LogicThai

Young and middle-aged urban bangkokite professionals are not ambivalent about all that either. Especially after a few beers, one hears all sorts of unflattering comments. It is increasingly clear that a broad wind of change is blowing, which is exactly what the powers -that-be are so afraid of.

I don't really know, since I never use metered taxis, but by all accounts yes, Grab is at least 50% more expensive. Much more than that actually, since I usually book Premium category (most often a Toyota Camry). Such cars are larger and more comfortable when riding with colleagues or family, and they are often more available than Regular Grab, but Premium tends to cost 50% more than Regular. But it is all relative. A metered ride might cost 75, Regular Grab 120 and Premium Grab 180. No big deal, and a much improved user experience. Every morning, usually within minutes of booking, a Camry picks me up at the door of the condo and gets me to the door of the office. No hassle, for 200 baht. Most evenings, I go home with the BTS, which sort of evens out ????

We have an office credit card to charge our business-related trips, and that info is uploaded into our accounting system. For private use, it is good never to have to worry about exact change, coins etc., and even for private use, it is useful to have access to ride data for further analysis. It all depends on one's particular situation, actually. A retiree spending his own money might not care about any of that, but I do.

I only use Grab in Bangkok. It usually is quite reliable, the use of the app removes the need to communicate with the driver, as your destination is pre-set before you even get into the car and the total fare is predictable. Also, you have a choice in a wide range of vehicles for different needs (large cars, SUVs, pet-friendly, etc.). Also, it charges your credit card (or in my case several cards depending on business or private rides), ... All in all, even with the traffic issues, I think that Grab is great.

No. There was no check whatsoever. At the check-in in Singapore, I was asked if I was vaccinated, but that was it, no request to prove anything. At arrival in BKK, no mention of any vaccination. I did not see any thermo scanners either.

Just flew in this evening (at Suvarnaphum). The airline did not distribute TM6 forms, none were available at the desks prior to immigration, the IO stamped my passport with a permission to stay date in sync with my Work Permit (well into 2023, and that was it. No mention of TM6 at all. Also, the entire immigration process took about 3 minutes, no queue anywhere.

The Sleeper on the North-East line is an excellent way to go to Issaan. I have taken it many times to go to Buriram. Departure from BKK (still Hualamphong, I assume?) at 8:30pm. The one First Class railcar at the end of the train offers private rooms, which I find to be good value. It is a slow train, like all trains in Thailand, but who cares?

Flying to Koh Samui for Songkran (from Bangkok). long-term resident, triple vaccinated, all registered in the Moh Prompt app. Is there any other thing to do before the flight? PCR test or whatnot?

Yes. I regularly transfer THB to SGD and to Euro. Next day, the money gets to where it is supposed to. I opened my Deemoney account remotely, and I transfer cash to them from my Bangkok Bank account using the iPhone app and a QR code. Works like a charm.

I will DM you my professional email, so that you can provide details of the legal entity wishing to register a RepOffice in Thailand. That's the starting point to forward your case to my legal colleagues, who will then let you know the fees they would charge for that case. All the cases that we handled in the last year (either ourselves of in cooperation with our clients' retained law firm) have been successful, not necessarily because we are particularly brillant at it, but because one needs to get all the paperwork in order. If so, it goes through. If not, not.

Not quite. We are a local law firm, somehow. My company has its own lawyers and paralegals who take care of all the paperwork on behalf of our clients, that are the foreign companies needing such Representative Offices. We also use courriers for the legwork with Department of Labor and with Immigration. We also take care of accounting, tax compliance and payroll/HR matters, as a true One-Stop-Shop.

Well, That's what I do for a living. It is one of the easiest things to do, comparatively, for a foreign entity, but still fairly bureaucratic, obviously, this being Thailand. Only bona fide foreign companies meeting all the requirements should apply. One major advantage is to allow work permits for foreigners without needing to meet a quota of local staff. Cost is comparable to setting up a company, and depends of the level of support required.

In general, if I ever had to move again (which I did too many times already), I would definitely not take anything with me. All those moves made me a lot less attached to items, and it is true that the cost and hassle of bringing along what is effectively second-hand stuff is rarely justified. Whatever budget needed to do so would be better spent buying equivalent new stuff here. We initially relocated from Europe to Singapore 10 years ago, ad we had taken most of our stuff, including appliances. It did not matter much, because the international move was covered by a specific allowance from my employer at the time. Even so, one of our 2 fridges never restarted after the 6 weeks in a container, and we discovered that things like a tumble-dryer are of limited use in this region. After 5 years, we moved from Singapore to Bangkok, with only a selection of our stuff (largely because this time I had to pay the move myself). That move was under the name of my wife (who is Thai), which was convenient from a tax duty pod, but apparently meant that out container was opened and inspected, which the customs agent told me rarely ever happen when Westerners are the importer. Customer officers objected about our golf bags (sports items are a red flag, apparently), but we were told via the agent that a brown envelope with 5,000 bahts would put the matter to rest. We were more concerned with a small Buddha that was bubble-wrapped in one of the boxes, but they did not look that far inside. It is a true antique, that my parents bought in Europe 40 years ago. Ironic that a practicing Buddhist like my wife bringing a Thai Buddha back to Thailand could be an issue, but in the en all was well. Now, 10 years later, we still own and use a portion the furniture and appliances that we brought from Europe. I had culled a big part of my collection of books, keeping only the valuable ones (most items I now have in e-format too), but the remaining books suffered from exposure to humidity and rats while in storage in Thailand during a subsequent and more recent move. The dishwasher we had bought in Singapore died somewhere between Singapore and Thailand, and we replaced it with a lower spec model from the same brand at HomePro.

I think that it depends a lot on what and where. My son is ever so slightly on the autism spectrum. He needs some special care, largely because he cannot deal with the noise and pressure of a regular classroom, but nothing heavy. He goes to a regular government school not far from home, and he has a dedicated teacher and a dedicated classroom, which is awesome. There are other children enrolled too, but they rarely go to school, because they are heavily handicapped, and COVID did not help either. Because of that, the teachers go to them at their homes, and do their best to provide some teaching support. It is really amazing to see the dedication. However, from what I gather, the level of support is patchy and inconsistent. Bigger population centres are better equipped, obviously. There are foundations that can help. In my son's case, he benefits from the Khun Poom Foundation, that was set up by HRH Princess Ubolratana in memory of her late son (who was autistic and died tragically during the Tsunami in 2004), to aid children with autism and other learning disabilities.

Cost of living in Thailand has been debated at length here and elsewhere. There is no obvious or unique answer to that question. This said, I find that the requirement for a Retired Visa (Non-O Retired) is a good first rough cut estimate: between 400,000 baht per year if married and 800,000 if single (although the reverse would make more sense; say 65,000 per month. That is enough to live as a Farang In Thailand. Some will need less, many will need more than that. I’d say that 100,000 a month is a reasonable spend for a Western lifestyle in a big city. Another approach would be to use a website like expatistan.com (https://www.expatistan.com/) A quick search indicates that cost of living in Bangkok (Thailand) is 52% cheaper than in Sydney (Australia), which sounds about right. The website provides details of cost of living items for a western lifestyle, usually with high/medium and low, which provides quite useful insight. Of course, this I for a family of Western expats having active lifestyle, not necessarily applicable to retiring in the Heart of Darkness in Issaan. In fact, the real issue about financial security is the cost of healthcare, which is increasingly expensive as people age, obviously. One can live quite cheaply in Thailand, and have full control on daily spending, but a hospital bill can bankrupt you if not properly insured. Considering the way things go in the world and in Thailand, maybe now is no the best of times to retire here, quite frankly.

Our Vigo is serviced (and occasionally fixed ????) by the Toyota main dealership in Nang Rong. As far as I know, it has been a flawless service for many years. They have a satellite operation in Ban Kruat, which is closer but has only limited servicing capability.

Plus a cluster of eateries and a McDonald's at the Buriram United F.C.. Chang Arena stadium. Conveniently, there is also a branch of the Immigration office behind the McDonalds. On the same strip as Makro, BigC and Robinson, there is a HomePro, with a few more shops and eateries. All in all, Buriram seems to have developed into quite a well-rounded city.