SamuiRes

Going back to the Uk in the summer for ten days and for the first time in a few years. Does anyone out there have experience of car hire out of Birmingham Airport please?

Try Andy at Expat Motors www.expatmotors.co.th He is a Brit who has been helping expats to buy vehicles in LOS for 8 years or more. First class service.

Cheers.

Fully agree.

We have now bought three cars through Expat Motors and their service was excellent.

Can anyone explain the Forward FX rates as shown below which is from the Siam Commercial Bank. Are these percentages or expected currency movements and over what period?

Forward FX Rates

Currency Bought Sold

ATS UNQUOTE UNQUOTE

AUD -2.4 1.5

BEF UNQUOTE UNQUOTE

CAD .4 4

CHF 8.2 12.3

DEM UNQUOTE UNQUOTE

DKK .1 2.5

EUR 7.8 12.9

FRF UNQUOTE UNQUOTE

GBP 1.8 8.2

HKD -1.3 2

ITL UNQUOTE UNQUOTE

JPY 12.4 16.6

MYR UNQUOTE UNQUOTE

This is sadly true!

More years ago than I care to remember, anyone arriving by sea into Sydney had to fill our a very long (several pages) and complicated Customs Declaration. It as so complicated that we used to carry Australian Customs Agents on board from the last port to help passengers fill it out correctly.

Eventually the Australian Customs agreed that this was not only expensive for them, but unnecessary and introduced a new "Oral Declaration".

All you had to do was "Fill out this new form" !!

We have a small avocado orchard

and I am growing a lemon tree (well, a ponderosa lemon) which is quite big now. Hope to get fruit next year.

How did you start the Avocado and Lemon trees?

I tried to get an Avocado tree started but the seed/stone would not propogate.

Lemon trees are interesting but I read that they take years before they fruit. How long have you had yours if you are expecting fruit next year and how did you start it off?

I considered myself as being a pretty good businessman. I ran three successful businesses in Ohio, USA. This is NOT Ohio, USA. I was involved in three totally different types of businesses here in Thailand and all three failed. This is not a level playing field and your costs will be MUCH higher than your competitors. One business is still struggling along but I was swindled by my partner. My partner was NOT Thai, just a crooked, scheming and not to be trusted farang. Since I don't depend on money from the business to be able to stay here I decided not to pursue compensation. I think the guy will eventually fail anyways because he has no expertise building the product and has very limited funding without me. I'm just sitting back watching him make mistakes.

I think that is the biggest hurdle to get over here - the fact that we are not playing on a level playing field. Many times it is our own fault for not speaking Thai which lowers the slope somewhat. But even Thai speakers are still at a disadvantage in many situations. There is almost a caste system here, not quite in the Indian way, but what seems like similar rules of association. There is definitely a class hirearchy that is very powerful.

The biggest obstacle that foreigners put in front of themselves though is the belief that you can run your business like a Thai in respect of your relationship with the Authorities. We run our businesses strictly by the book, pay our taxes, hide nothing, valid work permits, cars fully insured and licenced. If we are checked we know they will find something, but it will not be significant and just sufficient for them to save face but have no lasting or serious inpact on our business.

We see many people come out here never having run their own business before in their own country where the laws are more consistent at least. Many have no idea about the importance of cash flow and how you can go bust making a profit if your cash flow dries up.

Finding a good and reliable, honest local business partner is perhaps the other big obstacle to success.

No, it is not a level playing field, and I doubt it ever will be. You just have to be better than the rest - and lucky!

I am very optomistic about the future for Samui.

Yes, we are going through a bad time currently, principally for the lack of funding for infrastructure and of course the development on the island does not help that.

However, I do believe that one way or the other the infrastructure will be sorted out although it will obviously take time - the current Mayor is reviving the application for City status and regards that as a significant part of his tenure.

There will be a new Zoning Law to prevent further extensive development in the hills - maybe something like the 80 metre rule in Phuket.

The existing developments will be completed and fewer lorries will be on the roads.

Now this may take ten years, but Samui will come out the better for it.

Many people who moan on these Forums remember Samui as it was and want it to stay that way. You will not halt progress and tourists will still come here. Some may never come again - but many I meet love what they see - they have no comparison to what Samui was even four or five years ago.

Knock Samui all you want but I love it here and "ain't goin nowhere else!"

Try running the ip through this source. If it is blocked by the common black list sites it should show up here. http://rbls.org/

Thanks for the suggestion.

Did that and everything came up green - so is there another reason why blocking occures?

I send out a monthly Newsletter to my Clients and anyone else who requests it. Probably about 150 people a month. Definitely not Spam as everyone on my list is happy to receive it.

Some recipients are however having the Newsletter and, at different times, specific individual emails blocked by Spam filters. Sample message is "Sender refused by the DNSBL xbl.spamhaus.org".

I have been to the Spamhaus site and checked the DNS and it is not listed on either SBL or XBL.

Has anyone any ideas why this is happening and what I can do to get round it?

I'll bite.

Several things would make live and tourism more sustainable.

1. Actually use the incinerator that has been build. 5000 baht fine or 3 years in prison for anyone who dares to burn garbage. If it is on the beach. 10.000 baht fine and 6 years in prison.

Great idea - agree absolutely![/color]

2. Make sure the police force is working "to protect and serve" the public.

They are talking about new Police from outside Samui to break the existing ties and building a new police station in Chaweng to make reporting crimes easier, rather than having to go all the way to Nathon. Funds have apparently been allocated and work due to start soon.

3. Lobby hard for normal closing times. 1 o'clock is plain stupid. If Samui wants more tourist this is important. Don't want all people at the same time on the streets. Toursit are here to have a holiday, not to be in a kindergarten.

Agreed!

4. The road, aah.. the road. Use asphalt instead of that concrete that is always breaking. Fix the ring road.

There has been discussion on this in the local Newspapers as part of an interview with the Tessaban. They have contradictory statements about the lifespan of Tarmac roads against concrete roads. They currently have no facililties on the island which can handle Tarmac - certainly in the quantities that would be required. Once again it comes down to money and they just do not have the funds to do it all.

5. Allow only big trucks to drive on certain hours. With a dampner in their exhaust. If they drive over 80 kph. Licence gone.

Fully agree!

6. Make sure the raw sewage is not dumped into the sea. It will only come back and will mess everything up. Big hotels have to treat there waste water. Small resorts and housing estates should have storage for wastewater that would be collected and treated.

Agree absolutely!

7. To give everybody a equal chance of doing business ALL businesses should be registered and obey closing hours. Sorry Buddy Bar, you have to go, or close at the same time others have to.

Agree - and not just Buddy Bar! Let's have a level playing field - I really am dreaming there though!

8. Development have to be registered and approved. Not by family members but independant people. (That would be hard, but it is a nice goal)

I am not sure why you think they are not at the moment. All developments have to be approved by the Tessaban.

9. Improve public transport. At least 4 busses driving around the ring road. Maximize number of taxies and songtheaws. Enforce use of a meter.

There is much discussion on this locally and the Mayor had a meeting with the Taxi drivers to try and resolve the issue of over charging and not using meters. The Taxi drivers said that if the un-licenced Songtaew and taxis were stopped then they would agree to a flag down charge of Baht 100. Still a rip off but better than what we have now

10. Converted pickups with imense sound systems are forbidden. Tourist will have to be informed about the Thai boxing that takes place every single day in a different matter. Maybe an advertisement in the free maps.

That has been tried before without success. Whilst we all hate it, it derives from the times when the village headman would advise the village of local news and information by loudspeaker as this was the only way to pass this on. It has therefore formed part of the culture here and the locals are not so understanding of foreigners objection to it.

11. Keymoney is forbidden. If reported offender faces 1 year in prison for every 1000 baht. No use to scare rich people with small fines.

Key money for what? A bar? A shop? What? Keymoney is part of the way business operates here in a free economy. I would agree entirely that I see no logical basis for it in most instancies. Key money is common in the West and generally represents the value remaining in a lease where the rent being paid is far less than the current market value or represents Fixture and Fittings or improvements carried out by the tenant. It can be quantified and justified. Here key money has no quantifiable justificiation but has become part of the way deals are structured. I do not think it can or should be made illegal. Market forces generally take care of these issues. The higher the key money the lower the ensuing rent and the other way round. No one has to pay key money. No one forces you to sign the deal. If you want to do the nusiness then you factor in the key money to your business plan and negotiate the key money against rent as bets you can.

That is just of the top of my head. For a real campaign i surely have some more.

You are absolutely entitled to your opinion as I am in response to your comments and no one is denying your right to freedom of speech but I am equally entitled to disagree with what you say.

Where did the 1000 Baht come from?

The entrance was 500 Baht and over half the audience were Thai.

Honest criticism and opinion is fine and creates a healthy debate - but please get your facts right.

Ok sorry usually I don't like to start a flaming post, it seemed you wanted to tell me "shut the **** up" by the tone of your post.

500 is much better, if you read my post I said 1000 baht is a lot for Thailand and that's what the previous poster quoted as the price.

Don't you agree 1000 baht is a lot for the average Thai guy ?

I personally enjoy to attend events with lots of Thais rather than "only farang price events", but that's just me.

But what you really took personally seems to be my opinion about Coco, well did you notice the smiley icon? It was not intended to offend anyone. Glad you have fun and enjoy the place.

Sorry I'll try to be clearer next time, my sense of humor and my lack of proper English is a bit confusing at times.

No offence taken Marco, but simply to state that a place "sucks" without giving reasons that you personally do not like it helps no one.

As I said, healthy debate is useful and gives a better understanding of what people want. The Blues Bar is evolving and over the last year has had a variety of different styles of music - certainly mainly stemming from the Blues and Jazz scenes but the Columbian Band that have just left were a completely different genre and enjoyed by many. Nowhere else can you find this on the island. If I go to Green Mango Disco or the Reggae Pub I have to say that the music there is not to my taste either, but I accept that other people enjoy it and that is fine. For the same reason I went once to a Full Moon Party at Lake View to see what it was like - the Music drove me away very quickly, but I never criticised it because it was not to my taste.

Coco Blues cannot satisfy everyone's tastes, but it fills a gap in the market which attracts a lot of people - packed again last night. Accept it for what it is and if you have a genuine criticism lets discuss that.

Indeed I don't go there anymore! Easy solution

It doesn't offend me at all, but I'm still entitled to express my opinion right?

Hehe I can Immagine lot of Thais at 1000 bahts..sure...

If my opinion offends you , just stay away from it and let people express their opinion.

It's called freedom of speech by the way and I'm not the only one who thinks Coco Blues sucks, but who's counting right?

You are absolutely entitled to your opinion as I am in response to your comments and no one is denying your right to freedom of speech but I am equally entitled to disagree with what you say.

Where did the 1000 Baht come from?

The entrance was 500 Baht and over half the audience were Thai.

Honest criticism and opinion is fine and creates a healthy debate - but please get your facts right.

Howard had felt guilty all day long. No matter how much he tried to forget about it, he couldn't. The guilt and sense of shame was overwhelming. But every once in a while he'd hear that soothing voice trying to reassure him: "Howard, don't worry about it. You're not the first doctor to sleep with one of your patients and you won't be the last. And, you're single. So just let it go."

But invariably the other voice would bring him back to reality:

"Howard, you're a veterinarian...."

Just came back from Samui(Bophut) and stayed there for 2 months and made lots of Thai friends.

The reason they told me not many people were there was because of the huge entrance fee they were asking.

All our friends are on a wage of 8000 bath a month. It is impossible for them to pay 1000 bath just to go and see a music festival.

Should a festival in Samui not be geared towards Thai people aswell and not just the tourist!!!

Hopefully they can get it right this time and think about the Thais and not just how much profit they can make!

1000 baht? gees , they need to do a reality check, double that money and i can go and see a U2 concert in my country.

And yeah Coco Blues sucks

If it sucks don't go there - easy solution.

Over 700 people, many Thais, went there last Saturday to see Sek Loso so some people do not agree with you. It was full last night as well.

If it offends you stay away and let the people who do enjoy it do so.

The fact is the many of the rich royal family Arabs don't want their citizens to know how much they really have.

It is not good for their health.

Quite right.

The other issue is that a great deal of their wealth is actually invested overseas through shell companies with the source of funds well hidden. The reason is that they are scared that the the funds could be forfeit in any serious dispute on an international scale. Look at the recent pronouncements in the Muslim world where they stated that the West would suffer economically if the rights of Muslims in the West was not protected by law. The one big ace they hold is the supply of oil - whether they would be prepared to use it is another matter - but logic is not a great asset there either.

Assume they start scaling down or stopping production so that oil prices keep rising - eventually it will reach a point where certain governments will say enough is enough and the possiblity of governments going after their assets is why they are so well hidden

No Sultan of Brunei, Mr Walmart, or Toxin?

Can safely say this list is not very accurate.

Absolutely!

I used to work for a certain gentleman in the Gulf who was reported 5 years ago as the second richest man in the UAE (Excluding the Royal Family). That was based on a totally wrong "assumed" valuation by someone of his real estate portfolio. You have to wonder where they get their "facts" from.

I don't think the list is very accurate.

Where are all the oil rich Arabs like the Saudi royal family?

A lot of these lists exclude people who are wealthy as a consequence of their status. Rulers of the Arab States do not separate their wealth from that of the country and I presume that is the reason that the Sultan of Brunei and the Saudi Rulers and the UAE Royal Family are excluded. The other problem they have is actually valuing their wealth due to the secrecy surrounding it. Those people on the list from that area are included because of their business interests outside of their countries and which can be quantified to som extent.

So if you don't use the certificate within the 6 months then what is the procedure to obtain a new one to enable you to take the 20 K USD out of the country in say 2 years time.

just to recap...you do NOT need a TEFT form or any other form for that matter to take money out of Thailand.

I recently made 3 transactions on the same day using my Siam Commercial Bank savings account on-line international money transfer service.

Each transaction was 30 minutes apart and for 19,999 US. no TEFT no nothing, no hassles.

TEFT is a form to show that funds originated outside Thailand for the purpose of purchasing condo's.

There is no limit to the amount of money you can take out of Thailand!!!!! (other than the amount of money you have)

I think the point being missed here is not the freedom of movement of currency but the possibility that moving large amounts of currency out of the country will attract the attention of the Central Bank. I would not disagree that transferrring amounts less than $20,000 should not be a problem. But if you sell your condo and, as an example, want to transfer $250,000 out of Thailand then the possesssion of a TD3 or FETC will allow you to do so up to the amount brought in without query.

If you try to move larger amounts the Central Bank may want to know the source of funds. If you cannot show the funds were legitimately brought into the country then the assumption is that the funds were earned here and therefore are potentially taxable.

Does anybody know of any real estate agents courses for Thais.

My wife has expressed the desire to look into what is required to become an agent.

I remember seeing an advert in a house magazine some time ago, but have not seen it again since.

Any contact details welcomed thanks.

Try

Real Estate Training Course for Agent

Real Estate Broker Association

Tel. 0 2530 6000

[email protected]

There is currently no requirement for licencing of real estate agents in Thailand although it has been muted. It would in theory be a very good thing - but then we all know how easy it is to get round such obstacles and licencing would only be effective if it were to be properly policed.

A Thai lawyer has just advised one of our clients that he can transfer funds into Thailand in Thai Baht with no adverse consequences.

It has always been our understanding that it was necessary to transfer in foreign currency and convert to Thai Baht here in order to obtain the old TD3 or current Foreign Exchange Transaction Certificate. This was necessary so that at a later date the equivalent funds could be returned without any problems.

Is anyone aware of any changes to the law in this respect?

We have tried talking to our bank, but that was a wasted effort. Nor can I find anything on the Bank of Thailand web site.

And don't even think of complaining to the Thai Law Society. I had a well documented issue with a Thai lawyer who admitted in writing that he owed me money. Never paid. I sent all the documentation to the Thai Law Society with a formal complaint. I know they received it as it went EMS and we checked. Response - zero. Not even an acknowledgement and the said lawyer is still practising with one of the Bangkok Law firms that promote themselves to foreigners.

As they say - it is the 99% that give the rest a bad name.

Hates Cheese and regards Stilton as my revenge for Dead Fish Sauce!

Introduced her to Lamb Chops and now she cannot get enough of them.

Steaks - as often as she can - but have to be very well done - no red at all!

Loves Chinese Food.

Not really a fan of Indian but gradually beginning to consider Mexican.

Prefers Thai food at home although will join me in a Sunday Roast which she cooks well.

Taught her how to do Shepherds Pie which she spiced up and will sometimes have some.

Sunday morning - Bacon & Eggs goes down well.

Not happy if she has not had sticky rice and papaya salad at least once a day though.

When did the original sink?

From the Greenpeace web site http://www.greenpeace.org.au/rainbow_warrior/

QUOTE

On 10 July, 1985, two bombs exploded on the Greenpeace flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, in Auckland harbour. The explosion killed a crew member and rocked the world.

Twenty years on, we commemorate that event and celebrate the resolute spirit that launched the Rainbow Warrior II and has led Greenpeace to many environmental victories since.

On the 20th anniversary of our flagship's sinking, the Rainbow Warrior II visited Australia, promoting clean energy solutions and tackling climate change.

UNQUOTE

If no one can see her now - perhaps we should ask some of the Dive Schools to have a look!

Internal flights we use the name in her ID and use that as identification. I book interntional flights in the name in her Passport so there is no discrepancy. Never had a problem.

My wife just changed her ID Card and left the Passport unchanged. Explained what we had done to the Embassy when we applied for a Visa and it caused no problems.

I have a Starkey which cost Baht 72,000 and apart from some initial teething problems is OK. The problem I found was getting the settings right as it is all done with the suppliers computer and the levels in the studio are not the same as in the outside world. What seemed fine during tuning was either too loud, or too soft or too tinny outside. It took a few weeks to get it right as I was not going back every day to have adjustments made, but would wear it for a few days to see if I adjusted to the new level of hearing. I am pretty comfortable with it now and no one notices I am wearing it - not that I care anyway - being known to be deaf can have its advantages at times!

I would suggest though that you should take into account how long your father is here so that you do have time to go back for adjustments as necessary to get it right.