Kenny202

Also noticed a lot lately the food isn't too fresh either. I guess they are not turning it over like they were before

They should have. Most of the "Russian" tourists I have met here are actually Ukranian's living in Russia

Had a chuckle to myself. An Isaan woman would expect a farang man to but her a house worth twice that amount in her name..... and still think the man was Kie Neow. Most entitled race of people I have ever come across

Particularly for a country that always seems to have their paw out for a handout

Well that's the catch 22. If it were me though I think I would be risking losing a few customers rather than go out a$$ backwards losing money. Sales are no good without profit and many of these businesses exist hand to mouth. If they don't make money they don't eat. They don't have the capital to wait it out and it's looking like this is going to be a long wait

As silly as that sounds therein lies the problem. People already stretched with probably 50% (at least) downturn in sales and near the same increase in overheads are trying to keep their sell prices the same. Thais dont do the math and these will be the first wave of people that go under

Not sure if I misread it but Thailands Feb inflation rate published today 5.28%? The govt forecast missed the mark by a couple of percent. And unless I am mistaken that was February before any really impact from Ukraine / rising gas prices. What's it going to be next month? Although I have noticed apart from the obvious pork prices everything here or most things I reckon have gone up at least 30% over the last 12 months. To be honest I have wondered how Thailand has hung on this long with covid. I am no economist and have no real clue but I know inflation is one of the worst things economically for a country. Anyone have any insights into this?

I think for kids going to a govt school out of their area / house book a gratuity is expected. If you know someone there this can be reduced and negotiation is possible. Don't accept the first price. Some of the big city central Govt schools that have a good name for whatever cost more than private schools to join. I think though once you pay the initial "gift" yearly and term fees are cheap

I been here 8 years and have opened several bank accounts. Some were very easy, some difficult. Mostly because of numpties who had no clue, were too lazy to go and ask and were hoping u would just go away and they could return to tiktok or facebook. Its all up to the management and staff of the branch. Bit like any govt office here

https://www.central.co.th/th/jowsua-jw040-mkp0571427

I got an awesome electric one off Central online if you want a link. I put about 20kg through it a month. About 1200 baht from memory and 2 year warranty. Highly reccommend it

Im finding them to be pretty unresponsive to be honest. And that's me trying to open an account and have my money transferred. One thing you have to do with CFS is have a few things in place, one of them is a notarized copy of your ID which you have to pay a registered lawyer here to do and a form stating your Australian bank details of not already on file. Did you have to do any of that stuff with them? One good thing about CFS is they have a secure online form sending system, so they know its from you. I already have an Australian bank account which I can have funds deposited too

I live in KK and Udon beats KK for restaurants and bars, nightclubs x 1000. Has a nice temple and lake area Khon Kaen but wouldnt go out of my way to see it. Also find the shopping a lot better at Udon Central

I actually managed to find the proper AC/AC Transformer type adapter on Lazada for 500 baht. And its 220v as well. Before I was only finding DC and 110 volt primary. I don't know how their search engines work but often type in an exact match to a products description and it doesn't come up. But search in Google or something and comes up there for lazada. Thanks for all the help certainly learnt a few things anyway

Ahhh no I got you. Of course DC doesn't have a frequency. Unfortunately as so old the manufacturer, or any other manufacturer doesn't make these anymore. They really were a one off back in the day. I do have the original power supply albeit 100V, and a step up transformer but it is a bulky set up and more avenue for fault and noise as this is a musical device. I can live with it of course if I have to but a smaller one connection set up of course would be better. I have had the tech adapt the 220 / 14V plug adapter to AC already and he says its working fine although I doubt he would have tested the frequency. Probably an impossible question to answer but would it likely do any harm to try it at least? Could the higher frequency if present do any damage? If you think there is any chance of damaging the unit I'll just chuck it and use the 100V one. There is one I see advertised on Lazada or Ali but its 1500 baht, a generic Chinese one so not a lot of trust there. Looks like a similar type of light weight adapter. Whether they have put frequency correction in their or not (if such a thing possible) I am not sure. Are you saying a DC one may work because it's possible there is DC circuitry inside the unit? Maybe a bridge rectifier circuit after the power supply goes in, which if using a DC supply would simply by pass the AC/DC converter and run the unit normally? Again would there be any danger in connecting a 14V DC power supply quickly to see if it worked? As there are lots of them cheap and readily available

This is the sort of adaptor I'm talking about Crossy, not an LED power supply. It actually has like a tiny power supply inside, as well as a lot of other circuitry. I notice it doesn't give a value for Freq on the secondary side. So are you saying the Frequency on the secondary could be anything or too high? I do see these sort of adapters in use all the time for various things but mainly charging batteries in phones or appliances. Is that the deal? Frequency not important charging a battery but using as a power supply no good? And if using a similar DC charger / adapter would the freq still not be all over the place or does the DC side of it correct the frequency. The kind of modern guitar pedal I am talking about does use these light little weight adapters but they are DC in and maybe they have some circuitry inside to correct all these issues?

Got a vintage 80's 90's piece of Electronic Musical equipment (guitar foot pedal) from Japan, 100 volt. It came with its original 14VAC power supply and a 220/100 piggy back voltage adapter. No problems at all but the power supply is quiet heavy and bulky and so is the piggy back 220/100v adaptor, and always a chance of plugging the 100V power supply straight into 220 as they are the same plug. So I thought easy. I would just buy a little 220 / 14v power supply plug adaptor (same photo attached) off Lazada. I saw quite a lot then noticed the supply I need is 14VAC, not DC. All the ones available DC. There is an AC one available but the price about 1500 baht vs 100 baht. My units rated at 500ma. The little plug adapter power supply rated at 1amp. Now I figure there is more circuitry to make a DC power supply than an AC one as you have to convert the AC primary to DC (add a bridge rectifier or whatever they use these days) So I thought I would buy the 14VDC adapter and simply take the rectifier out. As it turns out not as simple as that as the input voltage is variable 100-220 and I guess they must have extra componentry to sort this out. So I took it to my electronics tech today and he sorted it for 100 baht. Haven't picked it up yet but he says it AC now and works perfectly. What I am mainly interested in is how can the original bulky heavy one, which obviously has some sort of iron core trans inside and rated at 0.8 amps, be so much bigger and heavier than this little tiny light plug pack which puts out the same voltage at 1 amp? I am actually an electrician in another life and remember sometime around the 80s / 90s transformers all changed, as did ballasts in fluorescent lights. lighting transformers etc and became very light. It nearly felt wrong to replace them with these little toy things. How they get the same result these days using such a light little unit as compared to the old heavy ones....and should this new little plug pack be ok?

Thanks for all that. For the allergy itself have tried Fexofenadrine, Loratadine and currently using Zyrtec (Cetrozine) one a day and they are working for about half a day. Fexo I find good for skin allergies, not so much Hayfever. Cetrizine seems to be the best for me and luckily lately anyway not making me drowsy. I know they are non drowsy but used to make me feel zonked out. This year my Hayfever seems to be worse than ever. I tried Nasal flushes and good for a better night sleep but didn't seem to help with the allergy side of things. Is Nasonex one you can only use for a period of no linger than a week or so?

Has anyone found an effective allergy nasal spray here, predominantly for allergy....runny nose, sneezing etc. Preferably a non steroidal type can be used longer than a week at a time with no side effects

Must be like Australia, no interviews for any visas now. Which is a PITA as some of the visas are $10000+, non returnable and be nice to get an idea of likely eligibility before parting with the hard earned

I had a couple of bad experiences with agents here. Promise you the world and give u an atlas. Theyre not cheap either. They tell u anything to get your money. There's no nudge nudge wink wink, heres a couple of thousand applying for a foreign visa. They have no one they can bribe or whatever. All they can do is sort the paperwork out and present it on your behalf, and you will have to provide much of that yourself anyway and give to her. Cost you about 10 to 18k thb for nothing but a bit of admin and the hope she has someone on the inside...and she just wont

I predominantly listen to Thai music now. Not Mawlum or the over the top power ballad stuff. A lot of really tasty Jazz and fusion stuff....well crafted pop. Some very creative and talented musicians here. Reminds me of Australia back in the 80's everything was new. Production quality excellent too. May not understand a lot of the lyrics but very very nice music. I actually like many Thai movies too. Cinematography and mood often amazing. Some really interesting off beat stuff

In Australia what they really like to see is you have funds or a sponsor to provide funds, own land and have proof of a long relationship. Owning land is a reason to return to Thailand. And keep her away from other Thai women expats (most will be ex bar workers) +50

Bro hate to say it, but all sounds like a recipe for disaster. Id be asking myself how she got the bars, and I bet it wasnt hard honest graft. These meet for a few days / week and then back home for a few months long distance relationships really magnify and distort ur feelings, like an ache in the guts. Please forgive me and ignore what Ive said if you are certain of what you are doing or more to the story, but I am sure many would tell you sounds like a classic copy book Thailand story of going down the rabbit hole of disaster. Best of luck with whatever u decide my friend

I think that's the moral of the story. You have to keep the deck stacked in your favor and watch your back. As another guy said they are with us mostly due to lack of opportunity for something better. It's not for our good looks. You start putting homes, vehicles and your savings in their hands it's more often than not game over