BigStar

Silly exaggeration. I can take money out over the counter w/ bankbook and pink card at my bank. Much more convenient, passports stays safely at home.

Not all foreigners wish to carry their passports. DL or pink card, much more convenient.

They can own a property themselves. But typically they get owners to cooperate w/ TM30s, so they can find a way or move where an owner will cooperate. Living here a long time usually means moving to different residences.

The foreigners who've lived here even longer should be able to get one if they follow all the procedures. For money deposit at the counter, a Thai DL might suffice. Oh--not all foreigners can get one. 🙂

So we've invoked our fave rhetorical trope: the Perpetual Thailand Death Spiral identified decades ago by astute forum Economists and writers of letters to newspaper editors, when the GDP was about 5 times smaller.

And when you've lived here even longer, you'll realize that a pink card will suffice in lieu of your passport for all sorts of things, which is much less of a deal. So that's what I use, mostly.

Just another windup that will go this way:

Here you go. With speaker(s): HiBy Digital M300 Android 13 Music Player Gets mostly good reviews on Amazon.

That was a freelancer. Nice girls don't go around hitting on farang tourists. Passivity seems to be your problem. It takes time and a little effort to establish trust with respectable girls with conventional morals. Not the place to discuss that topic, however. We have numerous experts, even if failed, who'd be happy to explain in some other long thread.

But if someone lives in The Truman Show Bounded by Walking Street, Soi Buakhao, and Soi 6, he might appreciate being shown the larger world outside. And in your case, you've also been unable to see any non-bar girls even inside the Show. What a world where, for example, even supermarket cashiers are invisible. You hand your money over to air, it floats over the register, and your change floats back out to your hands. Many motorbikes have no riders, like The Invisible Man's bicycle: So even within The Truman Show, we have The Twilight Zone: Can't imagine. What if you're shown a video of girls--the vast majority of girls in Pattaya--working in the malls, restos, hotels, dept stores, convenience stores, real estate, tourism, transportation, supermarkets, condos, schools, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, countless shops, and various other businesses? Will your Eyeballs (or Prescient Eyeballs, in the case of our authoritative Prognosticators) magically erase them like the new AI eraser in Photoshop? Guess it'd be futile to show you, then.

Different sort of business. Is there a service charge, or how much do you tip?

Not a worry, do nothing.@swissiehimself knows this but forgets sometimes I guess.

Yup. Computer tech has progressed in Thailand and the taxman is reaching into more pockets. The forum has taken strong notice, actually.

VAT and fixed service charges are more of a European way of life, though we'll take any opportunity to try to blame Americans. I was strongly admonished so many years ago at a swank Swiss resto in the States. I'd assumed a service charge, in a hurry to get my date into bed, and I didn't leave a tip. The waiter ran after me to inform me that "this isn't Europe."

Truth and the refutation of nonsense need no defense, sorry. You're now merely asked--again--to explain your gaslighting that we long-term Pattaya residents are doing what you yourself are in fact doing. You don't want to explain because you can't. And so you've turned to trolling, basically. It obviously touches only your nerves that your narrow, stereotypical little view of Pattaya may not be correct, so much so that you need to suppress disagreement--but only by jumping in to imply superior knowledge w/ no evidence of such ever presented, LOL. No one's fooled by that phony authoritative posturing--it's too common.🤣 But your reasons are kept secret so they can't be challenged and refuted. Mine are all public and derive from the abundant evidence I present. Then you can just buzz off now, right? No one cares about you specifically and you've got little more than sneers. But you're a good laugh. You may need some help to get out of your bickering loop, however. And no one cares if you like Pattaya or not. Your main worry now is that some posters are daring to point out the diversity of Pattaya and the possibilities it offers for a variety of convenient, comfortable lifestyles.

No, just a few knowledgeable long-term residents correcting ignorant stereotypical misconceptions--as they should as a public service to inquirers on the forum. To his credit, @save the frogs, unlike some of our old buzzards, can be reasoned with. Now that his eyes are open, he can see the thousands of non-bar girls who work in Pattaya and start looking around for one of them as a suitable partner, if he wishes. I would recommend he do so when he's got it together. No one's taking away his choice, but merely showing him another one. Sounds more like you're the one who doesn't want to him to have that choice, denigrating the idea that he might, and so you're attempting to select what's better. Why is that?

I use my credit card frequently for onlline purchases and always pay the balance before the due date. My bank manager likes me, however, and we always exchange a greeting when I stop by. Otherwise, no debts. It's a family tradition.

The service charge and VAT aren't nasty. Australia should use more VAT and less income tax. They aren't unexpected, as the percentages are listed up front at the bottom of the menu. One trip to a Thai restaurant teaches you look there if you never have and are interested. Moreover, our mathematically illiterate, seemingly quite a few here, don't need to suffer the onerous, time-consuming burden of trying to calculate a tip themselves, unless they'd hoped to lay down the usual generous 10 baht. The practice in no way detracts from the "experience," unless you just want an excuse to whinge. And so miss out on this delicious steak for your street food? The answer to that is

Utter nonsense.

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As posters have pointed out, happens in other countries as well. Nothing wrong with showing the price of the goods as the price of the goods. Technically, neither the service charge nor the VAT is the goods. Better establishments list them as you've indicated and calculate them for you. You don't have to calculate them yourself. Before you go into such an establishment, check to see that you can really afford to do so. Thai street food might be more appropriate. Since you're informed in advance, via the note at the bottom, that they'll be added, you can make a rough estimate before you order and thus easily avoid what to you would be "an unpleasant surprise." You can also calculate the exact total yourself on your mobile phone's calculator. Otherwise, man up and just roll with the flow, a key to successfully adapting to Thai culture and realizing this is such a non-issue.

We need to give talking about the UK a rest sometimes.

5%? With typical blindness, you're overlooking the vast number of girls working in the malls, restos, hotels, dept stores, convenience stores, real estate, tourism, transportation, supermarkets, condos, schools, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, shops, and various other businesses. It's kind of like our ANF Economists who've never seen a shopper in a Thai mall, because, as only farang have money, and farang won't pay those ripoff prices, they by definition cannot exist. Nor, for the same reason, can Thai domestic tourists. Middle class Thais don't exist because the average ANF poster has never met one, LOL. Good illustration, though, of how brainwashed posters here are about Pattaya, even living here w/o knowing much of anything about it except their coveted bar scene. What, with that vast number of available women you can't see? Easy, except for the typical farang monger, who didn't and wouldn't succeed well w/ the nice, attractive ladies in his home country, either. But in fact I don't enjoy the bar scene and never did. Just nothing more boring than sitting there having an utterly inane conversation with a bar girl trying to get money out of you or listening to blather emanating from the barstool next over. The go-gos were kinda fun back in the 90s when the music was bearable, owing to the visuals. Those were a draw. The TQ still played listenable music long thereafter, so I'd stop in during the day when I'm out anyway. Very retro, with some great characters. But I found it's also changed a bit. I still wish the place well and hope it continues, but haven't been in for over a year. I've been with an educated, middle-class office lady, now business owner, for a couple of decades. Always worked and had her own money. Fluent English, great shape from diet, working out, and yoga. “Why would I settle for hamburger when I have steak at home," as Paul Newman said. Overall, I found Pattaya the most convenient place to live in Thailand, and I think it still is. I enjoy my quiet life here by the beach. You have to consider the total package, as I did, in which the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages. And those disadvantages can usually be worked around or minimized, if not eliminated. One can live a pleasant life in Pattaya without ever visiting or even seeing the bar scene.

I'm not convinced. The several models of Sony Walkman don't include built-in speakers. Most of the time, with a portable player, you're listening through earphones or earbuds that you lug along with player. The sound would be preferable to built-in or portable external speakers anyway because vastly superior. Lugging a small portable speaker in your bag or suitcase would hardly be onerous, and the sound would also be much better than that from "mobile phone speakers." You might first hit a gym for strength training.

My thought is that I wouldn't find such a small speaker very useful. If I wanted a speaker, I'd get a quality player w/ added bluetooth and use a portable speaker like a JBL Go (from the JBL store): https://www.lazada.co.th/products/jbl-go3-ip67-5-i1820182940-s5461572583.htm.