HerewardtheWake

KhunLA, Ha, just noticed you are in Prachaup Khiri Khan! I lived in Pak Nam Pran for a few months at the end of 2019,. It is a nice area, meeting my needs for long uncrowded roads for bicycling, but I got spooked by people burning vegetation and the resultant smoke, , which I eventually realized happens everywhere in Thailand and cannot be avoided. Areas near Dolphin Bay are very appealing, in retrospect. Now that I am thinking of leaving Pattaya, I will revisit the area.

Hummin, Thank you for the suggestion of the place near Chumphon. I am driving to Krabie this week and will check out your suggestion.

I have tried the Search function with Cycling and Bicycling in this forum but nothing comes up.

Hello all. I now live just south of Pattaya. I like long distance road cycling, and the environs of Pattaya are crowded and are hazardous. Would Krabie offer less crowded long distance roads for cycling? Is there a bicycling group in Krabie? If anybody could reply, I would like to correspond with the person. Thank you.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/coming-to-terms-the-covid-lockdowns-were-all-for-naught For those of us who saw the logic and rationale in the approach Sweden took with covid lockdowns and for those who feared the enormous damage the lockdowns did, here is an article which vindicates our views.

Any comments from fellow Americans or others who have had experience in the following would be appreciated: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules under Form 8938 for real estate owned abroad are: 1. A personal residence abroad need not be reported. At least that is the general opinion among tax consultants seen on the Web, because the Form 8938 is somewhat fuzzy on this. However, there may be some kind of threshold above which it needs to be reported. Is that correct? 2 . If a house is owned through a foreign corporation, it should be reported as an asset. One buys a house in Thailand by forming a corporation. Under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules, such ownership comes under a Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC), and must be reported on Form 5471. So, the house should be reported as an asset. Is there a value threshold below which it need not be reported? I could not find clear information on this. 3. Does owning a residence of say $500,000 value invite undue attention from the IRS in terms of scrutiny or audit? Grateful for any learned comments.

No, I am using a step down transformer 220v to 110v because my Pioneer Elite SC-72 is 110v US domestic market unit.

All: Sorry, I've been away and did not follow up sufficiently> My Pioneer Elite SC-72 is a 110v unit. Mistaken plug into a 220v volt outlet fried it. That was my original post. Trying to get t repaired was a futile exercise. Pioneer has been out of home audio, and Onkyo who bought them has no discernible repair facility in Thailand. So, I took the plunge and opened the unit. In the back right hand side there are two fuses. One is a regular 250v 1.5A fuse which clearly got fried. I replaced the fuse, and the unit lit up. You then do a reset by powering off, holding the center button on the 4-way toggle down, and then power up. There is a Youtube procedure to do this if you look for :resetting SC-72: on Youtube.

I plugged my US domestic market 110v Pioneer Elite SC-72 receiver into a 220v outlet and fried it. I have checked the unit and I don't see a fuse anywhere. I have sent a facebook message to Pioneer in Bangkok but got no response. 1. It is unlikely that the unit was sold without a fuse and passed the UL (Underwriters Laboratory) certification. Is there a fuse inside the unit and accessible only to authorized service personnel? 2. Can anyone recommend an electronics repair shop in Pattaya or Bangkok can take a look at the receiver? Thanks.

Assist Thai Visa on Chiang Mai Land Rd Excellent service. Ask for Supranee; excellent English and dedication. I have been very happy with their service.

Wake Up, good point: I also use a Schwab debit card and can get up to 25,000 Baht /day(?) and the 220 Baht fee the Bangkok Bank ATM charges is refunded by Schwab. Do you happen to know if there is some kind of a limit on how many times in a month one can use such a card at an ATM and whether Schwab has a limit of reimbursement of ATM fees? Thanks.

Ohyesuare, I just checked and here are the numbers. $5,000 transferred from a debit account at SchwaB to Bangkok Bank via: Moneywise: B 164,800 deposited into BKK account $1.99 fee Wise: B 164,654 deposited into BKK account. $36.04 fee. I don't know enough about interbank finances, so I concede there is possibly a spread in there some place, but I just look at the final amount in Baht deposited and the attendant fees. I'll glad to learn if there is a catch someplace in all of this. USD RECEIVE THB Change Receiver Countr 1.0000 USD = 32.9600 THB1 Select a Payment Option Credit Card 2 127.99 USD Transfer Fee Debit Card 1.99 USD Transfer Fee Online Bank Account Learn More Cash at Location Learn More - Select a Receive Method Some options not supported due to high send amount 5,000 USD 7.99 USD Bank debit (ACH) fee 28.05 USDOur fee –36.04 USDTotal fees =4,963.96 USDAmount we’ll convert ×33.1700Guaranteed rate (16 hrs) Recipient gets THB

"Two of the answers seriously disturbing already......its utterly mind boggling it really is" Chivas, could you please elaborate?

I tried Bangkok bank but nobody in New York answers the phone. So I gave up. Somebody said that the Pattaya branch can arrange it, but it is too much bother to talk in English with the bank staff. May be, but I decided not to bother. I have used wise.com (formerly transferwise.com) for a while. Their charges were lower than others. Transfer from a Bank of America account cost me a wire fee of $35 and then they skim off a bit by playing with the exchange rate. The only advantage was the speed. Same with Schwab and Fidelity ( but with a lower $25 wire fee). I now use moneygram.com. It gives what appears to be the prevailing exchange rate, but I'd imagine they also play a little bit with the exchange rate spread, but it seems to be less than the others. Transferring from a debit account in the US is $1.99 each time I transfer $5,000.00. I am not sure if it goes up with a higher transfer amount. A shortcoming is it takes up to 48 hours for the money to appear in my Bangkok Bank account. I expect moneygram kites the money for a couple of days.

I generally use Wise (formerly Transferwise) to remit money from the States. In Wise's Compare costs link, I now see Moneygram, which is much cheaper to use than Wise. What is the catch? Why is Wise showing a competitor's being cheaper? For example for US$1,000, Wise charges around $6 and Moneygram $1.99, and on Moneygram it is $1.99 ,up to $10,000 remittance. It seems Moneygram has a $10,000 limit, but on the surface it looks cheaper. Any story here?

Just moved to Pattaya from the States with many 110v electronics. I need 220v to 110v step down transformers. Lazada and Shoppee have long delivery times. Tried Tukcom Center in Pattaya and no luck. Is there a place in the Bangkok area which has such transformers? ? Thanks for any tips.

Sorry, my car was a Mazda CX-30, not MX-30.

My Experiences with Mazda MX-30 Hitch Receiver and Bicycle carrier Khunla, thanks for the tip. I called Master Hook; help and answers were ready and mostly understandable in texted correspondence. They had the hitch for my Mazda MX-30. I drove to their site close to Bangkok, a well kept, airy, and efficient place (with location limitations explained below), with a good show room, all first class. Really impressive. In fact, the cleanliness and organization of the place, with a shiny espresso machine to boot, were infinitely better than any such place I'd find in my town,Tucson.The manager spoke English well. The staff were somewhat halting in English speech, but enough to understand and get ones self across. My MX-30 needed to have the rear bumper taken off, one massive metal bracket removed and replaced by an equally massive hitch base which bolts in. Then the bumpers were put back. The two technicians seemed to know what they were doing and had all tools necessary. The choices for a two bike carrier were two: 1) A house-design two-bike unit, very light and functional. It has elements of a simple and light design, but I am not sure how it will hold up in long term usage. Perhaps with a bit more finish, it might prove to be a bauhaus industrial design; but in terms of design and durability I am speaking from the perspective of having owned a Thule two bike carrier for twelve years, which was built like a tank and weighed about 40 kg. The Master Hook unit weighs about 12 kg. I think the Master Hook model is named BR2, priced at 8500 Baht. 2) An imported two-bike unit which looks rather complex, but has a design pattern similar to the Thule unit, with electrical connections for tail lights. Not sure how much it weighs, but it looked heavy. It was priced at 15,000 Baht. I chose the Master Hook design, priced as a 15,500 Baht package for the carrier and the 50 mm receiver with a hitch ball. Installation took about two hours. When I got on the road, I saw a warning on my dashboard : "Ultrasonics Malfunction and Driver Assistance Features Partially Disabled". I drove back to Master Hook. The technician got under the car and did something, which looked like the other technicians did not connect the sensor wires. The warning disappeared but I am not sure my parking sensors are working properly. I will take the car to Mazda, and will hope that they won't quibble about how the hitch installation might have damaged the sensors. There are a total of five ultrasonic sensors in the rear and four in the front in my car. Complicated stuff for the poor technicians, alas. My car is new, and if the dealer declines any necessary repairs to the sensors because of the hitch installation, I am up the creek. If I had known that such removal of bumpers was needed, i'd not have done this installation. Too late. All in all, a hitch installed at the factory or by a dealer is the best bet. Unfortunately, Mazda does not offer a hitch and the Chonburi Mazda dealer had no idea what a hitch is. I have my fingers crossed about how this will all work out. To be fair, Master Hook was professional and appears to have a decent product. Let's give them that unreservedly. One CLEAR caution about their location and the risks in driving there: I used Google navigation outbound. The place is about 130 km from Pattaya. It proved to be a nightmare. The navigation took me through uncountable twists and turns once you get off Route 7 and get on Route 314. Even in broad daylight, the directions were incomprehensibly complicated. The roads have pot holes a foot deep, filled with water. In many stretches the roadside vegetation was not trimmed, so it intrudes into the road and unless one is careful, will scratch the side of the car.The whole journey was a torture, and in fact, somewhat frightening. At places one goes over HUMPBACKED one lane wooden bridges. Unless one approaches them slowly, the car will lose the muffler. At other places you go through Route 7 underpasses all of which had homeless people living under the road. It really tells one the devastation the covid lockdowns have caused. I used Apple Maps for the return journey. It was simpler with fewer twists and turns, but still had the wooden bridges. On one of those, I scratched my port side fender. Incredibly, Master Hook actually FACES the northbound lanes of Route 7, the Chonburi-Bangkok highway. But the exit from Route 7 is about 25 km south. Hence the difficulty in reaching them. It is an odd location, but I hasten to spare any further criticism because I am not familiar with the geography that dictates such a location. CLEAR WARNING: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, under any circumstances, drive there after daylight. The roads are extremely dangerous. One will either end of in a ditch or grievously injured. In summary, Master Hook seemed to be a competent company and seemed to know what they are doing. My suggestion would be to see if their Pattaya dealers can do the job. A number of such dealers are listed in the Master Hook website, but I did not contact them because the head office had the Mazda hitch in stock. One idea would be to have the hitch receiver installed by them for 8500 Baht and then buy a Thule or Yakima bike carrier if they are available in Thailand. Because I am taking the car to the Mazda dealer to check the sensor functions, I have removed the bike carrier. I will post some photos after the visit to the dealer.

Howerde, Did you go to Cyclesport in Bangkok for your tow hitch and receiver? I talked with them. To the extent I could understand, Cyclesport does not install a tow hitch and receiver. They only have Buzzrack bicycle carriers. They did not know who can install a hitch on my Mazda CX-30. Simply, who installed your hitch, presumably a 50mm one. Thanks for any help.

Richard_Smith, A bike carrier mounted onto a 2 in.(50.1mm) receiver is the standard and safe way (other than inside the car) to carry a bicycle, at least in the US. Thule makes a sturdy but heavy carrier which mounts onto a receiver. Yakima, and presumably others too, make somewhat simpler carriers.There are now lighter and more streamlined carriers along the same design. All such rear mounted carriers solve the limitations of rear hatch operation mentioned by Richard. On my CX-30 with the carrier mounted with a multitude of straps essentially precludes the use of the hatch. Howerde, thanks. I will try your suggestion.

Curt Manufacturing in the US makes tailor-made hitch receivers for many cars. They don't have a dealer in Thailand. I now use a strapped bicycle carrier, but I don't think t is stable over rough roads. Does anybody know whether there are shops in Pattaya or Bangkok which can install a hitch receiver for a bicycle carrier on a Mazda CX-30?