TimBKK

For USA citizens: I have a “cash management account” (basically, a normal savings account) with Fidelity Brokerage. They offer no fee international wire transfers.  On 9/22 I processed a trial transfer of $500 to my Bangkok Bank account.  It showed up in this account the following day coded as FTT.  BB charges 200-500 THB to process wire transfers; the equivalent of 65000 THB would incur a 500 THB processing fee, I believe.

Think I will use this versus trying to reconcile Wise and whatever local bank they use to transfer into, matching statements etc.  Likely a bit more expensive per transaction but worth it for the sake of simplicity IMO.

2 hours ago, steevjee said:

Bali's Northern beaches

Went to Amed once, it was quite nice.  Is this what you had in mind, or other places?  I don’t know the area well enough to comment upon its long term livability but it sure is beautiful.

From my understanding Dee money can only transfer money OUT of Thailand.

3 minutes ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Those who uncritically sing DeFi's praise are not normal people, they're devotees. For a more rational and somber look at the world of DeFi have a look at this article from The Economist.

 

The beguiling promise of decentralised finance and its many perils

 

 

PS. For those who're not subscribers you might need to register but it's free and it gives you 3 free articles a month.

If you are implying that big banks and other large financial institutions were not at fault for the Great Recession of course you are categorically wrong - I don’t know that you are though, although it seems strange to me to post your link about the challenges of Defi in response to what I posted as there really isn’t a correlation between the 2 posts.  Unless you think that anyone who posts in favor of Defi is a “devotee” in which case you would also be categorically wrong.
 

In any event yes, it certainly seems obvious that Defi will face many challenges going forward. 

20 minutes ago, macnmotion said:

Cool, hope it works out for you. I'll probably give my doses to people who need it now, and work out a booster in 5 or 6 months.

That is a good plan, seems like vaccine availability will be much more robust in 2022 and beyond compared to this year.

5 minutes ago, macnmotion said:

The chart you're referring to does not indicate when they will give you your vaccine, they are using that chart to show the public when they should seek a vaccine based on their vaccine history. The October 8 deadline is specifically so they can use that information to prioritize their 4th quarter doses, it was not intended to allow people to shift from the Q4 block of vaccines to a future block of vaccines. I work with the Marketing Team at Samiitivej and I'm fairly certain of this understanding, at least at this point in time. Now that there has been an announced delay, I'm trying to find out whether the October 8 date will be delayed, I'm awaiting a reply.

 

Note that last week I contacted the Samitivej online communications team asking whether I could retain my paid vaccine for use next year as a booster (I recently had my 2nd dose of Pfizer). They initially said "you can keep it for booster in the future sir" however, after I asked how this would work, for example will I be put at the top of a list of the next batch of Moderna coming in Q2 2022, or will I be behind everyone who has paid for Q2 vaccines already and rightfully expect to receive them, they could not answer. They merely said put in your vaccine history now and after you receive your Q4 appointment you can inform us for further discussion. As you can imagine, that isn't a policy, it's an answer to a question they probably hadn't considered. It's possible that the hospital will work to delay the paid vaccines until they can be used by the purchaser, but as of now there is no official policy guaranteeing it. And according to their official policy, once we put our own information into their system, we cannot later transfer the doses to a third party -- the decision to transfer has to be made by October 8 and before we put our own details into the system.

 

Anyway, I'm sure this is more detail than most people care about. Thought someone might be interested.

I am confident that it will be available for a booster next year, more so after what you’ve posted, so thanks.  I am not worried about specifics at this point tbh as they have 6 months at least to work out the details, at least by my timeline.  

13 minutes ago, macnmotion said:

Were you originally confirmed for the 4th quarter batch of Moderna at Samitivej? If yes, can you tell me how you confirmed that they would hold your Moderna booster for 6 months? This contradicts the SMS I received from Samitivej last week that lists an October 8 deadline for me to either complete my personal COVID-19 vaccine history (to assist in their management of the Q4 doses) or transfer my doses to others. Nowhere in the documentation, or in my communication with Samitivej through online channels asking about this, have they indicated that my Q4 dose can be "managed" to become a booster next year.

I don’t see the contradiction and took the 8 October deadline to be an internal metric unrelated to when the jabs will be administered.  In any event, in the same chart that I am sure you saw Moderna will be available 6-9 months after (in my case) the second Pfizer jab.  

“Open. Permissionless. Private. If China bans it, you know it’s something worth fighting for.”

Words to live by.

15 hours ago, lkn said:

.I just don’t see a world where normal people would prefer the wild west of finance over the established system, especially because, as we have seen, a trustless system attracts all the people that you can’t trust, so you have removed the guard rails, and also released the wolves…

 

Because the actions of banks and mortgage companies within the established financial system were a leading cause of the Great Recession, I can certainly understand why “normal people” would look to alternatives.  

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

I hear Celcius are giving similar cards soon. Will be great way to spend the 8.88% interest I get on my USDC. I guess some here are happier with their 1% from the brick n mortar banks  

 

https://celsius.network/

I split my USDC between Celsius and BlockFi - very happy with both.

45 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Incidentally we don't speak to this little angel now....she got her money and then blocked my wife of social media. So don't expect any generosity.

F****** kids!  Just curious, how did this go over with your wife and her family?  Bit personal, no problem if you decline to respond.  Pretty outrageous behavior by the niece ????

Went there in ‘68, sand flies hadn’t yet discovered it.  Mozzies either.  Pre-dirt track, it was heaven but once people wanted this convenience, place nose dived.  Refuse to return.

28 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You should check with your local office about the 2 months. Many offices will not accept only 2 months if you have been here for some time already.

Thanks @ubonjoe, always appreciate your insight.  My local office is Jomtien, will give them a shout - unless someone here by chance knows the answer.

I will soon apply for my first extension of stay from a Non OA.  I intend to use the income method.  Am I correct in understanding that only 2 monthly 65k deposits are required before I apply?

Do I also need a 400k account balance?

And going forward, just so I am clear, I will need a monthly deposit of 65k and to maintain at least a 400k account balance - is this correct?

2 Pfizer jabs in BKK

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

CCTV footage showed that the ice delivery truck was travelling at speed on the wet road and had swerved to avoid colliding with a white pickup truck that had just made a U-turn.

 

And there you have it. The three things that cause most accidents in Thailand condensed into one sentence. What could possibly go wrong.

Would alcohol break the top 3?  If not, definitely 4th.

Amulet market 

This is one of the more practical and useful threads I’ve read in some time.

https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions?&origin=TH
 

According to Kayak - Mexico, Colombia and Belgium

5 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

Heard of threesomes and moresomes?

 

I appreciate your willingness to consider taking more than one man at the same time, it is quite progressive.

1 hour ago, BadSpottedDog said:

I have a farang Thai teacher who speaks, reads, and writes Thai fluently. Been in Thailand for 27 years now. She got vaccinated and was showing me this app. HOWEVER, it was not available in English. At all. So how will this work for farangs? She had a lot of difficulty using it as well. 

For setup just use google translate.  Data uploaded to the app is in both Thai and English - see attached.  It is really not that difficult at all, don’t make a mountain out of a molehill

27 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Pretty stupid to have an underground garage in the tropics...and even more stupid to keep your car parked there during a torrential rainstorm.

I get the feeling that you are a black or white kind of guy?  Must be liberating to live with such a simplistic mentality, to take all the thought out of everyday living.