henrik2000

O wow, thanks for great insights with text and images! Let's next talk about flower garlands, but not yet.

Thanks, you cleared up some questions that baffled me. I've seen discarded spirit houses also in backyards of wats, always around a tree. I wonder if there are ceremonies to put up or unemploy a spirit house. You explain also why the spirit houses i see in the fields always have a ladder.

Hi all, thanks for more very interesting insight! Yes, this has been my impression too. Personally I would add: Be clean-cut, except you're doing farm work. Oh, they look really Lanna! I see, one of them has a ladder, one has none. In the ghost houses I see on the rice fields, they always have a letter. Are they for spirits that can't fly?

Hi all, thanks again for all suggestions. The 2014 workhorse laptop which seemed dead for good is running smoothly again! I got a PM from forum member Serenity Now, who said his thread post here had been removed for some criticism. So thankful that he still wrote in with a PM. His main instruction (quote): so take out the battery hold the power button solid down for minimum 30 seconds then try to power up win 10 sometimes puts the laptop to sleep and no power or anything shows so try the 30 second trick And I couldn't believe my eyes when the laptop fired up as if nothing had ever been. According to Serenity Now it's an ill-guided Windows behaviour in certain situations, and as said, even the light for “connected to charger” didn't work anymore - not because of hardware trouble, but because of Windows locking something seriously off. I can't at all explain the details, but the laptop has been at work for 12 hours now, including some rebooting. Glad I tried this, against my own belief. I might still go to Wattana and PC2U with some very small problems, just to see who the good guys are you may need as a traveling no-nerd hack.

Denim and JTS, thanks for more insights! When you do so, do you show the highly respectful behaviour shown by Thai people? Do you take care to keep your head below the monk's head? Or do you hand them the things like you would hand them to any other guy?

Thanks, interesting observations. As an outsider, I had thought it might be different.

Hello, soon I want to sell my used mountain bike in Pattaya or Jomtien. I learned already in this forum that I can advertise on Craigslist, Bahtsold, and Facebook. Do any other online platforms come to mind? (I can only write English, not to Thai). What's more, are there notice-boards maybe in bars or supermarkets in Jomtien (preferred) or Pattaya where I can pin a paper with my offer and LINE ID or phone number? Detail-questions: On the paper ad, would you give your LINE ID, e-mail and\or Thai phone number? I am not happy about posting a phone number, because I don't like sudden calls from strangers. I don't use WhatsApp. For the paper ad, would clean handwriting be enough, or do you advise me to type and print? Then I would have to find a shop that prints my PDF. (Printing might allow me to include small pictures of the bicycle, in colour or black and white.) Any other practical advice from your experience selling used stuff in Jomtien, Pattaya? PS This posting here is not to sell the mountain bike. It's only about where to post the ad.

Hello, if you are a a non-Buddhism-practicing household in small town Thailand (Thai household members also not practicing Buddhism), how do you deal with - alms for monks - spirit house? Do you just don't do these things? Or do you follow the custom partly anyway; if yes, why? What are your thoughts around this? -- Irrelevant background: -- I bicycled a lot through rural and small town Thailand as a tourist, often at 6 a.m. already, seeing the monks' alms rounds, and I dreamed a lot about moving there, and these questions came up, silly as they may sound. Thanks for your real life experience! So sorry if question annoying.

Hi all, thanks for some hints including prices at PC repair shops!

Hello, can you recommend a shop for Asus laptop repair, beyond what is said on Google Maps? A shop that has spare parts and some English language on their hands? (I do speak basic Thai.) It's an AsusPro laptop from 2014 with a fantastic keyboard (for me anyway) and extra components for me (more RAM, more HDD). It's used mainly for job-related Office work, not for games or graphics, and it would have been fine for another few years. I will be in Jomtien for around 12 days, and a service shop could keep the broken laptop for a few days, if there is a chance for a repair. The laptop has already been examined by small upcountry PC shops who said it might be dead for good and anyway they didn't have the parts. Backgrounds: In the half dark of my room/mind I had tried to insert a CINCH plug into the wrong laptop sockets (network, USB, HDMI, I don't know, but not the charger socket I think; I tried softly of course, but I guess I caused a short circuit, I did not use any mechanical force). The laptop, that had been on, suddenly went totally blank, not even the light for a connected charger was on anymore. The charger itself is okay, it was tested OK with a voltmeter by the shop upcountry and its green light is on. The cinch plug came from a USB loudspeaker that had been turned on; the AsusPro laptop doesn't have a reliable Bluetooth signal, so I connected the Bluetooth speaker with a cinch cable (which worked well when inserted properly). Thanks for your real life experiences with Asus service shops in Pattaya!

Hi all, thanks for more interesting input including calculations and passport stamps we rarely get to see. "Leniency" is a lovely word in an official document.

Hi all, thanks for more good clarification and pictures to boot! Yes it's a very interesting and less discussed way to get up to 7 days on top. But in the last 10 days of my stay I will be in the Pattaya area and for the life of me I don't want to deal with the immigration and the queues there (I had seen them on a different trip and walked right back out; even if other board members go there regularly). I just got my 30 days visa extension from Mae Sot (Tak) immigration which was a peaceful, uncrowded place (Myanmaris go to a different part of the building), and a little later I will be in Khamphaeng Phet, but I reckon I can't get my 7 days allowance to leave right now, a month before actually wanting to leave.

Hi all, thanks for good advice! Now i know the price for overstaying including the stamp in the passport. But how long is the ban resulting from 1 - 2 days of overstay? Is it really 5 years? I would quite like to come back within ten months. Thanks again!

Hello, what happens when I overstay one or two days on a tourist visa? I have 2 months TR tourist visa + 1 month extension in country to a total of 3 months tourist time. It might be most convenient for me to stay one or two days longer than allowed. Will there be a fine, a racket, is it done more often by tourists? I'll leave via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport. A visa run or any other exit point is no option. Thanks!

There are several movies and novels about older moneyed women picking up younger guys on vacation. One such movie is How Stella Got her Groove Back with Whoopi Goldberg as the cougar. I believe it is based on a female journalist’s real life report that ended very differently from the movie's ending, but maybe only after the movie had been filmed. There's also the book Dany LaFerrière, How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired. Somehow I believe it has been filmed with that pouty blonde Western actress whose name I can't remember, staged on some tropical island resort and for some reason I believe South was in the movie title but googling with my foggy memory doesn't bring clear results.

Well I have been to lots and lots of vendors, and I never had the problem that they accepted pay by scan only. I was always able to pay by cash. Occasionally change was a small problem, but also never a big problem. Still I would really love to be able to pay by scan. For tourists they should introduce pay by scan with some kind of debit system by prepaying some thousand Baht. I would happily pay a few percent for that service. In some countries you can also pay with the credit on your SIM card, but that seems not used in Thailand.

Hi, thanks for good information so far. And even if it sounds stupid, I am still not sure about the location of immigration offices for Tak province.

Hello, do I see it right that the Thai Immigration office for Tak province is not near Tak town, but near Mae Sot right on the border with Myanmar? Plus there's an immigration office in / near Kamphaeng Phet - but not in / near Tak town? In the Tak area I need to get a 30 days extension for my 2-months TR tourist visa (for a total stay of 3 months) and want to visit the Immigration office for that. Am confused about Immigration location. I already have the TM7 form. If there's anything special to consider that's not written on the form (1900 Baht, passport picture, bring passport and visa of course, neat dress), please let me know. I'm not sure if I could also get another 30 days by crossing into Myanmar and coming straight back, but I prefer to do it at the Immigration without the Myanmar detour. Thanks! https://www.thaiimmigration.net/thai-immigration-offices-in-thailand.html

Certainly not for free, and West Africa is certainly more expensive than Thailand.

I've seen it on the ground several times. I've seen said ladies lying topless on the beach in a conservative, partly Muslim country (and they looked shocked when I brought a smart black lady to hotel dinner, THAT was a scandal for them). I've seen said ladies' Gambian toy boys crooning over them with ridiculous enthusiasm. I've seen the toy boys' real attitude also. For the life of me I never wouldn't want to be dependent on them in any way. In Gambia, if you like that or not, much depends on the tribe they are from, and some tribes are so much nicer and more agreeable than others (they ask each other for their tribes or their revealing family names to find out quickly). I believe that the toy boys are mainly from the less agreeable and much more ruthless tribes, even if they manage to show a sweet front for a while.

Hello, is it easy for a foreign tourist staying mostly in hotels to order online from Thai online shops Lazada, Shopee or others? I do have international Visa credit cards, PayPal and an AIS prepaid SIM card, but no Thai bank account and no “pay by scan”. How long do they usually need to deliver? Are their delivery date forecasts reliable? Is Shopee or Lazada easier to use for a dull hotel-based foreigner? The delivery address would be like To Mr XY ℅ Hotel YZ (room number may be unknown at time of ordering) Postal Code, Town In one case i have a private condo rented. I mostly stay in small places like Tak or Phetchaburi and sometimes I need bicycle parts, electronic accessories or other stuff that is not at all available locally, or in questionable quality only, but easy to find on Shopee and Lazada with huge variety and nice prices. Thanks for your experiences, please remember i’m a newbie without a residency in Thailand!

That had been my thinking too. But I don't know if it is relevant, so I wanted to ask. I am always flummoxed when I see the rental agency's name printed big outside on the car and I feel like a sitting duck - made so by the car rental agency. Anyway I like to book cars online in advance and I have no chance to handpick the car. Of course one could try to remove a sticker or even to replace a number plate holder with some effort.

Evo, thanks for that background. One wonders if crooks couldn't remove the sticker or hide it by sticking something else there. Or they could exchange the number plate frame for a model without a rental agency name.

Hello, for several times now in Thailand i got rental cars with big rental car agency stickers or rental car agency number plate frames. If there were no stickers outside and no rental car agency number plate frames outside, there are still stickers on the windscreen readable from inside that show emergency numbers. I don't know if you can see it's a rental car from the actual registered number itself. Anyway anybody interested can see it's a rental car. Your take?

I already did this a few times after being ripped off in the 7-Eleven. Thai customers normally don't do it, and it feels a little as if accusing the vendor of possible dishonesty, while the vast majority is certainly very honest. I can speak all Thai numbers, even those I can't afford.