DavisH

10 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Apparently, the Chinese made Teslas are better made than American made ones. Better build quality etc. However, I’m not sure where these are sold. I would imagine Asia, including China of course, Australia, NZ, possibly Europe? I don’t they are sold in the US.

This is what I've heard also, re: the better quality. It's a shame they are still quite expensive, though I imagine that will change in the short to medium future. 

8 hours ago, Sheryl said:

I was lucky then, just bought my new one in 2022.

 

Good to know about the resale value though I have no plans to sell anytime soon.....

Boy racers love the manual gear version which is what I believe you have. Look after it well and you can still sell it easily in 5-10 years from now. 5 year old cars are still selling for over 400K. 

14 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Well, American and European made EVs are overpriced and that’s why their sales have slumped. One has to have more money than sense if they decide to buy those over Chinese made EVs (and probably a show off to boot).

..and Chinese made teslas? One wants to prey they are better quality than the US ones!

21 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Honda Jazz or City. Jazz is better and a little cheaper.

Can't get a new jazz now unfortunately. And second hand jazzes are insanely expensive. My wife has a city turbo and is quite happy with it. 

On 12/31/2023 at 5:14 PM, JensenZ said:

Good talking point... how much would replacement batteries cost for the average EV?

After 8 years, when the warranty has expired, I would wager much more than the total price of the car. Anyone with a EV should sell it well before the warranty expires. Also, technology in EV's is accelerating - cars in 10 years will be much more advanced (range, especially) than the current crop of cars. This is the main reason I would not consider buying an EV within the next 10-15 years. 

5 hours ago, Sluglord said:

On this list best mentioned in this price range (guessing) for inter schools is muic. It's very Thai for an inter which is good thing for foreign, mixed imo. Their professional standards are high. They go off to US and stay in Thailand for university. 50/50.

Many of my son's friends at muic are from overseas. He had to take the lead in one of his online interviews with a CP staff member, as all his other group member didn't speak Thai (or didn't know it well). Absolutely all lessons are done in English for this reason. The main issue I have with the university is that students need to jockey for classes 3 times a year (and you may not always get the classes/lesson times that you want). This is mainly an issue with new students. Those further into their courses can register earlier as they need t complete their core courses on time. 

On 12/18/2023 at 4:17 PM, novacova said:

OP-Just go to a driving school and at least get educated, there’s enough halfwhit digbats on the roads as it is, don’t need another one. Short-cutting proper procedures is asking for trouble.

My son used a local driving school. It consisted of drivign lessons (both at the center and on the road (a trip to Ayutthaya), lessons r and the center also conducted the exam (many failed at this stage apparently), and had to resit it. Why he did his tet uing stick I have no idea. Paperwork was then taked to the transport department, where the licence was issued. I don;t think the testing was that difficult - my son said later 'no wonder there are son many accidents on the road. Even though he has his licence,  I will also give him pointers when I'm in the car.  Total cost was around 5000 baht. 

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

I wonder how many non-Brits got that one?

My kid loved the Wallace and Gromit videos when he was young. I'm not a Brit and I enjoyed those shows also. 

50k booked...not sold. 

12 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

 

The white B7 ?

 

My local PTT don't sell that :-(

 

Yes the lst one in the photo. I tried to use regular b7, but on the second tank of it I sensed that the engine was noiser and not as smooth. But for more regular diesel pickups, premium is not required anyway as there is no benefit to using it. 

Note to all digital nomads...fly well under the radar. Keep a low profile. She was "working" without a work permit. 

22 hours ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

You gotta stop thinking all Expats are like yourself - we certainly are not.

We rent a 4br house - we recently bought a used Honda CRV - we travel around Thailand a lot - we spend a lot of money with Thais.

Our annual living budget in 1 Million Baht - plus in a few years I planned to buy a new car - and maybe one day we will buy a house.

Many Expats also have Thai families with kids that they support - we dont have kids but we do help out others.

There are lots of Expats just me who dont rent a small room in Pattaya or Patong or Bangkok and smoke weed and chase bar girls.

You are just a drop in the ocean. All expat pensioners could leave Thailand tomorrow and it won't make a lick of difference in the total economy of the country. 

On 12/8/2023 at 10:02 AM, beautifulthailand99 said:

Thailand has always screwed the poor that's why it's so cheap to live here relatively. As a quid pro quo though they should probably have just one price at the parks and attractions. After Covid virtually every counrty is in big trouble, half the councils in Britain are going bust as well as most of the public servies in one way or another so it's not surprising that every goverment is looking to shakdeown all the money that they can.

The vast majority of Thais don't pay any tax at all. 

Taxing foreign income is aimed at rich Thais with sources of income from overseas. 

It was never aimed at foreigners and their pensions. If there is a double tax agreement with your home country, you won't get taxed again. 

Just keep your money overseas and use your atm card to make withdrawals. 

B7 premium (almost always from PTT). It's Euro 5 compliant, and the preferred fuel for my car (crv diesel). It's not worth to spend this much if you car doesnt actually need it. I get 16-20km/l so its ok for me to use. 

28 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

as long as their is a no fail policy in place the thai education system is sure to reep what it sows. back home, if i failed, i would have to take the year over again. here, the teachers give the missing points to ensure the kids get at least 50%.

 

by now, the parents of the kids in the system today know that the kids cannot be failed because the very system that passed them is passing their kids.

moreover, seeing how schools here are run like a business, the "i want my child to be happy" is what rules the roost. somchai's feelings cannot be hurt by him failing. 

 

the kids dont want to earn their grades, for the most part, and the teachers are underpaid and have no other choice than pass the kids on to the next year

 

 

 

Everyone (Parents/Teachers/Employers...) knows what a 50% (or GPA 1 actually means). It means they failed and were bumped up to 50%. 

As a teacher it's not a huge issue for me. I focus more on the students who want to work and want to achieve - those will be the doctors, engineers, scientists, business people for society. The rest can make tiktok videos and live off their families income for all I care. They can still pay their way into a low spec university...and graduate. I've seen this already. The better students go to better universities who actually have high(er) entrance standards. 

As for the no fail poilcy...how many kids are just past through the system in other countries these days? It's only 'back in the day' one was 'promoted' from one grade to the next. Even in Thailand in my wife's era it was like this. Not anymore.

We've asked a few students to repeat the year and some did, while others left the school. So while schools can ask the to repeat, they don't have to. 

On 12/6/2023 at 5:08 PM, couchpotato said:

If the Village is registered as a 'Juristic Entity' then they can be taken to Court, and in some cases the house can not be sold until arrears are paid.

If the Village provide water to each house from a common village tank (as in the earlier years of moobaans), then water can be cut off to individual houses, but as another poster said, if the water and electric is provided through meters from the government, then it is illegal to touch those meters, even if the Village is Juristic.

Yes rubbish collection could be stopped for those houses, but in the end it affects other houses also with smells, rats etc, so not a great solution.

Also legally a resident can not be stopped from entering the village if they own a home. Many villages try this tactic with non payers but it leads to police visits and sometimes other nasty circumstances.

It is conundrum for many villages.

I think the Juristiy Entity is what we have in operation in our village - that was voted on many years ago, where the majority of residented supported it. I don't think we have mnay non payers as we have garbage collection, grass is being constantly cut, and roads swept past my house several times a day. For ym hosue its a bit over 20K a year, so well worth it. 

A condom....until I saw this lol 

This is what happens in very unhealthy populations. Healthy people have no need at all to worry about covid infection, especially sine mose of us have had it at least once. Infection and its ensuing immunity is good. 

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Next door the daughter came home from school about a two weeks ago, hacking cough, headaches and phlegm.

Last week mother was the same, now grandmother has started, all three hacking coughs all day long.

Just saying... 

 

>90% of my students who are/have recently been sick, have not had covid, but some other common cold. And these students are gnerally always wearing masks at school..still!! From the staff and students at my school, I don't see any relatonship between mask wearing and whether one gets sick or not. I've had covid once (the small wave we had in June) and chilled at home for 5 days with a mild infection. 

Only the sick should be wearing masks, and if they have covid they should isolate. It's realy that simple. 

45 minutes ago, RobU said:

'Educated' Thais who hold position of responsibility are racist to the core persistently abusing their positions and begging for bribes. Jealous sick of white foreigners who come here spending their pensions adding to the economy. Evidenced by the government's financial leeching of expats Most normal Thai people are friendly and polite, perhaps in some cases envious but not jealous  to the toxic levels of 'Officials'

You obviously don't mix with educated Thais. Back to the bar with you!

On 11/13/2023 at 12:59 PM, Mavideol said:

that's a very good question that I would like to see answered.... who's (rear) asssssssssssss has he kissed lately

Anutin is close to the Chancellor of the Institute (who is an ex-minister himself). 

On 11/13/2023 at 6:52 AM, lom said:

What an honor it must be to be awarded a doctor title by an entity that is basically a nursing school!

Medicine now falls under this institute (first year). Pharmacy to follow. 

Yes as the road my pass through private land. Nice little earner for the land owner. 

2 hours ago, Negita43 said:

2. Why don't the police stop and take of the road the many vehicles (usually pickups) I see tearing down the road spewing out fumes (this is often caused by old/badly setup injectors - which actually is not difficult to fix).

They are remapped to run rich (petter performance), hence the smoke. It's deliberate in many cases. Don't expect the police to do anything tangible about it (I think culprits pay a 'fine' and then on their way). Nothing changes.