newnative

Me, too. On first glance I always think they've been in a horrible motorcycle accident that has scarred them terribly. One is too much.

You're making excuses to try to justify someone's inappropriate, possibly illegal behavior. It doesn't matter if the teacher was on Walking Street or in a church. With your thinking, it would be ok behavior to steal any loose currency you might see at a bank, since it's main 'purpose' is distributing and receiving money.

I think there are very few new or newer highrise projects in Pattaya that are less than 50% sold. Are there some failed projects and some struggling projects? Yes, but they are far-outnumbered by all the successful ones that have been completed. There are always exceptions but I think few big projects break ground without a healthy number of bookings and financing already in hand. Pattaya has a number of highrise projects in the construction and finishing stages--Once, Riviera Monaco, Copacabana, Edge, Riviera Ocean Drive, Arom, Empire Tower, Panora, Arcadia Millennium Tower, and some others. But, not too many I know of that are about to break ground. I think some developers are pausing on their own while they wait to see when the Chinese and other foreign buyers will be back.

Not buying the flimsy covid excuse.

Prawit, Prawit . . . He still alive?

I imagine her 'expectation' was to not be inappropriately touched by a stranger. Which should be anyone's expectation when out in public, no matter what the time or place.

Yes, in 2016. However, the only 'zero dollar tourist' is the one that doesn't get off the plane. The average Chinese tourist to Thailand spent about 49,000 baht in 2019. That's less than an American (71,000 baht) or a European tourist (69,000)--but far more than 'zero'. Since there were 11 million of them in 2019, they made China by far the biggest contributor of tourism revenue to Thailand that year. China was also the number one contributor to world tourism revenue in 2019, with Chinese tourists spending 254.6 billion US dollars abroad.

Agree. My partner and I have bought furniture from Chic Republic and SB Furniture--our Bangkok condo sofa came from SB and it's holding up well. We also like Lifestyle Furniture at Boonthavorn--we've bought several corner sofas, lounge chairs, and dining tables from them, as well as some patio chairs.

My partner and I shop at both, but more at Index since we are mostly in Pattaya. We think IKEA has a better selection of rugs; we especially like their sisal rugs which come in a number of colors, textures, and sizes. IKEA's housewares, lighting, outdoor furniture, and picture frames are also good. We've been doing custom kitchens and baths so we haven't used their selection of cabinetry but it looks fairly extensive. We like their large, upholstered rectangular ottomans with hidden storage--we've used them a number of times as coffee tables with a big tray on top. I haven't seen them anywhere but IKEA and they have a nice selection of styles and slipcover colors. We haven't needed a hide-a-bed but IKEA's selection looks pretty good. We use Index sometimes for bed and bath linens and houseware items. We've also bought bed frames and mattresses a number of times, as well as living room and dining furniture. Our last purchase was an office chair. We like that Index will assemble furniture for you and we've used their delivery service a number of times.

We owned at Garden Cliff 1, the condo, not the resort/spa. As I said, it was actually like a 3-bedroom bungalow. There was an open walkway to the front door. Two bedrooms looked to the front, the master bedroom and great room looked to the ocean. Lived more like a house than a condo. Not sure how you get a 'box' out of that. My idea of a box would be a 1-room studio. In any case, my post was to point out the very wide variety of condos available here, much more than the selection I had in the bedroom community I lived in outside of Washington, DC. The condo choices there were mostly 3-story projects with very little in the way of amenities--even the nice ones. I lived in about 6 of the condo projects and never had covered parking. Only 2 of the 6 had a small gym and a pool. Covered parking, a gym, and a pool would be considered average amenities here.

What nonsense. Nothing wrong with taking care of your body and nothing wrong with monks setting an example.

Your statement, '...you can buy a condo box which all look pretty similar...' shows you have likely not done much looking at what is available in regard to condos available both in Thailand and in Pattaya, where I live. I don't mean that as a dig; just that there is a tremendous variety of condos here--much, much more than what I had to choose from where I lived in the US. Certainly, there are lots of condos in those low-rise 'theme park' projects and they can, indeed, look alike--mostly small units, usually with identical furniture packages. If that's all you've seen, you might think all condos look pretty similar. But, they are just one type of condo. There are plenty of other choices. Looking for something bigger? You can buy a full-floor condo at Northshore, right on Beach Road. You have the entire floor to yourself and enter your condo via a bridge from the main tower. 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 269 sqm. Not exactly a 'condo box' and you can swing that cat to your hearts content. Still not big enough for your needs? There's the penthouse at 954 sqm. Something similar is also available at Reflection condo at the southern end of Jomtien Beach--the A Building is entirely very large beachfront condos, just 2 to a floor. Royal Cliff, Saranchol, The Cove, and many other projects all offer interesting condo choices, some with very large unit sizes available. Looking for a condo high in the sky, beachfront, and it absolutely has to have it's own, private lap pool? Copacabana in Jomtien has it. The pools have a glass front so you'll feel like you're swimming right into the sky and the ocean. If you're ok with low-rise, Serenity condo has ground floor 3-bedroom condos with their own private pools. Cetus condo in Jomtien offers what they call villa condos, some also with private pools. Thinking a 2-floor duplex condo might be fun and different with a dramatic double-story living room? They're available at Axis, Zire, Baan Plai Haad, and others. Are you super-lazy and you just can't bring yourself to undertake that excruciating trek from the elevator in the hallway to your condo door down the corridor? No problem. Wong Amat Tower, Sanctuary condo, and some other projects all have condos available with the elevator stopping right in your condo. Do you crave a beachfront condo with a bathtub on the balcony to soak in while you sip a glass of wine and watch the sunset? You'll find it at Arom condo, and likely others. Hot tub balconies also available at a number of projects. Maybe you'd like to own a house but you will only buy something in foreign quota, which limits you to condos. Try Garden Cliff condo in Wong Amat. My partner and I lived there and we felt like we were living in a beach bungalow, rather than a condo. Direct oceanfront and just 6 units per floor. We had an open walkway to our front door, flanked by windows with, yes, window flower boxes. We even had a house-like screen door and a house-type mailbox. 3 big bedrooms with en suite baths, nice great room with living, dining and kitchen areas, and a large balcony overlooking the pool, with the ocean about 25 meters away down the cliff steps. Really a special project, and about as different from a 'condo box' as you can get. Just a few examples to, hopefully, show the variety of condos available in Pattaya. Whether one prefers to rent or to own, there's something for just about everyone in all sizes and price ranges.

Exactly my point. Try that in the US.

I agree. When I arrived in 2010, I think the figure was around 16 million that year. Seemed like a manageable amount of tourists. Busy, but not so busy it was unpleasant. 2019 was way too busy, in my opinion. Living in Pattaya, I felt the infrastructure could not handle the numbers visiting that year. Pattaya seems to be getting fairly busy now, especially on weekends, with a number of domestic visitors. International visitors to Thailand are less than 5 million so far this year. If Pattaya is starting to feel busy at times now at 5 million, what's it going to be like at 20 million, let alone 40? Just one example. A few weeks ago my partner and I, who now live on the Darkside, decided to drive into Pattaya on the Motorway around 3pm on a Friday. The Motorway is super convenient for where we live--we can drive from our house by Lake Mabprachan to South Pattaya Road without a single traffic light until we get there. We know weekends are busy but we thought 3pm was early enough. Wrong. The traffic was way backed up at the traffic light to turn right onto Sukhumvit. Lots of traffic stuck on the Motorway waiting to go to North Pattaya Road--which takes them to the beach, Terminal 21, Beach Road, and all the big, new hotels that are now in the vicinity of T21. That was where we were headed, too. A true mess at the intersection. We ended up changing our plans and went left instead. And, remember, we are at less than 5 million international tourists, not 2019's 40 million. What's the intersection going to be like when the hundreds of tourist buses get up and running again? Pity Pattaya did not use the quiet covid years to construct the planned tunnel under North Pattaya Road--or an overpass.

Just the opposite for me, and everyone else I know living here full-time. We're all in houses or nice-size condos, about a 50-50 mix. Happily, we all have that all-important ability--identified so often on this forum--to be able to 'swing a cat' in our abodes. No 'small boxes' among us. I'm a US citizen and I live in a much bigger house here in Pattaya than I could afford to own, or rent, in the US. What makes that possible is lower property prices to begin with and much lower maintenance fees, taxes, etc. This morning on Facebook I saw a nice 3-bedroom pool villa listed for under 6MB. About $172,000. That would not even buy you the small 1-bedroom condo I used to own in Virginia--it's now worth $238,000. That $238,000, about 8MB, will give you a number of condo choices here if you prefer to buy in foreign name. And, lots of nice house choices if you're ok with company name. My brother-in-law is visiting from the US and I asked him what his monthly condo fee is on his condo. $360, plus another $100 monthly town homeowner's fee. Real estate taxes probably at least $150 a month, likely more. So, around 21,000 baht a month. In comparison, my Bangkok condo runs me 2,340 baht in monthly fees. Quite a difference. My Pattaya house in a gated project has a 2,500 baht a month fee for security, gardening, and upkeep. If you're getting around the 65,000 baht a month in retirement income that Thailand requires, 2,500 baht is also quite a difference from 21,000 baht for monthly property charges. With that theoretical 65,000 baht, you're left with 62,500 to spend vs. 44,000. If you prefer to rent, also better here. I used to rent that 1-bedroom Virginia condo for $1500 a month--10 years ago. Likely higher now. That's 52,000 baht. With your theoretical 65,000 baht a month income, you're left with just 13,000 baht. Plenty of condos and houses to rent here for half that 52,000, leaving you much more to spend each month.

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.