Kaoboi Bebobp

If you want a demonstration of a spontaneous protest, this ain't it. LOL Matching shirts and practised choreography for the camera. Don't think you'll find too many fishermen's hands either. 

11 minutes ago, Jmcla said:

Big deal I do not drink or smoke

Good to know. Now, back to your yoga room and self-realization library. 

I've been in Canada, slipped my DTAC SIM into my phone, piggybacked automatically onto a local provider and gotten an OTP from Kasikorn Bank. Just have to make sure you call your Thai mobile provider and have them activate roaming. There's no cost to receiving an SMS worldwide.

17 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Saw some Marlboro Reds in 7-11 this morning priced at 165 Baht.

That will likely mean for new stock of Mild 7 a new tax-inflated price of 170 baht,  a 30% hike. M7 was always 5 baht more than Marlboro. Ouch! That's $6.50 Cdn. Premium cigs in Canada are $11-12 a 20 pack.

Very expensive or near to impossible to drive a personal vehicle into Vietnam, especially an RHD car. Have you ever driven in VN? It's not the same as Thailand at all. Moto drivers are completely unpredictable as to where they are going, unlike Thai moto drivers, believe it or not. VN moto drivers are completely deaf to horns as are most road users. 

Anyway, since it was an interesting topic that I pursued before, here's a TV link from 2016:

Driving from Thailand through Cambodia and into Vietnam

This is nuts. No authority will reveal, and no tax specialists and no bars know what alcohol prices are going to be the day before they are imposed. I have a bad feeling about this. 

Quote

I think many smokers might draw the line at 100 baht a pack..

Below 100 baht a pack smoking can be viewed as a hobby above 100 baht a pack smoking might be viewed as a financial burden... 

Marlboro and Mild Seven are already 125/130 baht a pack. Which puts them at two and a half times the price of the same cig brands in Cambodia and Vietnam. Looks like it will be three times starting tomorrow.

I sometimes buy two seats when I have extra goods and want to get off at Udom Suk on way to Bangkok. (Unloading luggage from below is not allowed at the quick drop-off spots.) Or I just buy two seats when I'm tired and need to stretch out and nap. 

6 hours ago, The manic said:

I liked the old place but it was smelly, had cockroaches and a dreadful Philippine band. But I was loyal to it and still am...but the house band..cringingly bad..There can never be a need for a Philippine band in Thailand.

Lots of Filipino bands in Thailand (and in Cambodia and Vietnam), providing entertainment to loads of beer bars and pubs. The bands bring lots of business to those bars, which are usually packed on band nights. Some of them are pretty good, or as good as you're going to have in SEA. They provide music on a budget.

I am completely bereft of "first world guilt". I look at value for money. If I can get a 4-8 km ride for 20 baht, while avoiding car and moto taxi mafia, that's cheap, and more so, a steal in Thai terms. That 4-8 km range in BKK taxi is 50 to 70 baht. A 2 km ride on a soi moto is 20 baht. 

Yesterday was my first pass over the tunnel using the lights from SSCC on my journey to Klang. I live off NPW and had decided to go up to Siam to make the left turn onto Sukhumvit and then to Klang.  No southbound traffic on Suk at Soi Siam as the left-turn arrow was green. No drama sliding over to the right-turn lanes. A bit of a wait for the passage to Klang. Almost no top-side traffic, but lots of tunnel traffic. Exactly as hoped. 

On the way back, not much northbound top-side traffic. Again, a completely drama-free shift to the right-turn lanes for Soi Siam. Definitely more traffic on Siam than there used to be during the tunnel construction. 

It all works for me. A big relief such that I may just stay on the Dark Side now.

Where? That's vitally important.

Additionally, if you know well connected Thais, engage their help immediately. 

14 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

I'm not so sure when I hear about this "within 24 hrs" thing. I have had a few address in Thailand and never have I actually changed the address within 24 hours......years in one case before I changed it. I have 3 properties presently and hop and skip between them for months at a time on occasions. Not sure if owning them makes the difference. Not sure either if I did decide to change it each time I moved how they would know the difference as to when I actually moved if I told them I only moved yesterday?

Here's the entire thread on this topic. 

Jomtien Immigration: Reporting returns after travel

Essentially, the discussion came to an end when nobody could figure out the truth from numerous contacts/reports with Jomtien Immigration. Each district has different practices, with Chiang Mai said to be the toughest. But note that some foreign owners were given huge fines for not reporting. 

^^^Except if you want a Certificate of Residence for a driver's licence or motorcycle purchase. I prefer to have all this crap out of the way and keep the immigration buzzards at bay. Otherwise, NanLaew is probably correct, depending on which way the bureaucratic winds are blowing that day. 

I've switched back to taxis. Once they killed the express train, I used the City Line a few times. What a pain,  to the airport and going into town. It's of no use if you live anywhere from Prom Pong and outward to Udom Suk. Quicker and easier to take the taxi from the airport to my destination, Phra Khanong. I hopped off the airport train at Ramkhamhaeng to go to Phra Khanong a couple of times but it's such a busy intersection that hailing a taxi became too frustrating and dangerous, not to mention the half hour crawling down Soi 71 to Suk. 

There's no "rocking up" to immigration unannounced, so to speak, without having reported your new address via a TM30. Must be done within 24 hours of new address.

Stay in a hotel for a bit. The hotel is responsible for reporting your presence with Jomtien immigration. Once you have your new apartment address, you have 24 hours to report your new address via the TM30. Special office inside Jomtien Immigration immediately on left past the check-in officer.

However, the condo owner or apartment management is responsible for filing this proper registration of alien via TM30. You get a small receipt and must attach it to your passport. Only then can you do your extension/90-day reports. Otherwise, your mileage may vary.

I take the Sai Tai bus sometimes and get off at Sathorn, right after the bus leaves the expressway via the Sathorn exit. I walk 3 minutes to the Surasak BTS.  After that, I don't know the bus route.

27 minutes ago, Jack Mountain said:

How do they do it with all those internet lines? 

I believe the project is strictly concerned with burying high-voltage power lines of the PEA.

This didn't used to happen at night but now from 8 pm to 11 pm, I find I'm having to let 1 or 2 trains go by before I can get on at Prom Pong on the way to Phra Khanong. The trains are packed mostly all day long, too. So revenues must be way up as more stations out east bring more people into the core. The BTS has become quite a miserable experience since last year. 

1 minute ago, Techno Viking said:

To get to NPW from klang you would turn left onto Suk and make the U-turn just before the SSCC lights, can't see why that would be an issue at all.

Very good. I will be back in town next week to check it all out. Nothing like a hands-on run. But I'm not that optimistic that it will be any better than before the Great White Elephant Tunnel. Seems like the winners are the through-traffic drivers.

I have yet to hear a report on how things are going overhead, namely traffic lights. Is Klang traffic able to get more directly to NPW or SSCC now? Can you get from NPW to Klang without using the u-turn below  Khao Noi?

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

 

And Reuters again post unbalanced reports, no comment on the fact that his conviction is for serious abuse of authority and no connection whatever to politics. 

Sorry but that is incorrect. The Nation chose to cut the full Reuters story to a third of its length, the missing part including all the background. Some newspapers frequently do this. Below is the link to Reuters.com and the full story sent to news clients.

Full Reuters story

The term “ghost town” doesn’t disturb me. I don’t visit go-go bars, beer bars and the like so I am unmoved by lack of such services if demand were not there. I just seek easy access to good food ingredients and prepared foods, the tools to make food and some clothing shopping.

I've lived in Bangkok four times -- from five months to 12 months at a time. Just finished a 1-year stay at the end of June. Won't be doing that again, for all the reasons KK listed above (intensity of everything). My transport costs jumped to 4,000 baht a month (BTS and taxis) from 550 (moto gas and insurance) in Pattaya, just to give an example. 

I've lived in the Pattaya area for a total of four-plus years. And will be moving back very soon but to the Beach side this time as I don't like the high exposure to accidents crossing over Suk from the Dark side, even with the so-called "improvements" at the Klang junction. 

After living in Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap (short time), Saigon (short time), and Vung Tau, VN (currently), Pattaya's small physical footprint with the big expat-oriented retail footprint can't be beat. Prices and rents are certainly more affordable, too. I do hope that continues. 

5 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Any theories as to why it's packed?

Khao San Rd was always packed when I went there, but I only went there to remind myself why I did want to go there. If Saigon is full of bagpackers I wouldn't want to go there either, same as I wouldn't want to go to any crowded Spanish beach. I've always preferred uncrowded places, but where there is a decent nightlife, like Pattaya.

First, at least five Euro nationalities have been granted visa waivers for 2 years now, on top of the Nordic folks retaining their visa waivers. On the streets, I saw well dressed western and northern Europeans, with kids in tow.  There were also well dressed Japanese, plus others from likely Singapore, Taiwan and HKG, I'm guessing. There are already many Americans visiting because of a very generous and recent visa deal. 

The begpackers now have a newly developed playground on weekends. SGN City has declared Bui Vien a pedestrian only mall on weekends, spending tens of millions of dong to make it appealing. Photos show it to be packed. So, I am definitely staying away from there. 

Just looking at the photos, the signage looks pretty good and clear. If you're not Thai. LOL