Steph1012

Great unit in Chalong.

This Kiwi guy designed the software, travelled the world promoting it and selling it and now lives here.

He did all sizes and ladies shirts (different cut) for 150 baht each inc. design and screens.

I'll not plug it for fear of advertising etc. but, its genuine and I have his number and card if you want to PM me.

I'm still wondering how the plan was supposed to work.

Chownah

My wife says the cows were only availabe if you paid off the Local Phu Yai who had a waiting list.

She also said that you raised the cows, you didn't own them but could keep any offspring as your own but the cow went back to the Government (Phu yai) when it was meat size. These are only snippets from my failing memory but, I'm working with her all day, so will grill her.

This scheme seemed so open to abuse, I am wondering how it was worked in different areas of the country.

It's been a fun thread so I won't spoil it.

We should just be happy that we live in a land where we are accepted for what we are!

Hansum, sexy, men!!!

I'm surprised but guess I shouldn't be, this is an english language forum, I supposed there would be a lot more Europeans here, but they must have there own forums I guess.. "Das Thailand Visum forum" or the "forum de visa de la Thaïlande"

What I really want to know is why Yorkshire isn't it's own option, I am Yorkshire not UK!!

Aye, appen it would have been better with a straight choice between

A - t' County of t' gods.

or

B - nowhere worth bothering about.

I could be biased though.

Isn't Rambo supposed to be in Thailand these days, making the movie Rambo x...?

Like Nicholas Cage and the rest of the all action (mostly mouth) yanks, he'll be off if it looks a bit rough!

They all legged it when the coup happend and old Rambo will be the same.

Love to see him in a fight with some bargirls. Know where I'd put my money.

With new first-time applications for annual extension of permission to stay with an investment of 3 million Baht no longer possible, it is becoming rather difficult to stay in Thailand long-term for all those foreigners who are

– not holding a work permit

– younger than 50 years

– not married to a Thai

– but rich enough to live in Thailand long-term on their savings

---------------

Maestro

So just how many people do we know (personally, not a mate of a guy at the burger stand outside Nana Plaza) that fall into this category?

You really saying there are a whole bunch of people stay here 12 months of the year on their savings, don't have a partner, don't do any work or collect any money whatsoever! I know one lottery winner (not jackpot winner)who falls into this category who doesn't give a shit anyway.

Anybody falling into this category has more than enough money to be holidaying out of the country for the 90 day period required in cheaper neighbouring countries. Not "wanting to" or not having the get up and go to leave the comfort of the expat community for 3 months every now and again is no reason for the Government to grant them special visa's.

And should the Thai Government be tailoring their Visa policy to this incredibly small group, thus leaving in place a system that encourages people to work on tourist visas, teach, not pay tax, collect commissions from tour operators and generally blag and scam their way through life here etc. NOW THEN! how many people do we know that do this? Phone any language school and say immigration are on the way and watch them run!

There are serious problems with people staying here without visas. Look at all the scammers on Sukhumvit road, the passport forgers etc. They have their eye on Sois 1 - 5 on Sukhumvit believe me and there will be much activity in this area in the new year.

You can be 99% certain that after the 90 day period is up, all foreigners will be having their passporst checked in order to weed out the long time overstayers.

It's just another hysterical reaction from acedemia. The basis for the report is probably that they are noticing many lower class people getting ideas above their station.

Whats behind this is that many of our kids are whiter and richer than the Chinese Thais. Pale skin is thought of as beautiful in Thailand and its always been a way to keep the Issan folk in their place ie. poor and greatful to produce rice at 10 baht per kilo for those lovely grasping Chinese middle men.

In the next 20 years, the Luk Krung will me earning immense wages compared to their parents and especially grandparents and they will be educated. This will be a serious threat to the current middle classes as their pool of cheap labour dries up. My wife is a great english speaker these days and does it ever piss off the Bank staff, sales people and Estate agents. Even more so when we go to schools and Universities and she has to translate because the proffessors and principals hardly peak a word of English, all of whom are whiter than her.

Most of the northern way of life came about through being kept in grinding poverty anyway. In my view, Issan people work much incredibly hard, then laze about. They don't have the money or the spare energy to be going to gyms, on cycling holidays, and all the other activites that are available to the middle classes in Bangkok.

Its only the falangs that have started to impact on this in the last 20-30 years or so.

Culture my arse, its the big fight to preserve the status quo. Lost already I hope!

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to all posters: Just leave........get out......live in another place.....it is a big world.......there are great places out there (China is one of them). You do not need Thailand.

Leave for 6 - 12 months and spend your money in another country. And tell every person you know not to come or invest one baht in Thailand. Send them a message they might understand. If you do this, the rules and regulations will change for the better.

JR Texas, apparently the revenue from tourists is quite substantial. Here is something I found (circa 2001) to indicate the level of money we people donate to the economy. This is only for Pattaya, and these figures don't include benefits gained from expats, only tourism and they are 5 years old:

"The city’s (Pattaya) income is derived almost exclusively from tourism and, according to Tourism Authority of Thailand figures, in 2001 the resort city received a total of 3.86 million visitors staying an average of 4.33 days and spending an average of 3,016 baht (about US$75) per person per day. This contributed a total of about 32.72 billion baht (US$815 million) to the vibrant Thai economy."

It would be interesting to see some more figures like this. Add to that, the black economy which is massive due to Thais not forming companies or paying taxes.

Whilst the moral panic brigade know the areas of Pattaya, Nana, Cowboy etc. These actual areas are almost totally dependent on the Entertainment Industry. The people on the ground accept this as its their income.

Quite why Thailand, which truly is a "Hub" of corporate entertainment and the like, want to change track when they don't do anything else nearly half as well, has aways been beyond me. It's usually face, walk tall and carry a little stick and nothing new. The country has moved so fast in recent years, that it has shocked a lot of the older generation.

Next up:

Visa shake-up.

The Ministry for milking falangs have cut back the 30 day VOA to 14 days.

An on-going 10 year study of holiday makers behaviour in Thailand found that many falangs spend as much as 25% of their holiday time relaxing, sunbathing, swimming in the sea and other "Free" activites. This time is wasted and these people should be encouraged to spend more time shopping, visiting expensive parks and paying tuk tuk drivers exhorbitant fees to go to places they don't want to go eg. gem stores, tailors shops, back street gambling dens.

Busses are also to be out of bounds to falangs as many use them to bypass the carefully prepared taxi scam system we have set up at all airports and tourist hot spots.

It's simple, said a spokesman. If they spend 5k per day for a month, they will spend 10k per day over a 15 day period A committee has been set up to ensure all falangs comply by the end of the month. "this is blatent economising and it must stop" explained the airports taxi driver commissioner.

Another committe has been set up to look at ways of saving face if this policy fails and a further "blaming the falangs" committee with a budget of 100million baht has been asigned the task of turning Thailands beaches into National Parks and charging 400 baht per visit. It's good value for money and we have already orderd 15 waste bins and a team of 30 Burmese immigrants to ensure our ten top beaches remain spotless and free of polution.

We'll get em grinned khun Jaideemaimeepanhaa Phommeegnanmakmaklao. We'll get em!

Is it me or is it a slow news day.

Its getting a fair bit of press this and Sweden is a main tourist provider for Phuket and Khao Lak.

I am finding that the more cars that appear on the roads, the less people are prepared to put up with the apalling standards of riding, espescially by motorcylists.

Road rage is certainly increasing and with the amount of guns on the island, sooner rather than later, some of these goons on motorbikes are going to be called to account. As a lot of car owners are now Thais the police cannot just keep blaming the falang and turning a blind eye.

A 10 year old uninsured motorcycle causes a lot of damage and grief to a proud new car owner, falang or Thai.

Unfortunately, Steph, it's quite essential to have a discussion about exactly where lines should be drawn before they *are* invisibly drawn, *especially* in Thailand. There's nothing to guarantee the average citizen that those who will be assigned to implement the law don't have extremist conservative views, for example regarding the mailing of a message with a photo of a girl in a bikini as "perving."

Would it be "ludicrous" to consider that a punishable crime in Thailand? It all depends. A few years back, to save face in prosecuting an Australian national who ran a travel agency here and was accused of producing porn (incorrectly, with never a shred of evidence produced in court), a rather tame gay ad rag called "Thai Guys" was "deemed" pornographic by a big queen of a Thai judge, after looking at the swimsuit-clad models within (no nudity or sex). Since the defendant had distributed this tame publication (whose production he had nothing to do with), he was therefore guilty of "distributing pornography" and had to pay a fine.

It would be quite easy to imagine any Thai government using a law like this to effect intrusive searches against those it had special reason to attack and penalizing them very inconsistently and with prejudice for political ends. Even if one government behaved, subsequent governments could really abuse this law without clearly written specifications.

As a recent example of a similarly corrupt policy failure, take the choice of websites blocked in Thailand during the Thaksin regime- a combination of sex-related material (to please the prudes) and material politically disliked by the Thaksin regime.

"Steven"

You make very valid points.

What I am saying though is draw the line first where it will have no serious objectors. Murder, torture, terror, all these hand held cam shots of random attacks on bystanders, drive by shootings and the likes. I see people in offices in the UK watching this <deleted>, it does exist and it affects innocent people very seriously. More so than a few prudes trying to stop a bit of tittilation.

Then have the above debate! Governments and prudes will always try to over censor the net but the nearer they get to mainstream material, the harder it gets to have any effect on it. For one, there are millions of mainstream porn sites and that is never going to be tackled by anybody. Many people will contest unfair censorship and bring it to mainstream media attention.

Let that take its course, but don't wait to act on the really serious matters.

let's face it, for someone spending $1m USD on a villa, they can afford an extra few thousand baht to get a tourist visa from their consulate.

You are spot on with this last remark. Getting and keeping your visa in order are fairly straight forward if you can accept the tax and company structures. Most people affected by the Visa clampdown do only have themselves to blame and should have seen the writing on the wall. It won't affect the "came, fell in love and want to stay" brigade (of which I am proud to be one), but it will affect western couples who do plan these things more carefully than us hot blooded escapees!

Most of us have been burned before and realise we can pick ourselves up and start again in any regard. Its often said on here that you should be able to walk away from any investment you may have here and not to risk all. These are wise words, but they are preventing many of us from making purchases of anything other than vital repairs. I've temporarily clamped down on buffalo repairs and purchase, rice harvesting costs and fence renewing (NOTE temporarily!) as this gets the wifes family on side!! Try it.

The people affected by the Visa, WP clampdown are however, very vocal and this is bad publicity that is affecting many peopel who could quite legitimately live here.

The most often heard comment amongst potential buyers (and I do meet a lot of them) is "what if they change the rules again?" They could and almost certainly will change them again, and a married retired western couple with one million US to invest are going to be put off by this more than the likes of me with my small residence for me and my Thai wife.

"For example, someone forwarding a pornographic email could be sentenced to up to three years in jail and fined up to 10,000 baht if found guilty under the new law."

Surely this is the thin end of the wedge. Forwarding any email is a private affair and not subject to any laws. Taken to it's extreme sending a picture of a sexy girl to a friend abroad could land you with a prison sentence? Is this for real?

Yes it is for real, and people like you who are only concerned with being able to have a quick schoolboy perv, should't be shouting down a law designed to tackle some very serious issues.

They aren't going to be going after you lot snickering away at pictures of girls in magazines etc. They will be going after people who view and propogate the sites, espescially at the more extreme end. Do you and other paranoid "big brother" theorists, really believe that the powers that be would be interested in checking out your e-mail viewing if in only contained mild stuff like you suggest?

It may shock you to know that people have actually been filmed being killed on the internet, and if you had kids, you would not want them to come accross sites depicting this or depicting people being killed in the most grusome of accidents.

Perv in peace if you want, but don't encourage lax laws that let people literally get away with murder!

Should be pushing this on the lonely planet and rough guide etc. Most of their readers take note of these scams.

The only bus to use should be the Government ones, but most of these backpackers are actually very clingy and nieve. Instead of going to Thon Buri station they let themselves be led like sheep all over the country on shit buses that stop in out of the way places then get their mini bus or taxi driving mates to finish the journey for an extortionate fee. 150baht per head last I heard from the tour shop just up from Tesco.

Most of the tours from Khao San Road end up dumping customers there or out in the middle of nowhere.

I got caught with it as well when I feel back in last month.

Believe me the Authorities know about this and my first experience with that very shop was about 5 years ago. They won't do anything though even with the pleas from on high to behave with honesty and morality etc, this really shows many of them up for the cowardly scum they are when they wear the yellow shirts of support for HM the King, then behave like this. Money first morals later!

Those of you who are questioning the environmental impact also need to be aware that these little creatures are frozen, partially defrosted and then refrozen. They are going from a cool climate to a tropical one as well.

Thats a minimum as well.

Have they seen what happens when pallets of shrimp are left on the dock or on the bridge of a ship or in the back of a truck with the doors open? Plenty more opportunities there for defrosting.

Factory workers have a priority in life even above working for a slave wage to ensure Scottish Prawns do not get left out in the factory, and this is eating.

In my experience work comes to a dead halt at the merest hint of a hunger pang, eating in our office is a mimimum of two hours of pock pocking and gossiping. Another opportunity for defrosting.

We've had power cuts two days running in Patong, and this is their premier resort with a superior electricity supply.

So this stuff is going to be caught, shipped to a factory (1) moved to a port (2) put on a ship (3) taken off a ship and put on a truck (4) taken off truck into factory (5) factroy to truck (6) truck to ship (7) ship to truck to factory (8) Factory to retail outlets. Thats a minimum of 8 moves and processing in 3 factories, as well as the initial cleaning on the trawler. Then theres the poor punter getting it home from the supermarket in the London traffic in summer. Lovely

Nice one Youngs. Should help the price of real Thai Prawns a bit when shops realise the lunacy of this.

While I fully agree with your comments, ......... the internet.

Obviously the example quoted is way over the line and should be punished to the full extent of whatever law we can use.

The problem is defining where the line goes. The US won't allow nipples to be shown on broadcast TV, The Netherlands allow just about anything after 9pm, certainly naked breasts at any time is ok, who is 'right'??

There are though, quite clear lines that shouldn't be crossed. These can be drawn up quickly and be subject to ammendment in the unlikely event that public opinoin swings behind sites depicting murder, child sex, torture, executions sadism etc.

I have seen site descriptions so vile I wonder about the human race and agree an effort has to be made, even if it subsequently fails. Too many people have crossed to many lines in the name of freedom of speech.

These vile sites depend on people being able to access them. People find and access them through search engines. You could therefore give Google, Yahoo and Ask an incrediblly large suspended fine for letting this stuff get on there in the first instance. They do a lot of it for China and thats totally down to money rather than ethics. A fine large enough to cripple the company would ensure they used all their best technology to filter this stuff before it gets on the net rather than trying to find it and remove it later.

You can't sit back and have a trendy debate about where it may or may not be drawn, sort out the serious stuff then have the debate.

It can only get worse.

As the house sales dry up so to the miriad associated costs. Even if the falang involvement of 10% is deemed insignificant by some, we do have to furnish and set up a house from scratch, spending 20% plus on top of the house price to kit it out.

Fall in house sales (and lettings to some extent) = loss of furniture sales, air-con sales, utensils, ovens, fridges, decorations, garden machinery etc. Look round your house and you will get the idea. The next sector to be hit, will be the companies who manufacture, sell, install, maintain and repair all these items. In my experience these are virtually 100% thai owned small businesses and they are going to feel this soon. Thailand for the Thais is going to seem a hollow slogan when the income is slashed and jobs are lost with all the hardship that entails in a country with virtually no social security system.

As womble pointed out above, car sales will be hit as this is an unnecessary purchase and none of us are going to buy a brand new car when we don't know if we will be around to drive it, or if the visa situation or W/P situation will be viable in the near future. And this is from somebody like me who has had proper visa and W/P for over 6 years now, pay taxes, stamp and all bills on the dot. I'm not jumping through too many more hoops at my time of life.

Whatever the temporary government do, we are going to have a new elected government next year that could impose all sorts of restrictions, and its not beyond the realms of possibility that Thaksin could be back seeking revenge on all and Sundry. Seeing a lot of him in the media again and you can be sure it's stage managed!

This is the first of many threads regarding Thai corporations petitioning governments because they are getting a financial hammering.

"The petition was signed by 30 people, including many academics, and Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) which said 70 international organisations have expressed their support."

Thats an entire 30 people or about half the size of an average government school class. These NGO's have no concept at all of being out of touch. Surely their are bigger issues than this in the world.

Human rights group should concern themselves with real issues as these stupid side shows ridicule them and lessen support when they try to collect money or gather support against real miscarriages of justice.

To propose that pornographic material should be available to all children, Thaksin and his ilk should be alowed to destabalise the country, Al Qaeda should be allowed unlimited air space un hindered to recruit terrorists is absurd.

It's just trendy lefties like you have in the USA posturing on serious issues.

I am suprised that the press is printing this shit from these idiots and it just goes to highlight the problems of Political Correctness in the media outlets of the world. Would they straight faced print a demand from any group of 30 people claiming to be acedemics?

30 white expats demanding bar fines be reduced as it hinders our philandering and is a restriction of trade? Course not.

You got to inform the Embassy that the relationship is over.

Other posters have wisely advised against revenge. Now she probably feels some guilt but give her something to worry about like eviction and this will soon turn to self preservation.

For sure she will claim abuse. Falang women are advised to claim this as a matter of course and the PC nutters that are ruining and ruling the country will see her as a trafficked woman before she opens her mouth.

She is stereo typed as a victim by the very people that would be up in arms if you (a white man) stereo typed somebody else.

Remember Racism and Stereo typing are one way streets. Only white men can be guilty of these crimes these days.

JR Texas (51, USA, in China): Reply to Jai Dee post:

Catch the langoustines in Scotland, freeze them, then ship them (via container cargo?) 6000 miles to Thailand. Then thaw them out and hand peel them. Then refreeze them? Then 6000 miles back again via container cargo to Scotland. All because the company has determined that it can save money on labor and increase its profit margin. Right?

The comment was made "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

I would add that it only makes economic sense if the environmental costs are not included in the cost-benefit analysis.

It is unfortunate that at this late date (2006) we are still ignoring the cost to the environment when estimating "profitability." My guess is that the actual cost (shipping, labor, cost to environment, etc) of shipping them to Thailand and back will be much greater and not really profitable at all. But the actual cost is never calculated.

The same problem exists with all calculations of GNP worldwide.....the cost to the environment is ignored and our environmentally unsound economic activities (production and consumption) appear to be profitable. Tell that to future generations............tell that to the 120 people that just lost their jobs.

More likely that an exec of the company has a thai g/f...

There is a lot of it about!

A lot of people do re-locate here with the thought of the Thai G/F or the fun and frolics in mind.

Its a serious point and BKK should ensure it always remains a place that is fun to do business.

I did like the post about the packaging and wonder how the advertising agency is ever going to sell this product now this is out in the open.

"Like your seafood well travelled and worldy wise? Check out the hand finished product as you lovingly de-frost it for the third time since it died... etc."

Hope the diplomats read some of the posts on this site before spending good British money on Thai backhanders!

Can, cannot. Can, cannot. What is going on? No, it is not a rhetorical question. My mate was in Penang a couple of weeks ago and was given only 90 days? Lopburi, what is your theory about this? Is the fact one never really knows where one stands a deliberate policy to make sure we dont get too comfortable here or just poor management?

You can not obtain a multi entry in Penang. The post above your post quotes the currency as Singapore Dollars so his visa was not obtained in Penang (although response below the previous post distorts the meaning).

I got a 12 month non im "O" in Penang multiple entry and it cost 500 ringit.

Think the scam is they charge for a multiple one give three months and pocket the difference in fees.

Shop round the companies in Penang as some of them have "friends" in the Embassy. If you really insist on it before you hand it in you get it! 3 of us on the Mini bus home had multi's.

Heres a list of Thai companies that supply Tesco

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?Search...&Country=TH

All of whom (along with their staff) must be dancing on the tables at the prospect ot Tesco cutting back on their products both in Thailand and for sale abroad.

The airport's been planned for more than three decades. Quite how anybody buys land near a proposed airport then throws their toys out of the pram when it gets noisy staggers me. I read that AOT was to purchase houses for the people that had built them more than a certain amount of years ago.

I think the smell of compensation is in the air down there.

I can see a case for compensation for anybody having lived in the area since before the plans were originally drawn up.

Most of the rest will be speculators who bought up the land hoping for it to rise in price, bought up by the govenment or be developed for business. It's probably they who are behind these protests, espescially as the Govenment announced last week that much of it cannot be developed as it is a water run off area.

The timing is obviously to cause maximum financial damage over the xmas holiday period so maybe the French are behind this. Its obviously not just an outraged mob at work here. Somebody bigger is driving it.

Theres a good point though about the non-existance of a Buddhist lounge, whilst there is an Islamic prayer room already there. Countries nowadays cannot help themselves when it comes to pandering to Muslims.

Finally your comment about the restaurant is typical of people who have no idea of running a profitable business in Thailand. A business is in business to make money - its not in business to provide a service or drop in place for whoever wants to do so. This whole debacle about friends is ridiculous - they are not friends they are customers who are fickle and for the most part unloyal if all you can sell on is price and a price which is uneconomic - the simple truth is that business does not suceed on turnover or goodwill - it is totally dependant upon cash and profit which is a scenario I think our friend will find all to soon with his 69 baht breakfasts, providing of course, the VAT man does not close him down first or immigration police deport him for not having a work permit. The idea that a restaurant can suddenly become a travel agency is laughable and shows a serious case of clutching at straws to try and survive day to day. These guys are seen time and time again, but the simple reality is that you cannot build a profitable business on selling things below your costs.

Sad to here this view. Many people here use the business as a lifestyle and a pleasant way to spend their lives. Socialising, mixing with people and generally getting away from the big business mentality that drove many of us out of the west years ago. The idea being not to make a fortune, just make the pension or offshore income go a bit further and perhaps given the wifes family a chance to make what is for them a large sum of money. 69baht is more than a days wage for many in Pattaya!

Don't know if you live in Thailand or not, but every place I have ever eaten in could sell me a Tour, Visa run, Taxi to airport, find me a room and pocket the commission. I am struggling to think of any place I could go to and not be able to buy a trip VISA run or booking.

Overhear a customer talking about a Dive Trip and you could be in for a 1,000 baht comission at the very least 2,500 - 6,000 baht per 5 day dive safari trip is the norm... Try it! A lot of us poorer and retired people are just happy with life and I doubt if any of us will keel over from stress related heart attacks. Unlike over exposed property developers with lots of land on their hands.

In a business sense the 69 baht breakfast could be classified as a Loss Leader, from my memory of business college.

The thing that worries me most is that this is not one of those typically ill-thought out Thai trial-balloons.

I think (IMHO) that they are determined to get rid of any foreign competition and they're starting with the resident farangs...all designed to eliminate the competition for the thai-chinese.

Look at the Tesco nonesense. You simplyneed to ask yourself who stand to benefit when this sort of crap starts appearing since you can bet mom and pop store owners have not organizaed this.

Have a look at CP Group (owners of 7-11 chain - ironically a 'foreign' brand isn't it?) and some of the other rich thai-chinese familyrun companies for potential suspects.

Plan an exit strategy thanks to JR Texas and the others for the info about other nearby countries we can relocate.

Think you're right and we should start hitting em where it hurst. No more money transfers.