BKKBike09

All comes down to budget and long-term plans. If you can afford to spend a million USD to buy a luxury riverside condo, that will probably appreciate and also - crucially - be easy to sell. Loads of wealthy Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Burmese looking to offshore cash in Bangkok property. But they want high-end. Houses can make even more money because of the underlying land value, but of course more challenging for foreigners to own. If your budget is USD 200,000, you'll be able to buy very easily. But it could be hard work to sell. If that (or less) is your budget, then I would advise finding somewhere to rent that would sell for your budget, try living there for a year, and then offer to buy if you really like it. Never forget that there is little to no planning / enforcement here. Last thing you want is to buy your dream condo and then, a year later, have the view blocked by another building erected next door. Beware condo buildings in streets with large family houses. Once the parents die, the kids invariably sell the property because they want the money. That's when a new condo on the location becomes distinctly possible. Lang Suan in the 1990s used to be virtually empty of condos; it was all private houses. Now look at it. I would generally suggest buying in older buildings: older buildings usually offer much better value in terms of cost / sqm and are often better built. Surrounding area may also have been developed already. However management of older buildings is sometimes pretty poor, and if the common fund has been run down, there's often no money for cosmetic or more major work to common areas. Buying in Europe to rent would probably be an easier way to keep quick(ish) access to the capital investment. Of course buying to rent these days comes with high interest rates for mortgages unless you're all in for cash. And in case of UK, a slew of impending legislation that makes being a landlord much less attractive.

If you're buying for the long-term, the short-term price fluctuations shouldn't factor into your thinking. Question is: if you buy gold now, where do you think price will be in 5 or 10 years? That said, unless you're buying a significant quantity (say USD 50K), gain (or loss) won't be "retirement here I come money", so ... Personally I think gold (and, though it pains me to say it, bitcoin and ether), could well see a lot of growth over the next 2-3 years as alternatives to the USD. There's just too much debt in US / Europe fuelled by the lowest interest rates for a generation. Then throw in governments printing money for covid relief programmes. Inflation takes off so central banks try to control that by raising rates aggressively ... which then feeds back into all that debt on, say, 10-year repayment terms due 2023/2024 etc. Plus you've now got China pushing more and more direct G2G trade in yuan, circumventing the USD. If you do buy some physical gold, be prepared for the disappointment that a, say, 10 baht gold bar (which will cost you about USD 10K) is underwhelmingly small.

Yes. It's comic. Wear your mask outside, where risk is essentially zero, but then doff it in a crowded a/c restaurant while you chinwag and chow down with your buddies, which is right up there in the risk stakes. Kind of like wearing a life jacket on the beach but then taking it off to go swimming because it's 'inconvenient'. I can't speak for other people. Nor am I obsessive. I just think it's daft for people to wear face masks outside. I also feel that masking young children is an abhorrent practice in any situation.

Come now, I'm surprised you haven't cited this "study" which claims that unvaccinated people are much more likely to have car crashes than the vaccinated. "... the authors theorize that people who resist public health recommendations might also “neglect basic road safety guidelines.” Why would they ignore the rules of the road? Distrust of the government, a belief in freedom, misconceptions of daily risks, “faith in natural protection,” “antipathy toward regulation,” poverty, misinformation, a lack of resources, and personal beliefs are potential reasons proposed by the authors. The findings are significant enough that primary care doctors should consider counseling unvaccinated patients on traffic safety—and insurance companies might base changes to insurance policies on vaccination data, the authors suggest. First responders may also consider taking precautions to protect themselves from COVID when responding to traffic crashes, the authors added, as it’s more likely that a driver is unvaccinated than vaccinated. “The findings suggest that unvaccinated adults need to be careful indoors with other people and outside with surrounding traffic,” the authors concluded." https://fortune.com/well/2022/12/13/covid-unvaccinated-greater-risk-car-crash-traffic-accident-new-study-says-canada-government-records-pfizer-moderna/ Thankfully, not everyone laps this tosh up: "A new Canadian study is being ridiculed online after concluding COVID vaccine hesitancy is associated with increased traffic incidents." https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/study-mocked-for-linking-covid-vaccine-hesitancy-to-traffic-accidents-the-american-journal-of-medicine

Which is the right way to do it, if you're concerned that Thai Immigration will see that you - as a naturalised Thai - are still using your UK passport. Since you'll have your UK passport with you at check in at UK you can show that to the airline if they ask. But if the airline shares passenger info with Thai Immigration then it will show you traveling on Thai passport. Which is why it's always best, on arrival at Suvarnabhumi, to use the e-gates to avoid someone looking through your UK-visa free Thai passport. Incidentally, as a Brit, you are entitled to not renew your UK passport when it expires and instead get a Right Of Abode sticker in your Thai Passport. If you don't intend to travel much other than between Thailand and UK, it's an option to consider.

I'll happily stand corrected. Would seem odd not to have a shade.

The BYD people just told me that they're upping the insurance cover on the THB 1.2 million model from THB 1 million to THB 1.1 million. They came and did the usual pencil rubbing of the VIN so I guess it's true. Good news.

The Atto has a sunroof and - most importantly - a sliding sunshade. I read somewhere that the Volvo EV's don't have sunshades. That's not uncommon with some fancier vehicles but it's not good in Thailand. I wouldn't buy a car here which has sunroof without a shade.

Frankly I'd buy a new one, and not FujiXerox. I had a FujiXerox colour laser printer: fuser drum developed problems after about two years. FX service were useless (said I had to take it to them and it would take a couple of weeks to 'assess' and then a couple more weeks to fix). Found a printer repair place (this is in BKK). Spent 5K getting it fixed (printer cost 13K, a new colour laser printer of same spec was about 18K). It broke again 3 months later (something else). I ditched it and bought an HP Smart Tank. Cheap and so far (about a year) has worked well. Print quality not quite laser but good enough for my needs.

Thai Flying Club at Bang Phra - elderly but airworthy C172. http://www.thaiflyingclub.com BFA Flying Club in Pattaya don't operate C172; mostly ultralight / microlight / paramotor - all of which are 2-seat, not 4-seat. https://www.bfaflyingclub.com

I say good on both of them. Phones and social media are a toxic combination for many adults, let alone kids. Doing pretty much anything is better than just aimlessly staring at a phone.

Since when is Nonthaburi "central Thailand"? Makes it sound like upcountry madness, but basically this is Bangkok.

Thailand in a nutshell. Can't buy beer in a supermarket at 4pm but you can buy weed and a giant garishly coloured Chinese dild0, as you watch the tessakit city police guys ignore the illegal sex toys while shaking down some hapless tourist for dropping a cigarette butt on the, ahem, 'spotless' (and bin-free) street.

People die as a result of stupidity all the time. But to blame "collective stupidity" for Covid deaths? Really? What is hilarious is how some people turn a disdain for outdoor mask-wearing into something only "covid hoax believers" would suggest. I'm not American and am not under the thrall of any ex-president, nor do I have a disdain for "book lernin'". Only a fool would say covid is some sort of 'hoax'. Patently it is not. Patently, though, three years later, most of the rest of the world has moved on. What, pray, is so different about Bangkok, compared to any other global city, that sees the vast majority of the urban population continue to mask up? That's when your 'healthy caution' starts to look like paranoia or, perhaps, a disdain for all that lernin' of which you speak. The onus of self-protection should devolve to the individual, not be mandated by the state.

One might equally ask: "I really don't know why we have to put up with the abject covid paranoia which infests this board". Covid is clearly not going away, but neither are people dropping like flies in the streets. Personally, I think that wearing masks outside, in 40 degree heat, is the height of stupidity. But that's just me, and I am aware that some people will consider this to be both ill-informed and 'inconsiderate'. Not that I care.

If she didn't like the main house, the adjacent 'guest annexe' might be an option?

Some 'mansion'! And really old, too. Built 'more than 30 years ago'. What a dump.

Of course you should use an appropriate calibre depending on the purpose. However I was quite specific in saying that I don't see any civilian need for semi-automatic high-capacity long guns. People have hunted for more than a century using bolt-action long guns. What's the problem using, say, a 5-round mag bolt action for hunting any sort of game, or for humanely killing an injured farm animal. If you can't do any of these things with a single round, you'd best not be using a gun. Same for long-distance accuracy shooting. I'll take a bolt action .308 over a .223 AR platform any day.

I'm curious. Such as? [Disclaimer: I like shooting sports, I own various firearms, but I also have no problem with a ban on civilian ownership of semi-automatic high-capacity long guns in any calibre with more ballistic punch than, say, .22LR.]

Hopefully also a subliminal message in this photo that it's safe to ditch the masks now.

Ah - I thought that was sent to you (meaning your name on the list). They don't give much notice for the interview; in my case, the MOI (actually, DOPA) rang me on a Thursday and said I was to go the following Tuesday. I ended up postponing it twice because of work commitments (me the first time, my wife the second time). So it went from June to September.

This letter (dated 12 April) appears to be inviting the recipient and spouse to attend the interview TOMORROW 21 April at 1400 in the Ngamwongwan Conference Room on 3rd floor of the Nonthaburi Provincial Office.

Phrakhanong.

In Bangkok you often have no choice as to whether you drive in flooded streets. It just needs a heavy downpour and in an hour or two, bingo. If you're already in the car, not many options. There's an argument for not driving at all when there's likely to be heavy rain, but then you're reliant on public transport. And leaving your car at home might not stop it getting flooded anyway ...

It's also going to be interesting to see how the myriad of EVs that have hit the roads in Bangkok in the past 6 months are going to fare in the rainy season. My soi frequently gets flooded to +30 cm or more. That was never fun in a low-slung car like a Scirocco. I did ponder on this quite hard before buying the Atto and am still quite apprehensive. We shall see ...