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 !

54 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Closing time for venues within entertainment zones in Pattaya was extended to 4am 2yrs ago.

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! 

4 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

 

Someone please correct me but what are the bar hours in the UK  and most U.S. states  I do ont think that there are many bars that are open until 4 legally

 

So how can yousay it is backwards.  

 

As to the 4 am close I know that bars still sell up until 3 

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.. 

12 minutes ago, madmitch said:

As most places in Thailand are not even geared up for contactless card payments I can't see this initiative being too successful.

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.. 

48 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

10 M will not kill the clan. Just a dent in their assets.

So I expect Paetongtarn to act as required. With gritted teeth probably. 🥰

10 BILLIONS, not 10 Millions... 😉 

16 hours ago, dinsdale said:

I've had excellent red wines (shiraz) in Aus for under Bt700 so under Aus$30. Bt15,000 is around Aus$700. This is top shelf stuff. BTW Australian wines are very, very good.

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! 

18 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

Try reducing the high taxation on imported spirits & wine this would help considerably !!!

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 !! 

Phuket again... it's almost every week now that we read such news about Phuket... 

I think they even encourage   denunciation for thai people as I see 2 sentences written in thai only with phone numbers.. 😡

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Did you pay the park warden direct?

The guides like to charge the foreigner price, then give the warden the Thai price.

 

The last time I went to Koh Samet I refused to pay the park price on the boat, they phoned the park warden to meet the boat as they had a problem foreigner. I handed the park warden my Thai D/L and the Thai price, as I exited the boat, which he took, returned my D/L and walked away.

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.. 

1 minute ago, Ben Zioner said:

And what's the point of a holiday without a great lunch/dinner with decent wine in an air-conditioned venue.

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. 

14 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

The story is right.. Only read the stories about the netizens how they complain about foreigners, the no available infrastructure as public toilets, and safety travel options.. the double pricing, the paperwork for visa and extensions, 90 days and address notifications and name it. The justice that several times ruled only in favor of the netizens with a reason as a farang has more money so he can pay more, the unfriendly immigration at the airport, the alcohol sales and buying hours, the expensive THB and many many more. People will say oh it is only a bit but the toal package makes Thailand an unwelcoming destination, supported by the government with Anutin who declared several times already that he don't like the foreigners.. And reading here on Aseannow, we can read many times, that the netizens rather want to get rid of us, as they see us as a thread to destroy the Thai culture....Sadly enough they don't see what they are doing wrong and that other Asean countries are happy to welcome the tourists now  

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. 

17 hours ago, redwood1 said:

So we will be buying imported wine real cheap soon right?

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.. 😂 

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 ?