Qman

The avenue branch closed many years ago and I have used the big branch on Pattaya Tai and the branch at Big C on Pattaya Klang for updates and services requiring an office visit. Never had issues at either one and parking easier than Central Festival. There is also a branch in Terminal 21.

Compared to having a retirment extension to a Non-O visa the biggest stumbling block is the LTR requires medical insurance which becomes increasingly more expensive as you get older. If you have or need the insurance then it is not an issue. If you have medical coverage, but it does not specifically meet the Thai requirements, or you want to self insure then the cost is more than just extending your retirement extension each year. An option is to have idle funds in a bank account but the loss of income on those funds tends to outweigh the benefit of the LTR.

I looked into the LTR visa and ultimately decided not to puruse. Similar to others the stumbling block was insurance. I have coverage back home and would just pay and seek reimbursement later if an issue arose while in Thialand. The option to purchase a stripped down Thai policy with USD 50,000 coverage was about 60,000 Baht per year due to my age. Thhe other option is to have USD 100,000 in a bank account earning minimal returns which is a poor choice. They will not consider investment portfolios or assets as must be in a bank cash account. Considering the cost to just annually renew the retirement extension, even using an agent, it is more economic than purchasing insurance or having USD 100k sitting idle in a bank account. Hard to understand why they beleive people fitting the "wealthy pensioners" model would opt to have USD 100k earning essentially nothing in a bank account. If they allowed brokerage investments I feel more people would opt for the LTR visa.

I have been to the one in Pattaya a number of times and like it as the aisles are wide and it seems clean inside. I just buy packaged items and have not bought meat, chicken, etc. Never seems too crowded and they have various specials. I bought some 2 for 1 brownies that were 45 Baht a package and when checking out the cashier said wait and she went to check the prices. When she returned I noticed all the packages had 320 Baht printed on them by mistake which is the price for large box brownies. If she had not checked I probably would have just paid and then discovered later in the day. Was nice of her to notice the incorrect price and correct at the time of checkout. I should pay more attention to what is on packages compared to what is shown on the price cards. Seems less chaotic than Makro. I have only had my receipt checked when leaving the store like Makro does. I typically do not make a large volume of purchases.

Depending on when you arrived you need either the TM6 or the newer Digital Arrival Card reference number. Note this is needed for some other things later on so keep a copy of the DAC with the reference number. I needed it to obtain a Residence Letter and was lucky to have kept a copy.

Could also be a risk if overstaying or have other immigration issues as you don't know who will look at the data log. Would seem only downsides in providing information.

I bought an air conditioner from Mega Home last year and the installation was by Home Pro as both companies have the same ownership. The HP installation team of about 4 people did a very good job and was careful in moving and covering items with plastic in the bedroom where the installation was done. Based on what I was expecting for local service works I was very pleased with their approach and performance. I would happily use them again. I have not heard they do larger multi function type renovations and would be interested in hearing how the job went if you use them. My experience was positive and I guess you can meet with them and discuss the scope of work to evaluate their understanding and capabilities.

Will you need to take the computerised "written test" or just watch videos? If the 50 question test it can be quite difficult due to translation differences and some general differences in how you handle certain situations. If this test you can find practice exams online it is worthwhile to take them a few times and not what are the correct answers to the questions, especially when it does not seem correct as their version is what is important. I did these tests for car and motorcycle and spent a long time preparing so passes both. Note if you are getting both licenses you need to take the test twice although the questions have a number of duplicates. As I recall you need 45 out of 50 to pass.

I use Jamy for bottle refills. They deliver to the condo Wednesday and Saturday for a few residents and reception handles collecting the money to pay them. If you are in a condo check to see what service delivers to them and it should be easy to just add yourself to the list. I typically use 2 to 3 per week so need a few of the 20 litre bottles.

I pay through the Kasikorn bank phone app. Once you load in the electric account number you can just reference each month after the first of the month and the balance will appear. You can then authroize payment and can do from anywhere in the world where the bank app is accessible. It works well if you are out of town or out of the country and need to pay to avoid service interruption. I pay the bill even though it is in the name of the condo owner and I am renting. For me it is a lot easier than going toe 7-11 or another place to make the payment.

From recent news, a maintenance worker called security when no one answered the door. Security could see a body on the floor and called 911 who came and entered the home. The dead dog was in a kennel in the bathroom (did not mention if kennel was open or closed) and two other dogs could go in and out through a pet door in the home. A search warrant was obtained so authroities could collect items and documents to further investigate. All does seem odd and the autosopsy and tosicology reports should identify the real cause. So far there is not evidence of foul play. As GH is desceribed as frail and had a cane with him he could have easily fallen but you would expect his wife to respond but she was in another room. The dead dog makes the whole thing more strange and would seemingly indicate something like a gas leak or carbon monoxide. The date of death is unknown but appears to have been a while. Also odd that as a 95 year old none of his children seem to have been in recent contact or alerted aurthorities to do a health check. Sad that his memory may be more associated with his unusual passing than his career.

I always take mine in carry on and in the plastic cover which also holds spare brushes. As it is rechargeable there could be issues in checked luggage. I have not travelled through HK but never an issue in the countries through which I have travelled.

I owned a 1980 BMW 323i which was the top model of the 3 series at that time. Had nice dual exhaust and was fast for that era. Sadly was stolen while I was at work in the Netherlands one day and police made you come in to their station for auto theft. Police said it was probably already on a ship in Belgium never to be seen again. Only had it a few months and was heartbroken to lose it.

I like NyQuil which is an over the counter cold and flu medicine with some sleep aid medicine while DayQuil does not contain the sleep element. I take the liquid version at home but it will be too large for security at airports so the capsules would be better. As a decongestant it clears sinuses which can help if you have issues with equalising ear pressure on flights. While it helps you go to sleep it is not so strong that you would sleep through emergencies. On a long flight you might take twice as it has six hour intervals between medications.

Biggest risk is being stopped at a checkpoint and not having registration/tax up to date. Fine and possible confiscation until fines paid. I like to stay legal in all things here as when caught violating a rule/law you are at the mercy of the police at that time. Not the same as for Thais. As noted by others go to one of the inspection shops (Yellow gear shapped image) and they will do inspection as over five years old and handle paperwork with DLT. Just need Green Book. I had registration expire while gone for covid and when I returned I took bike to have inspected and registration paid. They charged for the duration of the expired term and it went to the usual expiry date, not a year from the date I did the renewal. Luckily I noticed one day and then had to do another renewal. If your official expiry date is slightly in the future it may be worth waiting until near that date to have all extended for another year so as not to do again in a short period of time.