BumGun

10 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

why you guys don't retire in your home country ?

Well, as an Australian I love Australia but dislike my fellow citizens so much I'd rather not have many around me at all. I had remote place off grid in the bush and a condo on the Gold Coast, the internal border travel issues screwed that up.  So until I am forced to, I would chose elsewhere and rent out my place here in Aus. Some of the fun is in the looking and exploring, more so then the destination. So far I have lived in Thailand, Philippines and Cambodia only, Laos post Covid I hope. The issue you raise is valid though, I don't do paperwork very well ???? and prefer to not enable petty corruption with bribes to smooth things over.

1 hour ago, newnative said:

 Apparently there are ways.  I've sold 5 condos to Chinese buyers.  All cash deals.  At a new condo project I bought at off-plan in Bangkok a few years ago, there was a completely separate sales staff that spoke Chinese to deal with the Chinese buyers--and brochures available just in Chinese.   

Same here in Australia. I own & live  a condo in a large multi building complex that's fairly new  here in Australia on the Gold Coast.  I'd estimate 30% of the owners are Chinese. Much of the signage here is dual language (Chinese & English) and the complex managers assistant is Chinese.  Australia has a new builds only law AFAIK ? (ie foreigners can only buy new builds) On the whole I have to stay I like having them here, as they are quiet and polite.  We seem to have a wide ethnic mix: Europeans, Russians, Chinese etc ????

On 5/30/2021 at 8:09 PM, OishiRefill said:

So in the US in particular, asking through the lens of a European, does Republican mean essentially 'conservative' (meaning work hard to get $$$ and then save what you can for the unforeseen future expenses), and Democrat means the opposite IE: take it easy (do a YOLO) and mooch off of the state, while simultaneously selling out all manhood and being a 'simp'? is this what the difference is essentially?

Europeans need to understand the Democrats would be seen as a right wing party in Europe. The GOP are... something else altogether.

13 hours ago, Soikhaonoiken said:

Why is Thailand selling vaccines to the Philippines before they have even started vaccination of there own people,  total greed.. never mind the Thai people that the PM said he loves so much a few weeks back, 

They should only be selling locally produced AZ once everyone in Thailand been has received both jabs... 

Bare ass'd speculation here but perhaps part of the agreement with AZ allowing them to produce it was they must export vaccines to other parts of SE Asia as well ?

On 5/23/2021 at 4:50 PM, WineOh said:

I can only stomach that for 24hrs though then I have had enough.

Last time I was in Pattaya I did 48 hours and it felt like 48 days.

 

I really do hope they clean that place up before Thailand reopens. 

Why ? There are dozens of places for you to visit, all us drop kicks (Aussie slag for a muppet) only have the one place, Pattaya.  If its closed, we dropkicks will still be around but just go elsewhere.

I don't drink or smoke, and my gf and I love going to Patts precisely becasue it is what it is. If you want a sanitary, hiso, sterile experience , just go go to Singapore or the dozens/100's of other places.

6 hours ago, internationalism said:

the last year the government shut down the royalist marketplace fb group, so very likely case here.

They can use article 112 lese majeste and 116 dissemination of false info on the net, to get thai court order and shut down fb, twitter, other social media posts.

Article on the subject from 15.5 

https://www.khaosod.co.th/politics/news_6400186

Surely people will just move to Telegram? (I use the rooms on there a lot)   The Russians tried to shut that and it came to naught, so I expect efforts by the Thai constabulary will come to a similar conclusion.  The Myanmar Junta had  to actually turn the internet off as the only solution to that conundrum. Similarly Belarus I believe ? I know in HK they were using Telegram as well but they have all been more more ... active in expressing concern about their Government

On 5/20/2021 at 11:00 PM, bunnydrops said:

I do believe that it has been a requirement for at least the last 6 years

WHat about a BSc ? (Bachelor of Science)

2 hours ago, rumak said:

 

eventually the only way to survive is to be as dishonest as everyone else.   or,  so it seems.

How many amongst us are exceptions to that ?   

Psychologists call this the False Consensus Effect. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/002210317790049X

People justify their iffy beahvior as ok "because everyone else is doing it" rater then any reasoned argument,  when in reality, not everyone else is doing it at all. 

It's one of the reasons I don't live in Thailand and only visit, I would have to undertake too many dubious actions that conflict with my mental well being.

On 5/16/2021 at 12:17 PM, Denim said:

The bum guns do it for me.  My sphincter has never had it so good.

Hey, don't be looking to me for your fetish ???? butt ????seriously, I have self installed them in my condo here in Australia

On 5/16/2021 at 12:23 PM, Meat Pie 47 said:

Nonsense, I retired in Australia have great life, free health care collect my pension every 2 weeks and still have plenty leftover at the end of the months

I guess that depends on your outlook ad needs ? To me that's existing and not living but perhaps as I am 55 ? but I said the same thing when I quit work at 35 as well. Maybe I am still active enough (I'd like to try kite surfing next) ? I much prefer the nightlife in Thailand, with my crazy f parter ????

On 5/16/2021 at 12:42 PM, madmen said:

Agreed. With a pension card and rent assistance it's doable if you don't smoke $50 per 100 gram of tobacco and don't drink beer $50 for a case of 24 bottles. 

I'm on the gold coast right near the beach and Cavill Ave paying $800 /month rent minus $280 rent assistance but I have to share with 2 others! I'm looking forward to heading back though to my condo and for me Thailand is a better lifestyle and never boring in Bangkok 

Just up the road near the beach as well. but only me and my (f) parter here in our place that I own.  I think in Aus it's nearly a necessity to own a place if you want to live on just the pension (or be prepared to share).  Rents seem extraordinary high to me, I got a quote to rent our place out at $3600 or thereabouts a month (or so the agent said)  12 months ago and nearly fell over.   I had thought about moving to the bush in Tassie but even there house prices are ludicrous.

Maybe one day we can leave fortress Australia again ? I want to try longer term in Laos next time or a smaller Island in Philippines near the Beach.  I have spent a fair bit of time in Thailand and like it but don't love it enough to move there.

1 hour ago, TheFreqFlyer said:

mandates where residents of Buri Ram are being threatened with 2 years in jail for refusing to get vaccinated. 

Australian's trying to return from India were threatened with years in jail and massive fines if they managed to some how find their way home. During the Brisbane lock down WA etc closed their borders to Qld.

18 months and the only quarantine centre is Howard Springs, how we have treated Aussies trying to come home is a national disgrace,  the vaccination roll out is a complete balls up, the random state lockdowns a national embarrassment (finer postcode based granular control would have been best where we acted as a nation rather then a bunch of fiefdoms) Another example, Australian citizens who were pregnant when the flew out of Aus. and couldn't get back because of Covid had their kids over seas and the kids being born over seas means they are not Australian citizens and the parents can't come home because their kid isn't a citizen.

The only countries completely  forbidding their citizens leaving unless they receive permission from the dear leader is us and North Korea. I think it was Clive James who said  "it's not that Australians are descendant from convicts that's the problem, it's that so many of them are descended from jailers"  

They've already backed away from the "opening the country if you're vaccinated and only home quarantine on return in October this year" to maybe sometime next year ...maybe.  At some stage Australian's themselves  are going to have to stop sucking their thumb, come out from under the bed and face the world again.

This isn't a sprint, things could change next week where some state goes full idiot and locks their borders again and local lockdowns are inevitable.

That said, I don't blame the politicians , they went full stupid with the support of the idiot voters as seen in the re-election in Qld, WA and Tas. Governments.  Hell, WA wanted a full time border shut down to ostensibly control the "drug problem" and McGowan won with a bigger majority!

You may not be effected, but that doesn't mean plenty aren't and to presume we're some sort of free country is absurd,

16 hours ago, clivebaxter said:

Some countries with more sense of protecting their own have stopped the Chinese buying property eg New Zealand. Unfortunately they stopped all foreigners doing it. When I sold my house in Hamilton I was not able to buy another due to the ban brought about by the Chinese trying to buy everything up.

 Anyone from another country could still buy a house, you just had another hoop to jump through. Australians and Singaporeans still can. You just need to set up a company in Singapore and use that to buy a house. All quite legal, its how "the Chinese" i.e (any foreigner who wants to) keeps buying houses in NZ. 

20 hours ago, baansgr said:

Tell him to close his windows/doors. Unless it's a condo regulation, your partner can smoke on your balcony. He could be more considerate and move if he doesn't like it.

Wait , what ? What if they are having a noisy party, practising the drums, bbqing a crocodile, or just being generally rowdy at 3AM ?  The point is with condos, you are in close proximity and "giving consideration when you are disturbing others" should be the default.  If people struggle with that concept and think their rights are being usurped, condo living isn't for them becasue there will be hostility, as the OP has discovered. Sure, old mate the smoker is put out, but then so is old mate with the barking dog, old mate hosting loud parties etc etc

10 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You can apply for the visa as soon as you have the 800k baht in the bank since it only needs to be in the bank on the day you apply. You will need proof it was transferred from abroad

The issue for me in this regard is it he inability to open a bank account unless I go down "less then scrupulous roots": ie an agent, which I have zero interest in.  Last time I tired on a tourist visa (3 years ago or so), I went to about 5 banks, I was told I "cannot open a bank account unless you get retirement visa" so I reply, "I cannot get a retirement visa unless I open a bank account to transfer money into" I I mean in terms of entry as a tourist and then conversion to non-o.  Getting one in my home country of Australia also seemed like a lot of bureaucracy, involving police checks etc etc

I assume all of that is a test to see how committed I am to getting said visa, obliviously I was never that comminuted to circumventing the burecracy

6 hours ago, Poet said:

Working on the basis that every foreigner contributes to the economy, you would maximise the number coming in but retain the right to boot anyone out if they cause trouble.
 

and yet no where in the world does this happen. If I could, I would move to the EU, on a "permanently extendable 1 year Visa", I would love to spend a few years in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy etc.   Currently they kill people trying to get in

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/05/revealed-2000-refugee-deaths-linked-to-eu-pushbacks

from the article, they killed 2000 last year and employed illegal tactics, I wonder who's gone to jail over that "murderous rampage" ?

Quote

EU member states have used illegal operations to push back at least 40,000 asylum seekers from Europe’s borders during the pandemic, linked to the death of more than 2,000 people,

Certainly Australia doesn't allow it, does your home country ?  I'd go so far s to suggest every country on the planet thinks long term non citizens are garbage. Here in Australia we think our own citizens lives are so worthless, we forbid them from returning home and will jail them if they try from India. Apparently quarantine is not an option but jail is.  There is no way they would ever counternance allowing people in on a 1 year visa where they can stay forever as long as they don't break the law, I am sure Government would be fine with it but the citizens would revolt, and the Government that did would be booted out at the next election never to be seen again.

It just sees a little mean spirited to call out Thailand alone on this.

12 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Macs and KFC could do that, but non franchise venues cannot.

I really don't understand why they don't leverage their size to create their own service, start by Delivering Macs, then as you develop, deliver for everyone, that's a massive extra income stream for Maccs or KFC or Burger King HQ, or whomever leads the charge, just doing deliveries for others (and their own franchisees)

On 5/1/2021 at 3:07 AM, Leaver said:

Unless you want to spend 180 days in Australia per year, in order to be deemed an Australian resident, I suggest you look at getting your income / income earning assets out of Australia.  Singapore is a good option in the region.

How would one go about starting this ? Bank accounts share trading accounts etc and the tax implications. Asking for a friend ????

5 hours ago, thasoss said:

over half a million followers in 2 days tells that the young are fed up with their politicians and "rich clique"......everything is possible and they should be encouraged.

In australia i still think it's possible to apply and get a student visa for the under 30's ,studying english and the visa allows them to work.Need money of course to start off so not everyone will be in a position to do this.The weather is good,the streets are clean,and there are always jobs.

 

 

 

They have zero chance of getting in this year, I'd suggest not next year either an d maybe not until 2023.

We're so far behind in vaccinations its estimated we wont; have finished vaccinations before 2023.  So many don't wants one as there is no community transmission and you can't leave the country without a special reason. Hell, if you try and get back from India they will literally jail you ! My Aussie friend is still stuck in Poland, he says if he can't get back to Aus. by Christmas, this year he will just give up and throw himself under a train. If they want to up the vaccination rate, I guess they could let a few folk in, get some community transmission going to "encourage" vaccinations ????

Maybe Anutin and Big Joke can swap positions, can;t be any worse ? ????

2 hours ago, mogandave said:

I have never heard anyone call the covid virus a hoax. 

 

Does anyone have a link?

Lots of posts in here by Doctors. Nurses, EMTs etc about Covid deniers.

I assumed a "Covid denier" was someone who denied it was very serious but apparently there are many people that deny it actually exists. Not sure how you get to that place in your life ?

15 hours ago, carlyai said:

Is Singapore Airlines a reliable airline Bangkok to Australia? Or should I panic?

You are unlikely to get into Australia. It's not the flight that's the problem, Australia currently has a very strict quota on how many citizens can enter and you will be unlikely to be able to board.

23 hours ago, webfact said:

The amount of foreign owned condos in a building is also set to increase well above the 49% ceiling though they would not have voting rights.

No voting rights ? That would be a big NO from me dawg. Just impose a CPI indexed 100% CGT  for non citizens if they are worried about rampant prices from foreign owners. That is, when sold any GAIN after CPI (if you are fortunate enough to see any) will be taxed at 100%

That said, I am not the target, while I have the money I am always squirely about sovereign risk and would rather invest where that isn't an issue and then just rent where it is a risk.

As mentioned by others this is currently just a kite flying proposal by a few Thai business people.

4 hours ago, salavan said:

If the idiots hadn't voted to leave the EU it would be over 55 baht to the £ now

 

Speaking of which

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-spain-british-ex-pats-airport-b1826005.html

Quote

My application has been rejected and we are on our way home – my wife is in tears,” said Costa-basted Brit Shaun Cromber, who admitted to voting Leave without “realis[ing] it would come to this”.

That aside, my cut off as an Aussie is B25 to $1 AUD but then I only holiday long stay in various bits of SE Asia (alas Myanmar no more ) In the between times I just stay at my place on the Gold Coast here in Aus. next to the beach.

Not liking new bikes ? That's what my dad said when I brought home my Dutacti 888 Sporstbike decades ago, too modern blah blah. 

My point ? you're getting old ????

Here's Dad and me on his bike ???? I am the little fella !