keestha

Recently I received a laptop mailed from Europe. Never had a problem, except for once when 2 dictionaries mailed from Europe took a long time to arrive, because they had to pass through customs. That was back in 1992 though.

Speed of delivery depends on your local postman/postwoman/postkatoey. It changes frequently who is delivering the mail. When I have to wait too long for mail I am expecting, I go to the post office responsible for my area, and enquire. Usually they tell me then my mail is already with the person responsible for delivery, who might wait till there are a few items to deliver before making the trip to my doorstep.

If things would go missing more than once, I would request the post office to hold my mail, so that I could come and pick it up myself.

There is a thread running about this in the Phuket forum, it is titled Phuket to Don Sak.

It remains dangerous.

Driving low speed in the Khao Lak beach area, a farang driven car came straight towards mine, at the wrong side of the road. I started honking and flashing my headlights, and only after some delay the guy moved to the left side of the road. When he drove past me, he looked at me like I was a total nutcase.

It could happen to anyone though. Once, when I had lived in Thailand a long time already, I left my parents house on bicycle. It was sunday, and because it is a nice countryside area close to the city, there were a lot of people walking.

They were all looking at me a bit strangely, and I checked if I had maybe left my fly open.

Then it got through to me that I was riding at the left side of the road, in the Netherlands you are supposed to keep right.

There is an ad in the Bangkok Post:

New Investment Opportunity with PTT (the company that has all those gasoline stations, K.)

Eight Years Investment Period

Semi-annual Interest Payment

5.00% p.a. for year 1-5 and

6.20% p.a. for year 6-8

Then YOU make your own choice, at the end of Year 8, between

1.Get Your Money Back OR

2. Invest for another 7 years

with semi-annual interest payment of 6.80% p.a.

and Get your money back at maturity

Investments contains risks. Investors should study

information carefully before making a decision to invest.

I am not contemplating to buy into this myself, but I am just curious about what you financial wizards think of this. How safe would this investment be?

Well, if somebody would say it is impossible to make a living with the type of business I am doing, I would certainly step forward and contradict.

Remember having heard about foreigners being severely injured in a traffic accident, being brought to a hospital and then being stabilized and not really treated, till it became clear if the person had insurance and/or sufficient money to pay the hospital bill.

Does anybody have case stories to confirm this? I could also imagine it might make a difference if you are in say Pattaya or in Nakhon Nowhere.

Well, the outcome of this thread, and other forex threads for that matter, seems pretty obvious to me. Lots of people coming forward who are dabbling in forex, but nobody who has actually been making a living of it, for an extended period of time.

Teacup, maybe it makes you feel better right now to ignore warnings, because you have made your decision already. But I certainly hope you see this only as a hobby, and that you don't have the illusion that this could ever develop into a steady source of income for you.

Whatever you do, stay clear of Thailand based brokerage firms. Some of them have been known to give people who bring in new "traders" a percentage of their inevitable losses.

Times have changed, obviously.

The Atlanta Hotel was the first place where I ever spent the night in Thailand, it was back in 1974. I slept in a dormitory, and I woke up in the middle of the night because the Japanese backpacker in the bed next to mine had chosen to take a lady of the night with him.

As far as the present is concerned, I wonder what would happen if you walked in there with your Thai wife and one or more half Thai children.

Why anyone would try on-line dating is beyond my understanding.

Was withouth computer for a few days and went to internet shop Nong Han amphur, a place in the Isaan bush most won't ever have heard about.

Next to me sat 4 girls in school uniform, I had a look at their screen. They were on-line dating with webcam, hahahahaha

The lady owner came to disturb me and said: "you want Thai wife?, have 4 sitting here next to you

On-line dating is the way to go, yeah!

Sure. When I use internet shops in villages/small towns in the Isaan, the dating site Thailovelinks.com always pops up in the memory of the browser.

There are many beaches in the Khao Lak area, some of which are very nice.

keestha, you state that it is impossible to predict forex movements yet recommend commodities as if different rules apply. You cannot predict the direction of price with certainty in any market. But that's not the point.

Trading is a probability game. You cannot consistently win without consistently losing. The trick is to trade setups that have a higher probability of winning than losing, so let's say that over time you have 7 winning trades and 3 losing trades out of 10 on average, then you will win overall. That is trading in a nutshell. There is no other way. What you need is a trading edge, discipline and good money management. Your worst enemy is not the broker, its your own emotions. But I agree that most traders lose money.

trd,

In my experience, in the long run every forex trader ends up losing and quitting.

I still would like to hear reports from people having made a living off forex for at least 5 years.

So I am not talking about folks who do it as a hobby, taking in $70 profit every now and then.

Important to remember, 95% of entrants into forex will lose their roll in the first 3 months and walk bowlegged for years.

And the vast majority of the remaining 5% will lose their money later on. Forex movements are impossible to predict, because there are too many factors influencing them. Real money is to be made with forex only if you start a brokerage, then the losses of the "traders" are your profits. And that's the reason there are so many of these brokerage firms.

Now there might be somebody coming forward who claims he has made good money with forex for an extended period of time (think 5 years), but if it is true at all, this is just the exception that confirms the rule.

It's a dead end street, Teacup. Why don't you consider commodities such as coffee or rubber as an alternative, or maybe gold?

OP,

Consider Khao Lak. Lots of first class hotels, lovely quiet beaches, hilly forested hinterland with lots of waterfalls.

If you've booked a cheapie flight with AirAsia, it's usually better to eat the ticket rather than change it.

Not true. I effortlessly changed a Phuket - Bangkok Air Asia flight a few weeks ago. You have to pay a fee though, which will be instantly deducted from your credit card.

Keep in mind, once you get to Donsak, if you don't already have a reservation, you could add many hours sitting waiting for an available ferry.

Really? The ferry is going every hour. Last time I went to Samui was in February 2005 (high season), and there was place for my car at the first ferry leaving. But maybe that was just good luck.

The application will be sent back to the Big Boss to confirm all is ok and then I will be issued with either a 90 day (renewal) extension of stay, or a 1 year extension.

One year extension we all know about, but I didn't know something like a 90 day extension issued at the immigration office existed. Or did I understand something not correctly?

Distance to Khao Sok from Phuket airport is about 150 KM, more likely it would take you about 3 hours, you have to pass through several population centers, and the last part of the drive is hilly. Coming from Phuket drive across the bridge, keep going straight on through Khokkloy, Thai Meuang, Khao Lak and Takua Pa. A few kilometers past Takua Pa there is a junction, where you go straight on towards Surat Thani, and not left towards Ranong.

Going to Khao Sok from Krabi would take considerably longer.

Teacup,

Forex threads keep popping up on TV, and there are "professional traders" posting who are "making money".

A good idea for you: dig deep into the search function, and try to contact posters who claimed to be making money with this 3-4 years ago. Ask them if they are still into forex.

In the province Tak, northern Thailand, there are farmers growing avocados.

Why not splurge and spend a night there, you deserve it.

Room rates start at 6000 Baht, the most expensive type of room will set you back 28000 Baht.

Being a fairly avid reader of this subforum, it surprises me never having heard anybody mentioning the Dusit hot springs resort, in Khokkloy just across the bridge coming from Phuket.

It is a (I think) 5 star hotel with a gorgeous swimming pool, and the open air hot springs. Around the swimming pool and the hot springs there are plenty of beach chairs and thatched umbrellas. For 500 Baht you can spend the whole day there, a cold drink and a snack and the use of a towel are included in the price. The place is very nicely laid out, the ideal tropical paradise you find in travel agency brochures in the west. Nicest thing about it, there are always very few other people around.

To go there, drive across the bridge, and turn left at the junction with the traffic light in Khokkloy about 5 KM from the bridge. It is well signposted.

By the way this post is not some kind of a plug, I am in no way affiliated with this business. I just wanted to tell readers who don't know about it that this is a very nice daytrip possibility.

Rather than buying a bar, rent premises and fit them out as a bar yourself. Be aware that a rent contract in Thailand is always for a limited period of time, and when the lease expires, you might loose everything. Don't rely on options to renew the lease, often the contract in Thai will state that the lease can be extended if the two parties agree, in other words you cannot count on the extension.

And most important......spend one night in a bar, keep your eyes off the ladies, and just keep track exactly how much turnover they make. You will see it is a joke compared with the turnover a neighbourhood bar in your native country makes, and it still would be if the drinks prices in Thailand would be the same as in your native country.

Location is of the utmost important for a tourist oriented bar or restaurant. The few steps into that side street will kill you.

Interesting read, this thread. Once ever (1974), I spent 6 weeks in Mexico. During the 18 years I am living in Thailand, I never felt disliked by the people because I am a westerner, but in Mexico this was quite different. People calling me gringo all the time, and being rather unfriendly because they assumed I was an American. Soon I learned the magical phrase to soften them up: "Yo no soy Americano, yo soy Europeano" (I am not American, I am a European.) After Mexico I went down into Guatemala, and there the people were way friendlier.

Anybody having more recent reports about this situation?

If you buy from a second hand car dealer, go to a big reputable looking dealership, and not to a small open air place. After the tsunami wrecked my car, I was so stupid to do the latter, and look at the result:

After one and a half year the car I bought burned out because of fawlty electrical wiring.

A Dutch friend of mine has a 6 year old half Thai son, who was born in Holland. A bit more than 4 years ago, he divorced the boys mother, who went back to Thailand. Ever since he raised the boy alone.

He has joint custody with the ex wife, but she signed a paper valid under Dutch law fully authorizing him to act alone on behalf of the child.

Presently the boy only has Dutch nationality. If I understood correctly from previous threads on this subject, it should be possible to claim Thai nationality for the child. My friend wants to know how to go on about this: could it be arranged at the Thai embassy in Holland, or would he have to go to Thailand, where he presently is on a holiday?

Thanks for any useful replies, and sorrry if this has been covered before.