torrenova

I'd use an ATM as well but I'd make sure that I didn't have any VND when leaving as it is worthless outside Vietnam. Small USD bills ($1, $5 etc.) can be handy on the last day to avoid getting another million from the ATM !

When you think you can get a nice air conditioned Camry to take you all the way to the airport for about Bt400 !

Seems he has thrown the dummy out of the pram and taken his toys home ! Seriously, if he has been in Thailand for 7 years and has found loads of tradesmen, then as you say, what on earth is he doing here asking for help to find one ? In all my years in Thailand, 99% of those I've found are crap. He must live in a special village somewhere ?

Hardly. People would not consider property to be a depreciating asset, thus no need for depreciation. It could be his motorbike idea again or car rental as you have depreciation there and a theoretical income. He has not said how he will get his initial investment back though or perhaps he has just forgotten about that.

Quite the reason I asked about using the meter in KK. We all know that the Pattaya meter taxis are just for show so the baht bus mafia can claim there are taxis but perhaps some day, as happened in Bangkok, change can be effected and if other provincial towns are running a proper meter taxi service according to the rules, then pressure will mount for pattaya to do the same and take away control of meter taxis from the mafia.

Do you think I am a handyman ? Of course not. It just isn't rocket science and trust me, unless you get really lucky, you are going to end up with the Thai equivalent of Laurel and Hardy doing it for you and you will later say, "I could have done better" and you would be right. Thai workmanship is terrible in the main and they will never turn down work that they have no idea how to complete. They will just fuck it up and smile at you and still want paying. Seriously, you will save yourself a heart attack and upping your blood pressure if you learn to do some small things yourself. I appreciate that some things seem difficult but you can find this website so you can find out how to put up cupboards from google. I know it sounds great. Low wages, a handyman to take care of all those small jobs for a pittance. Great if you can find one. Many expats I know have another expat or a couple of them who can do stuff like this because Somchai and his merry men are bloody useless. Best of luck finding a decent one.

I have also stayed there a few times, usually getting the best rates on www.ratestogo.com and with a minimum of a 3 day stay. What I like is the in room washer / drier as you can do some laundry and thus keep down how many clothes you are carrying around. Unless you are next to a laundry, I find it a chore in Bangkok and I hate the hotels 5000% surcharge for them doing your laundry ! Tom put me onto it a couple of years ago and I like it as a change to my other regular on Soi 2. There is a little mini mart on site open reasonably late which has emergency and snack things but as Tom says, Foodland is just down the road. Taxis don't know where it is but it is easy to direct them or get a few cards from the hotel. Getting to Sukhumvit is easy and doesn't take that long to walk. I find it a good place to stay and breakfast is fairly good. Lots of long term residents it seems, such as people living there. Card entry system of course and no crap from security. 2 pools though one was closed last time I was there. Room service is ok but not magical. I'd buy some microwave food and bang it in the freezer if staying for some time as an emergency back up. Easy to get at Foodland. I tend to look at the rates whenever I go to Bangkok and maybe choose this hotel 1 in 3, though I would have no problem raising that if I didn't get such a good deal elsewhere. If you don't want to be on Soi 4, then this is a great alternative at a very good price.

I'll be honest and say that you are better off doing it yourself unless it is the plumbing for a waste water outlet. If you have to get someone in, work out what you need, work out exactly with your Thai speaker what is to happen and you stay there to supervise as they will mess it up given a chance. For instance, I'd get a Thai in to drill a hole through the wall to put in an exit waste pipe but then I'd finish it off as they haven't a clue and any shoddy crap will do. The internal plumbing of a washing machine is child's play but perhaps get some PTFE tape to secure the joints http://www.screwfix.com/prods/30961/Plumbi...0Pack%20of%2010 Bathroom cabinets ? a level, screw driver / drill combo, some wall plugs and decent screws. Tape and pencil. If drilling through into tiles, put masking tape over the tile first to avoid cracking.

Just wondered as the mafia got hold of the Pattaya concession and turned it into a private hire rip off with no meters. Surely meter taxis have to be the way forward in nearly all places.

How is the pricing compared to Bangkok ?

I think that is a great idea. It is like a party, you can have anything you want but if you put up a price, it is nice to know what is included. How long and how far ? Quite different fuel cost wise if you cruise for 6 hours or just cruise for 30 minutes and park up etc. If the OP thinks to Hammer's Cherry Bar and the fact that whilst anything can be accommodated, he has put up a simple price for parties which states everything which is included. http://www.cherrybar.biz/Party.aspx

In my early days in Pattaya and when unencumbered by kids, myself and a partner had a place with a few rooms. Our external rental costs were around 10k each per month so we had, effectively, a saving of 20k a month as soon as we moved in. Using that logic, living in is a very worthwhile proposition if the alternative is to rent outisde and you were not renting a 3k hut !

One complication you have is that there are tons of bars out there bought at prices which are just not realistic in this day and age. Many are worth only 25% to 50% of their 2006/7 prices. Yet if you bought one, you could not let it go so cheaply because other people are not reducing their prices. So people just struggle on. The fact is that a business which used to easily support a guy in comfort is no longer doing so and thus, the value of that business is much lower. It might be that you now need two bars instead of one to make the same money. Additionally, because profits are lower and rents and costs higher, the risk is much higher and this further depresses valuations. What has to happen is for people just end up walking away. The LL then gets someone else in who fails and so on, until word gets round and no-one wants it at the stupidly high rents. Even then the rents will not fall as it will then be more profitable to change the use of the building or even rebuild or sell out. This is inevitable. What has also changed is punters wanting value and value at lower prices. Top end places will always do well but bottom end is the new market. People are willing to forgo the mid market and put up with low end because of the cheaper prices. Trouble is that most of the established areas, Soi 7/8 etc. are all in this mid market and they are untenable due to too high rents. So night life has to change. I still think there is good business if you are willing to invest 5-10m and perhaps some value in the 1m area but in the middle 1-5m market, there is little of value.

I bought a large one from Home Pro next to Carrefour a couple of years ago. It was exactly the same model as this in the UK http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3450389.htm Paid about Bt3000 I think. Not bad, good and large enough with top shelf. Just take time to foil it out first and find something to cover it when left outside. I got a few strong bin liners and taped them together. Here is an online catalogue I found http://www.homepro.co.th/images/promotions...ng_2/index.html See p13

99.99% of these problems are with Mickey Mouse USA banks. Get a proper bank with a worldwide (aka past USA borders) presence. Never had a problem with HSBC, Citibank or a number of Japanese banks anywhere in the world in around 3 decades.

Chateau Dale was probably the premier place for that sort of money 4 or 5 years ago and I think it is still a fine place to live. They used to want stupid money for rents, really stupid and at a significant premium to the rest of the market. I guess they have come back now somewhat. Here is one for sale or rent, but much bigger than you want (118 sqm) http://www.thailand-condos-for-rent-or-sal...ttayacondo.html Sell at 6m, rent at 40k. That rent is 8% and I reckon you could get it cheaper as it is only one bed, though a very large one bed. Not sure you'd get it for 30k which would give them 6% return on the 6m price but if 5m and 30k, then perhaps ? Look here for some ideas. They are very near you ! http://www.jomtien-property.com/?p=propert...PopularID=00014

I'll guess that no negotiation, no division equals no sale then. If people were queuing up to snatch it off your hands at the asking price you wouldn't be touting it on a mongers board on the internet to people who argue over the price of a glass of beer or a barfine.

2 from UK with regular Post Service small packet rate (under 2kg) and a small customs declaration filled out for any bogus shit went through to the boonies in the last month. No signed for or anything.

I guess you'd get a properly insured (hire insurance) and serviced fairly new motor for a straight 6 month stretch (rather than a month here and there) for around Bt20,000 a month so you'd be out maybe Bt100,000 a year, perhaps a little more. That would be for a Vios or something, more for a larger car obviously, around 50% more for a truck I guess. With insurance at 20k at least, 10k taxes etc. then you'd be better off renting as you would hardly get away with 70-90k depreciation and maintenance each year if you bought. I guess around the 6 month mark is where it is still viable to rent whereas 9 months would make more sense to buy, if you could guarantee what would happen to it when you were away !!!!

Seriously, there is a world of difference between the shit you can get for Bt1000 around NEP and what you can get for Bt1700. It is like a 0.1 star (Nana dump) versus a 10 star hotel, the difference is that great. For around Bt500 more, there really is no comparison.

I lived in VT2 building B for a couple of years (don't know if you are in A or . When I moved in there were two similarly priced and set up laundries and another cheaper one. I had been getting 80 pieces for Bt500 in town but they only wanted to give out 60 prices. I got 70 and was never to tell anyone ! Some time after I moved in, another laundry place opened so now you had 4 (or 3+1) as I thought about it. In the beginning I tried them all and then stayed with the best one for the years I was there. More than once I semi crunched some numbers on the laundry business but at the time had much more to think about. Some observations. When I moved in, I didn't know which laundry to choose. I guess many people use the first one or the nearest one to the lift or in the shop. I guess people don't change either. No-one advertises the Bt500 schemes as they want everyone on the per piece prices. So really, there is not much to differentiate between them apart from the cheaper one who does not have driers. Not one of them ever opened when they said they would or closed when they were supposed to. Many was the time I'd come home at 8pm and expect them open until 9pm and they had closed. I learned to live with it but it pissed me off. Sometimes you'd go for your clothes and they would be part ready. Many times they would not have cut off the coloured string. Adding up of the item count versus your 70 pieces was haphazard. Basically, the service was amateur and unreliable. It was Thai. I guessed that if you went on a marketing drive, then others would maybe chuck a brick through your window. Someone with moderately deep pockets could put the others out of business in weeks with price cuts but I don't think that is the answer. I would have taken a reduction in pieces for a more reliable service. I'd also have been happy to receive a pick up from my condo and delivery to my condo when finished. I reckon that managing things better than your average Thai you could do ok in a relative sense but I'd question the rent and the lease you have. 10k a month seems a little low for a normal sized shop. I'd also look at the restrictions on hours you can open and hours you can operate machinery. There are restrictions. If the power and water is only 2k then the business is not doing much business I think. As for the price, then old machines are worth next to zero. Front loaders are expensive and large top loaders, big enough for the duvets cost about 10k and upwards. They won't have proper power steam irons, just domestic ones and they are a couple of grand each. What does your GF think it is making and if it is really making 15k a month, then why aren't the 2 employees taking it on ? I think the reason is that it does not make 15k a month. Can you really see where 150k is going or is the equipment only worth about 20k second hand and maybe 50k to replace new ? There is scope but I'm not sure what would be a fair price. If there are 3 other laundry shops between this one and the lift, then it might be worth nothing at all.

Crowns are going to depend upon the price of gold surely ? It has to be cheaper than the UK but I'm not sure every place is up to the job.

Cassava land at Bt800,000 a rai ? I've heard everything now !

Not quite. The charges are put up by the quasi taxi drivers themselves and are a rip off. Better to get a driver to pick you up or just take your stuff to the baht buses in the street. Of course Carrefour deliver to Jomtien. You can buy as much booze as you want between 2pm and 5pm. You just have to buy 10 litres, which is about 1 1/2 boxes of beer. Carrefour will not deliver or look after perishables.