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1 hour ago, swissbie said:

I hope, you will be luckier this year.

It's never that much drama at Hat Yai Immigration, sure they want to dot the i's and cross the t's, and occasionally the other way around, but it's only once a year.

15% strewth

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Are posters taking the OP seriously or just playing along?

There's no shortage of the delusional on AsinineNow, so probably 50/50

On 1/28/2024 at 6:50 PM, lost in isaan said:

Hello dear members,
I would be happy to get some ideas and inputs from old-timers in Thailand :)

A bit about my situation:
I moved to Isaan around a year and a half ago and built a cheap house to see if I want to settle down here and experience life firsthand. The house was a valuable learning experience, allowing me to observe its construction from scratch. Overall, I have enjoyed my time here and am now planning the next steps, which involves building a "proper" house.

Initially, I planned to build a decent-sized ~600-800 sqm house, but lately, I have been considering something bigger.

My wife comes from a very poor farming family and she has created a mental barrier for herself convincing that she's not "good enough" to have something luxurious. Last time we went to iconsiam, i had to convince her to go there with me, because she thought it's not for people of her "status". She has done well in life, relying on no one, got educated enough with free goverment education. Got a decent job and attended university while working. When i met her in bangkok, she had a "good" office job by thai standards, but in my view she was basically a slave working 12h per day, 6 days a week, living in a small one-room <deleted>hole with a pay that is laughable by western standards.

My wife already considers me rich for being able to live without working and for being able to build a 1-million baht house. I've been living quite humbly and only hinted her that i had some extra money, but she has no idea how much.

 

Life in isaan can be boring sometimes, so why not have some fun? I have some "<deleted> you" money and slowly planning to build a huge mansion in middle of rice fields. I already know that i have 0 need for house that big, it's mainly to heal my wives mindset of her inferiority complex planted by thai society. Your wealth and power should not limit and define you as a person. I know there's better ways to do it, but why not? I'm also not investing on someting i can't afford to lose.
My question is regarding the downsides of owning a big mansion in middle of nowhere. Is it worth the effort?
Here's some i thought so far:
- I have to hire staff to keep it clean.
- More people will annoy us when wealth is obvious. It's been quiet so far. Only had some people asking for money when we first moved to the village.  (I like to keep to myself mostly)
- Visible jealousy

- Unwanted attention. Potential thieves and people with bad intentions.

- I have seen how power and money can change character. Might happen to my wife.

 

Picture of the house i currently plan to build

 

The electric bill 

+1 for Ikea - good quality bedding

2 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

I agree, they should follow the example set by the West who have magnificent economies.

The west is no example to follow! Thailand needs to do what's right for Thailand. 

2 hours ago, MarcelV said:

Don't worry. That bridge will never happen.

Problem is people will get money for it

The Phitsanulok conurbation is actually about 7,500 hectares.

So an estimated population of about 600,000.

1 hour ago, uttradit said:

Phitsanulok looks about 6000sqm by 6,000 so 36,000.

There's a option in the menu for polygon, use that and you can trace an outline and get an accurate area.

Under style select outline only

Measurement gives you a selection of units

I went through Sunday two weeks (Jan 14th) back similar time. Only one escalator going down from security to immigration then, but it wasn't chaos. Lots of people yes, and the automatic gates didn't seem to be in use, but there were airport staff directing people, all the desks were manned and it didn't take more than 15 minutes to clear immigration.

6 minutes ago, uttradit said:

Phitsanulok looks about 6000sqm

I'd agree with that, 6,000 hectares (not sqm), so a population of around half a million.

.

45 minutes ago, mikebike said:

No, the number for Surat metro area is about right. The one I question is NST. The metro area is WAY more than 100k.

The issue is Thailand doesn't publish metro area population figures, indeed it doesn't define any metropolitan areas apart from Bangkok. So you either aggregate the population numbers for the various districts that comprise the Amphur yourself, or rely on sources like Google that already have. Even then the numbers can fail to properly represent reality because often the Amphur doesn't encompass the whole metropolitan area, because it's been broken up into several Amphur for easier administration (job creation). Google sometimes has a go at suggesting the total metropolitan area, but not always.

Looking at the size of NST on satellite images it covers an area of about 2,000 hectares. Based on population numbers given above and physical size of metropolitan areas I've measured, on average 1,000 hectares equates to 80,000 population for a city development. On that basis I would estimate NST has a population of about 160,000.

So using that formula I'd estimate populations as follows:

• Bangkok 250,000 hectares = 20 million
• Chiang Mai 15,000 hectares = 1.2 million
• Nakhon Ratchasima 12,000 hectares = 960,000
• Hat Yai 10,000 hectares = 800,000
• Pattaya 7,000 hectares =  560,000
• Phuket 6,500 hectares = 520,000
• Udon Thani 6,500 hectares = 520,000
• Khon Kaen 6,200 hectares = 496,000
• Surat Thani 6,000 hectares = 480,000
• Ubon Ratchathani 3,500 hectares = 280,000
• Chiang Rai 3,000 hectares = 240,000
• Ayutthaya 2,000 hectares = 160,000
• Nakhon Si Thammarat 2,000 hectares = 160,000
• Lampang 2,000 hectares = 160,000
• Songkhla 1,500 hectares = 120,000
• Trang 1,000 hectares = 80,000
• Pai 500 hectares = 40,000

16 hours ago, uttradit said:

Phitsanulok?

Mukdahan?

Nakhon Phanom?

Hua Hin?

Krabi?

Lamphun?

Chiang Dao?

Nan?

Uttradit?

Surin?

Burilam?

 

Google Earth is free to use, I'm not about to chase them all up, but would suggest they all lie in the 1000 to 2000 hectare range.

And they want to spend how much on that bridge to nowhere?

Clearly Phatthalung has more pressing needs than an expensive bridge of little use.

On 1/25/2024 at 1:32 PM, SiSePuede419 said:

==============================

Thailand Population (by metro area, per Google)

==============================

============================================

Thailand Metropolitan Areas by Size (per Google Earth)

============================================

• Bangkok 250,000 hectares
• Chiang Mai 15,000 hectares
• Nakhon Ratchasima 12,000 hectares
• Hat Yai 10,000 hectares
• Pattaya 7,000 hectares
• Phuket 6,500 hectares
• Udon Thani 6,500 hectares
• Khon Kaen 6,200 hectares
• Surat Thani 6,000 hectares
• Ubon Ratchathani 3,500 hectares
• Chiang Rai 3,000 hectares
• Ayutthaya 2,000 hectares
• Nakhon Si Thammarat 2,000 hectares
• Lampang 2,000 hectares
• Songkhla 1,500 hectares
• Trang 1,000 hectares
• Pai 500 hectares (and that's being generous)

This is just the visual footprint, city densities vary considerably, Chiang Mai for example sprawls over a wide area, but much of it is low density, low rise.

3 hours ago, newnative said:

Totally agree.  No way is Pattaya a suburb of Bangkok.   Greater Pattaya has become its own metro area, with it's own satellites.

There's not many gaps left to fill between Bangkok, Bang Pakong, Amata Nakhon, Chonburi, Leam Chabang and Pattaya. And yes, if you measure the urban sprawl that is Pattaya it covers nearly 7,000 hectares, so bigger than Surat Thani.

50 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

I have the SCB app

As do I, like other banking apps, on completion of a successful transfer it generates a transaction record that is saved to your phone, it also gives you the option to share that receipt.

13 hours ago, uttradit said:

I don't believe any of the population numbers.

If you don't believe the population numbers just use Google Earth and the polygon tool to measure the size of the urban area for each. By that metric Chiang Rai covers some 3,000 hectares, Surat Thani 6,000 and Hat Yai about 10,000. By comparison the greater Bangkok area covers over 250,000 hectares.

10 hours ago, uttradit said:

Hat Yai is smaller than Surat but bigger than Chiang Rai. Traffic in Hat Yai isn't bad. Surat is the biggest city in the south based on experience. I don't believe any of the population numbers.

No. Hat Yai is the largest metropolitan area in the south.