-
Posts
11,257 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Downloads
Quizzes
Posts posted by Kerryd
-
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
3 hours ago, phetphet said:And why do the police have a parachute and wings on their uniform? Do they do parachute training? Serious question.
"Mile High Club" member badge ?
Seriously, you see the same (or similar) badge on almost every uniform worn by a gov't employee. Teachers, politicians, police, ect.
I've seen more "wings" here in a couple of years than I did in the 22 years I was in the (Canadian) army !- 2
- 1
-
- Popular Post
People forget the "real" reason this tax was brought in. Supposedly "foreigners" were leaving the country without paying their hospital bills and that was costing the Healthcare system a little over 300 million baht per year.
So the gov't decided to add a tax to airfare, on top of the "Airport Departure Tax" they already had. (When I was here in 1993, it was 250 baht flying out of Don Mueang. When Swampy opened I think it was at 700. They had switched from collecting it at the check in counters to simply adding it to the airfare. That way it is hidden and most people never see when it is increased or by how much.)
Considering they were getting nearly 40 million arrivals per year (before covid), a tax of just 10 baht would have more than paid for all those evil foreigners who skipped on their bills. (At one point I think they even tried to suggest it was "expats" who were responsible in an attempt to blame "white" people for the problem. That was when they also added that ridiculous health insurance requirement onto anyone with an O(A) visa.)
A 10 baht tax would have earned nearly 400 million per year but no, they decided to make it a 300 baht tax. A thirtyfold increase designed to bring in 12 billion baht a year with the excess (assuming they covered those unpaid hospital bills at all) going who knows where.
Sure, 300 baht isn't much to the average person. 300 baht times 40 million though is a lot even to a rich gov't minister just waiting to get his hands on it.
And you can bet that not a penny of that money will actually end up going to cover those unpaid hospital bills.- 17
- 3
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
The "non-commissioned" part was probably either a translation error or a "civvy" error (i.e. a civvie being someone with no knowledge of the military or how it works and just throws out words and phrases they've picked up from movies).
Generally speaking, all officers are "commissioned" and would hold what is called a "commissioning scroll" that they receive when they are promoted from cadet to 2nd Lieutenant (or equivalent).
"Non-Commissioned Officers" - better known as "NCOs" are everyone who isn't a commissioned officer. Basically everyone from Private to Chief Warrant Officer.
In Canada, Junior NCOs are Privates, Corporals and Master Corporals while Senior NCOs are Sergeants and Warrant Officers/Master Warrant Officers/Chief Warrant Officers.
In the American military they have Officers, Warrant Officers (who hold a "Warrant" or a "Warrant's Commission"), Junior and Senior NCOs. Senior NCOs are those holding Sergeant ranks (Sergeant, Staff/1st Class/Master/Top Sergeant or equivalent).
Everyone starts out as a cadet (officer school) or recruit (everyone else) and then gets promoted (or not) up the "chain".
In some (rare) cases, an NCO may get "commissioned" and become an Officer. In my 22 years of service I knew of 3 who did that.
The article was probably written by someone who doesn't know the difference between "Commissioned" officer and "Non-Commissioned Officer". A colonel would definitely be a "commissioned" officer.- 6
- 1
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
I thought they'd decided against going after the "low income" tourists and were going to go back to trying to get the people who actually spend money to come back again ?
- 1
- 1
- 7
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
Typical gov't "doublespeak".
On one hand they are saying the "Test and Go" program is "very popular" and on the other hand (one paragraph above) they are saying that 87% of tourists are rejecting their "Sandbox" schemes.
Good thing they don't mention how "popular" their various "let's only try and attract the richest people in the world to come here and stay in their hotel for 2 weeks before going home again" schemes.
Might look bad to admit that they are probably being rejected by 99.9% of the people they were hoping to attract.- 12
-
Seems they are bound and determined to not let Pattaya re-open if they can help it. I can imagine the day, not too far in the future, when they announce that all provinces are fully re-opened, except for Chon Buri and more specifically, the Pattaya Administrative Area.
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
They had high spending "value" tourists arriving by the planeloads - from Europe and North America - and then the gov't decided there were too many "white faces" around and shifted their tourism focus to India and China.
That resulted in years of low (or "no") spending tourists arriving, which made the "arrivals" numbers look good but did squat for the economy as hotels, restaurants and bars suffered.
It wasn't hard to look around the shopping malls and other places and see who was spending and who wasn't even in the building.
But the gov't was too busy kissing up to the "big red one" and turned a blind eye to it, hoping that increased "volume" would make up for the loss of "value".
And they've shown the same attitude with all their schemes to get tourists back after the shut down, by making visas designed for the tiny percentage of tourists that generally travel in "luxury" class, in the hopes that they will turn things around while ignoring the masses that, literally, spend money like drunken sailors every time they come here. (Giving berth to the term "2 week millionaires", something I highly doubt anyone ever calls the Chinese or Indian tourists.)
Seems the gov't would rather have 20 tourists spending less than 500/day each (10,000/day total) on hotels/food/shopping/entertainment than 5 tourists spending 5,000 a day each (25,000/day total).
You know, like it was back in the 80s/90s/00s and early 2010s.
We'll see what happens after the next election (assuming the junta even allows another election that is). I think the current gov't wore out their welcome a long time ago and haven't done themselves any favours recently.
Maybe a new gov't will have better business sense.- 3
-
Well, I like to modify my dates so that I only have to go 4 times a year (to do the 90 day reports). (Jomtien Immigration won't synch your 90 Day reports with your Extension renewals.)
As a result, I end up doing my 2nd and 3rd 90 Day reports 3-4 days later than the date on the Notification. That way, the 4th report lands on the same day I go to do my next Extension renewal.
I'm guessing that's not possible if you use the app ?
-
- Popular Post
-
One of the private hospitals I booked with a couple months ago just sent an message telling my that my "queue" number can make a booking between now and later March.
I'm just waiting for a friend to book their appointment so we can travel at the same time.
If successful, then I'll cancel my booking with Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. I don't expect there to be a hassle with the refund. -
One of the private hospitals I booked with a couple months ago just sent an message telling my that my "queue" number can make a booking between now and later March.
I'm just waiting for a friend to book their appointment so we can travel at the same time.
If successful, then I'll cancel my booking with Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. I don't expect there to be a hassle with the refund. -
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
In 2019 there was something like 39 million "arrivals" and, before covid, they expected to hit 40 mil the next year. That equals a little over 106,000 arrivals - per day.
50,000 arrivals in 2 weeks equals a little under 3,600 per day. (I wonder if they still face the same line-ups at the Immigration queues despite being over 100,000 fewer people arriving each day ?)
I have friends who cancelled their trips because of issues with the "eVisa" system. I have friends who've tried, three times (so far) and haven't been able to get the "Thailand Pass" thing to work.
I'm sure that there are 10s of thousands of others with the same issues (but the authorities won't record or report those numbers of course). And hundreds of thousands who just can't be bothered to do it in the first place.
Especially when they are told about the alcohol restrictions (or bans).
Funny how adamant they are about not letting Pattaya businesses sell alcohol. Like they think that any businesses that haven't shut (for good) might close (for good) if they have to wait another 2 months before being (possibly) allowed to sell booze again.
If they really think that they will be able to kill Pattaya's entertainment business by continuing a moronic alcohol ban, they are going to be in for a surprise.
A lot of locals are not too happy with the gov't at the moment. More so than were already PO'd before this. They're going to have a hard time winning another rigged election I think.- 6
- 1
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
45 minutes ago, Karma80 said:Who could have possibly known? Everyone + science.
But, where you can you get an additional mRNA vaccine in Thailand? Nowhere.
Surprisingly, a friend of mine posted a photo of one of his relatives getting his first shot of Moderna a couple days ago. Remember that a bunch of Moderna was donated to Thailand but there was a lot of controversy about who was going to get allocated how much and how much would be set aside for those who already paid for it.
(Not surprisingly, I'm registered at 2 different hospitals and haven't heard a peep from either one about when they think they will get the vaccine.)
Anutin has had his nose up China's *** ever since he joined Prayut's gov't (probably long before that). Remember early on in the crisis when he was spouting off about the "dirty farangs" compared to the "clean Chinese" (despite the fact that, at that time, all of the corona cases in Thailand were caused by people coming from China) ?
The whole gov't is an excuse away from joining Cambodia and Burma both in their authoritarian gov'ts and subservience to China.
- 21
- 2
-
1 hour ago, johng said:
I think I read in another article the will be 3 stages one at north Pattaya one at "Central"
and one at "Royal Garden" as well as other stages on Koh larn and at the usual place in Jomtien near the (ex) night market...not much of interest for any foreign tourist brave ( or stupid) enough to attend as there are no foreign bands playing,no alcohol,no bars open,talk of not allowing the usual food vendors,only 500 per stage and Covid testing before entry to stage areas !!!!! I think I'll give it a miss thanks
That would make sense (the various stages) as they are apparently pumping a lot of bands/acts through each weekend. Too many for a single stage.
I recall the festival they had last year (same day as Loy Kratong I think) and we were on North Pattaya Beach. Didn't even know there was a stage and music happening until we were driving home and made the turn (from Beach Rd onto Central Pattaya Rd).
The stage and speakers were all aimed towards South Pattaya and at the north end of the beach you couldn't hear a thing.
I can also imagine that no one will know which acts will appear on which stage, until after they have performed !
Hope the rain holds off. I recall last year it rained (remember the bikini run on the beach which ended up being rather damp). Which reminds me..........- 1
-
Too many requests for "Disco Inferno" ?
However, with the quality of electrical work around here, I'm surprised a dozen houses/businesses don't go up in smoke èveryday.
-
2 hours ago, madmen said:
Where on the beach?
Main stage is normally on the beach across from the Central Pattaya Road/Beach Rd intetsection.
- 1
-
5 hours ago, CharlieH said:
I set it to pay automatically each and every month direct debit, there is nothing to do ! Set it and forget it.
Same same (but the same) !
Can't seem to do it for the water bill though. And, as I recently found out, if you go to a store/7-11 eight days after the bill was issued, they can't process it so you have to make a trip to the Water Authority office to pay in person.
They have an app, if you have a banking app on your phone (so the 2 apps can get together and do things with your money). After 20 minutes of the nice young lady at the PWA trying to set it up on my phone only to have me tell her I don't have any banking apps, she pointed me to a walk-up window 20 meters away - which is what I wanted to do right at the beginning any ways.
-
Last time I stayed at a hotel in Koh Chang, the pillows were so awesome I was tempted to steal a couple. Best I've ever slept on but I have no idea about brand or where to buy.
I've bought pillows from Big C and other places. Some turn out to be filled with bits of torn foam and clothe. Others are some kind of foam that compresses in the middle and never regains it's shape.
I prefer something that can be washed though. Even though I change the pillowcases every week (or more often if it's warmer), I notice the pillow starts showing "sweat stains" after a couple months so I toss it into the washer with a healthy dose of laundry soap and a cup of bleach (kill all those little mites living in there).
Can't really do that with feather pillows though (they need to be dry-cleaned, just like feather sleeping bags) and proper dry cleaners are a rare thing around here (at least in Pattaya). -
Every active company has to file an annual "balance sheet" as well as renew the company registration. Usually this is done by which ever firm set up the company for you. Assuming they know how to get a hold of you of course.
Twice a year my lawyers contact me to let me know which bill is due. The amount they charge depends on the firm. Doesn't matter if the company has no assets or does no business.
Closing a company can be a major pain in the "assets".
I just so happen to have the list of things my law office says needs to be done to close a company with no assets.
Meeting Report
Company Update
Company Closure
Final Balance sheet.
Assuming no assets, about 46,000 baht all told, depending on who does it for you (different places charge different rates).
If there's property to be transferred (say a house/condo into the wife's name for example) add another 10,000 for the transfer (and another 10,000 for a legal lease so you don't end up getting kicked out and homeless the next day).
Plus taxes and fees for "selling" the house to the spouse, more fees if there's no "cheque" showing that someone paid (whatever amount) for the property.
Basically, for a property valued around 1.2 million, I was told I'd be looking at about 166,000 baht to "sell" the house, do all the paperwork and then close the company. (The land office determines what the property value is and that's what the tax is based on, regardless of how much you actually sell it for, even if it's just a "paper" transaction.)- 2
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
I can almost hear the kitchen knife being sharpened..........
- 5
- 1
- 25
-
On 10/23/2021 at 11:42 PM, ratcatcher said:
That ship is actually just a couple hundred meters from where the ferry docks in Sattahip. I was going to take some photos of it the day I took the photos of the Blue Dolphin ferry but they had the gates (leading to the carrier) closed so I didn't bother.
- 1
-
5 hours ago, Henryford said:
I presume at some point in the middle they are outside the 12 mile limit (if that is the Thailand territorial waters). Seems crazy though.
However, if they are "outside" of territorial waters, then indeed there should be Immigration concerns as well.
Despite there being no stop-overs (in "foreign" waters/ports) during the journey.
Can you imagine the mess that would make ?
I don't recall any such issues with the other ferries, like the one that used to run from Pattaya to Hua Hin. Got to wonder why there are so many problems with this venture. -
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
Doublepseak for "We only want tourists that will go shopping in the malls then return to their hotel rooms for the remainder of their holiday. All others need not apply or fly here."
- 2
- 1
-
Went last year. It was entertaining, but hotter than ****.
I only watched 3 of the "races" after spending the morning wandering around taking pics and watching the parade and other festivities. They were taking 25-30 minutes to run each race (which lasts about 20 seconds) and I didn't want to spend all afternoon waiting to watch a couple more races.
I wanted to go this year but couldn't find out when it was being held. Last year it was on 1 Oct. This year I found a travel website that said it was on the 19th (or 20th). I even tried searching in Thai and on the Chon Buri gov't websites with no luck.
Seems it's the day before the full moon in October (the end of Buddhist Lent).
There's a lot of similar festivals around the country that no one seems to know about - until after they are over of course.
Lazada Problem
in General Topics
Posted
Yeah that was annoying. I think they were being DDOS'd (Distributed Denial of Service attack) and that kicked in the 2 step verification.
Took me awhile of trying to get the verification code by SMS or email until I lucked into the "click on <send>" and got the verification code.
And as Card mentioned, if you use the email method and don't see one from Lazada after clicking on the "send", check your junk/spam folder. Microshi* sees the email as coming from an online retailer and may think it's junk.