CygnusX1

You’re a lot tougher than me with no AC running, and I live in a similar location, also high floor and shady side, but have AC on constantly (except for the cold snap a few weeks ago). If you think the air at Jomtien’s fresh, I’d hate to think what Lake Mabprachan is like. At least I’ve been able to see Koh Larn all the time, if that’s completely obscured it’s my test for PM2.5 having reached New Delhi levels.

When you were running the purifiers 24/7, how often were you replacing the filters? I suppose it depends on how bad the pollution was.

The posters here attacking Israel should google “Sam Harris sin of moral equivalence”. A wonderful essay (also a podcast).

Or recovered the card from the machine, as it wasn’t retained as a result of 3 incorrect PINs. After a long absence from Thailand and consequent expiration of my Bangkok Bank debit card, I was surprised that they issued me with a new card on the spot with no prior notification by me, previously thought the cards were made in a special factory somewhere.

Much better than in Australia. I used an ATM outside a bank there during banking hours - correct PIN first time, accepted, hit withdrawal, how much, input modest amount that was a fraction of the dollars in the account, machine ate the card. Went straight inside, told we can do nothing to recover card, have to post a new one. Lucky I wasn’t a tourist in Australia.

Can’t remember if it was in Pattaya or Jomtien, but I saw a sign on one condo block offering units with either a sea or a mountain view. Now if it was on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, with a backdrop of the mile high Dinaric Alps rising straight from the sea, I might prefer a mountain view condo, but I think that the mountains of the Pattaya hinterland are a little underwhelming in comparison.

Saw a shop selling mineral specimens on the ground floor of River City. I might have been interested, but couldn’t see any prices, I hate having to ask the price. Last month there was an exhibition of spectacular mineral specimens such as enormous amethysts at Icon Siam on the river, don’t know if it’s still there. Some were for sale, if you had a few tens of thousands of dollars to spare.

I think the more expensive air purifiers do have inbuilt meters - mine just has a red light that shows high PM2.5. It was cheaper and better for me to buy a low cost air purifier and a good meter. For instance, I can easily take the meter outside on to the balcony, where it has shown some pretty disturbing readings the last few days.

I don’t know about the rolls for air conditioners, but the little air purifier I have is very effective. On the last few polluted days, my PM2.5 meter shows the level dropping from around 50 to around 10 only half an hour after switching the air purifier on.

Just an update for anyone who might have the same problem as I had. On the router configuration page http://192.168.1.1/3bb the username and password were not the ones on my documentation from 3BB - they were just “admin” and “3bb”. To get the validate code which confused me so much, as I thought it might be from an SMS I had to somehow get, all I had to do was click in the box next to “validate code” to generate the code. After that, changing to a secure WiFi password was easy. The only thing was that when I left the security standard as the hybrid WPA/WPA2, I got an indication that the security was weak. Changed it to just WPA2, and system seems happy, and I don’t think I’ll be connecting any WPA2 incompatible devices.

Yes, looks like I’d have to know how to open the configuration page for the first router as an initial step, which I don’t know how to do, but thanks for your suggestion, might be an option for my set-up back in Australia, where I do know how to configure the router. Why would even a very strong password for just a single router be less secure?

I’ve just had 3BB VDSL set up. They’ve set my WiFi password as my phone number - how secure is that, seems to me it could be easily hacked? Should I change it to something a lot more secure? Can this be done on the router configuration page? I can open the router login page from http://192.168.1.1/3bb. It shows a user name that corresponds to the “username internet” on the documentation I have, and asks for a password that I assume is the “password internet” on the documentation, which does seem secure. It also asks for a “validate code”, which I don’t have. Or is it better to follow ozimoron’s suggestion to chain another router to the original 3BB router? Apologies for my ignorance.

From overheard conversations, most of the non Thais on Jomtien beach seem to be Russian, but since I’m no expert on Slavic languages, some might be from other countries, even Ukraine. I suspect that most are staying in cheaper places than VT5 though. I have no issues with them, nice enough people. I’ve even had to employ the totality of my knowledge of the Russian language - “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Russian”, when a friendly lady swam up to me and said something in rapid Russian, probably along the lines of “This sure beats winter in Siberia, doesn’t it”.

What’s wrong with Foodmart at the airport bus station? A lot closer to the beach than the places above, and an amazingly good range of products for such a small supermarket. Very cheap chicken fillets, and a reasonable range of fruit and vegetables.

Since I bought my VT5 condo over 4 years ago, I haven’t needed to rent anything in Pattaya/Jomtien. However, I was an Airbnb guest at VT5 at the time I purchased my condo - transformed from a despised and delinquent short term renter to an exalted owner. I imagine there are many VT condos available from Airbnb and other companies, and there are no intimidating signs in the VT5 lobby threatening short term renters. I wouldn’t mind some Airbnb guests, with luck there might be a few young Russian ladies to add a bit of colour to the swimming pool area, but I think the Russians have been mostly priced out of VT5 due to the devastation of their economy by their president.

Sorry about delayed reply, out all day. You seem to already know the important differences. I love living in 5D - not full time, planning on 6 months Thailand (just less than 180 days!), 3 months Europe and 3 months Australia. I’m on the top floor on the shady (Pattaya) side, wouldn’t consider the sunny side. Aspect’s perfect, because even though there’s no direct sun, you still get to see the sunset from the balcony. I’ve had zero noise problems, just distant traffic noise when sitting on the balcony, which I don’t hear from inside with the glass doors closed. I wasn’t even aware that there are currently renovations. My crap apartment in Australia’s way noisier due to the array of various machinery used in Australian suburbia. It’s wonderful to see the gardeners in VT5 using rakes and brooms instead of leaf blowers. Not having to cross Thappraya Road to get to the beach was a big factor in my decision to go for VT5 over VT1 and 2, as I swim most mornings and afternoons. Only need to cross the road to Foodmart once every couple of days. So, it just comes down to how much you’re willing to pay, and if you like going to the beach all the time. I’ve stayed in VT1 (as one of those evil Airbnb guests!) and liked it, great swimming pool, but I’m enjoying the bigger room in VT5. Note the 48 sq m for VT5 studios is 35 sq m room plus 13 sq m balcony. If you’re here for a couple of months, obvious solution is to stay a month in VT2 and a month in VT5, and see if VT5’s worth the extra.

So, Jomtien’s better for most of us on this forum?

PK Air, 143 Thepprasit Road. Coincidentally, installed new Daikin air con for me today. Owner’s a really nice guy, very knowledgeable and good English. Did the job himself (with 3 assistants). Despite being a more complex installation, replacing an old air con with an inverter unit, charged less than price published by Power Buy, with no bargaining on my part.

It’s fairly shady on the right hand side of Thepprasit walking towards Sukhumvit. I suppose it’s technically uphill, but I’ve not actually noticed any gradient. I’m mid sixties with an arthritic knee.

Would the developer VT be paying the common fee for each unsold unit? Maybe that’s why they would minimise the fee?

Interesting, but Central Festival Pattaya’s a lot closer to my Jomtien condo. If it’s anything like the size of the Bangkok Icon Siam, maybe there’ll be regular baht buses.

I’ve just paid half that for my annual VT5D fee, no mention of sinking fund. It’s a bit worrying, I’d prefer to pay more, but they’ve just redone the pool area without needing to raise any special levy, so finances don’t seem to be in too bad a shape. Both are huge bargains compared to Australia.

Just depends on whether you prefer to enjoy Pattaya nightlife regularly or proximity to Jomtien’s better beach. I like to have a long swim and beach walk every morning. The little Foodmart has an amazingly good selection of Farang food and fruit and vegetables for its size, I only go to Pattaya’s Central Festival occasionally for more exotic breakfast cereal or chocolate. Big C, Lotus and outlet mall at the end of Thepprasit Road are walkable for me. Not the huge number of restaurants as in Pattaya (main street must have the densest concentration of Indian restaurants in the world, including in India), but still a wide selection. It is strange that Jomtien doesn’t have a large shopping mall, given the huge number of condos.

Speak some very basic Thai to a Thai lady and she’ll be moderately impressed. Show her that you can read Thai, however poorly, and she’ll be as astonished as if she’d just been introduced to a talking horse.

A Thai teacher I once had said she hated Bangkok. I love the city, so much to explore that’s accessible by public transport or crazily cheap taxis.