JackGats

Luckily, most hotels address this simply by making an ashtray available on the balcony.

Yeah, sometimes you can no longer smell the ubiquitous gagging stench of drains because of the weed smell.

Was today at Bangkok Bank in order to register my new passport number. Was told I'd have to come back in about one week for a face pic relating to transfers over 50k. For most payments 50k is a high enough limit. All the same, I do transfers to my broker's (Bualuang) over that limit on a regular basis. No idea whether the bank's own affiliated broker as a payee would be exempt from the face ID requirement.

In most countries you can for a certain number of months, after which you must fall back on a local driving licence or get one. In some countries (Germany, France) a certified translation of the Thai driving licence is required, unless you also carry the international driving licence. In other countries (Belgium, apparently the UK), the English in the Thai driving licence suffices. The problem that can arise I think is if you cannot satisfy the police that you live in Thailand and not in the UK.

That's good news! I think I read somewhere that for the Elite visa it had to be done at the issuing office. Another plus of the LTR compared to the Elite then.

For the LTR, if money in the bank, then 100k USD, not 800k Baht. Either 100k USD in a Thai or foreign bank OR a health insurance explicitly mentioning 50k USD coverage.

Doesn't it work that way only if you previous visa was issued in Bangkok? A visa can only be cancelled by the IO that issued it. That makes cancelling & issueing on the same day unfeasable if the IO is not Bangkok's.

From what I've read about the LTR visa, the 800k in a Thai bank become irrelevant. Note however that you need to get your non-O cancelled beforehand with the IO that issued it. A spiteful IO could challenge you on your 800k (savings book) and give you 3 days to leave the country instead of giving you time to get your passport stamped with the LTR.

In many countries that would be true. But maybe not in Thailand where "decriminalised" could mean no problem for Thais but still arrestable for foreigners.

P.S. I just got my passports back with all stamps transfered. 1) It worked without an embassy letter. My embassy was one of the embassies who stopped issueing the precious "embassy letter". 2) Credit must be given where credit is due. I did this through Yaivisa Pass (photocopy shop next to Chonburi IO). I shall probably not apply for renewals in Pattaya (nor through agencies) any more, but if I did I'd opt for this agency. You see no cardboard boxes full of passports here, but I think when it comes to passports, there's no safety in numbers. Besides, the agency is a stone's throw from IO. Less risk of a drunken bike driver landing into a ditch with a consignment of passports.

I don't think the legalisation was "badly thought out". If you want to legalise any drug, do it quickly at one fell swoop. Otherwise it takes a decade like it did in the US (and like it does in Germany right now). There should be an amendment in any constitution that says the legalisation of any drug must not take longer than it took to ban it in the first place.

As I hinted earlier, the missing passport resurfaced the day after I reported it missing to the police. Both passports (old with corner clipped off + new one) went yesterday to IO for stamp transfer. So unless I'm extremely unlucky things should turn out all right, with some lessons learnt.

I wanted to hedge against the Brazilian Real appreciating too much against the Euro ahead of a Brazil trip. Someone knowledgeable recommended I hedge by buying a Real-denominated bond. This being said, if the dollar loses 80% of its value soon, much more will be at stake for all of us than your puny 25k.

Nope. Just back from immigration. Apparently the 1st of May is a holiday only for the private sector (including banks). Just as well, otherwise it would be like another Songkran.

Kudos to Thailand and its allegedly undemocratic government for having brought this to pass! If something as pointless and as totalitarian as the war on drugs can ever be won, I wish it to be won by the drugs, not by the other side.

For a moment I thought you were advocating suicide.

Thought of that too, especially since the symtoms go away with cold tablets containing tripolidine (an antihistaminic) + pseudoephedrine. But if I'm not wrong this combination can also act on the lungs. Alas, post-nasal drip seems to be something one can do little about. As to allergies, I'm anxious to see what happens when I get out of Thailand where I can be without aircon and/or ceiling fan.

No COPD. My breathing is normal. It's just pflegm building up in my throat. I've started on anti-acids in case it was reflux this time. But if feels identical to what I felt whenever I got episodes of bronchitis. I'm not sure reflux can mimic that 100%. Tends to be worse when lying down though.

What I find noteworthy in this high-profile case is that he is not being forced to resign following some feminist voodoo sexual assault accusation, like "fondling the breast of a 19-year-old child thirty years ago". That is new and unprecedented, especially in the UK.

Ok, so there's that possibility too. I'll shop around for such a device. Would it then still fall under the vaping ban?

The TH in THC was for "tetrahydro", not for "Thailand". Vaping is, as you rightly point out, illegal in Thailand.

I'd say he is right from the point of view of economics. Besides, I am an staunch opponent of hand-outs and free lunches in which I cannot partake.

For decades I have had outbreaks of chronic bronchitis at regular intervals. Usually the symtoms (having to clear my throat all the time) go away after a few days' use of a Symbicort turbohaler. This time the turbohaler seems hardly to work at all. The only thing I've been doing new of late is taking a puff at a Ghost Jack Herer vaping pen. I've been doing so 4 or 5 days a week, taking a single puff each time. I feel no burning nor bronchitis symptoms right after puffing. In fact the symtoms tend to come later in the day or at night. Question: could this modest vaping habit be the cause of my lung condition? I've read horror story about how harmful, even lethal, vitamin E acetate (a common additive in THC oil vaping) can be.

I see. That is what I have always got with my AIS number. When I am outside Thailand I set my phone to search for a local partner network. I never subscribed to any roaming package though.

What is meant by "switching on global roaming"? Is it sufficient to turn on data usage while out of Thailand? I remember receiving messages from Bangkok Bank in Europe. They would not always come through but sometimes they did. I don't remember what I did or didn't do for this to happen or not.