taxin

To all you "do-gooders" on here, please dont lecture about your views on corruption in Thailand, I find it very boring. Most of you only complain about it because it doesnt benefit you.

Who's lecturing and who's complaining? The OP asked some valid questions and everybody else pitched in with equally valid information on their situation, questions for the OP and views on the issue of "tea money" and work permits. If you find other peoples views very boring unless they agree with your's that says a lot about yourself.

btw if you are happy paying 8000 Baht unnecessarily and consider corruption to be an acceptable way of doing business you must be in real estate.

Firstly the comment on not wanting to hear boring remarks was NOT directed at the OP. It was directed to people like you who normally follow with remarks about corruption, or something else completely off topic. Such as what the previous poster does for a living.

Im not paying 8,000 baht unnecessarily, if you read my post again you will see what I said. You have a choice to pay it, if the OP thinks he should not have to pay it, and feels that the level of service will remain unchanged then he can decline to pay it. But if paying the tea money works for someone (which is does for me) then they have every right to say it works for them.

Its not about your company being legal or illegal, its about paying that little bit extra for the piece of mind that one day it may well come in handy, as it does for me time & time again !

This is an open forum, some advice will be "Dont pay it", some advice will be "Pay it". Ultimately its the OP's decision in the end to decide.

Why is there so many underage motocy drivers on Phuket.

Recently there was an article about this "cant remember where" where the police turn a blind eye to this, saying "the kids have to get home from school somehow"

So if this is the case why so many on the roads at Weekends & after school hours?

A large percent of these underage drivers ride in the mottocy gangs around Phuket.

Kids being kids will do whatever it takes to get recognised as part of the gang.

Keep kids of the roads at weekends and evenings and see the accident figures for motorbikes fall for Phuket.

Ted.

Your answer is quite simple. There are hardly any police around at night, and the kids know this.

It will get worse, particularly if the garages continue selling them for only 2,000 baht down and 1,500 a month payments. Even the kids can afford them now out of there own pocket money !

My Thai wife assures me it's the 13th April 2008.... But expect the mayhem to start 12th....

I do recall that you get a little bit of water antics on the day before, mostly kids and mis-informed tourists. On the other hand I dont think it was that bad that you could not go out without being soaked.

Now in Phuket Songkran normally only lasts one day where its complete mayhem, i.e. the day when the water cannons are out in force and the roads are gridlocked. Or at least it in the past few years this has been the case.

Does anyone know which day/date it lands on this year ? Some say Sat (12th), some say Sun (13th).

Anyone know for sure ?

Gents,

I have to renew my work permit in a month. 4th WP so Far.

I use a reputable Farang lawyers that I most probably pay too much for but they generally get things sorted OK...except it does sort of piss me of paying the 8000thb Tea Money to the Employment office in Phuket Town. Although I hand it too my lawyers clerks in an enveloppe and never see who gets what...

Who else pays Tea money for WP, anyone get for free?

Cheers,

Sleesy.

Ps Really pissed me off when I forget my re-entry permit at Suvanabhum last time and invalidated my 2 month old visa/WP and had to go through the same bung scenario again...

I pay it, same same, 8,000 baht !

I dont see it as tea money, its an "express service fee". Also by paying this fee you will see the difference later down the line when it comes to extending/renewing etc. Such as going away and returning 1 month after the WP ran it, and not having to apply for another one !

Sleesy, your lawyer is not ripping you off. Pay it, you never know when you might need some help from the kind staff at the Employment office. You have a choice and you do not need to pay it however, see how helpful they are when you need there help. You are lucky that you (or your lawyer) are being offered to pay it !

One downside (if you can call it a downside) is that its your lawyer will also get special treatment each time they need a small "favour" from them, even though the favour could be required upon for someone else other than you. There is nothing wrong with that, its business.

My advice is dont stop using this lawyer, you will have wasted the whole point of paying the 8,000 baht. Again, see it as a positive thing and money well spent, you never know when you it might come in handy !

To all you "do-gooders" on here, please dont lecture about your views on corruption in Thailand, I find it very boring. Most of you only complain about it because it doesnt benefit you.

Thanks everyone.

Looks like I will have to go via KL or Sing, was rather hoping for a different way to avoid spending a night in one of the 2 places. The Clark flights are very early in the morning so a stay over is certain. Sing (Tiger) departs 09.20, KL (Airasia) departs 07.20.

Bali-Kota Kinabalu-Clark would have been perfect but im a month or so early for that one. Oh well, theres always next time !

Anyone know the best rourte from Bali to Manila ?

So let me get this right. The 15 kg is ONLY for your checked in baggage, and does not include your carry on ?

So if my checked in baggage is 14kg, and my carry on is 4 or 5kg (e.g. my lap top) this would be fine ?

Many members may not be aware of our core buisiness.

However it happens to be Pvc windows.

In Phuket , Pattaya Changmai , Samui etc,etc.....

Just googled

pvc windows pattaya number 1 and 2 on google

Pvc windows phuket number 2

changmai 1 and 3

etc

guess these guys are not doing so bad for me on the spider stuff !

still had no links to the "better" websites that have been designed ?

For the record good or bad I honestly cannot complain about either the design ( wich was pretty much my idea so cant blame them for that )

or the service i have received.

You may all read the previous posts and decide for yourselves . I guess only time will tell .

Thanks for all the comments though guys , a few changes have been agreed due to your inputs.

thx

Might have something to do with your other domain name that links to your site. (pvcwindowsphuket)

Domain names that have the actual product (and key area) in the URL is always a bonus. But then again, you may be the only company on the net that sells PVC windows in phuket, so naturally you will be up there. The fact that your 2nd for "pvc windows phuket" is a surprise, my guess is that you have probably been beaten by phuket.com

If I started a site now saying www.tiddlywinksinphuket.com and someone searched for "Tiddlywinks in Phuket", there is a very high chance of me being the 1st on Google. (or 2nd)...

Who sets house & land value on Phuket?

What a surreal question. The buyer? The seller? Maybe an agreement between the two?

Goldfish ! Theres no room in this forum for sarcasm !

Still, what other way can you reply to such a stupid question?...

I have an internet business in Thailand, run via a registered company with 24 staff (6 full time in the office). I admit, the main reason is to get my Visa and work permit.

Good luck

OK, so let me get this right. You registered a company employing 24 staff for the sole purpose of getting a visa & work permit ?

I have seen people go to some lengths to get a visa & work permit but this seems too hard to believe....

You sound like one of those farangs who always come to my office looking for a job. I ask them "For what purpose are you seeing employment for ?" Where I nearly always get the reply "So I can get a visa & work permit and stay in Thailand !"

I have to say I got all excited when I read the comment "No more than the price of a 1 bed condo". That was until I seen the price of the villa !

For 5.8 million I can pick up 3 or 4 (2nd hand) one bed condos for the same price, and thats in Patong !!

Good marketing tactic though, it made me look

I've flown on a couple of Tiger flights that were only about 60% full. If they cancelled the original flight then presumably they would also have to cancel the onward flight to the next destination also. You do hear of flights from the budget airlines being cancelled but I don't recall too many tales of last minute cancellations. If your flight is to a popular destination then you should be okay.

This is the reason for my concern, its not a popular place. Well the place im departing from isnt.

Have just been checking out there site, USD$20 to upgrade your baggage allowance by a measly 5kg, they say its to "save on excess baggage charges". I personally $20 for 5kg to be a lot. Which raises the question, I wonder what they hit you for if you dont upgrade and you baggage is more than 15kg ?

As for the question about 3 people with one bag at only 20kg. Have never had this problem but I did see an instance of this a few weeks back when in was in Phuket. There were 3 people checking in together with 2 bags, combined between all 3 passengers they were well under the required ammount however, the staff still insisted on charging them excess baggage, they would not take into account the 3rd person who effectively did not have a bag to check in. The airline was Nok Air.

On the other hand I would imagine the airlines are more lenient when it comes to families, i.e. one small child.

Though not related directly to quality of airline service, the recent BBC news that people are having minute quantities of hash (smaller than a grain of sugar) detected on the sole of their shoes! and Poppy seeds from a LHR bread roll detected on their jumpers at Middle east airports by very sensitive scanning machines and are looking at 4 years plus in an Arab jail for possession of narcotics, will make me seriously consider whether to use the cheapo Arab airlines again as I have done several times in the past.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...nds/7265789.stm

Give me a break ! I mean, look at the guy !!... Its hardly your Auntie Mary on the way back from a week in Spain !

Quote from bbc: "The Rastafarian was arrested at Dubai Airport in September as he waited for a UK flight en route from Ethiopia."

And I bet it wasnt his own hash he was stepping all over !! All I can say is "No smoke without fire !" (quite literally in this case).

Yeah sure I will be considering the cheapo Arab airlines, next time im on the way back from a drug infested Rastafarian pot smoking party in Ethiopia !

Im hearing stories about Tiger Airways canceling flights if they dont get filled. Has anyone heard of this ?

Im thinking of using them in conjunction with an international flight, im a little concerned they might do the dirty on me.

Anyone with any experience ?

Am considering at the moment Qatar Airways or Etihad.

I hear a lot about Etihad (mostly good) but how about Qatar Airways ? Im swaying towards this one coz of the better times.

Which is the better airport, Doha or Abu Dhabi ?

Which is the airline that doesnt allow booze ? Is it Kuwait Airways ?

There are a number of world-class surgical fix-up centers around Bangkok that cater to "men" needing a solution for this very problem.

Really ?

I did HKT - KL_LCCT - Bali and return using Air Asia.

For you using AA, would entail return to KL_LCCT, then Manila.

Check prices, remembering all Air Asia sectors are, point to point.

Thanks Zpete.

Was rather hoping I didnt have to go back on myself and go straight to Manila from Bali. Will have a look and see what the times are like.

Those sites are awful ! But still made me laugh. Funny

I can assure you I will not be falling into the same hole as PSD.

The positive thing that has come out of this thread is that the people who built the PSD site have been exposed on here for all to see, although to the unfortunate expense of PSD.

I have to agree a little with regards to the "I could have done it cheaper" comments, its not really what PSD/N47HAN wants to hear.

On the other hand, the more I read the comments on this thread the more convinced I am that we have actually been a little soft on the people who built the PSD site. "Expensive", "Overpaid" and even my own comments on paying for man hours I take it back. The be end in all this is simple, you were ripped off !!

Its not the 1st time I have seen people get ripped off on websites, I see it all the time people paying 80-100k for a website that should only have been 20k at the most. Just recently it happened to a friend of mine.

These people do it coz they can get away with it, in the world of IT you have so many scamsters out there who take advantage of people simply because they are not in the know. IT is and always will be a very secretive industry, the trick is to never give away those secrets and retain that illusion that its very difficult, time consuming and requires skills, when very rarely does it actually involve any.

This is why so many IT people prefer to be "freelance", its so they can prey on the vulnerable and not have to work for a company were its more difficult to scam people.

Sorry to all the freelancers out there, im sure your not all like this but still, thats my 2 bahts worth on the whole thing.

What does validating mean ?

Does anyone know the best possible way to do the above route ?

Going through Bangkok is not an option.

100% agree with Surfer Bob ! Finding someone who "can" is easy, finding someone who can do it well is another thing. For me there are far too many "self taught" people who can build sites, but will build them very badly !

I have always found that its impossible to find an all rounder. This being A. graphic design skills, B. back office skills (i.e. database, programming) and C. SEO skills (Search Engine Optimization). I have yet to find in all my years of doing business ANYONE that is actually skilled in all these 3 areas.

For me SEO is vital, someone once said to me that a website is merely an online brochure, unless your site has an audience thats all it is, an expensive online brochure ! I too am very surprised that no effort was made to optimize the PSD site in terms of the site description/key words. I dont believe for one minute that the owner of this site doesnt care if his potential clients can find him or not. My only guess is that the company that did the site is not familiar in this area.

I find the PSD site pretty bad myself, I think the customer has merely paid all that money for the content and sheer "man hours" put into it. On the other hand as someone mentioned its upto the customer to say what he wants, me personally I would not have the dark blue/red/black theme but you cant blame the designer for this.

Although to the human eye the firenzelodging site may not look much however, it is by far the best one from all the sites mentioned in this thread.

By the way, I didnt mean for this to turn into a thread about how a site should look. But still, its interesting.

Anyone know any good website designers in Phuket ?

Farang or Thai is ok, so long as they can show previous work done.

Very interesting stats I have to say. Almost 20% in the 4-6 year bracket.

Would be nice to see more voters to give a better picture, but I think to use the word home it should actually be home. I have never lived anywhere else other than Thailand in the past 5 years, so can safely say that its been my home.

I think the above stats might include too many frequent visitors therefore, giving a poor indication of who actually live here.