RayOday

I am sorry that I can't respond to banks in Issan. In Bangkok the bank branch you choose can be a deciding factor. Particular branches are familiar with the process and are more amenable to facilitating opening an account. It will be a savings account if you want a retirement visa. They will provide a debit card to access your funds from an ATM/ADM. Once the account is done and you have obtained your O visa you will want to open an account at a branch closet to where you will be living. In Thailand the banks charge a nominal fee for use in areas outside the province of your chosen bank office. You will want to bring your passport with entry visa and O application. If there are additional requirements, such as a consulate notarization, they will advise. I opened one account with Kasikorn, Sukhumvit Soi 33 and at Bangkok Bank Emporium (this branch closed and is now across the street at Emportia). Both were familiar with the process. An agent can assist. I have been working with the same agent for 6 years,after trying two others, that has made the process almost effortless. He only works in Bangkok and Chonburi in terms of immigration support. Send me a DM if you are interested in his contact details. Best of luck.

I can highly recommend Dr Kirati Pungpapong at Bumrungrad. He performed two Toric corneal transplants for me. I don't think I could have received better treatment anywhere and I have lived in 8 countries (5 in Europe, 2 N. America, 1 Africa).

A bit more precisely ~50 million of 350 million Americans. The stories of the 50 million sells more news advertising hence it's dominance in the news. It appears that 14% of MAGA people generate +90% of the news. I vote from abroad in my little effort to reduce the idiocy.

Another expert selling their "book". When the % risk rises above a tolerable level address the root cause. Oye.

AFTER MANY NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES Agoda is one of the worst and disingenuous operators in the business. I have escalated their theft of my money on several occasions to their attorneys in SEA and at their holding company Booking Holdings in New York. They were culpable in all cases and finally paid me. The only means of escalation was through their corporate compliance link at Booking Holdings in NY. They are obligated to respond and close out compliance concerns per U.S. law. They have a service rating of 1.5 out of 5 with the U.S. Better Business Bureau a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Most of the BBB issues are financial disputes lodged by clients. Of course BBB ratings are typically skewed due to people requesting their help to resolve a poor service experience. I used the Agoda quite a bit prior to a string of poor customer service and outright double charges. The management are not service oriented. They are just platform operators who measure things like time on the platform per use (stickiness) and other website performance metrics. They care do not care about individual client service and their vendor management is sorely lacking oversight. The management are computer engineers and McKinsey consultant types running service operations. I view no broad real time service experience in their interactions only arrogant educational and theoretical tunnel vision. Booking Holdings is the parent company who also runs Priceline.com and Booking.com. One might think the internal business processes would be shared or are similar but I find Booking.com and Priceline far superior. Booking.com occasionally is a bit more expensive but I would rather pay them the 100-200 baht more since I don't want the stress and they don't scam me and correct service issues immediately. Agoda has more listings in Thailand so I scan their listings and then contact the accomodations directly if not listed on Booking.com. Your service experience may differ than mine but I have made it a point of self respect to not deal with Agoda anymore. Agoda lost me as a customer forever. Note: My perspective is from 30+ years as a trained industrial engineer and senior international operations management executive for a $105 billion service company. I have boots on the ground experience in service delivery. Lived in 8 countries and worked in 85 supporting my management groups. I am certified in Six Sigma and LEAN. Retired now so I am basically a bum who volunteers Best of luck with Agoda. Hope your experience is better than mine.

And as a Chinese woman did a few years ago, stick her face Infront of a venomous snack. Snake bitten in the face.

I have travelled extensively through Arabica country in the North and find there are many roasters who offer a milder lighter roast. I prefer the stronger roasts yet try as many as possible. A fraction make it to the big retail sales channels yet will promptly and reliably ship to you. One that is milder is Pala Coffee which is roasted by hand by Uncle Pala. https://www.palacoffeehouse.com/ Another which I order from monthly roasts beans from Brazil (Brazil Santos, Columbia, Kenya, Myanmar, Thailand, Africa) is Magic Roaster is located in Pranburi, Prachuap. I order through their Line official account. Here is their Facebook link https://m.facebook.com/magicroaster On the move expensive end, if you are in Bangkok, is Artis roasters. They will ship via Lineman. The beans are from Thailand, the roasting follows the process of their main shop in Berkeley, California. Be sure to request a light roast. There are so many options in Thailand that some exploration and research will surely yield a bean and roast that you will enjoy. I have yet to find the need to bring coffee to Thailand. I even find expert roasts in Surin at "Coffee at Home" and Craft, who offer Brazilian beans as well. I don't always finds what I like but more often I find very good roasts. The exploration is fun. Best of luck

I fly from California. I would suggest strong Indica cannabis. It works. I use it for 2 missing disks to sleep well. More importantly your circadian clock has been disrupted. Be sure to wake early and look at the morning sky for 10-15 minutes. You cannot accomplish a reset looking through a window, the lumens are insufficient. Download a free light meter and see for yourself. You can then go back to sleep if you are still tired. If it suits your lifestyle try bedtime prior to midnight (2100-2230 is ideal), wake to view the morning sky, then stay awake or go back to sleep. Better to stay awake. Repeat and feel better. There is plenty of Neuro science to back this up. DM me if you want peer reviewed source material.

He may be a super pimp but he ain't Superfly. I laugh at Chuwit as he directs his attention, per his bosses, at weed while his properties fall apart and garner poor reviews. Hypocritical loud mouth. Anyone care to guess who he represents?

No surprise, "All things proceed in their circle; thus the empire is complete" W.B. Yeats The class set up needs to be broken for democracy to thrive. A reminder: Democracy is a form of government in which the people hold power. This power is exercised through elected representatives, who are chosen by the people to make decisions on their behalf. Democracy is based on the principle of popular sovereignty, which means that the people are the ultimate source of authority.

If she is truly stranded the US Consulate can provide emergency assistance in repatriation. Not sure of the details. More info is available on the citizens services section of the consulate's website or she can call.

Another self righteous bawler with xenophobic undertones, trying to create barriers to competition with divisive language. How many people were released from excessive prison sentences to e productive while reducing state holding and other numerous costs. The issue, as usual, is unclear legal statutes and zero effective enforcement. Sales should be taxed and the proceeds should be directed to a just cause with a absolute transparency and subject, at any time, to external audit. Some countries have done directed taxation proceeds to education. One related example ex. Thailand is the lottery which isn't exactly a tax yet the full proceeds go to funding university scholarships to any high school student who maintains a 3.5 average or higher. Such schemes enable generational shifts. Some may call it regressive since treating the lottery as a pure tax is taxing the mathematically impaired. My point is take the muck that has been created and turn it into a positive. When it comes to Kitty do as I have done when encountering a self righteous vendor who cannot differentiate their value, boycott their goods. There are plenty of great competitors that don't treat you as a lowly foreigner. No one pisses on me from high above. Why not work on making the laws and taxes equitable and having the funds raise the level of education, health care, or other important social causes. Such actions will multiply the cost savings benefits that are being realized by a lower incarcerated population. Leverage and regulate, don't discriminate.

Ok, got it Covid. Now stop gaslighting and tell the public how you plan and execute action against the unbreathable air in Thailand. People are suffering the worst pollution in Asia excepting New Delhi and when sandstorms hit Beijing. What are you doing from a public in health perspective to stop the burning. Is there a plan? What is it and what are the actionable measures? Certainly an engineer/health minister wanna be PM can convene parties and plan and hold people accountable to the plan. Can't he?

Daikins are everywhere as a market leader. I am not a fan ????. Before retirement Daikin was a customer of mine. We ran their supply chain in Africa. I would consider them, at the budget end, to be similar to Gree. Much better at the high end. There are a few Thai brands that are cheap and appear to run well.

The RTP are useless. So much talk of sobriety checks and speed checks. I was in Huahin and zero zip nada. I saw 2 motorcycle police taking selfies in front of a 7/11. One good act was setting up a dangerous intersection diversion on Route 4 by Khao Tao. That was the only smart and actionable step and I drove quite a bit through Prachuap. I did see ~4 motorbike drivers almost fall over due to drunkenness. BTW The air quality sucks all over Thailand. Drive and Die, Breath and Die albeit more slowly. Apologies for the poor tone and cynicism. The topic deserves it. Trying to get a public servant, RTP, to actually affect a change is pissing against the wind. Who is held accountable for the avoidable accidents? It appears no one. What a waste of salary.

Sounds like Mr Kamolvisit needs a few hits of good bud. Sabai Sabai pi Chuwit. Legalization of cannabis is one of the few things his buddy Anutin has achieved and with controversy. A bold move given his delays with Siam Bioscience.

I lived in China for 20 yrs so I am quite familiar with Gree. I am not sure if they have new upgraded lines yet they were always a low budget Chinese brand. They get quite noisy and they will produce cold air. Personally I have recently excluded them from a recent search for an A/C. In the countryside many stores are pushing the budget brand Beko, a Turkish company. I haven't used their A/C but had a washer and drier in Shanghai and both worked really well for years with no maintenance issues. Beko is a step up from Gree and Samsung A/C at budget pricing. I am searching for someone with a lower budget. If you want high end at approx a 30% higher price then go for Mitsubishi. Quiet, powerful, well made. I am not bashing Chinese brands yet Gree and low end Haier are not well made (Haier has a very high end line not readily available in Thailand). Midea is a Chinese contract manufacturer that produces their own line of appliances and contract manufactures some of the largest European luxury brands in their state of the art factory (I have been there for business reasons). I don't think they make air conditioners. My point is that you can find high quality Chinese products. You just need to do some diligence like you are doing.

I wrote to two of the best known International Hospitals in BKK regarding when the bi-valent would be available. They were honest and said they don't know and might expect the end of the first quarter 2023. All said with the caveat that it is up to the government. I have had 3 AZ + 1 Moderna and am now just battling this beast. Like a flu on steroids. One thing that I believe has kept me out of hospital is as soon as my lungs became inflamed I started using a Symbicort inhaler. The inflammation was reduced greatly after first 2x. Google Symbicort and COVID to read the science. Symbicort isn't made in TH so it isn't cheap yet well worth it. Cheaper than the hospital. I am totally enervated yet on track back to normal. This virus is something I don't want to experience twice.

UOB-TH is highly rated for it's credit viability and reserves. I have no experience using UOB yet most Singapore based banks rate the highest globally. Please see the link: https://www.uob.co.th/investor-en/credit-ratings/finance-results-credit-ratings.page

Giant is the world's largest bicycle mfg. It is a Taiwanese company. They make frames as an OEM and branded from low end to carbon fiber for professionals. It depends a lot on how much you want to spend. I read you like stiff frames and you are from England. Well there is an iconic English manufacturer, Bob Jackson who builds an exceptionally stiff frame. Bob Jackson started building frames in Leeds in 1935 (I speak English but have a heck of a time with Leeds speak) You too can buy one of these gems from eBay. As long as it hasn't crashed you will be pressed to find a stiffer frame. In Thailand you can just buy a high quality frame and just add the components. Shimano and the pricey Campagnolo are great. Either of those component brands plus a Bob and you will be riding a exotic sports car. I found components on Lazada with decent prices. I would find a stiff frame and build it out if you are willing to spend a little more. Just about any Italian frame is good as well as a high Trek. I prefer the European frames excepting some of the boutique build to suit builders in the U. S.

I should have added that the vaccine cost only 200 baht including a gift bag of water and Tylenol. Not a bad deal. Clean, painless, and no queue.

I was able to get a Moderna vaccine at the private Buriram Ram Hospital 2 weeks ago. You might want to call. It's a pleasant trip if you pass through Maha Sarakham or Yasothon.

Good. PayPal has onerous T&Cs and capricious restrictions. I am no fan of Peter Thiel. Although he is no longer directly with PayPal, Thiel had used his billions to back Trump and MAGA candidates. He sits on the board of Facebook and started Palantir which was instrumental in social network targeting which influenced Trump's election. I have boycotted PayPal on the merits of their terms and screwed up management and board members that support MAGA policies and candidates. Thiel, in my view, backs right wing extremism with elitist beliefs with the conviction that he knows what's best for society. He implements through financial backing and social influencing. Google Thiel to fill in the blanks. Goodbye PayPal and good riddance. (I didn't say anything about Musk but I could).

As far as I know you can't drive a Thailand rental to Cambodia. Rental company regulations, insurance, drive side, and border police will not allow it. You can drive to the border and then take a taxi or bus on the Cambodian side. I have been to Cambodia 2x in October for tourism. The crossing was very easy just ignore touts unless you do your internet homework. Understand the real taxi/bus prices then you can negotiate. I crossed in Chom Chong but that won't be convenient for you. Drove to border, parked in a fairly priced parking lot with Thai military security. Then a short walk or motorbike to immigration. Took a van to Siem Reap. Don't know much about other crossings.

It is available without prescription and the cost is high. I have never taken it but inquired out of curiosity. I have a family member that was prescribed it short term for ADHD.