WaveHunter

22 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

People wanting the agent route for their first retirement visa\extension often need the agent to open a Bangkok Bank account for them, no more. The fallout will surface sooner or later

I think it is just a rogue agent trying to cash in on some naive foreigners.  I mean, it wouldn't be the first time!  There is not a single report on the internet or any reputable expat news channel of such a thing, and you have not provided a link or identity of the agent so we can ascertain his veracity  so I think April 6 will come and go, and all will be the same.

What's more, It would be a crisis for the IMM office if foreigners were not allowed to have bank accounts (i.e.: 800K baht deposit requirement).  It just makes no sense at all.

On 3/31/2023 at 4:21 PM, scubascuba3 said:

It's been posted and shared a few times by a popular agent so I'd say it's true

By an "agent" do you mean an independent agent, like an IMM agent?  That's all the more reason to be a little suspicious.  Perhaps he is drumming up a little side hustle to get dumb foreigners to fork over a few thousand baht for him to "pull some strings".

Bangkok Bank has not officially said anything on their website, and really I see no reason for them to do that.

All I know is that there is a HUGE difference between what someone says and what really is true in Thailand.  I was told in no uncertain terms that I could not open an account at Bangkok Bank in Chiang Mai the first month I was here. 

I went to another bank (Kasikorn) and was told the same thing.  Then a few days later I returned to the same Bangkok Bank branch that I had first visited and spoke with another officer.  I was all prepared to argue my case but to my surprise she happily opened one for me.

On 5/7/2022 at 10:52 AM, WaveHunter said:

“Tim’s” Pharma (across from  LEK) does not stock it anymore unfortunately. I was in there the other week and they said they are only selling they are in single amps. 

"Tim's" Pharma is located where it always was but Tim's Bar is no more.  It is now called WIZARD BREWERY.  They also are now fully stocked with RotexMedica 20 amp vials of Testosterone Enanthate.  Price is 3,500 THB.  FYI, this is hands-down the BEST pharmacy in Pattaya without question!

Address on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/o7qCzk5Jd7N7yJDJ8

2 hours ago, TimeMachine said:

Alternate shoulder every week for me and seem to get result. But I'd like to do in legs. It's just my feet and legs are sensitive to being touched. Difficult to explain but I just hate it when someone grabs my feet or legs. Is that a medical condition other than being a bit nutty?

A bit nutty, I'd say.  Just kidding!  Everybody is different.  Whatever is most comfortable for YOU is best.

4 hours ago, amexpat said:

Interesting. I inject once every 3 weeks. I started with glutes but got spooked by the risk of permanent nerve damage if you do it wrong.

You seem to know what you are doing. I've done outer thigh for 4-5 years without a hitch. 

Everybody is different.  If it works for you, go for it, but IMO the danger of nerve damage is overblown.  As you can see in the attached diagram, the sciatic nerve is in the lower left quadrant so there's no danger if you stick to the upper right quadrant for injection (same for left side...upper left quadrant on alternate shot days). 

Anatomically I always aim for the Gluteus Minimus muscle.

And it goes without saying sterile technique is important since the only real danger of an IM injection is in creating an abscess  deep in the muscle tissue that could involve surgery to correct.  I had an abscess develop once that wasn't that serious and cleared on its own but for a week I couldn't sit without some minor pain.

The super safe and painless way to inject Test is simply in the belly (fat) with a tiny insulin syringe (29 or 31 gauge) which works fine except it takes to around 30 seconds to inject since Testosterone oil is pretty thick.  You literally feel nothing and it is just as effective as a deep IM injection (regardless of what a lot of people say)!

Still though it's good you point out the danger of sciatic nerve involvement because THAT can be real serious resulting in PERMANENT damage which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy!  I had a really bad fall on my mountain bike a few years ago that resulted in temporary inflammation of tissues surrounding the sciatic nerve and it was one of the worst pains I've ever felt until the inflammation subsided.  To imagine that pain being permanent...I think I'd shoot myself LOL!!

4 hours ago, amexpat said:

Outer thigh even better. No nerve or vessels to hit. Be careful if you do glute. Google a little. 

 

Outer upper quadrant is all you need to do for safe glute injection.  I've been doing this for 6 years without a hitch.  Just pre-swab with alcohol pad and let it dry first, then inject and swab again.  Alternate Left side on one day, the right, the next.

Outer thigh is how I started to do IM but sometimes got "bumps" from the oil which were sort of unsightly and a little uncomfortable, and once I got a black & blue mark from god-knows-what, so I switched to glutes.

16 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Can you inject into the glute ( bum cheek?

yes, preferred actually.

20 hours ago, dayo202 said:

How often to you take these pls ?

Everybody's dosage is different.  Only a competent MD can really tell you that after they have done initial blood tests and titered the amount that it takes to raise your total testosterone levels to an acceptable level.  It takes about 3 months to be able to answer that question.

10 minutes ago, dj230 said:

how does this compare to the bayer testosterone enanthate? thats what i typically use

Both are pharma-grade and pretty much the same except the oil in Rotex is a little heavier so can't inject SubQ with an insulin syringe; must use a 27ga needle and inject it IM.

Look what's BACK in stock!  I got it at Ocean Drugs in Jomtien.

On 2/18/2023 at 1:12 PM, Kevin Taylor said:

A question for those that know. Can testosterone be taken in pill form ?. Testosterone clinics give injections which I don't really like. When I  asked about it they seemed to say that injection was the only way to give a measured dose and pills were not accurate due to how much or little would be adsorbed into the body. Does this sound correct?

I know some are squeamish to self-inject but it's not a big deal.  You can use a tiny insulin syringe to inject into belly fat layer (called sub-Q injection) and you won't even feel it go in.

Absolutely no need to go into a clinic each time you need an injection.  That's just wasting money.

Pills and patches are highly problematic, not to mention far more expensive.

On 2/15/2023 at 11:56 AM, PoorSucker said:

I got it from here, fast delivery.

https://thaianabolics.com/

Seriously not a wise thing to buy from an UNDERGROUND LAB!  That's crazy.

19 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Or living in CM and nothing better to do  than read a Pattaya Forum for excitement!

FYI I am living (sorry to say) in Pattaya right now, not CM, and I find the Pattaya forum about as exciting as watching paint dry.

32 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Yes, it could also be a personal problem I have with being retired or living in a retirement oriented destination.

 

I don’t enjoy traditional retired activities much like lying on the beach all day, or not doing much at all, at least not long term.

 

That’s why I have been re-thinking my plans regarding choice of country and city and something feels not right here even though I have been here for years because the cost of living is much less.

It was the same for me though I'm not retired.  At first I didn't understand it, but gradually I also felt that something wasn't quite right about Pattaya. 

Pattaya has been a horrible experience but that doesn't mean the country as a whole is the same.  Right or wrong, I get the impression most expats living in Pattaya are just waiting to die.  As harsh as that sounds, I never felt that way about Chiang Mai...ever!

It's true that the cost of living is slightly higher, but not really by that much, and it's true that the pollution in Chiang Mai is bad during the smoky season, but that last for only a couple of months, and all it takes is a ride up Doi Suthep (the mountain) to escape that, where the air is crystal clear and cool even on the most polluted and hottest days.

We all make mistakes.  As soon as my lease ends in September, I will return to Chiang Mai to finish out my last year in the Magic Kingdom.

You should consider the same if you've never lived there before.  If you like hiking and mountain biking, it is actually a paradise that people come from all around the world to experience.  And that includes people in their retirement years!

10 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

Usually cultural stuff or live music, fairs, swap meets, mountain biking, hiking, etc.

 

The problem may be that I don’t want to drive in Thailand. Even though I have no problem on a motorbike I am afraid of the legalities should I get in an accident and the other party is injured somehow.

 

I did live in NYC & San Francisco for years so it can’t all be transportation related if public methods are available. Best time living there, but it’s night and day compared to Bangkok or Pattaya. Both cities, what’s the difference?

 

Relationships make all the difference as well. I’m not finding a social network well in Thailand. It feels like people are not rooted in a location or are just passing through and don’t have interests other than getting loaded or traveling around.

 

The people I meet are not working, studying or ambitious so it feels like there is no common ground of activities to jump towards. People are just vegetating or in real menial uninteresting jobs.

The problem may be that you are living in Pattaya PERIOD.

12 hours ago, BigStar said:

Sorry if I've touched a nerve. After all, you are still here, and so your posts are still good for a laugh as well--for which you have no cogent reply. But keep in mind, now, as Paul Fussell writes, that satire holds out

The frail but noble hope, that is, that so much labor has not been lost, and that such a creature as man shall not in the end find nothing for his efforts at dignity and redemption but a broken promise and an unregarded grave.

     --The Rhetorical World of Augustan Humanism

 

Hope. So, ever helpful, I thought of what your very first app, finally, should be, while you're pretending to be stuck in Pattaya. 

 

To wit, some sort of goals and time management tracker, like one of these:  15 Best Time Management Apps and Tools. Your innovation could be to add the hitherto lacking AI component, a ChatGPT that advises intelligent things, like get off your *ss and move to Chiang Mai--and automatically adds them into the ToDo list! Give it a social justice component, too. The cool thing is that you'll be such a great beta tester it'll be perfect by the time it's released, oh, five years from now.

 

Ooh. And you heard it right here. Hey--call it ANF co-working space, man.????

 

 

Enough already. We get it.

13 minutes ago, BigStar said:

Yah, yah. In the course of your endless repetitions of your worm's eye view of Pattaya and fatuous worries about "world opinion," you were also making nonsensical claims about being "stuck."

 

And no, you mostly haven't been "stuck," chose to stay even longer when you could easily have left, and you aren't stuck now. Did Mark Zuckerberg or Dustin Moskovitz worry about their leases before they moved to Palo Alto? Of course not. You can easily break your lease any time you choose. Note how you ignore this point. ????

 

And you're still here, going around in circles, wasting your time. What can we conclude? Only that our ace dynamic entrepreneur, digital nomad, world traveler, and formidable critic of English prose is simply fooling himself while posting BS on the Pattaya forum. Or, more likely, just another phony.

 

 

So my benevolent advice to stop dragging your *ss making excuses and running around looking for cheap testosterone enanthate when you could already be happily riding your bike and hanging out in a co-working space, breathing all that "true essence," creating an indispensable mobile app--that advice was both appropriate and extremely valuable. Yet, here you still are.???? By this time you could have created two apps, assuming you know how, and paid an Indian contractor on Fiverr for three more.

 

Nor does ingratitude augur entrepreneurial success, BTW. Very disappointing. Just no way to go through life, son. 

 

Chiang Mai has a good thing going by emptying the wallets of all these hapless dreamers.

Oh golly gee, sardonic comments with rapier like wit to boot!  I don't know if I can take all of this brutal honesty.  Seriously, you're about as clever and interesting as a box of hair!

33 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

So is that another thing... everyone who lives in Pattaya is Russian, a bitter old man, and living on a meagre pension, and you now include being on drugs? Pattaya is okay, you can partake in the fun, or not, or live a good life.... in CM  just a flower festival once a year when it is too hot!  Problem is Pattaya is deteriorating, too popular,  too crowded lately.

Judging from your assessment of Chiang Mai, you have never experienced life in Chiang Mai if a flower festival is the only impression you had of your time there. 

Pattaya has always been a seedy and deteriorated place. That is not a recent change.  And it is deteriorating even more because it is popular for all the wrong reasons and to all of the wrong sort of people. 

The expat "crowds" you refer to are primarily Russian people.  Very few other nationalities are represented as visitors since COVID. 

I have nothing against Russians but it's disconcerting to walk down a street or along the beach and hear nothing but Russian being spoken, almost to the exclusion of Thai, or any other nationality.  Walking around Pattaya, I feel more like I am in a seedy Crimean resort town than one in Thailand!

If all this is actually to your liking then you must be in your own private paradise, and I applaud you for that.

Unfortunately most world travellers who seek the true essence of being in Thailand and enjoying all it has to offer would strongly disagree that Pattaya is the best place to experience it.

On 3/1/2023 at 1:04 PM, Jingthing said:

OK, fair enough.

I'm not in his target market so I haven't really noticed what you're saying but after all he's not running a charity!

Really good YouTubers are those who understand that you have to give free and actionable information FIRST to be a trusted source for paid services.  This guy fails to understand this.

18 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

You must focus on going to rather seedy unpleasant places.......if your post is what you see, because frankly, it is a load of nonsense. 

 

Plenty  of nightlife in Pattaya, next to none in Chiangmai... although the former is too much for me these days!

Your 'men who are all three' is just silly, it included being Russian...?

 

Chiangmai ranked by most people as best for digital nomads, it's like saying ' well loved by one legged dwarfs! Who gives a FF what digital nomads think? Pattaya is far better known... infamously perhaps....dusty polluted, Chinese dominated Chiangmai, no thanks. Look at the topic title again.... 

 

 

Thanks for the giggle....

Are you on drugs LOL ?    Your reply sounds like you are, or you just live in an alternate reality!  Whichever it is, it is I who should be thanking you for the giggle! ????

On 3/1/2023 at 7:07 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I live in Bangkok.

 

I wouldn't mind living in CM, except for the very bad seasonal air pollution, which makes it a NO-GO place for me as long as that persists.

 

And, I wouldn't live in Pattaya proper because of the seedy factor combined with the Russian influx.  But other nicer residential areas in the surrounding region might be acceptable.

 

Bangkok was mentioned in the guy's video as well as Pattaya. I gather, and agree, probably on average somewhat more expensive than Pattaya....

 

But BKK has numerous other advantages, including the higher end of things for those so inclined, as well as retaining the bargain basement options for those so inclined. And important for me, the best and broadest public transportation system in Thailand, making most places in Bangkok proper relatively easily accessible, even without having to keep one's own car.

 

The first main flaw I considered in the guy's video, which I don't believe anyone has mentioned above, is that all of his other world city comparisons were based on New York City as the standard.

 

But the truth is, NYC is one of the most expensive cities to live in the U.S.... So the savings he promises vis-a-vis NYC would not be so great if the default comparison was some other more affordable larger city in the U.S., of which there are many.

 

He also seemed to gloss over in various cases just how easy, or not easy, it is (financially or otherwise) to obtain ongoing/permanent legal residency status in some of the other world cities he listed.

 

I think Bangkok would be a pretty cool place to live.  I've always been impressed with the "big city" vibe of Bangkok on my day-visits there.  It definitely reminds me of NYC in many good ways ( a town that is my real home and hs been for over 20 years).

But still there's something unique about Chiang Mai that's hard to put into words but which I really fell in love with while living there. 

True enough, the pollution during smoky season in Chiang Mai is atrocious, but it only lasts for a few months and is easily escapable by a bike ride up Doi Suthep where the air is always cool and crystal clear.

Most of my productive time is spent indoors at my workstation or at a co-working space with the aircon on, so smoky season isn't that bad really.

In Chiang Mai there is just a more genuine vibe of what Thailand is really all about, and at the same time it has the feel of a big city in terms of amenities and cultural attractions, making it more or less unique in the Kingdom.

it's not perfect; no place is.  But it's the best place I've lived so far in the Kingdom (except during Smoky Season).

The Nomad Capitalist, like many other YouTubers, has a not-so-hidden agenda of promoting his own services.  He provides tidbits of actionable information but saves the real meat of the topic for paying clients, so really I think his channel is a total waste of time.  There are much better sources for such information.

On 3/2/2023 at 6:06 AM, jacko45k said:

Nor for those banging on about Chiangmai.... the graveyard for the barely alive!

Your description "the graveyard for the barely alive!" is "dead-on, balls accurate" of Pattaya, not Chiang Mai! 

The typical expat I see here in Pattaya is either bitter old men existing on a meager pension who can't afford to live anywhere else, or men here as sex tourists and lovers of seedy nightlife, or Russians fleeing the woes of their homeland.   Most disgusting are the men who are all three, and there are plenty of those! 

I say this, not just from personal observation but because Pattaya is, after all, Thailand's premiere "Sin City", and its' seedy nature is how most people around the world think of Pattaya.

The number of expats in Pattaya that are under 40 and here as legitimate and productive digital nomads is incredibly small compared to the number found in Chiang Mai, which is ranked by most people around the world as one of the top 10 places to be a digital nomad...and with good reason.

Those who refer to me as a basher of Pattaya are wrong.  I am only reflecting on what I see, and what the world at large sees.

I'm not making judgement calls on those who enjoy living here.  Each to his own.  If you are a poor pensioner or a sex tourist, or simply enjoy whiling away your time on the beach, I guess Pattaya must be paradise for you. 

However, If you prefer a younger, more energetic crowd who embrace the outdoors, who are productive expat entrepreneurs, and who are attracted to being in Thailand for its' unique culture, and being around like-minded expats from all around the world, Chiang Mai has SO MUCH MORE to offer IMO.

On 3/2/2023 at 12:27 AM, BigStar said:

Actually, you started living in Pattaya in March 2019, and that Oct claimed you were going back to Chiang Mai the next month, in Nov. The travel bans didn't begin until the following April, so you weren't really stuck. The bans were lifted last July, so again you've had plenty of time. Yet you signed another lease in Feb.

 

I dunno. We seem to be seeing here an inauspicious lack of foresight, planning, goal orientation, time management, and execution very much at odds with the entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe it's the lack of access to real co-working space. Starbucks, gimme a beak.

 

Anyway, no ace dynamic entrepreneur and digital nomad should be cruelly locked away from riding his bicycle and thriving in his beloved natural habitat by--of all things--the petty consideration of a mere lease. You and bicycle can be in Chiang Mai next week. Enough with the excuses and running around looking for cheap testosterone enanthate. Let's have some action.

 

I am simply stating my opinion of Pattaya vs Chiang Mai and not wishing to get into a pissing match with you and your inane and mean spirited personal jabs and pithy remarks (which are actually quite pathetic, from the standpoint of written prose).  

Have you nothing better to do with your life than make personal attacks on others?  I guess not.  There's another term for that sort of behavior; it's called being an internet troll, and it sounds like you've had plenty of practice.

2 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Many digital nomads are employed and so not entrepreneurs so the term would be overly restrictive. I don't understand why DN's need a co-working space, all I need is internet and somewhere quiet in case I need to teleconference. Fibre internet in my own home is always going to be faster than anything shared. I live in Pattaya. I  could live in CM but the entertainment in Pattaya is better.

The advantages of a co-working space is that the better ones are not just for working but for networking with like-minded people. 

In Chiang Mai I frequently went to one called Punspace simply for the opportunity to meet other expats involved in the same type of projects that I was to share information and ideas that was often invaluable.

It also provided a sense of community that you don't get in forums, and I made friends with dozens of people from all around the world that are still my friends today.

Business aside, there's just more to do recreationally and culturally in Chinag Mai than in Pattaya.  If nightlife and more prurient pursuits are important to you, Pattaya's got Chinag Mai beat for sure, but those things are of little interest to me.

In an hour's drive from Chiang Mai you can experience so many different landscapes and cultures of Thailand compared to Pattaya, much more varied eateries many of which are world-class in their own right without being considered "fancy" or expensive.. 

There's the resources of Chiang Mai University (which is truly a world-class institution) to take advantage of, not to mention just chilling out on its' beautifully landscaped campus, using the sports facilities and playing fields, participating in the numerous cultural festivities of the university.  For many (myself included), the University is a vibrant and lively focal point of the town by day and by night.

So is the "Old City" section of Chiang Mai with its' rich history and preserved heritage. 

There's just so much more that Chiang Mai has to offer compared to Pattaya in these regards.

Chiang Mai was, and still is a mecca for digital nomads from all around the world for all of these reasons, and most would agree that it is by far the best town in Thailand to be in if you are a digital nomad.