egeefay

If you don't like the billboard polluting the neighborhood maybe you can make it a point to let the advertiser know you won't be purchasing his product as long as they insist on littering your landscape.

40 years ago the United States passed a law banning billboards along scenic highways. Since then billboards have begun to creep back into the landscape.

Laws won't make much difference. Politicians know money when they see it.

A public boycott of advertised products would be much ore effective...if you could get it organzied

Surely, a better hospital, or at least one that has a better reputation, among farang, than Sao Paulo has. Such as, specialists who actually can make a diagnosis other than "Contact dermatitis" and "I have no idea what's wrong with you."

There are rumours that a new hospital is being built, just as there were once rumours of a new super-mall coming along. Put that hospital on your Christmas wish list, then!

Parking downtown for motor vehicles that are not taxis or rentals.

I undertand that it is no longer a rumor about that new hospital in Hua Hin. From people who seem to know, it is now under construction.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=66107

Someone posted information about a new hospital coming to Hua Hin

"The hospital is being built on the grounds of the old Hua Hin Hospital which has moved to temporary quarters across the street. The hospital is being built for the King and the top floor is reserved for the Royal Family. The remaining floors will be open to the public and the doctors will be the best in the Kingdom. Doctors will spell each other off for a month at a time, coming from Siriraj, Chulalongkorn...all the best hospitals in Thailand will send doctors to Hua Hin. It will be a world-class medical facility."

Does anyone know if this is actually being built...or is it another grand plan...like the "expressway to Hua Hin over the sea"

Just curious but I've read several other not so flattering postings regarding San Paulo Hospital and wonder why Hua Hin doesn't have a better hospital.

There seems to be a large western community in Hua Hin and Hua Hin is so well known.

You think that they would have a world class hospital there...at least as good as petcharat hospital in Petchburi

With the growing retirement age population moving to Thailand, a good hospital is one of the first things on their list

My brother-in-law is 65 and is planning on moving from the US to Thailand with his Thai wife in the next few months.

He has applied for a non immigrant visa from the Thai Embassy in Los Angeles but was wondering if it would be possible to travel to Thailand on a tourist visa and then apply for a non immigrant visa in Thailand.

Is that possible?

On my recent trip to Thailand we were eating at a restaurant in Bangkok. After the meal I took the bill and added a 20% cash tip to it (what I normally tip in America) My Thai guests looked surprise. Suddenly one of them grabbed the money and gave it back to me. "That's too much" he said.

The rest of them agreed.

"How much should I tip?" I asked.

"Just give them a 20 baht or so. It's not a percentage of the bill"

When I played golf I asked the same question.

"How much should I tip the caddy. (It costs 200 baht for a caddy)

My wife figured that 100 baht would be appropriate.

What are the rules for tipping in Thailand?

Do Thais expect farangs to tip at a different rate?

On my last visit to Thailand I noticed that most houses had security bars on the windows...even in some of the gated communities.

With so many farangs owning houses in Thailand but staying only part of the year I was wondering if they had problems leaving their houses unattended for several months at a time..

Are thieves a big problem in Thailand...even in the nicer areas?

What measure do people take in order to protect their property when they are gone?

Are gated communities that much safer from thieves than houses along the soi's?

Can you protect your belongings with insurance in Thailand?

Egeefay, I hope your trip to HH went well for you and you got the TT3 amended as discussed. On security, nothing beats having someone you can trust watching the house full time. Since you will, apparently, only be in your house part time if your wife has family that she can trust (i.e. no wild parties etc.), then perhaps you could arrange for a house sitter when you are out of the country. Security guards are more for show and if you are not going to be around, not a good idea. A security system makes sense and I have one myself, but there are always war stories of alarms going off and thieves still getting what they came for. Nothing beats having someone you can trust watching the house for you.

Yes. Thank you. My wife got the TT3 from the Bank in Hua Hin.

While many things in Thailand have improved over the years, bad driving habits have not.

Every time I return to Thailand for a visit and hop in a taxi or bus or am taken around the country, I thank my lucky stars that I am still alive when I board the plane home.

Drivers in Thailand seem to follow the "what not to do" driving handbook: constantly changing lanes, cutting in front of others, squeezing into lanes not designated for traffic, riding on sidewalks, speeding up for pedestrians, driving over the speed limit and making risky passes on two lane highways.

Prime Minister Taksin pointed the finger at traffic accidents as one of Thailand's top three serious health problems, in terms of burden of disease. He said that 30% of inpatient beds of the hospitals under the Thai Ministry of Public Health are occupied by road traffic accident victims. And each year there are more than 13,000 deaths, more than one million injuries, and tens of thousands of disabilities from road accidents. In 2002, social and economic losses resulting from motorized transport deaths and injuries in Thailand amounted to some 2.13 per cent of the country’s GDP.

http://terrance.who.int/mediacentre/realvi..._Shinawatra.ram

Compare that to 42,800 traffic deaths in the United States in 2004...a country with 5 times the population and with many more cars per capita than Thailand

In view of the concerns of the Prime minister, I wonder why nothing much seems to have been done to bring some order and discipline to a chaotic situation...other than some helpful but cosmetic changes like wearing seatbelts , motorcycle helmets and adding more lanes to freeways?

Driving habits in Thailand are as bad as they ever were..in my opinion.

I have lived in HH ... it is set for a HUGE boom in a couple of years ... I might invest there with an eye to selling ... but not long term plans for living there

Yes. I would agree. Hua Hin is quickly becoming "discovered" by farangs.

But I think as long as the King makes his home there, I'm hoping we won't be seeing the crime, bars, prostitutes and pollution that have overtaken some other popular farang cities in Thailand. It may grow in population but I'm hoping it will maintain it's charm.

One of the housing developments we looked at in Thailand advertised an "open" living room concept. A living room without walls. In fact a lot of the rooms seemed rather open to the outside..no bars or locks.

It has a very attractive look but my first thought was...the only thing between thieves and an open floor plan like this is the guards at the entrance of the gated community.

It's in a very nice area of Hua Hin but a plan like this doesn't seem to be an appropriate design in a country where , as some are saying , deadbolts and alarm systems are a must and even with security thieves can sometimes be in cahoots with the guards.

Anyone know if there are similar type houses in Thailand?

And, would you feel secure living in a place like this in your neighborhood?

Hua Hin

I don't live there now but I'd like to

We just came back fromThailand where we spent some time looking all over for a place to retire. We checked out places in the north and south.

We decided on Hua Hin.

Reasons:

1 Weather: it doesn't rain there as much as in other areas of Thailand and it's right on the ocean so we hope it will be a little cooler and breezier

2. Not too many farangs...yet. We didn't like Phuket and Pattaya. Too much like living in the land of farangs.

3. More family oriented. Not a lot of bars and prostitutes plying the streets.

4. Clean and safe. The King lives in Hua Hin so the place seemed relatively safe and very clean. Some cities in Thailand have grown too fast and the services haven't been able to catch up. Not polluted like Pattaya.

4. Quiet. Except on the weekends with a lot of Thais come in for their weekend away from Bangkok

On my last visit to Thailand I noticed that most houses had security bars on the windows...even in some of the gated communities.

With so many farangs owning houses in Thailand but staying only part of the year I was wondering if they had problems leaving their houses unattended for several months at a time..

Are thieves a big problem in Thailand...even in the nicer areas?

What measure do people take in order to protect their property when they are gone?

Are gated communities that much safer from thieves than houses along the soi's?

Can you protect your belongings with insurance in Thailand?

I found some articles in "City Life", an emagazine in Chiangmai

A former Peace Corps volunteer named Hugh Leong and his Thai wife have been living in Thailand on and off for a few years and he's writing a series of articles on Retiring In Thailand...what it takes to retire to Thailand and all that good stuff. He makes some interesting observations about costs and things

Here's the first article

http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/2006/apr06/68_retiring.php

If you are interested in his subsequent articles, you can bookmark the Magazine or email him

He's suppose to have more articles every week or so

I am using Expacare(http://www.apipacific.com) - their website is ######-ugly but the product is excellent.

I have done extensive research since I travel a lot to the US and many part of Asia (Bali, BKK, HKG, M'sia)

Their deductable is zero(they have some deductibles, but I advised against it - not worth it for 5% discount of the zero deductibles) and they cover most of procedures, almost the same with goodhealth but most procedures have NO CAPS. Most of the time patients have to pay first and then re-imburse, unless you called in advance for big operations. But they have worked out an agreement with Bumrungrad Hospital that when you go there and show your card, you don't have to pay out of pocket. The customer service speak perfect English also. It's great!

Most of the insurance provider for Expat requires you to pay first and then file for reimbursement, It takes about 3-6 weeks for reimbursement, they paid directly to your bank account.

I find their service most satisfactory - I have been with them for 3 years for now. It's great, I recommend it to everyone.

Prevention is the best medicine.

rb3

Their website looks like it was done by a child. Are you sure they are a legitimate insurance company. A professional company wouldn't put up a website like that. Have you ever tried to file a major claim. They look a little spooky to me.

After meeting with a couple of health/life insurance companies I'm beginning to wonder if the best path is to stay self insured. Admittedly I'm just in the beginning stages of my research but perhaps some smart person out there has looked into Hospital costs, cost of surgeries, etc., etc. and drawn some conclusions. I'm 49, never smoked, drink very little, perfect blood pressure, general good health.

Health insurance in the states is a must because of the high cost involved with nearly any illness, surgery, etc. ........... but here?

I have a friend living in Thailand who decided skip the insurance and instead set aside $20,000 in an interest bearing account to take care of any medical emergencies he might have.

He figures that medical is so much cheaper in Thailand that he can just self insure himself.

And it is true. My mother-in-law went into the hospital when her kidneys started to fail and was in intensive care for a week. She got great care and recovered quite nicely...at least for now. Anyway, when the family got the bill it came to 130,000 baht...$3250!!! That's a lot for the average Thai family but for us....That's about how much it would cost for just one day in intensive care in a US hospital.

we use a maid and she is brilliant.

she used to work in the laundry of the apartment block where we lived and i used to chat to her a lot. she never missed a day while we lived there and was always working hard with a pleasant personality.

they used to pay her 5000 baht a month with one days holiday per month. she started at 7am and finished around 7pm. she was also renting her own place.

when we moved into a new place we needed a maid so i asked her if she was interested (she had told me she used to work as a room cleaner in a serviced apartment)

now she gets 8000 baht a month and a free room and food. she can have holidays when she likes, within reason and we help out when she wants to go home to isaan to see her family etc.

she is a brilliant worker and we are very lucky to have her.

i hope the original poster can get someone like Jum....

Your maid is very fortunate. I know teachers with college educations who make 10,000 baht a month...a little more than your maid ...but they have to pay for their own rent and food.

I'm sure your maid, Jum, feels as lucky to work for you as you are to have her.

If I am reading you correct, when she worked as a room cleaner she got 5000 baht for working 29 days, 11 hours a day (maybe an hour off for lunch?).

At that rate she was working for 15 baht an hour...under the minimum wage in Thailand which is about 20 baht an hour.

It always helps to know the person before you hire them. From what I gather from reading this thread getting references are not always reliable ways to find good help. Nothing beats being able to observe the person and their work habits for an extended period BEFORE you hire them.

our motorbike man gets 8000 (before 7000) per month, but he pays the gasoline himself and the motorbike is his. There are a lot of people who want to work for that money.

Actually as one other motorbike guy left us (too drunk all the time) and the remaining works very hard and relaible, we give him between 1.500 (when he takes a lot days off) and 5000 Baht bonus per month.

We have two rai so it is hard to keep up with particularly during the rainy season. (Weeds). My wife hires people who are looking for work. It may take them two or three days to finish and she pays them 120 baht for an eight hour day. She never has a problem finding someone.

She pays them that much does she? 37 cents an hours could be a bit excessive. That must put a big hole in your wallet. There oughta be a law. I was unaware that slavery still existed. Wait now, even slaves made more than that

This is falang thinking.

When i need work doing I pay the workers 200 Baht a day plus we feed them well and they are very willing to work for my wife and I, in fact they are always calling to see if there is any work to be done.

The locals work in the fields very hard, under the hot sun for 100 Baht per 10 hour day, the local Thais pay a lot less than falangs do.

I'm not familiar with a "motorbike man". Is that a delivery person?

Probably best to have a place at least picked out and figuring out your needs before worrying too much about it.

You'll find plenty of info on thse questions if you search this site.

Yes. We did buy a lot in Palm Hills recently and in the the process of designing our house the question about a "maid quarters" came up. Although we are sure we will need help taking care of the house, We weren't sure if we wanted to go with a live in maid...so I searched on the forum and found one article about maids. Very helpful but still left some questions unanswered.

I thought that if I could get some feedback from people who have actually had either live in maids or part time maids (and gardeners) we might be able to make a decision on that and factor it into our design

We have two rai so it is hard to keep up with particularly during the rainy season. (Weeds). My wife hires people who are looking for work. It may take them two or three days to finish and she pays them 120 baht for an eight hour day. She never has a problem finding someone.

She pays them that much does she? 37 cents an hours could be a bit excessive. That must put a big hole in your wallet. There oughta be a law. I was unaware that slavery still existed. Wait now, even slaves made more than that

You got me interested in what the minimum wage in Thailand is. I found this website from the Thiland Board of Investment. Seems the wage varies from city to city and varies from a high of 170 baht a day (8 hours???) in Bangkok to a low of 133 in Chiang Rai.

http://www.boi.go.th/english/how/demographic.asp

We are thinking of retiring and moving to Thailand (Hua Hin) in a year or so.

We think we will build a house there. My wife is Thai and I speak Thai well enough to communicate

I was wondering if anyone reading this forum has had any real world experiences with maids and gardeners.

I understand there are maids (and gardeners???) who live in your house full time as well as others who work full time but come in during the day and go home at night. Then there are those who work only a few days a week.

What hours do your live in maids work each day?

How many days a week does your full time maid usually work?

What about holidays and vacations for full time maids?

What benefits do you offer: bonuses, hospital care, transportation etc.

Did anyone ever have a live in maid who also had a husband and kids?

Did you have any problems with your help or words of advice on what to do and what to avoid doing?

We were also considering using a gardener although we might not have enough work for a full time person. Has anyone had any experiences using a gardener for other purposes like driving or running errands or ???

I keep reading that there are plans underway for a motorway that's suppose to cut driving time between Hua Hin and Bangkok by an hour. It was suppose to cross the water and construction was suppose to start in 2006

Does anyone know if anything is happening?

I am looking for some help regarding bring money to Hua Hin. We are coming out in April to pay the final instalment on the house we are purchasing. We have a bank account but have had some problems transferring money from the UK. If I bring a sterling bankers draft payable to ourselves does anyone know if this is acceptable in a Thai bank and if so how long it takes to clear so that we can draw on it through the Thai/British Banking System. In the UK this would be seen as a cleared cheque.

Hope someone can help.

I once sent money to a girlfriend (OK, enough laughter) via bank draft from HSBC bank.

It was paid into her account with no problem. It is just like cash because the funds are guaranteed.

My Thai wife and I live in the United States

Recently we went shopping for property in Hua Hin. We found a nice lot in Palm Hills owned by a private party.

My wife opened up a bank account at the Siam Commercial Bank on Petchkasem Rd.

I returned to the US and wire transferred money from our US bank account to her account at the Siam Commercial Bank. (You should indicate on the wire transfer form that the money is to be used to purchase property in Thailand.)

When the money arrived at the bank my wife made out a check to the owner of the land at the title office and the transfer was made.

One thing we forgot to do was request a TT3 form from the Bank. That's a form used to show that the money we were bringing into the country was for investment purposes. That way when we decide to sell the property down the road and bring the money back out of Thailand, we will be able to match the TT3 form with the TT4 form (taking money out of the Kingdom).

Fortunately the branch manager was understanding and we were able to get the TT3 form after the fact.

There are some helpful advice from other folks on the forum regarding the proper way to bring money into and take money out of the Kingdom.

Sorry, I may have had too much SangSom and coke last night, but I am confused by this thread. Could anyone enlighten me?

Why should a Foreign Currency Transfer Form in the name of the husband, where the money is then gifted to the wife, be any good for returning said money to US, on sale of the property? It is now the wife's, and as presumably she now resides in the States, she is able to transfer her own assets or inheritance, up to $1 million back to the States

It sounds like what you are saying that as long as the assets are in my Thai wife's name (she is a US citizen but does have her Thai identity card) she can send up to 1 million dollars back to the US with the blessings of the Thai government.

I was not aware of this.

Of course, there are wealthy Thais moving to the United States all the time so it makes sense that there must be some mechanism for them to transfer money to the US to buy houses and cars and start businesses.

The land we bought was in my Thai wife's name. I have no legal claims to the property. So if what you are saying is correct, perhaps we did not need a TT3 document

I cannot answer many of your questions, but I can shed some light on the TT3. This is a Bank of Thailand (BOT) form which is meant to document incoming foreign exchange (FX). The TT4 form is for outgoing FX remittances. The TT3 and TT4 forms are the way the BOT keeps track of incoming and outgoing FX. These forms have nothing to do with whether Thai nationals are involved or not.

The people who advised you that it is important to have the TT3 reflect the purpose of the incoming funds have given you the correct advice. However, the TT3 has nothing to do with whether your wife can or cannot sell her real estate in the future. The BOT is the Central Bank of Thailand and has no interest in the purchases or sales of personal real estate. In this case, their interest is in the proper documentation of flow of funds in and out of Thailand.

Theoretically, should your wife sell the real estate and you wish to remit the funds back out of Thailand, the BOT would match the TT3 with the TT4. In reality, with the volume of incoming and outgoing FX, it is difficult for the BOT to do this, but the bank who you ask to remit the funds will check. Since you say the funds have already arrived, it is in your best interest to get the TT3 amended to show the actual purpose of the TT3 being to purchase real estate. This is possible, but usually the bank who received the funds will not want to do this as it is extra work. If you have a personal officer at your Thai bank, then they can move this forward. If you do not, the area of your Thai bank handling your transaction will be the Remittance Dept. They can liase with the foreign bank's Remittance Dept. to help you get this form amended. Please note that they may not speak very good English, if at all.

The people in the Remittance Dept. can provide you with a world of information, including the answers to the rest of your questions as they have to deal with incoming and outgoing FX and compliance with BOT directives, on a daily basis.

Thanks for your informative reply. Upon viewing the responses to my question I immediately telephoned my wife in Thailand. I asked her to call the Siam Commercial Bank in Hua Hin . That's where we wired our money from the US. I was a little concerned because we should have requested the TT3 at the time we took the money out to pay for the property in Hua Hin. And it is true that if you don't go by the book in Thailand you can often be out of luck.

Fortunately, the Assistant VP Branch Manager at the bank was very helpful. My wife explained that she had overlooked requesting a TT3 at the time we bought the property. He said no problem. He asked my wife to come back down to Hua Hin and meet with him this Friday to take care of the TT3 document.

Thanks to all the good advice. Had my wife returned to the states without filling out the proper documentation now, we might have had a lot of headaches down the road should we decide to sell the property and try and take the money out of Thailand

We are just bought some property in Hua Hin

I wired the money for the property from my bank in the States to the Thai bank

My Thai wife , in Thailand, used the money to buy the property.

I know there are a lot of restrictions on taking the money back out of Thailand should we decide to sell the property down the road. Most of the restrictions I am aware of govern foreigners buying condos in Thailand.

1. Does anyone know if my wife, who is thai, can sell the property and send the money out of the Thailand. At first we heard that all we had to do was show that the money for the property flowed from a foreign bank into a Thai bank. Now I am hearing that people (foreigners only???) must get a document called a "Tor Thor Saam" (Foreign Currency Exchange Transaction Certificate) from the Thai bank stating specifically that the money came from abroad and is being used to purchase property.

Without it they might have a tough selling their property in Thailand and moving the money back home. Does that also apply to Thais' too?

2. Are Thais allowed to send money to family members abroad in large amounts of , say , $20,000.at a time. We've always sent money into the Thailand...never out.

I'm sure there must be a certain amount that you are allowed to send family members who are living abroad or who are student in foreign universities.