benw10

what kind of idiot would say it was for self defence? why not say it was for getting stones out of the buffalo's hoof, or peeling a mango, or even using the tweezer to pluck eyebrows at the traffic lights?

i find that if i name my route and insist on no toll roads, in that oh so obnoxious smiley farang way the that seems to work, the taxi drivers will do as requested, hate you for it, grumble all the way and probably not thankyou for the tip, but will take you. i'm lucky i usually arrive late at night, so this helps in the battle of wills, helps with traffic jams etc, i hate travelling in a death trap with fake rear seat belts at high speed on a road that circles your neighbourhood twice before spitting you out into gridlock.

airport to sathorn 220 baht plus the 50 surcharge then a round up to the 300, more if they are absolute stars, and they do exist.

Let us all give thanks that these guys are NOT Bokho Haram Reps here in Thailand looking to start

a branch here and second, that they're not Ebola carriers....

wow so on topic.

a tourist can have that much cash in the country?

reviving one of thaksin's old ideas.

how is a box that floated in from the sea even remotely viewed as an explosive device..this place is insane , they better check it for Ebola at the same time

did you get a star for not reading the article before commenting?

what does dr porthip say?

Thai Police find a suspect who confesses and you still don't believe it.

I know a thai person could not do these crimes

a thai person could not do these crimes. are you for real?

astounding how few people carry even a copy of their passport with them, though of course this often goes into a wallet, so if you're knocked out/killed and mugged, not much use. many of our guest scoff when i remind them to carry id and our address. they say " oh i've never been stopped by the police" and we tell them that it's not for that reason but incase they are hurt, sick or dead, and we need to be contacted. selfish really i know.

'more friendly' even.

i know many very well endowed thai guys, why do some sad people feel they need to stereotype?

"They include health officials, as they were infected via needles used by their families,"

what a load of.....................

sounds like a lot of people have found a new way to abuse the system similar to all those who faked hiv results in the uk to get housing in the early 90's.

The problem with this news article is the title. I really doesn't mean that "Thailand tops list of dirtiest hotels in Asia"...what it really means is A HOTEL IN THAILAND TOPS THE LIST OF ASIA'S DIRTIEST HOTELS. Totally different meaning. And, the article is written very poorly.

Having said that, I often use and post to that particular organization (TripAdvisor) and their traveler reviews are excellent. I have rarely found them to be very far off the mark.

and your variant should read 'an hotel' but then i'm old fashioned and i agree the article is very poorly written.

I always say, "They all look the same when I shut my eyes."

That said, I recently stayed a hotel in changmai called S.P. (chaingmaisphotel.com) While it was tucked away from everything, it was a bargain for 400 Baht a night and it was clean enough, working AC & hot water etc etc. Very quite too.... trouble was, it sure was a bit far from the action...

regardless, I will stay there again.

action? gross!

lol

i have stayed in some truly awful hotels, in london, paris bangkok and kl

the one thing they all had in common (i'm sorry india) was that they were all owned and run by indians

Surely showing just X baht, 800,000bt is not realisitic. As you say people with a big pot should be able to show a realistic income of 800,000bt from unearned income/pensions, etc or show funds that can generate this amount per year. Anybody will a little money can show 800,000bt. You need 16 million baht to generate this every year at 5% interest. Perhaps retirement visas should be brought up to line with other countries. I just wonder what Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, US and UK require. I bet it is not as low as $20,000. I would have thought nearer $1,000,000 (32,000,000bt).

For Malaysia it's 150K Ringgit under their MM2H program for the 50+. A million bucks? Give me a break, who's got that kind of dosh even after decades of working. And what would you need 800K baht in Thailand per year for? That's not realistic either for the majority of people. Nice to have, sure but not needed.

150k myr about 45000 us bucks not a million assuming you meant us bucks of course

my apology to original poster m my cancel failed on this post and realise my misreading of your posting sorry

Surely showing just X baht, 800,000bt is not realisitic. As you say people with a big pot should be able to show a realistic income of 800,000bt from unearned income/pensions, etc or show funds that can generate this amount per year. Anybody will a little money can show 800,000bt. You need 16 million baht to generate this every year at 5% interest. Perhaps retirement visas should be brought up to line with other countries. I just wonder what Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, US and UK require. I bet it is not as low as $20,000. I would have thought nearer $1,000,000 (32,000,000bt).

For Malaysia it's 150K Ringgit under their MM2H program for the 50+. A million bucks? Give me a break, who's got that kind of dosh even after decades of working. And what would you need 800K baht in Thailand per year for? That's not realistic either for the majority of people. Nice to have, sure but not needed.

150k myr about 45000 us bucks not a million assuming you meant us bucks of course

It's ironic that Cambodia seems to be more pro business.

Yes and Thanksin could have something to do with that like he did for Thailand, so all you Thaksin haters better get your ducks all lined up in staright row, before throwing him to the lions???????????????????

My opinion Thaksin was good for Thailand's bussiness oppertunities, and getting Thailand out of the sluge laden trench it is in now.

many of the changes in business laws that have been pushed thru/ passed during the time since the coup were already in the pipeline introduced by thaksin but completed by subsequent governments as is normal in any country. don't forget it was thaksin who wanted rid of backpackers in favour of the "right kind of traveler', ignoring the fact that most backpackers are from solid middle class families who when settled in good jobs become the 'right kind of traveler' etc etc

For all those who are worried about this upcoming laws just move your ass to Cambodia and set up something there,its easy simple and if you smart enough you will have the oportunity to make real money contrary to Thailand the Cambodians make it easy to set up a business and workpermits.For people who have a family in Thailand and need(like) to working its ofcourse not that simple your wife will not be happy to make that move.

My point is except a few,most people who work here in Thailand are people who wana stay here but dont have the money to do it and pray hope and believe that set up a business with the little money they have will keep them here,maybe one out of hunderd will succeed.I wouldent open a business here even if the goverment give me money for it,Thailand is a great country if you have the money to support yourself without the need to work(few exceptions).

If you have any problem to get your WP just open a tailorshop seems that those get no problem to get a WP...

Good luck workers in Thailand!!!

but the local sikh money laundering firms have got this stitched up already

just like when the english middle classes moved into the welsh countryside in the 80's

Just got my work permit - no problems at all - 1 week and it was a done deal. If it it is a problem I at least have a year of clear sailing.

not if you lose your job for any reason, officially you will only have 7 days of free sailing.................

Wrong. You have to leave the country on the day you lose your job if your extension of stay is based on Employment.

Or apply for a 7 day extension.

which for non pedants boils down to the same thing, providing they read the permit of course, or lose their job and make sure it is not reported,this happened to me, they at least can make the most of their visa. when i panicked at the sudden end of my job many people just laughed and said throw it away and get on with life, so i did.

likewise getting my passport swallowed up with cambodian full page visa stickers, again to be mocked for never having peeled them out and reuse the page, like some fellow passengers.........not sure i'm feel secure enough for that one

I don't work or do business here but think I have a pretty solid grasp on the environment - all I can say is that if I were to go into business in Thailand I would avoid the tourism industry or anything servicing Farang like the plague. It is becoming more and more clear that the Thai's are not too concerned about tourism and expats are not wanted.

That said, the country and especially the region and Asia in general, have a bright future, much better than America or Europe - and the economy and market focused on serving the Thai's will only get stronger and stronger. The problem with cashing in on this is you have to have a keen understanding of what Thai's want and more important, what they will want in the future.

I don't know of many examples of Foreigners mastering marketing to Thai's or providing services to Thai's - but that is where you want to be.

Many of the business copiers have big pensions and will continue to stay open even if they are losing money hand over fist

Are you referring to Thai's or Farang with large pensions? Or both...? What types of businesses do these people run, bars?

good post and very true....in 10 years time the thais will not need western tourists(as much!)and especially expats...unfortunately china has taken over the marketing stratagies in Thailand and hence this is why they control marketing forces all over the country.And due to the high ratio of Thai/Chinese/japanese businesses this is where the future for the east and industries in general is.....low costs,high turnover!

westerners beware!!

can you point out the chinese marketing strategies being employed in thailand! do the thais know they are being controlled by chinese marketers?

many of the large brands, drinks ,restaurants etc, are thai/chinese family owned, and though we think of these power houses as being more thai than chinese some of these families maintain very strong, influential and financially rewarding relationships with family and business associates in china.

Just got my work permit - no problems at all - 1 week and it was a done deal. If it it is a problem I at least have a year of clear sailing.

not if you lose your job for any reason, officially you will only have 7 days of free sailing.................

Spot on! Absolutely spot on! My neighbour just got fired from his job. He has a family here, a car, a bank account, has paif his taxes for the last 7 years and NEVER been on an "overstay". He speaks fluent (or as fluent as you can possibly get) Thai and completely subscribes to the Thai way of life when it comes to Buddhism. So, what happened? He was basically told to get out of the country within 7 days.

Sounds like a tale of the dark ages, right?

But you know i am not joking! This is serious stuff!

Now you tell me, where is the fairness, where is the security, where is the humanity in being booted out after contributing for so long? It sucks and it is nothing short of IN YOUR FACE racism. Ok, he went over the border and came back in again for a month - and went to the border again and came back for another month......and then got another job with a work permit. But the whole "get lost Johnny foreigner, we've had your revenue" attitude is simoly disgusting.

If the Gov't are going to introduce new Work Permit regulations they'd better chuck a bit of corn down too and make this 7 days rule get lost too.

i lost my job simply because the company went bankrup, and as everybody was just left without work, there was no one to report the farangs loss of work to the labour office, we just threw our work permits on the bonfire, and continued to use our visas, i left and re-entered(with clenched buttocks) the country 3 times and never an eye brow raised.