Aliflair

Or try Wise, a lot of people on this forum seem to use them myself included. https://wise.com/

I'm in my 50's. About 6-10 years ago back in the West I was seriously thinking my libido was on the way out. Used the blue pills more than I should have. Fast forward to last few years since moving to Los, my appetite is almost the same as my teenage years, but back then it was mostly Mrs Palmer. Now married to a Thai, early on there was education required as it is a non negotiable for me to have some sort of activity at least 5 days a week, which was more than any of her former partners wanted. She's onboard now, that or she can find a new man. TBF she's hot, whenever we go out I see so much interest in her from other guys, I enjoy watching her politely reject their offers. No pills ever, so it's not necessary about you, it may just be who you are with. Love Thailand, even with all it's faults.

Should be easy enough to get her a tourist visa, although she won't be able to work on that (legally). Do it yourself online, don't bother with an agent. Just beware that from when you apply she'll either have to get to Bangkok or CM within 2 weeks for her "biometrics" to be taken by the immigration departments agent (they have outsourced this to a private firm). You can personally sponsor (show proof of funds that you can support her) during her stay, it may look less suspicious than your company doing it. At least that was how it all worked for me a year ago, apologies if anything has changed since then. Have her do some gardening at home, or cooking prep at home for your business, anything to be careful in case someone dobs her for "working" at your business address. Having said that I have Thai friends who went to Oz on tourist visa's and worked in their relatives massage shop on the Sunny Coast, got away with it. I think they were limited to a 3 month stay. I only went with the missus for a couple of weeks, that's more than enough for me these days.

About 3 years ago I was in the market for a new mattress as the one in the condo I was in at the time was typical of here, very firm, even with a topper. I prefer what is called in Australia "medium" softness, so you don't sink into it, but its not like a futon either. I tried a number of places and still wasn't impressed with their offerings. Now if I recall correctly it may have been HomePro also, at least it was on Sukumvit and wasn't a bedding only store, and when trying out the mattresses and telling the salesman my thoughts he said to me sir, I know what you need - a memory foam mattress, tell me your address and I'll bring you one - note this was nothing to do with the store, I'm assuming it was his sideline business. It was a bit of a gamble of course but he didn't want any money at that point. A few hours later he arrived with a pickup truck (ute in Oz) with a brand new  mattress on the back still in its plastic wrapping and 2-3 men, put in on the ground for me to try, yes I thought, this is my mattress. They moved it up to the room and total cost including delivery 20,000 baht. I've just looked at the brand name on it, its called a "Bonfire pocket spring memory". Very comfortable, we don't use a topper and the only time we have had similarly comfortable mattresses are in higher end hotels, and yes I would rate the softness as medium. I'm no longer in a condo but brought the mattress with me its so good. Good luck, maybe if they don't have what you are looking for have a quiet word to the salesman if he can do something similar.

You could also try Medisafe Pharmacy, look them up on FB and contact them on Messenger. Not sure where in Thailand you will be but I use them for a drug I really struggled to find in Pattaya and their price was much better than a large private hospital here that I will refrain from naming

@brianthainess do you have someone in Oz who can activate an Amaysim for you then mail it to you. Can receive SMS in Thailand for free, only need to top them up once a year min $10 to keep them active, just make sure you turn mobile data off on the phone you put it in.

He shouldn't have left the scene, but first thing the fuzz need to do is calculate his speed. Should be fairly easy with the right equipment, they have a video, speed = distance / time, they could measure the distance, analyse the video with respect to time. Not that I'm trying to justify what happened after he hit her but I would almost guarantee that if it was a Thai rider and the speed was calculated to be within limits for that road the only case would be the hit and run. For a Thai - 500 baht and a wai

Only 200,000 times the newly proposed dealer threshold. 500 baht and a wai should take care of that.

To answer chilly07, there was for me with my agent to renew my O retirement extension. 12500 no funds, 8000 full funds. TBH I was surprised she told me as I would have paid the higher amount just to avoid going to the IO. But I did have to pay the bank 200 for the statement and letter. Pattaya agent. PM me if you want the name.

To the OP, I get what you are saying about safety, I've used the bus a number of times (pre-covid) and concur that it is comfortable, safe, very relaxing if you have time to burn. In recent times though I use https://mikepattayataxi.com/ - 1000 baht for a Camry including tolls (the other half just used this yesterday when she came back from the village) door to door, not sure if he has people waiting around for pickups at the airport as I always pre-book.

I agree with @kennw, IMO if you are living in any foreign nation (meaning not the one paying you a state pension or benefit), then you should be thankful for whatever you get from that country. The taxes you paid throughout your life didn't go into a pot of gold with your name against it, it went to pay for roads, hospitals, education, defense, and towards whoever was getting a government benefit at that point in time. Correct me if I'm wrong but most western nations are heavily indebted, and benefits are paid from present day taxes, not a pension savings fund that was built up during the time you paid taxes (unless you have your own superannuation or 401k etc style that really was paid from your earnings). If you think you are being penalised living in Thailand (or whereever) then move to Spain, the UK, or where it works better for you. Sadly for most people they are raised with a sense of entitlement and expect governments to take care of them, I've planned to take care of myself and am not expecting anything in the way of government assistance. I know I won't be popular with many for expressing this opinion but if you are getting a pension count yourself lucky and enjoy the time you have left, I've paid a cr@p load of taxes in my time and have no expectation of getting any of that "back".

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I took a risk and bought from an ex-pat with no mechanical check, a 2019 MG ZS, it had been registered for 10 months. New list price around 710k, I paid 455k. I know its had at least a minor ding as I can see a little damage underneath up front, but body no issue. This was in April, its been running fine since. The first owner was Thai and I think the 10k service was either not done or "by a mate", the 20k service was done at MG by the ex-pat and he had the receipt. I've just had the 30k service done after putting 8 on. I put a 5000 baht deposit on it and only paid him the balance after we went together to the DLT to make sure it wasn't going to be a drama to put it into my name, ie the ex-pat basically started the transfer to my name before I paid him the balance. 

I've been happy so far, its a decent size, runs well, not awesome power but an ex GF had a new Yaris and to me that was lesser quality and ride comfort, and totally gutless, but I'm sure many on the forum here will disagree with me. So may be an option for you. Good luck.

@MeaMaximaCulpa to answer your question, they certainly took the medical certificates, but I never found out if I actually needed them. I took them originally as I was hoping to get away with one visit to get it all done and dusted, but due to the booking system it didn't work out that way. If I remember rightly the cost of the car and motorbike licenses were around 700THB or so for both, and there was cost to get the residence and medical certificates, but very cheap overall do DIY IMO

I did my 5 years (car and motorbike) just under a month ago at Banglamung when they re-opened for foreigners. The first day I got there about 11am, no signs anywhere and various places where people mull about, thankfully the GF was with me so she worked out where to get my paper queue number outside with covered seating provided. It took about 90 minutes to get called and I had my passport, my 2 year "temporary" D/L's that had expired by a few days, 2 residence certs from immigration, and (for safety, not sure if I needed them or not) 2 medical certificates (issued by any clinic for 100THB each) checked. They gave me an appointment for 4 days later at a set time and told me to photocopy my existing licenses. When I came back for my appointment the only "extra" I had to run across the road for was photocopies of the front and back of each existing D/L on the same page of A4 for each license (took a few minutes and a few THB to do that), my photocopies were originally rejected as I had done the front of each license on one page, and the back on another, rookie mistake I should have figured that. It took about a hour to do the traffic light colour test, the brake test, pay fee, go downstairs outside (with my newly issued queue number) to get my photo taken, then wait for the new licenses to be printed and given to me. The new D/L's expire on my birthday just over 5 years from now. Of course this was almost a month ago so maybe its changed since then

If it was me I'd try the compensation angle, most likely that will be rejected, so then I'd tell him to put his request in writing, if he didn't I'd say I can't just leave without a request in writing as I'd be accused of breaking the lease. If I got nothing in writing I'd pay rent for the first 4 months and then use the deposit for the final 2 months rent (based on their lack of scruples I wouldn't do it the conventional way where you do everything above board). If they have connections and get the police to kick you out for the period you aren't paying rent then so be it, I very much doubt you'll get any of the deposit back so try to minimise your losses that way. Once you stop paying rent try and have as little as possible that belongs to you there so that you can get out quick. My approach would be that way because he is French, if he was Thai, then all bets are off, I'd be cutting my losses because they can make more drama than its worth to stick around, TIT.

So no curfew (soon), but we can still be arrested and fined if 2 or more people drink alcohol together anywhere? Yep watch those tourist's beating down the doors to get a piece of that

In the last month I got a 55 inch Sharp Aquos 4k smart TV from JD Central for about 13,000 delivered. Our ISP already provides an Android box but for some reason they don't allow Netflix on it and I wanted the other household members to be able to watch that without hassling me. I have a second Android box for watching sport as it requires non official software so I've tried to cover all bases. Happy with it so far and cheap as chips so my advice would be why not a Smart TV.

A lot of good advice on here. I've brought 2 used bikes in on different occasions, both in cardboard bike boxes that I grabbed out of the bin of my local bike shop (different brand from bike). First time was pre covid when Arrivals were busy (Don Muang), just waltzed through. 2nd time was mid March 2020, arrivals quiet, customs officer stopped me and asked if it was new, I didn't have to lie when I smiled and said no, its years old, and he took my word on it without me having to pull it out. Good luck.

I got an MG ZS D+, just under a year old for 455k, had it a few months now, drives well, not too big, not too small, good sized boot, you may want to consider one. Good luck

Classic Ray that sounds like what I do, only thing is I do need to prove residence once a year by way of giving my agent my lease agreement, I set foot in immigration once per year for about 2 minutes, I do need to visit the agent to give them my passport every 90 days, perhaps that could be done online, I've never asked, they are only a 5 minute drive away so no drama regardless.

21 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

I think the only real issues driving on the opposite side of the road are:

1. Looking the wrong way when pulling out onto a not so busy road from a parking lot/side road. 

2. Using the windshield wipers rather than the turn-signals .

 

It was much easier to get used to than I thought it would be...

 

Can solve 2 easily by buying an MG

Just got back from a week there yesterday, great time to go. Your pick of accommodation, bars open, people friendly, masks seemingly optional. Weed smoked openly in bars if that's your thing, not mine. And cheap, we stayed beachfront, usually 5500/night. Paid 1500. Pm for resort name I won't make it public, TIT.