mr_lob

Yes correct

We have been using KBank for 20 years now, for both online and physical payments, but their commission of 3% is too high in this age of the majority of payments going digital. I know that the Bank of Thailand probably has a strict control on who can and cannot provide payment services and at what commission, but has anyone heard of anything more competetive? in the UK, the rate is 1-2% and a mate in Europe is paying only 0.8%. It makes a big difference with a high volume of payments thanks Lob

Having moved from Thailand (after 16 years) to Portugal, in 2019, i can say that i much prefer life here. They make things VERY easy for expats, and you are made to feel welcome in every way. Yes, property is very expensive, but that is pretty much the only negative to living here. I do still love the buzz of Asia though and we visit twice per year.

A friend of mine has just flown back to Thailand to sell the property he leased (30 year agreement) with his now deceased wife for 2 MB to the resort owner who owns the land. He has been informed that he can't pay the money into his Thai bank account as he is on a tourist visa. Does anyone have a clue how he can get the money out of Thailand? He has the sales agreement with all taxes paid. Many thanks in advance

Who needs Stiffler's mum when you live in LOS...

BOOST tourism?!? It's already MOBBED!!!

Rumour is the judge gave him 1 week jail for the threat and a further 7 weeks for the mullet, hence 8 weeks total.

Are we not allowed to call a spade a spade anymore Mr Lammy?

20 years ago, I was sleeping off a hangover from Christmas Day. I should have been teaching a discover scuba diving course at Phi Phi that morning but luckily my customers had cancelled. The Mrs had left early that morning on a bus to visit her Dad. I went onto my laptop to check my email and saw many people on a Thai expat forum talking about an earthquake in Bangkok. As the morning went on, my neighbours started talking about a hotel collapsing and a big wave hitting Aonang. We jumped on our bikes and rode the few minutes to the beachfront to be greeted by the strangest sight - a few longtail boats on the road, lots of sand. As news of a Tsunami started to spread, we were thankful we lived a few mins drive back from the beach. Not knowing how far the Tsunami had gone inland, I was so worried for the Mrs, and contacting her was not easy as mobile signal was hard to get. Eventually, we connected and she came straight home. The following day, a group of us rented a speedboat and helped some injured friends off Phi Phi island and on our return to Aonang, heard that help was needed in Phang Nga, so we rented a pickup and drove there immediately. The hospital was a scene of chaos, we did our best asking injured patients if they needed anything, but there were already many volunteers there. Realising our help wasn't needed here, we asked one of the rescue workers where we would be more useful...they told us to go to a temple, Wat Yan Yao in Takuapa, near Khao Lak as they had little help there.... On arrival at dusk, the scene was like NOTHING you could ever imagine. Truck after truck coming up the dusty road, all of them indicating to turn into the temple. All of them loaded with dead bodies. We looked on in disbelief, and realising that this is where we needed to be. The smell was indescribable. A French guy came running out of the temple - through his basic English and our basic French, we understood that he had been co-ordinating things at the temple as there were no police or army assisting until that point. As the sun was already set and there was no electricity, we decided it would be best to return to Aonang, get some more volunteers, food and clothing and return the next morning. That is what we did for the following few days. Carried bodies of victims young and old between the various areas of the temple: arrival, holding, ID by DVI teams until finally into chilled containers. To be honest, we were lost, didn't really realise the enormity of what we were doing, but carried on as it just felt right. 20 years have passed but my heart still breaks for all of those whose lives came to an end that day, and half of my heart will always live in Thailand. We learnt so much during those few days....but most importantly, humans can be amazing when they pull together in the worst of situations x 26/12/2004

Incredibly sad and tragic. As is standard in these situations, there will be a knee-jerk reaction. Something like "PM orders inspection of all buses" Never any pre-emptive measures. Normal people suffer through lax enforcement

I just flew up from Krabi with 3 checkin bags with airasia totalling 40kg for 1400 baht extra

3 months?! I'd rather fly, thanks

Vile. I bet their lawyers cost more than the 50k!

Can't they just tell the Chinese where they are? Problem solved!

SUW? or BKK?

Why not fly to France and do the last bit by inflatable ship? You will have plenty of shipmates to talk to and on arrival in the UK you get a free hotel room to rest up in!

no rain - Jan-Mar clear seas - Jan - Mar fewer tourists - May-Sep You can't have it all! 😅

Any old excuse for this dinosaur to have a pop at the dirty farangs...

Hub incoming!

Too small for our requirements and to get green plates, unfortunately

No major issues ever. We have 3 Fortuners and they are just superb.

I am staying away from Honda also. We bought a Civic about 6 years ago and had endless problems with it, which was surprising given their reputation. Not a patch on the Altis

They are used for airport transfers. Its a 2017 model

Hello All, We need to replace one of our SUVs as it is nearly at 900k kms - we wanted to stick with the Toyota Fortuners as they are so reliable, but with the new model now delayed until at least the end of the year, we can't wait that long, and don't want to buy the old model. What are your recommendations? Have already discounted the Chinese stuff Thinking Ford Everest or Isuzu Mu-7 - any others worth considering? TIA!

My Mrs reckons a lot of this behaviour stems from the time when she was little - much of what they bought from shops came wrapped in banana leaves - they would then of course toss the leaves on the side of the road. This has continued, but sadly with plastic instead. 🙉 see 🙉 do