Carmine6

First of all, let us all agree that stock markets are really a poor economic indicator particularly of future events. Every great crash in every market was proceeded by a run up beyond fundamentals. Right now in the US there is a massive subprime bubble that will need to be swallowed in the near term and yet the stock market continues to climb.

I think GDP is much better indicator and arguing over 4.1 versus 5.2% is somewhat irrelevant in the long term. In a closed society with strong savings, the real estate market is mostly irrelevant as well.

I think the key issues for Thailand remain exports which are consistently reported as somewhere over 60% of GDP. If exports fall off, the impact on Thai society will be dramatic and far reaching. With the baht so strong and the US about to go through a rather painful correction I think there are some people in the know who are seriously worried.

Xbusman, you are the smartest man(?) I've seen on this forum in a long time. Exports from Thailand are in jeopardy with the strong baht, and teetering. IF the US goes through a correction it could have devastating consequences. If not, all should be ok but at a sustained lower GDP growth rate.

Pundit Chinthee

Not saying imports won't fall off, but it's worth looking at some data to put things in perspective. 2 interesting websites:

Export Import Bank of Thailand - International Trade Statistics

Bank of Thailand Economic Statistics

If accurate, in 2006 the US represented only 15% of exports, down from 19.8% of exports in 2002. China bought 9% of 2006 exports, and this had increased in baht terms 21.2% from 2005 to 2006. Australia, though representing just 3.3 % of exports, had increased in baht terms 30.1%. Note that in baht terms, exports to the US increased from 579,072 million baht in 2002 to 740,902 million baht in 2006. Exports to other countries had grown faster which is why the US is now a lower % of the total.

Also interesting is the top 10 categories of exported products. Garments for example were #4 in 2002, but fall out of the top 10 in 2006. Rice was #8 in 2004, but then falls out of the top 10. Iron & Steel don't show in the top 10 until 2004, but are #8 in 2006. "Refine Fuels" aren't on the list until they show up at #7 in 2006. Rice and Garments didn't necessarily decrease a lot, they just didn't increase enough to stay in the top 10.

So, the economy is more dynamic than it seems and has adjusted the export mix in recent years. The US economy is less directly important for exports than is maybe expected.

However, the baht/dollar rate is very important for exports since 81.6% of receipts in 2005 were in dollars. I imagine China in particular is paying mostly with dollars.

Export_Destinations.pdf

Major_Export_Market.pdf

Top_10_Exports.pdf

export_e__history_93_05.xls

ive been to Ko Samui twice before, its nice but i really want to go somewhere different. Im coming to Thailand with two mates at the end of july, one is adament he doesnt want to go to ko samui again, the other thinks its the best option as the weather will be more reliable then. Our holiday itinery will be mostly dictated by drinking and all that goes with it - but also want things to do in the day like snorkling, golf, fishing trip, boat trip, hire bikes jeep etc. We have 7 nights.

What you think for this time of year,... is phuket going to be a mistake?

Definitely worth going since you've already been to Ko Samui. But just note that other than the plane ticket, just about everything seems to cost more in Phuket.

Why do you think there are so many foot massage parlours in Thailand?

Well said Pops. First intelligent answer to my question.

And for info. Fox keeps doing a story about the 'Discovery' of Flip Flops and their new popularity etc

What most folks don't think about is that most (maybe all) of the US national broadcasters are based on the East Coast, and in the north. So lots of the "trends" they report are what they're seeing locally there.

As a native Californian, I can say that I've had flip flops my entire life and that was living far from the beach. Although more on subject, I think they're not good to wear for walking a lot on hard surfaces. Harder on the joints as well as the feet due to the thinner padding and flat tops. But weight has to be a factor as the average Thai weighs a lot less than me.

By sheer coincidence I was going to ship one of the portable ones over there today. The regular units run on 110v so I'm guessing need a voltage converter.

Anyway, if it never makes it to you, the Waterpick website lists 2 distributors for Thailand. One in Singapore, and the other in Bangkok:

Waterpik Distributor Search

At the bottom there's a country search. I emailed yesterday asking about price and availability, but haven't gotten a response yet. I believe this location is near Don Muang.

Conice Electronic Co., Ltd.

118/3 Vibhavadirangsit Road, Soi 2

Din Daeng

Bangkok, Thailand 10400

THAILAND

Phone: +66 02 2779997

Fax: +66 02 2757023

Contact: Mr. Kenith Dvadasin

Email:[email protected]

Another consideration - Lots of hardware drivers are not Vista compatible yet, so that's a consideration if you tend to upgrade or tend to buy brands that don't offer driver updates. Some software also requires upgrading, which may require buying the new version for older software.

I am sure we are all glad to see that he made it, but what he says now (about the help, etc) does not gel with the reports of his interaction with locals when the incident occurred. Funny how things turn around, isn't it?

My first thought was that a PR firm couldn't have written a better quote. No doubt a lot of the people bending his ear (including some folks here) since the grounding had an influence on what he said. Hopefully it's reflective of his attitude and thinking as well.

I have a Compaq laptop that's 3 years old (฿72,000 new). I brought it in to a shop in Fortune Town which specializes in laptop repairs last month to replace the keypad and CD Rom/DVD drive and reinstall the orignal XP Home operating system, all of which had crapped out. While there I bought a high speed USB that plugs into the PCMCIA slot. Everything has been working fine now for over one month.

Not until the other day did I try to use the new high speed USB ports and when I connected my removable hard drive the laptop totally locked up. I had to disconnect the power source to unlock it. I brought the laptop back and I'm being told that the problem is the motherboard, which I would now need to replace. Another USB card was tried out of the box with the same results. Does this sound right? It doesn't to me.

Also, what would a motherboard typically cost?

Doesn't seem like it's necessarily a motherboard problem, although it could be. It could be a Windows problem or a problem with the PCMCIA card as well. By the way, even if you've used the drive with a computer before, if you plug it into a USB port it has never been plugged into, it'll install again.

Not sure if the card tried at the shop was the same brand of card, but the test would be to try another brand of card, and see if that causes problems. Maybe even try some other types of PCMCIA card completely, like a wifi adapter. Also, if you have some other USB device like a mouse or thumb drive, try that in the PCMCIA card to see if it freezes up on that.

If you haven't done all the Windows updates since the re-install, that might fix the problem as well. Last step before I just lived with it, would be to see if you can update the bios, which I think for Compaq's isn't really an option.

I have never been to the floating market, and I have lived here now for 6months and b4 that on and off for the last 5yrs.

is it any good? I've always been told not to waste my time.

I've heard there are actually 2. One is supposedly closer to Bangkok and kinda small and touristy - basically made for tourists. The other is hours away and is the real market, although fairly touristy as well.

Was interesting enough, but the only way I would go see it again is if a female friend wanted to go. Actually went to see it because my ex-gf had never been. If a male friend wanted to go, I'd try to talk him out of it. It's a little too small an experience for the long ride there and back. Basically it's all the goods you see in a food market on long thin boats. Interesting to watch how they manage to cook and sell things while moving along, but there's only so much time you can watch that.

The boat we rented took us through the market, stopping at some souvenir stand. Then it came back through the market and out into the river for a quick run, and up to a different canal that looped back to the start. Even after taking time to have lunch and walk around I think we were done in less than 1 1/2 hours.

Some of my most interesting pictures are from the market because it's pretty unique. But you have to enjoy the company of who your with because at the end of the day, it's a market.

The Dell representative in Thailand is a shame!!!

I have a Dell laptop from Europe (4 years old) and I need a floppy drive.

I contact Dell Bkk and after 2 weeks I had the cotation (holliday, tomorrow,...).

When I received the cotation they asked my to pay with my credit card and they ask me all about it: name, validity, number AND the NIP !!!

I payed by check but and in this moment they advised me that the delivery time will be 10 to 15 working days!

But after 3 weeks I still nothing received and any answer of my emails.

I tried to send an email to the head quarters in USA, no way, they send me back to the Thai representative.

Anyone has an address for the USA?

A little clarification. Has it been 3 weeks since you were to receive it or 3 weeks since you paid? 15 working days is 3 weeks.

Sorry, I am currently on a crapy connection and it seems to be hanging so I press the reply button or refresh button again to get it moving. I never know if my posts/replies are getting through or not.

I don't think it's necessarily your connection as even with my very reliable connection there's sometimes a noticeable lag after I hit Add Reply. I've taken to hitting the "Review the complete topic (launches new window)" link at the bottom of the screen if this happens.

In case there's some commonality, what airlines were these flights on?

oanda.com and xe.com are still showing about 32 baht/dollar.

Air Aisa has a sales counter and check in counters at Suvarnabhumi, so that's likely where they'll fly out of. If not, 7 hours should be enough time to cross town.

agoda.com seems to have the best rates bar none of the sites I've seen so far.

I agree, with the caveat that Asiarooms includes taxes in the rate they show, but Agoda shows it only after you click to book it. But they do seem to still be slightly cheaper where they overlap. Asiarooms does have more hotels to choose among and generally more reviews to read.

I have a three year old Phantom which I have been running on 95 since new.

Now most of the petrol stations on my normal routes are replacing the yellow 95 with the orange 95 gasohol.

Can I safely switch between the two fuels or is there something I should know?

That'd be a Honda Phantom? If it were a US bike you'd be just fine, so I'm guessing you're probably ok. The main problems in the past were that some seals and hoses were made of materials that the alcohol deteriorated. Hasn't been a problem for decades in the US and I doubt they use different materials for non-US fuel lines given that gasohol has been around for a while around the world.

Many people in the US don't realize they've been using 5% gasohol for years. It's just not been advertised as gasohol, but as gasoline. The California blend for example is 5.7% ethanol, and California has lots of older vehicles. I think Gasohol if marketed as such is generally 10% ethanol.

This link below is from a renewable fuels trade group, but I have no reason to doubt the warranty statements are accurate for the US.

US Auto and Motorcycle Warranty Limits

... When I arrived back from Manila yesterday, there were queues for foreigners, but the Thai counters were initially empty. Several Thai counters were swiftly changed to foreign counters and the queues disappeared quickly.

...

Same experience here. 6:10AM arrival, LAX to BKK. Was 3rd in line behind a guy with no exit ticket. While the guy tried to bs his way into the country, and with basically a max of 10 people per line, they opened 2 of the Thai citizen lines to foreign passports. There probably were 6 other lines opened so it went pretty fast other than my line. Someone finally came over and took the guy aside to free up the line.

On my departure I arrived to find lines all of 2 to 3 people deep. Should have been a quick process, but I think the Officer hadn't worked the lines in a while. Must have taken 10 minutes just for me. I think she had more ribbons than I've ever seen and from her facial expressions I think she had made some typing errors or something. She apologized for the delay afterwards.

Have to admit that for a few minutes I was wondering if the ex was pissed at me and had done something crazy.

i have been travelling in and out of Suva at least 1nce a week since it opened and never had this s**t pulled on me until last week when I asked to goto my destination in Ratchada and they told me 400 baht. I laughed at them and told them in thai that 'why you make falang pay more?' and I will prefer to use the meter. they laughed and said they were just kidding and I got my meter ride. but imagine everybody else who didnt question had to pay the fixed rate.

if a few of us complain, i am sure it will just be ignored, but if there is a constant stream of calls and visits to the airport authorities- it may be changed....

Guess I should have been more assertive when I was quoted 400 baht, as I even asked the dispatcher on the other side of the table, and everyone acted like everything's a fixed fee now. I figured it had changed since my last arrival in January and went along.

I don't understand how this all works since on the trip downtown you pass by the off-site transit center with tons of taxis waiting there. I figured you got metered taxis there, but if you wanted the convenience of airport pick up, they charged flat fees. Why even have taxis at the transit center when there were lots of idle taxis at the airport? I did notice that the cabs at the airport are a notch above appearance-wise.

Really, with what it used to cost from Don Mueang, tolls and what I normally tipped it was about the same. So I was annoyed until I worked out what it used to cost. I took the express bus at the airport the next time through for 150 baht. 1/2 block walk on the tail end, but saved 250 baht.

Instead of spending 40 million Baht on advertising,why not reduce the price of Gasahol,even further,then you will see the Thais,'''''''''' converting over''''''''''''.Logic eh??.

Say you want to knock 4 baht off the price. You could discount 10 million liters with 40 million baht. Daily sales are at 4.3 million liters, meaning you could discount for not quite 3 days.

...

The Skipper/wolfmanjack: I like your ideas regarding a trust or USA bank account in her name. The trust could be somewhat complicated! The USA bank account seems to be the easiest which could be used to make a monthly 'wire transfer' from her USA account to her Thailand account. I like this method and will set it up when I get back to the USA. Don't know if anyone has knowledge BUT another question - Can a non-USA citizen open a USA account? Goes without saying that I will confirm this.

...

Short answer is yes, including for example, exchange students. But for being able to open one without her physically being in the US and without a passport, it's probably very difficult. First step probably is to get an ITIN (Individual Tax Id Number), which requires certified copies of government ids.

Assuming you could do that, then you might be able to find a bank that would open it with you physically there and then have her sign and return the signature card later. They normally require a photocopy of id as well.

There was a topic about a year ago with people claiming it could be done completely by mail, but no one would say how they did it or even which bank would do it. I called a couple banks back then and it sounded like they used to do it, but the new regulations after 9/11 made them stop.

This post is directed to some of our more international financially astute members.

In my prepararation to leave the good old USA, I am establishing bank accounts outside of the US. I plan to move some of my liquid assets out of the country. I have read that large money wires can generate a Cash Transaction Report (CTR) that a bank is required to send to the government (unsure of which agency) for wires over a specified amount. Is there any truth to this and if so, what is the largest amount I can wire without generating said report?

Regards, Tagaa

On a more practical note, why does it matter if the government is notified? Odds are you'll be moving enough money that at least some of the transfers will be reported. Unless there's some reason to worry about the government knowing (tax liens, shady associates, etc.), what's the concern?

Make the transfers, let the reports be generated, and live your life.

I discovered this site a bit too late. Just ran across this site a few days ago after living in Thailand for 3 years. Missed out a lot of infos.

I and my wife and our new born daughter 8 months old are leaving Thailand. To go back to Amsterdam for a while then to Tahiti where I grew up and start a new family life there.

I still have 3 million in my Thai bank and my wife has 1.5 million of her own. So we went to change at Super Rich the other day. Very impressive with many auto money counting machines and amazing they have any quantity of banknotes any time. so we got over 1000 banknotes of Euro 100.

And today some friend told me that airport staff here are very corrupted and they will try to give me trobles with this big sum if they see it. My Thai wife told me there is no problem at all. But I am still a bit worried that airport staff may give me some bogus rule that I have to surrender to them my own money. My wife told me I am too neurotic, but maybe a little bit, because this is Thailand after all. Does any one of the old timers here know if we foriegners can take our money home freely or we have to leave it here as donation to the country. Or can Thai themselves take their own money out?

I'd be wary of traveling with that much cash to or from anywhere, but here's a quote from what appears to be the Thai Customs website. Should be something similar in the Thai version that you could print out and carry with you to the airport just in case someone wanted to make up regulations.

"Outbound passengers: Unlimited amount of foreign currencies are permitted to carry out of Thailand. However, the amount of Baht 50,000 or more in Thai currency must be reported on departure, except those traveling to Lao PDR., Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam are allowed to take out Thai currency not exceeding 500,000 Baht."

Customs Website link

What about traveler's cheques or something similar? Some fees involved, but not as likely to go missing.

My read on the intent of the first term is that it is trying to allow a company to assign the contract to a legally separate but related entity. So for example, if the manufacturing operation were a wholly owned operation with the same management, you could assign the contract to that entity. Or perhaps a subcontracted employee.

But it's either been butchered, or perhaps "assignee" and "transferee" were specifically defined in the original document.

I don't think I'd leave that term in as boilerplate even if properly rewritten. If you need it, specify who it can be assigned to without prior approval. Otherwise you could be stuck having to sell to someone you don't want to do business with.

My experience in the states was that anything I deposited in night deposit (for our business, used seldom) or at an ATM, which I RARELY did, was held AT LEAST one day for clearance. Their policy was that the time was necessary to verify the tranaction amount in cash and/or the lockbox processing of checks in the deposit.

I have a business here in CM and wouldn't DREAM of depositing cash in a machine, just too paranoid, the nightmare scenario of a lengthy, futile discussion at the bank seems so vivid, since I've lived a variety of similar scenarios with government and banking paperwork already.

I always thought they would wait to check what you had really deposited?

Exactly my point.

I have to agree with this. A deposit to a low activity zero balance account that's immediately transfered out is very suspicious. There'd be nothing to stop someone from depositing an empty envelope and then transferring the "funds" somewhere else.

My 2 cents. Not knowing what your patent covers, it seems like you're trying to bag a whale. Which is fine, but I don't see why Disney/Pixar would be particularly interested in a new method of learning new languages. Not quite their forte. Possible brand issues when they associate with a product that is results oriented. Their Baby Einstein stuff is fairly low risk since the participants can't say, "hey that really wasn't effective." And if I'm not mistaken, that was an established company that they bought.

They're an entertainment company and not an educational company. The reward has to be worth the risk and from this, I would say not that great reward, but lots of risk.

But assuming you've got something they would want, really I think you have to find a company that can come up with the program and content. Then you approach Disney. Because my guess is, the program would have to be proven effective without the use of Disney characters before they'd consider it.

Why these guys and not some educational company?

For those people praising Citibank, they DO charge a three percent currency conversion fee PLUS you get the offshore rate. I know for a fact because I use Citibank USA. A wire transfer is by far the best option because you wire dollars and get the onshore rate plus the fee is a flat $30 regardless of the amount. I no longer use the ATM card at all.

I have a Citibank account in America, but I hardly ever use my ATM but travelers checks (because of my balance awhile back I was able to get free travelers checks at Citibank). But they are basically running out, and was going to take out money from my Citibank account. I noticed on their website that they have a Branch in Bangkok. So are all these blasts on Citibank's rate using other ATM machines and not the actual Citibank Branch/ATM? I'm just wondering if you actually go to the Branch on Thailand soil if you will get the onshore rate? Knowing banks, probably not, but just checking to see if any of you know. Need to take out a bunch of money and if I get more at the actually BKK branch, it's probably worth the trip from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.

If the trip is worth it, you're probably moving a bit of money. You may want to find out what the rate is on a wire from them. Not sure if you're account is eligible, but my Citibank account allows me to wire funds internationally without having a letter or anything on file. They send a code to my email address on record and then I enter that to do a transfer. It's a cheapy basic account. $30 fee so that's a factor, but what's a ticket or gas from Chiang Mai cost?

It normally goes at 99% of the rate on xe.com since it's a dollar transfer, but not sure if the last transfer was before the rate spread opened up so much.