DrDave

Phone is connecting via local wi-fi (I don't have international roaming enabled for my Thai SIM). After 3 days of not being able to connect, I tried it again a few minutes ago (5:30PM Thai time), and K-Plus is now working after just a short delay to connect. Whatever problem they were having seems to have been worked out. Thanks for your response.

Remove the SSD from your old computer and put it into an external USB enclosure. Connect that USB enclosure to your new computer, and run a disk cloning/partitioning program. I use ECHO 5, which works very well. The software will setup your new computer to temporarily boot an alternative OS, allow you to re-partition the M2 drive if desired, and then clone your SSD to your M2. When finished, the temporary OS is removed and your new computer will boot normally.

I've been using K-Plus (and its predecessor) on my phone from both Thailand and the US for years. For the last few days, the K-Plus app stopped working from my home in the US. The app just hangs while trying to connect, then after several minutes, a message pops up saying they're experiencing a high volume of traffic which may affect availability. Same thing is happening on my wife's phone, except she gets a message asking if she wants a call-back. K-Biz on the Kasikorn website works, but it's incredibly slow. A couple of minutes to process the login, and a couple more to access account details. It's the same situation whether I'm using a VPN or not (our phones are not using a VPN). It was working fine just a couple of weeks ago. Anyone else having similar problems?

When passing the temple at the top of the hill, they honk for good luck.

Nearly all of the privately-owned tractors in rural areas are equipped with disc units that could be used to turn the stalks over after harvest. But, while most rice farmers will pay someone with a machine to harvest their rice, they won't pay to have their paddys plowed under afterwards. The alternative to mechanized harvesting is days and days of backbreaking labor, while the alternative to paying someone with a tractor to turn the soil over is to simply burn it at virtually no cost. Simple economics. Another problem that won't be going away anytime soon is the burning of garbage. Outside of urban areas, trash collection is virtually non-existent. While some metals and plastic bottles might be recycled (depending upon location), the locals have no choice but to burn the majority of their trash.

In regard to the government possibly reversing position on weed, I think it's just noise at this point. In Bangkok, there's a proliferation of weed shops especially in the lower Sukhumvit area. These shops are occupying some extremely expensive real estate, and considerable money has been spent on fitting out the shops. I suspect that the owners are well connected, and have assurance that they'll be able to continue conducting business after investing hefty sums.

If the developer doesn't have your blue book, it's very possible the building hasn't been registered as a condominium. What about all of the other buyers? Do they have their blue books? You can also go to the land office and see if they have chanote titles on file for the building. There should be one chanote for each unit, listing the owner.

No, Kasikorn Bank's web-based system is working just fine. It's now called K-Biz (they merged the personal and business apps into one quite a while back). Also, the K-Plus phone app works as well. I got a new phone yesterday, and had to download and install the app just as a new user would do. When linking the app to your account(s), it asks you to provide the account number as well as the Thai gov't ID number, or PASSPORT NUMBER associated with that account. Obviously, it works for foreigners as well as Thais.

Have a license to charge unreasonably high rates.

I think I'd need all my fingers and toes to count the number of failed establishments that have opened in that space over the past 15 years or so.

The tax can't be collected by an airline or online booking site because it doesn't apply to everyone. It would have to be collected at the airport prior to departure. Many years ago there was a vending machine in the departures area of Don Mueang where you'd pay the tax and be issued a coupon to be collected when passing through Passport Control.

I don't recall ever seeing a villa renting for 150,000 or more until just a few months ago. Occasionally I'd see a high-end one for 75-80,000 but even those were quite rare. I'm guessing the villas we're now seeing at 150,000 - 300,000 were previously priced around 60-70,000.

Can a Thai driver's license be renewed when on a visa exempt entry? I thought the applicant (new license or renewal) had to be on a long-stay visa.

Worth a try, but doubtful it'll work. I believe the dealer has to remit the VAT before the white (permanent) plate is issued. That can be a significant amount of money in most cases. The last car we bought, the dealer ran out of red plates, so we had no plate for over a month. The dealer said if we get stopped and fined, they'd pay the fine. Drove the car for a month and never got stopped. The car before that, we had red plates for over 3 months - seems the dealer wanted to hang onto their money a bit longer.

No kidding! This will haul in tens of millions of baht each day. Every 2-aisle departing flight will be good for at least 300K baht, and short-haul flights a minimum of 100K. Now multiply that by the number of international departures and it boggles the mind.