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I’ve imported sh!t loads of gear into TH and I would say DHL are one of the best of the bunch, UPS on the other hand… All of them will charge VAT and duty applicable to the goods being imported. Anything additional is admin fees, these arise because they are actually Thai businesses acting as agents for the shipping company, ergo it’s against their religion for an end user to get something without paying.

Do it yourself and save yourself a bunch of money. I did mine a couple of months ago and it's a breeze. https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports Download the form, follow the instructions and then it's a couple of trips to BKK. You can keep your original passport for the duration. The only thing to add is take proof of address with you (bank statement, utility bill, etc). This isn't made apparent in the instructions but they will ask for it.

Update on my case. I went to BPH today and had a retinal scan, this revealed a small retinal rupture which happened to be across a capillary which was seeping blood. I was pretty much straight into laser surgery and had it zapped shut. Right now there's a small improvement but the Doc reckons about 2 weeks until the leaked blood cells get mopped up. Total cost Bht 19.2k. The Doc reckoned if I'd left it any longer it would have been a full-blown detachment and Bht 200k+ to get it fixed. So, again, thanks to everyone for your help and advice.

Yeah, as per my 4th post on this thread. It was kind of half-a$$ed but they gave me the impression that it wasn't a big deal, it's only since asking the forum that I realized that it is a very big deal. Anyhoo, after a lot of calling around and typing details into futile web questionnaires, I have an earlier appointment on Wednesday as the BPH. The earliest appointment I could get in BKK was on the same day so BPH it is.

Thanks for all the really great advice everyone. I'm trying to get this sorted ASAP.

@Sheryl Noted and thanks for the advice. Given that the retinal exam requires iris dilation - which means I will not be able to drive for 12-24 hrs - I'll try to get an earlier appointment at BPH Pattaya. Failing that, I'll get in touch with Rutnin.

@Sheryl I went to the Eye Clinic at BPH Pattaya and had a sight test, eye pressure test, blood pressure test and an inspection by a clinician who decided she wasn't an opthamologist on that occasion. I have a feeling she may have been filling in over Songkran. Hence the advice to make a later appointment.

Okay, thanks for all the informed replies. What I have is a myriad of tiny dots and circles, along with strings of 'shower hair' for want of a better description. However, my peripheral vision seems to be okay and my near/far vision is blurry but still fairly good. @Sheryl, I also read that it should be a medical emergency but BPH didn't have anything available until 25/4. I'm booked in. @treetops @Mike Lister Thanks for the info. I have no 'curtaining' so I'll wait for the appointment and get it sorted out. Big thanks.

Apologies. In answer to AreYouGerman... Yeah. Nope. That was not the advice I was looking for. It's more than likely my condition is age-related, as opposed to dunce-related. I was hoping for a more clinically informed answer.

So I was out shopping with the missus yesterday and suddenly got this weird sh!t floating around in my right eye. Once I realized it was internal, I went to the BPH and they've booked me in for a retinal scan next week. I've been Googling and it appears I have all the symptoms of a detached retina. Has anyone had this, and any experience of getting it treated?

In a lot of countries, you don't get your money until you've removed your card, which seems way more practical to me. I admit that I have left my card in an ATM twice in Thailand - and in both cases I'd become distracted because I'm used to getting my card before the cash. In spite of the derogatory comments, it's not dementia. Thieves and pickpockets have been using distraction for millennia, so the key to keeping focus is to have a mantra or a mental procedure and you train your brain to "tune out' until the procedure is complete. When I leave the house, I have 'TMLKP', my missus is always late and she tries to distract me with "have you seen my bra?" or "where's my lipstick?" etc. I just tune it out until I've ticked all my 'TMLKP' boxes. I used to be a scatter-brain which isn't good when you travel extensively for a living, so I started using these "mantras" in my mid 20's and I've never since forgotten my passport, left my wallet anywhere or left my kids home alone at Christmas.

Nasty chip on your shoulder you have there Sluglord. Just about everything you said above is either untrue or just plain old filthy, racist trope. There is no question that the Philippines is poorer than Thailand. Filipinos come to work in Thailand for two reasons; a) so that they're geographically close to home, or b) they're using Thailand as a springboard to get better jobs in countries which pay far higher wages. The only other possible reason is there's a demand for well educated, English speaking manpower that isn't afraid of hard work.

On the contrary, when I had a Thai girlfriend I had exactly the opposite experience - I got scalped everywhere and I have no doubt that she was either colluding in the scam or didn't want a 'loss of face' confrontation. My Filipino wife scrutinizes every hotel and restaurant bill - but plays the idiot, it's not long before you get the "oh solly" and the bill comes back several hundred Baht lighter. It doesn't happen a lot, but enough for it to be a reason for being skeptical.

Given that applies to just about every Thai girl I've ever met, I fail to see the point. You can go to any upmarket district in the west and find chicks pulling the same chain.

I'm married to a Filipina, we've been together since 2010 and lived in Thailand since 2015. Up until a year before I met my wife I was in a long-term relationship with a Thai girl. For context, I've worked in SE Asia since 1996 and been in relationships with girls from all those countries except Cambodia and Malaysia. Personally, I have many reasons why I would never marry a Thai, I figured that out a long time before I met my wife. You often hear people say "all Asian women are basically the same", and in many ways they are but the differences lie in their values and priorities. For example, Filipinas value a loving, secure relationship far more than money, they are inveterate home-makers and they like planning for the future. Basically the opposite of you-know-who. There's a lot of them everywhere and their networking capabilities are astonishing - they literally invented the 'jungle telephone'. When we moved to Thailand my wife didn't know anybody. A week later, on the day our container arrived, I got home from work and there was a bunch of Filipinos partying in the house. They'd literally unloaded the entire container into the house, furniture and all, unwrapped everything and flat-packed all the empty cartons in the front yard. All the bedding was washed, kitchenware and crockery cleaned and they were all acting like it was a day at the beach. I've moved house more times than I care to remember, so this was like my worst nightmare being rubbed out by a bunch of happy smiley people.

I've got a couple of electric awnings and I want to replace the fabric which is looking a bit threadbare. Anyone know where I can get replacements or get them made in Pattaya area?

Apparently those Hitachi pumps are the biz, my buddy up the street has just had one installed and he's over the moon with it. I bypassed my Grundfoss pump when I discovered that the city pressure was way better (and it doesn't surge). But with drought coming I've got a new tank and a Hitachi pump is on the list.

I've had all sorts of algae in my pool, the worst being black algae which roots into the grout. I got rid of that a while ago and control it with Black Advance and I try to keep the pH down around 7.2 - 7.4. Now I've got some greenish stuff which sticks to the surface of the tiles. I ran a Black Advance cycle (apply, leave pumps off for 72hrs, vacuum) and noticed that the vacuum didn't remove it. So I ran the robot and that picked it up pretty well, when I rinsed the robot filter it looked a lot like normal green algae but it was kind of gritty - but it also stuck itself all round the sink, I literally had to take a scouring pad to it to get it off. Anyway, 3 days later and the algae is back on the pool tiles. The start of this was around the time I did the 6 month flocculent treatment (Clear Advance) in late November. It's been really windy recently so that may account for the grit, but Black Advance normally kills off all types of algae. Any ideas?

The Swatch Group are the only authorised service agents for Omega in TH. We have 3 and we always use them, either here or in Singapore.

Thanks, got it.

Over the last week there's been live music playing in the area and the missus feels like she's missing out - but we can't figure out where the venue is. Any ideas?

The whole plan has been binned. There was no way the Thai's were going to tolerate it - and certainly not any other foreign tourists. Other than that, it would have been constitutionally illegal under Thai law anyway. In other news, I hear that China's attempt to prevent Thai media from discussing Taiwan has also been given the middle finger salute.

Nice. What you have there is pretty much what I have all around my modest hutch. I have quite a few 45° miters and the joints are getting hard to find, last time I was at Hardware House they had the inside miters but not the outers. Still, I agree with everything you say - no fuss, clean lines and ridiculously easy to install.

Don't go there. It's zinc plated steel and once the water gets in at the end-cuts, it rusts and drools reddish stains down your walls. I know this because I just helped my buddy renovating his 3-bed bungalow, the PVC guttering from Hardware House was cheaper than the paint to redo the exterior walls. It's also significantly heavier than PVC so you need extremely robust pelmets to attach it to.

Having owned a couple of recording studios, I can give you plenty of advice but you will need to provide more info. First of all, "soundproofing" a condo will be next to impossible, so... 1. Is the treatment required for containment of exclusion? 2. Acoustic treatments are frequency dependent - so is it the neighbor's sub-woofer banging away, general TV noise/loud chatter, or high-pitched noise? If it is the neighbors making a racket, remember that you can file a police complaint. In my experience, the RTP tend to take these issues seriously if you're in an urban/suburban location. As mentioned above, it helps if you can provide some evidence along with a journal of events but there's no need for an SPL meter because most cops aren't going to know the difference between a dBu, dBm or a dog barking.