impulse

+1 on AirBNB, especially of you can find a good landlord. But be careful of the add-ons. I have some friends that rent out their places on AirBNB and they add $$ hundreds for a cleaning fee. Some of them have a multi-page list of chores to be done upon leaving, lest they charge a penalty. They're near the beach, so the market lets them get away with murder... Contrary to some posts, there's a lot of AirBNB's for an entire home, as opposed to a room in someone's home. There are also a lot of extended stay hotels that have monthly room rates. They cater mostly to business travelers on extended projects like plant turnarounds, etc. I'd start with Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc. Or Google "extended stay hotels".

When I lived in SoCal, we used to have pot luck dinners every month or so, and our Hawaiian friends always brought Spam sushi. Because we all requested it. Don't underestimate the humble Spam...

I'd be careful extrapolating your personal experiences into a general statement. Maybe you just haven't posted a bad review of the wrong business. It's a lot like the guys who claim that scooters are perfectly safe, until they end up losing a leg... Or the guys who have never been cheated by a Thai woman, until they lose a condo... I'm recalling the guy from a few months back who was asked for 300,000 baht for filing a bad review on AirBNB. YMMV

Did the study consider comorbidities, or just the average remaining life expectancy of healthy people at their age? A healthy 80 year old may expect to live another 10 years, but not one who's 50 pounds overweight and has diabetes and COPD.

It's probably a small risk. But I've never had a problem with a Samsung phone that I didn't cause by swimming with it in my pocket. Usually, falling out of the boat. I lost 2 Samsung phones that way. My first smartphone was a Samsung S2, and it still works great. (Back when they had replaceable batteries and I've gone through a half dozen) In fact, I wish they'd make another one that small.

I don't know about Samsung authorized repair centers, but the guys I've used in MBK and Fortune Town had it done in 15-30 minutes. Part of that was to walk down to a nearby stockroom to get the battery, the rest was doing the deed. I just wandered around a little and came back to a repaired phone. Edit: I'm assuming it's a phone. I've never dealt with Samsung tablets, etc.

Where does that disrespect come from? They give friends and family an opportunity to show they cared by donating some money to the guy's funeral. How is that different from spending money for flowers (other than being a lot more practical than flowers that last a day or 2)? Or bringing a covered dish to the family home to take the burden of cooking off the grieving family...

That's 1/3 of the answer. Now we have to look at the long term excess deaths, for the next 20 years.

Even if that's true, at what cost? They could eliminate traffic fatalities by simply banning private vehicles. They could reduce deaths due to alcohol abuse by simply banning alcohol. The same way they could reduce Covid fatalities by putting millions of people out of business, banning them from seeing loved ones in their final days, and forcing them to take vaccines that weren't really vaccines in the traditional sense. As has been pointed out, there's an entire generation of kids that are behind on their schooling and their socialization skills. It'll be years before the long term data tells us whether the mRNA shots saved more than they damaged (and killed). Millions of businesses were bankrupted, and $$ trillions were added to the world's debt. There's more to life than not getting a disease that mostly kills those who have co-morbidities. It would be interesting to see a genuine study of how many years of life were added by the Orwellian way Covid was handled, and how many years of life were taken away by the Orwellian way Covid was handled.

For all the guys constantly ragging on Swampy... https://www.rt.com/news/597189-uk-airports-paralyzed-glitch/ Yeah, I know. Russkie propaganda. But I'm sure you can find it looking at UK News. I don't generally go there, even the ones that aren't blocked here in China.

I also doubt they'd ever cut it. The question is, will the cost of living increases keep up with inflation? Real inflation... Counting the stuff that seniors have to pay for.

Wrong way to look at it. You need to find statistics per registered vehicle, or even better- per mile driven. Good luck finding such info for Thailand. There are some countries that have almost zero deaths per capita. But they also have very few registered vehicles, because normal people can't afford a car. Their deaths per registered vehicle is scary.

Earlier, I suggested a pedal bicycle. I had several in Bangkok that extended my self propelled range to 5-10 km for errands, and 20-30 km for recreation and exercise. That would get around most of Pattaya. I also had an LA E-Bike for those days when I didn't feel like pedaling in the heat. I loved it. Great build quality and the battery lasted the 5 years I owned it before I moved out of Thailand. And parts are easily available in their extensive dealer network, though I never needed any. Also had a smaller 20" folding E-Bike, which was even easier to move around. Not as zoomy or mobile as a scooter, but no DL needed... http://www.labicyclegroup.com/product-TH/2 I used to pop mine in the pickup bed when I went out of town for the weekend. Great for zipping around Jomtien and Kanchanaburi and leave the pickup parked at the hotels. If you get a 20" folding E-Bike, you can even take it on the MRT (in theory- I never tried it).

Good catch. My apartment was old enough that I had a wall socket for each AC. They were up high on the wall, next to the unit. So did the past couple of older hotels I've recently stayed in. I checked. But again, those were all older buildings. That was my assumption, that "most" are like that. It may have been a bad assumption, and I stand corrected. In that case, I'd be looking for a DIN rail power monitor, like this: (get a proper electrician to wire it...) https://www.lazada.co.th/products/ac-monitor-110220380100a-kwh-i4249278785.html

Just out of curiosity, what's the OP set his temperature at, and does he run the A/C when he's not home? $200 a months sounds expensive for a small apartment. But skipalong's right. Anyone from Texas or Florida would be delighted with a $200 bill in the summer. And since energy is an international commodity, Thailand can't be too much cheaper (unless they're subsidizing locals who can't afford their power bill) Influencers that extoll the cheapness of Thailand are generally living in hotels or hostels where they don't see the power bills, and don't put gas in their car. They just see the street vendors selling chicken rice for $1.00 and the girls peddling their wares much cheaper than "back home". If the AC has a wall plug (like most split units do), I'd suggest a power monitor like this to see what it's actually using. Run all the traps like cleaning the filters, make sure it's properly charged, etc. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/benetech-gm86-wattmeter-monitor-a-watt-220v-10a2200w-i2473860264.html BTW, I loved the split units where I could cool just one room, or all the rooms.

Does the OP live (reside) in Bangkok?

That doesn't negate the fact that, on a per km basis, you're 20-40 times more likely to get killed on a scooter than in a car. That's from studies in the USA and OZ. But that's relative risk. In absolute risk terms, you'll probably survive, like millions of others.

He's actually shown himself to be a reasonable guy as he recovers from his stroke. But I disagree with him here. The conflict won't end until Hamas is wiped from existence. Israel's not going to stop if the hostages are released. In fact, they'd probably go harder. Releasing the hostages would simply remove an impediment. The upshot is that Hamas has nothing to lose by fighting to the death. They're going to die, either way.

Hat Yai is in Songkhla ...province. I always hoped they'd reactivate the military airstrip in Songkhla town itself to save that white knuckle drive from Hat Yai to town. Our company didn't allow employees to fly into HDY after dark, because of the dangerous drive into SKL.

On a tourist visa applicaiton a criminal background or warrant check is not conducted. Therefore, what kind of people are actually entering LOS on tourist visa's or visa exemption? The question isn't "how did he get into Thailand?". It's, "how did he get out of the USA?". With 11 pending charges and out on bail, they should have confiscated his passport(s), put him on the no fly lists, and had him in an ankle monitor. In a non-dystopian state, he wouldn't get bail after his 2nd charge. But in a blue state...

Gotta admit, I haven't done this. But if I were building a new system, I'd go with one of these power monitor systems to see what each leg of the system is using. https://www.amazon.com/Emporia-Monitor-Circuit-Electricity-Metering/dp/B08CJGPHL9 I'd also agree with having a way to monitor usage in each room if the OP will be renting them out on a short or long term. Or even if it's just to yell at the kids for using too much juice. Tell them about when we were kids and only had one outlet in each room...

Absolutely agree. But it's not time to press the panic button or plan the funeral. He's only 2 days overdue. If the guy's hotel safe was burgled, he'd have to get a new cell phone and SIM, and get emergency travel documents to even get on a flight. Unless he knew exactly how to do that, it may take a week or so to get on a flight. Starting with getting some cash... It's prudent to contact the embassy/consulate and start chasing it down, for sure. But I can think of a dozen non-tragic circumstances that would send someone off the grid and out of touch for a few days in Thailand.

OP may want to have a look here: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/08/how-to-installing-free-maps-on-your-garmin-fenix-5-plus-forerunner-945-or-marq-series-watch.html As for compatible devices, here’s the list of devices this will work on. It also will work on most of the handheld type outdoor devices too. If it supports Garmin maps, it’ll support 3rd party maps.

Doesn't matter what I think... You're the one who's either satisfied or not. The guys I was referring to are the ones that the maid finds after they've been dead a few days and nobody missed them.

That's a risk, for sure. But it works on both ends. I've seen lots of expats whose lives have devolved into sitting alone in their apartment all day, then headed down to the 7/11 for beer and a sandwich for lunch, then an afternoon and evening polishing the barstool that perfectly conforms to their butt. Back home, they'd have buddies and family, and could pick up some work occasionally, if only to keep busy. Less gratuitous sex, for sure. But it's the other 23 hours and 50 minutes...