CygnusX1

My Philips 3400A top loader automatic is still going strong after 38 years of use, zero repairs and zero maintenance.

So that’s about 6.6 baht per kilolitre. Just for comparison, in Australia I pay $4.18 or about 102 baht per kilolitre, around 15 times as much, so you’re all doing pretty well in Thailand with water charges.

I set up an automatic debit to pay the electricity bill for my Jomtien condo from my Bangkok Bank account 3 years ago. It wasn’t an easy process, involving a visit to the electricity company head office in Naklua, before going to a Bangkok Bank branch. The very helpful lady at the bank spent over half an hour with me completing a fiendishly complicated form. During the last 20 months that I’ve been stranded in Australia, I regularly check my account through Bangkok Bank’s Bualuang website, and so far the very small monthly fixed electricity charge has always been debited successfully. Of course, I won’t know for sure if it’s really worked until I can return to Thailand, if ever, and see if my condo still has electricity.

Even though it’s an obvious idea, I see very little discussion on rewarding people who’ve been vaccinated. I’d have thought that 20,000 baht in cash to every Thai citizen who’s been fully vaccinated would dramatically increase the numbers. Surely the government could afford it, they would just have to print a bit of money, lower the value of the baht by a very small amount. Can anyone see any problems with this?

I don’t see the iCloud drive to the left of the windows explorer panel, only Dropbox and One Drive. However, I logged into iCloud from the PCs Start menu, and created a Books folder as you suggested, and transferred a couple of epubs. It worked! I can now read them on the iPad. Thanks for going to the trouble of setting iCloud up on your spare PC, this will save me heaps of time in future.

OK, thanks for that, it worked! I was looking at iCloud from the Files app on my iPad, not the website. Now I can transfer my daily updated Finances spreadsheet from the PC more regularly now that it’s a lot easier.

Tried your suggestion, but I did need to install iCloud on my PC, which I did easily enough. No good for Books app, as it doesn’t show up. Copied a couple of test files from the PC to Downloads and Numbers folders (in formats readable by an iPad), can see on iCloud on the PC but not on iCloud on the iPad. I’m sure it can be easily done, but don’t worry, I’m not asking for step by step instructions. I’m just making the point that for an expert such as yourself, transferring files from PC to iPad might be simple, but it’s a process that I will continue to dread, and should be one factor in a non-expert’s decision on whether to purchase an iPad, Android or Windows tablet (my vote’s still for the iPad, as it’s so brilliant in every other way).

Thanks for that, as I said, I’m a computer illiterate. Yes, I was aware of the “Files” feature that I think has been improved with newer versions of iOS. It’s still not really the same as on Windows though. I can’t see any of the files I have in “Books” or “Photos”, and I can’t copy/paste files between apps. I’ve not set up iCloud on my PC, so I’ll try that. After using third party software to transfer files, which has been a bit hit and miss, I bought an iExpand drive to do copies, but the process is still a lot more convoluted than with Windows, and I’m never quite sure what’s actually happening. Despite my problems, I have become an Apple fanboy, and would now never be without an iPad.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with my 12.9 inch ipad pro. It’s a fantastic bit of kit, and I use it for a couple of hours each day. Everything just seems to work better than on other tablets, and the foreign language keyboard’s brilliant if you’re learning Thai. If you can afford it, I’d highly recommend the bigger screen. The hate part I have is that the iOS operating system doesn’t display a simple tree of folders and files like Windows, and each of your files is tied to a particular App. This can make doing a simple file transfer from a PC a nightmare for a computer illiterate such as myself. You’re supposed to be able to transfer files using iTunes, but I could never work out how to do it, and have had to use third party software. By contrast, an android tablet I had many years ago just appeared as another hard drive when connected to my PC, and I could just drag and drop files onto it. Even so, I’ve used my iPad way more than my Microsoft Surface Pro. Back in the days when I could travel, I took the Windows tablet as a back-up, as I found that just occasionally I needed the power of a full-on PC operating system to do something, rather than iOS.

Or even LOW season (as we once knew it).

And malaria tablets seem to have way more undesirable side effects than vaccines.

I’d agree with you except that vaccine status is going to be required for many years. The need to show proof of yellow fever vaccination doesn’t seem to have deterred people from visiting South America very much. I certainly won’t be going anywhere while I have to wear a face mask on a plane. Your estimate of 2023 is exceedingly optimistic, I’d be delighted if it turns out to be correct!

Yes, really. Comrade didn’t say that infections were low in Russia, he just said that Russians are not SCARED. He also implied that Putin might force Russians to be vaccinated, which is hinted at in the article whose link you posted.

Sorry, can’t answer (a) or (b), as pre virus, my plan was to never spend 90 days straight in Thailand anyway, wanted to use Thailand as a base for pretty much constant travel, and I’m now stuck in Australia. As for a marriage visa, I thinks it’s exceedingly unlikely I’ll ever need one of those!

That’s one of the reasons I opted for the elite visa, even though I’d have been eligible for the so-called retirement visa-that’s-not-really-a-visa, but of course there’s no guarantee that elite visa holders will be exempt from compulsory insurance in the future.

When travel’s as it was in 2019, except for needing proof of vaccination. No masks, no PCR tests. I’m well aware that means I’m probably never returning to Thailand - and I own a condo there and have 17 years to go on an Elite visa.

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking of a 5G router rather than a SIM card for my phone. It’s extremely unlikely I’ll be able to return to Thailand for at least the next couple of years anyway.

That seems screamingly fast. I have a 50 Mbps fibre to the home connection in Australia, and that’s more than enough to stream Netflix in 4K. Interesting for me as if I can ever manage to return to Thailand, my condo doesn’t have fibre, only VDSL, and I’d love a 5G service like that. I think line of sight’s required for 5G? My condo’s on the 21st floor in Jomtien facing Pattaya, so hope I could get a 5G signal - 5G is now widely available in the Pattaya area?

I think it’s mandatory mask wearing and PCR tests rather than fear of the virus that’s deterring most people. If those become a permanent part of travel, then travel’s over for me for life, to Thailand or anywhere else.

You’re right, just checked their website and they do have English/Thai keyboards. Thanks for the tip. I’ve mostly stopped learning Thai after travel shut down, but if a return to Thailand ever looks possible, I might get one. My gaming PC here in Australia has an illuminated mechanical keyboard, once you’ve used one of those you never want to go back to ordinary keyboards.

I actually found it hard to buy a keyboard in Thailand with Thai characters. I was looking for a fancy illuminated keyboard, and just about all of them were english characters only.

63 years old, zero reaction to first AZ shot given in Australia apart from a very mildly sore arm. Probably means it didn’t work!

I retired at exactly the same age - took an “involuntary” redundancy which was in fact purely voluntary. Had eight fantastic years of almost nonstop travel, before this virus from China put a stop to it. Now it’s looking like I may never be able to travel again, my decision to retire so early has proved to be by far the best decision of my life.

The cost of the PCR tests wouldn’t bother me, it’s just that I’ve heard that they’re really painful. For anyone that’s had one, is that correct?

First AZ last week in Australia, second AZ booked 5 weeks after first shot. Expect to get mRNA vaccine booster in next 6 to 12 months, probably annual booster after that.