tangoll

To the question: How soon after wife gives birth can the husband have sex with her? The answer is:...

Depends on whether she is in a common ward or in a private room in the hospital where she give birth....

I'm retired in Hong Kong now, but will move to Bangkok sometime next year and spend most of my time there. Here's something I can add to all the advice you've been given.

1. Bumrungrad Hospital has been a godsend to me. The doctors there were able to cure my coughing/asthma problems when the best doctors in HK/USA were not able to. BH may be the most expensive in Bangkok, certainly all Thailand, but still a third to half price of HK medical care. Medicines are expensive there and in BKK drugstores, so you should know prices of medication you might need, and get them whereever you might get a better deal.

2. I stay away from hot chillie food, and I find the western style restaurants just fine, serving fresh salads, simpler style dishes, etc. Most of the western fast food chains, such as McDonald's, AW Root Beer, Sizzler, Pizza Hut types, Starbucks, Burger King -- I've never had food or stomach problems at any of them. I tend to stay away from the local street food vendors. Supermarkets, like Foodland on Sukhumvit soi 5, Robinson's at Asoke, basement of Silom Complex, all have fresh and excellent produce.

3. I've purchased a condo unit, now under construction, being built by quality publicily listed developer, and I like to DIY. I've visited the various Home Pro shops and the furniture/wood soi in Bangpo. The Home Pro on Prachachuen road has a wood centre with both stained and unstained lumber in various sizes, and though a bit more expensive, will suit the needs of most DIYer's, I think. They will even make furniture to your specs if you wish.

4. I can speak some Thai, which because I speak Chinese and can manage the tones, may be less difficult to master Thai than for a Westerner. But the thing that really puts the Thais at ease with me, is that I can sing a few Thai love songs, and when used at the right occasions, is helpful to me in social situations. Plus I can swear in Thai with the best of them. The swearing I only use in humourous situations.

5. Driving around BKK is not a problem for me because I drive in HK, which is also left side of the road driving and traffic conditions are equally bad. Despite what others might think, HK drivers are less well mannered than BKK drivers, in my opinion. But my condo is near a BTS skytrain station, so I will probably not purchase a car in BKK.

6. I'm divorced, so single now. I expect that I will have a decent social life in BKK with the local ladies.

Post any further questions you might have here.

When ordering DVDs from main Amazon and Amazon.co.uk sites, they block shipments to HK because of DVD region coding problems. So I was advised by Customer Service to try ordering from "zshops" which are independent sellers selling thru Amazon. Click on "zshops" on the menu list on left of the Amazon sites.

Have had no problems when ordering thru zshop sellers -- billing and payment is via Amazon, shipping rates are standard set by Amazon, and customer service will follow up on any problems. You have to be sure that your DVD player will play multi-region coded DVDs, which are usually region 2 for UK, 1 for USA. You'll also get a wide range of prices, new and used, for the more popular DVDs and TV Series. Try it, works good. Plus you get the seller's email address so you can contact directly for info, shipping status, etc.

Those of you Brits on this forum who still have a voice with House of Commons delegates or Gov't ministers should write to them and query them on what conditions attach to Thaksin's stay and property in the UK. In any event, he and his immediate family should be prevented from owning any land in the UK, using nominee companies to own land/assets, and staying more than 90 days in any 180 day period. What's fair is fair, right?

I had a flight out of Suvarnabhumi today the 28th Sept. Took a taxi from Suk Soi 15 at 7 am, was at airport by 7:30 am. Cost baht 400 negotiated price with taxi, plus 65 baht for toll fees.

Thanks for the info.

Man have you ever used a metered taxi, or a taxi meter as it is in Thailand?

It can't be more than 200B man...

I'd still like to know some facts of the metered fares though.

SonnyJ: The taxi driver told me that DM was 25 km and Suvarnabhumi 40 km from mid-Sukhumvit. If this is so, then baht 400 fixed price to Suv is to me reasonable enough, since most taxis would accept baht 250 plus tolls to DM before. Insisting on meter use to the airport and after adding the 50 baht surcharge may save a few baht vs. the 250 to DM in the past, but the savings is not that great and to me not worth the hassle. In near future, probably baht 300 or 350 plus tolls (65 baht) should be sufficient for most taxis to Suv.

Around town, I just pay by the meter, so yes, I've used metered taxis, rarely use tuk tuk, and never motorcycle taxi. I also walk a lot including sometimes from Sukhumvit soi 3/4/5 to Erawan, then via Rajaprarob to Sri Ayuthaya, and onto Phayathai.

I had a flight out of Suvarnabhumi today the 28th Sept. Took a taxi from Suk Soi 15 at 7 am, was at airport by 7:30 am. Cost baht 400 negotiated price with taxi, plus 65 baht for toll fees.

Lots of people in check in area, looked like the place had been running for quite some time. Check for Gulf Air flight took about 45 minutes, due to many passengers with oversized bags, cartons, etc, but computers seemed to be working well, punching out luggage tags, and boarding passes. Signage I thought was quite good, but it's a long long walk from one end to other, Concourse A to Concourse F. Shops and cafes, restaurants, etc were all up and running. I found the Priority Pass Lounge without too much trouble, but it wasn't clear that the airline lounges are one level below the check in level.

Toilets were plentiful and easy to spot. Some of the auto faucets were not working, but the floors beneath them were wet.

The floors and ramps to the departure gates are metal and sloped, so could be slippery.

I didn't check in bags, so don't know about luggage delays.

Otherall, very impressed with terminal building, and that initial day teething problems seemed to be minimal. Of course, AOT was able to learn from openings at KL and HK, plus Thailand is blessed with lots of labour that can be thrown at any problem.

The flight was delayed from Bahrain, but once it arrived, moving gates worked, luggage and pax got offloaded, plane got serviced, and we were out within one hour. So everything worked as well as at Don Muang. What more could one ask or hope for?

And to all the naysayers back several months ago when 28th September was first announced, what say you now? This may be Thailand, but somehow they made it happen and pulled it off quite OK.

Bear Stearns Asia issued this commentary on the coup. Make sense or not?

Quote:

Thailand: A Net Reduction in Uncertainty

>

> While any descent from constitutional democracy (however imperfect) is

> regrettable, we think overnight developments in Thailand probably set up

> a net reduction in political uncertainty and could enable a speedier

> resumption of decisive governance.

> Asia is characterized by a variety of governmental forms already, from

> single-party authoritarianism to fully fleshed-out democracies, and we

> see no automatic correlation between the region's forms of government

> and local stock-market performance – what has mattered more for

> investors have been growth, stability (of a kind), and transparency.

> Moreover, we expect the Thai coup to be an isolated event, given the

> specific factors that fomented it, with little permanent impairment of

> Thailand's economic/commercial continuum beyond that already caused by

> the electoral ructions to-date, and almost zero risk of spillover to

> other regional political economies.

>

> What strike us as most noteworthy from an investment standpoint are: 1)

> King Bhumibol seems to have given his tacit assent to the action ,

> having met overnight with Army Chief Sondhi Boonyarataklin and the

> military leaders, who pledged loyalty to the monarchy -- a fact that

> greatly reduces risks that the new leadership would be publicly resisted

> or viewed as illegitimate; 2) the takeover has occurred without

> significant violence or loss of life; 3) the switch is unlikely to

> entail any confiscation of foreign property or broad confiscation of

> domestic property beyond, presumably, the family interests of (ex-)

> Prime Minister Thaksin; and 4) the temporary military leadership

> (calling itself the Thai Political Reform Council) has indicated they do

> not "want power for themselves," that they took power to address

> "government corruption" and intend to "return power to the people."

>

> In a best-case scenario, we would not rule out the possibility of new

> elections still being held according to the late-November timetable

> recently laid out, which would enable a new government to constitute

> itself and begin administration in early 2007. More likely, though, we

> expect elections some time in the first half of next year (the entire

> month of December is typically reserved for celebrations related to the

> King's birthday). But either way, we expect a competent

> military-appointed technocratic civilian administration to take over in

> the meantime.

>

> The latter, incidentally, was the course taken by General Suchinda

> Kraprayoon after the February 23, 1991 coup, who ten days later

> appointed a civilian prime minister, Anand Panyarachun, former

> ambassador to the U.S ., Germany and Canada. Many observers later rated

> Anand's premiership and cabinet as among Thailand's best ever. And

> although the Stock Exchange of Thailand fell 8% in U.S. dollar terms the

> first market day after the February 1991 takeover, it then gained 19.5%

> in the subsequent three weeks . Thailand's stock exchange reports that

> it plans to hold normal trading hours tomorrow.

>

> Regardless of the precise course of events ahead, markets now have

> effectively been spared the weeks of hand-wringing over the judicial

> fate of Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party , which await Supreme

> Court decisions over charges of election-law violations related to

> April's abortive polls -- and potentially months of uncertainty over

> whether subsequently, Thaksin and the TRT may have performed well enough

> in November's polls to sustain the nation's paralyzing public divisions

> over his fitness to actually exercise any mandate.

>

> Local asset values may well be enhanced by this reduction in

> uncertainty, and we take an increasing interest in Thai stocks in light

> of: 1) relatively low valuations (35% below long-term avg. EV/EBITDA at

> 6.8x, and 10% below long-term avg. P/BV at 2.3x -- both discounts being

> much larger than the regional average) ; 2) high average dividend yield

> (Asia's highest at 4.6%), and recent important improvements in

> fundamentals (stronger current account, recent pickup in capital

> spending, lower inflation) and consensus earnings that lead us to

> believe a near-term re-rating may be in order.

>

>

> Michael Kurtz

> Non-Japan Asian Economics & Strategy

> Bear Stearns Asia Ltd.

End Quote

Shellman: yes, Homepro on Ratchada is nice, but no wood centre there; Pracha Chuen road Homepro has the wood centre, so need to go there. Thanks for website; most sections still under construction.

Qualtrough: thanks for info on used wood shops, but I don't need that big a quantity, so the selection, and especially the finishing/staining service and free delivery for over baht 4000 purchase, available at Homepro Pracha Chuen is plenty good enough for me.

In fact, considering the example on the stained 4 leg table, Homepro's promotion price of baht 2000 is less than cost of lumber if you do it yourself. It's the psychic pleasure of doing the table yourself in exactly the size and shape you want that can't be valued in money.

I've been to the Home Pro shops on Ratchada Road, Ploenchit, and Prachachuen. The Prachachuen road shop has a wood centre on the 2nd floor which has a variety of good quality unfinished wood in different sizes and shapes that would fit the needs of most diy-ers. If your purchase is over baht 3000, they deliver in Bangkok area. There's also a workshop where they will do simple furniture and staining to your specifications. Here are some representative prices:

Unfinished wood sheet: 100*200*2 cm: baht 2140; finished with stain: baht 2889 per piece

Square poles: 7*7*73 cm: baht 163

9*9*73 cm: baht 287

flat length piece: 10*200*2 cm: baht 226

plank: 1*8*99 inches: baht 780 for better quality wood; baht 306 for poorer quality.

Special sale of their stained 4 leg rectangular table: 80*120*75 high cm: baht 2000. (just as an idea of cost of their own made furniture)

I also went to Bang Po area, and on Pracharat Sai 1 and on Soi Pracha Narumit, you will find many wood working shops and saw mills, etc offering for sale all kinds of unfinished wood, and furniture like doors, chairs, benches, cabinets, bed end posts, etc. I didn't check on prices because to sand and stain the lumber is too much of a job for me. I'd rather just buy the better quality wood from that Home Pro shop and have them do the staining.

Gary A: when you went to the Land Office, did you have to supply copies of passport or information about your father and mother, as mentioned by the earlier post by FRM-UK? That's a real mystery to me.

FRM-UK: Thanks for your info. My experience with obtaining the FEFT is similar to yours. I only have two questions:

1. I don't know if there is a validity period for the FEFT. There is no indication on the form itself that it is valid only up to a certain period.

2. I don't understand the need for the information about the father and mother. My mother passed away 25 years ago, and I lost contact with my father 35 years. I can understand the need for parents' info or approval if I'm underaged, but I will be 65 in a few months time. Plus I've never heard or read about this requirement from people in the real estate business in Bangkok or from generally available documents about the process of purchasing and owning condo units in Thailand. This is a first and a real mystery. Is there something unique about your situation that required you to supply such parental information?

Thanks

Sophon: Thanks. That clears it up. What the Bangkok Bank issued to me, stamped, is the "Foreign Exchange Transaction Form". I don't know what the equivalent Thai term is, though the form does have Thai letters next to that title. The form does have purpose stated on it, "For purchase of condominium", but does not specify that an address is needed.

The form issued to me by Bangkok Bank, is called "Foreign Exchange Transaction Form" and I believe the Thai term is Tor Thor 3.

I don't think there's any confusion or mistake about that form.

I have similar questions that still need answers about the Tor Thor 3. This is what I know.

1. You must transfer non-baht foreign funds into your local bank baht account, and the incoming funds document must say something like "remittance of foreign funds for purchase of condominium unit." What is still unclear is whether the Tor Thor 3 must state the address of the condo unit to be purchased. I've heard different answers.

2. Once the funds have been received, converted, and deposited into your local bank account, in my case Bangkok Bank, I go to the head office on Silom Road, go up to first floor on escalator, punch #4 on the queue machine which is for incoming funds, and when your queue number comes up, get the bank incoming funds document. Then I go around the corner to the far end of the first floor where the actual TT3 document is issued to you with your name, account, amount of foreign funds, conversion rate into baht. Bring your passport and bank book with you. Just learn to say "Tor Thor Samm" and you will get the service you need.

A lawyer in Hong Kong with Thai property experience (Phuket) said at a seminar in HK that the TT3 is issued by Bank of Thailand and takes up to a week. By my experience, this is incorrect in Bangkok Bank's case because the bank issued me the TT3 and it took all of 45 minutes.

3. I understand when the time comes for transfer of property into your name at the Lands Department, you go there with the TT3's showing sufficient funds to cover the cost of purchase. It's unclear whether the TT3's must show the actual address of condo unit. Once the TT3's have been used, I'm still not clear whether excess baht funds over the cost of purchase is still available or not for use in another transaction. The used TT3's apparently need to be kept in the event the condo unit is sold and you wish to export funds from the sale. What is unclear is what amount can be exported, whether the amount of the sale, or whether only the amount covered by the original TT3's showing the imported funds.

4. If you are bringing in additional funds for renovation and other purposes not related to the actual purchase price/cost of condo unit, you might consider splitting the transfers into several parts, so that you have one or more TT3's sufficient for just the cost of the condo unit, and other TT3's which you can keep for other use if the need arises. Bangkok Bank will issue a TT3 so long as the incoming funds exceed US$20,000 or equivalent.

I will probably engage some local lawyer to help with my property transactions to make sure everything goes smoothly. But I've yet to find the right one.

Sunbelt Asia: Thanks for reply. I may contact you/firm in near future.

tangoll

I have several questions on how the Tor Thor 3 is used to show that foreign funds had been imported into Thailand for purchase of a condo by a foreigner. Let's say for this example, condo price is baht 2 million, and that baht 3 million was imported and bank has issued the TT3 for baht 3 million.

1. When time comes to go to Land Dept for title transfer, what happens to the TT3 after LD has verified that foreign funds have been used for this purchase? Does the LD keep the TT3, or do they mark the TT3 as having been used, in full or in part? And is the excess of baht 1 million noted on the TT3 that it is still available for use on another purchase? Do I get to keep the TT3 for future use?

2. If after a few years, the condo unit is sold for let's say baht 3.5 million, does that TT3 permit me to repatriate the original baht 3 million out of Thailand? Or is there some other procedure that has to be followed, assuming all fees and taxes have been paid?

3. If after the sale of the first condo unit, a second condo unit is now purchased for let's say baht 4 million, what happens then? Can one apply the proceeds of the first sale, 3.5 million (assuming not repatriated), and have to show a new TT3 of 0.5 million, for the new purchase of 4 mil? Or must a new TT3 of 1 million import funds be used together with the original TT3 of 3 million? Or does a totally new TT3 of 4 million newly imported funds be arranged?

I imagine some of the posters and readers have gone through this process, so I thought I would ask for actual experience before posing similar questions to a lawyer. My condo unit is now still under construction and I expect that completion/transfer will take place at end of this year or early next year.

Thanks in advance.

tangoll

Thanks to all for your advice and information. Very helpful. I will check out this soi furniture or Wat Batcha when next in BKK, as well as what Home Pro has to offer.

tangoll

CAB and chownah: thx for the quick replies. I'll check out the Home Pro at Ploenchit BTS Wave Place when I'm in BKK later this month. Info from Chownah is exactly what I was looking for.

So one sauk = 50 cm = 19.68 inches; therefore 8 ft length = 4.88 sauks or about 5 sauks. And a 120 x 240 cm sheet is almost = to a 4 x 8 ft sheet. I'll check with the people at Home Pro on where to get decent or treated lumber in BKK. So standard US sized lumber is actually used and available.

Since DIY takes work away from the locals, maybe the Thai Govt will issue an edict that a WP is required and is equal in cost to lost wages of locals who would have been hired to do the DIY projects (?). Hope I can get into my apartment later this year and get the work done before the govt latches onto this new source of revenue.

Thanks again all.

As hobby, I like to do woodworking and will make some of my own furniture when I move into a new apartment at end of the year. Where in Bangkok can I find do it yourself centers or where can I find lumberyards or shops selling wood/plywood sheets, studs, etc. And is delivery service available?

What are standard sizes in Thailand comparable to US sizes like 4' x 8' x half or 3/4 inch sheets, 2 in x 4 in x 8 ft studs, 1" x 4" and 2" x 2" studs?

I realize that having a contractor or labourer to do renovations or built-in furniture is the norm in Thailand, but doing work like this is just a hobby for me and I have all the time in the world to build work tables, shelves, bunk beds, etc.

Thanks.

Yoot: thanks for that quick replay and reference to the website. It was exactly what I needed.

Thanks again.

This song is sung by the Thai-filipino singer Maleewan. I don't know what the correct title is, but the word sounds shown below is what I can deduce from the CD recording. Can someone help me by writing a better Thai transliteration and a rough translation of the words/phrases? Thanks.

glai atjah glai sen klai

atjah glai jun soot sai dah

raau han gun atjah glai soot fah

atjah gun teet jit poh gunn

dat quan han glai mee kun han jai

tee yan keet tun soong bai lit tun jai teh

yat ja baud teh keet tun ter leut keh

yah mei leu tee dee teh glai gun

mai leu wun lek kun nung leh

yan mei leu tee raau gun keh

tee raau booh paan gonn jai gun jun gai sen glai

Sorry to read about this. Does this kind of thing happen a lot at this Omni Tower? I was thinking of renting one of the service flats there for a month or so. Has anyone here stayed there before, or have any comment about this building? Would it be better to stay at a regular hotel?