Phuketboy

No, that's where the majority of low quality tourist and expat live. If they simply moved to pattaya they would get: parking, cheap prices and public transportation.

I know a few expats who have moved to Pattaya, and a few tourists that now holiday in Pattaya, rather than Phuket.

Who would ever think that a sleezy place like Pattaya would offer a better holiday product than Phuket?

Namkangman, not all expats that live on the west coast of the island are low quality. Some live there because that is where their businesses are. As for moving to Pattaya, no thanks, not a chance in hell. In one sentence you talk of low quality tourist and expat and then you suggest moving to Pattaya, the sleaziest, scummiest place in the entire country. Each to their own though. I know many who moved from Pattaya to Phuket and others who moved from Phuket to Pattaya, all had different reasons but all have said the same as I said before…. it's just scum and sleaze.

Don't just execute him. Do so in a way that he doesn't die, let him recover and then do it again. Repeat multiple times to a near death experience, make this scum suffer. The first step in the process should be to cut is penis off, this should be done immediately.

3 months is more than enough to see Thailand maybe 6 months max. I firmly believe that anyone who has back to back tourist visas longer than 12 months (4 entries/visa runs) is not a tourist. People get your shit together and get the correct visa.

Tourism has been down for the past 2 years. Has nothing to do with the bomb. Love how they use every opportunity to blame something for it being down and not the fact that it's just getting too expensive and tourists are looking for cheaper options.

What a load of bullshit. Support all their workers in 47 bars? They don't have workers in 47 bars. The bar owners have their own staff and pay them themselves. The only people Tiger pay are their own staff in the discotheque upstairs, security and cleaners. Tiger don't give a shit about the bars or the bar owners, they only care about their rent and key money. I wonder how they would go with a case for tax evasion being that the bars pay 5 million key money and 50000 - 70000 rent per month but only a fraction of this is declared. Proof is in the contracts and rent recipes each month. They might have their little hands under the table with local courts, but how would they go with the revenue department of Thailand…… just saying

You need to either get a licence in your country and then apply for a international Drivers Permit, or get yourself a licence here when you arrive. International Drivers Permits can only be use for 60 days on a tourist visa or 90 days on a Non Immigrant visa. Since you say you are on a tourist visa, you can get a Thai licence for 1 year (some say it's now 2 years, so it may have changed).

Remember this…. no licence will mean you are responsible for any and every accident you are involved in, whether your fault or not. If you injure or kill someone, your life will be hell. If you have an accident and you injure or kill my partner or child, you will hope like hell I don't find you, you will be paying for the rest of your life Just saying, as I'm sure a lot of others on here would feel the same. In all honesty, go get your licence, 1 day and about 800 baht for both car and motorbike.

One more time, IDP's are not legally valid in Thailand.

Really? Thailand has signed "Geneva Convention on Road Traffic", Geneva 13 September 1949, so this rules all questions about International Driving Permits.

You need to either get a licence in your country and then apply for a international Drivers Permit, or get yourself a licence here when you arrive. International Drivers Permits can only be use for 60 days on a tourist visa or 90 days on a Non Immigrant visa. Since you say you are on a tourist visa, you can get a Thai licence for 1 year (some say it's now 2 years, so it may have changed).

Remember this…. no licence will mean you are responsible for any and every accident you are involved in, whether your fault or not. If you injure or kill someone, your life will be hell. If you have an accident and you injure or kill my partner or child, you will hope like hell I don't find you, you will be paying for the rest of your life Just saying, as I'm sure a lot of others on here would feel the same. In all honesty, go get your licence, 1 day and about 800 baht for both car and motorbike.

If you are not returning to Australia, then do this tax return as a resident of Australia, that way you get the $18000 tax free threshold. Once the tax return is done change your residence to Thailand so you do not need to pay tax or do a return in Australia anymore. Unless of course you are still earning an income there, then you will still need to pay tax there. It gets confusing if you have income coming in from multiple countries. Simplify things for yourself. If you are never returning to Australia, close all ties and transfer everything to where you want to live.

The loan or credit card through the banks is a good idea/option. I really just hate owing money and preferred not to borrow, however, having a good credit score is handy if anything should happen where it is ever needed. Car is sorted, I just gave them more money down and got a Thai friend to sign as guarantor. Thanks again

Thanks guys. I understand paying off early won't save on interest, that wasn't the point. We simply wanted to pay it off early so that we didn't have it, but at the same time giving her a credit rating. Even if we put all the money in a separate account and they direct debit this each month and maybe only take the loan over 12 or 24 months. We just want a rating.

One person suggested buying through the company. We could, however this would not give her a credit rating because a company is regarded as a separate entity. As for changing the address on the house her id card and house book, I will get her to do this. I honestly never thought it mattered where in Thailand you live when getting loans, as it's still the same country. It seems really backwards.

Anyway, thank you for all the advice, looks like I need her to change a few things for the future.

In Thailand in the past I have always paid upfront for items (cars, businesses, home etc), this being good, it also means neither myself or my partner have a credit rating here in Thailand. As we wanted a new car for my partner, we decided we would do on finance and pay it off quickly as possible making early payments so at least she could get a good rating. Picked out a car at Honda, put 25% down and gave them bank statements, company documents, house book and even last years financials for the company etc. The finance guy came out to have a look at the company and the associated businesses. He said he needed to do this because some people will open a company or business but do nothing, or it's no longer there (Totally understand).

Anyway, after 2 days they called my partner and told her because she is in Phuket and her home is Khon Kaen she would need a co-signer (guarantor) I asked if I could sign and they told me no because I was not Thai. They also said that it would be easier if she applied in her home of Khon Kaen. This made absolutely no sense to me what-so-ever. It doesn't matter where you apply from, all finance papers get sent to Honda Financial Services in Bangkok for approval. It's the same company, same division and the same people doing the approval. When asked if I put another 10% down (35%) would that make a difference?, They said no, she would still need a co-signiture. I can pay for the car outright, but the point here was I want her to have a credit rating.

Has anyone else come across this situation? Does it really make a difference if someone is in Pattaya, Bangkok, Nong Khai, Chaiaphum, Udon Thani, Phuket etc etc? It's the same country. Are they just making it difficult for people? All our Thai friends have said the same happened to them whenever they get a loan. They say it's easier if they go home and apply. Never heard of anything like this.

Does he need a Thai passport at all? Can he travel into Thailand on his US passport and then apply for a Thai id which would allow him to stay here. I have heard of other Thai people in similar situations. They are born and live overseas with their Thai parents, but find it difficult to get citizenship here.

Surely, they can run a face recognition through the immigration computers to find out who this guy is and where he came from. He certainly doesn't look thai, so they must be able to track down some information. Everyone gets a photo taken and passport scanned on entry to the country.

Once again it's the time of year when shit happens in Thailand which will ultimately effect tourism for the coming high season…. AGAIN. Why is it always this time of year when the <deleted> idiots come out of their caves?

Another excuse why the tourists won't come. Are they so blind that they can't see that the tourists have already stopped coming? I mean, come on seriously, tourist numbers have been down for months. We didn't have a normal high season last year either. This year's low season in Phuket is the worst many have seen since 2004. The Chinese might be coming, but they don't spend money. They book everything before they come and spend nothing in local businesses. TAT should be sending tourism advertising campaigns to Australia and Europe to get people interested in coming. Don't know what game they are playing, but someone needs to lose their job because they just aren't doing it or have no idea.

Totally depends on the school, but yes they are suppose to learn some english. My daughter goes to an international school in Phuket and all students even those with 2 Thai parents, speak very good english. I don't rate the government Thai schools, I have seen the difference in students who have studied in both Government and Private/International and they learn more and develop so much quicker in an private or international schools. Back home the difference in education between the schools isn't that great but it certainly is in Thailand.

He will need to make sure that he has paid his taxes for a salary equal to 50,000 baht per month. It doesn't matter if his salary was less than this, a good accountant will be able to doctor this up. I always renew my non-b in Thailand through my lawyer. I have also done this outside of Thailand and found the easiest place to do it was in KL. Drop off in the morning day 1 and pick up in the afternoon day 2. If he is travelling to Thailand, he could stop at KL on the way through and do visa there. Malaysian airlines stop here so do a few others (shouldn't cost anymore in airfare tickets to go Australia - KL and then KL-Thailand, at least it didn't for me when I stopped there last).

The bouncers failed to do their jobs. Even though he was a police officer, he should have have been turfed out on his drunken arse just like anyone else would have. Threatening to shoot anyone who stepped in. Come on, I'm sure one of the many bouncers could have restrained him from behind before he pulled a gun considering he was busy beating on someone. In saying that, these officers think just because they have a uniform they are invincible, when they are no better than the shit on the side of the road. People need to stop being scared of these <deleted> and stand up to them. There are many more people than there are police.

It's been banned in Thailand for years, they cracked down on it in Phuket last year. All they are doing is starting to enforce an already existing law no news here.

So many applying for licences but how many are actually doing driver training to learn how to drive? Thai's can't drive for shit.

I remember doing my Thai licence renewal last year and the driving standard of Thai's was shocking. One lady damaged the underside of the car while reverse parking, another even managed to crash the car into the testers office/box on the course. Guess what…. they both still got their licence. When waiting for the actual licence, I couldn't believe it and actually laughed when the one who crashed was called out. One of the officers issuing the licence asked why I laughed, I said because she just crashed the car doing 10km/hr, now she has a licence and will be driving home at 100km/hr, how much damage or death you think she will cause. His answer, welcome to Thailand.

Does anyone even care what Thaksin thinks anyway? A disgrace to Thailand and the people, his opinion is irrelevant.

Maybe put an automatic water system in place (such as the irrigation systems with timers we use in gardens back home). Then it's just the fish that need feeding and the tidying of trees. The fish feeding can be done by your wife and the trees don't need tidying every single day, maybe once a week. This will cut back on the amount of labour you need. Expecting people to work outside in this heat and sun would be a challenge, I certainly wouldn't like to do it and I come from a construction background.

I agree Thai's are lazy when it comes to work and it's not just manual labour type of work either. Thai's work long hours, some 12hrs with only 2 days off a month. However, it's certainly not hard work, but it could seem tiring because work is all they do. I have 22 staff working for me and it can be a nightmare to motivate them. They would much rather sit and talk and relax, especially when it's hot. Maybe offer them 9-5 hours, 5 days a week with the weekends off. This may entice them as they will be able to work and have time to themselves as well. Need to generate a balance.

30 to 90 million baht per month. That's not a bad venture at all.

You can use your Thai drivers licence no problems at all.

People on here arguing about High Season/Low Season and that of course the numbers are down. I can remember and it wasn't that long ago that there was not much difference between the streets being busy with tourists weather it be low or high. There might have been some less during the low season, but it certainly wasn't that great. I will try and pull some photos in the difference ion Bangla if I can find them to prove this. The truth is that tourists just aren't coming here as a result of many things. The government, the bad publicity, the murders last year Koh Tao, beach chair removals, costs have gone up, girls all thinking they are superstars and not so appreciative anymore, girls costing too much, people tired of being ripped off by the tuk tuk scum, more businesses closing because of greedy landlords, and the biggest one of all is the strong Baht against other currencies.