moogradod

I have always loved the lively athmosphere of these stalls on the walkways between Asoke and Soi 1. They not only did provide some livelyhood for the sellers - I think the tourists did like them as well. I do not believe that any of them did complain. All part of the wrong attitude to "clean" up the city like they did in Singapore - killing all the fun and leaving nothing but a sterile environment behind - like many have in their home countries and would want to leave behind to have a good time here. I have not been there for some years now but hope they left even a little bit of vendors and foodstalls alive. Maybe the responsible entities need some lessons of what is (was) lovable in Thailand and what is not. I think they really do not know and they think they are doing their best.

Most of the posts here are very negative towards the lucky woman who may own such a valuable bag. In my opinion this is pure envy. There is nothing "obscene" to posess such a bag at all. Do you know how much it costs to operate a 130m yacht ? Or an Airbus A380 (which one sheik calls his private airplane) ? There are people in this world who have money and some who dont. Besides a limited LV bag may even increase in value. Value in this case is the result of offer and demand - or how would you explain that some color on a canvas might fetch a whopping 100 Mio $ only because it was created by a Mr. van Gogh ? It does not even serve any tangible purpose. At least you may fly with a A380 and use a LV bag. We do not have so much money and frankly, even if we had, we would not spend 2.1 MTHB on a bag. But my wife has at least several bags and a purse from Maison Mollerus. There is no bragging behind that. This brand is - in comparison to LV - not very much known and the average Thai would not even know what this is and the material is even some kind of synthetic, not even leather. So it is not suited to create some admiration or display a higher status. But the items are of extremely good quality and beautiful. They cost far above what may be regarded as normal. But it is only for our own pleasure. Why do you not let the people who have enough dosh enjoy what they can afford without any second thoughts ?

When I was a young boy I put a thick layer of (what I thought) sugar on top of a halved grapefruit and eat it with a spoon. I spit it out violently because I did mistake salt for sugar. I did not forget this episode until today, probably nearly 60 years later. The interesting effect that I noticed and as well did not forget is the delay with which the experience sets in - because you are expecting sugar in your mind it takes a (although short but noticeable) while for your brain to discover that something is totally wrong here. Must have been the same with your "coffee".

I do not get out enough. This may be partly because I need a wheelchair for longer distances and hiking is no more (spent a long time in Switzerland where hiking is superb and I did it up and down many mountains and skiing in winter). And as my wife and myself like to eat our destinations are to a large extend determined by what food we can get. The next culinary tour (in Bangkok) is already in planning. We have seen the majority of temples and old buildings. But I know we both miss a lot. So this thread is more than welcome and you even have some nice photos. Thank you.

In my younger days I used to drink quite a lot. Oktoberfest without beer ? ???? Thailand Holiday without drinks ? Cocktail Mixing was even one of my hobbies and I did maintain a home cocktail bar with more than 160 different spirits and liquors and I visited a lot of the famous bars around the world just to try them out. With age the desire to drink became less and less. And now since I have a severe Cardyomyophaty alcohol can kill me. Although sometimes I like at least to drink a very very little bit. Extensive Dinner without multiple matching wines ? A No-No. But a sip for me and a gulp for my wife.

So you say that the Yellow Book is issued by the Tessaban without having visited the Amphoe beforehand. But once you have the Yellow Book you can apply for a Pink ID at the Ampoe. Did I understand that correctly ? And this applies as well to Chonburi, Tambon Pong or Pattaya and not only to Koh Samui (where everything might be much more "concentrated", maybe even in one building) ?

My God, are you lucky to have all this behind you. I could anyway not apply for citizenship (no working ever) and most probably I would have bitten the dust before everything was finished anyway. My parents passports ? They are both dead. But most probably they would ask for death certificates then, legalized by some British Authority ???? Legalization of your BC in your country of birth ? ... and then stamped by the Thai Embassy in London ? Did you need to hire a lawyer to do this for you ? Or could you organize this all from within the UK ? Lucky you however you did it.

A copy of passport is practically required for everything. But no need to visit the embassy for that. It was my country of birth that issued this document ! I find it rather strange if they would have to confirm that they did that.

I NEVER had to translate my passport to Thai in my 48 year history of travelling and staying in Thailand.

Your description differs tremendously in terms of complexity from any other testimonial. Especially the part "BIrth Certificate and Marriage Certificate endorsed as genuine by your embassy". I have a translated Marriage Certificate (we married in Switzerland) but not even sure where I could find my birth certificate. If you are right, then this is WOFTAM per square. Sometime later this year I will move from our condo to the new house of my wife. Then she would file a TM30 with Jomtien Immigration and that's it. The TM30 would then serve as my proof of residence (maybe for getting a Residence Cert. for extension of driving license etc. ) or for what ever I would need that.

May I ask if they did give you any medication for sleeping during the procedure? I have done many colonscopies during my life, some without anything, some with Dormicum, some with Propofol. Given the skills of the gastroenterologists as I have experienced here, I would never go for anything less than Propofol again. In Switzerland I could easily do it without anything and witness how my intestine looks like from the inside. But my hospital regards a Propofol sedation as equal to a full anestesia with charges of 60KTHB for the sedation alone, which is a joke since it can be done by a well trained nurse and it does not require a special anesthesist for such a short procedure which is not very deep and easily controlled (just life-sign monitor and having am antidote ready - safe as can be).

Never mind, thank you very much for answering at all ! So this means that it would make sense to 1. make an insurance for the house, in case it is flooded (unlikely), destroyed by fire (unlikely as well - I use gas only for my outdoor Wok Burner and the Grills) but one never knows. Or it might be damaged by a burglar attempt. It might only be a bit diificult to determine what the value of the house alone is (without land which was of course included in the sales price). Plus all the modifications (new kitchen room, 2 more aircons, artificial lawn (great !) and maybe Security Glass for every window. And then the Surveillance System, Siren Alarm, Blinds plus some more goodies. It adds up and it must all be insured even if subject to a small risk. 2. make an insurance for the contents. Now this might be very much more difficult. As posted before I tried to get such an insurance for our condo contents but got nothing then a total unprofessional and ridiculous rip-off approach, but I will try again with MSIG. If the contract I get seems to be fair I will conclude the insurance against burglary, fire, water for the contents, too. Unfortunately (or fortunately, just how you look at it) our contents are quite expensive. Always the same - you have a lot means you can loose a lot. I admire a monk, who has nothing but his robe and bowl for the food. No money, no expensive electronics, no guitar collection etc. etc. And no worries. But I will invest in a lot of security measures to ease my mind as much as possible. Thank you and may you never be targeted by burglary.

Is this your application for the most unuseful, unhelpful post of the month ? No other idea what could have been the purpose behind it. I really cannot understand the issue for you.

May I ask what kind of insurance you got ? For the house, for the contents or both ? And with what Insurance Company you did conclude it ? I tried once to conclude a household insurance for the contents of our condo, but although I did it through a very well known broker the results were ridiculous. The FIRST thing they wanted me to do is to pay. When I asked for the conditions and an insurance contract to check what I would pay for they told me I would not get any. And of course they would have played the old insurance game: Pay for the insurance and in case of fire, theft etc. THEY decide what they want to pay to compensate for the items affected. They did not agree on a list of items for which you agree on an insurance value (no depreciation of that as well) and in case of loss etc. this value would be due. On the other hand I would accept any premiums based on that agreement. I think this would be a very fair deal. Otherwise you almost certainly would have to argue about the compensation in case of an event and it is even unlikely that you had all invoices for everything at hand. And this compensation would again very most probably not allow you to replace the lost/damaged item. So for what have an insurance if it does not insure you that your loss is compensated and for what you have paid the premiums.

They broke into my condo in Switzerland once. It did not leave a big psychological trace. There a gangs from Rumania that come organized to the country and they will survey and inspect if and when someone is regularily leaving the house like for work etc. and if he stays alone. Then they are opportunists, if they cannot enter within 5 minutes they will go for someone else. They succeeded and took away my collection (of then legal) watch copies. This time it was allowed in Thailand to sell those high profile copies that nobody but a watchmaker could distinguish from the original even if we are talking about 30K$+ watches. I still have to smile if I imagine how the burglars tried to sell the watches as real ones. Hopefully they got their fair share ???? The rest, cameras etc. was insured anyway. But I thought this was a one time event and did nothing to secure the door. Until they tried it a second time much later but this time my wife and myself just came home so they fled the scene. They are clever and will choose a floor where there are possibilities both ways. And this time I saw what they tried: They tried to extract the cylinder of the (security) lock like you would pull a cork from a wine bottle. With machine power this is really possible. Because they fled I still could see the screw they forced into the cylinder. After that I bought a security door. About 140KTHB back then. But impossible to enter through the door and impossible to use the cork screw method as well and this door was the only entry point (apart from climbing up on the outside of the building). In Thailand door locks that I know are 70 year old technology. Not even Security Keys, to be opened with a so called spider in some seconds. The installation of the doors are as well more than questionable. As someone said before - if they want to enter they will. However just now we feel very secure in our condo here. Because of the really working Security measures the building has incl. a real Guard 24 hours, surveillance, electronic keys that let you operate the lift only with them. Then we live on a higher floor, anything of interest would have to be transported down as well. But soon we move to our own house with big windows on the ground floor etc. Even then we will make it very very difficult to enter. I am just in the process to install Security Glass which cannot be broken (The British Embassy in Laos uses the same material), install a Surveillance System with manually triggered 135dB siren and some more unfortunate goodies for any prospective intruder. Even the roof as entry point will not be forgotten. Bottom Line: Stay and take security measures. You may as well rent a security box outside of the house, no need for a safe then.

I am very eagerly waiting for the successor of Ubonjoe. What a jewel he was.

In case of Jomtien IO: How is the procedure if I move from a rented condo where my wife stays together with me now to her new house which is as well in Chonburi. She has a Blue Book already but has not acutally moved in yet. She will move first then I will move after my next extension to simplify matters. She mentioned that I would get a Yellow Book, but I am not sure if this is true. How could she file a TM30 if there is no document saying that I really stay at the new adress ? I am not renting from her so no rental contract. Or is her word and signature enough on the TM30 application for me ? Was there not another document only meant for adress change as well ?

Thank you. This is not unhelpful. So the material must be the big portion of the cost. I just fear it is more than a Million overall - but I would as well be prepared for that but if it approaches 1.5 - 2 Million .....

If you cannot extract what I mean nobody can help you.

And then her ruling could possibly be challenged at a higher instance if it is obviously wrong ? It cannot be that the whole case now depends on one single person despite obvious evidence - or is this OK in the US ? I would not be surprized.

Just ask yourself: Do you want a life like the Communist Party of China or Russia or North Korea or some Autocraties would want to impose on you ? I think the answer to that can help to determine what is right and wrong. Any other theories and sophisticated discussions are not necessary.

This is very good advice in all aspects. However, your case does not only involve money it seems. Given the other implications (everybody knows and they tried to change his behaviour) and given the fact that he obviously does not refrain from using violence (crashed your car), I think it is wise to follow option A. of @quake : Move. A bitter lesson but in the long run worthwhile.

27K is an amount we must not even think about. But I fear ten or twenty or 30 fold cost or more.This is a complicated glass, customized as well and even if the windows are not as big as I originally thought it is quite some surface. And part of it is imported (another word for "expensive"), like the frames. The team may lodge in any 4-5 star hotel in Pattaya. I would propose the Avani - when we came for holiday in the past this was the best we had ever tried. And they have an acceptable to good breakfast buffet. But so far they seem not even interested. My wife will call them tomorrow in Thai first and if it gets down to the details I will take over. Thanks for all this help from everybody. Hope I can make it.

And the world turned a blind eye when China devoured Tibet, killed millions and nearly a whole very precious culture. And China erects small islands in the South ChIna Sea to be able to claim sovereignty of the waters surrounding them according to international laws of what may be regarded as "your waters". I see a pattern emerging here - especially in view of Chinas history. Same like Putin with the small difference that the Russian guy seems to be not the smartest while Xi is. Start to learn Chinese folks. You or at least your decendends will need it. And as someone said before - all nations look first after themselves. But to explain somewhat warped politics all the time with the weapons business - for sure to some extend, but there must be more to it. If it were not so complicated then there would be much less problems.

Very well of course. In the same way Freedom and North Korea works (ask Kim Yong-Un) or Democracy and ..... ah, nah.... All depends on your viewing angle.