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A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand

Alike Froggy's water therapy?
9E7EDA2D-75C2-4DBF-9D5F-687122E4A2A2.jpeg
 
Thai Street Food - Chicken Noodle (Breakfast this morning)

 
Thai chicken noodle is not very common but if you can find it its great.

Stall by the street Ramintra Soi 21
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Freshly braised chicken made on the spot every morning
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Owner very friendly
LmTh1Bi.jpg


Makeshift set up
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Free water
TxBP9Cz.jpg


Free vegetables and spices add all you want
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After ordering when your bowl is ready they will call you to collect and you go add your own condiments
BcfYqKF.jpg


Very generous in the portion and chicken too - normal costs 35 baht 1.55) special 40 baht ($1.80)
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Most important of all, its super delicious especially the soup
 
https://thethaiger.com/news/national/top-7-thai-expat-myths

Top 7 Thailand expat myths
Published on June 28, 2019 By Tim Newton

1563345960429.png


If you read the internet, particularly one particular website we won’t name (thaivisa.com)… whoops, then you’d think that Thailand is a dreadful place to visit, filled with hate-filled expats who live in fear and loathing of, well, everything. According to many, the sky is likely to fall in at any moment and everything in Thailand is too expensive, too corrupt, too hot, too cold and too dangerous.

Here are a seven popular myths some expats like to keep touting.

The TAT (Tourist Authority of Thailand) make up the tourist arrival numbers

This has been a popular conspiracy theory for decades. As the numbers of tourists continued to rise, so did the comment “they’re making it up”. With no evidence to back their claims, keyboard warriors, seemingly unhappy that there is a rise in the number of tourists coming to Thailand, claim passionately that the TAT are just inventing numbers to appease their bosses.

It should be mentioned that the TAT don’t run around counting heads but get their figures from the Thai Ministry of Sports and Tourism which collate the statistics from the Immigration Department reports.

Meanwhile the airports get busier, add new terminals, more flights arrive, new hotels get built, new tourist attractions open, new condos get constructed and people scream about long immigration queues.

The TAT have assured us, over the years, that the methods used for collecting tourist arrival data has been the same for 20 years and that the figures are audited. The risk the TAT would have of being exposed with fraudulent numbers would be a major loss of face.

However if you’d prefer to believe ‘CrankyPattaya’, ‘BritRoot’ or ‘TratTrash’, then go for it.

Things are getting too expensive in Thailand

And things are getting more expensive around the world. It’s called inflation. The rises in prices for food, services in goods in Thailand can partly be explained with the rise of tourism to the country with popular locations having higher rentals than in the past as the value of the property in tourist regions rises.

Whilst you can pay 300+ baht for a pad thai in a tourist area, locals can still get the same meal for under 50 baht. Is the price higher than it was 10 years ago? Of course.

The differences in prices between the popular tourist magnets and the outlying areas of the country continues to become more apparent though. If you’re going to live in Pattaya, Phuket or Sukhumvit Road, then you will find many prices have risen along with the popularity of the locations and the rising real estate prices.

You have a high chance of dying on Thailand’s roads

According to figures from the World Health Organisation, Eritrea has the most number of road deaths (with 48.4 deaths per 100,000 residents), Dominican Republic – 41.7, Libya – 40.5, Thailand – 38.1, Venezuela – 37.2. So Thailand has, statistically, the fourth most dangerous roads in the world. The statistic looks bad.

But when you factor in that 74% of those deaths are people on motorcycles, often also drunk and not wearing a helmet, it’s not as bad as the numbers suggest, if you’re not in the high-risk categories. But IF you’re not drunk, wear a helmet, ride responsibly or travel in a car, your chances of getting killed on the roads are a LOT lower. Whilst the statistics still look truly awful they are heavily weighted against young males between 16-24.

So if you don’t fall into the ‘at risk’ categories that make up a very high majority of deaths on Thailand’s roads, then you are in less danger than the world average. That’s still not good enough but it puts Thailand’s high ranking into perspective.

The Thai government don’t want us to stay here

In recent years there has been additional levels of paperwork put on the application for visas for long-term stayers in the Kingdom. In the past some of the requirements were overlooked or sorted out through, ummm, negotiation. At the same time the Thai Government has announced many other changes to visas and introduced Smart Visas and BOI visas, aimed at encouraging skilled professionals to live and work in Thailand.

All this while the exchange rates for many currencies have turned bad, especially for UK, European and Australian citizens, so their pensions or offshore investments haven’t been stretching as far as in the past.

Most of the changes come in the form of enforcement of existing rules and a general ‘clean up’ of procedures at Thai Immigration offices. There have been many improvements, well… attempts at improvements, along the way as well – things like drive-thru services.

Bottomline, if you think it’s difficult to live, work and stay in Thailand, just check how difficult it is for a Thai citizen to move to your country.

All expats sit in bars and date bar girls

In the 1980s this may have been statistically prevalent. But the type-cast expat living in Pattaya, Patpong and Phuket has changed radically in the past 30 or so years. Now expats come from a much broader range of countries, settle here for many different reasons, are younger, many have families and are much more likely to be working here than retired. And you’re unlikely to see them sitting in bar chatting up bar girls (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

But old perceptions die hard and the typical Thai expat is still thought to be white, older and enjoys dating younger Thai bar girls. Statistically this is a tiny proportion of the 300,000 or so expats thought to be living and working in Thailand in 2019.

Staying in the Kingdom without a job, with limited funds and no health insurance is becoming increasingly complex. But you’d find that situation in most parts of the world now.

The Thai government is a dictatorship

We’ll tread a little carefully here. Thailand’s fraught experiment with democracy, since the absolute monarchy was abolished back in 1932, has been fragile. Lots of coups, lots of Army tampering and lots of elections. Thailand now has the dubious distinction of being the world’s only current Military-led government. But is it a ‘dictatorship’ in the historical use of the phrase? Probably not.

The NCPO, the Army-led National Council of Peace and Order, took the reins of government on May 22, 2014 in a bloodless take-over from the civilian-elected government.

But the Thai Government are in good company in and around South East Asia. Laos and Vietnam are both run by communist governments (with stable capitalist economies), Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy run by a leader who has been seen to control the ‘elections’ by suppressing political dissent. Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy but has suffered ongoing political division and nepotism, and more recently a rise in religions tensions that cripple the government’s ability to govern. Singapore is more of a family business than a democracy – the south east asian economic miracle of the 20th century. Brunei is run by a Sultan who has recently introduced aspects of Sharia law into the Sultanate – no elections there. Myanmar is a quasi army-run dictatorship. Etc, etc…

Indonesia, Japan and South Korea are the only relatively stable Asian democracies but they are few and far between.

So Thailand’s unique take on the words ‘election’ and ‘democracy’ should be viewed in a wider framework of pan-Asian politics. Bottomline, there aren’t tanks rolling down the streets or soldiers standing on street corners toting guns. In the Wikipedia Democracy Index, Thailand falls into the category of ‘hybrid regime’ and that’s probably about right.

There’s NO Freedom of Speech in Thailand

Whilst there are many subtle, and a few less subtle, limitations on Thai media, you will see robust debate and editorials printed in Thai and foreign-language media any day of the week. It’s a uniquely ‘Thai’ type of media but there are a few well-documented cases of individuals who have dared to tread over the grey line.

Going to a Thai media scrum is about as robust as you’ll find anywhere in the world and the questions fired at politicians, usually cloaked in very polite language, can cover just about any issue. There are a few ‘no go’ topics in Thailand and that’s a cultural thing that takes a few years to fully understand. But, believe me, the Thai media is a robust part of the ongoing political and economic discourse of the country, despite the many perceived or real restrictions. Like many other things in Thailand, when it comes to freedom of the media, TIT.

The Thaiger has never been contacted by the police, the Army or government officials to discuss or remove anything we’ve published.

1563345985367.png
 
https://thethaiger.com/news/national/top-7-thai-expat-myths

Top 7 Thailand expat myths
Published on June 28, 2019 By Tim Newton

View attachment 61285

If you read the internet, particularly one particular website we won’t name (thaivisa.com)… whoops, then you’d think that Thailand is a dreadful place to visit, filled with hate-filled expats who live in fear and loathing of, well, everything. According to many, the sky is likely to fall in at any moment and everything in Thailand is too expensive, too corrupt, too hot, too cold and too dangerous.

Here are a seven popular myths some expats like to keep touting.

The TAT (Tourist Authority of Thailand) make up the tourist arrival numbers

This has been a popular conspiracy theory for decades. As the numbers of tourists continued to rise, so did the comment “they’re making it up”. With no evidence to back their claims, keyboard warriors, seemingly unhappy that there is a rise in the number of tourists coming to Thailand, claim passionately that the TAT are just inventing numbers to appease their bosses.

It should be mentioned that the TAT don’t run around counting heads but get their figures from the Thai Ministry of Sports and Tourism which collate the statistics from the Immigration Department reports.

Meanwhile the airports get busier, add new terminals, more flights arrive, new hotels get built, new tourist attractions open, new condos get constructed and people scream about long immigration queues.

The TAT have assured us, over the years, that the methods used for collecting tourist arrival data has been the same for 20 years and that the figures are audited. The risk the TAT would have of being exposed with fraudulent numbers would be a major loss of face.

However if you’d prefer to believe ‘CrankyPattaya’, ‘BritRoot’ or ‘TratTrash’, then go for it.

Things are getting too expensive in Thailand

And things are getting more expensive around the world. It’s called inflation. The rises in prices for food, services in goods in Thailand can partly be explained with the rise of tourism to the country with popular locations having higher rentals than in the past as the value of the property in tourist regions rises.

Whilst you can pay 300+ baht for a pad thai in a tourist area, locals can still get the same meal for under 50 baht. Is the price higher than it was 10 years ago? Of course.

The differences in prices between the popular tourist magnets and the outlying areas of the country continues to become more apparent though. If you’re going to live in Pattaya, Phuket or Sukhumvit Road, then you will find many prices have risen along with the popularity of the locations and the rising real estate prices.

You have a high chance of dying on Thailand’s roads

According to figures from the World Health Organisation, Eritrea has the most number of road deaths (with 48.4 deaths per 100,000 residents), Dominican Republic – 41.7, Libya – 40.5, Thailand – 38.1, Venezuela – 37.2. So Thailand has, statistically, the fourth most dangerous roads in the world. The statistic looks bad.

But when you factor in that 74% of those deaths are people on motorcycles, often also drunk and not wearing a helmet, it’s not as bad as the numbers suggest, if you’re not in the high-risk categories. But IF you’re not drunk, wear a helmet, ride responsibly or travel in a car, your chances of getting killed on the roads are a LOT lower. Whilst the statistics still look truly awful they are heavily weighted against young males between 16-24.

So if you don’t fall into the ‘at risk’ categories that make up a very high majority of deaths on Thailand’s roads, then you are in less danger than the world average. That’s still not good enough but it puts Thailand’s high ranking into perspective.

The Thai government don’t want us to stay here

In recent years there has been additional levels of paperwork put on the application for visas for long-term stayers in the Kingdom. In the past some of the requirements were overlooked or sorted out through, ummm, negotiation. At the same time the Thai Government has announced many other changes to visas and introduced Smart Visas and BOI visas, aimed at encouraging skilled professionals to live and work in Thailand.

All this while the exchange rates for many currencies have turned bad, especially for UK, European and Australian citizens, so their pensions or offshore investments haven’t been stretching as far as in the past.

Most of the changes come in the form of enforcement of existing rules and a general ‘clean up’ of procedures at Thai Immigration offices. There have been many improvements, well… attempts at improvements, along the way as well – things like drive-thru services.

Bottomline, if you think it’s difficult to live, work and stay in Thailand, just check how difficult it is for a Thai citizen to move to your country.

All expats sit in bars and date bar girls

In the 1980s this may have been statistically prevalent. But the type-cast expat living in Pattaya, Patpong and Phuket has changed radically in the past 30 or so years. Now expats come from a much broader range of countries, settle here for many different reasons, are younger, many have families and are much more likely to be working here than retired. And you’re unlikely to see them sitting in bar chatting up bar girls (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

But old perceptions die hard and the typical Thai expat is still thought to be white, older and enjoys dating younger Thai bar girls. Statistically this is a tiny proportion of the 300,000 or so expats thought to be living and working in Thailand in 2019.

Staying in the Kingdom without a job, with limited funds and no health insurance is becoming increasingly complex. But you’d find that situation in most parts of the world now.

The Thai government is a dictatorship

We’ll tread a little carefully here. Thailand’s fraught experiment with democracy, since the absolute monarchy was abolished back in 1932, has been fragile. Lots of coups, lots of Army tampering and lots of elections. Thailand now has the dubious distinction of being the world’s only current Military-led government. But is it a ‘dictatorship’ in the historical use of the phrase? Probably not.

The NCPO, the Army-led National Council of Peace and Order, took the reins of government on May 22, 2014 in a bloodless take-over from the civilian-elected government.

But the Thai Government are in good company in and around South East Asia. Laos and Vietnam are both run by communist governments (with stable capitalist economies), Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy run by a leader who has been seen to control the ‘elections’ by suppressing political dissent. Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy but has suffered ongoing political division and nepotism, and more recently a rise in religions tensions that cripple the government’s ability to govern. Singapore is more of a family business than a democracy – the south east asian economic miracle of the 20th century. Brunei is run by a Sultan who has recently introduced aspects of Sharia law into the Sultanate – no elections there. Myanmar is a quasi army-run dictatorship. Etc, etc…

Indonesia, Japan and South Korea are the only relatively stable Asian democracies but they are few and far between.

So Thailand’s unique take on the words ‘election’ and ‘democracy’ should be viewed in a wider framework of pan-Asian politics. Bottomline, there aren’t tanks rolling down the streets or soldiers standing on street corners toting guns. In the Wikipedia Democracy Index, Thailand falls into the category of ‘hybrid regime’ and that’s probably about right.

There’s NO Freedom of Speech in Thailand

Whilst there are many subtle, and a few less subtle, limitations on Thai media, you will see robust debate and editorials printed in Thai and foreign-language media any day of the week. It’s a uniquely ‘Thai’ type of media but there are a few well-documented cases of individuals who have dared to tread over the grey line.

Going to a Thai media scrum is about as robust as you’ll find anywhere in the world and the questions fired at politicians, usually cloaked in very polite language, can cover just about any issue. There are a few ‘no go’ topics in Thailand and that’s a cultural thing that takes a few years to fully understand. But, believe me, the Thai media is a robust part of the ongoing political and economic discourse of the country, despite the many perceived or real restrictions. Like many other things in Thailand, when it comes to freedom of the media, TIT.

The Thaiger has never been contacted by the police, the Army or government officials to discuss or remove anything we’ve published.

View attachment 61286
Interesting article :)
 
Daily wage hike to bt400? Impact on business costs

Sectors face downside of higher daily wage
Jul 18. 2019 Nation
800_7ed451674694d74.jpeg

Gross profit of construction contractors may decrease by 2 per cent from an average of 8-10 per cent.

Securities brokers expect the new government to raise the minimum daily wage to Bt400 from Bt325, shortly after formation of the new Cabinet.

Although the higher wage will boost domestic consumption, it would also lead to a spike in the production costs of some industries.

Natthachart Mekmasin, assistant MD at Trinity Securities Co Ltd, said industries relying heavily on manual labour will be most adversely affected, such as food, agriculture, automotive and electronic components. Producers in these sectors will likely see a decrease in profits. However, it will only have a marginal impact on the overall stock market as bigger industries such as energy, commercial bank and retail will not be significantly affected by the new wage rate.

Therdsak Thaweetheeratham, assistant MD at Asia Plus Securities Co Ltd, added that with the minimum daily wage going up by 23 per cent to Bt400, the gross profit of construction contractors may decrease by 2 per cent from an average of 8-10 per cent.

Companies whose profits are lower than the average, such as Italian Thai Development Plc (ITD) and Nawarat Patanakarn Plc (NWR), will inevitably face the biggest impact.

He also predicted that food and agriculture could see a whopping 25 per cent plunge in estimated profits this year , followed by electronics components (11.7 per cent) while automotive may suffer a Bt20-30 million decline.
 
Less personal income tax, due to anomaly with way lower corporate taxes

Expect to pay less income tax, says new finance minister
Econ
Jul 17. 2019
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By The Nation

The new finance minister is likely to bring down the rate of personal income tax, and has said that his party will discuss the implementation of tax cuts with coalition parties.

“Phalang Pracharat Party will discuss the details of implementing the proposed 10-per-cent tax cut,” Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana confirmed on Wednesday, his first day in office after the government was sworn in on Tuesday.

Uttama, who is also leader of the Phalang Pracharat Party, said the new economic package aims to support both the grassroots group as well as people living in urban areas. Details of the economic policy will be available after the new government presents its policies in Parliament on July 25-26.

While campaigning for votes, Phalang Pracharat Party promised a 10-per-cent cut in personal income tax for all seven income brackets, which is estimated to cost the country Bt50 billion to Bt60 billion annual. In comparison, coalition member Democrat Party had promised a 20-per-cent tax cut for people earning no more than Bt2 million per year.

TAX15GGGG.jpg


Democrat MP and former finance minister Korn Chatikavanij had previously voiced opposition to Phalang Pracharat’s proposal, saying it would hit the tax base hard, bringing tax returns filed annually to 1 million from the current 4 million.

Meanwhile, Uttama has said that the current rates for personal and corporate income tax are not compatible because corporate tax stands at just 20 per cent.

Personal income tax is charged at a progressive rate of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 per cent. Those earning more than Bt150,000 but below Bt300,000 are subject to the lowest rate of 5 per cent, while those earning over Bt4 million a year are subject to the highest rate of 35 per cent.
 
For those who like Singapore style chicken rice in Bangkok you can find it at Central Eastville Mall 2nd floor.

LZeKAWr.jpg


Boon Tong Kee

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The restaurant

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The lunch

ktDxgvn.jpg


Juicy chicken

WmebueS.jpg


Bitter gourde soup

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Foe those interested in the menu in Thailand

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Hi Guys,

Hope you guys can clarify my doubts.

I'm asking about Marriage visa in Thailand.

Recently i went to nakhon Pathom and checked with the immigration there.

They said marriage visa have 2 types.

One is single entry which give u 3 Months Visa after that you have to go back to SG.

Multi Entry which give you 1 Year but required 400k Baht.

Currently i dont have any 400k baht yet.



well i already went to nakhon pathom and informed the immigration that i'm staying at my girlfriend house and they put a paper indicated i will be staying at my gf house at my passport.

Since my boss approved me to work at my Future wife house in thailand.


So would like to check if i get the Single Entry for 3 Months means i have to go back to SG and come back again?

After i get the 3 month and come back again and stay 1 month and back again will be question by the airport immigration?

Because now airport been asking me why i keep coming etc.

Is there anyway i can stay here long?
 
Finished a meeting at Silom Road (one of the busiest roads in Bangkok) at 4.30pm if I drive home will take a long time so decided to visit my fav Indian restaurant at Soi 11

4kLtiKU.jpg


Dohsa or thosai with mutton
xRNQYLA.jpg


Chicken biryani
zWRa4YI.jpg
 
Hi Guys,

Hope you guys can clarify my doubts.

I'm asking about Marriage visa in Thailand.

Recently i went to nakhon Pathom and checked with the immigration there.

They said marriage visa have 2 types.

One is single entry which give u 3 Months Visa after that you have to go back to SG.

Multi Entry which give you 1 Year but required 400k Baht.

Currently i dont have any 400k baht yet.



well i already went to nakhon pathom and informed the immigration that i'm staying at my girlfriend house and they put a paper indicated i will be staying at my gf house at my passport.

Since my boss approved me to work at my Future wife house in thailand.


So would like to check if i get the Single Entry for 3 Months means i have to go back to SG and come back again?

After i get the 3 month and come back again and stay 1 month and back again will be question by the airport immigration?

Because now airport been asking me why i keep coming etc.

Is there anyway i can stay here long?

Thai immigration laws change very quickly and without notice. You may want to check with the immigration authorities at Chaeng Wattana or with any private immigration agency in Bangkok. There are plenty of them around. Just pay a small consultation fee and they will gladly help.
 
An income stream, masquerading as art. And hear Froggy's one of the esteemed members paying bt300-500 monthly to watch her sexy vids :geek:

Police question net idol over ‘Blue’ movies
Nation
Jul 23. 2019
800_c4d309298a7216b.jpg

By Kornkamon Aksorndech The Nation

Net idol and “pretty” products presenter Jirarat “Blue” Chanantho met police on Tuesday to answer questions over her “secret” VIP online chat room, where members paid Bt300-500 a month to watch sexy video clips of her.

She was responding to a police summons amid suggestions she might have violated the Computer Act.

Jirarat and her lawyer, Anucha Buddhaworakul, met with Pol Colonel Siriwat Deepor, spokesman and deputy commander of the Royal Thai Police’s Technology Crime Suppression Division and its superintendent, Pol Colonel Kwanchai Pattanarak.

Following their hour-long meeting, Siriwat said police had not yet filed any charges against Jirarat because they first required Jirarat to provide them with evidence. Possible charges include putting pornographic material into a computer system that is accessible by the public - that offence is which is punishable by a maximum five-year prison term and/or a maximum Bt100,000 fine.

20190723133403429.jpg


Jirarat later told reporters she had not opened the group to the public and that its 200-300 members had all been made to undergo a screening process, including confirming they were of legal age, as well as pay the appropriate fees.

She said she had suspended the group pending an examination of the laws and adjustment of its content to ensure it was all legal.

She did, however, clarify that she had only set it up so she could communicate with her fans, although she confirmed she had also worn revealing clothes for “artistic” purposes.

She also admitted she was worried because one charge she might face carried a stiff penalty but insisted she was happy to submit all the evidence to police so they would be satisfied that while the group chat was perhaps inappropriate, it was not for public consumption.

Her lawyer said Jirarat did what she did out of a belief it was “art” and without knowing the relevant laws.
 
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