Prubangboy

This was clearly written by AI. The weird peroxide blonde part is the tip-off.

Any Russian ruining Phuket (like I care) is one less available to fight and is also depriving Russia of cash. Come one, come all.

Humanities Professor -I wonder what backwater community college had the honor.

You just callll up the Russians when you need a hand

We all need some-body to lien on

They might want a secret

That you've got on hand

We all neeeeed some-body to lien on

Lien on me -when you're dead wrong

And I'll be your friend

I'll help you post bond

But don't take too long

Leticia's gonna need some assets to seize on.

10 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Same in fact things I always wanted and  bought sit  doing nothing, which made me decide to buy nothing else a long  time  ago.

5* restaurants can be helpful here. I have only 11 left on my BKK list, but thank god one or two are opening every month.

But not every one gets on my list. Sushi offers ever-diminishing returns and Omakase is just too much food. Chinese 5*'s are about premium ingredients that seem to be premium just because they say so. Surhing is a brilliant (and expensive) take on German food, but will I ever go again? No. But it's always in the top 5 listings. Follow your stomach and your heart.

1 minute ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

The  name only I know its non religious

If you flat out don't like the name, don't give them a nickel. 

Your generosity is very admirable.

9 minutes ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

the name kind  of puts me off, religious connotations

Wiki's your friend, it's not that kind of cross.

in Thailand, I have given some cash to the preservation of krill, an essential food chain element in the coastal area's. There are easily google-able lists of Thai charities. My fave poster here, ThaiBeachLover, is a fan of the orphanage in Pattaya, and so am I.

51 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Perhaps I've been alone so much of my life that I'm happy enough on my own, so I don't need other people to fulfill me.

 

Getting older means being more alone, for most people. The non-alone are usually surrounded by family, which is a mixed bag at best.

Developing resiliency for that can start at any age.

Don't need another nickel, and haven't followed this bit of news, but I am very broadly a fan of his -as someone who actually got even more undeserved grief in his life than me.

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Karma doesn't earn good points towards entry to heaven. Only the penitent get there. Didn't you read the Gospels?

I'm not (necessarily) advocating nun-killing with sharp-pointed objects.

But if I feel the need, I'll hit 'em in the temple clean and hard so they go down fast.

Really, for my 3 hard marriages alone, it's the least I deserve.

Last response ever to you, RainMan. 

I saw robo-floor moppers in Morocco. In barely 2nd-world Morocco.

Your days are numbered.

On 3/21/2024 at 1:26 AM, Rampant Rabbit said:

Thai charities and western ones  seems to spend  inordinate amounts on "management"

Open to suggestions................erm not the obvious, must be NON religious  based prefer education inc anti religion

'Can't touch The Red Cross for their efficiency of using donations and the work they do.

I have a strong personal affinity/relationship with The International Rescue Committee, which helps refugees world-wide, and will def be leaving them some cash.

Yeah, but at my late age, I have to help-average.

I have done and spent for others at an extreme percentage for most of my life. It's me-time now, and less them-time.

Karma-wise, I could stab a nun with an ice pick and still go to heaven (sort of like Trump in reverse). Since I (probably) won't, I'm good to go.

18 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

not only do I have simple tastes and am not a drinker or big spender, it is uncomfortable to spend more than I make or draw down savings...  

 

 

Same here.

Plus, my wife's Christmas tree farm back home seems to be shooting up 15% year on year, seemingly indefinitely. I reallocated to more muni-bonds recently, it means less income, but no diff in our standard of living.

This, combined with cutting our living expenses 70% by moving to Chiang Mai, has our cash just piling up -no matter how many mouth frothing-inducing 200 baht Pad Thai's we consume. 

When I was a financial planner, over-saving among the 72+ crowd was the norm. ScubaSteve is right about needing money for end of life healthcare, but there's also an opportunity cost. At 71, this is my last decade to travel the world.

I'm currently brunching on a stupendous beach in Oman. There would be zero impact on my material life if I dutifully wasn't. My wife is wine-touring in Portugal. Her mobility isn't great. It's literally now or never.

Remember, the words of Howard Hughes's butler when asked how much Howard left:

"Well, he left all of it, didn't he?"

2 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

He is using a debit card not a credit card.

 

 

Thanks for your correction.

All of my experience above is about my use of a Schwab debit card.

I do think that ATM rates are a bit worse.

Skipping to the end -as I increasingly do in this loser-autism-fest- to point out that a street-side FX booth is a very shoe-string operation. Expecting them to have much beyond dollars, euro's, and yuan may be unrealistic.

I'm In Oman at the moment. I tried to exchange some baht at the airport. They don't see or need a lot of baht here. They directed me to a bank. And this being super-solicitous Oman, had a printed list of banks to give me.

Also:

If your credit card is refused, don't keep trying to use it. Call them immediately.

If they close the account due to expected fraud, it's about 12-14 days to get a new card sent to you in Thailand. 'Has happened to me twice in 18 months.

If you don't have a secure place for the FedEx to be delivered to, such as a condo office, ask that it be held at FedEx.

19 minutes ago, RetiredThailand said:

Hello Everyone,

 

Im a newbie here 🙂

 

I'm seeking advice on the most favorable FX rate for transferring funds to Thailand for a home construction project.

 

Option 1) Withdrawing cash from an ATM using my Schwab account daily. 

Option 2) Withdrawing cash using my Schwab card inside the bank with a teller.
Option 3) Transferring funds from my Schwab account to Bangkok Bank. Also would I receive a more favorable rate if I ask Schwab to convert USD to THB before transferring to Bangkok Bank?

 

Many thanks!

 

Lifetime Schwab Lover here. My experience:

1) Yes, you can use the ATM, subject to a daily withdrawal limit. Mine's $1,000, but fraud protection kicks in early. It's a pain, but it's worth calling them if you'll be dropping a lot of cash at a specific vendor.

2) Haven't done it, but I think they'll just send you back to the ATM. I use Bank of Bangkok (good experience) and even a large withdrawal from that account in-person is a process of signing a lot passport copies.

3) Have transferred both ways, the exchange rate was very similar, with Bank of Bangkok being just very slightly better. Def get the Schwab phone app. You need to take a pic of your wire request, sign it, and send it to them via that app. A hand-written note is fine.

-Call 'em (noting the time diff). They'll answer all your questions to death. 

Was just reading on Slate about Repub plans to restrict birth control.

The dopiest piece of TrumpTrash here doesn't endorse that. What motivates them?

My last remaining theory is a kind of emotional coprophagia. How long before they inevitably transition to the physical kind?

On their behalf, I promise to eat more fiber.

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I was just listening to one of your songs

"Pony tail. Pony tail. John Lennon had a pony tail I think -in my fevered low IQ- attempt at a baffling diss- that you might have a pony tail. I don't know why".

-Dustin Hoffman called and wants his RainMan act back.

All hail the algorithm. I'm done with talking heads milking their futile outrage.  And I pity the OCD scab-pickers here who want more of it.

But to surf from Otis Redding wailing Paiiiin In My Heart to Tom Jones and Janis Joplin barn-burning through Raise Your Hand, to a Haiti docu means that stupid Netflix will have to look elsewhere for their fifteen bucks.

And as Springsteen-er, a search for Bruce -new video's gets a half an hour a week. He's still working hard, not coasting, and is an inspiration to me.

Of course, I'm really looking for new old video's and that barrel is well-scraped by now. The No Nukes Show remains a twice a year fist pumping affirmation.

"It aint no sin to be glad you're alive".

Wish they had a category for "Actually Likes Thailand".

I also wish I could be a sexpat. But the starfish sex factor is really for failed at home thirstmongers to the nth degree.

I'll just do myself. At least I'm into me.