Seligne2

Where on Phuket you starting from? A couple of years ago fares from the airport to Bang La On were 2k baht at night when I always seemed to land, cheaper during the day. From Rawai fares would be considerably more. Bus is cheaper as posted already, but cannot be caught from the airport en route.

A taxi from the airport to Bang La On is only about an hour.

The climate is stable, sometimes for long periods of time, then it changes. You and I seem to be of one mind on that. If present trends continue, two rice crops become impossible, which was my point.

The short answer is no.

Most European countries can only dream of such high growth, many countries would be bankrupt if they were companies. Apart from the UK and a few other countries, Europe is deep in decline.

America isn't doing so well, Russia is struggling, the Middle East is going up in flames and S America is not prospering, Brazil is going down hill fast and Argentina defaulted on its debts.

Looks to me like Thailand is doing very well indeed. Stable, prosperous and with a good growth rate.

Yes, 'Climate change' is a real problem, because the climate never changed before, it was always the same. We never had droughts, or floods or hurricanes or anything like that.

Anytime anything to do with weather happens today that is a bit different, its 'Climate change'.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/environment/720356/thailand-is-facing-extreme-weather

Thanks for the post. The whole para wings and they are para wings and not aviator wings as they have a parachute on them, sounds to be a total scam. The Paras are second only to the Royal Marines in terms of the difficulty of the training and World renown. It's a shame when every chancer you bump into in the high street or ride past on the road has them. I'm no advocate of the forces, and feel sorry that people have to resort to joining up in today's context of the endless illegal wars, the danger taken on by young men to serve nothing that will benefit them and the terribly poor after care and remuneration generally, but you have to be fair about all things and attaining UK Paratroop wings is a real measure of a man, and to have other countries giving them out to everyone who's dropped out on a static line from a mile up, when they have to drop really close to the ground with virtually no margin of error, is really demeaning this incredible achievement. This jumping out of a tower is just adding insult to injury and any of the associated jungle gym stuff. Let's not forget that paras don't just have to do jumps but do all sorts of other difficult stuff. They're generally enraged that the US paratroops are allowed to have them as they jump from about three times the height and they call that some kind of feat, whilst there's no comparison.

I had been wondering about this, and I inherently knew the answer already.

When I was jumping in the US Army, standard static line jumps were from 1200 feet from a fixed wing, 1500 feet from a helicopter (due to rotor downdraft). Combat jumps were done at 600 feet to minimize defenceless time in the air. HALO jumps can be from whatever altitude, the higher the better so that the aircraft is not heard from the ground.

I seriously doubt that British paras are jumping from 400 feet when conducting training jumps.

1. This government is killing investment in Thailand. The notion of a single gateway puts paid to any foreign company putting significant facilities in the country.

2. Climate change, i.e., not having the rainfall to support two rice crops will kill Thailand's rice exports

3. The culture of corruption and over-exploitation of natural resources is killing the Thai fishing industry.

4. Technological change, e.g., the rise of solid-state disk storage, is slowing eating away at Thailand's dominance in hard disk drive manufacture.

5. Other factors <redacted>

In my original post I mentioned the 34-foot tower. I should have included this link so you know what I am talking about:

This topic was recently discussed here on TV within the past month.

I bank with BB. When applying for a credit card, BB asked for 100k to be deposited in a separate deposit account in addition to my savings account.

When applying for a 1-year extension of my retirement visa in Dec 2014, Immigration looked at my savings account plus bank letter for proof of 800k baht. They disregard the credit card 100k. That is, in my case the 100k credit card deposit account did not count toward the 800k requirement.

90-day reporting is all over the map...

1. Everywhere I have lived I have been asked to provide: TM47, original passport, signed copies of photo page, current visa page, and entry card.

2. When I lived in Phang Nga Province, I was asked to provide in addition a map of where I lived, photos of where I lived, and rental contract.

3. When I lived in Chiang Mai, it was just the basic info in 1 above and proof of rental

3. When I lived in Udon, it was the basic info above, plus signed copies of the landlord's tabian baan, ID card, phone number, and rental contract

Boy Scout's motto: be prepared

Please PM the name of your business. email address, and phone number so all of my Thai friends can send you their CVs.

IMHO a few years back it has been the only chance for a sufficient income but nowadays there so many ( decent paid) jobs available that nobody has to go this route...

university graduate starting salary supposed to be 15000 per month 20 months to repay 300,000 assuming room and board is provided free of charge.

the girl in question does not have a university degree.

Starting English teachers I worked with fresh out of school at my government school in Amphoe Samoeng, Chiang Mai, started at 8K per month.

IMHO a few years back it has been the only chance for a sufficient income but nowadays there so many ( decent paid) jobs available that nobody has to go this route...

Ha ha! You must be joking. I know a woman, 30-something, the former manager of an upscale club in BKK, who cannot land a job in Phuket in the hospitality industry. Say, at a country or golf club. Her English: splendid. Classy looking, well coiffed and sharp dresser. No one will hire her, preferring 21 year olds. There must be hundreds, thousands, like her.

Late 30s ??????????

You shopping in the wrong stores!

PS

Most bar girls started their p4p careers at 14 or 15 years old.

If you think they started in their late 30s, you're a bit gullible.

Nonsense. I have never seen or heard of a 15 yo bar girl. But I have met many >35 yo (who speak no English, and can barely read/write Thai) who started when their marriage/business went kaput.

it is sad to c a previously bright eyed full of life person through abundant alcohol and endless workdays convert into the figurative frankenstein. looking like a zombie on autopilot

must be worth it to them to consume as many as possible drinks for the small commission.

Sentence 1: What??? Frankenstein was the creator, not the result.

Sentence 2: Many bar girls drink fruit juice. Lady drinks typically contain just a piddling amount of alcohol. Going payout for a lady drink seems to be 50 baht most places.

Lots of Western restaurants and two small supermarkets in Khao Lak, so worst case you would not have to go to Phuket

A few questions:

1. What is "trekking"? Is it the same as "hiking"?

2. What is "sit down teaching"?

3. Teaching what?

In mid-July 2015 my Chiang Mai condo lease was up. Beautiful condo, 2 bedrooms, kitchen, 3 baths, swimming pool, gym, billiard tables, largely Japanese clientele (working at Lamphun factories). I had decided to leave Chiang Mai as I had lived there for 2 years plus living/teaching 6 months in Samoeng. My intention is to live in every region in Thailand (I'm a writer).

Anyway, faced with the logistics of moving, I needed a place to store my stuff as I exited the condo. Across the street from the condo was an apartment building. I rented a 3d floor room there for 2.5k baht per month (plus 2.5k deposit). One room, furnished with bed, armoire, 2 electrical outlets in inconvenient places, a bathroom, insufficient overhead lighting, and a tiny balcony mostly used by residents for drying clothing. No air conditioning, no refrigerator.

This was in the Wat Ket area, a 1 km walk to the Sanpakoi Market and only slightly more to Duke's and Rimping Market.

The building was spotless, with an amiable on-site cleaning lady and at night, a security guard. I deposited all my stuff there as I cleaned the condo, cancelled contracts with 3BB, et al., and made arrangements for a rental truck, etc. All in all, I slept there about 5 nights.

Could I live there full-time? No, for the simple reason that I require a kitchen. I don't like eating in restaurants on a regular basis. That's why I was in the condo with a kitchen. I found that in Chiang Mai it is difficult to find apartments with cooking facilities.

All in all, it worked well for me. My storage alternative seemed to be a well-regarded place in Hang Dong, quite inconvenient for a guy with only a motorbike, and possibly more expensive.

In three years here I have not managed to make a Thai male friend. I would very much like to. As Puukao mentioned, most of my daily interactions are with Thai females. I find them very approachable and good humoured. My Thai is rudimentary and geared towards everyday transactions. I could not converse with a Thai about the NCPO or a hedge fund or the Pope. My Thai just won't allow that. I think that as I become more competent my chances of having more Thai friends of whatever gender increases.

1984 was fiction. This is real.

This place is starting to feel like Germany 1933.

555! This whole thread cracks me up. Evidently somebody was at the restaurant and did not inquire as to the name of the restaurant, thinking coordinates would be enough. I guess that world has passed me by technologically...

huh? a card secured by cash is not a "credit card"... sounds like an ATM debit card... with Visa authorized transactions.. but that's not a credit card.

and for a credit card you must be employed under BOT rules, that should not be a surprise to anyone so how could a non-Asian not have to have a work permit to get it, those are bank rules for every bank???

Just about everything you say is completely wrong:

"a card secured by cash is not a "credit card" Wrong. I've got two.

"sounds like an ATM debit card... with Visa authorized transactions.. but that's not a credit card". Wrong. Yes it is; I've got two.

"and for a credit card you must be employed under BOT rules" Wrong. I am non-Asian and have been retired for many years. Never have been employed or had a work permit in Thailand.

There are secured and unsecured credit cards; they are not debit cards.

Just because a person has a debit card and can make purchases does not make it just like a credit card. There will be cases/some merchants which will not accept a debit card (especially some online merchants or some hotel online reservations or some rent-a-car reservations, etc), but gladly accept a credit card (secured or unsecured) because of how the system handles/pays the merchant---less possible headaches with a credit card I guess since there are difference in protections for the merchant and card-owner between a debit and credit card. I also expect some merchants who may think that if a person don't have a credit card they must have credit issues...could be a payment risk.

The merchant don't know (or care) whether a credit card is secured or unsecured; only the customer and card-issuing bank knows. And if it's a secured credit card it's going to have a line of credit possibly up to the amount of "locked" deposit" (depends on the card-issuing bank's policy) that secures (i.e., provides collateral) for that secured credit card line of credit.

A unsecured credit card, which is typical in western countries, does not have a locked deposit backing it up....its line of credit was purely based on the customer's credit rating. There are secured credit cards in western countries usually focused towards folks who have had major credit worthiness issues in the past. But in some countries, like here in Thailand, secured credit cards are common and many farangs who need a credit card but don't have a Work Permit/job, but say have retired and have good pension money/saving, "usually" have to go the route of getting a secured credit card. Based on ThaiVisa posts there are exceptions where apparently folks without a Work Permit and job in Thailand get unsecured credit cards....there are always exceptions...the lucky ones.

As far as I know the BOT does not set the rules for credit card issue....it has simply developed into the rule-of-thumb policy used by Thai banks over the years Thailand...maybe it's based on their experience with (or trust of) farangs. I really don't think Thai banks trust many farangs much farther than they can see them since it's so easy for them just to leave Thailand pretty much on a whim...and possibly leave a large unpaid balance on a credit card...and never pay it...never come back to Thailand...hard for the Thai bank to reach outside of Thailand to chase the person for payment. Much harder for a Thai's to do that unless maybe they are a dual citizen. I guess the banks have stats which show farangs with Work Permits & jobs in Thailand are much less likely to skip out.

Heck, Thai banks love to issue secured credit cards...it takes non-payment risks off them and puts a locked deposit in their bank...awesome deal for the bank.

Wow! Pib that is a great post and I thank you for it. Like macahoom, I am retired, have never had a work permit, and have two secured Bangkok Bank credit cards (MC and Visa). So, unless the rules have changed recently (which may be the case), a work permit is not needed to get a credit card.

I recall that when I moved to Canada to take a job after years of living in the US and Europe, I had no credit history there. They did not acknowledge US credit history. HSBC required me to put in escrow CAD10K in order to get a credit card with a limit of CAD3K. (After a couple of months I changed banks). This kind of arrangement is not Thailand-specific.

Wikivoyage: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Mae_Hong_Son_Loop

Uh, there is some confusion on my part. I thought AyG was confirming that Photo 2 was prik yuak.

My dictionary defines prik yuak as bell pepper; green pepper (bell pepper); pimento (pepper); sweet pepper.

It defines prik yuak ​dɛɛng as red pepper (bell pepper)

It defines prik waan as green pepper (bell pepper); pimento (sweet pepper); sweet pepper