thaimate

well ,i must be going on the good days,although i must admit fish doesnt travel well in those containers makes the batter soft.

but always had good burgers and chips there and my lad said the cod was ok. also thai food good ,but yes not very fast service.

went the other day ,no charge for parking if you get a stamp in any shop ,prices in villa a little high ,but good selection of goods and miracle of miracles ,fresh parsnips,hope they have them at christmas. christmas dinner isnt the same without roast parsnips

notice that they are stocking buttermilk as well.

have been taking the familly to simons fish and chip restaurant in jomtien now for some time. cod and real british chips excellent ,also terrific home made burgers and thai food ,i highly recomend it.

situated 413/141 moo 12 jomtien ,go down the hill from thepprasit turn at the bottom where the rd bends to the right (to the left takes you to immegration) towards beach ,about 100 yds on the right.

you wont be disapointed.

my son goes to assumtion school in sriracha and does the english program,what a school absolutely fantastic ,2 terms 40k a term and a bus collects and delivers him home.1900 bhat a month,so many playing fields football pitches and swimming pools and the grounds are superb as is the standard of teaching,

the driving test here in pattaya is very difficult,my wife nearly failed her test but then realized she was sitting in the back seat!! once she showed the examiner that she knew where the steering wheel was it was ok .

when she goes out driving i usually send out warnings to the local police to clear the roads.

i usually keep about 600k in a thai bankand have just toped it up to over 800k for my yearly retirement visa 4 months hence ,as i transfer money from my nationwide account via my debit card there is no record of my transfers except the slips from the machine ,last year in pattaya i was not asked for a letter from my bank ,does anyone know if they will ask for one as it would be impossable to get .

try the basement of dot kom ,the large electical store there repairs digital cameras,just had one done.

the trouble here in pattaya is that thais have an inflated view of what their properties are worth,an example houses near us just on market from the builder 3.8 mill, 2 months later back on market at 6.5 mill crazy !. the house opposite us has just gone on the market ,the rent 18000 bhat more than we were paying or for sale 4mill more than ours ,identical house ,but not as nicely furnished or decorated .my wife tried to explain to the owner that it was vastly overpriced but she seemed to think there would be a stampede to view.2 months later nada. i blame the agents young thai girls came to view the house and just took it on at what the vendor wanted ,i was an agent in england and to be honest most of the agents here couldnt run a bath let alone an office

when we got our house 2 years ago we looked at many and made offers that were turned down ,i would say 80% are still empty.

the house market for farangs is dead,and i believe will stay that way for years . as for condos the nice sea view ones seem to be selling ,but there are a hel_l of a lot still unsold of the other vareiety.

why dont you brits use the nationwide ? used my visa flex card yesterday to take out 20000 bht got a rate of 69.22 to the pound,always a good rate and no fees.

just flew in from britain via dubai on emirates after a holiday,the bag was open on the carousel ,lock still closed,zip forced and jewellry missing .this also happened some time ago while flying with emirates,the suitcase also wet and dirty ,second time with emirates .its back to eva for me and shrinkwrapping.

about a year and a half ago we rented a house advertised at 40000 bht for 30000 bht .after a year to keep us renting it was reduced to 28000,our landlady is a well educated thai and realises how diffecult things are at present ,there are still houses on our very nice estate unoccupied after 3 years and no wonder looking at the prices asked! to give some idea just outside the estate the builder has just finished 12 more houses all sold for between 3.5 and 3.8 mill ,one is back on the market at 6.5 mill 3 months later . the chances of selling it are nill .

according to an estate agent friend the house property market is dead he hasnt sold a house for 6 months ,some condos are selling if they are in the right location others that are not ,forget it . having been an estate agant years ago in england as far as i can see house prices all over pattaya are well overpriced ,many that i looked at years ago are still for sale ,just in worse condition.

the only answer is if people reduce prices and from what i have seen of thailand over the last 17 years this is about as likely as snow next month in pattaya.

dont know the answer but i wouldnt buy at the moment and i have a wife that i have been married to for many many years and would have no problem in putting it in her name.

just went to the 7/11 and asked the girl for a dongle and her father came and hit me and told me never to come back to his shop. does dongle have a different meaning in thai?

does anyone think that house prices will fall in pattaya? seafront condos seem to be reaching ridiculas hights ,but houses seem only to be high in estate agents windows ,if you speak to the owner they are willing to take much less,this also seems to go for rental prices .