OnMyWay2

If I continue to be stopped by police which US agency do I contact to file a complaint?

Life Line.

Or just stop spending my money in Thailand, problem solved.

Good idea.

Do you think they will notice?

Notice a drop in tourism? That's not my problem. Maybe they can call Life Line when the Thai economy is on life support, lol.

If I continue to be stopped by police which US agency do I contact to file a complaint?

Life Line.

Or just stop spending my money in Thailand, problem solved.

If I continue to be stopped by police which US agency do I contact to file a complaint?

An army general in a suit talking economic growth targets leaves me anything BUT confident.

If they cared about safety they would clamp down on rental places renting to unlicensed drivers.

I got pulled over again today at the tourist trap checkpoint and they did let me go. I now carry with me a binder full of documentation, you should've seen the look on the guys face expecting no license and I pull a binder and start flipping though documents. He was all ready to write me a ticket too.

He might have eaten something bad. My street dog was vomiting the other day wouldn't eat anything and barely moved. Thought he was gonna die but he made it. I think someone just fed him some bad food.

Will this affect gold prices?

Should I sell or hold on?

Gold is like your life preserver. It goes up and down but you stay afloat!

They are clearly targeting tourists. Only reason I was stopped today was because I was wearing my big "I'm a tourist" backpack.

It's a shakedown for cash plain and simple.

Sadly this reduces the Thai police to same basic level of jet ski mafia with a uniform.

I got stopped today too 700 baht fine for no insurance.

It wasn't even a checkpoint the cop took one look did a u turn and pulled me over for no reason.

Apple cider vinegar look it up on youtube.

There's a pretty good one on soi bukhow close to the subway sandwich shop.

I'm mainly thinking of 2 year time horizon. With the Fed just ending QE and planning to tighten monetary policy in 2015 the dollar is going up. Near term. I don't know of any central bank looking to tighten in 2015.

China is easing, Europe is easing, Japan is easing, Thailand is talking about easing. so on a relative basis the dollar wins.

Sorry wish I knew more about gbp but I don't follow the UK hopefully someone can extrapolate.

I didn't see the whole thing looked like it might have been a fender bender.

Here are a couple points to remember:

Export nations typically depend on low FX rates to create competitive value of their exports. This is traditionally no less true in Thailand than it is for any other export nation.

But this is not just any other export nation this year. Here's why:

1) ASEAN.

A high and rising baht facilitates foreign acquisitions and investments at the outset of ASEAN. Thailand must do this because if they don't Malaysia and Singapore will. The competition to extend financial influence into ASEAN's "more emerging" markets will be intense among ASEAN's 3 more developed nations. Banking and offshore investments are increasingly important to Thailand and will be extremely important as a member of ASEAN. There are just as many powerful Thai banks and corporations hoping for a higher baht value as there are for a lower baht value right now as opportunities are created to extend financial influence outside of Thai borders. As we all know, central banks (despite their 'independence' rhetoric) serve their corporate and banking masters. With a high baht Thailand can exert tremendous influence in ASEAN at a very crucial time. Don't discount that motivation.

And remember who the winners and the losers are in each scenario: The winners in the high-baht scenario are Thailand's wealthiest corporations. The winners in the low-baht scenario are Thailand's SME's. Who do you think is going to win that contest?

2) The junta

The junta is preparing to embark on extremely ambitious infrastructure spending projects. These projects not only reduce the relative importance of the export contribution to GDP, but also depend on large amounts of imported talent, raw material and technology. A low baht FX rate does not serve these projects. A high baht does.

Of course, on a long-term trendline, Thailand must worry about balance of trade. But in the near term, I don't think the concern is there.

If there's one take-away from the last decade of economic history it's that "economic reality" can easily be suspended for the short-term -- and it can be suspended pretty well over the medium term too. Anyone looking at the carnage in Thailand's export numbers and thinking the baht must fall, may well be disappointed.

This may not be a popular opinion here but I expect the baht to rise over the near to medium term. Of course, this being Thailand, I expect them to screw the pooch somewhere over the long term.

My two baht, of course.

I agree with your bullish sentiment towards Thailand but does the baht need to be strong vs. what? other Asian currencies? Not necessarily the US dollar.

A little off topic but I saw a farang getting beat up today near Big C extra. The punk Thai kids ganged up on him and started punching.

These punks were weakling pussies but they feel empowered because they figure lone elderly farangs probably don't have any friends who will jump in and save him.

be careful out there.

location

7-11 on every corner

food variety

Easy transportation

Tourists (and their sense of wonderment)

Just drive it. My bike has no green book and I've never been asked to show it. Just play dumb if asked, most likely couple hundred baht for a fine and you are on your way.

That's what the seller keeps telling me. Just drive it! All I need is the green book.

it's funny because he is kind of a rent a cop type guy who wears a police jacket himself, says if the police give me problems to call him.

I just don't want trouble so I'm rounding up as much documentation as I can

So far I've got

drivers license

green book

Will get insurance next, and torroror if I can pass emissions. Lastly will work on registration and green book transfer.

The RMB is supposed to be allowed to float but it will probably fall instead of rise. During this time I could see the baht going back to 40/usd.

Take a look at this article.

Sorry wrong article this is the one

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2014/03/22/mauldin-chinas-minsky-moment/3/

RMB is not a currency as such, it is like the GBP being sterling. China has 2 currencies, the onshore Yuan CNY and the offshore Yuan CNH.

CNY is the national currency and is a partially convertible currency so cannot be on a floating exchange rate. The CNH is a pseudo currency based on the CNY and fully convertible on the Hong Kong foreign exchange. The CNH floats to a certain extent within a range set by the PBOC.

RMB is just the name of the Chinese currency as they refer to it in mainland China. The currency is said to eventually be allowed to free float. As mentioned in the article above, as they do widen the band the direction will be down not up.

From wiki:

Since 2006, the renminbi exchange rate has been allowed to float in a narrow margin around a fixed base rate determined with reference to a basket of world currencies. The Chinese government has announced that it will gradually increase the flexibility of the exchange rate.

As of 2013, the renminbi is convertible on current accounts but not capital accounts. The ultimate goal has been to make the RMB fully convertible. However, partly in response to the Asian financial crisis in 1998, China has been concerned that the mainland Chinese financial system would not be able to handle the potential rapid cross-border movements of hot money, and as a result, as of 2012, the currency trades within a narrow band specified by the Chinese central government.

This is my first bike so Im new to it all. But I was kind of brought up around 2 strokes one of my friends back home is a fanatic.

My 2 stroke looks like an old fruit cart bike.

But now I have a feeling what my next thread will be. How do I pass emissions with my 2 stroke? I'll keep you guys posted once I get it done.

My new (old) bike is a 2 stroke Honda Smile that's why I'm so adamant about getting it plated. Love the engine sound on this thing.

Unfortunately I'm very bearish on the baht just from what I've been reading I think a lot of the strength was tied to growth out of China which doesn't look to pick up again soon.

I say unfortunately because I have other investments tied to China growth story.

The RMB is supposed to be allowed to float but it will probably fall instead of rise. During this time I could see the baht going back to 40/usd.

Take a look at this article.

Sorry wrong article this is the one

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2014/03/22/mauldin-chinas-minsky-moment/3/

Well, if you only want to look at the last year and half or so, then yes the baht has falling against the dollar.

But draw the trend line starting from around 2001 the baht has be appreciating against the dollar...or if you prefer, the dollar falling against the baht.

But what changed in the last 2 years to cause the trend to reverse? It may not retrace all of the decline since 2001 but much of it was due to factors that are now reversing.

The baht will be falling against the USD. This new trend has only just begun as the US fed starts to raise rates off zero.

It should also fall against the gbp but europe is a bit of a basket case so it's hard to say.

The rise in Asian currencies over the past 10 years was a bit of an anomaly because China was creating artifical demand. That trend has also reversed so there should be downward pressure for some time.

baht will need to fall if they expect to compete on exports with other falling Asian currencies.

Dlt seems to want to discourage you at every turn. That was my experience in Pattaya I'm about to deal with them again to get an old bike registered wish me luck. I'm like you im not gonna let their logistical nightmare scare me away, I don't back down easily.

<p><p>"Do I still Need this if I already have a drivers license? Sounds like same procedure I went through to get a license. "Yes. Drivers license is irrelevant.

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Sigh I had a residency letter. They took it at the dlt when I got my ID card. I know the process. Will go get another.