bkkandrew

I am a little confused as to why anyone would need to take 100,000 baht a day unless it would be to pay your hospital bill as I did this year. That was 286,000 baht a double angioplasty on my heart.. for heart.

100,000 baht a day is 36,500,000 baht a year. US$1,000,000 roughly.

Who would need that much?

I would, if I was settling a bill from one of the factories I use for export...

OK I can accept that you would need a large sum of money but it would be simpler and cheaper to use a TT and you can then go into the bank and withdraw a larger amount at one time and save on all the ATM charges every day day and you get a better rate as well.

Again if you were settling a bill that large from a factory that you use you probably have a Thai bank account in which case what I said before would apply.

What are you talking about??

I have Thai accounts. Kasikorn and Ayudhya ATM withdrawels are free. TT costs GBP30, takes 3-4 days from the UK and you lose on the rate compared with cash exchange at Pratunam..

You still need to settle the bill!!!!!

So I walk to ATM, withdraw and hand the money over after inspecting the goods. Difficult eh? But still need to be aware of maximum daily limits for withdrawel.

And what was the point/purpose of the original OP's post??

Reminds me of when I bought a SIM card, after "donating" one (in a phone) to a taxi driver whilst drunk; the thai girl, who spoke no English, phoned me on the new number to request english lessons, for which she was willing to "pay"...

I can give lessons in some things...

Okay, so I could maybe take out 50,000 baht this week, 80,000 baht next week, converting it from US $. What do you folks think - do it now, or do it later, like later in December?

Well..

USD tested 36.0 THB today, went through and came back slightly.. The next test, or the next etc.. i.e. when auto-sellers/buyers of currency (that set a target price of purchase/sale and wait until it is achieved) are satisfied, the "test" can then succeed and the currency move further in the direction it is heading.

That suggests "DO IT NOW!!!"

On the other hand, if the US enconomy recovers in terms of trade and/or balance of payments deficit, or increases interest rates significantly, then you could be better off waiting...

I have Bangkok Bank account and have a limit of 150.000 Bath daily.

So what is the problem?

O yes I have to put my card in the ATM 6 times, that is true.

The problem ( I would suggest) is that even if you have a bath 150000 times in your hat and coat - as per your avatar - you will still not achieve thai-style cleanliness..

I also question why you need to use the bath facilities at Bangkok Bank, most people usually use their own facilities. I suppose you have the advantage of multi-tasking, bathe and conduct your banking business simultaneously.

I guess your ATM card must be dirty too, with 6 separate dips, but what you use this for is your own business...

My advice, IMHO, would be:

Lose the trenchcoat and trilby during abolutions;

Purchase a suitable utensil for scrubbing pans;

When visiting another country, obtain and understand the appropriate currency!

Topfield is one of the few people on TV that tries to understand how systems work - yes the amounts may be small - yet with a high frequency of transactions they add up.

I appreciate topfields observations and would like him to post his further findings.

If you dont have anything positive to contribute - why contribute ? By making negative contributions all you achieve is alienate the original contributor. If that is what appeals to you then maybe TV is losing track. The ethos in moneysavingexpert.com is much better than here.

Keep up the good work Topfield.

In the UK, big banks methods are increasing coming under scrutiny. As manjara points out their day will come (as has in telecoms) and the costs will fall. At the moment these large organisations hide their charges, by understanding their systems, you can be in a better postition to decide what is best for you.

Indeed so. This is precisely what I have alluded to in a number of posts now...

There is also the matter of the "ignore" option on TV for those that cannot cope with reading information posted by certain users. Perhaps the complainants about Topfield could investigate the use of that!

Same source, actually went below 36, admittedly only to 35.99, but anyone with some $$$s should change them up sometime soon IMHO...

I never really understand why people are always complaining about Banks.

Frankly, I think banks provide a great service. Consider how easy and convenient it is to have your cash managed, able to use ATMs 24 hours a day, and in countries all around the world, internet banking etc etc. It's a great service, and infinitely preferable to the situation 20-30 years ago.

What is wrong with them charging fees for this convenience? Seems to me to be very reasonable indeed and with increased competition, it's easy to find services for very low fees.

And let's face it . . if people have a problem with the likes of HSBC and other banks making what some (but not me) regard as very high profits for these services, why not share in the benefits and buy shares in the banks - that way you share some of the windfall too.

But no . . people prefer to whinge and complain because, let's face it, most of us prefer to be professional victims.

Since you seem to be so charitable and willing to donate money to banks, can I let you have my account number so I can join in the party??

Dollar crashing today. Latest 36.13...

Source:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/...78/intraday.stm

Onthe same note, anyone know of any issues with kasikorn and ayudhya banks? I have the visa and visa electron varieties...

I am a little confused as to why anyone would need to take 100,000 baht a day unless it would be to pay your hospital bill as I did this year. That was 286,000 baht a double angioplasty on my heart.. for heart.

100,000 baht a day is 36,500,000 baht a year. US$1,000,000 roughly.

Who would need that much?

I would, if I was settling a bill from one of the factories I use for export...

Sounds good fella, Xtra Time it is, i cant watch this one alone!!!!, and the KO time is perfect as you said, bring it !!! Hope some more of you Spurs boys will be out and about for this one?

If you can let me have directions i shall meet you there? I know the local BTS station, maybe give me an exit Number?, like Patpong Soi's are exit 1.

ITS A MASSIVE GAME

the countdown has begun, 5 days

Patpong 1, just on the Sala Daeng side of the Kings Castle bars. Exit skytrain Sala Daeng and walk to PP1, on the right. If you get to the Music Cafe on the corner, you have gone 20yds too far. The owner is John, Say that Andrew (or my mate Trevor) said come along...

I will be there "warming up" about six!!

England are quoted at 6/1 to win the second test. I believe that is excellent value.

With the second test beginning on the 1st December in Adelaide, I think England can scrape a win to equal the series.

7/1 at premierbet.com

I have just stuck on 20 quid...

Whilst sympathising with the general consensus that Topfield is overly occupied, perhaps obsessive, possibly even a salesman for Nationwide, when it comes to money exchange, I would observe that he is doing no harm by posting his observations and I, for one, am always interested in other peoples experiences in Thailand, as this is the only way of learning.

I thought that Thai Visa was a medium for such exchange of information and find it a pity that some people cannot find more to do with their time other than flame people providing information...

You know - you are making the exact same mistakes as me (are you sure it is not the same girl? ).

I posted my story at http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...2761&st=60#

Your story is similar and there is only one solution. You will laugh to yourself, as I did, when you see her making a fool of herself in the future.. I have not stopped smiling since the incident I posted about!!

Wow, I don't believe this. Folks, if there is a law, the police are supposed to enforce it. If the taxi driver doesn't think he broke a law (or there is a conflicting law), then he goes to Court and the court decides who is right and who is wrong.

The airport is out of the city, it's in Samut Prakarn, coming from either BKK or Chon Buri, or Pattaya etc. this would leave the meter option always up to the taxi driver (to whom it is an option anyway--we can only refuse to go with him).

This is a legal issue. It's not about the awful police or the poor malaligned taxi drivers!

Believe it or not, this is precisely why gov'ts exist--to handle situations like this.

Equally so, until recently elections existed to create Governments. But this is Thailand, disputes rarely are decided in a Western, orderly way. Hence it is a quite "normal" response of the taxi drivers to get their way...

Since when did this rule exist???

Has there been a rebuttal of this bizarre claim??

You never saw on the back of the driver's seat a small notice ?... With the flat prices, and distance in km, to go to the main cities ?

I mean from BKK to other cities, you never put the meter.

So maybe there is an old regulation that says the contrary, that the police uses... but still I don't understand why the driver go a ticket.

However, it seems that some drivers do not put the meter, from the airport to the city. So there might be like a confusion.

Incorrect. The distance rate chart details the fare for distances up to 200KM (from memory) and then a rate per KM beyond this. This sign is a statutory requirement and, no doubt, the basis of the police action.

The (optional) sign for prices to other cities is actually based on the above rate and is intended as a guide price, based on the KM travelled.

In the event of any dispute, i.e. customer reporting that the driver has failed to use the meter, there would automatically be police action against the driver.

There are areas where this rule is ignored, usually as a result of corrupt police allowing taxis to hang around on a no-meter basis and we all know where they are, but the airport is not one of them.

Next Week.......................

Big Game??

I guess its on live?? If it is,

May i suggest a meet up in the City to digest this viewing together??

I'm a newbie here so i dont really know which bars are which so ant suggestions??

Cheers

Well - I shall be in Xtra Time (a Spurs Bar) in Patpong... Kick-off is 19.45 I believe... Perfect!!

Anyone want directions, PM me.

But, with your careful choice of words, you have not actually denied being a Thaksin spokesman..

For the intellectually challenged: No, I am not a Thaksin spokesman. No, i don't like the person, i don't like most of his policies (of which i guess you have never heard of, other than early barclosing times ).

Sadly though he was the only Thai politician who actually formulated policies, and acted upon them.

Is that clear enough?

How long more do we have to continue this painfully uninspiring conversation?

If you think that it is a sign of being intellectually challenged to point out that you have not (hitherto) given a clear answer, then I am sure that dispassionate readers would make assumptions about who is the intellectually challenged poster.

I am glad of your clear post (at long last). It is a shame that it took so long for you to make a straightforward statement, but never mind.

As you are clearly the enlightened one, you will not need me to point out that this is not a conversation (painfully uninspiring or otherwise), but a discourse. Nor, I am sure, would you need clarification that bar closing are, in fact, two words. Perhaps you have been in the bar too long to realise that it has closed??

I have a close knowledge of many Thaksin and TRT policies in actual fact. If you bothered to read many of my posts, you would realise this. On the subject at hand (which seems to have passed you by) HIV treatment and infection statistics are an area of great cover-up and latent failure under your great (former) leader's watch. Source: http://www.avert.org/aidsthai.htm

Anyway, if there any long words you are stuck on, please feel free to ask for assistance..

So you are not denying that you are his spokesman, albeit unpaid??

I would suggest you read my posts to the end, if your concentration span is sufficient. Then it should be clear that i am not.

No, i am not one of the fabled TRT agents on internet boards.

But, with your careful choice of words, you have not actually denied being a Thaksin spokesman..

Now let me see:

Spurs 3-1 Wigan

Bolton 3-1 Arse-en-al

Anyone see a pattern?

What a great weekend!!

Hundreds of cabbies protest at Suvarnabhumi Airport

SUVARNABHUMI: -- Hundreds of cabbies blocked the taxi terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport last night in protest at a police arrest and ticketing of a driver.

As many as 300 police were deployed to the protest.

The arrested driver had failed to turn on his meter when ferrying a passenger to the airport from Chon Buri province.

One of the protesting drivers said the blockade demanded justice for the arrested driver.

He said taxis travelling interprovincial routes did not have to use meters.

The protest organiser, who asked to not be identified, alleged staff at a company that operated an Airports of Thailand taxi concession were corrupt.

They allowed "ghost taxis" to freely pick up passengers at the airport while those who paid Bt50 to enter the airport had to wait "hours" to collect a fare.

Staff received Bt20 kickbacks from each unauthorised taxi.

Hundreds of taxis blocked entrances and exits to the commuter area while others blockaded the Thai Airways catering building, causing traffic congestion in the airport compound.

--The Nation 2006-11-27

What??

Since when did this rule exist???

Has there been a rebuttal of this bizarre claim??

Well, I am actually quite happy to wait for Peiterson and Giles to come out fresh in the morning. When I return to LoS in two days, I am feeling disposed to take bets, say at 2-1, on England retaining the Ashes. Will be watching out for dodgy types, like the towel-over-arm Aussie I posted about in:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...018&st=240#

However, any upstanding takers, let they be known...

Pieterson & Jones please......................we're not that bad.

Oops - bloody kids running riot around me - lapse of concentration!!

Whilst fundamentally disagreeing with the legitimacy of the junta, I do find it surprising the constant support that "The Colonal" gives to Thaksin at every turn. Is he on the payroll? His spokesman?

I very much doubt that that Thaksin would put me on his payroll.

So you are not denying that you are his spokesman, albeit unpaid??

Well, I am actually quite happy to wait for Peiterson and Giles to come out fresh in the morning. When I return to LoS in two days, I am feeling disposed to take bets, say at 2-1, on England retaining the Ashes. Will be watching out for dodgy types, like the towel-over-arm Aussie I posted about in:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...018&st=240#

However, any upstanding takers, let they be known...

TOTSTER, FYI, Topfield could be, as I am, involved in Export from Thailand to UK, which is neither obscene nor obsessive...