Many of us who have retired here spend 1M Baht a year in our little villages in remote parts of the country.  I am putting nieces through university and paying cost running the family farm, for example.  But how many of us are spending that sort of money in 'The Sandbox' or in luxury hotels & restaurants owned by the people who own the government?  There is the rub.  We all need to abandon our families, move south and drink Mai Tais on the beach all day b4 retiring to our 5* hotel for a good night's sleep.

I am not complaining, however.  I have got the visa routine sorted out, have a good family and am comfortable in my (usufruct protected) comfortable home.  Look at what ICE are doing in the US and Patel is doing in the UK and be happy to be here.

Yes the seller is offering finance but they are happy to sell for cash.  Are they legal and will the Yamaha 5yr guarantee be valid?  Should I just go and ask of a 5,000 Baht discount from the dealer?  I have read that Honda, for example, forbids discounting and will remove the dealership from outlets that do.  Hard to understand how bike and car sales work here.  Any comments please?

I would like to buy a new bike of the 110 to 125 cc size.  The little Honda shop wants 50,000 for a 110 wave (top model) and the main dealer down the road wants 50,500 for the same one.  Why? Here is the real question.   The Yamaha dealer near to us wants 49,000 for the 115 FiNN(?) (used to be the 'Spark' model) but just down the road is a seller of new Yamaha bikes who is asking 45,500 for the same bike.  All prices are 'on the road' with tax and registration included. They have lots of Yamaha bikes in their showroom.  I asked if they are an authorized dealer and he said yes.  There is no Yamaha sign out front but in every way they appear to be a legitimate dealer of some sort.  What is this about?  Are they a loan company selling bikes on time or what?  I will pay cash and that is OK for them.  What is the story on bike sales?  Should I go to Buriram city and troll through all the bike shops?  Thanks in advance for any comments.

Sorry.  I want to wirelessly connect a PC mouse to a PC windows 10 computer.  Referencing the Ipad and iOS and stylus etc. was to illustrate what I am trying to do.

Sorry.

There is the method to plug a transmitter into a usb port, but is there another way?   I bought my niece an Ipad (iOS) and a generic stylus.  There was a big deal about not buying one (stylus) that relied on BT connectivity as that would limit the use of BT for other devices.  So, I got a keyboard and a stylus both mysteriously connected not using the BT frequency (?) and they work a treat.  Here is my question.  How can I connect a mouse without a usb dongle and without disabling using BT to play music whilst mousing (PC)?  All the sites I have googled painfully explain how to take the dongle out of the mouse and plug it in etc..   I have tried to connect the Logitech M330 mouse using BT but the computer wants to connect every speaker and phone and TV and other computers in the house B4 hitting on the mouse.   Do I have to turn off/disable every BT device B4 connecting the mouse?  Then what?  Can I create a mouse only frequency or something?  Any comments/solutions? Thanks in advance.

BTW.  Be aware.  A saber saw is a powerful tool.  It is not some toy electric screwdriver.  When you are using it be careful.  Not only about cutting off your thumb or something.  If the blade is pinched all the power going to the blade quickly transfers to your hand/arm and jerks it with the same power.  If your fingers are exposed to, say, a branch or a bit of a cement wall or whatever they could be badly scraped or crushed.  Or you could be thrown off balance and fall off a ladder.  All those pictures illustrating smiling people trimming trees with one hand are misleading.  This is a tool that must be treated with respect.

A reciprocating saw, Saber saw is just great.  If you can get one with an oscillating action as this will greatly increase the efficacy (borrowing from vaccine comments) and well worth the extra money.  I always had Hitatchi but Makita would be good too.  Milwaukie are popular but very pricy.   I just looked o Lazada and there is an  INGCO brand saw, battery and corded.  Not costly and the brand is OK. These 24 volt batteries with a brand name on them cost a lot.  But I have a brush cutter 24V and the batteries seem to be generic and pretty cheap.  Check in the shop if they will fit.  You could also consider a generator and corded tools.  I just bought a little Polo inverter type for about 14,000 baht.  Lightweight, powerful and works great.  Saber saw blades are really pricey and don't work after you stick them into dirt.  Get your Thai neighbor to dig up the roots of your bamboo.  Also consider a circular say blade (2 or 300) baht for your gas powered brush cutter and is perfect for bamboo and small trees.  Better than a saber saw, I think.

Yes Kannikap, windows is the same but I am trying out BRAVE as a new browser with Ecosia as a search engine.  I am trying to use the familiar Google extensions such as gmail, keep, photo, maps, translate and a bunch of others that are useful without getting too close to chrome.  I have also found Drive, translate and Docs easy to use and there remains years of information in those files.  When I started up this HP when new I just transferred my bookmarks and favourite programs and extensions and in doing that I transferred a lot of junk and bloatware too.   On this computer, the HP, I have google and firefox browsers with duck duck go search engines and Brave browser with Ecosia search (very recently).  I am going to try to keep the new Acer less cluttered even if I do wind up having 3 browsers installed but have not got far with that yet.  On one of the old Asus laptops I have been fooling around with Linux and their new windows look alike efforts but without a computer buddy nearby that is proving to be too much for me.  

One thing that I find frustrating is that Microsoft try to steer you into using Edge and Bing and Google keep stuffing Chrome into the picture whenever they can.  It drives me crazy when a password is required for 'your account' without them being clear if it is the google or MS account that they are referring to and that can lead you (me) down a path where passwords must be reset.  That leads to problems when using other computers that are mine.  Drive and google photos store lots of stuff in the 'cloud' but I don't know if these are the best options with so many others available now.    Dropbox and MS OneDrive spring to mind.

So, that is what I refer to when mentioning my poor old brain.  I always had a computer guy either on staff or nearby when I had a business but those days are long gone.  I keep fiddling around trying to solve little problems and, like picking at a scab, it sometimes ends in tears. 

On that happy note I will close.  Thanks again for your interest.  Take care.

Hi again there Bruno.  Plugging in the TV was just one of the things on the plus side.  If I had noticed the DIY section of Lazada I might have been a bit more adventurous, but I didn't.  Anyway the (non smart) TV is just a monitor (I have just ordered a wifi dongle for it).  I don't have an armchair and cannot imagine balancing a keyboard on my kee to type anything.  I started using computers for my contracting business when non apple users were forced to somehow deal with DOS (Why on earth did we fall for the MS BS that Apple was not for 'serious' users?).  In the last few years I have accumulated 2 Asus and this HP and now a new Acer. Plus an Acer and Ipad for my niece. I did have a Mac but it burned down with my house in France years ago.  When we start to travel again I will take a PC with me and the little Acer will do the trick nicely.  The 15" HP is a little bulky, after all.  The Acer X is all that they promised and the learning curve with that is just about all my poor old brain can manage.  This HP works fine except for sticky keys so I can dip into the new one slowly adding programs and websites that I actually use, not just copying all the old junk that has accumulated on this one. 

This little note is to say how happy I am that this platform actually works.  I have gotten and given lots of information here over the years that, for me, has been very useful.  So, thank you all who have commented on this and other subjects.  This forum is a valuable tool that enables us to contact others as it is that we are all so spread out in this country where we are guests.  Thanks again, take care, notrub

The Levono Yoga looked good but it has not HDMI port and that put a - on the decision table.  I know I could cast to the TV without it but I would have had to get a dongle for my non smart monitor.  Anyway, its done now, an Acer is on the way.  Thanks for your comment.

Happily, I have just ordered an Acer Swift X SFX14-41G-R73W AMD Ryzen 7 5700U/16GB/512GB SSD/GTX1650 4GB/14" that came in at just under 32k baht delivered from Lazada..  It is pretty much best in class from many reviewers on You Tube.  I wanted the AMD ryzen so that was a game changer when considering HP (which I have now and like too.)  The price is what you would pay in the US nic delivery.  It comes with a 3yr warranty too.    So, thanks very much for your interest and comments.  Take care

Thanks.  YT is You Tube where I read about lots of things including product reviews.  I don't use the screen except when typing this note.  I have a dedicated Samsung 32" TV connected all the time.  I am not wealthy and I try to keep spending under control.  But, I find myself agonizing over one or another product or service choosing the 'best deal' when, in the case of a new PC, the difference is a few hundred EUR which I can afford.  What I am most interested in is value for money and getting the 'best bang for the buck'.  So I would choose a PC with SSD over a HDD as I understand the difference.  But I don't know about USB connectivity speed, for example,  and cannot select a PC based on that.  As mentioned, I am not a gamer, so 'blistering fast' does not attract me at all but when I start up an older PC (of which I have a few) it is a bit frustrating to wait for what seems to be ten minutes before starting up and going online.  Thanks for the comment about Rysen 5 500.  That can be a cornerstone along with the 14" screen (and a few other things).  I am normally a careful consumer and circle a (big) purchase for some time before making the plunge, except when I don't.  The Acer Swift SF314-43-R9X8 AMD Ryzen 7 5700U/8GB/512G SSDis looking pretty good and has a 3 year guarantee.  At under 25k in fits into my 'frugal' category too.  Thanks again for your comments. 

Well, yes it is not best to buy off the internet relying on YT reviews but all the computer shops around here are closed just now.  Another thing is that I am not a gamer so I don't really know how important it is to focus on processor speed.  I have an HP Pavilion now and exchanging the HDD for a SSD made a big difference in start up time etc.   It has been that Thailand has not really had the selection of PCs as in the US, for example but I am finding that Acer, Lovono, Asus and some others are offering high spec (relatively) PCs at lower prices than the US esp. considering shipping costs. I was just seeing if someone has a great idea for a PC that they have had a good experience with.  That is how I bought this HP PC.  Anyway, thanks for your time.  Take care.

I wouldn't bother all you with this except for a lock down distraction.  I just wrote to ask about mini computers and realized that would be more complicated than simply buying a new laptop (and could be more costly too).  So I started browsing a bit looking at the under 20k variety.  Then realized that under 25k would be more realistic is I wanted SSD storage.  The AMD Ryzen processors are very popular now and are giving Intel a run for their money.  The Acer seems OK and has 512 SSD and a 7 series AMD processor and costs about 25k.  The Lenovo Yoga has 1 TB SSD and a 9 series processor etc and is about 38k..  Both have 14" screens.  To keep my budget under control I always think of THB as Euros so this all seems like a lot of money.  In fact the Acer is about 650 Euros and the Yoga is about 1000.  So, neither of them are in the gold watch category.  I am leaning toward the Yoga as the reviews are stellar and it is not really that much more costly.  However, I thought I would ask for your comments before making the plunge.  I am open to all suggestions regards make, model, processor etc..  Except I don't really want to go for an apple product (not familiar with them) or a tablet option.  Thanks very much in advance.  Hope you are all bearing up.     

Wow!  What a learning curve.  My headaches already. Workstation, thin, mini, micro, with and w/o storage same for wi fi & BT (w, w/o).  Thanks very much for your prompt replies.  For the keyboard, I can order one from china for the pavilion for 1.100 B and stick it in myself.  (good idea to get a plug in one,however). B4 that I will take it apart and see if it just needs a clean. I uninstalled and re-installed the driver with the device manager a few times but that didn't really work.  I have some other computers, one for movies that just stays in the bedroom.  A cheap laptop is starting to look like a pretty good deal as it just needs to be taken from the box and plugged in.  You have given me food for thought and will do some research using your ideas.  Thank you.     

I have an HP Pavilion 15 with a 512 GB SSD that I put in to replace the 1 TB HD that came with the computer.  It is not too old and is pretty good but the keys are acting up and it got me thinking about getting a new PC.  (I can get a new keyboard for about 1200 THB from China, didn't look locally yet).  This HP laptop sits in one place and is connected to a Samsung flat screen TV.  I only use it to look at the news on YT etc. and download movies.  Of course also emails, searching for info and all that stuff too.  But I am not an office worker and have no skills with graphics etc..  All pretty simple stuff.  I was thinking that I could just buy a PC unit and a keyboard and connect it to the monitor and that would be that.  It seems a bit of a waste to spend the money on a laptop that is only used at home with a monitor.  BTW.  I bought this HP from Amazon following the advice of a fellow subscriber and it has worked out very well.  Thank you, I have forgotten your name, sorry.

I would be grateful for any comments about brand names and models for both a unit and keyboard please.  I like the speed of the SSD and would be looking for a processor that loads information quickly too. Thanks in advance.  Hope you are all keeping safe and not going stir crazy.  I live in a small rural village and so can get out for dog walks etc..  Thanks again.

Sorry for the delay to reply    Second shot 1st week of September and will be Astra Zeneca.  It went very well.  You can see by the photo that we are a small rural village.  At the district amphur.  Take care.

05 08 2021

Out of the blue, we are going to be vaccinated tomorrow, Friday.  Not just old folk, everybody in the village, they said.  I am in North Buriram Province in a small village.  This time they are planing to use sinovac, second shot later of astra zenica.  (have not checked the spelling) Keep you posted if it happens.  Nothing to do with the on line BKK registration and not advised by email, just village telegraph.

Take care

02 08 2021

Went to the site  expatvac.consular.go.th and registered.  Pretty straight forward.  TIP:  Where you have to put copies of passport, visa and any other ID or info, copy and paste various photos scans etc. onto a single file in pictures then copy and paste multiple images all at one time. The box will expand to accept all 3 or 4 or whatever and process them all together.

I posted my successful registration and you can see that if I live in Bangkok or nearby they will call me.   I am in Isaan and what they write is this:

Ministry of Public Health will assign a vaccination site in your area. Your vaccination allocation will be provided according to priorities set by the Ministry of Public Health, i.e. age group, vulnerability, high risk zone e.t.c

Any information about availability for us outside 'the hub'?

Thanks

Crossy is correct.  But I think that you need to produce all the usual, proof of residence,income, bank letter with corresponding amount shown in updated bank book.  Be careful about the bank letter.  I once had all the stuff and more including over a million in the bank for months.  The unpdated book showed 1,780,428 baht, the letter said 1,780,482 was in my account and had been there for 5 months.  It was not accepted. I had to battle rush hour traffic across town to get to the bank b4 closing time to get a corrected letter then back to immigration.  Missed our ferry home as a result.  

1,900 THB is only about 50 EUR, 59 USD or 42 GBP.  Be happy that you are not attempting to enter the UK where Patel would lock you up or the US where the Proud Boys might just shoot you.  Thailand does have its quirks but compared to some countries it is pretty reasonable.

Thank you, sorry for the delay of this reply.  Putting in a 'proper job' solar system is what I have in mind, eventually.   But for now I have my sights set lower than that.  Just recharging a couple of batteries would do for now.  That little controller will not produce 220V power, I don't think.  

If the family was electric dependent then I would consider the full on option but they are not so I won't.  On top of that the little cabin is not secure and leaving it empty is the best way to discourage theft in its remote location.  

A couple of pics to show what they have now and what they have been using for over 50 years.  (The new one is green btw.)  The older one is in the shade and still very much in use.

Thanks again for your interest and comments.  Kind Regards, notrub

Thanks,  the problem is that the lithium batteries are specific for the tool and the tool cannot be adapted for a different power source.  I have several of these batteries so just bringing them home in the evening is an easy option.  I put in a solar pump a couple of years ago and have just built a new little cabin up there.  We have solar lights and even a small solar powered fan with a built in battery up there.  I am just attracted to the idea of using solar power for little things like charging these batteries.  The converter has USB outlets on it so it will be good for phone charging anyway.  The little panel is 24x16 cm of solar receptor inside the frame.  I have a small (Polo) inverter generator so can provide power for tools etc. if needs be.  Thanks again for your comments.

What I am trying to do is charge the battery using the solar charge converter as we have no power at the farm.  Here is a picture of the wall charger unit and the battery also showing the connector plug that is on the charger supplied with the cutter.  There is also a pic of the little panel I had hoped to use.  There is no writing on either the panel or the light other than what you can see in the photo.  Thanks very much for your interest and advice.

I have just picked up a small solar controller to use at the naa to recharge batteries and phones.  This one is 30A and 12V/24 with an LCD screen  Here is the question.  The battery I want to charge is 24V lithium on a small brush cutter.  The plug in wall charger has a 100V to 240V input and 21V to 98V output.  I assume the input is AC and the output is DC (?).  Can I just get the appropriate cable connector with the male socket wire it to the converter battery charger terminal, set the voltage output to 24V to be able to charge the battery?  I plan to use a small solar panel that was for a light that no longer works (due to water damage). 

Any comments please?  Thanks.