Furioso

The mystery of where Hops brews it's beer needs to be solved.

I got a haircut the other day on Soi Buakhao, the price on the window now says 120 Baht instead of the old 100 Baht. A little over 5 AUD for a haircut ain't too shabby round heah'.

Suggested movie title: "Snakes in my Garden!"

I know what ou mean, I live in Jomtien and everywhere I go, morning, noon, and night I get these super loud and bombastic greetings. AAARGGHH!

I just try to be careful, they do gouge prices all over this place. Soooo, at Ratanankorn 'll get an apple or 2 for 18 baht each. Maybe some of those small oranges for 20 baht per kg. Other than that I go to Makro and get 1kg frozen berries for 75 Baht. If I'm at a 7-11 I'll get a banana for 8 Baht. 150 Baht a week on fruit, not too shabby imho.

They want you to relax plus it's a job hazard as they are short.

I don't think the Russians are particularly rude, it's definitely part of their culture to stay stoic, strong, resilient. It's just a reminder to me that so many countries around the world don't have it easy. I see the Russia ranks 74th in happiness around the world, that's pretty bad.

To be fair the immigration office was pretty crowded when I got here in Aug. But yes, when I ride by on my motorbike nowadays it's like a 70's blockbuster movie. My neighbor said Pattaya was impossibly crowded before Covid, citing how the traffic on Sukumvit was a huge headache compared to now(he said this in Nov). I imagine the situation with long lines, snarling traffic, choking pollution, etc. is only going to get worse than pre-covid. At some point it will reach it's nadir and then plummet again, maybe 3 years. I'll be around to see whatever happens happens. One thing for sure it's going to be a wild ride!

NGL Leaver has a great point, the agents are interwoven into all the Thai bureaucracy. I wanted to do everything myself too, but in the end I hired an agent and guess what? I got First Class service. I consider living here in Thailand a priviledge, I can see most of these Thai's are struggling. I tip well and I pay agents for excellent service. What I save in just ONE MONTH pays for a year of what I pay out. I even befriended my agent, one day she told me one of the govt. employees at the DMV was making her life difficult. I said "well, I paid you 4,000 Baht and you gave me great service, right?" Her problem with the DMV gal got solved that very day.

I did contact them but they absolutely refused, saying the warranty was only good back in the home country. The Acer store here sent my Swift 3 to Bangkok, but they couldn't fix it. I never thought I'd run into a situation where I couldn't get a laptop fixed, but that's what happened.

Hey Peterw42, I had seen these devices but really didn't know what they were..as I thought they could only be used as a HDD/SSD dock and not clone devices. This looks like it will do the job quick and easy. Thanks!

I want to thank everyone for their helpful replies, you've definitely opened my eyes to many different solutions. I used to be on top of the latest technology but please forgive me I'm getting old and rusty! Based on your suggestions I'm going to buy and install a 500 GB NVMe SSD, they seem to run for about 1,600 Baht on Lazada. This seems like the best, easiest solution..once I get the NVMe working I'll replace the HDD with my SATA 2.5 SSD. And to show how rusty I am I did not realize I that I could clone to a NVMe! As for how I ended up in this situation. I moved to Thailand 5 months ago. Before moving here I gave away my old PC and bought a new Acer Swift 3(Win 10) laptop off Amazon. It initially ran great but my 2nd week here the motherboard crapped out. I tried to get it fixed at Acer in Tukcom but the Thai version of Acer Swift 3 is a different motherboard, so I gave up and bought the used HP Pro Desk G3 mini I have now. I loved that Acer Swift 3 as it was my first new laptop since 2010. It had thumbprint, fast SSD, lighted keyboard, great screen and it's an ultralight weighing way less than 2 lbs. It was new but maybe on the shelf a long time and bound to break like it did, don't know for sure but now it sit's in the bottom of my closet dammit. Thanks again for all your help!

Hello, I recently bought a used HP Prodesk G3 Mini PC. It works fine but it comes with a traditional hard drive, so I'd like to clone it to my Solid State Drive. I've done this before I came to Thailand, I had a special USB cable made by "Apricorn",(along with EZ Gig IV Cloning Software).. which I can't seem to find anywhere. Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

Back in the U.S. it was approx 750 Baht, including tip.

I've got my favorite barber on Soi Buakhao that I'm going to right now. If he's raised his price from 100b-150b I'm going to be <deleted>!

I've got my favorite barber on Soi Buakhao that I'm going to right now. If he's raised his price from 100b-150b I'm going to be p!ssed!

Two months ago here in Pattaya I decided I needed a Thai motorcycle licence. I went to 2 different agencies. The first one wouldn't quote me on the phone, so I went in and got the typical car salesman treatment. "Oh, it might take weeks, (even months!)to get an appointment by the end of this year..if you pay 20,000 baht we guarantee an earlier appointment". I quickly GTFO. The 2nd agency I went to was the total opposite. She told me straight up 4K Baht. I didn't want to pay that much but I really didn't want to do it myself I just wanted it done. 1. I texted her on a Tuesday, met her for at the DL Bureau on Wed w/requested documents. She made the appointments. 2. I went back to the DL Bureau on Sat for the safety course. I had to sit around for about 6-8 hours in a room next to the actual safety course, which was in Thai language. I met a couple of foreigners, ate lunch, had coffee, had to pay something like 500 baht at the end. NOT a horrible experience at all. 3. My 3rd and final trip to the DL Bureau was on Monday. My agent met me again. I took a reflex test, which took less than a minute. Then I took their computerized driving license test. 50 questions, needed 45 to pass. My Russian friend didn't pass but obv. english a 2nd language. I studied hard for 1 hour, passed the test no problem. Next I went outside, they had me drive a motorbike around a course, the important part was to drive on a straight line without swerving off, which I did no problem. Then I got my picture taken, waited for my license. My agent even drove me back home I paid the 4K Baht. All in all I texted her on a Tuesday, finished on a Monday. I have a copy of the online study guide if anyone needs it.

Is Miami the one with the unstable astroturf making it difficult to walk without stumbling a bit? It's okay but Jomtien Night Market seems to have expanded a bit and has much better food options. I have seen prices spike up a bit but nothing nearly as bad as what I've seen in Pattaya. For instance the new Bangladeshi Kebab guy raised his Kebab from 60-70baht, not bad. Plus, he's a lot friendlier than the other Kebab guy in the other row, who did jack his Kebab's up to 80 or 90 but due to the new competition lowered it back down. Signed, Jomtien Night Market Inspector.

I second that about Power Buy. I dropped by tonight and they had several Laptops that were 2,500, 3,000, and even 4,000 Baht discount.

Welp, I ended up going to Pattaya Beach to watch the fireworks. Just slightly off topic I moseyed through Soi 6 and looked at A LOT of bar girls. Man, all I see them do is eat and yell and most are fat. Then I go down to the beach and that crowd had hardly any fat girls..of course the girls were mostly with their husbands or boyfriends but them girls were so nice to look at after walking down the Soi I'll never walk down again. The firework show was fantastic, the best one I've ever seen..I really enjoyed the fire lamps, amazed nobody got torched. All in all it was a good time.

I went out last night everyplace was insanely packed, I yelled to my friend, who's lived here for many years, "if it's this crazy tonight, just think what tomorrow night's going to be like!" but he couldn't hear me because of all the loud music blaring. Tonight will probably go down as one of the busiest, craziest, most jammed pack New Years Eve ever.

My best suggestion is rent a bike if you have a license and drive to a bunch of Condo buildings, ask to see if there are any postings in the lobby, this might circumvent an agent which will save you $$$. There are many online maps that display the name of every single condo, very helpful. Check a few different condos every day, you'll find some good ones all on your own. Other suggestions: 1. No smaller than 45sqm. 2. No more than 20K a month. 3. Be wary of neighbors(trust me). 4. North Pattaya probably better than Central Pattaya(Beirut is probably better than Central Pattaya). Jomtien is fine but I don't think will meet your needs. 5 At least a couple of streets away from the beach.

I rented an Airbnb condo in Jomtien for 30 days. I was very quiet/discreet and it was cheaper than a hotel. Airbnb and Condo owner gave me good, quality service, the condo owner took care of my few needs right away. I did get one short, bad look from a resident, maybe he thought I was a one week stayer? I did all my communication through the Airbnb website. I did give the gals at the front desk a tip to show I appreciated them. I don't know if I would attempt a shorter stay than 30 days, maybe if by comparison a hotel was just too damn expensive. For short stays I do prefer Hotels even if they are more pricey because they offer so much more; bottled water, ice, quicker maintenance, free wi-fi, cleaner, maid service, free coffee/tea, 24 hour front desk, bar/restaurant. In short, I won't bash nor judge you. I will say that through many, many years of me making what seemed to be small violations of rules have led to much bigger consequences than I could have ever imagined. There is a fork in the road ahead, one fork will lead you to peace of mind and life fulfillment, the other fork is very dark, full of potholes & UXO's. I wish you the best of times on your upcoming vacation henrik2000. I truly do.

What the H? I can almost throw a rock and hit Rattanakorn, never knew it was there. Still, I'm going to comparison shop vs. Rhompo. Ngl for S&G I checked out the fruit/veg market outside Mikes Arcade in central Pattaya and they were about double Rhompo prices.

Yes you're right it's a Non O + 1 Year. It cost 25K for the Visa and 3K for the Bangkok Bank account. They took me to immigration, escorted me to the front of the line, took my picture and I was out of there in 1 minute. From beginning to end everything took about 2-3 hours. Manareet said once my 15 months runs out I can renew for 12 months for 12.5K. If I do 27 months here I estimate the cost comes down to 1.5K(40K Total)a month.