Sophon
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Posts posted by Sophon
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Very odd. I tried it under Avant, IE 6.xx, Firefox (also XP) and it just doesn't show up. Would be great if I could figure out how you do that.
Anyone else see it or don't see it?I can get it to work from the different forums, but not from the list created when clicking "View new posts".
Sophon
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I have only lived in two apartments in Thailand, but had no problem getting the security deposit back. If you had a telephone line, the landlord normally wait until the bill has arrived, which depending on timing can take a month or two.
Sophon
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Your best bet might be to open a USD account here in Thailand and have the money wired into your USD account - and then you just transfer it over your THB account.
That would just exasperate the problem.
Sending bank doesn't know or care what currency receiving account is held in, if they send THB now they would still do so. When the money is received in Thailand the Thai bank would have to exchange the THB back to USD in order to credit the USD account, and finally the OP would have to exchange it back into THB, when he wanted to use it.
The result would be three exchanges, each of which costing the OP money.
Sophon
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Finance interest rate is 3.5 % so I would like to put say 50% deposit and pay over 24 months.
Are you aware that the interest rates generally quoted in Thailand are for "simple interest", i.e. the interest rate is calculated on the original amount for the full period of the loan?
An interst rate of 3.5% would be the equivalent of somewhere in the region of 6.5-7.0% according to the principles we are used to from back home. Not quite as cheap as it initially sounds.
Sophon
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Where is bo bay ??
Sophon
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One of the best all around city maps I've found is a collection of 16 maps packaged together. One of the 16 is a very clear Bus Routes of the City map. Their approach is novel and clever- and since you don't get overwhlemed with too much fine detail in each it is quite easy to find the information you need.
I'm not sure if each uses the same scale, but they seem to cover the metropolis better than any other.
Have a look at the cover and check it out for yourselves next time you're in a bookshop in the city. I picked up mine at Kinokuniya.
Judging from the map headlines it doesn't seem like they have a map with the regular bus lines (in which case it would be no good to me or the OP). Could you please tell me if that is correct or not?
Sophon
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according to this website we are going to get 43 bhat/dollar in july! nice if it comes true!
And according to the same website we should now in April get 41.8 to the dollar. Doesn't really instill confidence in their future predictions
Sophon
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I take the bus more than the skytrain and have never noticed this. If there are people standing on the bus when a seat opens up, that seat is very quickly taken - whether it's next to me or next to a thai. I sometimes prefer to stand even if there are vacant seats, but when I do it never fails that both the bus conductor and some of the passengers always points out any vacant seats to me.
It's quite possible that the seat next to me is one of the last ones to be taken (I have never noticed though), but I wouldn't find that strange or insulting. When I select a seat myself I always do a quick evaluation of the different options before making my choice (based on appearant hygiene, demeanour etc.), and I am more likely to choose a seat next to a small person (more room, less invasion of privacy) seing that the seats in the busses are quite narrow. And since most farang are bigger than thai people, I myself am more likely to choose a seat next to a thai than next to a farang.
In my experience if you look friendly, harmless, reasonably clean and don't take up to much room then the seat next to you will quickly be taken (at least on the bus). On the skytrain I often see people standing even when there are vacant seats, both when these seats are next to farang and next to thai people. I have no idea why that is
. Sophon
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I told him there wouldn't be time to transfer another 240k into Thailand, whereupon my dearest wife said she could lend me 300K. He said that would be fine. My passport was stamped for 7 days, but it was also stamped that my visa applicaton had been rejected due to lack of money in my account!!!!
Rushed to the bank took the 300k out of my dearest's 8 month deposit, and then to the doctors for a medical certificate and back to immigration with a new bank letter.
Sounds like you were actually given a break, as the money really should have been transferred from abroad.
Sophon
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You quit your job when you were 40 and were able to go back without losing seniority. Great. I wish my job would let me do that. You didn't say, but it's my guess that your English. I've always admired the quality of life the Europeans enjoy. 35 hour work weeks, 6 weeks vacation, 1 year off for the birth of a child, generous benefits, etc...
Actually I'm Scandinavian but not even "the Scandinavian model" have quite the benefits you seem to believe. I do have the 6 weeks vacation though
. I did apply for a leave of absense but in the end had to quit my job, so there were no guarantees I would be able to get my job back. However, in the end it all worked out.
If it's possible for you to work six months followed by six months off, I think that would be a very good solution. How feasible that would be would however very much depend on your fixed expenses back home. I wish such a schedule was possible for me, but where I come from it would be all but impossible to find anyone wanting to hire you for only six months of the year.
Sophon
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The rule of thumb that financial planners use is that if you invest your nest egg in a balanced portfolio of stock and bond mutual funds you can withdraw 4% a year and never go broke. That figures in taxes, inflation, ups and downs in the markets and so on. 4% of $500,000 is $20,000 a year, which is enough to live modestly in the USA, so I am sure you could live on less than that in Thailand.
Mainstream financial planners almost always advice INCREASING your percentage withdrawal (by a small degree) every year to account for inflation. This is totally OK as long as the BEGINNING outflow is small enough. Some planners advise cutting back during down years in the market. Also, remember, very important point, you will not live forever. Unless you need to leave a legacy, history has shown you can't take it with you, and at a certain point, you CAN start eating into your capital. This point upsets many people. It is a shame though that so many people work so hard all their lives and then deprive themselves, only to leave a fortune in their accounts. The most successful people bounce their last check (for the funeral), but not one check beforehand.
Since the original premise for withdrawing 4% a year included inflation and never going broke, there would be no need to increase the percentage, unless you wanted to raise your standard of living along the way.
Of course, if you are planning for the money to run out around the time you do the same, you would need to increase the percentage to fight off inflation.
Sophon
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Like I said before, I have enough money to last 2 - 5 years and then I will go back to America and go back to work (although, I will lose my seniority and have to start back at bottom pay at my union job). I'm not "burning any bridges" here.
To my way of thinking you will in fact be burning bridges if you do as you plan. If you manage to stretch your savings for five years, you will be about 45 when you come back. Starting at the bottom pay with no savings at 45 will most likely seriously hurt your prospects for a reasonable retirement life.
That said I totally understand where you are coming from. I quit my job myself when I was 40 and moved to Bangkok for 14 months. The difference being that I only spent part of my savings, and that I was able to get my old job back with the same seniority when I came back. I have been back now almost three years, and can tell you that it's not easy going back to work again after being "retired' for a while. Having been out of the working environment for five years, would make it almost impossible - at least it would for me. I m now saving every penny I can in order to be able to retire early (at 50).
I guess what I am trying to say is, if you decide to go, it would probably be better to limit yourself to a year or so. Also consider if maybe biting the bullet and saving towards early retirement instead might be a better way to go (if that is a realistic alternative). Most importantly, don't think that all the things you now think is wrong with your life will be any better when you come back - they will just be harder to deal with having lived the easy life for a while.
Whatever you decide, good luck to you.
Sophon
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I can't answer your questions, but there was a thread recently about someone considering buying a small karaoke bar. You might want to read that.
I'm Thinking Of Buying A Karaoke In Bangkok, What do you think?
Sophon
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Hi,
Does anyone here have an idea how much a reasonable asking prize for a 4 storey shophouse in Central Chiang Mai would be ?
I'm specifically interested in one particular. The building is in pretty good condition (I should know, because I've lived there 1 1/2 year). The building occupies about 4 x 12 m.
It's located in Chiang mai old city (inside the moats). I wouldn't call it a mainstreet location - its rather about 50 meter down one of the sidestreets.
Sofar we've rented the place (100,000 a year), but now the landlord wants to sell and is asking 3,000,000. Does that sound as a reasonable (non-negotiated) asking prize.
I have no idea whether the asking price is reasonable or not, but there seems to be a discrepancy between the rental and asking price.
Normally the monthly rental price on a property in Thailand seems to lie somewhere between 0.5 and 1 percent of the value of the property. With the current rental price of 100,000 a year that would equal a property value of between 850,000 and 1,700,000. Which would either make the asking price too high or your current rent very favourable.
Sophon
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Thanks, Decent. I will check your leads but don't understand what "On Nut" is. Does that road have another spelling?
"On Nut" is the most common way of spelling the name. On Nut is the same as Sukhumvit Soi 77, so not exactly downtown.
Sophon
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A frined of mine suggested me to go a place called 'Nature Restort' located in South of Pattaya but he did not give me too much information about this. Are there somebody know this place? And do you think it is a good idea to go there in the Mid of April?
Thanks a lot, GR
Maybe he was talking about the Natural Part Resort on Jomtien Beach?
Don't know much about the place, other that it's about 900-1.000 Baht during low season. Considered staying there before, but never did.
Sophon
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I think there was a thread before on cost per unit. If I can recall the more units you use the cost per unit decreases. Though I may stand corrected on that point.
Actually I think it's the other way around, the more units you use, the higher the cost per unit. Not what you would normally expect.
I could be wrong too though.
Sophon
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When my UK ATM card was 'swallowed' by a machine at the Kasikorn Bank, I asked for it to be returned, they told me that bank regulations do not allow this and that it must be returned to the UK issuing bank.
I got a receipt, faxed the receipt to my UK bank and received a replacement card within the week.
No strutting around the bank upsetting the staff, no demanding hassle. Simple good manners and following procedure.
There is more to Karma that what happens to you.
That is quite true. The card is not "your property" it's the property of the issuing bank. If the bank has been "swallowed" on the request of the issuing bank (e.g. because of wrongly entered PIN code), the card has to be returned to the issuing bank.
However, it sounds like the OP's card was swallowed because of a local technical error. In that case it would be OK to give the card back to the card holder. You would need the help of the people working at the bank for this, but that means that someone would have to go "beyond the call of duty", so if were in the position I would make a point out of being very polite. If I were on the other side of the equation, I would definitely not feel helpful if someone were being abusive and would probably stick to the company line of "can not do".
Sophon
Your very right Sophoon and when polite doesn't work?
Then accept it and get your bank/credit company back home to send you a new card.
The bank employees have some rules to follow, and there are reasons for (at least some of) these rules. For instance there are security implications conncted to opening the ATM and extract your card during normal opening hours (the cash will be exposed).
Since the incident you described appearantly happened because of a power or system failure, you might be able to persuade them, that their bank was at least partially resposible for the card being swallowed, and that it would be fair if they did what they could to get it back to you. A compromise could be that they extracted it over night, and that you could come get it the next day. Being abusive (I don't know if you were or not, only you know that) would ensure that I for one would certainly not help someone to get their card back, if I were working at the bank.
Sophon
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When my UK ATM card was 'swallowed' by a machine at the Kasikorn Bank, I asked for it to be returned, they told me that bank regulations do not allow this and that it must be returned to the UK issuing bank.
I got a receipt, faxed the receipt to my UK bank and received a replacement card within the week.
No strutting around the bank upsetting the staff, no demanding hassle. Simple good manners and following procedure.
There is more to Karma that what happens to you.
That is quite true. The card is not "your property" it's the property of the issuing bank. If the bank has been "swallowed" on the request of the issuing bank (e.g. because of wrongly entered PIN code), the card has to be returned to the issuing bank.
However, it sounds like the OP's card was swallowed because of a local technical error. In that case it would be OK to give the card back to the card holder. You would need the help of the people working at the bank for this, but that means that someone would have to go "beyond the call of duty", so if were in the position I would make a point out of being very polite. If I were on the other side of the equation, I would definitely not feel helpful if someone were being abusive and would probably stick to the company line of "can not do".
Sophon
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The development in the Baht exchangerates since the start of the euro in 1998:
It's amazing how the relative strength of the major currencies has "come together" since then.
Sophon
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Looks like a pig to me, although the tail is a little long.
Can't imagine why they would depict a pig on a Cambodian temple, so probably not.
Sophon
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Yesterday, on this website I posted 2 news photos of Iraqi child victims of US/British bombs and they were immediately removed by the enlightened action of the fine white men that prevail on this forum. They sure wouldn’t want anyone to see those.
Any of you high-minded lovers of free speech want to complain about that censorship? Of course not, you shore do like the freedom to taunt them nasty old Muslims, though.
The sad, frustrated, powerless Muslims use the opportunity to rally for the cause and vent their rage against the perceived enemy.
The sad, flag-waving, ignorant racists use the opportunity to rally for the cause and vent their rage against the perceived enemy.
Reminds me of when the pea-brain rednecks were up in arms about the riots in the US cities back in the 60’s and were screaming about sending ‘em all back to Africa. Seems the darkies were getting’ just too big for their britches.
Some things just never change.
Rednecks will be rednecks.
Free speech! Yeah, right. How noble. Um-hmm.
Besides what other have already posted, there is a fundamental difference:
ThaiVisa is a privately owned and run list. The owners (and by extension the moderators) have every right to decide the boundries for what is acceptable on the list. We may disagree, but if a posting is deleted, it's not a question of censorship. You have every right to start your own list, where you can post whatever you want (within the boundries of the law)
On the other hand the satirical drawings of Mohammed was published by an independent newspaper. The newspaper decided to publish the drawings, and again we might agree or disagree. but if anyone tells an independent newspaper what it can or cannot publish, or try to punish them for what they have published (especially if done by the government of that country), it most definitely is censorship and can not be tolerated in a democracy, where the free press acts as watchdog against those in power. One of the problems in the current mess was, that the arab countries was asking, no demanding, an apology from the Danish government, as well as demanding that the Danish government punished the people responsible for publishing the drawings. To me that shows a total lack of understanding of (and interst in) how a democracy works.
Of course, freedom of speach is not without limits, and exercising it are not always without consequences. But it is for the police and the courts to decide, wether what was published was within the law. The Danish govenment can never be allowed to interfere with an independent newspaper. If they started doing that, the nation could be on the slippery slope towards dictatorship.
And if people are offended by what a newspaper prints, it's their right to boycot the newspaper of protest against it. But to extend such boycots/protests to cover a whole country and threaten to kill the people of that country (who had nothing to do with the drawings), again to me shows a total lack of understanding or interest in how the non-muslim world works. And the Saudi newspapers response to start a contest for holocost caricatures just confirms to me, that there is no wish to try and understand different points of view. "If someone offends our religion, we want revenge, and we don't care if the people we hurt are the ones responsible for the offense". It also confirms that it's ok for muslims to offend other religions, but it's never ok the other way round. It seems to be the same logic that daily costs arab lives in Iraq by the hands of people claiming to fight the occupation. And also the same logic that costs the lives of schoolteachers and the likes in southern Thailand.
I still believe that only a minority of muslims supports the way this have been handled by the radicals and their governments. But I'm getting to a point, where I am afraid that it is no longer a small minority, but more likely a significant one (at least in the arab world). And the silent majority at best unfortunately seems to live up to their "silent" designation, and at worst seems to be easily swayed by the propaganda. Can you imagine any other religion, where the religious leaders calls for a day to be the day of "anger and condemnation"?
Personally I have no religious believes, but have nothing but respect for any beliefssystem that advocates tolerance. Unfortunately, at the moment I can't see muslims falling into that category. Christianity wasn't any better a few hundred years ago, but have at least moved in the right direction.
Sophon
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At least your link refers to this year’s Olympics, not that of four years ago.Found this its a nice little video: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/5091372/detail.htmlWasn’t the event in which he took part yesterday? Does anybody know how he fared?
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Maestro
No, he is scheduled to participate in the 15 km classical, which is on the 17th.
Sophon
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well, that's what they told us after my girlfriend called several times to the tax/customs office. perhaps they don't know themselves? i clearly stated she would be applying for a non-immigrant retirement visa and they stated that while certain items have different taxes (computers 50%, books 20%, etc) there would be no import tax after one year.
What you have been told sounds very strange and contrary to what others have reported.
If you read the information on the link lopburi supplied, in order to get the tax rebate you need to have been abroad for at least one year. I suspect that is the "after one year" you have been quoted, and it's a miscommunication, that you would get the rebate after having been back at least one year.
It doesn't really make sense to require you to have been back in hailand for at least one year, before you can get a tax rebate on importing household goods (I know common sense is not always to be expected
). And the link from lopburi also states: " It is important that the used/secondhand household effects must be imported not earlier than one month before or not later than six months after the arrival of the importers", which makes sense to me. That way the make sure that you don't continue importing goods, that were not part of "your household", when you were living abroad.Sophon
Day & Night Hotel
in Pattaya
Posted
Carsberg = Carlsberg?
If so you will have trouble finding it, as it is no longer brewed in Thailand.
Sophon