josephbloggs

1 hour ago, paulikens said:

Not the old it's too hot chestnut. Whenever a foreigner defends Thais lack of exercise it means the foreigner is also lacking in the exercise and walking department and are trying to justify their own laziness.   

Did you miss the second half of my past where I said I see dozens of Thais out walking their dogs after 5pm? It's too hot in the middle of the day for dogs (and humans) but in the evening everyone is out, walking dogs, jogging, exercising.

But yeah, just ignore that part of my post so you can call Thais lazy, good for you.

8 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

"We are ready to help but we haven't got a request," said a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"There were two channels (in the Thai government)," the defense official told AFP. "One was saying 'Yes' and one was saying 'No.'"

This clearly states that channels of communication were open and that the US navy had offered assistance. As I said Thailand declined the offer of assistance and this is evidenced in as much as not issuing a formal request for help. Help was there, offered but was declined. I was here and clearly remember this being in the news. 

I was here too. I remember that they were waiting for a request but didn't get one, and also that the Thais did request help from a different ship that was in port in Laem Chabang that had helicopters and it extended its planned stay to help. More like left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing rather than refusing all assistance, they did ask for assistance eventually.

Like I said, it was badly mismanaged by the government. End of story.

Edit: again, I am in no way defending the Yingluck government as they were useless on so many levels.

5 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

I remembered - it was called Golden Land Grand Canal. And I found it hilarious because the commercial ended with their logo for "G Land", but no spaces so it was just "Gland". Titter.

I'll have to see if the commercial exists on YouTube...

 

Woo Hoo, I found it! Brings back memories, one of the first projects I did at my post company back then.
 

Ok, there was a space between "G" and "Land" but it still reads Gland to me.

Hijacking of the thread is now complete, back to the informative river level posts from now on.

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

 

Flood-hit Thailand declines offer of help: US Navy

WASHINGTON, October 25, 2011 (AFP) - The US Navy has withdrawn several ships sent to help with relief efforts in flood-hit Thailand after receiving "mixed" messages from the Bangkok government, a defense official said Monday.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier and other ships were deployed to the area on October 16 for potential disaster relief work as Thailand faced massive flooding from monsoon rains, said Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander John Perkins.

But the US military never received a formal request from the Thai government and the three-ship aircraft carrier group along with a fourth ship, the USS Kidd, were released and left the area on Friday, said Perkins, spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii.

"We are ready to help but we haven't got a request," said a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"There were two channels (in the Thai government)," the defense official told AFP. "One was saying 'Yes' and one was saying 'No.'"

 

Yes, exactly as I said, they were in the area but didn't receive a request for help - it is right there in the text you quoted.

 

But the US military never received a formal request from the Thai government and the three-ship aircraft carrier group along with a fourth ship, the USS Kidd, were released and left the area on Friday, said Perkins, spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii.

"We are ready to help but we haven't got a request," said a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

55 minutes ago, paulikens said:

It's also hard for Thai dog owners to exercise their dogs because that would mean the Thai owner to do some actual exercise and actually walk a bit.  Under no circumstances will the majority of Thais do anything that involves walking.  

Nice sweeping generalisation. I don't know if you noticed but Thailand is pretty damn hot during the day.

Where I live between 5 - 8pm you see dozens of Thais out walking their dogs and - shock horror - even cleaning up after them. 

4 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

Far much more enjoyable making a deposit 

Ha ha, very good.

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

Good idea. I wonder how many of such fire blankets exist in Thailand...

 

 

Probably none, but they do make sense and look easy to deploy.

1 minute ago, brianthainess said:

I tend to withdraw once or twice a month but I don't carry it around with me.

I always withdraw, much safer that way. Sorry it only happens once or twice a month for you.

15 hours ago, kwak250 said:

And you have no feeling at all 

Even the loud pedal has no soul

You've never driven one have you? Admit it.

My 500+ bhp Subaru Impreza was the loudest thing I have ever heard. Screaming exhaust under acceleration, amazing whooshes and chatter from the external wastegate and blow off valve. I loved it. But all that noise is just inefficiency at the end of the day.

Drive a fast EV and it is intoxicating - much more so than my Subaru was with its massive turbo lag (I was running 2.0 bar on a huge IHI RX6 turbo), the wait while you changed down a cog or two, realistically a couple of seconds between wanting to go fast and getting the thump in your back. I have driven a 670 bhp Ferrari which made an amazing noise but still had a lag, albeit much less than my Subaru.

Try a fast EV with instantaneous response at all times and you soon realise that you don't need the noise. I love a good engine sound but once you have tried the alternative you realise it is not important and actually you come to appreciate the silence. And, as I said, the thrill is intoxicating. But you need to be a grown up with an open mind to try it and appreciate it, and unfortunately I don't think you qualify.

I used to have a closed mind on EVs and was occasionally guilty of using childish terms like "glorified washing machine", but then I thought I should try one before I criticise and my opinion immediately changed. And the same is true for my petrol head brother who now drives one and countless other people.

There are EV owners on here who have owned the most exclusive high performance exotic petrol cars and they wouldn't go back. I value their experience and knowledge much more than people like you who just throw out meaningless insults and - let's face it - very childish and pathetic memes, all based on zero knowledge or experience.

Oh, just realised this thread was supposed to be about condo charging. Why does every single EV related thread descend in to this? It always does. Do you people really not have anything better to do?

29 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

You are not in Thailand are you? Call the banks???  You will need to go into the bank where you opened the account (not any bank branch) and try to get them to stop/cancel your accounts - and good luck with that, even if you get there quickly.  By the way, banking rules in Thailand are 99% in favour of the bank - you will not get any money back 99% of the time. 

That is just nonsense. You lose a card, have anything stolen, all the banks have 24 hour hotlines you can call and they immediately block your account. To reactivate you may need to present yourself with ID, but to block them is just a phone call at any time of the day or night, and with English speaking operators.

I have done this several times in Thailand. I have also called them from overseas when I got my wallet stolen in France. Immediate block, not a problem.  I didn't know my account number or passport details but they identified me and blocked the account. Please don't post rubbish if you have absolutely no experience.

Quote

Take it as given - they are insecure. The best solution in your situation, that I can think of, is to set up a separate bank account and impose a daily limit of 5000 baht withdrawals in a day, and using a computer transfer over to that account funds as and when needed (keeping below say 10K Baht). Then use that for account for payments with the phone. That limits the danger to a small amount in a secondary account.  Especially important if you are using the same main account on your phone and you use that for immigration extensions/renewals. 

Are you for real? Why on earth would you set up two accounts and be bothered shifting money between them every time you spend 5,000 baht? Absolutely ridiculous.

Every bank allows you to set a limit for individual transactions. Set it to 100 baht if it makes you feel better - hopefully tinfoil hats cost less than that.

36 minutes ago, marin said:

It was a well developed muban. Stilled called Grand Canal but back at the time of the floods the prices were in the 8-15 million baht range.  Now running 12-20 million. The owners cleaned and repainted the houses and life has gone on. 

 

Its not on a lake but a series of canals. The company that built this muban was excellent, they built new roads and landscaped the area once again after the floods. A very popular place to live and the residents are very happy indeed as it is still well maintained.  Pass it often and it looks great. 

Thanks. The lake was my memory playing tricks - I just remembered the water. The commercial was definitely shot after the floods as we had to clean off the water marks, maybe it was sold in different stages.

G Land are one of the good developers here so good to hear it is still well maintained. I live in a moo ban of another good developer here and it still looks like new after 15 years, the maintenance is excellent.

2 hours ago, dinsdale said:

The US navy offered assistance but this was turned down by the Yingluk Thaksin government of the time.

I believe the US navy was in the area and was available for assistance but it was not requested. Not the same as turning down an offer.

And indeed they did accept help. They asked a US navy ship docked in Laem Chabang to extend its stay and used its helicopters for reconnaissance and relief work.

Don't believe the myths, much like the myth that Thailand turned down the offer of help from the Netherlands to control flooding - they didn't - they accepted, but the myth perpetuates (mostly on AN).

Having said that the Yingluck government badly mismanaged the floods so I am not defended their response. Who can forget her pathetic staged photo with her Burberry boots...appalling.

22 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

Yet another reason to move back to Texas....................https://aqicn.org/map/texas/

Texas, that's funny.

2 minutes ago, connda said:

Fyi, if memory serves me correctly, payment by QR code has been available at 7/11 for quite awhile.  Hell, mom&pop stores in our village have been accepting them for the last year or two. 

 

Your memory does not serve you correctly. Only TrueMoney. Prompt Pay QR has never been accepted.

12 minutes ago, connda said:

My last two times haven't worked.  I asked at Immigration if they can give me a reason.  The answer is always the same: "Mai dai, no can."
It would take a phone call or an inquiry from my immigration office to Bangkok, but they simply will not do it.  "Sucks to be you, foreigner."
I've gotten a new passport now and have filed my first 90 on that passport number in person.  So I'll find out in November if online works with this new passport with its new number.  I'd say it's 50-50.

See my earlier post. Did you do the online thing within 15 days but not within seven days? That's the only time it will work.

19 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Here you can see the Pasak ( right ) joining the Chao Phraya ( middle) to continue south ( left ).

 

 

IMG_4820.mov 98.93 MB · 0 downloads  

 

That looks lovely.