Definitely not the first restaurant with ganja as an ingredient. I remember my first taste of soup flavoured with ganja at a restaurant opposite Hua Lamphong Station 40 years ago. It was still serving dishes with ganja when I came to live here permanently in 1994.

Pfizer already confirmed that their vaccine is just as effective on the British and South African variants of COVID-19. It will probably also be just as effective on the new US mutant strain.

Amazes me that the Americans have  a great number of mutant strains of COVID-19 thanks to Trump failing to inform the U.S. public. So now they blame the Chinese Virus, the U.K. virus and the South African Virus, but so far not the U.S. Virus... The main link is to the seafood markets and sea food imports in China, Thailand, Australia and other countries. The transmission efficiency of COVID is around 98% at 5 Deg.C but near zero at 30 Deg.C. Transmission in Thailand should drop as the night time temperature rises above 24 Deg.C by end February to March. COVID virions do not survive long outside of a host body except at low temperatures and climates with low humidity and temperatures. This is the main reason it has been kept under control and why flu viruses spread in the cold winter climates.

22 hours ago, condohope said:

My plants on my terrace need about 60 liters per week. When I water them from tap within 6 to 12 hours leaves fall off or turn brown. I have a container outside in the sun for the water so any chemials can evaporate and do not harm my plants which have an extra ventilated pot to shield them from the heat of the sun. For some orchids I have to use drinking water otherwise they do not grow well. What can I do? Is it maybe the soil poisened with anything? In the condo I live there are about 120 units but only 20 used now. Water is from the city in Jomtien.Thank you for inspirations.

If you leave water in the sun, pure water will evaporate leaving a concentration of possible harmful chemicals. No matter what kind of orchid you grow, always water in the morning. Always. Nighttime watering allows water to stagnate in the growing tips of phalaenopsis or the flower sheaths of Cattleyas. This encourages bacterial and fungal diseases. Orchid plants should be dry heading into the night.

12 hours ago, l4ml4m said:

you talked with an idiot. of course, they all are.

airmail to EU and USA has never stopped.

 

It stopped at the beginning of the pandemic for  around 3 to 4 weeks, because there were too few international flights so no room for low cost air mail letters. The  same problem from the UK, so that one of my pension providers finally relented and paid me by bank transfer instead of sending a cheque. Had similar problem with my proof of life letters which had to be delayed until there were enough flights available for Air Mail Letters at a sensible cost.

I have had a brokerage account with Maybank Kim Eng for the last 24 years. Shares are NVDR so only difference is that you have no voting rights of rights to attend share holder's meetings (who would want to?) Divs and free shares, warrants etc are handled by Thai Depository. I have a Bangkok Bank Account, as does Maybank Kim Eng. If I want to withdraw cash I can get it the same day if I apply before 11 A.M. Interest on cash balances is added on a daily basis (unlike if I kept the free cash in the bank) and shown at the end of each month less tax. I have an online account and trade myself, so the brokerage fee is low. As I recall, Maybank allow you to invest on the New York exchanges as they have a branch their. Bangkok Bank and most major Thai banks have trading accounts also. There is a 10% withholding tax on dividends which you can claim back if you submit a tax return.

93 Building Soi 93 Sukhumvit in walking distance from BTS Bangchak. Serviced condo with kitchen, shower, TV, Microwave, kettle. Price around B7,000 per month. An Aussie mate has stayed there every year for yonks. Owners also own Sky Beach Pattaya.

49 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Earlier this year I read about an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Frozen British Pensions which has put the case for “partial uprating” – which means currently frozen pensions would be uprated going forward. I can't find anything more up-to-date than that, does anyone have any news on the APPG's proposal and its reception by government?

 

Given how short of money they are after all the furlough and small business support schemes, not to mention the +/- £25 billion wasted on the failed track-and-trace system, I wouldn't be too optimistic that anything will change, but it would be nice to see some reasons other than "it's always been this way, so why should we change it?"

12 hours ago, swissie said:

Hewlet Packart (HP) "Pavillion". Less than 1000 $ currently in Switzerland. Too good to be true?

 

My current (cheap-charlie) Lenovo B 50-50 has served me well over the last 4 years.

 

Budged: The sky is the limit as I can not spend any money in Thailand anymore.

I have had numerous HP Laptops and desktops including two pavilions for my businesses and my children. All were no good, especially the Pavillions. The early HP laptops all had broken hinges 9 in total. The small laptops overheated and burnt out in hot climates. I have been using top of the range 19" ACER Laptops for ever since. One is 12 years old and still going strong (cost $3,000 news). My son uses the ACER Predator 19" mainly for gaming and processing photographs as the program is hungry for memory and speed. My daughter uses a 17" ACER Nitro laptop for gaming and digital artwork and animation. All no problem. The two HP pavilions are gathering dust as they are not good. Lenovo is really the old IBM personal computer which was sold to the Chinese manufacturer.

Since the Brexit referendum I have lost 26% to 30% of my U.K. pension when converted to baht. Brexiteers told me at the time not to worry as the GB Pound would bounce back and go higher within 6 months. That was 4 and a half years ago and it is still down 26% and likely to fall further if we crash out without a deal.

"PM2.5 or particulate matter that is less than 2.5 micrograms in size". Once again, the Nation's reporter does not understand that PM2.5 refers to the size not the weight of the particles. The particles are 2.5microns (micrometers) in size of less. We refer to this as the particle cut off when we filter the air, water or other medium. When selecting a mask you need to look at the particle cut off in microns and not to the weight of the particle. The COVID-19 virons have a particle size of 0.12microns and an N95 mask has a particle cut off of 0.3microns. 

I am retired and I have had two Citibank Credit cards for the last 26 years. Also had HSBC credit card, until they stopped entertaining private accounts due to AMLO paperwork. In the early days there was an insurance fee in case I failed to pay the monthly balance but after 26 years they do not require any bond as per Bangkok Bank. I do not have a Citibank Account only their credit cards which I always pay on time. Their decision is always according to your tracked history. A first time customer has to earn a reputation as a good risk, then no problem. For Bangkok Bank you usually need a letter from your employer, if you have one, and your salary paid into your account.

1 hour ago, lopburi3 said:

So more expensive than Singapore max fare and almost as much as New York City.  Welcome to the first world.

I have been involved in both systems from the 80s and 90s. The max fare in Singapore converted to Thai Baht is B65 for 40kms and over and the maximum fare for the BTS is B65 for 59kms. Both systems offer similar discounts for frequent users. Not many passengers would be travelling all the way from Samut Prakarn to KhuKhot. When I was on the advisory panel for the MRTA in 1994, I advised that the Government should subsidise the fares so that it would be a true mass transit system. However, I know realise that some stations could not handle the increased number of low income passengers. One reason they have adopted the same fare strategy as Singapore.

Nothing new or innovative, just not implemented here. First promoted here in 1994 at Queen Sirikit Exhibition Center, which showed a hand bricketting press for turning dry leaves etc into brickettes. Has been popular in Japan since 1925 and in Nepal since recorded history. I worked on the design of a project for turning forestry waste into fuel brickettes in Romania in 2003. The purpose of bricketting the dried leaves and not just throwing them into the incinerator, is because the uncompressed leaves take a lot of room in the incinerator for a given heat output. Therefore we brickette them which allows a lot more heat efficiency.

I see no point in the original post. If your pension provider provides the usually required statement that the money is a pension payment, that is all that is required. I have 5 pensions sent from the UK direct to my Bangkok Bank Account regularly without problem. I also have my UK State Pension sent to Bangkok Bank London which is automatically sent directly to my Bangkok account. To set up the Bangkok Bank UK account for pension purposes you just fill out the form and sit back, and the funds are transferred to your account. However, Bangkok Bank dislikes dealing with overseas transfers relating to United States citizens due to the extra paperwork and reporting, but this is a UK account. 

"Giant Power Plant" stop kidding, this is a small power plant. I was building 2,000MW Power plants in UK in the '60s. Largest individual generating sets were 1,000MW. Worked on the design and construction of Ratchburi Power Station here in the '90s with a capacity of 3,645MW.

3D Printers were developed in Thailand by CCET Cal-Comp Electronics https://www.calcomp.co.th and parts are manufactured in Thailand. It is listed on the Thai Stock Exchange and is now part of the Kinpo Group (Taiwan). I have known the Thai owner since 1994 and followed the development of the 3D printer technology. The head office is in Khlong Toey, so why buy copy parts from China.