wpcoe

Aha.  Yesterday was the King's coronation barge procession.  I think that was the reason for the free rides, no?

6 hours ago, simon43 said:

He's actually holding up his chain that shackles his ankles together.  If you don't, then you fall <deleted> over tit.....

That was my initial assumption, but then I wondered why the photo was pixelated at that body area.

1 minute ago, Pravda said:

Thanks for the heads up.

 

BTW, can you tell us how did Apple stock do in 2018?

Well, it's only a little past 5pm.  Still time to get out and enjoy a free ride.  

Duh.  I could have sworn I saw people at vending machines buying BTS tickets.  Oh, well.

I was in Bangkok running a couple errands and was delighted to find that both ARL & MRT were totally free today.  Any idea what that was about?  BTS was full-fare as usual.

Also, there used to be an ARL-related thread here in this forum section, but for the life of me I can't find it, even using Google searches.  Anybody have a link to it?

7 hours ago, CGW said:

Didn't the "developer" build the new Immigration office on Soi 5 as part of the "deal"?

49 minutes ago, sharecropper said:

An earlier poster mentioned the construction of the Jomtien Immigration building. I'm certain that was built as part of another 'deal', not related to Ocean 1.

 

Wasn't it the developer that built the View Talay Residences?   (That wasn't K-Tech, was it?)  The design of the Immigrations building looks like it.

As an aside, I just did a load of laundry using the Downy detergent, and it did fine.  It must be pretty concentrated:  with the hard water I have I usually use two to three scoops of Attack whereas a single capful (fabric softener bottle cap) gave plenty of suds.

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

The key to avoiding confusion with different soap products with the same brand name is to note what else is on the supermarket shelf alongside what you think you are buying. In my experience, detergents are separated from the fabric conditioners.

The odd thing is that this was not amongst the detergents.  I honestly can't remember if the Thai fabric softeners were near or not.  My eyes focused on the large Downy display because I was looking for Downy fabric softener refills.  Oh, well, the large bag of Attack (detergent, I hope!) I bought on the same trip will wait until I use up the Downy.

Thanks to all who cleared up my confusion.  

I went to Tesco wanting to refill my Downy fabric softener bottle and bought this:

After I got home and opened up the package, I realized it was not the same consistency as previous fabric softeners, so then looked more closely at the packaging:

Have I mistakenly bought some sort of stain remover by Downy?  My reading of the words under Downy read "clean caring," which could mean anything.  (As an aside, I tried the Google Translate app to take photo, and it translated the first word as "IICSU"  Well, thanks a lot, Google. Even with Thai to English pre-selected it still doesn't read Thai script ,apparently.)

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You could do a border hop to get a 30 day visa exempt entry that can be extended for 30 days.

Do S.E. Asian airline check-in counters enforce the need to have an outbound ticket (out of Thailand) within 30 days for visa-exempt entry?  I know from experience that U.S., Korean and Japanese airlines can be quite strict.

And, the second one:

33 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I've mentioned this before but it's a long thread. There are Mexican consulates all over the U.S. and they notoriously (or fortunately) have a reputation of having wildly different requirements. Apparently the one in Laredo Texas is the one with the most liberal reputation. Like not really caring to look at anywhere near 12 months of back records. Like accepting 1000 USD per month income as adequate when that is actually well under the official requirement. So shopping around for a consulate that works for people is definitely a thing in the case of Mexico residency visas.

Yes, there are consulates in the USA that are más acomodadizo than others.  I'm in a Facebook group that's been helpful in sorting things out.  I just thought I'd try it here before I left since I have buckets of time to spare.

40 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

So they didn't ask for any police record documents (Thai and/or U.S.) or health forms?

No.

The e-mails I've received from the Mexican Embassy in Bangkok are in perfect English, but I'm not optimistic about getting a visa there since the process seems adapted to Thailand and local procedures.  I made an appointment for mid-December to see if maybe a visa application can be approved. 

Part of the instructions for documents to prove eligibility:
 

Quote

 

○ Bank statement with the account balances and movements for the past twelve months. 

• Must be original document
• Must be issued from the bank with signature and seal (E-signature is not acceptable)
• Must specify currency
• Please make sure that your name on the bank statement matches that on your passport

○ Original Income Affidavit from your Embassy.

 

My U.S. bank doesn't issue paper statements; they are only available as .PDF downloads.  Is that considered an "original document"?  (My guess is no.)

There would be no signature nor seal on the printout.  (Do Western banks even have official seals?)

Must specify currency?  A US bank assumes everyone knows it's USD. 

My passport has my middle name, whereas my bank accounts only use an initial. 

"Original income Affidavit" from the US Embassy?  Dream on.

I pointed out to them that the US Embassy no longer issues affidavit letters:

"We are aware that the US Embassy no longer provides income affidavits. However, until you submit your application with the supporting documents, will we be able to tell if you’re eligible to apply here in Bangkok considering the fact that your income evidence was not issued within our diplomatic jurisdiction."

That part in red is my concern.  My income evidence not being issued within their diplomatic jurisdiction (i.e. Thailand) may be an issue.

No mention was made in e-mail or on the web site about the alternative qualification by using investments.  However, since my Fidelity statements also are all downloaded .PDF files, I'm not sure they'd work either.  I am taking printouts of both my bank's .PDF statements and Fidelity's .PDF statements.

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

That's an excellent question. What kind of visa are you seeking? I wonder these things --

Does the Thai staff handling visas speak English and/or Spanish?

Will they even process temporary or permanent residence applications for non-Thais or will they suggest go back to your home country to apply?

I want to apply for Residente Permanente.  Even if I don't exit Thailand permanently, I've been spending enough time there to justify a Residente visa, and can then open a bank account there.  (They pay 7% interest.)

I sent an e-mail to the Mexico Embassy in Bangkok, since their web pages don't list the Residente Permanente or Temporal visas.

If they don't, I'll just apply in Las Vegas next time I'm there visiting family.

Okay.  Adieu, adios, I'm done.

Has anybody here had any experience with the Mexican Embassy in Bangkok?

In general, are they friendly and easy to work with, and in particular, did you apply for a visa with them and if so, how did the process go for you (was it smooth, were you able to get it in one visit/interview, etc)?

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Yes correct. Legalize all drugs and the cartels disappear in 60 days.

Don't be so sure they'll disappear.  They're nosing quite successfully into agriculture. They could probably adapt to other industries, as well.

On 11/14/2019 at 11:48 PM, beautifulthailand99 said:

But when they built View Talay 2A they went for 4 bars but on building the rear block 2B later they decided to skimp and went for 3 

Wasn't VT2B built before VT2A?

On 10/21/2019 at 9:33 PM, Lacessit said:

Pro costs how much extra? I never cease to wonder at the willingness of people to pay for an OS when the same control is available free of charge with a free OS.

I just "upgraded" a Win10 Home computer to Win10 Pro for US$4 (~THB120).  Bought a Win 10 Pro license off e-Bay.  Easy Peasy, and not so expensive.

1 hour ago, wgdanson said:

Fun-bags for life !     555

Until they ban silicone bags.

On 11/16/2019 at 12:07 PM, Jingthing said:

It appears that another one bites the dust.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/PattayaMeals/

Oh, man.  I used to love their grilled duck with sauteed onions.  A couple times this year, though, there were hiccups with my order and I wondered what was going on.  Maybe it had to do with the change of ownership.  

Hmmm.  I see that https://www.pattayameals.com/ is still up and running.  Had I not just eaten supper, I would call to order, just to see what's up.

On 11/8/2019 at 9:03 AM, Henryford said:

I can't imagine why any condo would not check the accounts to ensure there were no obvious accounting scams.

Unless, of course, Committee members were in on such obvious (or more subtle) scams.

Noticed this project in progress this afternoon on the short dog-leg of Thappraya Road from the "Hanuman" statue to the police box.  Probably a decent second choice over burying the cables underground.  They apparently are ripping all the "dead" wires and then securing the remaining ones into a tight bundle (first photo).  There are piles of cables every 20m or so that they had removed (second photo.)

Wonder if anybody lost their CATV or internet access in the process?