rak sa_ngop

What happens to the booze? (Rhetorical question). For YEARS I have observed DOZENS and DOZENS of passengers having their booze conficated at the pre-gate screening point, most commonly on flights to Australia. In some cases they had bought the bottles in other Thai airports while in transit to BKK but in others, until quite recently, at BKK itself.

Apparently not told at the point of purchase that there are restrictions on this and they risk confiscation. Very good business arrangement for the duty free monopoly ( in addition to the fact that the booze for sale is usually retail plus 20% rather than duty free).

Happened to me at KUL airport, in transit. Had an unopened bottle of Drambui ($40.00) taken from me. I bought this at Duty Free in Australia, and carefully packed in my carry-on bag, but security wouldn't let me take it on to Chiang Mai.

I had a few words to say to the woman, all dressed up in head dress, and told her straight that she was probably going to take it home. She told me Muslims don't drink alcohol. Look up, there goes another pig!!

Was this recently?

Last year I travelled from Darwin, transit in KUL to Bangkok with a bottle of Kraken Rum. I had no problems.

The food shops across the main road outside Hua Lamphong station seem to be doing a good trade in beer. Nice atmosphere getting tanked up before heading up north.

Line is free. On a smartphone, they text a validation code to your phone.

Yes they text the validation code but 2 times recently (4 months) I have set up Line without even having to use the code.

Too late. It died last month.

"I don't suppose I can set up any UK based account whilst being here in Thailand, right? They all seem to need me to be a UK resident. If I had a UK account it would be easier I suppose. I just want to start contributing to some sort of pension scheme, in the UK, whilst living and working in Thailand in case I ever decide to go back."

Yes, at your age it is always good to keep your options open. I and many others who have been long term expats are thankful that we kept up our NI contributions. 30,000 baht a month extra beer money on retirement is always welcome.

Regarding UK banks you should be able to open an offshore account with banks such as HSBC, LLoyds, Santander etc. But of course these days they make it difficult and want proof of ID, address and source of income etc.etc. But if you persevere and are patient you will succeed. All these banks will let you make UK Bacs transfers, but I am not sure if you can set up direct debits and standing orders with all of them.

Good luck, you are doing the right thing.

Max Value sell grilled saba mackeral. They have 2 types, Japanese and Norwegian. I always buy the Norwegian because it is oilier and has more taste.

About 7 years ago I was actually asked to show the contents of my wallet at the immigration desk. They said I had too much dong leaving the country. So I just went back onto the outside street and changed for dollars in a currency booth and re-entered. No problem. I think the exchange rate was pretty fair (for an airport).

Also disappeared from my TV here in Bangkok.

There used to be BBC English radio learning programmes in Thai that were rebroadcast by some Thai stations (e.g The Way In). But when the BBC pulled out they stopped these transmissions, so even less opportunity for Thais to learn English. I also used to listen to the same radio programmes in Laos but in the Laos language. I suppose these are still broadcast?

Three bits of advice I always give friends visiting Saigon (which is the way most people refer to the central district of Ho Chi Minh City).

Beware boy map and newspaper sellers who thrust their wares under your nose. Usually means their hands are underneath searching out your pockets.

Never run across a road to evade motor cycles. Walk slowly, purposefully without stopping, they will weave around you. Honest!

Never walk behind a bus stop shelter. Due to the serious lack of public toilets that is where many people go for a shi.......

The TMB kept hounding me to take one out, I eventually seen the sense in it and went for it @ 2%, BKK were only offering 1.5% I think it was. Had no trouble at all opening it, they nearly bit my hand off to get me to do it.

Don't forget that TMB will also deduct 15 pc tax on interest income every year (not sure but maybe only if you receive more than 10,000 baht pa interest).

You can of course easily recover this from the tax department but it means registering as a tax payer and obtaining a tax number. Personally I would rather not make myself known to the Thai tax authorities as overseas income MAY be liable for tax in Thailand. And who knows what changes may occur in the future.

Therefore I am not bothered about losing about 3000 baht a year. Hey, I am contributing to Thailand's economy.

Can they also copy battery's for powertools? Or just rebuild the old ones?

In the moobaan where my friend lives they have a huge lake where they race rc sailingboats many nights. They do matches with many boats. Those things go pretty fast.

The Armon shop I went to over by the India Area had an area on the side that fixed battery "boxes"

they took them apart and replaced the batteries with new ones ,

I never asked how much , but great if you have a power tool where replacement batteries are not made

I think a lot of Amorn shops provide this service. They will solder together ni-cad batteries in the same configuration as you need using an industrial soldering machine. Price is about 60 baht per cell plus about 20 baht for the service.

The one I used was in Ban Mo. which is a well known Soi opposite the Old Siam Plaza shopping mall in Chinatown.

Strange, I just saw 3 of them lined up on the corner of Rangnam street and Pahonyothin street near Victory Monument BTS yesterday.

But I did not notice what they were selling. Maybe just food and juice?

Reminds me of that joke during the Falklands crisis when Exocet missiles were being fired at British navy ships.

What's the difference between British Rail and an Exocet missile.

British Rail kills people!

Yes I saw the 504 this morning on Silom road. There ain't too many of them around.

I think they may come every 30 mins depending on traffic but once I had to wait 55 mins for one. That was about 7 -8 am, so I am not sure if that was because they had to pull one off the schedule, or maybe they just leave their starting point at random?

I also would be interested to hear more about their timing from regular travellers on this route, as its the easiest way for me to get to DM.

We had a similar problem that the management was having to dig into the sinking fund to fund repairs. The monthly homeowners fees had not increased in over 10 years. Attempts to increase the fees kept failing because there were never enough co-owners attending the annual meetings to attain a quorum.

Solution: to give some attendees proxy votes for non attending co-owners (up to 4 per person allowed).

Even several long term tenants who turned up out of interest were given proxy votes.

Result: Motion to increase monthly homeowners fees passed.

Victory for common sense.

His youngest son 'whacked' a policeman in a night club in front of witnesses and 'somehow' got away with it.

From Wikki:

All three of Chalerm's sons have reputations for violent mafia-like behavior. In 2001, his youngest son, Duangchalerm, was arraigned for the murder of a police officer in a nightclub.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3572395.stm

10 years now. Had it done in Mauritius (just one procedure). And still very, very happy.

Just do it!

Give the guy a break, even if his translitteration is awful. I understood it all and if it gets larfs he has achieved something.

One question in Thai that always bugs me is the 'where have you been' question: Khun pai nai ma / tjao pai sai ma (Laos or Isaan).

My favourite reply is pai dao angkhan ma 'Been to Mars and back' Either gets a laugh or a scowl!

I can recommend the series of Jack Reacher books by Lee Child that are available in good bookshops. There are about 6 or 7 titles available and I find the Thai language 'relatively' easy to understand.

The good thing about these books is that they are based on Western culture and therefore the story line makes good sense.They are also a cracking good read that will keep your interest up.

I would suggest starting off with "Killing Floor" which is Lee Child's debut book, but the books can be read in any order. Title in Thai is ลานละเลงเลือด

A bit less than 2 weeks in my case.

If you go to Silom Complex (sky-walk connection from Sala Daeng BTS) and go to the top floor you will find an art's supply shop which is very well stocked. I would expect them to hold calligraphy pens etc but not 100 pc sure.

If 2000 businesses average 500 visitors each per day you get 1 million visits ha ha!

There are a number of different 'grades' of variable focus/progressive lens available so it is very difficult to compare prices. The cheaper ones are thicker lens with very poor side vision. I always take my old pair in and ask that the new lens are comparable 'quality' thickness. I do not go for the most expensive as they would probably go for about 20,000 baht.

When I was in the UK 3 months ago I needed to have a new frame fitted to my Thai bought lenses. When I asked the price of having new lens made up of same quality the price was comparable to the Thai price. I think this may be more due to prices in the west dropping because of competition in the high street, rather than Thai prices increasing. So maybe I will go back to Betterspecs for my next pair.

I have used one company twice to steam clean the fixed carpets in my condo. The cost is about 2500 baht for about 40 sq m. (my condo is 70 sq m but exposed carpet is smaller). This company supplies curtains as well, but whether they accept orientals I do not know. If nobody else recommends somebody to you I will try and dig out an old receipt.