triplegee

Shocked to hear this. 
Lived a large life did Warnie, taken far too early. 

Covid last year, will be an interesting autopsy. 
RIP Shane. 

14 minutes ago, KanchanaburiGuy said:

Lol

 

CP Group owns Makro

 

CP Group Owns Lotus's

 

CP Group owns 7-11

 

CP Group wholesales to most or all of their competitors: Tops (Central), Big C (Charoen), CJ Express, TMK, et cetera. 

 

When my wife asks me who has the best prices, my answer is always the same: It depends on what you want to buy, and when.

 

Different stores have different promotions at different times. And each store has their own policy about when they feel they can make a little more on something, and when they have to settle for a little less. 

 

Across the board---when all the high profit and low profit things are added together---all the majors probably make about the same profit percentage. What we see as consumers can vary quite a bit only because of the choices WE make. 

 

Think about it: If CP Group were making a lower profit percentage overall at Makro stores than at Lotus's, why wouldn't they replace the Makro stores with Lotus's? 

 

CP Group doesn't have three different kinds of stores (7-11, Makro, Lotus's) because they make more profit percentage at one, and less at another.  They have three different kinds of stores because they appeal to different kinds of customers. But if one truly started to pull away on its profitability, CP Group would shift more and more in that direction! 

 

But the bottom line is, the *ahem* "best place to shop" has everything to do with what YOU want: What you want to buy, and when you want to buy it!

 

Because I guarantee you, if you want to waste a bunch of time (and money on petrol), you can do better shopping at ALL the stores, instead of fousing on just one! 

 

But who wants to go to Lotus's to check the prices, then go to Big C to compare them, and then to Makro to compare theirs to the other two? And then who wants to buy a few things while you're still at Makro, then go BACK to Big C and Lotus's for those things with the price advantages! (That's FIVE STOPS altogether, to save...... how much? [Probably not as much as you spent in petrol, at today's roughly 3km=10baht, to drive a car!] 

 

---------------

---------------

 

And my wife and me? We have settled on doing about 80% of our "Supermarket" shopping at Big C. It is the closest major to us (14km), and fairly regularly has good promos we can take advantage of:

 

* Spend 299 baht and can buy certain other things at better-than-sale prices.

 

* Spend 700 baht, get 60 baht discount / spend 1,300 baht, get 120 baht discount. 

 

* Use card and get points. Use points to pay part of the bill. 

 

* Shop in the early evening and take advantage of "Yellow Tag" clearances. Bakery products usually 25% off (the crispy pizza for 38 baht is pretty darn good! 555); in-house prepared foods for a quick microwave snack later at 25% off; near expiration fresh milk at half price (which my stepson will guzzle down in a day, anyway!), etc. 

 

* And we watch for sales: Buy 2, get 1; buy 1 get 1. Discounts on rarely discounted items. Not shy about stocking up a little on something we'll use anyway!

 

(Me: Jack 'n Jill Chocolate cookies, with chocolate center! [The milk chocolate colored ones, not the dark, like Oreos! 555] Sometimes 44 baht for 1 pound multipack. Sufficiently satisfies my chocolate craving, and much cheaper than buying "real" expensive-in-Thailand chocolate! 555 I'll buy 6 to 8 multipack when they're on sale! 555)

 

We'll only go to Lotus's or Makro if we're in the neighborhood already, or there's something we really want/need and only they have. ("American" Peanut Butter---JIF/Skippy---in 1kg jar. Much cheaper this way than half-sized containers at Big C or Lotus's! Best Foods "Real Mayonnaise" in a 1kg squeeze bag, [which I've since found in Lotus's "bulk" area, also! 555 Love that stuff!]) 

 

Fresh fruits and veggies come almost exclusively from the open market, but not meat. Never meat! (Hey, if fly poop/eggs had a nice crunch to it....... 555)

 

Honestly, for what we buy, for ourselves and for our hotel, I haven't really seen much of a change. Mostly I've seen the seasonal changes we see every year: Price for oranges goes up, price for oranges goes down! Nicer oranges are a little more expensive, not as nice oranges are a little cheaper! But come on! 30-35 baht for a kilogram? That's CHEAP! 555

 

Cheers!

 

 

Agree - shop around and there's money to be saved. 

All the supermarkets have buy one get one promotions - even Villa Market!

https://shop.villamarket.com/catalog/Special Offer/Buy 1 Get 1 Free/All

On 7/21/2020 at 7:56 PM, Oxx said:

 

(1) Can you find anywhere a detailed description of what it contains?

 

(2) Can you find any references to scientific papers which demonstrate its efficacy?

 

I can't, which leads me to think it's over-priced snake oil.

Thanks for the feedback. 

I did find a couple of documents on their website which include answers to:

(1) Sugarcane stem (sugar removed), red sorghum, ascorbic acid and citric acid (acidity regulators), natural orange flavour, natural beta carotene, vegetable gum, stevia (natural sweetener).

(2) Trial completed but with a relatively small sample size.

I would love to hear from any Aussies that may have experience with the product. 

Thanks again. 

NutriKaneD_Fact-Sheet_Jul2020_Web.pdf NutriKaneD_WIW_Jul2020_Web.pdf

Thanks for the responses guys, I will definitely do some research into Chromium Picolinate.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with Nutrikane-D, a natural plant based product from Australia that claims to lower blood sugar levels?

From their website:

Quote

NutriKane D is a safe, natural, concentrated medical food provided in an easy to use scoop dose. It contains all of the types of dietary fibre (not just simple soluble fibres), resistant starch, and a wide range of essential micronutrients that have been shown to nourish the gut microbiome, reduce systemic inflammation and ultimately help control blood sugar levels.

https://nutrikane.com.au/

I am early-50's with type 2 diabetes (last measure 152) and have been recommended Nutrikane by an Aussie mate. 

Thanks in advance for any info provided. 

Villa have a few - shared this in a different topic the other day....

https://shoponline.villamarket.com/villaselectitems/selected/product/?form_key=83JevquhCzSdBj0b&k=puff+pastry

Just in case the OP hasn't sorted out his Filo requirements yet, you can order online through Villa in Pattaya.

https://shoponline.villamarket.com/catalog/product/view/id/11876/s/0172402-jus-rol-ready-rolled-filo-pastry-sheets/

 

 

 

 

15 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Can you share any details on how you resolved this? What documentation did you have to provide (lease, blue book, owner's ID)? Did you have to complete a TM-30?

Yes - my wife completed the TM-30 & given we had all documentation with us for the visa renewal she used the blue book & her ID. 

The Chaengwatthana Division 1 people were not aware of the online system mentioned by @Peterw42 as they indicated I would have to self report every time I travel - will definitely look into this so many thanks. 

Had exactly the same experience at Chaengwatthana Immigration yesterday. 

Was told that my Non-Immigrant visa renewal couldn't be processed until my address was resolved. The system had me registered at a hotel in Pattaya we stayed at last year. Spent 2 hours in a queue at counter B to fix it to be told that it was a THB 800 fine that my wife managed to talk her way out of. She was told by the nice lady at this counter that it all came about because some foreigners complained about a Wat near Rama 3 tolling its bell early in the morning and when the police investigated that matter they discovered a whole bunch of foreigners not registered at that address. 

It added another day to the visa renewal process that I didn't see coming. Apparently, there's no online service to support address notification and all foreigners who spend time away from their registered address are expected to report in person every time. Seems ludicrous so let's see how long it lasts. 

I did a full check up at Samitivej late last year which was fine in itself (actually helped identify some issues requiring treatment) but I do recall discovering afterward that the equivalent package at St. Louis was significantly cheaper. 

FWIW, I've ended up having my treatment done at Bangkok Hospital as I find the quality of doctors there is the best so I would recommend checking out their health check packages. 

I've been informed by a mate living in Pattaya that he can get Villa Market deliveries to the dark side from honestbee, haven't tried it out myself though.

https://www.honestbee.co.th/en/groceries/stores/villa-market-pattaya

18 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

 

If you want to share the addon, go to your kodi addons folder and copy the folder Plugin.video.ozlive.

 

Then go to Kodi userdata > addondata and if there is a folder with the same name copy that one also.

 

Not sure if the TV system supports the format to post it, but maybe you can zip it and post as a zip file,  then the one who is interested in this addon paste those folders in the respective locations of his Kodi system folder.

 

Then goes to system > addons > my addons > video addons and enable Ozlive addon.

I've been looking for the addon files on my system (windows 10) but can't find anything with Ozlive or Oz in the name - I am looking in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Kodi folder....

I can't find any other Kodi directories on my C: drive. 

My userdata folder doesn't have an addondata folder sub-folder.

I shall see what I can find on my Android installation. 

Just now, janclaes47 said:

Since the repo originated from Tvaddons it can not connect to the server.

 

Yeah - wasn't sure it would work. 

I did try to follow the process above on my existing installation and got an "add-on updated" message. 

I dare not uninstall it and try again as I don't want to lose it. 

4 hours ago, Kleos73 said:

Hi guys and thank you. Does anyone know where I could download the Oz Live TV addon please? I cant find the zip since tvaddons went down

 

Let's see if this works - no promises as I've not done it this way before...

Go to system, add-ons and choose  "Install from Zip file". 

Select the zip file attached. 

Once you get the confirmation that the repository was installed then go to "Install from repository" - select KJB Repo, then Video Add-ons - you should see Oz Live TV in there. Install it. 

Fingers crossed. 

repository.kjb-1.0.zip

10 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Never mind low price, think about fair price ie 1 item  Foodland 189Bt, same item Villa 260Bt.

I am curious as to what sort of product this comparison is based on?

I know Villa are often more expensive on some imported fresh food items but in my experience, their groceries and other packaged goods are mostly line priced. 

8 hours ago, tlcwaterfall said:

I have this add-on and it works well.

Please let me know which channel you used to watch the Aussie rules. (Mentioned in your earlier post.)

 

When I look at channel 7 instead of them having the footy they have Border Security!

To be clear, I use this addon for the AFL Footy Show only - yep, it's got border security reruns on when live games are telecast. 

I use the Android app from watchafl.afl.com.au for all my AFL needs. Every game live and on demand as well as Fox Footy 24/7 and all their talk shows on demand. This year it's actually provided by Fox and the streaming quality is magnificent. It's included in my Global Eagles membership. 

Just now, janclaes47 said:

 

This is the same addon Tlcwaterfall mentioned on the previous page, and for which you need a vpn.

 

Can you confirm you access the streams without vpn?

Definitely accessing without a VPN.

Sorry guys - ended up moving home rather unexpectedly over the weekend!

The addon is called Oz Live TV.

As of this evening, all FTA channels are working with the exception of ABC News 24 but this is widely available elsewhere. 

I can't recall where I installed it from and I don't know if I can export it??

1 hour ago, janclaes47 said:

As far as I'm aware the Oz addon was not working, or at least for the biggest part not working, quite some time before Fusion went offline.

I've got an excellent Oz TV addon which was working fine on Wednesday night when I watched the AFL Footy Show in HD with no buffering. 

I'll confirm what it is when I get home tonight and see if I can download it & share. 

2 hours ago, TheLab said:

Speaking of honestbee , I think they're opening in Central Pattaya soon. Saw their staff walking around Villa Market the other day. For those who live in Bangkok, they're having a stupidly good promotion. How stupid? Use the code ' FREE300 ' to get 300 baht off 400 baht. That's 75% off, guys.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up TheLab. That's a bloody good deal - I think I'll take advantage of it before they take it down!

7 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

But basically, after you set aside the many small ice cream bars offered via both sites, you're left a much, much smaller range of actual ice cream containers -- a ton of Walls, a few Nestle, a few Haagen Dazs and that's about it. They used to have at least a few Tesco's Finest imported ice cream varieties at reasonable prices via the online channel, but those seem to have disappeared lately.

 

At least Top's/Central have some offerings from Bud's Ice Cream of San Francisco, which actually is produced locally in Bangkok under license from the U.S. company that founded the brand. It's supposed to be a premium ice cream, but at least has the advantage of not having a crazy import price like Haagen Dazs because of being produced here locally.

 

And actually, in looking further, I guess Tesco is just the wrong place to shop for ice cream. In looking at HF's online listing for Big C Rama IV, their ice cream section lists 120+ items and does include quite a few selections from Bud''s, along with several other brands that simply aren't listed at all at Tesco, either direct from their online site or via HF's online site for them.

 

3

All this talk of ice-cream is making me hungry......

I just took a look at Villa Market on honestbee and they've got some interesting brands amongst their 120+ products - including Ben & Jerry's, New Zealand Natural, Haagen-Dazs, Ete, etc...

https://honestbee.co.th/en/stores/villa-market/departments/3309/categories/18863

You're right about e-commerce making it easy to compare product & price across different retailers - now all we need is someone to put all the info into 1 platform! 

10 hours ago, HFBen said:

Hi triplegee! Sorry for the slight delay in my answer. Busy day today! :)

 

No, the fact that we don't charge any service fee has nothing to do with who does the picking. Even at Tesco, our trained personal shoppers still do the picking for you, same as at every other store. The only difference with Tesco is that they support us a bit more financially, so we can cover the cost of our shoppers without having to pass any of it along to our customers. The more support we get from our partners, the more savings we can pass onto our customers. We're striving to do the same for Big C and Gourmet eventually, so that hopefully soon the prices will be the same as in-store everywhere.

Thanks for the clarification HFBen. I know I'd rather have your staff picking the products....

Same price as in store would be nice across all your retailers - when you add in delivery fees & markup you're looking at somewhere in the vicinity of a 10% premium.