lovedog100

I hate to do it, everyone knows how much I love my Vmax. But I'm going home for 3-4 months, I don't want to impose on a friend to store my motorcycle, so it's up for sale. 1996, black, good Green Book, registered in Chonburi tax and insurance paid a few months ago. I'll through in a couple of helmets, oil filters, owners manual. 150,000 baht

I'm hoping this guy takes my house. I'd like to be in the same house when I get back from the states :)

Interesting. As I remember it, I was in FLB the night of the now famous Mulphy bottling. Several rockhouse customers got up and left, then came to FLB. Maybe Mulphy is confused, as it seems that FLB is the place his customers go to escape violence.

I think Pattaya will be as fun as always for you. I wouldn't worry to much about flooding here. It does happen, but Pattaya is close to the sea, and it drains away fairly fast. If you were going to do a tour of Thailand I might say rethink that, but Pattaya is fine. There are shortages because of the floods, however the government has removed import tariffs for those needed items. I would expect them to start arriving soon. Right now I think some hording is going on, as well as fear buying. Since the flooding has started, I haven't seen anyplace closes it's doors other than one day due to floods, or shortages. There are still lots of ladies, food, drink, and things to do.

Wow, not sure why you went at me, but I'll answer. I don't ever remember having a kettle in a Thailand hotel. Every US hotel I've been had a coffee pot with coffee and tea, but can't say that here. Maybe I didn't look, or notice since they don't supply coffee, it was useless as the hair dryer for me. I will state that boiling, just like adding bleach will not take out the metals, solids, or chemicals. I do drink coffee, tea, and soup, as well as use Ice. When I do, it's either made from bottled water, or they have an onsite osmosis unit. Every ice manufacturer in Pattaya has an osmosis unit. Every cube of Ice I've even had made in my hotel or my home was made with bottled water. I often have coffee at Starbucks who has an osmosis unit, and Tigglebitties, who always use bottled water. Where did you hear this shit? Even bar girls know enough to use bottled water to make ice or coffee, I've watched them do it. I've had soup at hot pot places that are nothing more than bamboo poles with a grass roof, and watched them fill the pots with bottled water. Even my mother in law who probably has no more than a third grade education, uses bottled water for cooking. Did you just make up this in your head because you haven't actually looked to see where the water you were putting in your mouth came from? I have to ask this, you brought it up. You really boil water to make ice? You are to cheap to pay 7 baht for a bottle of water? Lots of hotels give two bottles a day for free. From Wikipedia: Thailand had less available water per person than any other country in Asia, and nearly one third of its water was “unsuitable for human consumption.” Unconsumable water was also a result of increasing untreated domestic sewage, industrial wastewater and solid hazardous wastes. Since you seem to have the answers... How much lead, mercury and arsenic is in Pattaya tap water? How much does boiling take out?

I have a feeling, that you have never stayed in a 4 star hotel. Hotelstar Excerpt of the catalogue of criteria Tourist 100% of the rooms with shower/WC or bath tub/WC - Daily room cleaning - 100% of the rooms with colour-TV together with remote control - Table and chair - Soap or body wash - Reception service - Facsimile at the reception - Publicly available telephone for guests - Extended breakfast - Beverage offer in the hotel - Deposit possibility Superior Tourist The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The bathroom facilities are usually at the same level as for two stars hotels but built from cheaper materials. The cost for regular inspection by independent associations is waived as well. Standard In addition to the single star (*) hotels: - Breakfast buffet - Reading light next to the bed - Bath essence or shower gel - * Bath towels - Linen shelves - Offer of sanitary products (e.g. toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving kit) - Credit Cards Superior Standard The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The Standard-Superior does usually offer the same service level as three-star hotels but the interiors of the hotel are smaller and cheaper so that the three stars were not to be awarded by the inspection body. A two-star superior does not require mystery guesting. Comfort In addition to the standard star (**) hotels: - Reception opened 14 hours, accessible by phone 24 hours from inside and outside, bilingual staff (e.g. German/English) - Three piece suite at the reception, luggage service - Beverage offer in the room - Telephone in the room - Internet access in the room or in the public area - Heating facility in the bathroom, hair-dryer, cleansing tissue - Dressing mirror, place to put the luggage/suitcase - Sewing kit, shoe polish utensils, laundry and ironing service - Additional pillow and additional blanket on demand - Systematic complaint management system Superior Comfort The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The accommodation facilities for a superior hotel need to be on a modern level and fully renovated which is checked regularly. First Class In addition to the comfort star (***) hotels: - Reception opened 18 hours, accessible by phone 24 hours from inside and outside - Lobby with seats and beverage service - Breakfast buffet or breakfast menu card via room service - Minibar or 24 hours beverages via room service - Upholstered chair/couch with side table - Bath robe and slippers on demand - Cosmetic products (e.g. shower cap, nail file, cotton swabs), vanity mirror, tray of a large scale in the bathroom) - Internet access and internet terminal - "À la carte"-restaurant

Krugerrands are 22k, not 24k. The price over spot doesn't matter that much, what matters more is the difference between buy and sell prices. I bought Maple Leaf's because the were 24k and they had the smallest difference between buy and sell prices. At the time it was $43, now it looks like all the coins have a difference of about $80. For investment purposes it doesn't matter much if you buy the eagle at today's price of $1803 or the Maple Leaf at $1784 when you sell the Eagle you lose $82 and selling the Maple Leaf you lose $81 That difference is only .0005% I will agree to the premise that the Maple Leaf should be the better investment because of the 22k and 24k difference. You would be paying less and getting more gold. In the west, it doesn't seem to make much difference, considering the 22k coin sells for more. The OP was asking about bringing to Thailand, I would think that the Maple Leaf would be worth more here, but I don't know that to be true. I haven't found anyplace in Thailand that buys and sells coins. Nor have I gone to a gold shop to see if they would pay any difference between one coin and the other. In the gold shops I have been in, I looked, but have never seen a gold coin in one. It's doubtful that a shop owner would know the difference between one, and the other, but maybe. Today's gold price in Thailand for 1 baht of 23k gold is 24850 Baht per Baht weight, which is 1/2 an ounce. Double that to make an ounce, the divide by 30 for $ conversion and one ounce here would be $1656 USD or $128 less than the Maple Leaf would be worth in the states. Not counting the buy and sell rates. The buy sell rate is much less in Thailand at about 200 Baht or $6.66 per ounce. http://www.goldpricethai.com/ While we determined that gold bars would be illegal to bring in. A 1 ounce perth mint gold bar would be $1766 in the states and sold here there would be a difference of $110. While Thai gold is 23k, Gold bars in 24k are available with some looking. I would think that that extra 1k would make a difference in price, but have no concrete evidence of that. While I wouldn't want to get caught smuggling, if I had to pay the US price for a coin, or bar, I would rather have the gold bar in Thailand. The OP never said what he was trying to achieve by bringing gold into Thailand. If he were trying to bring in money without going through the banking system, then gold coins may be a good investment. If he just wanted to save the $43 wire transfer fee, then it wouldn't. Maybe he just wants to save space in his pocket, $10,000 in $100 bills would take up a lot of space in his pockets, where $10,000 in gold would fit in a coin pocket.

They sell them at Tucom, but the link that you posted seems to be a much better price. It would be great for the BG that calls her boyfriend as soon as she walks in the door and is told to be home at 7 am, or having the "room mate" call to say she is locked out of the room and needs her to go right away.

Okay Joe, here we go. Let's say I have a US Liberty head $20 gold coin, minted in 1882. It's a $20 coin, yet is almost an ounce of gold worth $1,650. A coin collector would pay $15,000 for the coin. What is the value when you bring it into Thailand? From what I have read, I would say face value of $20. Though if I had one, I wouldn't sell it for that, or even the current gold price. Where do you think value is set? Source: http://www.coinsite.com/content/faq/20gold.asp

The way I read it, the OP can bring in 399 Canadian Maple Leaf coins having a face value of $19,950.00 and not even have to declare it. (provided he has less than $50 in other cash on him) Thailand not having a limit on the amount of money brought in, could as you say, bring in as much as he wants, or his baggage limit of 50 pounds, meaning 800 Maple Leaf coins, as long as it is declared. He could even bring more as carry on luggage.

I went to a family mart, and two different 7-11's last night to find water. The first two, had a few small bottles left at 39 baht each. The second 7-11 allowed 6 bottles per customer. We found some big bottles hidden and Jane and I each bought six each. When we got home Jane told me that the employees were whining because they had hidden the water to take home themselves, and we found them. There are osmosis machines around the city. You have to bring your own jug, put in some coins and water comes out. They can usually be found in the residential areas, at the mom and pop mini marts. If it gets to that point, that is a better option than drinking tap water. Few hotels will have a way to boil water. Most restaurants have bottled water delivered in five gallon jugs for cooking. If your hotel has a restaurant, they may refill a bottle for you for a few baht. Lots of shelves were empty in the three places we went to. Bread, pastry's and microwaveable foods were all gone. Someone mentioned using bleach, Thai's typically don't use bleach, so you will have to go to the Avenue, Friendship, or some other store that caters to farang to find it. I add bleach to my water tank about once a week to keep the green stuff from growing. I looked at my filters this morning, I'm not sure I would drink the water out of the tap, even with the bleach if it's unfiltered. I have two big filters that I changed about 6 weeks ago, and they look like they need changing again.

Not to argue with Joe. However I checked before coming to Thailand my first time, and again when I came to live. I could find nothing that did not allow gold, other than the value of the gold is counted against the $10,000 allowed to take out of the US and into most countries. I was specifically looking for gold coin not bars. It was after I got here that I found that coin was not worth more than bars in Thailand, even though I had paid more for coin in the US. http://www.customs.go.th Quote: "The travelers who bring in or out of Thailand of foreign currency, both a bank note and a coin, with the total aggregate value exceeding USD 20,000 or its equivalent has to report the Customs Department by submitting the following document to Customs officer : A completed Foreign Currency Declaration Form; A passport; and A boarding Pass. There is no limit to the amount of foreign currency you can bring in or out of Thailand. However, you must declare it to Customs if you carry foreign currency with aggregate amount exceeding USD 20,000 or its equivalent." I see nothing on Prohibited and Restricted Goods http://www.customs.g...andrestrictions In the case of the Canadian Maple leaf, it designated is a 50 dollar coin. I wouldn't want to try it, but I think a case could be made that bringing in 20 of them would have a face value of 1,000 dollars and not even have to be declared. Even though the gold today would be worth $32,820 Read further down, Wikipedia seems to agree. I have traveled all over Asia with a Maple Leaf in the coin pocket of my Levi's. I threw it in the scanner with my watch and other coins at the airport. Never once was it questioned. I was in and out of Thailand several times with that coin as well as the US. The one time I got a secondary search, was in SFO, they didn't even blink at the sight of the gold coin. Wikipedia: Although nominally issued as legal tender, these coins' face value as currency is far below that of their value as bullion. For instance, Canada mints a gold bullion coin (the Gold Maple Leaf) at a face value of $50 containing one troy ounce (31.1035 g) of gold—as of May 2011, this coin is worth about $1,500 CAD as bullion.[3] Bullion coins' minting by national governments gives them some numismatic value in addition to their bullion value, as well as certifying their purity. South Africa introduced the Krugerrand in 1967 to cater to this market; this was the reason for its convenient and memorable gold content — exactly one troy ounce. It was the first modern, low-premium (i.e. priced only slightly above the bullion value of the gold) gold bullion coin. Bullion coins are also produced in fractions of an ounce – typically half ounce, quarter ounce, and one-tenth ounce. Bullion coins sometimes carry a face value as legal tender, The face value is minted on the coin, and it is done so in order to bestow legal tender status on a coin, which generally makes it easier to import or export across national borders, as well as subject to counterfeiting. However, their real value is measured as dictated by their troy weight, the current market price of the precious metal contained, and the prevailing premium that market wishes to pay for those particular bullion coins. The face value is always significantly less than the bullion value of the coin. Legal tender bullion coins are a separate entity to bullion gold. One enjoys legal tender status, the latter is merely a raw commodity. Gold has an international currency code of XAU under ISO 4217. ISO 4217 includes codes not only for currencies, but also for precious metals (gold, silver, palladium and platinum; by definition expressed per one troy ounce, as compared to "1 USD") and certain other entities used in international finance, e.g. Special Drawing Rights.

Shane, it is legal to bring gold into Thailand. However I would rethink bringing coins. Gold bars are better in Thailand, if bought from the states. In the states you are paying a premium for the coin. An American eagle is 22k yet sells for more money in the states than a Maple leaf that is 24k. In Thailand they will only be looking at the gold content, they don't care if it's a coin, or bar. The Maple Leaf would be worth more than the American Eagle here. You can buy gold bars in the states cheaper than the same weight coin. In Thailand, if both were 24k, they would buy them at the same price. A Krugrrand is 22k by the way. If you are looking to buy gold to bring to Thailand, coins are typically above spot price of gold. Bars are usually sold at spot price, which is what you are going to get selling in Thailand. Of course, if you already have the coins, selling them to buy bars will get you nothing, because every place has a buy and sell price, you lose on the sell price. If you have coins like the Canadian Maple Leaf, or the Chinese Panda, it would be better to bring them, than Krugrrands or American Eagles because of the gold content. http://www.ajpm.com/gold-bullion.html

I would take that to mean 8,945 sq. foot

Interesting question MM. The retirement visa is an easy do it yourself thing. Stop by immigration and ask them at the desk what you need, they will give you a paper in English, and Thai explaining everything that you need to submit. It should take no more than a few hours to round up everything needed. Go back the next morning and apply for the visa. In my opinion, the immigration office is the most efficient office in the entire Thai government. I see no reason to need anyone else involved. Definitely don't pay anyone for help.

You seem to have some bad information that you are working from, and trying to make it fit into the real world. The problem is you are trying to use "Wah" and "ngan" as a length and width measurement. However in both cases, there is a length and width measurement taken to get one wah, or one ngan. Wah, or ngan can not be used as length and width measurements to get sq foot, or sq. meter measurements. The measurements you were giver are either wrong or, there is a plot of land that is 2 ngan, and possibly an access road that is 8wah. or say 8 foot wide and 43 foot long, it could just as easily be 10 foot wide, and 34 foot long. What you need to find out, and it should be on the land documents, is the length and width of the property. Take the length X width = area.

I looked at that. I like Seattle a lot better than San Fransisco. I do want to make that Orange county stop though. If I don't do it as all part of one flight, I end up buying a couple of round trip tickets from PDX to Orange County, I kinda like saving a few hundred dollars.

I'm looking for flights right now. I would love Thai air, as I hate being stuck in Japan for hours. Thai air is expensive right now, add that from LAX I have to go to PDX, and Thai air doesn't fly there, it adds to the ticket price. As much as I hate United, it looks like it will work best for me. They not only have the cheapest flights, but will allow stop overs. I can fly into SFO, then fly to Orange county and take Jane to Disneyland and such for a few days, then fly to PDX. On the way back, go PDX, to SFO, Japan, BKK. If I were to fly into LAX and try and find transportation to Orange county, it would not only be a hassle, but getting there would take just as long as the Japan stop over, saving me nothing., but adding expense. Another option I found on the United website is flying to Hawaii, then from there I could go to Orange county, or PDX. A few days in Hawaii might not be bad.

I had to share this pic with you. Jane's friend in BKK sent us some pictures of her house and soi. Lots of water, sand bags, heavy equipment pushing dirt and mud to make walls. But this picture is the funniest. These are Thai's that are catching fish on BKK soi's just down from her house.

I went back and reread post, #8 he asks, "Is the forum, photos, personal details, posts, threads and private messages being sold to any person with money. I dearly hope not, this could be a big disaster for any members on there." I assume by that he was referring to the forum being sold along with the bar. Guess I didn't catch that, the first time through. I think the answer to that is obvious. A buyer that was going to keep the place the rockhouse, they would insist on having the forum with it. I would guess that 90% of the rockhouse business is directly related to the forum. If the buyer was going to change to a restaurant, or small gogo, laundry, the forum probably wouldn't even come up. I remember a while back a claim of what he thought the place was worth, and the income generated. I know what many of the bars on Soi LK have sold for in the last couple of years, so I would say the numbers were grossly inflated.

You have lost me here. I don't see where any PM's were made public, e-mail lists sold. Pictures and posts can be copied by any member of any area that they have access to. Just as it can happen on your forum. Anyone that wants pictures or information private, should not post it on a forum that anyone with an e-mail address can join. Members that post personal information should use good judgement, and accept responsibility for themselves, for doing so. If this is some back handed accusation that MM is selling e-mail addresses, or Publishing PM,s, than I have to say that I don't believe it. I have known MM for a few years now, and been a member of this board for a few. I can not think of one instance where I have seen MM act unethically in his business, or on the board. In my opinion, PattayaTalk is held to a much higher ethical standard than other Pattaya boards. I could list numerous examples if I had the time and energy. I've also seen MM call others out when they were acting unethically. Click today's active content, and you can find an example of that right now.

This is funny. I had intended to leave this thread alone, until after my next visit to see if things had improved. However, I can't pass up an opportunity to ridicule someone for trying to entice us into their business for a drink special that doesn't exist. One thing I try to do is, learn from others mistakes. I probably will not be giving Xzone a second chance, until forum reports improve.

The flooding is effecting Pattaya even though we don't have the water other areas have. I can't buy San Miguel in cans, all the stores have been out for a week. Not that I like caned beer, I just don't like caring glass bottles on a motorbike. I talked with a friend yesterday who has a young baby and a working wife. She doesn't breast feed, and had been going from store to store trying to find baby formula, when I talked to him, they still hadn't found any. While eating Breakfast at Tigglebitties, Newy said that she had to drive all over Pattaya trying to supply the restaurant. She hadn't found bacon or sausage yet. Some food items just can't be found. Jane has a friend in BKK who has about 3 foot of water at her place, she can not find bottled drinking water. People have bought it up, hording it, and also taking it to flooded areas for family members. Her motorbike won't run because days ago the water was 6' deep. She can only go as far as she can walk, or wade in her case. Imaging having 3' of water in your house, but no drinkable water. One of the FLB girls went to BKK Wednsday and she said that there was no bottled water in any of the 7-11's or food marts, and she was in a dry area. I met a guy who's home up north flooded, so he came to Pattaya to stay until it's over. He said that on the way here the roads were clogged with pickup trucks filled with supplies being taken to flood areas. Pattaya may suffer more shortages as supplies that usually come from BKK are diverted to flood areas. At least pussy isn't in short supply :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqi07Dc68Lk&feature=player_embedded

Oh, that would scare adults too. I actually appreciate the placement of the pumpkins. Not something I would say about to many naked lady pics.