JamesPhuket10

A very good set of reasons why we should never swim in a pool except for the one we own.

No, I think @save the frogs has 'got' many of you on this forum. He is having a laugh and many people are falling for it. 🤣 Many years ago when internet cafes were around I was sending emails in one in Patong Phuket. On the computer next to me, two very good looking girls were sending emails to Tom, Dick and Harry, to one, "I love your Terry I can not wait see you soon", "Gunther we had good time, come back see me, I love you, I wait", I know the contents as they were speaking Thai to each other, then came the English which they said to each other when they had decided what to write. By coincidence one of the girl's phone rang, it was WhatsHisName from some country or other, he will be arriving next week, "Ok I see you next week, I love you, send me flight, I pick you up airport". I had to laugh out loud, the girls looked at me and I smiled at them, they smiled back knowing I knew what they were doing, no embarrassment whatsoever on their part. Now I am not one of those who think all Thai women are bad, in fact it is quite the opposite as far as I am concerned, but I have met many farangs who think negatively of Thai women as their experience of Thai women is due to the fact they have met them is some 'sexy massage place' (not to be confused with Traditional Thai Massage, use by couples etc), or met them in bars etc. But I suppose the guys get their money's worth, they think they have helped some 'girl' to stay away from other (bad) guys and are a sort of girlfriend, it gives them a feeling of pleasure and belonging as they work a year in order to save up enough for their next trips so I suppose everyone is a winner in this situation. 😄 And so while many such girls have all that in place they are still coming out with sob stories in order to grab yet other guys to put on the sponsors list, they are very hard working it seem though. 🤣

Not at all true with Phuket immigration. I have done three visa extension using exactly the methods I stated in my comment, I did add the fact it was Phuket immigration to my comment so in fact my comment is totally factual. The proof is/was in the pudding. The problem with such forums as this is people can pass on info to others with are not factual, there are no factual checks on what is written.

I suppose for the farangs who could subsequently get a 99% year lease, it may introduce a lot more danger to their lives. It seems there are a vast number of farangs whole marry Thai women a lot younger than themselves, in many cases for the women it seem the aim is to be married for a few years, let the old farang die off and then take all his assets. If a farang was able to extend his 30 year lease to a 99 year least there might be a lot more fatal "accidents' happening to the farangs who have such properties, now that would be funny. I am quite happy with a year by year 'old bloke' visa extension, put 800k baht in a Thai bank, if things look like they are turning sour in Thailand then spend the 800k and sod off somewhere else, after all we visa extenders are only here on temporary year by year extensions, there are no guarantees.

I am not sure what the OP will do but It is all very easy and straightforward to deal with one way or the other. Move money as described above. Print all of the bank statements for the year from your bank account to your printer at home for free. Scan and copy all of the bank book print outs for the year. (ATM printout). I nip around the corner to my local bank and get a letter from them which takes five minutes. 100 baht. Off to the immigration in Phuket and "Bobs Your Uncle" as we Brits say, all done in an hour, go back the next day to pickup the passport. If we also want a multiple re-entry permit at the same time then hand all the forms over as well at the same time as applying for the visa extension, (with a 'secret' little extra 700 baht service charge), pick up the passport the next day with the visa extension and the re entry visa.(Phuket immigration).

True, for the previous two years the month of May were horrible in Phuket, too hot and little rain. I have been in England for the last two months so the news that there is a lot more rain in Phuket this year is great, lets hope the reservoirs are full again in Phuket next month after I return from my holiday. 👍 But I will be looking forward to some heat again as it is only 21c in the South of the UK at the moment, I have to wear a jacket when out.

I use Bangkok bank but the question is about more than one bank transfer at a time. I do multiple transfers during the year depending on how much I am spending. I make sure there is 800k in the Thai bank two months before I go to the immigration office. It then has to be in the bank for three months I then make sure there is a minimum of 400k in the bank for all the other months. Two months before the next visa extension I top up to 800k again, plus my normal living expenses for my own use. So basically two months before 800k and keep it at or above that amount until three months after you applied for the visa and then keep it above 400k, then top it up as many times as you like during the year. I use WISE for all transfers.

Because they can afford to. Plus they do not smoke and so do not need the free fags (cigarettes) which are handed out for six months each year for free.

About one hours drive south of Hua Hin I think, gained from previous messages.

Tourism jobs tend to be low-paid and seasonal, so they don’t contribute as much tax revenue as other sectors. That’s why even in the West countries like Spain, with a heavy reliance on tourism, often struggle economically compared to more diversified economies like Germany, which has a strong industrial base and high-tech sectors. It is the same in Thailand when comparing its economy to say Taiwan for instance, they need to move on from tourism. While tourism can employ a lot of people, it’s not necessarily the best path to long-term economic stability. Manufacturing, technology, and financial services generate more high-paying jobs and tax revenue, creating a more resilient economy in the long run. So for now the best thing for Thailand to do is concentrate on the other 87% of the economy which is not connected to tourism. This low cost tourism is good for us farangs from wealthy countries with our very high incomes, in the long term Thailand has to move on. Now who is financially ignorant?

Say whatever you want, tourism if still only 12%, the expat input is miniscule. I have no personal reasons, the government should concentrate on the other 88% of the economy which is not based on tourism as that is more stable, tourism is a fickle business and can change at any moment, an earthquake, a tsunami, politics et.

Most Thais are too busy with day to day life, looking after family, work etc to even think about tourists, most do not see tourists on a day to day basis. Probably 99% of Thais are married to Thais, I think it might be much lower in Issan for example which seem to attract the lower income farangs like flies. Most tourists are in just a few tourist area and not evenly distributed across the nation. Tourism is 12% of that economy not 80% as many expat farangs imagine.

I suppose the tattoo shops and the bar girls want more farangs on holiday, I don't see any Chinese tourists with their bodies covered in tattoos or with a bar girl on their arm. I don't think the restaurants etc are too keen on Germans, Danish etc, having worked in those countries I saw they are meanest tippers in the world and very careful with what they spend.

Perhaps making shoes from used car tyres?

Oh no, many miserable skint farangs are out in force again thinking they have some say in what goes on in Thailand. The Thai government and tourist authority are not interested in your constant squealing about prices, you are nothing compared to the 40(ish) millions of tourists who come to Thailand to spend each year. They have been saying for years they wish to cater for more upmarket tourists willing to spend a lot of money over a two week visit, they are the target crowd not the winging so called ex-pat (annual temporary visa extensions) on their miserable £1500 a month spending budget. Phuket is reassuringly expensive (compared to the back of beyond, up-country squalid village) , it keeps the moaning skint ex-pats away. I have not met any tourist or so called expats living in Phuket who thinks it is expensive compared to many other countries in the world, as far as I can see it is dirt cheap.

But I don't know why the guy is showing off, all of us blokes in Thailand could easily choose to pay to shag a certain type of bird for a week or too or just as easily decide to have a cup of tea. Difficulty level, book one or pick one up, shag(s), ATM, money paid it is as difficult as falling off a chair. What I find funny is many guys thinks all Thai women are like that, when I hear it I always bet them 10,000 baht to walk into a bank, ask one of the tellers for a shag for whatever it costs and bring her out, they never take me up on the bet.

And he might have to give her parts and other bits and pieces a bit of rinse out since the last customer had a go. (Well he did mention the title mistress).

Most farangs are fun, you have to learn to spot the wingers and avoid them unless of course, they fit in with your negative attitude to life. 😃

Some of the educated Russians I have come across in Phuket over the last 2.5 years speak better English than some Brits and are not as scruffy. No bar girls hanging onto their arms as they walk down the street and not a tattoo in sight. 😄 As far as keeping people away, Phuket is Reassuringly Expensive (in comparison to other places in Thailand), but still a very cheap place to live.

I worked for General Dynamics on the F-16 and A-10 developing the head-up display system, Marconi Avionics in the UK, AT&T in New Jersey, and was head of testing the new GSM mobile phone system the USA was about to introduce into the county. Lots of other projects and countries for which they paid lots of money for my brains, but I never came across any geniuses, there were lots of bright people though.

The topic is not about genius, which was never mentioned, there are only a very limited number of geniuses now or before, Einstein for example, we are unlikely to ever come across a real genius in person. I wonder how many of those Aboriginal people realised living in the bush is not at all interesting and left to do something a bit more demanding. I suppose we could take that idea over thousands of years, we all started In Africa, then some groups would have said, "I wonder what is on the other side of that mountain", so they moved, over thousands of years, Europeans, Japanese societies were created for example, they contain the brains and the less intelligent remain in Africa still.

I think my property is safe in the UK from anyone in Thailand. But my partner here already owns nine houses in Thailand, seven are for rental income. She bought them over time with her income from her own Thai Tour agency.

But Rambo, we live in the real world, not in a Hollywood movie. But I do get your drift, I had to go through rigorous training to be able to open the door of my house, get into my aircon car, drive it to Lotus for example, and walk across to the aircon building to do my shopping. Phuket and many other cities as so dangerous, for example, what would I do if I had forgotten my wallet, ah I have had training for that scenario too.😃 Paper degrees? Would you go and see a doctor if he only had a paper degree and not a degree in imagination like a lot of people seem to have? Would you get on an aeroplane built by people who are not qualified to build it?

Just look at how many patents are granted each year in the various regions of the world, Nobel Peace Prizes in science, the origination of top-end science projects, I could go on.

Yep, smarter than the average Thai, American, and European. I have a master's degree in software engineering from Oxford University (Trinity). I won't list the other qualifications. I was a freelance software engineer for thirty years and worked for many large international companies in Germany, the USA, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and the UK. In addition, I had a large 200-seat Thai Restaurant near London for 27 years. I also had properties developed which was a good business. I did start a few years late after leaving school at fifteen years old, it is called the "university of life" by some, I realised how crap such a 'university' is so I went back to school, then to a real university and never looked back. Even now I still write commercial iPhone apps from my computer set up at home in Thailand. I am not saying this to show off, but if I claim like many others that I consider myself more intelligent than the average Thai then I have to show why I think that.