Callmeishmael

Lots of wealthy Thais use property like a savings account in a bank. They buy lots or buildings and then either rent them out for income or leave them empty while they appreciate in value. Eventually they will build a new building or renovate the existing building and sell at a considerable profit. Not looking at a property that may be in a distant town is not that unusual. Edit: I just noticed the owners name: Chinnawat. I believe an alternate spelling is Shinawatra. He probably has so much money that the value of a couple of old shophouses is not significant at all.

Actually, while I do think that Thaksin was overall good for Thailand as PM, his government was definitely "Thai Rak Thai", not "Thai Rak Farang". He doubled the money in the bank required for Visas, made the granting of PR status much more difficult and generally made life for foreigners in Thailand much more difficult. Looking at this from just a foreign expat perspective, Thaksin and his party may be good news for Thais, but I wouldn't be surprised if Visa requirements double again! Though the most xenophobic member of his old cabinet (Purachai), who pushed most of these changes, is now firmly on the yellowshirt side.

I expect that a deal has been made: PT will join Palang Pacherat, BJ, and the Dems to form a coalition in exchange for a pardon for Thaksi

I can imagine a Kafkaesque situation where you buy everything with a phone app, then lose your phone, and then cannot pay for a new phone!

Quite a few years ago I had some cash from the sale of my sailboat back in California, and looked at several foreclosed properties. Most of the houses that I looked at (usually just from the outside) had people still living in them! When I asked the bank about that, they said that it would be my responsibility to get them out AFTER I bought the house! Needless to say, I ended up buying some land that was free and clear.

The embassy will give you a letter to Thai Immigration asking them to transfer the Visa from the old passport to the new passport. You just need to take both passports with you the next time you go to immigration.

A Thai friend entered on her US passport and was able to get a 1 year free stamp at immigration by simply showing her Thai ID. She had changed her name and needed to get a new Thai passport with her new name on it.

The manager of the apartment building I used to live in loaned out small (10K or less) amounts at 10% interest per month. I was never a customer, but I knew a couple people who were. Another friend of a friend owed about 300,000 and was paying 30K per month. She had a good job and an American boyfriend, but was struggling to make ends meet and had no prospect of ever paying her debt off.

Well, the unelected military appointed Senators have a choice: Pita or Thaksin. I rather suspect that they will choose 'the devil you know' rather than 'the devil you don't know'.

A quote from the Thaiger: "Big Joke pledged to take legal action against anyone using his name to demand bribes." She seems to have done extortion using his name and he is not amused!

50 - 60 years old.... elderly.... Christ! I'm 66, so I must have one foot in the grave! Where's my Zimmer Frame!

Quite frankly, I've never thought at Pheu Thai were really that progressive. They have supported some progressive policies, but they did so more from a populist point of view rather than being truly progressive. I think that PT really wants to get into bed with Anutin, Prawit and Prayut and form their own coalition government. There are 2 things holding them back: 1 -They may lose a LOT of future votes if they stab MF in the back. 2 -They still won't have enough votes to make a Senate-proof majority.

Before looking at a bunch of condos/rooms, you might want to figure out WHERE in Bangkok you want to live. If you work here, I would strongly suggest that you look in the area where you work or someplace that is a very short and easy commute to your office. There are thousands of apartments in Bangkok, with many in your price range. I would recommend going to your office and looking around. There will probably be several mansions (apartment buildings) withing a 5 or ten minute walk. Just walk in and ask if they have any rooms free and how much they cost. If you are a handsome man (and aren't we all!) the front desk girl might direct you to the perfect room for your price range and location.

A couple of friends have signed up and neither of them have heard anything from the TCT either. I believe that the courses are starting no later than September, so I wouldn't worry unless you don't hear anything from them by August.

^ Yes, if he has a current license from Canada, he can apply for a Thai Teacher's License. This is what most teachers at International Schools do.

Teachers at International Schools need waivers or licenses just like everyone else. One of they ways you can get a Thai teacher's license, is to have a license from your home country. If you are a qualified teacher from Canada, or the UK or the US, you can just present proof of your qualifications to the TCT (along with a lot of other paperwork) and get your Thai Teacher's License.

I tested + last Wednesday morning, spent the day in bed and tested - Thursday. I didn't go to a hospital and so I won't show up in any statistics.

I think you need to turn your perspective of this AI revolution around: 1. 300 million jobs lost. 2. 7% increase in productivity. So 300 million people will become poorer and maybe 3 million business owners will become richer. So the real question is 'Which group are you in?'

You probably already know this, but you will need to scan all of your certificates and combine them as a single, multi-page PDF document that is no bigger than 2MB. I actually found this to be the most difficult part of the whole application procedure and finally bought a copy of Abobe Acrobat, as I couldn't get the correct size from the free PDF editors.

There is no such thing as 'semi-private' schools. There are private schools of varying quality and price and then there are Government Schools. However, not all Government Schools are equal. Many have EP programs or Gifted Programs or Mini-EPs, which require Entrance Exams and extra tuition payments. Some Government Schools are 'famous' and require entrance exams for everyone, not just the EP students. Getting into a 'good school' is very important, not because you get a better education, but because students who graduate together are often friends for life and can help each other with jobs or business contacts later in life.

Actually, foreign students in the US have limitations on how much and where they can work. They can work on campus for no more than 20 hours per week.

I friend used to joke that she was sending her daughter 30K baht a month to go to university so that she could earn 20K a month after she graduated!

Didn't know how to put the car in neutral!!!??? I don't think that he deserved the kicking, but what a numpty!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I would rather pay the 20K baht than go to jail! ????

Didn't I read about this a few weeks ago?