dddave

The comments here show many really do not understand the depth of the problem, not only in Phuket but in most Thai tourist areas. It's not just the taxi and van drivers. All the major hotels and resorts as well as other public facilities like the piers demand payments from the drivers who "work" their property. The taxis who line-up at any particular hotel, pay that hotel (or the corrupt manager) fees of several thousand baht just to be allowed to pick-up passengers at that location. In the instance of the OP, I'd be willing to bet the drivers were angry because they paid big baht to whoever controls the pier to have exclusive rights to pick-up passengers there. This is why it's not just a problem of the "Taxi Mafia", it's the entire network of systematic profiteering from every aspect of the tourism business in Phuket.

If one watches the often gruesome Thai nightly news shows on TV, one becomes aware that of the three or four murders appearing every night, at least one will be tied to a land dispute.

Last week I was riding my motorbike down "Soi Pothole" (Soi Chaiyaphum) in Pattaya. As I got to the 3rd rd end, some Thai guys started signaling me to slow down, pointing to something in the road ahead of me. There was a large centipede, maybe about 18" long slithering across the road and they did not want me to hit it. It was the largest I had ever seen. I did avoid it as I wanted nothing whatsoever to do with such a critter.

I have a Hisense 70" "E7G, purchased 2 years ago through Lazada; Hisense store. It is used daily. I stream through a mini-PC and also view broadcast channels via antennae. It has Android TV built in but I rarely use it. I do not use it for games. I do use it for internet browsing via the PC. I an very happy with it. Color seems bright and accurate, The picture is sharp with no judder when viewing fast moving sports. I'm not a particularly critical viewer but I have run some display test like various flat color fields and the display is excellent with only minor brightness inconsistency around the edges, totally invisible viewing normal content, Sound quality is fair. I use accessory powered speakers. No performance issues at all with the TV or remote. I would buy Hisense again.

Getting bank statements for Visa renewals is much more difficult and time consuming if your home branch is in another province. Worth the time and effort to change home branch once you are relocated. It can be difficult. I opened my Bangkok Bank account at a Sukhumvit branch. Several years later, they opened a new branch much closer to my residence. Took me many visits to both branches and at least a year to finally accomplish the transfer.

A friend has a cousin who was (and maybe still is) a Hooters (Nana) girl. They all have Instagram, FB and TicTok accounts with thousands of followers. She averages B40-50K a month

Self defense?? I remember this brutal killing clearly. The Norwegian broke into the Indian man's room and attacked and killed the man in front of his wife. Total raging lunatic. Photographic evidence everywhere. Just another killer who walks:, the Brit who killed his wife on Soi Honey Inn in Pattaya, The Swede who killed the New Zealander over a fight about a dog in Pattaya, The Northern Irishman who killed a bar girl, stuffed her in a suitcase and took a taxi to the airport, the guy who killed the Nana Plaza bargirl. All arranged huge bail and skipped.

A friend used to deal in used laser cutting machines. A customer in China wanted to buy two machines, price amounting to close to US$500,000. He shipped the machines there and when he met the customer to finalize the deal, the customer presented a suitcase with the $500K in cash. He went through about 6 months of bureaucratic hell trying to get the money out of China. This was more than 10 years ago.

I have TOT 300 MPS down, B299 m. It's OK, not a lot of outages though there are often slowdowns. I was previously paying more than B700/m for 1GB down, decided to try 300down. It's been sufficient for TV streaming, net surfing and mobile wifi. No buffering when watching Netflix, though I do use SURFSHARK VPN so I can access the US Netflix and not the Thai version. Downsides are very poor customer service, never ever a notification of a service problem, unlike 3BB. Their website/mobile app is unusable. One has to physically go to their central Pattaya offices to sign-up and renew. One must also pre-pay and there is a farang surcharge. If you have a Thai partner, put it in their name. If my condo allowed competing services, I'd drop TOT for 3BB in a heartbeat.

You got told wrong. Go to any 20 Baht store.

Nearly came to pass ten or so years ago. Some here will remember the 3 months that almost the entirety of non-central Bangkok spent 3 months submerged in increasingly filthy water with no place to pump it to. I remember going to Suvarnabhumi and cars were parked on the length of both sides of the elevated highway to keep them from being submerged in local flooding. I remember passenger aircraft parked at DMK, water up to their bellies. Officials fight over reservoir levels because agribusinesses want enough stored for 2nd and 3rd crop cycles but when a series of big rains hit, there is no place to divert the water to.

Lots of Kitchen displays at "Thai Watsadu" on Sukhumvit northbound. Maybe also check "IKEA" online. I bought a base and wall unit from them, paid for assemble but not installation. Very nice quality, hinges and drawer slides still perfect after 5 years use.

Perfectly stated and applicable to sooooo many situations.

A million Baht is about US$30K. There is currently a story in the US press about a Swiss citizen who had an appendicitis attack while on a visit to the US. He was hospitalized for 3 days at one of the better university hospitals. Bill for appendicitis surgery and 3 days hospitalization was $48,000. His Swiss insurance carrier said the normal rate they pay for similar events in Switzerland is about $8500 and that is all they will reimburse in this case. Guy is stuck with almost $40K remainder.

My X gf and her niece whom I supported through Uni were from a village 15km outside of Chumpae. I remember prior to Covid there was a lot of talk about Chumpae being split-off into a separate province. Is that still in the works or did it fade away?

As it is the practice to cremate bodies of the deceased, it would seem there is little evidence to work with. One hopes that some blood or tissue samples were taken and kept but that is not a common practice with heart attack victims.

If you are driving yourself, if approaching from 3rd rd north bound, pass through the lights at Pattaya Klang. The TOT building will be on your left. There is an entry to a parking lot behind the building.

TOT doesn't make anything easy. There is no interactive website that I know of, I've always had to go to their offices at the intersection of Pattaya Klang & 3rd Rd. There was an installation charge, around B1000, installed the next day, IRRC. My fiber line was installed into my 10th floor condo with a router provided. You can elect to pre-pay for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months of service, the shorter the term, the more the per-month cost. There is also a farang surcharge. If you have a Thai partner, you will save considerably if ordered in their name. There is no billing and little paperwork. Be sure to save your register receipt as that turned out to be the official contract. They are not very good communicators for a communications company. Unlike 3BB, never a notice or text about a projected outage, never any indication of when an outage will be restored. Outages are not frequent, maybe one every two months, sometimes during intense rainstorms. Slowdowns do seem to happen often. I had 3BB in Bangkok and liked it. If I had the choice at the same price, I'd take 3BB but not at double the price...3BB can have it's bad days as well.

While on the subject of TOT/Pattaya-Jomtien, I have no option, my building allows TOT only (fiber). For my first year and a half, I did the pre-pay 1gb down which was close to B1000/m. Maybe one service interruption every month or two, otherwise fine. I use it for internet and video streaming. This year I decided to try downgrading to 300mb down, about B300/m prepay for a year but upgradeable anytime. It's actually been just about as good as the 1gb. I haven't experienced any buffering when streaming Netflix or YouTube and web pages open as they did previously. No noticeable differences really. For my needs, 1gb turned out to be unnecessary.

I see nothing about 3840X2160 anywhere in any specs I can find so the 4K appears baseless. My error.

I help the Thai family of a former GF. They are good people. Many years ago, I gave them my old 40" TV which finally died a few months ago. I wanted to replace it for them but had a limited budget. Lazada sells a budget Chinese brand called "EXPOSE" with a 43" 4K(1920X1080P) model running Android 11, selling at around B5,200 delivered. I was skeptical but as it is returnable, I took a chance. Delivery to Khon Kaen was 2 days. The set is a very nice surprise. Very clear picture, not spotty at all. Good color and the built-in DV3 digital tuner pulled in every available station clearly. Audio is not great but I expected that and brought along an inexpensive soundbar that I wasn't using. It worked perfectly off the TV headphone jack. It has only 2 HDMI ports, 2 USB...not a surprise for a cheap TV. Time will tell but my initial impressions were quite positive. I would recommend it for somebody a tight budget looking for an inexpensive TV, perhaps something for a planned short term use.

Sometimes rubber mounts can make matters worse if they allow movement that becomes a harmonic vibration. The thicker the rubber, the greater the chance of this happening. I used to install machinery and often found a rubber washer or 2 was better at absorbing minor vibration.

The Abstract 13 website does have an English option though not everything is translated. I don't know the origin of their "Blue" variety. They do speak English so you could send them an E-mail if you're interested. IIRC, all their blends are Thai grown coffees.

Speaking of Fascino's in Jomtien, many residents seem unaware that there is a 2nd Fascino's just off Soi Chiayaphreuk. It is not visible from the roadway though it's distinctive orange sign is. If you are on Chiyaphreuk going towards Sukhumvit from 2nd Rd, close to Sukhumvit, on the left you will pass an arched entry to a housing estate. The entry to the Fascinos is the next immediate left. There will be a laundromat and Fascino's is just past it. It's been really convenient lately as the Fascino's on Trepasset Rd has been hemmed-in by road construction.

"Abstract 13" is a high end restaurant and hotel coffee equipment and bean supplier with a retail store on Sukhumvit 71 in Phra Khanong. They have a house "Blue" coffee that is excellent. https://www.abstract13.com/product-category/เมล็ดกาแฟ/