NorthernRyland

indeed. Air was good there in March so there's that.

on second thought I should say that road is actually really dangerous also because it's a major shipping artery for all the hill tribes that live back there and need to get produce into Chiang Mai. I've seen multiple accidents and commonly people are driving on the wrong side of the road around corners because they're going so fast. Massive transport trucks are common during harvest also which are a nightmare to get stuck behind. I've seen multiple wrecks and in fact the first time I took it we almost got pushed off the side of the mountain by some truck. yeah so no place is safe sadly.

I saw a story a couple weeks ago of an Italian man in Chiang Mai which freaked out after there neighbor wouldn't stop burning and ended up attacking and breaking the sons nose. Specially the Thai people cited how he was not friendly and integrated into the moo ban. I agree this goes a long way to resolving problems. If OP doesn't know the people and the neighbors he should get mediation otherwise they may take it as some pesky Farang not fitting in a behaving badly.

for what it's worth I used to watch a Thai construction channel on YouTube and I remember him stating very clearly you can not encroach on the neighbors land in Thailand. In fact my wife's parents house had some neighbors which built right up to the wall and built a roof extending over their outdoor kitchen which attached to the wall and would spill water on to his property when it rained. They did get it resolved but it's disheartening there are people her who would ever consider this proper. 100% go to the village head and have him mediate this for you because it's common Thai people will get nasty and passive aggressive if you confront them, even if they're clearly wrong according to the law.

Yeah it's kind of a challenge for a car and you can get behind trucks you can't pass for miles so a bike makes sense. I see many touring bikes pass by that way (I stay in Samoeng often).

The one thing Kom Pot had hands down over Chiang Mai was the vast assortment of foreign owned restaurants. Cambodia makes it easy for anyone to setup a shop and get to work so those options are great. Sadly Thailand is too tight-fisted and most people won't even bother or can't afford to the staff and headaches. The prices were extremely expensive compare to anything else but still a novelty. Still won't be going back ever again though.

There is another road from Samoeng which passes through Wat Chan. It's amazing and the condition is great (now) but the crazies will find that too. Takes another 2 hours or so which will deter most people but the tourist traffic through Samoeng is picking up now and I see people coming from that direction which probably means from Pai.

The "far right" aka a normal person from 20 years ago.

I stayed 20 days in Cambodia. Very depressing place except little highlights. There seems to be dual economies, one for the rich and tourists and everyone else, no good middle ground like Thailand. Money for value is better in Thailand across the board. EDIT: I think beer was cheaper actually, but I don't drink so I'm not sure. Cigs could be the same. All due to taxes of course.

that's what kills me the most. They KNOW people are doing this and yet they're powerless to stop it. The most basic driving 101: don't drive on the wrong side of the road is totally ignored and tolerated. Thai police are beyond useless. I don't know if they'll ever take action.

I visit family in Pai often and got to see some gnarly crashes. Worst one was a larger sized bus that went off the road on the last steep curve before dropping in to the valley. It hit a massive tree which peeled off the entire top of the bus so it looked like a safari touring vehicle. I was biking up the road to the checkpoint as I like to do and saw a body with blood still in their seat after everyone had been removed. I know the driver and one passenger died so I bet that was her. Another time I saw a truck carrying eggs crash at that same curve and deposited a mountain of smashed eggs on the side of the road. It stuck like hell for 2 weeks as I rode past it. That's the most dangerous curve and to their credit they built some beefy concrete barriers since then.

Thank you so much I appreciate your long thoughtful comments also. 😄

If anyone has ever been on this ride you know exactly why this happened. Absolute lunatic drivers which are guaranteed to get you killed eventually. Not the first time and not the last. Avoid at all costs. Renting a private car is 100% worth the money. I don't understand why Thailand can't get control of their road safety problems but I am glad to see many of the Thai commenters know exactly how dangerous these drivers and avoid themselves as well. https://www.facebook.com/100064402730843/posts/pfbid02hsshuSdEc2S538awMFhng4oGkcKoWBQWWhVhbvugdrmHAwWmXSZvUCbUDjBsd5hpl/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Almost as offensive are the Korean style bowl cuts you see in so many Thai men. I grew up on The Three Stooges and seeing those hair cuts worn seriously makes me cringe a little.

Is it just me or is there an alarming amount of Thai women butchering their faces with plastic surgery? Here's just one example but I'm seeing more and more of it. Seems like they're cutting off the sides of the noses then filling in the bridge and cutting the lower-tips too. I've seen some really gruesome ones where they cut the entire lower-tip off and have this appearance like a rotting skull. Bizarre chin fillers and jaw sculpting are happening too I think. Anyone else notice this?

LOL. Imagine instead of the bus it's you driving your car. Adapt to that smart boy!

It's dangerous also. Look at this one. A motorbike was passing on the left (which should be ok but he was probably going too fast) and slammed into a guy with a cart killing him. Even if you think you can use a lane you cannever be sure it's actually clear because someone is going so slow it's essentially an obstacle. That's one of the reasons motorbikes tend to come out in the left lane even though there's a motorbike lane they could be using.

Seriously? If you've been driving here long enough it should be self evident.

Ok maybe he should have gone with the flow but that's the reason driving in Thailand is a nightmare and gets people killed. The Thai driver didn't have the patience to simply wait and follow the most basic of road rules. They can't even be bothered to meet the lowest standards of driving so what hope of safe driving is there ever going to be in the country. Policing could easily fix the problem but they don't want to do that either. Here's a grime example of why you stamp out these <deleted> before they kill someone. In the clip a typical dick driver is speeding and swerving belching out black smoke. To top it all off he's drunk too. How many times do you see these kinds of drivers and no one says anything or does anything about it? In the end he smashes in to a 7-month pregnant Burmese women and crushes her legs. This POS then has the gaul to tell the police his breaks didn't work. Police are just as bad for letting these drivers rule the road.

Thai drivers aren't stupid but they're foolhardy, reckless and selfish. Way more than other countries, hands down. The police and the people are indifferent to the carnage and will only react when someone dies but never to prevent. No system can be put in place but it would be administered by the same people who are cause the problem in the first place.

OK I'm just gonna stop asking question until the policy is introduced. 🙂 I need to start doing real research if I want to understand this correctly. Thanks though.

I heard it was the difference so if the max rate in Thailand is 35% that will be easily reached by a person making a modest 60k USD/year in America, who will be paying something like 20% income tax, thus if that's true you get a 15% rate of tax on all income imported into Thailand. This would really apply to married or Thai elite people earning money aboard (my personal situation)

thanks got it now. That's not a lot of money. At 400k annual then you're liable on taxes for anything over 33k/month. I still don't see how this will affect most people because you've already been taxed on the total sum which is in excess of 33k/month anyways and the rate is gong to be great than 5% I think. Correct me if I wrong but the problems come if you're earning something like 2+ mil year and your tax rate in your home country is less than the Thai maximum so now I sounds like you're liable for the difference on all money imported in to the country.

ok so the first 150k/month is tax free? That seems too high to capture most people in Thailand so if that ends up happening I would expect it to get dragged down townwards the 60k/month level.

I like how to girl on the left is smiling like it's a day out with the family.