SDM0712

You will never have seen lounge chairs and umbrellas on any beach in California.

I'll take your word for that, I spent most of my time getting lost, on one occasion after dining with some family friends in Belair, which was gorgeous, and ending in in La Brea and then Inglewood, which for anyone who knows LA is most ungoreous (I'm English so can invent a word) The only other parts i have visited regularly are San Fransicso, down to Monterey and Las Vegas (which is technically Nevada I suppose).

Without wanting to get bogged down in this debate, which I expect to be irrelevant anyway when all the sunbeds etc come back at some point in the future anyway, but here is my ten cents worth; Unlike countries such as the US, Thailand's main export is tourism, and like its or not most people like to sit on a chair on the beach. The suggestion of us buying and taking our own chairs and beds to the beach on the face of it seems sensible, but not practical, due to cost, weight and transportation. I can see a lot of mileage in being able to rent sunbeds etc from some point on the beach and have one of the beach boys carry it to a point for you, but that's never going to work in the real world.

Personally I despise the beach mafia, which is exactly what they are and laughed myself silly driving down the beach road a few weeks ago seeing them being given their marching orders by soldiers that were a similar size to the huge guns they were holding.

SDM

PS I read something today which made me laugh. The Jetski operators are now being officially allowed back on the beach with the proviso that they act as unofficial life guards. Those guys make the sunbed yakuza look like Mary Poppins.

I completly agree with the OP, the beaches do look lovely admittedly but if we can't sit on them comfortably it's a shame for the tourists who don't want to sit on the ground and the Thais who earn a living from the beach.

It's interesting that many expats I know here say isn't it great that the beaches are back to their natural beauty but when I talk to people at home they say, where will we sit if we want to go to the beach. It seems that, as it quite common here, there is no thought to the next link, unless that link is to start vetting and licensing beach vendors properly once the dusk has settled and get rid of the beach mafia. The fact is Thailand's main export is tourism and people come here for many reasons and one of the main ones is that they can sit on our lovely beaches, just as they can in most other holiday destinations in the World.

SDM

Obviously you haven't been to 'most other holiday destinations in the world'.

Indeed, perhaps I am not as well travelled as perhaps your goodself. So far I have only holidayed around the coasts of Italy (inc Elba) Spain (mainland and Majorca), Portugal (Algarve mainly), most of the Greek islands, US (only California and Florida), Denmark, Sweden, France (north and south), Germany (probably doesn't count because I was based in the cities), Holland, Singapore, Ireland.

SDM

PS Forgot Thailand, where I now live of course.

Surely they can still rent chairs and umbrellas that individuals can place wherever they want them. But these vendors did not own, or as far as I know, rent the reserved area of beach. So what is the problem?

I'm pretty sure they can't. The beaches that have had the chairs removed and devoid of any chairs.

SDM

I completly agree with the OP, the beaches do look lovely admittedly but if we can't sit on them comfortably it's a shame for the tourists who don't want to sit on the ground and the Thais who earn a living from the beach.

It's interesting that many expats I know here say isn't it great that the beaches are back to their natural beauty but when I talk to people at home they say, where will we sit if we want to go to the beach. It seems that, as it quite common here, there is no thought to the next link, unless that link is to start vetting and licensing beach vendors properly once the dusk has settled and get rid of the beach mafia. The fact is Thailand's main export is tourism and people come here for many reasons and one of the main ones is that they can sit on our lovely beaches, just as they can in most other holiday destinations in the World.

SDM

Don Mueng flys international too...

And Phuket

Get one with a chip speed of at least 1.2 GHZ, otherwise it will be like watching paint dry whenever you try to open a new app or its automatically downloading an update.

If you don't care about that and want a Galaxy Neo that I bought new from Samsung and then put it back in the box after a month let me know ! Having said that they are only 2650 new, but biggest waste of money. Nice phone but so sloooooooooooooooow. Doesn't help that my personal phone is a BBZ10 running at 1.5 GHZ

SDM

PS for those of us that understand chip speed I was in Power Buy in Jung Cylon last week and they had three Acer desktops on display with chips speeds advertised as 3.0 GHZ, 3.3 GHZ and 34 GHZ. Are you sure about that one I asked, it seems very good value for such advanced technology ? Yes the chap said. It's not an error ? Is it from the future I asked. What ? Never mind.

The shop next door had a sign that said " Buy a Lap top today and get six other items for free". OK I said, can I buy a laptop and for my six free items can I have six more laptops. No, apparently not.

Nope after the first year most policies allow suicide payouts.

Every cloud.

If you really think she'll top herself take out a big insurance policy on her. Providing she doesn't top herself in the first year you're going to get a big payout.

Just to ease your grief of course.

I'm pretty certain that suicide renders a life policy null and void.

Sorry,

SDM

PS Are we a heartless bunch, or just older and wiser than those who think we are ?

To the OP, there is an oversupply of shophouse "hotels" and "guesthouses". These are the types of properties I've seen listed, and most of them aren't even available to purchase, merely a few year lease involving key money and rent. It's tough to be viable with low occupancy rates and 500 baht rooms. The only winners are those owning the land and the buildings that are renting out these "hotels". Original lessee then tries to make a go of it, find it's not worth it, then subleases, releases or abandons the property forfeiting his substantial deposit, then the cycle continues................

There's a lot of truth in that, some of these buildings are available to buy though in the 20/60 million range depending on size. But most peoples pockets aren't that deep and prefer to take along lease with say 2/4 MB key and then a monthly lease.

500/600 baht a night is very common for low season, but the same rooms will achieve 1200/2000 high or peak season. This is the first thing that many people don't understand. These businesses don't make money low season, they can cover their costs, but that's normally it. The majority of the income is from high and peak season.

SDM

For people who understand their market and their trade it's always a good time. For people who come over and stay in a small guest house and think this is easy, or go to a bar and think this is easy, or go out for a massage and think this is easy, it is sometimes, but rarely. Most failed businesses are from people who come over, fall in love, buy a "this is easy business" and then discover it isn't.

Most of you know that part of my business is selling businesses and I've lost count of the times people meet with me and tell me they have decided to sell up at home and move over here. The first question I ask is "what kind of business do you want to buy ?", the second question is do you have any experience in that ? The answer to the second question is normally no, but "how hard can it be"

I have seen people who do have experience in their chosen business do well and make a lot of money. I have seen people who don't have a clue do badly and just have enough money to cover the cost of their airfare home.

My usual advice is don't sell your life at home, put it in mothballs if you can. Come here for 6 months or ideally a year. Don't work, just sit back, observe and limit yourself to the same daily budget as you do in your own country. You will find that Thailand will appear very different after a few months and when you make a few friends and can see through their eyes you will see it is not the paradise you first thought and business is no easier than in your own country, probably harder. If after your period of observation you still want to come over then good luck, you could do well.

For me the only reason I went into real estate here is because that is all I have ever done, I would never have considered anything else.

SDM

PS if anyone wants my advice PM me, but it won't be candy coated.

He's not dead! he's resting after a long squawk!

He's pinning for the lucky7, miss.

I think the OP would rather be addressed as Bwana. How dare the natives point at him, when they should be bowing down .

Indeed Saeb, and what about the Chawalla and punkawalla.

S

I don't think it's used as an insult on the whole. But I do refer to them as natives, which is factually correct. I do often feel as if it's them and us, which why it's a shame that as a group we don't get on better and try to help eachother more.

S

I would love to know the stats for girls that threatened suicide and followed through.

Maybe null.

I think it happens, and often when the "show" goes wrong and they really do nick a vein.

S

I dont think so, isnt the preferred method in Thailand downing a bottle of drain/toilet cleaner, I dont think Thai ladies are too big on slitting their wrists anyway

You miss my point. The idea is not to kill themselves bit to put on a "show" and appear as if they are so they can be "saved" and the boyfriend will come to his senses and they will all live happily ever after. They just get it wrong and miss. The problem with downing a liquid is that it is normally fatal and even if they were rushed to hospital probably wouldn't survive.

S

Here a property is worth what an owner thinks it worth,...

Actually it's worth what someone will pay for it. What the owner thinks is irrelevant.

Not true,

Most owners won't sell below what they think it's worth.

Then they won't sell.

This is a conversation I have on almost a daily basis. Over here a seller usually assess their value as land cost, plus construction cost and adjusted for what the other houses/apartments in the area are on the market for.

There is nothing wrong with using this as a way to set a starting or asking price, but that's all. In any market, rising, falling it doesn't matter, if a property doesn't sell it is because it is too expensive.

Houses by airports sell, by highways sell, in flood areas sell, near graveyards sell, in terrible order sell, they all have their price.

SDM

I would love to know the stats for girls that threatened suicide and followed through.

Maybe null.

I think it happens, and often when the "show" goes wrong and they really do nick a vein.

S

Unfortunately the girls completely miscall our reaction to this kind of threat. They think that we will think " oh she loves me so much she would rather kill herself then be without me, what a lucky chap I am". But what we really think is "run, run , run"

I once had an imported Thai girlfriend in the UK and after a row and silence treatment, came back from work one day. She was very quiet and gave me a letter. She said if I die give this to her mum. It was written in a really weird brown ink, and then I noticed several cuts on her arms. Alarm bell started ringing and she flew home a week or so later with the promise that we would never again say goodbye at an airport. She took it as meaning we would marry and either I would move to Thailand or she would move to the UK. That wasn't what I meant. I have no idea what happened to her.

SDM

Thank you for the serious reply, SDM. Yes, my first reaction was to hang up the phone and end it at that, but when it's someone you do care for that's not an easy thing to do. Sounds like you called her bluff and as far as you know she's still alive and kickin'.

No problem, however with all their "tongue in cheek" replies there is wisdom is what the other guys say, perhaps not framed as diplomatically as I have. This kind of behaviour is common and we hear about it all the time. It's normally from girls in a particular line of work but it is a ploy. a bit of emotional blackmail. You might even find they do cut themselves or even their wrists being very careful to avoid any veins. From what I have observed and in my opinion if someone wants to really kill themselves they just do it. What they don't do is announce it to the world beforehand and wait to be saved.

Thailand is my country now so I won't knock it, but what I will say is nothing is quite what it appears to be.

My advise to you is change your phone number, block her on LINE, MSN, What If, and forget about it. Your life should be more important to you than hers, don't waste it worrying what she might do to herself, she's not a child.

S

PS Alive and kicking, no idea and don't care. Any feelings I had disappeared when she turned into a lunatic. I don't take kindly to blackmail.

Unfortunately the girls completely miscall our reaction to this kind of threat. They think that we will think " oh she loves me so much she would rather kill herself then be without me, what a lucky chap I am". But what we really think is "run, run , run"

I once had an imported Thai girlfriend in the UK and after a row and silence treatment, came back from work one day. She was very quiet and gave me a letter. She said if I die give this to her mum. It was written in a really weird brown ink, and then I noticed several cuts on her arms. Alarm bell started ringing and she flew home a week or so later with the promise that we would never again say goodbye at an airport. She took it as meaning we would marry and either I would move to Thailand or she would move to the UK. That wasn't what I meant. I have no idea what happened to her.

SDM

I have businessss and personal accounts with HSBC and no problems at all. And I regularly transfer money from the UK to Thailand and me is usually done within 24 hours.

SDM

.............. With the huge British empire leaving a legacy of British English especially in India's huge population and almost every African country speaking British English.......

What is " British English" ?

Britain is made up up of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland , Wales, the Channel Islands and a few other islands of the coast of Scotland. The versions of each are about as different as comparing what they speak in Canada to Austrialia.

There is no such thing as British English ! A more accurate term would be English English, or really just plain old simple English since it is the mother and original tongue that has been distorted by the so called English speaking countries into something else. We speak the original version, often called the Queen's English, or in the past the King's English. What ho.

SDM

Sorry about my misuse of British English. There is an English dictionary different for each country specifically and I should have said English English. I was trying to distance it from American English. If you just say just English, people ask which one?

I know it probably bothers you that people less familiar with the UK lump all the separate countries together.

Actually it doesn't bother me at all, I was just being facetious. I find it really annoys our American, Australian cousins to say something like, using Samual L Jacksons words after pretending not to understand them, " English, do you speak it ?!" But I'm only kidding, one thing as Brits we have that does tend to separate us from everyone else is our sense of humour. So what, the parrots dead, why is that even funny.

I'm pleased to say that I am fairly well travelled and believe that every country has good and bad. I've travelled all over the States and although I do believe that countries such as the UK are dragged I to things that we would rather not be by the US, this is nothing to do with Americans in general or America which is a wonderful country, but most developed countries are.

SDM

.............. With the huge British empire leaving a legacy of British English especially in India's huge population and almost every African country speaking British English.......

What is " British English" ?

Britain is made up up of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland , Wales, the Channel Islands and a few other islands of the coast of Scotland. The versions of each are about as different as comparing what they speak in Canada to Austrialia.

There is no such thing as British English ! A more accurate term would be English English, or really just plain old simple English since it is the mother and original tongue that has been distorted by the so called English speaking countries into something else. We speak the original version, often called the Queen's English, or in the past the King's English. What ho.

SDM

You caught him out several times then. Maybe it's just a plot to lure a buyer with a large amount of cash. If it looks too good to be true then it probably is. SDM

Back on topic....

I was in Phuket for a few days,very busy,but still wanted to see this bike.After numerous attempt to call,finally the guy answered...but that was a wrong number(some French guy)....send some emails and got the answer after 2 days...but not the answer I was looking for....

The ad in B&S shows the map location in Cape Panwa,very close to where I was,maybe a couple of km,so I've asked,if he can come to me and show the bike,because I did not have a transportation and did not want to wonder around in the taxi....

...so here it is,his email back to me....hold your breath....

...."Dear Sir

Who do you think you are some jumped up foreigner ?? , do you seriously think i am slightly interested in riding all the way over to Cape Panwa to show you a motorcycle that you might even not buy , if i was stupid enough to do that , i would be spending all my time showing my bike around to people .

If you would like to see my motorcycle then please come make an appointment with my Law office in Phuket Town , (..................) i am a very busy lawyer and not willing to ride my bike around the Island of Phuket just to show interested party's and i am sure no one else would either.

The bike means absolutely nothing to me , i paid 300,000 for it 5 months ago , its a toy , i couldn't care less if i sold it or not , i certainly don't need your money , i have far more than you could possibly imagine .

I suggest if your to lazy to come and look yourself then buy i new one like i did , they may even deliver it for you to Capa Panwa ."....

...so here you go....I think it is still for sale....

with this kind of behavior, i just tell him to go f. himself.

Sure, your request sounds odd to, let a seller come and show you the bike still his response is wild and disrespectful.

I don't doubt your intentions but I can see his point. People often forget that Phuket is quite big and he's clearly not in Panwa from his response, quite often I can clock up 200 km in a day. Also it's rainy season and Panwa is right over on the far East coast. Depending on where he is coming from it could take up to an hour to get there, same to get back in the heat or the rain. I can understand it. The bike looks lovely and a bargain to boot. I have the older version Ninja and was tempted. But for me if I buy another bike I would need a litre bike.

SDM

Someone is attempting to trigger a war, and I doubt it is the Russians.

There will never be a war between Russia and another superior power or major country. All sides know that cannot end well.

But this is exactly right, it is either someone playing with a new toy, aiming it into a distant jet and pulling the trigger to see what will happen, or it is, as you say, an attempt to raise the game, to bring every major country to the table and up the stakes. But they misjudge most of us, perhaps they think this will make us put pressure on our governments to force a peaceful solution. It doesn't, and only speaking for myself, what is needed is for the person who pulled the trigger to die, then the people who gave him the weapon to die, then the people who sold him the weapon to die, then everyone who supports his cause to die. And that's why thankfully I'm not in politics!

Personally I think it's the first case that some drunk fool has been playing with equipment that he has a very basic working knowledge of and has seen the distant plane and thought it would be amusing to see what would happen, but never thinking he would actually shoot the plane down. After all 33,000 feet is six miles or ten kilometres up. It would appear as a tiny prick to the naked eye at ground level. Quite frankly I'm amazed and shocked that the missile could even reach its target. We will never know for sure and hopefully no one like me is making the big decisions.

SDM

"WW2 started in 1939 . You yanks didn't show up for a few years because you were getting rich selling weapons to both sides for a couple of years."

I don't know if you were directing that at me, but my comment about WWII starting in 1942 was sarcastic (which I'd hoped was clear when I said "world history started in 1776")

actually it was 1941Wasn't it September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, when Britain declared war on Germany ? But it is so that the US came in on 7th December 1941 after the unprovoked Japanese attack in Hawaii.

S