Lemsta69

No one - oh is that what "Xi" means in English?!

We could spend hours debating this but let's just stick to the topic eh? Which is ... where does Rick Astley get his $2 flatty whiteys from? ????

I use Bangkok Bank (BBL) and tbh I'm not very happy with them. They charge a 15 baht out-of-province ATM withdrawal fee which is not a massive amount but it just annoys me for some reason even though I'm trying to become for jai yen yen or whatever it's called. They're paying me less interest because I'm a dirty foreigner which makes it even more annoying ???? You can avoid that fee by using the Cardless Cash function at most BBL ATMs but you need their Bualuang app installed on your smartphone and a data connection. I had to use an agent in Pattaya to open my account almost a year ago. All I got was a silly ATM card that only supports Union Pay, whatever that is. Now they want B599 to renew the almost useless card. Sensing money via Wise to a BBL account is a bit of an issue. You have to choose "Funds for long stay" from a drop-down menu but they can't guarantee the incoming funds will be marked as an International Transfer. Forum members have reported occasional failures with Wise's software and the funds are tagged as local transfers which requires additional legwork. Also it takes longer for the funds to arrive because they do a batch transfer around 2pm each business day. On top of that, BBL won't give you a 12 month statement on the spot at a branch. Max is 6 months @ 100 baht. They have to send a request to head office for a 12 month statement and it can take some time to arrive. Other members can comment on the usual timeframes, I haven't needed it yet. I'm looking to switch to KBank as soon as I get around to obtaining a residence certificate from Chaeng Wattana. This is just my experience, other members will be along soon enough to provide more input.

More Wagyu steak and French wine for me then! ????

Ah that explains a lot. I guess having an unsophisticated palate means you're never disappointed ????

Is it single origin, mountain grown Fair Trade coffee? Or that great organic stuff that comes from Chiang Mai. Or you just happy with any old swill as long as it's cheap?

There's nothing wrong with adding hot water to an espresso to make it more palatable. Some folk just can't handle the strong hit of a single shot. It took me a very long time to get used to it. But I don't think that's why Starbucks is considered to be sub-par even though they say they use high quality coffee. I think it's just that their particular blend and way of making the coffee doesn't suit everyone's palate. My only experience with Starbucks was a negative one. It was at a Vons in San Diego when I was on vacay visiting a friend. I ordered an espresso to drink at the store and when he finally brought it over it was in a standard-sized takeaway cup not the miniature ceramic cup as expected. No glass of water either and no biscotti. The coffee itself wasn't to my taste but it was so long ago that I don't recall exactly why. It was such a depressing experience that I'll never go back to a Starbucks again unless they give me free coffee to sample AND I don't have to wait in line behind all the dummies ordering their stupid concoctions. I'm not against such concoctions but I'm not going to be held up by them. Put in an Express Lane and maybe I'll think about it. I mean, that's why they call it "expresso" isn't it? ????

From the internet: "In its simplest form, an espresso is essentially a strong black coffee that has been brewed under intense pressure." That produces a small amount of liquid. Aussies call it a Short Black, I guess because "espresso" is too foreign. That's too strong for a lot of people so just add some hot water and hey presto, you get a Long Black. Italians consider this a mortal sin and they (allegedly) don't drink it over there. If you want a long black in Italy you ask for an Americano ????

Simply having a server in Thailand doesn't guarantee success. Do you know for sure that Netflix hasn't blocked ExpressVPN's IP ranges?

One of my go-to tracks when I'm feeling blue. Thankfully the escitalopram works for me so never had to try the big L ????

Have you ever actually been to the basement at Swampy?

Why? Chrome can auto-translate pages for you, easy peasy.

Here's a shot of that boat from the V Varee. The Chao Phraya at night with all those cruise boats, and the lit-up Rama VIII and Phra Pinklao bridges, does it get any better?

Is that all? From our vantage point at the V. Varee guest house in Banglamphu we saw what seemed like dozens of boats. Too many to keep up with, especially after a few large Heinekens.

Aah that explains why you were happy with the cruise. My buddy and I, his Thai BiL and his mate Pee Jack, like a bit of a tipple which is why we haven't gone on one of these cruises yet. My mate's family (a d Pee Jack) has to be invited because they help out with stuff, so a booze-only package would keep the total cost down ????

Meh. Seen that one go past a few times and it looks a bit boring. This video just confirmed it. There's another one that pumps out the Thai music, or maybe it's Isaan music, I'm not sure. I'd go on that one if they would offer an all-you-can-drink package instead of the food package. I've been told by a Thai bloke that the food kinda sucks.

Through the aircon shopping mall eh? Thanks for the tip.

Yuppy means "Young, Urban Professional". The complete antithesis of the people that run most countries.

Has BKK stopped providing free WiFi? If you have a data connection then there's no barrier to looking up the 'real' rates via the rate aggregator that's been provided a few times already. Have you even been down to the basement at Swampy and compared Super Rich et al with the city rates? I think you'll be surprised how close they are.

Oh ok. When people say large amounts of money I immediately think of 20k and up ????

Ok no worries, saves me from telling you to take it up with Ubon Joe because I'm not going to question his knowledge! ????

No worries. Putting my stingy hat on now .... the only other thing I can think of is that if the amount is truly a large amount you could contact the big 3 city money changers and see if they'll do a better rate than the advertised ones. At their downtown head offices of course. Obviously they won't guarantee any rate now but it will test their willingness to negotiate. Getting out to the boondocks ASAP is your priority but is it worth losing a couple K baht over? SkyTrain trip to Ratchadamri or Suk 7/1 is cheap, safe and relatively quick. Unless you're one of those silly people that have gigantic bags they can't carry ???? http://www.vasuexchange.com https://www.superrichthailand.com/#!/en/exchange https://www.superrich1965.com/home.php

Unfortunately they don't show airport rates or other cities. This is presumably because those places aren't providing a free, real-time data feed. Super Rich 1965 don't even qoute their airport rates on their website, unless I'm looking at it wrong... https://www.superrich1965.com/home.php

Why? Vasu is right next to Nana BTS and their rates are a tad higher than Super Rich 1965 (orange) and usually on par with Super Rrich Thailand (green). Both Super Rich offices are on Ratchadamri which is a bit of a hike from the nearest BTS.

Ha ha it's a typo, should be 2023. OP mentioned his intended departure date but I missed it originally because it was hard to read his long, rambling post ????