newnative

Giddy-up

This is what you wrote: A Thai will includes the following, Last will and testament, provision for funeral arrangements AND a living will. Note the 'includes' and the AND in capital letters emphasizing the living will. That, in my opinion, needed to be clarified as it was indicating that a Thai will, as you said, 'includes' a living will, when it is actually not required. I wanted to point this out--lest everyone reading your post rushes out to add living wills to their Thai wills. The same goes with your insistence, repeated once again above, that a Thai will needs to be in the 'Thai format' and in both the native language and the Thai language when executed. I'll repeat that it does not need to be in Thai when it is initially signed and witnessed. However, it will need to be translated into Thai when it is submitted to the Thai court.

A couple clarifications. A Thai will does not also need a living will. You're dead--the Thai court does not care what medical care you wanted or did not want when you were alive. A Thai will with no living will as part of it is perfectly legal. Second, you leave the impression that if a Thai will is not initially executed in Thai and in 'Thai format' it is invalid. A Thai will does not initially need to be in Thai. However, it will need to be translated into Thai to be submitted to the Thai court.

I don't think this is true for all banks. I have several bank accounts that I opened a few years ago for the purpose of spreading my money around. I did not have any activity on them for over a year or more--both accounts have money in them to cover any bank expenses related to the accounts. Recently I sold a house and, once again, I needed to spread the money around. I checked and both of the accounts were still open and the bank had not closed them and confiscated the money in them. The same goes for my account with 800,000 for my retirement. I never do any activity with the account except get the letter every year for my extension. No activity for a year but the bank doesn't close the account.

Bad numbers. Out comes the vague phrases when something isn't that good.

That's Grande Centre Point Space hotel with a space theme, due to open sometime this year. Should 'work out' very well if Thailand ever gets its act together and reopens easily for tourists. This area is one of the booming areas of Pattaya, at least development-wise. Another new highrise hotel is nearing completion right across the street. In recent years the large Mytt Hotel opened, Grand Palazzo, along with Ozo, the new Amari wing, the new D'Beach highrise addition, and others. A large tract across from T21 has been fenced off--likely for redevelopment at some point. T21, with its Grand Centre Point hotel, was, of course, the spur for all the development. That hotel must have been profitable, pre-covid, or likely Grand Centre Point Space would have not been developed. My partner and I drove by yesterday and GCP Space looks very impressive. It looks like there might be a public component in the front.

Read the story. She purchased the land from other owners of the property many years ago. She is not the original owner. Now, suddenly they decide the land should not have been sold? After all these years? So, why aren't they going after the original purchasers? If anybody is guilty of doing something wrong it is them, not her. You unknowingly buy a used car that was involved in an unsolved hit and run years ago. Finally the police trace the car to you. Should you be guilty of the hit and run or the original driver? And, again, why her, why now? Obviously, they are doing anything they possibly can to discredit a rival. Stinks to high heaven, as my Dad liked to say.

If they're smart that's exactly what the mall owners should be doing during this time of covid. That's the best way to prevent stores from closing and to protect their customer base. Once too many stores close, customers have no reason to visit a mall--and they stop visiting, which makes things even worse and leads to even more stores closing. That's what happened with Harbor--which my partner and I used to shop at. There was no longer any 'there there' and we never go anymore. The new, front part of Marina is certainly dead--that area needs lots of tourists that aren't here yet. The original part of Marina is not busy but, after two years of covid, the majority of the stores are still open--they must be getting enough minimal business to keep going. It helps to have Big C bringing in some shoppers--my partner and I shop there--and I think some Thai shoppers prefer Marina to some of the other malls.

Tourism in a 'coma' sums it up nicely.

Good example of why nobody is coming to Thailand.

Same thing as everything else I possess--it's specified in my will. I bequeath___________ to_________. Etc., etc. Eventually, it will go to whom I have designated it to, once the will is processed.

I have a separate individual account for the 800,000 for Immigration. I was referring to joint accounts.

What's illegal if it's a joint account that allows either party to access the account and obtain funds independently? My partner and I have several joint accounts that allow us to do that, as well.

Good choice. I look forward to it every year.

It's not that difficult. Follow Tropposurfer's post.

Perhaps--if you enjoy shopping. When I was much younger and much poorer IKEA was a life saver. I still remember when the 2 IKEA stores opened near Washington, DC. I bought MALM bedroom dressers, bedside tables, and beds, BILLY bookcases, dining tables, housewares, lamps, armoires, mirrors, and other items. My partner and I still like to go to the Bangkok IKEAs now and then. The first time we visited I saw a lot of young Thai couples and young families likely buying furniture for their first places and it brought back memories. We still find IKEA good for housewares, picture frames, rugs, outdoor furniture, kitchen and bath stuff, lighting, chair cushions, and some furniture items like large upholstered ottomans with storage. It's always a fun visit when we go, with a break for lunch at their restaurant. Wish they had chosen the Pattaya area for their next store.

Utter nonsense. How anyone could make such a statement astounds me when the evidence of no tourists is on stark display every day in Pattaya--and other tourist areas of Thailand. You and Spidermike, by the way, need to coordinate your posts. He says the Chinese only shop at Thai-owned 7-11s and now you're saying, no, they only shop at Chinese-owned establishments. Which is it? Neither, of course. For the thousands and thousands of unemployed Thai workers of all kinds in the tourism industry, they could care less who owns the hotels they work at, the amusement parks and other tourist attractions they work at, the restaurants they work at, the tour buses or boats they drive, the shows they perform at, etc., etc., etc. All they care about is having jobs. Jobs, by the way, that contribute greatly to the local economy. Does the Disney worker at Paris Disney care a fig who owns the amusement park? No. Does he or she care a fig that the 'profits are flying out' to California? No. Same story here. Same story the World over for foreign-owned businesses, be they hotels, factories, stores, tourist attractions, or whatever.

The same data collection methods are used year after year. Yes, the numbers likely do include transits, businessmen, expats, etc. Visitor numbers, pre-covid, be they tourists, expats, businessmen or whatever, increased every year except 2014, the year of the coup. If the numbers are fabricated, why didn't they fudge them for 2014? It was a black eye for the coup leaders that the coup resulted in fewer visitors that year. Why not suck up to them and make sure the 2014 numbers were more than 2013? In any case, it has nothing to do with your fabricated claim that 70% of the visitors came from just 3 countries.

How many days visitors stayed doesn't have any relevance to the inaccuracy of stating that 70% of the visitors were from just 3 countries.

2019 arrivals: 39.8 million. From China: 11 million. From Malaysia: 4 million. From India: 2 million. I don't think 17 million equals 'nearly 70% of arrivals' of 39.8 million.

Lord have mercy on us. Not another "Everyone I spoke to..." post. And, as always, no data whatsoever to back up your claim. (Still waiting for your data to back up your claim that less than 50 wealthy Chinese visited Thailand in 2019.) Meanwhile, here is some actual data. Chinese tourists spent 536,278 million baht in Thailand. That, by the way, is the most for any country. Do some shop at 7-11? Of course. So do I. But, they also all have to sleep somewhere, eat somewhere, be driven places, be boated places, and be entertained at all the various tourist sites they visit--all of which employ Thai workers. If you want to go by observation alone, take a stroll up Pattaya Second Road from, say, Festival to T21 some evening. We were there last night and my partner made the observation that we were looking at the new Darkside. The lack of Chinese tourists, and tourists from other nations, has been on stark display in the tourist areas of Pattaya for 2 years now.

Nope. Just require double vaccination and that's it. Period.

Listen to the FTI--eliminate everything except vaccination proof.

You've got to be kidding. Dropping from 33.52 to 33.23 is 'way down'? Alert me when it hits 28--that would be 'way down' in my book. Meanwhile, I'm quite happy with its stability. It was 32 and change when I arrived 11 years ago. Today it's 33 and change. As another poster mentioned, I'm also happy when it stays above 30--which it mostly has.

Yes, send him to prison and throw away the key.