JamesPhuket10

You have two thumbs down so far, some people have no sense of humour, keep on taking the piss out of them as it makes me laugh. 😃

I have a friend of 30+ years we worked together in the UK and Germany as freelance software engineers. Twenty years a go as we worked in Berlin he said he had a cash flow problem and needed £10k now, I transferred the money to the account the same day, he needed it for a month but it took two months in the end, I knew he was good for the money. Six years later I had a short term cash flow problem, I needed £15k as I was short of that while buying a business, the next day I had the 15k, I paid him back later when the cash flow problem ended. So it is possible and safe for long term friends to help each other out as long as it all genuine.

I do not have extra cash, I have a regular income from the UK which is just enough to live on. Well that is the story I broadcast to people I do not know well, there is no gain in showing off and a lot of gain by acting ordinary. My car is a standard Toyota, not in the least bit flashy on purpose. Three bed house all paid up, nothing flashy. The truth can come out later when you have know someone a year or so and know their circumstances, but in general keep you finances to to yourself. I know the article says do not mention loans to Thais. One of the security guards who works on this estate came rushing to my gate once and said it was urgent he borrows 5k baht now, he can pay it back in one hour, the answer from my Thai partner was we do not have it, we never found out what it was for but nothing is urgent which can not wait an hour when he would have had the cash. She said to me we would not have seen that money again, it is not a lot but it could have been the start of a trend.

You could learn how to pay bills online or via smartphone apps, then you would not have to go there at all.😄 I prefer to live in Phuket, I am ten minutes away from all of the facilities I need by car, plus of the 350 houses in this gated complex there are only two other farang families, the rest are Thai, and no through traffic as it is a private estate. I was away in the sticks in Surat Thani province for two days, two weeks ago, nothing in the village except coconut trees and more coconut trees and a temple, I was glad to get back to the international feel and the advanced living of Phuket.

So you follow them around the shops to see what they are up to or have you just listened to gossip. They use the swimming pool yet they still smell, how does that work?

I agree re reverse gear. I suppose there are some dim Indian tourists as well visiting Pattaya, they will be shocked at the low life they see there, it will be their first and last trip to the place as was mine in 2019, I lasted half a day and I went into reverse gear ASAP. 😃

I have never met a poor jew. They would have bought the flat they live in, not rent one.

I remember being in Wales for a weekend and we stayed at a bed and breakfast. The owner said she never lets the rooms out to Australians as many have nicked the bed sheets and towels during their backpacking tours of the UK. My bother had a block of twenty flats in central London, they were never let out to Australians as the flats would be rented out to an Australian couple and then three other couples would sneak in a stay during the tenancy. Many of the flats were rented out to wealthy Thai students during their three/four year university studies in London.

It probably does, it is up to Thailand who they do and do not invite into Thailand not some self important long term farang visitor who thinks he has the right to try and dictate what goes on here even though he has no rights at all. There are millions of middle class professional Indian people with probably a lot more than your two pounds six shilling and sixpence a day to spend.😄

Why would I need to buy my own apps which I have written, I already own them? Do you make cheese on toast and then sell it to yourself before you can eat it? 😄

Some of us have cars you know.

My heart bleeds for them. What about the others like me who were born poor, got off our arses, pursued an education, worked hard, took risks by setting up a business and became wealthy in the end on our own merit only to to be told when visiting my place of origin it is all right for me, I was lucky I have what I have as though it was handed to me on a plate. There are those who work hard and succeed and there are those who expect things to be handed to them on a plate.

Phuket costs peanuts compared to the UK, I do not see any rip off. Plus I know I can not buy a Rolls Royce for the price of Toyota, that is the same comparison with the dump that Pattaya is compared to a much better standard in Phuket.

And I hope your dad's longevity genes have been passed onto you.👍 I am 69.5, walk a few miles a day around a reservoir in Phuket, cycling as well, I feel fit and healthy. My brain is still put to use writing iPhone apps, has not deteriorated, may things carry on that way for a long time to come.

You are too mean to provide bottled water to them? I would have kept that info quiet. I asked my Thai partner if she knew of any Thais who drink from the tap, she said, "No, never, but maybe people in Issan do as it is the poorest and most uneducated part of Thailand" I think that throws a lot of farangs experience of Thailand as a whole as very many farangs seem to live there for some reason.

I don't know any very poor Thais, that is true.

I thought the "broke dick ones" live in Pattaya and the ones with money live in Phuket and mix their time with tourist areas and their local bars and restaurants.

When you say higher end prices, how much are you talking about? A bottle of 330ml Chang for instance?

In England yes, in Thailand no. I don't know any Thais who drink Thai tap water in Thailand.

Simples. Aro, from Makro, each hold six litres, around 30 baht each. Car load of 30, job done for the month. For cooking, the very large thick plastic bottles delivered, probably 30 litres each. Cost 20 baht. I laugh at water snobs in restaurants having owned a large Thai restaurant in the UK for twenty plus years (sold a few years ago), but I liked it when they paid a few quid for bottles water, a very good profit margin, it is water pure and simple. The adverts go on about minerals etc but we get those from food anyway if we eat sensibly.

But without you realising it, your dim logic applies to your own self.

Yet you respond to them?

True. Over twenty five years ago we booked and paid for a trip to Singapore, two of us, both blokes, two further weeks in Penang and a few days in Hong Kong, all hotels and tickets pre paid. Singapore, expensive but good fun, lots to do. We checked into the hotel in Penang, a long row of hotels on a beach. We walked up and down the road and check out the area, nothing to do. We booked a flight the next day and went to Phuket, had a great time, met tourists from all over the world, good fun. We had to fly back to Malaysia , pick up our suitcases from the hotel room, get the connecting flight onto Hong Kong. After a few beers on the last night we sat in a bar in Phuket, it was the "Paradise Bar" in Patong overlooking the beach, it was a non-girly bar and sang, "shall we stay or shall we go now, shall we stay or shall we go". So we blew off the trip back to Malaysia and stayed a few more days in Phuket, bought new tickets to Hong Kong, got there and took the return flight back to the UK the same day. Hong Kong I had done on a previous trip, that was good fun. You can keep Malaysia.

I wonder how much it costs to join the moaning club, it can't be too high a price seeing as they moan all day long about a 300 baht fee.😃

Oh no, that means when I get back to Thailand from the a visit to the UK after spending 117,000 baht on a return plane ticket I will be upset about the extra 300 baht tax. It is three beers in a pub more or less, why do people waste their time moaning about such petty things. 🙄 No one cares about 300 baht.