CygnusX1

Yes, you seem to be correct there. However from a google query, ‘ANZ charges a 1.3% fee on all foreign currency transactions, including ATM withdrawals, when using your ANZ Visa Debit or EFTPOS card.’ So this really amounts to the same thing as a ripoff exchange rate - it’s not a fixed charge such as the 250 baht that the Thai bank charges for using the ATM, but it’s 1.3% on the entire amount. Anyway, you’ve made me feel less stressed about using my ANZ card if my ING card doesn’t work, as 1.3% isn’t nearly as bad as I thought.

It’s both - fixed charges for international withdrawals and exchange rates that are worse than the ones set by Visa and Mastercard. Check the international exchange rates page for one of the big 4 Oz banks.

A foreign debit card will still work, you just have to first check the exchange rate your foreign bank will use. For instance, the ‘big 4’ Australian banks use ripoff rates, but there are other banks that use fair rates, not sure if I’m allowed to advertise them here. It’s harder to get the 250 baht charge rebated now, but that’s only small compared to the potential exchange rate ripoff. You then have to be extremely careful to decline the Thai ATM’s ‘helpful’ offer to convert to your local currency. This can be a bit tricky if you’ve never used the particular bank’s ATM before and are under a bit of time pressure with a queue behind you. Dynamic Currency Conversion is a scam on a scale to make Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme look like a chook raffle in comparison.

Ford Mustangs are exported to Australia RHD from the factory.

That’s an extraordinary number, take out small children and the extreme elderly, and it’s even higher.

Yes, but with their pick of dozens of glorious Mediterranean beach resorts with crystal clear water, and usually perfect weather in July and August, Europeans wanting a beach holiday would be crazy to spend all that time and money travelling to Thailand at that time. Around Christmas and New Year, when they also have holidays, is a vastly more logical time for them to visit Thailand.

Yes, if you belong to an insane death cult, the doctrine of nuclear deterrence through ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ no longer applies. I don’t think the current Iranian government, evil as it is, qualifies as that yet, but given the nature of the terrorist organisations they sponsor, it’s a worry.

I stayed in a (relatively) cheap hotel on the main island, rather than on one of the spectacularly expensive resorts on an outlying island. I thought the place was a little run down, and poorer looking than I’d expected. I’d be driven insane with boredom if I had to stay there for a long time. World’s most beautiful airport though. Preferred Moorea.

Anywhere in Europe, there’s just so much to see and do. As an Australian, I’d need several million dollars for a long term visa though.

Definitely not in Palermo, Sicily, where I’ve been the last couple of days. Imagine Bangkok with 90% fewer pedestrian lights, no footbridges, and worse drivers.

I’m happy to be corrected on the third to a half, good news if that’s true. Certainly a lot fewer than that were wearing masks in Jomtien, I was referring to Bangkok. What do you think is the % of mask wearing in central Bangkok? The proportion of people who wore masks pre Covid was minuscule, people have posted videos of crowds in Bangkok to demonstrate this. Whether taking precautions is hysteria or not depends entirely on the odds - I take the precaution to always look both ways before crossing a road, but my chances of becoming severely ill or dying from Covid are tiny, so it would be crazy for me to wear a face mask. I do take the precaution of a shot of vaccine annually, but that’s a trivial bother compared with the misery of wearing a face mask whenever I’m outside my home.

Around a third to half of people in Bangkok still wearing face masks (when I was there last month, doubt that anything’s changed since then), including in situations outdoors where they aren’t within cooee of anyone else, vs ZERO in Europe, is a pretty good indicator of hysteria.

I feel his pain too. One time in Australia, I input the correct PIN, which was accepted by the ATM, which then asked me how much I wanted to withdraw. I selected a modest amount well under the daily withdrawal limit that was a fraction of the amount in the account, ATM then swallowed my card. I marched into the adjoining branch, and with zero language difficulties, since this was in Australia, explained what had happened. Sorry, can’t get card back, machine immediately destroys it, get new card mailed in a couple of weeks.

I’m in Europe right now, doing the usual tourist stuff amid big summer crowds. No face masks anywhere whatsoever, no Covid hysteria. You have to wonder why It’s just Thailand that’s so vulnerable to this disease.

Yes, but my point was that this was not stated in the article. If 84% of people hospitalised weren’t wearing a helmet, but 95% of riders on the roads weren’t wearing helmets, then that would mean that wearing a helmet would make you more likely to be hospitalised in an accident. I’m sure that’s not the case, but you must quote both stats before you start calculating probabilities.