CheshireTom

Whether or not it's your name on the land ownership documents/title deeds would be the obvious place to start. Anything else that's set-up to circumvent that ownership is just padding. It's not exactly a state secret.

What happens to the properties held by these Thai nominees when the farang "owner" pegs it?

It wasn't posted by me. I done the promotional flyer for the 9th May ...

LOL. The pot calling the kettle black. What happened to you in Bangkok after I'd flown all the way there to meet you and witness your A-Game? There's a whole thread dedicated to you squirming around and shitting yourself once your bluff had been called.

I pay into the Social Security fund (there are no exclusions for any pre-existing conditions) and most of my "nominated" public hospital is brand new. If you are having in-patient treatment you can opt for private rooms which are as good as, if not better than, any of the private hospitals nearby. Supplementary prices start at around 450 Baht/night. As a teaching hospital, the staff are the best around. What I don't need in a hospital is a McDonalds or Starbucks.

The cost of building, maintaining and operating car parks is enormous. I'd much rather that NHS money was spent on actual medical services. Most hospitals also try to fund their security people out of car-park revenues.

On the flip side of the coin, when I was in my mid-30s (about 20 years ago) I was played football one Saturday afternoon and was surprised to be pissing what appeared to be a decent Chateauneuf du Pape after the game. By 6 pm the quack had come to see me, I was admitted to hospital the following day and they operated on the Monday to identify and remove the tumor. No private insurance scheme could have been more efficient.

K. Atlas, Good post. I (semi)-retired in LOS around the same time as you and agree with you on most of the benefits. However, two things put me off staying in Pattaya ... a. The year prior to coming over here, I made a lot of short trips (monthly) from Qatar where I was working (in 2006). It was the first time that I had made so many trips on a regular basis since the time I lived in HK in the early 90s. It was also the first time that I spend the majority of my bar-hopping time in and around Walking Street. One thing that struck me was the number of times I would walk into a bar or club to see the same expats, sat in the same seats talking about (more precisely, moaning about) exactly the same things as they had the month before. And the month before that. And the month before that. That is exactly the reason I have no desire to return to my "hometown" in Scotland to live - to me Pattaya, as a place to live, was a big city with the same small town mentality. Not knocking anyone who finds that the place works for them, just explaining why it didn't work for me. b. You've obviously got your life well organised and your priorities sorted, but I met too many guys for whom organising their next beer was their main priority - with the obvious consequences. I really didn't want to be part of that. The one main benefit that you've omitted from your list is that life here can be as stressful, or as stress-free, as you wish. I think a lot depends on your willingness and/or ability to adapt to the country and its people, but if you can, you'll reap the rewards. Like you, I've often sat and thought "Is the grass greener elsewhere?", but it's usually only a fleeting distraction.

I think it became the "International" Music Festival in 2005, but it had been taking place for a few years before that.

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics, Plahgat. It looks like (most) folk were having a good time.

The Labor Department would seem as good a place as any to begin ...

The minivans are generally OK if you are off the main tourist routes. It's the extra baggage that makes them uncomfortable (and unsafe).

At the end of the first page of each topic you used to have a list of members who had visited the topic - that doesn't appear to be showing now. At least for me - OS X.5 and Safari

According to OAG, your industry bible, they are direct. Now, can you stop threadfucking my topic!

According to OAG, your industry bible, they are direct.

Ease up! I'm not arguing with, or questioning, you or any one else. All I did was to post the OAG definition from the website that you suggested I check. What I did in my previous life is pretty irrelevant. All that matters is that tomorrow morning I can take a quick trip to Hat Yai Airport and book a flight to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, KL or Singapore. Direct. For the sake of clarity, this is what you suggested I check and what you determined was accepted worldwide. It seems that OAG suggest it is merely any flight that doesn't entail a change of flight number.

I'm aware of the OAG definition, but since it's a Brit publication, I didn't think it correct to quote its definition. However, for the sake of clarity, it is ... "A direct flight in the aviation industry is any flight between two points by an airline with no change in flight numbers, which may include a stop over at an intermediate point". By that definition, the TG flight AKL-BKK is direct. And non-stop. See, you were both correct. As an aside, the OAG site has several tools to search for direct flights .... and the results include non-stop.

Maybe they have different terminology in the US. It wouldn't be a first.

Some decent prices if you're after non-stop flights ex LHR ...

I would assume 7% VAT. I always thought that's where the education discount came from.

A welcome addition if you're travelling light ... plenty buses/minivans from Mor Chit/Victory Monument to Pattaya as well as easy access to the Skytrain at the latter. 30 Baht on the bus to Victory and a further 30 Baht on the Skytrain to Asoke seems like a good option if you're staying in BKK.

As an update ... new 27" iMac is now available off the shelf in provincial Thailand - 60k (or 56+k with education discount).

You may want to amend the title of the thread to reflect that the smog is only covering some northern provinces.

I've just had a quick look ... the plausible explanation was that Siriwan was some other guy. In my experience, all the Siriwans that I've met have been girls. It's a bit like saying that your TG is called Somchai.

Am I missing something? What's the connection between the geezer in the photos and (the presumably Thai bird) Siriwan who was the happy recipient of 30k+ Baht?