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That is very close to where I live (Soi 80). I've walked around in that shopping mall and didn't see a health food place. Need to look again!

The Indian restaurant on the ground floor (name is something strange like "Thank You in Indian") is VERY good.

I havnt been there but somebody mentioned there was a new health food unit in the new shopping center by the traffic lights....maybe worth a look if your down that way.

Which new shopping center and/or which traffic lights?

30 year mortgages - no way

Is it standard with Thai mortgages to have no pre-payment penalities, like most mortgages in the USA?

If so, there's no need to resist a 30-year mortgage. Just calculate what the payments would be for what ever term you prefered (e.g. 10-year, 15-year) and make a payment for that amount each month. With excess payment amount being applied to principal each month, you'll end up paying off the mortgage close to the 10-year or 15-year period.

Of course, if there ARE pre-payment penalties in Thailand, never mind. (In an Emily Litella voice.)

For most of my adult life my eyesight has not been stable.

Twenty to thirty years ago, I sometimes would need glasses/contacts for nearsightedness (couldn't see distant objects clearly), occasionally perfect 20/20 vision for any depth of field. No predictable pattern. Sometimes a day or with perfect vision, sometimes only part of a day. But, probably 80% of the time, I needed glasses/contacts.

In my late 40's I started needing reading glasses *occasionally*, but again, some days all fields of vision were fine, other days I needed glasses, sometimes for far, some times for near, sometimes for both. I asked about it with a doctor at BNH, and he said he'd never heard of such a thing, and "was I sure?" <sigh...>

Then a few years ago (I'm now 55), I had an industrial accident where I was thrown backward and the back of my head smacked the edge of a stainless steel counter. Hard. Since then, my far distance vision is fine for about eight to ten hours after a restful night's sleep, then my far vision starts to blur and I need glasses. If I only sleep a few hours, or the sleep is restless, my far vision is not clear when I wake up. My near vision mostly still needs reading glasses (+1.50) but sometimes varies unpredictably. Even if I get bi-focals, I will still need to not wear them most mornings -- just reading glasses when needed -- so still need to keep two sets of glasses at hand. And, even more irritating, I need to keep a pair of +2.0 reading glasses for those occasions when I need them.

Anybody out there make any sense out of this? Is this common? Does anybody else have to carry around two (or more) sets of glasses, never knowing which one will be needed? Does this sound like any known pattern/syndrome that can be treated? Since I asked the BNH ophthalmologist and got that stunning feedback, I'm not confident I'll find competent medical advice on the situation in Thailand. I'm not worried about it, mainly curious, and reading the "Reading Glasses" thread inspired me to ask about it here.

2) The Express service will be extended to Phayathai station to interchange with the BTS - however not for every train.

That is a very good change. When I use the City Line, there are plenty of people with luggage using the Phaya Thai station. Getting them off of the City Line (where luggage is almost always in the way) and giving them a chance to get a seat (with the jostling for position to get on a train, the people saddled with luggage usually lose first dibs) should make an Express train to/from Phaya Thai a hit. I hope they can work out the logistics to make all the Express trains go to Phaya Thai.

One more minor, simple (I think), improvement would be to put markings on the Phaya Thai platform floor to align with the doors of the train. Currently, with no such markings, people span the entire length of the platform until the train arrives, then there is a mad scramble to line up with a door. If BTS figured it out, so can the ARL. It will keep people from being directly in front of the opening door, blocking egress from the train, as well.

A less simple change would be to add escalators going DOWN from the Phaya Thai platform, to assist those with luggage.

But what about the rest? Like the address you will be staying at? Do they ever check that useless piece of info? They have to key it all into a computer, or swipe your pp so what possible use are the cards?

I thought the cards were sent to some off-site data input center where the addresses *were* put into the computer system, hence why a 90-day report period re-starts at entry to the kingdom -- that TM.6 address is a valid address report, no?

Also, a genuine signature on the card, seals your legal fate should you lie/misrepresent information on the form.

Nothing official has changed at Cholburi (Pattaya/Jomtien) Immigrations with retirement extensions since last year, so whatever you did last year should be okay. FWIW, as far as copies of documents, I just let the copy shop outside the office make them -- if you tell them "retirement extension" they know exactly what to copy (and not to copy).

The only bump in the road might be if for whatever reason you trigger some "secondary" procedures, like if they are suspicious they might ask for proof of overseas income (if using that method), or copy of lease or chanote to verify your residence, or some other additional requirement to meet. I only say that because occasionally people report needing some "extra" amount of documentation, and in the back of my mind I wonder if that is not random, but that the applicant might fit some "profile" they have for screening applicants. I'm not trying to be alarmist, but just defending in advance my suggestion that what you used last year should work this year.

One thing that might have changed in the last year -- I'm not sure of the timeline -- was that they publicly announced in the local newspaper a while ago that you could (and should ... they encouraged it) apply for a retirement extension up to 90 days in advance. That was later cut to 60 days in advance. The national standard seems to be 30 days in advance, so 60 days in advance is still relatively liberal.

I will believe 3G is working in Thailand when I see it! But they are still selling the IPhone 4 here ya know! LOL

And, I've been using True 3G on my iPhone4 in Bangkok, Pattaya/Jomtien and Hua Hin since December 2010. Fairly decent throughput usually. Highest was 5Mbps downstream, but usually 1 to 3 Mbps. Definitely not 4G, but WAY better than EDGE.

I used 3G via a USB modem on my notebook in Bangkok from June to December 2010.

So, 3G does work in Thailand. Just not nation-wide. Yet.

Thanks! Even if they don't have what I'm specifically looking for now, it looks like a good place to check out.

Free password management program LastPass, a browser extension that manages passwords and automates form filling, has been subjected to an external attack which could see user email addresses, their server salt and salted password hashes stolen by attackers.

What the heck does "salt" mean in this context?

Okay, *why* was the complainant disqualified from taking the central university admission test?

Are there any stores that sell things like pysillium husks, unfiltered raw apple cider vinegar, etc?

I googled health food stores in Hua Hin, and came up empty, but I'm usually pretty inept with search terms.

There is also a new three pin plug for Thailand but have not seen any for sale (they are used in some appliances sold here now).

I had to buy a new microwave oven today, and I was surprised to see all of them have plugs with three round pins like the attached pic. Is that the "new three pin plug for Thailand?"

LA is the ONLY consulate in the US that requires the notarization of the documents. The Embassy in Washington does not, nor does the Consulate in New York

The Chicago consulate also requires notarization, or at least did a couple years ago when a friend got his O-A visa there.

From http://www.thaiconsulatechicago.org/clate/o-a.html:

2. Documents for the Application.

a. A passport valid no less than one year and a half.

b. Three copies of a Visa Application Form (with photos).

c. A personal Data Form.

d. A copy of a bank statement showing a deposit at the amount equal to no less than 800.000 Baht a year.

e. In the case of the bank statement, a letter of guarantee from the bank (an original copy) is to be shown as well.

f. Verification stating that the applicant has no criminal recoded issued from the country of his/her nationality of residence (the verification shall be valid for no more than 3 months).

g. A medical certificate issued from the country where the application is submitted, showing no prohibitive diseases as indicated in the Ministerial Regulation No. 14 (B.E.2535) (the certificate shall be valid for no more than 3 months).

h. In the case that the applicant wishes to have his/her spouse stay together in the kingdom but the spouse in not qualified from the O-A code visa, their marriage certificate shall also be produced as evidence. (The spouse will be considered from the Visa for Temporary Residents under the 'O' Code).

Documents in items 2d, e, f, and g need to be notalized and sealed by Notary Public and certify true signature of the notary public by the Secretary of State.

Monty, I think there is a problem with True's 3G network today in Pattaya. I've been staying in Jomtien the past several days, and I've been using True 3G via my iPhone, WiFi-tethered to my notebook. The first couple days I was getting between 2 to 3 Mbps download. Today, I've been pretty much only getting .5 to 1 Mbps download. Just now (940pm, Sunday) I did a couple speedtest.net tests to Singapore and while latency was around 100ms, downloads were around .7 to .8 Mbps, and the upload test wouldn't even complete.

I've read that an additional benefit of the foam sprayed on to the underside of the tiles is to help burglar-proof the house. As mentioned above, it is easy to remove roof tiles to replace them. It is just as easy for a burglar to remove a tile to be able to drop into the house. The spray-on foam cements the tiles together. OTOH, if for some reason you need to replace roof tiles, the spray-on foam makes it more challenging to remove individual tiles.

An alternate to using VM Player is to download Microsoft's own Virtual PC 2007 (note: this is NOT Windows XP Mode) and install Windows XP in it.

Virtual PC 2007 works on Window XP, Vista and *all* versions of Win 7. It works well with using all versions of Windows on the virtual machine. For some other OS's it's not so slick, and for those, VM Player is the better choice.

Please be aware the above ground is not safe. This is not a flame, but a safety warning. Improper grounds in Thailand are common and in some cases deadly which is in the news too often. A ground seems a simple thing, but in each case there are dozens of decisions made, each of which can be done the right way or the wrong way that one must be aware of. If you wish to have a safe ground, follow trusted practices and specifications and not contraptions made up arbitrarily by yourself, people on forums or local electricians.

For a willing-to-learn amateur such as myself, can you explain *why* the above ground is not safe?

Nice gesture but I really don't see how this is going to benefit those effected, other than to make it easier for Japanese to come and live for awhile in Thailand......

Isn't that the idea? Encourage those who can/want to get away, to come to Thailand and stay a while? If I lived in a disaster zone and had the option to leave, I'd be looking to a place like Thailand....fair play to the Administration for spotting a gap, and filling it.

So, why is a 30-day visa-waiver period not sufficient? Why does living in a disaster zone become a motivation for someone to visit Thailand from 31 to 90 days? A 1-30 day visit wouldn't suffice for a get-away?

Isn't Soi 102 the one that floods in the rainy season? If Laguna is not on the flooding part of the soi, are there alternative routes out to get to Petchkasem and beyond?

My initial reaction was to scratch my head and think: "Okay, the Japanese aren't coming/cannot come to visit for a 30-days or less, so let's allow them to stay for 90 days."

Thanks for the translation. I'm going to be busy the next few days, but when things slow down, I'll go to the local True office here in Hua Hin and see if I can figure out what options I really have.

You say you're a writer. Have you tried typing on a tablet screen? Some people don't adapt well to a "virtual keyboard" and need tactile feedback from actually pushing physical keys.

Sending "w" to 9789 gets you a WiFi password.

I have the True 3G B599 prepaid package which includes free unlimited WiFi usage, and they registered the MAC number of my iPhone4 so that I don't need to use username/password to access True WiFi.

Out of curiosity (curious to see if I can get a username/password to also use my notebook computer for free on True WiFi), I just sent the "w" SMS to True. I got the following SMS with username/password, but my Thai is not great -- is it saying I will be charged B1/minute to use the WiFi with the username/password?

My guess is that a simple "move up the street" will be as easy as ... and as expensive as ... moving to another province. But, this being Thailand, I've learned to never assume. In your case, at least, the same local office probably covers both locations so you can coordinate more closely when the transfer of service will occur. I still can't recall, and can't find a receipt (I think I got one) for the transfer fee. It was B1600 or B1800, I think.

When I transfered my service across the Gulf, I kept the same grandfathered 3Mb/1Mb Premier package I had for B1,000/month.