dj230

bump, any insights?

That makes sense, that’s why they ask me for a plane ticket too, because I’ve been here for around 12 months now on covid extensions. Seems reasonable in my opinion, I don’t mind getting a plane ticket and just changing it, I have to return eventually anyways.

Yes, chargebacks I used quite a few times which has saved me. It gives you more freedom when purchasing things online and you don’t have to spend time researching. If it’s fake or a scam you get your money back, I just phone my bank they open a dispute and the money is credited to my account. I think for premium credit cards the travel insurance is more reliable like American Express platinum cards. With basic credit cards the travel insurance is usually limited and you’re better off buying your own to be fully covered.

I’ve had quite high doses of bolus intravenous hydromorphone (post surgery) which exceeds most recreational doses of opioids and I can’t say I’ve ever felt any high, pain relief, yes, along with no appetite. Codeine is an extremely weak opioid, to give reference, hydromorphone is 2.5x stronger than heroin and 500x stronger than codeine. Just curious, did you take pharmaceutical amphetamines or were they off a black market. Many times you don’t get what you actually think you get on black markets, which could be why experiences from chemicals on the black market are different. I have used pharmaceutical amphetamines before (prescription) and I would say they have a direct effect on addiction because of how it makes you feel after you stop taking it. Mainly due to the crash in dopamine/serotonin/norepinephrine. ketamine is used more for sedation (anesthetic) rather than painkilling, when I go under for surgery usually they use ketamine to knock me out and fentenyl for pain, post surgery a bolus hydromorphone pump. I have never felt any addiction to either

Yea credit card offer a lot of incentives since they make money off your transactions. Stuff like free travel insurance, rewards/cash back, fraud protection, buyer protection, are usually basic credit card incentives.

This is true, there are some stores that are "cashless" and won't accept cash, I noticed a few Starbucks doing this like the one in BDMS wellness on wireless road but other stores are also doing this. I'd recommend getting at least a debit card from your Thai bank, you can always do this thing where you hold money in an online brokerage and some offer you debit cards and you can borrow with very low interest on margin against your investments (like 1% APR), usually big brokers have SIPC insurance of up to $250k USD so its a bit safer in my opinion than a Thai bank. I don't know if I'd hold funds in a Thai bank, I don't know them well enough. You can use this debit to wise transfer to your Thai bank too if you need cash, that is what I am doing. American Express seems to be the best international credit card, can be used on all the apps and usually they don't do the whole "security" checks (you can pre-authorize larger purchases online), plus if you use it and someone steals money off a credit card you're not obligated to pay for it and you get points/rewards. In terms of living life in Thailand without a card, I don't think I could do it, I'd say if I had a debit card and a Thai bank account I could live with that. Going all cash for me is too much of a hassle, stuff like paying for taxi's (them not having change for 1000 baht bills) or ordering food and having to go down and pay/wait for the driver, carrying change, etc.

How reliable/honest are the gold sellers in Bangkok? I know even the diamond district in New York has a bunch of "scammers" I guess when everyone does it you're not really a scammer but I was wondering how trustworthy are the ones in Bangkok? Do they undercut you with things like 13.5K gold vs 14K gold, mixing some lab diamonds in with organic, giving you lower quality diamonds than stated, etc. Not really interested in diamonds to be honest but figured I'd mention/ask as well, but mainly interested in gold with gold prices crashing recently, I was thinking about buying some gold, not really as a "high yield" investment but some gold jewelry would be a decent use of cash considering I believe it will go up in value so it's like free jewelry and it beats cash. Kind of odd to be taking a gold tester out as well, I wonder if they will even let you test the jewelry since you have to normally scratch the gold onto the tester and use a liquid solvent made for that karat of gold to see if it's reaction.

My visa expiration was September 15 so I am pretty sure you’re okay. But yea a lot has to do with the immigration officer from my experience. It seems like as long as you’re nice they just let you stay, I’ve been here over a year on covid extensions, I thought I’d get sent home after half a year but they keep accepting me so I keep staying. I’ve had my plane ticket changed like 4-5 times now I think air Canada is going to stop letting me keep changing it soon

Do they typically make you leave if they say no? Or do they just refuse your application? I remember reading once if they stamp something in your passport you get like 7 days to leave or something but if they don’t do that stamp you’re still able to find other ways to stay.

Well chemically MDMA is a norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine releasing agent so it’s similar to meth, cocaine and other amphetamines. I’d say it’s pretty addictive considering dopamine and serotonin are the two main chemicals responsible for addiction. I am surprised people buy fentanyl from black markets, nor do I think opioids are addictive like people say, to be honest and don’t understand why people use it to get high. They use fentanyl or ketamine in hospital sometimes before they put you to sleep. I don’t ever feel any urge to take those medications again. I think the addiction has to do with those with chronic pain, who would like to live life pain free and their addiction is more to the ability to be pain free versus the medication/drug itself.

In US lots of legal cases are won not by actually proving something but just cornering the defendant into calculating if it costs more to concede or to fight the case. Being someone who’s taken very strong opioids myself, I find it very hard to believe people get addicted to this stuff unwillingly. I was on some of the strongest opioids (hydromorphone) for multiple surgeries, sometimes for a month and once the surgery was done and the pain was gone I didn’t feel any need to take them at all. There’s no “high” you get from it. There are some physical withdrawal symptoms but all it is, is some sweating/elevated heart rate for a few days.

I guess one could argue drug dealing ruins more lives than a murder and it’s for a monetary gain, so it might actually be worse in a sense. think El Chapo vs Ted Buddy

Interesting interpretation, on the flip side let’s say she got off with a slap on the wrist. That would give a sign to other drug dealers the Thailand is open for drug dealing, just put your boyfriends name on a the package of drugs and carry on ruining the country. I think Thailand has every right to protect their country and citizens by incarcerating drug dealers. If you know the consequences of doing illegal activities then I think when you face the conveniences it’s fair game. I think most feel bad for her in the sense that her life is over but I don’t see how one could say she doesn’t deserve it.

I wouldn’t say that, it’s still a norepinephrine/serotonin/dopamine releasing agent. So it would be similar to cocaine, meth or other amphetamines.

Interesting, is this legal in Thailand? In other countries it’s illegal to sign for a package unless you live at the address.

Yea that’s what I’m wondering as well, whether it’s aug 25 + 60 days or if it will be my visa expiration + 60 days. In the past every time I did a covid extension it’s been 60 days added to my visa expiration and the office at IT laksi square is actually super chill so I think it would be, although I wouldn’t mind if it was only added to aug 25th it would make sense from a transit point of view if they extended from the end of one’s visa too because if not there will be a lot of people leaving around October 25th

The opportunities don't come very often, if you aren't patient enough to wait for them and do the research, just invest in index funds, you can make double your money every 7 years on average with the S&P. Maybe read up on finance and economics, you'll find that it isn't as impossible as you think. Like I said, if another opportunity arises I will point it out just to show it's not impossible and actually not very hard under the right circumstances. Right now with the stock market having so many inefficiencies due to volatility it's easier to find these inefficiencies and make high return investments. If you understand what causes a stocks value to be a certain price, you can do calculations on when the price is lower than the company is worth, it's typically called value investing and has nothing to do with crystal balls or lines on a chart and it's not guaranteed, but its an extremely high probably way to invest and make great returns. (also no it doesn't work with crypto because theres no underlying value) An exaggerated example would be if a company was trading at cash value, solvent, with revenues and was free cash flow positive. You'd be getting the company for free.

Small caps can also go down 50% in 2 weeks, really high risk. It's much more profitable to go for low risk, high probability trades with the chance of high returns (not guaranteed) in my opinion. This is the typical response, it's actually quite easy to realize at the time as well, many calculations can be done to tell when a company is undervalued. It's no different than buying $100 bills on eBay for $50.

Well if there is another opportunity if I remember I will post about it, not so people invest but just to show it can be done. It's very rare for these opportunities to come about but all you have to do is invest in a great company (good balance sheet, good revenue growth, management, product, profitability etc.) that's stock price crashes during a market down turn. All stock prices will go down significantly during a market downturn, which means you can buy companies stock at extreme discounts even if nothing is wrong with the company. One example would have been buying Tesla stock which went up 50% in a month or two, nothing was wrong with Tesla but the market just had a downturn. Lots of growth stocks that have higher returns, they get sold off into prices that are so low it makes no sense due to margin calls/liquidations, not because anyone wants to sell the stock but because they have to. It's kind of like bargain hunting houses in foreclosures.

This is one of the reasons I love Thailand, the police actually hold people accountable. Surprisingly 80% returns isn't out of the norm if you know how to invest your money, is it guaranteed, no, but you can make some pretty high probable investments that will net those returns and limit downside risk to near 0. If you look at US equities, there were a few almost guaranteed opportunities to make 50-100% returns in a short period, it already passed though. These opportunities only come very rarely, chances are you'll get 1-2 chances a year max, sometimes none at all that year.

early September

Went today laksi it square no issues was in an out in an hour or so. I think I got lucky with a nice IO as well. I’ve been here since July 2021 off covid extensions so I was going to just tell them no worries if they wanted me back home, but it looks like I’ll be here another 2 months before going back. will have to see if they give me 60 days from august 25 or if they give me 60 days from my visa expiration (sept 18). I just have the under consideration stamp.

can they not see where the money was sent? how much was it? I guess that's one perks of using an iPhone, this stuff can't happen to you

I wouldn't call it a scam, dealerships are marking up vehicles now over MRSP and have been for a few years (in first world countries too), supply and demand.

agreed, one days work is nothing to argue about sad to see family fighting after a death, maybe just focus on mourning for the one who passed away and let things fall where they may, especially considering you can make it back in a day.