Shiver

I slightly scratched my fingernail.  I demand the law be changed.  I know my rights.

...(I don't know my wrongs).

You continue to live up to our expectations.

I wish you were in our local clique.  We could do some damage.... and be "Glorious!".

Getting away with it (all messed up). ?

Airport they'll likely cut you max 24 hours slack because you cannot control the flight times.  Everything else is as others said "no mercy".  I had a hospital event occur last minute (life threatening event) and they wouldn't hear of it.  Completely outside of my control.  I was actually waiting to try to get a 7 day note to get some space to address the health issue, doc refused.  Border won't accommodate any sob story.  Bodily systems shutting down rapidly, and somehow managed to stumble from pillar to post, sit on the ground when in queues, and lived to tell the tale.  Need to take the fine on the chin, and get past it as quick as you are able.

On the plus side, 1-2 days won't cause you any future issues.  You may (will) be advised not to do it again, and told to tell all your friends the same.  Yes Occifer.

14 hours ago, Esso49 said:

Agree with the above and I would suggest the OP stays at Top Mansion for a few days anyway,  Will enable him to be in the heart of things and also able to pick up a room to rent quite easily.

Yeah, Top Mansion is the default starting point for many.  Rooms are average, prices average, close to most things, and ticks box as the best at nothing much, but it's a good calibration tool.

A friend from Chiang Mai stays there when he's solo, but when with his wife he stays at UD House, which is in walking distance, but a bit far for some people unless you see walking as a feature rather than a hassle.  Very nice rooms, excellent price - reasoning being just a little bit off the beaten path.

Does anyone know the name of that place opposite Keks 'mom&pop' shop?  (same side as Top Mansion/@Home/Panarai etc but nearer to the bus station end of the road).  I think it only has half a dozen rooms, and I've never seen inside, but many people have told me that's a good place if you can get an available room, and that people hang onto them for the duration if they can get in.

1 hour ago, rwill said:

Asahi (brewed in Thailand) is not bad.  69 baht for a large bottle.

I was going to suggest Asahi also, since it's dry (all the local stuff is sweet as heck to me).  If you can find some of the German bottled beers like Erdinger, Warsteiner etc they're decent enough - not as good as their draught counterparts, but that can be said of any brand so far as I can tell.

Failing that San Mig Light is a 'safe' (if not inspiring) bottled beer.

That said, I usually can be found with a Leo in front of me because I'm not very adventurous these days.

One thing:  If it really is for your kidneys, then why not water?  If water is too dull then there are some green teas you can drink without guilt such as Oishi Oolong (sugar free).  A nip of vodka would keep the calories 'useful'.

I don't know how this kind of think works now, but maybe 6 years ago I knew someone who did something stupid.  I found a lawyer by recommendation that was farang friendly and well respected, and I stayed out of it as much as possible apart from a couple of visits to the lawyer while they explained the process.  Got away with a fairly large fine (farang pay of course, since this person meant and still means a lot to me), but a lot less than what I'd value prison time.

The way a non legal practitioner friend who deals with people in jail to help them with contact with relatives and general needs/provisions said "the first 46 days you can think of the charge as written in pencil - that's your negotiation window.  After that for the next 46 it's written in pen, and that's the jails gain not police, so there is incentive to settle it quickly".  There was no bail mentioned, but it was harder drugs than your referring to.

None of this may be true today however.  It's not easy and I wouldn't go through with it again.  1 month later, she was picked up again (I believe it was her 'friend' handing in names who was a supplier trying to save her own a**), but that's never been claimed.  Only that said person would send small money each week while this alleged offender was banged up for the next 2.5 years.  Guilty of using, no doubt about that, but a set up also, I'm fairly suspicious  of that, as said person wasn't in need of that level of money and didn't have to be the idiot on the make.

Good luck.  I think the lawyer you find could be pivotal.  The one I mentioned didn't ask for a penny up front for services btw, only for the agreed settlement to be handed over.  Payment for services came after success.  It was all done in cash.

Stay as arms length as you possibly can.  It will only make it worse for you and your friend if they think there are richer pickings to be had.

7 hours ago, Parsve said:

If a wine is affordable or not are decided by three simple questions;
1. Is it drinkable?
2. Is it free?
3. Is there more?

7 hours ago, wgdanson said:

No LaoKhao sir. Grape juice, sugar, lemon juice, yeast nutrient, yeast and time. I do add some concentrated grape juice I got in UK which improves the taste. Last lot went from 15% S Gravity to 0% in six days. Ready to bottle it.

I'm very interested to try that.  I don't know if I'm allowed to ask on here, but would you sell me a bottle? (Private Message probably more appropriate if yes).  If it's better than the supermarket stuff then I'd be very interested in learning how to do this (there's no methanol in there is there?).  Maybe a dumb question, but I've only ever been on the buying end of alcohol, not the creation end.

2 hours ago, Basil B said:

Well if it were food related and I had to have a tattoo I think I would opt for Tan (coke cola)

 

 

Not ARO? (What I see when I look at Leo).

Btw, regarding the pics above, some of those only sound wrong because people trust google translate which is lousy.  If you type the Thai into 3 or 4 tranlators you get some very different translations.

6 hours ago, MaksimMislavsky said:

Vodka

Only if it's been in the freezer for a couple of hours to make it syrupy.  Stolly did me a lot of damage...well I did myself a lot of damage with Stolly, haven't touched it in many years.

12 hours ago, wgdanson said:

For the price.........my home-made stuff here.

Do you make it, or do you mix Tipco juice with LaoKhao? ?  I think that's what most commercial wines here taste like.

I did have 1 good bottle here quite a few years ago, but I never knew the name of it because it was a blind tasting session, where we all buy a bottle and had to rate them (I guess it's just a jumped up version of a beer game).

The best wines I've had by far were in Livigo Italy.  I drink red if I have the chance, but it was a wine taste in a Deli to encourage sales.  I came out with white, rose as well as red.  They'd give you some to try, then a biscuit with it, and the taste transformed, then with cheese, then the biscuit (cracker actually) and the cheese together.  I don't have words to describe it, but got half a dozen bottles to take back to UK.  All pleased with myself I opened a bottle at Sunday dinner and all of them were absolutely average.

I'm told that if you take them from altitude just down to sea level (never mind on an aircraft) they don't make it.  No idea why that would be, but these things transformed into 'also rans' that's for sure.  I so wish my family could have experienced them.  They weren't expensive either (Livigno being tax free).

Although I'm from UK, I know next to nothing about politics there, and don't watch the TV from there either really.

I'm a little more familiar with USA politics (but not very) as it affects the world more than UK.

I really hope I never have to go back.  The only thing I ask of them is to be able to buy passport renewal.  I don't work there, or pay taxes there anymore, likely won't get a pension, or if I do it wouldn't be much since I've only paid in for 20 years which isn't worth Jack (that's if it even exists by then).  I don't even think I'd be entitled to NHS there anymore.

I take responsibility for all of my own affairs and ask nothing of them, nor they from me.  I have a couple of sisters, and some friends I haven't seen in a dozen years.  That's the most important thing there to me these days.  I do miss the countryside there though, and everything not being such a challenge due to language.

9 hours ago, orchidfan said:

Correct. Because money laundering rules you need HKID to open a new account in Hong Kong. ...or possibly can be done in  company situation where you have a "visible " long term presence in HK.

Buy/setup an offshore company in HK then it can have a bank account.

I had a business bank account in HK opened in 2009.  It was simple enough then, except having to travel there.  Trying to open a 2nd account a few years later and they wouldn't entertain the idea.  The hint was that they've been very naughty, and fined a lot, and they tightened the rules enormously.

4 hours ago, zig said:

>>Some shops pretend to offer a payment at 0% interest over 10 months or so, but this a fake credit which is offered to the very few Thai people who have a credit card...fake because the whole amount is immediately deducted from their credit card.

 

Well, it is deducted immediately from your card's limit, however you indeed can pay the amount in ten monthly installments and no interest is charged, as long as you pay in time. 

I've had the experience a couple of times when buying from China for delivery here, that they will accept credit cards, and I tell them I don't have a credit card, but I do have a debit card, and they refuse.  What's that all about?  Everything is stacked in their favour (no risk of chargeback, cash on the nail just the same).

5 hours ago, milwaukeeboy said:

Because this is a good thing. No buying things on credit brings the prices down to the level where savers can afford them.

When you buy a bigger ticket item and ask for their best price because you're buying cash, and they won't or can't discount, you realise it's not a bike or car shop you're in at all, but a credit house by another name.

On 9/7/2018 at 8:53 AM, BritManToo said:

I was there, didn't matter to me, my wife got almost everything in the divorce.

Wish I'd had less property and more in 'liquid assets'.

 

When ready to 'pull the plug and leave', liquidity is important.

I'm maybe 95% liquid in holdings.  I buy, but for others, and have no real desire to 'own' anything.  Some of that is for practicality and not knowing the future, and some just because it's a nimble mental approach.  Downside is you forgo any feeling of permanence, which is an illusion anyhow at best so far as I can tell.

13 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Nonsense. 

Ditto, absolutely not fact.

I walked one day into a local restaurant cum bar many years ago, and one of the staff of many years looked shocked like she'd seen a ghost.  I asked if there was something wrong.  She said "I was told you had 2 broken legs and 2 broken arms".  Unaware of this predicament I asked who told her that.  She returned to polishing glasses.  To this day I don't know who or why or how somebody's whispers ended up like that, and I guess I never will know.  I do know the truth though, but nobody bothered to ask me.

I bought a business, and within a couple of weeks the (undisclosed) price was more than double the real price.  Who? nobody knows (or prepared to tell).  They still say I was crazy, but I ask them to show me one place that is doing better?  Again, no answer, they just have a bridge to sell you.

Oh, bored of typing what everyone reading already knows.  It makes me withdraw and not tell anybody the GPS coordinates of my private island where I plan to launch a mega rocket or anything about how I'm going to rule the world, or what the name of my fluffy cat is, or the real story behind M and Q, or miss MoneyPenny, or (doesn't bear thinking about but) Pussy Galore.

9 hours ago, dginoob said:

Depends where you live in the UK. I bought a 3-bedroom house for £50k 5 or 6 years ago (granted it hadn't been decorated since the 70's, and I subsequently spent 15k or so on it). The rent I get from that is less than half of what my rent is here for a condo.

Surprised.  In UK I did "buy to let" (mid 90's) before it was a 'thing', and had 70% mortgage (buy cash/renovate/mortgage/next property) with roughly 1.5x monthly income to mortgage (since nothing is ever 100% rented).  This was North West England suburban which is hardly the centre of high prices, but even then (more than 2 decades ago) it was perhaps 15-16K per month in todays exchange rate.  Oh how I wish I'd been here at that time with that kind of income x that number of properties at that exchange rate.... and then '97, which I was completely unaware of.  Buggr, you miss all the opportunities you don't take part in I guess.

A former business partner however who was here in Thailand said that in his country (Aus) it was the other way around, in that you pay less for rent than mortgage since you'll never own it.  The UK (then) was "you're not committing to 25 years, so there's a premium".  I guess YMMV depending of quite a few factors (location, timing, social attitude and more).

On 9/5/2018 at 4:09 PM, wgdanson said:

All those things you mention are not FREE. They are/were paid for by UK TAXPAYERS, who now in their twilight years cannot get a decent pension.

I was looking back for that post to say *exactly* what you have already written.  I agree with you nothing less than 100%. 

You paid for it, it wasn't free.  Newbs on the block think it's free but it's not, it's all of us that paid for it (they're making their own bed, and we'll likely be gone by then, or at least have stopped listening).

I gave up on 'the system' and looked to find my own path...under duress.  I'm fortunate (by a roll of the dice, smarts (unlikely), friends (surely)), and one way or another reinvented and excelled much better than I ever could have done under their rule, and to be able to pay back in spades those that gave me a lift up when I needed it most.

You can change your flag, your location, your language or anything else except your values.  Please don't undermine yourself, please... you make us all look like doing what we care about means nothing, and that's bordering on blasphemy, and who knows how much retaliatory kindness you can handle before you crumble? 

Disclosure: I haven't read the whole thread.

I think, on one of the rare moments where I would defend the police, that they are right and have to refuse letting a known murderer dictating their rules.  Imagine in the west offering $30K bail.  Imagine telling the executors of the law how to do their job... imagine Thailand....

Nah. No Diess ss ss.

2 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

I'd wait if I were some of you maybe Musk knows something we don't. If he doesn't he deserves to be sued and lose a few million. If he's not sued that makes it all highly suspicious. 

It's one of the perils of having money.  Everybody thinks they own a piece of you.

I've heard much worse down the pub in general banter, but nobody got sued there. 

They'll settle out of court.

4 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

She sure does not look 40 years old.....It must be Asian Pearl Cream!

 

I imagine the makeup is not even 1 hour old, never mind 40 years.

 

20 minutes ago, pr9spk said:

Possibly the most unfunny and incomprehensible joke I have ever heard.

Fine.

12 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Part of the decision depends on who you have here to stay with. I have someone so would not leave.

That's the major factor in my own circumstances.  If I didn't have my missus I'd probably be scouting neighbouring countries by now.

Wrt OP question;  Do you know others locally who are in a similar situation?  Could you get together and occupy a larger building whilst maintaining your personal space and a common space?  Group buy and all that.  This is assuming personal relationships are not a factor where privacy becomes strained.

Although I'm not against the wall (anymore...or should I say, at the moment) regarding existing financially above water, those lessons stuck with me and I like to keep expenses down, and splash out only as something special rather than an everyday occurrence that loses it's magic if done all the time.  Maybe with a few friends you can shop, use internet, share rent and still be able to have your own private space.  I know that wouldn't sound appealing on the face of it, but if you're a close gang of friends then it might work.  Depends on the individuals involved.  You might find you end up with money at the end of the month rather than the other way around.   Exchange rates have a 'sort of' cyclical nature, but that doesn't cut it when right here and right now matters.

4 hours ago, atyclb said:

 

 

if he actually tested negative is cost the police a lot as they'd have no basis for extortion

 

alcohol, notably alcoholism can basically imitate whatever any illegal drug can do

The difference between an alcoholic and a (eg) coke user:

They'll both steal $10 from you, but in the morning the alcoholic will apologise whereas the coke user will help you look for it.

[insert drug of choice to suit your audience].