cedel

in Pattaya, bars and clubs have already been closed last week-end Saturday 31 at 5 or 6 pm till Sunday 1st Feb also 6 pm so will it be open today or closed also for example I-bar walking street ?

they should better start to do similar in western Europe 🇪🇺 😁 hehe !

but clubs like Insomnia, Pattaya always and still close a 6:30 am, not 4 am, even a few years ago when they supposed to close at 2 or 2:30 am.. unless the police (from Bkk?) raid the club to make sure they close on time, and all the people who just bought a bottle are pissed of because maybe they will not have time to come again an other night to finish this expensive bottle!

in Belgium, France and probably most if not all European countries, there are no mandatory closing time I think as it is not rare to see clubs or bars still open at 6 or 7 am or later ... if there are still customers..

and wines, spirits etc

that has nothing to see, Thailand have established everywhere payments by QR code, including in street merchants to buy a phad thai, a thai roti or a kebab..

A lot of Californian wines are good, like Zinfandel rosé for example, only 2.49 €/bottle (92.90 Baht) by 6 bottles in LIDL in Germany.. and this include transport, VAT, import duties if any, and the supermarket profit.. so Thailand could do better, the cheapest bottle of wine in Thailand, is not even real wine but "fruit wine", a wine with some fruit juice added to lower the taxes.. but it is still 279 or 299 Baht by Makro and Big C!!

and also on many imported current products like wines, cheese etc... even much more than 80%

10 BILLIONS, not 10 Millions... 😉

15000 B for a bottle of wine in Thailand is just extortion, limit scam because the same bottle in Laos, Cambodia, Europe or Australia costs probably "only" around 2000-3000 Baht!

plus abolish the stupid ban related to the time of purchase (known as 2-5 PM ban).. but also 00-11 AM ban..! This is really, but really annoying when you lose 1 or 2 hours in the traffic to go shopping afternoon and you are prohibited to buy a bottle of wine... counter productive! Nobody will lose time and money to come back again after 5pm !!

no, but at 1st, I refused to pay the 200, and the guide said he was not aware that I could pay also 40 B with a thai DL, so he said he will phone and enquire.. after 10 minutes, he said that it does not work, and that I had to pay 200 B... I did not want to start to make problems for 5-€..so, I paid..

it did not work last Saturday in Krabi: I was with my thai gf, and to enter a "national park" (some islands), foreigners had to pay 200 B, and thai 40, I contested the price and said that I was resident and showed my thai driving license.. but the guide after calling said that I still had to pay 200 B, while my gf paid only 40B

another example : the floating market in Pattaya used to be free 15 years ago for everybody, but a few years later, they wanted to charge me an entry fee because I was foreigner.. so, I simply did not go there anymore.. and boycotted this place.

a decent wine? When you can find a selection of wines, but it is rare in Thailand and 2 or 3 times the price of what you can find in plenty of restaurants in Spain... for example.

And you forgot to mention the tax and lawyer burden for more than 180 days in Thailand... and the constantly changing rules enforced or not enforced.. it makes me remind of me maybe in 2018 or 2019, after coming more than 10 years in my own condo, and as I wanted a 30-days extension, I was forced for the 1st time to pay a "fine" of 2000 B (before to pay the 1900B for extension) because I did not come to "report my adress" that they had since 10 years already, and that immigration had also on my tourist visa asked 2 months before plus on my TM6 card that I had to fill before entering Thailand.. They had installed 3 desks with 3 girls in the 1st room left when you enter Jomtien immigration.. They found a new way to make money because they started to "enforce" an old law for hotel owners that they applied also to condo owners.. without prior notice and many people were surprised and had to pay... When they handed me a small paper with this law that existed already long time but was not enforced, I told them "But this is for hotel owners, me as a condo owner, why should I report myself ? I have notified my adress when I asked for my Visa in Belgium, and also on my TM6 card before landing and passing immigration at the airport!" They just told me "This is not the same" 😤😡😠 So, I needed only 7 or 10 days extension and if I did no agree to pay the 2000 B fine, I had to leave Thailand in the 24 hours.. So I paid 2000B+1900B for the 30-days extension.., in total: 3900 baht only for 7 or 10 days.. I can tell that I was feeling SCAMMED, because nobody told me before.. and for many years, I came to Pattaya, and never had to go to Jomtien immigration in the 24 to 48 hours after a tiring flight to "report my own adress" in my own condo.!!! That was really not fair.

knowing the thais, they could reduce tariffs only on US wines but increase them or leave them as high as they already are on French, Italian, Spanish and Australiab wines.. 😂

and the same on wines, champagne and imported products (cheese, cold cuts etc)

Isn't the system, like in Europe , linked to how many years you have worked in an entire carreer ? Is there not a possibility to get "pre-pension" or early retirement? Is this passed in the law and the royal gazette already or just a proposal ? Is the age of 64 only for thai men, and not for women ? My girlfriend who has worked her whole life maybe since her 17 or 18 years is employed as an accountant in a big thai printing company, she is 51 and told me 2 months ago that she would be retired or could get a pension at the age of 55 !!?? I understand that for the men only it was 60 and for the women it was 55, like it was in Europe at least in Belgium maybe 35 or 40 years ago , the legal age was 60 years for women and 65 for men in Belgium unil 1997, but later progressively until 2009 they put 65 for both , and now increasing to 66 and then to 67 ...maybe that will also worsen soon with the formation of a new government because also here we look desperately to save money and reduce our debts... A remark thogh: here (I think also in most western countries), we can stop to work a few years before the legal age if your carreer is long enough but you will receive less pension. My thai gf also told me that she could choose between 2 systems: - 1: Low allocation (pension) with higher or free medical care or 2-: Higher pension with less medical care Who is right, who is wrong ? I read above that the they will jump from 60 to 65, I guess then for women from 55 to 60 ? but this site says 55 for both men and women (!?) https://bdeex.com/ratings/countries-pensage/ After some research I see on internet contradicory informations. The age would have been harmonized some time ago to both 60 for men and women, but if some employees or employers (?) have contributed to the SSO, it seems the earlier age would be 55 ? I read also on some pages abouth ranking of pensions by countries (Thailand nr 105, Norway nr1) that the average pension in Thailand would be 160-180€ /month (!)=170 $ ( https://bdeex.com/ratings/countries-pensions/) while on other websites only 600-700 baht/month increasing with the age until 90 years old, which would be only like 17€/month..? But as the rules and the governments change all the time, who knows what will happen in Thailand ?

"As the saying says" Better safe than sorry "...

Look at the price of a San Miguel in the Pillippines in a 7/11,if I remember good the equivalent of 25 baht.. how much is the same beer with the high taxes and duties in Thailand? I think around 60 B!

I agree 100%... They want more money in the economy.. but they are "shortsighted", like with the 300 B rapid but unpopular tax on arrival.. they never think twice or for the long term ! If we would have to pay tax or report all assessable income, we would still not have right to free medical care, to single (not double unfair pricing) , to buy a land and a house in full legality without having to risk problems or losing a lot of money with thai nominees if they really want it, and don't forget the rich political powerful men with the 25 "borrowed" watches Rolex, Cartier, etc worth billions Baht, they never pay taxes those people.. and all their friends without telling any names, the same injustice.. ppl will know.. That would be more than unfair to tax ppl only if they stay over 180 days in Thailand 🇹🇭 !

Anyway, the regulations and taxes are not clear and change every time, even and mostly in Thailand about crypto's, so nobody knows for sure how they will be taxed when using those crypto's to buy goods... Again, depending on redsidence

I know also a few people exactly in the same situation, and it's the same for me : I delayed my return in Thailand to December because I soent already almost 5 months this year in LOS and until we don't have any certainty, I prefer not to take risks and stay at maximum 179 days.. The tax laws are also not the same in Europe, even if you spend 9 or 10 months out of the country, for my country, you have your house and belongings and income or investments in the country, you remain taxable in your native country.. so, I don't want hassles and risks of having too pay more taxes and lawyer fees than I did until now!