Bugsy1966

I cannot speak highly enough of this guy.......

https://www.bangkokpattayahospital.com/en/doctor-profile?v_id=171&c=1&depid=22

A true gentleman and utterly genuine. If feet are not his territory then I am sure he would not hesitate to refer you to the best available. I had a complex shoulder fracture that he resolved beyond my expectations and his after care was superb too. Very good English which also helps. He repaired the broken leg of a friend's son with equally excellent results.

I use Cat2Call. Works well, no echo/delay. 1.5B per minute to a NZ landline although significantly more to a mobile.

Rates.......

https://link.catnextgen.com/docs/link-rates.pdf

About 3 months ago I set up a system using the previous versions of........

http://www.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_757_i6049.html  and http://www.hikvision.com/en/Products_accessries_757_i6111.html

Having never done it before I did find it a little tricky to set up the first one but the other 4 were then easy. With your prior experience that probably won't be an issue. Note that these are not WiFi but are PoE which, for me, is the better option since you are running a power cable anyway and don't have to worry about data loss/speed so much. Of course that necessitates buying a switch but these are relatively inexpensive in the grander scheme of things.

I've found the picture quality excellent and Hikvision's own ddns service to be wholly reliable to date. The free IVMS monitoring software is decent too.

They were bought via aliexpress during their equivalent of a Black Friday sale at very reasonable prices (substantially less than they sell for in the USA). Note that there are a lot of "OEM" versions on aliexpress so you need to be careful that you are buying "original/English" version if that is what you require. The supplier I bought from was very helpful and made it clear that she sold both originals and OEMs - there was no attempt to hide that as some do. If you'd like me to pass on her details then feel free to PM me.

15 hours ago, abrahamzvi said:

.......the regulation is that the Schengen visa should be issued by the country in the Schengen area where you land first......

That used to be the case but no longer is. As Wanderlust points out above, you now have to apply to the country where you will be spending the most time during your Schengen area visit (which may or may not be the first place you land).

Quote

5 hours ago, JaiLai said:

All the good seats on emirates are long gone 48 hours before most of their flights.

 

True, but that is highly likely to change now that people will have to pay for them. You might have to be a bit nimble at the 48 hour mark but I suspect that availability will be at least reasonable on most flights once the new rules come into play.

Never ever seen it congested, (a maximum of 8 flights departing a day?)

I use Air Asia a lot unfortunately (last time last week) and unless you have check in baggage, then 1 hour before take off is plenty...If you have check in then maybe 15 minutes extra time. Get boarding pass online though!

Totally agree.60-75 mins is plenty even for international. 40-60 for domestic. The last thing you want to do is spend anything more than the minimum of time airside at UTP.

Before the ban. Makro charged between 155 and 165 per kilo. The majority of the birds were 6k...........I used to buy them all the time. I have a commercial smoker oven and liked cooking them pretty much year round.

Thems would be some big birds.

At 160B a kilo they'd have to be going on for 40kg each to cost 6k baht.

Makro (north) had plenty last week. Mostly Norbest but a few Butterballs - both 300B per kilo.

Loads of Norbest's and Butterball's at Villa as well.

Yes there are. They had two cabinets full of them today although they are charging 690B a kilo vs Macro's 300B.

Makro (north) had plenty last week. Mostly Norbest but a few Butterballs - both 300B per kilo.

You can buy a leg of lamb for 600 baht from villa. Cook that in an oven and it will satisfy all your lamb needs. I wouldnt trust an indian restraunt here.

600B a KILO more like it. In fact, 660B the last time I looked. Compared to Makro's price of 320B per kg for precisely the same brand leg of frozen lamb! Staggering really that Villa Mart can get away with it.

Don't get me wrong, Villa is great in that they have things that many other places do not but they vastly overcharge for many items that are available elsewhere.

FWIW, the fresh lamb legs (when they have them) are now down to 340B a kilo at Makro.

I've just had mine done by this company........

http://planetkitchen.net/index.html

Very professional - couldn't be happier. After care good also - one call to Kieran (the boss) and any problems are resolved promptly.

Thanks for that - I'll give them a try.

I'm looking for somewhere that will make a 3 metre sofa to a particular design and have read through old threads here without really finding any recent recommendations. The most promising seemed to be Ultra Lounge but it was a 5 year old thread and the listed phone number doesn't work so I'm guessing it has since closed.

Anybody know of a place?

Another OSH drinker to the thread!

The main issue I see is whether or not you'd be able to sell it fast enough because of its limited shelf life. There are other English bitters available and some may or may not have longer shelf lives. I do know that the Punch and Judy also sells Boddingtons and, from what I have seen, that outsells OSH there by some magnitude. Layla's sells a second one in addition to OSH (Greene King IPA smooth?) so one imagines that if they can stock two then they must be a market for it.

The other factor is of course the price you can afford to sell it at. Witherspoons sell it at 155B a pint during happy hour and a little more at other times. I believe Layla's sell it around 190B.

Given that you probably make around 30-40B (gross) per bottle of beer then if you added, say, 50-60B per pint to your cost price then it might keep the cost within bitter lovers price range. However if you were to add the standard mark up then, given its higher cost price per pint, that might push it beyond the 'glass ceiling' for some.

I think 18 coins is one of the best restaurants in Pattaya, food great and great prices also , not a buffet but Big American breakfast is 110 baht, English BR. 140 baht, Soi bukhou, sic, cross street Soi Diana, Great Burger also for 140baht with fries...


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

18 Coins might be one of the best value restaurants in Pattaya at the cheaper end of the market (and you'd get a diverse range of opinions even on that) but to describe it as one of best restaurants in Pattaya is - well words fail me.

I may have missed it but I see no mention of Wifi - any plans on that front?

Another thumbs up for Sophon in Central Pattaya. I did quite a lot of research - here and elsewhere - before going for them as, for me, international speed is crucial. Local surfing is unimportant.

I've been using them for 15 months or so on a 2/1 'premium' service at around 1690B per month. Expensive yes, but they do deliver (mostly) that and more 90% of the time internationally and that is what is important to me as I stream Sky tv from the UK using a Slingbox.

The speeds I get are very stable at around 3-4M down at all times except 6pm-midnight Friday-Sunday. Then it often dips to as little as 1-1.5 but that is still enough to stream in SD so I've been happy with their service. There have been a few significant outages (1-4 hours) since I've been using them but only one that was overnight. Lots of 5-15 minute outages (1-2 per month maybe) but I get the impression that this is typical of most/all ISPs.

I've only had to call them out once and they were here 2 hours later.

Like all Thai internet options it's far from perfect but if you are relying on 1m+ international speeds at all times then I'm not aware of a better option at the moment.

However, I will soon be moving to the northern side of Mabprachan lake (close to the water treatment plant) so the search will start again. I'm aware of BTV servicing that area - anyone on here with experience of them/their international speeds/packages? Other ISPs that cover that area?

London - UK DL/UL: 14.68/1.01

New York USA 14.17/0.78

Using http://www.speedtest.net/

I live near to Magnolias.

Not exactly sure the name of my plan but I pay 963 Baht per month for a 14 Mb dl service. It is very reliable

It's 99.9% certain that those speeds indicate cached results. I'd be very interested to know what results you get using testmynet as I'm trying to find an ISP with semi decent international speeds.

http://testmy.net/download

Avander,

Just FYI... I just got the bill (for the first time) from True.

1 months for Ultra Hi-Speed Int 12M/1.2M cost 599 THB + VAT 7%

Very acceptable for me, as the speeds are good and almost 100% up-time

I'll be moving to that (approx) area in a few months. I'd be very interested to know what speeds you are getting outside of Thailand and whether or not you can stream video satisfactorily using the 12M True service. I'm not entirely sure but I don't think that they cache http://testmy.net/download - I'd be very grateful if you (or others in the area) could give me an indication of the speeds you are getting.

Another big thumbs up for La Taverna del Passatore.

Been there 5 or 6 times now over the past couple of months - the food is consistently very good and at a price that belies the quality. Highly recommended if you can live with dining 'al fresco'.

Great thread btw - thanks to the contributors.

Thanks for the report Bugsy, to save others the trouble could you post / link-to the two line items detailing the duty payable (0% and 40%).

Not straightforward I'm afraid as the Thai customs website doesn't work like that! However, if one starts at http://igtf.customs.go.th/igtf/en/main_frame.jsp then.....

1) click on search for import tariff

2) enter 84713020 in the tariff code and hit search

3) click on the subheading 8471.30.20

You will then see the first line item for subheading 8471.30.20 with a duty rate of 40%, followed by 3 further subheadings of 8471.302000 - two showing as exempt and one showing as 3%. There are then a number of others categorised by country/region (none are USA) for which there are trade agreements in place, all of which show as exempt. Then there is one final one falling under a WTO agreement which shows as 20%.

Lord knows which applies and maybe someone with more knowledge than I can make sense of the above but I gave up and, as aforementioned, just winged it and sent Fedex a copy/paste of the second one.

Just out of curiosity, what was the computer spec that you couldn't find anything close to locally?

Nothing too flash - just a 17" HD screen, 16GB of memory and a i7 quad-core processor (ideally 3630QM). In terms of local availability InvadeIT did have a few that would have fitted the bill near enough but, upon enquiry, they didn't have stock or any indication of when they might be getting any.

I was unable to find anything close to the spec I needed for a new laptop locally so decided to buy one from the US. I researched the customs duty side of things on here and although there were conflicting reports of success/failure in terms of avoiding customs duty I did glean a good deal of useful information - many thanks to those that contributed. Some posters were adamant that laptops were not dutiable and those that had been hammered for the 40% duty had been ripped off but it became clear that many had indeed been hit with this. Others had had their laptops/other similar items sail through without a hitch (even without VAT in some cases apparently) despite using courier services. The general consensus though seemed to be that using USPS would be the best way and using DHL or Fedex was to be avoided.

The Thai customs website is, unsurprisingly, not at all clear. On the one hand you can find a line item for laptops that says they are exempt but equally you can find a line item for laptops that say they are dutiable at 40%.

For the benefit of others that might be considering importing a laptop, here is what happened.

I used shipito.com (Oregon to avoid the CA sales tax) and the first problem reared its ugly head when, because of the package size/weight, their system announced that USPS was not an option - I had to use Fedex, DHL or similar. I opted for Fedex with some trepidation. Sure enough, having tracked the item through various ports of call via the Fedex website, it arrived in Thailand early on Monday morning and was immediately flagged as 'clearance delay - import'. Initially I let sleeping dogs lie to see what would happen. There had been no update by the following morning so I had my GF (in whose name it had been imported) call Fedex in Bangkok.

They told her that duty had to be paid (at 40%) as well as VAT. Having been primed earlier, she told them she accepted the VAT charge but not the duty as, in her understanding, laptops were exempt. The lady on the other end of the phone insisted that they were dutiable and asked for a copy of my GF's ID to clear the package, providing her (Fedex lady) email address for said purpose.

So I emailed her (in my GF's name) to dispute the customs charges and asked for the contact details of the officer concerned as 'I would like my lawyer to discuss the matter with them' - thinking that this would probably make no difference but was worth a shot. I also reiterated the belief that they were exempt from duty and copied/pasted the line item from the Thai customs website (only the exempt one naturally!) plus a copy of the Fedex webpage which estimated the duty at zero, showing only VAT as payable.

The reply from Fedex ignored everything I had sent and merely asked for a copy of my GF's ID to enable them to clear the item. I replied with a copy of her ID but asked that they provided me with confirmation that they understood that I did not accept that duty had to be paid before passing on the ID copy and/or attempting to clear the package. I received a one line reply confirming this. I wasn't hopeful and fully expected them to come back to me pointing out the line item that showed 40% and demanding the duty but figured it was worth a try as the duty in this case was well in excess of 20k baht.

It all went quiet for a little over 24 hours and then late the following afternoon my GF received a call to say that the package had been cleared and it would arrive the next day. The caller also said an invoice would be emailed regarding charges but no mention was made of the scale of those and my GF didn't enquire. Early the next day the email arrived - no sign of customs duty, just the VAT and a spurious 'clearance fee'. I say spurious because the Fedex website makes it clear that handling customs is included in their original charges unless they have to amend a customs declaration or do other additional work because of an error when the declaration was originally completed. This was not the case here but, perhaps wrongly, I decided to let it slide and paid them their 1200 baht rather than delay things further.

So, in summary, it appears to remain a lottery as to whether or not duty is applied but if it does happen then disputing it may bear fruit. Maybe I just got lucky on this occasion but I do wonder if Fedex (or, more accurately, their employees) are just being lazy as it's not their money or if they are trying it on and supplementing their income in some way and, once challenged, backpedal.