MaiDong

1 minute ago, CharlieH said:

Thats what I do, we have a shelf dedicated to the bottles.

Same here, but we get through so many bottles, and that's what I'm trying to cut down on.

5 minutes ago, HauptmannUK said:

Reading the Thai description reveals that its a cooler unit that cools water to between 4-8 deg.  It can cool 4 litres per hour.  Personally I'd prefer to keep individual sealed bottles in the fridge at 4 degrees. Less chance of contamination.

I plan on buying Singha water 19L bottles, I don't see any more chance of contamination using those over 1.5L bottles.

2 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Many of these (not all) do not make the water cold.They will make it hot (if you have the option).

 

If you put the water in cold it will maintain it for a time.

 

So, check exactly what you are buying, z water cooler or just a dispenser, as descriptions are less than accurate from my experience.

Thanks, I'll bare that in mind.

I'm looking to buy a 'Standard' hot & cold water dispenser from Lazada, I usually buy 1.5L bottles direct from Singha but the sheer amount of plastic used, along with lifting all those bottles through the house every couple of months, plus the storage space used, has me thinking that a dispenser is a better option all round.

I understand it'll use electric but we're constantly filling the fridge up with room temp Singha bottles, so I don't think it'll make much difference to the leccy bill.

My question is this: has anybody bought one of these? What was your experience with it? Do they last a long time? Can they be easily fixed if a pump/motor fails?

There are many different types of water dispenser on the market, but sadly most of them are plastic boxes, and will deteriorate/yellow in this climate(or just get fallen into by a teenage boy), and I don't want to contribute any more plastic to landfill(the oceans) than is absolutely necessary.

This is why I've got my eye on this 'Standard' brand. It looks good enough in the pics, the reviews are fair, but I'd like to hear from anybody here who has one, and if they would recommend it.

3 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

It's called weather. Anthropogenic climate disruption is a fact. You can expect more extreme and 

unusual weather as we continue into the Anthropocene Epoch, and eventually destruction of humanity.

????

Mine took 8 hours, astounding. 

My non O single entry took about the same time too, I'm wondering if they're just sitting there twiddling their thumbs as everybody (myself included) went to Vietnam instead... 

10 minutes ago, Kopitiam said:

Welcome to Thailand, I hope you learned something new.

After 20 years, you'd think I'd know, but I'm just too nice.

1 hour ago, sqwakvfr said:

Never felt like a Duck with Agoda.  All the relevant information is available to review before booking.  The price difference between a one night regular stay and one night Test and Go stay is outrageous.  I have seen some offers of 900 Baht for a regular stay go to over 5,000 with the Test and Go Package.  The PCR test alone could be 3,000 Baht.

You did read my OP thoroughly, didn't you? I was completely unaware of the cost of the test, and quite reasonably thought that it could be just a couple of hundred baht - or somewhere else near it's ACTUAL cost, and a ride from the airport to BKK could have been as little as 500, if it were priced reasonably.

And with regards to Agoda, this hotel was clearly labelled as '**** Hotel (SHA Plus+)', so I had no reason to think there would be extra costs.

Again, I had NEVER looked at the costs of entering Thailand until today, when I started my journey.

23 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Some hotels still don't have their ducks in a row, especially now that many of them are SHA+Extra which means they can also host regular, non-quarantine guests. Last year, not all hotels on agoda had the all-inclusive rates and the OP's experience of being asked for subsequent, ad-hoc payments wasn't unusual.

 

Why would any hotel want their customer's banking information?

Are we the ducks? ????

Just got off the phone with the hotel, payment received, confirmation on it's way, PHEW.

12 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

A one night,  RT-PCR test and Hotel pickup could not be 1,500 baht.  Also, if you look carefully the hotels that offer the full Test and Go package can be in the range of 4,000 to 5,500 Baht.  I do not like to give a hotel my banking information as well.  Can you make another booking with Agoda for the full Test and Go package.  I have used Agoda 3 times in the last 14 months when I entered Thailand and each package clearly listed the RT-PCR tests, hotel pickup and 3 meals.  

As I said in my OP, this is the first time I've even looked into the costs so I didn't know what was an accurate price.

However, as the payment was to such a large and reputable hotel, communicated through their Agoda messaging system, I decided to pay and give it a go...

The hotel just said that my wife can call them or I can make a new booking with the required test & pick-up(despite them not being available during booking on Agoda).

So it seems legitimate enough, but what a disjointed process this is.

I made a booking on Agoda, with a large hotel in the centre of Bangkok, it's a well-known hotel, and was featured on a recent Youtube vlog about a western couple entering Thailand, and their experience with the whole shenanigans.

I paid for the hotel(Approx. THB1,500), got confirmation, entered it onto the Thailand Pass website and it was rejected due to RT-PCR test and hotel pick-up not being part of the booking.

I didn't know the costs of the test & pick-up etc, so B1,500 didn't seem cheap, nor expensive, just a normal price.

However, I messaged the hotel through Agoda and they told me the extras would be another B3,800, that's fine, having looked around I can see that they're unreasonably expensive, but it's a hoop, and I'll jump it this time.

The odd thing is though, that the hotel said they'd sent me a file attachment within the agoda messaging system with bank info, but it was never received, I told them this and their suggestion was this: 'Maybe Agoda is not allowed. Please kindly send an email to the hotel directly. Best Regards,...'

So they want me to send 3800 to a random bank account, and I'll just sit here in hope that I'll get some kind of confirmation that will be suitable for my Thailand pass registration, is that normal??

Yep, sorry, panic & confusion on my part, I'm thinking mainly on the pre-flight test, silly me, delete thread if necessary.

4 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

I got back from the UK yesterday, made the mistake of staying in one of the Airport SHA+ hotels as my plan was to go straight home from there rather than go into Bangkok.

• Landed 7am 
• Through Immigration / Checks & baggage collected by 7:30
• Hotel Van picked 8 of us up at 8:40 
• Test completed & on to hotel at 9:10
• Test results back at 19:25
• In a Taxi & on my way home (Wongamat) 19:30 
• Home 21:00 

Compared to my mate who lives/works in Bangkok so stayed in a hotel in central Bangkok.

• Landed 7am 
• Through Immigration / Checks & baggage collected by 7:30
• Car waiting to take him away & at the hospital by 8am 
• Test done & at Hotel by 8:30
• Test results back at 13:50
• Home by 14:15

 

 

 

Which hotel did your friend stay in?

The Test & Go application process still notes the following;

'Test & Go:

Paid SHA Extra+ / AQ hotel reservation confirmation for 1 day (Day 1) and the booking must include 1 RT-PCR test fee, 1 ATK self-test kit and airport transfer.'

Has anybody managed to skip this requirement if they're entering after the date the required test is scrapped?

32 minutes ago, Onerak said:

This is the cheapest I see. 650 baht for 30-day. Not from my experience. If I have to buy for my July trip (if TP is required by then), I would buy from here. 
https://tqm-app.com/static/thailandpass/index.html

1 of those 3 policies require a 14 day waiting period, the other two don't, and are priced at THB1,780 & THB2,408 respectively.

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I don't think so. If anyone still supported Cha Cha and his party before Covid, they now see right through his charade, inability to lead, failed administration, and ruse. He is the very definition of a pretender. His true approval level is likely around 2-3%. He will be gone soon. 

 

Out with the dinosaur party! In with the Thai youth. 

I hope you're right, and I also hope that that true vote results are counted. 

12 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

And Vietnam had 100,000+ new cases yesterday. Yet, there are adults running the place, apparently. Unlike the timid children here. It is getting to the point where the whole thing is bordering on ludicrous. Especially when you consider who is really taking the risk, which is great for a tourist coming here now. Such goons. 

You're under-selling them again, things got ludicrous a long, long time ago! 

Half of the population have never grasped the concept of socially distancing, whereas the other half are scared witless if covid. 

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Who are these people? Where do they find them?

 

Speaking about the timeline, Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn appeared to be worried about the fact that several of Thailand’s neighbors have recently dropped their entry restrictions.

 

“Thailand started like a rabbit, running quickly last year as we reopened to visitors. We cannot let the country fall behind as many nations are opening borders and have fewer restrictions than us,” the minister said.

Plans to open up without restrictions in June is literally falling behind all of it's competitors, by over 2 months! 

I'm currently in Vietnam, just needed to have a quick test downstairs in swampy to board the flight. 

I'm now increasingly liking Vietnam, especially with the possibility of obtaining a year long visa for a few hundred Dollars, with no need to leave and re-enter. 

My wife & child(& dog, who is refusing to eat since I left 6 days ago) in Thailand might have something to say about that though, that's why I'm planning to jump through the hoops and risk the financial upset of quarantine to go back. 

'including the permission to splash water at the next meeting of the Communicable Disease Committee on Monday'

Lucky committee! Can I join this committee please! 

Fino! 

They have a more classy look than the Scoopy. The Scoopy is all bulbous and bouncy looking. 

And whilst the dry weight of a Fino is slightly higher than the Scoopy(98 to 91kgs respectively), the Fino is nippy and stable at full throttle, we've had her up to her limit at about 110-120 and she's still smooth as silk. 

The Fino's 57km/L is excellent fuel efficiency. 

We've had a couple over the years, both have been excellent. 

We had a shop a few years back and along with a nice chrome rack on the back for soda crates, we also had large canvas saddle bags for boxes of beer, she was seriously loaded but she never missed a beat, still feels brand new today after 6 years of abuse. 

April fools? 

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Complete anti-white racist ..........

Calls us white folk 'animals' in the song 'Made in Thailand'.

I stopped listening to their music after I heard that song.

He was probably just telling his supporters what they wanted to hear.

He seems to like foreign schools though, from what I remember...

p.s. we are all a bunch of animals anyway.