jbaldwin

Wow great deal u got!

Thanks for the info!

It's cheaper than doing through

a travel agency though yes?

No book direct at www.airasia.com

Sorry but I might have missed something.

I understand that the Condo has not been finished because the developer his run out of money.

What is the point of taking legal action against a company with no money. What are you trying to acheive?

Booking at the airport is normally expensive. Airlines are smart enough to realise that if you are at the airport then you are likely to want to fly whatever the price.

As it happens I am fly tomorrow to Phnom Pehn on Air Asia. I booked three weeks ago and paid 1,374 baht one-way including taxes.

Booking today would cost 5,525 baht for Thursday and 3,574 baht for Friday. However, next week go can travel from 2,220 baht either Thursday or Friday.

How good are your Thai lanuage skills. If not flunent very little chance of work.

Also, I beleive that Thai banks recruit relative few individuals with Bachelor degrees. Most graduate recruitment requires masters degrees.

The salary estimate provided by Soutpeel is way off. As a new graduate without relevent work experience you you be looking at a maximum of 15,000 baht/month.

If you want to work in banking in Thailand, think about trying to get a job with HSBC or Standard Chartered in your home country, learn Thai, and then try to get transferred on an expat package.

You are correct that accounting is a occupation restricted for Thai. However, all this means is that the individual that is authorised to sign an audit report is Thai. There are many accounting jobs in Thailand that are not being carried out but accountants.

As an example of likely salaries. I am the Chairman of a Condo in Pattaya. We recruited someone with a Master degree in Accounting, two years accounting experience plus additional experience teaching accounting. We paid her 15,000 baht per month.

Another option would be to fly from Samui to Penang and then get the ferry from there

In my experience condo developments are never finished on time. The place I live in was due to be finished within 3 months when I agree to buy it. In the event ownership was transferred more than a year later.

This is Thailand, the fact the you are given completion dates that seem totally impossible should be seen as normal and nothing, in particular, to worry about.

Taxes will be distance related. London to Bangkok is 5,931 miles so is in the third band.

Tax currently 40GBP will increase to 50 in Nov 09 and then 75 in Nov 10.

Remember that Air Fares are VAT exempt so it this type of departure tax is just like have VAT added

Italian ham and tomato ciabatta - 105 baht from Segafredo. Basement level of Central (beach side)

I think the best sandwich I have had in Pattaya. The coffee is also very good. I used to be a Starbucks regular before this place opened.

If anyone had suggested 10 years ago that one day China might be able to sell any one year bonds at an interest rate of 1.06%, I do not think anyone would have beleive them. To me this story reflects absolutely amazing progress rather than failure

You should obtain proper legal advice.

However, the way you are using the words "leasehold" and "freehold" suggest you are British. Leasing a property in Thailand is not at all the same as buying a leasehold property in the UK. You are really only a long term renter and not an owner.

You do not need proof of transfer of money. This is only required when a foreigner buys a condo. In your case the legal owner will be a Thai and not you. (I assume that you are considering a property that cannot be legally owned by a foreigner and this is the reason that leasing has been suggested)

You talk about "resale"value. Remember you will not own any property only have a lease so strictly you have nothing to sell. You might get someone to pay you money to reassign the lease. However, in practice, I am not aware of any specific cases where this has actually happened.

Go to www.airasiaplus.com for quick check.

You should find something under 300 GBP Standsted - KL return.

e.g. STN-KUL on 26-Oct is 139 GBP (inclusive of tax)

KUL-STN on 06-Nov is 94 GBP (inclusive of tax)

Total STN-KUL & KUL-STN is only 233 GBP.

KL-BKK is now going at 150 MYR returns. (less than 30 GBP)

Yep, I can confirm that!

Anyone know what kind of seats they have (economy) on the Air Asia flights Kuala Lumpur to Stansted? Are they as comfortable as, say Emirates, for 12 hours long haul?

I believe you get what you pay for. Don't compare with Emirate. Try comparing with Ryan Air.

On Stanstead flights, AirAsia use A340's leased from Air Canada. When I travelled with them they still had the old Air Canada seating - so 34" pitch. I understanding that they are planning to change the seating to 31" but I do not think that this has been done yet.

No free in flight entertainment but you can rent a portible video player. Food and drink must also be purchased.

I paid 200GBP return from KL to London. My view is you need at least 100GBP cheaper than a direct flight to make this option worthwhile

I am not sure what you did in the "media" and why you think this forum would give you better answers than relying on your own media experience.

I would suggest that you approach this in exactly the same way as you would in your home country.

Make a professional quality pilot and go with this to UBC and the local cable companies

Another thing to ponder is whatever pension you DO get will be based on 1989 level, as your pension is frozen at whatever level it is/was the day you left the country. So i suspect that when your retirement date arrives (in 14 years) it wont look to be that much, taking inflation into account.

Also, from (i think) 2010, if you leave the country as a single man, you will remain a single man in the eyes of the DWP. In other words, dont expect to marry a Thai, and get a married mans pension, or a widows pension for your wife when you pass away.

Rule Britannia, huh??

Penkoprod

This is not correct. If you are already overseas then it is based on the level when you first become eligible for the state pension. Thereafter it is not increased with inflation

I am a member of the Committee of a condo in pattaya. Our cleaning staff are paid in the range of 5,400 to 6,590 baht dependant on lenght of service. They also receive 30 baht per day meal allowance and and additional months salary as a bonus at the year end.

I think that you will find that the lower end of your range (and maybe also the upper end) is below the legal minimum wage for Pattaya.

Interesting that you relate the design of a commemerative coin set to movements of the pound on foriehn exchange markets.

I checked historical rates. The day that Labour were orignally elected 1 May 1997 the pound stood at 1.6238. Today it is 1.6629.

Does anyone know of any Airlines ,Bangkok to London that do not use A330 Airbus , i am a bit wary of travelling on the A330 because of the recent Air France crash and the incident last week that , Quantas had with the A330. Do you think my worries are unfounded

If I told you that there had been more than one fatal accident involving a Toyota Camry, would you still be willing to travel in one?

are'nt they building a mall there soon? I'm sure i saw it advertised on the main road! won't have peace and quiet if that does get built over the next 2 years.

I here that construction of the mall will not start until the developer has commitments for a substantual amount of space including for the proposed supermarket so could be some time before it is started. In any case it will only go back from the road about as far of the current Chateau Dale plaza, which makes it a long way from the Chateau Dale towers.

I think that construction noise would only be a problem when the property market picks up enough that the Condo developement behind the mall (remember of signs for the Chateau!) gets reinstated

If you have a valid interest then you can obtain a copy of the Chanote from the Land Office. I understand that an envelope contining a few hundred baht is normally do the trick.

I have lived in Pattaya for 6 years since I retired aged 37. I certainly do not feel stuck here and cannot see me ever wanting to live anywhere else

Here we go again, restoring confidence into the tourism sector. Maybe they could be bothered to clean the trains while they all sit there going nowhere. Truthfully I'm surprised the train and its tracks are still functional as I have not seen one single improvement done to the railway system since I rode the the train the first time years ago, seems it gets dirtier every year.

Having just ventured off into Malaysia this year they have one of the most beautiful central railway stations in the world and are soon to open high speed rail all the way from Singapore to the border at Hat Yai in Thailand.

Can I asked where you got the information about Malaysia's high speed link. I did an internet search and the only recent reference I could find was this

"There is a bullet train project at 300 km/h (186 mph) proposed to link Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, proposed by current Malaysian operator KLIA Express YTL Corporation, which links Kuala Lumpur with the KLIA. It would be the first transborder high speed line outside of Europe if built. Travel time would be 90 minutes, compared with 4 hours of highway drive, 7 hours currently by standard rail, 2 hours of flight including commuting to and from airport, check in and boarding. Talks of a Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore line spanning the 3 nations have been suggested previously, though no action has been taken.

Plans for project were shelved due to high cost that the government would have to bear. The project also faces opposition from rail operator rivals such as Keretapi Tanah Melayu."

I live in Thabali Condo which is the low rise development in front of the Chateau Dale towers

This is four six floor buildings, with all rooms facing a large tropical garden. From my persective a perfect location - only a short walk to the main road between Pattaya and Jomtien but far enough away from the road that there is no noise. Entirely happy with my decision to buy a unit here.

Since the Thai ATM charges and the Nationwide's own Foreign Exchange charges, I have opened a Halifax current account. Swift transfers can be arranged on line, cost 9.95 GBP and funds are in my Thai bank the same day.

Generally, foreigner can buy Thai Government Bonds.

However, the acticle refers to Savings Bonds which can only be purchased by Thais and those with PR. The main difference is the Saving Bond have much lower minmum purchase level (I think 10,000 baht v 500,000 baht)

Bangkok Bank used to be the sole sell agent for Savings Bonds. Not sure if this is still the case.

In the UK there have been 1,005 confirmed cases of swine flu. Only 28 were ever admitted to hospital. Yesterday the UK government announced that it would no longer carry out blood tests people on suspected of having swine flu on the basis that it is giving exactly the same treatment to people with swine flu as people with any other flu strain. It is also going to stop trying to trace people who have come into contact with infected individuals.

In Pattaya there are 17 case. All have been confined to hospital and the places they worked in have been closed down.

People seeing that Thai government's response are going to be worried.

I saw this in the Nation recently and it made me consider bonds in Thailand.

BMA to issue Bt20-billin bonds to raise fund for train project

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will issue bonds worth Bt20 billion to raise a fund for an electric train project, a deputy BMA governor said Wednesday.

Deputy BMA Governor Thirachon Manomaipibul said the BMA would sell the bonds to raise fund for the construction of a light monorail project .

The bonds would be issued in four lots each of Bt5billion, starting from February 2010, he said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/rea...newsid=30104847

Would you buy bonds issued by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration?

Not enough information here to make any informed decision. Need to wait for the prospectus to be issued (and hope that an English language translation if provided)