Kees5555

Whatever you take: not TOT !!!!!! Shocking experiences with their customer service (via telephone on hold for 45 mins and then getting disconnected, and this happened 10 times a year); in evening mostly very slow internet - may depend on how many people on 1 line in a building).
And also TT&T gave me bad experiences.

This was until 3 years ago, maybe it is better now, who knows!

I am happy wit 3BB for 900 baht/month.

In another country P. (with many islands), I heard a story about a man who built a beautiful house on name of his lady.
When the house was finished, the family of the lady 'organized an accident'... RIP.

Another, but similar, story: 'burglars' killed the foreigner while the lady was out on a family visit.

Good luck!

I don't understand the seizure, or why the used phones would be a problem. Can you turn a smartphone into yaa baa? What harm did these phones pose? What if they were 50 used kitchen pots? Need to be declared at a border? Why?

Import tax

On used items? Do they tax your clothes that you bring with you? 30 shirts? I would not think that would be the case, but I can be wrong.

IMPORT TAX !!! As said before. It is amazing that you don't know about this.

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/travellers/arriving+in+thailand/arrivinginthailand

Duty Payment

If you are bringing in with you the items with total combined value more than 10,000 baht, these items are subject to import taxes and duties. A flat rate of duty will be applied on the dutiable items provided that:

• The dutiable items are intended for personal use;
• They are at a reasonable quantity and not intended for commercial use, business, or trade purposes;
• The total value is not exceeding 80,000 Baht; and
• Passengers are able to pay taxes and duties in cash on the date of arrival.

A doctor in a clinic in Jomtien Beach gave my GF 4 types of AB + injection + expensive cleaning stuff for pussy. Bill > 2000 baht.
Without lab tests !!!

After I urged to do a lab test, it came out my GF did not have any bacteria... nothing !!! All the AB were just for making money !

I asked for return of money... no.
I sent an email to the Thai Medical Council.... they don't even reply.

How about a nation-wide cleaning 365-days of the beaches, roads, rivers....
or just a not-throwing-my-personal garbage-everywhere-365-days ?

How about a nation-wide cleaning 365-days of the beaches, roads, rivers....
or just a not-throwing-my-personal garbage-everywhere-365-days ?

As a nurse she is supposed to know an autopsy would reveal a heart attack, as she claims.
So she could have walked free when this was the real cause of death and she had brought the body to hospital/police, or just had called the police.

She burned the body and stole the car, so she did at least 2 things that are criminal.

What more you need to at least investigate this as a murder?

Some years ago a sign was placed in the soi in the pic below, in Thai: "No littering, fine 2000 baht". But police does never come here.
On Jomtien Beach a sign is placed: "No firework, fine 2000 baht" . Yet a tourist did (it was not Dec 31!), just 50m from the police station, police was too lazy to come out of the office. And this happened many times.

I saw a policeman eating and afterwards putting his plastic garbage on the street. I said 'What are you doing now?' Oh, it will be picked up in the evening by the garbage collectors, so no problem'.

I asked a beach chair vendor why he did not clean the 8m wide 'no mans land' next to his, because all the garbage might hurt his business.
Response: 'That is not my land, not my problem, not my business'.

Some beach chair vendors leave plastic bottles, bags (left by their customers) etc on the beach at the end of the day, and only clean their stretch the next day morning.

I asked the manager of Heritage Resort why he did not order his employees to clean the beach in front of his hotel (after some strong winds last September it was shocking dirty during many weeks). He replied: 'City Hall Must do this, not my problem'. I said: 'But it might hurt your business, your hotel guests won't like it, for sure!' I talked politely 5 mins with him, he just didn't care.

Same story with a neighboring hotel.

However I did have some success when talking to someone in Pattaya Park. Inside their (ugly, rusting fence) already during many years there was a lot of garbage, delivered by the wind. 2 days later about 95 % of it was cleaned.

But let me finish with a positive note:
Just lately I saw a Thai family of which the dad collected all the garbage when they left the beach!

When oh when will the police come off their lazy butts to fine people who leave garbage at the end of the day?

Philippine Airlines: around 10,000 baht round trip to Manila, 3h30 flying time.
From Airport take a taxi for ~150 pesos to bus terminal of Victory Liner in Pasay, Manila.
From there to Dau (nearest bus terminal near Angeles, just 2 k) it will cost you maybe 200 peso... I can' remember exactly how much, but cheap.
Don't go Friday and the weekend: buses are crowded or not available anymore, because lots of people go home for the weekend.

Try to arrive in Manila around or before noon, so you will avoid rush hour in Manila after 4pm.

Angeles City (Balibago) is a shit place, dirty, lots of beggars, expensive hotels, dirty, polluted air, corrupt police, trying to trick you.... just google.

Cebu Pacific AIr is flying via SGP, takes you all day.

Just a view pics of the 50+ I made, of beautiful Jomtien Beach and surrounding sois/roads.
Thailand is destroying the tourist industry

All I ask is to show a little respect...

He is in a foreign country, and yes Thailand does have laws.

My guess is he got his ass kicked for being a total a**hole....

Seen this many times before, and from what I ever witnessed, most of them deserved it.!

Maybe their embassies could give them a little,

Training on how to act in Thailand.....

Just a thought.....

How about some training of security staff/bouncers how to deal with drunken people?

Drunken people can't control themselves. (Ok, they started drinking, maybe even they started the fight.. but once intoxicated they are as wise as a brainless person.)

It is in the interest of the club owner, in the interest of Thailand to deal with drunken tourists in an civilized manner: just muscle power.

Major, please clean up Jomtien Beach and some dirty sois nearby !

A guy who made a boat as a hobby, got into trouble regarding work permit!

In this email news letter of thaivisa.com 2 times arrests of Russians...more to come? !

He should go for her ! She seems to really love him and to want him in her life.

This girl Beer was expacting an iPhone for 1 night sex?

Or expecting an iPhone directly at the first day of agreeing to be his steady GF?

Never had trouble with any expats. Only trouble was caused by a few cheating/incompetent Thai people:
* a constructor who did a lousy job
* a real estate agent in Jomtien who tried to steal part of the sales price for my condo, by having 2 contracts: one with a 50,000 baht lower price for me (as seller) than for the buyer, a different one for the buyer, who had authorized a friend of this agent to sign for him, so the buyer was unaware. The difference was supposed to end in her pocket, apart from her commission. Plus the agent 'miscounted' 5000 baht in the cash downpayment.
* a doctor in Jomtien who started treating my new GF with 3 different types of antibiotic, including injections (she planned to do 3 in 3 days for gonorrhea where 1 shot is sufficient in such a case!), WITHOUT first doing a lab test. Plus selling her a useless device for cleaning pussy and charging double the normal price for it.
I sent my GF back to the clinic, requesting for a lab test.... result next day: NO bacteria, just some skin irritation because she didn't have sex for long time. Total bill: 3400 baht, where max 1000 would have been sufficient if this doctor had done her job properly, instead of going for the highest profit. Later on the doctor defended herself with blatant lies.
* and some minor other things cause by Thai people

one more to the countless topics about the same same...

What does that mean..if there's a earlier discussion of this topic please let me know!

Thanks for your view Costas2008. Actually it's not a question of just a few thousand baht here and there. Some months ago I was getting 20 000 baht more than now so it is quite a significant difference.

About 7 years ago, if I remember well, I was getting 68Baht to a Pound.

Now I'm getting 49Baht.

A difference of 38,000Baht a month.

Has it affected my life style? No

Has it affected your life style? Don't think so.

But it's good to have a moan, especially for something we haven't got any control over it.

come on Costas, be fair. if a retiree's disposable monthly income was THB 500k then 38k less are peanuts. but if the income was 76k the difference will definitely affect the lifestyle.

of course... breeding badgers and producing highly valued badger cheese changes the situation

Well, Costas said it: 38,000 baht less, with a baht rate from 68 to 49 --> His monthly income = 2000 pound, so he went down from 136,000 to 98,000.

This indeed does not have to affect one's lifestyle.

I can live on 40,000 a month thanks to the fact that I own a condo here, no need to pay 15,000 or more rent, so the bad euro rate also does not affect my lifestyle.

Consider the Dongtan Beach-part of Jomtien Beach. Stay in Avalon Resort, Welcome World Resort (expensive hotels), or View Talay 5 or 7, or Grand Condotel (there you can rent studio's and apartments that are privately rented out - so cheaper, especially monthly rates)...google for other places.
All the places just mentioned, are right at the beach and all have large swimming pools.
View Talay 5 and 7 got several real estate agents in the building: google and easy to find one to book a studio or apartment. Be early for the months December and January: peak season.

NO TRAFFIC there: PROMENADE during daytime, just a few motorobikes/cars in the evening, because it is a dead end boulevard !
Just 1-2 minutes walk to Jomtien Beach, with restaurants, baht-buses.

Dongtan Beach offers the widest and cleanest beach...and no Thai families with loud music from giant car speakers (because cars are not allowed, only at the parking place at the first 80m of Dongtan Beach).

Google for pictures of Dongtan Beach.

I live here myself and if I would invite my brother and wife with young kids: this is the place that I would advice them.
One disadvantage might be that on the beach you will see some gay couples....

this is a difficult subject, the rule being "doing work is illegal if you don't have a work permit", whether paid or not, it is illegal. We try to get students as interns and we have each years tremendous difficulties.

now consider this:

1. an executive from an overseas organisation comes to Thailand on holiday and he visits his office in Bangkok and sits in a board meeting. He did not ask for a business visa and did not ask a work permit. He is not paid in Thailand, can he work?

2. A group of tourists visits Thailand from Holland, they have their own tour guide from Holland, they are all travelling together on the tour with a visa on arrival. The tour guide can or not guide them through Ayuthaya and explain the history?

3. A couple get's married and decides to have a Thai wedding as a ceremony, they have a friend photographer and he goes with them on the beach and takes their picture, they are all foreigners. Can the friend take the pictures?

In each case, he is working illegally and subject to the law with all the dire consequences.

I have seen a top executive from a large French group being taken from a board meeting, to immigration, charges and deported at his own expenses.

Is this all really fair or even logical? difficult.

If we get a business visitor from overseas, we spent days getting him/her a WP that is valid only for a few days, this is the only way to guarantee you are legal... the procedure exists and is a real pain

oz

1. You answered that question yourself

My opinion:

2. Can, if there is a Thai who is the official tour guide. On paper, the Dutch tour guide is just a fellow tourist.

3. Make sure he is, and stays, disguised as a friend.

Just 'reporting' a small 'scam':

Yesterday night having dinner in a certain restaurant & XXXX Bar (the one with Pattaya bay view, on top of the water... to avoid defaming I can't mention the name 5555).

When serving the food, the waitress accidentally hit the (still 100% full) glass of orange juice (70 baht) of my teerak... all the content spilled over the table.
The waitress cleaned the table, brought a new glass of juice... + ADDED another 70 baht to the bill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I called the manager: she and 3 other waitresses started debating, then they changed the bill to the correct amount... without saying any excuse.

Well, the waitress just tried (maybe the 70 baht was going to be withheld from her salary ???)

I certainly agree Manila is a hole. Transport can be difficult, you get searched going into shopping centres & train stations. As a minimum corruption is equal to, but probably well exceeds Thailand.

The beers are nice & reasonably priced. Their local (coconut) hootch - Lambanog - is great & about $8US/bottle. It beats the daylights out of Thai whisky anyday. It is very pleasant to drink.

Foods... different story. I found it hard to get something edible in a lot of places. Food courts in shopping centres weren't too bad. Their main chains "Jolibee", which makes McD seem fantastic & "Max's", where if you can get served & actually get the food inside an hour you will still leave wanting something to eat, but with a much lighter wallet.

Accommodation - As with anywhere else it will depend on your expectations, how much you are prepared to pay & which area you are in. I've used hotels & private rentals, but think I would use the hotels over private. The private rentals have extra conditions & charges that can make them impractical when you go to leave.

BKK has a nice airport, Manila... let's just say it has a bunch of terminals staffed by scammers. OK, not all of them are, but a good % are. Keep a close eye on your bags.It will be interesting to see what the new airport to be funded by San Miguel will be like.

Language - Yes, most speak English, but so few seem to understand it. More scary is that a number of them are teaching their versions of English to other Asians.

So what's wrong if we teach English to other Asians?Are we all that bad?Your ignorance is unbelievable and as if Manila is the only place in Philippines.

Btw, there are many native English speakers who can't even spell right or use the grammar properly..now that is scarier(no offense to the decent ones).

I agree with Serendipity: It is easy to communicate with Philipino's: all Philipino's who finished high school speak English reasonably to quite well!

My experience in Philipines: hotels expensive compared to quality. Food sometimes is shocking: for example, once I ordered rice with pork... it wasn't real pork, just some tiny peaces of pork skin!

In Chowking I returned the food to the kitchen and told the cook to eat this disgusting stuff himself.

In general: no taste... I lose a few kilo's every time I visit the Philipines. Even in a top hotel in Makati (4000 pesos/night) the breakfast was lousy, tasteless.

(

http://thecrux.com/the-u-s-dollar-is-peaking-now/

1 or 2 times a year I eat in this big restaurant at ground floor at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Every time I noticed 2-3 groups of people talking in a way that resembles shouting.... always Chinese. Also a couple of times in restaurants at Jomtien Beach.