GuestHouse

If you don't like the double pricing....go back to your own country.

Perhaps we should remind ourselves that this post was started by a guy who IS THAI, THAILAND is his country.

Nice Rant Meemiathai, but the logic and indeed moral arguments as to why listing a string of injustices negates anyone fighting a single injustice evades me.

Actually I did.

We had smole detectors throughout the house .. and get this.. a sledge hammer in the bedroom to knock the grills out.

I used to joke that the Mrs kept it there incase I stayed out too late.

I think it's true to say that Thailand attracts more than it's fair share of missfits. Thay they might blame others for their own problems should not come as too much of a surprise.

Why it matters what people a continent or more away think is beyond me.

Sorry to hear that, how did they get in?

I lived in Pattaya for a number of years and never had a problem I took the following precations:

All locks where high quality padlocks bought by me: Two locks to open any of the doors.

I had all the locking points and hinges re-welded.

Bars on all the windows. Again I had the joints re-weleded where I thought they were weak.

I fitted top and bottom bolts on all internal doors.

I put barbed wire an broken glass in the roof space and I bent the roof tile securing bolts (sticking through the roof panels) to prevent them being unscrewed.

Finally I bought a safe to keep the most valuable items in.

It was like living in fort Knox but we never got burgled.

There are a lot of miserable single old guys jumping off balconies in Florida.

My guess is there are a proportionatly higher number of single old farang guys jumping of balconies in Thailand - It's such a common practice in Pattaya I've considered wearing a hard hat lest some sad old git, spent up, dosed up and fed up lands on my bonce.

Get your hands on 50K, ( a bit extra for 'fees') and pay up now before this gets out of hand.

Perhap every sentence you write on these web boards includes the word Thailand.. Here in Thailand.. Food here in Thailand... Life here in Thailand.... Women here in Thailand.

An alternative on the theme might be Here in Thailand things are so much better.. Food here in Thailand is so much better... Life here in Thailand is so much better.... Women here in Thailand are so much better.

Or perhaps, you include, I live so well on what I used to pay my head dish washer.

I've witnessed assignees returning from Thailand doing this, I have to some extent done it myself but having observed the response I make an effort not to lay the benfits of my life on with a trowel.

What is for sure, if all your friends are shunning you then the likelihood is it's something you are doing/saying and not all your friends individually taking the same issue.

I could lay it on with a trowel how my life here in Rome is so much better than my life in Thailand, I could talk about how much more money I make, how the food is better, the wine, the social life... If I did, I would expect a negative reaction from lovers of Thailand.

Report these places on Fairprice-Thailand.org - The Campaign against Dual Pricing in Thailand and then, in the case of hotels/businesses, email them the URL of the report to let them know you are telling the world what they are up to.

Electronic "SWIFT" transfer.

Do two transfers

The first small transfer, say fifty pounds, to confirm the routing and time taken to transfer.

The second transfer for the full amount using exactly the same details.

Instruct Shat-West to transfer Pounds Sterling as the exchange rate will be better in Bangkok.

Enter the details of the ripp-off on Fairprice-Thailand.org and then email a link to the cruise company.

A good post and I hope someone can come up with a definitive answer. The last thing any of us want is to be caught having broken a rule after having spent a fortune on building.

Thais might get away with such things, but the cash cow farang? I doubt it very much.

The people on their high horse probably have hero's in the financial sense who got rich by being shits and defaulting on their way - pay no heed to them as they probably have their own skeletons in the cupboard

A lot of assumption there.

I myself have not attacked the OP over any assumptions regarding running from debt, I don't see that is what he is doing.

With respect to people who do run from debt, well I still have a high horsed attitude but I keep it to myself since I'm confident in my belief that those who run away to Thailand to escape problems are laying the foundations for a later ruin - Their problems eventually catch up on them - with a vengence.

Seen it happen more than enough times and I've too often seen guys turning down good advice to sort problems out before coming to Thailand. If they are of a mind to run away from their problems they are not looking for advice to the contrary. (An example can be found on the family branch right now).

Then again, as I say, I don't put the OP in tha bracket.

I think that the advice you have received here has been extremely good, not just from men with experience in Thailand but from women too.

If the advice has not been of the kind that possitively supports your ideas, but rather offers alternative views then you need to draw your own conclusions.

You've had the advice, you are an adult, you can choose. So in the long worn out Thai expression, 'Up To You'.

Just be careful.

These parents you speak of who genuinely remove their children from international schools the caliber of ISB, Patana, Ruamrudee or NIST for these reasons sound quite insecure in their own ability to turn out their children properly.

What you think they sound like, is irrelevant as parents they (and we) make decisions on what is best for their/our children.

But let us not loose sight of my contention, it is not that Thailand cannot provide a good life for young people, rather the life options Thailand offers young foreign children are limited compared to those that they would enjoy at home.

but then he'd have to go to europe

And that might awaken an understanding that there is more to life than Thailand. A fact that is better discovered at 22 than at a stage in life when circumstances restrict choice.

Let me get this straight, you’re 22 years old, your single but have a Thai girlfriend, you have a job that pays quite well and you travel to Thailand three times a year.

Now on the assumption that I got all that correctly my advice is as follows:

Cut the trips to Thailand, save some money, quite your job, go to Europe, see the UK, see Scotland and Ireland (maybe get a job in London for six months or more), go to France, Italy, Greece, go skiing in the Alps, spend a month or more in Berlin, go to Hungary and spend some time in Budapest. Visit Scandanavia, spend a few summer weeks up in Norway. Get yourself over to New York, Colorado, LA, go to Mexico and spend a while in Cuba.

hel_l there’s a whole world out there.

So finding friends ( who you can trust ) could be a problem as it seems that by what I have read here that most people are after a quick buck.

That is the least of your problems

I don't know how long it has been since you have left Thailand, GuestHouse, but a lot of parents in the mid-90s

I left in mid 2003 but still return frequently to work for short periods (less than 2 months at at streactch) as I perform consultancy for my employers on Asian Projects out of our BKK office.

I have constant contact with expatriate families in our Thailand office and have recently let my UK home to an expat family who are returning from Thailand this summer to put their children back into the UK education system this autum.

I am speaking as a Parent with experience raising non Thai children in Thailand with the benefit of a full expatriate package. I speak read and write Thai and have a degree in Thai langauge and culture from a Thai university. My posts on this board testify to my understanding of living, working and raising a family in Thailand.

I've had this a couple of times with my bank accounts and credit cards but I always regard it as a sign that the bank are taking care of my accounts.

From todays Daily Mail

'nough said!

I suppose you will be employed by a Thai company. Then if you are, you will automatically pay taxes in Thailand (it will be witheld from your pay check).

The tax reconcilliation is made at the end of the year. But specifically answering the question.

Until you attain UK Tax Free Status you have a UK tax liability that is calculated as

Total Earnings - Taxes at UK Rate

If you haven't paid as much tax as you would in the UK, you owe the rest to the UK tax man. How he gets his hands on it is another matter.

100,000 baht a month sounds ###### good, what job is this?

P.S any info on what kind of visas would allow us to stay in Thailand for up to a year would be greatly appreciated

Your only real option is tourist visas and visa runs. Not ideal and certainly not acceptable for settling.

In response to your reply above, I still feel your talking around the issue. Go talk to some about your plans - If your plans are sound you loose nothing but the time confirming your views.

Mobi.

Ask the pensions office for a statement of missing contributions, it may be that you can pay back past contributions instead of paying after 60 years old.

The advantage of this is that past contributions are paid at the PAST RATE - That has to be a bargain.

I'm not sure what the current rates are but I think around 400 a year. At that rate, five years comes out at 2000 and you'd make that back in a little over three years.

Moreover, if you are married to a younger wife, she gets a pension at the increased rate for the rest of her natural...

I think its a bargain. If your finances are going to be low during retirement then I think its worth paying because small extras will help.

The reason I say its a great insurance is where else can you get that kind of return (return your full investment every three years)? Live past 68, and I hope you do, and you are imediately in the black, every single month from then on.

If your NIC payments are uptodate you will not be charged for treatment. I take it that since you say you are going to get a slightly reduced pension you have not paid all your NIC contributions.

The rule, for pensions is:

You should pay for 44 years, and you are allowed a break of five years without detriment to your pension.

If you miss more than five years your pension will be reduced accordingly and may fall the the statutory minimum of GBP25/week.

Unless you've missed a lot of years, and I presume you have not because you state 'slightly reduced pension', then it might well be worth you paying the missing contributions. When I checked it turned out I owed GBP1000, I have paid that and figure that it is a good investment in terms of the likely return and a very much better insurance.