I have big spiders pretty often around my house (not tarantulas though). I live sorta close to the jungle =[ only seen a few snakes over the past couple of years.

only snake I have seen was while snorkling, didnt see it until it was about 2 meters away from me which was pretty cool.

I'm wondering how do you guys pay taxes?
I mean when you return back to your home country I assume the IRS is gonna ask questions about the whereabouts of your cash

my tax guy handles that stuff for me, just sends me notices when things are due etc. the first ~90k is tax-free if you live abroad but you still have to file.

the irs is not the all knowing big brother some people seem to think. they wont say **** when you return home. you file your taxes like everybody else and 1% of the time you get audited and answer their questions at that time.

What Vaccinations are mandatory? What are recommended? Do they get you sick/do you have to take them ahead of time?

hep a/b, typhoid and some others. i paid 120 quid for a rabies injection, not mandatory.

Just goto Rajawongse for suits. Good enough for the George Bush family, good enough for you...

LOL America for taxing by citizenship. they're one of the few counties screwing their citizens over like that.

I got hep a/b, typhoid and a booster for DTP (google that last on if your'e not sure).

So many nits here ffs,just get here and experience it ffs.

Merry xmas x x x

Yes im pissed

i saw a girl pull a baby snake out of her vag at a ping pong show once. if there are any spiders being stuffed in snatches, i have not seen them. hope i answered your question.

Most countries don't tax gambling. Being from Australia my income from poker is not taxable. I fill in a return each year, write zero in the liabilities column and mail it in.

oh man, this has been one of my biggest fears when swimming in warmer climate countries. id be scarred for life.

irl biggest spider ive seen is max 1cm and its considered huge here.

same with finland with most sites and we dont even have to report income from poker if it is from the sites that are not taxable

what's living in vientiane like? it looked like it lacked atmosphere when i drove through it?

Drunken post,apolagies.

******.

says the man living with deadly snakes in his garden who he sprays with hoses when bored

The atmosphere is primarily nitrogen and oxygen with small amounts of other gases. Water vapor is also present at variable levels.

i actually laughed out loud. fair play.

Cliffs: offer local $500 for great odd bicycle whose value he probably doesn't know/can't realize?

I'm in Chiang Mai and want to buy a bicycle. Original plan was to buy one in BKK and ride up but after some stomach trouble I didn't want to spend a couple more days down there recovering so I just flew up here.

Local shop has a used bike kitted out for touring (racks, fenders, fat but not knobby tires) which (importantly) fits me pretty well. Downsides are that the components are blah (Shimano Altus) and it's aluminum, not steel. Anyway, perfectly adequate bike. On offer for 20,000 baht ($660). I think it's only worth about $500, but whatever, it's here, it fits, needs nothing. I haven't made an offer on it yet.

Yesterday in a cafe I saw quite a nice travel bike (designed for touring and packs into a suitcase). I went back to the cafe and there it was again. I asked the waiter if he knew whose it was and he said that a customer didn't want to take it back to the US and had given it to him as a tip (! because this bike would probably go for $700-1000 on US and/or Australia ebay). This bike doesn't have a rack and looks to be a bit small for me. Gear range is definitely OK, components are a step up. I mentioned that I'd like to buy "one of those" but didn't make him an offer and don't know if he's open to a sale.

If I bought the shop bike I would almost certainly try to sell it in BKK, Singapore or wherever I stop riding (it's a Taiwan mfg Canadian-branded Asian market bike, might not be able to get much on ebay/craigslist). If I bought the waiter's bike I would take it back to the US and keep or sell it depending on storage needs.

Waiter really likes his bike but almost certainly doesn't know it's ebay value. He probably can't realize this value unless he somehow gets it to the US or Australia. I was thinking of offering him 15k baht. I really don't want to screw him but I also wonder about the impact of a $500 windfall on a young Thai man's life. Hookers and heroin? (Lol colonial condescension, btw. I have an American passport but was born on the subcontinent.)

Thoughts?

Cardinal rule of negotiation is to always let them make the first offer. Ask him if he wants to sell it and then get him to give you a price - then knock 25-50% off of that for your counter offer unless he says something silly like 3k baht then just take it.

Both of you can walk away very pleased and you can still get a good deal - nothing unethical about it imo. While you might consider 8k a steal, thats a months salary to him...

I think you underestimate the chances of him knowing its value though. If the guy who gave it to him paid $1k for it, good chance he told the guy...

offer him 10k baht for it. spend the extra 5k baht on hookers.

I don't have any trouble with hardline negotiation when both parties are at least somewhat informed and I get the part about 8k as a lot of baht. I'm having some trouble with the idea of an adversarial negotiation when I am almost certainly much wealthier than the other party.

Bike was hand-built custom in the US and almost certainly cost $1800+ new.

might be stolen, story kinda doesn't add up. if i tipped somebody a $2k bike i would tell them it was a $2k bike. OTOH if i made $200 a month and somebody tipped me a $2k bike i would insta sell it not use it to get to work.

in any case, if you are going to feel like you hustled the guy then just offer what you think is a fair price and i'm sure he will insta accept...

MErry Christmas Guys..