chalawaan

21 hours ago, WineOh said:

You are joking aren't you??

 

that's worse than Archa ????

 

Gassy as hell that Federbrau.

 

I liked F when they were selling it as a loss leader to gain tmarket traction, the taste seemed to turn as the price crept up to match the usual suspects!

I think the concept there was to channel Kloster, anyone remeber that? 

I just can't love local Heineken either, plus it is headache fodder. It's not even close to what the taps pour in the Netherlands, and there it's nothing special, with all the other excellent mass produced lagers anyhow.

ASEAN hasn't helped Beer Lao get a brotherly tax cut.

Is it not strange that even China can make a decent drop (Tsingdao) and here we have to pay too mutt for it, or sip monopolized peepee.

The reason for the decent Asian imports is they faithfully reproduced their brews according to purity laws, the China beer started life in the German Concession before the Chinese civil war.

Another poster listed the Lao ingredients.

I canot comment on why the big brewers here do such a crappity job of it, but I'd be preaching to the choir anyhow, because you'll find theyre the same reasons why the vax rollout is a shamozzle, why the airline is on life support, why the lawmakers behave like lawbreakers, why bright young boutique  brewmasters are shut down for BS "infiringements" etc etc etc as Yul Brunner would say.

You can bet there'll be a story soon that a gazillion doses were sent to a "White" Province, then they were left out in the sun on the back of a pick-up. 

But it's all a misunderstanding, the spoiled jabs were sold to Nigeria, and the pick-up was transferred to an inactive parking spot.

3 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Monthly inputs are the requirement.

Quite, I've shared some thoughts with the OP, its no skin off my nose what he does with that, and I don't engage in 3rd party discussion here unless its for laughs, life's too short to grump back at you. Enjoy the weekeend, heaven knows how many we might have left.

6 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

What do currency fluctuations have to do with transfers whether you do it yourself or use an agent? Unless of course you are paying for the monies to be 'ignored'

Long term cost? I use Wise every month and it is never more than a tenner x 12 = £120 = Bht 5000 ish. An agent's fee?

Well, for straters, you have the benefit of Sterling, but hassle (time) is money and its utterly priceless past 60. So I wouldnt waste it arguing teeny weeny personal points of order on here bud.

Also, an agent is worthwhile if one has cashflow issues, and monthly inputs could mean the OP has cashflow issues. 

With currency fluctuations, and the long-term cost of this method,  I quickly decided it wasnt worth the hassle, as even the 90 day nonsense has tripped me up, better things to do with my life getting in the way and all that.

As others have advised, and not only in this thread, an agent is likely your best bet whether you do this monthly thing, or the annual seasoning of 800 K.

I'm making a wild and fictional guess here, but rumor has it that what you pay the agent also helps "the system" to find ways to overlook your applications "errors".

If this rightly alarms you, then console yourself that you're in good company going to the darkside, some of the biggest names in the nation are loudly and proudly in da club, where do you think all those watches and submarines come from, Lazada?

When in Rome....

4 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

When I mentioned getting the army to help to my wife the look I got, like dont think so

Silly me, I forgot where we are. Yes given the "best and brightest" Thai warriors are all in Parliament House swapping flour export tips, I see her point.

Just now, ChipButty said:

We learn that in the cadets 

There you go, so  this Army-obsessed country has no shortage of suitable candidates then, the jab is cakewalk compared to not screwing up a blood sample, even nurses who take blood every day miss, or go right thru the vein. The jabs are tiny, pop it into any meaty bit and plunge, done.

You can teach anyone smart enough to pass a basic First Aid course and that could include how to give a jab.

A doctor or experienced nurse could oversee a "platoon" of volunteer "jabbers".

Back in the days of yore, to pass basic infantry school, we had to find a vein and take 10cc blood from our mates, this was to be able to rig a drip in the field if need be.

It's not hard to get this rolling, it is hard to find anyone in power, worldwide, who isn't there because they're an industrial psychopath and should in fact be in a padded cell.

Our collective troubles would plummet if leadership was a calling and not a rort.

5 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

There are plenty of veterinary surgeons here...

Don't laugh, Vets do longer med school than human family practitioners.

And they have saved human lives in places like on transcontinental aircraft in life-threatening emergencies.

35 minutes ago, bougnat said:

Enjoy jab guys !

You do realise that of course Covid also confers this menu of delights on its victims, only with the full ferocity of the actual virus the jab is cloned from, but hey -thats just medical science, no match for medeival avoidance tactics eh? So enjoy the protection of your herbs hung over the doorway, lucky rabbits foot, sacrificial goat, or rosary then. ????

So he was worth a yearly marriage visa extension of "income" according to the "good people". 

A lot of restless natives on Twitter pointing out the cost of yesterdays observances too... this place is unravelling slowly but surely.

10 minutes ago, Pravda said:

 

Your friend can kiss 2 million baht goodbye and is lucky if he avoids any legal issues.

 

This stupidity is entirely on him. If the value of the building went up many million baht, would he complain? I know in the west developer can sue you even if you walk away from deposit. This is the best case scenario.

Yes, I was thinking that anywhere, this is just a case of "tough luck/buyer beware". I can't see how in any jurisdiction this would be seen as improper, he's victim of market moves/history, and that's that. 

Any non Thai here needs to learn the golden rules, don't invest what you cannot afford to lose, and don't ever expect litigation to go your way, especially if your opponent has deeper pockets, and is a native.

The other fun thing is that your passport is taken away once you get involved in the legal system as a foriegner, and then you have the monthly nightmare of special extentions with immigration -you cannot leave the kingdom whatsoever- until the case makes it's way through the years and the system. I'd just sit tight and accept a decade of price doldrums on that condo, Bangkok will shine again, but crying foul in this case is the absolute worst possible move to make IMO.

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Thanks for your encouragement. It is so frustrating when agents and sellers are hanging on to lofty pre-Covid dream like prices, but of course owners have the right to price their property anyway they wish. All I can do is vote with my feet.

After a lot of haggling I got a house that was listed at 8.5 million down to 7.25 million,  but that doesn't feel like a good deal after seeing ur numbers. 

I am looking at one of the islands, so the selection of available villas is smaller.

I visited a friend in a Chiang Mai estate populated by upper middle class Thais mostly. 

The shenanigans are epic!

First, there's a six storey concrete hulk on land that the developer promised would be a private park for the residents. Unfortunately for the shonky devs, the new neighbour was a hi-profile lawyer who took them on -and won- an order to cease and demolish.

Well they ceased. But we reckon after almost ten years, the 'demolish' will never happen, it will become CM's vertical "Angkor Wat" centuries from now. 

But wait it gets better!

Said lawyer sold the mansion with the hi-rise hulk out front somehow, moved on, but then decided, without authorizaetion, to renovate another McMansion in the estate he just left, as a "party house" on Air BNB, of course this went down like a lead zep among the elderly wealthy neoighbours around the house, but not before a few other clowns in the baan decided to copy him, and spend crazy money on renovation, CCTV, landscaped pools, and even fleets of scooters for the guests!

Well, the cops were dragged in by the unimpressed and wealthy wrinklys, they ended up raiding every party that the mostly Chineses tourists, or the owners Thai hangers-on, had, and also the salim neighbours put up huge banners in Thai next to each illegal Air BNB that said renting them was illegal and would attract instant police visits.

You gotta love when the salim vs salim, but anyhoo, these selfish inconsiderate Air BNB Rs wipes have also been hit with covid, so there's totally no one to rent to, even if they tried every trick in the book. They are up to their cloaca in reno debt, and the new pools are slowly turning into green swamps.  Ironically, the upgrades have made the homes even less attractive to buyers, they're not really configured as true "homes" on the inside, come with cheap furniture an owner would have to dump, and who in their right mind takes on a pool as a private rental unless they are swimming fanatics?

Many there have cars worth more than the mansions, one bloke has two late model Porche, one black, one white. One of those would be RRP several times more than the impressive two storey they are parked under.  To me that signals someone who does not understand money, even tho they have (borrowed) lots of it.

My friend says the other side of the buy/sell coin, is that in CM prices have barely moved in real terms over the millenial decades, so his investment plus all the maint and upgrades, like a huge wet kitchen/entertaining area, mean he's just breaking even if he gets 5 million. He's asking six in anticipation of haggling but will sell at five, with all existing appliances thrown in.  He's not leaving LoS, the plan is to downsize in his old age to a quieter one-level seaside villa, and reno-to-rent an existing BKK apartment that is his forever investment.

Bangkok will never be a bad investment, unless they do something really dumb e.g. xenophobic and nationalistic, which right now will serve no-one.

Chiang Mai with its hectares of decades-old EMPTY condo towers and private Mc Mansion estates (probably a vast golden triangle laundry scheme because otherwise - just why?)

Is going to be a headache until and unless they open up the overseas market like other nations have done, of course then, you end up with prices like Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Vancouver! 

They're greedy AF here -but they hate and fear foriegners getting ahead on any metric even more!

We have good results with Cha Plu, google the name and you'll get pictures, it has a shiny heart-shaped edible leaf, it's a ground creeper that reaches about knee high, it will take about six months to a year to really flourish, but almost no weed grows under it once it's dominant, it's also very easy to remove and control. It thrives in part-shade or sun. 

Even well-laid stone with sand and nylon groundsheet foundations has weed issues eventually.

2 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

How do you spell clusterf**k?

R-T-A    L- E-D    G-O-V-E-R-N-M- E- N-T

Today 6th was 76 anniversary of D Day.

Tomorrow's V Day in LoS.

Goodnight and Good luck....

    irresponsible headlines like the one in this article is how one gets Indian waves.

A Covid variant is for life not just for Christmas.

Seems the thread won't be that short lived, heads up calls like these are always welcome, I'll check my local branch and report back with location.CM. 

There could be a lot of these about soon as unconsumed  beer stock ages too.

Save KINK club for me. I'm a big kahuna upstairs there.

I got a pixelbook go (Google Chrome/Android/Linux OS) from US Amazon shipped here in january, you need to prepay import duty to Amazon, who then deal with customs here, to my delight i got nearly $90 refunded in import duty a few weeks after the device arrived, im very happy with it, reputable reviews say its one of the best devices for the money out there at the moment. The speakers are tiny but the best ive ever heard on a notebook. The entire system and files are all replicated in the cloud, so if it malfunctions, you simply wipe it, and it downloads itself and most of your apps again, just as you left them, brilliant. 

On 3/30/2021 at 12:43 PM, giddyup said:

I have been in Thailand 11 years but have managed to keep my Medicare card current. As long as you have a mailing address (I use a friends) in Australia they will automatically send out a new card just before the old one expires.

You're not being flagged on the system for some reason, but I have been denied a new medicare card and NSW driving licence for a while now, they usually do know when you're permenantly out of the country and the databases are linked, hence all the new online passwords and so on that access all services from health to taxes, you've just been lucky up until now, because they didn't want to know when I showed up at centerlink in person to renew. about 5 years ago. I didnt tell them I was just visiting, but they knew I wasnt resident, you have to prove you've got substantial local ties -the usual utility bills in your name etc, or they will knock back. i have my two banks and aussie online based business all tied to a mates address, supposedly my crib, and a optus mobile, none of that convinced them. A bit hard when Border force is sharing your movements.

On 5/21/2021 at 10:46 AM, gearbox said:

In line with my experience last year in India, I'm expecting to receive a questionnaire from the Australian embassy with content like this:

 

We are considering vaccinating the Australian citizens living permanently in Thailand. How much are you prepared to pay:

 

A. Below $500 AUD

B. Between $500-1000 AUD

C. Above $1000 AUD.

 

Then after 2 weeks I would get a follow up email like this:

 

"Unfortunately nobody is prepared to pay above $1000,  and anything below is not commercially feasible, so find your own way to get vaccinated"

Sounds about right for Canberra, who treat every retired expat like a Christopher Skase fugitive, bastards.