koolbreez

I use the Manhattan hotel on Sukhumvit soi 15 for all my clients in that price range. It has now been completely remodeled, and at bt1500 a night for a double, with buffet breakfast is good. It is set back off the main road 1/2 a block, and is directly between the NANA, and ASOKE BTSs. Lots of family tour groups stay there. All the construction around the hotel is now completed so noise is no longer a problem.

If money is not a concern then the 4 Seasons hotel, or the Sheritan. If money is a concern then the Bayoke Sky Tower is again good, and the view is real good.

The Thai neighborhood I live in is very safe, even walking late at night, and it is at the end of the soi, but not really. The morning market is two blocks away, right past the local temple. Once the neighborhood knows you live here, and are not one of the few tourists, they watch out for you, just like everyone else in the area.

I'm 15 minutes away from the BTS, have an excellent pool area, washers, 2 laundry services, 2 restaurants on property, salon on property, mini mart on property, gated with 3 guards, there are 9 7-11s in the area, motortaxi right out the front gate, a small park out the back gate 1/2 block away, lots of food choices. Rent is fairly cheap for what I get, and very few tourists to deal with.

It is a very lively safe surroundings, yet close to everything I need. Massive shopping a short walk away.

Go on the train to Ayuthaya. For bt50 each (her ticket is free if she is Thai) you get a 1 1/2 hour train ride, then right across from the station rent a motorbike for bt100 for the day, and head for the old historic temples (the rental shop has a free map), and you can ride an elephant there.

Another option, and combine a nice beach trip in with it is to take the bus to Koh Chang island 5 hours away from Bangkok. There are nice West facing beaches for great sunsets, and a few elephant riding places through the jungle.

No, it means nothing.

The real purpose of this scheme has never been to benefit farmers, it has been to destroy the economy. Thaksin sees this as the quickest way to devalue the baht down to what he considers the right level to regain labor intensive manufactoring, and increase exports. While he was PM none of his programs were designed to increase the baht's value. In all his time in office the baht stayed right around 40 to the dollar. Not until the Democrats came to power has the baht increased in value. After Thaksin, and before the Dems the baht was even artificially controlled to keep it's value low, even to the point that off-shore trading was established to reflect the true market value, with Thailand not having enough financial clout to prevent it, as China can with the Yuan.

Thaksin operates under the principle that cheap labor keeps the most people working, and to maintain cheap labor the people have to remain poor. Everything he does is designed to maintain this labor advantage on the world market. Thaksin does not care about the people, only with making money, as he has shown many times.

Don't overlook the very important upcoming Bangkok governors election to make the Thaksin takeover complete. That is what all party positioning is for at this time, and the thorn still sticking in Thaksin's side. Keep that thorn in place, and for those that can vote, or have influence over a Bangkok voter, twist that thorn with a vote to retain those in power in the Bangkok governor's position.

The rules changed on ED visas 3 years ago, after a man in Pattaya went in for his 10th visa, 10 years on an Ed visa studying Thai, and he could not understand the simple hello, how are you questions the official asked him in Thai.

Now it is required that you take a simple verbal test at the ministry each year in order to renew, and can only get an ED visa for 3 years total to study Thai.

A birth certificate is only valid for determining the country of birth, not who the parents are. This is the case in any country, not just Thailand.

You are gambling trying Singapore. They are not nice like Vientaine was, also you could have gotten 2 tourist visas at Vientaine, you can't in Singapore. If you are over 40, dress in a clean nice suit & tie, shoes polished, clean shaven, hair freshly cut, and not carrying a backpack, they might issue you one, but at that it is still a gamble.

Given that a 90 day validity is stamped on the visa it is most likely a single entry tourist visa that has to be used within 90 days of issue. It also only gives you a 60 day stay in Thailand, and as mentioned above, can be extended it for 30 more days at immigration for bt1900 before it expires.

When it all expires, or before, you can do a "visa run" into another country, and visit a Thai embassy, or consulate to apply for another 1, or 2 tourist visas, dependent on which country you go to. Not all Thai embassies, or consulates outside of Thailand operate under the same rules in the number of tourist visas they issue. The Thai embassy in Vientaine, Laos will issue 2 at once, where as the consulate in Singapore, or in Phnom Phen, Cambodia will only issue one, and in Phnom Phen they will restrict you from returning there to get another one.

You can also simply cross a border, and return to Thailand, and get a free visa exempt stamp, valid for 30 days if you fly back into Thailand, or valid for 15 days if you enter Thailand overland. So, yes, you can do "visas runs".

As soon as you leave Thailand without a reentry permit your ED visa extension of stay is voided no matter how much time was left on it, and no longer a concern. At that point it has expired, and you can no longer enter Thailand on that visa extension no matter what. You would have to start over getting a completely new ED visa, and extension if you were continuing your studies, even under the same program that is still valid at your school. As such it has no influence at all on future entries into Thailand, except in the case of getting more ED visas. It would still count on the 3 year ED visa restriction.

Being educated in business, and economics it hurts me see a country intentionally create a dictatorship. The element of free enterprise is one of the first things destroyed, and the economic growth of the country is no longer a priority. That is where the dilema arises, on the one hand I want the best for Thailand economically on the world markets, but as a foreigner dependant on the dollar to baht exchange rate, I would like to financially see the economy tank, as this government is attempting to do to it. The social influence of the "me" attitude of Thailand is rubbing off on me.

I can't stand blatantly corrupt officials, but for myself to benefit the most in Thailand Thaksin needs to be brought back so he can directly tank the economy, not continuing to operate through proxies to do it, bringing the dollar to baht exchange rate back to the 40+ to the dollar level as he proposes for renewed manufactoring growth the cheap labor would provide, and better export growth the cheap baht would promote is the best for "me", and not Thailand as a whole.

His personal interests he constantly places above the needs of the country also benefit me, so I am caught in the moral dilema. Do I support bringing him back exhonorated for my own benefit, or do I concern myself for what is best for Thailand as a whole, and support jailing, prosecuting, and executing him for the corrupt executive decisions he has made, and continues to make?

The South end of Koh Chang island is the closest (5 hours) from Bangkok with somewhat clear water, and priced reasonably to live on long term. From Koh Chang there are other more remote islands from there if you prefer. The diving, and snorkling is good from the South end of the island, with lots of rock out croppings. Visibility is about 30m depending on the time of year.

The different bank branches, even though under the same bank name, are essentially different banks. You can open an account with your local Kasikorn bank and have free local ATM usage yet get charged ATM fees from the same bank name outside your local area.

Kasikorn banks are the easiest to open an account with. Most of their branches do not require that you have a work permit, as most other banks do.

American Express does not have banks, or issue ATM cards so I assume you are refering to getting cash with your Amex credit card. That is a very expensive thing to do. In fact it is one of the most expensive ways to get cash, with a minimum charge, and a percentage charge of I believe 5%, and no fee waiver for early payoff on top of the standard bt150 ATM fee in Thailand, except from Aeon ATM machines.

There are now 354 Aeon ATM machines throughout Thailand. Not all of them are listed here, but it is pretty up to date. Look for MaxValue mini marts. They all have an Aeon ATM machine inside. http://www.aeon.co.th/en/customerservices_servicelocation_atm_depositor.php

The limit on how many blocks of bandwidth one company could own was reduced down from 20 to 15 a few weeks ago, so their was collusion to eliminate competition, and from the agency selling the service to the private firms. The government eliminated any reason for real competitive bidding before the auction took place, and even before the actual number of qualified bidders was announced last week, as if they knew beforehand who would actually qualify.

Getting a visa before getting to the border will save over one hour crossing. Take overnight VIP bus to NK from MoChit station, getting there at around 7:00am. Take songtauw from there to the Thai immigration at the friendship bridge, and check out of Thailand (make sure you have a reentry permit beforehand if you need one so you don't loose your visa). After checking out at Thai immigration at the end of the building on the left is a little booth to buy a shuttle ticket to Lao immigration across the bridge (it was bt40 last time I was there), get on the next shuttle(it runs every 10 minutes with multiple busses) and cross. At Lao immigration go directly to the window, and get your customs declaration forms, there are 2, fill them out, and go to the immigration/customs line to get stamped into the country. Avoid the visa on arrival line completely. After completing and exiting customs get a songtauw, or taxi (songtauw prices are posted) directly to the Thai embassy, everyone knows where it is. You should be there by 9:00am when they open, although far back in the line that has already formed.

Forget the direct bus into Vientiane. It is a waste of precious time, and will just slow you down getting to the Thai embassy.

You are planning on developing raw land that you have no idea how it is zoned. Getting the right zoning to even break ground will be expensive as most raw land will be zones agricultural, and not commercial (this, and licensing will be the biggest cost). Then you will have resistance from the golf establishments already in business, this will raise the cost of getting zoned correctly, and your attorney fees (you can't do it yourself). Then you have licenses to get sorted out, and your long term lease.

The rental amount you are figuring is real low for that much land in that area zoned for commercial use. You are developing a long term investment, not some 3 month deposit rental agreement, and pay by the month. The lease will most likely be paid as a lump sum yearly on a 3+3 contract if you get lucky to start (ideally you want a 10+10 year lease), then a monthly rate on top of it is usual based off revenue (the local police/mafia get this money). The restaurant rent alone can run 40k+ a month if you plan on serving alcohol.

The land owner will not pay any of the zoning change cost, it is all on you. Out of pocket to get all this zoning, licensing, and lease terms done should be no more than $150,000US, depending how many other golf course driving ranges are in the area, and fight the zoning change(calibre of their range/course has no consideration in this, only your business threat to them, and their connections).

The equipment costs you figure are quite low. The netting alone will run about bt2.5millon with yearly maintaince of about bt40k+. Wind, and salt air does damage to netting real fast, and has to be fixed immediately (ladders don't work for this). Low cost netting is a waste of money as you'll find out. With the length of poling, and support needed, more in the range of $100,000US is more reasonable to get this set up. The machine to pick up the golf balls should be no more than $15,000 new, and I doubt you'll find one used in-country.

If you plan on building your buildings with all bamboo, single story, and thatched roofs then you might get buy that cheap, but to have any form of inventory/furnishings security you'll need a study metal, concrete, or wooden structure multi story high (you will get robbed), then open air won't cut it for the calibre you seem to be aiming for. Air conditioning costs can get expensive to keep a building cool, even a small building. At least triple the cost you have figured for just the buildings. In the range of another $110,000 for the furnished buildings, and security system is more realistic.

If you plan on watering your commercial grass you'll have to get water contracts at the very least, and maybe even have to build a water tower, not just depending on city residential water pressure availibility for the grass maintainance (kind of makes you wonder why everyone else has fake astroturf grass). You will be classed as being a commercial business with high water needs. Depending on how rural the land is there might not even be fresh water availibility unless you build it, or the connection to the city system, and this is highly likely even close in. More thousands of dollars in setup costs. A sewer system will not exist, and will have to be built to be legal.

As a new commercial business you will need insurance of all kinds, more expenses as most policies are paid on a yearly basis.

Being how highly visible your commercial business will be, it all has to be completely legal, and it is not going to be cheap getting it all set up. I've touched on just some of the more blatant costs associated in getting set up so you can drive your first ball, and maybe have a place to eat, and poop. There will be more as you go through the paperwork trail. Nothing will be grandfathered in under old laws. After you're all set up it can be cheaper to maintain yearly, but your initial setup costs are way off, and lots of things haven't even been considered by you.

American Express TCs in $500 size checks (you can still get them. and most banks give out TCs for free to their customers), a few ATM debit cards, a few low amount credit cards, and some $100 bills. The best rate for exchange right now is with the $500 TCs, lower than $100 bills by bt20 (bt60 total charge for each TC cashed), unless you can find the few Aeon ATM machines around, and that your bank does not charge a foreign transaction fee, and gives current international exchange rates. Most banks charge at least 1% foreign transaction fee for overseas ATM withdrawals, then all other ATM machine (except the very few Aeon ones) withdrawals charge bt150.

The worst way to get cash is with a credit card as the rate is real high for cash withdrawals (usually 5%, and a minimum charge). For credit card purchases not many businesses accept American Express cards, just Visa, and Mastercard. Then if you pay for transactions with cash you can usually get a discount of 5% off the price at any major store even after price negotiations, except most hotels.

Another reason to have a credit card with you is in case of medical emergencies. Most all insurance companies require you to pay out of your pocket for overseas medical services, then they reemburse you, with most requiring the bill to be written in dollars, and not baht. A credit card gives you the cost in dollars on the statement, and gets you out of the hospital after treatment. Medical is cheap in Thailand, but can still run into thousands of dollars in an emergency accident situation.

Because of unforseen circumstance that can pop up anywhere out of the country, you want to have multiple ways you can get cash, and ways to get cash if everything gets lost, or stolen, another reason for the large denomination American Express TCs. Most people use ATMs, and large denomination TCs though, with a CC for hotel security bookings, or flight changes.

Spend the money for a real tourist visa before you leave, and there won't be any problem at all, even if there are unforeseen problems closing the airport for a few weeks.

The hash charge isn't of too much concern because of the weight, but as a second repeat charge after a conviction for a sizable (over 100g) pot charge, and importing on both charges you won't be accepted by this current government, and their heavy anti-drug stance. The criminal charges are based off Thai law as to how serious they are, not under UK law for permanent residency.

If the convictions are old enough that some judge in the UK will seal the records then you might have a chance, and don't for a minute think your Thai MP buddy will stick up for you if it will cause him to loose face here defending a known convicted drug person. Does he even know about these convictions? I doubt it, and you should keep it that way until you can get a judge in the UK to seal the records. A good lawyer can do this for you if lots of years have passed, you can afford his fee, and you've been a good boy since then. Contact a good UK lawyer versed in criminal law.

" and other populist policies" amounts to trillions of baht raising debt ratio above 70% from the 40% it's at now, and is not temporary going down with rice sales. It is funny how she sluffs off the other huge debt not accociated with the rice scheme that is what was being talked about, but turned into the current topic of the rice scheme. This government has hidden non-preforming loans to give them more borrowing to fund populist infrastructure projects that make the rice scheme look like pocket change, and putting the debt on course for bankruptcy.

Getting all the required tests done, including the blood test, and chest x-ray, in Bangkok at the Tropical Disease clinic down from Victory Monument cost bt300 total (much cheaper than most other clinics in Bangkok catering to foreigners), and the certificate is accepted for a WP as the tests are done, and not just written off as having been done. The one the local clinic I live by did for bt50 was rejected outright as no blood test, or chest x-ray was listed on the form as having been done.

It sounds like you have a saleable animation project, and can't afford to take the time off to produce it living in your home country, that is why you want to live here. If this is the case then nothing you will be doing here has to be visible as far as the fact you are working to the Thai government.

There is another option, and the cheapest, to consider if the above is the case. All of you go to school here, and study Thai 2 days a week for 2 hours each day at an established language school. This will give you the one year visa (for under $1000) you will need to stay here, at an additional cost of bt1900 every 3 months, without having to leave the country, but you do have to go to school 4 hours a week.

It is technically not legal to work on this visa, but the work you will be doing is not visible so no real worry of some official finding out, and your finished work won't be sold in Thailand so no need to pay taxes. This is not technically legal, but the risk of getting caught is extremely low, and will better fit into your budget, and objective.

If you need to hire a few local animators the colleges are full of qualified people that will work for cash under the table, and very easy to recruit online. As long as they are not given credit in the finished product you shouldn't get in trouble hiring them. No paper trail will exist as long as you do not credit anything about the animation to being done in Thailand in anyway, shape, or form, in the finished product.

Trying to work with the BOI, and being classed as a film producer opens up a real big can of worms you might not wish to do. Any film produced in Thailand, even an animation, is open to censorship by the film board, and that could put a stop to your project before you even get started here. Not a risk I'd take given there are ways around it.

If you have a college degree, and hopefully have completed your masters level, then it can be easier getting a teaching job here. Without extensive experience in another field, and hopefully able to speak Thai fluently, you won't be considered for other jobs here, like restaurant/nightclub management, or a cook.

You can not get a work visa, and work permit before you come here unless you already have a job. You can get a tourist visa, and look for a job here, but remember there are roughly 20,000 other kids your age from all over the world wanting to do the same thing every month, very very very few of them succeed, without being rich.

If by some pure luck you do get a legal job here remember there are no real labor laws so you work long hours, no overtime pay, with limited days off during the month. Very very few jobs are 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Thailand is not really a nice place to work, except for the top level, and mid-management jobs with major international corporations, and that takes getting those jobs before you get here.

The other option, and what lots of people do, other than teach English, is open their own business, but that takes lots of desposable cash, and an expertise in something that can make money, then all your waking hours spent at it, employees will rob you blind.

Get as many tourist visas as you can before you leave your home country (3 is the max), then get ALL your cash together, buy a plane ticket (most airlines allow changing the return date up to one year out for a small fee), and try to last one year living here. If you can stay here one year without ending up in jail, getting deported, or being destitute on the streets, then you have a small chance of making it here at your age. It is a small chance, but at least it is a chance.

Good luck, and remember your health insurance usually requires you paying cash here, then they reemburse you if you get hurt, and have to go to a hospital, or clinic. If you try to skip on the bill you'll be arrested when you try to leave the country, if not sooner. Initially, being a foreigner, everything is your fault if accidents happen.