TonyLeung

1. farang is not offensive

2. its easier to say farang then to say "white foreigner in Thailand"

today i was in a grocery store and I saw an older hi-so lady with big hair and one of those nice colorful outfits (i dont know how to describe it, but you probably know what i am talking about) walking around holding a handkerchief over her mouth the way people waiting for a bus do to avoid fumes. She had a man with her who i am guessing was her driver holding a basket and she would tell him what she wanted as she walked down the isles.

Do you think she had a cold and was preventing the spread of germs, was she trying to avoid catching germs from the other people in grocery store, or was this some sort of social gesture?

I do not speak Thai so I could just watch. There was a squeezed toothpast tube , followed by a guy screwing off light bulbes (I suppose to save on the electricity bill), in the end the Thai Royal emblem.

I guess it is a spot promoting the "sufficiency economy" conceived by His Majesty.

No wonder the stock market is nosing down...

Looks like this commercial is based on a couple of well-known and highly circulated stories about HM.

It has been told for a very long time now, that HM never wastes any of his toothpaste and is very strict about wasting electricity at his palace.

I think readers ought to be a little careful with their opinions on this thread.

Long live the King, he is truely a noble and brilliant man. Let him live 50 more years.

it has affected others in the following ways

1. I have to listen to a bunch of morons make dumb statements like "The Americans are the biggest terrorists on the planet, its good that they are paying for it now and their currency is weakening"

2. The weak dollar and low US interest rates meant that many many Europeans came to America and bought real estate in speculative areas like California and Florida. The housing market experiences a bubble, that bubble busted, home prices are off 35% in Florida, many people lost a ton of money. Banks are reporting their mortgage losses in the billions.

3. Americans will travel less overseas, Europeans will travel more in the USA.

4. It is harder for countries like Thailand to import into the USA because the dollar is weak. (Why do you think China refuses to float its currency?)

It seems this all stemmed from a reply I made to Tony Leung's mention of a Global Recession. I now wish I had left that comment alone, as all the budding economists are now out in force.

Please start another thread on the topic.

Regards

...Yourself included.

i think baht is plural (no s)

i hope you guys beat them senseless and caused them to be brain damaged

i thought farang couldnt get mortgages from thai banks ?

can you give more detailed directions?

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=3m&s=F...IC&c=%5EDJI

When the US markets were doing good, the Chinese stocks were out performing, when they started to correct take a look at the steep fall in the Chinese stocks.

i think the global recession will bring down prices which have gone up HUGE the last 3 years.

I agree fully. And this whole string is starting to look like an amatuer wind-up anyway..

Hi TonyLeung, I'm just wondering which global recession that would that be? Thailand's economy is booming, so is Australia's. China, India, Brazil and Russia - commonly known as the BRIC, are absolutely flying. Europe does not appear to be struggling either. The only country I can immediately think of who may be facing recession in the short-term is the US - and frankly, they deserve it. The US sub-prime decarcle was poorly managed by the fed and other lenders, and it had been coming for quite a while. It knocked share markets around the world, though mainly financial stocks. If it affects property at all, I beieve that it will affect financial lenders more than it will property prices. They may be more hesitant to loan in certain circumstances. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how analysts over here see it.

Sorry thaigene2, but I'm not really sure I know what you mean regarding the "string looking like an amateur wind-up." If you are referring to the content of this thread, well I am the one who started it. It was to assist me in gathering information regarding a possible purchase of a unit in Bangkok. I understand that there are some complexities that we do not have in Australia and know that there are many members of this forum whose views are very well respected. To date, there has been quite a bit of very useful information. If that seems in any way amateurish to you, there is not really anything I can say to change that.

Perhaps you could possibly tell me how you would go about researching this sort of purchase when living in another country.

Regards

so the US is going to go into a recession and China's economy is still going to be booming? the sub prime crisis is hitting the financial stocks but of course it will spread. everything is connected. housing was propping up the american economy for a long time. we will be testing 12500 soon imho.

if you want, take a look at how much Chinese stocks declined in the recent pullback. they fell more than the US stocks.

looking at bangkokbank's website, they also offer sub prime mortgages.

from what i can see, prices are going up still.

240/hour to use the table? do you have to buy drinks with that? thats kind of expensive, isnt it? what are the prices at these other asoke locations?

Are the prices the same in the morning as the evening?

i think the global recession will bring down prices which have gone up HUGE the last 3 years.

i would start small and see how it goes.

just take the child and go to another part of thailand seems like the obvious answer.

farangs speaking thai to their gfs is one of the more painful experiences one can witness in this world.

You should do this fast.............make your millions. That way you can then afford to buy your bottles of whipped cream that are way over-priced. ( as per post of 4th November )

if you took a survey among millionaires, id bet you find that they tend to think like this: this spray bottle of whipping creme is over priced at 160 baht a piece. the local thai lady managed to make her own. i should figure out how she did that, then i can save that money.

those who live month to month on their salary and dislike thinking buy the 160 baht spray bottle because its 'easier'.

Stock control, theft, staff turnover, wastage, premises, legality, tea money, your permits, plus add another 100 things to think about and suddenly you have Bt3000 a day costs and zero income. For most people coming here on the 40k income, they don't have savings to run such a "business" until it reaches profitability.

the old lady and old man who have about 10 different thai foods in large pots on week days incur all of these costs? what about the guy selling ladies wallets next to them?

1. rent the space

2. buy the product

3. count how many of the product you have

4. hire someone to come there everyday

this would work better outside of central bangkok. there are a bunch of little tiny hole in the wall spaces on ramkenhang road by the university or outisde the mall bangkapi there is a covered market.

You wont make 400 baht a day doing this?

bangkok is a bustling city. minimum wage is 20 baht an hour. it shouldnt take Steve Jobs to find a way to make more than 40k baht a month without doing anything.

how has this not hit the Thai Real Estate market?

The United States should invade Iran, take their oil, and then subsidize oil for Americans to 1/2 the current price.

Please don't tell me the hippies won.

how do the export costs allow you to remain competitive against local fish businesses in the countries you are exporting too?

i'm not selling anything. the point is just that 40k baht is a very small amount of money. if you started 3 micro business that generated 400 baht/day, you would have your salary.

from what i have seen on thaivisa and various blogs, many farang teach for around 40k baht a month. That is 1300 baht/day.

It seems to me like you could use the following business model:

buy a product

rent a space

hire someone to sell that product

hire someone to make sandwiches

rent a space

hire someone to sell them

it shouldn't take you very long until you can generate more than 40k baht a month and not have to do anything but collect your profits.

bangkok is such a busy place that everywhere you go someone is selling something. i dont see any excuse besides laziness as preventing someone from making money.

i wouldn't even under estimate how much money those prepared-at-home a-la-carte food stands can make. i think farang take the wrong approach. they go and try to build a restaurant and sign a million baht lease. whats the point? keep it simple and do it like the locals do it.

"Yes, I know the expensive condos have them - so pls don't post about how your bathroom in your 70,000 Baht per month pad has hot water in all 4 bathrooms, the maid's room and the kitchen!"

We keep the air conditioning on all day, too.