Guderian

Well if you will frequent the HiSo tourist places like that, manned by colourful and exotic immigrants from the sub-continent, what else did you expect? Try heading off to a real Thai market next time, like Talad Kwai on Thepprasit, manned by horny-handed Thai sons (and daughters!) of toil.

Ridiculous, the idiots in the DWP refuse to do this nonsense via e-mail or online as they claim that it isn't secure. Does that mean the Government Gateway isn't secure? If that's the case then they have an even bigger problem than I thought, If it's not the case, then why not just set up a page on the Government Gateway so you an register your continued existence there? Mu occupational pension is worth three times my state pension, yet the pension fund is happy to do everything online, including a PoL certificate every two years.

Highly unlikely given that the Immigration computer system can't even communicate effectively with itself (as evidenced by the need to do a 90-day in person when returning from a trip abroad, in spite of Immigration at the airport having clocked you into the system so it knows your status perfectly well). The idea that there'll suddenly be some magic, working interface between the TRD computer database (which, like most Thai IT, will also be an outdated crock o'<deleted>e) and the dodgy Immigration system is in the realms of fantasy as far as I'm concerned. And anyway, if they were somehow to decide to refuse you an extension, for many people that would surely be the time to get the Hell out of Dodge and find a friendlier place to spend your retirement income, or just go the <180-day route.

As long as this cool, still air stays over us, the smog isn't going anywhere. Roll on the hot season and a nice fresh south-westerly.

You know the way these things go in Thailand, they'll have this nice shiny new online TM6 system, yet will still want all the usual paperwork as well. Dropping the TM6 arrival card was the first actual reduction in Immigration paperwork I can remember, but it was obviously too good to last and the Thai bureaucracy, addicted to forms as it is, got withdrawal symptoms and so has come up with this online gubbins. And nothing the Thais do online ever works very well anyway.

Some years ago, I posted an important letter to HMRC in the UK via the EMS track & trace service at the main Pattaya Post Office. Not cheap. Anyway, the letter arrived at Heathrow and then disappeared, so I went back to the post office and asked them to find out what had happened to it. Talk about unhelpful, the guy behind the counter was basically saying to me in Thai, "Why should I, WTF has that got to do with me or this Post Office, falang idiot!" So I found a more senior Thai personage and, when I told them that the letter had arrived in Heathrow but then vanished from the tracking system, she told me that I needed to phone Heathrow airport and ask them where it had gone. Like Heathrow is the same size and as easily navigable as, say your local 7-eleven, lol. In the end, I printed another copy of the letter and sent it again, and this time it got there. Between that experience and Thai Post more or less having given up on actual physical delivery of letters in Pattaya any more than two or three times a year, I try not to bother with the mail any more.

It's interesting to learn that Thailand has two separate tax codes, one for its own citizens and a different one aimed only at foreign tax residents. Odd that I've never been able to find a copy of the foreign one. It must be the case, though, otherwise how can you explain the draconian measures people say the TRD will enact against farangs who don't file a tax return, while never bothering the millions of their own citizens who haven't bothered getting a TIN or offering to pay tax? My Thai builder is a prime example, he earns a lot of money and is in his late-50's, but decided a long time ago that the benefits of joining the Thai tax and social security system were far less than the tax he would have to pay, so he has never filed a tax return in his life. And the TRD hasn't sent its boot boys out to rough him up yet, whereas they'll soon be knocking down the door of any dirty foreigner who hasn't filed his paperwork.

You could have saved yourself the journey and just called 1337, you know?

Taiwan and South Korea are emerging markets nowadays??? lol

That's one thing you don't need to worry about as the Lunar New Year is on January 29 this year, not the end of February.

Blimey, Chiang Mai has clean air at this time of the year! 😮 Has the PM2.5 meter broken down? lol

So get a membership card, I seem to recall that it took about 5 minutes in the same shop you mention back in 2020.

At least he's trying, it makes a change from China launching yet another infrastructure investment and promising 10 million more tourists next year. I wonder if the LSO will make it to Pattaya? Nah, don't be daft!

This topic is less than a week old and will probably answer any questions you may have.

It's a question that has been asked many times over the years, have a look at this topic from a few years ago: In my experience, what the Thais call a 'chang fai' is usually just a handyman who feels able to turn his hand to electrical work. All of them, in other words. I've already got one of those, and he's downright dangerous, nowadays I won't let him touch anything electrical unless I'm watching closely. The idea in that topic of asking at a PEA office sounds sensible, it might be worth a try. Another possibility is to find a farang-run building or building services company and see if they have a semi-competent sparky. A decade ago, there were a number of these companies around but I must admit I can't name one now, which is why I haven't gone this route.

I already have a house in South Pattaya worth around 8 million Baht. My plan, developed during the pandemic, was to sell it, bring in another 6 million Baht or so from my offshore savings, and buy a bigger house, still in Pattaya but away from the mass tourism which has got out of control now. In theory, as the savings were in my account prior to 1/1/24, that would be tax-free, but even this snake oil salesman, Carden, admits that its still a grey area where nobody knows how it will be treated. So now, if the TRD gets aggressive with its tax plans, I'll just go the non-resident route, stay in Thailand for 170 or so days a year in future, and use the 6 million Baht to buy another house, probably in the Philippines, and stay there for around 130 days a year, so also not tax resident. The remaining 60 or so days a year I already spend in my property back in the UK, so buying one more in the PI isn't a hardship. Governments need to get realistic about this, the idiots in the OECD may rant on about tax justice but to be fair it needs to be a double-edged sword. If a country wants someone to pay tax like a local then they should also offer them similar benefits to a local; the right to own land, for example, and a fast-track route to permanent residency, then maybe people like myself would be more willing to pay tax. As things stand, if global income is really to be taxed wherever you are living on the planet, then I might as well become tax resident in the UK again, at least I'd qualify for NHS treatment and prescriptions, and my state pension would be indexed.

You could try one of the custom tee-shirt printing services on Lazada (Shopee probably has the same if you prefer that). I used this from Amazon in the UK a while back and the result wasn't bad at all, though much more expensive than what the shops on Lazada are asking, about £15 or £20 (say 600 - 900 Baht). I've never tried it in Thailand, but it's not expensive so maybe just get one done to see the quality, and then order the rest if it's OK. Here's an example chosen at random, but there are lots of other options: https://www.lazada.co.th/products/men-and-womens-customized-logo-printed-t-shirt-cotton-top-diy-your-own-design-logo-souvenir-team-i5524120342.html If you go this route, please let us know what you think of the result as I wouldn't mind getting a few printed for myself.

People rushing to the Thai tax office to file a return and offer to pay tax remind me of the famous Gary Larson far Side cartoon... lol

Good news for Phuket! So now the Swissies kicking female Thai doctors sitting on public steps will be "premium" tourists and not the old riff-raff variety. And only Russian Gangsters who can trace their ancestry back to Catherine the Great will be allowed to operate. Meanwhile, the Anglophone hoodlums assaulting Thai police will only speak with an Etonian accent. That will be much better!

Back in the early to mid-1980's I worked on the Strand in London and there was a big Wendy's there. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Wendy burgers were better than any other fast food chain, though still way behind the likes of Strikes and Hard Rock. I haven't seen a Wendy's in decades but, like many things, it probably won't taste as good as it used to in the old days to us fossils.

With all the foreigners dying in Thailand lately, often violently, it seems, is it just due to larger visitor numbers or is the place becoming even more dangerous than it was?

Yeah, I wasn't far behind you as a Polish friend took me to the one near St. James Park in 1977, I think it was. I was impressed, tasty, cheap fast food, what more could a student want? When I fancy a triple cheeseburger in Pattaya these days, I usually head for the branch of McD's in TukCom as it's the closest to my house. I usually buy four at a time, eat one and freeze the other three. They microwave fine and make a decent quick meal when I fancy it. Since they opened the new Burger King on Jomtien Beach Road, though, I've been getting my burger fix there as I find the Whopper is more satisfying and tastier, being char grilled on an open flame. The Whopper cheese also freezes fine, though I remove the lettuce, tomato and mayo first as they probably won't freeze very well.

The Thai snake oil salesman is at it again, yawn.

What is this, Pravda? A big story about 27 slightly-injured Russkies but not a word about whoever was unfortunate enough to have been in the SUV!

Was that the most pathetic fireworks display in the history of Pattaya last night? I woke the GF up just before midnight and we went into the garden to watch, but the display lasted less than 2 minutes. I should think anyone who'd braved the crowds on Beach Road would have been more than a bit disappointed by that effort.