duke69

....perhaps some people consider a person a newbie another person just because of age or number of posts or joined date......

not knowing 99% of the poeple here directly, I feel very difficoult to understand who is really new in LOS and who is not.

...also there are people living here from 20 years who know less than someone arrived 20 days ago, matter of interests, culture, brains, ......

I live in SE Asia from 4 years (expat), I have an asian wife, but I gave up with the feeling "irked" or "pleased".....the FAUNA of good and bad people (expats, foreigners, locals) I met during these years made me impossible to generalize and define a person as newbie or oldtimer......., and I don't feel better or worse in meeting any of those

I've come across some wonderful farang deadbeats in my time.

Once a friend of mine worked at a company (which has been mentioned on TV a few times), and they were hiring a marketing person. The successful candidate turned up on the first day, stinking of beer. This was 10am; he should have been there at 9am.

Rightly or wrongly, he was asked to go home and not come back.

He turned up the following day, asking for a year's salary in compensation. He was laughed out of the door. It turns out this chap was on the bare bones of his arse and had 8000 baht left to his name. We strongly suspect the guy who hired him (who - frankly - is not much better) met him on one of his legendary all night benders in soi 22.

The issue escalated. My friend was asked to deal with it. To make it go away, my friend offered him two months salary as severance which I thought was overly generous. No, this guy wanted more. He sent them an email threatening all sorts of blackmail, friends in high places and said that he could be silenced by 3 million baht (his salary, by the way, was around 50,000).

Needless to say, this caused hours of merriment. His emails, increasing in lunacy, were ignored, even those that suggested the guy was a disciple of Lao Tze's Art of War and the campaign would soon be stepped up a few degrees.

In the end, my mate lost patience. He sent off a note saying because of the hassle he was causing the new offer was one month salary which expired at 9am on the following Friday. After that, nothing.

Friday 9am. Nothing.

Friday, 11.15 the guy comes into the office, drunk and apologetic for the 3million baht demands. He asks for the month's severance.

He was told to sod off.

Similar experience with a guy from Colorado.......not drunk but never in the office and always claiming that he called me on my Hp to advise me he had a problem and that my Hp wasn't working......

....same problems in kicking him out (perhaps he was thinking to be in US), he tried also to accuse me and my company of discrimination (on what I am still asking myself today)........he received by scanned email a copy of a police report we made after his threats......he disappeared like a tear in the rain.

I am 40, a bit overweight, on diet.

no problems with health.

I live in SE Asia from 4 years.

I met so many expats who always take these vitamins pills -- like one a day -- the food I eat is absolutely normal, nothing missing from my diet.

What do you think??

I don't want to take something useless (also not so cheap) and get addicted to something my body doesn't need at the moment, but so many people taking them (also youngsters) made me think that perhaps I am wrong

Since no payment has been done, he can renegotiate for a discount, or get also the 2 sisters in the package.

I believe that a 22 yrs old with HIV should fetch no more than 5000 baht at current market values, which is the weekly price for a BG in Nana (one with HIV). Try to squeeze inside the price also the Bufalo (sick by definition) and you may bring home a lot of flesh for a good bargain.

a Chinese maid in China gets paid 50 $ a month and they are happy+++

an Indonesian maid in Jakarta gets 50$ in average per month, the young ones are free, family just want boos to pay for food

in KL a Indonesian maid is 400 rm per month which makes a 118 us$

expats in Kl pay 250 $ a month for a maid (double than locals).

Philippina maid (Xstian who can cook pork and speak english) in KL gets about 400-500$ per month

I do believe the maids in HK can protest to be paid too much.......wait a few years and they will disappear......thousands of chinese maids willing to work for half that money

my favourite is 2000 baht on the bedside table, works great with the partner .....and an happy partner is always a good start

perversion to work 10 hours a day and co-ordinate colleagues who are hopeless, untrustable and lazy.

..... but also the idea to soak a boring day in a massage on the way back home was better than driving on the I-95 with ice on the road

My 2 penny

180 cm, about 40 yrs old, in April I was 98 kgs.....never been so fat.....may worries with job (too many responsabilities), stress......

New policy (for myself):

1) 5:30 I piss off from office

2) cappuccino for breakfast with diet sugar

3) no lunch

4) morning to afternoon about 1 liter of water

5) dinner till I feel full, but eliminated sugars, fried stuff, junk food and introduced vegetables. Extra virgin Olive oil (raw) helps quite a lot in the morning shit (sorry for my french). Fresh ingredients, no processed food, reduced salt

6) late night apple / banana / watermelon if still hungry

Today I am 92 kgs

Whenever i will reach 90 kgs I will start exercises like pool and some jogging.

My plan and ultimate goal is 85, although I would be happy with a 88 kgs

BMI is crap, only gives frustration

I should reduce bread, but I love it....I will try to introduce some steamed rice instead of bread

cheers

No you cannot live with 27,000 baht a month....go to your employer and ask for at least double that amount....you deserve it as a Thai posting such a query

Simbo, keep us updated on your diet.

My weight loss has slowed down. Mainly, because I have eaten out socially on a few occassions. Also, as I have previously stated, my drinking habits have not changed one iota. I seem to be stuck on 95kilos. However, I still feel so much better, and as long as the weight is stable or coming off very slowly, I'm happy.

I have stopped getting weighed as often. Now leaving it for at least one week.

I'll keep you informed of my progress, if any, at a later date.

95 kg on a 1.5 meter tall or 1.9 meter tall....there is quite a difference.

my 2 penny:

- Toyota, Samsung and other giants have nothing to worry.....a corrupted junta will always help them and use them as example

- the risk is on medium small foreign owned business

- the economy of Thailand is growing thanks to the small foreign investments, Toyota looks for cheap factory workers and the management is fully jap, english or australian

- Banks and foreign investments are retiring from Thailand, destination China

- Bank sys in Thai is crap

- laws are uncertain and left to the bribeapplication way

HERE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT BUSINESS, LAWS, .....I understand that some of you enjoyed 9 or more years of hide from European or US mediocrity with a small western pension which in Thai makes you a king...... but the point is about business, investments, economy, macroeconomy ......if your whole view is the cost of a beer and a chick ...... then the junta will only lower both of them in the long run.....just wait everyone moving the economy of this country to leave.

what about the Thai entrepreneurs? Eaten alive by their incompetence, protectionism and other countries laws to compensate what the junta is doing domestically

Everybody wants and bla bla bla about quality tourism.....no backpackers, no sex tourists, no budget tourists ...... yes another bunch of blabla, let's feed this nation of 60mill with quality tourism$$ and the generousity of Thai monopolists billionaires...

A point of clarification.

Muslim shops and muslim eating places are strictly prohibited to sell beer and liqueur.

Beer and liqueur (brandy, whisky, wine) are only sold in Chinese and Indian shops

and other non- muslim eating places. In super markets, like Tessco, and etc, special

shop location is set up to sell beer and liqueur. That special counters would be managed

by non-muslim staff. That includes pork.

If you want to drink beer or liqueur, it is advisable to go to the Chinese restaurants, or

other non-mulim eating places. There are so many Chinese coffee shops, bars, if you want to

have a cold beer. The number of Chinese restaurants, eating shops, and coffee shops

would out number the muslim shops by ten to one. Bty, the Chinese enjoy eating out

most of the time. Out of respect, I would not like to drink beer in front of my Malay friends.

With my Chinese friends, we would eat and drink, till the cows come home..... so to speak.

Choke di nah, krap ! Sawatdi krap !

this is one of the most stupid and racist comments I've ever heard, mods here send PM messages to members (me included) for a joke or humour threatening to BAN me, then they leave people to post crap like this and like much more I recently saw on TV.

What's going on here!!!

I don't care which is better between MY or TH, I believe we should respect every country and every religion, don't tell me that the good Buddist Thai are not rapist,,,,,,,,,,,having thousands of brothels fully booked with Thai men all over Thailand is not making them better,,,,,,,,Thai, Laos, Cambodian, Burmese gals who have to be prostitute to survive, are like a RAPE

so pls don't preach, I do believe that no Thai can preach other people what is good, bad, clean or dirty, just look at the mess is Thaialnd in these days and the future ,,,,,,,,,, I'd rather raise my family and invest my money in MY than in Thai.

As an aside, here are a few details on the situation I mentioned earlier:

Here's a section of the Langkawi incident:

"On Oct 12, Barnhart, 62, and his wife Carole, 61, were in their rented condominium in Kuah when enforcement officers continuously knocked on their door at 2am, accusing them of committing khalwat (close proximity).

He said the officers demanded to see his marriage certificate, although he had told them that they were Christians and should not be subjected to Islamic law......" (for full article -pls refer to MM2H section).

My questions:

1. Does Khalwat have jurisdiction over foreigners living here

2. If a foreigner who is a Muslim and his/her spouse is a Non-Muslim Malaysian, would the Foreign Muslim spouse be targeted by the Religious Police as having committed Khalwat because spouse is not a Muslim

(I asked this because I have a couple friend from the UK, the husband is thinking of applying for MM2H - the wife is still Malaysian, but the husband is a foreigner who is a "non-practising Muslim. I'm just worried for them incase they come here and get into such awful troubles).

So, if your taste in ladies is for darker skin then definitely stay in Thailand or you could be charged, beaten or goodness knows what else.

As for Lao Po . . . agreed, Thailand is easily one of the most difficult places to do business . . . at least in Malaysia you know up front who to bribe, and he will be a Malay.

Another point to this - you wish to have a company that could possibly deal with the government in any way? You must have a Malay GM and pay him accordingly. There are scores of Malays who do nothing but lend their name to companies for their letterhead . . . and you have to pay them well . . .

Malaysia better than Thailand?

SETTING UP BIZ THAILAND IS EASIER THAN MALAYSIA?????

You're kidding isn't it? In Thai I need to pay 5-6 nominees and in theory the company is not mine, nominal shareholders are becoming a big problem for all foreign owned companies, we are everyday threatened and cheated by PWC, KPMG, E&Y which are criminal organization rather than consultants!!!!!

In Malaysia I did open a Sdn Bhd with 2 Rm (half us$) equity and 99 of shares uner my name!!! Trading company.

If I want to open a trading company in MY to trade outside Malaysia (buy and sell outside Malaysia) I have tghe Labuan option (Labuan offshore company) which is totally legal and not blacklisted in many EU countries!!!!

To audit a Thai company is 5000 us$ to audit a Malaysian company is 500 us$!!!

All laws and company regulations are in english, in thai I need to have a translator. In Gov offices in Malaysia I always find officers with a quite good english, in Gov offices in Thailand I never found anybody to say more than "ne no spik ingliz".

Revenue dept in Malaysia is 50% currupted, in thailand is a lottery, you can end up cheated, screwed, kicked, threatened, ....... totally unpredictable.

Laws in Thailand are applyed in a unequal way, in MY much better.

I feel that doing biz in Thai is a short term approach, till something gets wrong and then re-register a new company, in MY is long term and you can operate easily.

Not to mention the availability of professionals in MY uncomparable to thailan where also a crappy english speaking secretary can change company and double her salary in 1 year time

15 messages displayed @ first page + 5 pinned ones, I believe they are not enough, very easily an interesting post goes to page 2 and 3 and disappears, .....

what do you think in having at least 30 messages per page?

I always have to gop down to page 2 or 3 or 10 to look for a message just 3-4 days old, and indeed I don't have time to surf on TV all day long

PERHAPS WHAT WAS A JOKE IS REALITY: SHE WAS INDEED EXPECTING SOMETHING NOT TOO CHEAP FOR HER bUFALO!

what about in asking your GF what's wrong with that?

give her cash not mirrors

- family

- friends

- clean not polluted air

- riding my DUCATI

- planning a future with long term in stable personal condition (in other words not living on a 2-3 yrs contract base)

- law and order or at least fairness in the mistakes

- good and almost free education

- non VIPs mentality

- normality

- free time and HOBBIES

- my dog

- driving 1000 km through Europe without any prob, plan, ..... just gas in the tank

- I miss to complain about how bad was life back in Europe

- miss the week-ends always full of plans and activities

- walking to go from A to B

- EDUCATED PEOPLE WHO CAN HANDLE A DISCUSSION WHICH IS NOT PREMIER LEAGUE

Being Expat has many pros (high salary as the main) but the salary is high because our MNC is paying us not just for the job done but also for all these things we miss, living abroad is like being in a limbo with UPs and DOWNs and the impossibility to plan life in the long term for myself and my family, ....... I barely understand who comes to Thailand just for choice without a job ...... (it is sad to fence what is left of a person's life only on Sex and cheap life or the feeling to be considered a VIP, while back in Europe they feel like losers, after a while they feel losers also in Thailand or Malaysia or anywhere else)..

sell all the properties better if not with a dummy UK company, although you may have emotional links with them.

Hide the cash in HK or Singapore or Channel Islands as you wish.

Do all these operations at least 12 months before divorce (law says 6 perhaps, better be safe than sorry)

If the case, keep up your marriage till everything is 1000% settled, try to play the part of the hubby who wants to try everything not to divorce.

If you're lucky she will divorce asap and in this case you may reach a good agreement on the child too and assets

come on dont be shy he wont be neither the first nor the last

Indeed we are currently renting Vois at 17000 baht per month which looks more than OK to me (no cash flow problems), but the manager there (who wanted the Fortuner) is writing everyday that this is a waste of company money .....

I told him to renew the lease for another quarter, then I will consider a new Vios or Altis

Not even considering that for those who cant afford a Benz, the fortuner is about the only trendy car you can be seen driving these days.

I'm sure your sales manager hasn't even thought of this when he is giving you all the reasons to buy the fortuner....

Good car though.

Soundman.

Itis not about the Fortuner itself, he wants to raise the level of cars for all salespeople to justify a bigger one for him, hence my additional cost is not the fortuner only......I don't want salespeople at 20,000 baht per month to drive a Vios, a car not even senior managers in KL or Sing have!!!

I was thinking to buy them a Tuk tuk, so that they can round up their salary in Patpong after working hours

Steve

The guy wa asking advice to buy a Tuk Tuk and you suggest a Ferrari ......come on, if he wanted Zegna or armani he was not writing a query here!!!!

I use to go to Pierre Boutique near Holiday Inn Silom Rd (they have serevarl branches all around BKK), if you are attentive and precise in asking for the details before the suit is made, the workmanship is good almost everywhere. The 150 us$ packages are on cheap fabric, I use to pay 100-110 us$ for a suit (1 jacket + 2 pants) and about 10-11 us$ for a shirt, I choose the fabric I want and so far so good

Indeed we are currently renting Vois at 17000 baht per month which looks more than OK to me (no cash flow problems), but the manager there (who wanted the Fortuner) is writing everyday that this is a waste of company money .....

I told him to renew the lease for another quarter, then I will consider a new Vios or Altis

We have HQ in Singapore, branch in BKK.

Some of our Thai sales people and managers are raising a lot of problems because of the cars, and now they are asking for big cars which are not in the Budget.

Can some of you provide me the link to a web site where I can find the car prices in Thailand or just list the prices of Toyota and Nissan cars in BKK?

I believe there are only few nodels for Toyota and no mopre than 3 for Nissan, I need to arrive to BKK ready for a discussion in order to avoid further confrontation.

thanks for help

If somebody want to help and visit and orphanage, you can go there in BKK:

1.  "Ban Rajvithi" where little girls stay

http://www.rajvithihome.org/banraj_eng.html

2. "Ban dek-on phyathai" where you will see babies there.

http://www.phyathaibabieshome.com/

You can bring and give what you want (no cigarettes please ;-) ) and have some time  with the kids.

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have some time withe the kids...... that's great

thanks

Michael J. from Neverland, Ca