witold

I will agree that taxi drivers usually don't scam you. But when its raining and they have the upper hand things change. 

Oh yeah, absolutely.  I've been in situations where I literally asked 5+ drivers if they would use a meter to get me home late at night from a touristy destination and they refused to use the meter.  They wanted to charge a flat fare.  I would not call this a 'scam', though.  They are just refusing business.  That seems pretty fair to me.  

for the record:

-interest rates on cash TRY (Turkish Lira) are 5-6% depending on maturities.

-bonds denominated in TRY issued by AAA rated debtors yield ~8.25-8.75%

-transaction costs do not differ from other currency transaction costs.

-TRY at inception (end 2004) ~72 US-cents and today 72 US-cents (in between big fluctuations).

-TRY gained vs. US-Dollar 28% during the last 20 months.

my opinion: a newbie like the OP should not invest in high yield currencies without professional advice.

That's exactly my point... It is currency speculation/investing - which has little to do with having a dollar denominated high interest savings account. 

Obviously, I have no idea what Turkish currency is doing, or how it's doing.  My point is, there is nothing 'savings account' about it.  

It's utter stupidity to compare interest rates between countries as if 5% in country X meant the same as 5% in country Y. What you will see is that Turkey may offer 15% on their currency, but if you want to earn interest on dollars in Turkey, you are back to the same 3% you get in the States. The diffrence between 15% and 3% is simply Turkey's inflation and currency speculation. At the end of the year, you may have earned 15% on Turkish currency but when you exchange it for dollars you will get even less than 3% equivalent because of transaction costs. If you did end up ahead, it will be strictly because of currency speculation.

Your contradicting yourself.

Not at all. In Thailand, Taxi drivers rarely screw you over, especially if you are outside of the tourist zones, and if they do, it isn't for much. In many other developing countries, vast majority of Taxi drivers will try to screw you over, and for much bigger surcharge. It is a huge difference in the prevalence and extent of the problem. People complaing about Thailand don't seem to get out much outside of their home in EU/US and Thailand.

OP, your assessment and perception is wrong on this...

Think about it... Thais are building block after block of new developments. New condos and new houses are springing up everywhere. They seem to have no problem selling.

So why are your neighbors having trouble selling? There is one reason: Price. They simply want too much. If they offer their property at a more attractive price, they can sell it in a month, a week, or a day and get multiple cash offers. It all comes down to price.

The exact same thing is happening in my hometown of Washington DC. You see many delusional people trying to sell their sub-par property for 2005 bubble prices and so the property lingers on the market for years. At the same time, you see people pricing their property more realistically and getting multiple offers within a week. I'm shopping around for a house right now, and the 3 properties I wanted to buy for full asking prices all had multiple offers within a week.

OP, it sounds like you are just looking for trouble. Eventually, you will find it. Hopefully, you won't get your head kicked in too bad. There is a difference between standing up for yourself, and simply looking for a fight.

I don't know why it seems so hard for you to ask the driver to put the meter on, or not take the cab that refuses to do so? It seems like you've been around Thailand for a lot longer than I and still haven't learned this simple rule of thumb.

Personally, I've found BKK taxis to be VERY fair and honest compared to other developing countries. It is not even close. All you have to do is not take the taxis from right outside tourist spots/hotels, use the meter, and you will find that vast majority of these guys are just great. This is in contrast to 2 months ago when I was in Bogota, and at least 2/3rds of the cabs drivers tried to screw me - either overcharging me straight up, or taking me the long way - and the overcharge was always _much_ bigger than the typical Thai overcharge.

Is Versys just a restyled ER-6?

Is the suspension adjustable, or is it just set up soft from the factory. This would explain the 'softer' feel.

Lastly, do you guys expect these to be available for rent in all the places that currently have a fleet of Er-6s? I would presume so... I am not in Thailand right now....

Sorry about your situation and i do sympathise but This is Thailand !

The OP must be from a very socialist Euro country if he thinks the employer needs to give him and his family plane tickets, many months of freebie compensation, compensation for 'distress', etc, etc. In other parts of the world - including the US - none of these things apply. If you are no longer needed at your workplace, you are dismissed with 2 weeks notice, and you look for another position elsewhere. Certainly, This is not just Thailand!

You have not mentioned how much money your current lifestyle costs you. Some people live pretty frugally and they could easily retire on this amount. For others, this is hardly enough.

You can't just divide up the current monthly interest by the expected numbers of years you will live. Costs go up every year and they will continue to go up. 100K baht won't last you a week 20 years from now.

Lastly, below is the biggest mistake people make:

So if you invest your money well, you can live off the interest alone.

People confuse 'investing' with 'interest'. You can't safely collect more than ~3%+ interest anywhere in the world unless you are the beneficiary of currency speculation/fluctuation. (which is investing/speculation.)

So you need to invest this money in something you feel comfortable investing in. In general, the riskier the investment, the higher the potential rate of return. (and the higher the chance of losing money.) That's what it comes down to.

The big question is, are you eligible for retirement benefits back in the UK? This is a huge windfall and safety net if you ever find yourself in financial bind.

Personally, I would try to take a job in Asia that pays for my expenses, or at least most of my monthly expenses. Even if you take a crappy teaching job for 40K/month, you can cover rent. That is a huge positive impact that stops the bleeding from your portfolio principle.

Taking someone's passport seems to be standard procedure in some places.

When you rent a motorcycle, you always have to leave your passport. (I mean a real motorcycle, not a scooter.) I have never heard of a place that _doesn't_ require a renter to leave their passport. If anyone knows of a place that rents 'big bikes' without having to leave your passport I would like to hear about it.

In the U.S. it's common for a girl say in the 5th or 6th grade pushing a baby stroller around at school.

Sometimes, it is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, then to open it and remove all doubt. You would be best served employing this strategy.

Your statement is beyond ridiculous. Your perception of the US must be based entirely on Tabloids.

Five bank accounts? Guess Thai authorities haven't heard anything about the Russian mafia so far?

Amazingly, they can bring their prostitutes into Thailand without a passport or any other ID. Just because the Thais like Russian hores?

Mafia wars and real estate business. money laundering and there's no end. At least local cops are making good money too....... :jap:

Is it really that hard to believe that some crimes are much more serious and will not be tolerated?

Secondly bad, evil, deceitful and treacherous people come from all areas of the world irregardless of ethnicity, religion, origin, sexual preference, or gender. Mafia's or organized crime syndicates are found everywhere too, I am sure that this is the case from where you come from, as I am certain someone from your country has gone to another person country and committed a crime. That is the sad part of everyday reality. It is also unfortunate when ignorance and misinformation, justifies some peoples presumption that all people from one nationality can be lumped into the same category. Many people from South America and Central America, are actually honest, law abiding, and hard working citizens.

I think you are missing the point.

No one is saying that _all_ Colombians are criminals. Clearly, this is not the case and vast majority of Colombians live ordinary lives and are perfectly respectable people who have to deal with their crappy security situation also.

The point is that Colombia (and South America) has a LOT of bad people - MUCH more than in the USA for example. People in Colombia are very poor, very desperate, and they are more accepting of violence as they have been exposed to it via various conflicts. I've been to Colombia and some other SA countries. Security problems permeate every aspect of your life. Lots of places you can't go to at night, and lots and lots of very violent crimes. There is a good reason why people in Bogota build fortress walls around their prison houses... complete with shard glass in concrete at the top. There is good reasons why people are very careful where they go after 4pm and avoid taking random taxis on the street. There is good reason why my Colombian friends in US don't want to go back there. The list of security precautions ordinary Bogotans take to live their ordinary lives is very long.

The point, if you need it spelled out, is that security and crime situation is much worse in Colombia than Thailand. It is not even close. I've crisscrossed almost the whole country of Thailand and wondered around everywhere at all hours of the day and security was never an issue. Not once. In contrast, in Colombia you simply can't go to a lot of places. You can't go to even more places as a white guy. And you can't go to a ton of places after dark. It's just a bad idea. In Thailand, you may bet pick-pocketed. In Colombia, you may get stabbed to death before or after they take all your stuff. Thankfully kidnapping situation improved in recent years... at least for foreigners, but that in itself speaks volumes, doesn't it? (BTW, I was robbed by 3 armed men in Bogota just 2 months ago...)

Yes, I know you are trying to defend Colombia and I agree that a word needs to be said that vast majority of Colombians are nice people. But saying that there are criminals in every country and Colombia is no different is completely missing the point. Colombia is much worse in terms of the crimes committed and the frequency of these crimes.

Is this how Saudi princess roll?  With 200lbs of gold and 20mil+ in jewels?  

Or did the guy have some sort of jewelry business?  

It's a nice camera, but I was really hoping they would announce D700 replacement instead of this!

Thais see us as infinitely wealthy.

Sad to say that the Thais have embraced too many 'western' standards, greed being taken to heart as No 1.

I've been in Thailand 20 years and never have I seen society so split. In lots of respects it's cheaper back home.

And yes, I love this country!

In lots of respects it's cheaper back home.

Uh I don't know about that. Still can't build a 176 meter house in the states for $48,000 Including labor. Comparing McDonalds to Mcdonalds maybe. Florida is hella expensive to live in right now especially if you got a mortgage to pay & no job to pay it. Land is a better bargain in Maui Hawaii but you still can't build anywhere near as cheap . $10.00 per day labor compared to ball park $50.00 an hour $400.00 per day & that does not the include the contractors fee either.

There's a ton of old houses in middle America for 50K and less. A TON.

"Of Thailand's 64 million people, only 9 million submit tax payment forms to the Revenue Department. Of this number, only 2.3 million actually pay taxes, while the other 7 million are exempt from paying taxes because they receive tax benefits. Of the 2.3 million taxpayers, only 60,000 pay the highest progressive tax rate of 37 per cent."

At what income does the top 37% income tax bracket kick in?

Well, if you haven't networked yourself into a job already after 2 internships/1 year in Thailand, then you shouldn't expect to somehow find a job now. It seems like you should have a better idea of how things work in Thailand by now.

International Business/Languages is a generic degree that doesn't offer any specific technical skill to employers. As such, you are competing with a ton of well educated and well connected Thais with similar skills. As you know, even many 7/11 girls have college degrees here. The question you have to ask yourself is: why am I worth 50000 baht when a Thai will do the same thing and put in more hours for 18K, without the hassle of getting work permits, etc? If you can answer this question to yourself, then you know your next step.

Most westerners are either managers with many years experience, have techie skills, started their own business, or teach English. Thailand is not a place to go as a new graduate.

We should just make Bangkok exactly the same as London. That's what all you whiners seem to want?

Personally, I like the moto taxis are they are. They are quite convenient and very cheap. People who overpay are basically subsidizing people who refuse to overpay.

Before anything happens, Thailand defamation and libel laws need to be revisited.

As it stands, you can't even post a truthful negative review of an establishment on Thai Visa because the power that be are afraid of getting sued.

What do you think happens to reporters that expose corruption and shady practices? They seem to get run out of Thailand pretty quickly when they go against the ruling party line.

Daily life is boring. Who wants to watch that?

People want to see something different with lots of action plots and turns. Soap Operas in other countries are exactly the same.

Thailand isn't the only place with silly special effects and low production values.

Some of your comments make Thai people sound stupid, where in fact, it seems like it might be you who is just plain ignorant if you believe what you say.

You fail to grasp the relevance of endangered species. Do you want to live in a world where all the mega-fauna have been wiped out? Where our children can never again marvel at some of the most outstanding creations of nature, can never wake up in the mornings knowing that the natural ecosystem is thriving, and with that the support it offers them as humans is also thriving? You who value animals and nature as less than humans, repeatedly fail to see our place in the scheme of nature. We overcome it at our peril.

Morons, those of you with such wrong view. I should feel sorry for you, but really... In opposing nature, you oppose the support it affords us as humans. That makes you less compassionate towards humans. And in denying other species space on this planet, you diminish it for all of us.

Vast majority of people have never seen any of these species in natural habitat and never will. Your 'children' are not going to venture into the jungle to see them either. Don't kid your self. If you want to see any of these animals, you go to the zoo. Same for your kids.

Animals ARE less then humans. Our place in nature is to be at the very top doing things as we like, precisely because we are at the top. If something backfires on us, we can reintroduce these species into wildlife, but I hardly see a huge benefit for having wild tigers - save for your romanticised appeal of your children seeing wild animals in the wild.

Maybe you should tell that to the Chinese companies making BMWs and other so called "higher class" cars?

Can you remember when the Japanese and Koreans were rubbished for their inferior "copies" Now of course lead the world.in many things.

Yeah, I know, China has an Intel chip factory too with 0.0000000001 failure rates. This means nothing. We are talking about low-end motorcycles here, and so far they have failed every time they tried.

And like I said earlier, I hope they eventually succeed. We could all use cheaper bikes.

Although for the guys living in LOS, your time would be better spent complaining about taxes and import duties. For the price you pay for comparatively crappy Er6, I can get a top of the line engineering in a Gsxr 600 package in the USA.

The documentary follows the story of a little girl who escaped Vietnam during the war and was adopted and raised in the US. Now an adult, she wants to meet her Vietnamese mother and family.

First half of the documentary sets the tone and the background. Second half is where it starts to get exceptionally good.

Definitely one of the best documentaries I have watched in a while.

I can watch it on Hulu but it may be blocked for some of you.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/69787/pbs-indies-daughter-from-danang#s-p2-so-i0

Nice report, kf6vci!

BKK-CM ride is not too bad actually. It takes a while to get out of the concrete jungle, but it gets nice fairly quickly. Just stick as far west as you can.

105 between Mae Sot and Tak *IS* the best motorcycle road I have been on in Thailand. (If you like sportbike, knee dragging quality curves, that is.) Highly recommended.