klubex99

BTW... It's not only for those who have limited incomes. There are many affluent folks who can save money. After all, even if you have a lot of money, there is no harm saving some if you can.

Back in the UK we have a saying, 'Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves'. A lot of rich folk got rich because they were smart with money. Nobody likes to spend money they needn't spend.

I had a company that imported generators into the UK by the container load, and a company that imported musical instruments also in bulk. Everything was worked out with financial surgical precision, and that is how you have to do business, else you should not really be doing it.

My ex-business partner had a personal asset wealth of around £180 million GBP, it is probably more now. But I seen him in a country clothing shop try to haggle £1 off a £40 cap. Talk about embarrassing. He also flies economy most times, but if he wants to treat himself, he always upgrades on the plane, it works out half the price and can save himself £1000 depending on the flight, and there are usually spare seats in business/first class, so you can almost always do it cheaper than pre-booking, and £1000 is a good chunk of change, more champers in Marbella

Its a troll post, and yep smoggyDMC gave it away that he is from Middlesborough.

Works on the rigs? Should be able to afford a nice house mortgage seeing as smoggyland has the lowest house prices in the UK, there is no reason why he can't have both the 3 monther and the nice crib.

Brought his kids into play a bit too late to hide his hand well enough. Claiming one minute that he is scared that his kids will hate him for not seeing them for long periods, then claims later that he can't see them anyway because of 'that bitch'.

Sorry but trolls have to be a bit more consistent.

Plus this is his third attempt with 2 identical threads in about a week in the Pattaya board.

maybe you are in the sun daydreaming wow its like a suspense story , like a novel written by ian flemming

Oh right.

I see now, you are the type of farang who sits all day in the sun, doing nothing thinking about nothing and you really hate it when some dare come here to do things that could knock your own personal Thai adventure into a cocked hat???

Am I getting close?

Anyway, it doesn't really matter to me what you think., just get on with your artificial dream. It's no biggie.

I have sent a link to this thread to Ben, I have done all I am willing to do on this matter now. I am far too busy with my own businesses both here and overseas. Far too busy to even consider street food stands..... really.

Got to go to the UK on Tuesday to sort out a few things. I will tell my friend that as far as I am concerned, just go ahead and do it, listen to nobody but your own gut, and the bigger you go, as long as you are a fully registered company, nobody will f^^k with you. If they do,. you have a lot of protection here..... Don't kid yourself before you chirp in.... Registered companies that do things the right way have a LOAD of protection from the chamber of commerce and that is also including corruption at both street and official level.

Thanks for all your input my friends, and to a few others..... carry on dreaming and one day, a dream may come true, you might even sit and watch a farang fail so you can stick your nose back in your Chang and snigger to yourself.

I will end by saying this.

I have met a lot of farangs in the past 3 years, and I know a lot have businesses here, and with the exception of a small one or two..... on the whole..... They have all been very successful, but then again, they probably don't read this forum.

toodle pip.

The friend is probably OP and the supposed business in the UK probably does not exist.

I was thinking the same ....it is like a james bond story

Must be all lies then.

James Bond? I am stumped, how do you arrive at this thread being like a James Bond story?

I don't mind you walking around thinking this is all lies, you have the right to suspect that, but you have really confused me with the second line and I am sure I am not the only person.

Just thinking Kevvy, maybe its about time you spent a little less time in the sun.

The Chinese have also perfected a chemical marinade that turns pork into beef, with the same colour, flavour and texture.

Is there nothing the Chinese won't counterfeit!

They would glue horns on a pig if there was a market for it.

You guys have got me thinking now. I had salami I brought back from from Vietnam for lunch.

There are loads of French restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. I would imagine that some dog meat may be masquerading as horse meat.

The Chinese have also perfected a chemical marinade that turns pork into beef, with the same colour, flavour and texture.

That video of the French guy was a great find - he must really love his wife to do that. What a nice guy. The lesson the OP could take from that is how the stall started to do better due to the novelty of the French guy selling - franchise it out with Thai workers and the advantage is lost. Now I've thought about it, I'd still love to see a New York-style hot dog cart selling corn dogs - that would appeal to Thais and foreigners; it's hard to find either in Bangkok.

There ya go.

http://www.alibaba.c...og_machine.html

corn dog maker less than 10K baht.

Don't know where you get decent hot dogs in LOS though, they are disgustingly tasteless and very low quality here.

Missing the horse meat you are used to.

One question that comes to mind with this horse meat 'scandal' .

Why would they substitute pork, beef atc for horse meat?

As far as I am aware, horses are a lot more expensive than meat animals in the west, and horse meat is not simple to disguise, it is a lot different.

Just asking.

good luck to ur friend.for the life of me, i can never understand why anybody would want to start a business for farrangs in thai.

there is 80 million thais, so for the love of god, find smthing to sell to them and u will do ok.

i , same as a poster said have a small business, but nobody knows im behind it.its all run by family, and people think it their business.

also my wife is a tax inspector, so it helps to know where to grease the wheels.

whoever comes here and thinks thais are poor and u will come to teach them about business, all i can say is you are deluded.

oh and unlike many posts, my business is not top secret, i have 5 13 tonne soil trucks. u see, keep it local, a thai business and u will do fine.

no need for top secret stamps and " could never talk about the product bs".

sorry if i upset anybody, but its just my view.

i have not been here a long time, but 7 years given me enough insight.do i understand thailand??? maybee 1%.

u need 50 years to get all of it. i rest my case.

Thanks for the input again.

Like I said in the OP, this product is both popular with farang and thai alike.

He is going to put this in the hands of his Thai family and work in the background. Then hopefully sit back and he and his wife to be will benefit from a good cut of the rewards. Nobody said he was going to stand on a cart.

It's not up to me to blurt out his product, it's his business and should not feel obligated to have to reveal anything to you.

Lastly, please point out where in any of my posts where i said that he is going to come here to show the thais how to do anything? That came out of your imagination.

That video of the French guy was a great find - he must really love his wife to do that. What a nice guy. The lesson the OP could take from that is how the stall started to do better due to the novelty of the French guy selling - franchise it out with Thai workers and the advantage is lost. Now I've thought about it, I'd still love to see a New York-style hot dog cart selling corn dogs - that would appeal to Thais and foreigners; it's hard to find either in Bangkok.

There ya go.

http://www.alibaba.c...og_machine.html

corn dog maker less than 10K baht.

Don't know where you get decent hot dogs in LOS though, they are disgustingly tasteless and very low quality here.

I still can't get my head around the fact that this guy has over a million pounds and still wants to get involved in a business.

To the OP, tell your friend to take up golf or some other hobby and enjoy his life here in LOS.

As mentioned many times here before...."the way to make a small fortune in Thailand...is start with a large one".

Cheers.

He's only in his 30s. Lots left in him. I am almost 48 and wouldn't even think about retiring. That's when you start slowly dying. I like the corn dog idea, never seen them here. But he has his product and the carts have to come from the UK with him. It's not hot dogs or burgers, it's not even meat.

He isn't wanting to be the richest man in Thailand, he just wants to do something he already knows. Not a good idea to go and do something else you have no experience in. There is always a risk in any business, but helps if you know what is what.

Thanks for all the info though.

I don't recall being wrongly charged for anything. But I have had a few run ins with buying in Thailand and coming up against resistance when complaining.

I bought a 52 inch Samsung TV from HomePro 2 years ago. I specifically chose it for the USB socket to watch AVIs straight from flash drive. I checked it out the next day and the USB wasn't reading. So we called up HomePro and they fobbed us off saying we had to return it to the manufacturer, which I knew was BS because they have a clear 7 day return to store policy. I got my wife to call them back and tell them that I would be down there in an hour with the TV and if they did not swap it or refund us, I would smash it up outside the store in protest while my wife records it on the camcorder and then post it all over the internet and email the links to their bosses and the HP head offices. (I actually read about someone doing this). The girl on the phone said there were no others so we couldn't swap and instead they would send it down to BKK to be repaired, may take 2 weeks. So we took it to the shop to have it out with them there, and my wife walked over to where we got the TV and noticed half a dozen sat there all boxed and new, my wife made a right scene and we were eventually given a replacement (which works).

Next, I bought a brand new Ford Focus, and before we left the showroom, the wife asked what octane fuel to put in it, the ford staff member said 91, I filled her up at the PTT and set of for a drive, within 15 minutes the engine started 'hunting' whenever we pulled up to traffic lights or the car was not in motion. It would pulse up and down between about 700 and 1400 rpm every 2 seconds or so.

My wife called Ford and the assistant told us "It is supposed to do that"... Erm... <deleted>? Of course it isn't, its a brand new car and it is under warranty and is coming straight back. We took it straight back and they got a mechanic to look at it. He said to my wife that they all do that when new and will stop doing it after about 500 KM... <deleted>?... I refused to accept that of course and I asked what fuel should be in it and he said 95. We said we were told to use 91, it all became obvious, but it just showed how they tried to fob us off with BS thinking we were stupid.

They drained it out and purged the engine with 95 and put in 500 baht worth in the tank and had the cheek to charge us for the fuel, even though we lost 1500 baht worth due to their incompetence. Car was all fine again..... 15 minutes later, engine starts hunting again. Calls Ford, same girl... It is suppose to do that.... No it's not... yes it is.... no its not. This time I am ready to explode and the girl can clearly hear me ranting in the background. So the wife took me home and went to drive the car back to Ford (again). Then I set about emailing Ford in BKK, Phillipines where it was made and the USA, as well as the actual dealership in Korat to complain about the dreadful experience, service and customer support on a car literally hours old. I threatened to smash it up outside the dealership and get it on camera and post it all over facebook, Pantip.com, sanook all the big web boards and get it viral if they didn't sort out the BS. Then phoned the wife to tell her what was happening and she knows I mean it.

Anyway, wife relays the message to Ford staff.... Everything changes, they will not repair it, but return it to Phils.. We can have a brand new replacement in 2 days. Wife tells me the news, I tell her that I am not sure I want a Ford any more. Wife tells staff, and dealership owner personally apologizes to me, and explains that the factory only quality inspects 1 in every 25 cars. Can you believe that? Its an 800K car not a 500 baht toaster.

Well we got the new car as promised and the dealership owner handed me the QI sheet and said we made sure they gave you one of the inspected ones..... We got a few goody bags.

Next but a lot less serious, I bought a CP hotdog in a bun from 7/11 last week, and when opened up, it looked like it had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, compared to the beautiful plump and perfect picture on the wrapper, so I laid it next to the picture and took a photo and posted it on CPs facebook page and the wife tagged a lot of friends in the picture and it started to go a bit viral with lots of likes and comments. We did it more out of mischief rather than protest... just a bit of a laugh. But CP mailed the wife through facebook apologizing and asked her for our address so they can send us some vouchers. My wife thanked them.

Moral of the story....

The big companies in Thailand and the same with any country are very sensitive about PR and they don't like their bad practices or their innocent flaws even, being exposed on the internet. They also don't like emails flying over their heads to the higher echelons in their company.

Something to bear in mind if a big company ever pisses you off.

Sorry about the long post.

Actually, wouldn't it be a lot more productive if we all stop bickering about who has money and deserves to live here and he who is broke doesn't even deserve to have a name. Be they man or woman kind, black or white, Brits, German or USA, ex-military or bar girl bouncer.

We should all come together like one huge 1 million strong farang social club. Where those of us who have spare cash donate a % into a fund for those who are struggling. Open up blocks of subsidized condos in Pattaya, BKK and CM with resource centres for consulate advice and assistance with getting home, or at least to the islands for the full moon party.

Now I would be more than happy to contribute to help my fellow farang in need.

All we need now is someone who has the necessary logistical skills to set it up.

Any takers?

In other words, you want to create a system that rewards irresponsibility and want me to pay for these losers that I've never met, whom likely lost their money drinking, whoring and being stupid.

No thanks Jeff, I didn't travel to Thailand to become part of another nanny state.

I will be happy to help people with mental disorders or physical handicaps. But no way in hell am I helping someone who's only challenge is greed, stupidity, alchohol or being too horny.

Erm..........

Congratulations on being the only reader on here who actually thought I was being serious.

But well done for exposing yourself as a complete selfish p*****

After catching up with the rest of the thread, it seems that you were not the only one who thought I was serious..... Amazed

Actually, wouldn't it be a lot more productive if we all stop bickering about who has money and deserves to live here and he who is broke doesn't even deserve to have a name. Be they man or woman kind, black or white, Brits, German or USA, ex-military or bar girl bouncer.

We should all come together like one huge 1 million strong farang social club. Where those of us who have spare cash donate a % into a fund for those who are struggling. Open up blocks of subsidized condos in Pattaya, BKK and CM with resource centres for consulate advice and assistance with getting home, or at least to the islands for the full moon party.

Now I would be more than happy to contribute to help my fellow farang in need.

All we need now is someone who has the necessary logistical skills to set it up.

Any takers?

Entertaining stuff that........Meltdown Of The Day

Imagine coming online to boast about leaving to explore the World at 33

Back in your box laddie......I completed my THIRD expat stint at the age of 27, on this forum you're surrounded by guys that crawled through the jungle's of SE Asia fighting for their lives at the age of 19, expats that trammelled across SE Asia on the Hippie Trail, went bouncing around Boogie Street when it actually had a soul, went bevvying like mad men in steamy Hong Kong, in among the many old timers that can remember what life was actually like in Thailand in the 60's/70's/80's because.......they were here!!

...........and yet you think travelling to see the World at 33 make's you something special. Wow.

Can I get your autograph?

Anyway, back to the topic, it may well be the case that some people have decided that to live in Thailand without an income is the way to go, however the Thai authorities don't seem to share that view. There may be trouble ahead.

I feel bad about never exploring the world and never going anywhere exotic. I suppose my experience as a humble wage-slave is irrelevant, and I should keep my ill-founded opinions to myself. Notwithstanding that, I think my experience in the suburbs is no less Thailandish than life in the boondocks or lower Sukhumvit.

If a chap's been living in Thailand for a while, then he'll not be au fait with the mores of a country that he may have left many years ago, and I think Thailand is a far cheaper place to be poor than the UK; can't comment about others' home countries. Again, if he's been here a while, it's quite likely that he'll have lost contact with his friends from his youth, and his parents may have passed on as well. There's several amongst us who have no descendants on whom they could descend.

SC

And unfortunately for those struggling on Pensions,their retirement plans have been badly reduced by the exchange rate,and strong Baht.

I don't suppose anyone considered when they moved permanently to Thailand,that it would become a virtual social crime to be broke,at least in the opinion of the more affluent "I'm alright Jacks" amongst us!

Everyone is equal in my eyes.

He who hath no cash.... please cast the fist stone.

18 February 2013 Last updated at 04:05 GMT

Thailand economic recovery picks pace in fourth quarter

Thailand's factories have seen a recovery from the floods in 2011

Thailand's economic growth exceeded expectations in the last three months of 2012 as it continued to recover from the previous year's devastating floods.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-21495707

This a major reason for current upward pressure on the Baht which will affect all those expats who are not long on Baht. I have been converting and holding all my foreign earnings in Baht since 2003 which has been greatly beneficial. My US dollar earnings from 2003 held as Baht are now worth 140% of their 2003 value.

So 3.4% PA compounded growth

Hmmmmm....

18 February 2013 Last updated at 04:05 GMT

Thailand economic recovery picks pace in fourth quarter

Thailand's factories have seen a recovery from the floods in 2011

Thailand's economic growth exceeded expectations in the last three months of 2012 as it continued to recover from the previous year's devastating floods.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...siness-21495707

It's really only relative to what their 'expectations' were. Considering 'recovering from the floods set the benchmark it seems.

But all very good news all the same.

No, I am having a go at YOU.

Maybe you ought to go talk to a monk and get some sort of clue on what the basis of this entire civilization that you live in daily rests upon.

It doesn't rest upon religion......if that's what you've learned on your travels go get a refund.

This app until now was giving me errors when selecting quote option.

Call the truth an insult to avoid confronting it as fact. Got it.

Indeed, the soul of the nation is Buddhist and with all their faults, that come with the smallmindedness of modernity - Thai's are very kind and decent people.

All Thai's have very poor relatives. They are all one generation from peasants themselves. But more than that...they try to practice kindness, concern, compassion and in short - to be true to the teachings of the lord Buddha. Fall short? Every day dont we all?

It always warms my heart to see a young person drop money in the cup of a beggar knowing full well s/he makes as little as 10k a month. I routinely see acts of charity here I would never see in the west.

You discard their culture and religion and thereby their civilization. Note I stated civilization, not some crap throwaway consumerist attitude. The soul of the nation and the people.

Unfortunately, Thailand is full of farang with this crap attitude now.

Funny, you hold up hippie travelers as some sort of good thing. They are the stinky bums you so despise.

In regard to Thais being 1 generation from peasants, it appears the principles of peasantry are being reintroduced to USA, UK and France as the world economy levels out. One of the worst aspects is soaking up unemployment by fomenting military causes which require more human fodder and then discarding the dregs of the military when their usefulness is ended.

USA, UK and France are going backwards in terms of the prosperity of their middle class which is sinking into a bottomless abyss.

I read this about 4 times and I still don't have a clue what you are saying here.

I have finally figured it out.

You sir... Have the brains of a biscuit tin.

All I know, is that I would go down there quite a bit, sure there were times when there was a few in there, especially when there was football on worth watching, but most of the time there was only me and one or two others. Seemed to me that he was doing much better business up the road and need not have moved.

He always called her his wife when talking to me.

But if what you are saying is true, then I am not totally shocked. Funny thing is.... regardless of what the real facts were. After it went tits up, I offered to help him out by bank rolling a new restaurant for him as long as he followed my business model. I was willing to put in 200K, more out of help than of business sense. But if he used the correct formula and chased the correct market then I should have seen some return, and he would have had his life back on track. But to my amazement he turned it down.

His girlfriend closed down the place as the person in question would be too drunk to be able to run the kitchen half the time. He would also disappear days at a time. The reason why he lost control of his life was his alcoholism. Many people told me they helped him out. Funnily enough they seemed to think that buying a few beers would be classified as help which obviously is not the case if you are buying beers for an alcoholic. He is living off a disability pension which gives him about 30-40 k a month and most of it goes to beer and fags. I feel sorry for the guy, i really tried to help him (finding a job, place to crash, legal assistance etc but after trying for 3 years I am slowly giving up hope.

Well as you know him, you must also know the old Canadian guy. He is really a lost case.

Yes I know him (Canadian guy)... It was you who introduced me to him if I remember correctly.

I agree, totally lost cause, and also living in dreamland. Would come in to the bar with no money and sit at the table and chat and wave away the waitress until someone bought him a beer.

Shame really, because if you ever sat and had a deep convo with him, he was actually very intelligent.

Not really sure what to think,

Billy my mate,Or Billy no mate.

Valuable input indeed.

Go back to the pub, and discuss it with your peers.

Getting thai staff to mann the stalls will be a big mistake. Pocketing earnings, absent from work without notice...these examples are a headache already.

Tell me about it, I already suffered that on my own project. Not theft, but just laziness and unreliability. But wasn't really a killer. Always a pain in the arse at the start, but inevitably you filter out the idiots and eventually have a decent workforce. Not everyone in Thailand is an irresponsible prat. Only a handful really. Same as not every Thai is out to rob you. These are fables spun by farangs who have never even tried running a business in LOS, but are here to drink away their pension while scowling at those who do try to rake out a good living.

I find that using a good responsible Thai to organize the workers, one who has one eye on a career, someone who worked and studied hard hoping to get a foothold in a management position. They will incur any headaches, and sort out the problems. Just look after them and they look after you. Your success is their success. Anyone who tries to site the odd story of doom and gloom is just not been doing it right.

Use your Thai family to the fullest, be smart who you choose, look to the family elders. Again, these have a vested interest in the family farang's success.

As for the workers walking off with the money, stock and cart..... That is fairyland stuff. Any farang who sets himself up for that to happen to him should not be engaging in business. These people are just as fearful of the law and its repercussions as you are in your own country. Which was enough to stop you walking away with all your boss's money, business etc etc...

Why do you think that Thais ask for a person's ID card and photocopy it for almost everything in this country?

A fool and his money are soon parted. Can I offer a few business plans to help unload you of your embarrassing cash stash?

NO!

Why? because I am not the fool you think I am.

I have really only known of one farang who truly hit the skids here, and I really don't think I can put the blame on him for it. He ran a local bar/restaurant with his Thai wife. He was doing well, so well in fact... that he moved to a larger premises. He made sure that all his customers knew where he was moving to (less than half a KM). Strange thing was, nobody really followed him there. I would ask the other expats why I never saw them going in there much, they didn't seem to know why. They just for some reason thought the spark was not in this place that was in the other.

Anyhow, they struggled to pay the bills etc etc.... and in true Thai style, his wife dumped him and left him 'holding the baby'.

He lost his house to the wife and blah blah.... you heard it all before.

But this guy, never went home to Germany... I would see him sitting outside a mom and pop shop drinking a 42 baht Chang, and moaning about his situation. I did what I could to help him out, as did a few of the other locals, and he stayed here and there, crashing in spare rooms, and I believe he was getting some assistance from his parents who would have helped him out a lot more by buying a plane ticket for him.

Last I heard, he is hanging out in BKK. I really hope he is well. A lot of us got a bit concerned about him because he really did spiral downhill. Hard to watch. But I doubt he would go home, even though I tried to drum it into him, to go back to Germany and regroup. Get some work for 6 months and come back and try again. But alas, he would rather be here broke it seems, than face 6 months back home... funny that.

I think there are a lot of folks flying by the seat of their pants hoping things will get better before they get worse... reminds me of when I was first here, and kidding myself. Sometimes people will choose the path of least resistance, no matter what the outcome.

I know who you are talking about but a lot of the facts of this story have been twisted. Perhaps you received the wrong information from the person in question but him loosing that restaurant had nothing to do with a lack of customers. He ran that place with his GF, not wife. And the house he lost as he wasn't making the mortgage payments as he was pissing it all away.

All I know, is that I would go down there quite a bit, sure there were times when there was a few in there, especially when there was football on worth watching, but most of the time there was only me and one or two others. Seemed to me that he was doing much better business up the road and need not have moved.

He always called her his wife when talking to me.

But if what you are saying is true, then I am not totally shocked. Funny thing is.... regardless of what the real facts were. After it went tits up, I offered to help him out by bank rolling a new restaurant for him as long as he followed my business model. I was willing to put in 200K, more out of help than of business sense. But if he used the correct formula and chased the correct market then I should have seen some return, and he would have had his life back on track. But to my amazement he turned it down.