dhream

I tested them with Ozforex (via ING bank) and surprise! Transferwise cost MORE.

I called them out on it on their twitter feed, they offered to match my bank, but then, why would I bother to switch just for a 'price match'?

Don't always believe the hype.

They should spend less time dancing around Threadneedle street with their tits out, and more time doing what they say on the tin.

The problem with Uber is that you can't schedule a car to pick you up in advance - you just summon one when you're ready, and then hope the driver can make it through the Bangkok traffic to get to you in a reasonable amount of time.

A very serious shortcoming. Just the other night, I had an Uber driver accept my pickup request for Lotus/Tesco at Fortune Town, but then ring me to say she couldn't make it because she was stuck in a traffic jam and couldn't make her way down the exit ramp from the tollway. When I asked her why she accepted my Uber hail if she was stuck in traffic, she replied, "I have to, I'm given no choice."

My experiences with Uber in Bangkok have been good, when they can show up within a reasonable amount of time to pick me up. That's maybe 50% of the time.

Yeah, that's my only real complaint too - oh and drivers that are completely unable to read a google map or follow a gps. Then, I've had that in Singapore (twice this week), New Zealand and London too.

Try Chiang Mai.

No taxis anywhere but the luxe hotel forecourts (if they're pre-pre-pre-ordered) and the scareport, and the lazy bastards now want THB 300 to go anywhere... nice to see the 'war on corruption' going so well up north, thank you for your service, local Army, Navy, and Marines. Not.

Thailand has GrabTaxi Uber is not needed...

Oh Okay... i'll call the Uber CEO and let him know you've decided on our behalf.

Seems a popular fashion in LOS of late, self-appointed social 'guardians' telling the rest of us how to live...

Thailand has GrabTaxi Uber is not needed...

Oh Okay... i'll call the Uber CEO and let him know you've decided on our behalf.

Seems a popular fashion in LOS of late, self-appointed social 'guardians' telling the rest of us how to live...

Yeah, i'm sure the ATO will understand that I didn't file my SMSF annual report on time because the Consular 'outreach program' was not in town to rubber stamp my passport scan as a 'certified copy' on the day my accountant sent it...

Even as westerners leave their home countries in droves as financial refuseniks of their own government's anti-boomer pension policies, the zombies are scaling back on the services we are still obliged to use, to stop being gouged 45% of our pensions for being 'non-compliant non-residents'.

Such cruel irony.

They have copied the 'halo effect' photo opp. pose.

First used, I believe, by the White House (or Pentagon) impressively framing the benevolent countenance of the dear leader with the seal of his 'authorithai' providing a saintly halo backdrop.

Oh, and how could you not believe those puppy-soft eyes!

Things like this happen in Europe all the time, it's not Thai-specific.

One gets justice in Europe. Justice is a rare commodity here. So rare it makes global headlines. As when the Thai and farang journalists walked for being accused of defaming the Thai Navy over people smuggling. Sadly. They'll be now watching their own backs forever.

I've lived in Cebu and can highly recommend it but am very soon heading for Manila for a stint,I won't be back in Thailand until at the very least the government changes if at all.I find all the racism,xenophobia and generally awful treatment of foreigners just wears me down and there are so many better places these days in South-East Asia like Vietnam and even Cambodia is catching up at a great rate of knots as you can see by the chart,credit to Bloomberg and the original article here :

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-09/next-job-of-philippines-new-president-is-winning-over-investors

If you Base your Intel on Bloomberg it's meaningless unless you're a corporation.

Tanks-r-us won't last. They'll start to piss off the super elite soon enough with their antics.

The moron next President of the PI. Sounds and acts like Idi Amin. Good luck with that buffoon running what's left of the stolen nation into the bronze age 2.0

Cambodia is run by a murderous looney as well.

You need to stop believing everything the daily mail or Sun writes. The PI is a poor second over Thailand and is unlikely to change for a generation or ten.

How far in advance can you submit your papers for retirement visa extension? Is it one month?

It's 45 days, and I have just come from there today, with a related anecdote to share.

I arrived at 0810. There was a cast of thousands, but the 'Retirement/Medical' line was only 12 deep - I was numreo twelveo.

This is my first Promenada 'experience', (BTW my current bank is on CMU campus -that now needs to change, because I also dropped in to the Airport to confirm that currently, no retirement extensions are accepted there.)

Anyway, I prefer the annual 'cash-flash' method of extension, cheaper than getting a Consular letter, plus, I then immediately remove 2/3 of it out of here for the next 9 months, and live on the remaining 1/3 and overseas credit card (that's made for nomads, so no forex penalty, sweet!)

So this is where I came undone today.

I parked my 'flash cash' THB 800,000 on 26 january this year, well in advance of the 3 month limit as my actual renewal date is 28 May.

Subsequently, I decided to move this cash offshore again early, for an investment opportunity that has presented itself, and in order to do that, i figured, I'd bring my extension forward 45 days, but Songkran also got in the way, Ok no real drama there, I'll just go as soon as possible after Songkran.

So far so good, although I was caught off guard this morning when they checked all the papers before giving out a 'deli number' which was not the case at the airport, so this method of getting busy with the bank during the wait time, worked well for me prior the Promenada move, and by the way they started the deli number process after 0830.

So I was explaining to deli girl that I had everything in order, but the manager of my branch, who signs the pointless bank letter, was not available on Friday to sign, so I had planned to go and pick up the letter this morning during the tedious wait between the opening 'bell' and my turn.

Nong said, "Well I can't give you a number, come back tomorrow."

I smiled and departed, thinking i'd come back today anyway, and try a charm offensive after the guy in front of me in the line had been seen.

It all went splendidly, and I managed to blag my way into being seen *ahem* without a number, at about 1130 after the 'last' codger, the guy before me in line, had been sent on his way.

And then... Khun Sarge spotted a problem!

My funds had been deposited on 26 Jan and of course, today is the 25 April, 89 days later, and ONE DAY short of the 90 day requirement.

Sorry, Khun D, come back tomorrow!

I smiled, and graciously retreated. It was a pretty good effort on my part, charming my way that far to begin with, but I was just one day too early.

Boy, are they sticklers for the rules!

See you tomorrow Sarge! She's easy on the eye, so thats a bonus, I suppose.

The more you see of this thread and the O.P who claims he is in England the more I come to suspect looking at the posting times here as compared to the U.K. times he is either a night worker in the U.K or possibly in Scandinavia who lives under a bridge and preys on innocent passers by.

why you think that ?

Attention seeker! I knew it.

Attention seeker?

Why anyone would waste precious time (it could be deadly) to post on the internet about a mystery medical condition unless they were in some remote outpost is frankly, bizarre.

This story is as logical as printing one with the headline: Tomcat caught shitting in his litter box!

And about as fascinating.

Hypocrisy gets a little tedious after the two millionth story -this week.

The Army and Navy are there to make sure they get their cut of the tea money. They've been missing out for years, on boats and in the jungle and all for years, fighting the war on common sense, I mean, drugs.

If you have no expectations, you'll never be dissatisfied.

'No freakin idea' seems to be the expression on his face as the senior plod says, "OK boss, let me take you through the gravy train schematic we had drawn up for you one more time..."

I wonder if we will ever find out what it takes to motivate police to do their duty.... beyond money of course

Only if kicked in the axx by the military.

Be careful what you wish for, when the arse kicking starts in earnest, the police won't be the target.

First rule of propaganda -when you're on the back foot, find an easy scapegoat, immigrants!

For Thailand, that's you and me, and the Chinese, and the Burmese...

It won't be pretty.

Just as a 'point of order' - the Tom & Tom coffee shop on Pattaya 2nd Road, corner Soi 4 is NOWHERE near Naklua!! Even the photograph shows, it is opposite BigC North!! Who provides the 'facts' in these stories??????

Proof right there half of what the media print is BS... the other half is mostly just filler. Story? Lost in translation.

Ladies, when in Pattaya please make sure your snatch is never victimized!

Jeez it's good to feel 16 again!

Wait. A combined force of army and police encircle a village and STILL the drug gang escape? Only a week or so ago 30 drug traffickers also fled back to Laos when they were caught by a combined police and army force.

Do the army ever carry out assessments as to why these operations go so embarrassingly and dangerously wrong?

Now you know why the Cambodians kick their axxes so easy at times. No cojones to do the job..

The whole 'never been conquered/colonised' is a myth.

They waved the japs in after 3 days skirmishing (we should have punished them for that after the war!) 'Invitation' was their only choice -the Japs would have wiped them out in a week.

The now maligned Burmese, were once a local superpower. They owned the little strutting bantams more than once, and stuck around for a few centuries to extract the spoils.

Or maybe other peoples history is just a drug induced dream...

The Wehrmacht were on 'Ya ba' in a few WW2 campaigns.

So much for the image of stoner drug dealers.

They handed the pros their arse, without training in COIN or jungle warfare, and less firepower.

Still convinced drugs m'bad?

Science and history says, wake up world.

For farmland which used to be cultivated with rice and are not covered by the plan this year, the government will encourage and help farmers to turn to alternative crops and will also provide vocational training to the farmers so that they will have other means to make a living.

Legal MJ, Coca, and Opium would be a good idea.

Shame they just can't let go of medieval 'Drugs m'bad m'kay' thinking and be done with it.

The war is lost and the propagana of fear, loathing, and the unravelling of society has been discredited repeatedly, in the lab and in Portugal, Czech Republic, only to fall on dumb heads.

Call in the army they will sort the local mafia out

The Army vs the Police. Wouldn't that just be gang warfare?

Breaking: PM Prayut calls for a Taxi in Chiang Mai. Hears recorded message of crickets, and laughter in the background. No pictures of taxis at eleven.

And then the city jobsworths, scratch their heads, and wonder why Chiang Mai was 'winner' of the Seven Deadly Days Drink Drive Competition over Songkran.

There's this really brilliant Art installation at Chiang Mai Airport.

Hundreds of Taxis, just sitting there... they look like real taxis, except they never actually leave the airport!

They even have these guys who look like real taxi drivers, to sit around nearby and guard them or something.

Sometimes they might venture out to get the guards noodles, or go to a car wash.

Rumour has it they do sometimes do tourists a huge favour

and take them to and from an expensive hotel, but that's rare, apparently.

It's the pride of the Thai avant garde art scene, and you should fly up to see it sometime!

And the taxi drivers are still laughing at the PM for his last crack down.

One might say he cracks down, and they crack up.