sandyf

13 minutes ago, Chalong circle said:

What about the salary ?

More about the tax than anything else, yesterday tax on diesel in UK was 50.18%, during covid tax was in the order  of 70%.

Tax on petrol is a separate calculation and yesterday about 2% higher than diesel.

https://www.racfoundation.org/data/percentage-uk-pump-price-which-is-tax-page#:~:text=Percentage of UK pump price which is tax&text=Fuel duty is currently levied,chart to see exact values.

Fuel tax in Thailand is less than 25% of that in UK.

11 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

1967. What was the  drink driving level then two pints of Ale?

I 've slept a few times since then, certainly wasn't anything to do with "units".

On 4/14/2024 at 9:43 PM, DrJack54 said:

Can you please post "normal guidelines " 

Although the Bilateral Agreement says no limitation by air, Siam legal makes this statement which some may consider the "norm".

"Those who arrive at the airport without a prior visa will continue to receive a 30-day stamp up to 6 times per calendar year. "

https://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand-visa/thailand-visa-latest-update

13 hours ago, norbra said:

After being an alcoholic for 23 years I breathed a sigh of relief when I blew well below required limit after a couple of beers at a Christmas party. 1st and only time I was ever tested

I have only ever been breathalysed once, in 1967 coming back to camp from Cambridge. Police didn't really know how to use the device so got away with it, bit of a wake up call.

10 hours ago, Umlungu said:

Unfortunately, the never really grown up segment of the population have made it a nasty orgy of idiotic and infantile behaviour.

I can only assume this out of context post was down to English not being your first language.

Obvious difficulty differentiating "foreigners" and "population".

5 hours ago, webfact said:

In the past four days, 3,890 people have been put on probation, about 96% of them were found guilty of drunk driving.

Fairly obvious they should ban the sale of alcohol leading up to and during Songkran.

Everyone wants the numbers down, right?

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

A lot of Thais go home to get away from Songkran in Pattaya

Many Thais go home, not just from Pattaya. Making merit is a significant part of the festival, when the nieces were younger the family used to go to the market to buy crabs and put them back in the sea. Both are working these days, usually over Songkran, so parents just go to the temple.

https://www.richardbarrow.com/2014/04/there-is-more-to-songkran-than-the-waterfights/

13 minutes ago, Robert Paulson said:

Everyone hates it. I don’t care what anyone says nobody likes it. 

It is an age thing, if you look at the Thais majority are relatively young. Foreigners tend to be a bit older but there are those that have never really grown up.

20 minutes ago, newnative said:

And, the correct view, in my opinion.

Indeed. At the time exemption from a hotel licence was granted for only a few rooms, the peception was probably a normal domestic residence. Condo blocks are a different ball game and should be seen in the same way as a hotel.

I have used Airbnb on a regular basis including Thailand ,Vietnam and China, you need some confidence that owners are in compliance with regulations that are fit for purpose.

A few years back we had a weekend at Hua Hin in a 2 bed self contained bungalow. Excellent accommodation in a lovely setting, very enjoyable. Many on here want to distort the rhetoric and claim that was illegal.

15 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Interesting stuff. I wonder whether HSBC recognized the challenge from Wise (and others) and dropped their fees. Nationwide charge £20 for a SWIFT transfer, so I'll stick with Wise.

I suspect it was more of a marketing ploy hoping to recoup the diffference with an inflated exchange rate. The online form defaults to currency of destination and I should think many just accept it.

I change it to GBP but if that comes to an end I will also use Wise.

26 minutes ago, johng said:

@Issanman  great photos  the couple of foreigners in the first one don't look too happy....  got any more to share ?

Not a foreigner in sight.

6 hours ago, ChipButty said:

All the government want is their Tax on the rental income, If they were to collect TAX would that make all STR properties legal? 

 

Tax had nothing to do with it. The whole Airbnb issue is about one particular situation, individual condo  units.

The court took the view that a condo unit could not be seen in the same way as a normal domestic building. With a normal domestic building the owner would be seen to be responsible for all aspects of the premises and that cannot be said for the owner of a condo unit. If I remember right the focus was on the safety aspects of a large building and ruled all rooms had to be taken into account.

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I just read this on that legal site, 

 

If some condominium owners want to play it safe and rent freely on a nightly or weekly basis, they can ask the juristic person to apply for a Hotel License for the entire condominium. However, the requirements for obtaining a Hotel License are considerable. 

Indeed, the whole condo block would be taken into consideration.

22 hours ago, Moonlover said:

I did similar but I use Wise to make the transfer to Thailand. It saves me having to go to the bank to collect FETs. It's quite a trek as I live out of town. That's a quite a low fee that HSBC are charging, but what exchange rate are you getting?

When Wise came on the scene each time I did a transfer I did a comparison and there was very little difference so stayed with what I was used to.  I send GBP so would get the rate when it hits BOT, probably a small admin fee for local bank but I have no indication of that. I have the Wise account and debit card so a back up if ever a problem with HSBC. Some time ago they did point out that I should be sending THB rather than GBP,  just ignored it and nothing further said.

Years ago when I started sending money, HSBC charged £17 for online and £25 at the branch then suddenly around 2012 they dropped it to £4, quite a surprising move.

Each time I do a transfer HSBC posts a remittance advice to my account and for immigration I just download them and cross refer to the statement.  In the days before covid when you could stay inside I used to watch the IO go through them, a couple  of minutes and no questions asked.  

On 4/13/2024 at 11:43 AM, Sydebolle said:

Excellent news, can you kindly name the medical facility by name, location or phone number please? 

The government hospital at Bang Saen.

https://med.go.buu.ac.th/burapha-university-hospital

2 hours ago, bluejets said:

Go back to where ever you came from then if it is now unacceptable to you.

I like to take a bet that, wherever it was, it has followed much the same or doesn't have half the things going for it that it used to.

Quite, the UK has a smaller population than Thailand.

These proposals come at a time when the number of people forced into rough sleeping is soaring, with the latest figures showing that rough sleeping has reached a ten-year high in London.

https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/latest-news/crisis-sign-shows-cruel-reality-of-criminalising-homelessness/#:~:text=Is sleeping on the streets,£2%2C500 or even imprisonment.

The waiting list for hospital treatment rose to a record of nearly 7.8 million in September 2023. The 18-week treatment target has not been met since 2016.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7281/#:~:text=How long is the the,not been met since 2016.

Campaigners say the UK's rubbish "epidemic" is symptomatic of a "country in decline".

https://www.euronews.com/2023/03/15/welcome-to-a-filthy-littered-dump-called-britain

1 hour ago, AAArdvark said:

I recently was in Jomtien late afternoon. There were zero people in the information office so I took the opportunity to speak to the two immigration officers there. I spoak to them at length about the need to get a new TM30 after a trip abroad.  I was asked for my passport and asked if I had a current TM30 in my passport. They looked at it and they both agreed, without hesitation,  that there was  no need for a new one. 

My 90 day is due next month so I will test what I was told. 

I have always found it quite amazing that 2 of the 3 immigration depts within Chonburi Immigration have had such a different way of doing things. Sri Ratcha has said for a decade what you were told.

20 hours ago, FarangFB said:

My driver's license expires in a couple months, I think I'll need to visit immigration to get a residence certificate, wonder if the TM30 has any effect on this.

You should have a TM30 slip in your passport which in theory is still valid.

That being the case, when you come to do the COR just go to immigration and ask for it. It will be a yes or no situation and if rejected do a new TM30 at the time.

On 4/10/2024 at 9:05 AM, Sydebolle said:

I do not want to sound cheeky but what do you expect for a consultation fee of 200 Baht - seriously? You got an opinion on your skin spots for a steal of a price! 

Depends where you go. At my hospital it is 100 baht to see a doctor and when I needed to see a dermatologist they made appointments for same day as cardiologist, still 100 baht so saw one for free or 2 at 50 baht.

After a while the dermatologist referred me to the plastic surgeon and that consultation was also 100 baht. He took one look and said the lump on my ear was cancer, just a question of which type. He removed about one sq in from my ear a few hours later, turned out to be BCC.

Have to say he did excellent job, very neat, just a bit lop sided now. Go back and see him for a check up every 3 months, has a good look around face, neck and arms taking photos of any spots/lumps.

23 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Lay a new path, THEN put the infrastructure/groundwork in. 

Fairly common policy in many countries, repair the roads and then the drains, subject to repairs even being considered. Don't start the work in the first place, problem resolved

When it comes to dysfunctional government departments, Thailand has been taking lessons from a world leader.

On 4/11/2024 at 9:59 PM, vangrop said:

It all has to do with corruption. The builder who gave the biggest brown enveloppe got the job. But in order to maintain profitability the builder has to save on quality. In the meantime the responsibles from city hall don't care about t the rest of the operations as long as they got heir envelopes.

One has to assume you would have the same answer for every other country, not being a bigot or anything.

20 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Pretty sure you don"t have to do that anymore.....and I have never done it.

Quite, my TM30 slip is dated 2015.

Before any untoward comments, I did a new extension a couple of months ago with new passport and new visa, NO new TM30 required.

22 hours ago, digbeth said:

Some hotels won't let you check in with just Thai driver license now, 'policy is for passport' 

What exactly is required of them in order to report T.M. 30? the passport number on driving license might not be current is understandable

 

for hotels that is this strict about reporting I doubt pink ID card would be acceptable too, it's not like they can put you down as a Thai person checking in

The talk of hotels being strict is to a certain extent  a bit hypocritical, they have in fact an obligation under the law to report foreigners staying on the premises.

Is it the view that hotels should break the law?

I as much as anyone don't like the regulation but it's there and normally my wife will check in and they just ignore  me, now and again there is a jobsworth.

Hotels have 2 separate reasons or checking ID, either for immigration or hotel security policy. If it is the latter they will normally accept DL or pink card, the former however requires they check the permission to stay date.

56 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

They should turn the water off in more places in Pattaya! I expect there will be low pressure for the next week as people fill up the big blue buckets.

Years ago the water in Pattaya was often turned off this time of year. Toilets were closed or became unusable, those with their own water were in high demand.

The Golden Crab in Soi 13 was owned by an English guy and when he built the new block around 2003 he put a large underground tank under the building so there would always be a reserve.

In those days we would go from late Nov till April, sometimes as late as June, without any rain. In the last 5/6 years we have had some rain in the early months and this year more than I have known.

Bob Dylan got it right.

16 hours ago, BigStar said:

 

But for more than a decade now it has started on the 11th. This year stayed true to tradition.

Quite obvious the second sentence was outside your comprehension.

"However with the increase in foreigners it is almost certain there will be some starting on the 11th."

"True to tradition" would mean starting on the the 13th, but Thai tradition means nothing to foreigners who seem to think they can change things to suit themselves.