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gomangosteen

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Everything posted by gomangosteen

  1. My partner is an accountant for a civil engineering company. Roads and bridges. Contracts mostly 600 million upwards, the standard cut for 'officials' is factored into their contract tenders at 11%. That's the way it is. Without those payoffs, no contracts. Every time a progress payment is due from local government, so too a progress payment is due to the local government inspectors who sign off on work completed.
  2. Bizarre comment, yet you are so bold as to refer to others as 'retards'. NZ does not feature in the FIFA World Cup. As if that is relevant to anything. NZ has incredible native biodiversity borne out of its geographic isolation, no common land borders. People make huge efforts to support, retain and boost near-extinct species and no need for introduced pests.
  3. Winner! Hyped up for the press pictures apparently. A lot of false or exaggerated claims from Kathu police fed to the media. According to the latest news report in Phuket states he is facing two firearms charges for illegal weapons. The rest were replica (Airsoft?) He was involved in a Line group trading them. No mention from Kathu police on the grenades so it would seem they too may be replicas. He was released after one night in custody, he has a reporting-in every 12 days condition on his release, and no date has been set for a court hearing. And he had a nail gun which police stated is not a problem, he has been using it to put up shelves in the house. Still, two illegal firearms is two too many.
  4. Koi carp are an introduced noxious pest fish in New Zealand "rats of the river". It is illegal to sell, breed or distribute them.
  5. Ideally those tourists can afford to stay in hotels with televisions.
  6. Short hiking trip in the Khung Krabaen Non-Hunting area, Chanthaburi coast. Over a hill then down to sea level to the pink rocks at end of the peninsula
  7. I stated my own experience. And was responding to an earlier statement "For a tourist visa it is the same." but thanks all the same ????
  8. I've flown in well over 40x and never been asked re funds; however - for Tourist Visa in 2022 - appears it may differ by country of origin. We currently have a guest staying from New Zealand; they were required to provide a bank letter for their Tourist Visa application confirming they had over NZ$2000 (equates to 44,000 baht at today's rates), as per below from the cover sheet to accompany the application, bank provided while they waited (no cost): 9. A copy of the most recent bank statement providing evidence of sufficient funds for staying in Thailand (credit card and home loan accounts not accepted). Name, bank account balance, account transactions must be clearly indicated. The statement MUST be signed, stamped and dated by the bank. o Tourist Visa (single entry) - at least NZ$ 2,000 per person; o Tourist Visa (multiple entries) - at least NZ$ 9,000 per person, showing the transactions for the past 6 months;
  9. NZ houses #2. Wellington again, friends sold their property to a developer @ $1.15m, bank withdrew developer's finance the day before settlement end of June. A chain of events as they had a conditional offer on another property, as did those vendors and so on. Now unsold @$950k. It's a 'development opportunity' for demolition / build apartments but finance for developers apparently no longer an option.
  10. NZ houses. And it does vary by region/city in terms of how much the prices have dropped. I worked in NZ on contract over April-August this year and stayed with a friend in Wellington. She had received her new govt property valuation which impacts on annual rates payable. The rateable value was $1.48m up from the previous $1.1m and reflective of the insane prices of late 2021. She's freehold and not looking to sell. A reality check from the house two doors along with almost identical house, property size, and valuation. Marketed by a real estate company at $1.4m, reduced after a month to $1.2m and eventually sold at $980k. The downside in all this of course is for the next three years her rates are based on the now unrealistic $1.48m.
  11. Hi. Just some notes on Chanthaburi. Get your Google maps ready The bus terminal is just outside the central city area, near the lake and the main Lotus shopping complex. Minivans for eg Ban Pakkard are from Chantanamit, across the river down an alley opposite Robinson's. Maybe 10 minutes+ drive depending on traffic. There are no tuk-tuks in Chanthaburi it's all Mazda pickups with a bench seat and commonly a leaking noisy exhaust that seems to vent its fumes through holes in the floor. They queue at the bus station. English speaking is extremely rare for a pickup driver (11 years, it's 'never' in my exp). Though they should know "Robinson". The minivan. I only used it once all those years ago, that was enough. It was for locals, stopping constantly to drop-off and pick-up and carrying crates of produce for the market. An experience, but certainly not luxury travel. Hope it goes well for you and look forward to a positive result!
  12. My NZ passport renewal - completed online on a Thursday, following morning a call from NZ Dept Internal Affairs wanting to confirm why I required a new one, ie it hadn't been lost or stolen as hadn't expired, explained full of visa and entry/exit stamps, all ok. Processed by Monday and arrived for collection at DHL agent in Chanthaburi on Wednesday afternoon. Six days, as good as it gets.
  13. I haven't been to Ban Laem/Daung since November 2012, it's a little further north from Ban Pakkard. At that time the markets were bigger than Ban Pakkard, and overall a lot busier, can't comment on 2022. From the archives - Ban Laem/Daung November 2012.
  14. 2-part epoxy for bare concrete; ThaiWatsadu, Global, HomePro will all have a range available.
  15. From central Chan city - 140km to Hat Lek, 76 to Ban Pakkard. Done the trip often enough over the years, Highway 317 to Pong Nam Ron then east/right to Ban Pakkard. As mentioned above, it's the location of choice for visa run companies.
  16. ^ doesn't look at all safe! But in the news 8 November. The expat mechanical engineer in Kathu, Phuket,was one of those arrested:. Regarding the firearms-related cases, the police chief singled out the case of “Veerayuth” (surname withheld), owner of the Charoen Airsoft 4289, who allegedly sold BB guns as well as modified BB guns, which can be used to fire real bullets, online. He said that police have raided 209 workshops, allegedly involved in the modification of BB guns, and arrested 54 suspects, seized 110 modified BB guns, 11 explosive items and a large haul of ammunition.
  17. Strange attitude. What other country can you simply move to and live illegally? Advanced age and reduced income are hardly Thailand's problem.
  18. May have been, but: From 1 January 2021, range is AU$444 to AU$2644. Visitor, student and temporary work visas may be also be cancelled. Thailand may like to try enforcement of the existing system rather than issuing warnings as the linked article states. For a province such as Chanthaburi where much of the economy is from export fruit primarily durian, the risks from imported/untreated fruit would be devastating. Durian is Thailand’s top export earner, outranking rice and rubber June 13, 2022 Post Thai durian has outranked rice and para rubber as Thailand’s top export performer, with export volume last year estimated at about 187 billion baht, compared to 100 billion baht for rice exports and 90 billion baht for rubber,
  19. No. Haven't even witnessed a fight. Closest would be when I was living in Phuket, so pre-2010, attending a Muay Thai event, saw a bar owner I knew cornered by three Thai males near the entrance. Gordon a scrawny little Englishman, drunk and abusive arguing about the admission fee. Calmed things and dragged him away, he even got stroppy with me. He'd have got a good hiding if left to himself, afterwards there were times I thought maybe I should have left him there. Never felt threatened in sleepy Chanthaburi.
  20. I expect most countries have restrictions on people randomly bringing in fruit, though the Thai penalties are light comparatively, up to one year imprisonment/20000 baht fine. They may like to consider the tourist fined in July for bringing half a Subway sandwich to Australia - $AU2644, that's $US1844.
  21. The vessel is MV Arvin, a 46-year-old dry-bulk carrier, sank 17 January 2021. It was at anchor when it started breaking up amidships in heavy swells. In 2020 port officials from Georgia found that the Arvin was structurally unsound, with deck corrosion and poorly maintained weather hatches supporting calls at the time to condemn the ship. But the owners continued to sail.
  22. Collector? He was arrested for selling modified firearms through social media.
  23. As reported earlier, he's a mechanical engineer and it was stated he was manufacturing suppressors / silencers and modifying firearms. He may then be included in the 209 illegal workshops in the news yesterday. Note the Veerayuth reference below is Wirayut in other Thai news sites. I wasn't aware BB guns can be modified like this. Regarding the firearms-related cases, the police chief singled out the case of “Veerayuth” (surname withheld), owner of the Charoen Airsoft 4289, who allegedly sold BB guns as well as modified BB guns, which can be used to fire real bullets, online. He said that police have raided 209 workshops, allegedly involved in the modification of BB guns, and arrested 54 suspects, seized 110 modified BB guns, 11 explosive items and a large haul of ammunition.
  24. The story behind the video New Zealand: Mako shark jumps onto Coromandel charter boat 7 November 2022 A group of people fishing on a Coromandel charter got more than they bargained for when a large Mako shark jumped in their boat giving them a once-in-a-lifetime experience as well as an almighty fright. The Churchys Charters NZ skipper estimated the Mako was about 150kg and as long as eight to nine feet in length. After crash landing on the boat, the Mako was thrashing around trying to escape for a maximum of “two-minutes tops”. The shark managed to wriggle free and they were counting their blessings he didn’t land on the back of the boat where all the customers were.
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