Kerryd

January 17

This seems to be a recurring theme over the past 2 years.

Wealthy Chinese kid comes to Thailand and is "kidnapped". Parents recieve ransom demand. Kid turns out to be partying in Bangkok with friends and claims to know nothing about the "kidnapping" (but doesn't explain why they stopped contacting their parents or using social media).

Seems to be a way for rich kids to get a big chunk of daddy's money when he's not being as "generous" as they expect.

January 17

3 hours ago, urthebozo said:

Good to know a torn page can be deemed problematic when flying. Feel bad for the dude but that's just purely stupid behavior as a grown man and most likely was on route for a fight or two in thai bars with that attitude so glad he was held back.

Actually it can be an issue.

I knew that a long time ago and in 2019 I took a trip back to Canada. After arriving I put my passport in a pant pocket and a few minutes later put my phone (with it's plasticy cover) into the same pocket. I felt it jam something, took it out along with my passport and saw that the "face page" of my passport had a tiny rip, barely an inch (2 1/2 cms) long.

I ended my trip a couple days early so I could go to Vancouver and visit the passport office. Normally, to get a new passport, you only need to fill out one form and have a "still valid" passport under the new system.

But I was told because my passport was "damaged" - I had to go through the whole procedure as though I'd never had a passport before in my life. (I'd been issued 6 passports over the years before this.)
And apparently I was deemed a security risk !

I tried to use my (still valid for 5 years) passport and my (Canadian) driver's license as ID - but they said a valid passport wasn't "proof of ID" !
And neither was my driver's license.

They wanted a paper copy of my birth certificate to prove I was Canadian ! A piece of paper with nothing but my name and place of birth on it but nothing to actually say I was the person named on it.
I had to scramble to get to the Ministry of Vital Statistics (or whatever it's called) but shocker - they can't print Birth Certificates in Vancouver. Can only be done at the main office - in Victoria. So they sent a rush request to have a copy printed and sent to my hotel in Vancouver.

I was supposed to fly out on Friday evening and this was Tuesday afternoon. I went into the Passport office again on Wednesday morning with all the paperwork and a "guarantor" who - had to also have a valid passport and swear that they knew me for more than 5 years.

And Security took her into a back room to grill her in private to make sure I wasn't some terrorist trying to sell passports on the black market.
I was born and raised in Canada and had spent 22 years in the military and another 10 years as a civilian in Afghanistan supporting our military but some minimum wage failed wannabe cop was acting like I was Osama's BFF.

They finally agreed to give me a "temporary" passport valid for just 2 years - because I couldn't "prove I was Canadian" !!!!

If I couldn't "prove" I was Canadian - then why were they giving me a valid Canadian passport good for 2 years ?!??!

And the next day (Thursday) the courier delivered the copy of my birth certificate so I rushed back to the passport office and - too bad so sad. The only way they'd accept the birth certificate is if I cancelled my existing application and started a new one - from the beginning.

The coming weekend was a long holiday weekend and if I re-applied I wouldn't get my new passport until the following Tuesday at the earliest, meaning I'd have to change my flight and add 4 more nights in a hotel (at $200 a night).

So I didn't bother and went back to the hotel. The next day (Friday) they called at 15:30 to tell me my passport was ready so I zipped down to the passport office again. (I racked up over $400 in cab fares alone going back and forth over those 4 days.)

Get to the office around 16:15. No passport.
Wait. Wait. Wait.
17:00 rolls around and the commissionaire is locking the doors and turning off the lights and I'm thinking I'm screwed.
It was almost 17:15 when a clerk called my name and handed me my still hot-off-the-press (literally) passport and I was able to go back to the hotel. I'd paid for Friday night as my flight wasn't until 23:00 and I didn't want to be sitting in the check-in area for 9 hours - or running around Vancouver with my luggage.

A year later I went to the Embassy in Bangkok with my "temporary" passport. Filled out the one page form, gave them my new passport photos and bingo.
10 days later I had a regular, 10 year passport. No hassle, no security BS or having to have a "guarantor" swear I was really me.

All that because of a 2.5cm tear in one page of of a passport. I'll make a photo of it. (I keep all my old passports - which also made the rent-a-cop at the passport office suspicious.)

Notice the huge rip in the page that had Security all in a dither because they thought I was some kind of terrorist or something.

Good to know though that you can get a Canadian passport without having to actually prove your Canadian eh !

Another gift to the terrorist's of the world I suppose.

January 17

Let's be honest.
This is something that has been going on ever since the "sleepy fishing village" turned into "Disneyland for adults" back in the 70s.

The difference is - social media. The same stuff was happening before (not so much ladyboy stuff on Beach Road but all the rest) except most of it didn't make the news and there was no social media (or smartphones with cameras) so a lot of what went on rarely got reported.

And it is not endemic to Pattaya. This exact same kind of behaviour (not so much ladyboy stuff but all the rest) happens literally anywhere you have booze and a lot of single men "on the prowl".

Bar fights and street brawls are a fairly routine occurrence in most big cities but they usually don't warrant media coverage unless there's serious injuries or property damage.

It's like traffic accidents. They are so common they rarely get mention - unless it's something "bloody" enough to make the news.

Sheesh, I remember bars in cities that had/have military bases close by. Friday night (or more correctly, early Saturday morning) brawls happened every couple of weeks in some places. Rarely ever made the news unless there were a number arrests or some serious damage done.

Same problem. Lots of booze and lots of (usually) single guys.

I came up with a phrase to describe the mindset of most of those guys. When it got to be after midnight or close to last call, they would get the "F*** or Fight" attitude.

If they weren't going to get laid, they were going to fight. And often didn't need any excuse for it.

And it's not the "quantity" that's the problem. Plenty of Chinese tourists here and how often are they in the news for drunken brawls on Beach Road at 3-4am ?
And the Indian tourists are usually only in the news when they get into a scrap with some ladyboys - or get pickpocketed by some ladyboys - or take a ladyboy back to their hotel and wake up the next morning to find all their stuff has been stolen.

It's the "quality" tourists from "Western" (i.e. mainly Caucasian) countries that are usually the ones making the headlines for the wrong reasons. Russians, Australians, "UK" and Americans (not so much the nicer, more polite Canadians and New Zealanders it seems).

The ONLY way Pattaya can "restore it's image" would be to shut down 98% of the beer bars, go-go bars and nightclubs in the city and restrict the rest to Walking Street.

Making Walking Street like the Red Light District in Amsterdam or the Reeperbahn in Hamburg where all the "naughty" nightlife is contained in one small area. (Many other cities in Germany have a small area where ladies of ill-repute can be found. Often it's a small street that is blocked off to vehicle traffic and has large signs on each end to block the view of the street to vehicle traffic and most pedestrians.)

That would cause a massive drop in the "demographics" most likely to be troublemakers (single men) and increase the "more preferred" demographics (i.e. families).

Yes, there would still be the occasional problems but a huge reduction in the main causes of those problems would result in a huge decline in the number of those problems.

(And possibly create other problems as all those bargirls, bouncers, taxiboys and ladyboys would have to do something to earn a living - or go back to working hunched over in the rice fields for the rest of their lives.)

But there is too much money in the sex and alcohol business - and too many people willing to look the other way so long as the envelopes keep coming.

Which is why the "entertainment" areas in Pattaya have expanded well beyond Walking Street and continue to expand.

And why these problems won't be going away anytime soon.

January 16

Just now, Card said:

Not entirely true. If all your remitted funds are not taxable in thailand then you do not need to file a Thai tax return

I would need to see an actual reference to that - from a legitimate source - before I'd believe it.

Everything I've been reading about the subject suggests they want to see all of your income, even if it's covered by a treaty, and the only way to do that is by filing a return.

It is worth pointing out that even a lot of "experts" (as in Thai professionals) don't seem to know what the regulations actually are or will be. I think that was in a Bangkok Post article last year about the taxation of foreigners where they quoted some (Thai) tax lawyers who noted there were a lot of unanswered questions about what was taxable and who was actually required to file.

But if there's a Revenue Department document or notice in the Gazette that says you don't have to file a return if your only remitted funds are from non-taxable pensions - that should be pinned to the top of this discussion.

As that would definitely clear up most of the confusion for most of the people here.

January 16

26 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

Where do I go to get help with this which isn't going to cost an arm and a leg, the tax office doesn't seem to care or are not bothered.

Strange - I was replying to this, read a new post and now my response is gone. Isn't it usually saved "by the editor" ?

In any event. Here is the link to the UK/Thailand Tax Treaty (a downloadable .pdf file).
Scroll down to Article 19, para (2) - (page 27 of the ,pdf).

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80bddc40f0b623026953eb/uk-thailand-dtc180281_-_in_force.pdf

"(2)
(a) Any pension paid by the Contracting State or a political subdivision or a local authority thereof to any individual in respect of services of a governmental nature rendered to that State or subdivision or local authority thereof shall be taxable only in that State.
(b) However, such pension shall be taxable only in the other contracting State if the recipient is a national of and a resident of that State.

Note: "Contracting State" in this case is the UK and "other Contracting State" is Thailand.

So basically it's saying if you receive a UK GOV'T pension(s), it's only taxable in the UK - unless you are a Thai national and resident in Thailand.

However, if you are receiving a gov't pension and - say a Union pension or money from a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIP) - those other pensions/income are taxable.

The tax treaty only applies (this part) to "gov't" pensions.

However, again, if you've had tax deducted from those other pensions/income, it would be claimable as a credit on your Thai tax return (up to the maximum amount you owe - if any).

January 16

Thailand expects you to (voluntarily) report all your income, regardless of source or country.

That would be totalled to determine your tax rate. (See table below.)

Then, any amounts that are not "taxable" - like pensions or other income covered by a Tax Treaty between Thailand and your home country - would be deducted.

Then they would apply the "personal deduction".
Jingthing mentioned 60k baht for single people and 120k for married expats.

Whatever is left would be taxed at the aforementioned tax rate.

From Siam-Legal (https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-law/thailand-new-tax-on-foreign-income-an-overview/)

Thai citizens and foreigners who are permanent residents are subject to pay income tax, should they earn their annual income, at the following rates:

0 to 150,000 THB is exempted from income tax.
150,001 to 300,000 THB is subject to a 5% tax rate.
300,001 to 500,000 THB is subject to a 10% tax rate.
500,001 to 750,000 THB is subject to a 15% tax rate.
750,001 to 1,000,000 THB is subject to a 20% tax rate.
1,000,001 to 2,000,000 THB is subject to a 25% tax rate.
2,000,001 to 5,000,000 THB is subject to a 30% tax rate.
5,000,001 THB or more is subject to a 35% tax rate.

So, if they do things "the normal way" they'd calculate your taxes like this.

Example 1.
If you earned 1,000,001 baht in total income (pensions and whatever) your tax rate would be 25%.
Let's say 800,000 was from (foreign) Pension income covered by a Tax Treaty and 200k was from rental income not covered by that Treaty.

Then, they would deduct the 800k that is covered by the Treaty, leaving you a "Net Income" of 200k.

Then they would deduct the "Personal Deduction" (60k ? I haven't verified the amounts.) giving you a "Taxable Income" of 140,000.

As that is below 150,000 baht, there should be no tax owed. (But ! This is Thailand ! I would not be surprised if they did tax that 140,000 baht at 25% because your "total" income was over 150,000. So you could still end up paying 35,000 baht in this case.)

Example 2.
Now lets say you get 400,000 in pensions, 400,000 in rental income and earned 400,000 as a teacher in Thailand.
Your total income would be 1,200,000 putting you in the 25% tax rate.

Then deduct the 400k in pension income (assuming it's covered by a tax treaty), leaving you a Net Income of 800,000.
Assume you are married so you get the 120,000 deduction, leaving you with a Taxable Income of 680,000.

That amount would be taxed at the 25% rate giving you a tax bill of 170,000 baht.

If you were single, you'd only get the 60,000 deduction so your Taxable Income would be 740,000 and your tax bill would be 185,000.

Note: Any tax paid on the rental income or deducted from your salary would be claimed as a credit on your Thai tax return - up to the the total amount owed and depending on the clauses in the Tax Treaty.

(So if you owed 185,000 in Thailand and had valid tax credits equalling 200,000 baht in your home country, you would only get to claim 185,000 baht in credits. Thailand isn't going to refund you for taxes you paid in another country.)

Example 3.
You sole, total income is a meagre 400,000 from pension income covered by treaty.
You would be in the 10% tax rate.

But as your entire income is not subject to tax (by treaty) your Taxable Income would be zero, thus no taxes to be paid.

But they still expect you to submit a Tax Return even if you won't owe any taxes.

However ! If you are scamming the Immigration requirements by transferring 65k a month and then each month transferring it back "home" before transferring it back to Thailand again, each transfer would count as "income".
And lol if you think you can argue with the Revenue department and try to convince them that it is the "same 65k" and should only count as "65k in income for the year".

You would be assessed as having an income of 780,000 baht and be put in the 20% tax bracket. But - as all that "income" would probably be counted as "pension income", it would be deducted from your Net Income, leaving you with zero Taxable Income.

However - they may demand proof that it actually is "pension income". And if you can't prove it is, the entire amount is liable to be taxed at the full (20% in this case) rate.

And don't bother trying to argue that your pension income shouldn't be included in determining your tax rate, especially as they are just going to deduct that amount anyways.

Tax people (and laws) don't work for your benefit, they work to collect the maximum amount they can (within the law).

Which is why they total all of your income and use that to determine your tax rate regardless of how much of that income isn't taxable or has had tax already deducted from it.

So that they can then tax the remaining amount at the highest possible rate.

January 15

Thailand has been the "hub of corruption" for generations.

The proposed casino legislation is entirely designed to benefit the Chinese, who will likely build/own/operate most of them and where Chinese citizens (working here and tourists) will spend a lot of their money.

This proposal, along with the proposal to change the condo ownership rules "in special designated areas" and the new Visa rules, are literally done specifically with the Chinese in mind. (Sorry all you expats that seem to think the Thai economy lives and dies based on what little money your meagre pension affords you to spend here.)

China is digging it's claws into Thailand the same way it's done to Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Low interest "loans" to build things like high speed rail lines directly linking China and Thailand (through Laos). Prosposed "land bridges" in South Thailand to allow Chinese shipments to reach the Indian Ocean faster/cheaper and with less chance of having strategic routes blocked.
Submarine sales. Condo proposals. Casinos.

Pretty soon the subject country is so indebted to China that they have to dance to whatever tune Beijing tells them to or risk having those loans called in, projects shut down and economies collapsing.

Keep in mind that China "leased" nearly 20% of Cambodia's entire coastline - so they could build a self-contained "resort" complete with it's own water and power generation equipment, waste-treatment facilities - and casinos.

And then they built a new airport a short distance away "to bring Chinese tourists to/from the resort".

(It's all BS. The airport is actually a forward air base with runways far longer than even the largest commercial cargo and passenger jets need, but perfect for fully loaded Chinese jet bombers to take off and land on.

And the "resort" is a self-contained barracks and HQ for the troops that would be working at the air base.

And the Chinese have a 99 year lease on that property so they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

And the Chinese have been doing a lot of corrupt practises themselves. Things that would get them shot (or hung) back in China.

But with a casino to take your cash - and give you Bitcoin in exchange - it's literally begging for corrupt money to flow in.

Casinos were already huge money laundering enterprises long before Bitcoin was invented. No reason to think they'll change in the future.

And to show how easy it is, here's an example.

Donald Trump had a casino in Atlantic City. He was losing money (in other endeavours) and missing payments on his bank loans.
At one point he was on the verge of missing a "final notice" to make a $3 million payment on a loan or the bank would foreclose on the casino.
His father sent a trusted accountant to the casino with $3 million in a briefcase. The accountant bought $3 million worth of chips, left them on the counter and walked out without making a single bet. (Bet that guy got a rather nice Christmas bonus !)

The casino not only made $3 mil in cash without having to pay out anything, but they could then resell those chips and make another $3 mil.

Technically that was illegal as it broke some Federal regulation about "illegal loans" or something but by the time the Feds found out I guess it was too late to do anything about it (lack of hard proof and such).

And that was it. $3 mil disappeared in the blink of an eye and no one, outside of the Casino operators (and the Trumps) were any wiser to it.

I would find it very hard to believe that the same thing couldn't happen here.

January 15

6 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

How does Chinese laundering money affect Thailand though? Seems like this is more a problem for the Chinese government than Thailand itself.

If the international community and banking industries see Thailand being used to launder huge amounts of illegal cash, it could have significant problems resulting in restricted access to foreign banking networks, increased surveillance, increased regulation, even sanctions against gaming officials and gov't Ministers suspected of being connected to such enterprises.

January 15

23 hours ago, Dario said:

Dear Rimmer, what you forgot to mention is that during cold weather (like we have now in the North east, 11º in the early morning) everybody pee much more than usual.

Peeing more often when the weather is cool is a biological response. Urine is a liquid "heat sink" which requires the body to divert blood to the bladder to keep it warm and maintain core body temperature.

Which is also why during cool/cold weather you may find yourself cold and shivering and dreading having to get up to go pee - but then finding yourself feeling warmer (and sleeping better) after you've peed because the body no long has to heat that extra liquid so it can divert more warm blood to other parts of the body.

That was a very valuable lesson learned early in my Army career. Ease off on the liquid intake in the evening and take a whiz before crawling into the sleeping bag - even if you don't really feel the urge to.

And doctors have debunked the "you need to drink 8 glasses of water (2 liters) per day years ago. They recommend that you "drink when you are thirsty" and not because you think you have to.

And when you get to 50+ you should probably have a prospate test every year. They don't do the "rubber glove and vaseline" tests anymore (in most places) as they can simply do a blood and/or urine test.

The prostate produces that fluid that mixes with the sperm from your testicles to make "semen". It's what gets your little swimmers up the pipe and into the race.

If you aren't having as much sex as you used to, your prostate wants to work, but it can't because there's no need to "make the milk".

This is probably what causes prostate problems (and prostate cancer) in men as the organ falls into disuse and the body starts thinking it's an "unwanted organism" in the body and tries to get rid of it by attacking it, leading it to become enlarged - or developing cancer.

About 15 or so years ago there were 2 medical studies produced, one in England and one in Australia, dealing with prostate issues.

One looked at men in various occupations and the frequency they had sex. Accountants, construction workers, athletes, priests and so on.
I recall that it was the men in occupations like "priest" or other occupations where men didn't get a lot of sex were also the ones more likely to develop prostate cancer.

The other study asked men how often they had sex (masturbation and intercourse or - whatever).

Again, the men who admitted to sending their little seamen off to battle more often were less likely to develop prostrate problems than the people who admitted to rarely busting a nut, even when they were alone.

So the bottom line was, the more often your prostrate does the job it's supposed to do, the less likely it is to develope into a medical problem.

But if you "ain't gettin' any" and can hardly even see your twig and berries, let alone give them a good <deleted> now and then, there's a good chance you could develop problems as you get older.

And if you find yourself having a really urgent need to pee quite often - but it's coming out in a dribble that forces you to stand over the bowl (or up against the urinal) - you may want to pop into a local clinic for a blood test.

Those little clinics are scattered all over the place and they can take the (blood/urine) samples and send them to a lab for analysis. If you know where they are, you can go to one of the labs directly to do it.

When I was working in Afghanistan I used to go to a lab in South Pattaya, just off #3 road, and get a full slate of tests done every year.
They had a "package" deal where they tested you for almost everything that could be tested, including STDs, cholesterol levels, vitamin levels and things like liver and prostate function.
And you'd get a little booklet with all the results noted and with any problems noted.

(The only negative result I ever had was my LDL cholesterol levels were usually at the "upper end" of the healthy range, bordering on entering the danger zone.)

But seeing this thread, I'm thinking maybe it's time I go get another set of tests done.

But you can just get tested for the one thing if that's all you are concerned about and want to save a few baht.

January 14

From that link - just did this and it worked: (need to do it on your phone app though, not on a PC)
On the line "home" page, go to the top right and the Settings ⚙️ ,
go to stickers,
my stickers,
then "my emoji" (or just "emoji" at the top-right)
Tap the one basic new set that will be there, and tap the word "LY corporation" (small letters near the top)

it will expand to the full sets for you to download at your pleasure.

You have to download each set you want and when the download is complete simply click the "back" arrow (twice) to get back to the list of sets and pick the next one you want to download.
Note the top 4 are "premium" sets that cost 100 coins each. Most of the rest are free.

January 14

For those that don't know - Thais are required to vote and they must vote in the district they are registered as living in.

Which is why, during national elections, they close the bars and there's an exodus of people trying to get back to their home village to vote. Pattaya (for example) has an official population of just under 120,000 and an "unofficial" population of over 328,000 - not including tourists and non-registered/illegal immigrants.
So most of those "extra" people have to go back to Isaan (or wherever) whenever there is a national election or a provincial election in their home province where they are registered.

And they want people to be (mostly) sober when they do it. (So they don't mistakenly take a 20 baht note to vote for someone when they are supposed to get a 100 baht note ?
There's a long story about a former PM who allegedly spent a lot of money giving 100 baht notes to everyone who voted for him.)
More likely they probably think that without the alcohol ban, most voters would just get drunk, sleep in and then not bother to vote at all !

Some motorcycle clubs i know of used to ride to Rayong whenever Pattaya or Chon Buri had an election. Or go to a resort somewhere with their own stock of booze. Can't sell booze (legally) but you can drink it !

And when I first got involved in a "bar" (back in 2009) on the night before the official opening we hosted a VIP group (I was told it was the Governor of Rayong) and his entourage who had come to Pattaya because the bars in Rayong were closed for a provincial election.
(4 people drinking and having a good time at one table - 6 other people from the same group sitting apart drinking sodas - they were the drivers and bodyguards apparently. One of the bodyguards was good friends with a couple of the guys in our motorcycle club which is how that came to be.)

I used to lol back in the days of "ThaiVisa" because everytime there'd be an announcement of a bar closure there'd be a certain group of whiners who'd pipe up to claim that (whichever closure) would be the "straw that breaks the back" of tourism in Thailand.

As if a one day closure of the bars was going to put a halt to tourists coming to Thailand.

And there was the usual "but how am I going to drink my one beer a day if the bars are closed" crowd who apparently thought the idea of buying a beer at a 7-11 and saving it for the next day was the equivalent of having their liver cut out with a rusty bottle cap while a thousand cockroaches feasted on their flesh.

But the next closure is only 17 days away !! How can those poor people be expected to have enough time to prepare for such a horrific event ? Doesn't the gov't know that boozy expats need at least a year to prepare for such events ?
And even then won't do it unless they are personally informed by a (cute) gov't official that will personally escort them to the store and back.

And of course they will then drink that beer instead of saving it so they have something to whine about the next day (again).

Hmm, just 17 days to prepare. Where can we go ? What can we do ? Oh no, this could be the straw that breaks the kwaii's back as far as drinking alcohol in Thailand is concerned !

And the proposed changes to the alcohol law mention reviewing the current "2pm - 5pm" ban on selling alcohol - but still not allowing 24/7 alcohol sales. The review may suggest changing the current time period to one more aligned with international standards.
Last Dec a change was announced to allow International Airports to sell (duty-free presumably) alcohol on the 5 Buddhist holidays each year where there is a prohibition currently. (But only at 5 international airports.)

That's not likely to happen for the rest of the country though.

And like others have mentioned, it's basically just the bars/hotels/restaurants, big stores and convenience (7-11/CJs/Family Marts) stores that can't sell booze for a day.
Everywhere else it will be business as per usual - with one eye open for the cops of course.

January 11

Funny how they mention:

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

the foreign driver may face up to one month in prison, a fine of up to 10,000 baht, or both for reckless driving causing injury. He may also face an additional fine of 400 to 1,000 baht for reckless driving that damaged Sakda’s food cart and other belongings.

but no mention of a fine for drunk driving.

If I recall, that's a 20,000 baht fine all by itself. (And one reason why alcohol road checkpoints are so large and regulated now - to try and prevent cops from accepting "payments" on the spot in exchange for not writing a ticket. (My Thai friends never worry about getting stopped for drunk driving for some. strange. reason.)

This seems to have actually happened a little over 100 meters from the "entrance to Soi Buakhao", as they are just past the Tops mini-market (coming from Pattaya Klang).

And it was at 5am. A little late to be picking teerak up after her shift at the bar. Though back in the "old days" ('08/'09) I recall many a night where we'd close out the bars on Walking Street at 3:30 am then sit in front of a restaurant one of our guys owned. A guy with a "portable bar" would set up at the (closed) entrance to the restaurant and we'd have a couple drinks and watch all the girls - and drunk tourists - stagger down the street on their way home.

Round about first light (just before sunrise) we'd hop on our bikes and ride home. (No alcohol checks back then and literally no cops anywhere to be seen at all at that time of the morning.)

(Nowadays if I'm going out drinking I'll get a mototaxi to take me downtown and another to bring me home afterwards. 2-300 baht for moto taxis sure beats a 20,000 baht fine !)

And one would have to see the CCTV images to determine what really happened.
(The Tops mini-store, the weed shop and the V&M Terrace hotel - where it seems this accident actually happened - all seem to have CCTVs. Whether they actually work is another question though.)

January 5

There is a whole lot missing from that story.

For one, there's not a lot of Thai men inside ANY nightclub or go-go bar on Walking Street. The few there are, are generally staff, not customers and wouldn't be involved in any drinking games with customers.

And I seriously doubt that breaking a glass in any bar/nightclub/go-go bar would result in an altercation - unless you threw the glass or did something stupid like deliberately hit/slapped a tray a waitress was holding that had a drink on it.

I've accidentally broken glasses in bars on Walking Street (maybe twice in total, in two different bars) and what happened ?
Nothing, the staff cleaned up the glass - I offered to pay for the broken glass and was told "mai pen rai" and that was the end of it.

Some (a lot) of those places have deliberately small tables to make more room for customers and less room for those customers to pile food or other junk on them. And many (most) of those places tended to be crowded, leading to a lot of accidental "bumping" as people try to get in/out of seats or girls try to sit beside potential "teeraks".

So you can bet a lot of glasses are broken pretty much every night on Walking Street - and rarely does it result in a large group of Thais beating up a customer.

And when (if) you hear the details, you usually find it was the customer that started the altercation by acting like a complete (insert descriptive colloquial slang term here).

Like the (you know whats) that run up a tab then try to pretend they are just stepping outside to answer a phone call - and then try to wander off down the street hoping no one notices.

Or the old "I'm just going to the ATM and I'll be right back" scam. Some even try to leave an (empty) cigarette pack and nearly empty lighter on the table as "proof" they are coming back.

I've WATCHED people try to pull those scams and the staff will follow them out the door and alert the "boys" that the customer(s) haven't paid their bills. And when said customer trys to do a runner - the fight starts.

Or some guy is playing with the girls, agrees to buy them drinks (without checking the price of those drinks of course) and then start a commotion when it comes time to pay the bill.

(And as you already KNOW - it's NOT because the bar "padded" the bill it's because the moe-ron(s) who ORDERED the drinks somehow didn't think they were supposed to PAY for them - or didn't check the price first - or keep track of just how many of those drinks THEY agreed to buy.)

(But they will often try to claim the bill was "padded" - which is usually easily proven to be false. The girls HAVE to ask for a drink and the customer HAS to agree to it before they can order it and have it added to the bill. But the dumb-@sses will order 2-3 beer and buy 10 "ladydrinks" for different girls because they're loving all the attention and then they goes ballistic when they see a 2,000 baht bill.
Ladydrinks in some places can be 150 baht each and it's usually posted on the walls around the club, in plain sight. 10 Ladydrinks at 150 baht each is 1,500 baht plus a couple beer and boom, 2,000 baht bill with NO "padding". And the scouser starts an altercation or refuses to pay the bill because he's decided that he didn't really agree to all those drinks - which is usually bull**** - or he thinks those "ladydrinks" weren't "worth" 150 baht - because he has NO clue that part of that cost goes to the girl.)

You have to remember that a lot of the people who end up "in the news" are NOT "experienced" expats or frequent visitors. They are most often first timers, not overly intelligent, not able to handle their booze and totally out of their element in a place like Pattaya.

And keep in mind something that is true almost everywhere in the world.

When someone does something that ends up becoming an altercation or requires police involvment - they almost NEVER admit to what THEY did to start the problem.

Also - THINK about it.
If the "bouncers" on Walking Street (and elsewhere) were just randomly attacking customers and beating them in the streets - like SOME people here like to believe - then Walking Street, Soi 6, 7 (and every other soi), Tree Town (and every other "entertainment area) would have been closed DECADES ago.

The bad publicity alone would have forced the gov't to act and the place would have developed such a bad reputation that no one would want to go there anyways.

Funny how that doesn't seem to be the case though, isn't it ?

December 20, 2024

Go to ANY major tourist location and you will find the SAME problems.

Drugs, prostitution, crime, poverty.

Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Budapest, Delhi, Dubai, Cairo, Hawaii, Mexico, Jamaica (mohn).

Really no different from most major cities in most countries. Anytime you get large populations, especially of "transient" visitors/workers, you are going to find the same problems.

It has also been my experience that the people who make a living from tourists (on the low end of the ladder like waiters, taxi drivers, vendors, security guards and so on) are often the ones who most resent those tourists. Because their livelihood is dependent on them and it's like a shackle around their necks.

They want the money that comes from working in a place like Pattaya, but hate seeing tourists running around spending more money in a night than they make in a month.

And we've had gov'ts for the past 20+ years that have "vowed" to get rid of the sex trade and vowed to "restore" Pattaya's image (as a world class family resort).

And what has happened ?

There's more tourists now than ever. So many that even the locals that make a living from them are complaining that there are too many.

I don't know. Maybe if they shut down all those "BB Gun" arcades and Turkish Ice Cream stands on Walking Street the numbers of tourists might drop ?

Just open (or re-open) beer bars and go-go bars in their place and that should do the trick !

After all, no one wants to go to a "world class resort destination" - especially in the middle of a dreary winter back home - if there's a possibility that they may see some "sin", right ?

That would surely make the numbers of tourists coming here drop, which apparently would make a lot of the locals happier.

(LoL - it might cause the numbers from a couple lower-spending demographics to go down, while causing a surge in other, higher spending demographics. Pretty sure the locals wouldn't have a problem with that at all !)

December 11, 2024

There's a fool born every minute - and two bargirls to take him.

Literally, every single day, thousands of starry-eyed single (or not) men arrive in Thailand and fall in love with the first bar girl they meet.
Because for most of them, they've never had ANY woman treat them the same as your average (Thai) bar girl has been doing since she was a kid (before she ever went to a bar - it's Thai culture - women are generally raised to "take care" of the men).

And it's not just old, ugly guys on their third divorce either. When I was in Afghanistan (first time, '03-'05) one of our firefighters was a guy who looked like he came straight out of a Chippendale's calendar. Any time he'd be outside sunning himself you'd see a bunch of the women (military and civilian) trying to sneak peeks from their tent lines.

He goes to Phuket on his first holiday. Falls in love with the (2nd or 3rd) bar girl he met (according to his friends).
Comes back to work and on his next holiday he clears out his bedspace and flies back to Thailand (without giving notice). Marries his teerak and tries to open a "dive shop", thinking he was living the dream.

Until he found out life isn't so easy. Small matters like visas and work permits and so on. Suddenly he's out of money, no job and his "teerak" dumps him (naturally). He ended up doing odd jobs at a hotel owned by a Canadian couple and getting paid under the table until he got enough to get back to Canada.

It's a story that is literally repeated every single day in Thailand. Usually with older guys who've been married and divorced, often more than once.
They meet a woman in a beer bar. She's nice, pays attention to him, pampers him a bit and the hook is in.

Suddenly he thinks he's "living the dream". A resort paradise, not freezing cold or drizzling, dreary rain. A woman who smiles when she looks at you and treats you "like a king" compared to how you were normally treated by women "back home".

This has been happening here ever since the first "beer bar" opened however long ago (likely before the first US servicemen started going to Pattaya on R&R from Vietnam in the late 60s).

And it will keep happening for as long as Thai women keep being Thai women and "Western women" continue being "Western women".

December 11, 2024

I have the usual gov't insurance on my scooter and Harley. I also have a 3rd party, Class 3 policy for the Harley (it's old so I can't get a better policy).
As well, I have a pretty good medical insurance polict (with MTL) that should cover me for anything short of full organ and brain transplant, and that policy has additional coverage in the event of a motorcycle accident (on scooter or Harley).

And yes, hospitals in "tourist areas" DO charge foreigners more, especially if they have insurance. They know what the maximum rates the Insurers pay and charge you/them that full amount.

The fact that it will result in you having to pay higher premiums in the future is not their problem. Trust me, I have found out that "the hard way" after an accident a few years ago.

And remember the story (earlier this year ?) about the Thai woman who was in a hospital in Bangkok and had a disagreement with the hospital over her bill as she thought they overcharged her.
Turns out, the hospital admitted they thought she was "Swiss", not Thai, and agreed to knock 100,000 baht off her bill after she went to the media about it.

I watched a "finance clerk" at a well known hospital talk to a doctor on the phone about a procedure I was going to have to remove a plate from my wrist. She wrote down 500 baht/3 for the 3 nights I'd be in the hospital as well as the cost of the procedure and regular daily costs.
Then she called someone else and started changing the numbers. Suddenly it was 5,000 baht a night for 3 nights in the hospital which, by no coincidence, was the maximum amount my insurance policy covered. She also amended so of the other prices to match the coverage in the policy.

Total quote - 180,000.

I went to a smaller, lesser known private hospital and had the procedure done there.
Total price - 90,000.

(When I had the accident 3 1/2 years ago, my "friends" drove me from hospital to hospital looking for the "best deal" for me. We went to that well known hospital in Pattaya and they quoted us a price of about 520,000. We went to a hospital in Sri Racha (lord knows why) and they were too busy (lots of covid patients) so we went to another private hospital who quoted a price of 280,000 so they stuck me in that one.)
(I was woozy from the morphine shot I was given at the little regional "hospital" near where the accident was and all I wanted was to lay down and sleep for a few hours. I even told my friends to just take me home and I'd go to the hospital myself the next day.)

My gov't motorcycle insurance covered part of the cost and my medical insurance covered most of the rest though I did have to pay some out of my own pocket for some reason.

About 10 years ago I tore a rotator cuff (shoulder muscle). Went to the hospital and after spending a whack on "steroid" shots and other non-invasive treatments, we did an MRI and they could see the torn muscle ligaments and a bone spur that was acting like a thorn and tearing the muscle every time I moved my arm.

Talked to the doctor and he was quoting me the costs for the operation. I told him I was paying cash. It was going to cost something like 220,000 baht.

Went to the bank to get a bank draft (or transfer or whatever) to pay the hospital and the accounts clerk asked my why my insurance wasn't covering it.
I had a policy with the bank but I thought it was one of those "Life Assurance" policies and not "Health Insurance".

Went back to the hospital and told the doctor that I actually did have insurance. The look on his face was not a happy one as they would have charged me (or my insurance) a lot more than if I was paying cash.

And remember - if you are in an accident there's a VERY real chance you won't be in any condition to negotiate anything with anyone - or access your bank to pay for anything. Or argue with the healthcare provider in your home country.

So pretending that you have enough "cash in the bank" to cover any unforeseen medical expenses is just retarded.

And if you don't have insurance you could end up in far worse condition and be facing some very steep bills afterwards.

Imagine being in an accident in a remote corner of Thailand like in parts of Bueng Khan or Nan, where no one speaks English and no one knows you, where you're from or who to contact in an emergency and all you have is (maybe) an International Drivers Permit and 500 baht in your wallet.

Basically, you are screwed.

But when they look in my wallet they see my Medical Insurance card, my "Bangkok Hospital - Pattaya" admittance card (with my blood type on the plastic envelope) as well as the business card from my lawyer and 3rd party (motorcycle) insurance provider (as well as drivers license and other stuff of course).

At least that way people will be able to find out where I live and ransack my place after I die !

December 10, 2024

Insurance is not a requirement in Thailand (except for the mandatory gov't insurance for vehicles which provides very limited coverage - for you - in the event of an accident).

But if you travel anywhere in a foreign country - or operate motor vehicles - or engage in "risky" behaviours (not just unprotected sex with Beach Rd freelancers) then you are an idiot if you do not have medical insurance.

How many "GoFundMe" appeals do we see almost every month (some of which may actually be authentic) about people having accidents or getting sick and not having medical insurance.

Or they supposedly had insurance - but their claim was denied because (insert justifications here but usually are entirely the fault of the injured person - like not wearing a helmet, not being licensed for the vehicle or driving while drunk and so on).

Or they "assumed" that they were covered by their home country's healthcare (like NHS in the UK or their provincial healthcare plan from whatever Canadian province they came from).

I was like that when I first visited here. I just assumed that, being in the Army, I was covered anywhere I went. And later on as a civilian, I just assumed that my company's medical coverage would cover me even when on holiday. After all, if they covered me while I was in a war zone, why not while in a party zone ?

Luckily I never had to find out the hard way how wrong those assumptions were.

December 9, 2024

If it was a gay friendly hotel/spa then he was probably just advertising his availability.

Otherwise he was maybe stoned and thinking he was at one of "those" parties.

December 4, 2024

Yeah, insurance scam.
Abandoned hotel, restricted access, no electricity but for some reason they suddenly had welders inside and - shocker - a fire breaks out that apparently consumes the entire hotel.

Uh huh. Purely coincidence, right ?

November 29, 2024

Note that most of the dead were from Myanmar. Companies hire labourers from Cambodia and Myanmar because they work cheap and you can often avoid having to pay them at all by just calling "someone" at Immigration just before payday and having half your workforce arrested and deported for being in the country illegally. (Used to be a fairly common occurence in Pattaya Condo construction projects in the past.)
Most of those workers are probably even less qualified than your average Thai worker and we know just how "qualified" your average electrician/plumber/bricklayer/labourer is here.

In Thailand, cutting corners to increase profit seems to be the main guiding principle on these projects. Hence the new roads that collapse, develop potholes and deep ruts (or all three) within a couple years of construction.

ForFreddiesSake - we built roads all around the Kandahar Air Field that were routinely used by tanks, armoured vehicles, cargo trucks and heavy equipment and never had the problems that they have on literally every new road built here.

Mainly because here they try to build the cheapest road possible, using packed sand as underlay and thin layers of asphalt (that starts to crumble and fall apart within months) or concrete (where they have an inch of poor quality concrete overtop of wire rebar that gets exposed within a couple years as the concrete crumbles.

No one cares and there doesn't seem to be any "Quality Control" or "Contract Assurance" to make sure the contractors do their job properly.
It's a wonder any high rises in the country survive the first monsoon season. (Also why I would never consider buying a condo as I highly doubt the construction standards are that much better than they are with your average single or two story "village" house.)

I suspect there will be a couple news stories about "increased inspections" and "enforcing safety standards" in the next few days - and then it will be back to business as per normal a couple weeks later.

Just like happens after every nightclub/mall/condo fire disaster. Lots of chest-pounding in front of the cameras for a couple days, some photo ops of "inspections" and then 2 weeks later everything is back to the way it was before.

November 25, 2024

Also note - in Thailand, Customs determines Duties and Tariffs on the "CIF" value of a shipment.
Cost (declared value of the shipment)
Insurance (regardless if the shipment was insured or not)
Freight (the shipping costs to get the order to Thailand)

The total of those 3 is the "CIF value" that they then apply the applicable Duties/tariffs to.

And I found out (the "hard" way) that even if your order has no insurance and "free shipping" - Customs is allowed to "estimate" what those values "might" have been, then add them to the declared value of the order and then assign the Duties/Tariffs.

I had a (minor) discussion about that once at the Customs House in Laem Chabang with an order I received from AliExpress that was "free shipping". I even showed them the "invoice" on the AliExpress site for the order where it said "free shipping".
Didn't matter.
They basically just added some small percentage of the value of the item I'd ordered as a "shipping" fee and a smaller percentage as the "estimated" insurance and then applied the Duties to the total. (I think it added about 300 baht to the "CIF" value on a shipment valued at just over 2600 baht.)

And then they charged me a 40% Duties and Tariffs fee (the scheduled amount for "new motorcycle parts").

I went through that a couple times with them. (I now know the route to the Laem Chabang Customs House quite well in fact.)
Usually it's only when it's a large item (like leather saddlebags for a motorcycle) or has a "higher" declared value.

Smaller items (and cheaper ones) used to either go to the Chaiyapruek post office - or slip through without any additional fees at all. I had it worked out a couple years ago. It seemed that packages worth less that $75 US sailed right through. Packages valued at $75-150 would get hit with additional fees about half the time and packages valued at over $150 would always have additional fees imposed.

(Unlike what the courier companies like FedEx, UPS and DHL do, where they charge the FULL, maximum amount on any shipment, regardless of value - and then add their own handling fees on top because they know even if you refuse the shipment - you STILL have to pay the Customs duties - and then the courier company can "destroy" - or keep - your package. You've already paid for it and the shipping and they don't have to return it to sender - especially not at their expense - so they are "supposed" to destroy the package(s) that get refused.)

I looked that up a couple months ago when FedEx was jerking me around on a package they had in Bangkok. After a week of dicking around I was ready to tell them to stuff the package and I looked into what would happen if I refused to accept it.
Basically, you'd end up still having to pay the Duties, and no refund on the shipping, and it wouldn't go back to the sender so you'd lose the package as well (and couldn't claim it as "lost" in shipping) so you'd end up with nothing.

And the courier companies KNOW that, which is how they get away with it.

With that FedEx shipment, I spent almost 2 weeks jumping through hoops before they finally delivered it and I ended up paying nearly 3,200 baht in extra fees and charges for a shipment valued at 3,600 baht. (I kept the paperwork.)

And of that 3,200 - only 746 was actual Customs Duties !!

And frakken FedEx made me "register" with Customs and send them a copy of my "registration card" - and THEN charged ME an additional 1,400 baht to "amend the waybill" because on the shipping label it had my first and last name - but on the "registration card" it had my first, middle and last name !!

So yeah, avoid using courier companies if at all possible. Order smaller amounts if need be or have someone ship stuff through the regular postal system.

Otherwise you could get shafted by the courier companies.

November 25, 2024

This has been in effect for a couple months now. I think it came into effect on 1 July actually.

It was a big news item (here and in other media) that Thailand was going to start charging duties on shipments "under 1,500 baht" in declared value.

They said it was to "protect" Thai businesses that were being hurt by all the cheap imports coming into Thailand through (orders made on Lazada, Shopee, AliExpress, etc), mainly from China (where the vendors on those sites get most of their stock from).

I thought it was hilarious when they announced it because they made it sound like, if you ordered something worth 1,495 baht they'd charge Duties on it but it you ordered something valued at 1,505 baht, no Duties would be charged.

I've been getting packages from eBay and AliExpress and from my mail forwarding company in the USA that have had "Duties" added to them.
3 packages were delivered and I paid the driver (and was given a paper copy of the Fee summary) and once I had to go to the Chaiyapruek Post Office (I think because that one was over 100 baht in fees or something).

And of course, NOTHING will change and the extra fees will have NO effect, good or bad, on "Thai businesses" - because most of the stuff being ordered through those sites is all made in China anyways, regardless of who is ordering/selling it.

And the vendors on Lazada are (mostly) Thais and Thai companies - but THEY aren't the ones paying the extra duties so it's not having any effect on their businesses.

November 23, 2024

I believe the problem is that forming "gangs" and "flagrantly flouting the law" are occupations restricted to Thais only, primarily those in politics, policing, judicial and military occupations.

Nobody likes competition horning in on them !

Makes you wonder what Thailand will do when the Triads start taking over the local "mafias" and stepping on a lot of toes (or cutting them off completely).

(Pretty sure they don't like to share too much either - and will be a lot harder to identify than the "caucasian" criminal element.)

November 22, 2024

In Thailand they prefer to dose the booze with Insecticide.

Remember the incident(s) in (Phuket ?) where two female tourists were found dead in their hotel room, no signs of foul play (i.e. not beaten/raped/stabbed).

Someone pretended that maybe the room had been heavily fumigated but that's not likely. I know what a heavily fumigated room/container is like and have never seen anyone in Thailand that would waste money spraying a room for bugs, let alone with enough insecticide to be lethal to humans as well.

But they had been drinking at a bar well known for it's "bucket drinks" - filled with alcohol and who knows what but said to also quite often include insecticide as an extra "boost" (that's cheap, easy to obtain and not regulated even in the slightest).

But that's the trade off for going to a warm, tropical country that is also (usually) a cheap vacation spot. Low - or no - standards and even less enforcement of existing standards.

That's how they get away with chaining and locking emergency exits and fire doors in Condos and nightclubs.
Or using unlicensed, barely trained welders/electricians who end up causing fires that spread through ceiling material that is not even remotely fire retardant because the "good stuff" costs money !

Or sell booze that may have "suspicious" origins. (Sheesh, even my Thai friends are super wary about buying Regency brandy because of all the fake stuff being sold.)

I was joking with a friend about what would happen if a "health inspector" from Canada (or other western country) were to come to Thailand and try eating at some local "restaurants". A minute later we saw a rat scramble across the floor and climb a nearby tree while you could see cockroaches trying to climb out of the sewer grate 3 meters away.

(I said the "inspector" would probably throw up, run away and have a heart-attack, not necessarily in that order.)

November 12, 2024

For those unfamiliar with the original story.
"12 May 1994

A 34-year-old Briton, who was in Thailand studying martial arts, was

arrested at Bangkok airport early yesterday and charged with smuggling

two kilos of heroin. Jonathan Wheeler, from Southampton, was arrested by

Thai customs as he prepared to board a flight to Taipei, Taiwan."
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12697620.briton-on-drug-charge/

1994 - NOT 1993.

"8 Feb 2000
Jonathan Wheeler has lived in Bang Kwang prison for five and a half years. The story of how he got there is so familiar that it is a cliche. He was trapped in a gambling debt and threatened with death unless he carried a package out of Thailand to pay it off. The dealers tipped off customs and while Wheeler was stopped the people with the serious quantities of heroin slipped through. Wheeler's life - working in a bar on the island of Ko Samui and kick boxing for a living - was over at the age of 33. He was sentenced to 50 years."

Again, making it 1994, not 1993. Note how the story has changed from what it was 24 years ago.

I guess you won't sell as many books if people know the truth about why you were in prison.

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