Crash999

I think because of the way the laws are written it is so vague so they can pretty much enforce it however they want. I am still trying to figure out if I need a work permit when I work for a US company and I go to the factory in Thailand and inspect a shipment before it leaves the factory, talk with about new products, check on the status of orders and make sure they are on schedule, or if I work with the factoy to make sure packaging is correct. All of these things to me seem to be doing business.

If I come in for a week each month and take care of these things I might be ok. But now that more of our business is moving to Thailand it makes more sense to make my home here instead of China. So now I will be here for 3+ weeks a month with trips to other countries in the area to visit other factories. Now are they going to say that I am working and need a work permit since I spend most of my time here? Or would I still be doing business, which I am, just more of it, so it requires me to be in Thailand more. I still work for the same company, do the same job, just spend more time in Thailand.

No one has been able to give me a definative answer. I think it is just because no one can really tell and the only way I will be able to tell is if immigration or the labor department takes me away sometime. I have tried sending emails to labor department and embassies, but I never get an answer from them. I think they don't know either.

I can say from experience that in your case you'll be able to get a 1yr business visa and won't need a work permit so long as your Thai factory is willing to support your application and carefully explain your role.

I wish we had more production in Thailand- would be a lot more fun than the last week I spent in frigid Dongguan!

Yep, gone that route before. And best news is when selling the condo there wasn't any sales tax. Wahey!

China this year is in a spot of trouble. There are a lot of things happening at once- RMB appreciation, wage pressures, new worker social welfare laws, futher export rebate reductions, and material cost increases mean that exporters can't hold prices any longer.

For the past 6-7 years it has been a true buyer's market for consumer products- costs the same or down every year. Now for 2008 increases will be passed on- we're seeig 5-15% depending on category. Retailers who are already suffering will be pressured to maintain margin. They're saying they won't accept increases but as China is the only real market for many goods there will be no choice but to either eat the increase or (more likely) pass it on as higher retail pricepoints.

Here's hoping China implodes and us exporters can do more business out of Thailand soon. =)

Most plastic shopping bags are made from HPDE (the crinkly grocery type), LDPE (softer bags such as those used by Target) or a blend. Both types can be recycled but the issue is that no one does it, so they wind up taking up space in landfills. New on the market are HDPE bags blended with bio material that degrades much faster. Here in HK the largest grocery store has switched over to using them.

The degradable bags are about 5-10% more expensive than the plastic ones and are slightly weaker and have less elasticity. On the surface the cost increase doesn't sound like much but if you consider that a retailer like Tesco Lotus spends about US$5m/yr on bags the demand (or law) really needs to be there before a major retailer will make the switch.

Thailand is one of the world's major exporters of plastic bags. If the government were to force retailers to switch to degradable bags it'd create a nice market need and get the Thai producers up to speed with this type of product. I know that US retailers are looking at this now and given current trends it's only a matter of time before they start to make the switch to alternatives.

Plastic bags have been linked to heath concerns as well. Chemicals in plastic bags (and containers) can leach into your food - particularly if the food/beverage is hot and oily. Health concerns include development problems, memory problems, various types of cancers, etc. See the Mindfully.org website below. In Thailand, it seems almost all cooked food you buy at the market and supermarket are sold in plastic bags, or wrapped in plastic wraps. I think I will take Banaman's example and bring a thermos to get my soy milk!

The plastic used for the bags is (in most cases) HDPE which isn't the same as PVC that's mentioned in the article. The biggest use of PVC these days is for plastic wrap, though most of the brands have switched over to PE which is less clingy. Some of the no-name brands are still PVC and I'd recommend not using it to cover containers or food when heating.

What about the USA immigration? What happens when you come back to the states with no chops in your passport? Stupid question but are USA citizens allowed dual citizianship? I always thought this was a no no???

No problem at all.

To make things simple- the airlines are only checking to see if you have a valid visa for the country you are flying to. In the US check in using your Thai pasport. When arriving use Thai. When checking in for the return flight use the US passport but when going through outbound immigration use Thai.

Murder is murder - for sure. And what is "manslaughter"? Ever heard of "mitigating circumstances"?

I don't see what mitigating circumstances you can see from reading the paper and what has been written here. It's not as if he shot and killed a robber or killed someone to save the life of another- he stabbed his girlfriend to death. As far as passion is concerned, so what- a person who commits murder shouldn't be rewarded with a lesser sentence just because he flew into a rage.

But not a Hummer. Lamborghini man ever since I saw a Countach in the flesh as an impressionable teenager.

4.5m won't get you anywhere close to a Lambo in Thailand, unfortunately. Gallardos are in the neighborhood of a cool 20m. Saw a Ferrari 348 for sale recently at around that price but I'm sure the running costs are lethal.

Rented a Hummer on a recent business trip. Cool ride and it blasted through the snow like it was nothing, but as others mentioned it is quite small inside. Also was almost $70 to fill up!!!

Your Canadian bank likely will ask for a reason for the transfer as it's required by Thailand- my Thai bank (also SCB) suggested I say 'for the purchase of property'. When the money arrived I went to my SCB branch for a Tor Tor Sam form, which can be used as evidence where the money came from later if you want to transfer money back out of Thailand.

As johnnyk mentioned, it's best to talk with your SCB branch and let them know your plan so they can help guide you through the process.

Seems way too harsh to me. It was a crime of passion - not murder. He wouldn't have got anywhere near that long in the West.

Murder is murder, regardless of the circumstances that surround it.

A couple of us knew the victim personally trust me you wouldn't feel the same way if it was someone that you knew covered in blood in Thai Rath.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=91589

Arthur Bordoni was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for stabbing his girlfriend to death in a Bangkok apartment in 2006.

Good to hear that justice was served here. Heard that a couple of his relatives had flown out and were trying to bail him out not long after he was arrested.

How did you hear about this? Any news report?

Back in 2002, around 2.5 hours to get from Sukhumvit Soi 8 to Soi 26. Twas a weekend evening and a few drops of liquid had fallen from the clouds, bringing the city's traffic to a halt.

Whereas I agree with the spirit of Tony's post, let me give you an example from the other side...

A friend decided to start a business for his bored wife to sell women's office clothing a few months back. Set up shop in a group of stalls next to several office buildings in the Sathorn area. 8k/mo rent for a stall. 20k worth of inventory. No salary as the wife worked there herself. Problem was the amount of customers... peak traffic times were relatively short- lunch and just after work. Simple math- the amount of customers x profit from each transaction wasn't enough and during the best month they only broke even- other months they lost so they shut the stall after three months.

Lots of opportunity in retail but it's certainly not automatic profit.

If you can buy in large enough quantity you can work directly with factories- minimums can be relatively small for pieces like furniture with smaller factories- for wooden housewares and whatnot you're looking at 100 pieces/item and up. The department of export promotion lists a number of factories/vendors you could contact.

For smaller quantities you're better off working with wholesalers. Find out in Phuket where the vendors are buying product from and go there.

Too often people worry about squeezing the last penny when in reality the difference between factory and wholesale cost can be as little as 10-20% and then one has to factor in management of production, additional travel, etc.

Mame32 + Roms (from Bittorrent) = Retro Gaming Heaven

Only way I know to find obscure classics like Bosconian and Food Fight.

I dont know about you guys, but i love it, never had a problem there and i love the design.

But people will have different experiences with it and different opinions

I really want to like the new airport but it just doesn't measure up to other regional hubs. It's about 90% of the way there but the 10% that's missing to me is very disappointing. Some examples:

- Lack of clear signage (missing or paper signs taped up)

- Dark, long, barren corridors

- Relatively poor lighting (fixtures but only half or 1/3 of lights turned on)

- Fit and finish issues (exposed wires and piping, lighting fixtures with large part number stickers still attached, non-functional sinks and toilets, exposed piping, etc)

- Awful arrival/greeting area (crowded, directions confusing, taxi issues)

Ive arrived here 4 times now and it is the fastest airport to get through immigration i have ever been to, dont know what all the complaining is about.

Hrm... I arrived on Sunday and spent over an hour in line at immigration. Massive queue at the 'foreigner' counters with no line at the crew counter and very short lines at the Thai counters- amazingly enough for the first hour neither the officers at the crew or Thai desks were waving any foreigners over. I asked the officer when I reached the front what was going on- she told me the computers had been going up and down all day.

Contrast this with HK- the thumbprint scanners usually have me through in less than a minute.

Hi folks,

Over the past several months I had been trying to sell my Pattaya weekender apartment. Working with a few different agents I saw different approaches to the business but by far one guy stood out and I'd like to recommend him to all of you if you're in the market to buy or looking to sell an apartment in the Pattaya/Chonburi area.

His name is Kris- he's Thai and moved to California when he was very young so he speaks both fluent Thai and English. He really worked hard through the whole process, was very communicative, and was diligent in working through some issues we had during the transfer. Definitely stood out against the level of service I received from the other agents.

His email address is [email protected] - Feel free to contact him directly.

- Crash

Was wondering if anyone knew of any for sale or where i could find one? Or if you know someone who owns one that may know where I can get one?

-Thanks

Check out the Arto TRD garage on Srinakarin Road (02 362 5078). Arto and his team usually know folks with good condition Supras who are looking to buy/sell and he did a good job of helping me sell my old gal. Buyer beware, of course, but would trust them more than the tents.

Was involved in a crash in my friend's Colorado a while back. We were stopped to turn right on a 4-lane road. Taxi didn't see us and, tyres locked up, slammed into the back of us.

Wish I had the pics with me to show you guys- the front of the Toyota was completely smashed. Lights, hood, bumper, even side panels were all crushed and the radiator was leaking badly. On the Colorado the damage was almost completely isolated to the bumper aside from a couple of scratches on the body.

The insurance guy's comment after arriving was, "Chevy, very strong!"

For comparison:

An older flat with wooden flooring in Discovery Bay Hong Kong (Discovery Bay is kinda a resort) will cost you 35.000 baht a month for 90 square meters. Very good quality building. And you live in Discovery Bay in Hong Kong of all places!

That's not necessarily a fair comparison- Discovery Bay is on an island separate from HK and the property prices there are relatively low for HK. Although the ferry takes only about 25min (during good weather) to get to HK island one has to wait up to 30min for the ferry, and on nights (especially weekend nights) the queue for the ferry can be up to 90 min long. So it can take up to 2 hours to get home, not including the time it takes from wherever you are to get to the pier.

As such a place in Huay Kwang isn't really comparable as it's far closer to the Silom/Sukhumvit areas than DB is to Cental. More comparable would be near Mongkok where a 60m2 place with a city view in an average building runs about 70,000 baht. Want to live in a newer unfurnished 90m2 place in Midlevels? Try 130,000 baht/month and up.

Sounds like your building owner is really trying to maximize his returns. If he can get that money then more power to him- but my old building on Sukhumvit Soi 8 is still renting studios out for about 16k baht/month and there are plenty of alternatives (for example iHouse) which are far cheaper than what he's asking.

Seriously. Which is the most serene and beautful?

Will it be hard to hook up with people who wanna go to the same more secluded beaches in the far away/near islands by speed boat? what's the capacity of a boat? it'll be pretty worth it to be sharing with more people thus dividing the $75-$100 speed boat cost right?

Koh Pai makes for a nice destination- there are usually at most two or three boats near or at the main beach and it's quite common to be the only group there. Be forewarned that there are absolutely no facilities on the island so make sure your stomach is settled and bring your own snacks/drinks/etc. It's about a 45 min speedboat right from Pattaya, past Koh Lan.

Try wingontravel.com - their wesite is in chinese but if you click on the air ticket link on top-right it takes you to an English language section. Or as an alternative you can go to one of their multitude of branches around HK. They can issue China Airlines tickets as well as those for other more adventurous airlines such as Kenya Airways and Orient Thai.

I use planetholiday.com quite often- mostly because they've got an instant online availability check that so far has worked for me without problem. The prices are in line or better than what I can get through a local agent.

A quick check shows a lot of hotels available for this weekend in Pattaya so might be worth you giving it a shot.

Fastest for me was driving a modified Toyota Supra on the elevated highway towards Don Muang. It read 250kph on the speedo. The car was still accelerating strongly but the speed accentuated the road's slight dips between the pillars into a bit of a rollar coaster ride so I didn't dare go faster.

Fastest for the car was in a little rented Honda Jazz on the Bangna-Trat expressway. Topped out at little more than 160kph. Fun little car- reminded me very much of my first car, a Honda CRXsi.