torrenova

I prefer my eggs poached.

45 days, 24,000 baht or about Bt500 a day. You'd need a place for 16k a month which would allow 1.5 months but to be realistic, you are going to have to hit a hotel and then follow up on leads for 1 month or 5 week stays which you get before you leave and those you can find when you arrive, which are likely to be few as you'll fall into party mode the moment you arrive. One thing you may not have considered is a 2 bed place. Pooling your budget and looking at the last month of your stay, you'd pay about 10k each for the first 2 weeks, leaving around 30,000 for the month's stay. That would be hard on a 2 bed place but potentially possible. You won't get 2 x 1 bed places so you would gain a living room and some extra space and have the privacy of the bedrooms. It depends upon how you feel about that. Trying to reduce costs even further means moving straight into somewhere when you arrive and that means paying a deposit outside of a guest house set up. You have problems with paying a deposit, or your mate does. You only want to move once so you've got to weigh up your priorities in terms of what you want the accommodation to have and where you want it located. If you are thinking about Buakhow guest houses then that is where I predict you'll end up, whatever else you look at. If you highly value a pool then it is different.

I lived in Pattaya for some years before I bought a vehicle. Initially I lived right in town, in a hotel and really had no use for a car but neither did I have a kitchen to cook. When I moved to the condo I still didn't have a car (View Talay 2) but I did have a kitchen, a small one admittedly, and though I'd never drink and drive, I did start to get worn down either by the struggle to get shopping or being restricted to what they had at Foodmart. Carrefour will only deliver non perishables so you are still stuck with baht bus struggles, hiring them privately or going without. Over time, you realise that there is far more to living in Pattaya than the next beer and the limitations of the baht bus routes. Your quality of life is restricted because you cannot go where you want, when you want and be free to come back when you want. Once I bought a vehicle the sense of freedom was overwhelming and I could not imagine why I had resisted for so long. Perhaps for some it is a large outlay. In relative terms it is, as you can buy a perfectly reasonable studio condo for little more than the price of a new truck or car. Past Sukhumvit you can pick up a 2 bed house for the same money. Imagine that, a house you own instantly for the price of a car. In the Lazarus condominium or other less desirable places you can buy much more for the price of a car. Is retiring to Pattaya and not being able to afford a vehicle better than not retiring to Pattaya ? probably yes. But once the immediate euphoria of moving to Thailand has subsided, having a vehicle can save you money, though undeniably there is still probably a net cost to most people. However, if you actually cost in everything and I include hiring baht buses to do your shopping and for everyday travelling etc. then the cost is less than Bt10,000 over 5 years, including depreciation. It is very easy to "recoup" that cost by removing yourself from the bar for 1 day a week. And then the whole of Thailand is open to you, though more usefully the immediate area, which is then yours to explore. So when you build in all the costs versus the benefits, you can almost get rid of the financial implications of buying a vehicle. I didn't think so before I bought one nor did I need to have it so reduced but the simple fact is that having a vehicle is necessary to have an increased quality of life. And therein lies the crux, would you deliberately deny yourself quality of life by avoiding a vehicle purchase or if planning for retirement, would you want to be so constrained or plan for the cost of funding the initial purchase ? Walking or getting the bus should be a choice, not the only option.

You've got to try and avoid the Ivans and other visa requiring countries as when their jumbos dump people it is always a struggle. Never the right paperwork, can't speak a normal language and are as thick as shit.

Not in Pattaya but rather Bangkok. Not how I like my breakfast and the sausages in the top photo look rather anaemic. A bit fancy and though I like hash browns, I don't really want part cooked chopped up potato for my breakfast. I agree about the eggs though, not a difficult skill to master.

40c the other day in Buriram ! Quite the opposite from last winter when it was very cold.

Much better in the last couple of years than when the airport opened. Now way better than DM ever was.

Is that so you can throw a sicky ?

Have a good one Alf. I'll catch up in the New Year.

I don't think anyone even thinking about charging that amount would dare publicise it. I know the heat Mistys drew when it was known some years ago that they were going to Bt1000 and trying for Bt2000. Raising the bar on 2 nights is better than some but do you think everyone takes their tilac de jour home early or to the beach ? No, they go somewhere. Net result is that everywhere is full but perhaps not of girls from that bar. Fair play for going public on the rates and days. Better than most who will just try to shaft the punter on the night or for a week but let's not pretend that it has anything to do with not maximising revenue either from drinks or barfines.

I did, thanks

Jackie, Do yourself the biggest favour I can advise you and work out the average profit you make on your electricity for each room and add that to the room price. You get the same money and you get a reputation as honest and your business will flourish. People know about this price rubbish on electricity and they are not going to put up with it. Try to think long term and not only for today.

Website says prices in 2002 !!! No way. I lived in a hotel around that time for Bt10,000 all in.

Bit of a trip though MAN-MUC-SIN-BKK. Only attraction can be the price.

28kg but rather tight if you are over that.

Do you want no TV ? if so, go with Thai.

Well, it is up in the air as I write, wheels still down but flying.

Yes but I can set up a company registered in the Empire State Building for example, I do not need an office there, only a mailing address. If that was the registered address then the company would effectively trade out of the ESB, though it could be anywhere. People use Delaware for tax purposes as an example. Are you saying that you can do the same in one of these places or do you actually have to rent land in these places ? Setting up a company in Thailand requires certain taxes paid on share capital. I doubt you could do the same as the UK for instance where I can set up a company with £20,000,000 share capital but paid up only £100. If you could, then everyone would have their company office on one of these industrial estates.

So I can set up such a company and own 100% and that company owns land and property all over Thailand ? De facto, I own the land and property 100% ? Can't see that.

Hope their are no trees at the end of the runway as it does a fly past !

Agreed. Or Thai style perhaps.

The rather quaint thing is that we will never forget the date of the roll out, even though it was so long ago. 7/8/7.

Don't fret, I'm not as serious as the others on this thread. Not on planes anyway I was going to go on the A380 with Singapore Airlines but chose a lower cost flight option. I'll happily fly either and not worry whether it is made out of coke cans or margarine tubs. For me, the 787 is the new 777 (not worrying about size too much) and I know how well that was received. The A380 is just a different game, played on a different field and with a different shaped ball. It was fucked up and cobbled together in design with software issues but in my previous business of investment banking, we had one fuck up after another and yet, we had to make it work somehow. The big deal for me is what do I get on board in economy and no emails from airsafe.com

I want another condo. Anticipated purchase date end 1st quarter 2010. 1 or 2 units. Not worried about internal finish as going to renovate unless very high specification already. Must be priced to sell. Prefer foreign name but will consider Thai name if priced accordingly. Agents and principals both welcome but please read my requirements, only VT2 or similar, no daft VT5/6, Markland stuff etc. Please PM me here and we can go to email.

Don't think I would ever completely "retire". Either working because of necessity or not, I love the challenge of business and sometimes, a little work ! I've a list of things, business wise, to do but have not yet gotten around to because of doing other things, having a family or just not been motivated enough to deal with them. I'm now motivated again but I'll be up country or in Singapore and Europe for some of the next year (back and forth) so they'll have to wait. Then there is my building project to finish off and some partnership deals to discuss. Guess I'll be glad to lose motivation again and get a rest !!! Life used to be so easy when I lived in Pattaya 100%