BoganInParasite

If time doesn't end up being against you there is a free bus service run by AOT between BKK and DMK for same or next day travellers. Recently it took me 50 minutes DMK-BKK on a Tuesday middle of the day and 35 minutes BKK-DMK departing at 9:00pm. Airport websites have departure locations. In both locations you present your ticket and ID, they (or you) log the details, give you a sticker and you wait in a nearby designated area.

Our home is just over five years old now and we are looking to update the look and feel of several areas. The dry area walls in our bathrooms are a smooth decorative concrete and we'd like to make them darker with a waxy/watery finish look while still being able to see the surface texture of the current concrete. While we don't have a need for it, anything that also provides a waterproof surface would be welcome. We've not been able to find any information for this type of finish on wall concrete online. Did try an iLoft Liquid Coating designed for walls but that has proved to be completely transparent. Nice smooth finish to the touch but nothing else. Wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge of a product they know is available in Thailand that may be close to what we are after. Thanks in advance.

We live in remote rural northern Thailand and have approx 8-10 power outages a year, mostly during the summer storm season. The local PEA is very responsive in both fixing them and in using LINE to communicate what has happened, where, the extent of the outage and anticipated repair time. They use the wife to check whether there is power in our local area since we are right on the end of one of the distribution lines. 90% of the time the outage has been caused by trees falling on lines. In the last five years I can only recall one transformer blowing, was about 500 meters away and made quite a bang; don't know the cause. The longest outage we've had in the same period was three years ago...18 hours. There had been massive fall of trees across lines due to a substantially stronger storm than usual. We've had a few in the 3-5 hours duration but the majority are fixed inside 2 hours. The local PEA is also very good at advising of planned outage details, generally starting on time and being less than the advised anticipated duration. We've also noticed they change planned outages where there are sufficient requests.

I pay about $5 AUD per month through Viber and can make unlimited calls to Australian numbers (at least I've not hit a limit to date).

Had our first summer storm last evening in northern Nan province. Watched it (Windy, radar option) form over northern Phitsanulok province mid-afternoon then track north along the western edge of the Luang Prabang mountains, hit our place around 6:00pm. Squally winds, lightning and thunder initially and heavy/steady rain from 6:30pm. Didn't clear the air as much as we hoped but the temperature today has been mostly pleasant. Can't be long till our first storm caused power outage.

Got the wife to call the Nan IO last week as I had been overseas for three weeks. Also explained due to flight timings I had had to overnight in Bangkok for a night before flying back to Nan. They did not require a new TM30.

Slightly off topic...my flight landed 25 minutes early last Monday evening and I was off the aircraft at 8:15pm. 45 minutes later I was through Immigration with no wait, changed some currency, picked up my bag that was already circulating on the belt, through Customs without even a glance and sitting on the free bus to DMK. Can't get more fast-tracked than that. Bus left at 9:00pm with me being the sole pax and was at DMK in 40 minutes. The DMK stop is conveniently close to the entrance of the overhead walkway to the Amari hotel. Checked in, showered and sitting in bed browsing just two hours after landing at BKK. Just had me thinking...this trip was eight flights and every one left on time.

Somewhat a pity that Nan's historical, cultural and scenic aspects have in recent years taken a back seat to the promotion of the number 3 curve on road #1081 south of Bo Kluea. It has become the number one tourist attraction in the province with the need for police to supervise parking and traffic so that everyone gets the new 'must have' pic standing on or next to the road with it receding into the distance with a vague 3 shape.

We purchased an LG washing machine with 17kg capacity almost six years ago. For the first 18 months it handled washing for just the wife and I. Then the wife's small homestay opened and it has handled the laundry for more than 2,000 guest night stays. Everything from the kitchen, bathrooms and bedding (including bedspreads after every stay) has gone through it. Has not missed a beat. (And while I'm here I'll also plug our Phillips brand kitchen appliances, particularly the hot water kettle and bread toaster.)

You are correct....think this DLT page would benefit from an update/correction. https://www.dlt.go.th/en/international-driving-licence?fbclid=IwAR2_avbBzlyIhKFShaNpC_SKi3rZ1XE8pYV9FiV2K-toWOLgs1fsvVsUwhc

Must be so pleased he didn't get done for illegally picking mushrooms.

I managed to get the IDP at my provincial capital LTO, my local LTO would not do it. Same thing happened nearly two years ago when my DL needed to be renewed and I wanted a 5 year DL. Local LTO said impossible, provincial capital LTO said local should do it but when local LTO refused again (despite calls between the two offices discussing), the provincial capital LTO did it.

I got that surprise a couple of weeks ago when getting an IDP issued at my provincial capital LTO. I was unaware of the need for it to be updated. Anyway they seemed to graciously add the extra activity and for 55 baht (I think) I got an updated 5 year license and within twenty minutes got the IDP issued for 505 baht. (For those wondering...my Australian license expired just before COVID and I couldn't renew. I can renew anytime within 5 years of expiry and am doing so next month in Aus.)

To the left a vacant partially teak forested block, behind a vacant overgrown fruit tree plantation that mercifully steeply descends to give us little view of it and a great view of the local river valley and mountains, to the right a vacant fruit tree plantation occasionally used by the owner to house cattle he wants to sell. Utter bliss atm.

Would be nice to get a bit of air clearing rain up here in upper Nan province. Seems to the wife and I that the smoke pollution we've had for a week is reminiscent of what generally start mid-February most years.

Well the first 96 were visa exempt over a 34 year period but 45 of them were in only a 3 year period. Only once did I have an IO comment about the number and frequency. Explained that I lived/worked in Singapore and my Thai wife lived/worked in Bangkok. Said she had no trouble visiting Singapore 12+ times a year as well. It was a quick and neutral discussion.

Here's hoping these new edible mushrooms don't need the forest to be burnt to promote their growth. Every year they burn the forest slopes here just for mushrooms.

Wife owns/runs a small homestay in northern Thailand. Agoda commission is about 12% of price paid by customer. Booking_com generates much more business for us and is about 24% because we are in a premium scheme for visibility and promotion.

Yes, everything for six years starting with the initial three month visa granted in Australia, the subsequent dealings for annual Thai wife related extensions, 90 day reporting, a TM30, certificates of residency and re-entry permits. Caught a few times on unannounced new requirements and there has been some attitude incidents...mostly from the IO side. Annual extension submission day is my least liked day of the year.

So an even greater number of folks sitting around at roadside checkpoints that I have never seen in the last six years ever stop anyone, let alone do anything else to reduce the toll.

So are there many other prisoners serving their time in hospitals...and specifically, the same hospital suite as Thaksin. Suspect the correct answers would be a small number and none.

Did my last transfer for a while this month. Next will be in 2025 when I intend to split my time between Thailand and another country, with the days in Thailand well below the tax residency level.

The Thai wife and I would prefer to keep details of our first meeting private...but just quietly...it fits the question.

Was well within that period...only 2 days past the 90 days reporting date. Says so in the first line of my comment. Perhaps full strength has slipped into the bottle.

Four or five reports back I was two days past the due date when I went in person to my local IO to get it done. (Deliberate decision by me since it lined up a couple of other things I had to get done in the city so only one trip.) The officer berated me for being late and stressed she was doing me a great favour by not fining me. I quietly but firmly told her she was talking nonsense and (perhaps foolishly) challenged her to make a bigger issue about it. She didn't. Never saw her again...she had been in that IO from my first visit in mid-2018. Was the same person that misled my wife on documentation requirements on the phone as we were preparing to do in and seek the first extension.