Roger That

Nice. Hope Windows is installed on the SSD!

By the way, does anyone know what the situation is like with flights now - are there not too many cancellations? Hopefully they've had time to gauge demand. Swiss was looking good for me.

1 hour ago, treetops said:

 

I'm in the process just now - flying this weekend.  As you say, the government website is pretty good.  So far I've the Day 2 and 8 tests booked and will print out payment confirmation of this to take with me.  Covid test booked and will take a couple of copies of the results when received.  PLF will be done and printed on Thursday.

 

Let me know if you think I've missed anything.

Thanks, I think I'm going to go for it.  Seems that the Covid test (in BKK) is easily available but if you're happy to share it'd be interesting to know where you will get it and how much.

I might consider finishing ending the isolation early with the 5 day early release thing but not looked at it in detail yet.

International fraud is extremely complicated. I'm afraid, for a small amount such as £9000 (I know it is a lot personally, but in the grand scheme of things it's nothing), you've got no chance via legal recourse. You'd be best to hold out and see if anything changes with your friend, although I'd imagine it won't.

Plenty of crypto scams get away with millions and it's very rare that anyone gets done for it anywhere (the US perhaps being an exception, so most stay away).

If I applied for Non-O Visa at the London Embassy, I would need to have the foresight to bring the required physical documents required back to the UK with me, wouldn't I? (can't remember off hand what they were but I recall there were a few from last time).

Can I get multiple-entry Non-O at London?

10 minutes ago, OJAS said:

 

You will already need to quarantine under the existing rules covering amber list countries like Thailand:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england#amber-list

 

And, for good measure, the following link to the RTE London website sets out the current requirements (valid until the end of September) for returning to Thailand from the UK:-

 

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/requirements-for-foreigners-travelling-to-thailand-during-covid-19-tra?page=5d6636cd15e39c3bd00072dd&menu=5f4b6eb3f6ae4b236972c562

 

 

As it stands, my understanding is that I would have to self-isolate (at home), not hotel quarantine (on arrival in the UK).

Thanks for the other link.

Yeah, agreed on the mobo, as long as it has the features you require then it shouldn't matter too much.

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You could say the same for every component.

Why buy the Ryzen 3400G (5k7) when a Ryzen 2600 (4k5) + RX570 graphics card (18k) will be faster ..... answer +9kbht

Why buy the 450M m/b (2k7) when the 570M (10k) is newer ......... answer + 7k3bht

 

For the PSU .......... I prefer to pay 600bht less.

And I've never had any problems with many cheaper PSUs over the past 30 years of building computers.

 

Fair enough. But if you’re unlucky and your PSU blows, it could take one or several components with it.

5 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Obtain your new 12 month extension in September. Also buy a reentry permit. 

Then consider trip.

What will be important is Thailand situation at that time (Oct plus). Anything could happen during now and then.

That’s the other option, but I feel like I’ve waited long enough and there is always a chance that things will change and I won’t be able to go then, or it will be considerably less appealing (e.g. needing to do hotel quarantine in UK).

Thanks ubonjoe, very helpful.

Let’s say I also planned to visit UK a couple of times next year, what are my options given that it is a single entry visa?

I'm toying with the idea of returning to the UK in the next couple of weeks to get vaccinated, see family etc and return in September.

I hold a non-immigrant O visa (Thai wife) which expires in late September.  I had in mind to return in early September, to potentially allow for 14 days ASQ then an opportunity to renew the visa before it expires.

However, I would rather avoid quarantine if possible so could hold out a bit longer and return in (say) October or later, in case there was any change of regulations for vaccinated travellers.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how I might approach this? Could I return on visa exemption and then get a new non-immigrant O visa once here? I am sure in the past I had to leave the country to do this though.

Relevant info: UK Passport, I have Thai Bank account which has 400,000 baht in there ready. Living in BKK.

Thanks.

Just want to echo the above: for God’s sake, get an SSD. Huge, huge difference.

If you want reliability, either pick ALL the parts and assemble it yourself (or get someone to do it for you) or go with one of the big brands who have an incentive to provide a device that will not fail under warranty.

There are no guarantees of course, but if you just give a vague spec to a PC builder they will cheap out wherever possible, especially on things like the power supply, which is a very important part of a PC.

One of the main reasons you will see a lot of good “reviews” for the likes of Nord and Express VPN is because they have a very generous affiliate program.

You can’t really trust VPN “review” sites - they’ll just plug whoever pays them the most.

Anyone done this recently and want to comment on the process?(UK passport, not vaccinated but that doesn’t seem to matter). Considering doing it in the next couple of weeks.

I’m aware of the gov.uk site which seems to describe the process fairly well including the requirement to isolate at home for 10 (from memory) days.

just wondered if anyone was aware of any gotchas. Swiss Air was looking good, to Manchester via Zurich.

5 hours ago, scammed said:

i keep a bunch of old games movies etc, i like to keep them no matter how many laptops i go through.

when a hdd breaks, it breaks, recovery is not possible sometimes, so it would then all be lost

 

on a side note i bought 2 TB usb memory recently for a few hundred baht and that can replace the hdd backup

Not for a few hundred baht you didn't. I'm afraid your username has proved to be accurate in this instance!

Answer to OP: if you have to ask, you don't need one (and neither do most people, despite what VPN adverts will try and tell you).

It can be handy to get around geo-blocking. Alleged "privacy" benefits are questionable.

Check Tom Scott's video about VPNs on YouTube for an accurate assessment, not distorted by VPN sponsorship deals (which can be very lucrative apparently, hence the huge number of them on YouTube).

6 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

 

I would be lost without my VPN to get around geo blocking.

 

The other problem the VPN's fix is "a man in the middle attack."  Say you live in a condo with WiFi.  What if your neighbor has cracked your WiFi password?  Maybe someone has spliced into the cable downstairs.  Now, they can place themselves in between you, and the website you are connecting to, which could be your internet banking.  A VPN encrypts all the traffic between you and your bank, so a man in the middle can not use the information.

 

Need to access any sensitive websites like banking, email, security cameras etc from a public WiFi like in cafes, bars, airports, restaurants etc, you should always use a VPN to stop a man in the middle attack, even a free one is better than nothing.     

 

Even cellular data can be "sniffed."

 

Sounds like super spy stuff, but it's not.  This equipment can be bought by the public.  

This is not correct (the condo example). If you are using online banking, it WILL use https (as will >90% of other sites these days) and is therefore already encrypted and cannot be intercepted like that.

All you're doing is passing your internet traffic through an additional server provided by an anonymous company with unknown motives.

Bit late, but I was also searching for this last year.

If you have a Yamaha keyboard there are "styles" (rhythms) available to download online which are suitable.  It took a while for me to find them though, I suspect most information is in Thai rather than English.

If you don't have a keyboard and just want a raw sample then I don't know I'm afraid although I'd be interested in any other responses.