smccolley

I would kill for Taco Bell! It is not really mexican food but it is excellent after a night of partying. When I do get back to the states (3 times in the last 7 years) I stuff myself on it hoping to get over the cravings, but it doesn't work.

It is the only thing I miss about the US...

A flame post has been removed.

How can anyone flame beetroot! Can we hang them???

I haven't had any issues with my two Samsung Galaxys but when one of my hard drives broke and one monitor broke ( out of 4 computers and 3 monotors) the service at the Pattaya service center was excellent, fixed in hours...

I use Mr Boon from Pataya to the airport pretty much every week for the last 7 years or so, he has 5 drivers and clean cars. His english is decent and he can be there on time.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-Boon-and-Friends-Taxi-Service-24hrsvancar-service-in-pattaya/128215993896666?fref=ts

+66 81 903 9176

Tell him Scott sent you.

I got my iPads a bit easier. I stay in Starwood properties a lot, so Le Meridien KL had a deal to trade points for an iPad. I told the manager I wanted 3 and the next day they arrived, 3 32GB 4G iPad minis! I paid my 700 for the week and left with 1800USD worth of iPads.

Much less run around...

Did you read my post just after your previous post. I think I gave you a good answer.

Thanks UbonJoe. I did re-read that and that actually helps, about 2m baht is derived from sources outside of thailand so that should help reduce the amount I have to pay.

The company says they will have Ernst and Young do my taxes for me this year, I just wanted to be sure how much I had to set aside from the outside income for taxes here.

How about this example?

I am paid by a Thai registered company. I have a work permit. I have no customers in Thailand and travel every week for work. I get home on the weekends and some holidays (like today). At this time I don't spend 180 days a year in Thailand.

Should I be paying Thai tax?

Look at your pay slip and you will find that you are already paying tax. Your employer deducts it from your salary and sends it to the revenue department.

Oh they are! About 1 million baht per year! But the question is - if I am not in Thailand 180 days and when I am here I am not working on any projects in Thailand, can I file and get that money refunded at the end of the year?

How about this example?

I am paid by a Thai registered company. I have a work permit. I have no customers in Thailand and travel every week for work. I get home on the weekends and some holidays (like today). At this time I don't spend 180 days a year in Thailand.

Should I be paying Thai tax?

One of the things I have seen more than once is when we eat on the patio, a week later I have plants growing from the food we had eaten. I now have a number of items, most notably chili peppers and cucumbers.

That never seemed to happen at our family picnics in Calgary...

I have been on Soi Naklua 12 across from the Sanctuary of Truth since 2006 and I can't imagine being on the dark side or any closer to Pattaya. I have the ocean breezes without the insanity (unless I care to drive 4km). I find it very relaxing and if I do have to go anywhere I am so close I can just take a baht bus if I am too lazy to drive and park.

I feel like this is the best of all worlds, close but not too close, 3KM to Best or Tesco.

ARe the full rules for PR posted somewhere?

Bupa Insurance is the gold standard here in Thailand. It should pretty much cover every conceivable accident/injury/illness.

.

The best material remains quality glassware. Remember the old style pyrex dishes and bowels?

I try to avoid eating from bowels as much as possible.

I am guessing you don't like sausages then, since that is pretty much what they are wrapped with

When I do have a Euro account (say when it is possible to add this to my excisting account) does this mean that BKK bank will payout to me exactly the same amount as transferred from the other party ? (exept transfer costs ofcourse)

I think that you will find that it is not recommended to have a foreign currency account at a Thai bank since the accounts are very restrictive and expensive

I think the idea here is when you execute the transfer tell your bank to transfer in Euros and let Bangkok bank perform the exchange. I have been doing this monthly for many years and the exchange rate seems to be the best that way.

Not only that, last month I transferred 1.5m baht and Bangkok bank called me and offered a better rate than they had posted because of the amount I was transferring.

This is why I have 2 phone lines and two internet services at the house - I didn't notice the outage at all. I have all my machines automatically switch to the working internet when one goes down. You can never tell how long an outage might be here.

I agree with the Thai government, as much as possible of these chemical shit products from Pfizer and similar companies must be banned. Chemicals in your body can never give you any benifit.

Unless of course you have a medical condition - say epilepsy - and the valium prevents or stops the seizures... Abusing drugs is a bad idea, prescription drugs aren't.

I went to renew my WP yesterday & all OK except they are now enforcing an existing rule that requires a medical certificate for extensions. I have previously extended many times without needing a medical certificate. The girls at the front counter were about to pass it but then a guy stepped forward & said they need to see a test for 6 diseases. He wrote them in Thai & when I got home tried to work them out & came up with leprosy. tuberculosis, elephantiasis but could not work out the other 3. I have since discovered & believe they also check for drug & alcohol addiction along with syphilis. So today am off to get these checked.

On another note, when doing visa renewal based upon marriage, my wife was informed her ID card had expired & so I do not have my visa yet. She obviously knew it had expired & tried explaining to the new head lady she had been to the Amphur twice for a new card but told they do not have any. Not only that they did not even have the yellow forms they used to issue for people waiting on ID cards. So today she has to get a document endorsed at the Amphur's so I can then retrieve my passport & visa. I live in hope.

This is a standard requirement and i have had a work permit for 9 years, always have to give a medical certificate cost 50 baht

I just went for the test and they charged me 150 baht, they send out the syphillis test. That will teach me to live in Pattaya. I hope they find some blood in my alcohol system or I'll fail the alcoholic part.

At Jomtien Immigration they ask if I want "express service" on my non-immigrant-O marriage visa. For this I don't have to stand in line, they guarantee my paperwork is good (requirements change annually) and generally everything is smooth. The "express service" fee is of course paid in a plain envelope to the processor.

This "fee" has been going up every year, it started at 6000 baht and 6 years later it is up to 10000 baht. I thought it was normal. The only way I can avoid it is to apply for my visa so early even they can see no reason to rush it (usually 45 days or more before it expires).

I figured that was normal business here in Thailand. I don't really care about the money and it always speeds up the process.

One thing I noted in the TV coverage - if you look at the King's VW van you can see the tax sticker on it. That should be a lesson to all people in Thailand that the King pays his taxes. He makes an excellent example for rulers of all countries.

I fly through Suvarnabhumi pretty frequently (2 to 6 times a month since it opened) and the only times I have issues are Sundays around 8am, as Thai has about 8 flights leaving at the same time. Every other time I arrive 2 hours early, and have time for a meal and a smoke before getting to the gate a half hour or more before departure.

Sure, sometimes there are lines for immigration, but it seems to be less and less. I think it is a relatively pleasant experience with less issues than many other airports I fly through. Also, flight delays are rare unlike other airports.

I really can't complain and l am looking forward to the expansions.

Well please enlighten on the significant grammatical differences? Did American English do away with tenses, adverbs or did it just lose an 'I' in aluminum?

It didn't lose an "L" it skipped an unimportant "U" - it is aluminum not al-U-minium....

The debate over the divergence of borrowed words from their native pronunciations has revealed how languages and people adapt in times of change and globalisation. Perhaps more significantly, it also reveals that, although Thais are often lectured about the importance of learning a second language such as English or Chinese, we still share a passionate sense of ownership of our own tongue.

Perhaps it also indicates a closed mind and linguistic xenophobia along with the inability or willingness to adapt to an ever changing global village in this modern world in which we live

Maybe Thailand can take a page from the French law books and make the English words illegal and make up some stupid equivalent that they are required to use...

Hypocrisy runs rampant, again. Do they protest the killings in the south?

Of course not, these are the people instigating the killings in the south. If you are muslim it is ok to kill anyone if someone in the world insults you, just to prove you are insulted.

I need to convert...

I think is because Thailand is the Hub for Fake Bomb Detectors

Don't think that Thailand is the only one. Two years ago I saw them using these POS detectors at the Sheraton in Jordan and told they manager they were shit. They are still using them as far as I know...

I don't know who this guy is but he is the best snake oill salesman in the world. Britain shouldn't have him in jail - they should have him selling something useful.

I came here for a holiday in 2006, at the time I was a researcher at Sun Micro. I liked it so much I went back to the states, quit my job and started searching.

I identified a busness that needed my skill set, took the VP of Ops out to dinner and told him I would do pretty much anything he needed, but I had to live in Thailand. Three months later I was here managing the APAC region for a small telecom company. I travel a lot but Banglamung is home. Couldn't be happier.