orchidfan

Of interest, I recently received an email from Wise asking me to confirm that I live in or was a resident of Thailand, with the note that if they required further 'proof of residence' ,they would be in touch. (So far they haven't) Also, my Australian bank now requires that I fill in the "note to recipient" box. If left blank, the transfer is not completed and not activated. To Wise, I now just write "please credit to my AUD balance." It's getting crazy!!!

I think that you're mainly right, but... Baggage waiting is a pain at most busy airports....especially if several arrivals all use the same baggage carousel. Airlines being "paid" to come to your airport? Interesting idea but haven't heard of this in practice. Any actual documented examples? Air traffic congestion. Mainly because.. -most Airlines wish to arrive at the same peak/premier/preferred arrival times. - aircraft category mixes of 'medium' , 'Heavy' and 'Super'(A380), all requiring different in-line spacing or shuffling into like type categories. -airspace organisation in confined locations including military operations and adjoining airspace "owned" or administered by a neighbouring country/authority. Preferred runway selection and arrival/departure routes based on noise mitigation. These might often be conflicting with adjoining FIRs. Hence the 30+ minutes delays sometimes as the above criterion are met. HKIA is surrounded closely by Shenzhen, Macao, Zhuhai and Guangzhou airports. And the CAAC don't give away much in airspace usage negotiations!

I agree. I fly regularly to Hong Kong out of DM, mainly because it's 10-15 minutes away from my house,and ~ ฿100 taxi as opposed to 45 minutes and ฿600+ to BKK. Every time, departing or arriving, we are bussed to a way off, outside parking bay just as you described! I know that the outer parking is much cheaper for the airline than using a pier at the terminal. -only a handful of these being utilised by some international carriers. I can't think of any other major international airport (which I have visited) using this penny pinching, old fashioned method. Maybe ok for Domestic flights within Thailand....but to 5 star airports like HK????

Yep. they even have to get visa to visitHK or Macao (new spelling since after the return.)

thanks again I thought as much. Same with the"365" thing, and my wife's storage FULL on her iPhone. Now understand that "it will then download all your files back to the PC"......Presumedly to a folder I have created. But also keeps those already backed up on OneDrive.

Little Hong Kong, my other place a casual abode, had 56 million tourists pre covid (2019) and expect 45 million+ in 2025. It's at least 3 to 4 times more expensive than Thailand, and only a handful of gogo bars left (compared to early 2000's).. BUT, everything works...on time.. Trains, buses,trams,ferries, airport. Electricity (this, and the following 2 virtually never fail even during typhoons. Underground cables) Internet Water, Banking etc NO stupid, restrictive alcohol selling hours. Every local and PR carry ID cards. So, 18yrs or above or no sell. Locals pretty much all speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Makes it easy. Yes, it's now(1997) part of a 1.4 billion people country next door, but they do things RIGHT!

Thanks for your reply. I have windows 10 and a 500Gb SSD which I'll probably never fill in my lifetime! I don't mind it backing up to One Drive per se, but 1/ find it hard to believe that it's FULL (hence the on-screen warnings being a pain) 2/ the time it takes to access One Drive to bring up a document or picture. 3/ I don't really know exactly what is backed up to One Drive ....but guess I could easily find this out 4/ how do I get back all of my stored data on OneDrive as opposed to it being stored on an external drive (as suggested by another poster) should the computer crash. Again, I can check this and ca probably access it from another computer via my Microsoft account.....Or Google account??? "So many Drives, so little time" One Drive Google Drive Dropbox Mobile Drive Etc,etc Samsung cloud (phone) Cheers

Old bugger (baby boomer variety) question. 'One Drive' bugs me on Win 10 by constantly telling me that either One Drive is Full or nearly full !!. Often when I want to view a file or pics, it seems to take a little while to search the "cloud", find the item and display on my screen. So, can you give me a brief, simple, guide to uninstall it? And, does all the data stored (of mine) on One Drive get lost if it's uninstalled??.or is it still on my computer somewhere? would I have to first transfer/copy it back into a backup folder of my own making on my SSHD? Thanks.... If you can be bothered answering these kindergarten questions 🤓

I know it's 'off location' ,but my Thai wife is working on a contract as a Chef in a Thai restaurant in Hong Kong (where we both have permanent residency) She works at least 10 hours+ a day, 6 days a week, often without any break during the day. No union that I'm aware of, no labour law enforcement (and there are very lengthy Labour laws..). But she earns BIG money (by Thai standards) yet, being married to a retired elderly man (me), and the tax threshold, she has zero tax to pay! Public holidays are mostly worked (14 a year from memory) but are credited as leave later on. Days off (paid) for Typhoons of a certain category(8+) are mandated...so they love them! She can take paid sick leave if she wants to...BUT, the owners pay staff a hefty monthly bonus IF you attend as required, All month. This bonus can amount to 20 or 25% of a month's salary! Medical costs at public hospitals are minimal, and very good. Free for public servants, scaled in various categories. Payment into a Mandatory Provident Fund is mandatory! So all full time employees must pay into this ....as do their employers. About 1.5% monthly each into the Approved fund of their choice, as does the employer, with the option for the worker to contribute extra each month. These accumulated funds can be withdrawn early for various reasons, like leaving HK and back to your 'home' country. So the retired are catered for at 65. Not always looked after by family, although a lot of families share the same accommodation in one of the world's most expensive and crowded. I guess restaurant work can be a little different to a supermarket or bank etc. They work hard but pay well

Had an Aussie mate in Hong whose local, attractive, Chinese/Cantonese gf (temporarily) left him for a tall, handsome, well off, French guy. (The local girls there also love men with power,property and money) But it soon ended in tears when, try as she may, she simply could not master speaking French! Apparently a prerequisite of many French men (& women?). (Quote) ...."to the French it's not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it" Maybe Lisa has mastered French...in its various forms😂

Thanks for the videos. Milli is very active and sexy....but I don't consider 2/4 head banging rhythm rap as "singing". Now Rosé has a pretty good, raspy 'in tune' voice. ( 'in tune' being a serious challenge for locals here) Rapping is for wiped out, disco dancers and people who can't sing 😅

Agree. It's a real handful of a sophisticated turboprop requiring recent proficiency and single pilot IFR skills. Not for your "weekend aviator". At least, it seems, that he has the sense to utilise a current and (hopefully)well qualified pilot to be be PIC while he continues to gain experience from the right hand seat. Nonetheless, a worthwhile and applaudable mission.

Apologies, I thought I was just commenting on the topic, (nickcage49's comment), but it attached to yours!!! Of course it's free and only takes a few minutes, as you are well aware. Some folk here like to highlight non issues, like the TDAC, double pricing? etc....never seen it in over 15years except one national park (big deal.. a few baht, and how many times do we visit these?) TAXIS overpricing??.never seen. They have meters or can use GRAB etc. Hospitals? Same price as everyone else. I compared with other Thai customers at Payment counter. Hotels? Book online or Thai wife does the reception counter thing. Same pricing as every other guest. Food buying? Supermarkets prices fixed. Fresh food vendors? Same as everyone else....often with a small discount. (I can hear what local Thais are paying for the same items next to me). Many also have prices marked on attached stickers. Same with night/day market clothing. ..prices marked already...3 for 100 or whatever. Scams? Zero for me! Banking and account keeping? Never a problem (BBL). New mobile app a bit fiddly to install initially. Staff polite and helpful. Some, enough, with good English. Letter and statements for Imm. done in 5 minutes. *Immigration? Annual extension for marriage. A breeze. No unexpected or overly difficult hoops/traps to deal with .(so far!) Money requirements no problem. Polite and (usually) helpful IO's and volunteers at submission time. Compared to many other countries, pretty cheap and easy. Trying getting a Thai wife into Australia permanently!!! (Retirement being somewhat more onerous) Only a couple of things I notice worth mentioning by affecting daily life are: ---- *supermarket and convenience store price inflation, (global?) *overly strong Thai baht. So, lots of moaning about daily expat persecution, but most of it, IMO, just hot air.

Agree. And the old paper TM6....what if you didn't have a pen 5555

I travel out of LOS quite frequently and have never found the Immig/Govt. TDAC website not working. I have it saved as a favourite on my notebook browser(s) and it takes 5 minutes to fill in and submit. (Take a look at the Australian arrival card by comparison...more of a lengthy legal declaration!) I've seen lots of 'reminders' on airline and Travel companies (like TRIP) websites to submit this in the time frame. I put a reminder alarm on my phone for 3 days before departure back to TH. Have noticed that, on arrival, Imm never want to see the QR code they send, only your passport.

Bali religion being Hindu, of course, unrelated to anything Buddhist.

Dr J, yes, I meant "pick up" passport , being of course after I or nominee, have handed it in upon arrival that day , and after it gets the extension stamp put in. At Pathum Thani everyone waits outside in a (fairly new) large, roofed enclosure ...now airconditioned until one of the staff....not an IO...comes out with it and calls your name Quite civilised. I do like their LINE "Visa Status Check" which one activates by putting in the hand written number above the "under consideration " stamp in as a message and sending. Reply comes back with something like 'already approved" or " not yet approved." Not sure if all offices provide this service, or in fact whether it eminates from a central computer???

As DrJack has correctly explained, it's (seasoning) 2 months before date of Application only. There is no "3 month rule". Yes, it appears that some offices seem to want to see the money (400K) still there in your bank at return/final stamping date. Mine doesn't. After the application is lodged I just front up around that "return" date. after checking their personal "LINE Visa update" message or calling the office, to pick up the passport with 12month extension stamp. (Sitting outdoors waiting and never see an IO) I also understand that this final pick up can be done by anyone you approve. You don't have to do it in person. So in that case, how would this work regarding the checking that the 400 K is still in the your bank? (Your "courier " has to bring along your bank book???) BTW, I'm with BBL and never had any problems whatsoever!

Although the report was submitted 19hrs ago, its rather inaccurate. The Super Typhoon is currently 400km NW of the Philippines (not East of) and is well and truly over the South China Sea. And it is not moving "across" Taiwan or Hong Hong. Unless the report means "between" them. It will pass very close to HK tomorrow before moving west across southern China, weakening to a tropical storm. As for this year, the frequency of Typhoons and tropical storms emanating from that region seems about normal. We have to look at the past couple of billion years of "climate change" to pin these storms on that chestnut. Remember 2011? 3 in a row causing the "great floods".

I'm 75 years old (65kgs)and, about 25 years ago, after a crippling sciatic nerve event (totally out of the blue and unexpected) a CT Scan and MRI showed stenosis of the lower spine (lumbar stenosis?), which meant that the narrowing of the spinal canal was squeezing the spinal cord and associated nerves. * not very technically described here,but you gat the idea. Initially pethidine was injected allowing me to actually move about semi normally as opposed to sliding along on the floor in agony. All of this was in Hong Kong where I then worked allowing me Permanent residency and access to virtually free medical treatment and medications. Pregabalin (25 mg) was prescribed along with Naproxin and Tramadol (25 mg) as backup meds to be taken if required. I asked about surgery to "grind out" the spinal canal and alleviate the squeezing (as i had seen done on Google , fairly commonly in the US.) NO WAY were the HK doctors/surgeons going to intrude into that area with the risk of cutting/damaging the spinal cord leaving me paraplegic! So it's been pregab and tramadol occasionally these past many years, which have been satisfactory in relieving the pain and allowing a 'normal life'. #pregabalin is a pretty good at inducing sleep at bedtime.....for me anyway.

Yes, I know of the often dragged out quote of Anutin's....which I think he later retracted, but i certainly don't think this is the attitude of BBL generally. There are good and lazy staff in all banks ....and not just in banks!! The waiting can be longish,sometimes, (but I'm in no great rush), but again, I haven't seen this as exclusive to BBL Maybe I'm just lucky with pretty good staff at my "home" branch, but at least it's a staffed branch, unlike many countries where they are disappearing all together due to online and mobile banking!

Over the past 20 years I've had nothing but respect, good, polite (respectful) advice and help from BBL. EG: Required documentation for each annual " marriage extension" , full repayment of monies fraudulently withdrawn from my account ( no quibbling), help getting money refunded from PEA through MY incorrect online transfers (handled and resolved personally by the branch manager ...very good spoken English and comprehension of the problem), assisting me with new banking App on my new phone, replacement of lost atm cards, adding wife as signatory to my savings account, quick and easy exchange of some small leftover foreign currency ( no charges) etc etc. Certainly NOT a " war on dirty farangs"...... in my experience!

A bit harsh Boeing have been around for a hell of along time. Maybe you didn't fly on 707's, 727's, 747's ( in their many excellent varients) in your younger years as many of us "boomers" did. Never the slightest incident in over 60yrs of flying on Boeing's.

I found out that the BBL mobile app requires Android 10 (not 9) or above to work. So it was time to replace the 7 year + old Samsung with a new one.....which has Android 15, huge storage, very fast chip (CPU?) , Large screen,ongoing bailiff and super fast charging! Good investment Also, not just BBL App but other banking apps (including overseas) and MyAIS app etc. Finally got the BBL app to work (at home) with help from step daughter and now all is sweet....especially paying regular, everyday utilities bills etc.

And many bars and restaurants offer ( offered?) Special Typhoon "specials" like 2 for 1 drinks,large discounts etc ( not on take- away ladies) to anyone brave enough to venture out during a Signal 8 (most venues, govt offices, schools,and some public transport close or a shut down if No.8 or 10 is 'hoisted'.) But the Met Bureau signals (hoisted flags in the past colonial days) are based on wind speeds. Rain warnings (yellow, red,black) are another matter.