Lancelot

27 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Being a snappy dresser won't cut it. 

Whatever. 

For open mined readers, dressing well and being polite has always gotten me good things.

Members like @DrJack54 reminds me why I no longer post on this forum????

On 7/6/2022 at 6:54 PM, oldcpu said:

Strange. I was able to open an account with Bangkok Bank on a 30-day Visa exempt (here in Phuket).  The day after I arrived in Phuket, I went to Phuket immigration, and obtained a 1 page letter (with a passport sized photo on it) stating my residence in Thailand (for the 30-days).  I told immigration I needed the letter to open a Bank account.  They had seen this before so this was nothing new to them.

I no longer live in Thailand but I found the Thais remarkably helpful in matter of visas. I never used an agent to procure two different Thai visas for purposes of retirement. Same for opening a bank account, dress for success, be polite and if one branch won't open an account for you, try another one.

If a guy wants to use an agent, cool, it's his money. I reckon if obtaining a visa is so complicated that I need an agent, I question if I really want to live there. (Any country, not only Thailand)

Thailand is a relatively large importer of oil and the huge decrease in the price of that commodity has contributed to the Baht's recent strength...

Khun Jeff may love Thailand but it certainly doesn't love him...

When I see an increase of "The USA is Doomed" articles, I start browsing the most beaten down (US) stocks and pick up some bargains

Many are doing just that. Along with the likes of Warren Buffett. He's increasing his equity stake substantially.

I admire Mr. Buffet for his investment acumen but he could certainly learn a lot from reading the TV Business forum

Oil and banking stocks took a beating and there are some bargains now. In the short term good companies can be punished by irrational hysteria; in the long term Mr. Market sets thing right. Its akin to planting a crop but not harvesting it for several years

Market corrections are where the money is made, especially for young investors, saving for retirement.

Typical Americans. Scared of the world even though it's safer than home. Or maybe they take their government too seriously. They need to get out more and learn to think for themselves. Not all Americans obviously, but a large proportion of them. So many of them seem brainwashed.

American tourists decreased by 4%; Middle Eastern tourists dropped by9%.

Are tourists from the ME 'typical' and even more scared?

You certainly aren't brainwashed; did you learn about 'typical' Americans from your Uncle Bob and Aunt Nan?

That is certainly 'thinking for your self'

TBH I really don't know what all the hoo haa is about Loi Kroh Rd, it's just about as tame as you can get for an 'entertainment' area.

People who see it as some place of excessive debauchery, obviously haven't traveled very much.

The funny thing is that some people are convinced that is the only place to pay for play in CM and that Chiang Mai does not have its fair share of "sex tourists" There are lots of places all over the city and plenty of customers frequenting them.

My hunch is that those in charge would prefer not to have the Loy Kroh concentration of in your face type areas. Having the naughty bars more spread out and outwardly toned down would probably be just fine

I heard, that the bars on Loy Kroh road don't get a new license anymore as soon as the old one is expired!

That rumor has been making the rounds for many years and has never come true. I suppose the military government might actually do it, but I would not count on it.

Or some of the 'progressive' owners must simply price them selves out of the market.

The last lady drink I bought in the Boxing Ring was 180 baht for a whiskey (probably Sang Som) and coke. It was a bar on the south end (away from Loy Kroh), facing the bowing ring

You might ask the price before offering to buy a thirsty damsel a drink

Unless there was a real street brawl then its not even worth reporting.

So you say...

I'll take no violence any time

I did my last 90 Day Report in early August. Arrived around 2pm and got a que number, about 20 people ahead of me. The line didn't move for about 20 minutes, not one single number. Took me a bit over two hours.

I like Chiang Mai but the Immigration office is simply too small to service the number of aliens (Ha!) here. I've lived mostly in Thailand since 2003 but its time to hop on the big iron bird and seek new pastures. Maybe six months in the USA and six months in Mexico.

The tacos are calling me

Yesterday at about 6:25 pm I was south bound on Kotchanasana RD., just before a few bars at the intersection with Loy Kroh when I briefly witnessed some Road Rage. A Thai guy stopped his pick up fully blocking the left lane, got out, gives a farang on a Harley the middle finger an starts yelling at him. The farang seemed to say "I thought you were..." but he is smiling and not wanting a problem. I saw one or two other bikers, so it might have been three farangs vs one Thai, but that can change in a hurry and who know, the Thai could have been packing.

The Thai guy looked a bit scruffy, but so did the farangs. It all happened so fast and I don't know what initiated the incident but the Thai guy was clearly not backing off and the one farang seemed to be avoiding a confrontation. At least for the brief amount of time I was observing.

Any one else see what happened and can elaborate?

I told [the police officers] that the number [of arrests] this year has to be more than last year, said Pol Col Suppatee, adding he was aiming to totally eradicate street prostitution. This is my version of returning happiness to Pattaya town.

I think the police will easily reach their goal of more arrests as compared with last year. Round up 50 sex workers a day, fine them 200 baht each, release them back into the Pattaya jungle. Then repeat. 365 X 50 = 18,250 annual arrests...

Catch and release; it works.

I like the new can do, positive attitude toward problem solving

Whats worse is tourists putting up with things like this.

I was thinking the same thing. The guy is pushing the girl, being a bully and the tourists are suddenly engrossed in their phones and looking in the other direction.

Yeah, I know but four or five tourists standing beside the poor girl to show some support would be a good -and decent- thing to do.

Anyone has any data that would suggest foreigners are leaving? My subjective view is rather the opposite, still more foreigners moving to Thailand.

I agree. I see plenty of foreign tourists and expats in Chiang Mai.

Actually this is one of the factors behind why I think EMs will outperform developed markets. If you look at levels of share ownership in the west, it's much more widespread and a lot more people are already in the market. If you look at Thailand, less than 5% of people have any equity based investments at all. As people wake up to the idea and people become more affluent and more interested there's a lot of potential demand to come in the future... That demand will push markets further up...

Kudos to her though. I'd buy her an ice cream too if she could get my Mrs interested

Cheers

Fletch

I like to follow the US S&P 500 and the GF observes me entranced in stock graphs and charts. She expressed an interest in investing, so I encouraged her to buy the SET50.

I agree that Emerging Markets are a huge opportunity for the long term investor. EM countries in general have relatively young populations- and they all want the good life:homes, cars, travel, clothes, technology. Investment product purchases will follow...

The EM consumer has his wallet wide open

Nice thread Fletch, compliments.

The GF opened an account at TMB and bought the SET50 (Dividend added to Unit Price.) The minimum purchase is 1,000 baht, subsequent purchases 1 baht or more. Annual expenses capped at 1.2% per annum; currently at 0.8818%

Best as I could follow, they asked her several qualifying questions, mostly how did she feel if the unit price decreased and how long was she comfortable investing for. The bank officer was professional and did not try to pressure her or try to convince her to buy another fund- with higher expense fees.

I congratulated her on becoming an investor and treated her to ice cream; she immediately checked the prospectus to see if McDonald's is one of her SET50 stocks

http://www.tmbam.com/pdfs/Factsheet%20-%20TB3_en.pdf

If the appointment is in October, I'm interested

Kudos to folks trying to do the right thing and consideration for others

Your electric meter will do the same thing- allow you to measure kWh usage for an appliance. Forego the Watt Killer and spend the savings on beer :)

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/measure.html

I broke my right clavicle in 2010. The doc put me in a figure eight brace, the fracture healed, but with 2 cm of overlap. The overlap changed my shoulder blade 'geometry' if you will, causing some muscle pain in my back, opposite the fracture. I have full mobility and strength, just some muscle discomfort.

Today I went to Dr. Chanakarn Phomphutkul for a consultation. (Great doc by the way)

After an exam and x rays, his advice was to do stretching exercises. He felt that breaking, then pinning the fracture was not worth the effort and there was no guarantee that the new fracture would heal. 

Two other doctors have given me the same advice; however, I've done stretching exercises before and I still have muscle discomfort due to the overlapping fracture.

Has any one had a fracture rebroken? If so what were the results and was the surgery worth it in terms of comfort, etc.

Thanks!

* Dr. Chanakarn gave me a ball park estimate of 100,000 THB to rebreak and pin the fracture. Seemed like a very fair price. Today's consultation and two x rays was 800 THB, again a very fair price :)

The duo reportedly confessed to hiring the printing house in the Phra Khanong area to print 1,000 Bt1,000 notes worth Bt1 million in total, for which the printer charged them Bt4,500, said Metropolitan Police Division 2 commander Maj-General Suranit Phrombutr.

The duo had spent Bt300,000 of the money when they were arrested, he added.

The printing-shop owner reportedly told police that Pakhawat had told him the notes would be used for wall paper

You couldn't make this stuff up, 555!

But I do admit to being jealous; 1 million baht return for an initial 4,500 baht investment

To be a Devil's advocate I can understand why some of the locals would assume foreigners are not too bright when some:

1 Build houses on land they don't own.

2 Defend dual pricing (Oh its not that much money...)

3 Stay long term in a country but never receive any long term permission to stay, only annual extensions

4 Must report to the police every 90 days (Yeah, Immigration is a division of the police)

5 Don't speak, read or write the language, even after living here for long periods.

6 Believe some of the whoppers their Thai wives/GFs tell them (Thai men wouldn't)

7 Have to have their Thai wife/GF go every where with them because they can not manage on their own. (See #5)

Other than a few technicalities, I honestly do believe that the Thais truly do like and respect us :) 

they never did any valve clearance check at  honda small bike dealers!

yet, it had no problems still funny as they have just listened to the engine and said no need:) as it is not an easy job that will steal at least 2 hours from their work time so they are not fond of doing that.

Sure they will do the same for cbr500r. definitely i dont recommend to get your 500 series serviced at a honda small bike dealer and they dont service cbr250r at honda bigwing big bike dealers.

I made a Chiang Mai to Isan ride one my CBR250 and needed an oil change at Udon Thani. Only the fifth Honda dealer I took it too (small bikes) understood that the bike held 1.6 liters of oil and had an oil filter :)

I was told:

1 No have (filter)

2 One liter oil, no two

3 Not need do now

Its always an adventure :)