Drumbuie

I am consistently surprised that  people keep asking for advice about their health and their difficulties with modern tech on ASEAN Forums.

Pharmacists are trained to treat minor ailments and will tell you if they can't and you need to see a doctor.

The internet abounds in people ( geeks, nerds, coders, tech guys etc)  who will tell you exactly how to fix your laptop, your car, your AC , your sewing machine etc etc, with a helpful video - plus ( and this is a big plus)  they will never insult you.  

3 hours ago, jippytum said:

one in twelve London residents are illegal immigrants. The UK 's soft approach to the daily influx of predominantly muslim males  must stop. 

Many illegals often with  UK criminal convictions are allowed to stay thanks to rulings by the European court of Human rights and represented by lawyers abusing the legal aid system to prevent deportation of illegal criminals. 

Do you have actual data to support this claim? 

56 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

The problem comes with incompatible tokens/fare collection systems between BTS and the other operators. Plus it would necessitate revenue disclosure when apportioning the shares of the revenue generated by travel across different operators. MRT never been keen on that. Someone closer may be able to update us about that.

If everyone had a card, not a token, which is swiped every time there's a change of operator during a journey, it would be possible, and relatively easy, to automatically allocate the fare proportionately between each of the operators. 

Because, you know, computers.... 

I used to commute by train and Underground in London. It was much the same as Bangkok in rush hour. You get used to it and, if you can, time your travel outside peak periods. 

A pal used to be a senior person in a British rail company and can, if not quickly suppressed, talk at length about rolling stock logistics ... The short version is that adding more carriages to a train is not as easy as you think. 

On 1/23/2025 at 12:13 PM, newbee2022 said:

I posted many details already, because it was my thread. 

To make you wiser: With low income you don't need to pay taxes! 

Under 65 a person can earn 210,000 a year before tax is due on income (60,000 personal allowance plus the first 150,000 is tax free). 

Even in Bangkok people doing ordinary jobs don't earn enough to pay tax. THB 10,000 -12,500 a month (120,000- 150,000 a year)  is the sort of wage you'd be paid  in farang-facing hospitality, for example. 

It's not really worth the TRD chasing people who are dodging the 5% tax rate on the next tranche of income because it would cost more than it produces in revenues.

It's logical to suppose that, after wealthy tax- dodging Thais, relatively high income groups like expats will be next on the TRD's list for investigation. 

5 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Thanks for the article. My favorite bit is .....

"The government wants the TM6 process to operate without any problems, and it could take months or a even a year until the system runs smoothly, said the source." 

 

To refer to this as an online TM6 is bit of a joke. In my tourist visa days I used to put for address "Nana Plaza Soi 4"

They type about "keeping a track on tourists" surely that's a joke. 

Many tourists wing it. 

Think about it. Immigration will have every tourist's passport details, date of entry, and visa length on their database. Then it's the work of a moment to query that database and produce an easily circulated list of overstayers. 

So then police in tourist hotspots can keep an eye open - and so can CCTV with facial recognition software. 

It is standard practice for all embassies  to have some members of their police forces on their staff. I suppose you could call that "being undercover".  

16 hours ago, OJAS said:

 

"Wise is now a direct member in the Australian payment systems"

 

Begs the question as to how they managed to cope as an indirect member of said payment systems, I think!

 

Wise would have had an arrangement with a "correspondent bank" , one that was a direct member in the Australian payment systems. 

Possibly it took a long time for Wise to become one, or perhaps they waited till they were sure they had enough Australian custom to make it worth their while applying.  

To apply for a TIN you need to go to the Area Revenue Department for where you live ( which may not be the nearest one). Take passport, lease/house book/ whatever shows where you live, a copy of your landlord's ID and photocopies of all of the above. 

You can download the form beforehand and use Google Translate to fill it in. 

Tax allowances are much more generous to oldies  than in, say, UK. 

Also ..guys, the Immigration has your passport number. Your bank account is linked to your passport number. There is no data protection in Thailand. Get a TIN and fill in a tax return. 

On 1/15/2025 at 8:27 PM, Briggsy said:

Just out of interest, a high street accountant in the UK would generally charge around £200 for a relatively straightforward annual tax return. e.g. a self-employed 360 driver.

That may have been true a few years ago but I think you'd be lucky to find one who'd charge less than £500 now -  and that would not be in London. 

6 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   That wasn't what he said though . 

He stated that he did nothing wrong and so there was no need to attend to the police station .

  He wasn't scared because he thought that he didn't do anything wrong 

Imagine you're on holiday in the UK or Poland, or the USA or indeed any other country and you're told to go to the police station; would you decide not to go because you " thought you'd done nothing wrong" ? 

Slapping a stranger on the butt is unacceptable in any country - including Poland. 

I am not able to dig up the tiniest shred of pity for this guy. 

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

I sent a letter to the UK last month, normal size and less than 300grams, they quoted 1,950 baht...

I queried it with the girl and she then asked for 330 baht..

It was received in the UK one week later

I regularly send letters to family in the UK - Airmail is 55 baht, they get there in a week. At Christmas friends posted Christmas cards Airmail from the UK - £2.80 ( about 120 baht)

On 12/28/2024 at 7:48 AM, hotchilli said:

The dark side of Capitalism, but what's the alternative?

Revolution and anarchy, IIRC. 

On 12/28/2024 at 6:55 AM, SiSePuede419 said:

Apparently they have no such thing as a "bank account" and "ATM card" in France.

Must live in a museum. 😳

Or he didn't want his wife to see what he was up to when the bank/credit card statements arrived. 

It may well be that Wise is passing on a charge from the receiving bank. 

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

 

This appears to be a pattern.

 

A soft touch for sexual offenders (especially if they work for the BBC) but an iron fist for being "grossly offensive" on social media.

 

No wonder The British are losing faith in the justice system. 

Putting somebody in prison costs tens of thousands per year and basically enrols then in the University of Criminality. 

He was 15 when he committed his first offence, and still a child. There was a chance that he might be diverted from the path and a humane ( Scottish - different from the English) legal system gave him that chance. 

Unfortunately he failed to be diverted from his downward trajectory - but with the British press, you'll never hear the success stories about the ones who took that chance to change their lives. Note the Scottish Tories' finger pointing, too. 

Newspapers have an agenda. Don't fall for it. 

14 hours ago, Crossy said:

I had cause to use my MRT "Elder" card on Wednesday, and, for a change, checked the fare charged against what the ticket machines would want.

 

I am still getting the 50% discount 🙂 

 

I will continue using it until someone tells me to stop

 

Of course, I will avoid any contact with staff and top the card up at the ticket machines.

 

The staff don't care, at least the ones I've dealt with haven't. I've topped up several times since they changed the rules. 

Anyway, OP..... what's the fuss over a couple of hundred baht? It's not a lifechanging amount. 

28 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

They, and their financiers, really are a scourge on society.

 

They are responsible for misery, suicides, humiliation and violent intimidation.

 

I don't know which is worse, drug dealers or these guys' filth.

The only significant  difference between these sharks and private equity firm sharks ( like Blackstone) is that the latter wear suits. 

The disadvantage of using Spotify is that only a tiny fraction of your money ends up with the person who actually created the music. You are part of the commodification of the arts and eventually won't notice when everything is created by AI.

If you use Bandcamp, and occasionally pay for downloads, you will help to keep musicians in existence. On the first Friday of every month 100% of any money you spend on a download, or vinyl, or a CD, or merch, goes to the artist. 

42 minutes ago, Lorry said:

It killed the young (remember people got it in the trenches?).

And in 1918, most people weren't fat.

Indeed they weren't. In the middle 1920s, the UK government calculated that to maintain bodyweight a working man needed about 6000 calories a day.. a working woman slightly less. Wages were low. No NHS. No benefit system.  Most people could not afford to eat enough to get fat. 

3 hours ago, thairookie said:

Why did the Email headlines pick up the 3 Britons ?

 

Why not "Chinese detained in Thai nominees crackdown on foreign businesses" since Chinese is represented by a much larger figure ?

Possibly because ASEAN News is published in English? 

Proper porridge - brose - is made with stone ground pinhead oatmeal, hot water, a pinch of salt and a wee pat of butter. Basically a hot oatcake. 

Anything else - particularly sugar - is an abomination. 😂