NIrish, the gold in Thailand in jewelry is somewhat less in Karats (23 K) than pure gold at 24 K. No advantage other than Thai gold jewelry can be worn as a decoration.
NIrish, the gold in Thailand in jewelry is somewhat less in Karats (23 K) than pure gold at 24 K. No advantage other than Thai gold jewelry can be worn as a decoration.
Not such a good idea this almost pure gold, its too soft and will wear away the more its used. 24K is OK as a brooch or stud type earring but the softest gold one should consider for jewelry like a chain, ring or bracelet is 18K. .
Too soft or not, Thais seem to only want 23 K gold.
..........and that's the way it is.
The spread between buying an selling gold jewelry is very low. Goldsmiths usually have two numbers posted clearly visible from the road for selling and buying gold, and recently they were 19,250 (selling) and 19,150 (buying) Baht (currency) per Baht (gold weight).Originally Posted by dinagam
Yes, these are the prices posted.
But when a gift is returned within days, the amount of money the shop pays to lucky sex worker is very different from posted "buy" prices. Many reports on Pattaya Addict, massive straight site, much bigger, and more liberal than the very conservative and heavily censored ThaiVisa forum.
Pattaya Addict is full of experiences we all may have had, and can relate to, or what may happen to anyone in Thailand.
The price the gold shop pays for immidiate return within days seems to be half of original purchase price. Thread after thread, many posters there keep confirming this. Of course, posters there could all be all liers, but unlikely, it is unanimous board, no reason to make stuff up.
I know a guy, foreigner, few years ago, he was in love with Thai guy, they went together to a gold shop in Pattaya, legit gold shop with big, all red sign, ran by Thai Chinese, a proper gold shop. My foreigner friend bought his lover a 50.000 THB neck chain, he has no idea about weight in baht. He thought of this gift as sign of commitment, something to be hold on for lifetime.
Foreigner noticed the chain missing after 2 weeks.
His Thai lover always frequented Thai karaoke bars, my foreigner friend always gave him money for these nights out, usually 2000 - 3000 Baht for an evening out, these evenings happened only about every 2 weeks. The foreigner knew from get go that his Thai lover is straight. His thinking was that instead of keeping straight guy on short leash, forbidding him sex outside of their relationship, would not be helpful, so he kept subsidising his "boyfriend" going out once in a while, paying for his Thai friends, and going to upstairs rooms at these Thai karaoke places. Foreigner was happy, as long as his Thai lover was back at home by morning, he did not view his Thai lover having sex with girls as cheating, after all they were mere females, not competition, not more than just jerking off. My foreigner friend would never had tolerated his lover going with another male, that would have been cheating, and would end their relationship on same day. No excuses.
Few weeks after being gifted this gold chain, Thai boyfriend needed cash on one of his nights out, and he pawned the chain for 5000 Baht. My farang friend managed to get his boyfriend to admit that he had sold the gold chain, after initial teary claims that the chain is lost. The tears, the crying was done with extraordinary talent, farang was crying the whole night.
Farang went to pawn shop, with a receipt written in all Thai, obviously, in order to buy back the gold chain. The pawn shop explained it is too late to buy it back, my friend was not heart broken to hear this, he was angry. He felt he had invested 2 years of his life for no good reason, he felt being taken advantage of, after all, his only reason staying in Thailand for these 2 years was his Thai lover. He had missed opportunities in his home country, opportunities
with possibly honest partners.
Soon after they broke up, this was in 2008, he hasn't been in a relationship since then. He thinks all potential Thai boyfriends are only in it for money.
I kept consoling him at every opportunity, I brought up the fact that he had never traveled to Isaan, he had never met his lovers parents in Isaan, he did not finance the house, despite several requests, he never bought his Thai lover a car, allthough he was gently reminded from time to time, that foreigner needs to "take care" of his partner.
Overall this foreigner got away without substantial monetary damage, nothing compared to stories at Pattaya Addict, usually lost houses, condos.
Back to gold, it seems that as a rule the returned item is bought back at half price, and it seems the conditions of the return are set while gold is being purchased, foreigner standing right there, paying for the gold, not understanding a word between his lover and gold shop staff.
dinagam (November 8th, 2018), Nirish guy (November 9th, 2018), splinter1949 (November 9th, 2018), Tintin (November 9th, 2018)
You're obviously living in the real world, the very essence of which is known only to those who venture there DoubleDutch. Foreign sex workers will find the experience more daunting than what the Thais go through .
Remember that end of March is only two weeks away from Songkran and new year festivals for neighbouring countries. The lads would rather have real cash in hand to splash on family and friends...
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