bkkjames

I agree with you will you return in a few years time with some drinkable local wine?

Do I look like Barack Obama?

The tax rates if we have the exact numbers aren't a subjective thing. Some numbers are higher than others. I am just asking. It appears that the Thai government in its infinite wisdom is punishing wine, so who is paying them to do that , ha ha ha ...

I am happy I started this thread for one reason, someone posted some evidence that the Thai wine is not charged a "faux duty" which is a falsehood that I previously thought was true. But also, the same item verified the still very high tax rate on Thai wine. You don't have to be a wine expert to be interested in this subject. Just a curious wine lover living in Thailand, an unfortunate country to be a wine lover in.

So stopping whining about it and have a glass - chai yoooo

Got this from a website in Chiang Mai, fyi, from 2007....

Even local wineries are not exempt from the clutches of the revenue service. All grape wine - from the motherland or afar - is taxed at a flat rate of 176.5% and an interior tax of 21.2%, with additional - though less hefty - import duties on foreign wines.

Thanks for that. That would indicate there is no "faux duty" just a very high tax even on Thai wine, pushing 200 percent. That is a much higher tax rate than for spirits and beer, YES?

If I agree with you will you return in a few years time with some drinkable local wine?

Sorry guys, I just looked at the BBC to see the real KO time, and it says it's off, but I can find no further info.

The times are UK, so it would be 10pm. Unusual for the BBC to get it wrong, but I hope for the OP's sake that they did this time.

I see Peru v Paraguay is off as well.

Typical of the Brits to try and sabotage anything Australian. Unusual for the BBC to get something wrong you say? Just today they were still calling Stevie Gerrard vice captain of the English team.

Got this from a website in Chiang Mai, fyi, from 2007....

Even local wineries are not exempt from the clutches of the revenue service. All grape wine - from the motherland or afar - is taxed at a flat rate of 176.5% and an interior tax of 21.2%, with additional - though less hefty - import duties on foreign wines.

If you don't know what the tax on Thai wine is, how can you say it's obviously very high?

Read the OP! From an expert. I have heard for many years that Thai wines are dutied the same as imports. I would just like SPECIFIC figures, thats all. You talk to me like I am an idiot, but you don't bother to read my posts. Of course, even at 100 baht a bottle, if it is CRAP, it isn't worth 100 baht (though frankly they could still sell a lot of even crap at 100 baht). I specifically proposed that IF the Thai wine industry could be freed from the tax structure here, and IF they could produce a DRINKABLE (not great) wine for under 200 B a bottle, it would be fantastically competitive with imports. Thats all I said.

Despite unfair high local taxes wine is becoming an important part of the country's economic development.

While you are removing the tax on wine, make sure you remove call Mr Chang and Singha because I am sure they would like to get their beer taxes reduced in order to compete with imports.

BTW< i don't talk to you like you are an idiot, just hoping you will see the bigger picture. Thai wines are not taxed the same as imports as there no import duties for a product that in not imported. Yes there are taxes but not duties. Now I need a drink

Back on topic (which was WINE TAXES if you need reminding): does anyone know specifically how the TAX on local Thai wine (which is obviously very high) compares with the tax on Australian imports (which nows gets a slight break) and for example French imports?

If you don't know what the tax on Thai wine is, how can you say it's obviously very high?

In simplier terms JT, look at it this way.

Tax at 50% on local wine x 0 bottles sold equals 0 tax revenue. Lowering the tax to 5% still won't bring in more revenue if nobody buys it.

Thai wine at 50 Baht a bottle is still undrinkable. Wouldn't even use it for cooking. If you dropped a crate of it off at my house I would not accept delivery.

Improve the product first, then set your price accordingly. Do you understand that fine items like good wine / food / watches have a percieved value associated with them?

Remove the Chinese styled business plan from your wine industry and realise that the French, Italians, Spanish whatever have built billion dollar a year wine industries on creating value - not volume+low margin.

Just looked on the BBC website, and they say the game is OFF - don't know why.

Normally if it is not live they will tell you it's delayed, don't know about this one, maybe a mistake in their schedules, but it doesn't really matter if the games off

well the bbc better tell australia cause of 12 mins ago, the game is on...

http://sportal.com.au/football-news-displa...pulls-out-60667

Gulf Air is awful. Always have delays and the planes are very old without any seatback TVs, let alone an entertainment system.

On my last trip I used Gulf and it wasn't too bad. It is a while since I used Qatar, but at that time this airline was nothing to write home about with a long lay over between flights. My impression regarding Gulf (based on other people's posts) is that it is a bit of a gamble: it can be okay but also run into problems. In my case flying LHR-BKK via Abu Dhabi all four flights were on time with the connection wait under 2 hours (less than that out of the planes). The smaller airbus to and from London is fairly new and has modern seat-back entertainment. The problem is on the BKK route where there are older planes. However on my flights one was a recently refurbished aircraft and the older one was actually not that bad. I noticed some worn seats and the in-flight entertainment was via shared TVs, but this is no worse than say some of the older KLM planes. I would take a chance again if the price differential is attractive enough.

You mean Bahrain and not Abu Dhabi?

Anyways, 3 better options depending on price are Etihad, Qatar, Emirates. I won't fly Gulf again until they take delivery of the 787s. Those A340's on the BKK Bahrain route are older than me, and I am pretty dam_n old.

Normally I would suggest doing a poll but after only a few replies, a consensus is already forming.

Does Soul have the equal to an Orchard Road? (Orchard Towers)

Have you factored in terrorism concerns? With the execution of the 3 murderers implicated in the Bali bombings, I'd think twice before putting my family in Bali. There's lots to see in Thailand if you try some of the places you haven't seen before.

dying down, not really an issue.

Until the next bomb goes off he whispers...

blaming someone else for materialism is weak.

Practically no culture on Earth can withstand waves of "progress" coming from the West. They(us, really) are very good at imposing their (our) values on the rest of the world.

It appeals to most base human instincts and it works like a clock.

Greed, individualism, selfishness, vanity, sex indulgence - the west hasn't invented them, sure, but it was the first culture that put them on a pedestal and declared them normal and even desirable.

Take a look back at some of the Kmer Empires, or Eyptians for that matter for what you describe above. Just because Al Gore invented the internet ( ) doesn't mean the Chinese cant sell a million copies of DVD's a week in the name of socialism.

But hey, let's forget it all and go back to living in caves like the Taliban.

A week before our wedding, the doctors found a tumor on my wife's spinal cord that needed

immediate surgery. This canceled our Thai ceremony but since I already had the plane tickets I went to be

with her in the hospital. I had already deposited Sin Sod into her bank account (around $7500 US that I'm

still paying the loan for). We decided to leave it in her bank until we could reschedule the wedding.

After her recovery my wife was able to come to the USA and on the very day she left Thailand, her mother had a

fainting spell and was diagnosed with diabetes. Now my wife feels incredibly guilty for leaving her parents

to live in the US. My wife is 29. Her parents are in their early 50's and the dad runs a noodle stand business.

They have some land and rice farm.

My wife was feeling worried about her mom and wanted to go to the hospital with her. After we received the

advanced parole I sent her home to see her mom for 10 days. After my wife came back I found out that they

never actually went to the hospital but her mom was taking some pills for her condition. I also found out that

she gave the Sin Sod money to her mom without us having a Thai ceremony.

Now my wife is working part time at a Thai restaurant and is obsessed with buying her parents a new house. They

already have a house but it seems their old house has a termite problem. She would like to save 600,000 baht for this.

This is in addition to the 10,000 baht I have been sending every month. This means she would be saving most of

her paycheck and tips for her parents instead of contributing to our household. I am by not means rich and could

use the help. My wife is extremely emotional about the issue of helping her parents. If I try to talk it through

with her I will get crying, silent treatment, and flat out anger. Not one word can be said against her parents. She tells

me I married a Thai and have to accept this. I suggested buying some rental property and giving to her parents for

residual income, or buy another noodle stand for her brother to make money and ease the burden on us. NO, only a

new house could save her parents.

My wife has many wonderful qualities, but I feel that my she is the victim of her mom's manipulation. This guilt is

putting a lot of strain on our finances. How the hel_l to deal with this...

Family pressure is not easy anywhere, especially true here. However, seeing as your wife is as honest as a tailor, cut your losses mate- now!

Have you factored in terrorism concerns? With the execution of the 3 murderers implicated in the Bali bombings, I'd think twice before putting my family in Bali. There's lots to see in Thailand if you try some of the places you haven't seen before.

Totally agree.

FAO: bkkjames

Mancienne sees future at Chelsea

Michael Mancienne has voiced his determination to one day break into the Chelsea first team.

Mancienne, who is currently on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers, has been named in Fabio Capello's 23-man England squad to face Germany on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old has made just three Championship starts for Wolves this season and was handed the surprise call-up ahead of a number of Premier League defenders.

Mancienne has yet to feature for his parent club Chelsea but is determined to return to Stamford Bridge in the future and emerge as a regular.

He said in The Sun: "Long-term I would like to go back there, because I have been with the club since I was a kid.

"I am at Wolves until the end of December and I don't know if the loan will be extended."

He added: "I want to make headlines because that shows I'm doing well.

"To go from Chelsea reserves to the top of the Championship with Wolves and to England is a massive thrill.

"I am thriving on the pressure playing first-team football brings and this is only inspiring me to work harder because these are just the first steps."

With news like this, I think we will all sleep better tonight. Keep up the good work Seapok.

Please make yourself aware of this rule bkkjames.

2) Posting another members personal details, photos or web site details is forbidden and will result in being banned. Excessive, aggressive posts against other members, moderators and admin; or flaming will not be tolerated. 'Flaming' is best defined as posting or responding to a message in a way clearly intended to incite useless arguments, rants, and/or for launching personal attacks, insulting, being hateful, useless criticism, name calling, swearing and other bad behavior or comments meant to incite anger.

Ah ok, not sure what in my line to Seapok violates any of the above? If it does, then perhaps all the comments / banter between supporters in the football forum should come under closer scrutiny?

Elle's Guesthouse

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That Phanom, That Phanom District

Nakhon Phanom Province, Thailand

Tel. (081) 592 7443

(66) 81 592 7443

Description : Elle's Guesthouse is a wooden guesthouse in That Phanom District,

Nakhon Phanom Province in northeast Thailand.

We have 4 simple fan-cooled rooms with share bathroom.

You can walk about five minutes to Khong River and about ten minutes to That PhanomTemple.

The owner is thai who can speak English .

Room rates

Single share bathroom with fan 120B

Double share bathroom with fan 150B

If you would like to have more information or see pictures please contact me.

Sponsors of TV are invited to start their own thread btw...

Japan Airlines is good too.

Cabin crew that are polite, friendly and accomadating, and don't scowl at you when you press the service button looking for a drink in the middle of the night.

Quality of the passengers is generally very good too. No coughing spitting picking noses for 12 hours in the seat next to you.

If you want only information and not BS, suggestions, opinions, and sarcasm (here is some, if you feel the need) then I suggest you avoid this site (TV) and go immediately to wikipedia........ Bye bye now.........

Yea Rob, wikipedia will tell you how to avoid katoey pickpockets on Walking Street.

Singapore is a financial power house, Taiwan has great mountain bikes - it has been that way for decades, it's not exactly the sign of progress - pulling away from Thailand. It's just maintaining status quo.

I'm not saying Thailand progresses really fast, I just commented on PB's "neckbreaking speed" or something. I don't see it - the west has been basically in stagnation for the past few years, and there has been no changes in Asian order of things. Ok, India and China are catching up with the rest of the world, but only economically, that's amazing but we shall see if this growth is sustainable. Only South Korea has been making really big splashes here.

Plus,

I am trying not to argue much about my breakneck speed phrase. I surely was not referring to the last couple of years economically. In terms of Thai culture, I mean to be very sympathetic to most Thais (maybe not the blue-hairs still living in the 19th century). We went from 3 speed transmissions to seven since I was a teenager. Mobile phones, kids driving motorcycles, birth control methods, youngsters moving off the farm - all in one generation, to a society that used to be very stable.

Thai culture, which was so stable, is not only fluid, but moving in several wrong directions, toward non-Buddhist materialism and violence. This lovely country does not need to imitate Taiwan or Singapore, and surely not the USA or UK. I wish only the best for Thailand, knowing it will progress slowly.

I do agree with some of your points PB, but violence in Thai society has been here long before Taiwan, Singapore and the USA / UK ever set foot or influenced this nation.

And blaming someone else for materialism is weak. As dedicated Buddhists, they should be able to recognise materialism and do everything in their power to avoid it. They chose not too. I have a choice and so does every Thai. If I go buy a TV tonight and watch Thai soap operas all day tomorrow, I most certainly will only blame myself and not materialism from the west / other cultures.

What a week to start this thread with our worst team performance of the season! We just didn't turn up and probably at the worst place in the Premier League to do that!

However on the upside our fans not only totally outsung the 70,000 plastic prawn eating sandwich fans for the entire game (not that hard granted) - but we did what all true English footie fans desired we also gave the cheating, diving, whinging, greasy portuguese wanke_r more abuse than he's ever suffered for 90 minutes. I've read numerous USA PLC fans complaining that we were the nastiest and loudest fans to visit the Old Library.

Don't worry Christiano my old fellow that was only 5,000 or so Stoke supporters . .. . come Boxing Day there will be 25,000 of them waiting for you . .. . welcome to the Britannia!

So the Baggies are next at the Brit . . and no doubt Tony Moanbray will be complaining about our big boys bullying his delicate little flowers as per usual. But as we expect our usual 3pts . .. . as we alway beat West Brom . . . boing boing bag of &lt;deleted&gt; . . .

We are loud*, we are proud - we are Stoke.

* We are officially the loudest fans in the Prem as well!

One hit wonders, next year you will be the loudest in the Championship

Ive already been put of posting almost anything here in the last few months because of all the "experts"!!

No expert am I, but you meant to say off correct?

Why do new posters or some posters add their 2 cents worth when they don't have it to begin with, being more or less clueless about regulations. To ask questions is great, but to put in ones two cents in and saying, well I don't know much about....BUT.........

Kind of annoying to say the least it is. State what you know or ask questions and that should be enough to learn how to figure out ones situation..

What is it? Loneliness and nothing much to do in ones life other than squak on the computer sites!...................Sorry good people, but this is a gripe. Some posters purley act like puppies!

Uncletom

Isn't this what you are doing?

Well aehn - I am so glad that we will never meet. It is nice to know you can decide that girls who are tattooed are "even more ugly" - than what? I would rather be tattooed that have your arrogant attitude. In fact I love my tattoo - and guess what, I proudly show it off. Just about to get another one done.

Nice to know you are not dating guys and presumably not girls either - maybe one day you will get a life!!

reminds me of what Bill Maher said....

New Rule: No more Japanese style tattooes on your lower back!

"Do think that tattoo makes you more spiritial. For all you know it's the recipe for Kung Pow Chicken, and besides, the last time you were spiritial was when you were sixteen and your pregnancy test came back negative, oh thank you lord!"

Men with lots of tattoos do look like thugs/criminals.

But i also think the same everytime i hear a scouse accent.

Very true!

I am a jealous man JohnBKKK you must be at least 200 kg's eating all that great food

well ... ehem .... I'm certainly not a lightweight but far off the suggested mark .. more like 120 KG I certainly would if I ate all this food everyday, but a funny thing happens to cooks, having tasted very small amounts of a variaty of dishes, probabaly less than a cup full in all, one is full. I have a harty breakfast in the morning and than nothing until about 7pm when I have a small dinner .. today Goulash, half of a portion that we normally serve at the Bistro, with some Walnutbread.

Today my Thai staff was particulaly fond of the Walnut Bread and I had to guard it carefully ... Walnuts ain't cheap these days, but they always manage to talk me out of some bread to take home to their families ..... they also enjoy some good sausages

John, the not soooo heavy

120 kg ???

John is what is known as a 'light' 120 kgs