OneMoreFarang

Today I was with my gf when she tried to get money from the ATM machine. After she inserted her card and correct PIN number there was a strange menu. It was all in Thai. It included pictures of the Angry Birds game and other game pictures. What is going on? Is that some kind of marketing to spend money on Angry Bird stickers? Or maybe let's play a game before you get the money? Strange!

I have a Duke 390 since 4 years. I use is basically only within the city most of the time for short trips. The current tires don't look good anymore and it's time for new tires. But which tires and where should I buy them? Currently my bike has the following tires Michelin Pilot Street Radial Front: 110/70 R 17 M/C 54H TL Rear: 150/60 R 17 M/C 66H TL These tires are recommended in the manual. Also in the manual are Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact. Are both available in Thailand? Which are "better"? I am getting old and I don't use that bike anywhere near to what it is capable of. No extreme corners, no racing. I want a good grip in dry and wet conditions for daily riding. Should I buy those or other tires directly from KTM? Or should I go to a tire shop? Any specific tire shop? I don't really care about a few hundred baht price difference. I want that whoever installs them knows what they are doing, and I don't want old tires. What do you recommend? Where should I go, and which tires should I buy?

I like to buy a couple of meters of thick electrical wire. Up to 4 sqmm or maybe 6 sqmm is available in the usual stores. But thicker wire, and maybe in color, is maybe available at Lazada, but not easy to find. I just tried to find 10 sqmm like this (or with fewer strands), but I can't find it. Some suppliers show what looks like copper cable but in the description it's aluminium. Other supplier offer also fashion, etc. I would like to get a link to a shop (their own website or i.e. a shop in Lazada) which offers a variety of wires, different colors, maybe just a few meters or a roll, etc. Any suggestions? A real-life shop anywhere in Bangkok would also be fine. Thanks The last picture is from an online shop in China. I don't think it should be necessary to import wires from there and wait 10 days.

What kind of anchors are best for perforated bricks? (I don't know if that is the correct term for these bricks.) If I use "normal" anchors like below (from HomePro) this works in part. But maybe half the anchor is in the hole of the brick. Not good. Are there special anchors for these bricks? How are they called? Do you have a link from a shop in Thailand? Thanks The bricks for which I need anchors: I used these. They are just about good enough to hang a picture or something similar. But definitely not good for heavy load. This is a general question. I might want to hang a picture on the wall or maybe something heavy. Thanks

I like to use cable trays under the ceiling in my new condominium to make cabling and cable maintenance easy. It seems most of the time this is only used in industry and maybe offices. What do you think about this? Here is some more information: I am renovating my condominium from scratch. All the old wiring is already removed. I plan to install lots of LED lights, sensors, home automation, etc. Most of this I will do myself with HomeAssistant, NSPanels, etc. Some will be installed right away but likely I will add things later on. A long time ago when I was young I worked a couple of months for an electrical installation company. I helped them with electrical installations in houses and industry. I think the way things are done in industry (including offices) if a lot better to work on and maintain than the typical house wiring. This is why I want to use cable trays instead of the usual pipes along the ceiling. I plan to use cable trays separated for high voltage (220V) and low voltage (24V for LEDs, LAN, PoE (48V), etc.) I plan to install the cable trays between the concrete ceiling and ceiling tiles. That will make it very easy to access it. This is an example of such cable tray. The picture does not show ceiling panels (like I plan to use). I plan to use maybe something like this, not sure yet: https://th.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-trays/7707058 For the record: A qualified Thai electrical engineer will make sure that all is according to the regulations.

I want to buy some electric power tools. They should have good quality and service in Thailand. I checked a couple of websites of brands like Bosch, DeWalt, Makita and it seems all of them have just a small part of the products in Thailand compared to the USA or Europe. Which brands do you use and do you have any experience with the service in Thailand? In the moment this is a general question not specific to one tool. I think also about battery powered tools and for them it makes a lot of sense to have everything from the same brand with the same battery packs.