newnative

Lie # 4,874,931,476 for those of you not keeping track. As always, no charge for this helpful service.

No, I don't have any percentages for you. But, I would say inflation has not been bad at all here. I hardly give it a thought. I've been here 14 years and price increases have been very reasonable over the years, in my opinion, and for what I buy. Meanwhile, the dollar to baht was around 31 when I arrived and today is 36.6. And, as another poster has said, the COLAs on my pension and Social Security have easily exceeded the low inflation. I would be worse off in the US, my home country.

Yes, a condo bought in foreign quota can be resold to a Thai, or to a foreigner, who would likely keep it in foreign quota.

Very poorly written inaccurate article. Maybe take a second stab at it.

There is no 'Thai quota'. Thais can own 100% of a condo project. Foreign buyers are limited to 49% of a project's saleable area, in foreign quota. If foreign quota is full, a foreigner can still purchase a condo in company name. I would say definitey buy in foreign quota, if it is still available. There's less hassle with paperwork, no company set-up, etc., and your condo will be easier to sell down the road to another foreigner if it is held in foreign quota.

I do not know of any high quality vinyl sofas. Since you can afford it, I would go either with another leather sofa or with a cloth sofa with covers that can be washed, with perhaps a spare cover set kept in reserve. I think leather ages better than vinyl. IKEA probably offers the biggest selection of cloth sofas with removable covers that can be washed. In Pattaya, I would check Index, of course, but also Boonthavorn Lifestyle furniture on the second floor. Both Index and Lifestyle have some good sales now and then. I think Chic Republic has been selling furniture by Ashley, as well as some other brands. At the front of the Home Pro on Sukhumvit there is a Jas furniture store as you enter the store. They have a fairly good selection of sofas, mostly recliners, both manual and electric, with some different covering materials available and a wide assortment of colors--including vinyl and leather in different grades. Jas also may be a good option to check as you can customize your choice somewhat. My spouse and I almost bought a sofa from them before we found a bargain at Lifestyle in Bangkok. If you can get to Bangkok, the Boonthavorn store up the street from Rama 9 mall has a big complex of 3 or 4 stores and the furniture store there is large and on 3 floors with a bigger selection than Pattaya. There's no substitute for actually sitting on a chair or sofa to check comfort. I would never buy anything without first trying it out, so you can check the back height and pitch, the seat depth, and the comfort level of the cushions. Good luck with your search.

Quite happy here, thanks.

I prefer to live in a medium size city such as Pattaya, which has all the things and services I need, but be not too far from a big city. Bangkok is a nice distance away--about 1.5 hours by car. Not too close or too far.

When I came to Thailand in 2010 I brought one large and one medium suitcase with me. They had clothes and some small collectibles that I did not want to leave behind. And some rolled-up art works, photos, etc.. I also shipped two antique Korean chests, which I filled with other collectibles and some small pictures, and I shipped two Japanese folding art screens, which I have had since the early 1970s. In hindsight, I should have shipped a bit more of the art work I left behind when I was doing the shipment. I also should have bought two even bigger suitcases than the ones I used and shipped more one-of-a-kind stuff I had. Good advice by an earlier poster to not bring much in the way of clothes--I brought far too much and I would have had more space for more important things.

Not just historians--anyone with a working brain.

Utter nonsense from the serial whiner.

Buh bye bye

'...Pattaya terrorised...'. Asean Now, the hub of hype.

Good. Keep at it.

Boo hoo

Sadly, for America, the latter.

I totally love it. I think the artist did an excellent job. So refreshing to see a portrait done differently from the usual run-of-the-mill. Great that it is sparking comment--good art will do that.

Not 'Bangkok chaos'. Please, hold the hype already. There were no injuries because nobody was in the pickup truck. Woman driver's statement makes no sense when you see the video. Truck was parked and her car pushed it over the edge. Last sentence was cringe-worthy.

Yikes. First Yellowtail and now his clone.

'...swallowed whole...' Gimme a break.

No.

Encouraging to see in a recent poll that 52% of Americans now believe Trump is guilty in the hush money trial and 49% approve of the trial, up from 43% in April.

Mixed bag. Better in some ways, worse in others.

You would think from reading TV/AN that noisy neighbors are a huge problem for a large number of posters. Yet, from your survey, the vast majority report no problems at all and most of the remaining had some problems but they were resolved. Only a small handful felt they needed to move. Although your survey isn't scientific, I suspect it pretty fairly reflects reality--and certainly does in my experience here.

And kicking.