mickj88

We are looking to move over this year from the UK. I am looking at a spouse visa I guess I need to talk to the Thai embassy in London to see what the requirements are. I am over 50 and will have some funds in the bank but not looking to retire as such, will invest in a small business enterprise or start one as we have a few ideas. Im not looking to make loads of money before the neigh sayers start but just to give us a little extra to make our funds go further / last longer. I have run a small business in the UK for the last 28 years so again before anyone starrts with the dont do it you will lose everything I will not as am savvy in the ways of a small business. We have a house, built in 2008 and a 5 year old HiLux with very little KMs on the clock bought by my wife from new and weve been together for 20 years so I am fully aware of pitfalls that can become ferang but also as weve been together for so long I think the chances are no different to any couple anywhere in the world. I think a spouse visa is my best bet as I want to get a work permit providing we get a ltd company set up and meet requirements.

The headline reads Beijing not SE Asia - which is why I said China, but you took it upon yourself to assume I meant S E Asia to make yourself seem somehow superior. You should never assume because it makes an Ass out of U and me ! Either way it will be a long time before tourism gets anywhere near pre covid levels and Thailand becomes the land of smiles again- if it ever does.

I didnt say Asian visitors - read my post -I said Chinese- where thhe money is all pre paid in China and very little hits Thailand. Do you own a business in tourism ? just ask the hoteliers and small business owners who get the prices screwed down by the chinese. Nowhere in my post did I mention SE asian visitors . Perhaps you shuld read pposts properly before trying to make otherss look stupid !

300 baht to get in somewhere of interest in Thailand not bad - 3 years ago I went to Whitby Abbey ( owned by the National trust) - cost me £8 to park and they wanted £45 for me and the wife ontop to go and have a look around so in total £53- not exactly the £7.40 it costs in LOS and also in LOS the wifey goes in for less being a Thai national. Is was said thatthe majority of money from the chinese never reached the Thai economy as was paid up front on package tours in China and surely a westerner paying 4.500 baht over an average of 17 days 76.500 baht is better that 7 days average of 7.500 baht spent by the chinese visitors = 52. 500 baht , Maybe soldiers cant add up or maybe certain mps in Thailand just hate westerners ( but not their cash it seems).

Well as usual theres a lot of negativity on posts but no one has a solution. I first came to LOS in 2003 and no Yabba in the village - no canabis in the village , the thing that sent people over the edge was loakoaw ( forgive spelling). So whether the war on drugs was a success or not,make you own minds up but in my mind people were less likely to dabble due to severe cosequences. As for some numbers put up here of only 76 deaths in 2 mass killings fair enough but in and around our isaan village alone there have been more than 20 yabba related deaths in the last 10 years but they just dont make the news / Thai visa . com etc. I suggest before jumping on the bandwagon and slagging off plans you might formulate a solution yourself. Most foreigners on here just love to troll esp when the overwhelming populations chosen political party says anything .Yabba is a plague in the villages and towns of Isaan and someting needs to be done what I do not know maybe find the suppliers and cut the head off the snake.

RIP to all that lost their lives. This not only makes me sad but also angry, Yabba has been a plague in the villages and towns of Thailand for far too long. Love him or loathe him at least there was zero tolerance on drugs when Thaksin was PM. This current bunch of clowns legalise canabis which can lead to the user moving on to try other drugs and with the current price of yabba being so cheap its no supprise that something disasterous has happened . Its too easy and cheap to get this stuff and the punishments are too lenient. As long as thiere is tolerance and tea money fines intead of real punishment then these types of horrific things will happen . Once again RIP little ones ???? .

The reasoning behind making the NE a business hub was because the Chinese high speed railway is coming through Laos and over to Nong Khai. The original thinking was move business up there ready for its arrival meaning it woud be usable straight away wthout having to wait years for the line to be built down to Bangkok and on to Samatprakan . I remember reading about it and even know a couple of guys who work for UK companies that have manufacturers in Samatprakan saying at the time that they may be moving their manufactring bases up to Issaan ( as they know my wife is from there). Looks like the Chinese will be tightening their belts and this may put the high speed rail on the back burner - hense business not wanting to move and therefore investment being withdrawn. Actually makes sense for a change .

In last 8 months I personally know 32 people (including me and Wifey) have been to thailand. Of these people 6 were tourists the rest were Thais and or husbands / kids returning to visit families not seen for 2 to 3 years due to covid. So less than 23% genuine tourists . I imagine that this is accross the board - certainly where ferang are concerned. So you can say that maybe 1.2 million are genuine tourists but the rest just families returning - yes they are tourists but not genuine spending tourism tourists. Personally I think it will be sometime before the geunine spending tourists return in the pre pandemic numbers, even then the numbers were massively Chinese who were not spending as all was pre paid in China. TOT are looking to gain a wealthier tourist but then Thailand legalize canabis- wealthy tourists are not stoners , for me this sends put the wrong message , Backpackers and younger tourists like a "toot" and they are not wealthy, Thailand need to make its mind up who its target audiance is.