Digger

What happens if another tsunami comes while our new visitors are sitting on the beach?

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Well at least they will now what it is and what to do - i.e run like never before

If you go sown Sukhumvit Soi 11, almost outside the Ambassador hotel, there are typically between 1-4 pick ups on the street with signs saying for rent with driver in English and Thai. Suggest having a chat with them and seeing how much they charge.

In my opinion and speaking as someone who has worked before in the travel industry, directly selling holidays to people, it needs a two fold approach.

Firstly, An advertising campaign by the TOT showing what Phuket is like today - bit similar to Fuji ad's but also showing that damage did occur but its been repaired.

Secondly, a concerted pricing effort by airlines, hotels and ground handlers to motivate people to come back. An example could be "Come to Phuket now and enjoy prices so low you will never see them again" - basically your attracting people by price as there way of justifying to friends why they are going to Phuket. Forget any ideas about 'doing the right thing' and 'helping those less fortunate than oursleves' this does not cut it when your trying to encourage tourism to a Island that was hit by a Tsunami less than 2 months ago.

If it were me, I would tend to approach it along the lines that this holiday pre-tsunami was $XXX and is now $YYY a reduction of 50%. Once those people come, they will then feedback the true situation to their friends and so on. Also Thailand needs to focus its efforts on getting people from within Asia. Not sure what the TOT did to encourage Singaporeans and Hong Kong residents to spend Chinese New Year in Phuket - but I would hazzard a guess it was not a lot.

But ultimately, I believe that the hoteliers will not learn and sit on their high pedestals until they go bankrupt.

Hi everyone does anybody know if there are different rates for water and elec bills in Pattaya. I dont think my house water and maybe electricity are on the right tariffs as i dont think my builders have moved things over into my name correctly and i might be payong a higher rate ive been told possibly twice as much. How do i tell as trying to get any sense out of the water company is very difficult.

Help! Also kasikorn bank dont seem to seem to state in statments where money taken out of account has gone, do they make large charges for paying bills for you direct as i have noticed 600 or 700 baht being taken out of my account any ideas or has anyone had the same sort of problems? thanks

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I have just posted in another thread in housebuilding that my electric bill is charged at 2.951 baht excl VAT and 3.158 incl. VAT. Meter is in a company name and its 3 phase power. No loading - this is the exact price straight from the electric company.

You use a very low amount at 380 units.  I used 1,537 last month and base charge was 4,351.22 so about 2.83 per unit average cost using 15/45 meter service.

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So I'm paying over 30 satang more than you per unit (Bht 3.14)! Anybody else paying a different rate?

BTW Lop, what the h*ll are you running in your house to use four times the electric I am?

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I have 3 phase power at my place in Chonburi which I presume is the 35/100 that you are talking about and we are paying 2.951 baht a unit excl VAT and 3.158 incl VAT direct from the electric company with no loading by 3rd parties.

You can as of about 2 weeks ago receive BBC Prime through UBC which is their international entertainment channel - so I guess Eastenders is shown but have not seen it so am not 100% sure. BBC Prime has only just come here as they are now carrying it on satelittes that cover Asia. European satelittes do not reach this far.

ABC Asia Pacific, (Australian equivalent of the BBC) also shows many BBC and ITV drama's but its not carried on UBC (the main Thai satelittle channel.) but is shown on Sophon, which is Pattaya's cable network. The only soap I have seen on ABC is Home & Away.

Probably in time, ITV will start showing some of their channels as the numbers of British expats living in Asia is going up all the time but I have no idea when this would be done or even if it will be done.

Bumrungrad is where all the "Hi So" folks go.  They speak English and it's overated.

Best Hospital in BKK from what I've heard is the Government one - Zaa-ree-rat.  Forgive my spelling...anyhow, the care is supposed to be the best.

Hope I don't have to find out first-hand.

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You mean Siriraj Hospital. Its associatted with Mahidol medical school and is indeed I believe where the King goes for any medical attention. My experience is that Bumrungrad has a mix of doctors from both a Mahidol and a Chula background (Chula, being the other main medical training facility in BKK). Personally I dont think there is a lot to choose between them. As for Bumrungrad being overrated, its a bit like splitting hairs on the differences between the top 3 football teams in any given league. They are invariably good, have some areas of recognised expertise and probably some prima donnas on the team - but can they play football - you bet they can. Where Bumrungrad excels is in its care and focus on foreign customers and cutting edge equipment. Not sure that Siriraj has the latest GE MRI scan which costs over $1,000,000 - quite important if you have been in a car accident and they have no idea what internal organs have been damaged - these machines can tell them in about 3 minutes flat. Quite re-assuring I think and I know which medical card I keep in my wallet and stored on my mobile.

I got stopped after turning into the left hand fork of Marine Plaza on Friday night. The policeman informed me that it was a one way and gave me a ticket.

I said that I did not know and asked him where the sign was. He was in the right as obscured by a telephone box and impossible to see if you are coming from the Pattaya Hill direction (I've gone back and checked) was a no entry sign.

I'm all for the traffic laws being upheld and the 200 baht I had to pay is no big deal but why o why can they not place signs where they can be clearly seen so as to stop anybody offending inadvertantly or more seriously turning into a one way in the wrong direction and causing and accident.

This guy was also standing in the same place on Saturday and Sunday night nabbing scores of unsuspecting motorcyclists.

Is it the case that some places are deliberately signposted inadequately so as to be a revenue making machine for the Pattaya police force?

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If your so concerned why dont you go to city hall and offer to pay for the same to be moved to the other side of the telephone box - then you get the satisfaction that nobody else will fall foul of the money making scheme. Probably cost you 3,000 baht but what satisfaction for you.

Will be returning to LoS with my Main Squeeze      soon and we will be signing a rental agreement for a humble abode.  The company has kindly offered to cover the 2 month rental deposit but with the implication that we are still responsible for its return.     Would expect that the contract would indicate a defined time period after which the deposit(minus contractually agreed deductions) would be returned.  How long should this waiting period be.  How strong is the contract and what if any recourse would we have should the condo/house owner decide to retain the deposit.

We will be based in the Pattaya area and don't know if there is a territorial uniqueness to rental contracts.

Would appreciate any advise/life experiences that could increase our chances of getting the deposit back when we vacate.

Thanks

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Depends who owns the house and how the property is managed. Some real nice farang owners in and around Pattaya, but there wifes are like pit bulls - they never let go of the money once they have sunk their teeth into it (and probably spent your deposit on something else). Also many of the real estate agents are atrocious if they manage the property as well. Couple spring to mind who seem to have a policy of NEVER giving back deposits. Also lot of it depends upon the price of the property you planning to rent. Upper end stuff is predominantly done through 3 agents, all of whom are highly considered. If they dont like the owner or have bad experiences from before they wont touch the property with a barge pole. Good ones include: Premier Homes (probably handle about 90% of upper end stuff on the Eastern Seaboard, KCR Homefinder and East Coast Real Estate. All have farang staff as well as Thai. Typically these guys are only handling property ranging from 40,000-200,000 baht month and all are based in Pattaya/Jomtien.

Oh by the way, you have virtually no rights and the price they set for damage is up to them. Be very cautious and ask around the real estate agents or if your working, ask aquaintances as places like British/Aussie chambers of Commerce which have regular meetings in and around Pattaya.

scary stuff and then there is this from bloomberg.  It seems full blown aids pretty ###### quick with this newer strain.

The infected New Yorker had gone for AIDS tests frequently over the years and tested negatively until December, when he tested positive for the virus, Frieden said. Physicians believe he became infected in October.

"In this patient's case, onset of AIDS appears to have occurred within two or three months and at most 20 months after HIV infection," Frieden said. The patient, whose name was withheld, has symptoms usually associated "with someone who has very advanced disease," he said.

The normal time of progression from infection to full-blown AIDS in an untreated patient is about nine years, with death following within 18 months, said Karlie Stanton, a spokeswoman for the CDC in Atlanta. For someone treated with anti-viral drugs, the average progression to disease from infection is 11 years, with death occurring within an average six years, Stanton said.

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Nothing really new here - HIV specialists have known for a long time that social drug use and crystal meth in particular really &lt;deleted&gt; up the body of someone with HIV - dealing with HIV is bad enough on the body but having to cope with the damage that Crystal meth causes just goes over the edge and the body cant cope. It was only a matter of time before something like this got reported in the way it has as a kind of wake up call. If you look at HIV conference notes, its been raised many times in the past as a very strong liklihood. A very real wake-up call though for the population in high risk groups to practice safe sex.

Harmonica, I saw the chart but am confused by your choice of language

Are you suggesting wait until gold goes down to 200US$ per ounce to buy? Surely thats not likely. Or is it?

Cheers

lemel

My comment was only on hearsay from a couple of guys that went there,so probably a bit harsh from me.

I will check it out this weekend sometime,and then give my own views.Kims a good operator,and a nice fellow, so it should be ok.

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Lemel your a bit touchy are'nt you?

I know what Bartender is getting at, Unless your staying in the Novapark or near it then IMO Jamesons is in a very strange location which IS difficult to find for someone who is'nt too familiar with Pattaya.

I personally hate that soi especially late at night.

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I'd agree about the soi but I suspect in 2 years time we will all be kicking ourselves that we did not open it there - freehold land, bound to be loads of newly built condo's and hotels in the immediatte walking distance and access from Klang, 3rd and 2nd roads with large car park. Valuable position, but have to wait a couple of years for it to come really good.

Easiest way to fin Jamiesons is to go down second road following the one way route up to North Pattaya and just past Gregs Kitchen on the right hand side is a turning before Bangkok Bank. Go down there for about 500m and Jamiesons is there adjoining Nova Park apartments. Not exactly difficult to get too but you cannot see it from second Road. Can also access from 3 rd road and also Pattaya Klang down some back streets.

I had dinner there about 2 weeks ago - food was good and whilst not exactly cheap I thought it represented good value for money.

Hi people, Newbie here,

Just wondering how much it cost you to build your house in LOS,

I,m looking to build a home in Phetchabun at the end of the year, I'm looking at building a 4 bedroom single story european style, any rough figures would be appreciated.

Regards

Monkeypants

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Base construction price around 5000-7000 baht per square meter but by the time you add bathroom fittings, tiles, taps, air con, kitchen etc you could easily be up to 15,000-20,000 baht per square meter. Price excludes the land and landscaping, driveways, external lights etc, all of which are normally extras

Hi to all !

I am thinking of moving to Thailand , setting up a Thai company ( with 51% Thai ownership ) and purchasing a house and 2 condos . If I purchase the house , I believe I can not own the land . If this is the case , what are the chances of me losing my house , even if I " own " it ?

I mean can the 51% shareholders claim a share ? Has this ever happened ?

Or if the lease runs out , must I sell it within a year ?

Thanks for any replies !

David .

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First thing to appreciatte is that you do NOT own the property - the company does. You merely control the company in law. Understand that correctly and you are well on the way to being happy and content. Once that is understood, you then start to appreciatte the legal requirements as a director of the said company and the need to follow the law in terms of audited accounts, correct book keeping etc - all of which is required in a legally trading Thai company. So as you think with a directors hat on, you need to think where is the income for the said company and how does it generate an income for the assetts is owns. So you pay rent to the company for the property that it owns. That rent then forms the company income, from which it pays rental and corporation taxes. Needs not be a lot of money, but you must follow these principles to follow the law. The days of a company owning an assett and not doing anything are long gone and that is where you could come unstuck if you fail to understand the laws of Thailand (or anywhere else for that matter) and submit correctly audited accounts. Thai tax authorities do not like companies that do not make profits - therefore your company needs to make a profit albeit a small one and then pay some tax on those profits. I have done this for many years, been tax investigated and was thanked by the tax authorities for doing things correctly. Follow the rules and you will have no problem - but most of all change your mindset in terms of who owns the properties - NEVER say that you own the properties because you dont, you merely control the company that owns them.

Long hair Thai using shower, drain backed up, called falang to help, removed drain cover and got coat hanger and tried to roto root it, no luck.  Thai got long handled mop, turned it over and pushed it down about a meter, drain cleared.

My shower, less hair, but still drain cover and white plastic bug guard, still gets clogged with hair often.  I just remove the drain cover while showering and nothing can get caught in it.  My drain is in the corner of the shower so this is possible.  Rather than bend over at the start of the shower, I have thought of connecting a light chain to the drain cover so I can just yank it.

For those who are planning your bathroom, you might consider a separate room, a true W/C for the toilet, mine also has a bidet.  Japanese would never consider a toilet in the same room with a bathing facility, perhaps that is where I got my prediliction.  The cost of a wall or a wall and return is hardly worth mentioning in Thailand and not very space occupying.

I have often wondered how genteel ladies in very expensive western bathrooms feel as they recline into their bubble bath so that there heads are at toilet seat height and the toilet is placed adjacent to the tub.

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Cant speak for private houses but I have stayed in some VERY smart hotels in Tokyo and everyone had the toilet in the main bathroom. Never could fathom out though how to use those electric seats and hot water flushes First time I thought I'd broken the thing when sitting down and the ###### toilet starts whirring at me....

Just found this article from the Nation on fuel issue:

FUEL SUBSIDY COST : Bt63 bn and rising daily by Bt179m

Published on January 26, 2005

Petrol prices to go up but diesel peg stays

The Thaksin government has postponed any increase in the diesel-oil price since last January, engaging in wishful thinking that world oil prices might come down after the general election on February 6. But global oil prices are showing no signs of softening – and the oil-price subsidy has cost the country some Bt63.56 billion to date.

The state-owned PTT yesterday announced it would increase local prices of petrol products – which have been floated – by 40 satang a litre from today, sending the prices of petrol 95 octane to Bt19.69 a litre and petrol 91 to Bt18.89 a litre.

The oil giant earlier delayed such a price rise, a move that negatively affected other oil companies, which in turn filed complaints.

The government has made known its plan to start cutting its price subsidy for heavy diesel oil from next month, after having capped the price at Bt14.59 per litre on January 10 last year. It is betting on seasonal factors pushing world oil prices down, as winter recedes in the Northern Hemisphere.

Dr Anusorn Sangnimnuan, president of Bangchak Petroleum, which operates its own oil refinery and petrol stations, told reporters yesterday average world oil prices this year are expected to exceed 2004.

He cited several reasons. The price of Dubai crude, Thailand’s benchmark, is forecast at US$35 to $38 per barrel this year, compared with an average price of nearly $34 last year, he said.

“The price on the Nymex (New York Mercantile Exchange) peaked at $55 a barrel last year, but this year they [oil experts and analysts] think it might reach $60 at some point.”

Anusorn said many factors were contributing to the bullish forecasts: a substantial increase in global gross domestic product, continued international geo-political instability and terrorist concerns, a weakening US dollar and speculative purchases of oil in futures markets by hedge funds.

“The price of diesel oil today hit $50 a barrel again, despite prices normally coming down during this period, when winter starts to end,” he said. The government would need to continue controlling domestic prices of oil products for a while longer, the Bangchak chief said.

“However, if the diesel price were raised to Bt16 or Bt17 per litre, that should not affect the economy too much,” he said, suggesting the government reduce its controversial subsidy.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the diesel subsidy is now Bt3.58 per litre, costing the country about Bt179 million each day.

PTT senior executive vice president Apisit Rujikiatkamjorn said that since December 16 – the date of the latest domestic oil-price adjustment – world oil prices have continued to climb, with Dubai crude rising $6.15 a barrel to $40.35, and petrol prices on Singapore’s market increasing $5.62 a barrel to $50.37.

He said these increases stem from lower-than-normal temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, as evidenced by the recent blizzard in the northeastern US; expectations for Opec’s oil production; and increased petrol demand in Indonesia.

Pichaya Changsorn

The Nation

If fuel, or anything similar, has a sudden price rise you can get this chain of events:

fuel price goes up

businesses raise prices on everything else to compensate

this is inflation

the government raises interest rates to fight inflation

this makes borrowing money more expensive and difficult

businesses can't borrow money so some fail and some don't grow

jobs and business dry up

This is called "stagflation", a combination of stagnation and inflation.

This is what happened in the U.S. in the 70's during the Arab oil embargo.

Another thing that can happen as a part of all this is the currency depreciates versus other currencies.

If this happens you don't really want to be in any of the following investments: cash in the local currency, stocks, or regular bonds (especially long-term bonds).

Real estate can be a good haven if you either own the property outright or have a FIXED rate mortgage (you'll get killed if you have a floating rate obligation).  You can also get killed if you can't rent the property out, or if you have to sell the property before times get better, or if you buy at the wrong time...  And since you can't own the land in Thailand, which is the safest part of a real estate investment...

Gold does pretty well at the beginning of this scenario, but once the government starts jacking up interest rates it loses out, because you don't get interest on money invested in gold.

That said, I'll repeat what I said on gold:

Investing in gold is gambling.  It has a 1/20 shot of winning for you.  2004 was a good year for gold.  Would you play a slot machine that had just made a big payout?

To win on gold you really have to time it right at both ends: You have to see that this might happen before everyone else does (and we're past that already), and then you  have to be able to predict when its going to get better before everyone else does in order to time your exit from gold back into something useful.

So what to do?  Don't panic.  If you are pretty evenly spread out between baht, dollars, pounds and euros, then sit tight.  If you're mostly in baht, and you're really worried about the baht, then rebalance a little.  If you've got floating rate mortgages, refinance them or pay them off.  Don't panic.

Inflation protected bonds can be ok, but when everyone is sure there's a huge spike of inflation coming then you pay a high premium for the inflation protection.  (The premium is the difference in interest rate between the inflation-protected bond and what you'd get on an equivalent bond without the inflation protection)

And make sure that you're not panicing before you do anything.

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Thanks for that advice - I have no mortgages on properties in Thailand so am not too concerned about that. Would be interesting to hear any insight on quite how big this fuel deficit is for Thailand. Petrol is free market price but I guess accounts for 10-20% of overall fuel consumption with diesel making up the lions share. I have not seen any forcasts in print about what this will mean if and when Thailand has to remove the diesel cap, but I guess now is as good a time as any if they have to do it and hopefully come the next election it will have been forgotten about. Obviously a weaker baht would help exports from Thailand as well and be usefull in getting more tourists back into Phuket etc.

On a more general basis, would there be a huge issue in Thailand if the baht was to go to say, 100 to the pound or 70 to the Euro? Seems like lots of reasons why it might be advantageous to Thailand right now.

As the Gas Bottles thread has run it's race I thought it might be a good idea to start a new thread concerning problems we encountered during the construction of our houses.

One that springs to mind was drainage in one of our bathrooms.

The original house design had the shower as a sunken recess only. This seems to be the norm in Thai domestic buildings from what I have seen. We opted to install an enclosed shower unit in this space without think too much about the implications. The contractor installed the unit and plumbed it directly to the original drainage for the existing shower recess. What this effectively did was block the drain in the recess, leaving the water that gathered nowhere to run to.

If you are doing similar to what I have done please be aware of this and perhaps place the shower unit on the oposite side from the drainage hole and install a separate drain.

I have not been home yet to see how it was remedied but aparently my wife had the contractor in to fix the problem. I am now worried that all he has done is open the pipe under the shower unit to allow drainage. This would mean that the shower water will continue to run out onto the floor to drain away later.

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You will probably find that they have broken a couple of tiles, fitted a new drain to connect with your original one and then re-tiled the two or three tiles they broke. Easy job and can be done in less than half a day at cost of about 500 baht or less by a decent tradesman.

As the Gas Bottles thread has run it's race I thought it might be a good idea to start a new thread concerning problems we encountered during the construction of our houses.

One that springs to mind was drainage in one of our bathrooms.

The original house design had the shower as a sunken recess only. This seems to be the norm in Thai domestic buildings from what I have seen. We opted to install an enclosed shower unit in this space without think too much about the implications. The contractor installed the unit and plumbed it directly to the original drainage for the existing shower recess. What this effectively did was block the drain in the recess, leaving the water that gathered nowhere to run to.

If you are doing similar to what I have done please be aware of this and perhaps place the shower unit on the oposite side from the drainage hole and install a separate drain.

I have not been home yet to see how it was remedied but aparently my wife had the contractor in to fix the problem. I am now worried that all he has done is open the pipe under the shower unit to allow drainage. This would mean that the shower water will continue to run out onto the floor to drain away later.

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The water volume of your shower is very high and will always exceed the capacity

of the drainage. I think your drainage pipe below is the standard Thai 1.5 inch. You need at least 3 inch drainage pipe to allow a fast disposal of the shower water.

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How do you reach that conclusion? Water comes out of a tap with a half inch gap and goes down a drain with a 1.5 inch pipe - I have had these built in showers (albeit Duscholux models, not the one shown but almost the same) for 2 years and never had any problems with water drainage through standard size drainage pipes. Considering Duscholux comes from Europe and has the same size drain hole as my shower in England, really not sure how you reach this conclusion. Unless Tukyleith has fitted some kind of fire hydrant shower, I dont think it will be a problem.

Some nice houses guys. But tell me, how do you structure the ownership of the property? I have been avoiding buying property in Thailand because of all the ownership restrictions for foreigners, but now Khun Wife is digging in the nails so will not be able to avoid it for much longer.

So what do you do to avoid problems? Let the wife buy land and lease it from her? Set up a company to hold the property?  Or do you just trust your wife and let her own everything in her name?

Had a bad experience couple of years ago. A good friend of mine, married to a Thai lady, lost everything. They bought something like 25 rai of prime land somewhere around Pitsanulok, buid a nice house, all in wife's name of couse. Decided to move permanently to Thailand, wife moves first to start up their future business, and my friend is to follow in less than a year, once his work contract finishes. Three months down the road, his wife has a tragic accident. Day after cremation he goes to their house to find his wife's cusin sitting there with a policeman. He's being told to packs his bags and get the F... out of the house in one hour. The family never cared for his wife before, but now they divide all the land and are laughing all the way to the bank...

So how do you protect yourself from situations like this?

I thought this question worthy of its own topic, therefore I have moved the post into a new topic.

/thaivisa.com moderator

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My preference is for company ownership everytime. If I had a child, I would actually make a provision in my will that they received my shareholding. I am not married but would not put any assett over say 1,000,000 baht in my wifes name. Not because I would not trust her - but to avoid all the problems if s**t happens like the scenario you described. My Girlfriend has always said to her family that companies own our properties not her. They may think I am a cheapskate for not putting them in her name but she is completely cool with it and also recognises that when we have sold our interest in the companies (i.e the house) that property transfer taxes are not payable as the company still owns the asset - only thing that changes is the director(s) with control over the company and its assets.

Blimey - Just seen that gold has fallen to 415US$ an ounce and Thai price down about 800 baht to 7,800 baht a baht. Good time to buy or not?

Thanks for explaining to me why it's better to bank in Singapore, fellas. Now I would have thought that HSBC in one country would be the same as HSBC in another country. But what I hear you saying is that HSBC in each country has different regulations it must follow, depending on the government. And that if a government had an idea about taxing your interest income or something, they couldn't do it if your money was in another country, is that correct?

I guess Singapore is okay if i can open an account by mail, but I don't want to have to go there. I expect to be living in Northern Vietnam. Might an HSBC in Hong Kong be just as good for me as one in Singapore?

I guess you all have positive feelings about HSBC. Is it better than other international banks, like Citibank?

I wonder if it would be a better choice than Everbank in the US. Would my money be guaranteed against bank failure at HSBC?

I just checked their website. Well, they have foreign currency accounts but don't give the rates--insist you must telephone them (in the UK) to get the rates! That's out of the question. I will need them to be available via email or secure bank mail. Have had enough hassles with banks in the US that don't allow you to contact them over the net.

Or is there a way?

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My personal experience is that HSBC is a far better bank in Asia than Citibank, however both are as financially secure as you can get in a bank. You might find though that HSBC in Singapore are more foreigner friendly than in Kong Kong - in HKG HSBC is a HUGE bank looking after hundreds of thousands of accounts. In Singapore they are smaller and have a restricted licence in terms of number of branches they can have. End result is that they have to try harder to win clients than say they would in Hong Kong. Also in Singapore, they handle lot of accounts for non residents of Singapore e.g people living in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam etc who dont want to keep their money in their respective home country.

Either centre is very secure for banking

Unfortunately, located in Bangkok. Do you have a name and/or contact number for those guys in Pook? Would like to sort this out, maybe they have an affiliate or can recommend someone in bkk

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If your exposed to a 1,000,000 baht loss and possible other issues you highlighted in your original post, I am struggling to understand why you would even contemplate talking to a law firm in one of the provinces. Anybody who knows Thailand, also knows that Bangkok is where the best people work - Is it the opportunity to have a 30 minute "free" consultation and then hope to get a definative solution without paying for it? Somehow I can't see that happening. If you want the best legal advice in Thailand, you will find it in BKK and at one of the half dozen or so A list law firms. You have already said that you cant find anyone to understand your problem, so somehow cant imagine some sleepy guy in Phuket is going to be the answer your looking for. Just imagine your ex-wife getting some kind of letter from a lawyer in Phuket - she will likely laugh her head off and is not inclined to take it seriously. Conversly, if your BKK lawyer seek a meeting with the bank concerned, you can be sure they will take it seriously if your using a top flight firm and see if you can work out a solution with them directly - conversly your wife will also take them more seriously.

I have seen 3 examples in Thailand where my former employer used some of the senior partners from these law firms and they ran rings round everyone and in every case, we got the result we wanted. Typically these guys are SO highly respected that they scare the S**t out of the opposition before even walking in the room and that includes other lesser lawyers. One example springs to mind where we had been trying to conclude a purchase agreement gone bad and it had been dragging on for 1 year. Finally we involved our lawyers. Explained the problem to them, they said thats a case for Khun XXX, our Thai senior partner - he had one meeting with the other party and lawyer and resolved it in our favour saving us some 20,000,000 baht in purchase fee's - nothing went to court, nothing was in the agreement but what we unearthed was a crock of s**t in what we had purchased. He used that to his advantage and resolved it in a very diplomatic and face saving way but he was as hard as nails in how he handled the whole affair. The former owner and his misses truly knew that they were well out of their depth along with their cheapo lawyer and it was like theatre hearing about it afterwards. None of the farang were in the room from the acquiring company and the meetings were all held on neutral ground as I recall he suggested hiring a boardroom at the Oriental to intimidate them. Certainly had the right effect.

Some really powerfull stuff going on in other threads - sounds great except I dont understand more than half of it

For those of us that live and work in Thailand, who have savings here - what is the consensus on what we should be doing? I already have dollars, Euro's and pounds offshore and am content with that, but am feeling that something could happen with the baht soon, which could lead people to benefit by changing their assets now.

Assuming the cap comes off diesel fuel here - will it affect the strength of the economy and thus the baht in the short term (less than 1 year)? If it does as an example should we/I be buying gold here in the hope that if the baht depreciates, then I presume gold will go up IN THAILAND AND BAHT terms. So again trying to keep it simple, should one be buying gold at the moment in case the Thai economy nosedives once diesel goes up to market price. I have heard it said from an economist that the debt on diesel fuel is huge in Thailand and now the election is over that the cap MUST be removed to actually pay for the subsidy that has been in place when fuel prices were sky high. Conversly if the cap is removed, I presume everyone will use it as the excuse to increase costs which of course get past through the supply line and everything goes up in price. In simple terms, again IN THAILAND, what is the impact of that. Could this mean that the baht weakens considerably against say the Pound, Euro etc. Is this a good time to be moving baht out of Thailand, coverting into other currencies and then potentially moving it back if the baht falls substantially. My situation is that I live here, work here, own property here and will likely be here for a fair time. In fact most of my money/investments are in Thailand but I could currently move money out of baht if there might be an advantage to then buy back in at a better price.

One thought I had was somehow moving baht into another holding which could then be transferred back into baht very easily and without too much hassle through banks.

Hyperthetically, assume we are talking about 1,000,000 baht of cash (in Baht) that could be changed to say Gold which as we now is a readily changeable commodity here. Should I be worrying or just sit tight on the cash.

Any simple advice welcomed from what are clearly some very streetsmart guys out there.