orchidfan

My last Wise transfer in AUD to my BBL account, done on Wed 29th May has only arrived late this evening, May 31st. Many identical transfers done fortnightly through Wise have taken 2~3 minutes max from "sending " to received. So this is a first! Wonder what BBL are doing? Wise can offer no reason (and I have their transfer receipt ) other than checking the account details and stating that it can take "up to 4 days" for the transfer to be processed by the receiving bank. But at least it finally arrived !

I fly BKK ~ HKG and AA are ALWAYS more expensive (or equal to) Emirates, who I fly with 99% of the time. And EK provide 30kg baggage (although cheaper options are available ), nice roomy A380 aircraft, inflight entertainment, food, wine and beer.......ON TIME ! Why would I choose Air Asia over Emirates ???

Some years ago I used my (Hong Kong) Dah Sing bank Platinum credit card to BUY a new Isuzu MU7 at an Isuzu dealer's display at the local Future Park shopping mall. It took them a little while to sort it out ( ~THB 1 mill), but they finally did the deal. Good bonus for the salesman, AND many,many Asia Miles bonus for me (I flew Cathay a lot back then). At that time I had no easy alternative way to pay, so it was either the foreign Dah Sing CC or no sale!

Dr Jack54, just as an aside, I recently made one of my trips to HKG, and decided, again, to do the re~entry permit at the airport (BKK) prior to departure. After passing security check, I went down to Immigration, only to see near empty lines there. But I was, by then, in the "re~entry permit line". Lo and behold there were 13+people in line (including kids and babies) in front of me being slowly processed by one lone lady filling out their forms and taking photos, changing money etc. I thought "this is going to take forever" when unexpectedly the lady IO actually issueing the permits, walks out of her "office", visually reviews the situation, and walks up to me (grey haired old farang). She asked...."you have your form already filled out with photo? Have passport and cash fee ready? "Ok, wait over there". She took my things and came back in 5 minutes with everything processed.and stamped !! I was most appreciative (and unexpected ) and told her so. Nice gesture on her part.

What is this word "yest"? I don't know it, but you use it a lot !!

As I have previously mentioned, I often travel to and from Hong Kong where my Thai wife and I have permanent residency (no local language skills etc as required here). I mainly go for a change of scene and weather, but also for the excellent (almost free) medical care. Every appointment slip or registration clearly states that these services are primarily provided for HK residents and that other foreign walk ins may be treated in an emergency, BUT AT THE FULL COST of the procedure plus medicines. This is NOT "robbing" the foreigners, and is clearly stated, so no misunderstandings. Last year I was in the waiting room for a regular check up when a nonresident man (foreigner tourist?) started getting agitated and rowdy about the time it was taking to be seen. The staff tried their best to appease him, but with no success after 10 minutes, 2 armed policemen (not security guards) arrived and hauled him away. They don't mess around there!

One annoying thing are the 7's that do not sell alcohol due to "apparently " being "close to a school or Wat" I have 3, 7's nearby me but 2 can't sell alcohol (one used to but was stopped) Crazy! I don't know of any schools (including primary schools or Wats) anywhere near these shops! And I ride around the general area a lot. It's no big deal (two mom and pop shops in same locations do!) But must be a real Revenue loser for those 7's who can't

Dr Jack, has that not changed location from the above photo, to somewhere after one has finished with Immigration? I seem to recall reading this on AN some time ago. Can you kindly clarify as I too need one later this month.

I spend many months a year in Hong Kong and have used the Octopus card there for over 2 decades. A while ago they introduced a new Octopus card with your photo on it and entitles "Elders" to pay only $hk2 for most bus,ferry and train trips. Excellent ! Here in TH , being on marriage extensions where I'm required to photocopy months of pages of my bankbook, deducting or withdrawing small amounts constantly (QR code payments etc ) soon fills up the book, as evidenced when doing an "Update" I've already required several new bank books...which is a slow procedure in the bank as many of you know. So I withdraw larger amounts from the ATM periodically, leave the bulk of it safely at home, and only put back 500 or 1000 baht into my wallet. IF I find myself wanting to buy something of higher value, then I use my BBL Debit card

To quote Napoleon when asked what his "strategy" was before going into battle. He replied... "I just turn up and see what happens " (Mind you, it didn't work out well for him at a couple of battles 🤔)

Agreed. The self~made millionaires , I knew, who worked long and hard for their wealth back "home", were usually VERY tight with their money......to the point of having to twist their arm to get them to buy their round of drinks. I suspect this guy had come into his money easily.....but who knows!

Yes that's correct, however this flight has always carried on to Dubai and I've never seen this procedure before (over many flights from Hkg to Bkk. As I mentioned earlier, one cabin crew mentioned that Thai Immigration had requested this so that no pax roll up to Immigration without their boarding pass. Which seems to have replaced the TM6 on airport arrivals.

No it was the special "Priority" line for the aged, disabled, families with small kids etc that I was commenting on.

Well, point taken, and I have flown Biz class on longer flights (Oz to BKK etc) but hardly worth the cost on a 2hr flight from Hong Kong. Plenty of reasonable French red and white wines available on EK in cattle class.

Thanks for your comments. Note that is was the checking of boarding passes whilst DE~planning, at each aircraft exiting door which greatly slowed things up. I had never experienced this before!