wasas

Lost power so many times last week in Bophut, now off one hour, back an hour, off again.

you must pay your bill on time

I think it is fascinating (ironic? pathetic?) that the educated Westerner (we like to think, mostly correctly, that we have a better education and understanding of the world than the average local) who comes to Samui (Thailand?) uses their educated and experienced mind to come up with the hackneyed, mundane, uninspired business of opening a bar. Or a massage parlor...or a restaurant. I mean really, that's it? That's the most creative you can get?

If you want to start a business with the aim of making a living, there are hundreds of other enterprises from which to choose from. The lack of creative thinking here on the part of "business-minded foreigner" is truly phenomenal.

There are only a few good reasons to open a bar here:

A.) You have enough money to burn and want to do it as a sort of hobby.

A.1) You have just enough money to open a bar, but only want to do so so you can have the experience and then get out after a year or so, dam_n the loss.

B.) You have a confirmed base of friends who will hang out at your place, thus just keeping you afloat since without the captive audience, you'd be in the red every night.

C.) You can afford to go in very big and can buy out a prime location (of which virtually all are occupied, ipso facto) and are looking at a business model that starts making money after 3 to 5 years. You need to be able to suck up the negative cash flow for some time, and have some way to ensure that the landlord will not intervene and as has been well-documented, raise the cost to you such that you can no longer project any profitability.

People who say, "Oh, it's okay, I just want to make enough to keep me here and live a simple life," are missing the fundamental excitement and satisfaction of being successful. If you build a house, you don't build a shack just suitable for living; if you buy a guitar you don't buy one that won't stay in tune but plays, sort of; if you enter a competition, you don't do it to come in 5th or 10th.

Of course, some are satisfied with "just getting by" and breaking even, but for me, what's the point? If you go into business with this flaccid mindset then you are already a loser.

And by the way, I'd rather try something creative and end up failing than following the sheep herd into Barville and, oops, fail at that. I use the crystal ice idea as a thought question but I'd rather go down on a novel and potentially interesting and profitable idea than crap out on a bar, which basically everyone knows is a very, very low percentage gamble.

And win or lose, later in life you have a much better story than, "I ran a bar for a while in Thailand".....yawn....

Nobody who wants to run a bar are not as you say"missing fundamental exitement of being successful" maybe they have made their money elsewhere and now want an easy life of running a bar,some people need to work to stop the boredom

I got them translated for my wifes visa, and the embassy said we didnt need to

make sure you have plenty of cider in 4 me, i will see at 10pm for the horse racing

I finally managed to get the misses out of the pit for a Full Monty at Sweeny Todds this morning.

Carmine - you are spot on. Set 2 was very good.Enough food and very tasty.

Well done to the girls that cooked and served it. We Will Be Back!

The best breakast in samui by far

A gash on my left shin bruised badly, and became really swollen and painful; turns out I had developed a subacute compartment syndrome. (Wiki it, it's gross.)

Wish I hadn't just googled scs... Nasty.

Yup, sorry bout that!

yes sounds bad, one good thing about it all is that you werent killed, especially considering both of you werent wearing your lids,

If you can own the building and you do not have to pay rent, you will always make money.

My friend owns his building, he has a bar, works himself and miisis,and just has 2 staff and he says he makes money every month, ok not a lot,but he said he knew that b4 he came to have a business.

He also said if he had to pay rent it would be harder, because the way he sees it is ,if you build up a good business and you come to the end of your lease, then the thai owner, will always raise the rent.

Also many people come to thailand to live the dream, and i would say if it is your dream to run a pub, then go for it.And if you lose your money after a few years, well you can say you gave it a go.

I think its better to fulfill your dream and fail, than wait till your to old to live your dream,and regret not doing it.

safety gear (excluding helmet) will only save you from road rash not broken bones - just saying

as I said on the other thread Glad you both made it

Proper shoes would've prevented the badly broken toe, and the sprained ankles; but, you're right, the leg and arm wouldn't have been saved by any of the gear I linked to above. Road rash was the least of my concerns, and is mostly gone now anyways.

Thanks again; we were both very lucky.

I,m very happy you were both ok,can i ask what age are you, just to find out roughly how long for recovery. i mean if u r 20 ish, maybe sooner, or if you r late 50s or 60s maybe longer, no offence intended

Dry free zone?

I agree that the taxi situation here isn't ideal, and can be a pain in the ****, but I can honestly say I would never leave somewhere, never to return, on the basis that taxis are relatively expensive. I can't think of a more small minded reason.

If I was determined to not use taxis and my hotel was 45 minutes walk from places I would have moved hotel rather than gone home. Maybe that's just me though.

With living in samui, when you go to bkk you think the taxis are so cheap, i use them all the time and tip genourously

Irish visa required.

could she not go via northern ireland and then travel down to the south, as there is no border posts

where is this shop, maybe i will look for mine

was your bike a new one.

I had my bike stolen outside my house last month, and it was an old one.{ i didnt think they would bother with old ones}

not to intrude on the the post but samui does have its fair share of events, its just we have no media outlet who reports it !

i have seen a few times people coming out of Green Mango half dead from a Kick In , or Thais beating westerners to a pulp in Lamai, or a crazed gunman in central chewang or in the middle of fishermans village, not to mention bargirls murdering thier boyfriends only to be covered up or the hundreds of deaths a year on the roads here, which in fairness are ALL reported in Phuket and Pattaya , but not here !, if there was a local paper in english that reported all the goings on from assults to theft, to traffic accidents and murders, they could easily fill a 50 page newspaper every 2 weeks, and have a very actve website, but it is all hidden and hush hush ......... doesnt happen on samui

i,m not saying samui is squeaky clean, just saying its safer here than anywhere else i have lived.

Another thing I dont see any graffiti in samui, yes i ,ve seen trouble in the girly bar areas, but most of the time the farangs deserve what they got

Why you say Bangrak is like a ghost town ? Bangrak is very nera the airport while NE is quite far. Traditionally, the closer to the airport, the more people they will be. Or are you saying Bangrak is so run-down that the wealthier people want to stay out?

Bangrak is not particularly pleasant and of all the areas to stay on the island offers the least for tourists in my opinion.

i love this

I have just read an article on phuket forum about a pregnant lady getting beaten up by lady boys.

In the ten years i,ve been coming to samui, i havent read anything like this in samui.

Phuket and Pattaya seems to have its fair share of trouble in and around the girly bar districts,muggings and thefts are the norm in these places, just by reading the local newspapers, i have noticed this.

Many places are unsafe to go to at night in thailand, just like back home in europe.

But i have no problem going to my local 7-11 late at night when i want some fags, or anything else,I dont have any problems when i go to Green mango, or Soi Reggi.

Koh samui is more expensive than other parts of thailand, but its more safer and more beautiful, and i wouldn,t want to live anywhere else.

Yes its worth paying more to live and holiday in koh samui.

it is a shame with all this untrust worthy people out there should create a huge vacum for trust worthy people. over time that person's name shall spead and people shall be fighting to use them.

too many people trying to make big cash and fast.

personally i think that thai do not like to losse money.

if i was for example i was to pay them a salary of 10,000 baht per month i would pay them 9000 baht and 1000 into a deposit account which they get back every 6 months bound to terms and conditions.

that would be 1 time every sonkhran holiday and one time new years. plus profit related nobus at the end. so if the company does well at the end of the tax year then the staff get a small cut.

they would have to give me 1 months notice if they want their deposti money back and other terms.

if they were to get the sack then they shall not be entitiled to it.

they would sign a contgract before i hire them in thai and in english so they already know the rules.

so every month they work they shall be losing more money should they decide to up and leave.

I shall also hold extra 10 k for staff that wish to leave but give me plenty of notice befor hand and work probperly up to the day they leave.

beleive me the thais are experts when it comes to money schemes and they shall study the policy through and through to see what they are entitiled to.

other thing might also help such as health inssurence that they would lose if they left. Also it helps you as an employer if the staff are inssurend if they are sick or have a ccident then they shal be back at work quicker and they shall not have to run from a heavy medical bil which in some case the boss pays then the worker leaves

You wouldnt get any staff to work for you, cos they cannot understand your hiring details. easy thing my mate does is he pays them on the 1st of the month, and they get the tips on the 15th, If they want to leave give notice or lose your tip money

This list seems to have flaws.

Well i think the person who put this list up did a great job, and here you come on and start slagging it,Flaws? for xxxsake the person was giving us a helping hand

a friend of mine borrowed my car for a few days and when he went to that garage he filled up the car and they charged him 2800 baht.

When the tank is empty it will only hold 1800 baht, so yes a rip off.

There used to be a gas station near the airport that used to do the same, and now i never see any cars use it. I hope that happens to this one now

great list thankyou, i did see it last week and had to look for it again, please list it, in the relevant section, so it is easy to find. it is very helpfull

Thanks for your answers, the holiday visa will determine if we are planning on going home for 2 years or more

sorry i think this topic should be in the visas & immigration to other countries forum

Asking for advice here please,

Can i apply for a holiday visa for my wife,and after 3 weeks when she returns to thailand, can i then apply for a settlement visa, straight afterwards,.

She has been to the uk2 times already, so the holiday visa will be no problem.

Did i read somehere that you cannot apply for another visa in the same year or something

hi everyone, let me tell you what happened tonite, i ordered a take away and delivery service from sweeney todds cafe, bar ,which is mentioned on here often for the good food it serves, and sweeney,s missis delivered on time, but realising she wasnt good , she had an accident and fell of her bike on the way to delivering my food, upon that i phoned sweeney and he had to rush her to hospital where i found out just now that she is ok.

The accident happened close to my house but she {in her own words didnt want to let me down}delivered the food first

Good on you girl xx

just had a set 2 at sweeney todds it was great, just what the doctor ordered,

And mr sweeney was sober as well