kokesaat

I use SCB Easy App on my phone in Thailand. Besides all the usual easy-to-do things on the app, I can make international transfers to my US account. I'm getting ready to do a long stay in the US so I'll be using a US Sim, but the same phone. Does anyone have experience with swapping out SIMs and still being able to use the banking app, while in the US (or UK)?

Would you prefer stun guns? I've seen videos of police handling younger people on yaba with those metal rods. Seems like a humane way of apprehending someone who's spaced out.

Not like most expats!

I don't live in the area.....but search for ลับคมกรรไกร น่าเกลือ (scissor sharpeners in NaKlua) shows https://www.facebook.com/people/ร้านลับกรรไกรประเทืองการช่าง/100057712560635/ You might find a guy on a bike who can do a decent job sharpening knives, but you'll probably find the professional scissor sharpeners like that above doing a move decent job.

What a bunch of boomers! When we moved to Thailand back in 1996, the vast mqjority of Thais conducted their banking business inside the bank....including the village grandmas who were withdrawing a few hundred baht from their accounts. Needless to say, banks were elbow to elbow with customers. A year or two or three after we arrived, the banks started issuing ATM cards to all its customers and invoked some rule that you could only use counter service for larger transactions. IOW, get with the program, grandma. Most of the whiners here, I suspect, would be the ones still using checkbooks at the cashier if they were in their home country. Time to get with the times!

Years ago I made a color copy of my passport photo page and kept it in the glove compartment in case I was ever asked for my passport. I think I've pulled it out twice....both time when a bank asked to see my passport, never for the police......25 years in

My Thai teacher was the village pharmacist who wanted to practice her English. She came to our house twice a week for 2 hours.....first hour Thai, second English. No charge either way. Even though she was university educated, her mother (a primary school teacher) taught her Thai when she was very young. She knew the rules and could demonstrate the correct way to pronounce the various sounds. I'm not a believer in memorizing the alphabet......it won't get you anywhere. My teacher started me on lesson one of Maani.......you learn the sounds of 4 or 5 consonants and a vowel or two in each lesson. After lesson one, "YOU CAN READ!". Tones don't come into play until ??lesson 20?? or so. Between classes, I'd write out the short conversations multiple times, so I learned to read at the same time. When I got to tones, it was torture time. I insisted on her correcting me if I made pronunciation mistakes. One hour of that and my brain was jello. But sometime after I started on tones, it all magically came together. I still can't recite the alphabet.....never had a need to. I'm still a novice.....but I can read/write/speak what I need to make life 100% more enjoyable here. Good luck

Been here for 25 years, only asked for my passport in banks (I provide a copy of my photo page) and immigration. Police never seem to have a problem with Thai driver's license as ID, yellow housebook and/or pink ID is a bonus. Again, they've never asked for passport. I've used pink ID for domestic travel, no problem. If your passport was in transit and you had to make an emergency trip to the US, I'd guess you could obtain an emergency passport from the embassy

I just did a side by side comparison.....chrome without vpn = mostly BE dates chrome with vpn = standard dates Chrome is up to date Version 107.0.5304.107 If you're living here, may as well get used to the BE system as you're surrounded by it.....sort of like coming from the US and dealing with left side driving or metric versus not

Thanks for the replies. In the past, when booking with ANA from Bangkok, we've always booked to our final Texas destination.......may have gone through Houston, and for sure went through Colorado at least one time. In all those cases, we went through customs, put our bags back onto a conveyor just outside of customs, and picked them up at our final destination. We'd do the same. I most definitely will inquire with ANA.....but thought I'd throw out the question to see if anyone had experience with this sort of thing. Thanks again.

Thanks for the link. I'll digest their website after dinner tonight!

The plus side to paying the airline is that the luggage goes with you. I understand that 200lbs excess might cost several hundred dollars, but I don't see any freight alternatives that are cheaper.

We normally clear customs in Dallas, but then bags are put back into transit, without having to go through the domestic airline checkin process. Is that what you were referring to or is there something else I'm missing? Thanks for responding

My wife and I are planning a trip to the US, probably ANA business class. In the past, we've been able to check our bags to our final destination in Texas, usually involving a short hop on a Delta flight from Dallas. Our booking will be BKK-our final destination (we've done this a few times). We're considering carrying about 200lbs of extra baggage, beyond the generous ANA baggage limits. (https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/guide/boarding-procedures/baggage/international/baggage-over/) I know we'll incur extra charges, but just wondering is any of the seasoned travelers have done such a thing and whether there's anything we should be aware of before making our reservations/plans.

We've had a rolled metal roof for just shy of 20 years. Bluescope wasn't availabe at that time in Udon, so we opted for a no-name with the thin, glued on insulation. We've had no problems with the roof/insulation. One major drawback (IMO) of the tile roofs is their heat retention after the sun goes down. One benefit of the metal roof is there's no heat retention after sunset. But if you keep the tile underneath, you'd retain the heat. There are lots of naysayers about noise......but you can beat the noise with some insulation directly on the roof, and added insulation on the ceiling. With that, you'll save mounds on your AC bills and won't be bothered by the noise of the rain.

To add to my post above, I think it's best to think of the fund as a co-op. Certainly not a bank.

The letter is from the Customer Welfare Cremation Association BAAC. Ban Dung District. As I understand the system (having been here for 26 years), if you want to join, you join, you pay, and when you die, you get some financial assistance toward your funeral. If you have a private policy with a bank, you're not under any obligation to join a village/community fund. We have never joined, and never been under pressure to join. The 1200 baht mentioned is paid upfront......I guess 100 Baht per month. The Association is nationwide.... https://www.baac.or.th/cremation/?page_id=181 .......to the best of my knowledge, the Udon office is across from Siam Commercial Bank on Phosri Rd. There was some recent press about the public having questions about the health of the Udon fund......but I'm not sure what became of it.

26 years, never. I don't hang around seedy areas, but sure I'd hear of something like that happening in/around Udon.

Agree (although I think Isaan is considered a dialect by most). But with transliterated Thai, who knows what "pa" is!

เข้าใจบ่ [เข้า - ใจ - บ่อ] แปลว่า เข้าใจไหม Often seen as part of Isaan-speak. The first time I saw บ่ I thought for sure it was a spelling mistake. Now I know it's a shortened version of บ่อ

Google translate. Although I can read and write Thai, I'm an amateur. So I regularly use Google translate, mostly for onesy words, but on occasion for complete sentences.

Having been here for 25 years and seeing how things change (exchange rates, various government rules affecting pensions/cola, etc), my advice would be: If you come here at 60, be prepared to go without your pension. If you can't live without the pension, then you're probably better off where you are. If you end up receiving a pension at the expected age, then that'll be gravy. I came here at 46. The doom and gloomers in the US have long predicted the demise of the social security program in the US. When I turned 62, I started receiving social security. That was, and continues to be, gravy. But there's no telling what will happen in the next few years/decades. At the very least, have a plan B (escape plan).

"Also, as everybody knows: Nobody can directly ask Google anything. Google is like God. Communication only goes one way. God speaks and we listen. But when we speak, Google, like God, seems not to listen." There are options out there.....Tutanota. Posteo. StartMail. Runbox. Mailfence. CounterMail. Proton Mail. Mailbox.org. Haven't heard of them? Gmail is a free service for most all their users.....if they want to enforce 2 step verification to protect their business model, that's their call.

I've yet to hear of a US citizen whose passport was lost in the mail upon renewal. Renewal by mail is a sign of the times.......and, in my opinion, a welcome one.

I've been using gmail exclusively for over 10 years....desktop, 2 mobile phones, laptop.....in Thailand and during multiple long vacations to the US. Sometimes I'll draft an email on my laptop while I'm having breakfast........snap my laptop shut......and go to my desktop to resume drafting my email. If my desktop or laptop recognize my face, my gmail account is where I left off. If I use my fingerprint on my mobile, my gmail account is where I left off. I don't have to do 2 step authentication unless I sign out on one of my devices. I'm a fan of 2 step......on my bank accounts, on vanguard, on my military retiree accounts for medical/pay, on social security. Two weeks ago I established an ID.me account to make access to all my military related accounts easiere. To establish that account, I had to sit through a zoom session where I showed my passport photo and US drivers license as proof of my identity. It wasn't as simple as holding up the photo page of my passport, as the interviewer has me move the photo page to help her observe all areas of that page. Same with the license. I'm getting ready to close on a house in the US......but I'll be in Thailand. I can do it over zoom after verifying my identity and allowing our daughter to sign the paperword. 2 step verification.....a sign of the times. If it helps protect my accounts/identity, I'm all for it