RichardThailand

While telling everyone Japanese arrivals will pick up I wonder if they bothered to check the exchange rate and noticed that the yen's lost 30% or so of its value recently. As it is now significantly more expensive for the Japanese why would anyone expect more of them to come here.

"Okay" infrastructure? I think it is excellent -- in BKK, anyway.

I guess we all view things differently but as a pedestrian I don't find BKK very easy to navigate and for drivers the roads are not at all adequate.

i am confident in a fast growing of Philippines.

Stay there for a few years and tell me if you are still confident. I cannot count the number of people who have told me that same thing when they first arrive and then years later after they have really learned what the country is like I hear very different opinions. When I left the Philippines I had few friends. All the friends that I had met in the time that I was there had left and given up on the country. When I arrived I was no different from anyone else but after many years there I lost all my confidence in the country. I wish I could be more positive but my confidence has been drained out of me by hundreds of different events and conversations with people who were not lawyers over the years.

I think one reason is safety for foreign investors. Thailand is fairly gun free and safe. For a long time, potential Taiwanese and Japanese investors were being kidnapped in the P.R. After mainland China opened-up, there was no need to take the risks - physical and financial - involved in investing in the P.R.

Thailand has the third highest gun murder rate per capita in the world. 2.5X that of The Philippines. LINK

Having lived there for a long time I feel that statistics coming out of that country are extremely unreliable. Nothing is reported correctly and deaths happen all of the time.

I have some statistics from personal experience:

• Rotary club - 2 out of the 32 members were murdered in different incidents.
• Hairdressers - 2 out of 4-5 died from motor cycle accidents
• Girls - First visit to PI, been there a few days and saw my first murdered girl (murdered by her police boyfriend). Girl looked to be around 18.
• Holdups - First visit to PI, been there a few days. Took money out of a bank ATM and met up with a guy pointing a gun at me.

Because Manila is such a dump.

I'm really thinking more of the past and trying to wondering what people think went wrong. Fifty years ago Manila and the Philippines was I believe considered the jewel of Asia.

http://mypandacan.com/archives/2317

I agree it is a dump now and I'm sure that factors in the way things will work out in the future.

The only good remarks you will get are from people who have a vested interest in uber.trust me they are throwing money at this all over the world. Welcome to corporate America dont be fooled by their agenda.

You made me laugh now. Vested interest. Are you kidding me!

Do you understand the concept of people promoting something because they have used it many times, they have had excellent service and they want to let other people know just how good it is.

Have they started screening drivers for rape convictions after what happened in Delhi and Boston last week?

How many rapes/sexual assaults do you think occur weekly committed by drivers of "normal" taxis in BKK?

Probably 50 times more than the Uber guys who pick me up in their black suits and treat me like a guest at a 5 star hotel.

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions on which might be a good choice for treatment.

I have a friend here who has teaching experience from the USA. Couple of questions:

- How much do foreign teachers earn (ballpark)

- What are the educational requirements for foreigners who want to teach English

- Are there other jobs that foreigners can do at the languge schools and how much do you think they would pay?

good thing is is Uber is valued at $40B USD and is known to "lobby" governments into submission.

Taxi union and mafia prevail.

lol Bangkok taxi fares are between the cheapest in the world and most of the drivers are nice

if the driver refuses to use the meter, just stop an other taxi

Uber should understand the situation and limit the presence in expensive places

2 or 2.5 us dollars from Pra Ram 9 to RCA come on

Maybe you should the service before talking such rubbish. I've taken Uber a couple of times a week for around a year here and in other countries so I think I know what I am talking about. I was shocked to read some of the comments from guys here and mentioned to her "most people are posting to say how bad Uber is".

So here's her reply telling me about the people who replied to this post:

"Those people are cheap, you know that"

Made me laugh ...

Interesting! Since the ED visa is not only issued to learn Thai, What happens to the Brit that is enrolled in a Japanese course or the Japanese person that is enrolled in an English course?

Quite ridiculous, right? If a Japanese really wanted to learn English, why go to Thailand? Makes much more sense to go somewhere where you'll be immersed in the language. A Brit (etc) who goes to Thailand to learn Japanese (etc.) is probably not so committed to language learning... probably has some other priorities. In fact, perhaps this is just a way to get past tourist visa restrictions (god forbid!)? I suspect the government 'gets this.'

Wrong actually but I don't have the time to explain that not everyone thinks the same way as you.

One thing not mentioned is your financial situation. If you want an easy solution, and willing to pay for it, check out the threads here on the Thailand Elite Easy Access program (summary: 5 years hassle free stay, with some additional perks, for 500,000 baht).

and remember that 500,000 will probably be a lot cheaper than the divorce settlement that many in your situation face.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can buy an English only Apple wireless keyboard (small one without the numeric keys) in Bangkok.

So far I have seen only the larger keyboard that has all the numeric and other keys to the side in English only.

Thanks

Richard, you need to either go to Nana BBL or Emphorium Bangkok bank where they both have international transfer facilities.

Complete the transfer TT form showing your passbook account, passport and that's it.

Not to hard really ...........

Thank you. I will go to Emporium Branch later today.

If you were at a micro-branch like many malls have or an exchange booth maybe what they trying to explain is you need to go to a "full service" branch. The micro-branch/exchange booths offer a limited range of services.

I used the Bangkok Bank at Exchange near Asok. I think that's the bank I hear everyone suggesting foreigners go to and it was where I went to when I opened my account. It's one of the bigger branches :-(

I went into the Bangkok Bank in exchange hoping to transfer money to a bank in another country using the SWIFT number / routing number / account number etc.

Bangkok Bank told me they could not do it and I would have to go to the Nana branch.

Has anyone any experience with doing this? All I want to do is move about 20,000 from my Thai baht savings account to the other country.

Just a quick comment to the OP. Do you really know what you are getting yourself into?

Your description of a girl who is "not a farang", lost her passport, stayed in Thailand with visa runs, overstayed for a year and wanting a lawyer.

You know it's fairly simple for a person who is here legally. If you lose your passport you file a police report, get a new one and keep yourself legal. It would appear that this girl has done none of this and you should be able to figure out why.

There was a thread about this but the thread is rather old and I guess things change from year to year.

Can anyone give me an update on how easy it is to get a tourist visa from Colombo (or Kandy) in Sri Lanka. Are they issuing double entry tourist visas? If so how long does the visa application process take? I read one post mentioning four days but perhaps things have changed.

Thanks,

I have a friend with a Filipina girlfriend who has just got a tourist visa for the both of them in Manila. He is not sure how long they will stay in Thailand and so there's a problem when it comes to deciding on a return ticket.

From what I understand the Thai immigration will probably not ask about a return ticket but from my experience the Philippine immigration and airlines seem to try there hardest to stop there fellow Filipinos from leaving. Without a return ticket I can guess there will be problems.

Are there any full price single tickets that can be purchased that are fully refundable? I'm thinking of some airline like Thai airlines or another airline that has flights from Bangkok to the Philippines. Failing that any suggests on a ticket out of Thailand to another country like Cambodia.

Thanks

Good luck. All but a few lofty Thai officials and a psychopath or 2 are with you.

Last time I checked there were around 370,000 people following on the facebook site that was discusses this crime often with many posts every day.

I see the Japanese women walking around everywhere with the kids in tow or bundled into a Baby Bjorn carrier. The men, however are soft (tee hee) and only travel by car and get dropped off at their Japanese only bars.

I doubt the Philippines is any safer

Having lived in the Philippines for over 8 years and now having lived here I can say that all I ever heard about Thailand being 20 years ahead of the PI in terms of infrastructure is quite true. Philippines is an expensive country with very high distribution costs. Electricity there was twice the price it is here, quality countrol is non existant and the corruption is as bad or worse than here. The country is not safe and health care might as well not exist. I had Japanese friends there. The wives were never allowed out unless going out with the company drivers. Philppines has a lot of catching up to do and that needs to start with the corrupt politicians.

I'm sure the Filipino cops could learn a thing or 2 about corruption from the Thais,and visa versa

With most if not all of my business friends being set up by the police at one time or another I think the Thai cops could learn from the Filipino cops at least those in Manila. Outside of Manila it's my understanding that the police are more honest and in some areas even do the job they are supposed to do.