craigt3365

That's a tough one! Lots of places that come to mind, but as you say visas are an issue. What's your nationality?

I think Oz and NZ are quite expensive right now. Great places to be, but very expensive. Florida is a pretty good choice. Some problems with weather and bugs (swimming pools are typically screened in, something I wouldn't like). I've got friends living in Alabama right near the beach and they're getting a bit tired of the "bubba" culture! LOL But say the beaches are stunning. I lived in California for many years. Loved it, but too crowded now and quite expensive.

Portugal sounds very interesting and I'm assuming you're following Loppy's thread on that and Spain? Forget Belize. Crime is a really big problem. Same with Panama. Heck, pretty much all of Mexico, CA and SA. I've spent a few years roaming around that area and find Thailand way better. Though they are great places to explore!!!

P.S. you might consider staying in Thailand and just getting out of Pattaya. I live now too far south and it's a world of difference. Traffic is tough on weekends, but other than that, you wouldn't even know you were near Pattaya. Though it's within easy striking distance when the desire strikes! 55555 Head down to Bang Saray sometime. Go to the Bang Saray Club and have a sundowner, then into town for a meal. Very relaxing. Again, except on weekends!

I think your thread is better off in the travel forum. I'll get a mod to move it over. I still know a few.

The type I used will easily support a cat. It's quite heavy.

I never trust TA.

Just look at their attractions list of places in every places.

The free attractions seldom stay on top although they are more popular and better. If my guess is right, they are using every party to earn advertisements and if you pay well,maybe you better top placing or cooperation with them.

I use trip advisor extensively, and for locations all over the world. Their list of attractions is worth a look and definitely include free attractions. The rankings are based on user reviews. Look at Pattaya's list. Many in the top are free:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g293919-Activities-Pattaya_Chonburi_Province.html

As long as the stuff looks used and is not in new boxes, etc., you will be fine. But they are cracking down on those coming back with new luxury items. My neighbor got nailed for a new Gucci purse. It was still in the original packaging and his wife was using another purse. It was a high bill!

I just got back from Europe with a bunch of electronic stuff. Cameras, tablets, smart phones, etc. No problems at all.

I'd go with the plastic ones. Won't rust. I've used it for several different projects and works out great. Most places will have it, even the big box shops like HomePro/Works/Mart.

I've used them many, many times. Never had a problem. Tried another one not long ago due to a neighbors recommendation. It was OK, but the car was really old and rattled all the way there! LOL At the same price, I'll stick with Mr. T. Easy to contact via email when you are away and arrange for a pickup.

Thanks for the report back!

They've got a pretty good selection at SuperSports in Central Festival. Big C South Pattaya has a few machines also.

This may well be the straw that broke the camel's, ( Toyota's ), back & I am sure they are looking

for other countries assembly facilities. If Toyota leaves, Thailand, the country, would have

to put up a "CLOSED " sign !

Toyota moved production of the Fortuner to the Philippines not long ago. One reason I read was issues with staff and issues with the government here.

The import tax here is ridiculous. And IMHO, the quality of the cars made here is lower than in the US or Europe.

I would assume so!!!

How quick we are to side with the father. Why? Because he's not Thai? Who are we to automatically assume the girl's best interests is with the father. For all we know he could be a total controlling ass. Wives leave husbands often because of abuse or child molestation, or simply because some husbands are as*holes.

You are right. And that's why the legal system should have been used in this case, rather than just doing a runner with the child. Australia has great protection services for abused family members. Doesn't look like this lady took advantage of them. Just ran. Not the right way to sort this out. And 100% illegal.

Sad the Thai authorities wouldn't help out...even if nothing else, just to investigate.

Oh, so it has been determined now that the wife was abused by her husband?

Any links to that conclusion?

I never said there was. I replied to a post asking if this was possibly the case. If it was, there are great services in Australia to help families like this. But we don't know. All we do know, is she took the children with no intention of bringing them back. And they were with their grandparents, not with her. At least that's what I read in the article, right???

How quick we are to side with the father. Why? Because he's not Thai? Who are we to automatically assume the girl's best interests is with the father. For all we know he could be a total controlling ass. Wives leave husbands often because of abuse or child molestation, or simply because some husbands are as*holes.

You are right. And that's why the legal system should have been used in this case, rather than just doing a runner with the child. Australia has great protection services for abused family members. Doesn't look like this lady took advantage of them. Just ran. Not the right way to sort this out. And 100% illegal.

Sad the Thai authorities wouldn't help out...even if nothing else, just to investigate.

Players are always gloating about their gains. Silence prevails when a loss is there. WHY?

I lost about 30% of my retirement fund in the last crash. Panicked, took everything out at the bottom, and missed the huge bounce the next year. Luckily, I've fully recovered and then some. This time, I'm not watching the daily swings. I don't need the money for quite a few years.

I got into the market in 2005 with a good chunk of money. It's up a bit since then.

I think cleaning up the crime scene so quickly was a mistake. As has been pointed out, a lot of evidence was found after the cleaning. A rush to appease the tourists????

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2012/08/01/us-struggles-to-extradite-thai-official/

U.S. District Judge George Wu ruled in early February that the case be delayed until July 30. But prosecutors said in last week’s filing that the July 30 hearing was no longer necessary due to the lack of a response from Thailand.

Seems like the current government is finally doing something about this.

Glad I went before the invasion! LOL

There was a house we saw for sale and contacted the owner, whom we know. A well off Thai couple. It was listed at some 7M Baht and after our conversation, the village manager told us the price went up to 8. It's been 3 years now and the house still isn't sold, but is being rented out now (it was vacant for a year). And the price has gone up again.

Interesting that they called us recently and asked if we still wanted to buy. I guess they are hurting from the stock market crash. We were polite, but made a super low offer. Just to piss them off. LOL

I've never heard of this before, but does seem to be used by some airlines. I guess it's illegal in the US, so you are safe with US based airlines. Interesting article about change fees, last paragraph says this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/map-happy/is-a-noshow-cheaper-than-_b_6401438.html

In fact, the no-show tactic may not work well with foreign airlines. Some foreign carriers charge an actual fee if you don't show up to your actual flight, and you'll lose more than just the value of your ticket. This is fairly understandable, given the value of an empty seat on an international flight. In the States, though, feel free to do whatever you want.

Seems CP has it:

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_SG/travel-information/travel-preparation/travel-advisories/fees-charges-tickets-issued-singapore.html

Crazy. Will have to be more careful in the future!

I'm surprised there aren't more stories like this. Wild animals should not be kept in captivity. They should be viewed with caution, but in their natural environment. No doubt, this was in the name of conservation. A euphemism for money making exploitation.

This does happen on a regular basis. But many times doesn't make it into the English news. I saw it happen one time in Samui. Driving down the road and the elephant just took off into the jungle with the tourists on it's back. Had to been super scary for them.

As for the elephants in this camp, many are taken from the wild in Burma, all to help the demand at elephant camps. There are some taken from the wild here in Thailand, but estimates of the number of wild elephants left are very low. The main problem for elephants is encroachment. And has a lot to do with slash and burn techniques used here.

Many tour companies have taken elephant rides of their agendas. It's a massive and complex problem. But stopping the rides will stop the abduction of baby elephants from the wild. Where it's not unusual to have to kill the mother to get the baby.

Very good article:

http://expertvagabond.com/elephants-in-thailand/

One thing I just found out, much to my amazement, is elephants don't actually have strong backs. It's harmful to ride them. Who would have thought!

As demonstrators are required to seek permission for their gathering 24 hours in advance, the guideline also reminds authorities to use careful discretion before agreeing to the request.

That's the key concept.

Now watch people defend it by saying other countries do it that way.

Yes, suppression of basic rights is OK as long as other countries do it also.

I don't see that as suppression. Just requiring the people to apply in advance. Easy. 24 hours is no big deal. And it gives city dwellers, hopefully, back their basic rights.

Hopefully, this will eliminate the city gridlock and mayhem these things cause. Unfortunately, it's still up to the police to enforce.

Truly unbelievable.

I was in Pattaya when the thing went off, and watching TV about a week later there was a BBC TV Crew that had been scouring the gardens approx 50- 100 meters from the blast. They found quite a bit of shrapnel. They filmed themselves trying to hand it over to the police in front of some large whiteish building. The 8-10 police that were standing around just said they were closed, and refused to take it. The reporter was gobsmacked.

Do any Thai authorities read these pages to see what the rest of the world thinks of them? Or do they really not care?

They absolutely do read what's posted here. One reason the mods are careful about what's posted.

In many countries, people "hire" house sitters. There's an entire community that does this full time. I met several in Costa Rica years ago. CR has a tough rainy season and many head out, bringing in house sitters to just watch after the place. And to keep the squatter out! LOL

Arrangements are varied. Some get paid, some pay to stay there, others stay for free. The later sometimes have to do some minor work, sometimes not.

Read the Bangkok Post article about the cabbie and the foreigner bomber. The police general says they don't want to admit it was an act by a terrorist organization. It would hurt tourism. Sick.

No links here, please.

Sadly to say, the same can be said of the elephant parks here. All involve massive animal abuse.

Not necessarily. There are some decent ones around. For example - http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

Agreed! But the good ones are a very small minority. Unfortunately.

In the country of Georgia, the new president fired the entire police force. And guess what? Crime went down! Because the police were involved in every aspect of crime, one way or another, either directly or indirectly.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19489_5-terrible-ideas-that-solved-huge-global-problems.html

They were without police for three freaking months. And it was fine. Saakashvili's administration quickly realized this was because it had been the cops causing most of the trouble all along. A remnant from the Soviet era, they'd treated the roads as their personal piggy bank, administering their very own brand of expensive justice at will and causing mob-style chaos as they did. When they were taken out of the equation, not even a hint of disorder was left because they had been the disorder.