kharmabum

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 5:03 PM, steve187 said:

that would be http://airportpattayabus.com/V2/airport-to-pattaya/ last bus at 2200 hours, bell travel is 1800 hours.

whoever they are.  the counter at b1 in airport says they're open till 10pm, but closed early.

I talked him down from 1500.  I had to stand there for like 20 minutes before he realized I would rather spend the night at the airport than pay a taxi 1500.LOL

so I go to the north pattaya bus station to check the schedule and the company that runs buses to the airport and back said it costs 300 baht with hotel pickup.  I said I don't need to be picked at my hotel, I'll get to the bus station myself, and ask how much that costs.  they said it still costs 300 baht.  didn't there used to be 2 prices?

last week when I landed at the airport I to the desk where they sell bus tickets to pattaya and got there at 9:50.  they were supposed to stay open till 10.  the guy behind the counter says 'not open'  I asked 'are the tickets sold out?"  he says 'closed.  come back tomorrow'  so I had to pay a taxi 1000 baht.

what is wrong with these people?

a few hotels in the 700 baht a night range I've checked with in Naklua soi 27 area are fully booked or nearly full.  I know this because the one I normally stay at was fully booked when I arrived a few days ago and had to look around.  yesterday evening I noticed that terminal 21 was packed, marina mall and central festival were both empty.  too many malls.  and yes pattaya has become too expensive.  had a slice of pizza at marina mall.  it was good, but the price on the menu was 180 baht.  after all their taxes it ended up costing 211.  6 bucks for a slice of pizza.LOL

LOL at everyone who believes that part of Tha Phae Gate is ancient.  It was built like 20 years ago with the same bricks they used to build Kad Suan Kaew!

I couldn't help notice the guy the OP met is in Thailand for 9 months on paid leave from his police officer job in the UK.   It made me think of all the posts I've read on the 'multiple entry tourist visa' thread in the immigration forum about how when people go to a Thai embassy in their home country to try and get the Multiple entry tourist visa that gives you up to 9 months stay they ask for proof that you have a job in your home country.  Many people's reaction to this request is 'what?!  who has a job that gives you 9 months off and still have a job to go back to?'  I guess now we know.  police officers in the UK.  What a great deal for them!  Not only can they get 9 months paid time off to frequent prostitutes in Pattaya, but if they get depressed they can go back to their job and pick up right where they left off arresting people in the UK for doing the same thing.  what a world we live in.

If she really is in distress and needs help then I hope she gets the help she needs.

If she is begging for money so she can back pack around asia hippy style, then good for her.  there was a time when mothers took their babies out with them each day and even travelled over continents with them, and nobody considered it child abuse.LOL

The thing that worries me is the mental state of western expats.  If your gut reaction to every story about a foreigner  is "deport him/her!", then you have  bigger problems than this woman and her baby.  let go of the hate people.  Everyone is just trying to get by the best they can. Most people in the world aren't rich or have government pensions.  but they still want do stuff.  deal with it.

questions...

how much are property taxes on a condo?

generally, how many months of rent should equal the cost of buying a condo.  for example,  if you pay 5,000 baht a month rent(60,000 a year) multiply by 15 years equal 900,000 baht.  multiply by 10 years equal 600,000 baht. 

how often does a condo in pattaya need to be renovated/gutted and redone?(new wallpaper/floor etc...) to keep it looking decent?  every 5 years? 10 years?  and how much does that cost on the cheap?

a million baht is less than $30,000.  and people say you should offer half?  what kind of condo can you get for 15 grand?  are these the same places that rent for like 4500 baht per month?

just my luck!  I still have 30 baht credit slip from that bookstore in my wallet.  I was going to use it next time i'm in Thailand.  now I might not go. hahaha

I wonder what percentage of people actually read books?  I mean regularly, like whenever you sit down in a coffee shop you've got a book.  read every night before falling asleep. 10%?

personally, i love used bookstores.  i like kindle too, but still seek out used bookstores wherever i go.  i guess pattaya is down to 1 now? cantebury?

@ullyses g- last time i was in chiang mai i was sorry to see that all the geckos were gone.  place just isn't the same.  good luck to you.

10 hours ago, digibum said:

 

Actually, I think the first problem is the age, 50.  Most people in western countries cannot start receiving government retirement benefits at 50.

 

Just taking the case of an American, you can start drawing benefits at 62 but you'll be locked into only getting 75% of what you're entitled to.  In order to get the full monty, you have to delay taking distributions until you're 66.

 

What's the point of allowing someone to retire in Thailand at 50?

 

It only entices people who should be working until they are at least 62 to retire early due to the perceived low cost of living in Thailand.  They forfeit 12 - 16 years of earning potential.

On 2016년 11월 27일 일요일 at 1:48 AM, chang50 said:

 

 

On 2016년 11월 27일 일요일 at 1:48 AM, chang50 said:

 

i'm american and was born in 1970, which means i won't be able to collect full social security benefits till i'm 70.  no one in my family has ever made it past 75 and most have kicked the bucket before reaching 70.

and alot of people think social security won't exist by 2030, or if it does, will be rendered useless by hyperinflation.

i admit getting old and realizing you don't have enough money to enjoy your life sucks.

but not nearly as much as working till you drop dead and never having the chance to enjoy life.

maybe they'll come up with a plan like western banks have for retired people. reverse mortgages.  like if you own a condo but can't meet the 3 mil bank requirenment they'll allow you to stay so long as they take possesion of your property when you pass.

after all, their goal is not to ruin peoples lives. it's to bleed them dry.  can't do that if they all leave.

i never underdstood the burden to society argumant here.  i mean, refugees are a burden to society because gooberments give them money, housing and free healthcare.  if a farang goes broke in thailand, does the gooberment give them money, housing and free healthcare?  i don't think so.  from what i've heard, if you show up to an emergency room bleeding out they won't even touch you till they run your credit card or verify your insurance.  you go broke in thailand, your embassy sells you an overpriced oneway ticket back toyour home country, to be paid back at a later date, w/interest.LOL

think of all the retirees that HAD 3mil baht when they moved to thailand but then bought a condo, figuring to live rent free and that the money they show each year would be grandfathered to future changes and live off thousand dolar a month pensions.   i forsee alot of condos being put up for sale in the near future.

and for all those 50 somethings gloating that they can show 3 mil in a bank account no problem, i wonder  how many will be able to remain if the figure is upped to 6 mil sometime before they need to buy their next 10 year visa?

globalization, inflation and corruption;  the three defining characteristics of this century so far.

35 minutes ago, lkn said:

 

You have no idea what I have been doing over the last 10 years. I can assure you, it is not about dining at restaurants recommended on Facebook or Tripadvisor. Yes, most of what I have done would in theory have been possible before the internet, but it would have required researchers, translators, and local contacts.

@IKN dude, read your previous posts..  you talk about using your smart phone for things like sightseeing, booking hotels, etc...   now you say you use your smart phone mostly for some academic project that eliminates the need for researchers, translators etc...?LOL  should I have guessed that based on what you wrote?

what are you researching?   buddhism?

does the new iphone have an enlightenment APP?

because if they do I might get one.LOL

13 hours ago, lkn said:

Need help from the locals? Your smartphone can translate and should that fail, it can show pictures. Need a place to sleep? You can book accommodation via your smartphone. Does the taxi driver not know about the guest house you booked? Your smartphone can show driving directions. Does the taxi driver refuse to take you or charge an obscene amount? Your smartphone can show public transportation options. Are you in the middle of nowhere and wonder if there are any sights of interest? Your smartphone can assist you in searching for other people’s experience in this area, etc. etc.

 

Sometimes I also feel a longing for the simpler times, back when everything was new and exciting, but then I think about what I have experienced in the last 10 years, and how little of that would have been possible, had it not been for the internet and my smartphone.

unless you make your living with a computer(digital nomad), then everything you've done would have been possible without the internet or your smartphone.  and think of all the pathways you didn't walk down and the great little restauraunts you never ate at because they weren't fake liked on facebook or tripadvisor.   one of the reasons people used to come to thailand was to unplug from the matrix, and observe their self(with a small 's') spontaniously combust.   the best thing that could happen to farang in thailand is to have an elephant step on their smartphone.

read the writing on the wall.  the purpose of this new ten year visa isn't to give 50 and over people a better option.  it's to try and make it so people who were planning on getting the old retirement visa go the route of the elite visa instead.  better for them you should pay immigration $23,000  than keep it in a bank just to show it every year.  best case scenario for old timers is they grandfather you in/let you keep your current deal.  worst case scenario is they don't.  probably depends on how much $ immigration needs to fill the coffers each year to pay their own salaries.

@godblessemall   of course i prefer CM to the nightmare that is bangkok.  i wish i saw it in 1989.  i love seeing old pictures of the city.  threre is a map of old CM in the health food restaurant dada cafe that shows huey kaew road as "elephant trail" connecting the old city to the mountain and doi suthep.

@jobin  sadly, what you say is true.  every place is worse now than it was 25 years ago.  not just chiang mai.  but i don't care if most places go to pot, only select places where i have spent time being happy and living in the moment as opposed to being a robot in a trance.  i suppose it's even worse for people who lament the downfall of places like ko phangyang, samui, samet, etc...  those places truly were paradise on earth, and now they are garbage dumps w/ sea view..

the first time i came to chiang mai was in 2002.  there was one starbucks(night bizaar), 1 shopping mall(KSK), at least 15 used bookstores, nimaan was undeveloped and a decade away from becoming trendy, lots of guest houses offered fan rooms for under 200 baht a night, AC for 300, the best burger in town was the easy diner, the best breakfast was mango tree,  and the best bars were the chiang mai saloon(lacroix) and the rasta cafe(near where Zoe is now).  visa runs were easy.  low season was a ghost town.  high season backpackers flocked to the city.  back then, whenever you met an old farang he was world wise, eccentric and had a unique story to tell.

the last time i was in chiang mai was 2 months ago.  there were too many starbucks and shopping malls to count.  condos were going up everywhere.  The AC room i used to pay 300 a night to stay now costs 700(goes up to 900 in december), but wierdly, the cost to stay 3 months is the same(6000 per month).  the best burger is now dukes. bookstores are disappearing.  low season and high season both are over run with chinese group tours.  visa runners are no more.  the new generation of backpackers are only there to get a selfie at tapae gate to put on facebook and then blog about how fascinating they are.  and all the old farang meet at starbucks at the shopping mall to complain about how the backpackers and chinese tourists are ruining the place and how they wish only people with means and pensions be allowed through the gates of the walled city.

It's no contest.  in my humble opinion chiang mai was WAY better in 2002.   i don't think i'll be coming back. but i sincerely  thank the greatest town that ever was for the memories.

if thai immigration has an official policy of only allowing 3 visa exempt entries per year, or x number of months per year allowed in country, then they should tell people when they get their 3rd entry "sorry, but this will be your last one for at least a year. enjoy your time in thailand",then stamp their passport to make it official. they don't do that. they give no warning and then pull people into a room and scream and insult them. they did this to my wife also at don muang. although they didn't accuse her of being a prostitute. and at least it was all women immigration officers doing the screaming. they kept saying to her "you don't pay taxesin thailand!" she kept saying "i don't workin thailand, and i spend money in thailand", but they only cared about taxes, probably because that is what pays their salaries.

sometimes the sale price is higher than the normal price. i guess they have to make up for the extra rent, sales banners and staff when they move all their items from the store out onto the sales event location in the center of the mall.LOL

i don't think an american military MP would be riding a bicycle in chiang mai. maybe he was a thai soldier who has a farang father so looks and speaks like an american? or maybe an end of the world prepper on a tourist visa outfitted himself in US military gear, i remember there is a second hand clothes shop on lah crois in the red light district that sells that kind of stuff? maybe he was riding his bike to the mountains where he is going to survive off the land when TSHTF after BREXIT?

@OP in the other thread i said that your writing reminded me of kafka or sebald, but i was wrong. it's much more robert walser. are you influenced by walser? or is it coincidence?

you can live well on very little once you cut everything toxic out of your life... booze, cigarettes, buffets, junk food, prostitutes, gambling, and start living a healthy lifestyle, eat mostly vegetarian, etc.. at some point you might not even need to pay for sex anymore. in fact, women might start offering you money! hahaha

This is true but it doesn't make for a very good vacation if you are going to do it in Pattaya.

i only come to pattaya for a few days to walk around and see how it's changed every few years. i'm married now and have no interest in getting drunk or meeting women. but if i was single and looking for some action, i wouldn't waste my chi(energy) in pattaya.LOL here's a million dollar travel tip for those looking for a healthier, cleaner, cheaper alternative. a few years ago i took a small boat from samui to ko phangan. this boat stopped at several beaches, between the main beach, haad rin, and ao thong nai pan, the beach i was enroute to. along the way it stopped at a few very isolated spots that i later learned had detox/yoga type resorts. the guests of these resorts were sunbathing on the sand when the boat pulled up. wall to wall babes. all tourists. from europe, north america, north east asia. the female to male ratio must have been 10 to 1. most looked to be in their 20's and 30's. you're welcome.

remember that movie 'liar liar' with jim carey, when he couldn't lie and had to say whatever was on his mind? someone should make that movie with farang and bar girl in thailand, where they both speak what they are really thinking all the time. i'd write out some of the dialogue here but i don't want to get banned.heheheh

you can live well on very little once you cut everything toxic out of your life... booze, cigarettes, buffets, junk food, prostitutes, gambling, and start living a healthy lifestyle, eat mostly vegetarian, etc.. at some point you might not even need to pay for sex anymore. in fact, women might start offering you money! hahaha