Konini

I don't know the proper name for it.

Project time again.  Mr K (who is a very highly skilled toolmaker) just shook his head and sighed again so I'm doing the design and research before presenting him with it.  I'm doing the hard bit, he only has to make it or find someone who can.

I have a couple of gooseneck stands for tablets, and I want my monitor to be more flexible.  The ones I have are perfect but can't be adapted because they wouldn't take the weight (maybe 5kg for the monitor and VESA fitting).  It doesn't need to be overly flexible and bendy, just a bit more flexible than straight pipe would be.  I want to have it (somehow) attached to a small post or pole and permanently fixed to the sofa frame which will support the weight with nothing sticking out for me to trip over, which is the current situation with a custom-made stand we have; we've just moved to a new house and the legs of the stand have proved excellent toe-stubberers because they're not tucked away in an inaccessible place.

Also, on a somewhat related subject, does anyone know where/if we can get good quality aluminium welding done locally?  Things were so much easier back home when he had his own TIG/MIG thing with an endless supply of free stainless and could make everything himself (even when he said there was no way my designs and ideas would work).

Most of the 18650's on Lazada and AliExpress are fakes.  The only good thing is that they're cheap enough to buy several of them for backups. 

I've tried and tried to get original Panasonic or Sony or any well known brand name because of all of the reports of electronic ciggies exploding (almost certainly down to dodgy batteries rather than the ciggie itself).  I haven't tried Amorn, but would worry that they bought the copies (in good faith I suppose).

I finally convinced Mr K to go for a test (it's taken years of nagging) and went to Meechok/Roamchok Plaza to find the Allergy Clinic gone.  I found the email address for it but haven't had a response.  I also emailed a few local hospitals, those that replied didn't do it.

Does anyone know where we can find somewhere that does these tests?\

EDIT: The <deleted> in the title is pri..

1 hour ago, NE1 said:

I think they are called Washing Machine masks....or Plastic key pads.......This photo is an example .

 

Thanks, that gives me something to go on.  This seems to be it exactly, but I only need the plastic part with the writing on.  Hopefully I will find it, otherwise it's going to be a bit of DIY.

7 minutes ago, NE1 said:

Konini....Type this into Google.  Washing Machine AW-B1100GT

Been there, done that.  I have the user manual and now I've found the service manual for the correct model.  Without knowing the name of the 'thing with writing on it' I'm a bit stuck and Google isn't being my friend on it.

The closest thing I can see in the spare parts list is 'Sheet Poly' - it is some kind of plastic or polymer and is listed in the section with things like Carton Box, User Manual and Rubber Leg, so it's looking like it may be the thing.  I have the part number but Google doesn't like it.  Looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and ask the rather dim people at Toshiba. 

Could anyone confirm that the 'thing with writing on it' is called a Sheet Poly or Poly Sheet?

14 minutes ago, sirocco said:

Hello ,

It's simple,
take a picture of the board and show to all the stores that sell home appliances.
There will be someone who will guide you.
That's what I do when I want a thing or a product.
I photograph from every angle.
And it's effective.

Thank you - I've been pretty unlucky with trying to get parts for our water cooler and a fan using photo's on my phone, but I think it might be the best idea.

De

1 hour ago, Lamkyong said:

google  Toshiba user manual maybe get lucky as for decal no chance me thinks but a picture enough ??

Decal sounds good - I have the user manual which has no info and found a service manual online for a very similar model.  All of the spare parts are listed in the service manual, but unfortunately nothing with decal on it.  I could post the relevent pages of it if seeing it would jog someone's memory.

I was in touch with Toshiba when buying a new fridge, they were worse than useless; each very straight forward question I asked was not answered, I got some very odd reply's from them in relation to specific questions.  For that reason, I'm exploring other ways to find out if it's possible to get a replacement without contacting them first.

By a picture I'm assuming you mean making a printed copy of one and putting it under the clear plastic cover? That's actually a brilliant idea which I hadn't thought of.  It will make a very good substitute if I can't get one anywhere else - thank you!

My washing machine was put outside and I didn't realise it was getting the sun for a few months, so I bought a cover for it.  Fast forward almost a year and the thing I can't find the name for has cracked.  I think the name is the control panel, but it's actually just the plastic sheet with the writing on - it still works perfectly, but I'd like to get a replacement for it if it's possible.  Not so possible when I don't know the name of the thing I need to replace.

Can anyone help me?  Photo of the injured item below.

1 hour ago, delboy said:

Snip

Presented my papers.  Officer asked for copies of the TM30 and 90 day receipts (never been asked for copies of those before, but had them in case they were needed).

Two copies?  Sounds like they may be starting to be a bit difficult again, asking for things people probably won't have.  I hope not, things have been so much better since Big Joke shook things up.

27 minutes ago, NancyL said:

....  

I received a nice email in reply and the ladies sent us two certified marriage certificates to our U.S. mail forwarding address.  Bingo!

 

Hubby likes to point out that we were married in the Payne (Pain) County Courthouse, but it turned out to be a good beginning.

Sounds so much easier than the British way.  After 35 years, I still call Mr K my first husband to keep him on his toes.  The very grim Registry Office in the even grimmer Middlesbrough at 9 o'clock on a miserable rainy Monday morning. (We only told our parents that we were getting married, and those phone calls were made on the Friday night. Both mothers were upset about not having a nice dress and fancy hat and a big day for a while but they laugh about it now.  Two days over a weekend wasn't enough time for them to organise anything, which is just what we wanted).

Also Nancy, do you mind me asking why you didn't go to Malaysia?  I remember seeing posts as you were inquiring and preparing, but then I dropped off the radar for a year or so, missing the conclusion.  I've always preferred Malaysia to Thailand but I hate the politics there - I was arrested at an anti-apartheid demo in London a million years ago and still have very strong feelings about that kind of thing; the system have in Malaysia is no better than South Africa had.  Whilst the politics have always held me back, the immigration situation here is really starting to grind my gears, every time I think 'that's it' they slip in a new requirement designed just to irritate me.  No worries about us ever being knocked back, we will always be able to more than meet their requirements, it just annoys me how they keep changing things.  So much easier in Malaysia for us so it is tempting, and we have a lot of very good friends there.

Rajevej hospital is good - she's about 128 years old, but thorough.

3 hours ago, Duvidl said:

https://www.facebook.com/168288853294122/photos/10207836884896061/

 

Seems to be working

 

That one's a different group.  The good one is https://www.facebook.com/groups/2ndhandchiangmai/, names are the same (which shouldn't really be allowed) but the links are different. 

face...com/168288853294122/photos/10207836884896061/

face...com/groups/2ndhandchiangmai/

Nasa, who is/was admin for the original group is a really nice bloke and does/did a fair old job of keeping the rubbish and spammers out.  Hope that it's just worn him down and that he is OK and in good health.

21 hours ago, HullyGully said:

I have two questions:-

 

1. Once you have been through this procedure, the legalised Marriage Certificate is then good for future years / extensions?

2. If my wife and I both have our own  extensions, then this Marriage Certificate requirement is not applicable

1. Yes, until they change the rules again the legalised certificate is good for life.  It really isn't that painful.  I had it researched and the copy ordered really quickly (half hour or so, with one eye on the television so it could be done faster.).  I've just looked at my emails and have put the links on the names of where you go.  To get going, you have to register with My Gov or something similar, then you're good to go with a lot of different government business.  I'm sure that it's that site where you can upload a photo (I think it has to be from your passport, or a copy of your passport so that they can verify that the photo you submitted matches) then once your photo is in the system you can do your drivers' licence and all sorts of other things without having to attend offices in person.  I can't remember if I did that, I think it was something I was going to do later.

Looks like I missed a step and got at least one wrong.  You get the marriage certificate from Govt Records Office (GBP11) and if possible have it sent to someone in UK, mine must have gone to mam's.  I'm sure you could get it sent here if your mail is reliable. Once the certificate has been received, you go to FCO Certification website, fill in the details and pay (GBP30), then print and fill out a form, put the payment reference number on and sign it . Scan the form and send it to whoever has got your certificate and get them to print it (you could always print out the form, sign it and post it if the person on the other end doesn't do computers). Once the person who has the certificate also has the form, ask them to pin them together and mail them to the FCO.   Next step is to send it to the Thai embassy in London, I think they charged GBP10 (CASH ONLY!!!). The form to complete is here, choose LEGALISATION and don't forget the copies of your passport (I think I sent both of ours, photo page and current extension page, not clear if they needed both or just the applicant so better to send both).  Final step once you have the legalised certificate from the Thai Embassy in your hands is to go to the govt complex at Chiang Puak (I'm pretty sure it's on at least one bus route now if you don't have transport), 5 minutes, 200 baht and back the next day to pick it up.

2. If they are totally separate, stand alone Non-O extensions then no.  If one of you is the dependent, yes. I don't like having 800,000 tied up when it could be earning very good money elsewhere, there's no way that I would have two times that so I choose the indignity of being a lesser person.  We aren't of pension age for a good 10 years yet (it's 67 in both UK and Aus), we have a self managed superannuation fund in Aus that we could start drawing on but until Mr K reaches the age of 60, we would have to pay tax on any withdrawals.  This means we could do the income method, but it doesn't make financial sense; I'd rather the 800,000 was tied up for 6 months than start drawing on the super fund as once we aren't able to make any further contributions to the fund once it starts making distributions and would have to open a new fund, too much messing about.

Sorry for a bit of misinformation, hope this complete with relevant links works.

22 hours ago, cusanus said:

You call that eezy peezy? Now I know I have Alzheimer's. God help me. What is an FCO?

Foreign and Commonwealth Office.  British version of what they call Dept Foreign Affairs in Australia.  Most countries not clinging on to the glory days of the Raj will be Foreign Affairs or similar words.

On 9/17/2019 at 4:58 PM, Thailand said:

Thanks.

 

We go together with the wife as dependent, not quite the same as your situation?

Yes, Mr K has a Non-O (retirement) and I am his dependent.  Following a high flying career, I've been reduced to being one of my husband's good and chattels  ????

1 hour ago, Thailand said:

When we did our last extension of stay we were told that the notarized letter is old and next year we need a new one or we won't get our extension.

...

This I guess would require a couple of trips to the BE in Bangkok which I assume is still there? 

It's a bit more complicated I'm afraid.  They haven't been accepting the letter from the embassy  for about 4 years, you've been a bit lucky to get away with it.  My husband's retirement extension is 6 months out from mine, we're always in UK when mine is due so I've been mailing it to Thai embassy in London for maybe 7 years now.  That's changed and I have to do it here next year, I got mine just a few days before the announcement in May.

When the changes came in, it was a 3 stage process of seemingly mindless bureaucracy.  Firstly get a copy of your marriage certificate and have it certified by the FCO.  This is all done online with a credit card, it took about 3 days.  The mailing address I gave them for it was for the Thai embassy in London, and I sent them an email letting them know that it was coming and that I needed it to be certified and gave my credit card number for the fee, about GPB10 I think, and I asked them to mail it to my mother's address.  No problems at all, all very easy.  When I finally got to see the certificate, it was a full print out of the certificate, identical to the one I have, and on the back it was certified by the FCO, and a second stamp certifying that the FCO certification was genuine from the Thai embassy.  This was always OK to use in UK, I have provided a copy of this every year, didn't need to use the marriage certificate in Thailand so I didn't bother with the 3rd and final step; having the Thai embassy (certified) certification certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  This was surprisingly easy, go to office, clearly marked and easy to find in a maze of government offices, show passport, couple of photocopies of it, fill in a form, pay (I think) 200 baht and come back the following day to pick it up.  Now I can legally use the marriage certificate, complete with 3 certification stamps, here in Thailand.

I would suggest that you send an email to the Thai embassy in London just to let them know what you are going to do, then get the certified copy from the FCO sent to them.  I would further suggest that you have the Thai embassy mail the certified copy to someone in UK and have them send it to you here registered mail if the embassy won't do registered post for international mail - they probably do, asking the question can be the opener for starting a conversation about this with them.

Then, as I said, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 200 baht and done.  It's actually far less painful than I imagined it would be.

EDIT:  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the government complex at Chiang Puak

8 hours ago, CHiangMaiMuu said:

I am currently in Chiang Mai, just on a 30-day exempt., extended once here already. 

I have lived in C.M. for years, previously, on Tourist visas. But the last time I came in, from Vietnam, I just went with the 30-day exempt.

This is, to the best of my knowledge, a no can do.  Unless things have changed in the last few months, you can't re-enter Thailand at Mae Sai (Tachileck on the Burmese side) unless you have a visa.

Thai immigration won't let you depart because they know you can't go any further into Burma and they know that they won't let you back in if you leave.  My Non-O was issued overseas so I have to do border hops every 90 days. Earlier this year we had to cancel a trip out of the country so we hired a car and had a few days away (very do-able on a big bike, but I wouldn't like to do it on a scooter).  Two unrelated people of different nationalities in the short queue in front of me were denied exit.  Both were told to either go to another country and get a 'proper' visa, or leave at another border point and fly back into the Thailand.

I'm not saying it hasn't changed in the last few months, but I haven't seen anything to that effect and it would be pretty big news.  Whatever you do, unless someone can confirm from 1st hand experience that it definitely has changed, don't leave it until the last day of your visa as one of the ones in front of me had - no amount of eyelash fluttering so serious she almost turned me lesbian, followed by a lot of real tears would convince the officer otherwise.

I don't know about crossing into Laos, I have a very strong feeling it will be the same deal, I haven't heard of anyone doing it.  You would have to pay for a visa to get in (if they issue them on arrival at smaller land crossings), then go to Vientiane to get a (rather expensive) flight back into Thailand, you won't get a visa from there as there's a 4-6 week wait for an appointment at the embassy.  Sassaket isn't that much further to travel and has no queue but I don't know if they issue tourist visas.

If you're pretty much out of time, I'd say your best bet would be a cheap return flight to Saigon or KL, last minute though so I don't know if cheap will be cheap at all.

It's gone a bit quiet on here...

Anyway, I've got a price alert in Skyscanner for flights to LHR and STN in November.  Just got an email with a BIG drop in price.  It's China Southern, so maybe not the best airline, but it's only 15,622 baht BKK - LHR. 19 hours there, 16 hours back, but it really is cheap, and Emirates is 16 hours each way.

Picking up a hire car and getting onto the northbound A1/M1 is so much easier from Stanstead, difference is about an hour and a half if traffic is good, two or more if it's not.  Not sure why I put the alert in for it really, but it may be of interest to someone.

5 hours ago, Sparkles said:

I've never experienced or heard of any Dr not advising the name of any medication.I find it hard to believe that any registered Doctor would do that here or in any civilized country. 

They've tried to do it to me a few times.  I wouldn't leave the chair until they told me what they were prescribing and in the end they all did, some very grumpily.  Paracetamol, every single time.  No thanks, got some at home.  Antihistamines. No thanks, plenty at home. Quinine?  I'm allergic to it, so no thanks.  Ibuprofen?  I have a stomach ulcer, so no thanks. 

After I had a bit of a funny turn or seizure a few years ago and ended up in ICU overnight at Rajevej, they gave Mr K something for me, I can't remember what, some kind of epilepsy drug.  I was away with the fairies for a couple of days afterwards, mostly sleeping and being woken up to take my tablets.  All of them.  Oops.

I was already taking Lyrica (pregabalin) for the electric shocks that have run down my legs since I had back surgery 20 years ago.  Once I was up and about I got on the internet and doctor google told me that under no circumstances should anyone take Lyrica if they were taking the drug he gave me.  Lyrica was originally an anti-epilepsy drug, once in circulation they found an unexpected side effect of it working on neurological pain.  So in effect, for 3 days I was taking 2 very strong anti-epilepsy tablets.  Maybe the reason I have no memory of those 3 days and why I slept so much.

Mr K told them I was taking Lyrica and that I'm allergic to quinine and amoxicillin (I'm really glad that he remembered that, bless his little heart). When I went back for a followup, I saw it for myself written down on the notes, so there really is no excuse for that.  If I can find it on google, doctors should be able to find it on the special search site that only doctors can access.  And this wasn't a little meds clashing with each other, it was a really, really serious one.

I'm sure that there are some very good doctors here, but they really seem to be few and far between.  I take nothing until I've googled it and found all of the contradictions and if any countries haven't licenced it yet, and my GP is a friend of sorts, if I'm not certain about something I email her with the symptoms and what I think we should take to make it go away and she says yes or no (that's how I know that the meds I was given were a massive problem, she had Mr K being on watch duty for 4 days, he wasn't allowed to leave me on my own at all).  And if it's going to interfere with the Lyrica, it can buggeroff.  13 years I suffered like you couldn't imagine.  Hundreds of tiny electric wires running from my hips down to my feet.  You could actually feel them buzzing if you put your hand on them.  There is no way, under any circumstances, that I will ever stop taking the only thing that takes that buzzing away - it hasn't completely gone, in fact I think it's still buzzing but I just have a dull sensation of it rather than electric shocks now that I've got used to.

3 hours ago, stament said:

Quick one, I am arriving late Friday night. What are the latest requirements for TM30 at CM and are they really open on Saturdays?(read on a thread)

 

Thanks

We were told a couple of days ago that as long as the owner had reported (ours does it online) and providing that we had no business to conduct with 'downstairs' or the main immigration office, there was no need for us to go and report as it was on the system as soon as the owner does it.  Also told that if we have business downstairs, i.e. extension/90 day report, then we should call in upstairs first to get the TM30 receipt/slip in our passports signed.

This has definitely changed, as late as the end of June we were told that we still had to have the slip in our passports stamped each time we entered the country, even though the landlady does the reporting online.

They were open weekends for TM30 reporting, but now that they're telling people that they don't have to take any action this may have changed or is likely to in the future.

Worgeordie is right about putting it in water.  Not just lettuce, celery, broccoli and lots of other greens will come back to life like magic if you just put them in a big glass or jug of water and leave it alone for a few hours or overnight on the benchtop.  Didn't know about cold water - I'll have to try it next time I have limp greens.

Hot off the press from Chiang Mai which has not always been great in the past but has improved substantially in the last year.

Arrived back in Thailand last night, sent an email to our landlord who then did the online reporting.  Long wait at immigration this morning, but the officer wasn't interested in seeing the screenshot the landlord sent us.  She said all on the system, don't have to come in UNLESS you need to do something in the main office (I presume extension or 90 day report).  If you have to do anything in the main office, come upstairs and I'll stamp the slip in your passport, otherwise all OK as long as you know that the landlord has done the online reporting.

There are 2 stalls at Wararot market, that seem to have a fairly big choice.  Close to the stalls with the fishing nets.

Already got it - the very nice IO that helped me had someone doing a re-entry permit whilst she was explaining it all to me.  I just didn't get the part about how long I'd be stamped in for.

Edit - no forms, photocopies or photo's, not that I'm complaining.

The more I think about it, the more I think that this will only apply to people who got their original visa from abroad. For the Non-O A obtained abroad, there is no requirement to have money in the bank in Thailand.  Those Non-O (retired) on the 800k method of extensions now have to keep 400k in the bank, which just happens to be the amount of insurance required.

I was wrong, I think.  Having the 400k in the bank is equal to what Non-O A will have to have in insurance cover.  The big thing I imagine is going to be those who came in originally on a Non-O A and got extensions to it.  I think for those people it probably would be worth ditching the Non-O A and just starting from scratch and getting a Non-O (retired).  Of course we really don't know what will happen, it's going to be a case of sitting back and waiting for it to all pan out.  Thankfully, we have until January before we need to act and the new rules will have settled down by then.