|
Family Money: Involuntary
Contributions
By Leslie
Wright
Governments everywhere are grateful for our being
productive members of society. They express this by taxing our
productivity, both as individuals in the form of income tax, and the
companies we work for in corporate tax.
In general, the more productive we are - both as
individuals and corporations - the more we contribute to society in the
form of the taxes we have to pay.
Governments then encourage us to save a portion of what
they allow us to keep after they’ve taken their slice - and they do this
by two age-old methods: the carrot and the stick.
First, in many regimes (including Thailand) we are
taxed again on our spending with Value Added Tax, or VAT. (Although where
the added value comes in is a debatable question which we’ll leave for
another day.)
Second, in many regimes (such as UK & USA) we are
allowed to save a certain amount into “approved” savings schemes which
either carry tax relief or are not taxed on (in certain cases) the growth,
or (in certain other cases) the income when it’s eventually drawn down
(usually later than a certain stipulated minimum age).
However, in many countries, our invested savings may be
taxed again when we draw them down. In some countries - New Zealand being
one - lifelong contributions into State Pension schemes may be taxable
when withdrawn, if the pensioner has managed to accumulate more than a
modest private income from his personal savings.
Australia is currently debating whether to introduce a
similar means test, while the UK Government is considering raising the
retirement age from 65 to 70.
In many countries, our savings are taxed again when we
earn interest - as in Thailand where 15% withholding tax is levied on the
pathetically low interest your savings now earn in bank deposits.
The Cost of Freedom
Of course, many governments only tax you on the money
you earn whilst resident in that regime.
The UK is one such, whereby provided you remain outside
the UK for an average of more than 90 days a year aggregated over four
years, you are only taxable in the UK on income generated in UK - such as
rent derived from investment properties.
However, at least one country taxes its citizens on
their worldwide income, no matter where they may be resident, and
howsoever that income is derived - and that is the bastion of freedom, the
United States of America.
American citizens and Green Card holders are required
to file an income tax return each year to the IRS, and declare all
offshore bank accounts with more than $10,000 in them; all income from
investments (whether taken or not); all income from earnings (howsoever
gained); all dividends, interest, capital gains, etc., etc., etc. And
failing to file a complete and accurate return is a federal offence. In
other words, conviction of filing a false or incomplete return potentially
carries a jail sentence. Gotcha!
Where it goes nobody knows
Most people say they don’t mind paying a reasonable
rate of tax provided they can see where their money is going.
But many people from developed nations seem to resent
the amounts of aid being distributed to less-developed countries or to
help those who have been fighting each other rebuild their shattered
economies, on the premise that this aid comes from their taxes and is of
no benefit to the tax-payer.
Actually, that argument is not entirely true, inasmuch
as aid is often given on condition that the money is used to buy goods or
services from the donating country. This not only stimulates speedier
growth or recovery of a poor nation while forging trade links, but puts
money back into the donor’s own economy, by creating jobs and increasing
its own productivity (on which of course it will levy taxes).
“Round and round the money goes, and where it stops,
nobody knows...”
Those who like to see where their money is going often
cite roads, schools, airports and other public infrastructure projects as
visible examples of good use of tax spending.
Again, this argument is not entirely true. Many
infrastructure projects are simply too big to be paid for from a
government’s revenue purse - its current account; they have to be
financed from the capital account. This generally entails floating a bond
issue, which in effect means borrowing money from the investing public on
the strength of the government’s own credibility and promise to pay an
attractive rate of interest until maturity of the bond, which in some
cases can be 10, 15 or even 20 years off into the future.
While this increases the overall national debt, the
government’s tax collection efforts are not affected, nor is its annual
budget - at least not in the short term.
Bonds or taxes?
And now finally we come to the heated and somewhat
confusing debate that has been going on between the Thai government’s
Finance Ministry and the Bank of Thailand as to how the huge levels of
indebtedness involved in the Financial Institutions Development Fund’s
having taken over the losses of more than fifty failed banks and finance
companies, and the non-performing loans with various banks which it has
underwritten are going to be absorbed.
Part of the controversial debate rages around the
government’s proposal to convert the “excess” foreign reserves that
have been built up since the economy crashed three years ago, and use
these to reduce the FIDF’s indebtedness. The central bank says it needs
those reserves for other purposes, and the government has disagreed with
the Bank of Thailand’s figures - as has the central bank with the
government’s.
Since the people responsible for creating the
indebtedness - whether these be the bank managers who inappropriately
granted non-performing loans without sufficient (or in many cases any)
collateral, the managers who mismanaged their failed companies’
finances, or the borrowers who are too important to be bothered with
little things like repaying loans - cannot be persuaded for various
convoluted reasons to fulfil their responsibilities, the government
somehow has to fill the hole. And it is a very large hole indeed.
The amounts in question are so huge as to be beyond the
comprehension of most ordinary folk. The figure bandied about before some
of the insolvent financial institutions were sold and some of the
non-performing loans were ‘restructured’ was in the order of 5.4
trillion baht.
To put this into some semblance of perspective, if that
were converted to 1000 baht notes strung end to end, these would stretch
901,800 kilometres or 22 1/2 times around the earth.
Another way of appreciating the enormity of that
indebtedness is to consider it as roughly equivalent to Bt.90,000 for each
and every citizen in the Kingdom.
Or, to put it in golden terms, 13,564 tonnes of gold at
current prices - tonnes, mind you, not ounces. This would be roughly 800
cubic metres of solid gold - a block about the size of a nice two-storey
house.
Or, in terms Pattaya residents may relate to better,
enough gold to make about fifteen 1-baht weight gold chains for every
person in Thailand. (Although some readers’ lady-friends will have
assiduously acquired this number already...even if they’re being
temporarily stored in the pawnshop.)
Up or down from ’97?
After the restructuring that has taken place over the
past eighteen months, the figures now being cited are rather more modest.
A recent report quotes the current public debt as being
only three trillion baht. This nonetheless represents about 64% of the
country’s gross domestic product (GDP), whereas in 1997 public debt was
only 15% of GDP.
At its recent meeting to discuss debt restructuring, a
committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panichpakdi expressed
concern over these figures.
Earlier, the Senate Committee on Finance, Banking and
Financial Institutions called on the government to address the problem
with urgency.
If left to grow, the problem will impede the
country’s ability to compete in the world market and put a bigger burden
on the national budget allocation.
The government set aside 3.6% of its 1997 fiscal year
budget and 8.2% of its 2000 fiscal year budget to repay these public
debts. A bigger amount will have to be sliced off the national budget in
the future if the debt restructuring process cannot proceed as planned.
The biggest headache for the government is a 1.2
trillion baht debt incurred by the Financial Institution Development Fund.
In addition, the Legal Execution Department is
currently carrying over 550 billion baht worth of debt, seized from more
than 130,000 foreclosure cases nationwide. The Deputy Justice Permanent
Secretary, Manit Suthapor was quoted as saying these figures were the
“highest in history”.
Even with beneficial terms being offered to prospective
buyers, sales of these assets have been slow. Last year the Department
sold off only 60 billion baht worth of assets.
In order to bring these potentially crippling figures
down to more acceptable norms, the government either has to absorb the
losses from its current account - principally its tax revenues - or from
its capital account by floating a bond issue.
In the former case, we taxpayers will have a
significant part of our taxes diverted for many years to come to write off
the government’s beneficent underwriting of failed finance companies,
failed banks, and failure by managers to manage failure effectively. (Some
of these worthies have already fled the scene, as we know all too well,
while others are still waltzing around wearing happy smiles instead of
rather more appropriate prison garb. But as Bernard Trink is so fond of
reminding us: “TIT - This is Thailand”...)
The alternative to having these debts gradually reduced
over the next quarter century from our taxes (whether we like it or not)
is to borrow the capital from the general public and pay us interest on
the loan, probably for a similar period. And that means floating a bond
issue.
The fact that the government will have to pay interest
on that money - the bond dividend - and (hopefully) repay the principal
when the bonds eventually mature, raises yet another question: Where will
the money come from to pay the interest, and eventually the principal?
You guessed it already, didn’t you? Our taxes.
In the inimitable Thai way of non-confrontational
compromise, it’s a fair bet that the government’s Finance Ministry and
the central bank will eventually reach a mutually-satisfactory agreement
(after exhaustive discussion, debate and studies by numerous committees)
whereby a limited medium-term bond issue will be floated, and the
remainder of the indebtedness (possibly somewhere between 49%-51% of the
total) will be paid from the people’s taxes over the next umpteen years.
And the culprits who brought about the disastrous
situation in the first place will praise the wisdom of both sides, and
smile beneficently as they plot their next financial misadventures.
Amazing, Thailand, isn’t it?
Leslie Wright is Managing Director of Westminster
Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd., a firm of independent financial
advisors providing advice to expatriate residents of the Eastern Seaboard
on personal financial planning and international investments. If you have
any comments or queries on this article, or about other topics concerning
investment matters, contact Leslie directly by fax on (038) 232522 or
e-mail [email protected].
Further details and back articles can be accessed on his firm’s website
on www.westminsterthailand.com.
Editor’s note: Leslie sometimes receives e-mails to which he is
unable to respond due to the sender’s automatic return address being
incorrect. If you have sent him an e-mail to which you have not received a
reply, this may be why. To ensure his prompt response to your enquiry,
please include your complete return e-mail address, or a contact phone/fax
number.
Successfully Yours: Christian
Roeschli
by Mirin MacCarthy
One of the greatest exports from Switzerland appears to be
hospitality personnel. Quietly spoken and bespectacled Christian Roeschli is
one of those. Only 30 years old he has uprooted himself from his native Zurich
to the Eastern Seaboard, in a development called Kanary Bay.
Christian was born in the Zurich area, being the middle
child in a family of three boys born to a Swiss engineer, who has a successful
engineering business there.
He completed the usual primary and secondary schooling in
Zurich. He additionally studied piano for eleven years and saxophone for five.
He then looked to furthering his education at university level. However,
medicine and the humanities appeared more attractive to the young Christian,
rather than engineering, despite his heritage, and he enrolled in courses
covering Psychology and Neuro-physiology.
Like many university students all over the world, he
supplemented his income by working part-time in restaurants and hotels.
It was also around that time that he scrimped and saved and
went on a round the world trip. This was to change his life, much more than he
realised at that time. One of the ports of call was Thailand.
Back in Switzerland it was return to the books and study,
but as Christian said in his own words, after two years, “I got fed up!”
He looked critically at his life and decided that since he enjoyed his
part-time work in the hospitality field more than his university course, he
should transfer his studies before he wasted more time.
He then enrolled in the Hospitality Management College in
Zurich and graduated after two and a half years. His first position was as the
Chef de Service in a Fine Dining restaurant in Zurich and then went on to
manage a very busy Italian restaurant.
It was then that some other facts began to dawn on the
young graduate. The first was that Swiss hotels were too small, “They are
the size of Youth Hostels,” and secondly, “I hate wintertime in Europe.”
Considering that Switzerland spends a goodly span of time every year under
snow, Christian Roeschli began to think of warmer climes in which to continue
his life.
Remembering his world trip, while still a student, and the
fact that he liked the people in Thailand, the food and the climate it all
seemed fortuitous that a position became available with the Kasenkij group in
Bangkok, and he grabbed it with both hands.
He was at the Cape House residential apartments at Langsuan
for a short while and then was sent to Phuket for the opening of the Cape
Panwa Hotel where he assumed the job of Assistant Manager.
It was a very busy time for the young Christian, but was
all part of the “on the job” training that professional hospitality people
have to do. Life in this industry really is an ongoing education. In fact,
Christian says, “Every hour you have to cope with different situations.”
It is obvious too, that he thrives on it.
Eight months ago, the Kanary Bay serviced apartments was
opened in Rayong, and Christian Roeschli transferred to the Eastern Seaboard
to become Resident Manager - at age 30. Not bad for someone who was going to
be a psychologist only a few years previously.
The relocation to Thailand has meant a very different way
of life for this young Swiss. “The Swiss way is very structured, while over
here it is much easier and comfortable. Living here has opened my mind. I have
had to become more tolerant and change some of my habits. The things you study
in Europe very often do not relate to the Thai lifestyle.”
He enjoys the transition and when asked where he would be
in five years, he stated very firmly, “I will still be in Thailand.” Being
Swiss, he does have long range plans, too, which include commencing his own
business ventures some time in the future.
Success for this young man is when he reaches the targets
and goals he sets for himself in life. Setting up his own companies in the
future will be a measure of that success for him, but right now, he is happy
to be learning.
He says that the best advice he could give to any young
person setting out on a career in the hospitality industry would be for them
to choose the right company to work for - one that will allow career
development and on the job training, such as he has had himself.
With his busy schedule as Resident Manager, his previous
hobbies such as music have had to take a back seat and his hobby now is fine
dining. “I live my life in an epicurean style,” he smiled, over a plate of
sea-bass and a white wine!
The very calm and reserved Christian Roeschli definitely
seems to have found his niche in this country. “I could not accept the Swiss
way, any longer. I like the way the Thais live by the motto ‘Carpe Diem’
(seize the day) and these days, I do the same.”
He is indeed lucky to have found his correct career choice - and the
correct country to practice it in.
Snap Shots: Depth
of Field
by Harry Flashman
The Depth of Field in any picture can often make or
break the entire photograph. Knowledge of how to manipulate Depth of Field
therefore improves your chances of getting good shots and only requires
mastery of a few very easy principles and procedures.
The term Depth of Field is really an optical one and
depends solely on the lens being used and the aperture selected, for the
particular photograph. For once, the other variable - shutter speed, has
no bearing on this, the Depth of Field parameter.
Depth of Field really refers to the zone of
“sharpness” (or being in acceptable focus) from foreground to
background in the picture.
The first concept to remember is called “One Third
forwards and Two Thirds back.” Again this is a law of optical physics,
but can be roughly understood to mean that the Depth of Field, from
foreground to background in your photograph can be measured, and from your
focus point extends towards you by one third and extends away from the
focus point by two thirds.
For those of you with SLR’s, especially the older
manual focus SLR’s you will even find a series of marks on the focussing
ring of the lens to indicate the Depth of Field that is possible with that
lens. (And you probably wondered why there were all those extra marks on
it!)
You see, for each lens, the Depth of Field possible is
altered by the Aperture. The rule here is simple - the higher the Aperture
number, the greater the Depth of Field possible and the lower the Aperture
number, the shorter the Depth of Field. In simple terms, for any given
lens, you get greater front to back sharpness with f22 and you get very
short front to back sharpness at f4.
For example, using a 24 mm focal length lens focussed
on an object 2 metres away - if you select f22, the Depth of Field runs
from just over 0.5 metre to 5 metres (4.5 metres total), but if you select
f11 it only runs from 1 m to 4 m and if you choose f5.6 the Depth of Field
is only from 1.5 m to 3 m (1.5 metres total).
On the other hand, using a 135 mm focal length lens
focussed at the same point 2 metres away, you get the following Depths of
Field - at f22 it runs from 1.9 m to 2.2 m (0.3 metres) and at f5.6 it is
1.95 m to 2.1 m (a total of 0.15 metres).
Analysis of all these, initially confusing, numbers
gives you now complete mastery of the Depth of Field in any of your
photographs. Simply put another way - the higher the Aperture number, the
greater the depth of field; the smaller the Aperture number the smaller
the Depth of Field; plus the longer the lens, the shorter the Depth of
Field, the shorter the lens, the longer the Depth of Field.
Now to apply this formula - when shooting a landscape
for example, where you want great detail from the foreground right the way
through to the mountains five kilometres away, then use a short lens (24
mm is ideal) set at f22 and focussed on a point about 2 km away.
On the other hand, when shooting a portrait where you
only want to have the eyes and mouth in sharp focus you would use a longer
lens (and here the 135 is ideal) and a smaller Aperture number of around
f5.6 to f4 and focus directly on the eyes to give that ultra short Depth
of Field required.
As said before, while initially confusing, it can soon
become second nature. To really reinforce this you should take the same
shot with two different lenses and two different Apertures for each lens.
Note the order of the shots and compare the final results. You are now in
charge! Happy shooting.
Modern Medicine: How
do you cope?
by Dr Iain Corness
Last week I spoke about the effects of “stress” on
the outcomes of the individuals who were exposed to “stress”. What had
come out of the study was that there were those who coped and strangely
the stress did not take a toll, and there were those who did not cope -
and these people had a much worse prognosis (outcome) than those who did.
Now this is all very fine. Saying to a patient,
“Look, I think you should go home and cope better” is fairly useless
advice. After all, the non-coper has got to this stage because they do not
know how to cope in the first place!
So what can we (or you) do? Well, like many things in
life, the first step is the hardest. Turning a negative thinking person
into a positive thinker takes the acknowledgement by that person that they
are that way to begin with. It needs the person to stop using the adverse
events in life as the “excuse” or the “blame” factor for the way
the individual is reacting.
That challenge to the perceptions of the adverse events
must be slow, but must be met. So your husband ran off with a twenty four
year old. The negative response is, “Woe is me! What do I do now?” The
positive (and healthy) response is, “The poor girl! I wonder how soon
he’ll leave her for a seventeen year old?”
Can you see, there is the same event - but it can be
looked at from very different points of view. Of course, it is easy to
say, “But I love my husband. How could he do this to me?” (The
“blame” response.) The opposite side of the coin would be,
“Unfortunately I still love the rat. I wonder how it all happened?”
(The acceptance and “change” response.)
A few methods to develop for increasing our own
abilities in coping include improving self awareness. That is really just
stepping back and looking at ourselves in the psychological mirror and
recognising our strengths and accepting our weaknesses. If you are a lousy
organiser, don’t take on the job of being the organiser of the local
ladies group, no matter how much you are asked. Rather say you’ll help
send out the newsletters. If you are lousy with “people” skills but
great with numbers, don’t be a public speaker, but be a book-keeper or
treasurer. That is being “real” and putting yourself into a healthy
“real life” situation.
The next step is easy to say, but again hard to do, and
that is simply to take each step one at a time. Changing attitudes does
not happen overnight and it will be necessary to review and look
critically at your responses to many things that happen each day and
analyse whether your response is positive or negative. For example, in the
situation of mud getting splashed on your dress you can either think
“Baah! It’ll never come off!” or it could be, “Darn! I’ll have
to get the maid give it special treatment when she comes tomorrow.”
This has been so important, I’ll deal with more next week too!
 Dear
Hillary,
I was getting along with a Thai girl real famously and
then had to go on business in Bangkok. When I came back after a week, she
was seeing some German man and not look to me. What can I do to get her
back?
Destroyed Dane
Dear Destroyed,
Wait till the German goes on a visa run.
Dear Hillary,
While I am sure many of the questions you get each week
are not real, let me assure you that mine is. I am a forty year old
divorced (14 years ago) British subject and I have a twenty year old
daughter who lives in England with my ex wife. After my experience in the
UK I have not had any real relationships with anyone over here, just the
odd fling with a couple of girls, and certainly nothing serious. Now I
find I am becoming increasingly attracted to a young Thai in our office.
We go out some evenings for dinner after work and I enjoy his company very
much. This next month my daughter is coming over for a holiday (I have not
seen her for four years) and can you see the problem? I want to introduce
her to my Thai friend, but do not know how she will react to her father
having a male friend?
James
Dear James,
For goodness sake, James, you are 40 years of age, not
14. Your daughter at 20 years old in the UK is probably dating two
Pakistanis, a West Indian, the Huddersfield United football team and her
hairdresser is living in sin with a gigolo from Golders Green. Wake up!
This is the 21st century, not the 18th. Stop worrying and believe that
life begins at 40. Or alternatively remember that today is the beginning
of the end of your life, and start enjoying it before there isn’t any
left!
Dear Hillary,
I have a favourite pair of shoes that need some work
doing. Any suggestions as to where I should take them?
Fran
Dear Fran,
Hillary has been asked this before, but I know there is
a little chap who does good work on Pattaya Klang, next to the Leng Kee
Restaurant in the laneway there. Cost 220 baht for my boyfriend’s good
shoes full soled and heeled. He will often do the work while you wait -
have a meal in Leng Kee while he does it. He will even lend you some
scuffs to walk to your table! That’s service! There will be others - ask
the ladies in the Pattaya International Ladies Club.
Dear Hillary,
My husband suffers from very greasy hair and I have to
get the maid to wash the pillowslip every day. Any suggestions?
Marjorie
Dear Marge,
Change husbands or give the maid a raise. Alternatively
you could try lining his pillow with grease-proof paper.
Dear Hillary,
With all the publicity recently about animal attacks in
Pattaya, should I take my 64 year old mother to the animal park
attractions when she comes on holiday later in the year? My husband says I
am worrying unnecessarily. What do you think?
Worried daughter
Dear Worried daughter,
I am so pleased to meet someone who thinks so highly of
their mother, but I am with your husband, I’m afraid. The likelihood of
animal attack is very much less than her chances of falling out of the sky
or being run down by a London bus. Relax.
Dear Hillary,
A friend of ours was up on business and stayed with us
for a couple of weeks recently and let slip that he had been to a massage
parlour one evening. I am sure that it was one of the non-traditional type
because he was smirking while he said it. Should I write to his wife and
quietly advise her to see her doctor?
Angela
Dear Angela,
You are a little ‘Angel’ aren’t you! Did you have
the sheets sterilized after he left as well? Don’t forget to have the
towels incinerated and wash down the loo with Lysol. Come on! What is the
western world coming to? This is “Neighbourhood Watch” gone nuts. Stay
out of other people’s business, or why don’t you go along to a massage
parlour and see for yourself? Antiseptic shower of course on the way out.
Dear Hillary,
Is it impossible to get a Thai person to follow the
correct time for appointments? I make appointments to meet people and by
the time they eventually show up I have a bill for 500 baht for coffees
while I was waiting. It is not a random occurrence, but nearly every time.
How do you get them to come on time?
Rolex
Dear Rolex,
I’m afraid that punctuality is not part of the territory here. The
Thais are not ones to get upset by time constraints and I’m afraid you
will have to get used to it. When you know them better, you can say how
much it upsets you. How about suggesting you pick them up if you are going
shopping or to the pictures? You at least get to wait in the
air-conditioned comfort of the car.
GRAPEVINE
This week Grapevine, Pattaya Mail’s principal
contribution to human enlightenment, is printing a selection of readers’
queries which keep cropping up as new visitors and potential expats pour
into the resort. Apologies this week to old hands who know it all.
Driving
licences again
The documents needed to obtain a Thai
driver’s license are your passport and photocopy showing a valid non
immigrant visa, two very small photos, a letter from the immigration
bureau confirming your address, a certificate from a local doctor
revealing you are in good health and a current international
driver’s license. If your international permit is out of date, you
will have to take a written test which the helpful staff will likely
steer you through as it were. The Thai license must be renewed
annually in the case of farangs. Second time around you only need the
expiring license, new photos (not more than six months’ old) and
your passport with photocopy. However, you must still show a current
non immigrant visa to obtain the renewal. The office is on Naklua Road
opposite the Mercure Hotel. You can drive in Thailand without a local
license, but international permits often limit you to three months at
a time or have wording which suggests they may not be valid if you are
“a resident” whatever that may mean.
Visa extensions
This is an ever changing scenario. Visas on
arrival at Bangkok airport are valid for a thirty days holiday and may
be extended once for about a week at immigration police offices. Sixty
day tourist visas can normally be extended for another thirty days or
about double that in the case of people over 55 years old. Non
immigrant visas, valid for a ninety days’ stay, are now limited to
an extension of fifteen days unless the authorities are satisfied your
business here needs longer. That decision may well depend on the
documentation you present. Non immigrant visas can sometimes be
extended up to twelve months from the date of entry for specific
categories such as retirees or investors or farangs married to Thai
spouses, subject to checks on substantial funds available and other
documentation. Those particular regulations can’t be covered in a
brief reply. It is also important to remember that all visas and
extensions are awarded on a discretionary basis, as everywhere of
course.
Age of consent
There are a number of Thai laws on the
statute book covering this sensitive issue. The prostitution
suppression act of 1960 makes all paid sex illegal, but the de
facto age of consent is 18 under the most recent 1996 legislation.
Child sex involving adults, especially below the age of 16, has been
the target of under cover police squads for the past three years. An
arrest these days is automatically followed by an appearance in court
in 48 hours or less with attendant local and international publicity.
By then, the substantive damage to the accused is often done. The Thai
legal process in dealing with these cases is very slow, often running
into many months, before a decision is reached. Bail is sometimes
given on a surety basis, probably less so than in the past, but the
growing practice is to place the suspect’s passport number on the
stop list at airports and ports. Whether eventually convicted or not,
the accused will find the whole process extremely and exhaustively
expensive.
|
Starting a nitery business
By and large don’t, but Pattaya is
certainly a boom town. The first question to ask is what your business
is going to offer which other people aren’t already providing. Beer
joints, restaurants and night clubs abound already. The successful
ones these days seem to fall into two categories: they are either
cheap, working on low overheads with a smiling host on duty round the
clock to talk to customers, or decidedly upmarket and catering for the
non budget traveler. But Pattaya really is littered with the remains
of unsuccessful small businesses whose disappointed backers have long
since disappeared from public view. For the green horn, scams abound.
Farangs have parted with hundreds of thousands of baht to buy the
lease of a beer bar, only to find it locked and shuttered the morning
after with stock and staff vanished. Those wanting to invest their
life savings in commercial enterprises in Pattaya should do their
homework very carefully. Start by talking to twenty owners already
doing what you are thinking of starting. Then find a Thai national you
can trust.
Bits and pieces
Can you own a mobile phone here in your own
name? It’s up to the individual company which will rent you the
line, but be prepared for a negative response without a work permit.
After all, there’s nothing to stop you leaving the country if you
run up a huge bill… Why are Thai banks so reluctant to issue farangs
with an international credit card such as Visa? The same story as with
mobile phones. But they may want to do a deal a deal with you if you
offer to open a special savings account which contains more cash than
your agreed spending limit. Maybe… Why does your home based credit
card company often refuse to renew your card if they discover you are
living in Thailand? It’s simply a statistical decision based on the
number of stolen cards or misuse which has caused them a small
fortune.
A Woaw, Hammy birthday
Friday May 26th there will be a combined
birthday party at Woaw’s Bar Jomtien for owner Woaw and regular
patron Hammy from Scotland. All welcome from 6.30 p.m. |
Dining Out: Tank
Ah Loy - A taste of ‘Old’ Naklua
by Miss Terry Diner
This week the Dining Out Team paid a visit to a small
Thai/Chinese restaurant right in the heart of Naklua. This one requires a
little of the ‘Magellan’ in you as there are no English signs to help you
find it, but it is about 50 metres past the Numchai Electric traffic lights
coming from Pattaya, directly opposite the Bangkok Bank and next to a TV
repair shop.
Tang Ah Loy Restaurant has been there for many years, and
my Dining Out partner had eaten there some years previous, so it was a
nostalgia trip as well as a restaurant critique that evening.
It is a very simple shop-house building, concrete floors
and laminex topped tables. The side tables get padded chairs, while the centre
aisle gets the traditional wooden Chinese chairs. Most of the cooking is done
at the back of the restaurant, but there is a 4 burner stove at the entrance,
with many dried ingredients like shrimp, fish and others.
This is also not a restaurant that brings a large and
detailed menu to the table - it is a case of asking what is good that evening
and going on from there. For that reason alone, it is probably wise to take
along a Thai companion, just to help with ordering, though I am sure it would
be possible to stumble through without.
The “wine list” is a refrigerated cabinet with large
bottles of Kloster or Heineken beer and assorted bottles of Mekhong whiskey,
but one would not be dining out at Tang Ah Loy if you were hoping for some
Chateau Neuf du Pape! With no Singha Gold, it was sharing Heineken that
evening, but the beer was very cold.
 With
advice that the farang could only take a little chilli, Madame cook first
brought out a Chicken with Almonds. This was not your usual lumps of chicken
floating on a sea of oyster sauce and a sprinkle of cashews, but had crispy
water chestnuts, some pieces of sausage, mushroom and fried chilli as well. It
was flavoursome and fabulous. It was also a decent sized serving.
It was around this time that the entertainment started. A
blind musician, Boon Rawd (AKA Mr. Coke to the farangs) sat down and got out
his flute and harmonica. Listening intently to the ethnic origin of the voices
around him, he selects the type of music he should play, generally Thai,
Indian or Western. After “Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain” and
“Your cheatin’ heart” we felt Mr. Coke had earned his supper and he
selected a pork sausage dish, along with, you guessed it, a Coke.
Leaving him to his sausage, we continued on with some
prawns, crab and fish in garlic and pepper - very tasty. We then had a
“dry” Tom Yum Hang with shrimp, squid, fish balls and plenty of
lemongrass, chilli and coriander, and then into some squid stuffed with egg.
This last one was a little too rubbery for me and we passed over to the dish
of the evening which was crab and deep fried prawn with Chinese mushrooms in a
wine sauce, eaten with the obligatory steamed rice. This was an excellent dish
and could hold its head up in any up-market Chinese restaurant.
So how much did all this cost? Not much. The six dishes
(including Mr. Coke’s sausage and Coke) cost less than 500 baht grand total,
so individual plates were around 80 to 90 baht.
If you want a real “ethnic” evening, it is worthwhile finding Tang Ah
Loy, and I hope Mr. Coke is there for you too. Just remember to buy him
supper.
 Down
The Iron Road:
The Compound Locomotive - 2, De Glehn
by John D. Blyth
Continuing the de Glehn story...
Although de Glehn quickly saw the merit of his system of
compounding, the folly of the uncoupled driving wheels on No.701, his first
such locomotive was just as plain. Some did not agree, however, as the
smoke-tube superheater developed by Schmidt in Germany was seen by many to
be just as good and much simpler as an alternative. The beautiful simplicity
of early steam locomotives was fast being lost, and the de Glehn compounds
as they evolved were as complex in principle as any to be built in quantity,
and it was mainly in France that they were to flourish. All but one were
four cylinder locomotives with two high pressure (h.p.) outside frames, and
two low pressure between them. The complex control allowed five possible
driving methods: simple using the h.p. cylinders only; simple using the l.p.
cylinders only; simple using all four cylinders; full compound working; and
‘reinforced compound working’ in which live steam from the boiler was
admitted to ‘assist’ by direct admission to the l.p. cylinders.
 The
First Great Western ‘Frenchman’: No. 102, La France’ when new, at
Bristol in 1904.
All French main line drivers were given workshop
training, and this added much to their understanding of what went on inside
such complicated machines; other countries did not provide this advantage,
and so the de Glehn system was less popular elsewhere, even where other
systems of compounding, simpler but just as useful, could find favour.
Germany was an example, where the largely flat territory served by the
Prussian State Railways did not seem to give the same advantage as was found
in the more mountainous south, where the lines of the Bavarian, Baden and
W?rttemburg systems operated ‘Maffei’ compounds with success for a long
time. Compounds, it seemed, had an advantage when the going was less easy.
In earlier times the need for a free passage for the
steam from the regulator to exhaust was not realised, even by de Glehn, and
this resulted in some inferior design work showing up, not only in France
but in other countries where his system was tried. Such were Spain,
Portugal, India, Egypt and even Britain, which could muster just four de
Glehns. One was an oddity which we will forget, but the other three were
bought from France by the progressive Great Western Railway at the
suggestion of their brilliant engineer, C.J. Churchward. The object was to
compare these with their own very advanced simple engines. The de Glehns did
good work, but the French detail design was inferior, and whilst the
‘Frenchmen’ were slightly more economical in fuel and water, they were
more expensive to maintain and used more lubricants.
 Former
Eastern Railway big 4-8-2 de Glehn under national ownership, at the depot of
La Villete, Paris, in May 1960. The biggest de Glehn express locomotives
built in France.
One can sympathise with the Great Western driver, all on
his own, and confronted not by the familiar and very simple controls, but by
the de Glehn with its two regulator handles, two reversing screws in place
of a single lever, a change-over control to go from simple to compound
working, and maybe even a ‘cone mobile’- a pear shaped object which
could be used to control the effective area of the blast-pipe aperture!
Whence came the knowledge, for even Churchward was seeing de Glehn practice
for the first time - A delightful legend claimed that a Frenchman
accompanied the first locomotive, and had the know-how, and that he was so
taken with Britain that he stayed, with a job in the Swindon drawing office
for many years! Alas, he is now known to have been well established at
Swindon at least ten years before the first de Glehn engine arrived.
It was James Crebbin, a close friend of Churchward, not a
professional engineer or railwayman, although a noted builder of live steam
locomotive models, who had become also a good friend of the French Northern
Railway, and spent many hours riding on their de Glehns, with which he
became very familiar. And so the words were passed along, out to the
inspectors and staff.
Some who should know better have said the GWR de Glehns
were a failure. I disagree; they lasted over 20 years, and moreover, when
the famous ‘Cornish Riviera Limited’ made its first non-stop run from
London to Plymouth (245 miles by the old route, via Bristol) it was a
‘Frenchman’ that worked the first train from London, on 1st July, 1904.
Then the longest non-stop run in the world, it is not the kind of event to
entrust to a ‘failure’! A run in 1913 from London to Leamington, 87
miles, was completed in 98 minutes with a very heavy train for the period,
of 455 tons. I would have been delighted to see such running in modern times
with modern and bigger locomotives! Failures? No so!
 ‘De
Glehn’ for freight as well: one of the numerous and powerful heavy freight
locomotives of the French Northern Railway, in Paris about 1938.
In the following years, de Glehn locomotives were
developed along modern lines, superheated and the free passage for the steam
duly provided; sometimes an improved exhaust called the ‘LeMaitre’ was
also fitted. Now right up-to-date, they did notable work especially on the
non-stop Paris-Brussels trains, on very fast timings. Had Churchward so
modernised his three he might have had a change of heart about compound
systems, which he did not adopt.
He did adopt some details of these locomotives, though;
the divided drive shared between the two leading coupled axles, the design
of the leading carrying truck or ‘bogie’, and some smaller details. No
failure, the ‘Frenchmen’ were a source of much valuable knowledge;
Churchward, whose locomotive interests were world-wide, was just the man to
take due advantage of all this.
Few other overseas users of de Glehn type locomotives did
much to improve the breed; for some time the same was true of the French
Paris-Orleans Railway, although the Northern and Western systems kept
up-to-date in their own way. The ‘ligne imperiale’ the Mediterranean
system, eschewed de Glehn totally, developing a simpler compound system
under their engineer, A. Henry. But it was the Orleans line which, in the
mid-’20s found itself to have one who was to be seen in the passing years
as possibly the greatest steam locomotive engineer of all time - Andre
Chapelon. It took long enough for others to understand, and believe, in what
he did and why.
Watch this space - Chapelon next week!
Animal Crackers:
Time running out for Rhino’s?
by Mirin
MacCarthy
It is amazing that an animal that has lasted 50 million
years is now facing extinction. How could such a great survivor topple? The
answer is mankind! With our abilities with firearms and our superstitious
nature, where we imagine that rhino horn is an ingredient to counteract
impotency, we have hunted and killed these animals to the extent that there
are now only 13,000 of these beasts left in the entire world.
There were once many species of the rhino, some even
living in North America, but now there are only five. The twin horned
African Blacks and Whites, the similarly horned Sumatran Rhino and the
single horned Indian and Javan Rhino. The White Rhino has the most numbers,
with only 5,000 of all the others combined.
The name “Rhinoceros” means “horn nosed” and they
use this incredibly large horn mainly in fighting off others who may have
invaded their territory; male rhinos being very territorial. They do not use
this horn to “spike” animals for food, as they are plant eating
herbivores. White Rhinos eat mainly grass while the others eat leaves and
bushes.
Despite its humble diet, the Rhino is the second largest
land animal in the world, after the elephant, standing roughly around 1.8
metres at the shoulder and weighing in around 2000 kg. Even at birth, these
creatures weigh in at 40 kg, so that’s no small baby! The rhino’s size
is also no bar to being a good galloper, with the Indian Rhino being able to
get up to an earth shaking 48 kph at full tilt when annoyed.
Despite its short-sightedness (the rhino can only see up
to 10 metres in front of itself), these animals have very well developed
senses of smell and hearing. They also have a companion animal, in this case
a bird, that stays on the back of them and eats small insects that inhabit
the rhino’s leathery hide. These birds do have good eyesight and will also
warn the rhino of coming dangers.
The rhino spends half of every day just in feeding to
keep its enormous bulk nourished and spends around 8 hours every day just
resting and wallowing. This is why many people think that the rhino’s are
lazy animals.
The male rhino tends to be more solitary, while the
females associate in herds of around six animals. The gestation period for a
rhino is 16 months and the babies stay with their mother in the herd for
around three years; however, they do not reach maturity until 7 years for
females and 10-12 years for males.
Rhino’s, if left to their own devices, live to around 40 years. It is
such a shame that we are their greatest predators.
Coins of the Realm:
Old Dutch business family sells off
by Jan Olav Aamlid
President House of the Golden Coin
http://www.thaicoins.com
Spink & Son Ltd. in London is the oldest coin company
in the world, established in 1666 AD. As do all major coin companies, they
also arrange auctions. As a member of the Christie’s Group, they were
given the honor of auctioning the collection of the Dreesmann family. The
first part, the Roman gold collection, was put on the block in their new
London premises on April 13th.
 Gold
medallion of Constantine the Great struck in Trier on the border between
Germany and France between 309 and 313 AD. From the collection of Enrico
Caruso, it sold in 1923 and was later owned by the financial Minister of
King Farouk of Egypt. Sold to an American dealer for 9,500 pounds.
This part of the collection consisted of 385 lots and
attracted bidders from all over the world. The top piece of the auction was
a gold medallion of 5 aurei minted for Constantius I Chlorus in 295-296 AD.
Constantius was the father of the better known Emperor Constantine the Great
who established Christianity as state religion in Rome in 337 AD.
 Gold
medallion of 5 aurei from Constantius I Chlorus which I bought for 170,000
pounds. Previously owned by the American businessman John W. Garrett.
This medallion, which was part of the fabulous Arras
hoard that we have told you about before, became the auction’s most
expensive coin when I bought it for 170,000 pounds (approximately US$300,000
- including expenses). A lot of minor coins from the same hoard were also
sold, for prices between 1,800 and 10,000 pounds.
Many of the coins had old pedigrees including collectors
like the famous singer Enrico Caruso.
 Gold
medallion of 8 aurei from Claudius Gothicus struck in Milan in 268 AD. This
medallion was part of a hoard found in an ancient shipwreck outside the
coast of Corsica early in the 1970s. A number of these medallions are
around, all in bad condition. Little is known about the hoard to which
French authorities make legal claims. Sold to an American dealer for 6,500
pounds.
Another top piece was the famous gold medallion of
Honorius struck in Ravenna in Italy between 402 and 406 AD. This coin, which
was part of the Velp hoard that was found in the Netherlands in 1715, was
finally sold home to an Italian collector for 105,000 pounds.
The collection was large from the period after 200 AD but
surprisingly small from the earlier emperors. Only two coins from the two
first centuries and none from the 12 Caesars, the famous period from Julius
Caesar (d. 44 BC) until Domitian 81-96 AD.
The Dreesmann collection was started by the consignor’s
great-grandfather at the end of the 19th century and consisted of paintings,
drawings, silver and porcelain, besides coins. Included was a collection of
art relating to the city of Amsterdam. The whole collection was consigned to
Christie’s and will be sold over a number of auctions in the following
years.
Copyright 2000 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]
Updated by
Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk. |
|
