xylophone

I thought I'd try and post something whilst sitting uncomfortably in my computer chair, although I haven't been out in the evenings in Patong, I have been out a few times to Bangkok Phuket hospital, accompanied by my daughter and her mother and also been to Big C here in Patong on about three or four occasions, clinging onto their shoulders whilst I shuffled along, trying hard not to fall over. And they have been great.

As regards Big C, I went along today and the long queues at the checkouts have disappeared, almost as if by magic, and many of those folk in those queues were Russians, with a few Chinese thrown in, so it would seem there has been an exodus, and coupled with the fact that the traffic has improved somewhat, I would appear to be right?

On that subject, whilst coming out of Big C there is a machine in which you put your parking card, and pay a fee so that you can exit the car parking area, but things were not going smoothly for a Russian woman this time! She was shouting at an employee, who I have to say handled himself very well, suggesting that the amount of 120 baht which was showing on the machine for her to pay to retrieve her card, was wrong and it wasn't her card!!

No matter how much she shouted at this guy, he basically said they could review the camera in the area and that would show if she had inserted her card and what the time of it was, therefore showing if the card was hers or not. He handled it well, and I had left before it was solved, but kudos to the Thai guy in this situation because he tried to explain what happens and she just wouldn't listen.

Staying on that nationality, the restaurant at the entrance to Nanai 6, "Santorini on Nanai" which was bought by Russians about three months ago, is now back on the market at a quite remarkable price of 2 million baht!!!! For this one gets a small restaurant type place which would seat probably eight people at best, and two chefs and a helper, according to the advertisement on Facebook!

It is being marketed by Russian estate agent and at 2 million baht is far and away in cloud cuckoo land, especially seeing that it is in a row of about five similar sized "shops" in which one would be lucky to be able to "swing a cat", one of which was a laundry and has been closed because of lack of business, but is now open again and bought by some other Thai lady hopefuls, and the only price point is that one of the shops of the same size sold for around 250,000 baht a short while ago, so the asking price for Santorini is either a joke, or they are hoping another desperate Russian will buy it?

Not only that, the recently refurbished and renamed hotel and restaurant just metres across the road from this, offers a substantial menu with different cuisines available, whereas Santorini has just Greek food. It will be interesting to see what happens to this.

Whilst my Thai daughter and her Thai mother (my ex-GF) were taking care of me, we would often discuss current events around the dinner table and according to them, the "word out on the streets" from the Thai community was not very favourable for the Russians here, with a number of instances being that the Russians ordered the Thai food in a café, ate a great deal of it and then suggested that it was no good or too spicy and refused to pay for it. This as well as a few of these folk doing a "runner" before paying the bill did not endear them to the Thai community in general by the sounds of it.

As I have not been out and about much at all, the above is all I have as regards the latest news in Patong!

20 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

https://www.pwc.com/th/en/tax/assets/thai-tax/thai-tax-booklet-2023-24.pdf

There is a section in here which SEEMS to cover superannuation/retirement funds, suggesting they are tax exempt????

Exemptions…….

Certain types of income are exempt from personal income tax. In respect of income from employment, money derived in the form of per diem, travelling expenses and certain fringe benefits, such as medical treatment, is tax exempt. The exemptions also include maintenance income derived under a moral obligation (subject to a threshold - see gift tax above), corpus of a legacy or inheritance (see the section on inheritance tax below) and certain capital gains as noted above. Provided that certain conditions are met, gains or benefits from registered provident funds, retirement mutual funds, long term equity funds, super savings funds, national saving funds including amounts derived from insurance or social security funds, interest on a deposit received from a bank in Thailand, a savings co-operative and a return from a deposit in Thailand according to Islamic principles are also tax exempt. Profit sharing distributed by a fixed income mutual fund to individual investors is exempt from tax.

15 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

 

Why do you expect them to verify foreign licenses when they don't even verify local ones?

As the saying goes, "TIT".......

5 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

We are in a similar situation, I also have been here for 20 years and have remitted funds in the past, mostly without regard to Thai tax although I have filed returns for the past few years.

 

It depends on the source of those funds and the type of them, the DTA between your home country and Thailand is another variable because it sets out what can and cannot be taxed etc. If you want to give us some more information about you, your home country, age, married, kids, and your income sources and amounts etc, just in general terms, we can give you a better idea of how you might be affected. Alternatively, if you want to PM me with those details we can do it that way. It;'s more helpful for others if everyone gets to see the questions and the answers however.

Thanks for your reply Mike and will send you a PM as not sure that I would like to share my financials with others at this moment in time.

28 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

One input into the question about whether or not a person must file a return, if they have no tax to pay:

 

The rules about TIN's says - Before you can file a tax return in Thailand, you must obtain a Tax Identification Number or TIN from the RD offices in your area. You are required by law to obtain a TIN, within 60 days from when you first derive the minimum assessable income, which is 120,000 baht of income received from overseas. .......It is not necessary for people who are not Thai tax resident to obtain a TIN, neither is it necessary to obtain one if you do not exceed the assessable income level threshold.

 

I do not know if there is a penalty for not obtaining a TIN, separate from the issue of not filing a return.

How does the DTA agreement fit into this.....and I have been here for 17 years but have never paid any tax on the pension I have sent here nor the monies I have transferred here for living expenses???? 

I don't know enough about this particular incident to comment further, however is it possible that Hamas was using its old ploy of hiding the terrorists in amongst ordinary civilians?

5 hours ago, rumak said:

good idea to tell and show everyone .   you never know ,  and actually i only got one buyer from a facebook posting .  

 

Thinking about it, my lawyer was instrumental in getting my first house sold, because I gave her the details of it, knowing full well that she had plenty of current clients, many of whom were quite wealthy and possibly looking for investments through rentals, as well as newcomers to the area, and of course she knew their current financial situation so there were many pluses to this move.

Now there is a little story around this, because I got a phone call from an advertisement I had put in the Phuket news paper, and the Aussie guy said he was interested in looking at it and although I tried to close him on a visit, he was reluctant and said he would get back to me?? 

Anyway a few days later my lawyer called me and said that she had a potential buyer for my house, and she turned up with the guy who'd phoned me previously, so strictly speaking I already had him as an interested party, so I explained that to my lawyer, and as that was the case I wasn't keen on paying her the full percentage commission I had apprised her of, and her answer was great, when she said, well he is now a client of mine and if you want to sell the house, I suggest you let me handle it for you and pay me the full commission.

I thought that was a bit cheeky of her, but then again I thought that was a great response from a hard-nosed business woman, so I went along with her and paid her the full commission; making sure that I kept her as my lawyer and provider of other services (insurance etc), and we are still friends and respect each other's business nous.

Seeking out the professional folk (especially lawyers etc) who might/will have contacts, especially wealthy and interested parties, should play a key part in gaining leads.

Somebody mentioned the 1984 BBC series, Edge of Darkness, so I managed to find it on Pirate Bays and download it. Have watched the first 2 episodes and thought them very good.

The guy who plays Craven in the above has that certain something about him, which is intiguing (and great acting) therefore will be keen to see the remaing episodes I have downloaded.

I have seen the Mel Gibson movie of the same name and thought that was good also.

43 minutes ago, 33 RPM said:

We are in the process of having to sell our house in Chaing Mai

in the Luang Nuea area in Doi Saket

its on an 8 Rai plot and valued i believe in the 17 - 19 million baht mark

If i wanted to self market the property, and yes i do realise agents will ring wanting and promising the earth to sell it

{ had experiences with that selling down south before moving here }

 

what online resources, websites, facebook etc would you folk suggest might be a good starting place

 

appreciate your suggestions, perhaps an experience, similar.

Thanks.

Possibly Facebook......in the property section. When I sold my two houses I took pics of the inside and outside and put them on an A4 flyer which I handed out to all and sundry as well as pinning them up in bars of folks I knew. I even got a response from someone who saw the flyer in a Go-go bar!!

In the end I sold one through my Lawyer, who contacted some of her clients about it, and one from a banner I had made up and put on the gate. Also of course put an advert (with pics) in the local newspaper

Good luck with whatever you do

The mis-handling of armaments perhaps??

1 hour ago, olongapo said:

Yes its 220 i think at bnh but they want another cystoscopy and mri which pushes the price up, i will check vimut thanks.

Good luck......👍

I buy the Waitrose Original Blend tea bags (fair trade) or the Marks & Spencer gold teabags if I can't find those, and IMO both of these make a good strong cup of tea, which is to my liking......I'm not really worried about the price because a good strong cup of tea is a priority, no matter what the cost!

1 hour ago, DrDave said:

This is very extreme, but you may want to try the colonoscopy prep routine if you can't find anything that works, and you're determined to get cleaned out. 

 

In my case, I was instructed to buy a 20-pack box of Miralax powder, and dissolve 1 packet in 8oz (235ml) of water and drink it every 15 minutes the day before my colonoscopy. 16 packets in all. After the 4 hours of Miralax every 15 minutes, follow-up with 4 tablets of Dulcolax.  After the first 3 or 4 rounds of Miralax, you'll find yourself on the toilet every 15 minutes, corresponding to each successive round.  As I said, this is very extreme but your colon will be clean as a whistle.  Miralax is a form of polyethyeneglycol (a very close cousin of antifreeze), so I'd do this only if absolutely necessary. And no, I'm not an MD.

Thanks for the tip DrDave, and after trying just about everything including Dulcolax, I hadn't thought about your suggestion, however I won't dismiss it at this point in time.

I went to see the doctor who did my colonoscopy and took along all of my "medications" which were supposed to help constipation, and he recommended something called Resolor, which worked the first time I took it, but on subsequent occasions, not so, so I'm left with a quandary of what to do, so your suggestion may well come in handy.

I also think that because of my recent accident and a broken coccyx, which has caused some swelling round that region, things aren't working as well as they should, so last night I took three Dulcolax tablets and that worked to a certain extent, so I may not have to go back onto my regime of prune juice and sorbitol, which often works far too well, if that is at all possible!

Thanks for your post, much appreciated.
 

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

It does indeed sound like a nightmare, the bottom line is choosing quantity over quality is never a good idea unless you're selling $2 items at a swap meet. Thailand has completely lost sight of the game and their policies are the exact opposite of what one would describe his visionary and wise. 

Agree with your comments SM007, and early on in the piece here, I thought it was a good place to be, what with plenty of nightlife and entertainment, roads free of traffic, although they weren't always in a good state of repair I have to admit, and drainage problems that seemed to be fixed, until they weren't, but overall, good and livable.

If I hadn't put down roots here in Patong, with quite a few friends, a few acquaintances, and my daughter now staying close by, then I would seriously think about moving, but to where, I'm not sure, because a lot of Phuket is suffering the same malaise, and as others have said, it's only going to get worse – – so my choice is to see out my remaining years here and put up with it, or move elsewhere which would be a major pain in the proverbial; between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes!

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Phuket is a disaster, it is horrific at this point in time. I was just there several months ago and I couldn't wait to leave. If they keep going with the development Phuket's going to be another Bali within the next 10 years

39 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I don't know who does the planning of the roads, they really need to bring in some experts, Because this is only going to get worse, It's no fun going for a drive no more, we don't do it. 

The circle at Chalong must have had millions spent on it over the years, they have built a tunnel, it hasn't improved it.

 

Yes, a lack of planning, money siphoned off for this very purpose goes into other "pockets" and the powers that be hope that the tourists keep coming, but as these two posts have pointed out, things are getting pretty dire in Phuket.

Just a couple of hours ago I was making my way back by car, from Bangkok Phuket hospital to Patong and the traffic on the hill from the Kathu traffic lights up to the shrine and just beyond, was stopped nose to tail, so obviously I thought there had been an accident, as often happens in this dreadful piece of road.....but no, it was because there had been a really heavy downpour, where the heavens opened up, for about an hour previous to my journey, and the road being slippery, combined with the lack of driving ability of the everyday Thai, saw quite a few trucks and vans on that hill spinning their wheels in an effort to move, but to no avail.

I didn't realise that this was the case until a Fortuna a couple of cars ahead of me was skewing a little sideways in an effort to get some traction, so everything behind him stopped and a good 50% of the trucks and vans started to do the same thing, and as no one would let anyone else in to the other lane to get away from these potential disasters, everything came to a standstill – – and this was the reason for the nose to tail traffic!!

As most will know, half of this road on the hill slid away a few months back, and there was talk then, as there has been for many years previous, of building a tunnel, or of finding another route out of Patong in order to bypass this hill. However nothing has become of this although the problems with this piece of road have been known for a couple of decades previously.

Add this to that which @ChipButty has mentioned, and no matter what has been done to improve the roads here, it has inevitably ended up being a disaster and causing more problems than it tried to solve.

So the solution of the people in power has been to open up the likes of Patong/Phuket to more tourists with visa free entry, or ease of extended stay, or whatever else you want to call it, whilst the whole place has turned into a nightmare.
 

6 minutes ago, Harsh Jones said:

Ah yes. The good ol poverty and squalor in the 80's was great. 

I wasn't actually here back then so perhaps I should have said, "25 years ago" or thereabouts........

3 hours ago, Expattaff1308 said:

Jeremy Clarkson  ....  Clarksons Farm

I thought the series was good and will def watch Series 3 when available.

17 minutes ago, Thailand said:

It was fine last time we there. Stayed at the Sheraton.

 

1987-88 If I remember correctly.

Almost everything has become progressively worse since then....but perhaps that was a joke?

3 hours ago, ChipButty said:

I know a Thai lady who is a pharmacist here in Rawai and she speaks fluent Russian, she has signs outside in Russian and also labels things in the shop in Russian, She owns the business not Russians, nothing illegal. 

No problem if she is operating here legally..........but then my post wasn't aimed at these people!

1 minute ago, georgegeorgia said:

Your absolutely right 

3 visits in 7-10 days according to their email ..but ..I just emailed their surgery and the Root canal specialist is there only on a Saturday which isnt  any good for me !

 

I may email the Bangkok Pattaya hospital,they may not respond though being a big company but even if they charge more they may get it done quicker because they will have the machines , is a hospital dental better ?

is a hospital dental better.

I have used several independent dentists here in Phuket, but have found the dental department in Bangkok Phuket hospital to be the best, so I go there now for all of my dental needs.