klubex99

30 Baht for a shirt:

Washing is no effort and costs almost nothing in the washing machine.

ironing. I don't know how long a professional who is doing it all the day needs: 1 min?

I guess something between 45 seconds and 2 min.

Lets say 30 shirts per hour. 20 Baht profit, 10 Baht for electric washing powder, etc= 600 Baht per hour. Not great but the double of the minimum salary

That is huge money. 300 baht is daily salary not hourly.

600 B an hour for say 15 hours a day = 9000 a day. or 270,000 a month. If they are nowhere near that, 100K a month would be very good consider that is more than annual salary for most.

The local laundry house is possibly the richest family around our moo baan

I think they are confusing 'gang members' with the word, 'gangster'. Not the same thing in my book.

I have made similar predictions to those stated in this thread and even a couple of years ago I felt like I could see it starting. Indicators like going to visit cousins of wife in Isaan and everyone is selling their land and buying stuff. last time they were trying to hit me up for stuff and this time they are awash in shiny electronics and bikes etc.

However, since 2008 the media has become filled with an endless amount of talk of boom-bust cycle and low interest rates anti-central banking banksters hyperinflation yada yada yada

We have all heard it and we should be questioning whether these visions we have are based on the subconscious of this very noisy media.

Well it all comes from tangible indicators that have shown to be the same indicators that created boom and bust scenarios in the west, one by one, like a house of cards it always comes tumbling down, and yes, inflation rises and interest cuts are 2 of the main fiscal stimuli to try to jump start things again. But it takes time, and I would say that possibly the Thai government are not experienced enough to handle the job in 10 years, and even much less interested in doing so.

No doubt the country will have to be handed back over to the democrats to sort the shit out.

When I was in Prechuab Kiri Khan a month or so ago, we were staying in this small resort on the beach. We were the only people there, so had great attention.

The owner frequently commented that they bought the land and built the resort and were hoping to cash in big time when the whole strip of beach was developed and the tourists would come in droves.

I enquired to the owner how much was land valued at on the beachfront, he said no less than 10 million a rai. I said, but it is in the middle of nowhere, no facilities close by, with a dodgy road to get down to it, and not really a tourist destination, as a matter of fact, some days, we never saw a single person on the beach, Thai or farang.

I asked how much of it was for sale around here, he replied. 'all of it'. I couldn't make him understand that land is only worth, what people are willing to pay for it. None of the land was selling because the price was way over what someone was willing to pay. The only people likely to pay that is someone with plenty of cash who was determined to build their own private dream house on that particular beach.

I think the guy will be waiting a long time. I think he made a crazy investment. Because of the lack of amenities and the cost to get water and electricity to a property there. I would not pay more than 2 or 3 million. Even then I would have to think about it.

^

I think the second hand car market is going to crash first.

When I first came to work in Thailand 25 years ago you could not get a new saloon car for love nor money - prices second hand were often higher than the book price new.

For the following 15 years the availability of new cars always lagged the demand and again second hand prices stayed high.

In the past 10 years, accelerating over the past two years. we've seen the arrival of the 'Tent' - where ten years ago second hand cars where sold privately, basically stick a sign in the car or post on a notice board and the car would sell quickly - the market is now swamped with 'Tents'

Most of the cars in the 'Tents' have not been bought by the business but are placed there by the owner who gives the 'Tent' operator a cut.

There's already a glut into which the 'First Car' vehicles are soon to be added.

Prices will fall and given the amount of personal debt tied up in cars this is going to have an impact of very many Thais.

No link provided - go take a look at the 'Tents' full of second hand cars on a road side near you.... and on the outskirts of every other town in Thailand.

You're right.

Over the past few years, they are springing up like mushrooms after the rain. I live just off the main 205 out of Korat city, and there are probably half a dozen.

Theoretically it is in trouble but do not worry!

Every time when a country is in trouble, the owners of the country come up with quick solutions to make the problem dissappear: higher taxes, higher prices etc..by doing so they put the burden on the citizens and sooner or later by squeezing the ......out of them, order will be restored.

This phase has started already, just think about the increasing gasoline prices and the list is endless. Make no mistake, I am not being sarcastic. But that is what is happening.

Sent from one of my devices using the internet

No you are not being sarcastic, just ironical.

And you are very correct, too.

This same dynamic plays itself out time and time again.

Greece, for example.

The international banks come in a steal the assets of the country which goes into debt too far, assets which rightfully belonging to the citizens of said country.

You might also think of IMF, here.

But was it not Iceland which balked?

And then told most of the lending companies to go F themselves?

Of course, all countries in debt should band together and tell the International Banks to go F themselves.

That would be one step for men, and one giant step to get the pushers off the back of the people.

Debt is the drug these banks are pushing.

No... It was Iceland that told all foreign depositors in Icelandic banks to go F themselves.

Which personally I found awesome, they soon relented when in turn, the UK froze all Icelandic owned accounts in their banks. Iceland Frozen Food Company being one.

But it was great for one thing. It totally exposed lots of UK councils who had squirreled money away into Icelandic bank accounts (for a rainy day) while each year they plead poverty and demanded more and more from the council tax payer. I was pissed off when they got their money back.... I so wanted them to lose it. the bastards.

You need to tissue match organs. There is no point in grabbing a random person and "stealing" their kidneys, say, because in order to identify a recipient you need to tissue match them with the person you have "kidnapped". So there can't be an "express service route", because any person ordering the express service would need to be able to identify a matched donor. Go out and collect 50 hearts in the hope we get a suitable one? Does this make any sense to you?

The websites some people have linked to here are just made up nonsense. Anyone can write any BS on a website.

The illegal trafficking in organs that does go on refers to people who are paid to donate their organs, not people who are kidnapped and killed!! This is a pure urban myth. What happens is that hospitals and physicians in some countries pay poor people to donate say, a kidney. This is illegal in all civilised countries.

In the case of organs that do not need to be tissue matched, like corneas, the evidence that forced tissue harvesting occurs is non-existent.

The case in China just reported was a typical example of an urban myth being created. It turns out a kid was blinded by his own aunt who later killed herself. Mental illness is the obvious explanation. News sources tried to build the myth that this event was another example of organ harvesting, but this was immediately refuted by the police:

"State media previously had raised the possibility that the boy's corneas were taken for sale because of a donor shortage in China. However police said the boy's eyeballs were found at the scene and the corneas had not been removed."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/04/aunt-gouged-boys-eyes-chinese

This will not prevent this story being cited in the future as "proof" of organ harvesting.

Thais believe in a lot of untrue things: this should not prevent exercise of your own rational judgement and common sense.

If there is a big enough demand in illegal organs, then there is probably a match waiting somewhere in the system.

Barbers normally close on Mondays in the UK. Because they are open on a Saturday, and that is their busiest day with many wanting a trim for the weekend and having to work through the week. So they open Saturday and close Monday when nobody seems to want a haircut.

This would have been the exact same reason for Thai barbers, but instead of Monday, they chose Wednesday. Then some silly superstitious person many generations ago would have not known the real reason and invented some stupid superstitious story to provide the reason, then it spreads like wildfire like Chinese whispers right across mega-superstitious Thailand.

it is possible but just doesnt make sense.

thailand have a relatively huge eye bank, though with a pretty long waiting list. doesnt make both economic and medical sense for any buyers to go that route when you could bypass the waiting list

and for the latter story, it is just medically impossible given the time lapse, and a sum of money along the body? you kidding me?

you had probably paid for the sick buffalo before, had you?

Actually, it makes perfect sense and you pointed it out in your post without giving any weight to it, yet it is the most glaring reason.

Avoiding the waiting list.

Why do you think that Thailand is the number 1 country in the world for medical tourism? It's not only a lot cheaper than the west, but also there is almost no waiting list if you have the cash.

Like you pointed out, Thailand has a huge eye bank, but there is a lengthy waiting list. Some person who lost an eye in an accident, can't wait on a list. That sort of thing would need pretty much instant attention don't you think?

What about a replacement heart, kidney or liver? If yours was shot, would you be happy to wait 5 years in a queue or would you be tempted to go down the 'express service' route?

The thing is, It does go on, because where there is money to be made, there are humans ruthless enough to go to any length to be part of it. It sounds a lot more credible for someone to kill you for body parts, than (for example) kill you for your motorcycle, and yet my friend was attacked at night by a sword wielding maniac who tried to behead him with a samurai sword just for his motorcycle. He just managed to shift his head to the side enough to avoid the blade. He sped off unharmed and the police said that there were people using this method to steal bikes to sell.

All in all.... There are people here prepared to go to any length just for a small gain. People who have zero value for human life and totally confused by the belief that chances are their victim will be instantly reborn.

People scared of death will pay a lot of money to sustain their own life. So other people are going to be more than happy to take advantage.

Organ trafficking has become an international trade. It involves Indian, Thai, Philippine, Brazilian, Turkish and Israeli doctors who scour the Balkan and other destitute regions for tissues.

http://samvak.tripod.com/brief-organ01.html

These people would buy on a 'no questions asked' basis, I presume.

Before anyone attempts to attack me as an alarmist gullible and naive idiot. I go through life with my eyes wide open, and what I see in the world every day never fails to shock me in relation to what one human is capable of doing to another. The human species is more than capable of committing unspeakable evils than you would ever be able to comprehend.

It's up to the reader to make their mind up whether they believe it or not. But I don't think making fun of the OP is the way to go. Just because you try to protect your confidence in your own safety by adopting the attitude that these things are fables, that is up to yourself. But look around you.

Big Medical tourism destination + high poverty rate + money number 1 attitude = credibility. As a matter of fact, with that formula, you can pretty much bank on that it probably does exist rather than doesn't exist.

As far as the money left with the body comment. That is also very very much possible. Most Thais would not think twice that a murderer is capable of leaving money in an attempt to buy some merit back for their evil deed. My wife was not at all surprised by the inclusion of that detail. But I can see how a farang would think it absurd, it is because they still don't understand the Thai way.

Regarding the location (Surin) I can quite believe it, people go missing all the time there, especially children. It doesn't make news any more because it is strangely regarded as normal, and with no proof, and a policing system that is lethargic and won't follow up on any case if it is considered to hard for them to solve with no trace of evidence, then it is just filed away and forgotten.

i write 3 glib sentences and get a novel back.

who is falling for the troll hook line and sinker here my good man?

lived amongst pakis and had a gay friend -- who could fault those credentials?

i can understand why you would want to avoid batting an eyelash, especially having been to a gay nightclub once or twice

Lol.... the classic switch and reverse maneuver..... does it get any better?

Please come back in, me and the wife are having a great laugh at you.

Brightened up our late evening.

OP - I've often thought the same.

Years ago, I thought it might have something to do with hormones in crop sprays and/or pesticides. Some of the stuff they use here is banned elsewhere.

But I no longer think this is the answer.

I think it's a cultural thing.

It's just kind of okay for men to take photos of themselves. And then to Photoshop their pics. And then to make their skin white. And then to make it look as though they're wearing lipstick.

To us, it's poofy; to them, it isn't.

I did say that once to my gay mate, and he said if it was hormones, he would at least get tits for free

As stated in the OP, sexuality is pretty "fluid" in Thailand. I put it down to Thais being about the most androgynous population I've ever seen. Not much difference in appearance between a man and a woman.

Yes, the missus is always being mistaken for a man.

Hoping she may swing the other way enough to get me access to a menage et trois before I die.

In 1984/5 the amount of Thai shielas who jumped the fence and became lesbians overnight was phenomenal. On the back (if you pardon the pun) of the new lethal virus to hit the world.

AIDs.

I wonder how many stayed Lesbians to this day?

According to those in the know at this time male homosexualty in thai prisons was rather negligible, whilst Lesbianism was rife in the female prisons (apparently)

I can see where you are coming from and you do make a valid point, for what you are talking about is certainly alot more overt and prolific than it was a generation ago. I wouldn't agree about genes though. That is a dangerous path to go down since this topic has been debated by many around the world and the jury is still out as far as I believe.

I think a fair percentage has to do with it being seen as 'trendy'.

You're probably right there. I think that if it a trend thing, then that rules out genetics.

Just seemed to make me think why should there be a spike here compared to everywhere else I have been.

OK, I will accept that it is possibly more fashionable than anything else. All the evidence seems to point that way.

I missed any previous convos on the subject, maybe I should have done a better investigation on TV first.

I am trying to get my head around the possibility of it being because of the HIVAIDS fear, seeing as over 1 million Thais are infected, and that is a huge amount. It could even be seen as justified in light of those stats. But jus seems to me, that the way I see some act, it is more out of trend than anything else.

i write 3 glib sentences and get a novel back.

who is falling for the troll hook line and sinker here my good man?

lived amongst pakis and had a gay friend -- who could fault those credentials?

i can understand why you would want to avoid batting an eyelash, especially having been to a gay nightclub once or twice

Lol.... the classic switch and reverse maneuver..... does it get any better?

Please come back in, me and the wife are having a great laugh at you.

Brightened up our late evening.

i write 3 glib sentences and get a novel back.

who is falling for the troll hook line and sinker here my good man?

lived amongst pakis and had a gay friend -- who could fault those credentials?

i can understand why you would want to avoid batting an eyelash, especially having been to a gay nightclub once or twice

Lol.... the classic switch and reverse maneuver..... does it get any better?

classic op: denied homophobia and racism all neatly rolled up into one. did you also have an asian friend in the UK?

they are gay and lousy drinkers because they are genetically inferior.

does it get any better?

Lol... I was waiting for someone like you to come along... hook line and sinker mate.

If I raise a conversation based on my own personal observations and opinion. That is my business.

You need to seriously pull your head out of you over politically correct apologist arse for 10 minutes a day at least.

In the UK I bought a house and lived in the pakistani quarter of my town and all my neighbors were paki muslim, I knew where i was going and never batted an eyelid. I also stated that I have visited 23 countries to date as a guest, and also live as a foreign immigrant in Thailand. Hardly a recipe for an out and out racist.

I also stated that I had a friend who was gay, and used to drink with his friends and even visited a gay nightclub with them on a couple of occasions, had a great time too.

Never dabbled, but never disgusted by it.

But while I was writing this, I said to the missus, I wonder how long it would be till I get called a homophobic or racist by some PC donk. Congratulations on hitting reply number 3. Best part is.... I wasn't even being critical.....lol

Man, if you are suspicious of any and every post on a forum that mentions anything other than I love this and I love that about this or that country, I suggest you beg for your TV account to be deactivated, because you are certainly on the wrong forum, if you are so shit scared of having an honest opinion about anything.

Because TV is full of the stuff you really really hate.

I was wondering if it was possible that Thai people have a defective gene that controls gender?

I have been in and around 23 countries in my time, and I have never seen such a high incidence of homosexuality and cross gender activity as I have seen here. It seems abnormally high, and I can't think why that could be except for some unstable gene or something.

I know that Asians in general have a genetic intolerance to alcohol, so could it be just as possible that genetics are the answer?

I have also seen so many who are also over flamboyant in their gayness. I am not talking about ladyboys, although they are over the top in the extreme, but a lot of guy gays, who seem to act like screaming queens.

My wife used to get notes in school from other girls flirting with her, and that was at the age of about 14 up. I never heard of that in the UK. My wife has many cousins who are lesbians and her brother is also gay. She says it is fashionable, so could this fashion be sparked by the mere social acceptance of homosexuality in Thailand?

I am not homophobic. I had a good friend in the UK all my life, who has recently passed away god bless him, who was great to go out and have a few beers with, even his gay friends were all a great bunch, and they used to really hate the over the top screaming queens. In their view, gays who acted mega camp were wrong in the head and an embarrassment to most normal gays, and that everything was an act and nothing to do with being gay. Again , I am not on about ladyboys and transgenders, I am talking about ones who present themselves as guys, but act like squeely little girls.

Anyway. I am sure that something is missing up top. But I do find them entertaining to watch sometimes.

Its a pity my mate never made it here, he would have pissed himself laughing.

Anyway, I can't figure out why people can jump around from gender to gender with such a nonchalant attitude. 'Oh, I think I will go gay tomorrow.' Two of my wife's cousins turned lesbian first one, then the other a week later... they are both straight again, might be lesbians again in a few months, who knows?

I notice that Costco's share price is up 0.5% and CP price is down 1.5%

Says it all really

I don't think so. I think the import duties would kill them. Their business model is to buy in huge volume, have a lot of their products branded under their store name (Kirkland) and sell larger packages of brand name items. I don't see them adapting to Thai products in lower volume.

They will also dump a supplier who doesn't suit them. You can get used to buying a product there over a long period of time, and then it just disappears never to return. In Thailand, many markets are controlled. Costco doesn't play that game.

In short, Costco is so big that it makes all the rules with suppliers. I don't see that happening in Thailand.

First of all they would have to give away 51% of the company since retailing is a protected industry because Thais apparently aren't ready to compete. Which translates into, Thais would like to gouge the market and not have any real competition.

Nope.

Are Mc Donalds, Dunkin Donuts, and many many other western companys here 51% owned by Thais? Makro wasn't either.... Ever heard of the franchise route?

I don't think so. I think the import duties would kill them. Their business model is to buy in huge volume, have a lot of their products branded under their store name (Kirkland) and sell larger packages of brand name items. I don't see them adapting to Thai products in lower volume.

They will also dump a supplier who doesn't suit them. You can get used to buying a product there over a long period of time, and then it just disappears never to return. In Thailand, many markets are controlled. Costco doesn't play that game.

In short, Costco is so big that it makes all the rules with suppliers. I don't see that happening in Thailand.

Don't mean to be obtuse or anything, but your statement doesn't make any sense at all.

You say that many markets in Thailand are controlled, and Costco does not play that game, but you also say that Costco attempts to control suppliers. So really you just undermined one statement with another.

Anyway, Costco will source from countries where there is either zero duty or very little. New Zealand come to mind straight away.

As for not being able to control the suppliers in Thailand, CP has been doing it for years and has an almost monopoly on controlling the farmgate price. But with their recent acquisition of Makro, they want to watch their backs, because if Cosco put a wholesaler in every town that Makro are in, then it is going to prove to be a complete waste of money and they paid well over the odds for it in the first place.

I am thrilled to see Costco coming, and they will change the way CP have been abusing their suppliers if there is now a new kid on the block who will create some healthy alternative for the farmers to supply.

I have a problem with trying to change my IP.

I have True 50MBS high speed service, and up to a month ago, I was able to change my IP address by simply rebooting the router. But now the system has changed and i am still getting the same IP.

I have looked at even downgrading to 10MBS to get off the DOCSIS system which we have been told by True that is the reason why the IP never changes.

But my wife has noticed that lots of people are now complaining that they have static IPs even on the lower speeds and that it is now also happening with 3BB.

Is this a result of the government spying on internet users in Thailand? This seems to have come after an announced crackdown on people using banned sites or coming out with inglorious comments about Yingluck. But nobody seems to admit it. But there is no smoke without fire, and a static IP would be very helpful for someone to monitor a data stream.

Does anyone know any way to force a change. I really need it done, I have a hacker that keeps getting into my PC, and I have all the security you can think of, but this guy is good. I think he has dropped a fork bomb onto my router. I have reformatted my PC 3 times and he gets straight back in. The reason is probably because he is targeting all data from My IP

I deal with very large sums of money from my home office, with trades of up to $100,000 a month and I don't feel comfortable.

I hate 3BB because their system has so much downtime, and has caused me to be offline sometimes for up to 4 days. I won't go back to them. True are very unhelpful. We have played with their support team for days now, and all they say is NO!

Using a proxy is ineffective if the IP is bound to this router, and even if we remove the fork bomb, it will come straight back.

This situation is ridiculous.

Grateful for comments or help.

Thanks in advance.

thailand as a country in the region of south east asia isn't too bad. The best country would be singapore in terms of GDP and development. Thailand might be second or maybe malaysia i don't know. Thailand is better than cambodia, laos, vietnam and of course burma. Indonesia and the philippines are much worse than thailand. Go live in manila and you would wish you were in bangkok.

Have you been to Vietnam in the past several months? It is catching up to Thailand at a rapid pace! Last time I was there I was completely shocked how far they had advanced in the 3 years since I was there before. Saigon's subway is supposed to open by the end of this decade.

Thailand is also evolving, but at a much slower pace. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think most people on this forum wish it would happen much faster.

+1 HCMC is becoming very beautiful in a lot of areas.

It has a much better restaurant and bar scene than in BKK by a mile. Socially, they are much more westernized that Thais who are desperately clinging on to their identity and sense of 'Thainess'. Possibly because they think it is more appealing to tourists. But the Viets are going to fly past Thailand very soon. Infrastructure is very good there, and if Vietnam had better beaches than the ones it has, it would have already left Thailand behind in its wake.

A lot of the development in the urban areas of Thailand are only there because of a huge expat influence. The Viets are doing it for themselves and by themselves. Also the quality of food standards is much higher in Vietnam than in Thailand.

Before anyone say it (Why don't you go live in Vietnam then?). I am constantly asking the missus if we can So much more opportunities there for westerners and it is welcomed, and encouraged. Not like Thailand where they make everything difficult for a westerner to do anything without having to have Thais own almost everything and then have zero rights to the rest of it.

By the way, Cambodia had 3G almost 3 years before Thailand did, and Laos and Cambodia had 4G just as Thailand was getting 3G.