Oscar2

there's the plug again for the falang agent. never fails. don't listen to him and avoid agents (especially falang agents as most are working illegally and are scammers) and go the route of putting a notice at Rimping, etc.

p.s. that's a condo? looks like a hotel room with the kitchen sink and microwave right next to the bed inside the bedroom?? and why is the fridge in the bedroom?

That real estate website has appeared on Thai visa before.

This thread appears to be a way to get people to view the website. Try going the proper route and advertise in the classifieds instead.

I would never purchase land or property from an agent owned by farangs at farang prices.

indeed it does seem to be posted in order to get hits on that website which is dominated by a couple of farangs offering apartments for astronomical prices. indeed anyone in Thailand should stay clear of farangs claiming to own properties or be agents. one featured property on every page "owned" by a guy named 'John' for 27.5 million Bath in Chiang Rai is a hideous property with houses so close and looking down on to the swimming pool. i doubt the house is worth more than 3.5 million Bath but hey an English language website in Thailand...some sucker may come along and buy "John's house" lol.

Oh come off it the bloke is talking out of his arse.

agreed.

no thai lady, I am not a nutter, never....

just love the house...that is it, and I could sell it later for 3 mill

unfortunately foreigners can't buy homes here so don't even bother thinking about it.

and it's over-priced for being out in the boonies of San Kamphaeng and not a very nice home with small rooms, no space for garden....

off to the info incorrect quote court OSCAR2

uhhh whatcha trying to say there gerry? cat got your tongue?

no thai lady, I am not a nutter, never....

just love the house...that is it, and I could sell it later for 3 mill

unfortunately foreigners can't buy homes here so don't even bother thinking about it.

and it's over-priced for being out in the boonies of San Kamphaeng and not a very nice home with small rooms, no space for garden....

I'm curious to know how he can buy a house without a Thai wife, unless you're not a foreigner.

Correct me if I'm wrong but thats a western style house isn't it, would the locals buy such a design.

he can't buy it...he's a dreamer. yes of course Thais buy designs like that...

no thai lady, I am not a nutter, never....

just love the house...that is it, and I could sell it later for 3 mill

unfortunately foreigners can't buy homes here so don't even bother thinking about it.

and it's over-priced for being out in the boonies of San Kamphaeng and not a very nice home with small rooms, no space for garden....

flying is about the same as, or perhaps even 100-200 Baht less than a bus and much, much safer.

wait...someone just said the bus is 1700 Baht. you can fly on Air Asia for about 890 Baht. takes 90-100 minutes. have done it many times.

One week advance booking with AA return is 8,204.79B

maybe you are not a member or something? we never pay more than 890 each way. been 4 times over the last 2 years. the wife usually does the booking but she is a member.

btw, i just peeked on the AA website (no log-in) and checked for "One week advance booking with AA return" and the number i get is 5090.80 Baht. if you modify the departure date by 3 days, it brings the price down to 4160.79 (return). i'm sure if i logged in under the wife's account it would be much less. so you need to play with the dates a little.

flying is about the same as, or perhaps even 100-200 Baht less than a bus and much, much safer.

wait...someone just said the bus is 1700 Baht. you can fly on Air Asia for about 890 Baht. takes 90-100 minutes. have done it many times.

An outrageous sentence.

Firstly, he plead guilty.

Secondly, it wasn't pre-meditated murder.

Thirdly, "the pitbull" got 25 years which was premeditated murder.

Fourthly, the "body in a suitcase" murderer only got 10 years.

Thai justice.......an oxymoron.

..."Secondly, it wasn't pre-meditated murder..." what drugs were you on when you posted that?

KSK always seems much busier to me than Promenada.... On top of that I would think that people visit KSK to actually buy things, not just for window shopping.

Agreed. I see people in KSK actually buying stuff; the new malls seem more like a modern version of Victorians walking the promenade or esplanade.

that is so true. we have been to the new shopping malls (except the Maya) and rarely do you see anyone actually buying things. they just walk around looking, buying snacks and so forth. the children's play center at the new Central mall looks quite busy. i bet they do well as does the skating rink. but the over-priced shops? i don't think they get much business. i doubt many Omega watches are being sold...

in KSK i always see people buying things, carrying the packages and so forth. likewise at Central plaza airport.

In Kad Suan Kaew yesterday and like a ghost mall. Very few people and the usual stalls in the central floor areas were absent -just open space.

And it just looks very old, tired and tatty.

Demolition and change of use for my money, and not too long from now.

rubbish. i'm there at least 3 times a week on business and i've known a number of sellers there for close to 10 years. they told me that business has not fallen off one bit at all with the opening of all the malls. ghost mall? it has been absolutely packed each time i have been there over the last several weeks.

demolition? it is a very profitable venture. nothing wrong with it. its a shopping center.

Rubbish?? I was there for 2 hours yesterday (unfortunately) with some out of towners, going in way too many shops. I tell you what I saw-very very few people.

KSK 'absolutely packed??- now that's rubbish!! But if you want to listen to traders whistling in the dark - up to you. In your many visits on business each week you havent seen all the empty floor space that was always occupied??

Spend an hour in Central Festival, then spend and hour (outside of 12-2 maybe), in KSK. And if you still feel so bullish. rent some space-they will be happy to take your money.

It'll be gone inside 24 months......

rubbish.

Tend to use Big C/Homepro at Hang Dong a lot but now find that its easier to pick up the "vittals"at the "Prom" and although the Coffee in BC HD is only 10Bt a throw the ambience at Chi Chang (more peng)makes up for it.

Its got free wi fi and nice to sit back with the newspaper that we don't talk about and relax.

Decided last week that we needed a new fridge so Khun wifee negotiated (we don't bargain)a discount of about 4 K on a big Samsung which was delivered the next day.

Now can make my own ice and loads of room for the beer.

Regarding parking ..if you stop /park at the back near the motorbike compound you can access the building via the fire escape exit which brings you into the basement Thai Kitchens service area where the staff eat which is cheaper than upstairs.

Rimpling also does a Bt.69 Breakfast which looks interesting but only up till 11-00 am ..too early for me.

Yesterday bought some fromage...Monteray Jack,toms and onions plus a load of Forcaccia and wholemeal which worked out cheaper that Tesco/Bc and ...very good.

Also find that you can use most of the banks without having to Q and the guard opens for you with a smart salute...bit over the top but MPR

Agree with comments that the setup is not quite right yet but with the new boomtown /moo banns of the 1317...only time will tell.

Your wife negotiated 4k off a fridge-that's a lot of beers. Hang on to her!

What was that in percentage, and which store if I may ask please?

i would guess Chi Chang as they are desperate for business. when we were there 2 weeks ago a salesgirl at the escalator talked us into coming to the store with her, gave us 2 free cappuccino, and offered us appliances at prices that could not be beat! we weren't in the market but but we ended up buying a vacuum cleaner for 500 Bath less than the best promotion price anywhere in town as well as an extended warranty for free. between the coffee, discount and extended warranty we figured we saved about 900 Baht.

Rimping to be open 6 a.m. - midnight according to Maya promotional brochure!

what 6:00 a.m.? have to see it to believe it. the cashier girls were all moaning and bitching like crazy when they changed meechok branch from 9:30 to 8:30 opening time. even now most of them are late in arriving. young Thais do not like getting up early even if they are being paid to do so!

In Kad Suan Kaew yesterday and like a ghost mall. Very few people and the usual stalls in the central floor areas were absent -just open space.

And it just looks very old, tired and tatty.

Demolition and change of use for my money, and not too long from now.

rubbish. i'm there at least 3 times a week on business and i've known a number of sellers there for close to 10 years. they told me that business has not fallen off one bit at all with the opening of all the malls. ghost mall? it has been absolutely packed each time i have been there over the last several weeks.

demolition? it is a very profitable venture. nothing wrong with it. its a shopping center.

Crazy, one or more of the three have to fail, Promenada, Central Festival or Maya, there isn't enough customers nor money, let's not even begin to discuss Airport Mall and Kad Suan Kow..

it's totally crazy for a small city like this. OTT! not nearly enough customers or money to justify so many shopping centers. i've already stated which of them i think will be the first to fail. but this new one doesn't seem very promising either. we went to Doi Pui the other day and driving past the Rincon? intersection it seems the only way to get in is to drive up Huay Kaew and make a U turn, come back and turn left into the parking structure. its almost impossible to drive up HK these days at any time of the day before the shopping center. how many people will be stuck in the intersection to queue up to make the u-turn? i think most will give up. its only a shopping center....many others easier to access. walking in? forget it! Thais hate to walk. chok dee.

Small city???

this is a very small city, yes. where are you from?

I don't see the opening of all these malls (Maya, Promenade, Central...) ending well...

We went to Dukes last Saturday night at Promenade - Dukes was full but the rest of the mall was a ghost town...

that was what the wife and i observed at Promenada 2 weeks ago. Dukes was doing quite well in the late afternoon - about 12 or more people dining (all Thai) while every other restaurant had zero customers. no exaggeration...zero. the Thai restaurant in front of Rimping had mountains of food sitting in trays which obviously means it had been sitting out all day long. probably best to avoid that place even though they had some interesting and unusual dishes, unless you go in the morning.

Crazy, one or more of the three have to fail, Promenada, Central Festival or Maya, there isn't enough customers nor money, let's not even begin to discuss Airport Mall and Kad Suan Kow..

it's totally crazy for a small city like this. OTT! not nearly enough customers or money to justify so many shopping centers. i've already stated which of them i think will be the first to fail. but this new one doesn't seem very promising either. we went to Doi Pui the other day and driving past the Rincon? intersection it seems the only way to get in is to drive up Huay Kaew and make a U turn, come back and turn left into the parking structure. its almost impossible to drive up HK these days at any time of the day before the shopping center. how many people will be stuck in the intersection to queue up to make the u-turn? i think most will give up. its only a shopping center....many others easier to access. walking in? forget it! Thais hate to walk. chok dee.

there isn't a day that goes by in my day to day life in Chiang Mai where the need to speak some basic Thai is imperative/mandatory. most people do not speak English here. yes the Doctors speak English, people who have traveled around the world, etc. but when you go to the Doctor, chances are not a single other person on the staff will speak a word of English. local shops near my house, even in Rimping not a word of English is spoken unless you ask for the manager. this is not Bangkok where many, many people speak very good English.

i hesitate to ask if the OP is still in business at Promenanda. when i was there 2 weeks ago, you could drop a pin in the food court and hear it hit the floor. there were about 4 people dining there at the time.

i found a couple of things at Daiso over the years that actually came in handy and still work! i liked the store before when they were small and had a couple of small branches around town. now they have gotten bigger and added mostly Chinese-made junk which is not such a good bargain at 65 Bath. but the Japanese made things are good value at 65 Bath.

Looking at some of the posts on here, is poverty a real problem with farangs here?

You may have hit a raw nerve there...

Shhh... Don't disturb the elephant in the room

It seems obvious. Look at the numbers who claim to live well on less than B20k/mo; then see how many of retirement age can't even qualify for the monetary minimums needed for the visa; then look at the numbers of derelicts/drunks who use the convenient overstay option to remain in country.

20k a month is 6k more than my bank's home loan manager is paid.

20k a month is 5k more than my kid's kindergarten teacher (government employee) is paid.

Do you need to have more than a Thai with an education and a good job earns to live well?

i think you will find that higher ups in banks earn a lot more than 20K per month. the wife has a close friend in Bangkok who has worked for a number of major banks. i believe she works for SCB, not sure. i don't know what her exact title is but she makes about 65K per month and drives a Benz.

no. only CBS news American is on 98.5 FM but it's only 5 minutes 2X per hour and is old news (yesterday's news). internet has many BBC options. i used to enjoy BBC in depth news reporting 2X per day in Europe but not available here.

for all those bragging how cheap they are, the Thais will say as soon as you walk out of their establishment - "falang ki nok". literally, bird shit falangs.

Except that Thais are the biggest tippers in Asia: http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/who-biggest-tipper-asia-651512

i rest my case.

As i said earlier, tipping is the business of whoever is doing the tipping but all these claims of tipping by Thai's seems odd to me as the majority don't, and will tell you not to as well.

To me it is the opposite, the majority do. I've been here for over 20 years and have seen tipping by Thais in a myriad of situations and places for that entire period, tourist area or not. Yes, it is usually just leaving the coins behind (as long as it is not one baht) or a twenty baht note if part of the change, or more if a group or above the call service. Our boss has taken the office staff out on dinner parties several times as a bonus and always gave a pretty healthy tip as there were usually 20-30 of us or more. I follow the Thai examples of how and when and where and not my own cultural expectations. That minimizes the faux paus brought in by one's own culture.

I've even gone with Thais and eat at a street vendor or stalls many times and the Thais would leave the change. Perhaps the Thais may not think of it as leaving a tip, as we Westerners do, but making merit.

Spot on. Wealthy Thais tip as a way of showing their wealth, and plenty of slightly better off Thais tip as a way of showing their understanding and sympathy of the plight of lowly paid workers and get good Karma in the process. My Thai wife tips for the second reason and occasionally overpays for a service if she thinks that she is helping someone out. That's my benchmark now and has been for a while.

Most waiting staff will appreciate tips and perceive the giver as being kind-hearted and won't generally judge people that don't tip, unless they are clearly very wealthy or if they boast about how much money they have.

spot on by both posters. people who are saying Thais don't tip are only saying so to try and justify their own failure to do so.