digbeth

a lot of the cheaper mozzie zappers use crude lead acid type batteries that could leak acid as well as shorting and starting fires

better ones that use lithium i-on or even better replaceable lithium ion that uses common 18650 batteries you could find back home,

remove and take onboard or load them with luggage the racquet without the battery and they're harmless and replace with battery you can find back home

the evaporative ones cost around 3-4,000 baht, requires low humidity to work, or ice/ice packs in the water which only works for an hour at most, the only time humidity is low enough for them to work without requiring ice in Thailand is in the middle of 'winter' 

the portable aircon that cost around 10,000 baht has hot side in the same machine that needs to be ducted out of the room, and a waste water tray that need emptying, unless you're renting a place that won't let you install one, they waste a lot more energy and cumbersome to have around, proper split type air conditioner, even cheap ones that won't last long is better in almost every regard 

You better research how you would deal with the situation should you be apprehended while waiting for your passport in order to not be sent to immigration detention center ie, have fine ready and ticket out, otherwise if you didn't surrender on your own terms, it could be expensive and inconvenient for you, from arranging for a ticket out while being detained mean going through their 'approved' travel agents and airlines and maybe limited destination you could exit to like passport country only

On 3/22/2024 at 5:42 AM, alanrchase said:

Mine has a key fob and push button start. There is an emergency key in the fob in case the key fob battery dies to allow you to unlock the car. With the car in park and engine off you insert the emergency key in a slot by the gear selector, push down and move the selector to N.

often you don't even need the key, just an ice cream stick into the hole to poke the button is enough, 

For all my time in Thailand I can count on one hand the number of times that I can't find a parking spot without needing to double park, sure it might need to be on inconvenient floors away from entrance or elevator 

on s known malls that is sure to fill up like Paragon on the weekend, there are alternatives that you don't need to drive there

Also used to drive a Japanese import with column shifter that don't have ways of putting in neutral and taking out the key

Some European import bury the release under the shifter needing the removal of some panels to access it to tow, The mechanic would have a way of making a button that can be pressed, but most Thai market cars are known to have them readily accessible, as well as brief lesson by the salesgirls on delivery day on how to use it of course 

1 hour ago, kwilco said:

Interesting if a little disturbing to see a racist's POV.

So still struggling to come to terms with UK beginning to recognise Thailand as an equal.

The UK Royal Family could learn a thing or two from Thailand on how to manage scandals

If what I understand is true, would this make leasing long term worse than renting or buying freehold? you own nothing, your rent is paid upfront and if <deleted> hit the fan you're left with nothing, sure you might end up being a 'creditor' to the company/trust if they goes under but when it comes to that I doubt the company have any assets left, at least with a freehold condo, there's the value of the land that can be divided up should the worse come to worst. 

for developments like office building, hotels and malls it's understandable that the landowner expects increase and re-negotiation every now and then, but for a wholly residential building where most of the lessee paid upfront, I don't see why would periodic rent increase be in the contract between the landowner and the developer, it's not like they can magically find the extra money 

After a  high profile case in Bangkok surfaced this week where a leasehold condo run by a REIT funds were found to be unable to pay the annual rent towards the ultimate owner they were built on, which could mean dissolution of the condo,

apparently this is common practice in leasehold condo where the lessee paid upfront or mortgaged and the bank paid upfront for the value of the room for 30 years, but the contract between the landowner and developer is for annual payment and provision for increases later on, why would developers expose themselves for a risk like this? the landowner might get better deal ultimately but I don't see any upside unless the the developer intend to invest in their customers' money to do something else 

So if you're 'buying' a leasehold condo and the developers/Reit's finance is rock solid you could find yourself being kicked out before the lease is up? Granted most of the leasehold in Bangkok is on very high profile plot rented from you know who, but the fact that this even happen is a big question mark on the whole scheme 

Not just foreigner, they seem to despise Thais tourist from other province coming in and complaining about the rip-off price and taxis mafias in Phuket too

apart from filing tax returns on the behalf of the employee, employer might need all the details of what their employee's tax allowance are for the year ahead to put into their payroll system in order to make appropriate tax withholding, otherwise they could over/under pay the tax  

usually the condo's line group is a good indicator of how much mess you'll be dealing with 

Rumour has it the PM has an Aston DB5 in a garage overseas

also rumoured that looks like it'll be year based, ie prior to certain cutoff date, so 'Classic 60-70s cars but nothing 80s or 90s as they reached 20-30 years like the US 

disadvantage of separate dehumidifier is that the water collection needs to be emptied whereas the aircon is plumbed in 

also the hot site of the dehumidifier is in the same room, producing heat 

But for the air conditioner to be able to be run cheaper in 'dry' mode vs full on cooling, the compressor would have to be invertor type that can 'throttle down' and run slowly right? or does the dry mode in non-invertor aircon just turns on and off like you're setting the temperature to not too cold?

58 minutes ago, JayClay said:

Cardless ATM services are provided by banks for their own customers only. You will not be able to use cardless ATM services with your American card.

 

Having 5 cards eaten in 8 years seems excessive. Are you making sure that you're waiting for your card once the cash has been dispensed? I don't know how ATMs in America work but in England, in order the prevent people forgetting, the ATM card is returned before your cash. If you're used to that system, it's easy to get caught out and forget to take your ATM card after collecting your money. I have been caught out by this a couple of times in the past.

 

Having said all that; why not save yourself the troubles, and the excessive ATM fees, and get yourself a bank account here?

 

Google Pay/Wallet are not useful in any way for achieving what you want to achieve.

Thai ATMS are worse in this regard in that not only the card don't come out before the cash, they don't come out at all unless you press the button confirming if you want the receipt or not,

if you'd walked away without pressing anything they'd spit out the card after what seems like a minute with loud beeping, any passer by could have taken the card, if not it sucks the card back in to be destroyed. 

Or on the rare occasion of power failures then it just eats your card right away

Modern water cooled automatics are certainly lot more powerful than the air-cooled Waves

Until you look at servicing and maintaining them, cleaning and servicing he belt is a lot more involved than just lubing chains that is not necessary in most wave use, lots of Thais seem to abuse them and survive without much attention. whereas you start loosing acceleration and power on the automatics if the belt is not maintained 

The bigger wheels also rides a lot better on potholed roads 

The Bangkok ones like the ones in underground station and shopping mall are deserted, booking in advance only saves the time for the clerks to type up the details as you'd already fill in the details when you booked online, in and out in 20 minutes, 

The booking slots seems to be every half hour, so even if the place is packed if you'd booked the wait shouldn't be long.

23 hours ago, zhounan said:

Isn't the license plate itself an identifying sign? Why should security guards check whether you have attached the building sticker and not simply look at the license plate?

Checking a license plate would mean looking at the license plate then going to a book or a list of 'allowed/registered' vehicles, the regular guard might be able to recognize on sight some of the cars but you think they get paid enough to care? 

It's also good to have the sticker displayed when parked in case some accidents happen like a water leaking onto your car or in case of people blocking other people in while leaving the cars in gear they know which door to go knock on, sure they can have a list of registration in the book, but try making Somchai read that off a book in an emergency

If you're concerned about privacy, stick the sticker on a transparent plastic and put them up on the dash and take it down when you go outside

having just the access cards that open the gantry to the parking might not be enough as how it is setup you might be able to sneak multiple cars in on the same card, and again you'll have issue with identifying which rooms the car belong to

Automatic numberplate recognition are used in shopping malls now, it's only time when it is used in residence too

Thai persons also gets a grilling over FATCA as well 
Out of the boondocks, the banks might know what to do if someone tick the "Yes, I'm an American" , box on the application

1 hour ago, zhounan said:

Speaking of condos and parking: does your building require you to put a sticker on the windshield of your car signaling that the car owner resides there?

 

Why should I drive around in my car and let everyone know that I live in that condos building?

 

Isn't the license plate itself an identifying sign? Why should security guards check whether you have attached the building sticker and not simply look at the license plate?

 

Maybe I don't know Thais way of thinking, but I don't understand the logic of these decisions. 

Privacy wise if you're concerned you can stick the sticker on a card, and put that on the front of your car when you come in
most buildings have access control gate with rfid card or remote that open the gantry that alone should be enough but some with multiple cars might be able to sneak second car in if the system is not too smart