Peterocket

Why is a dog with a collar a danger to users of a beach?

If you want the next best thing to a Thai school what is the next best thing? (on a minimal budget)

Phuket is used up as a tourist spot.

I leave Phuket in 1992 have not regretted one day. Today I live across Europe and has 100 times better than I had in Thailand

"Phuket is used up as a tourist spot." - I think it's more of a case of the locals "used up" the tourists.

IMO 95% of the "locals" are great. I feel you base your opinions on a few bad eggs based around the Patong tourist trade. I'm actually leaving Phuket soon but genuinely think the Thai people are great as do most the people i know that live or visit here.

"IMO 95% of the "locals" are great." - can you define "locals?"

The majority of Thai's on Phuket are not registered as living on Phuket, but are "domestic immigrants." That is, they come from elsewhere in Thailand.

"a few bad eggs in Patong based around the tourist trade" - so, only "a few bad eggs" caused the death of Patong, and the rest of Phuket, as per the two threads running at the moment. Wow, that 5% has done a lot of damage to the Phuket tourism industry then. Surely, it would take more than 5% to do such a huge amount of damage.

I would suggest, Patong and Phuket are not "dead" because of " a few bad eggs" but from corrupt farmers, corrupting the chickens, on the whole chicken farm.

I also think Thai people are great, but money plays a big part of the Thai psyche, and when put in a position where they can exploit other nationalities of people where money is not so revered, then you see this characteristic come to the fore in Thai's. It can be entertaining to watch.

Where are you moving to Peterocket?

1. Locals in my opinion are people who live there
2. I don't believe Patong has seen it's death
3. I believe money plays a big part in nearly everyone's psyche
4. Panama

Phuket is used up as a tourist spot.

I leave Phuket in 1992 have not regretted one day. Today I live across Europe and has 100 times better than I had in Thailand

"Phuket is used up as a tourist spot." - I think it's more of a case of the locals "used up" the tourists.

IMO 95% of the "locals" are great. I feel you base your opinions on a few bad eggs based around the Patong tourist trade. I'm actually leaving Phuket soon but genuinely think the Thai people are great as do most the people i know that live or visit here.

I went for first time in phuket Island last month. I enjoyed my stay and feeled relax and had good time on beach. BUT i feeled everything is very expensive there : meals, drinks , taxi (Rip off), hôtels ... It killed my hope to come back again.

Phuket is on a par price-wise with staying on a beech resort in Europe !

not even close

It's going to be closed tonight to "fix the lights"

Just pay cash to the driver...can chose meter taxi, limo/SUV or standard car

If you can't live materially better off in a developing country, than in your own, then, what's the point?

Although I can't understand why anyone wouldn't find it materially better off living here (unless on a lower income than their own country) I think the weather and environment play a part as well.

For some access to women that find them attractive also plays a part.

"imported items attracting a big tax" - from my observations, basically, everything desired by foreigners in Thailand is highly taxed.

Can you give some examples of these mystery items people are desiring? Maybe I need to desire them too!

Not to be too pedantic but you said everything desired by foreigners is highly taxed....I can confirm that today I will not desire one highly taxed item, or tomorrow (Saturday I might desire some wine).

(On a side note some cheeses are now being made locally and probably now cheaper than the west anyhow)

"I can confirm that today I will not desire one highly taxed item, or tomorrow" - so, you will be living "Thai style" today, and tomorrow, and on Saturday live a little like you would back home.

My point is, if you were to live like you would back home, everyday here, you MAY find living here more expensive.

What is living Thai style?

1. Is it not eating wine and cheese?
2. Sitting cross legged on the floor of a tin hut in the jungle?

If it's option one then I am living Thai style for 2 days (hence my reason for living in Thailand)

"imported items attracting a big tax" - from my observations, basically, everything desired by foreigners in Thailand is highly taxed.

Can you give some examples of these mystery items people are desiring? Maybe I need to desire them too!

Not to be too pedantic but you said everything desired by foreigners is highly taxed....I can confirm that today I will not desire one highly taxed item, or tomorrow (Saturday I might desire some wine).

(On a side note some cheeses are now being made locally and probably now cheaper than the west anyhow)

This site has been used on the forum a number of times over the years. I've done a COL comparison between Phuket and my home town.

Try your home town.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Thailand&country2=Australia&city1=Phuket&city2=Perth

What a heap of crock why don't you compare the wages earned in Perth with the wages in Phuket ?

You just can not say Phuket or Thailand for that matter is cheaper

If you took the time, and had the ability to read the comparison properly, you would have seen that average wages in the two places are listed. And, if you are earning an average salary in either place, Perth is considerably more affordable within the parameters used.

Again, if you had read my first post correctly, you would have noticed I said "for me, general living in Phuket averages out at about 1/3 of what it does Australia."

This is because I'm a retiree with an income derived in Australia (lower than the average salary) and I am spending it in Thailand. I am not trying to earn a living in Thailand. I would find it impossible to live on the average Thai wage.

From the comparison given:

Average Monthly Disposable Salary (Net After Tax)

PHUKET - 20,000.00 ฿(777.19 A$)

PERTH - 109,895.08 ฿(4,270.44 A$) +449.48 %

Local Purchasing Power in Perth is 170.46% higher than in Phuket

In general the cost of living in Thailand is 1/3 of the cost of western countries as supported by the figures provided.

Unless you spend everyday buying cheese, wine and mercedes you can live like a king here on a western salary IMO.

"imported items attracting a big tax" - from my observations, basically, everything desired by foreigners in Thailand is highly taxed.

Can you give some examples of these mystery items people are desiring? Maybe I need to desire them too!

Cheers all, much appreciated.

Use grabtaxi and select Limo

If families with kids are going to places and are not looking for what Patong has I'd have thought the best choice would be not to go there. It's hardly a secret what much of the draw of Patong is about. Bit like someone choosing to holiday in Vegas not wanting to go to a place full of casinos. Plenty of other places in Thailand to choose with nice beaches without picking Patong or Pattaya to take the kids.

I often wonder what the mindset is when I see folks with 6-9 year olds trailing them round the coyote bars in Patong. Up to 1-2 years I can understand. If you really MUST go there. It's all be just a blur anyway. But older kids?

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You do know that Phuket is much more than just Patong ?

Families with kids have many other much nicer beach other without all the sleeze of Patong.

Exactly - that's why Patong is dead....

Well the Gecko school is for sale for 3,000,000 thb if anyone wants to buy it

@ Peterocket

Ok, but if you list this address as your work address, how will they get around having several foreigners using the address on their work permit, but only a couple of Thai's employed at the address?

You can not list it as your work address, unless they agree to putting signage up.

So how is this going to operate for foreigners?

It's a place to go and have a meeting or check your emails or whatever.

It's not a place to register as your business.

According to a friend in the business, pretty much every hotel/guesthouse on Nanai Road is for sale

This might not just be due to a lack of business.

Don't forget that the Thai Hotel Association set the authorities on to all the "illegal" hotels.

The added expense of becoming "legal" maybe just "the straw that broke the camel's back".

Vary doubtful. A licence from the Tessabaan costs all of 1000 baht. On top of that there should be a 1% room tax if you are a hotel with more than a certain number of rooms. No, just an oversupply of rooms in Patong and not many will want to stay in an old building on Nanai when there are so many brand new places at the same price on the new road, whatever it's called.

If renting rooms then the individual tax payer is required to report and remit his income tax using the personal income tax return form PND 91 by the end of March after the year in which the income was paid. Failure to report income can result in an assessment by the Revenue Department. The penalty is equal to the amount of additional tax payable. Further a surcharge of 1.5% per month on the tax payable is applicable.

Finally, it should also be noted that an "additional" category of tax is also payable each time the rent is paid. It is the duty of the payer of the rent who is renting the room to deduct a "withholding tax" from the rental payment and submit it to the local Revenue Department. If the owner of the room is not a tax resident of Thailand the withholding tax rate is 15%. . If the owner is a tax resident of Thailand and the payer is a juristic person, the withholding tax rate is 5%.

I thought only idiots would ask this type of dumb question, however, assuming you are neither dumb, or an idiot (it's against the rules to say you are) why not just pop over to Phuket city, and find out, you know, there is life outside Patong, and it's not that bloody far away.

Seriously...driving around Phuket to check the price of Big Macs.

It amazes me with all the decent burger joints on the island people are even vaguely interested in a Mc Donalds. Not even worthy of a thread. Facepalm

Seriously, I don't think the op was solely about burgers, of any kind.

Seriously maybe that's my fail

I thought only idiots would ask this type of dumb question, however, assuming you are neither dumb, or an idiot (it's against the rules to say you are) why not just pop over to Phuket city, and find out, you know, there is life outside Patong, and it's not that bloody far away.

Seriously...driving around Phuket to check the price of Big Macs.

It amazes me with all the decent burger joints on the island people are even vaguely interested in a Mc Donalds. Not even worthy of a thread. Facepalm

Not with BOI or if the 80 thais worked at a different location but same company to the 20 farrang.

Can these people "technically" employ four Thai's, working out of their home address?

I don't think the intention is that these places are the place of work but more that they can be used to do some work sometimes. Otherwise I could put Starbucks down as my place of work on my work permit.

As stated, I know very little about Thai labor laws, but I was under the belief that a foreigner must declare a place of work address, and is only allowed to work at that address. Also, for every one work permit issued to a foreigner, there must be four Thai's employed in that business.

Yes you are correct...however that doesn't mean you can't check your emails when not at that address or attend a meeting somewhere else

Not with BOI or if the 80 thais worked at a different location but same company to the 20 farrang.

Can these people "technically" employ four Thai's, working out of their home address?

I don't think the intention is that these places are the place of work but more that they can be used to do some work sometimes. Otherwise I could put Starbucks down as my place of work on my work permit.

http://hatchphuket.com/welcome/ is very good =)

Website needs a bit of work...doesn't actually say where it is....you have to click through to facebook.

A great idea though and in Phuket town it may work with young professional Thais. Maybe...

Nothing left

What about the buildings to the left when looking at the water, Taste Restaurant, The Pool Club all the way down, those were not razed, correct?

No they are all gone except for Patcharin seafood at the very end

This is what used to be Cefalu/Taste

Last year some French guys poured a whole bunch of money into The Surin Pool Club, where they had loungers a bar, two pools I think.

Man, did those guys waste a lot of money...........

Thanks for the info !

Yeah and before that it was the Pearl of Surin. Not to mention Diamond beach club....

Bimi had only be opened for just over 2 years

Nothing left

What about the buildings to the left when looking at the water, Taste Restaurant, The Pool Club all the way down, those were not razed, correct?

No they are all gone except for Patcharin seafood at the very end

This is what used to be Cefalu/Taste

Unfortunately all events at RPM have the same tasteless food vendors, and then a bunch of hippy expats selling bracelets.

Ummm....

The best burger in phuket featuring Marriot, Renaissance, Frying Kiwi, Kata Rocks...

This event features Hooters and Seabreeze plus about 8 more that i don't know of

No idea what you're talking about to be honest