the beautiful tropical island. Many of the trees are old growth and labeled in English. People come to the island come to photograph and birdwatch.

sounds like an interesting place. whereabouts is it? i did look at their website but didn't see a map.

Help me out here- why would a new government even consider making it harder for foreigners to stay???

All governments here involve commercial interests and many commercial interest involve foreigners. Why set the economy back by switching off investors from Japan/Korea/China/farangland?

I dont get it....

Very few Thai commercial interests value expats and long term foreign residents.

Tourists are worthwhile to many countries buy they don't buy condos.

Make retirement VISA/extensions harder and most of the foreign condo buyers will be gone in a flash.

i would disagree with this as well. they don't want to scare away buyers, they want to attract them.

i too, feel there is a property crash right around the corner. all the signs are there... reminds me of another mountain community real estate boom in the USA that ended up in disaster in 2007. actually, there was another crash even before that one but i can't recall what year - maybe the late 80's or early 90's. this was in the area around Denver, Colorado; Boulder, etc. i visited there both just before and just after the crash. what's happening here reminds me exactly of that. that same feeling...

in the last 3 weeks they have been busy bulldozing all the beautiful vacant land along the road from where Meechok Plaza is to the Doi Saket Road on both sides. they are quickly building cheap, unattractive, poorly constructed shop-front houses and other commercial type buildings. but just around the corner in practically every direction are completed buildings that can't seem to attract a buyer. some of the asking prices are beyond absurd; 5.9 million Bath for a 3 story shop-front building 100 meters from Ruamchok Meechai intersection. some of these buildings have been completed 2 or more years ago and have 1 or 2 tenants.

I have also noticed the shop front effect.

Been back in the USA for 6 months, returned to CM and found rows and rows of new shop fronts built all along the route to my house.

Even along the Soi to my house, rows of them at 3M a go, no passing traffic, none sold and still building more.

There is also a complex of about 100 between Meechok and MaeJo (same side as new Tesco), all but one unsold.

This has to be money laundering money, can't see any other way it could work.

i know the complex you mean. looked in there out of curiosity. 80 poorly constructed units complete for about 3 months now; only one rented/occupied. another 80 units more than 75% complete. why would anyone build another 80 until the first remaining 79 have been sold or rented. doesn't make any sense at all.

what on earth where you doing in Khon Kaen? sounds like a terrible place to spend a holiday. why Isaan?