mat999

The best way to avoid withdrawals is to use Kratom, which is illegal in Thailand but legal in most other countries, including the USA and UK.

As long as you take small amounts of Kratom (e.g. a small teaspoon or 1 capsule) and just buy one 50g bag, it will conceal the symptoms with no risk of getting hooked/high on Kratom. It is obviously illegal here for a reason, it is also addictive, but some say the law was made for other reasons.

Gradually take less and less Kratom as needed and by the 3rd week you will be fine and will have run out. So, ideally quit when you go back home for a holiday. Kratom is not available in Thailand and it is a level 5 narcotic.

The other option is to get 16mg of Buprenorphine pills off a doctor. Then micro dose amounts like 0.3mg as needed. You must wait at least 24, or it could be 36 hours after stopping Tramadol before starting Buprenorphine. Which will probably coincide with the time symptoms kick in.

Tapering should be done for both methods and an anticonvulsant should be used for the first few days after stopping Tramadol. For example Valium or Clonazepam.

I fully agree that Bitcoin is 100% unsuitable for an emergency fund. I will get a savings account with my bank for that. But my UK bank want to send me something to confirm my tax country, so I had a dabble in Bitcoin in the meantime, which is going very well.

Nice to know that Thai banks have savings options too, I hadn't thought about that, thanks @fletchsmile. I shall see what Bangkok Bank offers. 

On 10/09/2017 at 9:32 PM, scubascuba3 said:

If i wanted excitement maybe I'd do horse racing or something

 

Bitcoin broke $7,000 today. Double what I paid for my second round. Lots more fun and profitable than gambling on midgets riding horses in silly silk costumes. 

On 30/10/2017 at 1:10 PM, Mark1066 said:

I do this with Bangkok bank and it takes anywhere from 3-5 working days. In the UK, it was actually instant, because they use the Faster Payments system, but there's no way to get a similar service in Thailand as far as I am aware.

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like I need to go in and see what is wrong. Maybe I have the wrong account type, or it is because both the PayPal and bank accounts are new.

Just bought this years 3M Filtrete to clear our apartment air a bit with the aircon. It has definitly begun as the mountain is no longer clearly visible and may not be until May. In case anyone is wondering they sell the Filtrete at Baan and Beyond and last year we got it Central at Kad Suan Kaew. 300 Baht, but possibly invaluable if it extends life.

I can't see an edit button for the post above anymore, just wanted to update that the PayPal ATM card is not avaialable in Thailand. So that leaves a faster bank or some kind of other service.

Usually, PayPal withdrawals are nearly instant for my UK bank. But for Bangkok bank, it takes a good week. With the current holidays, I have been waiting 12 days for my most recent withdrawal.

Is there a different bank which can do it faster or anything else I can do to speed it up?

It looks like there may be a PayPal credit or debit card, has anyone tried that here?

Thanks.

Looks like the smokey season may have begun? Or we have just has some very low clouds recently? I hope it is the latter. 

5 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

in times of favourable exchange rates i had a profitable ebay business.

 

the post office can tell you the cost of sending items (by weight/registered or not) by post

 

on your ebay page state you are in thailand and explain the delivery time scales, as long as you are above board you will have no problems.

 

never had a problem with customs

Did you open a new eBay account or use one from back home? Whilst living in the Philippines I bought a gift for someone in the UK and had to put my Philippines address in. It ruined my eBay account as it was nigh on impossible to get it back from being converted to an Asian account. So I couldn't use it for a long time. Eventually got it sorted but don't fancy going through that again.

I was partly thinking of sending the items to someone in the UK to send out from there as people prefer UK sellers to foreigners, except for cheap Chinese stuff. Peace of mind and faster delivery. If I had to create a new account with no feedback that would look even worse, so the items would sell for less or not sell at all.

I never considered Craigslist. Will see if it is popular in Chiang Mai. Edit: hardly any lenses even in Bangkok. Certainly wont sell.

I posted loads of ads on the Facebook groups but only sold one lens. They are too niche.

I am selling 5 used camera lenses and nobody wants them here. They will sell easily on eBay. Would you ship them all to a friend or family member together, then sell from within the country? Or would you change your eBay address and sell from here? I am unsure what the postage fees are and whether it will be an issue for UK customs. Thanks.

Well, I have been playing around with Bitcoin and a few others. On strong recommendations from 2 people I am steering clear of Ethereum, despite it being amazingly profitable for so many this year. Bitcoin is good for long term, probably. Then it is fun dabbling in smaller ones in case they jump like Ethereum did. Also getting a basic savings account in the UK, so I always have a guaranteed fund for emergencies. Other things required me to be living in the UK, whereas for a savings account I think they just want confirmation of my tax country.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am sure I will start to look at gold after I get over the newbie period in cryptocurrency. The above mentioned China news is awesome. I bought more Bitcoin when it dropped, it only affects certain coins so the drop is almost certainly going to recover soon. The volatility makes cryptocurrency rather exciting.

I am not a reader, poor attention span from electronic devices.

I found it fascinating you can download books from your library to a Kindle. I had no idea that was possible. I used to own the original Kindle which is a great device.

But like I said with reference books I think it is best to have a hard copy if not experienced with a kindle. Especially as some of these language books have tasks to fill in.

Thanks again all ??

Thanks all. She actually found a suitable book for a good price as new, think it is new actually. From the book store just south of Macdonalds at Thapae Gate. 

Its nice to have a real book for reference books.

We found inquiring about services at CMU very frustrating as we don't speak Thai.

We had a lot of trouble with Sinet initially (we got the 2nd cheapest package- approx 700 Baht a month), but after about a week or two of constantly calling and messaging them, they eventually gave us a different modem (or is it router?) and it has been great since. If they think they will have downtime they SMS you and it is usually overnight. They can be contacted on Line text chat which is less frustrating for me than calling.

I also get 2GB per month on AIS for my phone for 239 Baht for when out, emergencies and certain websites will not stay logged in with Sinet, so I have to use tethering from the phone occasionally. Sinet has a stall on the electronics floor of Maya if you want to check if they service your area.

My Filipina wife wants to improve her English grammar. She has found a reasonably priced text book, but I noticed a library on the map the other day which gave me an idea, in case she wants multiple books. I searched the forum and just saw information about a Christian library which has now closed.

Are foreigners on an education visa (not related to language) welcome to take books out of any public libraries in Chiang Mai? I assume they would have the book/s she is interested in as I imagine Thais would use it when fairly proficient in English.

Thank you.

I would like a flutter on the fight this weekend. Are Brits allowed to use UK sites whilst in Thailand? The only gambling I have done online before was the National Lottery which stipulated that you have to be in the UK. 

Or am I even breaking the law asking this question? I don't even know if gambling is allowed from inside Thailand?

Thank you.

ps. if anyone wants to discuss who will win, I am all ears. I have a few conspiracy theories making the odds for Connor to win reasonable.

Firstly, apologies if this is the wrong forum. It looks like this may just be for Thai related finance, but it seemed more relevant to post here than in the General Forum.

I am currently on an education visa in Thailand. I make a little money from passive income in the Middle East (I am not working in Thailand). I don't spend enough time in the UK to pay tax there and I have no connections to the Middle East, I just get paid from a bank account there. I have never had savings before and I am baffled at what the best options are. I bought a book about personal finance, but it is too generic- it is more about the overall mindset of personal finance and has made me realise I should begin with an emergency fund rather than dabbling in risky investments.

Browsing for things on Google is confusing with there being lots of options. I was thinking of just calling my bank and asking what they recommend, but that seems silly as the money wouldn't keep up with inflation according to their Savings Accounts and ISAs. So maybe there is something else to look at? 

Please, can you recommend a good option for me to start saving a little money each month? Just a direct debit so that I have an emergency fund for the future.  It needs to be at least fairly low risk, not taxed by anyone and ideally at least keeping up with inflation. I get paid in any currency I like, so it doesn't matter to me which country I do this in. I can set the direct debit to go out of my UK bank or Thai bank.

I know this is a very broad question but it is something I have been putting off for far too long. I want to get started today so that tomorrow I don't forget about it and then leave it for another 6 months or years. Thanks.

Thanks guys, that's enough for me. Will start with a fresh account.

For those who have a bank account in Thailand and use PayPal, do you use your home country PayPal account and add the Thai bank account to it? Or did you open a new PayPal account just for your Thai bank?

PayPal are known to hold money/accounts when they think something iffy is going on, so I don't want to risk that.

Thanks.

In case anyone else was wondering, foreigners are welcome to use AIS points. They are doing it manually over the phone with me. Probably better to visit an AIS store to activate it.

If I was to buy a small camera mostly for day to day stuff, street photography and some landscapes the Ricoh GR would 100% be my choice.

It has an APSC size sensor but is truly pocketable. Longer than the RX100 but thinner. It is a camera you could have with you all the time.

It is a cult camera with a massive following and rightly so. There is no zoom. The full frame equivalent focal length is 28mm and there is a crop mode you can use for 35mm.

I think I saw one in Big Camera for 28,000 Baht, but it wasn't there a week later. I may buy one anyway as a second camera at some point. I used to own an RX100ii but it wasn't a pleasure to use, great photos though. Apparently the Ricoh GR is a camera many fall in love with because it is a pleasure to use with good ergonomics, useful focusing options and simple settings.

I have been using AIS for a while and it seems like a Thai ID (which I do not have) is required to register for extra services like using the points. Anyone know if there is an alternative for foreigners or are we not allowed to use all the AIS services?

Thanks.

Well done to those who posted the video above and also to this website for leaving it up. The police should be exposed as much as possible imho.

Fly via Kuala Lumpur which I think is a nice airport. Then a direct flight on British Airways. Cheap and less walking and waiting around that comes with Swampy.

Thanks for the warning Trujillo. We are planing to watch it at same cinema and will now buy ear plugs beforehand. Having tinnitus is not good.