rak sa_ngop

When I arrive at the bus station from Ekamai I refuse to take the song theo (สอง แถอ) from the bus station, but immediately start walking towards dolphin roundabout /T 21. Sometimes I manage to flag a song theo down, but quite often walk the whole way, takes less than 30 mins. Never wait by the side of the road as you could be waiting for hours.

43 minutes ago, BobTH said:

The transfer of stamps at Chaengwattana in Bangkok is free, no charge.

 

And does it require an embassy letter?

Just saw boxes of Walkers mini mince pies in Foodland Patpong.

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

If you prefer Bangkok,  see Dr. Taworn  Suithichaiyakul at Bangkok Christian Hospital, he will do the procedure at Chulalongkorn (govt hospital with 1 night stay at Bkk Christian Hosp (the two are close by), cost not much more than having it all done at govt hospital but much quicker. you could also see him at Chula but likely a long wait (as in, 1-2 months) just for the appointment.

I needed to ask Dr Taworn some advice on my check-up results ( I had previously consulted with him over a year ago) so I went up to his consulting room in BCH. I could see him sitting at his desk staring into space through the open door. I was called in straight away. Looks like I did him a favour!

I just had an interesting telephone conversation with the UK 'Taxman'. I was questioning why my personal allowance had not been taken into account on my recent Self Assessment Tax Calculation. I was told that the computer program for calculating expat tax returns will use both options, i.e. with or without the personal allowance. In my case both results were presented and the the most financially beneficial to the Taxpayer was the final amount required.

I had incorrectly calculated how much tax I would be liable from income derived from the encashment of a SIPP investment and therefore thought that I should claim my personal allowance. Turns out that it was better for me not to accept the personal allowance and hence receive a tax rebate.

So it seems that it is not strictly necessary to claim for disregarded income, the friendly Taxman (and he was friendly) will do the calculations for you and present you with the best result.

On 11/21/2018 at 2:14 PM, KittenKong said:

If you are not a UK resident then, by concession, your tax liability on dividends and interest is limited to that deducted at source. However, at the same time you also forfeit your personal allowance.

What that means in practice is that if your UK income is exclusively dividends and interest and such-like then you have nothing extra to pay in the UK. But if you have other taxable income (rent, pensions, whatever) then you may be liable to tax on that without having the benefit of the personal allowance.

So if you are in that second category you need to do your sums carefully.

 

I believe that what you are describing is called in UK Govt speak 'disregarded income'. As far as I understand a State pension would be excluded from the calculation of UK income in this instance whereas a private pension is included.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

I used the search function a few weeks ago but now I can't find it. Is it hidden away somewhere or am I going daft?

I don't mean the Google search bar but the Forum Search function.

Looks like I have just answered my own question. The bar/box reads Google Custom Search but seems to work on TV forums.I was looking for the 'search this forum' option.

3 hours ago, KittenKong said:

I sometimes send post to the UK. I find it always gets delivered within 7 days (often less), but in the other direction (UK>TH) it can easily take 3-4 weeks. No idea why.

Probably depends on your local post office delivery system. I live in central Bangkok and I always receive my Mastercard statements within 7 -10 days of the statement date.

The staff probably cannot run the purchase through the till outside the permitted hours, so will either wait until alcohol purchase is allowed and the till accepts the purchase......or maybe just pocket the money?

The way I understood it is that immigration will use the departure time of your flight as the day you leave Thailand. So arriving at Immigration before or after midnight should make no difference. In your case you will have technically overstayed by 10 mins but this is officially accepted and allowed.

But it could be a problem for people who are arrive at immigration on their first (allowed) overstay day and then have a scheduled departure after midnight, which takes them into a second overstay day.

But in reality it probably depends on whether the som tam agreed with the officer earlier in the day.

Air Asia from Don Meuang is the most reliable. If you want to save a page of your passport you can apply and printout a visa on-line....slightly more expensive at 36 USD.

I can rent my condo out for 2000 baht for the day....even give you a free cup of coffee.

On 11/1/2018 at 9:27 AM, grumpyoldman said:

Grand reopening of the "rennovated O'Malleys" (?) as across the carpark from Wine Connection Silom has been an O'Malley's for years.

Grumpy Old Man needs to get out more. That was Molly Mallone's, called 'Mollies' by us locals.

That whole site including Wine Connection, Starbucks, Mollies and the 7-11 Head Office is being demolished ready for a new development.

43 minutes ago, Prince77 said:

There was NOT A SINGLE passenger on board who booked a first class seat! Why? Because the plane originally scheduled for this Service was a B 777 with no first class available. As there was an un-scheduled equipement change for a B747 (which has first class seats inside) ALL Business class passenger were "upgraded". The two deadhead pilots were pilots for the B 777 and not qualified to operate the B 747; further those pilots did not have any scheduled duty for the next day. Passengers were right as the paid at least for the flight.

So two business class passengers were upgraded to first class, then refused to return back to business class when asked (nicely?). The fact that it was stated (in the press) that the two passengers were a high ranking Thai official and his wife explains it completely. IMHO they were in the wrong as well!

Siam Reap seems to be pretty packed out these days with bars, restaurants, tourists etc.  Many of the small independent places seem to have been taken over by the big Cambodian Business groups like Triangle, Temple etc.

Sihanoukville sounds like it has become a Chinese gambling den which does not welcome westerners anymore.

One town that is on the up and up is Battambang. Although it is the second largest city in Cambodia it has never received the same attention as Phnom Penh, Siam Reap, S'ville etc. I am going out in a few weeks to check it out.

It certainly used to be the case that you could not take dong out of the country. I was once asked to show the contents of my wallet. When the officer saw I had a bit of leftover dong spending money he told me to go to the exchange bureau and change it back into USD.

But that was the old days. I think you can now spend dong in the departure area on food and drinks which suggests that dong is fully exchangeable and can be taken out (probably within a limit).

1 hour ago, wgdanson said:

My Transferwise transfers get FTT (Foreign Telegraphic Transfer) prefix in my Bangkok bank. Proof enough?

As I stated in another thread, my Bangkok Bank does assign a FTT code to the incoming deopsit. But my TMB bank (No Fixed Account) does not. So best check before hand.

20 hours ago, how241 said:

I don't know about any illegal, under the table, deals and I won't want to chance that with my Chanote.  Even if you found a staff to do this, it might be declared illegal later  by a senior staff...

I am not actually stating that such a practice would be illegal, just that some offices might be more willing to add a name if a service 'fee' is paid. Having joint ownership of a property is not illegal, as it has certainly been done in Bangkok before. But in the case I know about, the property was purchased in joint names.

Maybe best to change Dong to USD in Vietnam for a better rate. Changing USD to Baht in Superich in Bangkok has such a small spread that you will lose hardly anything.

On 10/23/2018 at 6:13 PM, how241 said:

No way to get around paying the transfer fee.

Are you sure about this?

I remember reading that it may be possible to ADD another name to the chanote for a small fee (under the table???) in certain Land Registry Offices. I would love to find out if anybody has done this or heard first hand that this has been achieved. Both parties would then hold the title as joint owners and both own 100 pc of the property.

Transferwise transfer to my Bangkok Bank Savings Account shows up as a FTT code transfer ( Foreign Transfer I assume although this code in not listed at the back of my savings account passbook).

But a Transferwise transfer to my TMB 'No Fixed Account' just shows up as a NT code which is 'Transfer Deposit - No Book'.

I haven't tried downloading the Transferwise Transfer Slip pdf as advised in a  post above.

I once saw a group of 6 or 8 Thai students in a pizza place. They had obviously just paid for one salad which gave you a small bowl to fill yourselves at the salad bar. They managed to construct a foot tall tower of salad rising from the 6 inch bowl. Quite an engineering feat! I was impressed.

Who says Thai students cannot be constructive when they want to.

Lots of places around the Holiday Inn area of Silom Road Bangkok that plate jewellery. Go under the overpass towards Charoenkrung road and there are  a few more places in the back alleys. These are trade shops but service any walk in customers. Maybe ask in one of the many jewellery and gem shops in that area to direct you.

I usually have rings plated in white gold (Rhodium) and never pay more than 150 baht.

If you haven't got one maybe borrow somebodies high end Samsung smart phone and use the heart rate monitor. It will give you a visual picture of your heart pulse and may help you identify missed beats or extra fast beats. I suffer from Atrial Fibrillation and my S-6  phone helps me identify and characterise the A-Fib events.