DiDiChok

I'm amazed by this thread.  Obviously, nobody has ever actually thought to read the help documentation about Google Accounts and different countries.  All you need to do is to register one or more additional payment methods in the countries whose "Play Store" etc., you wish to access.  I simply assumed this before I read the help and before I even knew people were having "problems" concerning "country" and the 12 month thingy.  Does nobody move around to live in other countries and not just stay in one of them any more?  RTFM please.

On 7/2/2025 at 8:11 AM, Quentin Zen said:

I spend about 90,000 a month on alcohol and will get the new Maow Visa set to lure the best of the best from around the world

Can you tell me what this new "Maow Visa" is please?  I've done a search on Google but nothing comes up other than chatter about "O" visas.

I think the best replacement app for international calls from Thailand and from the UK is "Yolla".  I use it from both and top up from both using local Bank cards.  Charges are easy to understand, it just works and for SMS as well.

See:  https://yollacalls.com/en/

To me it looks like some drunken wag has gone along the road and twisted the signs through 180 degrees and I've thought that from the beginning.  But this being Thailand, maybe the sign installers had just run out of left chevrons.  We're in the land of smiles.

Yes, Yolla is the best & is what I've swapped to now Skype is dying.

On 3/21/2025 at 4:25 PM, scoutman360 said:

I am 60+ with poor old age vision (2.5x glasses). Can't see far, can't see near. I went to Rutinun eye hospital. The doctor told me my eye sight was not bad enough to justify surgery. The risk was much greater. They can't fix near vision and far vision at the same time. You must choose. Plus all the side effects that you mentioned. Strangely, my 85 yr old father had cataracts, had his lenses replaced, and could read in the dark without glasses.  It was fun to watch. 

Well, I had the lens replacement surgery a.k.a. "Supersight" and can now see near AND far.  Only the bankrupt NHS in the UK still insert the fixed focus replacement lenses just to save a few pence.  You simply do not have to "choose".  I agree with other posters that the reading is not very good in poor light, but that's a small drawback.  My vision is now 50/20 which is above 20/20 and what they call "super" sight.  I had glasses from the age of seven and bad astigmatism.  All gone now, lovely clear vision and no glasses any more.

I sometimes pay electricity bills for people I know who get stuck.  If you have a Kasikorn Account all you need is a bill showing the "CA Ref No 1" number that's also on the actual Electricity Meter.  Then you simply try to pay the Bill using "Payments" in the app and it tells you about the latest bill.  If there's arrears, you simply try to pay again and pay whatever's owing.  When it finally says there is no bill, you've finished.  No other app, passport or any hassle from officials is necessary.

This repeated payment process also works for MEA & water bills and for post paid mobile phone  bills.  I've even paid outstanding AXA life insurance bills for Thais using their Customer Number (Ref No, 1).  The number 2 Ref is usually the payment date but it's sometimes in American format.  Most of the time you can put a mobile phone number there instead of the proper Ref No. 2.

It really is so easy.  I can't understand why anyone has any problems paying anything.  At worst you could use the QR code on the bill to pay or even a person by PromptPay or receive money by using your own QR code in the K+ app.

Mine is 18 inches when I measure it from the back of the settee.  Does that count?

There isn't an age limit.  Most who have it done like me, have always needed spectacles to see properly and then get cataracts.  At that point you have the lens replacements that include the reading component.  Cataracts gone and back to being a teenager in that you can read without spectacles again.  Note that the lens implants cost more to have the reading component included and in the UK the NHS doesn't fit those as they think that reading is just a luxury.

If you were to have it done then you would never suffer from cataracts and could read without spectacles.  Bit much just for that and not worth either the risk or the cost doing it in my opinion.  But I couldn't see and had bad astigmatism plus other problems so that all cost a lot more to sort out in total, but was worth it to me.

This is a bit obvious really.  Says to me that you haven't disabled "Location" in settings on a WIndows 11 machine.  Go into Settings (Cog icon) and then in the "Find a setting" search box type in Location.  From there you can stop the pesky PC leaking your whereabouts by turning the services off, then reboot the machine so it forgets where it was too.  Do similarly when you're on a mobile and accessing iPlayer via a VPN.  Turn Location off first.  Simples!

Did you know that British pensioners based in Europe will still be paid the winter fuel allowance this year while millions of the elderly based in the UK will be stripped of the payment?

As many as 35,000 retirees on the Continent are in line to get the £300 handout even if they exceed the new wealth threshold set by Rachel Reeves.

It has become apparent that Expats living in the European Union plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are guaranteed the allowance by the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

What is your opinion of this?

I had this after updating to Win11 Pro and it turned out to be the two new USB sticks I'd bought.  I bought some new Samsung USB 3.2 ones, threw the others away, did the commands below and have never had any trouble since.

To delete all the hidden USB devices, open an administrator command prompt, type Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and then the command Devmgmt.msc which opens device manager.  After that you have to click on show hidden devices in the View menu followed by clicking on each greyed out device and right clicking plus selecting uninstall.

Previously, I didn't know how to show the "non-present" devices.  I've never found out the reason why the faulty flash drives went on and off like a turn indicator and can only suppose that they were cheap imports.

Why have cataract IOL replacement?  To get "SuperSight" without any spectacles ever again, that's why and you can have the surgery from the age of 45 and never get cataracts.  Most just won't pay to have it done properly and have fixed focus lenses.  I had to have mine done in the middle of the pandemic and the results are fantastic and better than 20/20.  I'm 74, can read the paper specs free, use the computer, drive cars, ride motorbikes and do what I want.

Don't believe the Opticians and spectacle shop workers when they advise you not to do it.  Of course they don't want you to have the surgery because after you do, they know they'll never get another penny out of you!  All things optical have advanced a long way in the last ten years.  Yes, there's big money to be made from everything to do with the operation, that explains the advances.  But you get the benefit of never having to pay an Optician ever again.

9 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Did not peek at any of the products/ingredients.  If it has artificial sweeteners, stick with 'aspartame'.  Other ones (saccharin, sucralose), you want to avoid.

Dear oh dear, not good advice at all.  "Aspartame" or "Nutrasweet" as it's better known is a substance to which I am allergic and consuming it makes me collapse in a kind of breathless shock.  I think it's banned in some countries but I keep on getting caught out as it's in many items such as marzipan and icing and almost all soft drinks nowadays.  Members of my family are also affected but as there is so much money in this substance, problems with it are kept very quiet.  Saccharin causes me no problems at all.

No, I remember that yes there was discussion about gambling but the crime was actually playing using cards not sold in Thailand.  Apparently, the Police said that Thai packs have a tax sticker on them showing that tax has been paid.  I thought it was ridiculous at the time as they were all respectable people.

It could be that "Zoolander" is with one of the smaller Banks for whom incoming transfers are restricted to ฿50,000 or equivalent £'s whereas the big four can have unlimited transfers.  Krungsri is one of those.  Us with accounts at Kasikorn, SCB, and so on have no problem.  I forget now why the Bank of Thailand introduced this measure.

12 hours ago, 300sd said:

Apparently Nixon would not accept the gov't SS protection. Wonder why?

As I understand the rules about protection, a President is unable to refuse the Secret Service protection by statute.  Was this after he was president as there was a time when cover was cut for past Presidents?

Does this mean that I am now rich beyond my wildest dreams???  As someone said, I got 40 of them out of an ATM some years ago, but I've only got 10 left.  I presume that as they start with the serial number 9 it's probably lucky.

There must either be a mistake or there's something missing or very wrong in this story.  I've read the original article several times and it doesn't explain.

I've ridden motorcycles and driven vehicles 750 Km several times in various countries and I had no idea that I might be breaking world records.  It takes about 12 hours including fuel stops and the like.  The average speed (750/12) comes out at 62.6 Km/h which is a huge 39 Mph.

So they're telling us that he's going to "attempt" 750 Km in 24 hours (750/24) which comes out at 31.25 Km/h which is a massive 19.5 Mph?  Is the bike equipped with a zimmer rollator or something?  Is this really news?

I wasn't going to throw my thoughts in, but I shall.  I had lens replacement done in both eyes in Chiang Mai during the middle of the pandemic.  I've been shortsighted and worn complex glasses all my life, and yes, I was presbyopic from the age of 45.  The surgeon asked if I wanted everything sorted out and I said yes please.  I hadn't got macular degeneration, glaucoma or anything else and on purpose I hadn't had any Lasik or other treatment previously as I was sure that one day something would come along that would sort it all out.  With the lens replacement came "Limbal relaxing" and other mysterious procedures that corrected the astigmatism too, all under the heading of "supersight surgery".  I am now 74, can read newspapers and the mobile phone without glasses and see in the distance clearly in both eyes.  I can read the 7th line down on the eye chart and am delighted and glasses free.  Mind you, I paid for the surgery and aftercare and I now think that it was the best thing I ever did.  Yes, recent developments mean that you can now get contact lenses with the same technology that allow you to read and see in the distance.  Money talks.  But IOL is the way to go and end all the bother of spectacles for ever, plus it is then impossible to get cataracts once it's been done.  Fixed IOLs?  Bunkum!

Hmm, well, I too would like to know the source of the 5.5.  My trusty Excel spreadsheet agrees with Mr Impluse.  I can't find anywhere that gives an overall satisfactory minimum number of half lives to reach a level when anything no longer has an effect.  It all depends on the thing that the half life refers to.

I can think of one benefit.  You'd be able to get the "Witholding tax" of 15% on your savings account back as the interest would very likely be under the minimum earnings of ฿160,000 a year to pay tax.  Whether it would be enough to offset the costs involved in getting the Tax ID and card is anybody's guess.

I paid a whopping ฿32.11 last financial year equivalent to £0.73p which was duly declared to HMRC by my accountant.  It cost a lot more than that to declare it to the anal retentive UK Inland Revenue who are most concerned about money earnt abroad.

Unfortunately, this is a recurring theme about it seeming to be a good and profitable idea to supply items to expats.  Sadly, it is not and this is proven by the number of startup failures.  It is not possible either to defend the idea from competitors, to do something that they cannot or to do something in a better way.  These aspects are fundamental in protecting the profitability of any business.

I have bought from these startups quite a few times now but they are never in exstence long enough for me to be able to place a repeat order.  All seem to fall prey to copycats supplying the most profitable items cheaper, low order quantities, storage problems, import duties, supply chain complications and staffing problems.  It does seem quite a shame but then most items are now available on Lazada and other shopping channels.

The OP does not say where he is, only that he is in "Thailand".  But Chiang Mai has half a dozen "RimPing" supermarkets, the one I go to being in the "Kad Farang" market which should give you a clue.  I nearly fainted when I first saw the high quality fresh meats on sale there.

To sum up, I suggest you continue to ask around and buy specialities when you can.  There is no long term solution to the supply problem that I have found.

On 3/7/2024 at 5:38 PM, impulse said:

I know I'll open myself up to some ridicule, but I'd point out that the symptoms you described happen to me with too much MSG.  Which is common in "less expensive" Thai eateries.

 

Well, it's not ridicule because this happens to me as well.  I usually suffer when supping the nice soup only to find that it contains enough MSG to fell an elephant instead of the maximum 1 gram per ten kilograms of weight.  Penicillin and Nutrasweet (Aspartame) have exactly the same effect too.  I now don't have any of it knowingly but I still get caught out.  Who would put MSG in marzipan?  The Thais did & felled me.