PaulDee

You're problem MAY be which of your bank accounts is being accessed by the local bank's ATM. If you maintain both a checking (current) account and a savings account at your bank in the UK, the process at the ATM may automatically access your checking account. If that account had only the equivalent of 1,000 baht when you made the successful withdrawal before, you may not have enough in that account now. To get around that problem, after you have entered your PIN, do NOT select 'fast cash' or any other transaction which would be automatic. Instead, select the 'withdrawal' or 'other' option, and you will be given a choice of which account to use ('current,' 'savings,' etc.) Select 'savings,' then enter the amount you wish to withdraw. Expect to pay an exorbitant fee of 150 baht for the privilege of accessing your own money.

I've also been seeking out Stephan King books with no success. Couldn't find any Thai language books in second-hand book stores. Carrefour has some novels in Thai by James Patterson and Sidney Sheldon which the little lady enjoyed (she actually read them both within a week).

Hi

I am getting a really poor connection at times recently with True Move. Is there a service telephone number I can call where they check the line connection from the service center? If anyone know drop me a reply please.

Thanks

Jester--

I don't know where you are, but I've ALWAYS gotten an immediate response from the TrueMove office in Pattaya (038 727 727). They check their equipment right away and send people to my building within hours. The Pattaya crew probably won't provide you with such quick service if you live in Udon , so better check your billing statement for a local number to call.

I did a trip to the orphanage a couple years ago with a group of Thais. It was a rewarding, worthwhile and fun day. I would encourage everyone to participate.

It might be a good idea for Thai Visa to encourage the participating hotels to contribute a percentage of their weekend take to the orphanage. Just a thought.

OK, I'm going to ask the question that I hope other people are thinking:

What is an RSS feed?

An RSS feed, according to Wikipedia (IF we still are permitted to quote Wikipedia?):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

RSS (most commonly translated as "Really Simple Syndication" but sometimes "Rich Site Summary") is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.^[2] An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed",^[3] or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

why often this 150 THB charge question? longtime Thai banks was generous or sleepy and charge nothing. Let's go abroad with any Thai or other credit cards; you will be charged too and if holidays depend on 150 THB I guess better stay at home???

And what about those of us who live here? The new ATM fee costs me

1,500 baht a month, which translates to more than $600 a year. Even

if I "stay at home."

BUT the question AND the topic is not imposition of the fee. It's whether

there is a fee-free ATM at the new airport. The simple answer is NO.

It might be a good idea to reveal where you live. (Even just a hint would help )

Patsy,

I posed your question to Dr. RJ Peters -- a cat expert who publishes 'Kitty Times.'

Her response follows:

Hope I'm not too late to help Patsy.

I think she should get Jimbo a new companion as soon as

possible. It will help him to get over his loneliness, especially

since he's used to being with other cats. But, equally important,

it will give a home to a kitten who might otherwise have no future.

Of course, you can always refer anyone to my website,

www.theproblemcat.com, for advice on how to introduce a new

cat to one's home. A specific link would be:

http://www.theproblemcat.com/articles/intronewcats.html

and there are other useful articles here:

http://www.theproblemcat.com/faq.html

It's actually easier to introduce a kitten to the home than an

adult cat. Kittens know they are small and rank low, so they

are very submissive. Mature cats know this as well, and though

they may be rough on the little one, are instinctually educating

the little one as to who's in charge and they'd better not forget it.

I hope this helps!

The Ask Andy column in 'Pattaya Today' had a similar question two weeks ago from a reader. Handy Andy's answer follows:

Promoters of power savers promise they will cut your energy bills by about 25 percent each month. However, the jury seems to be out on whether such devices are effective. My research indicates strong arguments on both sides of the question. Were I in your shoes, I would insist on a money-back guaranty that the device you purchase will indeed reduce your energy consumption as promised. If you get such assurance (in writing), try it out for two or three months and compare your power bills for those months against your power bills for the previous three months AND against the same three months one year ago.

Hey, this is a really dumb topic.

but i have eaten burritos in many countries and many restaurants, made them myselves

Lately i have been going to villa in front of emporium and i want to let every burritos lover that their pre-made burritos that go for 105baht for 4(with sauce) are simple yet delicious.. beat every good restaurants i have had

simple good cheese, delicious sauce, good bread and great beef.

pumpui on everyone.

I've tried several brands of burritos from Villa but don't recall any that were priced at 105 baht.

Do you remember the brand name?

Thanks

No matter who you end up seeing, you'll end up being fleeced. There are a lot of talented dentists in Pattaya who'll do work for a reasonable price.

Any whom you would recommend?

Thank you, guys

Where is Makkasan area? How close (or far) is it from everything else, like Sukhumvit, MBK, Silom, Victory Monument?

Last time I used the GSB last week - no charge (UK Visa Debit Card)

I've tried using this bank for the last month and it always comes up with an error, please contact your bank but if I go to Siam or BKK bank then no problems apart from the 150 baht charge.

I have had the same problem (same 'error' message) at several different Government Savings Bank ATMs

AND I am using a Visa Debit Card.

As to avoiding the 150-baht ATM fee by taking a cash advance from SCB, are you then not subject to an even higher cash advance fee--if not by SCB, then by your issuing bank?

To my knowledge, home inspection service is not available anywhere in Thailand.

Handy Andy ("Pattaya Today" Newspaper) wrote about the topic several times, questioning why no entrepreneur has launched such a franchise here (given so much building and so much shoddy workmanship and materials). Andy suggested that you plan to spend several hours carefully inspecting every centimeter of your home, inside and out, and that you take with you an expert or two--a building contractor, architect, plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc. You might have to pay each a few hundred baht, but it could save you thousands and thousands of baht.

I totally endorse all of the above comments/suggestions. One additional important offering is a good hot salsa. Your menu might include soft as well as crisp taco shells, and genuine refried beans. Particularly if you plan to be open from morning onward, I would consider juevos rancheros as well--with all the trimmings (Mexican rice, soft tortilla, refried beans). I'm making myself hungary--where and when will you be open?

The US tried to get Singapore to open their account information but the government told them to take a hike. Happened last year maybe early this year. Happen3e when the typhoon hit Burma and the Burma government refused help, The US tried to use that as an excuse to get access to the accounts, cant recall the exact reason why, but the government told them this had nothing to do with things and refused. I hope Singapore continues to refuse.

_{^{Right on! We should ALL tell the US to take a hike and}}

_{^{we should ALL put ALL our funds into Burma banks.}}

I am a new farang who also have discovered the crazy wine prices here.

Any good tips on where to buy, and what to buy.

Like a reasonable thai red wine (which I guess is cheaper, or is it the taxing?)

Any tips would be appriciated.

I found an acceptable table wine called Casanova. Made in Italy, the label

calls it a "cooking wine," but it tastes as good as any red table wine I have

ever kept on hand. A two-liter bottle sells for about 360 baht at Friendship

Market in Pattaya. Haven't looked for it elsewhere. At that price it's worth

a try.

Maybe he didn't think much about it, since Oman has no laws regulating the legal age of consent, but sex must be within the limits of marriage to be legal.

And afterall this was only a massage.

What do you mean.."after all this was only a massage"..what do you think that was leading to, at that time of night, with an obvious underage female with a middle aged foreign male in that area..are you so naive ?

OR..do you think he negotiated with her just for therapeutic reasons !

It was the Omanian who stated to the Newspaper the she was 15..so one would presume she told him so.

He was obvious prepared to play with fire and got sprayed accordingly..probably with Rohypnol

..som nan nar farang.

I believe Toret's tongue was well implanted in his cheek when he wrote

that line.

So a man, presumed Muslim, craves sex outside of marriage with a minor.

It seems he did not commit a crime (praise Allah) and will not be charged.

BUT...Isn't it logical that just as a female rape victim in a Muslim country

might be murdered for having commited adultery, so too should this male

police officer be punished for having done drugs? (I think that demands

the death penality in Oman.)

Som nam na indeed.

Corollary question: Once a letter is notarized by US Embassy,

how long does it remain effective? That is, if I get such an

income letter next week, can I use it when extending my

one-year 'retirement' visa next January?

Yes, Stevie,

Banks do convert coins to bills. However, you must find a branch

that has coin-counting machines. That usually means it's a major

office in any given area, rather than a satelite. I would not bother

sorting and taping them inasmuch as all the wrappers simply will be

torn off (breakdowns ignored) and all the coins will be thrown into

the machine.

No fee for the conversion into bills...but whatever amount of baht

you determine you have in coins, odds are the bank will tell you you

have less.

does anyone know if banks will change a bag full of 1 baht coins up into notes? or if not is there somewhere else i can get this done? cheers.

When I bought my Nuovo Elegance - I told my dealer the Thai manual is useless for me. Within 2 days he copied for me of the whole manual in English.

Helmut

When I bought my Honda Phantom, I told the manager that the Thai

manual was useless to me. Immediately, he took back the manual and said,

"Mai pen rai."

Interesting and needed topic.

BUT note that the Aeon Web site has a new message that not too clearly says "some banks" are now charging 150 baht for use of International cards at ATMs, but Aeon Bank card use at Aeon ATMs are not charged. (To me that implies that Aeon DOES charge for the use of other cards and the fee is probably 150 baht.)

You normally only have to get a letter from the embassy one time and you can use this for future extensions. Sometimes they don't even ask for it. It depends on the immigration officer. One time they said I must have money in my account as well as my 40k monthly income

That had been the policy for several years but it was changed last year. The current policy requires that a new letter from your embassy be obtained and submitted annually.

Have you looked into having a local book dealer

order the book for you from the publisher?