Tod

About life int Bangkok or Thailand in particular, well, I am not somebody fussy, I like to eat healthy and gym, do not drink, smoke a little and don't need to dinner out everyday, although on weekends I like to go out, although here in Madrid I can manage with £600, I don't need to live in style so much, but I hate not having enough to live with a minimum westener standard comfort, so to speak.

One thing is sure, you will live A LOT better with 30'000baht in Bkk than with 600 pounds in Madrid

Anyone who is advising someone smart enough to be a post-doctoral researcher to come to Bangkok and work for a subsistence salary (irrespective of whether he is bringing his GF or not) is doing the poor guy a gross disservice and, I suspect, enticing others into the web of 'hand to mouth' misery that they might themselves experience.

Foolhardy, mean-spirited and not nice at all.

By no means do it, OP. What on earth are you thinking of? Why on earth would you shift to the other side of the world, a place - i suspect you have never been too, judging by your questions - to live in relative poverty? You obviously have a brain. Put it in gear and use it.

Multiply the salary be ten and you might (just) be making a good decision.

Well that's very exaggerated... You don't live in relative poverty with 30'000 baht a month in Thailand.

The OP said he doesn't drink and that he doesn't have expensive tastes. 30'000/month seems more than enough if you avoid Sukhumvitt bars and you don't eat western food in restaurants 3 times a day.

You can get a very decent appartment with aircon for around 5000/7000 baht a month in Bangkok which will leave you more than enough for your other expenses.

People like bendix don't understand that money is not the only motivation for everybody when they come work in another country.

"Multiply the salary be ten and you might (just) be making a good decision."

What a pretentious and stupid statement, you should keep advices like that for yourself.

I heard about that option, apparently it's different from ADSL and it's supposed to be fast and reliable...

Anybody knows something about it?

Anybody have or know of decent land pretty close to the ocean in Trat or sea view land ? What kind of price is land selling for down there.

EPG.

Check this link

http://www.iamkohchang.com/Real_Estate/25-rai-farm-trat.htm

Being known as the "cheapest place on Earth" has done Thailand an enormous disservice over the years by encouraging exactly the wrong people to visit. Indeed, this is good news for those of us that love to live here. White trash, it's cheaper elsewhere!

Okay so according to what you say, who would be the "right" peoples to come visit Thailand? People who stay in all inclusive hotels, eat in expensive restaurants, book all there tours and tickets from their home country or hotels?

I'm not sure what you mean by "white trash" but people who come here because everything is cheap are the people who make all these small restaurants, noodle stalls, family owned bungalows live.

Most of them are students who take a sabbatical year to travel around asia, and don't necessarily have 5000 baht a day to spend.

Call them "white trash" if you want, but if Thailand starts to disregard this category of tourists, a lot of Thai peoples will have to go find a 200B/day job.

An acquaintance who has a tour agency has seen his bookings (mainly from Sweden) for the upcoming high season going down. He thinks that besides the obvious reasons (financial crisis, political unstability in Thailand, tension with Cambodia), this is also because Thailand is pricing itself out of the market as a holiday destination. He claims that now places like Bali, Vietnam, the Phillepines and Malaysia are becoming more and more attractive as alternatives.

For those of you working in the travel industry, what are your thoughts about this?

It's true that I hear more and more peoples coming back from Vietnam and Cambodia and complaining about the prices in Thailand. Backpackers still use Thailand as a platform to move around south east Asia, but they tend to spend less time in Thailand than before. A lot of budget hotels starts to disappear to build big and more expensive resorts.

It seem's that Thailand don't want to be a heaven for small budget travellers anymore and tend to be a more upper class holiday destination. Which in my opinion is an error because there is already a lot of destinations for rich tourists such as Mauricius, Maldives, Seychelles who are actually a lot more beautiful than Thailand.

Hopefully Thailand will stay for at least a few more years a #1 for sex tourists

Re: Aranyaprathet/Poipet border.

About ten minutes ago we called one of our contacts there. It's open.

Yep, just called the driver of the minibus, border open

Just got a call from a Khmer friend stuck at the border. Fighting has broken out and the border is now closed...including the Aranyaprathet/Poipet crossing. All the Cambodians in the border market have been forced back into Cambodia.

According to my friend there may be shooting not just in the Preah Vihear area but other botrder spots as well. Although that part was hard to get, very noisy in the background and she was trather panicked. On TV they said that the Thai govt has ordered all Thai citizens in Cambodia to evacuate and is sending in planes to get them out.

I'm really worried about my Cambodian niece who is studying at Mahidol, if this gets as nasty as it seems to be she may have to leave and lose the semester. And somehow I doubt I'll get a tuition refund......

Not to mention the soldiers' lives that will be lost and the economic costs to both countires.

Are you sure about that statement??? Is the border closed for foreigners as well?

I just sent 4 customers today who were going to Siem Reap and crossing from that border.

Any one who has informations about that, please post.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai and Cambodian forces along a disputed stretch of border near a 900-year-old Hindu temple exchanged fire for about 10 minutes Wednesday, a reporter on the Thai side of the border told Reuters.

The reporter, who works for a Thai state media outlet, also said smoke was seen billowing into the air from the Cambodian side of the border near the Preah Vihear temple.

(Reporting by Prapan Chankaew; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Alan Raybould)

So, which one is true, The Nation or Reuters?

Ok so I will ask the question I always ask when this stuff happens:

'Will this effect my ability to eat at McDonalds, drink on Soi Cowboy, pick up BKK uni girls or use the internet?'

dam_n, you seem to be a caricature of a fat, uneducated, lowlife farang.

You're right, nothing is more important in life than eating at Mc Donalds and drinking at soy Cowboy.

Thanks for you're contribution to that discussion.

it's soi, not soy

and i was making a joke. i just meant will this impact the day to day life of an average farang. as the conflict is over obviously not. but people seem to get so worked up when this stuff happens. well i've been here three years now and not one time has anything in my life changed one iota from any of the conflicts, coups or other problems the thai government has had. other than friends and family back home all asking me if i was ok that is. knock on wood, i hope that never changes.

Oh sorry, I didn't know the discussion was about "the impact in the day to day life of an average farang" I tought it was a political discussion...my bad.

But since I just understand now, thanks to Degenfarang, the real subject of that topic; in my "average farang life" case, it affects me because of the continuous news flash on BBC, CNN, TV5, Aljazeera stating that theres massive riots in the streets of Bangkok (which is clearly false) and that Thailand and Cambodia are on the eve of war (which seems to be false as well) all that added to the economic crisis, and me beeing an "average farang" who happens to work in the tourism industry in Thailand. I feel concerned.

Ok so I will ask the question I always ask when this stuff happens:

'Will this effect my ability to eat at McDonalds, drink on Soi Cowboy, pick up BKK uni girls or use the internet?'

dam_n, you seem to be a caricature of a fat, uneducated, lowlife farang.

You're right, nothing is more important in life than eating at Mc Donalds and drinking at soy Cowboy.

Thanks for you're contribution to that discussion.

PHNOM PENH, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Thai soldiers pulled back from a disputed stretch of the Cambodian border on Tuesday, averting a possible military confrontation in the region of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, a Cambodian general on the scene said.

"They pulled out from our land," General Chea Mon told Reuters by phone from the border shortly before the expiry of a midday (0500 GMT) deadline set by Phnom Penh for the withdrawal of nearly 100 Thai soldiers from the jungle-clad area.

"The situation seems to have returned to normal," he said. "Our troops are occupying the area where the Thai troops have pulled out."

Before the withdrawal, both Phnom Penh and Bangkok had been banging the war drums, with Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat saying his government would not heed the ultimatum from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. "We are in our homeland. How can they expect us to leave our home?" he said in reply to a question from a reporter.

In a speech to an economic conference in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen repeated the deadline for Thai forces to pull back, but did not say what consequences would follow. On Monday, he said his forces would turn the area into a "death zone".

"We will not let the Thais stand on our land," he said, adding that Cambodian soldiers, many of them battle-hardened Khmer Rouge veterans, were shouting at the Thai lines: "If you want to die, come over here."

Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat had said Bangkok would pull back its troops only as part of wider joint effort to agree on the various disputed parts of the border.

"We have no problem with a troop withdrawal to avoid confrontation, but we need a joint committee to meet and agree on how far we are going to pull back and how many troops will be withdrawn," he said before a weekly cabinet meeting.

Singapore called for both sides to show restraint.

"We urge both sides to contain emotions, exercise restraint and resolve the issue through negotiations without resorting to force," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Tensions have been high since July, when around 1,000 soldiers on both sides faced off only yards apart in trenches dug into a hillside that until 10 years ago was under the control of remnants of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot's guerrilla army.

At the heart of the dispute is 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub near the temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded to Cambodia in 1962, a ruling that has rankled many in Thailand ever since.

The dispute flared in July after protesters trying to overthrow the Thai government attacked Bangkok's backing of Phnom Penh's bid to list the Hindu ruins as a World Heritage site. (Additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak and Nopporn Wong-Anan) (Writing by Ed Cropley, Editing by Alex Richardson)

I really hope all this will not spread to Suvarnabhumi airport, as I am coming back to Thailand on the 4th of this month

Yeah I have the exact same problem. There is apparently no way to avoid having 4 thai employees anymore. The best solution for me would probably be to open a standard thai company in my wifes name and use all the money you save on taxes to employ a qualified thai employee

Hi,

I have an internet caf and I use TOT, I'm supposed to have 2 mbps but it takes 10 min to open hotmail or any website outside thailand. Does anyone know why the connection is so bad and what is the best internet acces provider. For info I'm located in the province of Trat.

Thanks in advance.

I experienced it is extremely complicated to get a TAT licence in the name of a company limited. The TAT branch I dealt with also told me a company which does not have a Thai director who is authorized to sign on behalf of the company, cannot be given a licence. To get a licence on the name of a Thai national is fairly simple. He/she will have to register the business at the appropriate provincial office (obatoh changwat). You will need photos of the travel agency or the tour counter. The required deposit is only 10.000 Baht if you are only retailing tours which are organized by other persons or companies. Two persons/companies whose tours you are selling, will also have to sign and stamp a paper stating that you are selling their tours. Just consult your local TAT office, their requirements might be different than those applied by the office I was dealing with. Good luck.

Actually you don't necessarily need to have 2 tours compagnies to garanty your travel agency, you can also go to the police, they will make a paper and take your fingerprints that you will give to the TAT office.

We personnaly did'nt need to register our business at any provincial office.

So is there still a way to "backdoor" that 4 or 2 thai employees thing?

Sorry what do you mean "backdoor" thing? What is your goal then I can advise you the best way to go with.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

Ok, my goal is to start a company and have a work permit but I don't need thai employees. I know that before it was possible to avoid that by doing a border run every 90 days. What about now?

Thanks for your reply. How did you go about getting the license? Did you go through a lawyer? or did you go through the process yourself? who did you contact?

Thank you in advance

Ruds

No, you really dont need a lawyer to do that.

You just go to the main TAT office in Bangkok. I dont remember the exact adress but it's on the same street than Pantip plaza, near Pratunam. My girlfriend gave 2 copies of her ID card and birth certificate( I think it was a birth certificate) 2 copies of the ID card of the landlord that rents the place to us and a copy of the rental contract. Then she filled in a paper form with her name, adress in Thailand, name of the shop, adress of the shop.You also have to take 4 pictures of your shop with you . Its important that you give your correct adress because they gonna send a letter at this adress to tell you when you can come get your license. You are going to wait about 2 or 3 weeks and fill all sorts of papers that they give you. Then after about 2 weeks (in my case)they send you a letter saying that you have 1 month to come get your license in Bangkok. You go back to the TAT office with all the forms filled in and pay a 10'000 baht deposit. And they give you your license.

But then again i'm almost 100% sure that you can't get a license in your name if you're not thai. I think you gonna need a thai to do that for you.It does'nt matter if the license is not in your name it just has to be in the name of your shop.

I'll try to find the direct phone number of the TAT department that takes care of licenses for you.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask me.

By the way, in what part of Thailand do you want to set your travel agency?

Are you saying here that you only need two Thai employees if you are married to a Thai, AND you also have a sole proprietorship (Thai or Amity)?

Yes

Or are you saying that for a sole proprietorship you do not need any Thai employees, and completely unrelated to that, if you are married to a Thai, you only need 2?

A sole proprietorship has been different from a Thai Limited company in that it ALWAYS has required Thai employees for the last 18 months for any new application of a work permit. The regulation says it could be met also by paying tax in the previous year of 25,000 Baht or 50,000 Baht depending if you were married to a Thai. However, Bangkok no longer on new applications will accept that criteria of tax. That's the way it has been for the last 18 months.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

So is there still a way to "backdoor" that 4 or 2 thai employees thing?

Okaaaay I found the answer to my question:

" This has already changed since Feb. You now need 4 Thai employees to get a work permit. ( Before it used to just the criteria for Immigration) The only exception is if you are working for a sole proprietorship or are a sole proprietorship under the Amity treaty for the USA/Thailand and are married to a Thai, then its 2 Thai employees required.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com"

The only thing I dont understand is that in their message sunbelt says "This has already changed since Feb"

I went to see a lawyer of Sunbelt asia last month (March 2008) and he told me that everything was OK, dont need any Thai employee.

And in their message now they say that you actually need 4 thai employees since February...

Does'nt look very serious to me...

There is a major change taking place as I understand it and all work permits will be one year but fee will be in the 20k range.

So what about the 4 thai employees? Does that changes something? I m not worried for the 1st year, I just want to know what are they goin to ask me and what will I have to show to renew it

Work permits are issued by the local labor office - nothing to do with Bangkok unless you work here.

Ok, thanks a lot for the answers. Last questions, do I have to pay for my WP extensions every 3 month or only once a year?

And to renew my visa and WP after one year, what do I need to show exactly?

I always thought that the thai to non-thai employee ratio was a requirement only for the extension of your immigration permit of stay on the basis of having a work permit, not a requirement for the issuance of a work permit. Likewise for the minimum salary requirements based on you nationality.

So for example if you have a multi entry Non-B , you can come and go every 90 days, not worry about permit of stay extensions.It will result in more frequent trips to extend your work permit validity date however.

So to extend my visa and work permit every 90 days I would just need to cross the border and come back or I would need to go to a Thai embassy.

You dont extend your visa.You extend/renew your permit of stay by doing a border run. Permits and Visas are different things.Your Visa will be a 1 year multi entry Non B.This Visa allows you to travel to Thailand and on entry be given a 90 day permit of stay.

You would cross the border, come back and then extend your work permit based on your new 90 day permit of stay stamp.Requires lots more trips to the labor dept as you are constantly extending your WP every 90 days to match your new immigration permit of stay duration (as opposed to people with 1 year immigration permit extensions who go once a year), but it is a way to get around the employee ratio requirement.... I believe.

Mmmh ok... So when you extend your work permit every 90 days do you need to go to Bangkok, or is there other places in Thailand where you can do that? And do you have to pay for your WP extension every 3 month?

I always thought that the thai to non-thai employee ratio was a requirement only for the extension of your immigration permit of stay on the basis of having a work permit, not a requirement for the issuance of a work permit. Likewise for the minimum salary requirements based on you nationality.

So for example if you have a multi entry Non-B , you can come and go every 90 days, not worry about permit of stay extensions.It will result in more frequent trips to extend your work permit validity date however.

So to extend my visa and work permit every 90 days I would just need to cross the border and come back or I would need to go to a Thai embassy.