MikeN

1 hour ago, marqus12 said:

It did not occur to you that the law is not adapted to the needs of time
and various situations, e.g. when the spouse of a Thai citizen is a foreigner

For me It even looks like the law is set up to hunt foreigners endlessly.

Besides, if these people are working it means that they are needed

because someone is willing to pay for their services.

And did it not occur to you that this hypothetical person could have got a marriage visa and a work permit and obeyed the law ? But I will bet that at least 99% of the people in this story that were arrested on Koh Phi Phi do not have a Thai spouse anyway, maybe somebody running one of the illegal hostels might have a Thai wife the others would be just trying to extend their party on the island.

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You are joking, surely? In the bluest of blue ribbon seats, always Liberal since Federation, the Liberal vote dropped from 76% to 43% - a 33% plunge in the primary vote. If that's a mile in front, Shorten must be praying for more of the same next year.

It is a byelection, the result will not be repeated in a general election, certainly not nation wide. A 51/49 result is not a rout, that’s about average for elections. And I doubt Shorten will be praying for more of the same when Labour can only muster 11%, down 6% !

 Phelps has said she would not support any Labour calls for an early election, perhaps because she knows by election voting often goes against the incumbent party and that she probably will not hold the seat in a general election.

It is not exactly a rout on the latest figures, with it going 51%/49% to the independent after preferences, but on the primary vote it is Libs a mile in front on 43%, the leading Independent on 29% and Labour on 11%, with a multitude of independents like the voluntary euthanasia party, the arts party, animal justice party and more bringing up the rear but directing their preferences to Phelps to put her in the lead at the moment.

Labour and Greens both had a swing of 6% against them so they should not be feeling too comfortable.

2 hours ago, NamKangMan said:

 

"A total of 1,625 persons per day will be allowed to enter the park via Koh Miang (Island No 4), 1,700 will be allowed to enter per day via Koh Similan (Island N0 ???? and a further 525 persons per day will be allowed entry to dive at any of 21 dive sites in the park, he explained."  - what possible harm can this "small" number of people, and the boats that transport them, cause to the environment????  ????

 

Of course, these numbers will be strictly monitored, with the quota never breached.

Well when I went there earlier this year our boat was checked three times in 3 days to make sure we had paid our park fees. The park staff are on the ball but what the guys selling tickets on the mainland get up to remains to be seen.

3 minutes ago, Cereal said:

Dude, you don't understand the airline business.

It's more cost effective in the long run.

Cost effective ? After you spent months on full pay by deliberately gaming the system :

”

I would go months at times without ever seeing the inside of an airplane, going for a couple or 3 weeks was normal.

 

Of course, this didn't affect my pay. I was on call, after all, which means on duty. I just wasn't flying  “

No dude, now we understand why airfares are so expensive, paying for free loading bludgers to do nothing.

 And people operating public transport, be it busses or planes, should not be working while they are tired.

22 minutes ago, Cereal said:

Let me fill some of you in on what this story is about and why it happened from the perspective of a person who worked as a cabin crew member (flight attendant or FA) for 10 years for an international long haul carrier.

 

1) A deadhead crew member is on duty. It is quite possible they will be expected to work shortly, or at times, almost immediately after arrival.

2) Very often, I think especially in this case as it was only a single pilot, 

7) DH'ing is absolutely normal. I've done it countless times. DH'ing counts as duty hours not flying hours.

example: Cereal at home in Vancouver. Crew scheduling calls. Cereal, we need you to DH to Tokyo, you'll have a 3 hour wait in Narita then you'll pick up flight 111 and return to YVR okay. You're on duty in 90 minutes, your flight leaves in 2 hours.

1 Nobody can be completely rested after a long distance flight even in first class so I would not be comfortable with that pilot taking off at the controls of another flight immediately after arrival. Get some sleep in a proper bed first !

2. It was not just one pilot.

3. In your hypothetical case, the airline knew at least 15 hours in advance of your takeoff from Japan ( called you 2 hours before your flight to japan, + 10 ? hour flight time +3 hours at Narita) so presumably they knew to save you a seat outbound and would not have filled the plane ? Why did Thai Air not do the same ?

1 hour ago, attrayant said:

 

Why does this amaze you?

Read the comment I was replying to. 

But then, to many Thais it seems that there is only one farangland so I guess I should not be amazed.....

1 hour ago, Sonhia said:

 

I'm amazed at the over kill plus incorrect usage of the British Union flag within Thailand.

I am amazed at the Thai websites that use an incorrect image of the Stars and Stripes to select the English language option, don’t they know anything ? Good thing that I am not a Thai netizen, or I would be so outraged that I would have to boycott Homepro for a start.

The gf says the items in the current promo are no good ..... but she still insists on collecting the stamps ! After last year’s campaign we got 8 sets of Tupperware type containers and 4 ice bucket/ cooler things, which are at least useful even if we did not need so many! 

OP owns 49% of company, wife owns 48%. 

Company owns house, assuming it is fully paid for ?

 Option 1, company sells house, company gets the money NOT the wife or OP. Then the company is dissolved and all assets distributed according to shareholding, less any legal fees, capital gains tax, etc.

 Option 2, the OP sells his share of the company and pockets the proceeds, wife should be paying market rent to the company if she wants to continue living there in the company owned house. After all, who is going to be stupid enough to buy the OP’s share when there is a freeloading tenant not paying rent.

And IMHO even if she was paying rent you would be stupid to buy into this situation so the only feasible option is number one.

47 minutes ago, UdeBoCM said:

You are not supposed to own property in the first place. Keep a [very] low profile about this.

A condo is property too, and subject to the 49% total ownership  rule you are allowed to own a condo, it is land you are not allowed to own.

Renting one or two condos out through an agency would be passive income, but it becomes a bit greyer if you have the six or so required to make 65000 a month income especially if you cut out the middleman at the agency and lease them out directly. Then it becomes a business and you are  working ...?

Which of course you are not allowed to do on a retirement visa .....

Well if you are only on a tourist visa I VERY much doubt that you will legitimately get a yellow Tabian baan !

Bangkok Bank will give you a bank account on a tourist visa, it even says so on their website. Have you tried them ?

19 hours ago, Esso49 said:

so what is the point of the letter then if they also have the real bank book pages as proof I wonder ?

So they can file it away, with the other mountain of paperwork.....or do you want them to keep your bank book ? Photocopies of your passbook can easily be doctored, not so easy with an official bank letterhead and a signature.

Two door pickups do have a lower tax rate, so yes the govt is “subsidising “ them in a sense. They are classed as cargo vehicles, which is why you are supposed to not carry more than two people in them !

My last two vehicles have been hilux pickups, or “utes” in Oz-speak, did 400k Km in both of them, around Oz in each. Gibb River road, Birdsville track, Tanami Track and more.....never a moments worry in them.

Can somebody give me a simple, direct link to the tax treaty that everybody is quoting, please. Cos all the ones that I can find just seem to go around in circles and never end up at the actual document.

Looking at the pics in the “other paper” there are two condo blocks closer than the one where these two complainants live, but they are low level lo-so buildings, guess the residents there don’t have connections....

 That paper also says the woman whining has also complained about other noise from the temple not just the bells. Guess she is okay about noisy motorbikes, barking dogs, loudspeakers on trucks, etc etc. Just cannot stand the temple noise ?

3 hours ago, connda said:

I've given up on Amazon as their simply are too many restrictions on purchasing items.  I'm beyond tired of seeing "This items does not ship to Thailand". 

Get the Amazon mobile app, change the settings to international site, Thailand and you will only get items that are available to be sent here.

3 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Look for a "Thaiwatsadu" or "Global House" They will have it.

The nearest of those would be the Thaiwatsadu near Mega Bangna mall, about 200m towards Sukhumvit, on the south side of the highway. Forget about Homepro stores, they won’t have it.

I imagine that there is a small builders supply place somewhere closer to Silom area though ?

21 hours ago, Sumarianson said:

 

They make massive profits on "your" hard earned money. In Thailand we get no interest on the money we keep in the bank. The bank makes a fortune from those deposits. Banks make interest on money they don't and never had. This is legal. 

If you are not getting any interest on your money then you have the wrong type of account or the wrong bank !

 Of course they make a profit on your money, they are businesses not charities, did you expect them to keep your money safe for nothing in return ? You, and lots of other people, lend money to them, they pay you interest (profit for you). They aggregate all that money and lend it to somebody else charging them interest, = profit for the bank....after allowing for taxes, non performing loans, salaries, IT costs, rents, dividends to shareholders, etc, etc,etc.

 If you don’t like that you have options :

1. Keep your cash under the mattress and watch inflation eat away at it.

2. Become an (illegal) moneylender and charge whatever you seem to think a fair interest rate is .....yeah, sure you will ?

3. Follow the old adage of “ don’t put your money in the bank, own the bank”, in other words buy shares in the bank and share their “massive” profits.

OP, better check your arithmetic before you start whining about finance...right now there is 80 Satang difference between Superrich’s listed cash exchange rate and a TT transfer to BKK Bank, so on a 20000 pound exchange that is only 16000 baht difference, not the 50000 you claimed. Is 16000 baht going to make much difference when you are buying a multi million baht condo ?

 If you are just making a regular transfer for living expenses and do not need the exchange certificate why not use somebody like Transferwise, although in my experience with larger sums their sliding scale fees are worse than the fixed fee charged by my bank even though their publicized exchange rate is better.

 And if you think the local banks’ FX margin is unfair don’t ever try to deal with Australian banks !

So what about all the violence in the soapies, (TV series type of soapies that is). The only ones that do not show problems and arguments settled with a gun are those set in the good old days of Siam when swords and knives had to do.

 Or maybe this couple were just better actors than all those tv stars ?

On 9/16/2018 at 2:39 PM, grumbleweed said:

 

If they want to avoid diabetes they should adopt a more active lifestyle as opposed to their pseudo symbiotic parasitic existence

 

 20% vitamin C?

You knowledge of nutrition is about as good as mine is of the female mind

I think 20% of recommended daily intake per serving would be nearer the mark

Obviously the earlier reference to farm supplies in 50kg sacks went over your head, or you are not a gardener, as he was being “funny” ,well trying to be. The 20-20-20 is actually the NPK ratio of fertilizers..........