lapd

How about creating a high speed circuit by introducing a hovercraft between Hua Hin an Pattaya?

They did have something at one time. Not sure if it was high speed. Don't think there was enough demand and I don't think that would have changed much.

They should just extend the Airport express train. It's fast enough and they are already part way there. They threw that thing up pretty fast from what I remember and now that they got the bugs worked out it seems to work pretty well. That would probably be the most economical lowest risk option. The vast majority of trips would be to/from the airport anyways.

Anyone who can't recognise the difference between a minimalist and a cheapskate is merely abusing the topic to feed his own need to boost his ego by saying that he can spend as much as he wants and it makes him happy. In reality he has no concept of true happiness

+1 this. Applies in the western world even more. I blame advertisers who have thoroughly brainwashed people into being good little consumers.

Anyone know what pub this is? I'm guessing it's a farang place yes?

I got True 3G at about 19mbit down in Pattaya. Shouldn't 4G be a lot faster? How come you guys are reporting only like 20-25mbit?

It's only as fast as the telco wants it to be. I think 4G gives the telco more bandwidth but whether they choose to pass that along in the form of more speed per connection or to increase their capacity to handle more connections is up to them.

Those are some great speeds. Consistency would be my biggest concern. I found the 3g speeds could vary widely depending on location and time of day. I would be concerned the same thing might happen to 4G as more and more people get 4G phones.

Yeah good job Ya-Ba isn't available in the West. Maybe half the youth there would be on it like they are in Thailand.

it is available. For example, it's huge in the US rural mid-west. In more sophisticated places there are less lethal, more entertaining choices so people goes for them first.

Yaba literally translates to "crazy medicine" and is a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine. Even though it might be taken in a different form in the west (I'm thinking crystal meth) there most definitely is a meth problem in the west as well.

Valium + Alcohol. Now there is a nice mix. Don't believe those silly doctors or the warning labels folks. The old lady in the pharmacy down my Soi says it's perfectly safe to do both at the same time.....also I read something on the internet somewhere......

Good thing his girl was different. Otherwise it could have been much worse

There ought to be a law. No love starved naive farangs allowed. That would probably be at least half the farangs in Thailand. Make them write a test or something. Not anyone on this board of course. We all go to Thailand for the weather and food . Nobody here messes with bargirls and everyones girl here is different.....

Everytime I see one of these stories I half expect to click on the link and find that it's someone I know. Several guys I know are riding the Sesaket highway right now.

What is 4G like in Pattaya? I know TrueMove has it running but I only had a 3g phone to test a few months ago. 3G which wasn't nearly as good as AIS 3G both in coverage and average speeds at different times of day. I am talking 2100Mhz 3g not 900Mhz 3G which is very slow.

DTAC may also have some 4G signals in Pattaya by now. AIS hasn't even started still doing trials and waiting for the next bandwidth auction so they are way behind.

Of course Thailand is a great place to live in and retire to. It is a wonderful country with infinite potential, but spoils its chances on the world stage by blatant errors which any first year psychology student would have no trouble in identifying and exposing !

Tourist numbers are certainly down, and the accurate figures are not being truthfully exposed for obvious reasons. The Visa situation is complicated and hardly user friendly. The level of spoken English is markedly down compared with a couple of decades ago. Security has declined, and the attitude of the Police leaves a considerable amount to be desired. It has to be accepted that 'farangs' are second class citizens or lower, and Thais are never wrong or are able to lose face by admitting so! Possibly Martial Law, although selective, has cleaned up the general image of LOS in some respects, but that and the fiasco over the murders in Koh Tao, have done a lot to dent the image of Thailand throughout the world, but this seems to be ignored by the upper echelons, possibly at their peril.

I could go and on, but I am sure this will evoke a lot of controversial responses, so let's take it from there, for now anyway !

Well said! Thailand will ALWAYS be a 3rd World Country if they carry on in the future as they do now, and have always done. But hey - the upside of that is that it keeps the prices down!

That is the part people forget. You have to take the good with the bad. A lot of the bad is also what makes it good. If Thailand had its act together then you would also have much higher prices , more rules, more laws, less freedom. The 2 kind of go hand in hand.

I'm surprised this article didn't mention that most Americans retire in America.

Why? Too poor to retire "overseas", 555

Not exactly.

It's more like the USA is a very large country and if you want a warm climate, you can find that within the country.

Also Americans are propagandized that everyone in the world wants to move to the USA, so moving out of the USA still carries some stigma.

To many Americans, expatriation away from the USA is downright anti-American.

So for an American to retire abroad it's still a bold move, going against the grain.

Unlike when a Brit does that, from there it is much more common and seen as much more normal.

That said, I was rather surprised when Mexico raised their financial requirements for retired expats so much that I think they are now excluding the majority of U.S. social security recipients. Most Americans these days will only have the government pension and no private pension as well, as in the past was more common.

Until the USA started requiring passports for Canada & Mexico, it had one of the lowest ratios of passport holders to population in the developed world...American citizens can be pretty insular.

I think you missed one really big reason many retirees stay in the US: Medicare is not portable, unlike the British and Canadian systems that cover their citizens in foreign countries. The older you get, the bigger deal that becomes.

I agree with you that the availability of warm climates in Florida & California and temperate areas in the Southeast & Southwest takes some of the incentive away from leaving the country. One can still live pretty cheaply in many areas of Florida....especially inland.

You're right about the Medicare issue for Americans and medical care is something that prompts a lot of expats to go home from Thailand or anywhere.

Not really sure about the national health systems of Canada and the UK covering their expats globally though (specifically Thailand). In fact, I think that is not the case, but getting really off topic now I think.

I'm no expert but I think it works something like this in Canada. You can leave the country for up to about 6months (don't remember the exact # of days but it's around 6-7months). Hence many Canadians go down to the southern US for the winters. Canadian healthcare will pay your medical bills abroad up to the equivalent cost in Canada. So just need to save your receipts. Since US healthcare is 100x + more expensive than Canada you need insurance when you go to the US or risk going bankrupt if you get sick....just like Americans.

In Thailand, any medical bills incurred should easily be covered by Canada. However, if you need to be evacuated back to Canada for a serious condition that is not covered and can be hugely expensive. So best to get evacuation insurance. If you are out of Canada for more than 6 months you lose your gov't medical insurance so if you get sick you are paying out of pocket in Canada until you can get your medical care back after 6months back in country.

Hence the reason you don't have nearly as many permanent resident Canadian expats, per capita, in places like Thailand as you do Americans. Americans gotta pay for medical insurance no matter what so it's not a factor for them.

Never heard of the guy. Has 0.0 effect on my world.

Had to google his name and then found his website. Looks like your typical expat trying make some money from a one man operation website. Doing what expats do best. Pissing and moaning about the foreign country they chose to live in.

I am in Rio at the moment on Vacation, and Yes it's nice, but could not live here.

Do tell. Rio or Brazil in general?

I have never met a Rio expat who didn't have at least 1 mugging story. Usually more. Crime and safety is very very bad. Gotten very expensive in the last 10 years. Women are off the charts incredible though.

International Living is mostly geared towards the North American market so naturally Latin American destinations will dominate. I've been following these trends for a long time. Colombia is the riser. But yes, for places like Colombia and Ecuador, you need Spanish or a translator on call.

Spanish is soooo much easier for an NES to learn than is Thai. Spanish uses the same alphabet and the same basic sentence structure. It isn't tonal.

Many words can be learned by word association as they have similar derivatives. "Casa" = home or house. Ah! A man's home is his casa. Got it. "Por favor" pronounced poor fuh vor' literally means "for favor" or "please." "Cafe" = coffee. Ah! "Cafe, por favor?"

I can read and write and speak basic Spanish from absorption with not all that much contact. That would never happen for me with Thai.

I actually find the Thai language a lot easier to learn than Spanish. There are fewer rules and fewer words needed to be able to form sentences that make sense. Thai language doesn't use a lot of fill words like English and Spanish. Thais tell me that is the hardest part for them when learning English. As far as the tones, even if you get that wrong they can still understand you most of the time.

I get a laugh at these guys who happily play along never fully understanding the cultural differences at play. Never knowing that they will never be truly accepted as part of the family. Sure, they may smile and put up with you as long as you are paying the bills and giving them some sort of improved social status (nicer house usually).

Also wrt your girl is different Thai lady friend. Her priorities are, 1 family, 2 friends, 3 if you are extremely lucky you will be 3. I don't care how much you think your girl is different. You can't change her programming. Only exceptions are orphans. Then you have a shot at # 2 after her thai friends.

Spot on mate, many live here deluded as to their partners priorities. My mrs once said 99% of Thai women only marry falang for one reason. it's a trade off as long as you are getting what you want it's worth it. But even if you have been here 40 years you will always be the falang, or alien as immigration like to put it. I wonder how many of these happy family members would react if we asked them for a loan? Might be worth a try just to see.

Some guys refer this phenomenon as "Riding the Si Saket Highway" since so many of these love starved chumps make regular trips on that road to "visit the family". Basically they are the ones being taken for a ride.

So I guess the 99% of guys here who say their girl is different have all met that 1% of Thai girls who really are different. Funny how that works. I have a very simple response to all these 'lucky' guys who have a thai girl that is different. Stop paying her and her family and see what happens. Even for 1 day. Tell her you got sued and are now broke. Tell her the plan is to move back up north with the family and earn a living rice farming. I'm sure she will be very understanding about it because she lub you too mutt.

I get a laugh at these guys who happily play along never fully understanding the cultural differences at play. Never knowing that they will never be truly accepted as part of the family. Sure, they may smile and put up with you as long as you are paying the bills and giving them some sort of improved social status (nicer house usually).

Also wrt your girl is different Thai lady friend. Her priorities are, 1 family, 2 friends, 3 if you are extremely lucky you will be 3. I don't care how much you think your girl is different. You can't change her programming. Only exceptions are orphans. Then you have a shot at # 2 after her thai friends.

Tough, they only have themselves to blame - well Putin and his idiotic invasion of Ukraine

Putin didnt invade Ukraine. What do watch? Fox News the BBC perhaps. The US and EU where behind a coup that overthrew a democraticly elected government (not the first time). And then lie as if Russia was the bad guy. Its the reverse. Crimea is 90% Ethnic Russian and voted to remain part of Russia. I hope Russia stand up to these bullies and that there economy turns round.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, this short term pain for Russia will be longer term gain: the shift to China for trade, freeing itself from USD ties with a greater focus on RMB denominated activity= backfire on US and Europe. It may take a while but the Russians will be back.

They won't be back as your Euro-masters as they once were, because they don't have anything to sell except oil and gas. They don't make or create anything.

They make a lot of things. It's just that most of it is crap compared to western alternatives.

bad news if your a tourism business that depends on these nationalitys

the statements by some TV members is mind boggleing about Russia and putin ...i suggest swithing off CNN then reserch what you think you know

about>

couple of hints

George Sorros, UN , IMF, US military build up in Europe, US citizen to be Ukraines new PM

LOL...ahh yes the Soros boogeyman....sign. Thanks for the laugh anyways. . Faux news watchers are funny.

As far as my cheese making business is..... I am making loads of money and it is expanding by the month to the point I will have a full on factory within 2 years...... and why?????..... Because the Thais have been ripping people off on the price of cheese from the word go.

I can undercut the Thais by 30% and am still making loads of money and it is getting bigger by the month Currently at 450,000 a month profit on cream cheese alone,,, If I go national supplying Makro, Big C and Tesco, we are talking 30 million a year.......... so dream on pal.

Haha...95% chance this is BS because anyone who does business in Thailand knows this is not AT ALL how things work there. If a foreigner is successful taking away business from locals that NEVER goes unnoticed or unanswered. Haha....better educate yourself better before trying to bs people.

Man....

Laugh as much as you like, but cream cheese is huge here at the moment with creanm cheese frosted cakes etc.... My customers are bakers.

No Thai can come close to my quality and price.

How to beat a Thai in Thailand..... beat them on quality and price.... they can't touch you.

EDIT: By the way... I have been going 2 years now and not a single person has started up against me. Says a lot really... If i was making pizzas, I would be copied within weeks... NO... i am making cheese. Most Thais wouldn't even know what cheese tastes like

I ill continue to rise and no Thai will have a clue how to stop me.

As much as I respect your European ballsyness be careful! The Thais are experts at undercutting and copying us mate.

He's just bs'ing anyways. Trying to undercut or copy is too much work. Depending on the business and how much money they think you have, there are many many different ways they can correct the situation. Anything from using gov't contacts for flat out extortion to hitting you with a bunch of new fees, adding more hoops for you to jump through, import duties. Any local partners you many have and usually require to do business will eventually try take the business away. Any legitimate legal contracts you may have are not of much use. If it came to a legal challenge the legal system will generally rule in favor of Thais over foreigners anyways. There are all sorts of things they can do. Of course there is also the occasional story of a successful businessman being shot in the head by a helmeted motorcycle driver that is never found. Usually at least one of those stories a year. That is often the easiest least expensive option.

The smartest foreign businessmen in Thailand are the ones you NEVER hear about. Hint, going on Thaivisa bragging would not put you in that category....lol.

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Great news.

Keep dropping and dropping until Thailand realises we are not second class humans compared with Thais... we are in fact essential for the survival of this country.

I hope they lose all their tourism.... serves them right.

Possible serial killer on Koh Tao and they are covering it up.

I hope they lose all their tourism.... serves them right.

Yes, let the 10 mio or so Thais that work in the tourist industry suffer, because some BiB f*****ed up the Koh Tao investigation.

With that attitude I hope your cheese business will go down the drain and your suppliers will cheat you as much as they can. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/776941-ripoffs-go-right-to-the-top/

Personally.... I don't give a damn about what you think.

People are being murdered here in Thailand and all we get is a wall of silence from all these so called sufferers.

If the people who are really suffering gang up on the minority who are covering these crimes up want to continue.... Then they deserve it.

At the end of the day.... if all these people cared so much about those who line their pockets (tourists), they will stand up for what is right. To protect these people and at least preserve their income.

The fact that they just take it on the chin is enough in my opinion to say they do not deserve it.

As far as my cheese making business is..... I am making loads of money and it is expanding by the month to the point I will have a full on factory within 2 years...... and why?????..... Because the Thais have been ripping people off on the price of cheese from the word go.

I can undercut the Thais by 30% and am still making loads of money and it is getting bigger by the month Currently at 450,000 a month profit on cream cheese alone,,, If I go national supplying Makro, Big C and Tesco, we are talking 30 million a year.......... so dream on pal.

Haha...95% chance this is BS because anyone who does business in Thailand knows this is not AT ALL how things work there. If a foreigner is successful taking away business from locals that NEVER goes unnoticed or unanswered. Haha....better educate yourself better before trying to bs people.

I would be interested to see hotel occupancy rates as these would probably give us a better indication of what is going on especially with the recent immigration changes as i assume there are less border runners now.

As i posted earlier, 75 room hotel has only 8 room in comparison last year it was full.

A 16 room hotel, has 3 rooms.

The bigger one rooms go for 2500/night the smaller one 900/night.

So pretty even in terms of occupancy, about 10% across both levels,

Still way too early into high season to draw any conclusions from that.

The numbers sound about right. Chinese and their herd mentaility are notorious for being easily scared away as they were by the coup last year. Now starting to come back apparently.

The Russian Ruble is way down from last year so the 23% drop makes sense.

I would rather have herds of Chinese in their buses than I would Russians.

I would say don't go to Thailand for that. Bottom line is you simply cannot trust Thai women.

And no...your girl is NOT different. Every guys girl is different (in their mind) which makes them all the same!

Why are they going after the beach chair people? Seems to me they are just caught in the middle trying to earn a living.

Go after whoever they are being forced to pay for ownership of public land.