grain

Thanks for the recommendation. I have to renew mine sometime soon, so I'll drop in at this agent and have a chat.

I'm in Thailand now but weighing up my options for when I make a trip to Australia sometime in the not too distant future. I suppose the longer I put it off the more relaxed regulations will become (provided there's not another wave of some new super strain) Can I get the vaccine PP online, or in provinces, or is it in BKK?

OK, so still need to apply for the Thailand Pass.

Is Thai immigration still giving the re-entry stamp? And if so, if someone departs the country and has several months remaining on their retirement ext + the re-entry, can they just fly back into Thailand like we used to do pre-covid lockdown, or do they still have to apply for some other permit to enter? I'm not asking about covid insurance/tests....just whether the existing visa ext + re-entry is still accepted?

Exactly. I told my Thai wife if I ever have an accident or fall very ill DO NOT let anyone take me to one of those Bangkok hospitals. Take me to the nearest gov hospital. One day a few years ago I was in Nong Khai and I got sudden chest pains. I was near the NK gov hospital and went straight there. I was quickly registered and taken straight to see a doctor, was examined and then taken for an EKG. Nothing was wrong me with, heart was fine, all I had was muscle cramp from sitting hunched up over my laptop. Then I went and paid the bill it was about 650 Bt. At one of those damn Bangkok hospitals it would have been closer to 65,000 Bt.

Yep, he sure sounds aggressive, he must have had a couple of kilos of raw red meat for breakfast. ????

I hate it whenever I eat in a regular restaurant and it slips my mind to tell them no garlic. I'd like to get it tattooed on my forehead in Thai..... don't put any stinking fkn garlic in my meal. Yeah, and like you I'm sick to death of being told it's good for me. ????

Been a while since I've had a pig-out at Sizzler salad bar but I remember the great variety and great value for money. ????

Many thanks for your reply, as I mentioned above I've done a bit of research and have noted Yes Vegan. And T&I, there's also Thammachart, which I know well. I agree entirely with you about 5 Star J and the dic*head owner. I also ate there daily until it changed hands. I'm not keen on their faux farang style food anyway, far prefer the Thai/Chinese style. I do have the Happy Cow app but it's not always up to date.

Yes, exactly, and the reason why I far prefer to eat in "proper" vegetarian restaurants and not just regular places that will do meatless dishes. Also I hate garlic in my food and that's another great thing about the Thai/Chinese vegetarian food that isn't cooked with garlic.

Thanks very much. Since starting this thread I've done some online research and found a few vegi restaurants but didn't know about this place.

I don't mind Indian vegetarian from time to time but find it too spicy to eat 2 or 3 times a day, hence my preference for Thai/Chinese, and the "best" is purely subjective.

Yes, I starting to agree with you. I'll be having a painter in to do the walls and ceilings and I now think I'll just get him to do the entire apartment in one color, probably white as it's only a smallish one-bedroom unit and white always works best. Then I can consider if I want to do a fancy brickwork feature wall at a later date. It does seem like a lot of extra work whichever way it's tackled, and there's always the possibility that when finished I don't like the result and just paint over it again.

Thank you for your reply and the DIY video, very helpful and something for me to consider.

I think a lot of it is laziness. TGF I had years ago in HatYai went to the bank to get a statement and she was told to go to her branch, which was in Nonthaburi. Being a TG she just accepted that. When she came home and told me I went with her to the bank and got hold of the manager. She got her statement half an hour later. Just some jerk was too lazy to deal with her.

Doesn't sound right mate. I have my account with the Pattaya branch of the yellow bank. Now I live in Korat, and I'm on retirement and don't have a WP. Last July when I got my bank statement for Imm at the Korat branch of the yellow bank I had no problems, they made up the statement, updated my bankbook, the book was filled due to all the monthly interest updates, so they made up a new bankbook for me. It's still for the Pattaya branch acc, but Korat issued the new book.

A few years ago in Pattaya there was an old farang in his late 80s who died while getting a HE massage. The old boy's heart gave in while he was enjoying his final orgasm. That's what I call winning first prize in the lottery of death.

There were several good vegetarian restaurants in Pattaya when I lived there, I'm just trying to find out which ones are still going, so I don't need to waste time driving/walking around looking for them. Vegetarians prefer to eat in proper vegetarian restaurants, but if none are around then yes we can ask for meatless meals in regular restaurants.

BM = board members

I haven't been to Pattaya for about 3 years but planning a trip there next month. Are there any vegetarian BMs who can tell me which vegi restaurants are currently operating. I'm not interested in the Indian vegis, just the Thai/Chinese places.

I've considered wallpaper but the wall is brick so not a perfectly flat surface. Wouldn't that be an issue for wallpaper?

I don't know what they are so please give me some examples or some more info.

Well the planned color theme is white, grey, black. That applies to walls, floor coverings, curtains, furniture. So I really want to stick to that and not bring in other colors in any big way.

Actually the apartment is in Australia. It's rented out at the moment but I'm hoping to get back there late next year. After I move in I'm planning a complete renovation & redecoration. I'm doing research now so when I'm ready to start I know exactly what I'm going to do, and do the various steps in the right order. As for the brick wall. The apartment is about 50 years old. The wall would have had 2 coats of paint when it was first built. There were about 4 different owners before me, all of whom would have had the place repainted. I've painted the walls twice in the 20 years since I bought it. So we're looking at approx 8 coats of paint, so no way am I'm tackling stripping that away, just too much work and mess. So repainting it is the way to go. Here's what I have in mind, as this will fit in with my planned color scheme of white, black, grey. I can apply the black & grey paint by a sponge cut to size, but what I'm mainly interested in are painters tricks to achieve special finishing effects.

Why not, if your wife understands the procedure and deals with it OK, then may as well. In general Thais don't like dealing with farang...Thai rak Thai.