soi3eddie

10 hours ago, Max69xl said:

"hope that UK assist with flights out if things get dodgy"

Why would things get more dodgy here compared with the UK? There were 5000 dead late Sunday in the UK. I don't know where you're staying in Thailand but imo it's a lot safer here (except maybe for BKK) than back home. 

Governements like to control through fear. UK said "return home now", USA said same, ditto Australia and many others. Threats of no assistance if you didn't heed their warnings. So what? Stuck in Thailand? Would you rather be stuck in NYC, London, Rome or Paris right now? I know where I'd rather be.

11 hours ago, zhounan said:

Yes. Here expat is continuously harassed, Better to live a quiet life in your own country or in a country based on justice and not on oppression. In Thailand it has become almost forbidden for a foreigner to even think about start a family, you're constantly harassed until your relationships explode. Not to mention the heavy air of false tolerance that one breathes everywhere.

That's a sad indictment. I suppose it may depend where you are from, how you fit in here and what attitude you have.

On 4/6/2020 at 8:27 AM, BillStrangeOgre said:

I was here in 'difficult' times (red and yellows) and never felt in anyway threatened...

I remember i was sitting outside a bar on Sukhumvit drinking a beer with friends and 'fully equipped' military vehicles were going  down the road! 

 

I was here too in Red shirt times and mingled with them at Siam and Rajprasong. Seems surreal now that it ever occurred. No threat to foreigners. Now the enemy is the state and they're blaming us farangs for Covid-19. Unfortunately *some* citizens have taken this attitude too. Since May 2014 the atmosphere has been changing against us. Keep close to local community and friends and you'll all be safe. There are enough Thais who know good from bad and will do the right thing.

6 hours ago, ian carman said:

I’m not leaving until may so hopefully enough Brits stay here until then so that the flights are full enough to be economically viable 

I don't understand why so many Brits are in a hurry to go back to the UK. It's colder than Thailand, much more grim with greater restrictions of freedom and for most there is no work to go back to anyway. Best to stay here in LOS and relax a bit and use the time constructively. Sure, here in LOS is not as much fun as usual but it could be so much worse. Have you seen the news today? UK had 786 deaths and our Prime Minister in the ICU. Not good. I was due to go back on 4th April but THAI changed my flight to the earliest next date - 2nd June!

8 hours ago, essox essox said:

...by the way I have NOT seen the SUB, has anyone else seen it??

That's the great thing about the Royal Thai Navy Submarine/s. No need for a photo opportunity as they are out defending national security and on patrol keeping Thailand safe. How many billions gone? And gone where?

4 hours ago, DefaultName said:

Ah well, she was a good wife.  ????

They are all good (wives and GFs) at some point. Shame it rarely lasts...

1 hour ago, 3NUMBAS said:

they do, you see chain gangs of prisoners used to dig out the cerap ..i have seen treasure hunters digging up coins and gold bits from them as well .divers dive in the chowpya for items

 

 

Search YouTube for Magnet Fishing in the Uk to see all the stuff (valuable, interesting, dangerous and otherwise) that can be retrieved from the UK waterways. Particulary near bridges and "dodgy areas"

On 4/1/2020 at 4:21 AM, Pib said:

Unless the acct is really in the GF's name vs yours, I don't see how the acct info could have been retrieved unless maybe you were using one of the other refund methods where maybe you also entered your MEA acct number and then they found the acct number info.  

 

Did the GF go with you when you first opened the acct in Dec 17?  If so, maybe the acct is really in her name.

 

And yea, the refund supposedly will not happen unless electric acct number name and name on bank acct match.

 

When the wife and I applying for the refund (the acct is in the Thai wife's name), the only two numbers entered was her Thai ID card 13 digit info....the MEA found the info, and then showed her name and Bt4K refund amount....then ask how to do the refund via PromptPay, one of three banks, or 7-11 Counterserve.   We entered her bank acct number at one of the three participating banks and completed the refund application process....got a control number issued.

 

But during that process I wondered with how Thais are so laissez-faire with their Thai ID card info that anyone with a person's ID card number could have applied for the refund but entering their bank acct info and then get the refund unless the electric company & banks are going to ensure a name match on the refund; otherwise, the payment goes back to the electric company.   

 

It's like if you are bad guy and just happen to know the ID card numbers of a couple of Thais and you have a couple of different bank accts you could just apply for the refund (before the real person did) and possibly fraudulently get the refund.   It's kinda like how in the US identity theft bad guys will file federal tax return before the real person does....the filed returned includes a refund....the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) pays a refund.  Then when the real person gets around to filing the IRS rejects the return since a return has been filed/refund paid already....then the person goes through the process to recover from this identity theft with the IRS.

 

Edit:  Just checked the wife's bank acct....refund receive 31 Mar around 7:30pm.  We also have a 30(100)A meter and paid a Bt4,000 a dozen years ago when opening the acct.  During the refund application the MEA online system said a 4,000 baht refund was approved....but actually it turned out to be a few baht more based on the refund rec'd...probably interested earned....as said we'll had the acct for 12 years....if the extra Bt3.47 was interested earned then MEA pays close to nothing interest-wise.

Electricity contract in my name. Bank account in my name. MEA would not accept my passport number as too few digits so used GF's Thai ID. We were not together when I took over the contract of the MEA account. I'll update once I get the refund or not - as my account is KBank, MEA are stating 10 working days for refund to arrive in account. If not I can always go to the MEA office after Covid-19 subsides. I don't beleive the refund period is time limited.

I know that this doesn't answer your question but hopefully give you some ideas of the industry here.

My ex used to work in a land based office in Songkhla in 2000/2001 for a company servicing offshore rigs. At that time the companies were already switching from expat to Thai (and other SE Asian workers) as they were cheaper. The expat vibe in Songkhla was great back then and there was a good community of bars and farang food restaurants. Many of the workers were Canadian, American, British, Aussie and some Europeans. There was a local helicopter base from which the workers were flown offshore. The port in Songkhla sent supply ships offshore. Then the Southern insurgency in Yala, Naratiwat and Pattani started in 2003 so they looked to moved further north. At the time one of our best friends (Canadian) was a manager of one of the helicopter companies. Since then most of the helicopters now go from Nakhon Si Thammarat or from Sattahip to rigs in the gulf.

I have heard that there are possibly better opprtunities in Indonesia or Myanmar.

6 hours ago, papersource said:

Thanks for the report! I am going to try and get to Laem Mae Phim tomorrow from Bangkok and was unsure if the roads would be passable. Fingers crossed ????

Use Google Maps (or Waze?) with the traffic option activated. If it shows a delay in red then assume either accident or checkpoint. It may give you a chance to divert to side roads to avoid or save time. We were out today in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province south of Hua Hin and encountered 3 unmanned checkpoints (two on route #4 and one in Pranburi beach area). Suspect that they will be manned only late afternoon or after dark. 

6 hours ago, kamma said:

Does this include foreign currency exchanges?

Does this mean that Covid-19 can be transmitted only by Foreigner bank notes but not by Thai bank notes (or coins)?

9 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Really sorry. Not a clue. Just skimming and saw it. Bit taken aback because of the results.

Maybe it's just the Thai way to avoid confrontation even though noise stresses them. The family in the condo above mine allow their 7 year old to run around late at night banging on the floor. My Thai GF often stays at my condo alone and one night she went up to confront the Thai mother of the boy. "Sorry but what can I do" was the reply and still it continues when they are there until the kid falls over, bangs his head and screams himself to sleep. Thankfully they are not there all the time as her husband works overseas. My GF complains about the noise but is reluctant to say anything again other than complain to me about it as if it's my fault!

3 minutes ago, Shoeless Joe said:

What might be unbearably loud to you may not be so to either the person who is playing it or other people who are listening to it.

One has to wonder what the average state of Thai males' hearing is with all the loud motorcycle exhausts, lack of ear defenders on construction sites and loud music. Maybe that's why the volume needs to be so high?

3 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Interesting you should say that. One of the things that prompted me to post was a recent survey of Thais and what caused stress in their lives. Guess what loud music was top!!!!! That was a real shock to me.

I'm curious about that survey. Was it middle-class urban Thais or provincial or rural Thais? How many in the survey? Who was the survey conducted by? 

Maybe they enjoy it loud? There's a neigbour in the GF's Buriram village who drives a pick-up with a sound system and huge speakers on the back. Always playing full blast when at home or passing by - Thai music and The Scorpions always. Thankfully we don't go there very often.

If I was plagued by this continually I too would go mad. Confrontation is unlikely to be the solution as you are a farang. Even if a Thai it would be unlikely to work out unless you had some kind of superior role demanding respect. Noise and intrusion are not seen as an issue by most Thais - don't every expect courtesy or privacy from your neighbours.

There is no answer other than to move away somewhere remote and buy enough land to insulate yourself.

...but are they checking the temperature after cruising the fetid sewers of the canals? Probably more chance of catching something worse than Covid-19 from the spray and splashes of the canal!

On 3/31/2020 at 8:17 AM, simon43 said:

Update:  My ex has asked the landlady to review the monthly rent payments.  The simple reply was 'no'.......

 

The lease contract allows my ex to not pay the rent for 3 months, after which date the landlady can repossess the land BUT NOT the buildings!  Under the contract terms, my ex owns all the buildings and fittings, since the land was rented as bare land.

 

Therefore, (and only if my ex is 100% sure that her business is fcuked), I'll advise my ex to tell the landlady that if she doesn't reconsider her position re the rent, then my ex will remove all fixtures and fittings to sell, and will demolish the buildings and vacate the land ????  I don't think the landlady wants just a bare piece of land to be returned....

Sorry to hear this. I know that your ex's land rental was for 20yrs but I have seen many shorter period land rental contracts at low rents. The landlord's game is to get a tenant to improve and build on the land and then recover it for free once the initial term is over.

Your ex needs to communicate more and try different ways of agreeing a deal with the landlady. If the landlandy will still not come to an arrangement and things are still dire then I would remove anything of value and demolish the building/s regardless of the contract. After all, what recompense will the landlady achieve if there is no income or assets to go after? If I was the landlady/landlord with a regular paying tenant and usually viable business, I would do everything possible to keep whatever income could be generated. Does the landlady think another tenant will be any better when there is no business? Seriously there are some weird ways of thinking by greedy landlords (not just in Thailand but everywhere).

On 4/2/2020 at 7:50 AM, RichardColeman said:

My useless so called father-in-law almost punched me when I first met him, so angry was he that his daughter had married a farang. 

Either you didn't ask him nicely for her hand in marriage or didn't supply enough Sin Sot. Or both...

I had same problem filing TM30 using Chrome. Tried Edge then still got same. Drove me nuts. THE ANSWER FOR ME? I then tried logging in via IE TAB in Chrome. It works first time everytime for me now. See ietab.net for info.

6:30pm to 6:30am curfew would be more realistic. Or better still, impose house 24/7 house curfew with very few exceptions as in the UK (key workers with ID etc.). Here in Hua Hin it's surprising to see so many locals out and about in the areas such as Chom Sim, Bon Kai, Hin Lek Fai etc. but taking a drive by The Hilton this afternoon it was a ghost town.

Foreigners (i.e. Westerners) are being blamed for Covid-19 in Thailand fair and square. Truth is that it was the Chinese that spread it around most of the world. Anutin's comments about "dirty foreigners" seem to have been the catalyst for us westerners getting the blame. The mood has definitely changed against us here in Thailand. Many of us are thinking about relocating afte this is all over. A shame for Thailand because of government ministers shocking outbursts and poor policies (often reversed, watered down or not implemnted. They haven't a clue what to do. No consistency or positive leadership anywhere with provincial governors making their own decisions and discriminating against certain races.

8 minutes ago, Isaanbiker said:

  Most people in this country do not know that Thailand would be similar to Burma without the tourist $$$.

Having visited and travelled Myanmar (Burma) on several occasions - most recently in Feb 2020, I would say that the mood and welcolme there is better than Thailand. Very refreshing atmosphere and English is more widely and better spoken in Yangon than in Bangkok. The country is developing fast and would be lovely to be able to call it home or stay long term if there were easy options to do so (no retirement option yet).