LivingNThailand

I read the story. 1. She was working on a Booze Cruise in Thailand on her 30-day tourist visa. Illegal, I think, duh? 2. She packed her bags the night before and didn't check them before the early morning flight. Didn't she think they were a bit heavy when she checked out of the hotel? 3. Food too spicy to eat. Lucky she has food. I was in Sri Lanka in the early 80s. I was supposed to be there for 3 weeks. After 5 days I made arrangements to get the heck out of that H-Hole, and I was a tourist staying in nicer hotels. Good lucky honey.

This does not make any sense that she checked in all this cannabis. Something is off here.

The duty for products coming from the US is a lot more than products from UK, Australia and New Zealand. I don't know the exact percentage amount, but if you compare similar Western items in a store like Villa Market, you can see the dramatic price difference. For example, a similar bottle of white wine might be 400 THB for an Australian wine and 700 THB for a US wine. Cheese, canned items, frozen items, is the same large difference. I used to import from Thailand, and the duty incoming from Thailand was 5% to17% on average, depending on product type. I don't know why Thailand doesn't lower the duty on US products so they can import more into Thailand to correct some of the imbalance. Seems simple to me.

Still flooding in October. Our worst month here. Nov, Jan & Feb only in Phuket. Dead after Chinese New Years.

Then move

Looks like touching the coral. ugh

Yes, I usually tell people to come to Phuket in May and June as the weather is nice, some rain off and on, and fewer tourists. It's been raining for two weeks, and it flooded by my house 2 days ago. Definitely different this year.

June 3 is the Queen's Birthday. So even if they pay you on the 3rd the banks are closed and the wire won't go through until June 4. FYI.

I hope someone can help. Today I tried calling on the new Skype / Teams app on my iphone. But I get this message (attached). I can hear who I'm calling, but they can't hear me. I've tried looking for this Smart search field in Settings but can't find it. I have the microphone turned on but can't find the Speaker toggle. Can anyone help? thanks. I have about $20 credit I'd like to use up, if I can figure this out. 🤯

Not to be mean.... but Good. The Chinese put us out of business with their government export subsidies into the United States. The Chinese government would pay the factories money to make up the difference in the actual cost of goods so they could undercut the USA. We couldn't compete with them.

Has anyone in the Thai government read anything about the current state of the Chinese Economy and the huge push for domestic travel.? Does anyone in the Thai government plan more than 2 days out for anything? I love living here, but I'm totally amazed by the lack of long range planning. Sure, you have to adjust for international incidents, but they Chinese push is gone....for now. Wake up guys. Why not do a 3, 5, 7 and 10 year plan for tourism? Clean up the infrastructure and build more schools and hospitals instead of throwing away a bunch of money on something that isn't going to happen. Rant over.

Not too bright. A 500 or 1,000 THB fee and off you go. Has happened to a few friends. Just a trip to the police station. Better than going to jail. In my humble opinion. 😇 BTW, I went to the bank one street over a month ago to get my immigration docs and the parking fee was 40 baht, 20 for Thais. 😅 Gladly paid to the local "meter maid".

Plane. you fly in a plane. A plain is a large area of flat land with few trees. 😂 Love that auto correct spell check.

Just like Central Floresta in Phuket. That side of the shopping center is filled with high end shops that are empty. The fun side of the shopping center, Central Festival with the mid level shops, is packed.

That's too bad. I have been to Da Nang and Hoi An many times. The first time was in about 2010. Very nice , low key and special. The last time probably 2019 before Covid.

But who is driving all those cars, trucks and motorbikes. Traffic is insanely bad. Is it just Thai people driving around looking for something to do? Nuts. I agree, low low season this year, I just wish the traffic would be comparable.

I think it's been quiet for quite awhile in Phuket, excluding Christmas/New Year and Chinese New Year. One of my Thai neighbors is a partner in a restaurant, and he was wondering where all the foreign tourists had gone, especially the Chinese. He's down 30-40%. I wanted to be a smart alec and tell him he should read the international news and not Thai news, but I kept quiet.

It happened to a buddy of mine. Our SS money arrived before the 3 day weekend and his arrived after. It has something to do with the wire queue, at least at BBK Bank. They can only process so many wires per hour and they get a huge amount of wires the day the SS money is processed. At least that is what they told me. June 3 is the Queens birthday, another holiday, and that always slows up the SS money too. One year we had to wait until something like June 6 because the holiday was on a Friday. Regular wires seem to go through faster. Maybe because the SS wires are batched. Who knows. I have my SS money sent to my US bank now and I send a separate wire. I get it the next day, right away in the morning.

That's what I have, a PMB. I call them every so often and have them forward the mail. Can be a bit pricy. Make sure they only forward first class mail or you will get catalogs, and junk mail. You can also have your debit card sent to the PMB and have them forward it to you. But I've never had any problem having Schwab sending me a card to Thailand, I just say I live here part time. If you have something like Skype you can call their 800 number. BTW, it is a good idea to get the fraud alerts if you can. They can be sensitive to certain types of internet purchases and decline the card unless you verify. For example I bought something from Apple Thailand and it was declined until I straightened it out. Electronics and Travel internet purchases are two hot spots for them. Clothing and other types of purchases not so much.

I haven't read the responses yet, but I have a Charles Schwab debit card and a US credit card. When I need a replacement I call them and tell them I am currently temporarily living in Thailand and can they mail it to me. They usually Fed Ex it or something like that and charge me $15. I've done this a few times and no problem. The Schwab debit card is very handy and if you use the ATM they reimburse you the 250 THB ATM fee at the end of the month. Edit: You have to have a US phone number though if you want the fraud alerts, etc. I use my brothers phone number and he doesn't mind. Since Skype is going bye bye, I'm thinking about getting a new calling app with a phone number I can access. Just got to figure it out....I have enough credit for about a year so no rush.

Update on Skype Dial Pad on Teams, if anyone wants to use Teams to use up their Skype credit. After adding the 2 apps on my iPhone and deleting and adding again, I finally found the Skype Dial Pad on Teams. In the Teams app at the top left, there is a tiny circle with your initials. Tap on that, and about 7 options down there is a Skype dial pad option. Tap on that and set up Skype in the Teams app. I had to jump a few hoops for the first phone, but easy peasy on my second phone. I have about 17 minutes' credit left on both phones. That should last me at least a year for my regular phone calls to the USA and give me time to find the best option going forward. Hope this helps someone. Tomorrow is the "deadline".....dum di dum dum.....😅

I heard two different versions of this. 1. Dial Pad on Teams will be in effect the same day Skype doesn't work anymore 2. Delete the app(s) on your phone and reinstall. By some miracle the dial pad will show up on Teams. I just realized it is May 3, so I guess I better try #2 today and figure out my alternatives. Guess I'll call my brother tomorrow, just in case none of it works. 😅 I've got a lot of credit on two phones, I hope I can use it.

Probably. In the USA there are OSHA standards for balcony railing heights and you would have to be very very tall to trip and fall over a balcony railing. Here the balcony railing heights are all over the board. In my neighborhood they are building new houses with these all glass see through balcony barrier walls. You can't even see them. I'm waiting for someone walk up to one and fall over them. Unfortunately. It is a real hazard as far as I'm concerned.

Also the bridge to Samui.....🤣🤣🤣🤣

A total BS article. They have floated this boat a couple of times and it will never work. This must be click bait. 1. Need piers at each destination. Where, Why, How, What? 2. Monsoon from about June to early November. High winds, thunderstorms, flooding. They lose tourists just swimming in the ocean on the West Coast during this time, can you imagine how many they would lose on the water taxis? 3. The logistics don't make any sense. Where would the pier be at the airport? total insanity. I could go on, but whats the point. It will never happen. Just like the Choo Choo Train from the airport to Chalong Circle. That's another rant....to be continued....