Mike Lister

If you don't have an overseas bank account and the money that you intend to use for the purchase was earned in Thailand, it seems as though it doesn't qualify. One alternative is to talk to the head office of your Thai bank and explain the situation, they will, for a fee, bed and breakfast your funds from Thailand, via their overseas account and then back again. That fee is likely to be similar to the amount of the currency exchanges that are involved. I would strongly advise against using a Thai lawyer for this purpose, the lawyer is not a bank and is not to be trusted in the same way.

Given they're located in Chiang Mai, 500 miles away, quite a while I imagine!

Caption competition for the picture in the OP: He's saying, "I don't care if the old girl is here, I'm gonna jump that nurse now".

We are the proud owners of 50 square meters of concrete driveway that was poorly laid last year. It's structurally very strong but the problem is the surface is is pitted and whilst it is flat, it is not very smooth. Renting a concrete grinder to smooth out the wrinkles is one option but nobody around here has ever used one and the risk of removing too much or making things worse is scary. Another option is to clean the driveway, fill the larger more obvious blemishes and then undercoat the bejesus out of it with epoxy and then apply a finish coat......this is my preferred option currently. In a perfect world I'd be able to find a paint product that acts as a leveller and fill most of the blemishes, is anyone aware of such a product here or have better ideas? TIA

If I upped sticks and went back home it would probably be to an anonymous one bedroom retirement flat that I own in Lancaster. The other 48 residents would be around my age so what's not to like you ask. Well, that truly is heaven's waiting room, there's barely a month goes by without somebody popping off, I haven't been back in five years so imagine the entire population of the estate has turned over once. It's a lovely location in the summer and handy for the nearby Lakes, from October through May it's cold, damp, grey and depressing plus there's not a hint of eye candy within many miles. Given the choice of that scenario versus a one bedder in Chiang Mai in burning season, CM wins hands down every time, by miles. At least the sky is blue, the vegetation is green, the girls are pretty and everyone smiles plus I don't have to eat gawd awful food that costs an arm and a leg.

My sister developed MS at age 21 and fought valiantly to stay out of the wheelchair for the next 50 years. Eventually at age 72 she lost that battle but she never lost her zest for life, her independence or her freedom. She died last month, RIP, but she was a fighter to the very end. It's not about the wheelchair, it's about the person and their strength of will and character and their determination to enjoy life and not be beaten.

I don't think it should be closed because it does serve a useful purpose for many. The problem is that many people won't be able to distinguish fact from opinion or guesswork unless some posters are more reasonable with their comments. It's OK to take a subjective view and state an opinion on tax related matters, as long as people say that's what it is. But when people start using the thread as a vehicle to blast all things Thai, things that are totally incorrect and inappropriate, that's detrimental to what the thread and other are trying to achieve

Indeed, if you read what I wrote you'll see we agree.

The currency interest aspect is a red herring. Few people would invest in THB for the interest rate on cash but they would invest for the exchange rate appreciation and/or the security of having sufficient cash on hand to avoid future exchange rate angst, THB is very volatile.

Why?

That was a survey of Thai travellers, people who have a track record of travelling overseas for holidays each year. That was not a survey of indebted rural Thai's regarding their future aspirations for travel, there is a huge difference.

In the 10 years at our current house our bills are consistently between 1,600 and 2,500 per month, determined by the the season of the year and how many orders my wife has from her bakery business. Cool season few orders - 1,600, hot season, many orders, 2,500. 2 people, 3 bed, single story, 4 air con.

I spent time this morning, reading back through some of the posts in this thread and was struck by how much disinformation, inaccurate information and general negative slant there is. The subject of the thread is taxation in Thailand yet it has become a vent for anything and everything about Thailand that people don't like, unreasonably so. For example: Paying more VAT than the average Thai is entirely reasonable when your income is 1 million baht a year and theirs is only a fifth of that amount. That doesn't give you special privileges, why would you expect that it does? You say you cannot use the hospitals for SFA like Thais but you can, anyone can. The problem is that you wont because you don't know how and if you did, you still wont use them because they are not westernised and don't meet your standards. I use my local Amphur hospital for care, as do other foreigners around me. The medical standards are high, the quality of care is very high and the cost is extremely low. The problem from your perspective is that you have to jostle with hoards of locals, queue for unacceptably long periods and hardly anyone nearby speaks good English. Then you say you pay more for most things than Thai's because of dual pricing, if you do, you need to get wise! The groceries in TOPS, Lotus's and Big C are not segregated such that foreigners pay one price and Thai's another, theatre tickets cost the same. Electric, water, and car tax bills are the same plus new clothes are not priced differently. Diesel and petrol costs are the same, hotels rooms cost the same as do meals in restaurants. Finally you say you don't get benefits such as the 10k handout, really, you actually said that! You understand I hope that is because you are not a Thai citizen and you don't pay into the social security system and likely never have yet you appear to want something(s) for nothing. I can only conclude one of two things about the things you have written. Either, you do not understand anything about the environment here or you have completely unreasonable expectations, which every it is, you do not appear equipped to comment on matters such as taxation of foreigners in Thailand either because of your lack of knowledge or your inability to be reasonable and fair.

Sorry, won't 'appen again.

It is NOT the Thai government it is the Deposit Protection Agency which reports to BOT. My guess is absolutely yes they will, why? Because no foreigner would ever deposit funds into a Thai bank again, if they didn't.

When you say slumming, surely you don't mean travelling business class, do you?

Yes I suppose, assuming that people still use ATM cards instead of cardless ATM withdrawals.

Respectfully, I disagree. In my experience, the biggest and best branches are the business branches which tend to be stand alone branches in town and city centres. They are nearly always full service branches whereas mall based branches area training grounds for junior staff. Secondly, as long as you have your bank book with you, you can resolve almost any problem at any branch in the country. Thailand does operate a provincial banking system which means that it charges customers for cash transactions (deposits or withdrawals) that are made at branches outside of the home province.

And don't walk down dark alleys alone at night, never carry more than 50 baht in cash and always carry a spray can of mace on your belt. arf arf

No, the "junta" did not reduce the guarantee, the DPA and the BOT agreed to do so. The DPA was put in place with high limits in order to attract foreign capital. Once that job was done, many years ago, it was always the plan to reduce the guarantee, to more realistic and sustainable levels. Several announcements were made over the years but something always arose to where it was cancelled at the last moment, eventually the levels were reduced. As far as safest bank is concerned, Bangkok Bank has been labelled as systemically important to Thailand by several agencies, including World Bank and IMF..

Correct

`Winter is a season, not a temperature. We have winter in the north which, relative to the other seasons, is significantly colder, so much so that many people in the mountains die of hypothermia every year and ice is easily found above the frost line.

1997

With the exception of August (barely) and September, exports have been very poor, the only reason September looked good was because imports dropped by a huge amount which created a rare trade surplus for the first time since March. https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/balance-of-trade

According to the 2019 NSO dashboard, a large percentage of arrivees are suspect but all are on holiday! https://ittdashboard.nso.go.th/preview2en.php?id_project=123