samtam

THB53k

Well thanks everyone. In the end I bought the HP Pavilion dv7-6b06TX, more for the screen size (17.3") vs. the dv6. It has Intel Core i7 and 8GB. About to set it up, so doubtless I shall be lost in that twilight zone for a few hours. None of the items on the HP Laptop website were available (with AMD Dual Core), but I think what I bought should be more than adequate. I wanted the bigger screen because I'm used to 21" with my desktop. All the Macs are nice, but lower Intel Cores, (i5? max), and of course they're pricier.

Thanks. I did look at this site.

It reminds me of when I went to buy an iron on Monday. The salesperson told me that a) was the smallest and d) was the largest.

I'll chuck a dart, as obviously for my requirements it doesn't much matter.

It's perhaps a question of too much choice and the difference so small between each.

(Sorry, I'm not trying to diminish your assistance, and perhaps my lack of knowledge for these things, irons, washing machines, and all ther household paraphenalia is beyond help.) Funnily enough there's quite an interesting programme on BBC Knowledge about selling mobile phones in UK by Mary Portas. As in that case too, no one really knows what they want from a phone, unless they're a tecky.

Just email and web surfin' and typing an occasional Document

and downloading torrents, which seems to stuff up my current HP Pavillion Desktop

I'm planning on buying a new HP laptop 15 3/4" screen. Any recommendation of model. What are the key elements I should be looking for, (for speed and memory sizes)? Please excuse the virginal questions.

Also, I use the nlink True router which is a pain in the derriere, (cuts out, and sometimes reloads with True's on web page, which makes me lose info I've had on the last page etc). Any recommended router models, (to run three computers) by wifi.

Thanks.

Just to pass on my own experience from yesterday's Extension of Stay, regarding the bank letter. Immigration at Chaengwattana accepted my bank letter and balance dated 14 May, (for my renewal on 15 May). My Imm officer seemed to have doubts initially about the HSBC letter and printed savings account statement, but after making a call was satisfied that it was acceptable. What I gave them was exactly what they asked for last year; unfortunately some officers do seem unfamiliar with bank accounts. My better half who had the same bank documents had no problems.

The exercise took rather a long time. We got our queue ticket at 9.55 am and I was seen at 11.35 am. At least I was able to get queue tickets for the Re-Entry permit application before lunch. After the lunch break, that process took another 90 minutes from 1 pm. All in all a successful if drawn out day, (7 hours door to door, including lunch and 90 minutes round trip from Sathorn).

Sorry - to be clear - you got your bank letter and then used it day(s) later, (but at Chiang Mai) Immigration?

Well unfortunately no HSBC in the Immigration building, and it's not a savings passbook, but a printout of a savings bank transaction. Previously I've produced a bank letter for the previous day, (for a fixed deposit), and it seemed to be OK, but I was wondering whether anyone had done that successfully in recent weeks.

I was just wondering about the same issue, (date of bank letter in relation to visit to Immigration for extension of stay). If I get the letter from the bank on 14th, (dated 14th) May, and present myself at (Changwattana) Immigration on 15th, this should be acceptable? Has anyone had problems doing this recently?

In the paper that cannot be quoted there is an opinion piece about the latest set of inflation figures published by the government, showing April's inflation rate at 2.47%, which seems to belie the general belief that inflation is rising rapidly and has the potential for getting out of control.

The Commerce Minister insisted that their figures were correct and based them on two food items which they said had actually fallen. He then invited reporters to accompany him to the market to prove the point. Unfortunately the reverse was the case; the food items were more than the examples he used in his basket of items. Apparently the reporters omitted to disclose that. Do any financial services companies publish more realistic inflation figures for Thailand?

If you drink alcohol it is a huge contributor to high triglycerides. Stop drinking for a month and you will notice improvement.

As mentioned, some of us are prone to high triglycerides and medication is one way to help improve it. I use Supralip and it is effective.

The quality of maid will vary enormously, and obviously the less you pay the more likely you are to get someone who has no idea about what duties and skills are required. Last year my maid had to go and look after her father for a couple of months as he was recuperating from an operation. In the interim we hired someone working for another household in our condo, (in central Bangkok). Although a nice lady, she was not au fait with what was required, despite repeated instruction. Happily my maid returned, and I now refer to her as the "saint". She works 1-6pm Monday to Friday and is paid THB8k per month.

I find myself watching TV less and less, including the news and financial channels, and have been considering cancelling the whole caboodle, so we are perhaps moving one step closer to that.

I have to agree with that

I only watch news channels, in the early morning and lunchtime

The rest of my viewing is from torrents on a hard disk.

Same. I need to move on to the USB into my DVD player, to eliminate the DVD burning.

Well my box is up and running ,and the further it runs the better as far as i am concerned ,where with my old box i could put my favourite channels in order it seems that with this box you cannot ,all you can do is put a star next to your favourites (20 max) though what use this is i cannot for the life of me think as you still have to scroll through dozens of channels you do not want to watch ,you can of course put the number of the channel you want in ,but then you have to write a list of your channels you watch . if this is what i have to go through to watch a channel then true have just lost a customer.

From my latest conversation with True, I understood that HD must be (for them?) transmitted in mpeg4. Was informed that old sat. digital boxes were/are mpeg2 compatible only.

As a result true are intending to transmit both SD / HD in mpeg4 so old dig. sat. boxes will refuse all signals.

Only exception is some packages below Silver, eg Knowledge, where apparently mpeg2 signal is to be maintained (seems illogical ?) so no need to change sat.box (assuming Knowledge package is available on satellite system, no idea).

It's always a bit of a mystery of what TrueVisions is really doing and why...

But as for your comment above, I believe their Knowledge Package is available via satellite as well as cable service...

And most of the channels available via the KP are also part of the higher level, more expensive packages... apart from the extra "premium" channels that get added on.

So not sure how the older model satellite boxes could be blocked from receiving those MPeg2 signals for KP channels....

I too had my new HD box installed today, after being advised a week or so ago that an upgrade was necessary. I rang them this morning to confirm the facts of the upgrade, as I had received the previous call whilst I was in a taxi, and forgot about it until their technician rang to confirm the appointment this morning.

The technician did the installation and as he didn't speak English I checked the manual about listing favourites, and as you both state, this is only for 20 channels, and neither the technician, or the customer service techincal support could explain to me how to list favourites. Indeed when I followed the instruction by phone it did not work. (I could make BBC World my no 1 channel by clicking on it - 93 and then pressing the red button. But when I tried to do the same for CNN, making it my no 2 channel, it did not do so. Then clicking on the blue button to get the favourites didn't work at all.) The idea of clicking the blue button 20 times to get my favourite no 20 seems plain bonkers, but this is what the technical support told me.

So I asked my maid to find out from the technician how it worked, but he could not set up for me. I said it was not an upgrade, as I had no interest in the new HD channels for the reasons mentioned by others - repeat programmes etc, and I would prefer to have my old box, so that I could list my favourites. I noted that it was a pity that we "had" to take the new box, because the old one "would make the service obsolete by June", which I believed was the point of the new box. Not so, the technician said. He could adjust the old box to take the new system, and return it to me in a couple of days. Never one to take anything said at face value, I will wait to see whether the adjusted new box is returned.

The suggestion that this might be a True marketing plan may hold some water.

Before the technician arrived today I spoke to customer service, who said that the new box would provide new HD channels (120-131), which would be available free from today until end of July. If I did not wish to subscribe to the new channels after end of July then True would stop the availability. The onus is on me to say I want the channels, or they will be removed. Again, whether this is true, (no pun intended), remains to be seen.

I finf myself watching TV less and less, including the news and financial channels, and have been considering cancelling the whole caboodle, so we are perhaps moving one step closer to that.

Where are you applying for your Extension of Stay? We apply at Chaengwattana in Bangkok. We used to place our THB800k (each) into a 3 month fixed deposit, but last year IMM were proving quite difficult about it, because they appeared not to understand what a fixed deposit was. They prefer savings passbooks. On that basis I suspect you would have a problem. You are best to make it as simple as possible for them. I can't think the difference in income earned on three months in THB is that significant, whatever the instrument.

Choosing an avocado that is in the right condition for eating is a bit of a lottery. In one of the UK supermarkets they have "ripe" ones sold in plastic packaging, so they are obviously pre checked to fit that criteria. Perhaps I will suggest it to Central. They always seem quite receptive to customer suggestions. Sometimes display, and certainly around the fruit and veg weighing at Central Food Hall is a bit of a pig's breakfast, but by and large I think they do a pretty good job. Perhaps a bit more competition other than the Mall Group's grocery stores would improve things more, but unfortunately that is not something that is encouraged here.

A bit off topic, where does one find out about one of those premium passes?

They are given out if you're travelling Business or First.

Thank you. That's most helpful. I will know next time not to be surprised, and to split the purchase when there are two of us.

I think if you take the trouble to read my OP, the guy dud not identify himself in any official capacity, nor did his "uniform" state that he was from customs.

Thanks, Bendix.

I didn't know they existed. It would help if they could identify themselves officially.

Yesterday when I arrived at Bangkok, I had completed my Arrival Card and put in my "Extension of Stay" number in the "Visa No" box. The Immigration officer asked me to change it to the Re-Entry Permit number. My partner did the same, but was not asked to change his number. Which is the correst number they require, as it seems to vary?

Yesterday evening I returned from a trip to HK, and having cleared customs was walking towards my limo pick up point near Gate 4. A guy dressed in a black uniform with gold epaulettes came up to me as I was wheeling my trolly and asked me to move over to the side. He then asked to see inside my duty free bag. I duly opened it, and he said "OK", and moved away. I was travelling with my partner who looks Thai, and as I was stopped he too stopped to see what the "customs" guy wanted, which may have had the effect of scaring him off. As it happened I had two bottles of champagne, which would have been over the allowance, except they were for the two of us.

I only thought afterwards that the customs guy was probably some con artist looking to scam some fine out of me. I think I may have read about this on the forum before, but has anyone else had a similar experience? The guy did not appear to have any ID, but whereas the temptation was to tell the guy to get stuffed, you never really know who you're dealing with.

As a by the by, I had a Premium Lane card for Immigration and was glad I did - we overheard a Japanese guy saying that he waited over 1 hour in the normal queue.

Yes, sadly this is an all too familiar story. I am a Premier account holder, based on my Premier status in Hong Kong, UK, Jersey etc. I've only ever used HSBC here for the visa extension, (viz deposit for three months and the bank letter). My relationship manager was easy to deal with, and easy to contact etc. She said she might transfer to BAY, but hasn't yet decided. But with the one year limit on Exclusive Banking being made available on the same terms to existing HSBC Premier account holders, I think I will probably switch to UOB where I have held a small savings account to take care of local Thai bills. I made my number with one of the staff, and she seemed to be familiar with visa extension requirements, (specifically the letter for Immigration). This year, (third week in May), HSBC will take care of all of that for the last time. Next year I will try UOB, and I think it should be OK. HSBC's closure here for retail is annoying, but probably more of a mental annoyance than anything significant.

Sorry, double post..