Johan78

Wow! Thank you very much Thai Visa! I will certainly enjoy 2 nights in bkk, much appreciated.

Check the fine print. The prize is 2 nights in the hotel. Doesn't say anything about a room.

But I hear the lobby is beautiful...with very comfy chairs.

Haha! I'm sure I've slept in worse places than a 4 star hotel lobby :-)

Wow! Thank you very much Thai Visa! I will certainly enjoy 2 nights in bkk, much appreciated.

Renting out boats is working, not investing.

Well sorry for dissapointing you but most investments will require work and attention.

True, buying/starting and running a business is also an investment but I think me and most other people who have replied here did not think that's what "your friend" was looking at doing and you haven't said anything about that until now!?

It was meant more as an open question meaning : how would you invest if you had 6-9 M BHT in the bank.(with annual capital gains in your mind of 7-12 %..)

I have read here many interesting and crazzy misleading posts and i hope they will continue.

Fact is that each investment involves risks,And the luck/timing factor with investing matters lots.

Its clear for me that making little as 7-12% returns is actually much more difficult then most of us probably are thinking.

I personally would suggest buying small condos easy to maintain and to rent out and smaller condos give better rental returns then big properties.rental returns condos could be 4-8% then if there is value appreciation each year it might work.,cheap condos easier to resell also if in case needs cash.

Also perhaps buying a boat and or other expensive equipment and rent it out on a day to day basis might work...

Also i know there are countries like Kenia where the bank gives you 14 % interest and also some banks in India give you 10%.. would it work to split up the 7,000,000 M BHT in parts of 500,000 BHT over many different banks in countries with hight interest offers?

I understand there is the risk of currencies going up and down but maybe is you divide the 7 M BHT over many banks and countries that risk is not so big.

Who would know more about this last suggestion?

Flakes

Also i know there are countries like Kenia where the bank gives you 14 % interest and also some banks in India give you 10%.. would it work to split up the 7,000,000 M BHT in parts of 500,000 BHT over many different banks in countries with hight interest offers?

coincidentally i happen to know a wee bit more. fact is that investing in high yield currencies (e.g. India, Kenya, Brazil) means you can never legally exhange your cash into hard currency and repatriate it. not to talk about the difficulties of opening a bank account in these countries.

summary: forget about it except if buying bonds denominated in Indian Rupees or Brazilian Reais, hold them offshore and get the interest automatically exchanged into hard currency (either USD or EUR).

investing in high yielding Vietnamese Dong or Cambodian Riel is a different animal but not recommended.

I put some USD in a fixed deposit account in Cambodia last year and I'm getting 7,75%, www.acledabank.com.kh/kh/eng/ps_defixeddeposit.php. I've had no problem transferring the interest to my Thai bank account and I don't think I'm doing anything illegal. Yes, they did require some paperwork to open the account and yes, there is the exchange rate risk (although my personal and unqualified guess is that the rate will not go much below the rate I got last year) and yes, there is the risk of the bank going bankrupt or the government somehow "taking" the money or a chunk of them.

PS I completely agree what some people have recommended here about spreading the risk.

I know this is an old thread but I came across it trying to find the service center and since I realized that the same things that people have described here are still going on there I thought I'd post about my experience here.

I'm going to try to make this as short as possible. My friend gave me his old phone, a galaxy z, which was locked but with a letter from the operator with the code to use to unlock it. This didn't work (maybe you need to be in the same country?) so took the phone and the letter to the service center and they couldn't get it to work with the code either and said I needed a new motherboard for 6.000 baht. I asked about unlocking it some other way or just re-installing the software or something but they said "No, impossible, only way is to put new motherboard". Having read the this thread before I went there I didn't take their word for it but went to tukcom, 45 minutes and 500 baht later the phone was unlocked. I don't know if it's incompetence or some sort of scam or what's going on at the service center but I will definitely try to avoid that place in the future if I can.

Sorry if this was in there somewhere and I missed it but millionaires in what currency??? If we're talking baht I'm more surprised that 1/3 isn't...

Hi everybody,

My Nouvo have served me well for the last 5 years but she's getting old and I think it's time for her to retire. Don't see any reason not to get another Nouvo (I like the Elegance, the Airblade is a bit small for me and I find the pcx unnecessarily wide, long and heavy for city traffic and parking). In the past though, if I remember correctly, Yamaha have come with new Nouvos every 4 years and if they keep doing that it should be time for a new Nouvo next year. Anyone know if they are and if so if it's worth waiting for or not? Have tried Google but didn't find anything.

Thanks!

Johan

Thanks for all the advice!

Thought I'd let you know that I took most of it and ended up with the i5 2500, 2x2GB Corsair RAM, a Western Digital 1TB HDD, the GeForce GTX 550 Ti and a 750W PSU (not sure if that was worth it though since I only bought a 600W UPS?!?) and everything seem to be working well :-)

// Johan

Wow! A lot of things to think about when you buy a computer, had no idea. Thanks, will research PSUs as well

What about all the other stuff like motherboard, sound card, fans/cooling etc? Same kind of research needed there or is one as good as the other?

Thank you guys, both very informative replies, exactly what I needed. Will do some more research but a lot easier now that you have narrowed it down a bit. // Johan

Thank you for the replies!

Don't know all the brand names but similar the specs in post 3 was what they said would be around 30k and similar to the specs in post 4 (again, not familiar with brands but would presume not as good) was what they said would be around 50k. Presumably they left a bit of margin for negotiation so at least it doesn't look like they were trying to rip me off :-)

Question still remains though what I should buy... Processor? Ram? Graphics? Anything else I need to think about?

// Johan

Hi everybody,

I don't know a whole lot about computers but used to play games sometimes before (counter strike, star craft, unreal tournament etc). Now I have a more time again so thought I'd take it up again but need a new computer to be able to play all the new games but don't know what to get so thought I'd ask for some advice.

The computer shop I usually go to asked if I wanted the i5 or i7 processor, 4 or 8 GB DDR3 ram and the Nvidia GTX450 or Ati Radeon 6870 graphics. Is this good products, what do I need and what more should I think about? Was quoted around 30k for the lower spec one and around 50k for the higher spec one.

Grateful for any suggestions or input!

Johan

If you want to be in town there is a nice village between soi Buakaow and 3rd Road (south end) with town houses, the 2 storey ones going for around 2M I think.

Do you mean the Village or somewhere else? The Village seems rather run-down and dilapidated to me. Maybe I was there on a bad day.

No, the other (west) side of 3rd road, think it might be called Piamsuk Village, similar to The Village though.

Sure you can call both of them run-down but a bit of paint and a new kitchen and bathroom doesn't cost a lot (doesn't have to anyway) and makes a huge difference and you have to remember what price range we're talking about. Plus like someone pointed out the advantage with buying somewhere that's been there for a while is that you have a lot better idea about what you're actually buying.

Like other posters have said have a look at the notice boards outside Friendship, Foodland, Foodmart, Carrefour, Avenue etc, or just drive around looking for "for sale" signs.

If you want to be in town there is a nice village between soi Buakaow and 3rd Road (south end) with town houses, the 2 storey ones going for around 2M I think.

Saikaew beach is nice and quiet but don't know id you're allowed to bbq. Johan

Stayed here www.samedsandsearesort.com earlier this year and liked the place.

// Johan

Think "The View" is my current favourite. Good food, good service, good band and nice ambience on the beach with no traffic.

"The ties between Thailand and Saudi Arabia should improve, but it doesn't look like that will happen soon if the two Kingdoms choose to dwell in the past."

What a freakin' joke... The stolen jewelry scandal is something that simply won't go away... You don't STEAL from a Saudi royal and expect them to forget it... Couple that with all the years the Thais have been dodging & weaving, trying to skirt their responsibility in the matter... Then you have Saudi envoys MURDERED during the investigation... Then there is the video that surfaced showing one of the jewels around the neck of someone who cannot me mentioned, and you wonder why the Saudi's are pissed off...

Well said.

The man is not an American he is Russian and he has commited no offence on American soil.  What has it got to do with the Yanks they should bugger off and stop interfering in things outside of thier borders.  They are not the bloody world police as they like to think.  Hand him over to the Russians and tell the yanks to take a long jump Thailand.

+1 yes.

Agree! If that's the way the US want the world to work I presume they would also be ok with, for example Saudi Arabia, having every American that's ever had alcohol being extradited there and lashed!?

Excuse my ignorance but has this guy broken any American laws on American soil? If he has I say go for it, if not I find the American behaviour very distasteful.

Why is the Navy involved in narcotics control in a civilian area and apparently not involving military personnel?

Just a guess but might be because the guys that are supposed to do something about it are on the dealers payroll.

Where's a good place to get my bottom wisdomteeth pulled out?

I'm going to be in Pattaya next month.

I am 6 foot tall, strong, fit and healthy.........and a complete wimp when it comes to the dentist.

I'd been to the dentist once in the last 25 years, prior to going to a place in Bkk last year. Just having a clean and polish left the dentist chair in bits where my finger nails had pulled it apart.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good quality dentist in Pattaya? Preferably reasonably priced, but I'm more concerned with getting out of there without being terrified.

Flame away; make fun at my expense and laugh at my phobia but please also give me your views on the best dentist to visit.

I'm with you two. No offence to anyone who would but I'm not gonna go all the way up to Banglamung at 7am to save a couple of hundred baht and a lot of posters have said you get good dental work done in Pattaya at reasonable prices so please share. Memorial and the one on soi 17 close to 3rd road have been mentioned but there must be others, please share.

One of these should do it, worked for me anyway.

Old platform, rather modern engine. Handbrake under the stearingwheel is like 20 years old. Rear leafspring. As I said, only Fortuner and pajero Sport are up to date and adapted to current LOS tax rules. Shorter wheelbase and rear coilsprings

You seem to know your SUVs. May I ask from what year the Fortuner came with "proper" suspension?

The Fortuner has been sold in LOS with rear coilsprings only. It was developed while LOS tax breaks still only allowed rear leafsprings, and was launched when this requirement ended, end of 2004. Compared to CRV, Captiva, BMW, Volvo, Land Rover and MB its still simple and basic suspension, but very sturdy and rough. Takes the beating as a pickup, but some more traction and comfort.

Thanks for your reply! Then those last ones you mention are the ones I have to look at, don't like the bumpy ride in the Fortuners (and other SUVs), thought maybe they had changed something.

Ford Everest, etc etc

http://www.ford.co.th/servlet/ContentServe...N&c=DFYPage

Looked at the website; it looks good to me.

How new is in design etc - I don't mean just superficial tweaks?

It's built in Thailand I presume. I'd like to read some reviews - any pointers to find some?

Anyone have first hand feedback on it?

Old platform, rather modern engine. Handbrake under the stearingwheel is like 20 years old. Rear leafspring. As I said, only Fortuner and pajero Sport are up to date and adapted to current LOS tax rules. Shorter wheelbase and rear coilsprings

You seem to know your SUVs. May I ask from what year the Fortuner came with "proper" suspension?