lannarebirth

Some tought talking, they better be sure Singapore behaves.

If it does - no one else would dare to host Thaksin.

IMO,Singapore 'face' is as big and as hard as you will get in Asia.I would be surprised as hel_l if Singapore gives an inch.

In my experience, for Asians, "face" takes second place to losing money. In fact I've never seen it "deployed" except when it was (apparently) advantageous to do so.

Why don't you just buy a new base charging unit @ 220 volts? I assume the toothbrush voltage is the same for 110 and 220 ?

It's not often I get such an easy question. Here's what you do: Have our girlfriend wear her helmet while riding her motorbike.

Given the circumstances as you have clarified them, the strength of your feelings on the subject is certainly understandable!

Man! I have got to start proofreading my posts.

What can i do about this in particular? Thanks.

It's not often I get such an easy question. Here's what you do: Have our girlfriend wear her helmet while riding her motorbike. No more problems.

Have we heard any views from the ladies? I'd be interested to hear what they think!

I just asked my girlfriend, and she said Songkran used to be a really special time before the farang joined in. Now she just wants to leave town.

If I were you, I'd avoid a partnership at all costs. Especially with a farang. Start slow, be well capitalized, keep expectations within an achievable range and build your business yourself. You'll be much happier in the end I think.

I really like this website, but I don't share your feelings of paranoia when it's offline. Nor do I think anything particularly bad is going to happen with respect tp our "situations" in Thailand. When it's offline, I usually am annoyed, as I often am, when I forget to not take for granted all the great things in life I enjoy.

I would say that you won't have any problems getting approval or materials here. In fact, I think it would be more difficult in the US, where energy regs. require windows only be a certain percentage of wall area. You may encounter problems on finding competent finish craftsmen. Maybe you'll have to use chang more experienced in commercial , rather than residential installations.

I've often thought about using commercial finishers rather than residential - countless times I've seen some high quality finishes in shops than in homes! I guess this will come at a higher price though

lannarebirth, do you have any experience of this type of home? Have you ever lived in one or had friends who have?

Nikkijah

No, I never have, nor do I recall friends that have. I DO see similar looking homes/restaurants around from time to time. It's a not unpopular style here. I always assumed they were architect's homes. Here's a possible contact for you:

http://www.fourelephants.com/lifestyle.php?sid=49

I would say that you won't have any problems getting approval or materials here. In fact, I think it would be more difficult in the US, where energy regs. require windows only be a certain percentage of wall area. You may encounter problems on finding competent finish craftsmen. Maybe you'll have to use chang more experienced in commercial , rather than residential installations.

I love it, this will be year #3 for me. It is my favorite holiday.

but I will be 25 at the time of songkran. I also have a bit more knowledge about how things work than the average tourist.

Ie I play 10am-5pm

Never hit someone who looks dressed up for work (or dinner depending the time)

Don't hit bikes with little kids on them

and if you see breasts under a white shirt don't go to investigate cause they ain't real.

so if you go out you might see me. I wear a devils mask with "in thai" White Devil written on it. It;s a lot of fun for the Thai people to get me while I dress up like that.

Last year I saw some stupid Songkran revellers throwing water at motorbikes. The motorbikes usually slow down because water is really heavy and destabilizes the motorbike. Anyway. this particular motorbike had a 18 wheel dumptruck behind it. AThe dumptruck jacknives and loses control, with half of it turned 90 degress to the road and stupid people running everywhere. No one died that time, but about 30 people almost died. You say you're 25? Well, grow up.

It seems obvious that a farang should never attempt to buy land, not for any Thai restriction on ownership or company formation, but for the fact that the sniff of a farang buyer will increase local land prices across the board.

Might even a Thai person, from a family that has a farang in the household, risk increasing the land price by simply asking?

I'm guessing (as I have yet to try this approach myself) getting a fair price would need local secrecy, so show no interest in land in the area. The approach could made from a trustworthy lawyer instructed to conceal where the request is really coming from, but solely refer to the Thai company name.

With this in mind I am inclined to use a company name that is purely Thai thus not giving the game away. I have not considered this approach in depth yet but I'm thinking about 'Something Rice Cooperative Ltd' (in Thai of course).

Also the first approach could be made toward land that you are not really interested in. Thus establish the sellers focus on Land X, when that price is revealed say that is too expensive and move on to Land Y.

Yes, it requires a good lawyer and that cost may outweigh the saving on the land?

Any thoughts?

Yes, I think you think too much. Have your wife talk to the puyai baan of whatever area you're interested in and he will likely tell you straight up, what's available and for how much.

no, no, thats is not the case. She knows very well that I am just a poor teacher and I have no money.Just something that her friend told her, and we are not sure if it is true or not.

To answer you question, it is not true.

God only knows what TA22 is on....but I want some...then I can spout completely irrelevant bullsh@t on Thai Visa

IMHO TA22 said some very wise words!

I agree. He could polish his presentation a bit, but he's got it about right. Most people are more interested in style versus substance however.

MR NEIL YOUNG, latest DVD, heart of gold . brilliant

Hey Terry, me too.

Neil Young-- The Restless Consumer from After The Garden

Over half of the Thai women I've known well enough to have a personal conversation with, have told me they've had girlfriends at some time in their lives. You may have noticed, Thais are a pretty androgenous lot. I wouldn't attach much meaning to it.

I could not find it on the site mentioned but what I wanted to see was the performance of the SET across a certain period, like 3 months or 1 month or so. I can do this with google and yahoo finance for indices and stocks but I cant seem to do it for a foreign market like the SET. Is there an easy way to do that?

Try this:

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$SET...&a=63054048

And watch for gap fills:

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$SET...&a=94264086

lannarebirth, do you have more specific directions to 'Miss Paulines...' by any chance?

Yes, it's about 200-300 meters south of the Night Safari entrance intersection on the klong road (west side of road), adjacent to afternoon market.

We have a place here in Chiang Rai called Three Houses. They make the best pizza in Chiang Rai and so far in Thailand in my opinion.

The girl that owns this place has a brother in Chiang Mai that has been 10-12 years in Sweden and had a restaurant there.

So he started a restaurant in Chiang Mai when he came back and now his sisters started this one in CR.

The pizza's are Swedish style and that means a lot of toppings and then lots of cheese.

If you had a something like "Josephines" and "Mr Chan's" then you probably been to this place.

If you know the name of the restaurant in CM, plese tell me so I can go there and have a good pizza and a chat with the guy next time I visit CM.

Cheeese!

:D

The search continues. I've tried "Miss Paulines and Mr. Chan's" pizza a couple of times, as it's only a few hundred meters from my house. Not too good. The calzones at Babylon aren't too bad, but not a decent pizza to be found anywhere.

My girlfriend was born in Vietnam to a Chinese father living in Thailand and his Chinese mia noi living in Vietnam. Both parents were subsequently killed in the war and as a toddler, she was brought by boat to live in Thailand by her grandmother. She was raised by her Thai/Chinese relatives, who treated her as family and gave her a good rearing and excellent education.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Specious argument IMO. I wonder what the agenda of the authors institute is.

I know of a farang developer who this week sold a half finished house to another farang as he was in a cash flow bind to finish some other homes. He sold at a profit he said. I'm also aware that despite the fear, and in some cases panic, many farangs are experiencing, Thais are actively in the property market right now and seem very enthusiastic about the future. Much better doing business with Thais, as they see something they want, and if they have the means, they buy it. I think farangs tend to give too much importance to farangs in the property market. Except in some very specific locales, they're really a very small minority of land/home buyers.

Interesting. Any more details. I guess this was in Chiang Mai as thats where you are located.

What method will (when finished) the farang buyer use to 'own' the land (company/lease with wife/lease with developer).

Are the Thais that you know who are buying property from farang paying a reasonable price or expecting a massively knockdowned price?

oh ... and Merry Xmas

I think he sold to another developer. At least another companys sign has appeaed in front of the house. I can't say with certainty the method of aqcuisition, but if I was to guess, I'd say company.

The Thais I know want "prestige" land. waterfalls, riverfront, mountain, forest (though with top title). They pay top dollar. More than farangs in my experience. You usually end up paying higher commissions to intermediaries for introductions to these people though.

Just a hunch, but I would guess some large players with significant exposure to the baht are hedging their currency risk in the futures market. It's a much more illiquid market than Forex and sometimes the tail wags the dog for a short period of time.

There is a wonderful woman with a pharmacy just inside the gate who provides much better service and at lower prices than Boots ever will and a bunch of other decent pharmacies as well.

She's a darling, and I fully support your crusade (of course this is purely my personal opinion and not the official stance of Thaivisa).

You have my support too, and you can throw in Siam Drug to the list. Waaaay overpriced and seem to stock mostly cosmetics.

Good reponse. The farangs who are in a somewhat panic mode will never get back even a fraction of their investment, might as well just give it away. I read in one comment where the poster had a friend, who because of future concerns, was trying to sell a 6 million baht house for 5 million. Now if the market was that bad, what farang would pay 5 million? Or 4? Or even 3 million? Makes no sense. If you want to panic and sell, you can sell to the Thais at 30 percent of market value, because that is what you will get.

Agreed.

Something I do know for sure though. The moment there is even 1 square metre of land repossessed in some muddy backwater swamp - there will be the 'I told you so' brigade out in force.

So the fact you have not (yet) received any comments on this thread suggesting there have been any land repossessions is a good thing in my opinion.

No news is good news.

Slightly off topic maybe - do you know of anyone who has actually sold a house at a massive loss? I dont even know of a case like that - let alone land confiscation.

I know of a farang developer who this week sold a half finished house to another farang as he was in a cash flow bind to finish some other homes. He sold at a profit he said. I'm also aware that despite the fear, and in some cases panic, many farangs are experiencing, Thais are actively in the property market right now and seem very enthusiastic about the future. Much better doing business with Thais, as they see something they want, and if they have the means, they buy it. I think farangs tend to give too much importance to farangs in the property market. Except in some very specific locales, they're really a very small minority of land/home buyers.