Doro22

I guess the company I am working for is not the only one, but our sales have dropped 25% plus since the mess started. If continues a lot of people will be out of work in many sectors.

In contrast to Sars, Tsunami, coupes etc. This will really hurt Thailand for a long time.I always been very optimistic and happy about life in Thailand, that has change, and the "fed up" feelling gets worse by the minute.

Luckily I have a nice very sweet back up plan, but for many Thais and foreginers future in Thailand does not look good.

Could I care less? I suppose I could but essentially, I couldn't care less than I already do.

Guys,

I really appreciate the inputs and insights.

I am not bitching here and its a bit of a headache (luxury problem), but at least a good one.

Forming a company would be a way to go. Need to look into that. Another way might to check the possibility if one our local work partners might "hire" me as an employee.

I also heard that some companies in the region sets up a representative office in Thailand (not a real co,. ltd), but I guess that might be for Thais working for a company like that.

Thanks again for comments and advices.

Dear All,

I am seeking some advice. I have a job in Thailand today, with W/P and a multi Non-B

I have a job offer on the table that I can hardly refuse. It will cover the whole of Asia, which means a lot of travel. The potential employer does not have a company in Thailand; the nearest office is in Singapore. I would like however to stay and live in Bangkok.

Due to the instability that’s been going on for years the company doesn’t want to invest or have a Thai registered company.

Some of the work will be in Thailand though (sales meetings, trainings & events etc).

I am aware that even if you only work one day a month in Thailand you need W/P. I will not (nor the company) get involved in any illegal activities such as doing work without W/P.

So, anyone have any ideas how I can accept this job offer, and still can do some work and be based in Thailand. Or is leaving for Sing (or other country) the only option?

I am under 50, not married and no kids.

Thanks in advance.

I was told that Heineken (Asia Pacific Brewery) will do the distribution in the near future.

Where Has All The Guinness Gone In Bangkok?

Hopefully down the Toilet!

Wow, world in coming to the end! Nursing two beers trough a game at nice place w. aircon, and then got the nerve to bitch. Businesses usually tends to pay rent (and a lot of other overheads), being in CBD: 320 THB for two pints sounds very fair.

When you are in the heart of the city and touristville what do you expect?

These high prices are for foreigners and tourists, not Thai's.

Cable TV and a case of beer from Lotus

OP: "Women were easy and cheap"...

Try Haiti, should fit your needs.

Goodbye, prick.

Or maybe they are just fed up with thugs screwing up their life.

As a guest living here for six years, I dont take sides. But its time for the PM to step down or crack down hard.

Villa Market for sure.

Amen, my fellow crème de la crème farang! But, let's cane these miserable bastards before they go home.

Been saying it for years.

When Thaksin started closing bars early, clothing the ladies and driving the sex scene into entertainment zones, he lost the backing of the intellegent expat community.

Your misery is nothing to do with this countrie's problems and you have contributed nothing.

Falangs buy bars, visit bars and live for bars. No loss to the general population if a few more of you are barred from the country because you can't be bothered with work permits, tax etc.

Speaking of which. Any falang not paying tax here and not married, should go home tomorrow. don't need em. Really.

Are you on smack?

I dont know the real reason for farangs hating Thaksing, however, I found him to be good for the country and economy.

If farangs (I m not a farang and I am so glad that I m not) cant stay here without defeating the system then they should better go home.

Think of doing so in USA and end up in Gitmo...

This government will go... sooner or later... it is on the wall... if anyone wise enough to read this...

Not because of red shirts... but because they have the seeds of their own destruction...

Look at what happened to Thailand and her economy after this government...

I planned to visit Thailand (as I love Thailand so much and I can actually READ, WRITE, speak and understand Thai very well, unlike many foreigners here) with my girlfriend... but she is so scared to goto Thailand under current situations...

Hope when Thaksin comes back and those puny clowns wont jump up and down... Thailand would be the most desired country once again... as it was in his last regime...

I dont care if farangs dont get visa... coz if u wanna live in a country then respect the laws of the country... we call it relativism..

Hands down La Gaetena! Sorry to say, Salvatores not that good anymore.

Since the threads also seem to cover Phuket, Patong has a few good ones, the best IMO being La Dolce Vita in Soi Whisky off Rat-u-thid road. Others in Soi Foodland, Soi Post Office and Nanai Road 2 are also very good.

Spot on.

Recently, I have had the same experience at two pubs in BKK.

If the pubs really are running out, isn't the Guinness they are selling now starting to get stale? It may be my imagination but the Guinness I have been getting here doesn't quite taste 100 percent to me lately.

K. Charoen maybe have some influential friends... Or maybe not.

How is it possible that a work permit isn't required?

"You must have all ten fingers".

This cuts me out.

A beer commercial and only non-alcoholic beverages supplied?

Forget it.

Casual friday at the office. I am wearing my white "Good guys go to heaven, bad guys go to Pattaya" singlet. Stylish and problem solved.

Join the club mate - I am UTD Red. Time for the away kit I guess.

Just surprised that some Neutral Party didn't come up with Orange for their camp Y+R=O.

Guess it would be too Dutch.

Just wearing red is a little dull. Would'nt it be better to see 100,000 Hawaian shirts flocking around the city

No can't they are reserved for April 12-16.

tell your staff to go topless until this drama is over.

My two cents. Re: whole sale

Example:

Heineken have an appointed dealer in let say Phuket and area, this dealer will then re-sale to a whole seller (usually one W/S in a smaller market) at a lower price then anyone else can purchase.

The W/S commits to huge volumes (serious number of cases and kegs). Even though volumes are huge, margin is very low.

The W/S will then (in many cases) have sub agents (Patong, Karon etc).

Did I mention that all the W/S pay cash on delivery (to get some extra discount)? For mainstream beers and spirits it will be impossible to compete with these guys: cash rich Thai/Chinese.

For spirits, Diageo, Pernod, Bacardi etc will never deal with a new W/S operation as they don't want to kill current relationship with existing partners.

Side note: Lex "Farang setting up a W/S operation" there was one set up in a seaside town outside Bangkok, they went bust and the key guy fled with a lot of debts...

Fluid is a different thing, as they do own import and distribution, if memory serves me correct.

Better to set up a W/S with a different approach, better service: training your customers of up selling, basic bartender English, mixing cocktails, inspiration etc Help out with promotions and events, extended delivery slots. Added values can compete with a higher price.

Doro

Not sure if it would work with local products. You'll be competing with with Thai wholesalers working at very low margins. I reckon you'll be struggling initially.

I doubt a big manufacturer would refuse to sell to you based on vested interests, but they likely would based on the size/track record of your operation.

For imported products this would be less of a problem, but it will be a niche market. There's some example, Fluid Pacific for example importing and distributing English ciders and beers.

Fluid came to mind but I'm not interested in their products at the moment.

My frustration stems from trying to deal with the established wholesalers. It is as if they would rather not do business in many respects rather than talk numbers. I had this in Mallorca 20 years ago and I had to go over their heads to the main island wholesaler rather than the local ones. In Pattaya, that would effectively be to the people who supply the wholesalers you see around town, perhaps on a Chonburi level. However, Pattaya in 2010 is not Mallorca in 1990 !

I appreciate the volumes may initially be too low to interest the manufacturers and to be honest, I would rather add some business to an established intermediary and avoid carrying too much stock. Volumes would however be significant, certainly at the top end of their volume charts and way outstripping most of their customers. On that level, I am finding it hard to motivate the existing suppliers to do business at prices which are commensurate to the size of my prospective purchases. It is as if discounts stop at such low levels that makes it unbelievable and begs my question of going further back up the supply chain.

To me, were I in their position, as long as my customer base was not going to be affected, any profit would be welcome and I would give out additional volume discounts.

Great!

Will check it out. The Kalmatas are black in color, correct?

Thanks for your help.

Doro

Olive & Kebab is now bottling it's own imported Greek olives. They offer two varieties, Kalamata and a green variety whose name I can't recall. the Kalamatas are large and delicious. A small jar costs around 145 baht. Not cheap but they're the best olives I've yet found for sale to the public in Bangkok.

O&K has branches in All Seasons Place (next to Tops), on Sukhumvit Rd (btw soi 31 and 33), CentralWorld and Emporium.

Dear All,

Sorry for digging up an old thread.

I am looking for a supplier/distributor in BKK for fresh olives (Italian, Spanish etc). Fresh is the key here: think an olive worthy for a great Martini.

Thanks in advance.

Doro

They had a very tasty selection (I think also for sale in the attached deli) at Olive, a Med. themed restaurant in Central World.

Thanks I will check these places when I am in town.

In the mean time I take commercial canned olives and add garlic, coriander seeds, homemade pickled lemon, dry chillies and let it sit together for couple of weeks. its my only way around :-)

so if you are coming to visit me. olives. bring me olives LOL

Slaps,

Not in BKK at the moment, so can't check it out, did you see any Tellicherry pepper (black pepper...) in there?

Thanks

Doro

Walk in to the Rembrandt soi 20 and there one on the left

Sells all the spices and more

This is Indian owned and supply there own brand of spices, always in there as I love to cook Indian myself

Lopburi 3,

Many thanks for your response. Now I have some weight to bring up with HR dept. A million thanks.

Dori

Believe you need to do two transfer of stamps - one into current passport (to take care of you now) and a second time into new permanent passport. Make application for full passport at your Embassy and ask them for a letter to Thai Immigration to enter your current extension of stay stamps (I have never lost passport so expect you use this letter and police report). Visit Immigration and explain what you need to do - should not cost anything but may take the day as transfers are done it a batch process. It is a routine procedure and you will have to do again after you get the new passport. If Embassy will not provide a letter just tell immigration that if they ask. Should be OK.

Dear All,

Trying to get answers from HR dept and company lawyer... from our head office in BKK, but very slow. So I try for advice here.

Situation:

Based in South (currently in Phuket) with WP and Non Imm -B multiply valid until Jan 2010. Lost my passport, filed a police report got me a temporary passport (valid for 4 months). Need to go to "my" embassy in Bangkok to apply for new regular passport (takes 4-6 weeks) and also very important need to go to Immigration in BKK to sort out stamp (extension to stay...?).

The Non imm-B was originally made at Suan Plu (came on a visa on arrival, been in the country since) and same for the extension (on my second year). So my q is can they (along with the lawyer) transfer the visa into a temporary passport? After I been to immigration I need to go back to Phuket ASAP, but to go without passport when the have military check all the entrances to Phuket feels like a no-brainer. Catch 22...

Any advice?

Thanks in advance

Doro

I saw a Foreigner in his mid-twenties (tall guy, kind of skinny and with dark hair) putting up one of these stickers on a phone box outside our office building.

Nice hobby.

Personally, I think it is religeous in nature - something to do with the 2nd coming of Kilroy.

Could be. Some of the graffiti I've seen has BNE with a crown drawn above it.

Bingo. Good solution. Although, I am not 100% sure though that he wants his Thai partner (not married, no register partnership either in Thai or in the European country), to get all of the estates. But, will find out more when I see him.

Once agian: thanks for all the advice and feedback.

If hes passing and wants the Thai to own it.. Just put it in the Thai name.. Why the need for farang type legal games..

Thanks for the inputs and feedback.

I will know a lot more when my friend is comeing to Thailand, hence I was a bit vauge. And yes, the co is a "nominee" company. That and the lawyer "involvement" seems to me he needs to sort this out the real legal way asap.

Many thanks for you answers.

Dear All, Not sure if this is the right place. I try though. Sadly, I got a friend that doesn't have too much time left before he goes to heaven (his own words). He is concern about his estate in Thailand. Via a Co., LTD he owns one house on a plot of land purchased for 15 Million THB and another bought for 6 Million THB.

There are 7 shareholders in the company (one is the lawyer... who helped out with purchases, registration etc). Another (and the largest Thai shareholder) is my friends partner. I suspect that all of the shareholders want a piece of the pie, when my friend passes away (I hope it will take a long time before it happens). I suspect that he wants his partner to be the sole owner of the land and houses. The Thai partner does not live in Thailand any more. I will find out more as he will come to Thailand next month, and we will of course go and see a lawyer and try to sort things out for the best. At this stage, I just would like to be semi-prepared and try to be as good assistant as I can to my friend. So, does anyone has any feedback/comments on what is the best thing to do, or knows about a similar situation. Many thanks in advance.

of the seven shareholders, how many are acting as a "nominee" for your friend - aside from the lawyer? how many % does your friend, his thai partner and lawyer control? does the company has debt and who is it owed to (structures like this normally the debt is from your foreign friend to ensure that if the company has cash - like from sale of land - it repays the debt holder first before distribution to shareholders). who are the authorized signatories of the company? - i would make sure its your friend, his thai partner and the lawyer, and make it two out of three signature.

without detail knowledge its really difficult to pass advise but here is one idea ... enter into a contract now between the company and your friend's thai partner that allows the thai partner to buy the assets for a nominal amount during a certain period.

alternatively, if the thai lawyer is a nominee for your shares (which along with your thai partner i assume will be the majority), willed it in such a way that your shares (directly owned and via lawyer) are transferred to the thai partner upon death. alternatively, just do it now.

create new preferred class of "super" voting shares in the company and issue it to the thai partner now.

hope this helps

Dear All,

Not sure if this is the right place. I try though. Sadly, I got a friend that doesn’t have too much time left before he goes to heaven (his own words). He is concern about his estate in Thailand.

Via a Co., LTD he owns one house on a plot of land purchased for 15 Million THB and another bought for 6 Million THB.

There are 7 shareholders in the company (one is the lawyer... who helped out with purchases, registration etc). Another (and the largest Thai shareholder) is my friends partner.

I suspect that all of the shareholders want a piece of the pie, when my friend passes away (I hope it will take a long time before it happens).

I suspect that he wants his partner to be the sole owner of the land and houses. The Thai partner does not live in Thailand any more.

I will find out more as he will come to Thailand next month, and we will of course go and see a lawyer and try to sort things out for the best.

At this stage, I just would like to be semi-prepared and try to be as good assistant as I can to my friend.

So, does anyone has any feedback/comments on what is the best thing to do, or knows about a similar situation.

Many thanks in advance.