gearbox

I loaded cash in the card via the mobile app, on theory shouldn't pay interest. I used to withdraw cash this way via my Aussie credit cards, but now they started charging fees - not interest if the cash is preloaded.

Thanks, I do have the mobile app, will try this today.

I'm away from home and foolishly forgot my Bangkok bank debit card and I'm running short of cash. I have a Bangkok bank credit card with me, and transferred extra money to it to be on the plus side. If I do cash advance with my credit card would Bangkok bank charge me interest or some other fees? They have the fees on their web site but all in Thai.

The busiest area now in Chaweng is north of Ark bar up to OP bungalows/Baan Ya Jai. There are many places opened, including one 7-11 opposite Combo. Looks like quite a few are also opening soon south of Ark bar to the Central festival - I saw workers doing some stuff at Hooters. My guess is there will be some Songkran activity, but not with big crowds as pre covid.

From my recent personal experience the customs recently are not paying much attention what goes in at the airport. I went through Phuket 2 times in the last 4 months, there is no X-ray of the incoming baggage, one can just cruise through the green corridor. The second time I came in I had probably 250-300k worth of gear including 3 laptops, no issues whatsoever.

This is simply not true..pretty much every flight in recent times landing in Phuket had at least one person testing positive at the airport. If covid was spreading in the plane as you say the whole plane would test positive on day 5.

No need to complain...just calculate your probable monthly electricity consumption with the asked rate, then negotiate rent reduction with that amount so you don't pay any electricity at all. It is buyers market. They'll probably agree on rent reduction than reduce the electricity rate.

They need to ditch the Thailand pass and all the testing.. except maybe ATK at the airport...then more people will start coming. If the Chinese fail with their zero covid policy and open up it should be a big boost.

Try searching with Google by adding at the end of the search terms site:.thaivisa.com or site:.aseannow.com

Your voucher is probably extended, I would email Jetstar for confirmation. https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/trip-of-a-lifetime-cancelled-and-18-000-in-vouchers-left-unused-20220301-p5a0rv.html

It is always like this...the eastern winds bring rubbish to the eastern Samui beaches. The rubbish comes from everywhere, I often see Vietnamese stuff on the east side of Samui and Koh Phangan. Of course when the wind changes in April some of the Thai rubbish probably ends in the Philippines. Most likely this is not rubbish produced by the locals, but in the end everyone is guilty in SE Asia, even the rubbish thrown in Mekong thousand of kilometres from the sea may end up one day on one of the Samui beaches.

Mate...just retire. You are overthinking it.. you are a classical "paralysis by analysis" case. By the time you figure out the best plan you may be in the coffin already.

Thais can afford Queen, but from my observations most of the ordinary Thai folks like their own music. I can't imagine bringing my gf to a Queen concert, it is not their thing, there would be whinging to get out from the tenth minute onwards. BTW saw Queen with Adam Lambert in Sydney 2020, stunning performance.

You can't get a travel test for free in Australia, only if you are a suspected domestic case. There are a few other providers in Australia providing PCR test for traveling, but they all seem to charge around $150 and the result may take up to 48 hours...same day PCR goes to $250 as far as I remember. No brainer to go with Histopath.

It could be worse..they can provide R&R services for the Russian murderers just as they did for the American murderers taking break in Pattaya after they burned women and children with napalm in Vietnam.

Well the Indians probably have read the comments about "four Indians four straws one beer" on this site and decided they should take care of their own interests ????

Can you post a link with the list of targets, just curious who is on the list.

There are very few real democracies in the world, probably less than 10, all of them in Europe, mostly in Scandinavia.

Yes that's correct. I'm currently on Non-O retirement extension which expires mid June. Of course I'm going to extend it for one year in June. On top of that I showed them an outbound ticket from Thailand to Europe only one week after my extension expires...not good enough for them. In the end bought a one way ticket from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur early June. The check-in staff seemed mostly old, arrogant and patronising, enjoying their newly found powers until they last. If I had time I would would have asked them to show me the requirements in writing, but the flight was delayed already and there was no time for arguing. If you fly Thai IMO you probably won't have any problems, but in any case arrive a bit early and have tools and connection to buy an outbound ticket. Some of the tickets are fully refundable.

I flew in with Jetstar to Phuket a few days ago, here are some observations: * They advertise many flights from Melbourne and Sydney (pretty much daily flights), as soon as they collect enough receipts that shrinks to 1-2 flights per week Sydney and Melbourne combined. The rest of the flights get cancelled, and the Sydney bookings rerouted via Melbourne or vice versa. My flights were cancelled twice, people at the check in queues complained that they had more than 2 cancellations. * If you have an international reservation which includes a domestic leg you would expect the initial departure point to check in your baggage which you would see at your final destination, and get your boarding passes too. No such thing with Jetstar - you need to collect your luggage at the next leg, and check it in again. I was rerouted via Melbourne and had to pick up my oversized 30kg bag, and run as mad to the international terminal as the domestic flight was delayed 1 hour. * At the check in Melbourne I was denied boarding as I don't have an outbound flight before my yearly non-o retirement extension expires in June. They told me this is a "new requirement" although I know this is BS and Thais don't require return flight from non-immigration visa holders. I was forced to buy throwaway outbound flight "in the next 10 minutes" which was quite stressful. My verdict: Avoid them like a plague. I managed to do it for number of years but had to take them this time in order to get 50 kg baggage moved. Hopefully AirAsia resumes their usual schedule soon.

I flew to Thailand 2:days ago and did the PCR test with Histopath in community clinic 48 hours in advance. The result came 3-4 hours later, $79, had no issues at the borders with it.

I was in the Samui immigration a month ago to do reentry permit, probably 80% of the people there were Russians. They didn't look like wealthy tourists, but in these times beggars can't be choosers.

The whole Ukrainian mess started in 2014 when the Americans staged a coup and replaced the democratically elected president. Whether the president was good or bad was questionable, but he was elected. It all went downhill since then.

People from countries with substantial pensions which get properly indexed...and people with substantial investment income which rises with the inflation.

Thailand is definitely not a place to ride this out for people on fixed income like state pensions. Russia is one of the biggest mineral and food exporters, if the price of oil and wheat continues to climb, higher inflation may follow. If the pensions are not indexed appropriately the teeraks may eventually boot out the incumbents and look for better deal.