SymS

There's a reason some people are saying the K is silent, and should be read like Money Pox, or even Money Pot...

Wait... there was a mask mandate?

Stocked up 12 bottles of cooking oil earlier this year. There aren't any small savings ????

Pollution (garbage along the street) and excessive advertisement in cities.

New TAT slogan: "Welcome to Thailand, your family-friendly, drug-binging paradise".

The other day I just thought to myself, what do I use here that's coming from Europe? Most cars here are from Japan and China, electronics use chips from the US, China, South Korea with a lot of the manufacturing done in Taiwan as well. Most websites I used as hosted in US owned. Thailand is self-sufficient for foods, and I've not checked where energy resources like oil and gas are coming from, but certainly not from Europe. I came to the realization that if Europe was wiped out of the map, it would hurt as I'm a European myself, but my life here would probably not change one bit... A lot of the manufacturing is taking place in Asia, and they don't have unsustainable safety nets, so I'd expect that most Asian currencies will continue to go up overtime against the Euro, GBP, and even the USD, even though they have their own problems. The US is mismanaged too, but they have the resources in the ground, still have some industrial capacity, and they still rule the financial world.

Is it a joke? Or did you seriously completely lose your 49% take without compensation?

People are supposed to know the law and act accordingly. Once I met a German pensioner in Indonesia, and he told me he had to go back for X months every year to keep his pension alive. I'm glad I never contributed to any pension system, and am taking care of this myself. I reckon it may be slightly higher risk...

Interesting. So I'll have to show my passport AND my work permit when ordering and disembarking the plane now?

This is beautifully made, a work of arts compared to what I'm used to. I may even have to ask the phone number of your workman. I've attached a door replacement job in the place I rent for context...

I'm not sure Russian tourists are cash-strapped considering the current Ruble exchange rate. That may be true for other Europeans tourists relying on Euros at this time.

They should require visitors to wear "amulets" one can never be safe enough... But it can be purchased on arrival so no problem.

That one will be tricky because it requires education, a change in culture, and I don't think that many people are disgusted by rubbish. I know because I clean the streets around my house once a month or every two months, and it keeps coming back, and I live in an area with few people. Stray dogs may be an issue too, as they will tear up the garbage bags. I've seen some initiatives about garbage collection and recycling, but there are too few to make a difference. I'm learning Thai with primary school books from 30 years ago, and I was impressed when I saw one lesson about keeping the country clean, etc... in the first year book. But I'm now at the fifth year and that was the only lesson about cleanliness, against about 10 saying "drugs are bad". Is there actually a charity that promotes cleaning up the country, preferably with activities?

That's using the Home Charger, I asked about connecting to car to a wall socket, the same used as my fridge...

Just some other tidbits I got from going to MG shop yesterday. Charging times for the EP Plus model. Fast charge 0 to 80%: 40 minutes Charge at home with home charger: a little more than 7 hours. I've also asked if it was possible to charge from standard wall socket. The good news is that it is, but he told me charging for 24 hours would top the battery by around 30%. I'm renting two houses, so I asked the price for an additional home charger, he first said he'd need to check, but then said 20,000 to 30,000 Baht for an extra home charger. Batteries are currently extremely expensive. A replacement battery would cost 450,000 Baht! But the EP Plus comes with an 8-year warranty (or 180,000 kilometers), and he expects batteries to come down in price, especially once they start being manufactured in Thailand. I was told MG plans to have EV and battery manufacturing plants in Thailand within about 2 years.

I passed by a GM shop yesterday, so I went to check the car and ask questions. They don't have any for now. The government program still needs confirmation, and it should start maybe next month. The waiting list is long and people who purchase may expect next year delivery. When ask whether I could benefit from the subsidies even without Thai ID card, he said it should be OK if I pay cash.

WISE is great for personal payments. As a side note, I always used to pay a Thai company with WISE, but they told me to stop. That's because it will show as a local transfer, so the revenue department insists it is subject to 7% VAT. It's to pay for services and salary, so I can't really select the option "payment for long stay in Thailand" which would show the transfer is coming from overseas. So now, I'll just do a wire transfer from my bank. The Thai company will receive a bit less, but not be subject to the 7% VAT.

Alternatively, the subsidies might only be available to Thai nationals. I'll have to check.

That's odd. When I go to the Thai version of website the promotion shows: https://www.mgcars.com/th/mg-models/new-mg-ep/price But not in English: https://www.mgcars.com/en/mg-models/new-mg-ep/price

LoS = The Land of Smiles Stabbings

Publication date of the study: Published:March 11, 2020. Some of the points may still be true, but the virus is completely different now.

A casino in Thailand! What's next? Are they planning to open brothels too? ????

Two unrelated stabbings in Samut Prakan on the same day? Crossing the area from my travel list.... More seriously, more people may lose it later this year, if predicted food shortage really happen. The optimist in me thinks it may not be too bad in Thailand, since most of the food is grown locally.

They paid 1000 Baht in fine. If true, that means they ordered 2 kilograms of meat they didn't eat and the shop had to throw away. The customers appear at fault here, unless the meat was really uneatable.

The way things are taken care of here, the government will soon instate a curfew after 11pm to prevent incidents.