WaveHunter

I was on one of those once for a visa run, and yeah they really are rolling coffins driven by maniac drivers!

Yeah, that Rome2Rio site is sort of confusing since it says Jomtien - Ekkamai but I think it really means Jomtien-Ekkamai by way of the Rail connection at the airport, not direct. If anyone can clear that up, that would be great, and if anyone can confirm that buses from North Pattaya station do in fact go direct to Ekkamai, that would also be appreciated.

So, North Station is direct (no transfers at airport)?

My apologies if I am confusing the situation. My concern is simply time. I'm going to be very short on time, and may just need to use a taxi. According to Google Maps, if I must transfer at the airport, the trip from airport to MBK Center is 1h 19 min. However from Ekkamai, it is only 32 minutes. So I think Ekkamai is much quicker. Since it's only a 5 minute walk to the Jomtien Depot from my house, I'd rather use that than the North Pattaya depot. So, my only question really is if there is a direct bus from the Jomtien Depot to Ekkamai or if I must transfer at the airport no matter how I travel to the MTB Center.

Does anybody know if there is a bus from the Jomtien depot that goes directly to/from Ekkamai? The Jomtien depot is literally a 5 minute walk from my house so that would be much more convenient than the North Pattaya Depot. I just walked over to ask but nobody spoke English so I couldn't get an answer ????

Oh, and just to be clear, I was not purchasing the case itself from the case manufacturer as a retail purchase. The rental house for the camera gear was using it to ship rental gear to me so I wasn't concerned about Customs, only in finding a courier service could deal with the unusual size and value of contents.

Thanks everybody for the quick, helpful replies. Is the Jomtien bus direct to Ekkamai, or do you have to transfer at the airport and use rail, and then BTS to get to MBK? If the Jomtien bus only goes to the airport and I have to use rail plus BTS, that would take twice as long as getting from Ekkamai to MBK. Do I have that figured correctly? If so, I guess scubascuba3's advice to leave from the North Pattaya depot makes more sense. Yes?

Do buses run from Jomtien (the bus depot next to FoodTown on Thappraya Rd) into downtown Bangkok (the Ekkamai Eastern depot) or just the Suvarnabhumi Airport? I need to get to MBK Center (Mall) from Jomtien and since the depot next to Foodtown is right around the corner from me, that would be best. What's the best way to get to the MBK Center from Jomtien and return. I've never ridden the buses here before so advice would be appreciated.

If I were in this situation I would contact the Bike Box manufacturer and ask for advice. I was in the same situation but with regard to an unusual shaped protective case for motion picture gear I was renting and needed shipped internationally. Surprisingly to me, they had the information for my specific case right at their fingertips. It was not actually so surprising once the rep told me they got requests like mine all the time and simply kept the information on their servers so that they could easily reference it for future customer requests. It's worth a shot at least. I mean, if a manufacturer makes a protective case that is larger than many airlines will accept, they are definitely going to be asked that question by many customers, and are going to have to provide a solution if they are going to successfully sell the case ????

I'm always a little wary about being scammed in Thailand but these seem to be genuine Apple MackBook Pro models in un opened, sealed apple packaging. Of course I will check for the tamper proof seals but they appear to be genuine Apple inventory. There are some great deals on used MacBook Pros on facebook MarketPlace but I am not even looking at them since it's impossible to know their history even if they are still under warranty. What's more, it's difficult to know how many previous owners there were. Apple products will NOT connect to iCloud if more than one previous person has owned the unit, which would be a real nightmare since without iCloud you could not even update the computer. Most people are not aware of that, but if it happens to you, there is nothing Apple can or will do to help you...your nice shiny macbook pro will eventually turn into a incredibly expensive desk paperweight ????

Just an update on my quest. I have fond two resellers, both in Bangkok with shops in MTB Mall. They are not "authorized" Apple resellers but they both are offering brand new, sealed box laptops with unused Apple warranties. I think I am safe in buying from them since they are sealed boxes and I will have a genuine warranty from Apple. Can anyone tell me why this might NOT be a good idea?

Technically that is correct but Customs can still play games with arbitrary valuations that will affect VAT even when a valid invoice is included , and they do this routinely. I've had it happen to me twice, and one time they set the valuation at 10 times the invoiced valuation just to hold my shipment for ransom, expecting I woud just pay! It took a month to file a grievance and finally get the shipment.

Thanks for your original post! Somehow I missed that list on Thailand Apple.com and also thought there were only two "authorized" dealers, both located in Bangkok, but since this list is from Apple, and they make the distinction that there are BOTH Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, the list of authorized reseller is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much! I really love it on this forum when someone chimes in with actually useful things to say. Most appreciated ???? Oh and BTW, concerning the other posters comments, I don't really care if I get post-purchase support through an authorized reseller or not. Truth is I would never even approach them for post-purchase support since I would turn directly to AppleCare in Thailand who I've dealt with before on my Amrican purchased MacBook Pro, and they have always supported me in an excellent fashion.

I just need a dealer that has ANY 2021 Macbook Pro models in 14 in or 16 in. (preferably new, but used OK if the warranty is still in effect). I need 16gB RAM, and at least a 512gB SSD, and will take a credit card That's it.

Sometimes living here in the Magic Kingdom is such a pain in the butt! If it weren't for how sleazy Customs and courier companies are, I would happily buy it the USA and have it shipped.

2021 IS an M1 chip, and reviews of the 2021 model show it is essentially no different than the brand new 2022 models, except for the fact that Apple has dropped the price a LOT on the 2021 models. Configured the way I want, the 2021 model is $1599 USD compared to the 2022 mode which is $1999.

Thanks but only 2022 models listed.

Brick & Mortar Apple stores are not selling 2021 models anymore;. Only thier Amazon store in the US or third-party vendors with existing inventories are.

I am looking for a REPUTABLE computer store in Thailand that is still stocked with the 2021 Macbook Pro (14 or 16). Apple has discontinued selling the 2021 models on their website but is still selling existing inventory through dealers at greatly reduced prices. I can buy on Amazon but would rather buy here in Thailand to avoid shipping, VAT, and Customs duties. Any leads to a store here in the Kingdom would be appreciated. Thanks.

The reason most people find it so hard to lose excess body fat in the long run is because almost every popular weight loss diet is based on caloric restriction when excess calories are not really the issue. I know this is a hotly contested debate, but if you look purely at the biochemical processes involved in food consumption and the hormonal reaction to it, it becomes clear that it is not so much excess calories that are the problem, as it is with how certain metabolic hormones react to excess carbohydrates. Consumption of excess calories is actually a symptom of excessive and non-stop consumption of carbs. You consume more calories because hormonal signals created by excessive carbs makes you want to eat more. But even so, it is still NOT the excessive calories that lead to obesity. Rather, it is the hormonal changes, primarily to insulin secretion, that cause the body to be less efficient at using stored fat as a fuel source that is the real cause of obesity. Calorie restriction diets have been around for hundreds of years, and one new fad-type one replaces an old one on a regular basis. If any of them were really effective, we would not be in the midst of an obesity epidemic today...and, just to be clear, obesity is indeed at epidemic proportions today! I'm a firm believer in looking to science-based solutions to health problems, not health gurus that promote unfounded protocols simply to get rich! If you look at the rapidly changing field of metabolic sciences, it becomes clear that carbohydrates are are what make people obese. It's not even so much to do with excess carbs, as it is to do with eating them continually throughout the day. These days, people "graze" on food. They are in a "fed" state from the moment they wake up until they go to bed. It's not just breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but includes regular snacks in between. In developed countries, most people have never even experienced true hunger (i.e.: complete depletion of glycogen), and THAT is the real reason for obesity! The human body was never intended to be in a fed state continually throughout the day. When that occurs over the long term, the body becomes inefficient at shifting from a glucose based metabolism to a fat based one where we burn stored body fat as fuel. When you are young and highly active, even if you eat 3 meals a day and snack, your body still can burn through glycogen stores and shift over to burning stored fat simply because you are so active (i.e.: full of energy), but as you age, this transition becomes less called into play simply because you are more sedentary. The real key to avoiding obesity or dealing with it is simply to NOT to be in a fed state through most of the day. Some people refer to it as intermittent fasting but don't really understand the physiology at play. It has nothing to do with calorie restriction or even carbohydrate restriction. It has more to do with (for lacking of a better term) "exercising" hormonal processes that allow the body to transition from burning glucose to burning stored fat. Skipping a meal or even eating only once a day is a very viable and healthy solution to obesity for this reason. Unlike calorie restriction diets which are just not sustainable in the long run, this type of intermittent fasting is a lifestyle that the human body can very quickly adapt to (i.e.: in a matter of days or at most a week). Once that happens, there are no unbearable hunger pangs, no real drop in energy throughout the day, and most importantly, the secretion of hormones like insulin and glucagon become more balanced and optimal. The idea of skipping a meal or only eating once a day might seem daunting or even dangerous to some people, but science shows that it is actually the way the body was intended to function at its' best. I am not advocating that people should do this. That is a purely personal choice. I only say it is something that should be considered. I say, research it responsibly using science based sources to do that, not dopey health gurus on YouTube, ya know? I have been living that way for a couple of decades now. I've always been an active person, and into my 50's now I swim, run, and bike competitively against people far younger than me and hold my own, so I feel pretty confident that it works well for me. Maybe it will for you too, but that's your decision to make.

Well, you're just plain wrong. Serious scientific researchers whose work is essential to understanding the metabolic processes and functions I'm talking about would NEVER use popular catchphrases like OMAD or any of the other popularized diet fads in describing their work. I mean I defy you to find the term "omad" used anywhere on the Nobel prize website, or in any of the works associated with the two researchers I mentioned, and yet their work is integral to understanding the fed vs fasted state....and THAT is entirely what the OMAD concept is all about. Don't you see that? I guess you don't after so many time of repeating myself. That's OK though. Like I said, I am into the metabolic sciences and love studying it. You apparently are not. I'm not criticizing you for that since everyone has their priorities in life, and if deeply understanding the rapidly emerging science is not your thing, there's nothing wrong with that at all. HOWEVER, it is wrong of you to criticize me for my beliefs when you have no understanding of, nor desire to explore the underlying science that I pin them on. Anyway it was nice debating with you even if we didn't really communicate in a meaningful way. Best wishes to you also.

If you only search for proof that "Omad" works, you will find nothing credible because the term "Omad" is more or less a catch-phrase used by people trying to promote it, not by science based researchers so I'm not surprised you come up with nothing. Like I said before, you need to research this from a science-based perspective. You shouldn't be trying to disprove "Omad", which is what you;re really trying to do. Instead, you should take the long-route and start trying to understand the scientific basis of nutrition. In other words, the metabolic workings of our bodies in terms of biochemistry. When you look at it that way, there's a lot of science that backs up the concepts I'm talking about, like not always being in a fed-state, allowing your glycogen levels to fall throughout the day so that your body can efficiently shift over to a fat-burning metabolism naturally. The human body was simply not intended to use carbohydrates as a sole fuel source. If you are always in a fed-state, the body's ability to shift over to burning fats is simply made less efficient, and over time it just becomes less and less efficient, especially if your lifestyle involves "grazing" (i.e.: eating regularly throughout the day from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. Many people who have their 3 meals a day and snack in between may do fine for a long time, but for many, always being in a fed state with continually high insulin levels will eventually lead to insulin insensitivity, and then they are on a slippery slope towards obesity, and even diseases associated with obesity like Diabetes-2. I'm not just pulling this all out of thin air. There is substantial science to support this...but you have to do the hard work of researching it, not just listening to proponents or critics of diet books...you have to become familiar with THE UNDERLYING SCIENCE. So, for me that was the starting point. It was easy for me because I love learning about science, but that's not where I stop since you are correct that most of the science is only theory when it comes to how our bodies really work. I take it a step further and put it into practice to see for myself if it has a positive or negative effect on my body. I am a "bio-hacker". If you've never heard the term, it just means that I like to test these theories by putting them into practice on myself sort of like an experiment to see if I can discern a positive or negative effect. If you look at the titles of some of my notebooks you can see that I have tested various fasting regimens to gauge their effect on general feelings of well-being, but also more specific things like their effect on lipid levels, changes in cholesterol, resting blood pressure, and other metabolic markers, but the one area I have the most interest is in intra-cellular metabolic markers...the proteins within our cells that really affect metabolic health. My bio-hacks are simply an attempt to see what happens when I try to put these theories into practice via fasting. I do it responsibly and carefully. My doctor is on board when I run these "self-experiments" and I always do before / after blood panels not only for safety but as proof of whether these changes are real or just imagined. Like I said, I don't do these for any reason except that I love the science, and I do them just for myself, not in order to convince others they should do the same. Again, I am not trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking. All I am saying is that people should take the subject of how their bodies work seriously, and not taking any particular health guru's word for it. You simply have to decide for yourself, and you can't do that unless you base it on hard science that you them use to form your own opinions. The human body relies on NOT always being in the fed-state for these mechanisms to function properly. The emerging science that pertains to this is far too complex to go into in this post but it is groundbreaking in understanding how our bodies really work, and it is NOT guru-speak. One of the leading researchers in this field of study was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work, so it is the real deal! If I were to offer two of the most influential researchers whose work really frames my beliefs about how fed vs fasted states affect metabolic health, it would be these two: Dr. George F. Cahill, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School who's treatise "Fuel metabolism in Starvation" written several decades ago was based on his research that really changed how metabolic sciences began to evolve. The work of Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi into the functions and processes of autophagy, for which he received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. His work is the closest thing to proof that the human body relies on NOT always being in a fed state for optimum metabolic health. There you go. If you choose, you can google these and learn more. Yo are not going to find some easy "holy grail" type proof since no such thing exists, but if you use these two names as a starting point and really put some effort into it, maybe you'll appreciate what science has to say about all of this.

No offence intended but you are not paying attention to what I say. I am NOT saying I am "living proof" at all. I am saying I practice what I do based on MANY sources of science based information I have read over a long period of time and from literally hundreds of sources. There is no one source or school of thought that I base my nutritional beliefs on. It is the culmination of a lot of information that leads me on the path I am on. Some of that information supports my beliefs and some contradicts it but each is important to explore. I would have t provide you with literally hundreds of links (both pro and con) for you to understand why I believe what I do. The only way you will ever be convinced, one way or another is to do your own research, but if you don't do that for yourself, you really have nothing that is science-based to pin your beliefs on. I am not saying I am right and you are wrong. I am just saying that everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) I base my practices on are science-based because throughout history, only the "scientific method" of enquiry has proven efficacy. It's the only way that knowledge and truth can evolve in the long run. That it works for me is NOT proof that I am right. It is only validation that it works, specifically for me. I hope you see the distinction I am making here. I would have to disagree that life experiences alone are proof of anything. That's why I don't like many fo the health gurus who base all of their beliefs on observation studies, rather than clinical studies of biochemical processes. I know I can get upset sometimes but I don't mean it to be personal...but I know that sometimes I will come off that way. I apologize for that. I know I can sometimes have a short temper. I just believe in science above everything else, and unfortunately when it comes to nutrition, very little is really black and white and there is no wrong or right answer right now so you have to know everything you can possibly know (both sides of the debate) and only then decide what you believe is the right path to take, and even then there's no guarantee that what is right for me will also be right for you.

BTW, the reason I added the snapshot of my notebooks is not to show off how well read I am but to give you some good keywords and phrases to search (including Ohsumi and autophagy) without me giving you biased leads,

Don't take this the wrong way, but I've been down this road before on forums as far as providing links to scientific studies, etc. My goal in posting here is to give the broad strokes of what I believe and why I believe it. Your goal should be to explore the concepts I discuss FOR YOURSELF, and to explore research that both supports as well as contradicts your own beliefs. Too many people research a topic only from sources that support their belief, and ignore sources that contradict it. That's no good, not if you really want to explore a topic objectively. If I provide links, most people will argue that I am cherry picking them to support my narrative, and that would probably be true. There is no way around it...if you want to find the TRUTH on a topic as debated as nutrition, you have to do your OWN research even though you will find no definitive answers. It is only then that you can find your own opinion on the topic and have conviction to believe in it. It is a painstaking process to do it, for sure! I've been doing that for over 20 years since I was in college. I don't do it for any reason other than I love studying science, particularly in the area of metabolic biochemistry. I hold no advanced degrees in biochemistry but I studied it as an undergraduate so that helps some in understanding developments over the last decade, and most of what I say here is based on that, not in what's written in diet books or discussed by health gurus on YouTube. I mean, here's a snapshot of just some of my notebooks on Fasting related topics. I have many more on other subjects as well, all collected over the last twenty years, which I regularly add to: My beliefs are not just knee jerk reaction to a single study, a preconceived belief, or a rigid point of view. Instead, they evolve and change over time, based on newly emerging research. To do it any other way will just lead you astray. If you really want the truth on a topic, you need to really study it FOR YOURSELF, not simply accept someone else's word for it even it if they are a credible source simply because there often is no single correct answer. In the end you have to decide for yourself what you believe the truth is, but you can't do that unless you explore the topic objectively from all different viewpoints, and then make your own decision. If you don't really put in the work, you just won't really have the strength to trust your own opinions, and instead fall back on trusting someone else's opinion. There are far simpler ways to form an opinion on o complex topic like nutrition I suppose, and I guess there is nothing too wrong with being allied to a particular researcher you respect, but that's just never worked for me. So, I'm not professing to know all the answers or nor am I trying to sway anyone to my way of thinking. All I am saying is that if you really want to feel comfortable that you are on the right path, you have to put in an effort so that you can think for yourself.