Chua

If the Thai government wants tourists to say longer, how about offering 90-day Visa on Arrivals for free, and even extensions beyond that?   Never understood the rationale for only 30 day visas on arrival; what are they afraid of -- tourists who might otherwise spend TWICE or THREE times as time here, therefore, 200% to 300% more on accommodations, dining and tourism!  Seems like a very simple way to easy double or triple the revenue from tourism.  While they are at it, how about getting rid of very time-consuming and needless accommodation registration requirements?  Big brother mentality does not make foreigners feel comfortable; quite the opposite -- like they are being tracked and watched.

And for increasing domestic tourism, it would be so easy to get rid of the 90-day reporting requirement (since they've just proven this is possible from early April till 31 July.  This way, legitimate 1-year visa holders can feel more at ease to travel within Thailand as freely as any Thai national can.

Lots proposal and draft laws come up and are later abandoned. There are so many very powerful people and companies which own land in Thailand, it seems likely their influence will weigh heavily on this proposal that it will never make it into law, or that if it does under the current government, the next elected candidates will make it part of their platform to repeal it.

The real winner will be an open-source OS which runs any software which was originally designed to run on any Windows system.

I dropped my wallet containing about 18,000 baht once whilst washing my hands in a public toilet. I was half way up the road when a Thai man in his late 20's came running after me with my wallet in his hand. He wouldn't take a tip for giving it back either.

There are good and bad, honest and dishonest in any society. In my opinion, most Thai people are decent and basically honest.

This is so true.

Many people find it easy to always be negative, sarcastic and cynical. Yet the fact is that numerous good deeds happen all around us, every day, and go completely unreported. Its only because of the *media* that we are made aware of bad/negative news.

You will find you are a much more grounded, reality-based, and happy person when you pay attention to the real world you know through DIRECT experience only, and disregard here-say (I heard from a friend or a friend of friend), online gossip, broadcast or web "news" (sensationalism gossip sponsored by corporations), or any other second/third hand "sources".

As his majesty the King has said: we should all be a part of the efficiency economy. That means there is no need for greed; simply be efficient and consume only what you really need. That is sustainable. He's a wise fellow.

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AKA sufficiency.

Yes both are correct to the same ideal:

Sufficient: The condition or quality of being adequate or sufficient.

Efficient: Achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense; working in a well-organized and competent way.

Why doesn't the Thai ministry of education sponsor a contest to create an un-hackable website. Let these hackers beat on each other until they have the perfectly secure website. The grand prize is a high paying job as the new head of web security for the Thai ministry of education.

As his majesty the King has said: we should all be a part of the efficiency economy. That means there is no need for greed; simply be efficient and consume only what you really need. That is sustainable. He's a wise fellow.

NEWS FLASH:

Thai Government actually reads Thai Visa for ideas on how to govern the country:

See this post created 6 days before this announced ban on throwing water in the streets:

See http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/627889-songkran-alcohol-ban-mulled-in-a-move-to-reduce-deaths-during-holiday/page-5#entry6233052

Compared to virtually every first world country, the cost of living in Thailand is still relatively inexpensive.

Only imported items are pricey due to high tariffs, yet local food, drinks, Internet, mobile phone service, healthcare, and domestically manufactured items including electronics, cars, furniture, etc are all much less than in Europe, Australia and North America. The main reasons are that the climate is ideal for agriculture with huge amounts of farm land, along with the fact that the minimum wage and cost of labor (despite recent increases) is still significantly lower than in those other regions of the world.

Glad we now have an app because these old guidelines still seem to be in use:

Rule 1: Stop drinking after the 12th beer.

Rule 2: If you can't manage to get your key into the motorbike, ask your new lady friend to do it for you.

Rule 3: If you put your helmet on over your eyes, no one can see you either.

Rule 4: Check your breath; if it smells like alcohol, go buy some gum

Rule 5: When starting your bike at 4am, be sure to rev the engine as hard and as loud as possible to scare away the coppers.

Rule 6: Look in the mirror... if you see 3 heads, you're the middle one.

How about banning the throwing of white paint/chalk and water at vehicles on the road. It is astounding to see ever year all this dangerous nonsense on the roads. If people want to celebrate with water and white stuff, do it in a park, at a school, at home, but NOT on the roads. That is surely the main reason for the traffic accidents during Songkran.

Also, even if the rate of alcohol related accidents is 7%, how does anyone know that the rate of alcohol intoxicated drivers is not actually higher than that? If it turns out that, say 10% of those driving are actually drunk, then this means that a higher percentage of sober drivers actually are involved in an accident. And what if the person at fault (say in a clear case of rear-ending another vehicle stopped at a traffic light) was sober, but the other person who did nothing wrong happened to be drunk. Then the stats will show alcohol was involved, even though it did not contribute in any way to the accident.

I asked a good friend who is an agent in Thailand... here's what she said:

Commission rates vary around the world. In Hong Kong, real estate commissions are only 1%. In the USA is 2.5% for the buyer's agent and 2.5% to the seller's agent (so in most cases, a total of 5%). The difference in rates is primarily due to the existing secondary market of attracting good agents with a rate at least as high as that which other sellers are offering.

In Thailand, between two Thai people, the rate had traditionally been 3% since this is also codified as the default under Thai law in the case where no commission agreement exists. But that doesn't mean that both parties cannot agree to a higher rate. Indeed, with the 3% base rate, Thais traditionally also offer the agent an "excess payment" where if the Thai agent can get the seller's asking price + X, they get 3% of the asking price plus X, which often works out to well over 10%.

Prior to 2008, between expats, the rates were typically 4% to 5% for properties up to 10 million THB baht and 3% for those over this price. However, due to the global economic recession and downturn during 2009-2011, the decrease in customer demand coupled with the even stronger desire to sell among property owners, the 5% rate spread to virtually all properties, even those with price tags in the hundreds of millions of baht range. The 5% standard rate has since extended to most all properties sold by Thai people as well. They realize that since other sellers are willing to pay 5%, they need to offer the same or else the agents will not be motivated to send the customers to them.

During the 2011-2013 period, some very wise sellers began offering as much as 6% or 7% because the smart ones realize that even this relatively small difference to them makes a huge difference to the broker, who will be incentivized to promote, advertise and prioritize properties which produce the highest ROI.

The best answer is to ask the agent what rate other sellers of comparable property are offering them and then match or beat that rate.

If they are going to shut down the elevators, the right time to do it is on NON-peak hours, such as in the evening. During the day is when they are needed most, and there will be huge queues of people waiting to get up those steps since it is a very long way up and the line will move at the pace of the slowest climber.

There are far better ways to conserve power. For instance, how about requiring advertisers to turn off billboard lights, palaces, government building, and business offices to raise their air conditioner temperature settings and turn off all lights at night.

This is very good news for Koh Samui.

Well it is if the power cuts do actually stop! Anyone who has lived here a few years will be hopeful but reserving their judgement.

Most of the temporary power cuts in Samui are due to scheduled maintenance for upgrades, new transformers, additional connections to new developments, etc. Its not likely those outages will stop because of this new underwater cable from the mainland. The purpose of this new cable is to increase overall capacity for Samui which was quickly approaching its limit.

However, the Bangrak outages may be reduced though since they are also adding a new high power line from the Maenam station to Bophut (which feeds Bangrak). I haven't seen the plan, but it makes sense that this new line will be run all the way up through Plai Laem and out near the NE tip of Samui where it will then connect to Koh Phangan at the closest point.

Anyone with an actual copy of the plan, please post it.

This is very good news for Koh Samui.

This is a not a joke folks. You may think it funny to make light of this, but if you were there next to this door, especially in a crowded car as they often are, you might find yourself face first on the tracks.

Why is there no emergency CLOSE button on the BTS doors?

Of course it is not a joke.

But nobody got his face first on the tracks.

Now just check the fatalities on the roads, if you care to compare levels of danger in Thailand.... If.

But everyone knows the dangers of cars. Thousands of people are killed in cars every year around the world. That's a given.

But not on trains. Especially the BTS, there is a duty of the city to ensure the safety of the public in transportation it provides. Doors opening prematurely is an avoidable malfunction that should not happen. There ought to be safeguards, both automatic and human controlled to prevent things like this from occuring.

This is a not a joke folks. You may think it funny to make light of this, but if you were there next to this door, especially in a crowded car as they often are, you might find yourself face first on the tracks.

Why is there no emergency CLOSE button on the BTS doors?

This story offers an intriguing way to reduce corruption. Individuals who think they can extract bribes will soon loose their power once they understand they can easily be videotaped and exposed to a wide audience.

There is no proof, so the only thing you get is a defamation lawsuit.

If there was video and audio of the demand for a bribe, that would be proof. You wouldn't even need a trial; just upload it to youtube and let the public shame of it works its magic on the officials who claim to be of high prestige and good reputation,

This story offers an intriguing way to reduce corruption. Individuals who think they can extract bribes will soon loose their power once they understand they can easily be videotaped and exposed to a wide audience.

No further comment

Some countries have "no double tax" treaties with Thailand. In those cases, income earned in a foreigner's home country is taxed only there and income earned in Thailand is taxed only in Thailand -- regardless of where the individual resides.

Finally, a meaningful step towards ending one small aspect of corruption. Now, if only those individuals who were actually responsible for this are actually prosecuted, then there will be real progress. This means not just the land 'owners' but also the land office "officials" who allowed it to happen. This is very important for increasing confidence in Thai real estate markets.

These people complaining about floating on the ocean for 90 minutes and calling news need to take a chill pill.

The sea is only dangerous for the unprepared, the ignorant, and the uniformed. If you know what you are doing, 99% of the time there is no problem. Maybe these other folks hire too many long tail drivers for their cruises. Its like hiring a tuk tuk to take you up a mountain.

Still, even if you screw up, worst case, one has a few extra hours of relaxation floating on the seas. Of my total time of many months at sea, the few hours total adrift was the best part.

You are unbelievable! Surely a troll or you know nothing of the ocean... Good luck if you go out with one of these idiots, as you are in their control, not in you air conditioned car on some highway. This was another that happened just recently: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/618018-two-australian-sisters-recount-their-horror-speedboat-trip-to-phi-phi/

Yeah it's really funny to you, I guess. Until you are severely injured or killed!

I imagine it is actually. The boat "captain" couldn't get any help on his own, so "Phuket Marine Police received a distress call from Patick Legros, 58, at about 8:30pm informing them that he, his wife and his 7-year-old daughter were in need of help." Does that sound like a Thai name? At this point, if I don't know the boat driver, unless it's a Ferry, I don't think I'd go out on a boat around here...

Yes, but this sort of thing happens all the time and is so minor and insignificant. No injuries, no drama, no damage, no harm? Stuck at sea for 90 minutes, that's the story? I've been stuck in Bangkok traffic for longer than that and no one ever rescued me.

Brilliant! Yes and these plywood boats sink all the time and people are killed. Look back through the threads about how often this has happened. And by the way, the Andaman Sea in a boat that has no power is nothing like being stuck in traffic in Bangkok!

Yes you're right. No comparison. On the open Andaman sea one has fresh air, sunshine, a nice breeze, no pollution, peace, quiet, and serenity. None of that in the crowded, congested, hazy, humid, dirty, concrete jungle surrounded by concrete, steel, and noise. I'd much rather be adrift at sea for 3 days than stuck in Bangkok traffic for 2 hours.

It's not funny at all. But being at sea for 90 minutes is a far cry from being injured or killed.

NO ONE WAS KILLED OR INJURED HERE.

THIS "INCIDENT" IS ONE OF THE MOST LAME "NEWS" stories I have ever seen. ITS NOTHING. IT HAPPENS MANY TIMES A YEAR -- IT IS NOT NEWS. I'm not not any more trollish than thou. I have been on the high seas a lot times. Sometimes due to boat malfunction, I have been adrift for 4-6 hours. Wow. Oh was I so scared -- not. Relax and enjoy the serenity. It's only scary if one is a novice hi-so who has never been at sea before. These poor rich delicate folk should not be on the ocean. They are only comfortable alone for 36 hours alone in their AirCon high tower with room service near Thong Lor.

Me, I'd rather be with only fresh air, peace, quiet, and a sea breeze for that time.