JeffreyC

C'mon, anybody with a recommendation? Can't be that hard to find a good carpenter in Chiangmai?

We'd need a carpenter or carpentry-company to produce the kitchen furniture, entrance door and designer furniture which needs to be fitted into a new condo in Chiangmai. Preferably English-speaking.

Hi,

I am planning to bring my 6 dogs over from the UK to Samui and am looking for the cheapest and best way.

Cheapest: accompanied baggage with airberlin @120EUR/nose. Don't know why they charged me 120, it was always 60EUR. Nevertheless, Thai Airways might charge up to 50 EUR/kg which makes this option very, very expensive. Fly direct to BKK under all circumstances to avoid above mentioned problems with customs/agents and to avoid possible problems with connecting flights. This way you eliminate risks and keep the stress and time in the box short for your dogs.

Can anyone tell me about import permits for dogs. I have been told I need these and that they last for 45 days.

Definitely, not needed. At least not if you import them as accompanied baggage.

Also, on this thai website it says they must go into quarantine, http://www.dld.go.th...ve/menu31e.html is this true or just old information ?

Theoretically, and if the veterinarian deems it's necessary, they can make the dog go to quarantine. Here in this forum this case has never been reported.

Lastly, I hope to stay for 15 + years but does anyone know if I could bring the dogs back to the UK if it is needed in the future. I heard it was possible to fly them back to France.

Thanks

If you want to take them back to the UK, they will definitely have to go to quarantine. I have heard it is expensive, also.

If you re-import them into the EU, they will need to be chipped, have all vaccinations and shots preferably in their EU-pet passport and you'd need a anti-rabies certificate of a blood test where the dog has shown sufficient anti-bodies (called an "antibody titration") to certify that the rabies vaccination has worked. This test can only be performed by EU-vets (not sure, check on this) and there are only a few laboratories in Europe which are able to certify this for your purposes. This certificate is good for the entire life of the dog, provided that the anti-rabies vaccinations have been renewed as scheduled (yearly, usually). There must be 4 weeks between the date of vaccination and the blood test.

Also, you will need bilingual veterinary certificate that the dog is healthy, safe to travel, doesn't show signs of infections or infectious deseases, etc. See http://ec.europa.eu/...o10767r4_en.doc

You might want to use google for further information on this. The internet is full of information on how to import a pet into the EU.

Btw, I have landed in BKK yesterday with my dog. Very fast and friendly treatment as usual. This time I was received right after exiting the gate by an airport employee who quickly explained me the procedure: pass immigration, get your luggage, get your dog from the bulky luggage pick up and walk to Z8, where you will find the airport's vet's office. I was always escorted from airport officials or airberlin employees and the vet issued the importation forms. They charged 100 BHT.

Then I was walked to the customs department, to the red exit (things to declare). They checked the papers the vet just issued, asked for the length of my stay (less than 90 days) and allowed me to pass. If it is more than 90 days, they would have asked me to pay import duties.

As always, I grabbed a taxi to take me to Chiangmai. It was easy to find someone to take us right there. The price with 7000 BHT quite reasonable and have saved my dog another flight.

One last advice: think of this step to move to Thailand very well. It's not only very hard to get here, but it will be very hard for you to take the dogs back to the UK, if you ever want to go back. Last but not least, Thailand is full of dogs of Farangs who can't take care of them anymore as their life plans change. The human's life goes on but here other people will have to take care of their leftover dogs. See the page of this organization.

5yrs ago we flew from heathrow to Don Muang (Bkk) with our 2 German Shepherds on Thai Airways. The dogs went cargo and arrived unbeknown to us in the cargo terminal when we had been told to collect them from conveyor belt 1. Anyway, it took us just over 6hrs to get our dogs as they wanted 76,000 baht, at this point we were not even allowed to see them or know that they were ok. A thai friend eventually bargained over the phone down to 46,000 baht. No receipt was issued and this money was divided up in front of us between the several thai men and went straight into their wallets. It was an awful experience but i was just glad to walk away with my dogs, who by the way were both in an air con room when we finally got to see them and were fine. Our nerves on the other hand were in tatters!

We were talking of two different things which cannot be compared: importation or entry of accommpanying "baggage". It is a huge difference if you have the dogs as accompanied baggage or cargo, and I would never send a dog as cargo for the reasons below:

• if it's cargo, then corrupt cargo agents will take care of the importation paperwork (and take your dog hostage) and that will make it as expensive as it can get. Have in mind that jobs in customs or the right to work as an airport cargo agent are being sold to the highest bidder.

• if it's accompanied baggage, the dogs go to the bulky baggage area directly and a vet in the baggage belt area will issue the papers you need to pass customs. The vets are as "harsu" described, professional and courteous.

So we were talking of two different things which cannot be compared: importation or entry of accommpanying "baggage".

@Lenamay: If you fly direct from DUS or FRA to BKK with Airberlin you will most likely avoid the trouble other posters had up there. It seems they had a cargo agent taking care of the importation. Agents are notoriously charging what they can get, different from the government vets at the arrival airport.

When flying, the dogs are like passengers in a pressure environment of approx. 8000 ft. which makes them incredibly sleepy and indifferent, so the only stressful time is loading, starting and landing and unloading. Each stop will cause stress to your dog which you can avoid by flying direct. Also, there is always a bit more of probability that the crate gets dropped, put onto the wrong plane or gets to your destination later than you. Not to forget the fact that your dogs might get into the hands third persons who will make this incredibly expensive.

We took a taxi from BKK to CNX to avoid another loading and unloading and paid 6000 BHT for a 700 km taxi ride to Northern Thailand.

Make sure your dog is trained to sleep in the crate and accepts it as its den. You will make the trip a lot easier for your dog.

We have travelled several times to Thailand with our dog always making sure that his documentation was exceptionally well prepared complying with every legal requirement. I never paid more than hundred BHT in fees and have always left the airport building within minutes after passing immigration.

In BKK, the crate was picked up near the bulky baggage area and there is a vet's office in the baggage claim area where they checked the paperwork and cashed the taxes. (2007)

In Chiangmai I arrived late one night and passed with the dog but without entering the vet's office as it was closed. A customs' officer asked us to pass by next day, which we did. We then presented the paperwork only, paid the tax and left.(2009)

Once we entered Don Muang and just walked right through without seeing any vet. (2010)

I am not sure where the 13k BHT went the Kiwi paid, but it all looks like a major rip-off. To my knowledge, there is no such fee and I would request a receipt and complain utterly.

Wise words from <justmaybe>. Rent first and get some understanding of the property market here before you commit your hard-earned cash on a purchase.

Rgds

Very true. And I would like to add that a typical local rent is of such a small nominal value that it very often will not re-imburse you for the phone calls you have to make to sort out smaller or bigger issues with the administrator.

You want to rent out long-term? Fine. But you will not make use of the condo yourself.

You want to rent out short-term? Fine. But you will need a trustworthy administrator to take care of that part of the business.

Sometimes it is tempting to invest in a foreign country because you fill every lack of knowledge with hopeful imagination. But the business here is harder than anywhere in the Western world.

You can make money out of anything and with everything, if you just put enough effort into it. Even the craziest idea like the ones mentioned will work, if you work your *** off and stick with this business for years. Now, that is not what you wanted to hear, right? Well, you want something effortless? - Wrong country! In a country where people will work 12 hours for a few hundred Bahts, there is no way to make more except by working more.

I would go to a country where your business will have more outcome and visit Thailand on holiday. Generally saying, there are good reasons why the Thai government wants to have its own people working and not Farangs. Never good to try to run a business against the expressed wish of a government. I am sorry I cannot be anymore positive.

I have seen him last time 4 years ago in London and he was still in great shape. Now, he must be the hardest working man in show business....

Not a bad offer at all. I just wonder why they didn't inform me. Have been flying with them for quite a while now....