Oscar2

im still having aircon blasting at me in kad suan kaew at 9pm. with a nice live band from philippines as well

not oysters but i had a plate of 50 baht cockles

Live band from the Philipines, where is this located??????

In the food court; basement floor. lounge band, been there for many years now.

on Thannon Thapae across from 7-Eleven. Herb Basics i believe is the name.100% oil, not synthetic.

The situation is personal to me.

The gf's old man is ex-navy ... and he limps.

Had his right leg blown off below the knee by an IUD when stationed 'down south'.

David how personal do you think the situation is to people who lost brothers, fathers, grandads, they are all dead, just think about your little grudge and times that by a thousand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9HJnA96-N4

where is the justice? Ask yourself what would you do?

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/thailand-government-fails-provide-justice-victims-tak-bai-killings-2013-08-01

http://thailand.ahrchk.net/takbai/

Just think of what the Bristish did on Bloody Sunday times ten. Everyone feels sorry for the Irish

i don't get your agenda. what? leave things the way they are? mai bpen rai? don't inflame the Muslims? let more innocent people die? i know all about Tak Bai, been to the South a few times. wife was born in Hat Yai...

i agree that an excellent idea would be to enlist the help of the Israelis. forget the Americans as they will mess things up even worse. even a 25 man team of Mossad could do more than the Thai military at cleaning up the insurgents.

a few check-points here and there staffed by young, inexperienced soldiers doesn't do anything.

what a P.O.S. hope he gets what's coming to him. surely the name can't be right can it? Mana Lerdraksa? sounds like a Slovak name. maybe something lost in translation.

article-1281550482118-0ac29f1e000005dc-448076_636x411.jpgA pic of the victim and his lovely wife!

As I suggested in an earlier post, yes at least she has been on bail for almost 3 years. I guess having access to the victims bankaccount, makes negotiations with the BIB a little easier!!

Where's the lovely wife? Did you upload the wrong picture?

I think this is as picture of him and a guy friend.

i thought it was another man in the photo as well.

I honestly have no idea what's really going on in this country. Ever.

either does the government. otherwise they would do something about the problem.

i don't understand the 'news'. it's nothing new. passports available at the government center (off of chotana rd) for many years now. why would anyone need "relatives to the mayor, the governor, the minister" to get a passport? am i missing something?

what's wrong with a regular telephone line? works for me every time.

White Elephant comes to my mind on Promenada Mall....

Let us speak more on this "White Elephant" or is it "White Cow"??? LOL 5555

I have tried the following restaurants there;

Mix: Enjoyed the food and ambiance, yet the place was very hot, like the air conditioning was not working very well and it was kind of hot...

Rimping: Well I told you the story of the oyster bar, but I went for more and tried the Sushi bar, this time I went earlier, food was good, but what is up with the billing situation and them standing by your table until you pay it, I almost told them to keep the food, but as I said it was good!

Wine Connection: The place was empty, again, but it has some potential for sure, could use more Champagne, what they have for a selection is very limited, had the cheese plate and 2 bottles of sparkling Rose, not bad and Pat the waiter spoke great English. I was told a story by there staff that the Promenada Security locks the washrooms up at 21:00 and their customers have no place to relieve themselves, bizarre or that? Wow

Fuji: Chain Japanese food, same as everywhere, yet air conditioning barely works and it's way to HOT!

Well, 10 out of 10 for perseverence, but if I wanted to eat out, the last place I would go would be a shopping mall. Why not try a real restaurant located in its own property?

a shopping mall would be the last place i too, would go out for a meal. i say wine connection will be one of the first to fold over there. perhaps not the retail wine shop but the restaurant. some of the coffee shops as well. i mean 2 or 3 is more than enough for the business there. how many people are buying furniture for 188,000.00 Bahts for a dresser? those shops are sure to fail.

Well for me I thought the Dutch operators were supposed to be bringing some new and or alternative entertainment venue to CM, apparently they are just going to follow the sheep too.... Darn unfortunate!

most likely Dutch with Thai majority partners. entertainment venue? it's a shopping mall. park (or try to), shop - spend money, get out and go home. how is that entertaining?

personally i don't think the Dutch have a clue as to how to do business in Thailand. what the deal with the radio spots in English or the billboards in English? who do they think they are targeting? what audience? i was in a coffee shop about a week ago and suddenly a radio spot came on for Promenada - but in English! i heard Thais at 2 nearby tables say "why is this in English?" i mean this is Thailand.

i have noticed that in the last week or so the billboards have begun to include Thai script so someone must have woken them up.

Always found the M-F opening hours of 11am weird. Imagine the retailers would like the extra revenue generated if they all had an extra hours trading.

most are are too lazy to want the extra hour of trading and most Thais don't like going out early shopping. so well-suited to the way things normally are.

OK....OK ...OK ....average starting Thai salary is 8k-10k baht,,,,after working a bit maybe it goes up to 15-20k

But are these Thai's middle class? Are they lower middle class? Are they even classified as middle class just because they have a job? Just because a salary is average .....does that mean the middle ...(ie middle class). A study was done and 65% of Thai's feel they are middle class! Soooo....is "perception" the basis for determining who is in the middle class?

I'll leave all that deep thinking to you middle class genius's out there!

AND ...by the way...who really cares? If you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food to feed the family, and transportation to get you around ...what else do you need? After that its just matters of degrees.

8-20K Baht p/m is not middle-class! Burmese laborers doing construction make more than 8K p/m. I would guess to be 'middle-class' you would have to be making 30K+ p/m. just a guess. i'm not really sure.

Have you met her sugardaddy??

I rarely hear of thais that actually accumulated it due to their own capabilities.

that is complete rubbish.

A nurse, secretary or bank clerck's salary barely reaches 20k. Some of you guys are way out touch with reality if you consider a middle class household income is around 100k per month.

No, on the contrary, most guys vastly underestimate wages for middle class workers with college degrees. Nurses can make very good money btw in private hospitals.

like i mentioned in another post, our nurse friend, mid 30's, is well educated CMU and special surgical procedures (2 years in the USA university) , makes on average 32K per month, up to 40K per month when she works weekends doing home healthcare. owns her own townhouse and drives a fairly new - about 5 year old Mercedes.

A nurse, secretary or bank clerck's salary barely reaches 20k. Some of you guys are way out touch with reality if you consider a middle class household income is around 100k per month.

that's not true. we know both a nurse and a secretary; very close friends. nurse is making 32K per month - sometimes more if she does home healthcare on weekends, secretary (years of experience inc. executive secretary at samsung corporate office), making about 45K per month.

I paid 20k two years ago for staying a couple of days.

Must have been the penthouse. When my wife was in for 4 nights and I was allowed to stay in the room with her, slept on the couch.Nice room with fridge and daily delivery of the Bangkok Post. Cost per night was 1,100 baht. Surely the 20K baht included other services.

certainly that was what the poster meant. everyone knows the rooms are only about 1,200-1,500 Bahts per night. more in Bangkok. it's the other things that add up. i was recently hospitalized and the room charge was about 1,200 but all the other stuff added up like nursing fee - i think 400 per day, pharmacy was about 7,000 per day - many IV's, doctors were each 1500 per day, of course things like radiology were as much as 14,000 (multiple x-rays, CT scans, etc.). surgery fees besides theatre charges and surgeon fees included things like (from my bill) medical supplies 1 and 2, packaged medical charges, "special surgical equipments" other in-patient charges, medical equipments, general medical equipment, special medical equipment, OR medical equipment, laboratory investigation, and of course discharge fee, "other hospital charges", discharge day-care, "subsequent care", patient evaluation and management, and so forth. it ended up like 25K per day plus surgery. the insurance company came and looked over every charge and said it looked normal to them and they paid the bill. the hospital did sneak in "standard inpatient foods and soft drinks @ 220 Baht per day but i told the insurance co. that i never asked for or received any hospital food or soft drinks; only water. they removed the charges.

like was mentioned before i too don't understand farangs who stay in patients rooms in Thailand.

...no longer have nice things here--mbike-sunglasses-2 phones-money-slippers-cash-buddha book--all stolen

either you have incredibly bad luck or some karma issues, or you hang out at the wrong places or with the wrong people. in more than 25 years being here i have never had as much as a newspaper stolen.

this thread is about gay men on the hunt for a hunk. why not move it to the gay forum?

Apparently they're not gay and neither are the dudes seeking them out, but whatever floats yer boat I spose.

a man seeking the company of another man and they are not gay? can u explain that one?

I have used this Assist Thai Visa service for awhile now but will not be renewing this year.

I thought it was a good deal at 1000 baht per year for 4-90 day reports

but now with 50% increase + the fact that immigration has really settled down

I think I will just do it myself.

I do not think 1500 baht is much money but when the Falang man that works there today told me it was

because they have office expenses I did have to smile.

They pay these Thai girls what per day? 200-300 baht?

250 per 90 day report was fair both ways. You pay a full days wages for something that takes

the girl 15-30 minutes? Seems fair enough. But to then raise prices 50% seems a bit much.

I know they moved to a bigger building recently as they have had a large increase in customers.

But I think they may be heading in the wrong direction if that means 50% increases for services.

Again not because in this case 1500 baht is much money

but the justification for a 50% raise is weak at best.

Couple that with the calmed down pleasant Immigration recently & I think they may be making a mistake.

I always do my own yearly as it is based on marriage & they cannot really help with that & having just completed it

I have to say Immigration is much improved these days.

Today went back for my 30 days under consideration stamp & it was all of 10 minutes no appointment.

Hopefully this trend continues. If not there are other services

200-300 baht per day is less than a manual laborer makes. you are wrong. they are getting much more.

can't understand why you would want to move from Koh Samui to here. i would be in Koh Samui if i could. love it there. yes the traffic is really getting bad here.

this thread is about gay men on the hunt for a hunk. why not move it to the gay forum?

there is no doubt that tourism in Thailand is going the way of Chinese and other Asian tourists. after all the Chinese are the ones with money now. just look at the published numbers. the USA and Europe are still recovering from the worst economic crisis in 100 years. they just don't have the money to spend on vacation anymore. from my experience, most of the Thais i know are better off financially than most of the Western ex-pats i know here. Thailand has been experiencing a booming economy. of course many Thais are living on credit and it will catch up with them like it caught up with the west. indeed prices have skyrocketed here. many things are cheaper in America and Europe. but to me, the Thais are just as friendly as they were when i first came here more than 25 years ago - with the exception of those in Bangkok who are less patient than they were at one time.

no comment on the Russians which mostly visit Phuket, Pattaya and some are going to Koh Chang now. i hope they never come to the North!

Cosmetics work really well especially those little lipstick and eye liner combos you find at airport duty free...if you are transiting thru Seoul or Narita ...any of those cosmetics there are cheaper and even more popular

cosmetics? not a good idea! my wife would throw them at me if i gave her cosmetics. i don't think you know Thai women too well.

2M thats small change to lots of Thais in CNX, and maybe some Farangs too.

regards Worgeordie

Agree ...it's surprising how many people think all Thais are poor.

There is a good community of rich Thais in CNX and just looking at some of the properties belonging to the Thais would give an indication that there is serious money here like any other city.

i never said what you imply. i have Thai friends who are USD millionaires. the point was the silly marketing strategy. 2M is chump change to most people but it was the marketing strategy i was referring to. maybe read more carefully.

the other day we went to the Thapae branch of Kasikorn Bank. the wife has had her accounts there for more than 10 years, since before the name change. she always asks at the different banks she banks with (as do I at the banks I deal with) if they have a safety deposit box available since they seem impossible to get here. none of the banks ever have any. the other day the wife got a surprise response. yes they have them but they are only available only to "millionaires" - clients who maintain balances of 2 million Baht for a year, then you can get a box for free. absent this requirement it is not possible to get a box.

later that evening we were at Airport Plaza Central and for some reason it was completely packed. we drove around forever trying to find a place to park. finally we found a spot way up on one of the upper levels. as we were parking, a parking attendant came running over, blowing his whistle and as we lowered the window he said to us "VIP parking - for millionaires only." we looked at each other and laughed as this was the 2nd time that day we heard that same catch phrase. The wife asked what he meant and he told us that to park in the VIP area that you had to deposit 2 million Baht in one of the banks (i forget which bank) to get a gold VIP parking card or 10 million Baht to get a platinum VIP parking card. we asked what else you get for depositing 10 million Baht but of course he was clueless.

has anyone else run in to this new marketing strategy? i know Thailand's economy is doing well and Thais are richer now than ever, but seriously would anyone really tie up 2 million Baht for a year just to get a safety deposit box that usually goes for about 500 Baht a year or to get a "VIP parking pass" for Airport Central Plaza? seems silly to me considering interest rates are so low.