Small Joke
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Posts posted by Small Joke
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16 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:
100%?
All results I see say:
Keurig
(not Kuerig)
First time I have read about it.
I doubt much that these K-Cups are available in Thailand.
The usual Nespresso stuff but K-Cups?
My bad. But then again I'm always saying 'freind' when I mean 'friend'.
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I'm shagging an ancient Thai geezers meea noi. (Thats a nice change, eh?)
He pays her 2OK a month.
He also Bought her a 3 bed 3 bath house and car.
I live in, and take care groceries, garden, maid, some benzine, frequent dining out, and a fair bit of booze.
Everybody sabai and kwaam sanuk!
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19 minutes ago, Maestro said:
Have you got those brand names correct? From what country are they?
Yes, the names correct, these machines have an almost cult raving fan base!
As a curious coffee drinker, I'd like to try one one day.
OP, sorry, I can't help more other than try a Google, or Wongnai or lazada search... Also visit Robinson's department store.
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3 hours ago, Joe Mcseismic said:
Jailed for murdering his Thai missus and storing her remains in a wheely-bin in his house.
Not a candidate for Norway's very progressive prisons at all, then? What a nut job!
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On 7/3/2019 at 5:43 PM, KhaoYai said:
I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Yes it seems crazy to have to report TM30 because surely you are reporting your address when you do your 90 day reports - but really, its very easy to report TM30 online and once set up, it only takes a couple of minutes. Just go with the flow, why get stressed over this?
When you change, renew your passport, their systems can't cope, 90 day report rejected, you have to show up after that. Or post it, which is just as time consuming.
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On 7/3/2019 at 9:37 AM, Pedrogaz said:
Yes totally absurd. Why don't they buy a computer to enable them can talk to the immigration at the airport.
I am fed up with the endless pointless petty rules and the outright corruption here in Thailand.
I'm going to check out the Philippines at least they speak English there.
Immigration is a breeze in Philippines, but you'll still be there every 2 months on average unless you drop ten grand USD. They also have a BS ID card you have to get annually. It's just a revenue raiser. Everything else seems to be worse in PI except the price of booze.
Banks, post office. accommodation, infrastructure, supermarkets, all far below Thailand.
HOWEVER, I am sick to death of the screws turning here and really tired of Asia in general. Cambodia is just gross.
Reluctantly considering Colombia, also hearing crime threat there is overrated if you're careful, and a similar lifestyle to be had to this old place before the little green men from mars landed and Fubar-ed it beyond all recognition.
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If they got all the penpushing shinybums out of offices doing this pointless bowlocks, and onto the border checkpoints, maybe Israeli murders wouldn't be able to wander in and out like they own the place.
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2 hours ago, nickstav said:
I'm in the same boat my friend. I'd be happy to leave the LOS, but what about my Thai girlfriend? Where can I bring her? We've been together 5 years, can't get married (please don't ask why). I'm not worried about me, but what about her? Where can we go together?
Unless you have quite a bit stashed away, or legit profitable online or otherwise business data, it is extremely difficult to take a Thai or Filipina anywhere in the west, even for a vacay. a friend wanted to take his SO to France for a once in a lifetime free canal trip, another mutual friend has a live-aboard boat there.
She outright owns a THB6 million house, A newish car, and a legit small business. But she's cash poor (he take care) they would not accept his sponsorship for the Schengen visa, and they're both not youngsters. It's not as if she could get on the game there!
Another friend wanted to take his Filipina to Aussie for a mere week. They were not married, and she's dirt poor. Denied!
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21 hours ago, CharlieH said:
When it rains here it's over in 10 minutes and that's usually it for a week !
Rainy season? What rainy season, it seems to have missed us this year.
(Central North)
Yes, the driest I've seen Chiang Mai since 2012. Not good for my small but perfectly formed tropical garden.
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On 5/7/2019 at 8:46 AM, justin case said:
don't waste your money on it, you have a non-b
500k gives you the most expensive tourist visa and you still need yearly extension !!!!
and you cannot work, as people said and if your company goes belly up, aka you become bankrupt, bye bye elite, it will be CANCELLED! read the small letters
I've been tempted, but this place is just too wild west for me to invest that much and hope that twenty years from now it will even exist, and I don't mean just the visa, the elites seem determined to birth their own domestic political guerrilla war.
Also, didn't they initially offer it for a lifetime? Changed (to their advantage) already!
That cool million could go far resettling in Colombia, Portugal, Morocco, or Vietnam, when Thailand's goalpost-moving finally becomes untenable here for most of us.
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Relax, you have nothing to fear but the next random immigration officers interpretation of the rules.
It is the OPs description of the system that is the scariest thing I've read. The conspiracy theory is nothing in comparison.
Also some other poster claims it is the elite who are xenophobic, not necessarily. Some exploit it. But that cancer invariably starts with the uneducated 'they took our jerbs' brigade.
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16 hours ago, HeyHeyHey said:
We MUST KNOW mere FIFTEEN different numbers to different departments when under potentially very stressful situations?
Uff, I'm glad it's that easy.
Thailand beauracracy in a nutshell, this is why we need:
1) photocopies
2) signed in blue ink
3) with our name printed beneath signature
To take a piss outside your house (and bring a hand drawn map of that too).
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Most believers will give you some mumbo jumbo about 'faith' (I'm an ex-religious person myself, I've heard it all, no religion passes basic logic tests, not one! That's why they have to get you programmed when you're still thinking Santa is a real guy.)
The harsh truth is their parents and schools brainwashed 'faith' into them, as effectively as any young North Korean, or Thai, is brainwashed about their own nationalities myths from when they're knee high to a communion wafer.
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8 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:And how many of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines have you visited? (Yeah, I bought the T-Shirt on my 1st visit ???? ).
World class beaches in Boracay are free to visit (BTW, it was Boracay that D30 closed for 6 months to clean-up) but I have only ever paid to visit a beach in the Philippines when visiting a private resort (that I obviously wasn't staying at) or as part of a boat trip (Where I'm pretty sure the payment was to the crew not to the beach).
Public beaches are free to enter everywhere in Visayas & Palawan....
I'm not going to let this descend to a dick measuring contest.
If you want my heartfelt opinion, I really wanted to make the PI work in my favour!
I didn't leave here to go on a 'bashing tour' of other expat hangouts.
My main reasons for going walkabout was the ridiculous immigration bullshit here, and rising costs.
I wanted to be the guy sitting in Colombia or Mexico, or Angeles, or Iloilo (yes I stayed a month there too, Boracay off the northern coast, I remember now) going 'neener neener' to the sad sacks in LOS.
The truth is (and places can change often drastically for the worse, very quickly) Thailand lured me back.
Whether it was, insane crime levels (to me) in the Americas, and let's not forget the Philippines is a land of barbed wire, and armed guards BTW!
Or the lack of civilised amenities, (I was born in a British slum suburb, done my time) thank you very much!
Or the even worse government overreach, Du30 makes Uncle Tu and the gang look like snowflakes.
The end result was, Thailand for me at least, could not be bettered. I spent a lot of precious 'rainy day's money trying to prove otherwise.
If you have found the goldilocks situation in the PI, then I genuinely wish you a long and happy life there.
I could not make it work for me.
Those on the bleachers can draw their own conclusions.
It's also a bit unfair, even sadistic, if you happen to be a dollar multi millionaire, plugging a beachside lifestyle many on this forum just cannot aspire to, even in the Philippines, while pretending you're one of the GFC/Brexit financial 'refugees' who, fair play, just want to better their lot, which is more commendable than their hopeless countrymen, who will whine back home, but never budge.
I'm somewhere in between the poorest and the richest, but having done the hard yards, I owe nothing to the silver spoon <deleted> who had life handed to them on a plate.
Whatever else your argument. I hope you bootstrapped that island life from a working class kick start.
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17 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:
Thanks for the pics, I think anybody who doesn't agree that the Philippines has much better beaches/cleaner waters than Thailand or the neighboring countries simply hasn't visited the real Philippines (AC & Manila don't count).
I remember my 1st trip to Cebu 12 years ago, stood neck deep in the water & could see my toes and all of the fish swimming around...
Really am tempted to give up on the Thailand Dream (only 1/2 committed at the moment as I'm still working) & retire to somewhere in the Visayas or Palawan...
Queue comments about the food sucks (I love Japanese & Korean food so no worries there), personal safety (a risk where ever you live) etc...
AC don't have a beach.
But that aside, and based on anecdote alone, I'd suggest that Thais are less litter prone in general, than the PI.
Or maybe Thai sanitation is more organised? Either way, the results are what count.
While Du30 famously shut down some tiny Island, flew in twice -but I can't remember the name now, for 6 months spring cleaning (a good thing in my book) you will know there are 7000 plus islands there, and most are really hard to get to en masse, vs Thailand's easy to get to coast.
You also fail to mention many of these beaches are 'gated' and charge a fee for non-resort residents, most Thai beaches can still be strolled on for free. Which means litter, sadly.
Pattaya is not representative of most Thai beaches. Comparing Manila Bay to Pattaya is the only fair comparison. And Manila Bay is a global disgrace, I'd drink Pattaya seawater before I'd swim in Manila Bay!
Furthermore, foreign tourists to Thailand must bear some blame, they are often low class litterbugs, the.news stories here of their other charming antics bear that out! and the PI is just too far/costly a flight, for many of them, so they dump on Thailand instead.
I'm not denying there are some lovely beaches there, but you're being a little economical with the reasons why they're beautiful, in spite of the locals best attempts to literally shit on their own doorsteps.
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17 minutes ago, ExpatPH said:
Excellent post,
I personally was in pain worse than hell and all a top private hospital
had was morphine tablet, nothing stronger!
It was a night in extreme pain.
How I wish I knew what doctor who would give stronger pain relief, next time.
I hear you, the waiting list to get a script for serious pain control is so long, with so few pain control specialists in Manila, that the rich Pinoys just fly to Bangkok for treatment if they are well enough! It's understood that Du30 is a fentanyl addict, he started on the drug to treat back pain, by his own admission. But his people can whistle Dixie if they think they'll get any sympathy from the junkie who kills junkies.
This is covered in at least one PI expat forum at length.
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2 hours ago, ExpatPH said:Absolutely agree. Many other options as well. Laos. Vietnam. Cambodia. Malaysia. Indonesia ......
With todays 'Braking news' in Thailand about yet another new requirement, this time
Mandatory Health Insurance for long stay,
More people need a Plan B, for next destination.
Yes, and I'd like to Point out, I contracted Pneumonia in Cebu. Ended up in hospital in Clark.
There were complications.
I lived, but $17000 dollars later, I was glad I had renewed my insurance a mere month before. They paid in full less a tiny $100 excess.
I'm 58 which is very relevant to the discussion.
So:
1. Cebu is toxic.
2. Insurance is a good idea whether the govt. mandate it or not.
3. Be aware YOUR HOME Government will NOT accept you are a 'resident' of the PI on an indefinite tourist visa. You'd have to revert to the ten grand residency option.
This may not be a problem for some, until it is, then it's a BIG problem.
4. Want to get married? They don't accept divorce in the PI, you can divorce in your home country, even online, if you're Australian, but if you live there, divorce is just not how they roll.
5. Opiates (for chronic pain like Cancer) are all but impossible to find or have prescribed, I understand less than ten doctors nationwide are licenced, thanks to their all pervasive drug paranoia.
All valid points for older guys with inevitably deteriorating health.
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On 4/4/2019 at 1:36 PM, Thaiwrath said:I would suggest that the 'many' are correct.
Your target audience will be the ones who cannot prove the necessary income here, and those who don't trust Thai banks (????) with 400/800,000 baht. Most others seem happy, and settled here.
I tried it. I tried several islands, I checked out Cebu (and Mactan island) five times. Both are holes, unless you have serious money to live in a gated community.
Anything livable there, is more expensive than Thailand, the supermarkets, even good ones, don't come close to Thailand in terms of western products, the same price gouging applies. Only alcohol is cheap. Fresh fruit and veg at the street markets is always half rotten.
Traffic is gridlocked from 6am till 9pm.
If you think Thai post and Thai tradesmen are bad, you'll enter a whole new level of hell in the P.I.
I tried 6 months in Angeles, not for the bars, but because it has the best expat infrastructure by far, of any other city. (it has at least one good hospital, easy airport access, reasonable internet, best selection of western goods in Clark Freeport zone.)
The internet in most other places is as reliable as dial up.
In the end I literally walked away, I left the lease, the deposit, and everything id bought and added to the little one-level-above-shanty-style Baringay place, believe me it was a bargain compared to renting from that well known white property baron that leases smaller less secure shitboxes to most expats for three times the price. What I left behind included a brand new washer, extractor fan I fitted in windowless toilet (how anyone lived there before that alone, is beyond me) all to the girl I'd shacked up with. She was the best thing about the whole experience.
It is cheap for a reason.
Also immigration is a comparative breeze, but beware, those costs recur every two months, it's not a stamp for 'free'.
Beyond English being widely spoken, Thailand, with all it's woes, is still a far better bet, for me anyway, for now.
Ironically, I feel more at home here, keeping to myself among Thai neighbors, than I ever did going out every second night, in a town packed with like-minded westerners my own age.
Anyone thinking about it, should at least visit three locations, before deciding.
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17 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:
hahaha! crazy talk! of course it'll only get stricter. new boss gots to make a name for hisself. get ready for a whole raft of new regulations, and look forward to some catchy slogans, too.
Chinese retirees In
Western 'kee noks' Out
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17 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:
Well it's not central Pattaya. Money is good too in Thai terms.
You meet good ones and bad ones and mental ones like i did lol.
She threatened to kill me after i cancelled her Visa to come to Ireland. I went back over and i am still alive ???? She's
บ้า B̂ā
You dodged a bullet, and I don't mean the death threat.
She's not 'crazy' she's a conniving little cow, that would quite possibly see you dead for the right money.
Yes it happens, you can be fed to the jungle ants for less than ten grand THB. She'd be nabbed within 48 hours (because they're cunning, but morons) but you'd be dead.
All Thais, good or bad, value family (theirs) above everything. They will go so far as mitigating a politician or high ranking officer for the worst excesses if it's known they 'take care their family'.
When you marry any Asian girl you marry the family. I should know, been there with both Korean and Chinese, now keeping my divorced status until I die.
Also never be worth more to them dead than alive, too cynical? Google Alan Hogg.
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On 11/1/2018 at 8:56 PM, Gruff said:
The integrity of taxi drivers very much depends where you are. Be aware whilst taxis from Cebu Airport are well controlled you will struggle to get a taxi from Manila airport to town without getting ripped off!
Get a local SIM on arrival, step out of the terminal, and then use the grab car app.
Why is this still necessary to point out to people? It's been around for at least three years, all over Asia.
Except of course -Thailand!
Thank the AOT mafia, who barred them from Thai airports.
At least there are train or bus options in bangkok and phuket.
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12 minutes ago, Jingthing said:Yes of course Mexico is geographically in North America. Never said otherwise. But it is also included as a Latin American nation. In fact one of the most important ones.
Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
Didn't mean it as a correction, just me showing off! You raised an important point about safety and 'danger 'tolerance'.
You've mentioned being mugged, was it twice?
I have got myself into some stupidly dangerous situations, but so far, touch wood, I've never been harmed, or robbed.
If I went to say, Columbia, and was rolled, I think I'd find that very challenging, I have that wild highland streak of pride that would just have to fight back, and likely die for it. Stupid, but there it is.
A word about government alerts, I subscribe to the UK and AU alerts, because sometimes I avoid the news for weeks, and it's AWESOME for mental well-being, you have no idea how nice it is if you've never done that, bliss! You eventually get a media craving, and in minutes, you can feel their weasel words, crafted headlines, pissing you off, dragging you down, it's real.
As Tim Ferris said, if it's big enough news to affect you, you won't help but hear about it, such is our connected world.
I digress, the govt alerts err on the side of caution, those Swedish girls in North Africa, for example, might have lived, had they followed one.
In Mexico in particular, I chose cities with safe reputations. I just didn't go near Jalisco State, for example, or Monterrey City.
Bad things can happen anywhere, Thailand is for the most part ridiculously safe, but tomorrow, some tourist will have done something daft, and gotten a kicking, or their gold chain snatched.
Low crime doesn't mean no crime.
And that's a public service tagline in Singapore, no less.
It really comes down to self tolerance, awareness, and common sense.
Almost all theft type crime is dependent upon the victim actually presenting the perpetrators with their Opportunity.
Remembering that seems to have worked well for me thus far.
The girl I mentioned earlier, that I shacked up with in Aguascalientes, was once kidnapped and held for three days on a business trip to Merida, they snatched her in broad daylight, from the hotel car park.
He dad had to cough up USD $16K they never went to the police. Pointless.
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16 minutes ago, Jingthing said:
Central America and South America are quite different from each other. Not to mention the different cultures of specific nations. The only two Latin American nations that I've spent over a month in on one place are Argentina and Mexico. Very different from each other.
Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
Mexico is technically North America.
I've been to BA some years ago. Went for a morning walk, like dawn twilight, the park down near the Marina and Rio Plate? was unkempt, and scores of expensive dogs, many large breeds, Malamutes etc, once pets, running feral. Kinda put me off Argentina. Also a skinny horse pulling a cart along, so heartbreaking. Argentina has been hurting forever.
The nightlife, though -if you have a Argentine expat buddy, just woah!
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12 minutes ago, A1Str8 said:Just buy an elite visa.
I would if the goons could be trusted.
Also I detest golf. And so a huge chunk of that benefit is just 'whut'?
They've already just moved the goalposts on us, which is why this thread exists.
Frankly the requirement for seasoning a cool million in their shitty interest bearing accounts cannot be far off.
The Chinese will drive prices up to nosebleed levels, like they did in Canada Australia and NZ.
With any luck they'll financially implode soon, although that could come with even worse unintended consequences.
I'm trying to stick it out, because there's so much to love, but the writing may well be on the wall.
They also significantly devalued the elite visa, which was a lifetime proposition when launched.
So thanks, Thailand, I'll keep my money.
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More questions on 65K and 800 K Retirement methods
in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits
Posted
I do large annual sums, there's no extra paperwork.
Bear in mind our transfers are chump change, billions are shifted daily by the various companies out there.
Just stay away from WU. They should be indicted for robbing poor overseas workers etc. who have no other options. But I digress.
I don't use TransferWise, they're a ripoff with cute marketing.
Google and you'll find better deals, I go through ING bank, an online bank with no expensive street branches and therefore less overhead but you'd need an overseas account with them.
The question of a lump sum or small sums, depends on whether you want the hassle, I doubt you'll save on improving exchange rates.
More cogs in the wheel, more shit to go awry. And immigration DGAF if you hit a snag transferring. You'll get no mercy.
Hope this helps.