Everyman

I have had zero problems with Wise. But then I always use the phone app. But for people do have problems, maybe the issue is that they are using the web app on a PC, which is less secure so Wise is throwing more security measures up. I realize some of you are concerned that someone will hack your phone or something. This basically ain’t gonna happen. Your phone is the most secure way to do anything, particularly if you have an iPhone.

that doesn’t raise market cap

It’s my understanding that the eSIM is NOT backed up and saved in the cloud.

Apparently nobody cares about this issue except me, but I bought an AIS eSIM today, loaded it on my phone, deleted it, and tried to install it again from the same QR code. It did not work, so that answers the question.

I sign up for the cards and have them sent to a relatives’ address in my passport country. She takes photos of them and I load them into Apple Pay so I can use them for contactless payments. Then I get the signup bonus in the form of airlines miles so that when I travel I can fly in business class for free.

Three to five thousand baht. Shop around and you might be able to get it for two.

I have been very reluctant to adopt eSIM, and have preferred physical SIM, since I assumed that if I lose my phone I will lose all my eSIMs whereas with a physical SIM I lose only the card in the phone at the time. However, I am seeing the writing on all the wall and I may have to adopt eSIM since my next phone may not support physical SIMs. I have discovered that if my phone is lost, I can remotely erase the eSIMs from the phone. To get back my Philipines SMART eSIM, I can apparently then use the original QR code to load the eSIM onto a new phone. Anyway I would like to know if I can do the same with an AIS eSIM QR code. I did ask AIS (they said no), but they answered very quickly and I don’t think they understood what I was talking about. What are your experiences with this? Does it work? I don’t want to be in, say, China, lose my phone, and have to go to an AIS store in person in Thailand in order to get my phone number back and receive banking OTPs, etc. If I can re-use the QR code however (provided it has been erased on the old phone), this essentially solves my problem because I can get my AIS number back from outside Thailand. Thanks in advance for helpful replies.

In the year 2024 normal adults use their phone for banking and most other things. I find that the people who are the most concerned about ransomware and their phones being hacked usually aren’t tech savvy enough to know why they shouldn’t be concerned. Any hacker knows that the weakest link in security is usually the end user. “Hi this is the password inspector, i just need to verify a few things.”

Do you know of a Chinese bank that will open an account for a tourist?

What credentials do you need access the CRS database? Can I just pay $70 and look at Angela Merkle’s bank accounts?

There are no new tax laws. Only a gigantic amount of hysteria.

Well said. I could not agree more. Thailand is the hub of the government announcing ridiculous things that never happen. Anyone remember when they announced that that Thailand will host the Tour de France?

The RD isn’t going to know about my foreign accounts, they are not wizards with crystal balls. I don’t care about CRS or whatever; counties are not going to provide detailed account records of all their citizens to any 3rd world tinpot country that asks for it. The reason is because that is valuable intelligence that can be used for war, cyber attacks, kidnapping, and other criminal enterprises. It would be easy to look for accounts with large balances that are owned by people without personal security, then kidnap or extort money from them or target them for scams. If immigration require evidence from the RD that a retiree has paid taxes on their global income, then anyone with any decent income is going to run for the airport so fast there will be a sonic boom.

Hey you’re right, just piss away a million baht a year on nothing, yeah that’s fine.

I think that the governments plan is impossible to implement, and so it won’t be. If somehow it does, I’ll just spend more time each year outside Thailand. As it I’m too young to qualify for a retirement visa and so I’m on tourist visas and will probably be outside the country for more than 180 days this year anyway. I don’t need to be kicked in the face over and over again trying to live in Thailand, there are other places that actually want me.

It won’t because nothing will happen, it’s all hot air. If you don’t believe me, consider that the revenue department has made contradictory statements that can’t both me true. Such as 1. Credit card spending in Thailand will be taxed. 2. World wide income will be taxed. Taxing both would mean that the funds are taxed twice, once as they are earned and again as they are brought into Thailand. Or I suspect, neither will happen because enforcement is impossible. And those talking about CRS…assuming that countries give each other the detailed financial records of all their citizens, are they really going to be able to comb through all that data to find all your accounts? It’s ridiculous.

credit cards are safer than cash, debit cards are less safe than cash

Ain’t going to happen. Countries like the US aren’t going to hand over massive amounts of intelligence on their own citizens to any tin pot foreign regime that asks for it. Imagine China searching such a database for patterns consistent with foreign spying, or using it to dig up dirt on presidential candidates and leaking it to the press. Even in the U.S the government couldn’t get Trump’s financial records without a subpoena. This had gone far enough into paranoia land. You all need to take some Xanax, have a Chang in your favorite lady bar and forget about this for a couple years so you can see that nothing will happen. If it makes you feel better, pick a lady bar in Angeles city so you don’t spend more than 180 days in a year in Thailand.

Random banks in the US, Europe and the UK aren’t going to hand over account and transaction en masse to whatever tin pot country asks for them. Why? National security. This information could be used for spying purposes. And don’t tell me about “CRS.” There is a ton of paranoid hysteria about every comment coming out of revenue department these days, but what has actually happened so far is NOTHING.

you are forgetting that you will have to pay whichever tax rate ends up being higher. The top tax rate in Thailand is 35% and it kicks in at a much lower income that the same rate in the U.S.

Why are you all so impatient. So what if it takes a few days?

I have Disney + Hotstar in Thailand and when I travel in the Philippines and try to access my account I am prompted to sign up and pay for a new one. Is there a way to use my Thai account from there? I don’t think a VPN will work.

they physically removed the taps and replaced it with Chang. it’s not a high season low season thing. also i was there for low season last year and they had it. i know it’s hard keeping that on draft. i just want to know if another place has it.

it’s still open but it no longer has Belgian beer on tap nor a happy hour

I used to go to a restaurant called A La Mér. They had Belgian beer on draft and a great happy hour but sadly both are gone. Does anyone know if it is under new management? Does anyone know of a place with Belgian beer on draft at reasonable prices, hopefully with some nice Belgian food as well?