nonthaburial

There's an importer neext to the Universe Gym in Pattaya- I think they're called 'honey ciders', they seem to import all the popular brands. I haven't seen any cider that is made in Thailand, is there a reason for that ??

You need lots of apples.

Smart guy !!

There's absolutely nothing smart in quoting the obvious, but common sense and logic does come Into it.

Brilliant !!!

Visited a few farms in the West Country. Notable Markus Govier in Glastonbury. Great guy he was.

Helped out on the cider stall at Camra beer festivals around North England in the early 90's. Thanks to Wobbly Rob. Rob lived in an old Merc van and used to trip around the West country buying cider from farms. His bed was a kitchen table in the back of the van.

Last Wassail gathering I attended in the UK was Winter Solstice in Sheffield in 94 at a rented house that ,then ,girlfriend and I were living in, it had an Apple tree in the garden.

My mate, Wobbly Rob (Wilson) from Liverpool organised the cider and cooked the mulled cider, my girlfriend was the Wassail Queen and I provided the toast.

I have tried to Wassail in my parents in law's place near Korat, but could only come up with a Papaya tree, which was doing quite well. Locals (and my family) thought I had lost the plot.

Rob now lives on the Isle of Wight

solhok, I wouldn't mind betting there more than a few on here who believe we have both lost the plot !

wassailing_the_apple_trees.jpg

Wassail to thee bringing cider to Thailand !

Nice one, I was actually Wassailing last week in Devon, very Pagan but interesting non the less.

After following this from day one, my first thoughts were " it's a storm in a bra cup" but as the story has progressed I am now not so sure.

Apologies double post

beware Thailand are clamping down on fake goods imported from china.

if you need a taster pm me,hic hic hic

Ah meatboy it Is truly a pleasure to hear of such dedicated persons such as yourself, willing to go the whole mile, rain or shine. Very inspirational and an obvious Cider fan.

I would like to thank everyone who responded to my request for advice, after reading these replies. Coupled with my online search results, all points to a very slippery path with regards to importing anything into Thailand.

I was interested in reading posts that commented on various aspects of Cider, we had the "scrumpy in Thailand" to " I thought it was a teenagers drink" two distinctly opposite views.

In the UK and other countries such as Finland, Cider is no longer considered a poor mans drink, in fact my research shows me that up to 13% of the over 25s in the UK are Cider drinkers, however, let's make it quite clear that the standards of Ciders differ a great deal, you have the mass produced option saturating the markets that according to CAMRA should not even be called Cider as they contain far too many chemicals, then you have the farm family produced that grow their own apples and bottle magnificent award winning products, that are totally natural and contain no additives.

One has only to look into bars and department stores in the UK to ascertain differing standards, if you should visit what I could describe as, run down low class pubs, you will find mass produced Ciders, but in establishments such as Whetherspoons, Marks & Spencers you will see up market CAMRA recognised Ciders.

It is also worth noting on my sales experiences here in China, that the un named mass produced Ciders are sold wholesale to bars etc at a much higher cost than "proper ciders" are, and yet their production cost is a fraction of family run producers ! A number of pubs I supply have now taken off their massed produced Ciders and replaced them with better more healthy options.

On a final note, an American Cider drinker here said to me last week, two pints of what was being sold here before gave me a crippling headache, whilst I can drink four pints of your products and feel great ..... WHY ? The answer is quite simply as stated above the chemical content and additives. Chalk and Cheese.

having been a cider drinker all my life I have spilt more than that American drinks on a good night,there are some bad ones on the market and some good ones,having graduated from scrumpy where we had to tie the bottom of our trousers after a session and a vindaloo on top I can remember well.as for whats available here well thatchers.john kepplers,are pretty good I would like to see scrumpy jack,as for that irish stuff even my mrs.wouldn't drink it.

I did write to mr.chang and asked why they had not researched the market but got no reply,i introduced some of my extended family to cider they thought it was better than Yabba.as for the uk.cider is the no.1 drink.

I am not surprised that your extended family are likers of a decent Cider, here in China the locals are getting well into it, for a number of reasons, they don't trust most things manufactured here, they trust and to a degree gain face from buying British products, they also like the natural, no additives and chemical free aspect.and my marketing managers theme of using Union Jack bottle caps was a true inspiration.

There's an importer neext to the Universe Gym in Pattaya- I think they're called 'honey ciders', they seem to import all the popular brands. I haven't seen any cider that is made in Thailand, is there a reason for that ??

There used to be a guy who posted on here a couple of years ago, he set up his own company and produced cider here in Thailand, Tropical Nuclear Cider if I remember correctly.

Dont know if its still being produced and sold.

As for the cider that is sold here, theres a lot of crap on the market.

I did read of such a manufacture in Thailand , but not living there any more I am out of the loop, however I believe it would be very difficult to manufacture a stable decent Cider in Thailand because of the apple situation locally, a half decent supplier would have to get access to a good number of different flavoured apples, which is not easy. My supplier has his own orchards where he has available to him over 300 varieties of apple.

And this is where mass producers come unstuck, they have to rely on apple concentrate that they are forced to source from all over Europe and even further afield, which are more often than not stuffed with chemicals , resulting in comments such as yours that there "are a lot of crap on the market"

Thanks GS, however it never hurts to get to the bottom of things yourself as this information gleaned can give me information on expected retail prices. And looking closer at the import tariffs, I would suggest this project would be touch and go financially. I will have to wait and talk to the interested ?Thai based party. I do intend to be in BKK next week.

Thanks again

nonthaburial; Are you re-exporting it through China? If so, the importer can probably avoid the high import tariffs.

GS there are two options open, import the container into bond at HK Port then reexport, or, import into China pay all import duties then reexport, however for Ciders, which are classified as Perry, the duties in China are high, so it's a case of swings and roundabouts.

I am at this present moment trying to pin down the rules and regulations re goods into China and Thailand using the FTA.

I would like to thank everyone who responded to my request for advice, after reading these replies. Coupled with my online search results, all points to a very slippery path with regards to importing anything into Thailand.

nonthaburial; as you are the exporter you have nothing to lose really. That onus falls entirely on the importer here in Thailand.

Thanks GS, however it never hurts to get to the bottom of things yourself as this information gleaned can give me information on expected retail prices. And looking closer at the import tariffs, I would suggest this project would be touch and go financially. I will have to wait and talk to the interested ?Thai based party. I do intend to be in BKK next week.

Thanks again

I would like to thank everyone who responded to my request for advice, after reading these replies. Coupled with my online search results, all points to a very slippery path with regards to importing anything into Thailand.

I was interested in reading posts that commented on various aspects of Cider, we had the "scrumpy in Thailand" to " I thought it was a teenagers drink" two distinctly opposite views.

In the UK and other countries such as Finland, Cider is no longer considered a poor mans drink, in fact my research shows me that up to 13% of the over 25s in the UK are Cider drinkers, however, let's make it quite clear that the standards of Ciders differ a great deal, you have the mass produced option saturating the markets that according to CAMRA should not even be called Cider as they contain far too many chemicals, then you have the farm family produced that grow their own apples and bottle magnificent award winning products, that are totally natural and contain no additives.

One has only to look into bars and department stores in the UK to ascertain differing standards, if you should visit what I could describe as, run down low class pubs, you will find mass produced Ciders, but in establishments such as Whetherspoons, Marks & Spencers you will see up market CAMRA recognised Ciders.

It is also worth noting on my sales experiences here in China, that the un named mass produced Ciders are sold wholesale to bars etc at a much higher cost than "proper ciders" are, and yet their production cost is a fraction of family run producers ! A number of pubs I supply have now taken off their massed produced Ciders and replaced them with better more healthy options.

On a final note, an American Cider drinker here said to me last week, two pints of what was being sold here before gave me a crippling headache, whilst I can drink four pints of your products and feel great ..... WHY ? The answer is quite simply as stated above the chemical content and additives. Chalk and Cheese.

I think others will agree with me and say, first find a Thai lawyer who has experience in importation of goods. Don't rely on hearsay from the local expats.

Totally agree with your statement, however my request on here was merely putting a toe In the water so to speak, however, thank you for your reply

My wife and I, who are based in China, are the sole agents for certain South East Asian countries for a very popular Devon (UK) Cider.

We have been importing to China for a number of months and it has proved to be very popular, Hong Kong is next on our list, but this is our decision.

We have now been approached by a Thai interest, who also happens to be British with fingers in the food and beverage industry, but before going the road of meetings etc, I would be grateful for some advice.

One reads on here regularly of the difficulties of importing into Thailand, but does anyone know for absolute certainty the full range of duties etc applied on imported alcohol into Thailand , as I need to be sure of the finances prior to proceeding.

For interest, all our containers come from Southampton to HK then are re packed and either imported into China or redirected as would be the case with Thailand.

Many thanks

I would be very grateful for dome feedback. My wife and I alternate between China and Bangkok , this for business reasons.

We have the need to travel to Bangkok next week for a number of business meetings, but I am concerned about the travel logistics and road closures.

We actually live on Chaeng Wattana in the close proximity to Tesco, and we need to attend meetings very close to the Thai Airways main office on Vibhavadi.

Now I understand that CW road at the Laksi end was or still is a major hot spot with road closures etc, but what about the toll road that can be entered further down CW is that still useable, and what about exits etc.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

Its going to end in a crash for sure. They have gone against the market trend. They are jumping the gun here. I would not fly with 300/400 devices cluttering the avionics ( I am an Avionics Engineer) Have a nice day thai

Singapore Airlines have had this for a while, yet have never actually noticed anyone using it. In my opinion it's a step backwards , there are enough nerds roaming the streets being led by their electronic white blind stick. Don't need it up there.

Someone blindly texting on the street ... one of my pet peeves ... is very different than someone surfing internet at their plane seat. Why would that bother you?

Quite simply, as others have pointed out, will it just be surfing the net, or will other functions such as skype chatting, QQ, be used, this will surely encroach on those sitting near the user and will in my opinion cause friction. The same as sitting in a bus with your thirty nearest passengers all screaming into a cellphone , a pain in the rear on the ground, but magnified when you are imprisoned in a aircraft

These are very clever, however, in my opinion they are far too dim. I bought two for my garden in chins, where they are readily available both in shops and on line. When the sun goes down they turn themselves on, then the opposite at sunrise. They are also very robust, I knocked one of mine over as it wasn't bolted down, smashed all the glass but it still works. Just very very dim. I assume one can buy brighter ones but I am not an expert.

Its going to end in a crash for sure. They have gone against the market trend. They are jumping the gun here. I would not fly with 300/400 devices cluttering the avionics ( I am an Avionics Engineer) Have a nice day thai

Singapore Airlines have had this for a while, yet have never actually noticed anyone using it. In my opinion it's a step backwards , there are enough nerds roaming the streets being led by their electronic white blind stick. Don't need it up there.

So any ideas where else might be good to see some Chinese NY related things? --> China?[/quote

Forget China, everyone has gone hone and the last one out has turned the lights off,it's very quiet here]

Yes, everywhere you go, it cannot be avoided. Same as kangaroos roaming the streets in Sydney.

Seems you didn't read properly, what I considered a fair question, especially the piece where the op asked to be spared the insults .

Is it not possible to send the passport direct to the UK by DHL, and thus pay the same charges as a resident would.?.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

If you send straight to uk, they expect old passport with the application & the correct exit stamps to be in it. You also have to bear in ind they would also lose the extra profit income for their service.

As I said previously, I believe all passports have to be sent back to the UK by the holders, of course with complete documentation etc. However, as was the case with me in China, if you are in a country where you are supposed to carry your passport at all time, they allow you to hold the passport, but you must send copies of the actual details page.

The infuriating thing is that as soon as the passport office in the UK receive your renewal application, they immediately cancel that old passport, why they cannot do that the day they post your new one back to you is totally beyond me.

Good lord the roads empty, a few JCB's, a few trucks, a lot of Police,road clear, what a load of loosers running this town

you have an interesting posting record Jollyman

two tourism related questions at the start of your short posting career on TV then everything else dedicated to defense of current caretaker government and decrying the anti government protestors

as a tourist you seem overly educated in political matters

i think i smell a connection.......

Could the avatar have a bearing on your nasal connections ?

Man up or go home. I would have called his bluff

Turn up your air conditioning temperature.

Just being a realist, your usual air con does not blow hot air, by setting it above the ambient temperature will do nothing except give you a bigger electricity bill. If you have a dual system that's a different story, I just had my new house in China fitted with dual system, same as hotels and it cost me 65000 RMB . My house is over 4000 SQ m (yes that's a fact ) and all three floors have this system. Brilliant

. The only floors not covered are my lower floor which is my office and my basement.

Do not think of the stupidity mentioned about charcoal, even when the coals are red it gives off carbon monoxide, a sure killer. Cheapest and most obvious way OP is an electric blanket decent clothing and even two or three hot water bottles.

Keep safe and warm

This is Thailand. You can do what you like as long as it does not affect anyone else's income at which point they may become violent towards you. Not wearing shoes should be fine.

Briggsy, you have summed it up perfectly, down and outs, peasants and odd beats are part of the Pattaya way of life. If you have no class, aspirations to be class or basically downright ignorant of your visiting countries way of life so be it. However I do know that it's common for whites to walk the immediate area of their residences in South Africa, etc bare feet, but they would never do it in a town or city. Double standards ?