Startmeup

2 minutes ago, khunphil said:

With the nice polluted air coming just today, a refreshing indoor place could be more reasonable than wandering in a park/garden ... 😉 

Also take care of the traffic on Saturday afternoon near the airport. That's not Bangkok but it can be a little bit busy. Check Google Map 1 or 2 hour before.

Maya / Nimman are not far but the city center is also quite close, we are not in Bangkok 😉

150Thb to go to the city from airport. You can take a Grab car to go back. Plenty of massage shops from 300 to 3,000 thb. Enjoy !

I was just reading the other day that the pollution isn’t bad in Chiang Mai this year? 

Can’t get grab at the airport to town? 

Does it ever take longer than 30mins from airport to Nimman? Wouldn’t want to miss my

flight. Maps is showing circa 20 mins? 
 

shangri la day passes seem reasonable 

🌞 Swim your worries away at one of the largest pool in town and enjoy the special promotion of our pool day pass.

Family day pass + THB 300 F&B credit(2 adults + 2 kids) THB 850
Single day pass + THB 200 F&B credit(1 adult + 1 kid) THB 450
Extra day pass(for kids ages 3 to 15) = THB 150

Open daily from 8am to 7pm 🏊🏻
🐳Pool day pass available at Health Club on level 1

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Yes maybe a hotel with a day pass/min spend to access pool/sauna and gym and have some food, any suggestions? 

7 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Visit Chiang Mai University.

 

Plenty of coffee shops there.

 

You could probably plunge into the university swimming pool.

 

Also, you could hire a student to give you a few hours of basic Thai language instruction.

 

There are student cafeterias there with quite good food.

 

That is what I would do, anyway.

 

 

can anyone use the pool there?

I’ve got a 7 hour stopover in Chiang Mai on Saturday afternoon. Is there anything worthwhile doing in that time? 
 

Not really interested in temples or anything like that I’m more thinking a good restaurant and/or coffee shop I could go to that’s not a lot of hassle to burn 2 or 3 hours? 
 

Maybe go for a nice sauna/cold plunge/massage nearby? 

On 2/19/2024 at 11:49 PM, NoshowJones said:

Not on the meter. Fixed price. I never use a taxi on the meter for that journey, all it takes is an accident on the highway or some other hold up and the meter keeps going. Do Bolt insist using the meter? Bolt said between 1,500Bt and 1,700bt, a normal taxi is 1.400Bt.

You can get fixed price from Pattaya to Bangkok for less than 1000 baht in a car?

2 hours ago, swerve said:

Yes, it's a straight and well-lit stretch of road.  Problem is drivers go too fast on it.

It's a built up and hectic part of Chalong, not sure why it says Rawai. I drive this stretch of road everyday.

There are lots of side roads on this stretch with alot of residential units, restaurants, accommodation, 7/11, weed shops, bars in the area.

At that hour of the morning it's fairly quiet, the road gets busier between 6-7 as hotel workers are on their way to and from work but this is earlier than that . Can only guess the driver was coming home from a night in Patong and speed/stimulants were involved. During the day there are bikes zig zagging every which way but not at this hour.

Phuket roads are lethal

The ADV160 say 99k on the Honda website. 

Ive priced about 10 garages and cheapest has been 103k so what your being quoted is prob fairly close to what you will get at the dealership. Might get it for a couple k less if your lucky.

4 hours ago, Stocky said:

We use Maxim a lot in Hat Yai, very reliable and you know what you're paying, so better than the laughable Hat Yai (No) Meter taxis, and cheaper and more comfortable than a local tuk-tuk. 

 

I've used Grab in Bangkok, with varying results.

Never heard of Maxim, why not use Maxim in Bangkok?

Is it strictly of transport?

4 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

BOLT
Worked OK for local transport in Pattaya and cheap.
In Phuket mixed experience.
Driver not capable to understand that I am at the DOMESTIC terminal.

Took endless. Terrible noise from at least 3 mobiles in the car (ding dong ding dong at full volume... driver fiddling on the devices).

Price not much less than regular taxi.

On the way back in the morning needed almost 20 minutes to catch one.

Repeated cancellations.
As Phuket if off the list for me there is no chance of using again anyway.

I almost always only use Bolt in Phuket for taxi. So much cheaper than grab. 

They offer different options and usually the cheapest option guides at 10mins for pickup and even then it often cancels, if you can get one at all. If you choose the next cheapest option it works almost as efficient as Grab and is still much cheaper. Wouldn't recommend using it on a tight timeline as drivers will choose to do a Grab pickup before a Bolt pickup to earn extra cash if they have the choice. Hence the cancellations.

Grab for food delivery is quite pricey considering they add a charge onto the price of the meals compared to buying at restaurant then they also charge delivery and other charges in top. Still doesn't stop me from using it. I just paid 230 baht for a medium sized starbucks which I thought was ridiculous. Shouldn't have paid that really its a rip off

Am i losing my mind, Im sure I didn't write this headline as "for TAXI"

Some of These apps encompass alot more than just "for Taxi"

Ah yes I see now, moderators changed my post, why?

Grab, Lineman, Robinhood all offer other services apart from just taxi

How many of these have you used and which do you rate highly? 

Are they available all over Thailand? 
 

8 hours ago, mstevens said:

I would like to come at the issue of food intolerances from another angle.

 

People often develop sensitivities to foods over time i.e. something you used to eat and had zero reactions to now causes a reaction. This is often due to gut issues. It could be anything from IBS to dysbiosis to SIBO to fungal / yeast overgrowth to leaky gut to something more serious like Celiac or IBD and the likes of Crohn's or ulcerative colitis.

 

When you say, "From what I can see all im left with is meat and veg and rice", this is a classic presentation of people with a messed up gut!

 

Thailand has plenty of gastroenterologists but I am not aware of any specialist gut clinics that take a functional medicine approach to gut health which is often what is needed in cases like this. When you're next in Australia (presuming from your post that you're an Aussie), it might be worth scheduling an appointment with a gut clinic and going from there. This is one area of medicine / health where Australia is light years ahead of Thailand. A quick medical history along with a breath test and comprehensive stool test can identify many issues which conventional gastroenterologists simply don't test for. Identifying such issues and treating them (often with a combination of practitioner-only supplements, herbal anti-microbials and perhaps antibiotics and / or anti-fungals) can resolve issues. With the gut fixed, your food tolerances disappear.

 

I really don't think testing for food tolerances is the way to go. Find a really good gut clinic or functional medical doctor who specialises in gut issues and go from there. The root cause will be identified, can then be treated and following that you should have far fewer issues with intolerance to food.

I am seeing a specialist already and paying through the nose. His consults are not covered under medicare in Oz. Luckily most of the bloodwork is but all of it. The foodprint is not covered. Ive already spent 1000s on this. Based on all the blood work/piss tests carried out at his request (pages and pages) he already said I would need a strict elimination diet to make a recover from the markers that were flagged in the blood tests and the various symptoms. We have not had a consult since I carried out the Food print but it just adds more weight to what he already said. 

Everything I have read says you need to eliminate the trigger foods to give your gut the chance to heal. That is the path im trying to take. My consultant is booked out for the next two months and I know even if I got an appointment he would just tell me what he has already told me given he now has the footprint and blood tests that match up. 

I dont think all the foods will be causing long term issues but whatever damage I have done is likely allowing other things to pass through the gut that wouldn't ordinarily be there. Dairy is a very common trigger food for people and I think that may be the case for me. 

42 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I do not know of any place that lets you tailor what foods you want to test for

 

And I still don't understand why you would want such a test given that already tested. How/why would you "have lowered/knocked some of them off the trigger list"??? The trigger list is based on a blood test and does not necessarily reflect what you have been eating.  (Hence things you never eat, making it onto the list). Not eating something on the list will not remove it from the list, if in fact you are sensitive to it (I have no idea about the validity of the testing done).

 

And surely all that matters is whether your symptoms, whatever they are, improve?

My understanding is once you remove the trigger foods and you stop producing an immune response to them you can then reintroduce the foods and it won't necessarily trigger again once your body/gut has healed. 

So I want the test to see if the level of immune response to the foods outlined in the blood has been reduce when I have eliminated them for a period. Maybe from the 88 U/ml to 40 U/ml over a few weeks. It's a progress report to tell me that yes the immune response is reducing keep up the good work or it could also say after a few months that some foods will have to be eliminated at all times because there has been no reduction from the body attacking

Given some of the foods on that list I dont ever remember eating, I suspect they will always be on the list or they are false positives. The foods that I was regularly eating might or might not go from red to yellow to green over time by being unable to permeate the gut lining once it has had time to heal.

If you rub a scab it will keep opening and starting to bleed. If the scab heals you can do alot of rubbing on that skin and there won't be any blood unless you do big damage again. From what i've read it's the same principle with the gut. It needs time to heal to offer proper protection.

But yes you are right, seeing some symptoms resolution would be great but I think this is also a way to show that the first test and second test align and that there is improvement over the period between the two if not seen from symptoms.

Im not going paying 20k baht again thought this soon. Is this something healthy insurance would cover do you think?

40 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I count  only 17 in the red category, and some of them (e.g. winkles) I really doubt you would anyway often eat.

 

List does not indicate you have to eliminate all dairy; goat's milk is borderline rather than high, and yogurt -- which many people intolerant of cows milk can safely consume - is not listed.

 

Wheat (which does not necessarily mean  gluten) is also in the borderline category,  not the red group.

 

I would suggest you completely eliminate those things in the red category (some of which you likely don't eat anyhow) and then use trial and error to see what you can get away with in terms of the borderline category. It may depend on quantity and frequency. Also use trial and error with regard to any foods not listed that you would like to eat.

 

Cost aside, you are nto going to find any testing that is  fine-tuned and individualized enough to tell you much more than you already know.

Yellow group causes an immune response to a lesser degree than the red group.

As per the testing company guidelines, limit yellow group foods but not necessarily needed to eliminate fully, for three months.

Red group should be eliminated for a minimum of three months, The testing company says. 

That brings me back around to my original question, is there any places that you know of that test select foods instead of paying huge money for a 200+ test? I will try eliminate the red category foods, if I cannot eliminate all I will try to vastly reduce the consumption. I was hoping I could maybe test after the 4-6 week mark to see if I have lowered/knocked some of them off the trigger list without paying huge money for full testing. The test I linked above checks a few of my red list items but surprisingly not for corn, barley, yeast.

2 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Would imagine they'd do a battery capacity test, to find out why, and if just one or 2 modules not up to par, then they'd probably replace those, and hopefully give you the option to upgrade any others, while they have it opened up.

 

Degradation of >30% would be rare to lose over 8 years.  As an example, our MG ZS EV,

 

I estimate will lose <5% over our 8 year / 180k km warranty.

Thats incredible, where do those estimates come from?

Who makes the MG batteries? CATL maybe. BYD produce their own if im not mistaken. 

41 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

If something works; don't touch it. Same with your diet. Easiest way to find out is by basically starting with a 0 diet and then adding things week by week, to see which things then cause a negative or positive effect. 

 

Your results seem to show a lot of super healthy foods, that you somehow should not be eating lol.

Its not working ive got 30 immune trigger foods in my diet according to this test

30 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Are you saying you have already been tested and - among foods you normally consume - identified a few dozen that you are  allergic  to? If so, then why do you need further testing?

 

Yes, initial test was carried out in Oz. 200 foods. Trigger foods I posted above in order of bigger immune response per the figures beside the food type. I was drinking raw milk while I was there and more coffees than usual (with milk) and that's top of the list. 

Second is Casein which I would attribute to my collagen powder supplement that I was taking on a daily basis.

Third is brewers yeast and fifth is barley . It was Xmas/New years and I wasn't holding back on the beers.

No idea about the Ginko, Mussel, Cola nut, Pistachio, Agar Agar, Winkle, Hazelnut (maybe chocolate?), white haricot, cashew nuts.

The yellow group is giving less of an immune response but its more of the same.

Based on the result I need to avoid all dairy, gluten, alcohol, corn, some nuts, some veg and other stuff that I dont think ive ever eaten.

From what I can see all im left with is meat and veg and rice. A near impossible task when eating out in Thailand or when trying to live a normal existence. 

From what I can tell most gluten free products contain corn of some sort so it's not like I could go out every now and then and even have a <deleted>ty gluten free pizza or similar. 

 

6 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

Phone batteries and EV batteries are not the same. Leave your phone out in the sun here for a few minutes and it shuts down. EVs have active cooling. My car has a 580km range when it is new. The warranty on the battery is 8 years or 160,000km. If the capacity drops to less than 70% in that time (worse case scenario) the battery will be replaced. So after 8 years it will still have over 400km of range and fast 150kW charging speed.

 

Just so I have it clear.

BYD will replace your battery if the car won't drive more than 400kms up to that 8 years period, The last day of that 8 year period if you cant drive more than 400kms they will under warranty replace it for you for free?

Or they will replace the battery if the vehicle software doesn't show that the battery is below 70% capacity within 8 years?

After 8 years your on you own?

5 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

This is a common misconception made by visitors to Thailand that only see the big cities and resort towns.
 

In fact the vast majority of Thais live in detached houses giving plenty of opportunities for adding solar.

 

Interesting. Thailand has become alot more developed since 2010, almost 15 years ago and that means massive amounts of condos have been built in Bangkok, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Phuket etc since then as people leave the countryside and move to cities where there is more work and opportunities available. I would think these stats have changed alot.

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Frankly if it were me I'd just do trial and error via an elimination diet

How would you go about doing that when you have a few dozen problem foods?

Im questioning the accuracy and efficacy of this test.

Most of the "big ticket items" foods on this list are foods I ate regularly in the weeks leading up to this test.

Apart from Ginko, Mussel, Cola nut, Pistachio, Agar Agar, Winkle etc which are unusual to me.

Does this mean everything I am eating regularly is causing an immune response?

Ive not had a chance to have a consult with the doctor who suggested I get one done yet so just going through it all now in the next few weeks before I get to consult again.

80% capacity disclaimer after x amount of cycles reminds me of my iPhone. When I replaced my battery recently it said I still had 90% capacity. I don't care what it says I know what once lasted me a day and a half for 0-12 months now went dead after 3/4 of a day after 18-24 months of use. 

I know and Apple knows too there is no way that battery had 90% capacity or even 80% capacity but they give warranties to say they will replace it if it goes below 80%. Instead of me getting a battery on warranty I had to fork out and pay it myself. 

A self sustaining house is something that appeals to me alot but I think it's only viable for people who are very hands on or who have plenty of coin and/or are willing to experiment. Im curious How do these EV's manage from a heat POV especially when charging in a garage or outdoors? Does the charging cycle stop often with the BMS due to overheating or Is it recommended you have it charging in a garage with air con?

I note some forgivings in the payback calculations which would make it alot more complicated but no less relevant.

I haven't seen the inclusion of the margin of costs of paying for an EV compared to a comparable ICE vehicle. 

In the real world people may want an SUV but most people don't care about 0-60 in Thailand. 

How much is a Ranger/Hilux/BMW 3 Series/Merc C class vs a name the BYD/Hyundai/Tesla EV equivalent. 

Also the depreciation costs of said vehicles, Ive read nothing but higher depreciation reports of EVs and often struggling to sell them at all. 

I think a breakthrough in battery technology is needed to make an investment like this undeniable. Even then it's only suitable for a small amount of people in Thailand as most people live in Condos

Trying to find a test that isn't obscenely expensive in Phuket.

Ive seen prices from 18,000 - 37,000 baht.

https://www.andalab.net/allergy-screening-tests/

The J245 or J108 test online in the link above is 2500/2700 baht but it's limited to only 20 different products compared to 200 with the other tests.

I dont need 200 again, 30/40-100 would be ideal but not sure that's available. 

What are the best websites for sales and rental property in Cambodia?

Does anybody have an opinion of Cambodia from the POV of real estate investing, is it an up and coming place? Thailand of 20 years ago maybe….

38 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Money market yields depend on the currency, they are all different.

 

Long term bond Index funds like the VG Agg are good in a falling interest rate environment but you have to get in and out at the right time.

 

My tip is to either, buy a global tracker such as HSBC FTSE All World, buy and forget, or, find a decent Fund Manager whose got a good track record and buy his global equities fund, sit back and let him do the work. Either way, throwing darts at a list of 10,000 companies and hoping you'll hit a winner is far worse than Vegas odds. My 10 cents.

I prefer to pick my own stocks and manage my portfolio myself right now.

Will likely transition to a fund if the fund I want to invest in opens to new capital again in the future.

38 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

I also use the VG Short Term bond fund as a substitute for money markets

Whats the current annual yield on this, Must check it out.
What is the yield in the money markets?  I am >30% cash right now and I get 4.83% on that through IB in USD cash account. I often take short term bets when I see an opportunity so being liquid is a factor for me but would be willing to tie some up if I got >6-8%. Latam is super cheap, Brazil and Columbia gave me most of my returns the last 12-18 months. 
There is some double digit yielding companies (dividends + buybacks) trading on <4 PE ratios with modest earnings assumptions that are very solid companies.