turgid

I recently got a decent (tax paid) inheritance. I already had enough to see me through, I dont have kids, I have an actuarial life of 10 years +- 5 and own a 7 year old Nissan that's getting a bit tired. I am of an age where this could be my last significant car splurge until I am forced to downsize to an electric golf cart or cremation urn. Lucky me - not complaining - yet. I visited the Bangkok motor show and looked again at an expensive German SUV Hybrid that i've admired for a while. No I dont need it. Yes I want it. Yes I know >30% will fall off the value when I drive it out of the showroom. The same day there was a show related report in a reputable international news outlet that 30% of Thai car finance applications were being rejected. Apart from general economic doldrums this was reported as due to high interest rates and the low residual value of trade in vehicles after clearing the loan (or zero residual value due to misunderstood/mis-sold balloon loan arrangements). I told the sales staff that as a foreigner I am ineligible for finance, so I would regretfully have to pay cash - was there a deal to be had? For overseas readers the price for the same specification in the US would be around $90K, in Thailand it's $150K I was told with cash I could get delivery of any of the 4 (12 USA) available Asean colours in 7 days. It's Thailand so you get no other options, specification, choices. So presumably they have an Asean bonded warehouse somewhere where they just need to polish the wax off, load the Thai code for telco, GPS, language etc and deliver it. But no shortage of cars apparently. All sorts of deals were available with finance - free insurance - a show deal that the free extended service for 3 years would be upgraded to 5 years. For cash buyer - nothing. No discount, buy your own insurance, standard 1 year warranty, 5 years service plan and extra 600K+ Baht. I dont know what it costs to insure and warehouse this stuff, demand would appear to be low, the annual depreciation clock is ticking on the stored cars (Thailand typically runs 6-12 months behind in model years but the 2025 upgraded model is already announced in the US). With a same day deposit they had a guaranteed buyer without having to wait 30 days with a 30% chance the deal will implode. No "i'll check with the boss" but an unusually frank response that all the perks and benefits are funded out of the finance arrangement so nothing could be done. That says to me they are in the finance business not the car business. It's also why I havent mentioned the exact brand because I suspect that level of honesty isn't brand or dealership sanctioned. Bemused - I passed - obviously I didnt want it that badly. Interestingly a condo purchase I was looking at has just offered me a 1M Baht discount if I can complete before the end of May. So presumably their sales and incentive structure is a bit different.

I've written to several bike stores visited a few like decathlon and world of bikes and checked Lazada Shoppee etc and they've all said hell no, and hell no to ordering. So can anyone suggest a thai cycling site or store that might offer " western size " XL cycling helmets for me and my apparently massive 64cm head? My only option at the moment seems to be Amazon where the cost of shipping and no doubt duties will be more than the cost of the helmet. There are apparently no standards at all for S,M,L, XL but I mean the Amazon definition of XL below. They also sell XXL but couldnt find a definition. Amazon Sizing Small 51-57 Medium 54-60 Large 58-63 X-Large 60-66 XXL Brain the size of a planet Typical Lazada sizing - Any colour or design you want - One size definitely fits all ! or S: 52-56 cm M: 55 - 57 cm L: 57 - 59 cm XL: 59 - 62 cm.

It's not true. The ring leader got 11 the rest got 4-6. It made a better story to add them all up to 30.

I have had full size Logitech MXKeys, MXMechanical , and now an MXKeys S - all purchased on Lazada and shipped from China with US Keyboard Layouts. While they are cheaper in the US the shipping costs would have been more than the keyboard from the US. Typically arrived in 7-10 days - no problems. I dont recommend the MXMechanical because the backlighting control is a mess and despite me being temporarily seduced by the current fashion for "real" clicking keyswitches it was noisy and less easy to type on. Both the MxKeys and MxKeys S are fine but dont order the MX Keys S in Silver/Grey (I did!) because while it looks great, the contrast on the keys isnt good, and under weird lighting the back light erases the characters. If you are using Bluetooth any of them are fine but beware of Bolt which is Logitechs new "secure" dongle on the MX Mechanical and MXKeys S and newer high end mice. The new keyboards and mice are not compatible with Logitechs old dongle, and the older keyboards and mice wont work with the new dongle. Logitech dont seem to have enough confidence in Bolt to offer a USB C version and devices connected via Bolt cant check their firmware through it so it doesnt seem to be well supported yet if ever. I use Bolt because I have a standing desk and an aging PC where Bluetooth stutters when its up in the air. Bolt works OK but so did the old dongle and I dont feel anymore secure.

This week while driving to Rayong the headling in my Nissan XTrail has peeled and dropped on both sides of the windscreen. I had it cleaned at a MegaBangna Car Wash on Monday and I suspect one of the cleaning materials for either the lining or the windscreen screen along with the heat has dissolved the adhesive. Despite both sides dropping at the same time they deny this is possible. Can anyone suggest a decent place where I can get this replaced in Eastern Bangkok, Bang Na, Samut Prakan Area - or what the Thai search term for "car headlining replacement" would be? I did a search on the forum but the last post on the subject is 2017.

I've been renting the same place for 6 years in Samut Prakan. In 90 day reporting twice been asked for the rental agreement, once they called the owner to confirm I actually live there. Last 90 day report they looped out loudly and at some length about me not showing a TM30 and that it's always been required. After negotiation my address notification form has now been stamped with "must show TM30" at the start of April What exactly do I need to show? Is it a screen print or is there an actual report that needs to be printed. My owner is friendly but not tech savvy.

Transponder TV rebroadcast all UK Freeview channels. Watched England Iran on BBC in HD last night. They have a few different plans but I think i'm paying about 500 Baht (£12) a month. They have a 3 day free trial. No connection to the company but have used for a couple of years. Occasionally glitches but usually OK.

Did a search and apparently the word Decaf does not appear across the Asean Now forums - so let the snowflake pile on begin. Yes you can get in Tops and Villa. I go out for breakfast most days. I've been trying to order decaf coffee recently. Local coffee shops and chains and "Asian" chains dont appear to carry it. Of the chains (in Bangkok and suburbs) Starbucks and Paul do carry it, Coffee Academics, Black Canyon, Amazon and Au Bon Pain dont. It was quite entertaining to have breakfast in Coffee Academics Mega BangNa 4 times over the last month and be told "Decaf finished today". They offer it on what i assume is the franchise approved menu, but clearly have no intention to sell it. The overhead is carrying one more bag of coffee. Curious to know what the reasoning is. Given the endless Thai coffee shops on every street that sell an identical coffee and cake selection are they all buying from the same "boss" who cant or wont get it made in Thailand ?.

I visited Samut Prakan to do my 90 day reporting today (very fast and efficient). I asked about the insurance requirement for my O-A extension which expires next month. I said I understood from the internet it had changed from October 1st 2022. Information gave me a printed set of requirements from 2020 which included no insurance at all. When i pushed a bit they then got someone on the phone who said I needed to speak to an immigration officer which was arranged. After consulting with several people the immigration officer said the requirement is the same as last year - 40/400 and they have received no instruction to change it. Pretty sure it will filter through eventually but presumably if you went in today they would process you based on 40/400.

It's not in the letter but according to another thread on here (can't find it at the moment) the Phuket office were saying that insurance will not be required for extension of stay if the related O-A visa was issued before 2017. 1: Was that / Is that still true? If true for Phuket 2: Does it apply to all O-A visas or just those lucky enough to live in Phuket? If true for every immigration office 3: Is there an official reference that I can show for an extension in Samut Prakan?

Theres an Easy Pass App if you care enough and want to see the charges. They will go on your credit card (in my case debit card) but they get batched up overnight as "EDC/Ecommerce" on my statement . The app tells you the fee, date, time ,car number and toll gate (in Thai). I've had zero problems on the payements side but some charges came several days late presumably because the camera had a misread and they had to process them manually.

Is there any official source for that statement ? It seems highly unlikely but i'd like it to be true.

The West bring words, the Chinese bring money and execution. The media pontificate over the words making us think they are more important than they are. The business leaders and the politicians hear the money and see the Chinese getting stuff done. There is also the general problem that Western politics (and associated justice and investment systems) can pendulum every 4 years so a lot of the time it's just wait it out and what you want will come around. Imagine trying to build a pan Asian transport network with Obama, Trump, Biden (or even getting a high speed railway built from LA to San Francisco, or London to Manchester) . The Chinese are much better at the long game than the Americans and strategic decision making and investment is much easier if you consistently have the same mates in power.

If like me you are an occasional user of Microsft office but still think its worth an annual subscription a cheaper way to buy it is to cancel your autorenewal and visit your local JIB or BaNana IT. A 1 year online renewal currently costs 2099 Baht Personal or 2899 Baht for a 5 person Family edition . Instore it currently costs 999 Baht for personal or 2099 Baht for 5 person family. You get a box with a plastic card with a code on it . You log into your account and enter the code. The codes last for 5 years so you can buy them in advance.

Apart from lending, charging on transactions is what banks and the stock market make money from. Any money moving anywhere they want a taste. Market volatility is what they like as it generates more transactions. They prefer high value transactions to low value transactions and high volumes to low volumes because they make more money in fees but ten BMWs or a million household electricity bills they dont care. They don't invest in Bitcoin. That's gambling. They see crypto transactions taking place and they want a piece of it. They have no moral position on it anymore than they would if you legally used a credit card in a casino or a brothel. Bitcoin is a limited edition set of character strings with a very expensive to run and maintain infrastructure churning the new character strings out. Release the character strings slowly, dip them in Blockchain, claim Utopia will be using Bitcoin as currency and you can get in on the floor. You have magic. The best money is always in the magical future not the pragmatic present. Utopia wont be using Bitcoin. The only people using Bitcoin for serious transactions are crypto evangelists and criminals. For everyone else it's too volatile, too slow, too hard and too expensive. Most bitcoin owners have never bought or sold anything with Bitcoin except currency. Regardless a portion of the population still seems to share the view that the Bitcoin character strings will increase in value forever just because they are limited edition. The individual character sets are limited edition but the number of potential character sets is infinite. We laugh at people who bought into Dutch tulips or the exotic land of Poyais. The reality is you are trading in lottery tickets that have no expiry date and no prize and need an expensive unregulated system to track and look after them. And the number of potential new lotteries is infinite. That model runs out of buyers or implodes at some point. But if you still believe I have a password locked spreadsheet with twenty one million unique character strings in it that could potentially be used as a future currency for the Galaxy. You can get in on the ground floor.........