Guderian

A grand total of 9 posts, and he's been a member here for less than 2 weeks, yet he's an expert on expat ennui already, lol.

It's unbelievable that, in times gone past, the cops would fine you not only for not having a valid driving licence, or not wearing a crash helmet, but for trivia like riding alone with the pillion footrests down, or having a full-head crash helmet but the visor is too dark. Nowadays it seems you can do almost anything in full view of the cops and they couldn't care less, at least in the Jomtien one-way system. They must have found a new and far easier source of tea money... lol

And this is a cause of concern for the average Thai person because......??? lol

This afternoon, just south of the Night Market, where the road works currently start. Once there were shade trees... I didn't get a photo as I was driving, but I think you can see their nightmarish vision of how things should look opposite SCB where they've already finished the works. It'll probably look swish to Chinese tourists driving past in their coaches, but it's the end of Jomtien Beach as a pleasant place to sit in the shade, or take a long shady walk.

Strange that they're desperately trying to increase tourist numbers yet criminalising something that undoubtedly attracts quite a few tourists. The left hand doesn't seem to know what the right hand's doing.

Has this been raised yet, I can't go back and check out 65 pages? lol. As far as I was aware, everything that's been garnered from this tax mess so far has agreed that any savings overseas that you can prove you had prior to 1/1/2024 can still be remitted into Thailand tax-free when it suits you, say to buy a property. Now this article says something completely different, that the tax-free exemption on remitted savings only lasts until 1/1/2025. And he doesn't just say it once, but twice, so he sounds pretty certain. https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/new-tax-rules-for-foreign-sourced-income-464735

Maybe the wife should take it as a warning ,too! lol

That's a big pond, but everyone's farming fish these days, why not start a small croc farm? Nice handbags and boots for the missus, at the very least! lol

The GF's already spent her 10K Baht, just paying the interest now to the guy with the baseball bat she borrowed it from, lol.

When I had Covid in the UK back in late 2022, it was like a weird dose of flu, it knocked me out of action for a week with some very odd dreams, but I soon recovered. I was left, though, with hardly any sense of taste or smell and had lost my appetite. The worst after-effect was the brain fog which prevented me from doing very much at all, it made focusing on anything extremely difficult. That lasted the best part of three weeks, but fortunately it was subsiding before my flight back to Thailand. I was still feeling so weak and uncoordinated, though, that for the first time ever I didn't bring back a bottle of duty free, I just couldn't face the effort of carting it around the airports. My brother, who's almost 7 years older than me, was worse affected, and his long Covid ordeal lasted around four months. I can live with another bout of the virus lasting a week, but I really don't want the long Covid brain fog again. I've seen a number of articles like this one saying that the vaccines provide better protection against long Covid than they do against the illness itself, so I'd really like to get an up-to-date jab to go with the four I've already had. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12878231/PROFESSOR-ROB-GALLOWAY-Theres-good-reason-Covid-booster-isnt-allowed-pay-one.html

Probably caused by heated arguments over who among the politicians and admirals gets what cut of the 5 billion Baht remaining to be paid.

All I can say is that it's a jolly good job those evil farangs aren't allowed to own houses (wink, wink) or the rotters would obviously be pricing poor Thais out of their dream pool villas. lol

Thanks, Sheryl. And that's a lot cheaper than £99 in Boots in the UK.

I'm off back to the UK for my annual visit in around 6 weeks time, and it seems at the moment that half the family back there has got Covid, so I'd like to get an annual booster before I head back. My cousin's daughter works for the NHS in Gloucester and she says there's a lot of it about at the moment. I know it's unlikely to prevent me from getting Covid, but there's strong evidence that it will stop me from getting long Covid symptoms, or at the very least make them much easier to handle, and that's the biggest worry nowadays, I've had Covid once already so I know it won't kill me. Does anyone know if you can buy the latest version of Moderna (or another reputable Covid vaccine) anywhere in the Chonburi or Bangkok area these days? When I do a search, it just turns up 2- or 3-year old adverts, nothing current. Apparently, I can buy it in Boots in the UK for around £100, but I'd prefer to get it done before I go back. So does anyone know of a hospital in Pattaya or Sri Racha or Bangkok that's selling an up-to-date Covid vaccine?

A pit of vipers comes to mind.

The much sought-after 'Quality Tourist' must be rarer than a white tiger in Thailand these days. <rollseyes>

I did it last November. Just fill in the form above and take it to Desk 8, the same place you get retirement extensions. The guy will give you a ticket and tell you to come back and pick it up, it's a free service.

Marco's is my go-to pizza restaurant now..

And to think people used to complain about Prayut being an unelected dictator, lol.

I agree, the Beer Lao Gold, brewed using special Khao Kai Noy rice, is probably the best native lager-style beer brewed in the whole of SE Asia.

Top 50, yes I can believe that. Great weather, good food, beautiful countryside, at least where tourism hasn't trashed it (Thai and farang), strong (if somewhat demanding) family bonds, free public health care (if with long queues and not exactly the most advanced in the world), a consumer society where pretty much everything is available, what's to make them unhappy?

@ElephantEgo I'm not sure you can claim the legal costs back under the Thai system. For years, the HOA in the village where I live has been taking individuals to court over unpaid maintenance fees. The trouble is that the village only charges 10K Baht/year, and because both sides have to pay their own fees we make a loss even if we win the case trying to get back a single year's fees (which we invariably do). So we have to wait until there's a minimum of 2 years fees owing and then we at least get something back for our trouble, after deducting our own legal costs. I've long wondered why the HOA does it like that and doesn't ask for the legal fees from the 'guilty' party, and I've always assumed it's not possible here. I'd be interested to know if that's right or not.

Where exactly is this? A fortnight ago, I went for a meal with the GF to Patrick's Steakhouse in the arcade on Second Road/Soi Diana. The taxi dropped us off on Second Road and you literally couldn't get from the road onto the pavement/sidewalk because of all the rental motorbikes parked there. Not motorbike taxi drivers, more like Indians trying run a bike rental business with zero overheads as they're using public property for their showroom, lol.

I bought a couple of bottles of this limited edition beer in Villa, but to be honest the Gold is much better.

Sounds like their grand plan last year to drop import duties on foreign wines. How's that turned out in the shops?