JensenZ

Visa agents in Pattaya will get you a Bangkok Bank account without problems. Everything is easier in Pattaya.

I just noticed that when you log into KBank banking in browser, if you click on "business accounts", it lists the accounts as Savings Accounts.

My KBank accounts are listed as "Business Accounts" in online banking. There is no mention of what type of accounts they are in the KBank phone app. They are savings accounts. This is stated on the info page of your passbook at the bottom left: branch and savings account. This could be written in Thai if it was opened a long time ago. In my first passbook from 14 years ago, it is written in Thai. In my more recent passbook of an account opened a few years ago, it is written in English.

It's already a sewer.

It's impossible to pin down a Russian by looks alone. I'm 0% Russian but often get approached by them in Pattaya. Sometimes they ask if I speak Russian.

Notwithstanding your ever-present condescending attitude and air of superiority on this forum - you do your thing and I'll do mine. It's my retirement, so I don't need an education from people like you on how I should proceed. No one is giving out gold stars for their level of Thai cultural integration. Maybe it's a problem where you live, but I chose Pattaya as a place to retire where I could be me. That's very easy to do in Pattaya. One reason why Thailand is such a desirable place to retire - the Thai people are very flexible and welcoming to people of other cultures. It might be surprising to some that most of the criticism comes from other expats. On the subject of wai-ing. Most of the interaction I have with Thai people is when I'm handing over money. They might wai, I say thank you - mostly in English... and everyone is happy. I don't have a Thai family or a Thai partner, so in that case, I expect much more cultural integration would be necessary.

Perhaps you don't know that "Hottentot" was used extensively by South African White people in the 60s and 70s when this movie came out as a general derogatory term for all black, dark-skinned, and even mixed race people, similar to "Kaffir". I know this as I was a white person growing up in South Africa in the 70s, during the height of Apartheid. It was the Dutch who started using this term due to the sound of the native language of the Khoekhoe people. It's easy to sit here and think it's crazy, but maybe we should consult South African black people to hear their opinions. I don't believe children's movies should insult any particular race or nationality unless it's a historical documentary. Try using the term in South Africa, and you'll discover that the term is not trivial.

The Samsung Service Center in Pattaya is on Pattaya Nua, on the left heading toward the bus station. They offered to replace my screen while I waited, in under an hour.

I wouldn't take a phone back to the shop where I bought it. I'd take it to the Samsung Service Center. It's the same with Apple... take it to Apple Care. If you go into an Apple reseller store (Studio 7), they send you to Apple Care. They don't offer to send it on your behalf to Apple Care for repairs. It's the same at official Samsung dealers. All the official dealers can do is replace the phone if it is defective within 7 days. It's your misunderstanding about how things work here that got you into this mess. I had a screen that developed a thick line and needed to be replaced - Samsung Note 20 Ultra - I took it to the Samsung service center and they offered to replace the screen while I waited. That was about 8000 baht. I traded the phone for a new model instead.

I disagree that it is "quite easy". I've done quite a few myself and found that the performance of the cable can be compromised if it is not done perfectly - which is difficult. If you don't get it perfect, it can still work, but with lower performance. Now I only use pre-made cables, usually on Lazada or Ali-Express.

How can a Korean (Asian) be racist toward a Thai (Asian). Has the definition of "racist" changed?

I think your expectations of the length of time you should sleep are too high. It differs with each individual, but I believe 8 hours of sleep is far too much. Who came up with this idea that 8 hours is necessary? Sure, if you always sleep a certain number of hours, then you're going to want to sleep that many hours as it becomes a (bad) habit. I'm ok with between 4 and 6 hours, averaging about 5. If I get sleepy during the day (which is rare) I will add a timed nap of one hour to rejuvenate. Over a year, I've been awake for 46 more days than an 8-hour sleeper. Factoring in 8 hours of sleep, that's 61 extra days a year. I exercise every day too, so I'm not getting around half asleep.

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If you look at a temperature chart by the hour of your locality (Pattaya for me), you'll note that nearly all of the day the temperature is over 30C, and it only drops to 25/26C for an hour or so before dawn (if you're lucky). My room temperature will remain 29C and over, so 27C is always lower than the room temperature apart from a few days in Dec/Jan. Also note, that with my setting at 27C, the temperature at bed level is 25C because the warm air rises. There's a 2-degree gradient in the room.

I didn't forget that, but new units can be incorrectly installed, and even faulty. I've had new units installed incorrectly more than once. Here are some examples of bad installations: 1. An outdoor unit was installed in a corner of my balcony, on the floor with the front very close to a wall so it was creating a vortex of hot air that it was sucking in and overheating. The unit needed to be relocated. 2. The back of an outdoor unit was installed too close to the mounting wall. I needed to get longer mounting brackets. 3. An indoor unit was mounted at the wrong angle, so the drip tray wasn't draining to the exit pipe, but accumulating water which after a while grew a lot of clear slimy algae which blocked the drain pipe. Despite "professional" air-con installers, I'm the one who had to figure out why these units were not operating properly and give them instructions on how to fix the problems. These were all brand-new units. 4. Another interesting one... when I first arrived in Thailand many years ago I was getting 5000 plus electric bills in a very small 2-bedroom apartment. That's quite a big bill for 2006. It was a brand new unit the landlord installed for me in one of the bedrooms, a very small bedroom. The problem was that the outdoor unit was installed a very long distance from the room (over 25m). As a result, the compressor was always on to cool the room as it was operating at very low efficiency. It could not lower the room temperature to below 25C and it was a well-sealed room with no direct sunlight. What made it worse was that I couldn't tell if the compressor was on or off as it was too far away. I had a huge fight with my landlord over this. And finally, even if the unit is brand new and installed correctly, there are other considerations: Is the unit powerful enough for the size of the room and the desired room temperature? If not, with the unit turned down to 23C, it might never reach the target temperature making the compressor work full-time. I suspect a lot of units will have trouble reducing the room temperature down to 23C. I keep mine at 26 - 28C but I've never tried to create a refrigerated environment. Is there a considerable cool air leakage under doors? Ceiling fans can increase the leakage of cool air if there are large gaps under the doors. Is the thermostat working correctly? It's always a good idea to keep a digital thermometer in the room. This will tell you quickly if the unit is underperforming.

Assuming he's not paying for neighbours usage, the aircon units might be malfunctioning. They could be low on gas with the compressors on full-time. This could easily account for a 7500 baht bill.

It was a question, but you didn't answer it yet... My understanding of Beach was too literal? How should "beach" be understood in the context of the writers claiming that Indonesians (who have more beaches than most other countries) are coming to Thailand for nice beaches? Why did I come here? On a visa run from the Philippines... but an Australian expat visiting Thailand is a long shot from an Indonesian tourist visiting Thailand. There's nothing to compare.

That certainly is nonsense - Indonesians traveling to Thailand for beaches. Indonesia has a long list of incredible beaches, far more than Thailand. Why would any Indonesian want to travel to Thailand for a holiday?

Maybe you're quick with the phone, but since paying with the phone became a thing, the queues at 7-Eleven and other stores are moving much more slowly as people mess around with their phones to pay for things... and it's getting steadily worse as more people start using them. I like the card - quick and easy and no messing around.

It's a good thing we have a smart*** to keep us all in line.

The headline contradicts the findings. According to surveys, circumference is important, which is an element of "big" or "size". This is nothing new but they are pretending it's ground-breaking news. Question to OP: Did you conduct a survey or go around observing the size of Thai men's erect penises?

Apart from your disgusting condescending attitude, what you say is pure nonsense. Delivery people own motorcycles and phones, which puts them above "as low as it gets". Your comment is "as low as it gets" IMO.

It's not surprising you had a good turnout with free catered food and drinks, but who's going to pay?

I think you are right. I can imagine a table full of guests with their eyes fixated on their cell phones. It's hard to find anyone who is present these days as the cyber world is always the most important. A party with a no-phones-allowed rule might be an idea if anyone can manage an hour or two away from their phones.

This is absurd - They use a covid lockdown year (2022) as a basis for claiming a tourism surge of 98.2% to 2023. Did they forget about covid? They don't bother using pre-covid stats, which are the only stats that have any meaning. All tourism is doing now is getting back to normal.