mstevens

5 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Wise to wait for the official announcement.  Both Barrow and Khaosod are more interested in clicks than facts!

What nonsense. Barrow could have made a mint from his online activities but he has chosen not to accept advertising income. He is quite simply a genuinely helpful fellow who enjoys what he does. Why are so many people so cruel towards him. Seems like a whole lot of jealousy on thaivisa when it comes to Barrow. 

On 1/16/2021 at 8:38 PM, Pilotman said:

As I have written previously, you need to forget about any deposit that you pay.  Divide that deposit amount by the number of months that you are in the rented property and look upon that as the actual realistic rent. If you get some thing back then good, but often you will not. From what I can tell, anecdotally,  farang owners will normally be quite straight with you,  but far too many Thai owners are no more than thieves, as they know that you have no real recourse in law. Forget it and move on. 

I stayed in 6 different places in Bangkok, ranging from 10,000 - 25,000 baht per month - all good, solid, mid-range places. Three were apartment buildings i.e. the one building was owned and administered by the same people, and three condos which were each individually owned - two by Thais, one by an American. In every case I got my deposit back in full when I left. In the case of one of the condos I had to wait a few days for the last power bill but they refunded all but 5,000 baht and then gave me the balance (about 3,000 baht from memory) when the final power bill arrived and the final tally was done.

One anecdote. The worst landlord I had in Bangkok was the one foreigner - an American. He wasn't "bad" per se, but he was nosy and wanted to come and inspect the condo every few months. I kept the place very clean and he should have seen that after the first visit or two but no, he insisted on stopping by every few months. No problem with any of the Thai landlords - all were great. They ranged from an old lady to a young guy who I think managed his family's numerous property holdings.

Some Thai landlords are rotten as you read on here.....but my experience was that all of those I dealt with were actually pretty good!

Chicken and cashew is not strictly a Thai dish and every place does it a bit different. Some fry the chicken with the vegetables, some deep fry it before hand. Some have lots of vegetables, some have few. One thing I never saw in it is tomato or tomato sauce, not sure where you get that from. Go to McDonald’s if you want to onto sauce!

3 hours ago, advancebooking said:

I told him he should have budget of 100k a month minimum. If he is aged around 50 and lives to 80 then he might need 36 million

I think this is a pretty decent guideline for a middle of the road lifestyle in Bangkok. I always thought if I had a million baht for each year that I expect to live, that would be enough to provide a nice lifestyle, neither low-end nor living high on the hog.

Of course it's a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string question and there is no right answer. But given the possibility of inflation, medical issues and the unexpected, I would beware of any suggestions that you can live fine on 40,000 baht / month or other low numbers, as some people suggest. They're right - you CAN - but it's when the unexpected comes along that you really want to be prepared and have something of a buffer....that's why I think your 100K / month figure is sound.

4 hours ago, SaamBaht said:

Silly lockdowns do not work. Open everything up! 

Lockdown worked here in New Zealand. We went from widespread community outbreak across the country to being Covid-free and, with the exception of international travel, life largely back to normal. Once Covid is out of control in the community, lockdown is probably the only way to regain control given that the vaccine rollout is many months away. That's not to say that lockdown is fun and there aren't many downsides, but it does seem to be the one way to regain control again and get things back to a semblance of normal.

Does more for foreigners in Thailand than anyone else....absolutely deserved and something to be very, very proud of!

I think in a lot of cases where they are intriducing a divorced Thai woman with children (especially if she is from a poor background) they know she has few options with local men and a farang will be not just a better choice, he might be her only chance. They might pitch it as a great opportunity for the farang guy but really they are helping out their Thai friend who has few options.

A lot of gogo bars in Nana Plaza offering 2 drinks for the price of 1 early in the week including that bar featured in the photo. I don't know the current prices but it's under 200 baht so 2 beers in a bar with sexy ladies like that sounds like a good deal to me.

15 hours ago, ripstanley said:

No one will come after the debacle this week which shows Thailand cannot control their borders.

I don't see why anyone who was vaccinated would have any concerns (and probably inly those who are vaccinated will be allowed in to Thailand so it all becomes moot).

12 hours ago, Leaver said:

You can see why many have walked away.  You would be effectively working for nothing, and losing more money by keeping the doors open.  Some may be propping up their business with their own savings or income from abroad, in the hope they can have something to sell at the end of covid, but the buyers will not be back for years.   

Most of my friends are dying to get back to Pattaya. As soon as we get the green light we will be online buying our tickets and booking our hotels. It might be several months before we can get back but mark my words, when we are told the border will reopen and flights become available, we'll be making up for lost time. It's not just me and my friends, I bet there are guys all over the world dying to get back to Pattaya!