tom in bangkok

On 12/24/2019 at 6:41 AM, asanee said:

any 7 will be glad to take it for any purchase

They will also take any amount of change and xfer to your bank account.

About 6 months ago I had 5-6kg of thai coins. I asked at the closest 7 if they could give me notes for them and was told they can accept the coins and promptpay the value to me as long as I had pre-sorted them into groups of 100 baht.

1 hour of counting and 28 plastic bags later, my partner had 2800 thb transferred into his account. YMMV so I would suggest you have a Thai starts the discussion.

I was stopped by the police at their checkpoint on the way home today (2nd time ever) and was asked where I was going. I pointed to my condo building and told him, then he just waved me through. No breath-test or license check or anything.

When I was first stopped a few months ago they almost pulled me out of my car to search it for an unexplained reason. Instead, about 8 of them pointed their torches through all the windows in the car and decided that was good enough. Nothing further.

I'm just wondering what they're looking for when they stop people and why my two experiences were so different. Any ideas or just cops following arbitrary orders?

The cardholder name isn't used for payment authorisation, so you could technically put anything in there. I've only seen it be used by merchants as a very basic form of fraud screening and in the case of evidence for chargebacks.

However if I were a merchant and saw an order come through with the name "Privileged Member" I'd probably cancel it.

Edit: as the other users said, just put your full name in there. Initial doesn't really matter.

On 12/18/2019 at 8:49 PM, EbhB said:

When we started the process HK was the clearly best option, but read that it changed to giving visas ONLY to people with WP-3.

Anyone know about the status in HK?

Good question. I got my B-visa in HK last year (without a WP) after a recommendation from my lawyer and I was granted it, but I got a stern talking to and a bonus love-letter in my passport (below), so I'm not surprised to hear they're cracking down.

Give it a shot OP, other users have had successful experiences by just asking. Let us know what happens.

For everyone else, if you've arrived at swampy during a particularly busy time and the immigration queue is beyond the "45 minutes" sign, try walking to the next immigration section 100-200m away. Maybe it'll be better -- it usually is for me.

Other than that, get an APEC card or diplomatic passport. Or be a pilot/flight staff; you'll get your luggage faster too.

6 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

According to WHO:

 

You must not give blood:

If you engaged in “at risk” sexual activity in the past 12 months

 

Seems to rule out a large swarth of the population here, foreign and domestic.

 

TIT. ????

What is classified as risky here? The Thai Red Cross website is broken.

I found this gem though:

Screen Saver

3 hours ago, clearance said:

If you want sugar mix with EST Cola, EST is one one the best that I tasted so far for cola cocktails.

EST is the worst cola on the market -- it's way too sweet and artificial-tasting. Why do you like it? (legit question)

Pepsi max -- no question. I've had people mix equal parts soda water and coke (full sugar) with tons of ice for me and I enjoyed it, but I think pepsi max is the way to go.

Have you tried with ginger?

OP what happened? Did you go today?

18 hours ago, sfokevin said:

Also if you order get the global version which has a US plug 

And in case anyone gets the Chinese version like I did, you have to set your region to "chinese mainland" in the app to be able to connect to it.

Nothing happened as you guys said. They hung around for about 2 hours then left.

In fairness this isn't something I'd seen before and couldn't find a thread that was the same. Wanted to know what was up.

Relax.

I ordered my purifier after reading this thread a few days ago and it arrived today. Xiaomi Mi S2 from Lazada. Thanks for the reminder.

The app was a pain in the ass to setup though.

3 minutes ago, mike787 said:

I would make sure no matter what you have a plan B ready and instructions for your thai significant other ready if you are not alone...just in case.  This is the new Thailand, not Elysium...NO Diplomatic immunity unless very large envelopes are ready in hand.

Hah, keep a wad of 1000thb notes in my drawer? Or do the officers accept qr code bank transfers?

I've got a plan already in case things really do hit the fan for no reason.

I carry a backpack with a couple of old plastic bags inside. In other countries the stores sell reusable bags made from some kind of tough fabric.

Only thing I'm worried about is having to pay for the plastic bags for my loo bins.

3 minutes ago, Pravda said:

Let me guess. C Ekkamai

Nah, but maybe they're here to plunder the airbnbs in this building.

Yeah it slows my browser down for some reason (along with the other ads -- I think from doubleclick.com?) and annoys me a fair bit.

Which bothers you more -- waiting 10 seconds before a page is usable or clicking the close button on the little ad?

Cheers guys. I'll just chill and I suppose show them my passport and such if they come knocking.

Oh interesting, thanks for that. I'm not seeing any fees show up either but I've got a preauth that mentions FX fees haven't been applied "yet". I'll check in a few days and see.

On 11/30/2019 at 11:53 PM, BestB said:

If you have WP, citibank seems not to have any fees for credit cards and also kbank.

 

I have citibank premier card and kbank platinum and neither charges fees when i make international purchases

Are you sure about that? My citi prestige still charges the standard 2.5% on foreign transactions. How did you manage to have the fee dropped?

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

what is a TPN card

Thai Payment Network. If your card uses TPN it'll have the logo co-branded on the card:

It means that a debit transaction will be processed through their network that's wholly based in Thailand, appeasing Bank of Thailand. If you want to use the card online, the merchant has to be using a payment gateway that is based here, otherwise you won't be able to use it.

There's a place on Sukhumvit 23 called Craft that I enjoyed. It's got probably 100 beers on the menu, many are on the pricier side, but I remember local beers and taps being reasonably priced for a pint. You can order "mexican" food from the place next door to eat in the beer garden which the other farang around me seemed to enjoy.

It's walking distance from BTS Asok and MRT Sukhumvit.

Spotted this on one of my basil leaves this morning and it looks like an ant with huge antennae and it appears to have 6 legs, but not sure. Does anyone know what it is and if it's harmful to my plants (or me)?

I was looking up Thai ants but couldn't find any that were as red as this one or with those big antennae. How would it even make it up so high in my condo anyway?