clokwise

As mentioned above, JIB is your best bet for buying HDs. You really need to buy a HD specifically designed for RAID use. Desktop and external drives are a totally different spec and are more prone to fail early and lose data when used 24/7 in a NAS. NAS drives feature heat-resistant and anti-vibration design and provide 24/7 operation with higher speeds. They also may cost 10~15% more, but you get what you pay for. By my estimation, 8TB drives are the sweet spot right now in terms of price vs capacity. Get yourself some 8TB Seagate IronWolf drives from JIB and you'll be set. Seagate has really efficient warranty service in Thailand, you'll usually get a replacement for a failed drive within 24 hours of returning it. And yeah, drives DO fail, so never use your NAS as a backup or as the sole location for your important files.

My family and I won't swim unless the water is minimum 28ºC. Which means our pool is basically only in use from late-April until early-August, and the rest of the year I'm constantly sweeping heaps of leaves out of it, keeping it chlorinated and pH balanced, repairing and replacing the pumps and filters, draining the pool after heavy rains, and generally wondering why I have a pool. It's a lot of maintenance for three months of actual use. Swimming in December in Chiang Mai? Hope you're a polar bear ????

In my case I know the cause, and I can easily address the cause - I smoke a lot of weed. But also to OP, I've never seen it or any similar product here in Thailand. I always buy a couple bottles whenever I'm abroad.

I have a rental property in a popular area of town, over the years it has rarely sat vacant more than a month or two. This is partially due to one property agent who is easily the largest agent in town. We have done a LOT of business with them for over a decade, renting, selling and buying properties. Recently a tenant decided to break their 1-year contract and leave after only two months to head back to Europe. This kind of thing happens far too frequently, unfortunately. And each time we are stuck with loss of rental income, plus cleaning expenses, and minus the agent commission. This agent has refused to offer any compensation, such as a partial refund of their commission, which equals one month rent per-year. They claim it's not their problem and refuse to offer any compensation whatsoever. My argument is, part of their responsibility as an agent is to vet potential tenants and offer us only tenants that have proper visas, jobs, families, or other ties that will ensure, or at least imply, they won't break their contract. I've really had it up to here with this particular agent, I don't appreciate their attitude and I will not be working with them in the future unless we can come to some agreement - but unfortunately it seems they have have the upper hand as these rental contracts are not enforceable, and they have never expressed any genuine sympathy in this kind of situation. Does anyone have any workaround for dealing with agents? I had a few ideas: Make the tenant fork over a 3rd month of rent as a guarantee they won't break the contract, then make the 12th month rent "free" Put the agent fee in escrow and they can't touch it for one year Insist on paying the agent 1/12 of their fee every month Have a side contract/agreement with the agent with an assurance the tenant will stay, and if not, provide terms for compensation (such as prorated refund or credit toward the next tenant's agent fee) I don't know how practical these ideas are, as I'd guess most (all?) agents will not accept such terms, and it's unlikely a tenant would either. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I know, I know... TIT....

Woah! That's a significant increase from last week - when only 4 people tested negative. I'm not a doctor, but if you extrapolate this, I predict by the end of the month there could be as many as several thousand people testing negative for monkeypox! Indeed, this could be a game changer for Thailand if we're not careful. If a significant portion of the population tests negative for monkeypox, it's only a matter of time before we're all facing the prospect of lock-downs not occurring. Take care out there, folks!!

I've been smoking these weed oil vape carts for a number of years, I can attest they are the very best way to smoke marijuana. No smoke, no odor, and powerful af! A one gram oil cart costs about US$40~50, and with moderate tolerance, you can smoke it once every day for 2 to 3 months - so a great deal. But beware: After seeing that article in Sanook I investigated and discovered the ONLY oil carts available for sale in Thailand seem to be fake carts using extremely low-grade weed oil + chemicals that simulate the effects of marijuana but which are quite harmful. Additionally, I've personally tried a number of these and they give me massive long-lasting headaches. I have about half a dozen of these fake carts in a drawer here which I smoked once and will never touch again. These fake carts are easily purchased on the dark web, and they have scratch-off QR codes and holograms on the fancy packaging in an effort to make them look the legit brands. But they aren't. There are a few tell-tale signs where you can, at a glance, know they are fake. Check out /r/fakecartridges/ on Reddit. If you want legit carts, buy them yourself at a legit dispensary in the USA. Buy a spare battery while you're at it. I'm not going to get into the logistics of importing them into Thailand, but I've found it's quite simple to do so with personal quantities.

She has a semi-urgent visa renewal application in process with them now. I told her what I read here about the shut down. She later called them to confirm - on her own volition. Fancy that - a Thai woman who can think for herself and doesn't need to be told what to do!! As for me, I was simply relaying information.

Regardless of these sensational stories in the media about the dangers of cannabis, I do believe the Thai govt missed a terrific opportunity to regulate and tax the growers and vendors. Look at how it works in the USA, where you can only purchase weed legally from a registered marijuana vendor, and can only purchase products grown under license. Often the products come with a QR code link to an independent assay of that particular batch. This provides greater assurance of the quality of the product in terms of THC levels as well as knowledge of the strain and whether any pesticides or chemicals were used in the growing process. Finally, the state adds ~20% tax on all cannabis sales, providing pretty decent revenue. Of course regulations vary from state to state, so that example is just a generalization. But what we have in Thailand is unknown vendors offering mystery product (strain unknown, THC levels uncertain, potentially grown with pesticides), sold on the street without any tax revenue whatsoever. I'm the biggest stoner I know, but now that it's legal I'm still not gonna buy from some rando dealer. I'd much rather pay 20% tax if it means I can be assured the product I'm ingesting is safe.

FWIW, I did the online test. It's stupid easy. First they make you watch a one hour video and it has to be in the foreground - you can't open another tab - and they will pause periodically and ask you a question (unrelated to the video) to ensure you are still in the room and paying attention. Once you have "watched" the video, the exam comes up. It's a total of three random multiple-choice driving questions, unrelated to the video. In my case it randomly asked the same question twice! Anyhow, you only need to answer two out of the three questions correctly to pass. If you have any doubt about your answer, just type the exact text of the question into google and the answer will come up. Once you "pass" the exam you get a QR code to show when you do the license application. Then, when I was asked for the QR code, the examiner just glanced at it, did not scan it, and that was that. Got my license renewed.

I'm sure your information is 100% accurate, however, FYI, my Thai wife just called the CM visa department and paraphrased your post to them, they claimed they are not aware of any such staff shortage at the CM Embassy.

Any word on whether this affects Visa issuance for Thais as well? My wife literally just today sent in her passport to get a new visa ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yup, same here.

There's actually another dead mall some people have overlooked, which was constructed, tenants booked, but never even opened, that big yellow one between CBP and Big C on the superhighway.

Over the years I've flipped between Firefox and Chrome as my "default" browser. Often I use both at the same time. While both are fine, each have their pluses and minuses as well. But if I can no longer block ads, and if Google still insists on tracking me, I'm done with Chrome once and for all.

I surprised Creamfields was organized in the first place. Surely they knew about the draconian restrictions in Thailand beforehand.

I've been moaning about this for a long time. Every other country in the world (except Afghanistan) has figured out how to do TV production without on-air wearing masks, so surely Thailand can do it. Unless, perhaps, there are secret orders/agreements to keep the masks on - to ensure the public remain fearful and compliant.

Better than me, I can only use my pool roughly from end-March to early-September, otherwise it's too cold (in CM). However, my pool is located between the house and the trees so it doesn't get much direct sunlight and stays pretty chilly. I'm building a new home with a pool and I'm planning to use a heat-pump for heating it, and it will be designed with a retractable cover which can keep the heat in. The heat pump will be powered by the solar array on my roof, as opposed to the usual radiator type of setup. Still only planning stage, but that's the idea for now.

There's a sticky forum thread right here with all the details. If you have a yellow book the process is super easy. If you need a certificate from your embassy, good luck, but an agent can't help with that anyway. An agent is also not going to sit the exam for you, and you still have to go there in person and go through all the steps yourself. I have done this process countless times, never even spoke a word of Thai. I really don't understand how an agent can actually help, but I'm confident you'll be able to find an agent willing to take your money and 'help' you anyway.

I just got back to Chiang Mai after a week in maskless Phuket. It was such a great relief to not only walk around maskless, but to enter shops and restaurants maskless. It wasn't just me being a arrogant pr!ck, or other tourists, it was pretty much everyone apart from workers at these places. Returned to gloomy CM with people wearing stupid masks everywhere. Too many people here are sheep, they will do whatever they are told even when it is nonsensical or against their own interests. I'm not just talking about masks, but anyway.... Even people reading the news on TV are STILL wearing masks here, yet somehow every other country on earth has figured out how to produce TV shows without them. Someone (jokingly) pointed out recently that the only two countries where TV presenters are still wearing masks are Thailand and Afghanistan.

Exactly. I'm in my late 50s starting to 'decline', she's in her mid 40s and probably at her sexual peak. Plus, she is smoking hot and she knows it. I love my wife, she is my best friend, how could I deny her happiness? If she wants to enjoy sex with other people, I want her to go for it while she is still desirable. Enjoy her life. And I also get something fun out of our agreement, so it's all good.

My Thai wife and I have been married over 20 years. We sorted out all the jealousy stuff pretty easily. After 15 happy years together we both decided together to have an open marriage. Her idea, BTW. It works great. We're not swingers, or wife-swappers, or really not even into anything kinky, we each just find a new partner now and then. No jealousy at all, in fact we are genuinely happy for each other when they get laid. We first set down some rules, and we talk about our experiences all the time and always check in to make sure there's no ill feelings or questions. We kiss each other before going on a date, and again when we return. As we're in Thailand, it's not super easy to find dates. ENM is not well known in mainstream Thai society, because people usually just cheat on their spouse, and it's hard for people to wrap their heads around this concept.

Some more background, they couldn't pay their electric bill... https://thethaiger.com/news/national/shopping-mall-in-chiang-mai-goes-dark-couldnt-afford-20-million-baht-power-bill Every time I drive by it seems to be rusting and decaying away bit by bit. Which is kind of the problem - people drive right by, never stop. What a shame too. It had great potential but was so badly managed. On the plus side, Chiang Mai just got a prime URBEXer site.

555 I just took that "test". It was literally four questions, and their broken random function gave me the same question twice. One of the questions I got actually had two logically correct answers so I googled it and found there's actually a website with all the questions and the "correct" answers.

So pathetic. Hi-Sos and actors and celebrities are precisely the types of people who need to be made an example of. He should have received the maximum penalty so that his fans and others are made aware of the very real consequences of not following traffic laws.

Just want to add that iherb very definitely delivers to Thailand, and they often say delivery will take 6 weeks, but in practice, at least in 2022, it's been much faster, like under 2 weeks. But watch your order amount as there is supposedly duty+tax chargeable if you go over a certain amount. I usually try to keep my orders under 2000 baht, never had issues. One time I ordered about 2600 baht Thai customs carved it up then resealed it. They didn't charge any duty, but it did delay the parcel.