clokwise

TOT (NT) may be a dinosaur but they are very competitive. They are currently offering 50% discount for the first year on a new fibre installation. We didn't even knew there was a promotion, they just offered it when we installed at our new house. We've been using TOT for a decade, their support has been top-notch, whenever there's any issues they will send an engineer over to take a look and fix usually within a couple hours. Over the last decade they have upgraded our speed periodically without even notifying us or charging us extra - not that I'm complaining. There's also (almost) no restrictions on use, it's unlimited data, I can download pirated torrents and streams without worry, some pr0n sites are blocked as per Thailand regulations, but no big deal.

Was this hearing just for show? I can't imagine anyone really genuinely cares about residents' concerns. The aircraft noise is also pretty damn annoying here in San Sai. The planes usually take off and bank right, right over my house. The Korean Air flight at 11pm is the last super loud one - I use it as an alarm to remind me to stop smoking weed and playing video games and go to bed. Can't imagine how people are gonna deal with 24h flights! Good thing I'm moving house in a few weeks, far from any flight path.

My experience has been neither positive nor negative. However earlier this year it was not positive. I had a filling which needed replacing. The dentist removed and replaced an entirely different filling (on the same tooth). The female dentist had seemed distracted. I didn't notice until I got home. Eventually I went back to my regular dentist (Dental World on the moat) and took care of it properly.

This is a touchy subject to address publicly, I hope you catch my drift. Let's just say for the last four years many Thais have chosen to no longer honor the tradition of standing when they hear a certain song. Don't worry, no one is gonna haul you out of the cinema and off to jail.

Here's my take on why that is: Typically when you purchase "discounted" items you are not eligible to also use points or coupons at the checkout for those items, so you have to pay the full "discounted" price.

It may not be as rare as you think. After we "came out" to a few close friends, we discovered another thai/farang married couple we know closely were also open, two single Thai female friends of ours have been dating married guys, and we have heard plenty of gossip about other couples we knew. It's a topic which is not discussed openly in Thailand, tho it is common amongst Thai couples for the husband to have a gik and the wife tolerates it. It's not for every relationship - the married friends of ours eventually broke up. We stay together because we respect each other and communicate constantly and try to ensure no one gets their feelings hurt for whatever reason. There's plenty of english language reading material and podcasts on the subject - if you or your wife have any interest in the idea.

Not the answer you are looking for, perhaps, but why not chat up married women? I'm in a similar marriage as yourself, albeit just a few years younger. My wife is Thai in her 40s. We both consider our marriage as "open". She has a side gig, and so do I. We discuss this topic openly, and we both feel happy when the other has a date. No jealousy, ever. I dated many young women over the years, but eventually got bored dating women under 40, as they typically want to settle down sooner than later, and/or they often require far more attention and remuneration than I can offer them. I eventually met a beautiful Thai woman on Tinder who is married to an Australian, also an open-marriage, and she's simply seeking a long-term companion/date. Perfect match for me, and to top it off she has her own money. She's over 40, and one thing I've learned about "older" women is they don't have time for playing games, they are worldly and are great for conversation, plus they know exactly what they like in bed, and never too shy to try something new.

Such a rubbish idea. "Somebody" (you can guess who) will collect a 3% commission on every transaction - in AND out. Not only is that extortionate, it's unnecessary. Even PromptPay, which works just fine, is commission-free. Plus a lot of older people are gonna be left out because they are unable to navigate the process of collecting their money, for all sorts of reasons. Finally, adding all this cash into the economy will just cause inflation to shoot up rapidly - so we'll all be paying more than $10k baht soon enough, just from inflation. But, of course, they are gonna go through with it anyway, despite absolutely nobody wanting it.

No, that's incorrect. Try going to Tops and buy a 2 litre bottle of Coca-Cola. You can't - not any more. Because at some point, recently, they shrunk the bottle size ever so slightly. So you can buy a 1.95 litre bottle of Coke now. Costs the same price as the old 2 litre bottle. And the bottle basically looks the same as before too. It does say 1.95 litre right on the bottle (look close), so they're not lying. But now they can sell you 2.5% less product for the same price. Step 4: profit Just as egregious, IMO, is something like what Tipco and Malee and other local major juice brands have started doing. Try to find pure 100% Apple juice. Sure, the bottle says "Apple Juice", and below it, "100% juice". But look at the fine print in the ingredients and you'll discover it's some percentage from 75% to 90% apple juice, the rest is grape juice. In fact they have started mixing grape juice with most of their products. IMO, even that small percentage of grape juice ruins the rest of the juice. I'm willing to pay more for 100% of the juice I want, but that can be challenging these days.

There is a shop which converts Edison cylinders to 8-track tapes in the moat area, next to that shop which sells typewriter ribbons and fax machine paper rolls, pretty sure someone there can sort you out.

On my last visit I purchased an eSIM from airalo.com, starting at $4.50 for a week. Data only. Works fine.

It's not quite as fancy as the ones I've seen in Vietnam. I was not prepared for just how much the place smells like a fish tank, but other than that, it's interesting. Food and drink was nothing extraordinary.

The party rules state that candidates must first reach a minimum threshold before they can join the debate, neither of these wingnuts have a chance of ever reaching it, so there will be no (D)ebates.

Paak Dang Riverside Restaurant https://goo.gl/maps/Eyoza2rRM91ELVgv7 This is their new location, and frankly it's even better than it was. Beautiful old teak building plus a superb view of the river and nearby temple. They also have not-loud live music (acoustic guitar). Singaporean owner. Their giant river crabs are one of their specialties, but all their food is top-notch. A tad pricey, you're most likely not gonna want to go there too often, but totally worth it for special occasions. Book in advance for a riverside table and then hope it doesn't rain.

True. Especially during, and right after, COVID shipping rates were terrible too. But at least in 2023 so far shipping has been free, provided you stay within their specified minimum and maximum value/weight guidelines. I've found if I order too much for free shipping I just split it into two or more orders, done. Unrelated, just last week I purchased an M.2 SSD off of Amazon.com and their shipping was free too. Never seen that before! If this keeps up Lazada, JIB, etc, with their insanely inflated prices and poor selection, are in big trouble.

I've always found the Omega-3 brands available in Thailand to be a bit suspicious. Myself and a lot of people here shop at www.iherb.com which has a terrific variety of known brands and options. Free shipping to Thailand in 1 to 2 weeks, and no import duties/tax when you follow their guidelines. As a first-time customer you get 5% discount.

Just curious if anyone else has noticed that since late last week until today there has not been any full-fat milk for sale in any of the usual stores. Even the low-fat and lactose-free are in short supply. Not just one brand, all brands are gone. That's here in the San Sai area. Last time I saw a shortage like this was a couple years ago when a major bakery had a huge COVID outbreak and there was no bread in the shops for over a week.

That's just you. Not everyone wants to be nearby water all the time.

I'll second, the Logitech MX Keys Mini is a solid (literally and figuratively) keyboard. I bought the Logitech MX Anywhere mouse as well which is the best mouse I've ever used, it will literally track anywhere, perfectly, even clear glass tables and uneven surfaces. One huge advantage of both of these is they have a small switch on them so you can use them on multiple devices, In my case, a Mac, another Mac, and a Windows PC. My monitor has a similar switch so without moving anything on my desk I have full access to all three computers. They also can connect to tablets and phones. I've found the supplied Logitech USB receiver chip was not necessary. It works just fine without. The catch is the price, not the cheapest for sure, however the build quality is extremely high and the rechargeable battery lasts months. I feel confident I'll be using these for many years to come. So you will pay more upfront, but buying a cheap keyboard almost certainly means buying another and another down the road. Bite the bullet and get yourself a good one that will last.

I suffered from carpal tunnel in the past, it was so serious I couldn't type anymore, couldn't play guitar, couldn't even carry a grocery shopping bag. I was ridiculously painful. I thought my career as a programmer was over, it was really depressing. I ended up visiting a renowned Chinese osteopath twice a week who, over a period of a couple months, would manipulate my fingers, and they gradually but significantly improved. Later I kinda caught on to what he was doing and began to use the same techniques on myself, and coupled it with a daily vitamin B6 supplement. I also became conscious of my bad posture and how I positioned my hands poorly while working. After about 6 months I was back to normal, and now 25 years later have not had it return - at all - although arthritis is my current issue. BTW, the osteopath was practicing in a suburb of Taipei, near where I was living at the time. My point is, I can't recommend a surgeon, but I hope you can try to find alternate treatments before doing anything drastic like surgery. Best of luck!

Maybe I'm an outlier, but I could see this turning out differently. If Pita/MF doesn't get the PM, their supporters will simply announce they will stop going to work. Shut down BKK and Phuket for a week, I am pretty certain they will win without a drop of blood or single shot fired. But I agree with most, this is just some old ghouls trying to hang on to power, when this political theater is over, they will go away.

Agreed, with laptops in particular the Amazon shipping costs plus local duties seem to be all over the map. You can browse Amazon and find wildly different rates for relatively similar products. The whole point of paying Amazon for everything in advance is so you won't get stuck with UPS demanding you come visit them. In the past 5(?) years since they started that program I have had plenty of Amazon parcels delivered here, several by UPS, and never had an issue. You must have some bad luck, that's just not supposed to happen at all. I've found with about half the orders I've made with Amazon they eventually refunded some of that fee back to me. Not a lot , but I won't complain. That sounds like an awesome service, although I'd hate to be on the receiving end when Customs decides to do their job, or didn't get their bribe, that day.

I've never used them, however it is illegal to make a false statement on a customs form, so what they are doing is legally questionable. I would be concerned they might get shut down at some point because of that. MyUS inspects items, requires receipts, and does all the shipping docs to avoid any such issues. One thing I would say in defense of MyUS in particular is that you can order stuff to their address with $0 US state sales tax, most if not all of the other reshipping services can't offer that.

Were you actually in CM last year? The "smokey season" was virtually non-existent. I've lived in CM for over a decade and, while there are bad years, there are also very good years. The simplest solution I've found is to take a long holiday in Europe or elsewhere every March/April. Renting a place for a couple months in the south is a good option too.

I used them exactly once. I discovered they will open, inspect, and photograph your products before shipping them onward. You'll need to be comfortable with that. They also will NOT adjust the shipping invoice on request - whatever you paid for the product gets passed on to Thailand customs. Plus their shipping fees are surprisingly high. So I saved a couple bucks on sales tax in the USA, but on the Thailand end I had to pay the courier full duty, VAT, plus assorted misc. fees. These shipping services have very specific niche use only, best I can tell. Not for me tho. Frankly, if the product can be ordered from Amazon.com direct to Thailand, do it. It will be faster, cheaper, more secure, and zero hassle.