George Bowman

8 hours ago, Jingthing said:

So now that this historic change is happening here in Thailand, based on your marijuana history, how will YOU respond? 

I'm going this route...

https://youtu.be/Xey_Jaa8rds

I live alongside the Nan River in a farming community in Phitsanulok province and am constantly amazed at the kids playing in the river that can't swim. I have even met a few older fisherman that come by our place to sell their catch. Surprisingly, a few can't swim. 

18 hours ago, bbko said:

AliExpress has something similar to OP, but it will run about 15,500b

Thanks for this as I have searched and searched to no avail. Will give it a shot and see.

I’m looking for an industrial surface cleaner like the one shown below to clean a long driveway. For years, I’ve used a power washer, but it takes a couple of days to complete the job. Normally, I’ve be able to find about any tool in Thailand by using the Bamboo Grapevine, but not in this case.

Yes, I could order one from the states, but the import fees are almost as much as the commercial B20,000 unit is, so I’m trying to avoid that route. Thai Google will show a few plastic units for B2,000 and I’m thinking they will last about two weeks. Any suggestions?

Recently I ran into a problem here in Thailand, one that I have never come across before and am stuck on how to solve it. Here is what happened. I have a pizza joint out in the boonies of Phitsanulok and one of my regular customers is a 19-year-old kid. Every time he shows up, he is wearing an American t-shirt of some sort.  When I mentioned this, he replied “I’m half American.” I then asked him if he had ever visited the states and his reply was “I want to, but I can’t.” Even though we were busy, I sat down with this young man and listened to his story.

His biological Thai mother became pregnant by an American working as an English teacher in a Thai government school. Shortly thereafter, the father left and the mother allowed her son to be adopted by a Thai-Chinese family she knew. This young man has never met his dad and doesn’t want anything other than his dad’s birth certificate in order to get American citizenship.

Normally, I keep my nose out of other people’s business, but I opened my big mouth and said I would help. But first, I wanted to make certain the boy was telling the truth. Later via email he sent his Thai birth certificate which showed that his father is C**** ******* (age 34) and from America. He also sent some old photos his biological mother had saved and he looks exactly like his father. The resemblance is uncanny.

To make a long story short, I found the father on FB and sent a polite message explaining the situation. He never replied and about a week later the account was deleted. What is truly disgusting about this entire matter is that the father is a governmental official at a US embassy in a country that borders Thailand. Suggestions?

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Phra Khru" ...had an answer for everything...

I've noticed throughout the years, many of these guys will go out of their way to deliver answers.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

ASEAN NOW notes that Thais love a ghost story - many believe in the supernatural. 

We have a pizza joint out in the boonies in Phitsanulok province and one of the main problems we encounter is parking. In order to alleviate this problem we rent parking spaces from our surrounding neighbors for B500 a weekend. One young man wanted more money and my wife said no. So what did he do? He hung a black coat up in order to drive away the bad juju thereby increasing our need for  additional parking and more money in his pocket. I gave up trying to figure out this mumble jumbo years ago... 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

...the election could be planned once given a green light by the Election Commission and the Cabinet...

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? How much longer?

Recently, I changed my SS retirement deposit from the Bangkok Bank to the Krungthai Bank. I did this simply because I now could avoid a trip into town, check my account online and finally can use an ATM to withdraw funds. In the past, my funds were available anytime past the 4th of each month. I have been reassured both by SS and the US Embassy folks in Manila that a check has/will be deposited on Sept 3rd, however nothing is showing up.  I am assuming that Krungthai Bank takes more time to process the deposit.  Is this correct?

On 6/16/2021 at 9:18 AM, ubonjoe said:

As far as I know Bangkok Bank has not changed their requirements for the direct deposit account.

And you would be correct. This morning I personally talked to one of the head money counters in Bangkok. He said at this point nothing has changed with these SS accounts and Bangkok Bank's policy with the US. Something about the computer program will not allow an ATM to be attached with these type of accounts. Have to setup a new account. Bummer... 

I still have what was once the mandatory Bangkok Bank account for my social security retirement check. I was the first in this area to do so and initially the bank was confused on how to setup the account. It took a few times, but eventually everything was sorted. That's been over four years now and I still have to go in to town every few months or so to make a withdrawal in person.

Since the US government changed the rules and according to the embassy email from Manila, I can now withdraw my money via an ATM instead of making the long trek into town. My question is has anyone successfully changed their specific SS/Bangkok Bank account to this new system? It would be considerably easier to just get an ATM card instead of having to setup a totally new account and sending all of that information to Manila. 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The US government has provided $30 million in COVID-related assistance to Thailand...

Any help to fight the virus is a good thing.  Uncle Sam has actually given Thailand millions of dollars every year for decades and I'm certain that the money has always been put to good use. I know one time a bridge was built...