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TheSiemReaper
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Posts posted by TheSiemReaper
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Sorry ? Do you mean that you can withdraw usd at ATMs in Cambodia ?
I forgot to say you can also use Thai atm card to withdraw, you can choose between usd and local currency.
You can only withdraw USD from ATMs in Cambodia. Riel would be way too fiddly. Most of the country works in USD notes with Riel as small change. There will be somebody along to deny this shortly and talk endlessly about how Riel is the only thing that works in small villages, etc. and it's not true... I lived in Cambodia for 4 years; I traveled to pretty much every corner of the country and used USD nearly exclusively apart from when I had so much RIel accumulated as change that it needed spending.
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People need to be careful when they talk about business viability blithely. Over in China, a country with a similar income per capita to Thailand and with a history of elderly parents being cared for by their children, it turns out that industrialization and urbanization has led to parents being abandoned in their old age. China had to pass a law to force people to care for their parents and it will be interesting to see just how enforceable that is in practice.
It is also true that in China the senior care market is undergoing a quiet boom though "the cost per month" the Chinese are able/willing to pay suggests that that care can't be up to much.
Businesses become viable when there are customers willing to pay for what they have and they can make a decent profit. The former is not yet proven here (except for the small section of the retiree community which might be able to afford such a service - many of those seeking care here probably cannot). Many of those who can afford care would be better off moving to the Philippines where there is an excess of highly trained, highly skilled care workers willing to work for peanuts - compared to the low skill market here. The latter part, making profit is an even bigger doubt. Cue endless threads of "why isn't my medicine free when I pay for a home help?" and "why doesn't my Thai nurse's village pay for my wheelchair?".
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The best Kinokuniya is in the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur; the Petronas Towers. That may be the best bookshop in the world and I'm comparing it to classic era London bookshops which were claimed to be the best bookshops in the world. Good thread OP - now I know they have a mail order service thanks to anonymouse.
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I don't like the whole plus service plus tax routine in restaurants much either; I think it's a fundamentally dishonest way of doing business. Having said that it's not such a deal killer as to prevent me from eating twice in a restaurant that I enjoyed.
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"Violate the modesty of women" I like that Nancy. I think it's important to completely exaggerate the severity of a crime. 5,000 Baht for a video of some underpants? Seems a touch expensive to me. There's a huge difference between this and something like revenge porn. Revenge porn is calculate to humiliate and degrade - it does "violate the modesty of women". Pictures of someone's pants, on the other hand, may titillate but they certainly don't humiliate or degrade.
I don't understand this particular thrill but it's harmless and 5,000 Baht seems completely proportional to the damage done. It enables those who do things that truly are serious to be punished appropriately too. Otherwise by the time we got to "man gets caught groping someone without permission on a train" we'd be sending them to the gallows.
By goodness, since when did MY name come up in this thread. I haven't put my 2 cents in on this issue. In case you didn't notice,
you're responding to a post from someone named "mesterm", Good god, SiemReaper,I have half a mind to report you to the mods.
But, since you pulled me into this conversation, I think 5000 baht is just about right for his little "experiment". Don't people
make money posting these childish videos on-line? If not the idiots who make them, then the perverts who run the websites?
Apologies, brain freeze moment I guess.
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Don't do 90 day reports. The nice people from the Thai Elite visa do it for me.
What on earth would I want to own land here for? I can get much better returns elsewhere.
If I wanted a job here it would come through supplying skills that aren't in the market. Not by shoving a local out of the line.
I have zero issues travelling in ASEAN. Hong Kong ID does that without any drawbacks.
Oh and the Thai Elite visa is about to be extended to allow land ownership should I ever take leave of my senses.
Now try again and explain the spurious benefits of citizenship to me.
"Oh and the Thai Elite visa is about to be extended to allow land ownership should I ever take leave of my senses" source? Or is this just a figment of your imagination? Also, did you ever consider that maybe getting citizenship is security? Who knows, maybe this government or the next one might cancel the whole Thai Elite thingy altogether as they almost did a few years ago and then you'll be left high and dry begging to get back in.
"Better returns elsewhere" owning land in Thailand is not necessarily about investment, it's about owning something you can call yours and pass onto the next generation. Well, that's assuming you even have children, maybe you don't. Also, seems you have no idea about how land values have gone through the roof in locations close to critical infrastructure, border crossings etc. in anticipation of the economic benefits they will bring. So actually you are wrong - good returns are possible, in some cases.
Also, must be great to be a multi-millionaire to be able to invest $1-2 on a tiny piece of land in a western country, barely large enough to build a house. Most people who don't already have inherited wealth are finding it virtually impossible to buy property in most western countries these days, unless it's in a back of beyond place like say I dunno, Bourke in Australia? Not that you can expect any returns for your investment should you purchase a property there. Working a normal job is usually not enough anymore. Somehow I doubt you have that kind of money, so I don't think you should be lecturing anyone on where to find "better returns".
Again, you aren't getting the point regarding working here. You can still supply skills to the local market after you've become a citizen, whoever said anything about "shoving locals out of line?" Though you would have a Thai passport, your face wouldn't suddenly become Asian, your nose wouldn't suddenly become smaller, your hair wouldn't suddenly become black by pledging allegiance to the Kingdom of Thailand. Companies here are still far more likely to hire you if you have a local ID card. What they will see is someone who has decided to contribute to the society they are living in, someone who has committed himself to Thailand, someone that can be hired without a lot of complicated paperwork. I've said it before and I'll say it again, foreigners are regularly turned down for work in Thailand simply because they are foreigners, no matter how experienced they are, or think they are. It's a fact.
All of this citizenship talk of course, means nothing if you intend on skipping town eventually. But I can't think of anything more ridiculous than someone choosing to live in a country they have dedicated so much time to, and then NOT taking out citizenship, given the chance, because they have some self-righteous view of the world. Of course, you aren't even eligible for citizenship in the first place as you don't work in Thailand.
However, please remind me, why are you in Thailand? It never fails to amaze me how some people choose to live in a society and then have this strange notion of wanting to remain separate.
1. The source of the change of Elite visa program was given above and then deleted by the moderators... it's in this week's Bangkok Post.
2. Returns is all that matters with land. "Handing something to the next generation" is lovely; handing them 5 times the value of the land in cash will probably suffice. Then if they want to buy land in Thailand they can.
3. You don't need to be a multi-millionaire to find safe markets to put your cash in that offer returns better than Thailand. I am confident that I have more money than most people here by the insane explosion of "where can I get free water in a restaurant" and "where is beer cheaper than 7-11" threads.
4. If you do not have unique skills; you are taking a job from a local. It's that simple. If you have unique skills; you get a visa to add them to the local economy. Really, it's that simple. You don't contribute to society by picking up a passport. You'd need to try a bit harder than that.
5. I have no idea whether I'll leave Thailand or stay here forever. I have the options, for now, to do either without picking up a passport.
I'm in Thailand because I like it. I'm learning the language. I have a bundle of Thai friends (more than half my friends here are Thai). I like the food. I like to travel and appreciate the culture and heritage here. None of that requires me to sign up for citizenship. Your passionate defense of picking up a passport is emotionally compelling but logically weak.
Looking forward even a few years in time suggests that this region is in for a period of serious instability and quite possibly all out war. I'm not engaged enough in anywhere to join an army (without an option of doing otherwise) and then fight for it. You only live once, there's nothing worth dying for. You see that's the downside of citizenship and the biggest of them all; your eligibility for the draft.
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I would happily consider living on a boat in Thailand because meeting those "expensive rules" brings a certain amount of safety. I'd rather have my body coated in honey and have it chewed off by an angry brown bear than live in a boat in Cambodia. Optimistically, you would be guaranteed to have it burgled while you slept. Pessimistically, you might wake up during that scenario and then there's plenty of sea around you to dump your body in.
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Garbage. The saturated fats in butter make it far less healthy than the polyunsaturated oils in margarine.
Is last year's health advice. Now, saturated animal fats are better for you. Wait 6 months, it will change again.
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I want to live here too. I use the profits in better markets to pay the rent in this one.
Assuming you prefer a house over a condo, wouldn’t you want a house built to your exact specifications? That is hard to find on the rental market.
Ah, there's the rub. I'd prefer never to live in a house for as long as I live. Then there's also the fact that I really couldn't care less about the space itself either - as long as it's clean and of a decent size with nice amenities nearby; I don't mind about layouts etc.
I live in a digital world. My PC, Kindle, Camera, Phone and various forms of storage media, a couple of mice, etc. are all I own. You don't need a custom designed space to park a suitcase.
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Check the Bangkok Post website; new perks were in there sometime this week.
Thanks, found <deleted>
Some interesting numbers, like We believe the new services will help reduce operating costs to 80,000-90,000 baht per card per year, while no longer in the red (if it works), it still seems like a lousy profit margin.
As for land ownership, I don’t think people are motivated by the returns, but rather because they actually want to live here
I want to live here too. I use the profits in better markets to pay the rent in this one.
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[…] the Thai Elite visa is about to be extended to allow land ownership should I ever take leave of my senses.
Do you have more info about this?
Somehow find it hard to believe that they would allow land ownership via Thai Elite, especially as this used to be part of Thai Elite, back when membership was for life. But for some reason, they changed their mind and decided it was a bad idea.
If land ownership is only a privilege as long as you have your membership, it seems to just be a very expensive way to lease land.
Actually, they're about to pimp up the Thai Elite visa with a ton of new perks. The program loses money (a ton of it) at the moment and they've recognized that a bit of golf and the occasional massage isn't selling it. (Though I'll be honest - those perks outweigh the cost of the program). Land ownership is one of many things on the table; free local flights is probably the best privilege they seem to be adding. But who knows? There are a lot of folks obsessed with the idea of owning land here; maybe it will sway them to pony up the 2 million baht? I doubt it though; if you can afford 2 million baht - you're probably bright enough to buy land elsewhere where the returns are better and there's less hassle all round about foreign ownership.
Check the Bangkok Post website; new perks were in there sometime this week.
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Don't do 90 day reports. The nice people from the Thai Elite visa do it for me.
What on earth would I want to own land here for? I can get much better returns elsewhere.
If I wanted a job here it would come through supplying skills that aren't in the market. Not by shoving a local out of the line.
I have zero issues travelling in ASEAN. Hong Kong ID does that without any drawbacks.
Oh and the Thai Elite visa is about to be extended to allow land ownership should I ever take leave of my senses.
Now try again and explain the spurious benefits of citizenship to me. -
Do You Read Books?
Answer; NO and NEVER
does it make me any lesser of a person ?
I have never read a book from cover to cover in my life,
and never will, if someone spends month's or years writing
a book, i'm not going to waste my time months or years
reading it.
Congratulations on what may be the most ridiculous post that I have ever read anywhere. A celebration of ignorance unparalleled in human existence.
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Where abouts in Chiang Rai is that ?
I lived there for a while and didnt even know that it existed
The road that leads past the temple, JetYod Road, 19.903632, 99.831648
Loads of bars, much younger bar girls than Loi Kroh in CM.
Spent 3 days drinking on Jet Yod Road a couple of months back. Much younger bar girls than Loi Kroh? Try, no bar girls at all except for two of the ropiest slappers I've ever seen anywhere on earth. Lots of pretty ladyboys though; if that's your cup of tea.
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"Violate the modesty of women" I like that Nancy. I think it's important to completely exaggerate the severity of a crime. 5,000 Baht for a video of some underpants? Seems a touch expensive to me. There's a huge difference between this and something like revenge porn. Revenge porn is calculate to humiliate and degrade - it does "violate the modesty of women". Pictures of someone's pants, on the other hand, may titillate but they certainly don't humiliate or degrade.
I don't understand this particular thrill but it's harmless and 5,000 Baht seems completely proportional to the damage done. It enables those who do things that truly are serious to be punished appropriately too. Otherwise by the time we got to "man gets caught groping someone without permission on a train" we'd be sending them to the gallows.
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At least one of those places wouldn't make my top 10 restaurants in Chiang Mai if there were only 11 restaurants in town. In fairness to the author though; this is what passes for "journalism" nowadays. When the mainstream press can manufacture whole page articles out of Twitter outrage and Reddit threads... this is no worse than any of that. Good luck trying to find somewhere paying enough for someone to become a decent food critic for Chiang Mai.
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Why worry about the things you cannot change? Over use of pesticides exists because of American companies pushing commercial farming varieties of products which need a ton of pesticides.
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The court filed a murder charge with a death sentence and used life sentence as a bribe for a confession.
How lame does any society have to be that they cannot see how this allows cops and courts to frame people and cause them to implicate themselves fictionally for something they didn't do in order to get off easier while making the cops and court appear to have admirable, albeit stitched up, conviction rates.
It can happen in a civilised country too. Brian Banks, an American footballer confessed to raping a student on the advice of his lawyer to avoid the death penalty. It was found several years later that the victim fabricated the story to get compensation money from the school but not after he spent his best years in prison destroying his football career.
I think the locals might object to the use of "it can happen in a civilized country too". Thailand is perfectly civilized; it may not match your own expectations but that doesn't change the fact that it's civilized.
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The Thais here don't seem to have any problem obtaining Thai citizenship - they just get born and it happens. Why would you want Thai citizenship? It offers absolutely no advantages over the passport that Westerners already carry.
You could buy and own a house and land!
No trips to Immigration.
No reporting where you are staying.
To list just a few.
Of course. If you want to live in Thailand, then ideally you want to have a Thai ID card. If you will be moving on in 6 months, then it doesn't matter. However, why is it always the foreigners who have lived in Thailand (or other places in Asia) for decades and know full well they will die here who claim that Thai/ other Asian citizenship is "useless"? What a stupid remark. Yes, Thai citizenship is useful. Extremely useful and much more useful than any western passport when visiting or living in Thailand!
Thai citizenship is also useful for travelling to another ASEAN country. You don't need a visa. Additionally, if you cross a locals only border, you will be allowed to cross using just an ID card (no need for a passport) and although you won't be allowed very far, it can be useful because you can travel to say Myeik in Myanmar from Dan Singkorn using just a border pass, for example, whereas foreigners would have to obtain a Myanmar visa and travel to Myeik by plane or bus from Yangon or by road from Kanchanaburi via Dawei.
What else? Well working! You can get a job without needing a work permit. You will also be considered for a job where in many cases Thai employers don't want to hire you simply because doing the paperwork to hire a foreigner is complicated and time consuming. It also costs a lot of money.
What an incredibly limited world view you have. If you need to compete with the locals for jobs; you wasted your opportunities in your own country to prepare yourself for an international career. Immigrants who take food off a local table are the reason that immigrants get a bad rap around the world.
As for the benefits of crossing some random border to go to a nowhere destination? That's sub-minimal.
15 years in Asia now. Still can't see why anybody would want or need a local passport or be prepared to jump through the hoops required to get one.
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Hi, my name's Jim and I'm an alcoholic. That's all this thread actually says. If you're that worried about 4 baht on a bottle of Chang... get a better job.
OP not ask about Chang
His ask about beer!!!!
Please read carefully.
and some store have different price 10-50 b per botle. If even not alcoholic its can save 400-3000 bath per month
And yes i am poor.
after pay back my debet may be have some money..
I do not see anything wrong with that man not have deep pocket and want save few dollar
Two large, award winning, Tigers from tops for 110 thb per day...or two "Fagenwietzens" from a well known male meet-up place on Nimman at 360 THB? That's a difference of 7500 THB per month....that's more than most pay in rent.....2 beers a day? An alcoholic...better than being diabetic or just a plain axhole.
Nothing quite like an insane comparison is there? Given that 7-11 sells beer reasonably cheaply and it would be impossible for any expat to have failed to have discovered 7-11 given that there's one every 3 doors here in Chiang Mai; what we're talking about is trying to grind an extra baht beyond the 7-11 point. That's when your alcoholism is a problem that you should address by stopping drinking or earning more money. It has nothing to do with the price of a premium pint in Nimman. So please cease the sophistry.
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Hi, my name's Jim and I'm an alcoholic. That's all this thread actually says. If you're that worried about 4 baht on a bottle of Chang... get a better job.
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You can go North from Siem Reap to either of the Northern borders; taxi cost about $35-$40 and then simply grab a bus from the border. One border goes direct to Surin, the other to Sisaket. Buses are available between the two cities pretty much all the time. I did this in February last year. Both borders are a joy to cross at (no traffic, exceptionally productive border staff). You may have to wait a little while for a bus on the Thai side. Taxis are available but are expensive too.
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Thanks for the tip. Will be in at lunchtime to say in a very slow voice; "This.... Thai... food.... is... really....good." Will that be patronizing enough? Or should I go for broke?
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I take it this is a post from a disgruntled lover or business rival? There's absolutely no need for it either way.
Order new books written in English
in Chiang Mai
Posted
I've been using Aramex as a re-mailer for stuff bought all over the world; it often works out cheaper than using Amazon's postal service too. They set up PO Boxes for you and you have stuff delivered there (using Amazon's free delivery) - then they freight it to you here.
But it's still likely to be cheaper to get a local bookshop to supply it if you can.