jaizan

Well, I credited my True account with a few hundred baht. A text message comes through: "You have got free Net, 1 GB for 30 days package. To redeem the package .........etc". Are there any snags with these "free" packages ? For instance woefully slow download speeds, auto renewal with fees or whatever ? I'm tempted to use that until the 1 GB is nearly gone. Then buy a proper package. A few days of that would be quite convenient.

Later in the day after the e-mail I referred to above, the visa came through. I suspect that's more than a coincidence.

They are also more expensive than in the UK. Gyms in the UK can be had for as little as £15~18 per month and everything will work. The last gym I visited in Pattaya charged 1000 per month. Almost nothing worked. The exercise bike had a computer that would reset the moment you stopped pedalling, the showers didn't work and everything else was in a poor state. Naturally I only paid to check it out for one day, not the month. Low cost gym chains are doing well in the UK and the rest of Europe. With lower labour and overhead costs, where is the professional Thai low cost chain ?

That worked. The reply says "Thank you for your email. We apologise for the delays. Your documents are currently under review. Due to an unprecedented volume of applications, the process has taken longer than usual. We would like to ask for your patience during this time. We have taken note of your concern and will raise this with the Approval Team, although we cannot confirm when you will receive your visa outcome." I presume that's a standard e-mail, as their website actually says the document review is complete. Also, where would the "unprecedented volume of applications" be from ? Visitor numbers to Thailand in 2025 are down. They're hardly encouraging tourism by sitting on visa applications for weeks.

Thank you. I e-mailed the embassy in London & got: "Your message couldn't be delivered to [email protected]. Their inbox is full, or it's getting too much mail right now". No surprise that their inbox is full, if they are not processing visas in a reasonable timescale. I am trying another e-mail address.

I applied for a 90 day single entry visa on 14 October, online. The documents were approved at least two weeks ago, but the visa is STILL not approved. I'm travelling in under 2 weeks. What is normal for a processing time these days ? Should I expect them to pull their finger out and actually approve it before my declared travel date ?

There were several SIM card sales booths at the Airport, when I last visited in 2024. I purchased a SIM there, for convenience. Unfortunately, despite handing over my passport when buying it, I noticed the SIM had been registered in someone else's name. I went into the Metfone office next day to fix that. The Metfone office had limited hours, including a long lunch break.

The average 70 year old male lives to 86 & has a 1 in 4 chance of living to 92 (UK data). Buying an apartment and dropping dead shortly afterwards doesn't give the greatest return on investment. However, buying somewhere could help the money last if you live longer than average.

I would like to make a one off payment to someone I know in Cambodia. Approx $150. That person doesn't have a bank account. Does anyone have experience of using services like Remitly or Western Union for this ? What are the pitfalls or hidden snags ? What alternative is recommended ?

The forum is full of such nonsense these days. Therefore, I visit the site very rarely

I'd have nothing to say if they simply increased prices. If the market is strong enough, that makes sense.

I've always been here at roughly the same time of year, so I don't think so. The main change is the person in charge.

The daily rate is 43% higher. Continuous occupancy means there are fewer voids and they also clean the rooms less frequently. So they offer a lower monthly rate. These principles are the same if they apply for one month or 1.5 months. From my perspective, the place is competitive if I stay for exactly 1 month, or 2 months. However, if I'm staying for 1.5 months, it now makes sense to move to somewhere with a sensible daily or weekly rate after a month.

I've stayed in the same place for years. If I stay for 1.2 months, for example, they always pro-rata'd the rent, so I paid 1.2x the montly rate. This time, there's a new guy in charge. I showed up and they insisted I paid the monthly rate for the full month and the higher daily rate for the remainder. I protested. I considered going elsewhere for the last few days, but decided it's a bad time of year for that. I come back to Pattaya soon, for 1.5 months. I decided to look for alternative accommodation, for obvious reasons. Two of the alternative places I spoke to applied the same irrational rent calculation. It seems their pricing favours longer lets, but only in units of precisely one month duration I was all set to book another place for 1.5 months, but due to their inability to be sensible with room rate calculations, I have booked for a month. I'll just have to move to somewhere with a sensible daily or weekly rate after that. If every customer does this, eventually they might see sense.

Now that is tempting. Both in terms of price & sticking it to our current & previous governments, for over taxing people flying from British airports. The part I don't like is being liable for any delays or cancellations in getting to Amsterdam. So I would probably end up building in a silly safety margin.

Thanks. I have paid the £46. I agree with the sentiment over paying for to fly further forward on the plane. In fact, for several years, I did pay to fly in Premium Economy, when the extra was only around £300, admittedly booked well in advance. Divide that by 24 hours for a round trip and it was acceptable. Then post covid, every time I look, it is ~£1000 extra to fly in Premium Economy. Which works out at over £40 per hour. So I'm back in economy for now. [Incidentally, about 10 years ago, I used to get an economy emergency exit seat over 90% of the time, just by being the first to check in at the airport. That stopped working with online check in.] Due to Covid and other disruptions, I've also tried some indirect flights. I dislike flying via the Middle East, as it means waking up and walking around some enormous airport in the middle of the night when I want to be sleeping. If I must go indirect, I'd prefer to transfer in Europe.

I'm going on a long trip to Thailand, over 100 days, with a little side trip to another country. I don't need a visa, as I have flights to another country booked with a different airline, just before my 60 days are up. However, EVA are requiring me to supply visa details in order to permit the online check in. I have no visa. However, I'm quite keen to get an aisle seat ! Do I: 1 Phone EVA during office hours to see if they can sort this out ? 2 Pay the £46 or so to reserve an aisle seat ? 3 Check in early, at the airport & hope I get an aisle seat ? When I did this a few years ago, it wasn't successful, as I think too many people had checked in online. This might be a matter of considering how many other people are defeated by the 2024 online check in process. I guess most will not require visas & therefore should have no problem checking in. 4 Check in online with an old visa number, then sort it out at the airport, having already bagged my seat ? Or ??

For years, I have used a rucksack. About 80l capacity. This means I can walk up and down steps & have no problems with the rough pavements found in Thailand & nearby countries. The downside is it can be a bit sweaty at times. I think I'd like something which has the option of using a rucksack or wheels. The first thing I note is small wheels. Wouldn't larger wheels be preferable on Thai pavements ? Then most of the products I see are lower capacity. Note, I will typically take public transport from Suvarnabhumi to my hotel. Or from regional bus & train stations. So there is some walking with the luggage. I'm fine with that, but the luggage needs to be up to it. .

Thank you for the additional recommendation. The 30 baht repair didn't last long, but mainly due to the inadequate pocket lining material supplied by North Face. Those shorts were bought from a reputable shop in central London, not Patpong. Although I suspect knock offs might be better made than the North Face product. I have since bought a used sewing machine on ebay and totally replaced the nasty North Face mesh material with a solid fabric. That's the kind of difficult job I would like to get done in Thailand, but they only seem to be interested in the easy jobs. Another difficult job that I've managed myself is adding a zip to existing trousers. I'd still prefer to outsource such work, but if no one wants to tackle difficult work, I'll do it myself. Incidentally, there's also a guy doing repairs and modifications on the east side of Tuk Com, near the post office (last checked March 24). He added some velcro to pockets for me. I think it was about 50 baht.

Thank you. Is that the one on the end of the row, right next to the 7-eleven ?

Agreed. The bus has next to no visible impact damage. Yet it's caught fire. Passenger cars are subject to various crash test that leave the cars heavily deformed after crashing into solid barriers at 30mph. They still must not catch fire after such tests. I presume the same kind of principles apply to the engineering of buses in developed countries. I note it's a Mercedes Benz bus. I suspect it would be some kind of aftermarket conversion to catch fire like this.

Thank you. However, the question I asked is how do I convert an existing list of words to the new font ?

Another option is to arrive early & only buy your ticket onto Cambodia at the airport, if you really have to. Incidentally, my last trip with Lufthansa had a return flight about 3 months later & I had no Thai visa. I told them I had a flight to Cambodia (which I had, as I was going there). They just accepted that without asking to see proof. But there's no guarantee a different airline, or even different counter staff do the same thing.

I have a list of Thai words in Excel which I use for learning. How can I convert that list to a different Thai font in order to learn that ? Excel says the existing words are in Calibri, which is actually a font for our English (Roman) alphabet. I've tried loading Thai fonts into Windows. I've tried fiddling around with Excel settings. At one stage, I even managed to get all the Excel menus in Thai, which wasn't what I wanted. Ideally, I'd expect to select the sections, then change the font a the top, just like I would with the Roman alphabet. But I'm prepared to use different methods. Even a website or something.

What are the fixed costs of owning an apartment in Pattaya or Jomtien ? Like before I start consuming water, electric etc, which obviously depends on lifestyle. Obviously this will depend on the type of apartment, so if you're kind enough to answer, please explain that. I'm thinking in terms of 1~3 rooms plus bathroom.