Digger

It maybe a moot point and I admit to not being up to speed on all this situation, but what is the anticipated outcome of this if the court finds in favour of the 10 people who brought the action? For example, if the court finds in their favour, what is too stop the following scenario happening:-

1. City Hall say, ok we accept what the judge say and whist we do not agree with him, we have to accept it.

2. View Talay submit new plans, with a Tiered building that suddenly goes up to 30 stories on the 200m line.

3. Pattaya City Hall approve it.

End of problem for everyone except the people who brought the action as they have still lost the seaview.

I am asuming in all this that the land plot in question is circa 200m deep, which when allowing for the road and beach area will allow them to build at least something hi-rise.

Banglamung Cable has the ability to do this as well, or at least thats what they told me when they put cable in my house about 3 years ago. Not sure if they ever got it off the ground, infact, to be honest, I dont think I have watched Banglamung in the last 2 years, so no idea if it still works. Still it was easier for my maid and her husband to have the Thai TV channels than carry another UBC box for them.

So presumably if Banglamung have the right type of cabling - I guess its just a question of money and expertise to bring it all together. I'd actually imagine they could make way more money out of a decent ADSL type service than the rubbish they put on the TV system.

In a nutshell as has already been alluded too, doctor fee's are determined by each doctor. You need to do your homework as to which doctors charge 'reasonable' prices. Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this, however I for one would never use a Dr Pantip who is a hematologist at Bumrungrad again as he is a blatant profiteer IMHO. In my experience, the doctors who only P/T at private hospitals after finishing at Govt hospitals/medical schools tend to be more realistic in their pricing structures. Its only anecdotal, based on my own experiences. Equally once you find a good doctor, ask them to recomend someone reasonable and good for a further 'specialist' investigation.

Why dont you just go to Thai Ultimate Car on Vibvahdee (spelling) Road - considering they sold every land rover in Bangkok up until about 1 year ago - odds are they know who owns it as he is likely to be a regular visitor to the service centre there. The service staff will always remember the farang.

A slight aside but I was in Asia Books or somewhere the other day and bought a copy of What car magazine from the UK as they had on the cover a road test for the new Land Rover Freelander. fast forward a bit and I actually spent more time reading about the Nissan X-Trail than the other 3 in the same test (Toyota Rav 4, Hyundai something and the Freelander). The surprise to me was how highly What Car rated the Nissan. By all accounts they consider it an excellent vehicle. FYI, they did not include the Ford Escape in that road test but in their overall review, it seems to warrant 1 of out 5.

Maybe its worth having a look at the Nissan X Trail as well which costs about 1.2m in Thailand and has a 2.5l petrol engine. Considering the new Land Rover is expected to be over 3,000,000 baht - seems like a relative bargain even if it is a bit long in the tooth, but for sure What Car rated it very highly.

just don't pay the last months rent.

Oh thats clever - go in breach of the contract and NO chance of ever getting your deposit back as you breached the contract. Very very few places will not return a deposit unless their is an underlying reason.

Guesthouse, I don't object to anything you have said. ..........................

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As an aside, your superialistic manner is a bit boring, not at all like the successful high earners that I have met.

I see you eventually got around to saying what you wanted to say.

Hey Ho!

Guesthouse, you have avoided offering supporting evidence to your bold claim that "500,000+" is the standard ex-pat packagei n Pattaya. I apprecaite that it's hard to do for such a wild statement.

Instead you offer a quip in an attempt to "win a thread".

You're obviously seem like an intelligent guy, but remember that it's not about the winning or losing but the taking part, and helping the OP - which between us I believe that we have done. Good luck to you, and the OP.

Jasreeve17 - to make it simple for you replace the word "Pattaya" with "Eastern Seaboard" - I know of at least a dozen expats on packages of around 500,000baht per month and they live on the outskirts of Pattaya. They do not work IN Pattaya, but invariably the kids are attending (at a cost of some 500,000 baht per child per year), Regents School. The school fees are also paid by their employer. There are loads of expats on this kind of salary working on the Eastern Seaboard but you are very unlikely to find them in Walking Street or Soi 8 on a drunken night out. Guesthouse is completely correct in what he says, infact those numbers were very similar to what I was earning 5 years ago for a major multinational in Thailand.

Without a doubt the preferred area for professional expats and their families is around the Maprachan Resevoir area, about 15km outside of Pattaya. Reason being is that this area is considered upmarket and far enough away from the bustle of the city but near enough to take advantage of its infrastructure notably supermarkets, private hospitals, restaurants, cinema's etc. Sattahip really has nothing going for it and you will be forever having to drive to Pattaya for shopping etc and perhaps more importantly people you might want to socialise with. Most of the expats I know all live round Maprachan despite working in Rayong and Matbraput which are some of the main industrial area's as basically that is where everyone else lives. A kids birthday party becomes a major chore when the party is being held a good hours drive away.

Subway does not require you to put up a sign; we in fact don't do it.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

This seems to be more widespread than you guys are aware. I had read this before and tonight at about 6.30pm I was in the Subway between Landmark and Nana and got no receipt. A sign said no receipt = 100 baht cash. I asked and was told the till is broken, come back in an hour for your receipt and no you cant have a 100 baht!!!!!!!!

Great customer service - I wont be returning.

The sandwich itself was so so but the service sucked. I assume you penalise the staff the 100 baht if they dont give the receipt hence the crux of the issue when they get caught out. Sounds to me like you guys have a big control issue here. No manager around and nobody willing to take any resbonsibility.

Have you looked at the settings of your adsl modem/router. Assuming its a TT&T one, I often check the status by typing: http://192.168.1.1 and then username is admin and password ttt - you can then see how your modem is performing and what speed is coming in. Once mine showed speed of 36kbps - a call to the help desk changed that - the technician they send round has not got a clue - he just checks the line is working. Also dont believe that stuff about distance. I am about 10km from the echange on Crocodile Farm and it works fine.

However saying all that, I do believe now the technician who told me that 256 speed works FAR better than 512 and forget 1024 - its slower than the other two for some reason and the premium service at 2500 is way way better than the regular service as your not sharing the connection with as many people.

Finally I dont know of any other service providers but then as I am normally only in Pattaya at weekends - cant say I have much time to go and find another one.

I know TT&T have big problems with capacity in Pattaya at the moment - they have actually told me they are not taking anymore customers onto ADSL service until they can add capacity (or is that just a fob off?) - my house is out near Maprachan and I wanted my second phone line configured for ADSL (first already is) but they said cannot. However they would allow me to upgrade the service on the first line to a more expensive service which allowed up to 5 users !!!! I could not get my head round that one, but changed it anyway and the upgraded service (I think about 2600baht a month) is way way better than the cheaper service.

A friend of mine, still cannot get any ADSL onto his TT&T line as he was told the same reason - no capacity - yet his phone line is on the digital??? exchange which should allow it. This seems to have been going on for months now. Maybe its just the capacity outside the city?

I cant help but wonder why International Companies and or foreign Chambers of Commerce are not looking at what is happening in Thailand and thinking "How do we positively portray our image as being useful to Thailand".

I could not imagine this happening in many other countries. At the moment, we are seeing a state of confusion among foreign controlled business yet little effort to actually try and influence the outcome. Lobbying with decision makers is one thing, but why is their no widespread self promotion going on.

As an indication, with some statistics from these companies you could create a very strong image for foreign controlled companies that could make people understand what benefit they provide to the average Thai person. For example, pulling together all the statistics on VAT payment by the major supermarkets could be quantified into 'what does it mean to the man on the street" - e.g the VAT that the likes of Tesco, Carrefour etc paid through to the revenue department = the cost of the entire 30 baht health care scheme - directly benefiting Thai people. International companies employ, legally with tax's paid, some XXXXX thousands of workers. Probably an interesting statistic is the list of the 100 largest companies in Thailand and how much corporate income tax they have paid in the last 3 years, much of which is whats funding the development of the country (+ of course the corruption of airports etc etc, but that aint going to change overnight).

The list is by no means exhaustive - but does it surprise anybody else that nobody is taking a leadership position on this to actually influence a change in understanding of what is happening? I know for sure that the UK without foreign money would be back down in the gutter now, yet amazingly its economy is still incredibly strong. OK for sure, they have problems, but the free market is whats driven the UK's success in the last 15 years.

I truly believe that a well thought out campaign could be very timely - not to mention useful if helping the average Thai understand what benefits can be derived from becoming open. Just a quick look at Singapore would suddenly show you the power of opening yourself up and creating an environment for foreign investment.

Am I the only one thinking like this or have I lost the plot to think it would make the slightest difference?

To add a bit of counter balance from Business Week this week

"GlaxoSmithKline: Getting AIDS Drugs To More Sick People

When Jean-Pierre Garnier took over as CEO of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) seven years ago, the company's reputation on corporate social responsibility was at its nadir. As part of a coalition of 39 pharmaceutical companies, the drugmaker was suing Nelson Mandela's South African government for voiding patents on prescription drugs. Mandela's top priority was giving desperately sick patients access to HIV treatments, and GSK—the world's largest supplier—was standing in the way. "It was a public relations disaster," Garnier concedes.

The experience convinced Garnier that GSK should lead the crusade to improve access to medicine. In 2001, GSK became the first major drugmaker to sell its AIDS medicines at cost in 100 countries worldwide. And it has granted eight licenses to local companies to produce generic versions of these medicines.

In fact, GSK sells 90% of its vaccines, in volume terms, at not-for-profit prices to customers in the developing world. In 2005, it set a new paradigm in the vaccine industry. It chose Mexico over other, wealthier nations as the launch pad for Rotarix, a new vaccine against gastrointestinal rotavirus. "We wanted to get the vaccine to the children who needed it most," Garnier explains.

Creating medicines for the Third World while still posting a profit required fancy financial footwork. GSK has formed 14 different partnerships with the World Health Organization and other nongovernmental bodies, and with philanthropies such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These programs provided funding for research on two different HIV vaccines, new treatments for tuberculosis, and a pediatric vaccine against malaria. In the latter case, a collaboration with the Gates Foundation and a group called the Malaria Vaccine Initiative led to a vaccine that provides a minimum of 18 months of protection against malaria. It could be on the market within four years. "The commitment [of GSK] to developing a malaria vaccine is outstanding," says Dr. Tore Godal, the former head of the Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunization (GAVI).

Garnier says efforts such as these give the company several advantages over its rivals. Top scientists are drawn to GSK because they want their research to make a difference. Doing good, and being admired for it, also boosts general morale at the company, he says. "This creates a more aligned and engaged workforce, which helps us outperform our competitors."

Thats all well and good - except Thailand is not one of the 100 poorest countries !!!!! GSK has a policy to help Thailand and does sell medicines at lower costs than in the West, but they certainly are not anywhere near free.

All this about Kaletra is a bit misleading - little attention seems to be focused on why the levels of resistance are so high in GPO-VIR. A pure guess on my part would be that it has a lot to do with the same reasons that with the exception of Nevarapine, the other components of the medicine have long since been dumped (like must be 5+ years ago) by the west for exactly the same problems. The ingrediants themselves that go to make GPO -VIR are basically second rate. GPO has been trying, but with limited success to mimic GSK's medicine Combivir that combines AZT and Laminvudine (3TC). If that had been combined with Nevarapine (but not as a single tablet - they cant be combined in one pill for some reason) - There would probably have not been such an urgent rush to grab Kaletra. Kaletra is a different class of drug and its not the answer to this issue - Expect another announcement sometime within the next 3 years when that comes to light.

I found a useful snippet about this recently. Most Thai's that live away from their province believe that they cannot get the 30b health care scheme - apparently this is not true - all they have to do is go to the amphur office of where they are staying and register (somehow) that they are now living in wherever it is they are staying. Once registered they can then use the 30b health care scheme - dont expect anybody to tell you this but I had it from a very reliable source.

The problem with Audi and VW in Thailand is that while the cars are considered as good and premium vehicles - the importer and distributor is not highly regarded. Lots of history on this if you ask a well to do Thai about it - just think why BMW switched everything to their own, owned sales operation. They used to use the same importer/distributor. Plus of course, not having any spare parts in stock does not exactly go down well with owners as the said importers seem reluctant to hold a sizeable and expensive inventory. VW/Audi have pretty much stated they see no growth in the brand in Thailand until they take control of the whole thing. Read into that what you want but it seems pretty clear to me at least what is their strategy.

Dynasty Inn Grande on Suk Soi 6 is probably the best of the hotels around that area relative to its price - its about 2200 baht a night and is comparable in rooms to the Landmark and Grand Majestic which are over 4000baht. Google for the Dynasty Inn to see the hotel but its good and has free internet in the rooms which is pretty unique. Still other cheaper hotels around but I think I would draw the line at the Sukhumvit Crown hotel - certainly a flea pit of a dump last time I looked but admit its cheap.

I do not put any credibility into this story as far as the law goes. Only our company directors have access to our bank accounts - mere shareholders have no such authority to withdraw funds. Sounds like a case of sour grapes to me and as he himself said, putting far too much trust in people of dubious repute. Sounds like his wife is about as useful as a wet paper bag in the art of running a business as well. Seems odd to me, why his wife would be the legal 'front person' unless of course, he was working without a work permit. That in itself will have the police vultures circling and laughing all the way, as they merely just hi-light the difficulty he could face without a work permit. A sad story for sure, but really nothing more than common sense would indicate he had a huge exposure.

This does not surprise me about the differences between Bangkok and Pattaya in interpreting the rules for extension based on a business, however I was led to believe that infact all Pattaya do, is accept the application and then send it up to Bangkok where a decision is made. So does this mean, if you dont have the 1,000,000b in profit on previous years balance sheet (maybe despite sufficient sales volume and equity in the company), that the application is not even accepted in Pattaya? If this is the case, did I read before from Sunbelt that the applicant can just go straight to Bangkok and lodge it there? Knowing most lawyers tend to leave it to the very last minute to lodge applications (and therefore keep stamps allowing maximum time of stay) - that could explain how Monty's acquaintances have had problems - suddenly needing to change all their plans and fly off leaving an unsupervised business.

This kind of inconsistency is not exactly supportive of the foreign investor who tries to do things legally - I would not be surprised if there is some kind of public demonstration from a farang business owner who takes all his staff to Pattaya immigration and when his application is declined, he tells his staff assembled "sorry guys - no job anymore, you are all out of a job, thanks to these guys".

Difficult situation - certainly let the owners (as against just the mamasan) know - only problem is that they split the time I think between Pattaya and Bangkok. If it was me, I would not even say to Matt or his wife, that your looking for the money back - but they need to sort this problem to avoid bad PR for their bar. I would be very surprised if they did not sort it out straight away - the girls are shit scared of his wife and with good reason - she is very tough on them.

We do have a office in Pattaya as well. As for the time involved, it sounds like way too long to get a work permit. The norm with our clients to obtain a work permit is 20 days in Chonburi while in BKk it is 10 days ( only one day if the company qualifies for the one stop center).

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

Sunbelt - what is happening with the one stop centre - I understood its likely to close soon, or will it just be used for BOI companies ? i.e any other company with asset/capital over 30,000,000 cannot use it anymore (I believe those figures are correct, but would stand corrected if they are wrong.

Many thanks

Not that it will help you much but by way of info I had huge problems with the governor of Chonburi signing off on a work permit. There was no reason for this delay and in the end I got so hacked off, I just relocated the entire company to Bangkok and it was issued in a week. For some reason, those guys in the provinces are hopeless. Now I have no issues - still own assets in Chonburi but they are all held by our company in Bangkok where I work from. Crazy as due to their inaction, they have lost all the tax revenues, but I guess they dont think about that.

So, basically I dont think its your lawyer being slow and doubt anything much will speed it up.

For the most part airlines CHOOSE if they want a gate or bus - a gate is more expensive and I would hazzard a guess that TG is continuing its practice they used at Don Muang where, if the aircraft is not being turned around straight away and going on another flight, they tended to use a remote stand as they are much cheaper than using a gate. As an example of this, SQ always pay for a gate and in hundreds of flights I have taken between Bangkok and Singapore over the last 10 years, I have never had a boarding/de-planing by bus on SQ. TG is approx: 50/50 risk of bus in my experience. Sounds like nothing has changed in its procedures at the new airport.

I used Kitchen Studio in my place and found them to be very good at the time and after 4 years, the kitchen still looks excellent. The cabinets are a laminate coat on chipboard but still in very good condition and no problems with hinges etc. They also supplied and fitted all the other bits and pieces like fridge, oven, hob etc etc. Probably not the cheapest, but the designer guy (think his name was Matty from Finland) made a nice workable layout and they came in ontime and got everything sone in 3 days including all the granite work tops.

Schooner - your posts are quite frightening. BPH is not in the same league as any of the top hospitals in Bangkok, either government or private - just ask an educated Thai and they will tell you why. In case you dont know any educated Thai's - its because quite simply Bangkok is the beginning and end point of a Thai's career. If your well educated and successfull, you work in Bangkok - period. There is no discussion about this in Thailand among Thai's. It is for that reason that so many companies on the Eastern Seaboard really struggle to hire decent managers to work there. The one's they do get they have to pay higher than Bangkok salaries and in 90% of cases, the Thai staff actually live in BKK and stay in digs during the working week.

Specifically about hospitals, you have two main medical teaching universities - Mahidol and Chula. Bumrungrad attracts mostly doctors from Chula and Bangkok Hospital mostly Mahidol. The simple reason for this is due to geography - Chula is nearer Bumrungrad as an example, so many doctors that work in Chula in teaching positions (professors, etc) freelance after school in Bumrungrad. To be a Professor of the medical faculty at either Chula or Mahidol is about as prestigous as any doctor can get - they dont do it for the money - thats peanuts to what they earn in private practice - hence you have the main private hospitals. It is for this reason that these doctors would never consider working in Pattaya at a 'tourist' hospital. So BPH, has to convince some specialists to work 2 days a week 'down in Pattaya' - the biggest problem for BPH is that while these doctors are good - what happens when they are not there???? This is always the issue as I see it and have experienced it. Yes for a provincial hospital BPH has more bells and whistles than most but its not comparable to a large private or government teaching in Bangkok as they have no depth of knowledge among their medical staff. Bumrungrad has 800 doctors on staff, Bangkok hospital probably a similar number - they are way ahead of BPH and BPH regularly has to refer patients up to Bangkok which speaks volumes for their competence in complex care. If your seriously considering a business trying to appeal to westerners, it might pay you to do your homework and ask where do wealthy Thai's go for treatment. I can assure you, it aint Bangkok Pattaya Hospital.

As I recall when working for a large travel related company in Thailand, they also showed their income in the accounts, not the revenue passed through to the ultimate supplier e.g airlines, hotels etc. However I might be out of touch as I was never closely involved in this - just saw the balance sheets when I was going for my work permits. For a travel agency, the revenue is not strictly yours, its the principals, hence this seems to be quite legit but i would suggest you enquire with a decent accountant. Incidentally again as far as I am aware, VAT is not chargeable on lots of travel related expenditure such as airline tickets.

Not much help I am afraid, but I would tend to agree that you are not considered a seller in the true understanding of the word. Should be quite simple to clarify - lots of travel agencies, insurance brokers etc must be in the same position.