Acharn

Since I bank at Bangkok Bank, I don't see any way these changes will affect me. The week-long transfer time for "long term funds to stay in Thailand" is PITA and doesn't look like it's going to change.

To me, the early 1970s were the best time for Thailand, especially the period between the overthrow of Thanom Kittikachorn and the Counter-revolution in 1976 (things became pretty bad after that). The country was prosperous, there was still land available in the Northeast, people were optimistic, and freedom was rampant. A saying of the time was, "Thailand has kept more freedom by accident than America has by intention." And, really, life under Kittikachorn wasn't bad, either. Especially after he conducted a coup against his own government. An alternative was the period while Prem was Prime Minister. There was less fun, but he cut back corruption greatly

Going outside I wear loafers plus metatarsal supports. At home (almost all the time) I go barefoot. I have atrophy of fat pads in my feet and barefoot is better than the metatarsal arch.

Is that a typo? I'm currently eligible to extend my stay on an income of 20,000 baht per month. Luckily I have more than 65,000 now, and I think that's what the Immigration Officer looks at, but not a lot more. Thaksin's first minister in charge on Immigration was rather anti-foreigner.

As far as I know, the bank statement from BBL does not show my Thai address. My bank book doesn't, and my BuaLuang Banking program on my desktop doesn't. When I received a demand to prove my Thai address I was not able to comply. None of the utility bills we get here have my name on them, and their requirement of additional official documentation would be impossible for me. I haven't received a paper bank statement in probably 20 years, and, as I said above, a Thai bank statement probably wouldn't do me any good. I haven't driven a car in thirty-five years, and don't have a driver's license. My last four transfers took a week or more to arrive (I use BBL, maybe that's the reason), so I'm not entirely unhappy to make a wire transfer every month. This month I called my credit union at 20:00 hours and the money was in my Thai bank the next morning. Making a wire transfer is a pain in the neck, though, so I'm still looking for other ways.

I wasn't able to satisfy their request that I confirm my residential address. I finally found a bank statement at my stateside credit union, which has my snail mail address, but it didn't satisfy them. I guess I'm going to have to do a wire transfer every month now, which takes about 45 minutes, for some reason. Bummer. I have seen a headline that U.S. Social Security is changing a regulation which will make it harder to collect your benefit overseas, but haven't read the article.

Just so. I think my Wise account is closed after today. I don't have any of the documents they require to verify my address. I was only transferring around $3,000 a month, but it was much more convenient. I guess I'm going to have to go to using wire transfers from my bank. I'll have to find out if I can have my Army pension direct deposited to a Thai bank. Social Security alone won't be enough.

It's true that Microsoft Office can do things LibreOffice can't. Office uses Windows patented technology that was considered dangerous when it was introduced forty years ago. Windows still suffers from virus attacks, which Linux doesn't. I don't trust OneDrive, and have uninstalled it from my Windows 10. If you are dependent on it I don't know of any Linux equivalent, so Linux is not for you. Most people are not dependent on either of those. If you play games probably Linux is not for you, although they claim to be getting better. That's why I have Windows 10 sharing a hard drive with Ubuntu (Linux). I think, since you depend on things controlled by the Microsoft monopoly, you need to continue with Windows 11, no matter how exasperating it is.

I'm puzzled by this. I went to Nakhon Sawan Central Plaza six months ago. It's huge, compared to Big C, but I didn't find it all that good. Are they having a Grand Opening this month or something?

Any vegetable oil.

Depends. In general flu vaccines help, but some years they don't help much, It depends on whether they guess right which strain of flu is going to dominate, and some years they choose badly. It's not like the Covid vaccine, which doesn't prevent you from catching it but does seem to prevent more severe cases and (some) deaths. There have come to be so many "vaccines" it's become hard to judge their worth. Polio vaccine seems to work well. Measles and mumps vaccines seem to work well. Smallpox vaccine worked so well it doesn't even need to be used any more. I think the real problem is that the public health authorities lied so much nobody trusts them anymore. And, of course, Trump putting the inmates in charge hasn't helped.

I was able to re-connect my bank account today using a different (Wise's description) method. I also received the wire transfer I ordered Friday, so I now know that method is not as scary as I had feared. I think the recent problems have been caused by Plaid, the company Wise uses to connect to our banks. I don't know enough about what services Plaid provides to be sure it's them, but I've been banking with Bangkok Bank for nearly fifty years. They've had problems, but mostly development shortcomings, not like what's happening recently. Also, on Friday Wise was not able to locate my Credit Union and today, using a different company, they were.

October 31, I stopped when I saw that they said I'd receive my money "by" 6 November. OK, my account is with Bangkok Bank, and last month Wise was having problems with them. I finally found the Reason for Transfer (Change) thingy and changed it to "Long term stay in Thailand," but it didn't help. I decided it might come faster than they expected (it did last month), so went ahead to payment. Surprise! My bank account has been disconnected. Apparently Plaid has developed a problem with my Credit Union. Trying other methods, Wise says they can't find my Credit Union in a search. I stopped at that point. Luckily, this month I have a cash cushion, so I can wait until next week to receive my money, and I'm going to call my Credit Union and make a wire transfer (they don't open until 8:00PM Thai time). I don't know why Wise can't connect to Penfed Credit Union now, but we'll see what happens. I suspect Plaid, the subcontractor Wise uses to withdraw funds from our accounts, is the problem.

Apparently they are having problems, too. According to comments on their site transfers take weeks to arrive. I'm hoping Wise gets these problems fixed.

I made my usual monthly "For Long Term Stay in Thailand" transfer yesterday. They say they haven't received the money yet, they will receive it on Saturday, and I will receive it Monday, the 6th. So I sent another $300 "For Personal Expenses." Normally those arrive in seconds. This time I was told I will receive it at 14:13 today. It's still not there at 15:55. In a chat Richie said BKK Bank has been having technical difficulties this week and they hope to have them fixed soon. I am skeptical, but have no choice but to wait. There is no other online company that I, living in Thailand, can sign up for. Making wire transfers from my bank requires me to telephone them every month, so Wise has been very convenient, but it this happens again next month I'll have to give that solution serious consideration.