henrik2000

Hello, which mosquito repellant easily available in Thailand do you recommend? It should deter usual garden mosquitoes in Bkk and East and North thereof, not in South Thailand. I once read a good mosquito repellant should have 67% of DEET. I had a repellant from the West with 75% of DEET, and yes – Thai mozzies bounced right offa my skin with a shriek. When that DEET repellant was finished, Thai people from the lakeside recommended this stuff from 7-Eleven: It seems to draw the mosquitoes my way and make them sting me lustily. Can you recommend any alternatives that are easily available in chain stores (preferred) or at Lazada, if need be? I’d love something with 67% or more of DEET. If you have something to recommend, please explain or show it so that it can easily be found. I do speak some Thai, but can’t read Thai except throug Google Lens. So i wouldn't find a brand name that's written in Thai only. Aware that staying in, wearing covers, eating garlic, burning coils, fans etc. etc. are considered other ways to keep mosquitoes off. Thanks for your local experience!

Hello, my nationwide, but not international car rental agency called me to say: “Your car insurance expires on January 31st, but you rent until February 5th. We have the new contract here and I send you a picture of that new contract. You can show it to police, just in case.” They did send me a blurry picture (excerpt below). Will that do in interaction with police? Is it usual behavior for agencies and maybe private owners? I'm a repeat customer with that car rental agency, also because of their uncomplicated manners and good prices, but now I'm not sure. If a picture is generally okay, should I request a new one, sharper one? I know very well how to take sharp pictures, but should I send photographic instructions to the agency lady? Thanks for your local knowledge! (Of course it's an unpleasant oversight on their side to give me a car with an insurance expiring during the rental term, but no need to discuss this now.)

Thanks Torquay!

Hello, in Chanthaburi & Trat provinces, can you recommend restaurants with floor seating? That would usually be a private picnic pavilion with floor mats, with or without low table, ideally with a hammock on the side, often around a pond. For my requirements, this restaurant should be within 80 km of the provincial capital and the floor seating should not be next to a busy highway. It should be open for lunch, not only for dinner. If they only have one showpony picnic pavilion and everything else is ordinary table seating, I don't need to know. I speak basic restaurant Thai and know how to get the food I want with the spiciness I want/survive. Sometimes when checking Google Maps for restaurants like this, a wrong impression can come up and I cycle there in vain, that's why I ask here. Thanks!

MP3 CDs Morlam, Lukthung: I know streaming and YouTube are way to go and the record shop in NKP had many Thai music CDs, but no morlam. Still stupidly I ask you if you know where I could buy MP3 CDs of morlam\lukthung (if need be, Audio CD). I don't like the big mix CDs, because they overlap with some that I have already. I have lists of what I like, also in Thai writing, among them Darkie and Lamyai. Isaan pillows: Where could I browse head pillows, triangles and triangles with attached “bed” without much pressure? I'm a bl🤮🤢dy tourist only, but I have a separate bicycle bag and would declare the Isaan pillows as padding. Hammock: Good quality hammocks with good style, if possible not only the typical "shopping net" style seen around (and below). Nice ones used to sell nicely in the West once upon a time. Thanks for all your local experience!

Thanks Mangosteen, I'll be back soon by pm.

Two other examples from Isarn: – I book an available, posh condo in 101 on Airbnb 6 months ahead and get the usual confirmation. 3 months later I get canceled and an apology from the landlord: “Sorry, the current renter wants to stay longer, that's why I must cancel you.” – On a tiny village market around closing time I spot two good looking grilled snacks on the grille and order them. The lady squeezes both snacks critically, frowns, and says, “not yet well”. No last-minute business. -- I walk out of a small town coffee shop after an excellent hot cappuccino; suddenly 3 Thais scream and run excitedly after me - they bring me my forgotten mobile phone out onto the sun-baked parking lot.

Please DO blacklist me.

Thanks for your experience, which is nice to hear. Getting cold snacks that had been called "hot" before happened about three or four times out of maybe 50 or 60. It NEVER happened in other Thai rural areas. Getting told the restaurant is open and then finding it closed happened at least 2 times out of 20, and it NEVER happened in other areas. Being promised a hot cappu and then getting a cold cappu looking like a hot one happened only one time - so far. I can add here that I told her I would drink it on the spot and that this special coffee made my tummy revolt, which never happened with any food before for a very long time, not even in Bangladesh.

Hi all again, thanks for information again! I read so much about this supposedly crowded gem market (which doesn't interest me), that I wanted to know more about the traffic situation because exactly on a Friday afternoon I might go into Chanthaburi downtown by car; but I moved that date now. Actually I'll bring my bicycle and it seems two of you here are bicyclists, even showing the photo of a rare bicycle lane. I'll have two bases in Chanthaburi town and Khung Wiman and have drawn up some slow, hopefully pretty bicycle routes already; maybe later I have some questions, but it's still a month hence.

Hello, on bicycle day trips around rural Isarn occasionally I made the following experiences that I never once made in other Thai areas like the lower North or upper South. I speak enough clear tried and tested Thai and Lao. What do you think? A) I point at freshly grilled, fried or baked snacks and ask in Thai, “are they hot now”? Sometimes it's even clear that I will eat the snack right there. They say, “yes, it's hot”. I buy, I bite, and it's cold. B) I ask at a simple coffee stall if she can do a HOT cappuccino (I know that some cannot). She says clearly, “yes, can”. I get a cappuccino looking hot, but actually COLD (not a typical cold cappuccino with ice); she mumbles something about cold milk. C) I call ahead to restaurants, “open today?” They say, “yes, open”. I bicycle there and they are fully closed. (I note that some who actually say, “sorry, closed today”, seem pained by having to give me this information.) 1) What's going on here? 2) Why does it happen in Isarn repeatedly and in many other provinces never? Thanks!

Expat and Mangosteen, thanks!

Hello, has Chanthaburi town a traffic jam and chaos at weekends? Are there some days busier than others? I might want to check into a downtown hotel with private parking on a weekend noon or afternoon. I understand the popular Chanthaburi gem market is Fr, Sat, Sun 11-18. I am not interested in this market, except for avoiding it and the potential traffic chaos around it. I am uncomfortable with the monster car the agency gave me unasked for. Do you see good reason to avoid driving into downtown Chanthaburi Fri, Sat, Sun? Once the car reached hotel parking, i won't use it anymore until check-out on whichever day. Thanks for your real-life experience!

Interesting, my only post that garners no comment, not even a snide aside.

Hello, when eating out or buying ingredients in Thailand, do you think about animal welfare? If yes, are you happy with the situation and is there a chance to get meals or ingredients with better animal welfare than normal? In the big cities, in smaller places? If yes, do you apply the same standards regarding animal welfare in Thailand and in the west? Did you ever talk with Thai people about it? What are your consequences? PS I believe that in some hot countries free range village chicken have a good reputation - see “native chicken” in Philippines, “ayam kampung” in Indonesia, “bicycle chicken” in West Africa and a similar thing in Cambodia. I don't know if Thai people are concerned.

Hi all, thanks for more interesting input!

Thanks Khun LA.

Hi, Constitution Day is December 10, but one German source referenced by MS Bing Copilot says this year Constitution Day is moved to December 11, to enable a nicer long weekend. My questions: Are schools and offices (private, governmental) closed on Constitution Day? Is the Constitution Day now practically effective December 10 AND 11? Or December 11 only? Which days causes most freetime traffic? (Not asking about alcohol.) I am upcountry and plan trips to waterfalls, silkmakers etc. If Constitution Day on Dec 10 and maybe 11 has the masses on the streets, i'd reconsider plans. Thanks!

It sounds like you're not really in the market for the in-call experience, so why expostulate. I also do think, when the therapist comes to your abode, it's usually called "outcall" by both parties.

I see your point. But i had horrible experiences in massage shops, with customers and/or masseuse talking boastfully loudly literally overy my head, too hot or too cold (once got a cold), shower disagreable, and then stepping back onto the mad street when i'd just like to curl up. Actually i also find the girls slightly adventurous to enter a foreign male's condo, and i try everything to make them feel safe (which maybe they don't even require). One massage lady said, "i feel safe because i know this area". I asked her how this helps if she's locked into a 15th floor condo with a madman. She didn't know either.

Keeps, thanking for comment and identifying. I fully agree with you, but i am still not sure what Thais make of it.

Hello, in Tom Yum soups like Tom Yum Khung i always find these ingredients: Do Thai people eat them? Or are they just added for taste, but left uneaten on the plate/in the bowl? I asked several Thai foodies about it, including a restaurant cook. They all suspected i suspect Thais of poisoning me with inedible ingredients. They insisted: “Yes, can eat!” I have no doubt you can eat it. But do they really? No Thai was able to distinguish between – possible to eat – actually eaten by most people Then i talked to a professional Cambodian cook who does excellent Thai and Mexican stuff as well. She said: “I pitied the foreigners gnawing on these woodsy and leafy bits. When i knew the Tom Yum or some such was for a foreigner, i fished those ingredients out after cooking with them.” Obviously she didn’t worry being blamed with delivering an incomplete Tom Yum. Was she right to fish the stuff out? Would you have liked to gnaw on it?

Warning, idiot here. Now: Several ladies on Thaifriendly advertise regular non-naughty massage services at customers’ homes. Here is some of the communication I got: ___LADY 1: ME: Hello khrap, can you come to my condo in Jomtien in soi 1 today at 1:30 p.m. for 2 hours of oil massage? If you have time, please tell me your price for 2 hours and transport. Thank you! SHE: Lline id XYZ ME (in Line): Hello khrap, it's me again from Thaifriendly. So can you come to my condo in Jomtien in soi 1 today at 1:30 p.m. for 2 hours of oil massage? If you have time, please tell me your price. Thank you! SHE: hi ME: ((30 minutes silence)) SHE: what give line no talk fake block getaway SHE: getaway ___LADY 2: ME: Hello khrap, can you come to my condo in Jomtien in soi 1 today at 1:30 p.m. for 2 hours of oil massage? If you have time, please tell me your price for 2 hours and transport. Thank you! SHE: I work from 10:00 to 4:30. ME: That means you can massage me because you work outcall massage? Or does it mean you can NOT massage me because you work something else? SHE: Tomatoes and today I work from 10:00 to 4:30.!!! ___LADY 3 is from a massage shop near the condo. Unlike other massage shops, they offer a reasonable price for outcall massage ME: I stay in condo building LookSea XY down the road. Do you know it? SHE: Sure i know it - can go. I write down condo building name and LINE ID and leave. So easy. No need to deal with confusing TFers. SHE (on the phone): Where ARE you? I’m in condo LookSea XY in the lobby, but i don’t see you!! ME: But i am in the lobby too, and i don’t see you too! You’re sure you are in condo LookSea XY? SHE: Of course i am in condo LookSea XY! Why you tell me wrong! I wait you already… oh, wait, what? Oh, sorry nakha, the man says this is condo LookSea YZ! Where is LookSea XY? Please give me 10 minutes, i come. ___LADY 4: from TF again. ME: Hello khrap, can you come to my condo in Jomtien in soi 1 today at 1:30 p.m. for 2 hours of oil massage? If you have time, please tell me your price for 2 hours and transport. Thank you! SHE: That's fine, I can come at 13:30 p.m. today and the price is 800 for 2 hours including transport to your place. I am free today. SHE (later): I'm on my way now ((attached screenshot of Bolt trip shows ETA 1:25 p.m.))

Conditions for product application ((Kasikorn Pay + Tour)) Applicant nationality Foreign tourists (non-Thai nationals) Age 20 years and older Limitation Limited to one person/e-wallet Application format In-person at at KASIKORNBANK foreign exchange booth Required documents Passport Source: Kasikorn Bank

Hi all, thanks for your advice, now following your suggestions I ordered some earpads from Lazada to be sent to my next hotel. I made sure to pay in advance by credit card, so that the hotel would not be forced to pay on delivery. I may have typed in the wrong three digit number perhaps, and in that case I would have expected that the order didn't go through; instead the order was switched just-so to "pay on delivery ", exactly what hotels don't like (but what Lazada certainly likes more than a canceled order). Would have liked to get exactly the earpads that you show here, but weren't available for my xm5 (which I got very nicely second-hand, with big discount and almost no sign of usage). Sound quality and noise canceling are certainly impressive, after coming from a Bose headphone that disappointed me unexpectedly in the sound department (it will go back onto the second chance market, where it came from).