hi, i have a penpal in a small thailand village called lom sak, i want to send her some silver and was wondering if these small villages use silver as commerce or if there are shops that will buy from her, i dont want her to have to jump on a bike and make a 50 mile trek to sell. better yet if she can just take it to the market and buy goods with it.
Why would u aske that here? Wouldnt it make sense to ask you penpal? How would members from here would know if a small town in such a place uses silver for commerce. Lom sak. Aka. Loan shark. Lol.
In rural Thailand I think unless you were very switched on and plugged into the money movers and shakers locally you would lose your hand to a shark. US dollars always do well in Thailand but if your sending her a gift and silver is your thing you might consider small bars, like a couple dozen of the 5 gram Scottsdale. As long as it's clearly marked as. 999 fine silver and a weight anything should be OK. Remember that in rural Thailand most purchases a local world make would be much smaller than the value of an ounce of ag so smaller bars or coins should be more useful and I would let her know roughly what they are worth in USD so she doesn't get taken by a local pawn broker.
Not sure if silver is a form of currency in Thailand. Hardly see any of it when I was there (things could hve changed now). I would rather just send her concealed USD.
im sending her a few bucks too. she is a coin collector, but i want her to be able to use it as money if she needs to. i asked her if there is anywhere there to sell and she did not know, im not even sure if there is a mcdonalds there. i ask here because you guys are a lot closer to thailand and asia than we are in the states. sorry if some find the post irrelevant or an annoyance
A bit of history of Location http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lom_Sak_District Travel Guide Location. http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Lom_Sak Where Lom Sak () is in Phetchabun Province in Lower Northern Thailand. Being close to scenic hills and national parks makes it a good place to stop on a trip through the region. Eat Close to the "in town" bus stop, near the school, is a street where there are heaps of cheap (50 baht) food stalls, although little English is spoken. The two 7-Elevens across the road will sell (and open) beer (40-50 baht) that you can have with your meal. In the centre of town is a hectic extravaganza of cheap street stalls that runs wall-to-wall for about 300 m. If you want beer, you'll have to go and buy it while you wait for your food. Great for leisurely people watching. Sleep Nattirat Grand Hotel, 163/10 Kachaseenii Rd (~1km from the centre of town and bus station). Lukewarm shower. Has a swimming pool, karaoke, and snooker. Internet is 50 baht for two hours. 600 baht with breakfast. Be Precise House, when you want to do auto correct. Sorry 97Gun, not mean to trash yours thread. Anyway carry on.
Thailand has currency called Thai baht. Notes and coins same as in the U.S. Why bother posting bits of silver when you can just do a money transfer which she can withdraw in the local currency and spend wherever she wants?
All Thai women like Gold! You will be branded a "Cheap Charlie " if you send her Silver, silver is poor mans wealth in Thailand. Send her money and she will go and buy gold anyway, usually gold chain off a roll. Thailand is full of shops that sell gold by the inch/cm and she will collect gold until she buys a Lexus
Agree with money transfer, go to western union and let her get what she needs without dealers clipping the ticket, postal loss, theft etc. If you want her to be more than a penpal I suggest you save your money and buy a plane ticket. water buffaloes don't get as sick as you might think..
If you want to send her money so she can buy stuff, send her money. If you want to send her coin/s send her something like a '64 Kennedy half dollar - something recognisable.
I was going to say 1 gram gold, Thai people no matter where they are love gold. Trust me they know the value of gold, if she had gold she would keep it till the day she died or if her parents were sick and she needed to pay medical bills. Same deal in Loa, Cambodia or Vietnam.
I am a lot closer in Perth but others in Australian are not I have been going to Thailand since the 1980,s Gold shows wealth and power in Thailand. A woman in a Thai village who has gold on show advertises that she can provide for her extended family and gives her greater village status over abusive Thai men. The village and family know this gold has come direct or indirect from a "Ferang man" or "White devil" but they are accepting of this fact because the wealth is for the family group not the individual, something thats hard for us to understand. Silver is everywhere in Thailand but only foreign tourists buy it And before I get flamed I have never visited Thailand without my wife but have quite a few friends who have moved to Thailand for good.
That's not actually so silly, it's pretty pathetic that we are basically in SEA and most of us act like we live somewhere just west of Gibraltar, we should know a lot more about Thailand and the rest of our regional neighbors. +1 on the gold, it's not unlike India where people wear their wealth and giving plain gold jewelry is a sort of polite way of giving money. At least it's like giving a nice present that doubles as financial security if you ever had to sell it. Don't go to a jeweler and pay wild markup though because what your after is low premium high karat gold (make sure each piece has a clear hallmark). I would go to a second hand jeweler or pawn shop, the sort of place that advertises the cost of jewelry by the gram or ounce, doesn't mean you don't pick something nice but your looking for yellow bullion she can wear not fancy stones in white gold. Better yet ask a scrap dealer if they have anything that's been sold lately that might make a nice gift and offer them spot plus 5-10%. Again, the retail price you pay in a mall jeweler isn't going to matter much in rural Thailand when it's time to sell (and chain retail jewelers have crazy markups anyway) so buy some low premium bracelets or necklaces that are adjustable (rings are a pain because you have to size them).
