peeglen

15 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Sounds like a conspiracy theory. I reckon Walking St agogos start opening up like they did a few months ago.  Mister Egg in one of his recent videos said the licencing problem was exaggerated and only applies to a couple of places. Time will tell but conspiracy theories about the businesses on the sea side being illegal have been around for years

Conspiracy between or amongst who?  The article I read was speculative and quoted a mishmash of laws and regulations but I missed the "conspiracy". Can you connect the dots for me? 

6 hours ago, Leaver said:

Does a tenant pay, if they have the capacity to do so, or walk away?

They'll pay. I appreciate the man's sense of humour and his bitterness, but he (and the foreign investors) will pay because of sunk cost fallacy and having nowhere else to go.  They've invested so much in promoting and building up Soi 6 that they won't walk away. If they do, the shops will sit empty for a spell and new tenants will move in when (and if ever) the business climate is right. 

The comment about the tenancy "contracts" reflects a bit of optimism, because this man isn't inexperienced.  Go to court with a wealthy, connected Thai land owner and let us know how it goes; not well would be my guess.  Does anyone here remember what happened with The Haven hotel? Wealthy land owner VS upstart Issan girl (her financier didn't make enemies).  Landowner went scorched earth on upstart and The Haven was reduced to rubble, a loss to many of us who loved the place. 

On 2/7/2021 at 1:18 AM, TaaSaparot said:

 

If they were serious about closing, all the neon and signage  would have been ripped out.

 

Got to hand it to them though, it worked a treat.

Amateurs!  Oral Roberts is rolling in his grave, laughing at the TQ owners' puny efforts 555

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-03-21-me-4582-story.html

On a more serious note, how long does 16 grand (480 k thb) last when running an operation like the TQ?  Rent, salaries, electric bill (you could hang meat in there) would chew through that money pretty quickly. The economic conditions that have caused bars to fail haven't improved, so how long until the next plea for money? Something strange is afoot.  

I'm also surprised that Gofundme held a fundraiser for an establishment that profits from the avails.... you get the idea. Something tells me that that aspect of the business was omitted when the fundraiser application was submitted.  I laughed out loud when I read the blurb from whoever started the campaign (.... Rock n roll bar... 555).

Best of luck to the TQ. I love the place but haven't set foot in there for quite a while. Hopefully the offshore guys will return and the 10k + bins will start to flow again.

12 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Well yeah except that she should have done that 6 months ago, now it almost be wiser to sit it out. Whenever these borders do open, there is suddenly a lot less businesses to cater enough people wanting to get out after a year being locked up. They will make some good $$$.

 

Bigger problem is they will forget anything as soon it goes well again, to never learn the lesson, which with a high baht eventually leads to a slow death of tourism nr 1 (and Vietnam taking the spot).

I'm not so sure there's going to be a flood of tourists any time soon. Many people I know are terrified to get on a plane, and may never do so again.  I'll be at the airport on January 15th !

8 hours ago, lovethai123 said:

rain hasn't stopped.. things went downhill from late march. 

 

but we hope that the chinese who r ready to spend 400k will revive  economy.

And they were going down for years before that. 

I'm curious as to how a person with a subsistence existence is supposed to put away enough money to cover expenses for a year or more. Even the major banks, airlines and hotel chains have failed in that endeavor.  That's ok, they own the politicians and qualify for billions in corporate welfare. 

Is that image from a HHH dirt shirt? 

1 hour ago, AlfHuy said:

I never had a problem to use the Valet service to park my BMW (special edition) in the VIP area at Icon Siam.

Pope mobile?

That was the most helpful information I've read in a month of Sundays. Thanks for taking the time to put together such a well thought out  and written document.

44 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Correct responses have already been provided by UJ.

But just want to mention that you can ONLY apply for the Non O-A Longstay Visa in your home-country (or country of permanent residence).  

When entering Thailand Visa Exempt or on a Tourist Visa (obviously currently not possible) you can apply for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa, but that would require having the required funds on your Thai bank-account at the moment of application

An advantage of the Non Imm O-A Visa is that it does NOT require you to park/transfer money to a personal Thai bank-account, during the almost 2 years of long-stay that Visa can provide you and with no need to to apply twice for the 1-year extension at your local IO.

>> I did PM you a Guideline document on how to meet the Non Imm O-A insurance requirement when applying for the Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country (it is easy if you know how).

To access your PM-messages just click the letter-icon next to your profile when logged in to the Forum.

Hi, any chance you could PM one to me as well? I'm mulling the use of a Non O-A for next year's vacation and I'm not sure about the medical insurance aspect of it. 

Thanks, Glen

I work everyday on the land, last job moving 30 tonnes of stone by hand,, shovel wheelbarrow, laying blocks, putting on roof tiles, cutting grass, weeding, concreting digging holes, putting in trees and irrigation etc, heres some of the stone, it has to be put down by hand no machine.

Im 51. Its regularly 36c+ on the land and little shade from the sun, I probably drink 4-5 litres a day of fluids.

Good on you for not being lazy but that picture shows what appears to be clear crushed gravel. Calling it "stone" is misleading as that term usually means large stones used for retaining walls and stairs that often weigh between 50 and 100lbs a piece. With gravel you can control how much you put in the wheelbarrow so it needn't be back breaking work. One ton of stone is approximately 1 cubic yard so you moved two standard dump trucks (~16 yd3) in 36c heat at age 51, no mean feat!

The site is relatively level and appears to have easy access for trucks and machines so it would have been a simple job for a contractor. The work definitely isn't rocket science and yes, you could pay a monkey to do most of it provided that it was a supervised monkey. There is a truck called a "stone slinger" that can do most of the work, you just have to rake it out.

The yard looks clean and organized but I'd have a chat with the designer as it doesn't make much sense (colour, line, form, texture). . Did you use a filter cloth or any other barrier under the gravel? If not, it won't look neat and tidy for long unless you go heavy on the herbicides to control the weeds that come through. The plants are quite small so you'll probably be in your mid 60's before they provide much shade to cool the heat absorbed by the gravel. The older we get the more we should spend on mature plants.

Be sure to install an anti siphon device, or better yet a back flow prevention device if your irrigation system is connected to your drinking water. It can be fit even after the irrigation system is installed and could prevent you and your family from getting very sick.

In response to the OP, I respect people who work hard and are hale until the end of their days, but what I respect more is people who work smarter instead of harder. There are no medals handed out for working class heroes, they usually end up with bad backs and chronic pain. Not the way I want to live out my "golden years"

Just out of curiosity, what would insurance for a 63 yr old man be in Thailand? I will be moving back next October for good. I would like to get catostophic care insurance. I can afford the little things out of pocket. I believe what some posters have written about a serious illness wiping out one's bank account and I of course would like to avoid that. A ball park figure would be good enough. Thanks for any serious replies.

A friend of mine is 68 and he pays around 6000 baht per month with Bupa. He said he's happy with the coverage and has been receiving treatment for a chronic condition with no hassles.

Yes, there is a very frugal chap who visits Starbucks, what a fantastic minimalist. He goes in with a plastic cup, visits the toilet, fills the cup with tap water and uses a tea bag from home. He says cold tea is more minimalist. He then sits in Starbucks and enjoys his tea, leafing through the free and discarded newspapers, his gnarled and filthy feet up on the table, occasionally lifting himself slightly to let out a loud burst of gas from his bloated and protruding gut. He scans the papers for vouchers or freebies that catch his beady little eyes, close together, magnified by thick plastic lenses that don't quite fit because its cheaper to pick up some frames from the market than visiting an opticians, the frames sitting high and clumsily on the bridge of his huge, pitted and bulbous nose. Wow, what an inspiring figure. And he watches other customers like a hawk, wearing his cheap nylon shirt and shorts and 50 baht slippers from the second hand market. His whole outfit cost less than 100 baht. Yes, to save on washing he wears them a month without changing, and so some people will notice the acrid smell of stale sweat, urine and drying excrement, but they are just superficial consumers, brainwashed by the norms of society, not enlightened minimalists. As soon as customers leave he is up like a shot and collects the uneaten crusts and whatnot and a cup. A cup. Why a cup? Because after a few hours of this the staff finally get tired and politely ask if he is going to order a drink, as the seats are for customers. But he points to his cup and aggressively screams back that he already did and that he knows his rights and he will write to the CEO about them. And so they leave him be, just discretely spraying the area around him with air freshener and disinfectant. What a man, what a minimalist.

That's quite a straw man paddy, have you ever tried your hand at politics? 5555

There was no reference to the old man being dirty, abusive or asking anyone for a handout. I tend to agree that many true minimalists begin their journey as a result of financial restrictions and not so much from a spiritual point of view, but that doesn't invalidate the philosophy. Did you ever read the story of Diogenes of Sinope?

The guy you are talking about likely has mental problems and an addiction or two. How he hasn't been picked by the police and packed off to IDC is beyond my understanding. My cynical side thinks there might not be enough money to shake out of his pockets before he gets put on the plane so it isn't worth the effort. Maybe you could strike up a conversation with him and find out the true story. For the price of a small coffee you might be regaled with an epic tale! We could crowd source the funding for the coffee if you're the frugal type.

Thanks, I might be needing one of those next year:) Hopefully you don't get any grief when you try to re enter the country after your first 90 days.

It's been like this for as long as I can remember. I used to walk up to Naklua with a friend of mine along that route but after his knee replacement surgery the lateral movement became too painful. The beach is eroding very quickly and I'm not sure if the locals have the wherewithal to deal with it.

This is the sort of genuine third world poor infrastructure that makes it a true "exotic" location for many. Places like Zandvoort and Geneva have become so sterile. Tourists need this kind of undeveloped, unregulated chaos to make them feel as though this is somewhere a bit wild. They don't want to go the whole hog and be murdered by some hoe-wielding gang though so this is a happy compromise.

I can see the photos were taken from Central Road to Central. Are any of them from further along in either direction?

Many of the visitors are from places that make Pattaya look like Zandvoort and Geneva in comparison. This looks like some sort of an ongoing project to keep an important person's relatives busy and flush with cash.

Is it a wind up? I don't think that paranoid anythings travel well, and woe betide the poor local lass who becomes the apple of his eye.

I just checked the Canadian site and the age is only 50. Are you certain of that information? Hopefully those winds of change don't blow across to my side of the Atlantic.

Why not take a few minutes to talk to the guy and take a "selfie" with him? Some of them are quite interesting and have a unique perspective on life. Mind you, some are out on Pluto so don't stand close enough for him to throttle you. Let us know how it goes.

I had a ganglion cyst that was larger than that removed from my hand and the scar is barely noticeable. My GP also did surgery but had the same concerns as your lady doctor does, so he sent me to a plastic surgeon. The work was done in Vancouver so no help in your current situation but perhaps it will allay your concerns about scarring.

27 k baht seems like a lot, but you don't want to look like you placed second in a hatchet fight over an extra couple of hundred dollars. Mind you, it could become the basis for a good story and scars add character....

Take a lesson from the Thais on this one and abuse your social position. Why don't the lowlifes mess with middle and upper class Thais? Because they know the golden rule(he who has the gold makes the rules).If you know who your attacker(s) are the solution is simple and relatively cheap.

Suddenly the farang wasn't such a joke anymore; the Thais stopped laughing and looked very worried, the begging and grovelling soon followed. As abhorrent as we find this kind of behavior, it is the only way to effectively deal with Thais of that ilk.

I'd invite them to come to Canada, but we only take the lo so criminals.

Just one question:

The average rate to Pattaya is 1500 Baht (without turning on the meter).

Does anybody know how much the meter rate wud be ?

When I went earlier this year the meter was 980bht.

My best to the victim, I hope he makes a complete recovery. I also hope they find these guys and his motorbike is returned.

And may there be peace in the Middle East and an end to hunger and violence in Africa!

Sorry, they all seem unlikely.

What happened to the original poster? Lots of good advice and some questionable, but where's Jimmy? I want to learn how to retire at 37 (oops, too late for that).