newnative

Sad, and no lessons learned. Inspection of Pattaya's WS clubs found many with just 1 exit--but nothing mentioned about closing them down until they can pass inspection. Business as usual.

Well, that was fast. At ease, men--and you, too, maid beater. Back to normal.

Yes, hard to believe she could have been overlooked there. If that was where she was found, she might have moved to that area after everyone else had left and, while attempting to get out, possibly bruised herself trying to get the door open.

I've been reading the comments and a number of them have been focused on the $80,000 a year requirement. A second option that hasn't been discussed much is having $40,000 or more in income a year, along with investments in Thailand totaling $250,000, which can be Thai property, government bonds, or foreign direct investment. If you look at the form, there are sections to record income other than pensions, such as dividend income and income from rental property--that's good. I have the $40,000 a year income requirement and I have bought a condo for $188,000, which I still own. My question is whether they would count a condo purchase from before the program was started. And, if yes, could I then just invest another $62,000 in Thai bonds to bring the total to $250,000? Another question, would it count that I invested $218,000 in an earlier condo but then sold it? If yes, I would have already met the $250,000 requirement with both condo purchases and would not have to invest any more money. I think I am not the only one with $80,000 being totally out of the question--but having $40,000 in income and having already invested money in Thailand. I might consider going for this LTR visa if prior investment in Thailand is counted. But, no way if I have to start from scratch.

Two possibly drunk tourists out at 1 AM driving an unfamiliar motorbike on dark, unfamiliar, and sometimes challenging roads. What could possibly go wrong? The dead tourist would likely still be alive if there was a ban on tourists renting motorbikes.

Not 1 but 2 teachers on the van and neither one noticed the child hadn't left the van? Just 7 kids to watch and they still managed to screw it up, resulting in a death? The teacher in the back should have been the last person off the van, not the first, and only after checking the van was empty and all the students had exited.

I agree with the OP. With the high prices they charge for cars in Thailand we should be assured we are getting the newest model with the newest model year date. Even with a carryover model, you don't want to be driving a new car off the lot that is already considered to be a year old according to the paperwork. When you go to resell it, buyers aren't going to make the distinction with the inventory business and buying a car in December 2022 vs. January 2023. They're just going to ask what model year it is. If you were being given a big discount, as they do in the US with leftover models, that could make a difference. But, as the OP said, they don't. I remember years ago my partner and I went into a new car dealer in Pattaya. They had 2 of the same model car on the showroom floor side by side. One was the old model, the other was the new, restyled version that looked radically different--and much better. Same price for both--the salesperson seemed shocked when I suggested the old model should get a discount since it looked so dated in comparison. I think on that same visit I got into trouble by wandering onto the back lot where they had the new cars parked. Foolish me, I wanted to see what the model we were interested in looked like in different colors--not that there were many colors to chose from. Partner yelled at me--you're not suppose to be back here! In the US, it's common--and fun--to go through the lot looking at all the new models. And, don't get me started on test drives--clearly frowned upon here. Actually, I don't think they like you sitting in the car. Much better if you stand at a respectful distance. I'm in full agreement with In Full Agreement, who just posted that he did not enjoy buying a car in Thailand.

Think you know who I was referring to. We can start with McConnell and work our way down the sorry list. One Republican, of far too few, actually showing some balls and standing up to Trump is, of course, Liz Cheney. And, look how she was rewarded--removed from her #3 position in the Republican House leadership and not supported in her re-election bid. Pathetic.

My Thai partner and I are visiting Samui with some of his family; neither of us has ever been here before. Really beautiful island and we are having a wonderful time. There are some tourists around here and there but not nearly enough to support all the tourists businesses. Many closed shops, many for sale and for rent signs. Like we observed when we visited Koh Chang last December, our big, higher-end resort where we are staying here in Samui seems to be doing ok with enough business to stay open. So many of the smaller places look to be really struggling--just not enough tourists yet. Today the weather was great and we had lunch at a wonderful seafood restaurant right on the water with beautiful views. Delicious meal, terrific service. Probably about a 35-table restaurant. When we were there, customers at just 5 of the tables, including ours. It was the same yesterday at another great restaurant we ate at.

Certainly been lots of ball-less Republicans kissing his behind.

I saw that and thought the same thing. He's gone stark raving mad.

I wish that was the case--it's not, at least for some condo projects. My partner and I lived in two different new condo projects in Pattaya. Both around 1000-1200 units. They would have been wonderful places to live were it not for the illegal daily renters messing everything up. Believe me when I say it was a big problem, pre-covid, for some projects. We owned a third condo as a rental at another large, new project, also around 1000 mostly small units. Had a long-term tenant who was happy at first--until the illegal daily renters invaded and made the place unpleasant. We saw the writing on the wall and sold that condo--and the other two we owned and lived at. We're in a house now but if we ever moved back into a condo we would look for an older project with bigger condo unit sizes and fewer units altogether. I think that gives you a better chance of not being in a project over-run with illegal daily renters using it as a hotel. We wised-up with the last condo we owned--less than 200 units in the project and the smallest unit was 64 sqm. No unpleasant daily rental churn, no feeling like you're living in hotel.

Prawit . . . he still alive?

Per the article: The spokesman said relevant agencies are rapidly considering tourism promotion measures for the rest of the year. This is so Thailand would be able to attract 10 million tourists for the whole of 2022, in accordance with the current target. No matter how 'rapidly' they consider 'promotion measures', no way they'll hit their 'current target' of 10 million. Expect the 'current target' to change to a lower figure soon.

Certainly hope this news might deter some. I haven't seen one person that looked better with a tattoo. Several times I've looked at people and thought they must have been in a terrible motorcycle accident that horribly scarred their legs. How awful to have to walk around looking like that. Then looked closer and saw it was tattoos. Bad on men, much worse on women.

The last condo we rented, when we still rented condos, was a 1 bedroom at The Base in Pattaya. The agent brought the client and it was a 1 year contract at 25,000 baht a month. The agent took the first month's rent as his fee. Tenant had nothing to do with the agent's fee, we paid it. Tenant paid rent, internet/cable, water, and electric. We paid the condo monthly maintenance fee. We were happy to pay the agent's fee as this was a corporate rental--the company paid the rent each month like clock work and the tenant didn't trash the place since it wouldn't look too good with the company.

I think it's 15 stores now with the Pattaya branch.

Both Home Pro and Mega Home seem to be owned by Home Product Center Public Co., Ltd.

I guess we'll see how it shakes out. When the new Home Pro opened on Sukumvit, I thought the old one at Big C Extra, just down the street might close. But, so far still open. And, now this third home improvement store from the same company. Maybe they know something. Possibly like Grande Centre Point opening a huge, new hotel right across the street from their other huge hotel at T21.

Sorry you misread my post. I meant the day we visited there were customers around.

Brick and mortar still seem alive and well in Pattaya. We just had a huge, new home improvement store called Mega Home open. Not to be confused with Mega Furniture, which also recently opened. We already have 2 Home Pro stores, Baan and Beyond, Thai Watsadu, Boonthavorn, Home Mart, and numerous smaller paint, lumber, plumbing, hardware stores, etc. My partner and I stopped in and checked it out; seemed to be doing ok business. Partner asked the sales staff and apparently Mega Home is owned by the same entity that owns Home Pro.

Prawit . . . Isn't he like the World's oldest living person? Or, just pretending to be?

Good. Brain apparently already lost sometime in the past.

They have a MAJOR GENERAL as their police spokesman??? Talk about over-the-top top-heavy with generals, good example here. Anywhere else it'd likely be a lieutenant.

I think they will not have a ruling until after the big APEC Summit in Bangkok in November. Prayut dearly wants to still be PM then and act as host because China's Xi is expected to make his first visit to Thailand for the meeting. The court needs to stretch it's research of what could easily be decided in a few days. Ok, boys, let's start our careful study of this issue by first taking a long, hard look at the font that was used. Then, later next week or the week after we'll move on to the paper that was selected . . .