sin_bkk

Yes, rents going to the roof at this time. But it has still not reached the level of 2001 where I use to pay 4000 SG$ for a 60SQM appartement in the middle of nowhere. From 2003 to 2006 , rents came down alot, I lived in a really nice condo with 3 pools, squash , tennis , sauna , steambad and whatever , 120 sqm for 1300 sg$ . Now, prices going up again ,because of the 3 integrated resorts ( this alone created a sudden demand of 40.000 flats) and due to the fact that companies relocating their HQ's back to singapore from china , thailand and other countries, because it is more stable. Population has increased by almost half a million over the last 6 years.But You see so many new condo projets at the moment that the prices will come down again within the next 2 to 3 years.

As for food, you have to know where to go. You can still get a large portion of very nice fried noodels with chicken and vedgetable for 2 $ , and a coffe or tea for 0.4 SG$ . Thast 40 bath for the food and 10 for the drink . Same like here. I pay usually 80 to 100 bath here fro a dish in a small local restaurant in ayutthaya . If I would go to a place liek this in singapore , I pay roughly the same. Maybe 20% more max.

And , of course , if you go to a food center at orchad road , you pay the same as on siam square.

Yes, beer and cars are still much more expensive , but income tax is only 30% of what you pay here in thailand and everage salary is much higher .

several sites that offer proxy servers

17 websites..haha. They shut down half teh internet by now, everything from youtube over blog sites to US IT support sites ...everything you get is this

http://w3.mict.go.th/ci/blocked.html

Last year , I had a job offer in thailand, I almost moved to bangkok. But last minute , I decided to turn it down . I am now in Thailand 2 weeks a month, working for the same company as an external consultant . Thank god, buddah and everyone else , I decided not to move to thailand. Going here on vacation is fun, but working and living here is a nighmare. Visa regulations, work attetude, the traffic nightmare.....and so on.

Hounestly , if you take out the girls ( and the cheap or free sex) and the food, thailand is really not a nice place . I am happy that I have stayed in singapore , and if I want good thai food , I just go to Golden Mile Shopping Center and I can get the same food for the same price .

Thailand is just blocking severar servers and IP addresses, I have the same problem ,even with my own website in US .

youbet, many thanks , got all detaild information from my web hosting company, thet where very helpfull..also, they could not really help at the end.

Any, to all of you who have a similar problem , I tried several solutions and found a stable one . I am using a software called proxifier, that works stable with outlook , firefox and explorer. I can open all websites ( also those which came up with this nice thai screen and the little english note below " this site is blocked by the thai ministry of ... ) . You have to find a working socks 5 proxi server , i am using one in france now whis is stable. The software also contains a proxi cheker , so , you can try out differen connections first .

youbet, you might be in the lucky position to connect to my server, however, the situation here is still unsolved. Fact is, i can nether ping nor telnet my mailserver form company network, hotel network or internet shop , however, I can nontact my server when I use my mobile phone as a gprs modem, i can also coontact my mailserver via sockscap and a web proxy , but both solutions are unstable . Another fact is that it was working about 10 days ago without any problems. Also, my web hosting company came back with a feedback, they can trace the route up to hongkong ( hutchison server) where it it still working and then the address 218.189.12.234 is blocked by Internet Company Thailand . No idea if I can write to anyone in thailand, but not getting my mail is a serious problem for me.

I have now confirmation that my site or address is blocked by Internet Thailand ( for unknown reason) . I found a (slow and unstable) workaround by using sockscap and connecting with pegasus mail ( outlook crashes when used with sockscap) to an free socks 5 proxy server , also , many free web proxys are blocked as well . Whils resaerching for this , I saw this "sorry, this site is blocked by thailand ministry of blala"....a trillion times , so , there is some serious shit going on behind the curtains

yes, I know you can not reach it from thailand. However, if you ping it from the outside of thailand via a internt ping service, it is working well, also, when you try to reach it via a gprs phone connection, it is working well. Friends from singapore and europe can alos reach my mailserver ( checked everything via telnet). It was working fine 2 weeks ago when i was in tailand . How to check the blacklict ? Why could I be on there ? this is just a small technical consulting company , nothing else

sorry, did not help but thanks for the tip anyway, good to know

for unknown reasons, it is not possible to reach my mail server or web server from thailand ( web and mail is hosted by a US company, server is somwhere in Texas) . The mail and web-servers are not down , i can contact both servers via gprs phone . I also asked friends in singapore and europe to check for me via telnet if the mailserver is responding. everything is fine. However, here in thailand ( Ayutthaya) , i can not reach the server (mail.p-tech-consulting.com port 110 ) . I tried from a company network , also from the hotel and from an internet shop , same problem everywhere. I can reach other mail servers without any problem, for example the singnet mailserver (pop.singnet.com.sg 110 ) , so, my internet connection is ok for sure. Does anyone has any clue what is going on. I also spoke to a company called g-net in bangkok, they manage the network at the place where I am at the moment, but thye also don't have a clue .

As the interview was given to cnn ...will thailand stop talking to the US as well ????

I know there are plenty of idiots on this board, what I am always surprised about is the level of stupidity and ignorance.

There was a military coup, Thailand is ruled by a moslem general now, the new illegal government has taken over power by military force and has declared martial law , that means the constitution or any other laws are not valid anymore.

You must be really smart business men to invest in thailand now .

Wanted to go on a business trip next week. I also planed to look for a house to rent rent and move to bkk with my family. But now, everythiing looks different. I will probably not go , and I am not sure if we will move there next year. Will have a company emergency meeting in an hour , and we probably put our whole 10 million $ thailand project on hold until further news.

"hello , my name is Somsak"

I love it. Did you make that up?

no, that was real

thanks for all the good ( and bad) tips ;-)

This is not the first startup form scratch for me , and everytime there there are different problems. So far I found language ( and the confusing spelling and translation ) is a bigger problem here than it was in Singapore,Chzech republic, or even indonesia .

I am sure I'll find my way around and I will not give up so quickly . Sometimes it is just good to share the frustration. I have some thai help from next month onwards, and so far , everything runs still as planned , more or less.

Will not give up sooo fast ;-) . It is not more frustrating than my project in Czech Republic some years ago ;-) .

I understand that it is a different culture . I have lived in Asia for many years now. But why the hel_l do they have 5 different names for the same town ( and which one is right ??? ) .

The next 5 important things on my list are

1. buy a GPS ( and have it with me as soon as I get in a cab)

2. find a real estate agent who is able to answer emails

3. find a secretary who can speak more than " Hi, my name is ..." in english

4. buy a 5 meter cabinet file all the licenses , permissions and approvals we have so far

5. get a beer and relax

I read on some website that it is ok to drive in thailand with a singapore driving license . Is this true ??

I am not even in thailand yet, and I am already getting extremely frustrated.

I am still searching for a house , but how to get in contact with people who refuse to answer emails :-(

How do you ever find an address in thailand . Last week during a visit , I had a meeting in Auytaya ( or Atuthaya , or Ayudhaya or Ayutdhaya or Ayutdaya ) ...yes, i found 5 different names for the same town , I even found 2 different names on the same map . What the f*****.

Never mind , in the end I found the place , had a meeting with the supplier and he promised me to send over a quotation ....so he did , but the quotation was in Thai .

The next meeting was even better . Again , I had problem finding the place , High Tech industrial park . In a so called " english map" this place is marked as Ban Wa Industrial area , and on the same map , 2 cm below as Baan Wah industrial area. At the end it turns thats all the same, and again , I managed to find the place .Also I made an appointment with them on the phone ( in english) , the guy who came to the meeting could not speak more english then " hello , my name is Somsak " . Total waste of time .

Last but not least, the number of licenses , certifications , approvals and permits to start up a factory is more than you need to open up a nuclear power plant in NYC .

I have the phillips 160 gb ,and I am happy with it ...well,I bought it in singapore , but this doesn't matter. I converted it to be country code free, this als was easy .

I alos use ITV , a mac based digital reciever/decoder . Works on terrestric analog and digital tv and cable tv , and you can scheduel your recordings via some internet programm guieds ( the mac is connected via bluetooth/gprs mobile phone) never tried this in thailand, but I am sure it works there as well.It works well in Singapore, Malaysia, USA,UK,Germany , that I have ried out myself .

You can than distribute yoyur recordings wireless in your home if you have a second computer and a fast wireless card left. So, you can create your own private wireless media server.

ITV also has a "one button export to IPOD " feature, so you can copy your recordings to your video-ipod and take them with you .

I agree,as many of you have said , it depends . Are you single or do you have a family , do you shop at local stores or do you need western food....and so on. I lived very well on this budged in singapore for many years. I also know people who live in singapore with 30% of this and others who cant survive on 15k US$ . You can find nice 3 room condos in singapore with pool and gym for 1300 SG$ / month , and you can find the same for 10.000 SG$/month .

I am living as an expat for the last 15 years or so, I can probably write a book about how to start up in a foreign country with zero information , a passport and a credit card.

From my experience, living cost will go down by 30% or so after one to 2 years , just because you know the place better and you fit in more with the locals.

But , I know people in singapore for example , who have been there for 5 + years and havn't used the mrt or haven't eaten at a local foodstall.

So, it is all up to you . I also don't think that 300.000 is an exceptional hig salary for an expat professional. I think it is more everage , a bit on the low side. Depends on the industry.

If you are an expat professional , getting payed 100.000 bath in thailand...move on , you can make double in singapore and probably 3 to 5 times more in the US .

thank you all very much for your response. After the initial bullshit ( I think you will get on every board) , I got some really valuable information. I think I can manage on 300.000 TB , but there will be not much left . I will negotiate for 300.000 plus car , plus bonus , this should be possible, and probably I can arrange to earn 50% of the $$$ in singapore ,this will reduce the tax alot .

I will be in BKK in october and will hire an agent to see some houses .

greetings to all of you

Achim

Our factory will be located in an industrial park , 50km north of the old airport . I have been there many times already to overlook the construction of the building.

I would prefer to live in the minburi area, as it is near to the international school ...but so far,I have no idea how long it takes to get to work from there. I will rent a car and try it out one day during rushour before I rent a place ...hope I will find my way ;-)

Aletxh,

I lived in Singapore for the last 7 years , and I agree, it is the best place I have been so far. But I have no choice , I like my job, I am not tha young anymore , and I am very specialized , so, thre are not that many jobs out there for me anymore. My company is relaocating and is offering me a nice job for the new factory in bangkok, consulting for the stratup ( thats the thing I did for the last 15 to 20 years , always in the same industry) . I cant find a job I like in singapore ( or ,the jobs I like are not paying enough , haha) , so I probably go to BKK ...for some years or so.

Thanks for your advise. Yes, I know that I need a car in this area, I hope that I can get a company car , that would help me alot. I checked the car prices in thailand on expat-motors website. Yes, cars are not cheap in thailand , but by far not as expensive as in singapore ;-)

There is a website here who offers property guides, people who are not agents , but who know the market and serach a house for you . You pay them a fixed price per hour/day . Does anyone has experience with this folks ?

P.S. I asked some totally normal questions here , questions everyone would ask when you about to move to a new country . I lived in 5 different countries on 3 different continents in the last 15 years and everytime I moved to a new place , I got lots of good information from expat boards like this , information about tax , visas, work permits , places to stay, to eat , to buy a car , to get a drink and so on . Everytime I moved , I worked for a stratup , there was no one there to ask , not a soule I know in the new country and no one to help me . I managed this well , and expat boards like this are the bigest help for people like me , so, again thank you very much to all of you .

I will be in BKK next month to sort things out with the BOI and then I will ge a cap and have a look around .

Also , everytime I got idiots , telling my "why I ask so stupid questions" , or "stay where you are" and all this bullshit. What is wrong with you guys ? Do you have too many agressions ( then go for a run or play with your girlfriend instead of sitting in fornt of your computer) or are you just stupid ?