richard_smith237

I’m waiting for the ‘typical apologists’ to enter the fray and claim... - I’ve been taking taxi’s for 10 years and this never happened to me - It must be because you are not speaking Thai - It’s because the driver doesn’t understand you - Its because of the area you are in The taxi drivers want an increase in flag-fall rate which I think is fair enough. However, the sense of entitlement of people providing a service (taxi’s) is ridiculous. By being a taxi driver they have ’theoretically’ agreed to the terms of service they provide. It terribly annoying to ‘want to rely’ on taxi’s and find them so unreliable. After getting rejected 5 times I start to think I should have just been done with it and taken the car or motorcycle instead. Grab is also getting a lot worse and its often getting harder to call a ride. Bolt is virtually a no-go... I only successfully secure a ride 10% of the time (may be my area of Bkk). Is it the weather that means so many drivers just want to ’sit it out’ at this time of year ??? I’m not sure.... there still seems like plenty of taxi’s (with red lights) on the roads.

TM6 - The immigration form we’d fill out on arrival (its been abolished - for now at least). TM7 - Application form for extension of temporary stay in the Kingdom. TM8 - Application form for re-entry to the Kingdom (re-entry permit). TM9 - Application for permanent residence TM18 - Certificate of residence application form. TM28 - The ‘change of address form’ (its been abolished for pretty much everyone). TM30 - The form the ‘landlord’ (or hotel) fills out (usually online). TM88 - Visa on arrival form (doesn’t impact most of us) Blue house book (Blue Tabien Baan) - Condo registration book. Blue house book (Blue Tabien Baan) - House registration book for Thai’s. Yellow house book (Yellow Tabien Baan) - House registration book for foreigners. Brown vehicle Registration book (for pre-registered cars on red plates) Blue vehicle Registration book (for Cars - anyone can register a car in their name) Green vehicle Registration book (for Motorcycles - anyone can register a car in their name) ----------- There’s loads more TM’s than I listed above, but you get the idea. Governments love their bureaucracy and Thailand is no different.

The Aeropress is well reported... Once you have the right bean choice the key is to get the right grind setting... too fine and you’ll choke the press, to coarse and you’ll under extract. - The grind is slightly more coarse than the fine grind you’d use for espresso extraction (if you are familiar with that). You may need to dial in your recipe to get the best out of it vs the bean type, roast level and grind size - I’m not sure how forgiving the Aeropress is with this. This guy seems to know more about coffee than anyone else around it seems... His videos are interesting (if you are into coffee). https://aeroprecipe.com/recipes/james-hoffmann-aeropress-recipe

Do you think the only thing g which constitutes news is the infrequently of an event ??? That this issue happens frequent (every day) makes it more news worthy. It shouldn’t happen at all & airlines should not be permitted to get away with such poor treatment.

I think thats down to socio-economics... most of the Thai’s households I know have Tumble-drier and a dish-washer (we don’t have a dish washer - but we nearly bought one last week ‘cos a maid only comes twice per week). Drier is essential here - Son at school.. Wife and I exercising regularly... My football clothes are particularly nasty and need washing immediately... (and then drying for use within a day or two)... I go through a lot of clothes, unlike gamma I change my clothes regularly, a couple of times per day. I do agree - a drier is definitely well behind he need for transport. My comment was aimed at Gamma for his implication that a tumble-drier is not needed at all because he believes they are ineffective and waste energy.... he’s projected his experience and he’s wrong - we use ours a lot because we need to.

Erm.... But they do.. . A great deal of the cost on any ticket is taxes.... These go towards landing fees, airport tax, fuel surcharges and of course tax to the government.

Agreed.... Lets see what happens when the first Tourist is injured - GoFund me ??? Realistically, most people will not notice the 500 baht on top of their flight fee. The reporting of ‘charging tourists more’ is does not provide very positive optics. It just looks greedy and doesn’t send a good message. And realistically - how good is the 500 baht cover anyway. I fly in and out of Thailand about 10 times per year - so thats 5000 baht.... and nowhere near close to the cost of medical insurance cover I actually carry.

Of course all village schools have their own swimming pools. Agreed.... Most schools do not have swimming pools.... But, water safety can still be taught. We used to take ‘life saving’ in the UK... half of the classes were always dry side... Taught first aid, CPR, electrical safety etc as well as life saving itself... Then there was the pools side classes which taught us to use clothing etc to stay afloat - of course, everyone could already swim by then. Without access to a pool there is always going to be a huge gap in essential life skills - but and understanding of the risks and dangers can still be taught.

Seems like you did have Covid-19... as you wrote, not really a big deal. ATK does work for Omicron - I’m not sure from where you got your information otherwise. ATK is not as accurate as RT-PCR. My Wife, Inlaws and myself all had Covid-19 about 4-5 months back (mild symptoms so we’re suspecting Omicron).... the ATK picked it up in all of us.

Its patiently obvious that it is you who is suffering and complete disconnect from reality, particularly your complete lack of knowledge about the availability of clothes dryers in Thailand... ... Just walk into any store which sells home appliances and they have a whole range. There’s a HomePro in pretty much very provincial town. Or buy online and have them delivered and fitted. So many different models from various well known brands. https://www.homepro.co.th/c/APP1302 https://www.powerbuy.co.th/th/catalogsearch/result?q=Drier

What seems so hard for you, apparently, is that you might not know much about the availability of clothes dryers in Thailand, other than the tourist traps you might be frequenting. These tourist traps are the same place Thai’s are also getting their white goods ? Fridges / Washing Machines / driers... Any HomePro, PowerBuy, PowerMall has loads of these products. So how would you know these products are not very good ? (going by your earlier posts). How would you know that ?.... Going by the topic itself is seems you believe drying clothes is an issue given the high humidity... so why are these dryers not necessary? In 25 years here... I’ve found having a clothes dryer to be quite essential. As essential as owning a car... which you may also suggest is a needless waste of energy ???? What you mean by all of this is in ‘your understanding’ and you project this understanding (or more accurately assumption) on how everyone else should live. And... the Thai's who do not have tumble dryers - there are lots of laundry services, for those who do not use these laundry services there are loads of laundrettes around.

It's all about education and absence of responsibility. The education part: Life skills need to be taught in schools; particularly water safety and road safety. These are more important skills than anything else a child will learn. It's difficult to ’teach swimming’ because many village schools do not have the facilities - but, water safety can still be taught. Children will be children and stopping them from doing these things is always going to be difficult, so educate them of the risks; teach them that they could die if they go in the water, teach them what to do if they get into trouble, educate them about the steep sides they may not be able to exit from etc, teach them how to use anything nearby to help assist others in difficulty (ropes, branches etc). And this is where the responsibility comes in: those in positions of decision making power take no responsibility in these tragic events. They [those in positions of power] could impact some change with instigation of very basic systems, measures and messages in schools and on TV.

Quadlock…. Simple & effective.

Eiw….

For the last 15 years every place I’ve lived in (in Thailand) has a tumble drier which does the job perfectly well. Before that I’d use a service which picked up & dropped off my laundry, they did the job perfectly well. When I ‘sandboxed’ in Phuket for two weeks I found a laundry service. Its all a bit simple isn’t it ??? What’s so hard ?

Moka pot…. With decent coffee roasted & then ground to order from a company like coffee culture. Next step beyond that is taking a financial leap with your own quality grinder & espresso machine set up. Step below that is a Nespresso Machine & pods, simple, easy & decent coffee. want to know what’s decent ? Look for James Hoffman vids on YouTube… well presented & knowledgeable vids for people who like coffee.

I used to ride around Benjakitti park when I lived near here... Cycling around there at speed is a little dangerous... there are always very slow ppl riding without attention or people wondering into the cycle-lane. Thus: If going to a moderate pace I’d say benjakitti park is a good option - but if ‘going for it’ on a road-bike it’s not the best choice and the bike lane out by the airport is a good option. Note: Bike lane at Airport - you need your passport to register. Grab have an SUV option, that may be ok to take you to the bike lane (you’ll pay a little more for the Grab XL) - A GRAB SUB is about 600 baht (town to Skylane) where as a standard ‘Just GRAB’ is 400 baht. Bolt have XL - which is about 650 Baht.

The obvious one is to ask the dealership. Another option is to visit the DLT with the brown book (while the car is still on red plates) and choose your own number and specify the coloured plate. If I’m not mistaken the ‘vanity’ plates are coloured by province, you bid on them and pay more for a ‘prettier' number.

Next time you travel anywhere and the airline cancels your return flight so the only option remaining is for you to book a one way flight at short notice at 2 to 3x the cost remember what you just wrote !!!

Seems like ‘inappropriate touching’ to me.... isn’t the going rate for that 200,000 baht now ??? or is that only when it involves foreigners ??

Loved this comment…. Not for the political implication, but for the ascension beyond in using the overtly obvious in such unavoidably timely fashion and then doing so, so simply with a followed up RIP. No doubt the positive comments will by far outweigh the inevitable bitter and twisted comments about royalty,…. to those edging a negative narrative I say hold it.. someone’s great granny just died…. I’m not a royalist, but I am a human and I recognise it when a good un has passed. RIP Queen Liz, Mum, granny, great granny… and much much more to uncountable others…

Or Even Manchester,as He'd be Nearer to his Nottingham Home !! Exactly this... it would have been very easy for an airline to provide any traveller with alternative flights - IF they cared. The issue is they don’t care - airlines have been getting away with this behaviour for too long. So long no that a number of posters here are suffering from some sort of ‘airline Stockholm syndrome’ and suggesting that because the ticket was cheaper and the airline is a LCC they are with in their rights to treat a customer so terribly.

Booking direct with Scoot would not have prevented scoot from cancelling the flight. It does add a middle man to the refund claim, but the guy would still be left in Thailand without a ticket home.

NO, thats wrong... People pay peanuts and expect peanuts. Scoot and other airlines are getting away with just cancelling tickets and leaving tourists stranded. Jet Star have just done the same with flights from Bali - its become a major issue.

I am quite sure that now the going rate is an extortionate 200,000 the floodgates will open????? I think its going to be called the “Me too-hundred thousand baht” movement...