CygnusX1

Last week I caught a cab from the Suk Road tourist area to Suv airport. I happily accepted the driver’s offer of 500 baht, knowing it was around 150 more than a metered trip, and gave him a 100 baht tip in addition. WAY cheaper than a legally metered taxi in Australia, and I received a 1 hour free Thai lesson as a bonus (taxi drivers hoping for a tip are always very complimentary of my rudimentary Thai skills). Bangkok taxis and hotels are one of the world’s great travel bargains.

Sport them? Do you mean something like dropping them all in a large cage and letting them fight each other to the death?

Presumably, even if you were normally in Thailand the whole year, if you made sure to be there less than 180 days in the particular year in which you purchased the condo, you’d pay no tax? Anyway, in the light of the tax changes, it would be a very bad idea to buy a condo, I’d certainly not have purchased mine in the current environment of uncertainty.

Be careful, it’s 180 days, not 183. And safer to plan 175 days, to allow for unforeseen circumstances such as cancelled flights. Have already set up a spreadsheet to carefully count my days.

Just be aware that you’re unlikely to see the Himalayas from anywhere in Kathmandu itself, due to air pollution. Need to go on a short trek at least. Otherwise, you’ll just be seeing a dirty city with a few temples, and lacking Bangkok’s ‘nightlife’.

Until last year, Citibank was the exception. For many years, I used my Australian Citibank card to withdraw cash at Citibank’s ATM at Asoke, and there was definitely no ATM fee, also with a very fair exchange rate. Sadly, Citibank has now sold its operations in both Thailand and Australia to local banks.

There’s no way that can be correct. Surely once sufficient evidence was shown to police that you’re the actual owner, which wouldn’t take long to get, the illegal occupants would be immediately arrested for trespassing on another person’s property.

I was under the impression that after, say, 10 attempts, the phone would be irreversibly locked, and could only be used again after a total reset that would erase all data on the phone. Serious question, as if I’m wrong, I’ll be seeing if I can change the 8 digit numeric codes I have on my phones to something more secure.

“unless you choose otherwise”. You have to be careful here, for the ATM I used a couple of days ago in Bangkok, the outrageous DCC rate (dynamic currency conversion) was set as the default, and you had to specifically opt out to receive the proper rate. Your home bank may also levy a rip-off exchange rate (big 4 Oz banks), so it pays to arrange an account with a bank at home that uses fair exchange rates.

When I arrived at Suvanaphumi airport to have my 1 million baht 20 year elite visa affixed to my passport, I was driven to Immigration in a golden electric cart, with the attractive lady driver furiously blowing the horn to scatter the hapless plebeians threatening to impede my August progress. After the formalities at Immigration, I made my way to the far end of the ground floor of the arrival hall, to wait with those same plebeians for the next available bus to Jomtien, and have continued to do so on all future trips.

Well, I’ve owned a condo in Thailand for 5 years, together with a 20 year visa, and with a formerly planned 200 days in Thailand and 80 or so days in each of Europe and Australia, Thailand was going to be effectively my home more than anywhere else.

I’m in that category, but was too late to vote. Will be spending around 175 days of each year in Thailand instead of planned 200 or so. More of my money to be spent in Europe and Australia, less in Thailand.

That's one fast tuk-tuk!

I know I've said this before, but taxis in Thailand are so crazily cheap compared to Australia that I have no problem with drivers not using the meter (as long as the negotiated fare is reasonable of course, and I've never had a driver demand an unreasonable fare). It's been my experience that all drivers use the meter when I've caught taxis from the airport, in which case I give a good tip - to the airport, not so many.

Great photograph of Koh Samui. Never considered going there before, but I might now.

I agree with other posters here on Foodmart. For such a small supermarket, it has an amazingly comprehensive selection of Western food, everything that a fussy eater such as myself needs. I’m in Australia now, back in Jomtien in a couple of weeks, and am looking forward to Foodmart’s precut pineapple pieces, so much better quality than the whole pineapples I buy in Australia. I don’t think it’s more expensive than any other Western oriented supermarket in Thailand. What I can’t understand is how the place manages to handle all of the occupants of those thousands of condos, especially in peak season.

Yes, I’ve noticed that in north Jomtien, near Pratumnak, although there are still heaps of dogs, none are aggressive. Maybe someone in authority has been quietly arranging the removal of the problem dogs.

After carefully reading the article, I can find no reference in it to the massacre of 1200 innocent Israelis of all ages. Instead, it describes the October 7 atrocity as “The attack, which involved firing multiple rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, occurred amid simmering tensions and ongoing violence in the region.” A clumsy attempt to falsify history. As such, the article is the very antithesis of “neutral”.

As I read that, my brain automatically ended the sentence with another noun, before I got to “clothes” on the next line.

After years of trying, my Thai conversational ability wouldn’t even be at the basic level, and I can understand very little of a Thai news bulletin. I can, however, read Thai, (though not necessarily understanding what I’m reading), and I’m surprised at a couple of posters here who obviously speak Thai way better than me, but who haven’t learnt to read it. Learning to read Thai is so simple compared with learning to speak it! After the installer, with whom I’d been conversing in English, had finished putting in my new air con, he gave me the operating manual, apologising that it was only in Thai. He was staggered when I started to read it back to him. I think Thais are more impressed by someone who can read Thai, however poorly, than they are by someone who can speak it with some competence.

We can’t have people using condoms, leads to immoral behaviour.

We can’t have people using condoms, leads to immoral behaviour.

If you look at lung cancer deaths on websites with stats on life expectancy, Thailand does surprisingly well, with lung cancer deaths per 100,000 about the same as Australia and New Zealand. I find that very surprising, considering the vastly cleaner air in those countries, and with levels of smoking I would have thought are lower than Thailand’s. There are also quite a few countries with overall death rates greater than 30.7 per 100,000, maybe due to high rates of smoking.

They still haven’t sorted out card payments completely in Thailand. With many purchases at the same supermarket using the same (foreign) credit card, sometimes I only had to swipe the card, usually had to sign the docket. Australia’s crazy, other day I bought an ice cream at the little kiosk at a beach run by lifesavers. Lucky I have some cash with me, I thought, surely they won’t take cards. Turned out they’d only accept cards. Problem for swimmers, OK to leave a few dollars with your stuff while you’re in the water, but no way I’d leave a credit card unguarded at a beach. Hope QR codes don’t become universal, I have no idea how to use them.

During the 3 months I was recently there (I’m in Australia at the moment), VDSL through 3BB was totally reliable, except for an entire day when the whole building lost internet (except for you!). This was straight after a power cut, which I’m speculating may have damaged some equipment in the control room.