moogradod

I was married to a Philippina before. A total nightmare. And I know the country quite well. The food is terrible and it is dangerous. Much more than in Thailand. However if you ever want to experience a nice beach - there you have it. Go for a holiday. Best Sunsets and Sundowns ever as well. But if you think that Thailand is chaotic you did not have a taste of the Philippines. Beats everything in this regard. Now I am married since more than 17 years with an emotionally intelligent and super friendly Thai Lady which I know more than 20 years. What a difference ! P.S.: It is impossible to talk about a big group of ethnically equal persons as "friendly" or "not friendly". Everone is different. I know as well Philippinas who are gentle and kind. - like in every country in the world.

ECAS ? I guess you do not mean the "Fisheries Catch Assessment Survey Data Collection Tool" which is provided by PlayStore. Or maybe the "Electronic Course Authorization System" ? I use an Android phone. Do you have maybe a link to the correct app ? There are many ECAS out there. Try to use ECAS as a search term - you will be surprized. Thanks.

Something wrong here, but no surpize. They sold the house already to us not knowing what kind of modifications we would order after that. So I suppose this "inspection" has already taken place. I will talk to the seller which is the builder as well (as far as I understand that, this guy works with a lot of subcontractors - one for the blinds, one for the kitchen and cabinets, one for the ACs etc.) We then found out that my stepdaughter is allergic to grass. So we had to change the whole lawn to artificial grass - which was a superb idea in the end - no more maintenance at all - and it looks really good. The only drawback is that the overall cost rises and rises, but nobody does complain, it is a really nice and brandnew house equipped with top notch fixtures (exept for the ACs unfortunately).

Our electricity CONDO bill was a bit more than 11000 THB last month. And it is but a 150m2 condo. But this might have been because of the extensive use of AC. Has never been that high, normal was 7000 or even below 6000 in the past.

A fridge works on the principle of heat exchange. So if the room in which it is placed is hot then it is more difficult to add some more heat to it, which might result in inferior performance, probably overload, higher electricity bills etc. My Daikin controls as well the air moisture which is as well advantageous to have a smooth fridge operation. And on top comes if my wife is washing it is simply more pleasing in a temperature controlled environment. Therefore an AC.

Yes, they are still building something, but nearly finished. Does this mean they have a different rate ? If yes they might forget to change this to "permanent" once finished. My experience here is that you have to look after every small detail yourself to be sure. But thank you for the information. I did not know that.

Thanks for the idea but this might not look very nice. It must be somewhat high in the air, then no sun (which goe into the Solar Cells) as well. We had to extend our kitchen in the back - no idea what the builders concept was to put in a fridge. Thais seem sometime to have a very different concept as far as kitchens are concerned. Our kitchen in the country dependance is nearly 40m2, because we ordered it that way. Now we have a special room for the fridge, 2 washing machines and a dishwasher. As the fridge is in this "enclosure", this "room" must as well be cooled using an AC, but I choose a Daikin with nearly SEER 24.

I will have a look at this ECAS. Never heard of Tuya, but changing from a condo to a house brings more with it than I thought. Thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks, now I understand.

For sure they are single speed. ???? We find out one by one that a lot of changes are necessary. Like aircons (not strong enough) and maybe all of the windows and doors (a security issue). I will ask the builder. For sure it costs again a fortune to exchange them for "multi-speed". Must be the equivalent of an AC inverter - I have no knowledge about pools and their pumps.

May I take that as a "Yes, I do recommend to exchange to LED" ? I am a bit confused by your answer and do not have the slightest idea what this has to do with a circuit breaker.

We have just bought a new house near the Lake Maprachan in Chonburi. We did not move in yet. On the occasional visits we use 2 aircons, one with 36KBTU (Seer around 20) and one with 12KBTU (Seer around 16). There is no fridge running, limited lighting, but the pool pumps are running during the day and will be switched off at night. Currently we rarely visit the house and if, then only for a short time. Even then the electric bill amounts to more than THB 3200 per month. I feel that is quite high for such a limited use of electric energy. Furthermore if I deviate the total amount by the kwh as shown on the bill a rate of more than 5 emerges. But this is a private house. Might there be something wrong with the meter or someone stealing energy from our installation or is this normal ? Does anybody have an idea how to check some shortcomings before we will go in with full load (6 aircons, giant fridge, Home Theatre, 2 UPS for the IT Infrastructure, NAS etc. And all the bulps are conventional. Does as well someone know an easy method how to calculate the ROI if we exchange all for LEDs. Would this probably pay off, althoough I think the lights wont be the big consumer. I would like to go Solar, but I read it is not really recommended in Thailand (expensive Installation (I wil not DIY) and no subsidization resulting in an horrendous Payback Period - and frankly, it does look awful as well)

Definitely ! I would not visit the island if they were closed. That is one of the three Pizzerias I would recommend in Thailand as well.

Ah, yes, payment via ATM is possible, too. As mask wearing is still en vogue right now just wear the "bank robber" version as many others do. Incredible how difficult this seems to be to make a modest present to someone anonymously. You could as well put the money in an enveloppe and write in unrecognizable letters "Here is a present for you".

So be it. Even better. I do not like pesticides in my food anyway.

Money laundring prevention at its best But for more than 50KTHB transfer they take your photo and probably much more. I will see, soon I have to pay my rental fee for the next 3 months.

You are right. Same for "Bio" etc. But in this case "organic" seems to be a restricted term to denote Canoli oil without any genetic influence to the product (at least that is what Wikipedia says).

Well, this is the other extreme. Incredible if you ask me. You cannot pay the modest sum of £500 in cash to your wifes account ? Hilarious.

Agree. In Europe they are picky as can be. I lived in Switzerland for a long time and it is even there. In some respect much more strictly than here. The case I was referring to was from one account to another account of the same (Thai) holder. But how could they know where the money came from ? Cash has no adress nor ID printed on it ????. I still feel this is very special and it was in full compliance with the banks regulations. Nothing fishy about it.

Just hire a friend to do it for you. Dont worry about money laundring. Paying cash into a bank is a no brainer we have learned and accepted by banks better than a transfer (No idea why - it should actually completely defy the idea - but this seems to be a TIT thing). For amount very much higher than your 25KTHB by the way - recommended by the bank even !!! But maybe this depends as well from bank to bank. You may as well write as reason of payment: "Present". Very reasonable for such a relatively small amount.

Oh yes, he will. I have exactly the same - Silhouette "frame" (there are actually 3 parts that have no connection to each other that consitute the "frame") with progressive lenses. Made in Switzerland by a top optician at a horrendous price for they take as well utmost care to measure what is needed (you will have several fittings for your perception may vary during the day) and they have special machines to order glasses that are not fully coherent, adjusted to the surface of your eyes which is not fully coherent as well). And you cannot transfer any lens to any frame (example: the point just above your pupil must be in the same place). But I would propose as well Pattaya Optical in Central Road (Klang) for Standard Frames. They did glasses for my family and in comparison to well known bigger chains they know what they are talking about. Not sure though if they could master the "Silhouette challenge" - I guess the assembling process would probably take place in Bangkok anyway (but not sure at all) The problem with the Silhouette is that the lenses are not fixed by the frame in relation to each other and it takes a lot of skill to align the three interdependend parts including 2 lenses (so all in all 5 parts). If not properly aligned the whole construction looks rather strange (well, depending on how sensitive you are for those things, but I can notice the tiniest deviations from a straight line at first glance). In Thailand terms like "straight", "horizontal", "equal distance" seem to be rather exotic concepts I have learned.

Canola vegetable oils certified as organic are required to be from non-GMO rapeseed. So look out for the "organic" certification. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed_oil

This would be nice. But how do you scope with 250 senators - who were NOT choosen by the Thai people and have a significant impact who is nominated to be PM - maybe regardless of what the people want ?

I knew a former test driver for BMW motorcycles. Go figure. And on the weekends in Switzerland you see some drivers on the streets of the alps passes which go downhill in a breathtaking speed, then speed through an approaching 225 degree curve wihout noticeably slowing down while at the curves apex it might go down 1000m unsecured. Shall I now regard this as a remarkable stunt or just an expression of stupidity of a driver even if he has obviously more than full command of his bike (but maybe not of the street.....) ?

I have heard the story of an Indian being asked what he regarded as the most strange thing in a western country. He said: "Why dont you honk all the time while driving" ? Clearly someone with a death wish when he were in Thailand.