NanLaew

So, what's the OP's overall opinion on AIS versus DTAC for the "average" user?

After that visa-exempt history, I don't fancy the OP's chances of getting a hassle-free visa-exempt entry. Taking a year off and getting a new passport doesn't erase the prior history from Thai immigration database. After the Penang visa refusal, maybe the OP should make sure he has a return ticket, just in case? Then again, they are gagging for tourists and income so the OP may manage dodge the bullet.

Yeah i think he just decided that traffic is meant to stop so I'll walk out, that's a deathwish attitude, maybe he's a tourist and doesn't understand how it works here It's that Asian spatial awareness deficit. Local drivers seem to be unaware of peripheral vision or things in the near-field when they're clipping along, focused on the far-distance. I had to bang on the bonnet of car to get the drivers attention when he was inching forward at some broken traffic lights, looking for that gap to change lanes into while I was threading my way across three lanes of gridlock. I got that stunned "Where did you come from?" look. I was there all the time, looking right at him.

Maybe the authorities will respond and install speed bumps either side of the crosswalk. Then again, maybe they won't.

I used to be a Chokchai buyer until I had a couple of dodgy bottles several years ago. Switched to Magnolia which has been my go-to ever since. I am just back from extended trips overseas and up here in Udon there's no large jugs of Magnolia 'leaded' or 'unleaded' in the usual outlets. With shortages and price hikes, maybe there's something afoot in the Thai dairy industry?

What size is the OP's home? Mine is around 380 square meters so doubtful the 300 gr size will cover it.

Which is a bonus in my book.

Maybe she got your negative Leicester vibe? Lord knows the forum membership already has.

If the 'force multiplier' doesn't include the submarines, then I wouldn't bother. They can stick with LINE and WhatsApp for their communications "in the battlespace."

Some people, even knowing that they are sick, still go to work because they need the money to survive. Sorry, but it's irresponsible to think that everyone can manage with a few days off work. This guy calls off sick and he's replaced and since it's a minimum wage/skills job, he could be out of work for more than the time it takes to get over a Covid infection. Anyway, he spends most of his time in the booth where he died so he may have weighed the risks involved. He may also have been asymptomatic but either way, he did not "die of/from Covid". We've been down this Covid road long enough to know that hand-washing and social distancing are the most effective barriers. If one isn't taking care of their personal hand hygiene, they shouldn't blame getting infected on others. Personally, I have never had the need to get close enough to any security guards to catch anything.

Don't even go there*. From Mayo Clinic's website (my emphasis ) "Rotavirus is present in an infected person's stool two days before symptoms appear and for up to 10 days after symptoms lessen. The virus spreads easily through hand-to-mouth contact throughout this time — even if the infected person doesn't have symptoms. If you have rotavirus and you don't wash your hands after using the toilet — or your child has rotavirus and you don't wash your hands after changing your child's diaper or helping your child use the toilet — the virus can spread to anything you touch, including food, toys and utensils. If another person touches your unwashed hands or a contaminated object and then touches his or her mouth, an infection may follow. The virus can remain infectious on surfaces that haven't been disinfected for weeks or months." Wash your hands and be wary of where (and what*) you are eating.

Yes, but I was. The first paragraph was to emphasize the pressing need of these trained professionals to leave their homelands. More of a case of stay and possibly get killed. So what's your hypothetical Geordie's pressing need? Believe me I know. It wasn't easy but we managed OK. For the less ardent, I'm pretty sure that motivational counseling is available in Newcastle.

Not so sure about that last assertion. Plenty qualified Syrian, Iranian doctors and surgeons who did their training in the US and UK have packed up their tents in their war-torn or otherwise repressed homeland and made the transcontinental trek to the UK and other nations. Most come alone and once settled, bring the family over. You are correct inasmuch as the young and the feckless have few barriers to seeking a career, a sustainable income and a new life on foreign shores. However, those in their forties are arguably at the peak of their productivity and earning powers so not being able to watch the local footy at the weekend or meet your mates 'down the pub' should not be an impediment to keeping life, soul and family together. Despite the toon looking good for Europe next year, Dec will have to make sacrifices and not just excuses.

It did? How?

I hope not at the expense of the UK taxpayer. At the least a loan that Ukraine has to pay back like the UK had to do for US support during WW2. Think of it as an investment rather than an expense. That's how the American's saw the lend-lease program.

Hunt's a Remainer in Brexiteer's clothing. Speaks with forked tongue. How else can he have survived the purges and turmoil of the Tories enduring struggles to run their on own shop? Now that Starmer has nailed Labour's Brexit colors to the wall, it's time to kick the deplorable Tory party into touch at the next election. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/keir-starmer-promises-to-make-brexit-better-not-rejoin-the-eu-rvm8fbxdf Now that Momentum are crashing and burning, the lefties are fleeing Labour in droves. The only hope the Tories have of making the next election something with which the British electorate can fully engage, is to get rid of their own extremists within. Unfortunately, with successive administration, repeatedly giving some of them jobs in the cabinet, the rot is too deep to be easily excise. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/22/momentum-in-financial-peril-after-leftwing-exodus-from-labour

Yes. Again yes. Obviously not. Is there a trend that's apparent to you?

What's the "acceptable range"? A person more learned in all things forex once told me that of the world's 'major' currencies, historically, the pound sterling has been the most volatile. The highs and lows aren't persistent. In all my years of working around the world and getting paid in US$ while living and banking mostly in the UK, the 'roundabouts and swings' experience hasn't been too arduous or detrimental. You can't be a winner all the time.

Bellyaching while helping kick the can down the road ....... check.

And for those who insist that truth can only be firmly built on facts, we can thank then U.S. Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway for introducing the concept of "alternative facts" on January 22, 2017. This is a bone that the more feckless and gullible conservatives have picked up on and have been running with ever since. Truthiness. It's right up there with bigly.

You are full of hate. Please stop quoting me. Waste of time talking to someone who is so negative. Goodbye. From @ozimoron's perspective, it's probably almost as bad as talking to someone who is so clueless.

But isn't the OP's issue that he doesn't have the requisite paperwork from his current 'landlord' to apply for any extension? The hotel route seems like the fast fix. Then find some NON-airbnb accommodation. Their whole existence is predicated on finding vacation bolt-holes. I could be wrong but I have a feeling that the OP isn't on holiday.

I had a situation in a Singapore hotel where I needed to extend my stay that was originally booked via agoda. I asked at reception if I could extend and they said they were full, no extension. I went to my room and checked the hotel's website and that confirmed what reception had just told me. I looked on agoda to see if any rooms were available in a nearby hotel. The hotel I was in came up as having availability so I called reception and mentioned this. The same person that had just told me they were full and couldn't extend told me to go ahead and book the extension via agoda and they would honor it.

correct, Indian passport holders aren't eligible for visa exempt entry. they must use the Visa on Arrival option. Yes, but the Indian pax was in transit on the same ticketing structure as the OP, ie. no intention of entering Thailand. The OP was allowed to transit airside, the Indian was "forced" to go through immigration? I don't think AirAsia interline checked baggage on all their routes so maybe the Indian pax did have to recheck his baggage? That's the only reason I can see him being required to enter and exit Thailand. Jobsworths.

Me. It's not perfect, never has been but after visiting my sister in a care home in the UK, I think for the moment, my bread is buttered on the right side, right here. What's a "philipean"?