billd766

I doubt anywhere north of Bangkok will see a drop of rain until April next year.

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Oh thank you very much for that gem.

No showers for the next 5 months. At least people will know I am coming down the road.

I will probably end up looking like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown at 60 years old.

Has anybody got a web address for a rain god?

Although this thread does not apply to me as I am still married, a thought came to my mind, what would happen should my wife die in an accident.

Whilst my name is on the birth certificate it would be difficult to interview my son as he is only 3 months old.

Could we for example still live in the house and keep the land? His name is on the Tabien Baan as is mine as the father.

Just a thought ( not one of my best ) but it may happen to somebody somewhere.

edited by billd766 for bad spelling (again)

Your question was not well phrased as I voted no.

However when I worked for a UK based company in Thailand they dealt with my taxes  and when I worked as a contractor I was paid offshore but I apid tax on part of it in Thailand.

Now I am retired and receive pensions from the UK which are taxed at source and with a dual taxation agreement between Thailand and the UK I do not pay tax in Thailand.

So my honest answer to you poll was both yes and no.

Sorry.

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Nothing to apologize about. So it looks like there were 3 tax situations for you.

1. Working for a company which automatically reported your taxes.

2. Working in Thailand but getting paid overseas and only paying tax on part of it.

3. Pension money which is already taxed in the UK.

If you don't mind, I'd like to followup a bit.

When you were a contractor, was there anything compelling you to pay your taxes or did you just figure it out and report everything yourself? What portion did you pay taxes on? Only that which you actually brought into Thailand?

With your pension, do you still report every year to the Thai tax authorities to let them know you don't owe them taxes, or do you just not worry about it?

Thanks,

Daniel

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The answer is fairly simple. As a contrator or indeed any person needing a work permit you have to declare a minimum salary and pay tax on the money transferred into Thailand. However the money was never paid from Thailand in the first place so only the amount paid into Thailand is taxed. I also used to have a company and employed 4 Thais as the government regulations state but if you are the only person working and earning why should you have to pay for 4 other persons to do nothing?

You also have to pay VAT, with holding tax, insurance, an accountant and a lot of other things that really make it not a viable proposition. So I gave up, quit working and closed the company down.

No I do not report to the Thai tax authorities and tell them that I do not owe any taxes as Thailand and the UK have a dual taxation agreement.

Without all us rubbish producers, you cats wouldn't have much to read, now would you?

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Do you mind if I reserve my comment??

Prizes can only be given for quality, not quantity, so why did you start this thread?

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I started the thread for 3 reasons.

1 Everybody else seems to do it.

2 I seemed like a good idea at the time.

3 I wanted to see what the responses were like.

Hmmm I am risking going a little beyond my expertise here....

BUT both AIS and Advance have GPRS networks but maximum speeds are limited to about 35kps - slightly slower than a good dial-up connection but enough to get you a 5mb file in 10 minutes on a good day.

However, DTAC has just launched its EDGE network (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) although I think it only works in Bangkok. You can buy a Sony Air Card for Bt14,500 and then the service is BT1,200/month unlimited usuage. Alternatively you can buy an EDGE capable mobile phone.

EDGE's theoretical maximum data is 247kps (I think) about 5 times faster than a dial up. Actual speeds might be a little lower.

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jaidee36

As you say at this time EDGE is really only available in Bangkok and it seems to me that it is fine if you use DTAC, if you live in Bangkok and if you are a heavy user doing a lot of large downloads.

AIS tell me that I am connected at 115kbps but in real life it is about the same as a normal landline which I suspect is what many people have.

Both EDGE and GPRS are only useful if you travel a lot and use a laptop or you have no access to a landline other than Internet shops for example. When I used to go to the village I was not allowed to use my laptop on the shops Internet line but they did allow me to use their landline (and pay for it).

loong

It's not clear from the above posts whether these monthly packages include the costs of the phone calls.

If you get 120 hours data trnsfer included do you still have to pay 3 Baht per minute for the phone call while you are connected?

I have looked at my bill again and AIS have billed me 2,956 baht for my GPRS usage, HOWEVER, they have discounted me the same amount, so in effect I am only paying 350 baht per month. What I suggest is that you either check up on their website or depending on where you live, go to an AIS centre, not the small shops where you can pay your bill and talk to somebody there, or call their call centre on 1175 from an AIS phone. There is a very good large AIS shop on level 5 of the Central plaza at Bang Na.

I hope that this is of use to you.

billd766

Today I have been a member for 1 year and in that time I have only managed to complete 88 posts.

Am I a slow poster or is it that I read a lot of the posts and only post on things that seem interesting..

That is good news for me as I live in the North and I have only been waiting 15 months for TT&T to run a cable 4 1/2 KM.

A friend of mine paid to get a phone line run in and it cost him 3,000 baht per km.

I have a couple of mobiles and GPRS so I guess I can wait a while longer.

Lots of tourists / business men are now getting internet access by putting a card into the side of their laptop (wireless access) and it seems to be of broadband quality too, speedwise.   

How do they do that, what are the set up costs (assuming you've got the laptop) and how's your access time payed for?

Sorry if i'm fick and behind the times but it is pretty cool. Those chairs in the internet cafe give me jep-tort!

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I am using the "AIS Internet Solution" and been using if for 3 months now. Works pretty good in my small village 80 Km northwest of Korat. Best download speed achieved (to put it in perspective), was a 5 MB file in 10 minutes. It isn't always quite that fast, but still good. I do not have a landline in my village and now that I have this connection, I don't much care if I ever get one.

The cost for me is/was a one year contract with AIS at 1,200 Baht per month. They had a promotion going on that gave me the first six months of unlimited connection time and the last six months, 200 hours per month. At their recommendation I bought a 10,000 Baht "Solomon" modem which plugs into my USB port and holds the AIS Sim card. I do not have an infrared port on my laptop, but they told me that if I had the infrared port then I could use a GPRS mobile phone to connect thru that port rather than the "Solomon".

I believe Dtac also has a similar internet solution, but Dtac doesn't work well in the area that I live.

I just took a look at the AIS website and they have a different promotion than when I signed up. Says 999 Baht per month. I didn't read the details, but here is the website:

AIS GSM ADVANCE

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I also live near a small village about 50 km South West of Khampaeng Phet and my nearest telephone line is 4 1/2 km away.

I have had an AIS post paid mobile for about 3 years and in August I went to the AIS office in the Central Bang Na building and asked about GPRS.

All I needed was the (original) Nokia cable between my laptop and the mobile and they set up my system for me.

For 350 Baht per month I get 120 hours of GPRS connection per month and if I need more I can go up to the next package.

I have been on a promotion from AIS since 2001 and they have extended it for another 3 years. My total phone bill last month was 4,202 baht including the GPRS. After the promotion discount it came to 1,712 baht per month.

Sometimes at night the GPRS is not so good but once the connection is made, if the signal drops the GPRS stays up and comes back with the signal.

I am more than happy with this service.

As a small matter of side interest the local Thai Rak Thai agent came around yesterday and asked my wife what she (we) needed and all she asked for was a phone line and cleaner water.

We have only been waiting for a phone line for about 15 months.

Next life perhaps?

Sorry ... forgive my ignorance... but are these driving offences..?

Fail to Obay Lawful Direction Given by a Member of the Police Force x4

Assault Police Member in the execution of their duty x2:

Unlawful Assault With A Weapon namely a Motor Vehicle:

Resist Arrest x2:

Failing to appear on bail to the court

totster

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The way I read and understood it is that he failed to stop when flagged down by the police 4 times, tried to run them down, hit 2 of them, the car was stopped somehow, he then fought the police hence resting arrest, was bailed by the court and skipped the country thus failing to appear on bail.

Several of them are driving offences, several are assault and deliberately trying to run down any person can be viewed as attempted manslaughter.

They are definitely not trivial offences.

Think how you would feel if somebody did that to you or your family.

I live near Khampaeng Phet and the last ime it rained her was mid September and my wife has been talking to the local people and they reckon that it won't rain again this year.

This year we finished the house and we get our water from the main supply and the water just stopped flowing in mid March and started again in May. We didn't have much in the way of water storage last year but this year we have more than doubled it and I hope that will be enough.

Can anybody remember Wimpy, the all beef hamburger?

Now we have heard all the negative points about getting married to a BG, but they are not all the same, I have now been married to one for 12 happy years, it's my 6th marrige and the best of them all, sure beats being married to a farang woman who wants to control your life.

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Sonthaya, I agree with you 100%.

Shrek I waslucky in that I met my wife in a bar over 11 years ago when I was here working for a couple of months. I was 49 and she was 28 and like you I cried when I went away never expecting to come back. I called her every mont or so and if anyone was coming this way I would get them to take stuff for her.

I came back a year later and was working here for nearly 4 years when I divorced my farang wife of 22 years. My son was 19 then.

I did not mary my girl until 2000 as it took me that long to get a divorce which cost me my house car etc. When I left my UK marriage all I owned fitted into my hired estate car and my former wife wanted all the salary that I earned working for a company.

I went contracting and married my Thai lady and it was the second best thing I did in my life, (divorce was the first). We have been married now for 4 1/2 years and we have our own house with 5 acres of land up country and now have a 3 month old baby boy.

I was out of work for a year while she was up here supervising the house building and I admit I went crazy and strayed for a while. Eventually I came to my senses and came back and I think and hope that she has forgiven me.

I personally know of 5 good marriages from the bar where I first met her and still drink in when I am in Bangkok.

The main point of this saga is that you must give your relationship time.

Listen to all the doomsayers and all the good reports but think carefully on this point.

It is YOUR LIFE, no one elses. Only you can make your mind up.

Perhaps your girl is good, perhaps she is not.

Only YOU can make that decision.

Be patient and take all the time you need.

I hope that you get lucky, I did.

If you are not remember experience is earned the hard way.

I have used a company called Hong Kong Transpack 3 time now and I found that the are reasonably priced and offer a very good service. They moved me twice in Thailand and handled all my stuff from the Uk to Thailand as well.

Give a guy called Kerry Matisin a call, he is on 01 644 1892, office is on 02 631 4368, email at [email protected] or [email protected]

And at the funeral home they have not managed to nail down the coffin lid, nor remove the smile form his face!!!

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I live about 50km south west of Khampaeng Phet on the opposite side of the country to Issan and I enjoy cold melon from the fridge at breakfast.

Today my wife pointed out that she had planted some melon seeds and we now have 1 melon growing.

I think she just put the seeds in the ground and watered them.

I am looking forward to trying it when it grows to a good size.

I'm trying to get a feel for the tax situation of long term expat's in Thailand.  I know there are many people who are on top of their taxes, but I also know there are many who clearly are not paying what they're supposed to be.  For example, there are scores of teachers who basically live here all year yet never pay any taxes on their wages.

I know there are some circumstances where your tax information is required, such as if you are applying for residency or filing your company's business forms, but I'm wondering if they would ever check somebody on their income taxes at the border just out of the blue.

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Your question was not well phrased as I voted no.

However when I worked for a UK based company in Thailand they dealt with my taxes and when I worked as a contractor I was paid offshore but I apid tax on part of it in Thailand.

Now I am retired and receive pensions from the UK which are taxed at source and with a dual taxation agreement between Thailand and the UK I do not pay tax in Thailand.

So my honest answer to you poll was both yes and no.

Sorry.

There is a place by the BTS stop at Ekkamai on the even numbered side of the road which has some.

It is a sort of a school / college shop but what make, price and quality there are I cannot say.

Hi all,

I'm travelling to Thailand only, for the month of December.

I've got my Typhoid and Hep A jabs

I'm getting conflicting info on wether or not to get the course of Rabies jabs.

I intend to spend some time in Bangkok, then head north to Chang Mai, maybe Chang Rai: maybe do a 2-3 day organised trek, then heading south to the western islands.

So....do I bother spending the £120, or is it not necessary?

Thanks in advance!

EG.

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Only if you bite the dog and it wasn't properly BBQed.

woohoo, it was 60 last time I was here- that means I`ll have 25% more fun when I get here next week?

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That must have been a long time ago.

What does fun mean?

I asked the wife and she didn't seem to know.

.....I think it's bloody stupid as I don't carry a calculator around with me 24 hours a day........

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Here's a tip:

1. Read the dollar number.

2. Multiply by 4.

3. Multiply by 10.

Now you have the Baht number.

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Still not simple (SNS)

Why not just change it ALL to Baht so as not to confuse non-calculator carriers such as myself?

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When I went to school back in the stone age nobody had heard of calculators but my maths teacher (Killer Hoy) taught us well enought that I generally dont use a calculator for normal every day things. When I ask the people in the shops to work out the bill without a calculator they cannot.

On the plus side my brain battery never goes flat, unless I drink too much, and at that stage the calculator probably goes into time and a third.

Divide by 3 and multiply by 4. Now wasn't that easy children.

Tomorrow we do calculus with a slide rule.

Far too long.

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Been coming here for over 11 years and lived here for about 7 of them including the last 3.

Had to elsewhere in between for work but I am sort of retired unless somebody offers me a job.

Married for the last 4 1/2 to the girl I met in a bar on my first visit 11 years ago, loved her then and still love her now, especially with the new ankle biter almost ready to crawl around.

I live right out in the sticks where the weekly traffic jam is 2 minutes long on market day and the traffic lights have been set on warning mode for about 8 months I think.

I love Thailand and though I have been back to the UK this year I would never consider living anywhere else.

Our house up in Khampaeng Phet took about 8 months to complete but we did build a small 1 bed house for my wife to live in while they were building the big one. It is a 3 bedroom place with 2 shower/toilets and is about 200 sq m floor space. my wife was on site from day 1 and we paid for the materials ourselves with the builder contracting people as and when required.

Because she was on site all the time any problems were resolved on the spot.

We had Egat wire up the small house, 5 lights and 6 double sockets they said would take about 3 hours, actually took 2 days. When I showed them the 3 metre ground rod they didn't seem to know what it was and took it away to check it and i have not seen it since. I put another one in myself later. We had had a good electrician to do the main house and no problems there. I suppose that it cost about 1.5 m Baht in all but we had the land already so there was no extra cost. My wife had the plans drawn up a few years before and the house is more or less as the plans say. Downstairs is brick and concrete and the upstairs is mostly old teak that she has had for a long time. The small house is mainly eucalyptus which she had grown especially fot that purpose. We have mains electricity and water though there is a lot of sediment in the incoming water and we have to use a filter to clean it.

Sewage is a septic tank.

The house and land are in her name and I am on the Tabien Baan as the father of our son.

We have had a few people, Thai and Farang come to look at it and the easiest way to find it is to ask in the village " Baan farang, Ti Ni"? The answer is "Noon 6 km, Kwa, Baan Yai" and that will find us easily.

Looks like they `d like a second helping of what they got last time. Let them have all they want then... Killing innocent people again in revenge proves their real intentions. Infiltrate and kill all their brainwashing leaders to begin with.

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Does that mean that the Police and the Army did not kill 76 innocent people a few days ago?

That makes it OK then.

I find Thailand a bit odd with exchange rates.

I went to Immigration Division3 at Suan Plu last week as a final check before re applying for my Thai wife support visa and the officer I spoke to there told me that Immigration use a rate of 40 baht = $1 which is about right but only 60 baht = 1 GBP.

I explained that it had not been that low for years and he said that it was not that important but this was the rate given at Suan Plu.

On 10,000 GBP the difference between 60 baht and 74 baht is 140,000 baht which to most people is very important.

I also spoke to a friend in Immigration and he said the same thing.

I suppose I should give all my baht at 60 to them and buy their pounds to resell at 73 or whatever.

999Baht/Month ,You can use it unlimited regardless of hours or data usage.

Contract Phone means a Post Paid Phone,Not a Prepaid phone i.e. NOt Happy Dprompt.It has to be a post paid registered number only in order to qualify for these monthly packages.

999 a month unlimited. same as 56k modem. can use anywhere DTAC signal is available. no per minute fee. Sounds almost too good to be true, but I will try it and report back.

CMT is off on another quest to find something better than dial-up! As always we'll be following your exploits.

I'm still trying to figure out how it works. I have a Nokia 6100, the rubbery one that looks like a Nike sneaker and is water/dust/shock resistant. Under the 'Connectivity' menu I can choose to switch on GPRS. Does this mean I can use this phone if I get a USB dongle, or is Bluetooth essential? What purpose does the GPRS menu on this phone serve if it can't be used without Bluetooth?

Thanks, I know these are very basic questions ...

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Sabaijai

I also use a Nokia 6100 mobile with a DKU5 cable to connect to my laptop.

I have a postpaid service with AIS and about 3 months ago I went onto their GPRS service plan at 350 baht per month for 120 hours usage. If I go over that it costs me 5 satang per minute, however I can always go to a higher usage plan and pay a small amount more per month.

I live uip country out in the sticks about 5 km from my nearest cell site and the service is good in the day going to not so good but still workable in the evening. This is normal with any radio system worldwide (I have been putting mobile phone systems in countries all over the world for the last 16 years).

When I am connected to GPRS, if the cellsite loses it signal (and it happens a lot everywhere) then my GPRS connection stays up and when the signal comes back I just carry on working with no problems.

Bluetooth and Edge are fine if you change your mobile every 6 months or a year and want to keep up to date and trendy but if you have a mobile which works as a phone and as a GPRS mobile as well why change it.

As to which mobile phone is best, I worked for Motorola for 10 years and always used the phone the company gave me. When I went contracting I bought Nokia all the time as IMHO Nokia is better, but the choice is yours.

If you think that I can help you in any way please PM me.

billd766