billsmart

Yes, you're correct, but each Wise transfer would be charged for. So, although I haven't priced it out, I'd guess that several Wise transfers would be more expensive than one wire transfer. For example, I just sent US$4K to my account. The fee from my US bank was $45. US$4K is about THB150K. The Wise limit to my bank is THB50K, so I'd have to have made three transfers. Like I said, I haven't priced it out, but I'd expect those three WISE transfers would be more than $45. Also, the wire transfers come the next day (if the bank's here are open), whereas the WISE transfers take two or three days (plus any bank holidays). Actually, that delay is really is not a big problem for me, but is it something to consider.

No, I have not encountered this, but I have encountered a different, and now widely known, problem. I too have used (Transfer)Wise to send fund from my bank in the USA to Thailand for many years. Recently, however, Wise has been prevented from sending funds over a certain amount to my bank, Krungsri. They do, however, to my understanding, still send them to three or four banks including Bangkok Bank. So, I have gone to using a regular wire transfer to send my funds to Thailand. It works fine, although unless I send more than about $5K, it is more expensive.

I'm glad to see Thailand paying attention to these types of issues, but, just for the record, there is no such thing as "green" technologies or "sustainability." These terms are just marketing hype. All technology pollutes (is detrimental to the environment), and there is no such thing as "renewable" energy, which would be required for "sustainability." ????

I always say, after reading accounts like this of people who kill others then take their own lives, that the biggest problem is they went about doing the killings in the wrong order. ????

The perpetrator should suffer the same as the dog he shot. ????

Kudos to the vet. Antimosis to the perpatrator.

I can just tell you here. It's LMG Liberty Mutual Insurance. They have local offices all Thailand. Their website is at Home | LMG Insurance. Good luck!

I have LMG Liberty Mutual Insurance. They have local offices all over Thailand. Their website is at Home | LMG Insurance. Good luck!

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Yes, I agree, "historically"..., but the conditions today, especially in the USA (and UK, and many other countries) are such that the results of an election can have a big effect on the citizens' confidence in the government and the economy and consequently affect the currency value. These next two elections in the USA will be some of the most contentious elections we've had in a long, long time. ????

I'm not a money-exchange expert, but I am a US citizen and do have funds in the US, which, on occasion, I transfer to Thailand. I think the exchange rate between USD and THB will continue to rise, but there are two perspectives on this. One is the one you asked, about the USD becoming stronger. The other is about the THB, which has become weaker in general. The exchange rate is a combination of those, and, as many have said above, no one can predict it for sure. Some of this will depend on the outcome of the US mid-term elections in November, and a lot will depend on the outcome of the presidential elections in Nov 2024. However, I think the USD will go up in relation to the THB, at least for the immediate future.

I have a Non-O Visa and have been extending my stay each year based on marriage. So far, as best I know, there is no health insurance requirement like there is for an O Visa or an extension based on retirement. HOWEVER, being 76, I did get a health insurance policy that meets Immigration's requirements (400K + 40K) last year when I was still 75 because it's very difficult to get health insurance when you are older than 75. It is renewable until I am 100! ???? I anticipate Immigrations will eventually require this for all visas and long-stay extensions, but as I stated above, so far it has not done so for a Non-O stay extension based on marriage. My one-year Immigrations-satisfying health insurance policy cost me about THB 12K. It has a very high deductible, but I actually, I don't ever expect to use it. I'll have to renew it in a couple of months, and I expect it will be a little more expensive, but still under THB 15K.

Being a Yank, I had to look up the phrase "a meat and two veg." ????

I, of course, am for this and hope it's enforced a little more thoroughly. Also, I'd like to see better arrangements made for parking motorbikes so one or two don't take up a car-sized parking space.

Snooker isn't played in the US in too many places, but in the little, rural, Indiana town I grew up in, there was one "pool hall," and it had three snooker tables and only one pool table. The owner was an old guy and a former Brit. Anyway, those of us who wanted to play usually ended up playing snooker and only played on the pool table while waiting for a snooker table to open up. I enjoy the game very much... ????

CONGRATULATIONS! I saw her make about a 75-point run last night on TV. ????

I believe in tradition, but I do not myself think it's necessary to follow it. That is unless, like most of us, you're a "guest" in a foreign country. I've lived in Thailand for over 20 years now, and I do, for the most part, follow the Thai traditions that I know are important to them.

Why are the eyes of the pit bull hidden by a bar, like they do with people? So we wouldn't recognize him if we saw him at Lotus's? <deleted>??? ????

Yes, this is a "thin edge of the wedge" scenario. I call it just the "tip of the iceberg." I never said we should control and manage our environment. We can't. We have been TRYING to do that since "before the Ice Age," and look where's it got us. We are on the verge of destroying the entire ecosystem of the Earth. In my book (yes, I referenced it again ????), I go through all this and come to the conclusion that we're already "over the cliff" on this. There is no "fixing it" now. That's why I end my book (????) with the Starfish on the Beach story (not my original story). The message it sends is that we should all do whatever we can now, even though we know that, in the end, we will not be successful.

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Bill Smat: Yes, if any of my dogs bit anyone (unprovoked), I would take care of the person and also the dog. And that could mean killing the dog if it happened more than once. I can tell you that we have had probably 30 or 40 dogs, and I've NEVER had any of them bite anyone. They've fought other dogs and killed chickens occasionally, but all they ever do with visitors is bark. And, that's a good thing. It's like an alarm that someone is on the property.

No, I have never read that book. I did look it up, and assume you are not recommending it. But, as I'm sure you know, many people believe in that type of thing. I only mention my book in reference to points made here. I've only referenced it in this thread to show that just because you don't have the whole solution doesn't mean you shouldn't take small steps, whenever you can, to try to help the situation. That was the point of the story I referenced. that story is not mine, just one I quoted. Stray dogs are an issue. Why are they an issue? You can answer that by saying, "Because they make me uncomfortable, so getting rid of them is the solution." Or you can answer that by saying, "Because we have brought them here and abandoned them, so finding them homes is the solution." That's the choice here, as I see it.

I agree that killing all (most) of the soi dogs right now would "solve" this immediate problem, but it would only be a short-term solution. Unless we (humans) change our ways, the soi dog problem will just reoccur, and it, as I've been saying, is just the tip of the iceberg of problems we (humans) are causing on this planet. If it's not soi dogs, it'll be rats, or lizards, or mosquitos, or weeds. It's always something about nature that makes us uncomfortable, and I don't think the correct solution is to just kill everything. That's what we've been doing. Why are you refusing to see the "soi dog problem" as just one example of our (humans) efforts to control and manage the Earth's environment for our own comfort?

Humans are the cause of this problem. If you can't see that, you're just as smart as 99% of the rest of the humans who are rapidly destroying the entire environment on this planet. ????

I am doing what I suggested in the last section of my book, The Icarus Syndrome, on this general subject (the continuing human destruction of the Earth's environment). You don't have to read that suggestion in my book, you can read the suggestion online here: The Tale of the Starfish — The Starfish Foundation (thestarfishchange.org)