DaLa

Worse than stupid, worse than mad, I'm struggling to find a suitable adjective. I will STOP at nothing to counter this crazy notion. In fact I'll pull out all the STOPS. That's the end of my message. All I have to say, FULL STOP. Period.

Melting them down. Spot price today is 650.65.

Couldn't agree more , plus I like it slow at my age! The point being made about the cashier being taxed by having to add up the amount tendered also fails with this scenario: Cost of goods 810 baht so I proffer 1 x 500 baht, 2 x 100 baht, 2 x 50 baht and 1 x 20 baht. Look of terror and /or confusion on the cashiers face. Quite simply I agree with the point the OP is making and anyone that doesn't witness that in daily life is probably part of the problem, or alternatively one of the women that have a bag full of discount coupons in Top's supermarket.

I use Taling Chan which cuts the journey by 45 minutes.

Good point. However 'slow the process down' ? In Thailand ? My experience here, easily confirmed at Immigration, is that most processes and services are designed to do exactly that. Exception being anything to do with food. The other problem whilst I accept there is a time element to adding up, are you suggesting someone working in a shop doesn't recognise the denominations of the money they are taking? Or admitting that despite record numbers of people going to university youngsters cant perform simple arithmetic. Finally how does does one relieve themselves of accumulated change if they never use it in a transaction?

In my experience it has always been possible to travel between Bangkok and Hua Hin by train. Usually around 4 hours, only 5 hours if it departs late. I'm guessing the improvements will result in a journey time of 3 hours 59 minutes. Good fun though, just hope the price doesn't increase. I'm struggling with the Baht being so strong.

Looking for a 'real' anything here takes years and is rarely successful. Whether it be electrician / plumber / arborist, it's all a gamble. I have found the following questions useful when trying to find an electrician : Will you using 3 core twin and earth cable ? ANSWER YES Will you be running that to an RCD ? ANSWER YES Is the trip rated at the correct current ? ANSWER YES Are you an airline pilot ? ANSWER YES Be extra vigilant when seeking a 'real' lady friend. Sorry can't help you with your request. Sounds like your gardener did a reasonable job compared to mine.

I used to ‘help’ the assistants at 7/11 by offering a 1000 baht note together with 11.75 baht for an 811.75 baht purchase. I’ve now learned this is a total waste of time. Problem is I nearly have 1 million baht in 25 and 50 satang coins.

Baritone low G to Tenor high B and then falsetto to D flat . Two and a third octaves. Or Joe Cocker 2.6 Octaves ....then Freddy Mercury, 3 Octaves.

If I had an extra 10 baht per month I'd try to negotiate some incredibly short, short time.

'Public respect' , at your mother's funeral procession ?

‘Sunbeam’ is an interesting one. Obviously an English word , however the meaning in Australian is unused crockery or cutlery. Now in England the word is (was) used to greet or address someone you know; generally in a friendly manner. As in ‘ey up sunbeam how you doing, not seen you for a while’ However if you alter the intonation slightly it can also be used in a derogatory manner short of a strong cuss, for example addressing someone that runs into your car ‘well done sunbeam, that wasn’t a very clever move was it’. Very subtle. To confuse issues more there are many other words used similarly whilst greeting someone example: ‘eh up duck’, ‘ nah den mate’, ‘good afternoon chappy’….

SuperRich was there 4 - 5 months ago, down in the basement , together with the cheapest food and drink in Swampy. I've always found SuperRich to give far better rates of exchange than the banks and indeed the spread between buy and sell is minimal which tells you a great deal. You can also order the day before from the main branch and they will deliver it to your nearest point at no extra cost. As a footnote my experience is from exchanging Thai Baht to Singapore $/ Taiwanese $/Japanese Yen and UK sterling.

I had several 'red' coloured vehicles in the Uk in the 90's and they suffered from dulling of the gloss finish. I understood at the time for it to be a paint defect and no amount of 'T' cut or polish corrected it. I haven't noticed that problem on red coloured cars here. Now back to the the heat problem. The darker the colour the more heat an object absorbs. Thus black absorbs all wavelengths of light and reflects none. White reflects all wavelengths and thus absorbs the least heat. I have black vehicles and white vehicles; they are under cover and have aircon thus I don't notice a great deal of difference. If anything it's the efficiency of the air con that makes most difference. On the 3 occasions I used air con in my car in the UK it would take an age compared to the air con here. My most efficient a/c was in a Mitsubishi which may have just been due to the company also being a major supplier of air con generally.

Starting to move my furniture upstairs this afternoon.

Mask on whilst travelling on public transport, off whilst in the park, on walking in the street and to cap it all OFF in the bars and restaurants. I defy anyone to explain the logic behind this to me. Worse still is the apparent acceptance to conform without question.

'Streamlined' ? It's not only because there are 171,476 words in the English dictionary and only 2,864 words in the Thai dictionary that 'streamlined' is not easily understood here. If the amount of work undertaken by banks/immigration/land and transport offices and even sales assistants in this country was made more efficient there would be another 10 million unemployed in this country.

I was very surprised to learn 'The Sound of Music' wasn't based in Australia. And I had never heard a voice like Julie Andrews before so that was no give away either.

Futile effort to revive the market. They might be building them , and they may have been selling 7,000-8000 units a year back in 2012. Meanwhile , of the 5997 units for sale at the Energy Cha Am, 5990 still remain for sale.

KhunLa's map would be your best guide after disclosing where in Bangkok you need to commute. I live in Nonthaburi as we have a business both there and at Chatuchak. I wouldn't be living there if my business was in Lat Krabang. I also agree with BangkokAlan that all the services you require are available immediately outside Bangkok itself. In the case of Nonthaburi that also includes its own (very welcoming, efficient and stress free) immigration. Your request for 'quiet' depends on the type of housing you choose. My Moo Bahn is just over the Chao Phraya off a main 12 lane highway but there's no traffic noise, I rarely bump into any of my neighbours, no bars or restaurants on the Moo Bahn blasting out music until the small hours. The only noise that I 'suffer' is the 7 AM TiChi grunts on the nearby park. I'm sure you can find all that on the side of town that is closest to your work.

OK, the consensus here is that the police/politicians/authorities/owners are all to blame and we live in a lawless/corrupt country where life is cheap. We know that , it’s the same rhetoric whenever there is an incident. Can’t we also consider that the general public including some of us are just as guilty of burying our heads in the sand when it comes to safety here. I spent many years in the steel and construction industries, I look for problems and out of a sense of wellbeing I try to avoid them. Did anyone notice during the Covid ‘crisis’ that ‘security’ changed. No longer were our bags being checked for explosives or weapons, instead all the emphasis was on our temperature. I have shops in a multi storey building at Chatuchak and again due to covid they found it necessary to place chains and locks around several of the exits. And no one questioned it, the doors remained locked and thus useless until we were all told that it was now safe for them to be open again. Yep for sure I’m a boring old guy that checks out my surroundings when I’m in a building, that’s partly how I got old. RIP to the deceased and my thoughts too for the horrific injuries some of the survivors have sustained.

When you say 'authorised person', I presume the documents requiring a witness advise whom they consider to be appropriate. You need to clarify that point first as in a lot of cases anyone can witness a document. They don't have to be a particular nationality or profession. You may well find that a local multiple partner law firm will be acceptable. If in doubt, make enquiries and then ask the organisation requiring the documents to confirm that whomever you chose is acceptable.

Don't worry too much , I have it on good authority that there won't be another flood similar to the on in 2011 for another 50 Years. At the time I expressed concerns regarding buying a house in Nonthaburi and the joint owner ( I mean sole owner of course) told me this was a once in a lifetime occurrence. I asked how I would cope in 50 years time with such a flood , and she told me again not to worry, ' You won't live that long'. I was stunned to know she was both a meteorologist and doctor.

I bought my first VHS back in 1980, £400 which was over a months salary back then. I'm not a hoarder but can't bear to throw out some things, so I found this in my lockup and brought it out here. There were also a few tapes , one of which was Schindlers List that I had never got around to watching so I fired the machine up and loaded the tape. A little long but generally a great film. Only disappointed that the machine or tape was damaged as it only played in B&W. Back on subject, I also have around 60-70 DVD's, 90% of which are music concerts. They cost a fortune at the time , but absolutely worth it and I still get a lot of pleasure from watching them. I bought a DVD read/write add on for my AppleMac that plugs into the USB port for around 1000 baht. Decent enough video and sound quality.