pokerspiv

There is a huge amount of low-priced accommodation in Lamai around the Wat Lamai area, which is quite close to Tesco and the local market too, which would be ideal if you like shopping. Also about 5 minutes from the beach and nightlife.

I highlighted some of the area on google maps here so you know where I mean.

Does anybody know if/where I can buy electronic cigarettes/vapor on Samui?

Lamai and Hinta Hinyai are far cheaper than all the places you listed.

Is there a reason why?

Less developed, most land is still owned by the original Thai families. Less tourists so demand is lower. Lots of reasons really.

In Lamai there are plenty of expats living in affordable housing (less than 5,000 baht). The mountain side of the ring road from Buddy Beer all the way to Hua Thanon is very cheap. I have a 2 bedroom apartment w/kitchen and living room which costs me 8,000 baht per month.

Lamai and Hinta Hinyai are far cheaper than all the places you listed.

I know of a couple of American English teachers here. Really, it's about what the parents want. Most Asian parents are far more exposed to American English than British English. Most of them probably think English was invented in America for all I know.

From what I have read, Americans are the 2nd most in demand white native English speakers after Brits. Accents are probably more important than nationality. Most schools would love an Oxford or RP accent (0.00, 0:14), but would prefer an American to a Liverpool accent, for example. Scots/Irish don't seem to get much joy in teaching English overseas either, for obvious reasons. Australians with broad accents (1:26) aren't that popular either. As far as Americans go, they'd prefer a Californian (1:39) or Midwestern American (1:45) (also spoken by a lot of Canadians) accent to New York (1:58), Boston or Louisiana for example, since that's what they see in the movies. Unless they watch a lot of NYPD police procedurals, I guess.

FWIW both the American teachers I know have Midwestern accents, which isn't really saying a lot since I think it's the most common one in America, spoken all the way from Seattle to Chicago.

For the time reference to the accents, see this video.

Teaching is probably the best option if her only qualification is good English skills. Many of the Thai schools here can't afford to employ Farang teachers, so employ Filipinos instead.

There are no exceptions since the curfew is imposed nationwide/across the country etc

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

There is no exception to the law that meter taxis MUST use their meter.

It is the law.

All you do is take the number of the taxi and report it.

There are no exception to the law in Thailand

Except for one place in Thailand only . . .

2 places. Phuket taxis don't use meters either.

It is a fact that there are many more hookers in Thailand than most counties in the world. Thai people should learn to accept it and live with it. Sex is cheap and plentiful here.

I dare you to go a bar or anywhere with Thai women, and tell every women you like there that ... I am very poor and don't have any money left, would you like to have sex with me?

And then come back here and tell me again if the sex is really cheap and plentiful in Thailand.

I think USD 30 for the whole night with a young lady where you can knock her as many times as you like is consider very very cheap.

Back home, taxi ride from the airport to home easily cost twice that.

Real men don't beat their wives with a baseball bat, Sean Penn.

Perhaps its miss Hi-So who is the one who is uneducated about the status of women from poorer areas of Thailand.

Please let's get back on topic.

Participants are adults . I am sure common sense prevails & precautions are taken.

Please let's not make out Samui to be what it's not & that is a den of " Theft, muggings, assault, rape and murder ".

Please try & think before making such comments & broad generalization.

Saying it's not is also a generalisation. I guess you think yours is more accurate though.

Interesting facts about water

70% of the world is water

Of which 3% is Fresh Water

Of which just over 2% is Glaciers etc

That leaves under 1% for us

Of which 70% is used for agriculture

60 years ago the world population was 1.25 billion

Today over 6 billion projected to 9 billion in the next 50 years

Get the picture if we don't do something about it.

Here is an interesting article from The Independant about the global crisis. It has a reference to the Bangkok basin.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/fresh-water-supplies-are-going-to-run-out-so-what-can-we-do-to-make-the-taps-keep-running-2304481.html

Remember you cannot manufacture water.

Or, they could just be making it up, as they have been doing for decades.

http://www.ihatethemedia.com/fifteen-foolish-forecasts-how-did-environmentalists-get-it-so-wrong-on-earth-day-1970

The OP is planning to go off the beaten track, at night, alone. That's dangerous anywhere on the island. Life is not like a tourist brochure, Theft, muggings, assault, rape and murder are far, far, far more common in Thailand than in whatever much safer country the OP comes from. Samui is no exception, in fact it's probably worse than average. You shouldn't even walk on the beach at night alone - let alone in areas where there are no other people within screaming distance.

If this was done during the day, would some of you play?

Personally, I'm not a night owl and am rarely out of my house after 10 o'clock, so I'm not qualified to gauge how dangerous Samui is in the early hours. Sure everywhere is that bit more dangerous at night, but is Samui that bad? Is there a mugging and raping issue on Samui?

I don't think Samui is that bad generally in your second point, re muggings and rapes... no different than anywhere else in drug or booze areas... around the world... Generally speaking I would say Samui is a safe place to be.....

Well, you thought wrong.

Samui is a dangerous place, you are just naive.

i come here with triple TR visa that allows me to stay up to 9 months including 3 extensions at 1900 thb (5700THB) and then add several ranong-runs in order to stretch my stay with a 1,5 months till i fly back to home for a quick state of affairs ? what exactly is dishonest about that ?

This means you're living here on a tourist visa, which is not hoe they were meant to be used. Which is why triple entry tourist visa are already much more difficult to get.

Right. What I should be on is a retirement visa. I am retired and all my income is from investments. But I cannot get a retirement visa because I'm not 50 yet.

So, pray tell, which visa should I apply for?

None. According to the intention of the rules you are not eiligible to live in Thailand.

The rules are intended to allow people with foreign income sources to retire here. I am such a person.

I find it a good thing... If us honest working people have to do all this then those who think they can find a way around the law should be punished. Getting a visa is easy. Just get one for the right reasons... Retirement starts at age of 50, or get and education visa and learn something which is good for a year and renewable up to 3 years. Or GET A JOB or invest in the country... And if you don't make the requirement for a marriage visa which is 400.000 baht then you seriously did something wrong in life if you don't have 9500 euros on your savings account... It just shows you are in Thailand for all the wrong reasons. Wish we were more stricter in Europe. It would keep the scum out that is draining our countries

i'm here as a longterm *tourist* and i'm not pretending/aiming anything else. i already speak 6 languages including much better thai than the average longtermer married to a thai so i'm not much interested in "learning" on a ED visa. i'm here for my own reasons (not the women and definitely not to work!); keywords are hammock, book, sea, peace of mind. i'm as honest as you are. there seems to be a lot of bitterness towards farang in thailand who are still young, DON'T have to work, DON'T have to buy a house in the name of the wife, DON'T have to support inlaws, etc.... and the argument that it will keep scum out is pure nonsense.

I'm in a similar situation. My partner and I (she's not Thai) have been visiting Thailand regularly for several years on tourist visas, spending maybe six months out of every 12 in Thailand and the rest of our time travelling in the region. Now, after a seven month tour of Europe, we'd like to settle for a while (and my partner would like to attend university in Bangkok, so we'd be looking at a four year spell).

Neither of us can live in the other's home country long term due to cost and visa reasons, and we chose Thailand as our loose base of operations because of the relaxed visa requirements, along with all its other charms. She'll be able to obtain a legitimate ED visa when she enrols in school, but I'll be forced into the uncomfortable (and legally questionable) limbo of multiple back-to-back tourist visas. I'm self employed (income sourced in the US) and more or less retired, so I'm not interested in finding a job in Thailand (and to do so would take away from the time I need to maintain my overseas income, so it would defeat the purpose). I'm too young for a retirement visa and obviously not interested in marrying a local, which doesn't leave me with many options to stay long term within the law. I am, however, a model citizen in all other respects, law abiding and with a clean criminal record, and since I spend every penny of my considerable earnings in Thailand I'm unquestionably an asset to the country (economically, at least).

It's a common complaint of people who earn their money online that visas can be a pain in the ass, since immigration law hasn't really caught up with the idea that it's possible to earn a living in a country other than the one in which you live. I'd like to spend the next few years relaxing in a hammock, enjoying the beautiful weather and bringing a decent sum of money into the Thai economy while my partner studies, but I'd love to be able to do so legally and without wondering when the other shoe will drop.

Unfortunately it is always the case that some of the good suffer under rules to prevent the unwanted from entering/working.

Because people over 50 don't work illegally right?

Peoples who may be called " long-term tourist " should be able to get a proper visa and such visa runs are not legal at all.

If there are not able to do a proper visa without visa runs it means there are not honest for me.

i come here with triple TR visa that allows me to stay up to 9 months including 3 extensions at 1900 thb (5700THB) and then add several ranong-runs in order to stretch my stay with a 1,5 months till i fly back to home for a quick state of affairs ? what exactly is dishonest about that ?

This means you're living here on a tourist visa, which is not hoe they were meant to be used. Which is why triple entry tourist visa are already much more difficult to get.

Right. What I should be on is a retirement visa. I am retired and all my income is from investments. But I cannot get a retirement visa because I'm not 50 yet.

So, pray tell, which visa should I apply for?

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Get a year visa. AINT HARD

how do you get a year visa?

marry a Thai, get a job here, retire here are among a few ways.

All those things sound pretty hard. Especially the retirement one for people under 50.

In actuality getting a 1 year visa is very difficult. So the guy who said it "ain't hard" is a tool.

If I can go to the bother of getting the correct visa, why can't others?

I have to agree with the Thais on this one.

Why......?

Are these folk creeping in to claim Thai social security benefits ?

If they are doing it to set up dodgy businesses thats another thing, but most are spending their cash.

I would suggest immigration should look at ED visas and attendances at the establishments first, and ask why some are not learning Thai, learning other languages. Crazy.

Because Thai immigration laws unfairly discriminate by age.

I could satisfy all the requirements of a retirement visa very easily. I have significant income coming from overseas.

But I can't get a retirement visa because I'm only 37. So I have to pay 30,000 baht a year and waste 100 hours of my time learning a language.

There's nothing illegitimate about that, but it certainly makes very little sense since I, and people like me, contribute much more to the economy than someone living on an overseas pension does.

Probably, but the fuel consumption of a scooter is miniscule anyway.

You should be able to pick up a 2nd hand motorbike with a green book for 12,000 baht or less.

As for the rest of your post, I am not sure I really understand it.

To make sure the transaction is legitimate, have the seller sign the papers at the government transport office in Lipa Noi.

I seen many types of squash around, but not that one....(here) what's so special about spaghetti squash ? (Thai's tend to call them Pumpkins)

It's a pasta substitute for the paleo/anti-gluten pseudoscience movement who think actual pasta is poisonous. (No, I'm not making this up).

Where would a "Farang" get a gun, anyways?

From just about anywhere? This is Thailand. He probably bought it from a corrupt policeman.

The fact that he covered the license plate makes it pre-meditated. I think the fact that he knew exactly when to strike makes it sound like some help came from the inside, or raises the possibility that he is a frequent customer who had been scouting the place. Either way i don't think it will be long before they figure out who exactly did it.

If not I'm sure there's some Burmese guest worker they can fit up, so the cops can get back to their busy schedule of extortion, rape, smoking ice and firing their guns at fish.