jitenshaman

In this thread I learned that if you have an outside source of income (financial markets, real estate, etc.), and you want to spend your money in Thailand while you're under 50 years old and not married to a Thai citizen you're a low-life anti-social scumbag who contributes nothing to the country, even tho you pay the VAT on every item you purchase.

Thanks folks. You learn something new everyday.

Yeah, i've been thinking the same thing...i have also learned that if you have a Non B or Ed visa, basically bought by paying a lump of cash or essentially tea money to any lawyer or person with the right connections...even though you are not really working, paying tax, or studying in Thailand, then you are an upright, high life, good for the country perfect citizen....come on guys, wake up...there are plenty of folks here who own condos, pour tons of money into the Thai economy, have made their money elsewhere, and are EXACTLY the same as those retirees who have retirement visas, except that they are 46, 47, 48, or 30, and thus do not have recourse to the above visa (unless of course they pay the appropriate lawyer, which certainly doesn't qualify anyone for being a high life good moral outstanding citizen)...it's kind of like saying why dont we get rid of all the english teachers or dive instructors because all of them must be scumbags, breaking the law, not paying taxes, et al...never mind that there might be several thousand who are the exact opposite....

I have some friends who wish to see some nature while in Thailand (guess the cobra in my kitchen wasn't wild enough ).

What are you favorite parks and why? What is the best run? Most wild experience? (ie wild nature not crazy )

Khao Yai for wildlife and great nature, although guides are mandatory to walk on the trails...Khao Sok down south for variety and scenery (staying on the rafthouses in the Khao Larn Lake is a great experience and stunningly beautiful)...Mu Kho Surin Island for beaches and lack of development, and the same for Koh Tarutao if you want the Robinson Crusoe experience.

Hey, he is not banned from the DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo...now that could be a great home...some of the worst corruption, pillaging, and rampant devastation of a country and people in human history...it's got plenty of diamonds too, and lots of jungle space for convicted felons to hang out in, not to mention it even has the word "Democratic" in its name, right up Toxin's alley.

Hi,

I've done several searches on this and there dont seem to be any topics coming up with any complete answers based on experience. I am about to purchase a condo and want to pick up a Thai driver's license. There is the requirement for a certified letter of residency by the Dept of Land Transport. To avoid going to one's embassy and paying several thousand baht for this letter, I am wondering if there are alternatives. It has been said that Immigration used to give this letter for several hundred baht, but that this is no more? Anyways, once I have my condo title, would this suffice as proof with the Dept of Land Transport? Or am I then eligible with the title paper to get a tabian baan which would then suffice as proof? Anyone with experience to share, much appreciated.

everybody needs his cut right, and they forgot the luggage thieves...

ur last surprise when you come home... if you did not end up in one of the other thai scemes to get rid of your useless baht's outside thailand...

so for tourists who plan to come here :

ripped on arrival

ripped with taxi fares

prepare to pay double in hotels, restaurants, shops ...

watch out for security that might accuse you with dropping a sigarette bud even you do not smoke ...

carefull when shopping in duty free, might end up in jail

what out of buying stuff or doing business with thais as you might fly out of a window (famous in pattaya)

watch out not to get robbed, shot, stabbed

watch out for ladyboys, aids, veneral deseases

etc...

CLASSIC POST.....So true. Thailand the land of lies and deception!

Must of what is being said here happens in the high tourist areas of phuket and Pattaya. Never hear of such problems in Chiangmai or the north of thailand. If you are going to hang around the sleaze dens then you have to expect all you get. People who go to such places are a magnet.

That's right, nothing ever happens in Chiang Mai outside of a few farangs being shot now and then.

You are probably misinformed: there are NO massage parlors with sexy girls, NO gogo bars in Thailand. Anyway, prostitution and pornography are illegal in this country.

BR><BR><BR>According to Chief of Police in Phuket, which was printed in the Phuket Gazette two years ago:

Massage Parlours where the girls are free to leave at any time and they have the ability to say NO to the customer who choses her are Legal. Kept women and the ones where the mamasan forces them to service a customer are Illegal. They are to preform a massage! Anything else is between two consulting adults.

Go Go Bars are no more than bars with dancers for your entertainment, however nakedness and lude acts are Illegal and the girls are fined and the bar can be closed down. Similar to topless bathing is illegal and warrents a 500 baht fine. However a bar fine is legal, you are paying to take away a girl from her place of work and depriving the business of a worker. The bar fine only entitles the customer to spend time with the girl, ie go for a meal, cinema, bowling etc. Anything else is just a business agreement between two consulting adults.

Prostitution is illegal, defined by: a postitute is a girl / boy who approaches potential customers offering services. ie the street walkers on walking street and beach road, they are legal as long as they dont approach us. We approach them and again it is a business transaction between two consulting adults. As long as they do not work for a street mamasan/pimp.

pornography is illegal and thai pornography warrents a jail sentence foreign porn in small quantities, for your own viewing will be destroyed if found in your possession. sales and distribution warrents a jail sentence.

Dont shoot the messenger!

if gogo bars are no more than bars with dancers for your entertainment, then karaoke bars are no more than bars with singers and fellow drinkers for your entertainment....maybe now everyone will just skip the singing and drinking and just go straight into the main event! Does this law also mean that the ex singers and drinkers in the tight hot pants can no longer stand outside of the club waiting for visitors? Darn, i always enjoyed the view passing by the ones near where i live.

Three posts and ALL of them defensive of Pattaya.

This is not the point of this particular topic - post your positives in the alternative thread "Pattaya - what's the attraction".

This topic is for those who have negative views to express them.

Okay, go ahead and flame me, but here goes: in Bangkok, one walks roughly ten minutes in any direction and there are good street food vendors everywhere, not to mention scores of middle and working class Thai restaurants packed with locals..Central Pattaya, forget it...yeah, there is the night market on Soi Bua Kao, but comparatively, pickings are slim....

The beach...what beach? That small strip of sand smothered with wall to wall beach chairs, sellers, and the likes..fronting the beautifully clean and clear Pattaya Bay?..wonder if it is a coincidence that in every visit to Pattaya i have never once gone swimming. Rather spend the extra few hours and go to Ko Chang or Mak, or spend even less time and go to Ko Si Chang.

The nightlife? Yeah, legendary, the odds are good, but the goods are odd....gets very old and boring fast because there are few other choices. I like to go see good live Thai music, which in Bangkok there are plenty of clubs catering to that and to the music scene..in Pattaya, outside of the Blues Club, nothing but pulsing gogo beats and a few places hashing out poor copies of classic rock. I'd go on and on, but then I'd get really flamed. Nuff said...what is the attraction? Or put it this way, if for some reason the nightlife disappeared, would there be anyone left?

again i don't understand why anyone would be using penang for a visa run when Laos is so much closer and easier, last time i used it 2 years ago-not only did they give me a tourist visa, they gave me 2 entries! that is the only consulate outside my country that give me more than 1 entry, and staying in vietiene is so much nicer than staying in penang ; i love vientiene , now that i have a non-imm. visa i miss having to go there for my new tourist visa, oh well, next time i'll probably get rejected when i try to get a non-im.o so i guess i'll be back there getting a tourist visa soon enough..

agree 100%, why would anyone bother going to Penang or anywhere south these days, just fly up to Udon, cross the border the next day, get your visa in Vientiane, no worries whatsoever, and move on....the word has been out on Penang for over two years now, so why keep trying to push it? Vientiane is USER FRIENDLY, other places are not...wise up and move on.

hi all

i was browsing to find a new place in bangkok for pool,and cold beer with happy hours price.

saw few pics of soi 8 pub,on sukhumvit soi 8 itself,the place looked ok to me and want to give a try(as i am bored with my regular pub now)

so what dose TV members think about the place,is it worth going?can i find beautyful company also?

thanks in advance

babuhavas

i have always liked the place...nice layout, all amenities...but bring your own company..it's a place you could take your parents to.

I thought all Farangs were "rich" .. why are you all quibbling over a lousy 150 Baht fee? Only an idiot would withdraw multiple amounts of money from a foreign account everyday. If you live here .. get a Thai account. If you don't live here .. then you are a rich tourist .. spread the love .. don't be "kee nee-oh"

you think your average Thai, whether they be rich or poor, doesn't want to avoid throwing away 150 baht if they can help it? Imagine if 7-11 had a 150 baht surcharge to use their facilities. I think we'd see Family business booming. I live here, I have a Thai account, although my income payment, via my work as a freelance photographer, pays primarily into my US bank account, thus I tend to favor using that ATM card rather than wire transferring funds over here too often. I withdraw 20,000 baht probably twice a month, so I would rather do far better things with the 300 baht then give it to the banks, especially when there are ways to avoid the thieves. Just got a Schwab account, and am happy to see that they reimburse ATM fees...it's called basic economic sense, not kee niaow.

And now, a magazine for Thaksin

Sutham said the red shirts and general public could acquire shares in the company that published the magazine at 1,000 Baht per share.

-- The Nation 2009-07-15

Too expensive for toilet paper

Actually, there will be 200 baht in the centerfold page for the first 10,000 readers.....

I also wanted to reply to someone elses comment about the girls knowing full well what they are getting into.

It is possible that some of those offered fantastic salaries working abroad are unaware of what is install for them once they get there.

Here in Thailand its different. No one really speaks about the sex trade within the Thai community. I would think that nearly every village , someone at sometime has worked in the trade. Mothers before their daughters etc, but many girls go to work because their sister or friend is doing it and can get them the job. They see what there peers are getting out of it , WEALTH !!

In my village I know of some OLD women who used to ply the trade and some of the villagers daughters in the trade now , do what has been done for along time, supplying money to the family back home. Brick houses are going up everywhere , trucks and cars being bought, life styles improving greatly with the money being sent back from the earnings that without the trade they really would be far poorer.

Trafficing is being reported in the press and on the Thai news on TV , yet how are they going to stop the trade of prostitution within Thailand - Never.

There was at one point a reported 55,000 girls working in the trade in Pattaya alone. Every major city has bars and whorehouses / some massage parlours , even small villages can even have the Not so hush hush karaoki bars , everyone knows what goes on. Then down to the lower levels of Thai culture to have a mia noi or Gik , the ladies on the side for the Thai males plesure , but they also have to Pay.

Without the sex trade here , what would happen to all the sex trade workers and families right throughout Thailand ?

What would the government do with all the loss of revenue brought in from the travellers who spend millions of dollars a year here.

Its nieive to think that it will ever be stopped but every now and again reports about trafficing will hit the news or a few sex workers and their customers have been caught and arrested, that way it looks like the government / police are doing something about it, but actually doing NOTHING !!

They may have an inkling as to what they are going to do once there, but have no idea that the rules of the sex trade elsewhere are not the same as here....ie, working for the yakuza in Japan is a far far cry from working in a bar in Nana. At least here, there are a few outlets if the girl should have problems, nor is she asked to service 4 clients a day to "earn" back her passport.

Frustrating isn't it that Thais keep on voting in a way we don't approve of.There's a word for it..what is it now, oh yes...democracy.

I know, folks back up in the northeast really miss those good old democratic days, when one got paid 200 baht to go be democratic

Hi

Does anyone know how much a taxi will cost from/to Siam Sq from /to Swamp Airport?

Taxi meter is fine?

Any 'guestimates'? I reckon 300bt. My wife reckons 800bt!

Also, might as well ask, how long will teh ride be at 0500hrs weekdays morning from Siam Sq to teh airport (swampy)?

Cheers.

Upon arrival, go immediately up to the 4th floor (Departures)..walk out and get a taxi there that is dropping someone off. You will be far less likely to get any grief...i've been using this method for years. No meter=no fare. At that time of the morning, I'd say around 200 baht tops.

The new Pen-ek film, Nymph, is due for release on July 1st. Apparently there are two cuts of the film, the main (shorter, more 'commercially-friendly') will be shown at multiplexes, but there's another (longer, more arthousey) cut which is supposedly going to be shown simultaneously at a few selected cinemas. Anyone have any info on which cinemas will show the long cut?

We'll probably have to wait around a bit...like with Rak Siam, House eventually showed the director's cut (and are doing so again at their summer program of Thai films)...i'm sure if we asked over at House, they might be amiable to getting a copy. Lido would be the only other realistic option.

I strongly disagree with the poster who alleges that "tourism is responsible for only 6-percent of the Thai economy". That certainly begs the question, now doesn't it? Additionally, I must assert that unreported and untaxed earnings in the entertainment areas certainly can't be measured, so we really don't know how much tourism contributes to the economy.

But, to the point, it really begs the question to assert that Thai police crimes of all kinds against foreigners affect only tourism, and have only a 6-percent impact risk if left unchecked. Those crimes also affect the decision of world-class businesses that may choose to place their factory in some other third world hellhole instead of Thailand. Those crimes certainly affect the decisions of retirees who cannot even buy land here, and who must grovel and jump through hoops to keep their visas current.

Thailand already has enough "designed-in" negative issues (land ownership, visas, etc.) There are less desirable countries working very hard to compete with Thailand. I would not want to live in Cambodia, or the Philippines, or Malaysia, which is why I am here instead of there, but it would certainly be wonderful if Thailand would correct some of the crazy issues like land ownership, visas, and etc., which could easily be modeled on the practices of many of its more foreign-friendly neighbors. Thailand is a very desirable place to live, on balance, so expats, tourists, retirees and investors continually put up with the nonsense, much of which does not exist in neighboring countries.

But, at what point do the scales tip? The Thai government cannot continue to ignore Police crimes against foreigners. There is a lot more than six-percent at stake here, when you add up tourism, foreign investment, foreign retirees, and perhaps even exports. I encourage all of you to Google the "Don't Buy Thai" campaign of about 15 years ago. Different issue, but Western pressure worked then and perhaps it can work again now.

Judge Dredd

I agree wholeheartedly....6% my a** Just on any given night, the number of foreign visitors strolling down Sukhumvit or Patpong probably use enough taxi drivers, hotels, waiters, maids, hair stylists, tattoo artists, bar girls, flower sellers, food vendors, and consume enough bottles of alcohol to represent adding at least one 0 to the aforementioned figure..and that's without shopping

I dont think people will come to Thailand because the visa is free, most of the tourists do not care about that but about more important things...

Imagine the stampede if the government waived bar fines for a year.

What next ? They will give candy at the immigration

Free spending money ?

Even better yet, how about visa fee "up to you"

I seem to recall Thaksin announcing that HE WON the War on Drugs, and Thailand was Drug free !!!

Maybe he was hallucinating?

CS

in retrospect, perhaps these guys got off lucky. If were were back in the Stone Age era of Toxin's War on Drugs, the poor Italians might be buried somewhere off the eastern seaboard, as opposed to enroute to a Bkk Hilton holiday.

The message is clear dont do any drugs in Thailand. Why is this so difficult to understand?

[/qu

yeah everybody obey all the rules in the world made by who-ever right now ,Why is this so difficult to understand?

cant you all learn to respect whoever and anybody all the time like good people should,dont be bad people,,respect

Prostitution is also illegal in Thailand....so on that basis, just about 97% of Pattaya ought to be getting arrested...oh, but then again, these guys merely take out the bar girls to have dinner with back in their rooms....

And putting marijuana users as bad people v. good people is kind of like regressing into the red shirts v. yellow shirts argument.

One of the highlights at the gathering was the phoned-in speech by ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

DAAD's network in northern provinces reportedly plans to hold activities to mark the birthday of Thaksin on July 26.

It would seem that the claims that the Red Shirts being about much more than Thaksin are extremely hollow... and false.

That's a fallacy.

Being more than just about Thaksin does not mean that Thaksin is not included as a very important figure and symbol for aspirations for people. One may like or dislike Thaksin, but one should respect the right of these people to have chosen him in elections. Especially for upcountry Red Shirts this is whole thing is very much about Thaksin, and not because he "bought" them, but because he was the first PM that has substantially improved their lives, and through his "populism" has created the impression to be there for them (it is secondary that this of course was a strategy and not altruism). Only the lack of vision of Democrat governments made it possible for a deeply faulty figure like Thaksin to be able to become the first elected PM in Thailand that stayed a whole period, was elected again, and would have won at least one more election if he would not have been ousted by a coup.

Why should the Red Shirts drop Thaksin, when people do still support him? It is their bloody right. What gives you, or anybody else decide what they are supposed to support, and what not?

But that it is not just about Thaksin becomes clear when you listen to the many speaches that deal with topics such as equal opportunities, social justice, democracy, etc.

unfortunately, having a convicted criminal, liar, and thug as the mugshot on all the posters supporting the Red Shirts gives them a pretty pathetic image amongst a huge number of people.

I suggest that Thai monks take on board some of the Trappist tradition. Zip it up and concentrate of collecting the baksheesh.

i second the motion...can you imagine the monks brewing up some 14% alcohol along the likes of Chimay? Then again, the folks at Singh and Chang might get a wee upset.

As of this date, here's a recap of the no-fee ATMs :

Government Savings Bank -- only takes Visa logo cards

UOB - takes MC and VISA logo, but reportedly planning to start charging the fee at some time.

AEON - takes MC and VISA logo cards

Bangkok, Siam Commercial, Kasikorn, Krung Thai, Siam City, CIMB and various other Thai banks are charging 150 baht per ATM withdrawal using a foreign bank card.

Reports have been mixed about Bank of Ayudhya... Some say they are charging a fee. Some say the ATM screen warns of a fee, but none is charge. I can't vouch for BoA, either way.

anywhere i can obtain a listing of addresses of AEON, UOB, and Govt Savings banks in Bangkok? Thanks

An elephant walking down soi Cowboy at 11.00 pm is not doing it because it wants to !

Anyone paying 20,30,50 Baht for a few bananas should understand that the sole purpose is to line the pocket of the Thai handler - not to benefit the chang

no farang visiting soi cowboy is going there to see elephants.....

Ok Ive just been quoted 800bht to use California WoW on a one off basis and 500Bbht to use True Fitness just the once. Call me tight but im not willing to pay 10 or 15GBP to use a gym for a couple of hours.

So can anyone tell me where there are old skool gyms that offer prices in the range of 100-200bht a go ie what i pay back home for a very good gym.

I know of one near to Ratachewi BTS station (get off on the side opposite the Asia Hotel and walk up towards Siam Square, its next to the bridge) but its closed on a Sunday.

i go to the sports authority of thailand gym up at Ramkamhaeng, under the Ratchamangkla National Stadium...it is 1000 baht a month, unlimited use, excellent facilities, sauna, plus the olympic pool for the university is nearby...additionally, the walk through Ramkamhaeng U in the late afternoon amidst all the short skirts is a heart pumping workout in and of itself!