Tofer

Thanks for all your advice and recommendations. I finally plumped for Surfshark, as it had your good reviews and an incredible offer for black Friday, 26 months at 1.69stg/m plus a further offer on sign up of 12 additional months at 1.72stg/m. I've now got a subscription of 38 months for 65stg, and I got 25stg refund from my cancelled 6 months remaining on my old OpenVPN account. It was extremely easy to sign up, download install and set up, and I've viewed BBC news live the last 2 days with a good fast connection.

Is it not possible to simply use a US correspondence address and not tell them you're overseas? My UK First Direct Bank (HSBC) have no problem with that arrangement, and also have my Thai phone number registered.

I don't know about US accounts, but I never had a problem with my UK bank when I was using OpenVPN, but they are well aware I reside overseas, and maintain my UK account through a UK correspondence address.

If they're all as devious as the presenter / expert portray, then why would anyone trust ANY VPN provider.

Sounds like the best option, and they've got a fairly good black Friday offer on at the moment.

Just discovered that Surfshark is a subsidiary of Nord Security.

Thanks, would you consider Nord and Surf Shark as real VPNs? Sorry for the inane questions, but I find the new technology / systems mind boggling.... ???? I understand, more or less, what they are intended for and do, but when it comes to checking them out it leaves me cold...

Perhaps the cheap option is not then worth bothering with?

Thanks, I discovered that yesterday. They have a decent offer though of a 5-year subscription for $99.99

Thanks, sounds like it's certainly worth a try.

Thanks for the advice. It would be for watching UK TV on a tablet / laptop, predominantly BBC iplayer and ITV player Not interested in watching anything on a tiny phone screen.

That is the reason. I want to watch BBC world news from the UK.

Does anybody use Surf Shark VPN, and is it good service and value? Alternatively, would you recommend another one.

I also sent a PCX 150 via the Thai post from Koh Lanta Island to Lop Buri for around 3,000 baht, in August 2022. It was carefully packed and protected in our local post office, was loaded into a post office van, then delivered to the doorstep of the recipient by the same van. I was assured it would not be transferred onto any other mode of transport, a great, cheap service.

As an update to my earlier question, I can now confirm the availability of the rail cargo option for moving a motorcycle around the country. I eventually completed my 7 week and almost 7,000kms ride around the country and, as I thought, did not wish to repeat the journey South to Krabi from Bangkok, since there's only one rural route aside from the highway, which wasn't that appealing in the first instance. I booked myself into a 2nd class sleeper berth, and my Forza 350 bike into the cargo compartment on the same train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, for a total bargain cost of approximately 1,900 baht. The procedure was all well explained by the helpful staff in Bangkok station cargo booking office. I was required to present the bike no later than 1 hour before departure time, and 3 staff, who loaded and secured it in the baggage compartment, were quite happy with a 150-baht tip between them. The top box had to be removed and, I presume, panier boxes would meet the same requirement. On arrival at Surat Thani, the bike was being offloaded as I walked down the platform, I climbed on and rode out of the station. No dramas, no damage, I would certainly recommend this option for anyone moving their bike around the country. I did discover, in Pratchuap Kiri Khan, that bikes in excess of 150cc need to be loaded at the main stations where the train originates, presumably because the intermediate stations are not staffed to handle large / heavy cargo. What surprised me was the number of bikes being loaded, yet they didn't have a jack up platform to save them the stress of manhandling the heavy bikes from the platform into and out of the train. Obviously not heard of health and safety in Thailand.

Yes.

Koh Lanta to Lop Buri - B3,000 for a PCX, post office to door step. I took my Forza 350 from Bangkok to Surat Thani by train, Approx B750 for me in a 2nd class sleeper, and B1,150 for the accompanying bike. A tip of B50 each for 3 guys to load it, then I climbed onboard on Surat platform straight off the train and drove out of the station. Easy peasy...

I have the Forza 350, and wouldn't say it's much different from the 300, except for the added power, which is noticeable. If your missus is a petite Thai lady, she would likely not manage the Forza for size and weight. Get what you want, and buy her an appropriate bike when the time comes.

How do you cope with frying your manparts on a mid-mount engine / griddle, as opposed to a swing arm mounted scooter style, especially in this hot climate. I hired, for a test ride, a Honda X-ADV 750, and it was bl..dy hot..!

How much are you looking to spend?

100% agree. Also drivers turning left in front of you, thinking you are only crawling along at a snails pace, or not even bothering to look in the nearside mirror. I've just completed a 2 month tour of Thailand over 6,500kms, and never used the bike lane, unless someone was tearing up the road behind me and I wanted to get out of their way on a narrow 2-lane A/B road. Get the bigger bike, e.g. Honda ADV 350, with more presence on the road, more power and huge storage capacity.

Unfortunately it is a business, since HMPO have outsourced the service to a private company, and they appear more interested in achieving their required performance targets to retain their agency for the gov. than actually performing. Hence they spend, probably, as much time justifying the missed performance target dates by finding spurious reasons / excuses to delay / withdraw applications. An extremely sad and pathetic state of affairs, which appears all too common in this day and age. All these fancy computer programmes, thought to make the processes of business more efficient, have created a workforce incapable of independent thought and / or prevented from using common sense and logic to solve problems outside of the tick box systems.

Just received mine after exactly 4 months of HMPO inefficiency and intransigence, regarding it being a second passport, despite a promise of a 4 week turn around for a digital application. They've also withdrawn 2 other applications stating "documents not sent", except that I have emails from them confirming receipt of documents. They sent repeated / automated requests for documents, with the note at the bottom saying, "ignore if already sent". I finally received a phone call from them, following my critical complaints, wherein they said they require the second passports be sent, or colour copies of every page of them. This absolutely was NOT identified as a requirement in their repeated standard / automated document requests. I now have to send paper applications if I wish to request they reconsider the original applications without further charge for new applications. By the way, you cannot download paper applications from the website, so my sister has to pick them up in a UK post office and send them to me in Thailand. They would not reverse their misguided and incorrect withdrawal, to enable me to add the passport copies simply by PDF online. It all smacks of jobsworths power mongering to me, by people incapable of functioning outside of an automated / tick box system. Perhaps we'd be better served by a bunch of acknowledged robots, or trained monkeys...!!

Did they lay the tiles on the cement screed or on a tile adhesive layer?

If he's laying the tiles directly on a cement screed as the bonding for the tiles, it will likely take more than 3 hours, even though the screed mix is usually quite dry. I would consider this method carefully, as there is more likelihood of the tiles de-bonding, than with a dedicated tile adhesive.