AlaskaDave

I drive a motorcycle in Chiang Mai and actually feel it's safer to do that here than in the U.S. In Thailand almost everyone who drives a car also drives a moto and with the exception of certain young men, (in Thailand and everywhere), they are more considerate of moto drivers as a result. That said, the lack of even minimal police presence to discourage speeding, driving the wrong way on a divided highway, loud mufflers and other moving violations, is a critically important issue. Agree totally with Lacessit; I have never in 15 years here ever seen a cop ticketing a car or van for anything. I see cops at the occasional helmet-checking roadblock. But that's it. Until police personnel get off their buts and enforce laws, the carnage will continue and innocent people will continue to die.

Good info from all of the recent posters. Thanks. Here's an update: Gecko Garden no longer has the crumbly English cheddar I was buying. They still offer a decent cheddar but it's not as good as the one I reported on here earlier. We almost never shop at Makro but I will check out the Tops Market at Panthip later today. There was a shop, The Cheese Shop, on Hassadhisawee Road just north of the moat that was selling good homemade cheese last spring. The Thai owner was a nice fellow and told me he has been a cheesemaker for a long time. His cheese was on the expensive side but the samples I bought were quite tasty. I don't know if he is still in business but it might be worth taking a look

@Carsten07 Thanks again. The photo thing is indeed a pain. If I become incapacitated but can still use my phone, the scenario you describe could work but even so, 50K per day would take 8 days to Tx 400K baht. Do you have direct knowledge of how the photo verification works? Another possibility is if I were killed in a motorcycle accident, in which case that scenario won't work. Because of the uncertainty and gotchas inherent in dealing with a Thai bank, or indeed with any Thai organization, my goal now is to use monthly money transfers to guarantee my financials. My only question is whether immigration in Chiang Mai will accept transfers done through Wise as opposed to wire transfers which are both tedious and expensive. Others on this forum have said they will accept them but the proof is in the pudding.

@Carsten07 When you say "make that account online", what do you mean exactly? The account is a standard Bangkok Bank account and I access it via their phone app all the time. She can get that money out of there if she operates fast enough. Is that what you mean?

The big attraction of the DTV for me is that the guarantee money, the 500K baht, can be in my U.S. bank. Right now, if pass away, the 400K I have in Bangkok Bank cannot be easily transferred to my Thai wife. It should be easy but it's not. I'm here on a marriage visa and that's been working fine for me except for the fact that most of my funds are stuck in a Thai bank account that can't be shared with my wife.

Yes, unfortunately it is getting hotter in Thailand as well as in many other places in the world. That is a consequence of our way of life, a way of life exemplified by the OP who brags about his use of "70,000 BTUs going FULL BLAST" air conditioning. Maybe OP doesn't realize or care that those 70,000 BTUs were quite possibly generated by a coal-burning power source. I rent an air conditioned house in Chiang Mai but I try to use A/C only when I'm very uncomfortable with the afternoon heat and even then, only in my office. Did you ever see the movie, "Don't look up"? It's about people who keep themselves intentionally ignorant about what's happening around them despite reams of evidence that should inform them. People who stay cool with no thought about the consequences of that behavior down the road are disproportionately contributing to climate change. It's a catch-22 — burn more coal to keep your homes cool while the CO2 from the coal burning raises the temperature of the planet which requires more air conditioning. Ad nauseum... Understand?

Round and round we go. Ridiculous. Tax it fully, regulate its strength, allow people to use it recreationally, and enjoy the benefits to both users and government revenue coffers.

Where do you get your information from? Russia? She's a moron you say. She has had several important jobs that require a high level of knowledge and skill. She has a law degree, was AG for the state of California, and a U.S. Senator, not to mention VP of the U.S. and a close associate and friend of Joe Biden. And unlike her convicted felon opponent, she's spent her entire life in public service, (as has Joe Biden, by the way). And she fought uphill battles to gain all of those positions because she's a woman, a woman of color. Consequently, I don't put a high value, or any value really, on your assessment.

Churchill was a charismatic leader that undoubtedly helped Great Britain stay afloat during WWII but he was a bigoted imperialist. He did not want to give up the British Empire at the end of the war. But that was a different time — many people had views that are now considered racist and misogynistic. That's why I still consider Churchill a hero. We Americans like to think of ourselves as enlightened and somehow better than everyone else but when Jews tried to escape Europe during the Nazi era they were denied entry to the U.S. time and time again. Not even FDR, who was an uber-liberal, could get Jews into the U.S. Why? Because the U.S. was anti-Semitic. And now, emboldened by scumbags like Donald Trump, anti-Semitism is again on the rise in the U.S. That's why the MAGA movement sickens me. People who think this is a good thing simply don't know or understand how America got to be in the position it's in now. Unfortunately, American history is riddled with genocidal behavior and white male supremacy.

It's because those that were murdered and tortured in what was known in my youth as the Belgian Congo were poor, uneducated, and worst of all, black. King Leopold of Belgium had a similar view of those unfortunate people as that of Hitler's toward Jews. History has always been written by the victors. It might surprise you to know that many younger Americans have a very lopsided view of the Vietnam War (if they have any knowledge of it at all).

The big plus for me would be the ability to use money in a U.S. bank as proof of financial viability instead of the money that's currently tied up in a Thai bank account that my wife can't access in an emergency. Every type of non-immigrant visa has drawbacks but I want to make sure my wife is taken care of if I pass away.

Because it's the right thing to do. Tucker Carlson is a scumbag that will say literally anything to increase his viewership. Even Fox News, an outfit that routinely lies to their viewers, fired him. IMO, anything that promotes the Nazi position should be smacked down ASAP. However, if tRump were in the Whitehouse instead of Biden, Carlson would probably be in his Cabinet.

I saw a YouTube video a few weeks ago, an interview of an Interior Ministry official, that said the funds did not have to be in a Thai bank. I'm here on a Marriage Visa and would love to be able to use the DVT instead because it would make my life here so much easier. This recent report is encouraging but I'm not planning to apply for one until the details settle. By the way, the Interior Ministry official was positively exuberant about the DVT but it's the Immigration department that controls visas so it would be wise to keep your enthusiasm in check.

I love very strong cheddar cheese and used to buy the Epicure version of, I think it was Mainland Cheese, at Rimping Markets. However, a small chunk (200g ?) cost over 200 baht. The Gecko Garden on Sridonchai Road near Pantip Plaza has several excellent cheeses for sale as well as real butter (from New Zealand I think), and coldcuts at very attractive prices. They have a crumbly English cheddar, very sharp and very tasty, for about 400 baht per kilo. They sell gouda and feta cheese also. I had eaten there once in while over the years but since I learned they also sell cheese and butter, I always buy those items there.

I don't have large amounts of money in either country LOL so that's a non-issue. Thanks for your very useful advice.