jfchandler

Separately and responding to the original question posed by the OP, there are risks either way you go... in terms of currency fluctuations... And I too don't like what looks like will be the long-term dollar-baht trend.

One thing you should be aware of, though, is that Thai banks aren't governed by the same consumer protection laws as their U.S. counterparts, and your rights and protections here (and legal or regulatory recourse if something goes wrong) are not nearly what they would be back home.

As part of that, the Thai government does have some semblance of a deposit guarantee program, which apparently only applies should a bank go out of business....but not if someone inside the bank happens to steal or embezzle your funds...

However, while the current U.S. FDIC protection limit is $250,000 per individual account, the Thai government has been gradually reducing the maximum per account amount that they will cover with their plan... And if memory serves, the limit was headed toward being far far less than the U.S. $250,000 figure.

Also, as others have noted above, it's relatively easy to get your U.S. dollars into Thailand.... It's not nearly so easy to get substantial sums here in baht transferred back to the U.S. into dollars, should you ever need to do that... because of visa changes, political instability, or any number of other reasons.

I have no reason to think or know the just above discussion has any relevance to this man's death...

But on the point Jing has aptly responded to above, I'd daresay the likelihood of someone dropping dead from exertion during sex would be pretty much identical whether the sex happened to be hetero or homo-sexual.... (although I guess the likelihood might be a bit less if the partner was the typical man's wife... )

And as for "saunas" in Thailand, I have heard that sexual activity has been known to happen in both the hetero and homo-sexual "sauna" settings....

So why exactly are we talking about this again???

Just curious. Maybe someone can help. I don't like to use the ATM's there to get money (baht). The exchange rates are fair, but it costs 150 baht, and my bank here charges me another 100 baht plus 3%. It costs me over $20 just to get $450. I was going to buy traveler's checks. Do the banks or other establishments charge for converting these to currency? Is it worth the trouble? I have to pay 2% just to get the traveler's checks. Thanks in advance.

There must be a million posts spread out in TV over the years on how to best withdraw funds from ATMs in Thailand without paying either the local Thai banks 150 baht fee or any home country foreign currency surcharges...

Many of us do so every day.... You might consider reading up on the subject. Start with the keyword search "AEON".

As for traveler's cheques, there typically are fees to buy them and then the Thai banks charge fees when you exchange them.... plus you get a lower actual exchange rate than you'd get in a no-fee ATM transaction... They're kind of like the manual typewriter of modern banking...

Like her or not, Yingluck was democratically elected by the Thai people.

She embodies what the Thai people at large wants.

For better or worse, she and her party did win the election and thus the right to govern the country...

But, as regards to her as an individual, it's kind of hard for anyone to ignore the fact that there's no way in the world she ever would have become prime minister of Thailand were she not Thaksin's sister, and he really needed someone to serve as his proxy/clone amid his absence.

That's not exactly the usual kind of qualification for office that a country's prime minister brings to the job...

I must say....if she and her government end up choosing reconciliation and impartiality and the rule of law over self-interest and many billions of baht into the family's coffers, there will be a whole lot of people around these parts with their jaws hitting the floor...

That unlikely prospect kind of reminds me of that old phrase from the original "Star Trek" TV series.... "to go where no man (in Thailand) has gone before..."

I used my UK Citibank card in a Citibank ATM and wasn't charged the fee. Can't vouch for other cards though.

There's a strange aspect to this for U.S. folks, at least as I recollect my prior inquiries on the subject....

For U.S. folks, the Citibank ATMs at Asoke and Sukhumvit don't charge any extra fee when you use a normal VISA or MC logo ATM card from the U.S. -- apart from any fee one's own card-issuing bank might have.

However, if someone has a Citibank account from the U.S., I believe (this is my recollection) that they WILL charge a foreign currency fee to most of their own card holders were they to use the Citi BKK ATMs... unless they have one of Citi's higher-level Gold type accounts.

Welcome to the wonderful world of international banking...

But to put in all down to its simplest level, I think it comes down to Thailand having a non-functional legal, regulatory and law enforcement system.

In other countries, while certainly not perfect, at least, if a big company breaks the law or violates applicable regulations, there's at least the chance or risk (depending on the country) that the company could be prosecuted or fined, and in some places, even the corporate executives prosecuted and jailed, and/or the company subjected to large, financially serious civil judgments, or even lose their government operating permits.

But in Thailand, none of those things apply to serve as a disincentive for criminal or harmful conduct, or on the flip side, as an incentive for good companies to ensure that their practices and performance are sound.

Here, if you have a legal problem, you pay some tea money or call your friendly politician and the problem disappears or is lost in the bureaucracy...or somehow the statute of limitations expires... There is no, as best as I can tell, meaningful civil liability system in the courts for damaged parties to seek meangingful reimbursement or damages, and certainly virtually nothing in the way of punitive damage awards to punish bad corporate behavior. And the various Thai government regulatory agencies have a long and well-established record of practical non-performance. Maybe some try at the local operating level, or maybe they don't. But either way, the end result typically is nothing.

Apart from the good aspects and aspirations of human nature, it's equal parts fear that keeps people and companies in line with the law... fear of the consequences that may ensure... But here in Thailand, unfortunately, we have a society where for the big players, there is absolutely no such fear.

Thanks for that thoughtful, and fair-minded response.... Sometimes that's hard to find around here...

I'd certainly concur with your multiple views in the latest post...

It does seem that anytime the government and politicians get involved here, things tend to go south (figuratively, not literally... )

But, as regards the private sector's performance, I notice you didn't respond to the example of Map Ta Phut that I cited to another poster above... Hardly a good example of the private sector's environmental performance and track record.

However, no matter how one cuts it, the construction of a nuclear power plant anytime in Thailand future is going to be rife with government involvement (as it would be in any country), apart from whatever potential shortcomings the private sector may have.

I too have my general doubts of the ability of any country to run a successful, safe, and economical nuclear program. But in Thailand's case, I don't have "doubts," I have certainty that it can't be done -- at least not in anything vaguely resembling the current state of the country.

I would imagine the Thai police are hopping mad at the autopsy report talking about a congenital heart condition as the cause of death...

Now it pretty much leaves the BIB without the ability to conclude the young man's death was an obvious suicide...

The police do have one of those rubber stamps embossed in capital letters with the word SUICIDE that they use for all farang deaths in Thailand. SOP....

Map Ta Phut is one shining example of the environmental damage that private industry can create in Thailand, as well as an example of total government non-interest in any kind of meaningful environmental protection...

At least in that case, it's only leakage of poisonous gases and chemical groundwater contamination that are the main problems.... fortunately, not leaking radioactivity and radioactive contamination of the surrounding waters.

But people might well think of Map Ta Phut as the so-called minor leagues for Thailand future aspirations to join the nuclear big leagues.

Granted if a farangs only exposure to "tradesmen" (and I use the term lightly) is Somchai the electrican/bricklayer building his teenage teeraks house in Isaan etc....then I can well understand where the belief comes from that everything is dysfunctional.

Nice example, but totally off my point and examples...

Most all of those examples I cited above were/are major public projects initiated by various arms of the Thai government. Not exactly Somchai the electrician bricklayer... But obviously, it's not going to further your flawed argument to discuss or deal with the actual pertinent examples of the flawed development and operation of major public projects, similar to what any nuclear power plant would be.

To further answer the OP's question, the various commercial banks in Thailand all have their own ATMs and all charge the 150 baht fee (AEON is not a Thai bank, thus that's why they don't charge the 150 baht fee).

But the Thai bank ATMs also all use the same two sources for calculating exchange rates, the VISA and MasterCard networks. So, if you were to use the same U.S. bank card to make withdrawals from different Thai banks at exactly the same time, you've get the same local exchange rate from each of them... VISA network cards a bit higher/better, and MC network cards a bit lower/lesser.

Unlike the ATMS, though, if you go into a Thai bank branch to exchange money or go to one of their exchange counters, then they each will use their own slightly different local exchange rates. But the rates used for foreign ATM cards when pulling money from Thai bank ATMs are the card network rates, not the local bank rates (unless you happen to get one that offers, and you optionally choose to select, so-called Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC), which translates as a crappy local rate).

And, as Pib mentioned above, you also need to watch out for the various foreign currency fees that may be charged by your U.S. bank or CU... Most of the majors charge 3% or more... But there are various banks and CU's that charge NO foreign currency fee or reimburse any foreign currency fees each month up to some monthly limit. For anyone planning to spend any significant amount of time abroad or in Thailand, you'd definitely want to use one of those kinds of cards for your foreign travel expenditures.

There is, BTW, another no-fee ATM option available besides AEON, but it is a single location just in Bangkok, and that is the Citibank headquarters at the Asoke/Sukhumvit intersection. Their ATMs there do not charge the 150 baht fee nor do they charge any Citibank fee when other U.S. bank cards are used there.

Soutpeel, your comment above is legitimate to a point... But I never said such things don't happen elsewhere.... I was solely commenting on the state of Thailand.

However, to most rational people, the track record here in Thailand shows pretty clearly that the extent of the institutional disfunctionalism here is far more widespread/pervasive that in most western countries such as you reference.

Japan's track record with nuclear safety, leaving aside the role of natural catastrophies (earthquake and tsunami), has been shown to be pretty shoddy. And in the aftermath of Fukushima, it has been shown clearly that they made decisions and had flaws that contributed to what their disaster become...

If that's what happens in a place like Japan, how much of a chance to you want to give Thailand of successfully pulling off a nuclear power plant... Pretty much about zilch

It's not about bashing Thailand or Thai people. It's simply taking off your rose-colored glasses and looking at the society here as it exists in fact.

Sorry to single you out sir but your post stands out as being one of the most idiotic posts out of many similarly bad ones.FYI Generators don't work if they are not grounded. EGAT's power generation and transmission system is built and maintained to international standards. Have you ever been to a power plant in Thailand? And last but not least big fat cables comprise lots of "little ones" they are called strands. The problem in Thailand is all of the distibution systems are run over head and hence are vulnerable to trees falling on them, rats chewing the cable insulation etc. Actually MEA in Bangkok have started trying to put distribution systems underground by building cable tunnels under some of the Klongs using tunnelling techniques to avoid digging up roads but it will take decades and huge costs before it is done.

First, I'd like to say thanks for the good info you've provided above re Thailand's energy activities... much appreciated...

But, as to your various responses to the posts above, you're answering them literally, while the various posters were making figurative statements all aiming to the same overarching point:

In many facets of society, Thailand has proven that it has great difficulty in properly executing major projects without significant flaws problems -- which could prove critical and potentially lethal if put in the context of a nuclear power plant.

Those have included, as some have mentioned above, endemic corruption leading to flawed planning and bidding processes; shoddy workmanship and improperly substituted parts/materials; the proven inability of government to conduct an impartial, scientifically credible environmental impact review; lack of a meaningful regulatory and environmental safety system, the proven inability of government agencies to act in the public's interest as opposed to their own political or economic interests, and more and more...

I could add a long list of illustrative examples, but some might include:

--the failure to open the On Nut Skytrain extension years beyond its scheduled date because of mismanagement

--the flawed construction of the Suvarnabhumi Airport and its crumbling runways.

--the emerging design and operational problems with the Airport Rail Link line.

--the Santika night club fire and what it showed about the lack of enforcement of safety regulations.

--the past episodes where people were injured and killed by the water slide collapse at the water park in Bangkok

--aviation safety episodes like the dual crash of F-16 fighters, the three recent Army helicopter crashes and the long-running problems with Orient Thai airline.

and more and more and more...

It's all of those kinds of examples and the others like them that make many people skeptical about Thailand's ability to safely operate a nuclear power plant.

It does seem, looking at the various reports, that the ARL as an entity is pretty much broke and cash-strapped, and seemingly surviving at present only on the larger financial position of its parent SRT.

They're apparently having to cannibalize their spare rail cars for spare parts..... And there was a reference to the ARL asking for something like a 2 billion baht operating budget, but only getting 200 or so million approved by SRT, and the article saying they'd have to find the remainder from other sources.... Of course, no elaboration or explanation of how/where those might be produced.

It does indeed make one wonder if they don't have the cash to buy sufficient spare parts needed for their rail cars, how/where are they going to get the funds to build elevated station walkways and various other of their supposed forthcoming project facility improvements.

As for the supposed walkway, I was trying to figure out just how far 130 meters in distance would get one from the Makkasan station. Surely the distance to Petchaburi MRT is longer than that.... But I'm bad with meters... Maybe someone with more time on the ground out at Makkasan can venture just how far 130 meters would reach.

I would like to know how much that white elephant monstrosity Makkasan Station cost to build?

I don't recall an exact breakout for the so-called City Air Terminal project...

But the ARL web site "About the Project" page includes the following overall project cost info:

The State Railway of Thailand has organized an auction for construction price

of the project which the envelope must be submitted on October 18, 2004 until

the winning bidders emerged as a consortium which consists of the following companies:

• B. Grimm International Co., Ltd.
• B. Grimm MBM Hong Kong Ltd.
• Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Co., Ltd.
• Siemens Co., Ltd.
• Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Public Co., Ltd.

The State Railway of Thailand has signed in a construction agreement according

to the agreement number RFT.TPH.1/KS./1/2548 dated January 20, 2005 for

the construction fee of 25.907 billion baht which is comprised of:

• Civil Engineering and Structure Construction Fee
  12,284,000,000.- billion baht
• E&M System and Passenger Car Procurement Fee
  13,623,000,000.- billion baht

I just found this excerpt in the web site above, quoting an April 18, 2011 local news report. Note the reference to the SRT's still planned "skywalk" from Makkasan to Phetchaburi...

Mr Supoj said the solution is to attract more passengers to the Express Line, most of whom are travellers and tourists with heavy bags, by installing more facilities. He admitted that the inconvenience and the lack of facilities stem from the substandard design. Urgent steps are being taken to make improvements, he said. State Railway of Thailand governor Yutthana Thapcharoen said the SRT has set aside a budget of 646 million baht to improve and build facilities and signposts at all stations within this year.

About 250 million baht will be spent on improving the Makkasan station. Of that amount, 80 million baht will be allocated to build a 130m-skywalk to link the concourse on the Makkasan station to the underground railway's Phetchaburi station.

And a prior reference from August 9, 2010:

The MRT-Rail Link connection at Makkasan: This should have been possible from the Makkasan terminal to the Phetchaburi MRT station, but it does not exist. An MRT executive said a walkway was awaiting approval, and would take three months to build once approved. Hence, those getting off at the Makkasan Rail Link terminal cannot access the Phetchaburi MRT station.

SRT denies closure of Airport Rail Link

The State Railway of Thailand board yesterday denied a rumour it will soon close down the Airport Rail Link system over liquidity problems and a shortage of spare parts.

Supoj Saplom, the transport permanent secretary and chairman of the SRT board, dismissed as untrue a rumour that has been circulating that the liquidity problems and spare parts shortage would force the Airport Rail Link system, which connects inner Bangkok with Suvarnabhumi airport, to cease operations in a few months.

Mr Supoj said the number of passengers had been increasing. The Airport Rail Link is also not suffering any liquidity crunch because it shares its financial accounts with the SRT which ensures that it has sufficient cash flows, Mr Supoj said. He also denied that many Airport Rail Link employees were resigning. He said the employees viewed their jobs as being secure.

According to Mr Supoj, the increase in passenger numbers on the link recently has been a direct result of the company's decision to slash the fare for the system's Express Line from 150 baht to 90 baht per trip. The number of passengers on the Express Line has increased from 300 a day to around 2,000 a day. "For this reason, it is impossible for us to cease our services. We are also in the middle of constructing the link between the system and the BTS skytrain, as well as the subway system at Phetchaburi station," he said.

(I'd sure like to know what specifically he's talking about above...)

Suchatvee Suwansawat, the dean of the Engineering Faculty at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang and a director of the SRT Electric Train Co which runs the Airport Rail Link system, backed up Mr Supoj's statement. He said the number of Airport Rail Link passengers last month on both the express and ordinary services topped 998,000.

Meanwhile, Somchai Sujjapongse, the director-general of the General State Enterprise Policy Office (SEPO), said that the SEPO has proposed to the economic team of the Pheu Thai Party-led coalition that the Airport Rail Link should be expanded to run to Pattaya City and Chon Buri. Such an expansion could help the system attract more domestic and international tourists between Bangkok and the resort city. The SEPO has also recommended that the Airport Rail Link should be connected to the old Don Mueang international airport as well, Mr Somchai said.

http://www.bangkokai...n.com/news.html

BTW, here's the SRT's English language web site for the ARL line....

http://airportraillink.railway.co.th/en/index.html

Actually, as regards the notion of a walkway proposal between Makkasan and Petchburi, I don't recall seeing much info on that any time in the English language Thai media...

The accounts I've seen/read here on TV in the past mostly came from other TV members who had seen info on the subject or had some kind of relationship with the project.

But as to your main point about the shallowness and lack on follow-up on the part of the local media, I'd certainly concur that's undeniably and unfortunately true.

I don't recall seeing you commenting too much in past threads on the Airport Rail Link service... But if you had, you would see that I've been one of the most consistent and vocal critics here of the way they have done and are doing things, particularly with the Airport Express part of the operation.

Also, I'm not "promoting" anything... Simply responding to question raised earlier in this thread about the prospect of a Makkasan to Petchburi walkway, since there was no mention of it anywhere in this thread. And my only purpose and point was to let other newcomers here know that such a project has been planned and publicly aired... What's become of it... I said before and I'll say again, I don't know...

Here's some of the past references here on TV to it...

(Note: the SRT has reportedly set aside a B70 million budget to build an elevated 200 meter length walkway link between Makkasan and MRT Petburi, but when that is finished is anyone's guess)

19/12/10: The SRT will also build walkways connecting the Airport Link's Makkasan Station to the MRT underground's Phetchaburi Station, while additional escalators will be provided to facilitate passengers carrying baggage at three stations including Phaya Thai, Ratchaprarop and Ramkhamheang. All are expected to be complete at the beginning of next year, the SRT chairman pledged.

A walkway from Makkasan City Air Terminal to Petchaburi MRT station is in the works.

And so on and so forth... Those are just a few of the many references to the project here, not by me...but by other TV members...

Jawnie, you're going off the handle just a bit...

I never said the walkway was part of the original planning for Makkasan, and in fact, I've never heard that it was...

I never said the PROPOSED walkway that's been discussed publicly in the past was going to be a good solution or convenient, if and when it's completed. I simply said, such a walkway has been proposed and in fact been the subject of past posts here on TV...

I also didn't say it was under construction as yet... I simply said, I don't know the current status of that proposal, since I haven't heard or seen any update on it lately.

The various ways the project could have been done better, including the ones you mention, are pretty apparent to all of us... Unfortunately, all that's a bit of water under the bridge at this point. The only practical questions now are, what if anything can be done to make the current situation better.

In response to a couple of points/issues raised above:

--There is supposed to be a planned walkway, elevated I think, to be built between the Makkasan Station and the nearest Petchburi MRT station... I haven't been out there lately, so I don't know the status of it... But at last report, it was still somewhere in the works.

--As for the extended times between train departures from Phyathai, I believe that is because the Express Line originally was supposed to run, and did only run, from Makkasan to the Airport... But when they later decided to also run the Express line from Phyathai to the Airport, they had to reallocate their rail car stock and scheduling. That's at least part of the reason.

--I think the thrust of the OP article was really about the Makkasan to Airport connection (the original Express Line service), and didn't really involve the City Line service from Phyathai at all... Although the two different operations and their stations do share some common flaws, the larger problems relate to the flawed usability of Makkasan as a gateway to the airport.

If we were to evaluate the Airport Rail Link strictly as the City Line running a commuter/local service between Phyathai and the Airport, I think most people would give it fair marks...

ATTA members said the big problem with the Airport Rail Link was that it was inconvenient to use. There is no direct connection with the MRT subway or BTS Skytrain and there are no lifts for those with large pieces of luggage.

Moreover, road traffic nearby is not well managed, so it can take passengers more time to reach the check-in counter than if they take a cab directly to airport.

WOW, this CAN'T be Thailand, can it???

For months, many of us in posts re the Airport Rail Link line have been pointing to these exact same flaws, along with a few others, as the principal reasons why the line hasn't been the success it could be and should be.

I personally like the line and the service, but mainly for its City Line local service from Phyathai, which I've used numerous times en route to the airport. But the express service, originally just from Makkasan that is the focus of article above, is an entirely different and unfortunate matter.

So now we have a newspaper report where the Thais themselves are publicly complaining about those same exact flaws.... This really is AMAZING Thailand... Perhaps we have an ATTA "spy" here among us...

Or probably more realistically, the folks complaining are Thais who have to do business with, and rely on tourists/customers from other countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc., where the piss-poor execution and design of the Express Line service just doesn't cut it...

Unfortunately, from the article below, it would seem the Transport Minister just doesn't get it... The solutions here aren't about improving or shortening service times, although that would help fix the problems they created when they began to run the Express Service from Phyathai and thus diluted their Express Line schedule. The solutions are to address the things cited above that continue to make tourists and passengers choose other methods of getting to the airport.

Thanks to the OP for a good and thought-provoking post.... Something anyone considering coming to Thailand should read.

It highlights the importance of people building in a good size cushion in their financial planning for living expenses...

It also highlights the value of living your everyday life at a level BELOW your financial capability, so that when unexpected things crop up, you have the flexibility to deal with them.

Lastly, I think it points to the importance of the family's main breadwinner also being the one who needs to make the key financial decisions that are in the best long-term interest of his/her family... I don't think the typical Thai spouse is inclined to perform very well in that area...

It may cause some disappointment in the short-term, but the OP will be of no good to his family in the long term if he lets their short-term spending whims drive him into debt or out of Thailand. And it's also partly an education process where one needs to try to bring their spouse around to understanding that money doesn't grow on trees and there's only so much to spend...

If one's spouse can't eventually come to understand or at least grudgingly accept that notion, then one needs to consider the prospect that they've got a gold-digger who isn't interested in the long-term financial health of the family, but rather, extracting as much as possible out of their current mate and then moving on.

Based on the things the OP said he was looking for, I'd agree that Khon Kaen and/or Udon might be a good fit.... Airport, mall, some level of western community and stuffs....

Korat probably has close to the same level of creature comforts... Has the advantage of being closer and easier travel to BKK, but the disadvantage of late of flooding and such issues...

Loei is a beautiful place... though probably lower on the western creature comforts and familiar things scale.

That's not to say other places in Isaan aren't nice and have various things to recommend them... But I'm commenting in the context of what the OP called out as his priorities.