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sandyf

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Everything posted by sandyf

  1. Indeed, but there is a question mark over for how long. I have my own home and only fixed outlay is electricity and internet, 2000 and 750/month. Everything else is conditionally optional. main expenses are food, transport and health. Food and drink can be from around 6000/month upwards, transport can be zero if you remain within walking distance and the same for health if never in need of medication or treatment. Obviously on the surface you could stay within budget but reality will make it unlikely over time. You would stand a much better chance staying closer to the Pattaya taxi area, motorbikes may be cheap transport but often result in high medical bills. At the end of the day, all about how you want to live.
  2. Nothing strange about it, it's those with excess cabin baggage and a pile of duty free that want to grab the storage space first in case they get challenged and ends up in the hold. I have seen people in the cabin with bigger bags than I have checked in, I don't know how they get away with it. In July we had our cabin bags weighed and my wife had to take out about a kilo to get under the 7kg limit.
  3. Possibly, but in this case it was a group of families, parents getting tanked up and kids running riot.
  4. If it had been a question there would have been a question mark. Merely an observation as there is no meaningful answer.
  5. No it hasn't, some would prefer to forget how it all came about. The Vietnam War gave birth to Pattaya as it is today, and the associated problems. "As the Vietnam War raged on during the late 1960s and early 1970s, hundreds of American GIs were airlifted into U-Tapao air base on a daily basis for their R&R. Nearly all of these soldiers headed straight to Pattaya, where a boom town of partying, prostitution and escapism developed. Coming right out of a war zone, one can only imagine the state of mind these soldiers were in when they arrived in Pattaya. Fighting an intense physical and psychological guerilla war in Vietnam created a genuine need for total escapism. To fulfill these soldiers’ needs, an entire resort and entertainment industry emerged from the humble foundations of a fishing village. Thais from all over the country, but especially from Issan, moved to Pattaya to work in this booming and indulgent atmosphere. In the early days, a hotel room cost about 50 cents and a lady companion not much more. The GIs spent their earnings freely and the Thais happily raked them in." https://web.archive.org/web/20150724115246/http://www.1stoppattaya.com/articles/sattahip_gis/
  6. You and me both, Jet Airlines wasn't much better and out of the picture now.
  7. Believe what you want, a penalty of flying budget airlines. On my flight, cabin staff were too busy seeling stuff to be bothered about passenger behaviour.
  8. Twenty odd years ago not many had the Chang beer, "Castleburg" predominated. When I wanted a Chang it would usually come from the bottom of the fridge and often frozen. I would just pour the beer into the glass and leave the chunk of ice in the bottle. Wonder what the ABV would be.
  9. You are jumping the gun, the OP may or may not be a scam, you don't know. The problem with items such as a printer is that some vendors will advertise an item when they do not actually carry stock on the basis they can aquire it quickly, but that may not happen. A few years back I wanted a 22 inch TV to use as a monitor but it turned out there was a general shortage of a particular component and that size TV was in short supply. I had 5 orders cancelled by the system before I got what I wanted. That was in the days before vendors thought about asking customers to try and avoid cancellation.
  10. Last year I was on an Easyjet flight from Gatwick to Antalya and just the same, except the passengers were Brits.
  11. More a question of having the cake and eat it. The UK did not dissassociate itself from EU legislation, laws that suited the agenda were retained. Brexit would never have happened if it had been clear 261/2004 was to be repealed along with all other EU legislation.
  12. Indeed, and a deal with the EU would be far more beneficial than the US which uses ISDS, that can lead to governments being held to ransom. The ISDS system has been criticized for its perceived failures, including investor bias, inconsistent or inaccurate rulings, high damage awards, and high costs,[3] and there have been widespread calls for reform. Since 2015, the European Union has been seeking to create a multilateral investment court to replace investor-state arbitration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor–state_dispute_settlement
  13. So no New Chang because it is 'only' 4.8, yet you drink Dunkel at 4.9. Can you really tell the difference? Fairly obvious just looking at it.
  14. It is my understanding that the change is related to the reports being automated, possibly Phuket is not at that stage yet. You said your report took 70 minutes which would indicate human intervention. I had one last year that took 2 minutes, thought at the time they may be testing for automation. If that is the case there could well be conflicting stories for some time.
  15. It is all about policy, and as I was told by an HSBC branch manager, the policy is discretionary. They kept mine open as my income was being paid in. The question of tax didn't arise, the manager could see income from DWP.
  16. To be quite honest I think you are going to end up disappointed. My neice had excellent results but not good enough for medicine, everyone wants to be a doctor. Forgotten how many uni places she was offered ranging from veterinary to chemical engineering. She had her heart set on medicine so applied in China and was accepted on an English speaking course at Sun Yat Sen uni. A difficult route and took about 8 years to get Thai licence, lost a year due to covid. Started off doing agency work but now delivering babies at a government hospital. In June will start another 3 year course on Obs & Gyny at hospital in Bangkok. A really difficult profession and your granddaughter needs to give it serious consideration.
  17. In disguise with shaved tails.
  18. Rats with tails -no thanks.
  19. At the end of the day you need to do what the IO holding the stamp asks, if you want the stamp. Even if they have made an error there is very little chance of backtracking. "Something new" is par for the course. I have had 6 home visits and last week was the first where the witnesses had to be in the photos. I think the neighbour nearly had a bowel movement when the IO called him over - to take a photo at the gate which included the IO.
  20. Go by the squirrels, if the hole is small - not ripe, if half eaten then they are ripe. I know the problem, bit difficult to tell when they are 15 foot in the air. Wife gets annoyed when I pick them too soon but I like to get there before the squirrels, they soften up in a few days.
  21. That has nothing to do with alcohol, purely coincidental. High wine prices are in place to protect domestic producers, many imports suffer in a similar way.
  22. Not my problem, I know where it is.
  23. There will be variations with each. I didn't need to have a UK address when starting, I didn't pay VAT as an overseas user for several years, but think it is now only overseas business accounts that escape the VAT.
  24. No such river, there is Loch Ness and the River Ness, which runs between Loch Dochfour and Inverness.
  25. I also use Ukpostbox and have done so for over 12 years. I started with my son but he kept putting letters to one side and then forgetting. I have found the service quite useful, I took BA to court while in Thailand which would be a bit difficult under any other arrangement. They initially send you a copy of the enevelope and you have the option for each item on what to do with it. With the basic service you get an ID number which you use in conjunction with their address. If you go for the Street address you choose an address from the list, mail is then just sorted on the name. They will also send out letters for you, upload the letter and they will envelope it and post in UK, far quicker than any other method. It is all about considering the pros and cons and deciding what suits best. One downside, which probably applies to all the services, post that requires a signature from addressee is not accepted.
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