Stuff That Makes Life In Thailand Easier/Resolves A Problem

[forcebwithu]

1 hour ago, maipenrai said:

Oops, forgot this one - isn't it lovely when you get into a baht bus that has the windows in the front overhang so you can see where you are going and where you need to get off, instead of hanging your head out the side like a bloody dog?

All good until they put up an advertising sign and block the view. They did that on one the baht buses we hire every week and it wasn't the view we lost, but extra storage space for the bags we carry.

[forcebwithu]

1 hour ago, maipenrai said:

This has more to do with hotels/guesthouses/condos than actually living in Thailand, although it may apply to your longer term rentals as well. My main complaint with any accommodation is poor lighting - I am a big reader and love to prop myself up in bed and read when I can't sleep or in the morning when I awake, and I have a real hard time with the poor or non-existent lighting around the bed areas in most venues. A few  years ago I went up to Home Pro in the Big C on Pattaya Klang and bought a proper adjustable desk lamp and have been dragging it from place to place ever since.

Today I moved from View Talay 6, where once again I needed this light, to a longer term rental in Jomtien; while I was waiting for my Grab ride outside of VT6 and fussing with my bags, I put my folded light down on the concrete retaining wall, thinking at the time that I hoped I didn't forget it there - well, guess what - the taxi came so quickly that I totally forgot to pick up my light. I dumped my stuff and got organized in Jomtien and then got the baht bus back downtown to meet up with the lads at Hemingway's, and figured I'd just go check and see if the light was still there, or if some kind soul had handed it in to security; well, lo and behold, up to the landing I walk and there is my light sitting exactly where I had left it, almost two hours later - will wonders never cease!!

Here it is folded up beside the basically useless bedside light I found in the new condo:

And here it is unfolded and ready to light up my reading for me:

If you ever really do lose your light, I've found a rechargeable LED light to be much easier to pack. Plus you don't have to go hunting for an outlet next to the bed to plug it in.

[tko]

I recently picked up an Xreal Air 2 with Beam attachment.  Expensive, but it projects a private a wide screen TV wherever I go in the form of oversized sunglasses and an iPod sized device.  Very wide, 330 inch is possible, though I find 105 inch more than enough.   

I wanted it for long trips as a passenger on ground or air transport.  Download some entertainment, run games, or stream if you're on ground transport, and you're in your own little theater. 

I find my self using it at home daily as well.  Much larger and clearer than our flat screen TVs, and doesn't disturb TW if she wants to sleep before me, unless I'm watching something that makes me laugh.

It's pretty anti-social.  You're the only one who can see or hear what you playing, though I've let wife and daughter check it out so they understand what I'm doing when I'm using it.  I tend to leave it upstairs during the day when we're doing stuff together. 

Also when I'm using it at night I face the bedroom door and it can be disorienting when someone walks in through your TV.

 

[Glasseye]

On 1/15/2024 at 3:55 PM, Lemondropkid said:

I've downloaded a copy, according to the author it was first available in Pattaya in 2001.

Am skim reading it as much of it so Pattaya specific( travel from the airport, the baht bus!) . What makes it are the generic parts that are still true and the author whose very amusing.

More wisdom across circa 200 pages than entire vlog sphere combined!

 

Cartoons are "what it's all about."  But, you already know this mate !

 

Cheers !     👍

[maipenrai]

10 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

If you ever really do lose your light, I've found a rechargeable LED light to be much easier to pack. Plus you don't have to go hunting for an outlet next to the bed to plug it in.

Actually, I used to buy cheap folding rechargeable lights from the street vendors when I first ran across this problem but they never seemed to last that long so I finally went to the plug-in option - I leave it with a friend here when I go home or elsewhere so don't have to pack it in my luggage; I'll definitely look into this option for regional travel, though. 

[Glasseye]

On 2/2/2024 at 8:28 AM, maipenrai said:

Actually, I used to buy cheap folding rechargeable lights from the street vendors when I first ran across this problem but they never seemed to last that long so I finally went to the plug-in option - I leave it with a friend here when I go home or elsewhere so don't have to pack it in my luggage; I'll definitely look into this option for regional travel, though. 

 

Great idea. Mr. DIY might have something like that.

[forcebwithu]

For those that have a need for ice packs to keep things cold, here's something I just bought that works great, and for only about 1B/pack (link).

 

I'm not sure how much the gel crystals in each pack improve on the coldness of the pack, but the pack itself is kind of an ingenious design. Once you fill it with water, the fill spout is self-sealing.

 

I bought the 400ml size which seems a good size for all around use.

 

It gets my   seal of approval.

[fygjam]

^^^

Is the need to soak breast milk a real problem?

 

[Khun Ling]

For me when in the village it is a car. I bought one 13 years ago but Thai brother in law has totally f***d it. On a recent trip back wifey was told we could borrow a car whenever we needed one and had no need to rent one, it worked out like this:

where you want to go? Oh great I will come to, oh and my sister wants to come, she will be here soon. An hour later eight of us are now squeezed into the vehicle finally set to leave. 
we get in to town and our half hour grocery run takes two hours because everyone wants to go somewhere different. And then joy of joys we get to buy them all lunch. 4 hours gone
Never again! Last time we had a rental car for the whole trip and it worked like this:

”I’m going to Lotus”

get in car and drive to shop. 
Go into shop and buy what I want. 
drive home

45 minutes maximum. 
Oh yes , brother in law is hoping for a new car to appear. I will not paying for it 

Edited May 2 by Khun Ling

[Glasseye]

On 5/2/2024 at 11:53 AM, Khun Ling said:

For me when in the village it is a car. I bought one 13 years ago but Thai brother in law has totally f***d it. On a recent trip back wifey was told we could borrow a car whenever we needed one and had no need to rent one, it worked out like this:

where you want to go? Oh great I will come to, oh and my sister wants to come, she will be here soon. An hour later eight of us are now squeezed into the vehicle finally set to leave. 
we get in to town and our half hour grocery run takes two hours because everyone wants to go somewhere different. And then joy of joys we get to buy them all lunch. 4 hours gone
Never again! Last time we had a rental car for the whole trip and it worked like this:

”I’m going to Lotus”

get in car and drive to shop. 
Go into shop and buy what I want. 
drive home

45 minutes maximum. 
Oh yes , brother in law is hoping for a new car to appear. I will not paying for it 

 

Just have to love family shopping experience. Negotiating through already narrow and crammed lanes. Encountering clueless couples starring at their phones around every corner, as the kids run wild like fired up methheads.

Then add on the multitude of stockers. The number of a employees at a typical grocery store is at least five times what it was back in the States.

As irritating as it all can be at times I still wouldn't trade it for anything.

[forcebwithu]

Money saving tip #69.

My favorite mosquito repellent has been Soffell in the small 80ml bottles. I was buying 12 at a time on Lazada for 756B (link). Last month I decided to save some money and buy 3L of Citronella (link) and refill the Soffell bottles. Seems to be working just fine as a repellent and a heck of a lot cheaper.

[Trip]

4 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Money saving tip #69.

My favorite mosquito repellent has been Soffell in the small 80ml bottles. I was buying 12 at a time on Lazada for 756B (link). Last month I decided to save some money and buy 3L of Citronella (link) and refill the Soffell bottles. Seems to be working just fine as a repellent and a heck of a lot cheaper.

Up here in Udon Thani locals will rub kefir (lemon/lime) on exposed skin when in infested mosquito areas. Apparently mozzies hate citrus smell.

[Derek Dangleberries]

58 minutes ago, Trip said:

Up here in Udon Thani locals will rub kefir (lemon/lime) on exposed skin when in infested mosquito areas. Apparently mozzies hate citrus smell.

I think you mean kaffir . Here just, south of you, they call it Makrut. I call it German urinal lime because that is what German Gents toilets smell of... and I have visited quite a few in the years I was stationed there!

We have about 5 Makrut trees bearing fruit and every morning M'Lady makes me a soda water and Makrut drink after my coffee but before my breakfast. It has a cleansing effect apparantly !!

 

 

[Derek Dangleberries]

On 2/1/2024 at 9:36 PM, forcebwithu said:

All good until they put up an advertising sign and block the view. They did that on one the baht buses we hire every week and it wasn't the view we lost, but extra storage space for the bags we carry.

.. And it is easier to spot if they have a bell or an effing horn !!!

Anybody that has sat at the back with their ear in close proximity to one of those horns will know what I mean !!

[Glasseye]

My bike shop will come to my house. Change my tires (I'm getting new high quality tires), adjust my gears and brakes for a minimal service fee. Cost peanuts, along with some good laughs from the folks who do it.

[Trip]

2 hours ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

I think you mean kaffir . Here just, south of you, they call it Makrut. I call it German urinal lime because that is what German Gents toilets smell of... and I have visited quite a few in the years I was stationed there!

We have about 5 Makrut trees bearing fruit and every morning M'Lady makes me a soda water and Makrut drink after my coffee but before my breakfast. It has a cleansing effect apparantly !!

 

 

It's spelled many different ways in English, but yes Kefir/Kaffir/Makrut. The leaves are actually the most prized product as they are one of the most used ingredients in Thai cooking, e.g., in Tom Yum and larb.

[Glasseye]

37 minutes ago, Trip said:

It's spelled many different ways in English, but yes Kefir/Kaffir/Makrut. The leaves are actually the most prized product as they are one of the most used ingredients in Thai cooking, e.g., in Tom Yum and larb.

Lovely stuff, that and lemongrass

[ChiFlyer]

On 1/10/2024 at 7:59 AM, Freee!! said:

Olive oil is not the best for cooking anyway. Rice oil is nice, but much more expensive than sunflower oil.

I disagree some with this statement. It all depends on what type of cooking one is doing.

Olive Oil has a relatively low smoke point. A smoke point is the temp where an oil starts to burn. If one is doing a saute at a moderate heat, Olive Oil is an excellent choice especially for many Italian recipes. Point is that one needs to use an EVOO that has a good contributory flavor. I am partial to Colavita as a moderately priced EVOO. Colavita is not carried in many stores in Thailand, but can be bought through Lazada and other places.

Back in the US I was partial to California Olive Ranch as an EVOO and after moving to Thailand would carry some back from any US trip. Their product has gone downhill according to critics as they have diversified their ingredient supplies to include South American countries due to the cost of growing Olives in CA. I tend to agree that their product has declined in quality.

Most of the earlier mentioned oils (Sunflower etc.) are good choices when an oil with a higher smoke point is required (stir fries, deep frying, etc.). I use Canola for the most part as it has a high smoke point and a neutral flavor. When I am cooking at higher temps I do not want to influence the taste with my choice of an oil.

Oops - unintentional duplicate of a January 10th post by me. At least I am not waffling on my opinion. 🙂 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by ChiFlyer

[boydeste]

14 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Money saving tip #69.

My favorite mosquito repellent has been Soffell in the small 80ml bottles. I was buying 12 at a time on Lazada for 756B (link). Last month I decided to save some money and buy 3L of Citronella (link) and refill the Soffell bottles. Seems to be working just fine as a repellent and a heck of a lot cheaper.

I wish the mozzies where I fish didn't like that stuff, when I tried it the little fuckers swarmed on me and queued up to lick it off my skin. LOL

It's strong Deet for me in hostile situations.

[boydeste]

15 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

Money saving tip #69.

My favorite mosquito repellent has been Soffell in the small 80ml bottles. I was buying 12 at a time on Lazada for 756B (link). Last month I decided to save some money and buy 3L of Citronella (link) and refill the Soffell bottles. Seems to be working just fine as a repellent and a heck of a lot cheaper.

BTW, the stuff in your link has 13% Deet in it and is similar to what I buy from the 7 11 in Thailand.

I am guessing you already know that. LOL

Edited 11 hours ago by boydeste

[ChiFlyer]

After skimming through this thread, I was a little surprised that the topic of putting effective links to your home country resources in place is not mentioned or I missed it. For me this is a paramount necessity if one is still primarily legally based in their home county (USA in my case). The following were necessary things that I put in place in order to live in Thailand while being legally based n the US.

• Many US businesses require a US home phone number. I saw no reason to pay $70 a month for US cell phone service that was useless to me. I pay for a Skype number instead (about $60 a year). Works well enough for my purposes. Some have suggested that Google is a better choice for VOIP service.
• I pay for a mail forwarding address. This costs $36 a month. Basically this gives me a US mailing address that stores my mail. I can view it online and choose which items I want to send on to my Thai address. I use https://www.usa2me.com/ .
• I use Charles Schwab Bank as an extension of my trading accounts with Schwab. This enables me to do all of my US banking at no charge. Occasional Schwab international transfers to my Bangkok Bank Account cost $15 and are lately completed in under 24 hours.
• I have permission from my oldest son to use his home address as my legal residence. This is a huge help for dealing with the IRS, voter registration, etc. I do my best to avoid having any mail sent to this address. I do not want to ware out my welcome. This is the reason for the mail forwarding address. Also my son can send to the mail forwarding address if something does show up, such as a tax filing item.

There is more, but .....

[Glasseye]

4 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

I disagree some with this statement. It all depends on what type of cooking one is doing.

Olive Oil has a relatively low smoke point. A smoke point is the temp where an oil starts to burn. If one is doing a saute at a moderate heat, Olive Oil is an excellent choice especially for many Italian recipes. Point is that one needs to use an EVOO that has a good contributory flavor. I am partial to Colavita as a moderately priced EVOO. Colavita is not carried in many stores in Thailand, but can be bought through Lazada and other places.

Back in the US I was partial to California Olive Ranch as an EVOO and after moving to Thailand would carry some back from any US trip. Their product has gone downhill according to critics as they have diversified their ingredient supplies to include South American countries due to the cost of growing Olives in CA. I tend to agree that their product has declined in quality.

Most of the earlier mentioned oils (Sunflower etc.) are good choices when an oil with a higher smoke point is required (stir fries, deep frying, etc.). I use Canola for the most part as it has a high smoke point and a neutral flavor. When I am cooking at higher temps I do not want to influence the taste with my choice of an oil.

Oops - unintentional duplicate of a January 10th post by me. At least I am not waffling on my opinion. 🙂 

 

 

Canola and or butter for me. They used to cook most things in Crisco (lard).

[Derek Dangleberries]

13 hours ago, Trip said:

It's spelled many different ways in English, but yes Kefir/Kaffir/Makrut. The leaves are actually the most prized product as they are one of the most used ingredients in Thai cooking, e.g., in Tom Yum and larb.

Also nice added to Indian currys from Siamburis to give them an extra ooomph... But I think there are delivery issues with Udon according to their website ... Ubon is OK though ... 🤷‍♂️

[fygjam]

Are kaffir limes racist?

The word used to describe this deep-green citrus fruit with skin folded like a Klingon's brow has a fascinating past. Let's begin in Sri Lanka about 350 years ago when Portuguese and Arab traders brought with them people from the east of Africa to work as staff and soldiers. Many stayed and intermarried. For generations, their descendants have had their own language and customs. They proudly call themselves Sri Lankan Kapiri. In English, Kapiri is "kaffir". The word comes to us from Arabic, where kafir means infidel or unbeliever. It is used as a racist term of abuse in South Africa, where it is considered as vile as the N-word. These little limes are known botanically as Citrus hystrix. They are native to Sri Lanka and also found in Mauritius, where they are called papeda, and vast swathes of south-east Asia, including Thailand, where they are known as makrut. In the late 1800s, Scottish botanist H. F. MacMillan introduced the fruit growing in Sri Lanka to the English-speaking world, using the name kaffir lime. The name has stuck. In South Africa, it would seem that this etymology is accepted, and they describe the fruit as kaffir lime, where other uses of the K-word are considered so offensive a woman was jailed in 2018 for abusing a black policeman with the word. But like many chefs and food writers in Australia, Britain and the US, Good Food has chosen to adopt the Thai name, makrut, instead.

https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/why-many-consider-kaffir-lime-a-racist-name-20200831-h1qen5.html

 

[forcebwithu]

7 hours ago, boydeste said:

BTW, the stuff in your link has 13% Deet in it and is similar to what I buy from the 7 11 in Thailand.

I am guessing you already know that. LOL

I never looked at what the active ingredient in Soffel was. I bought the jug of citronella as I knew it was effective as a repellent, but less so than DEET.

I spray my legs and ankles before I head out in the evening. Both products seem to be equally effective as when I eventually stumble home I don't have any bites from my evening out. And that's with the majority of the time spent in open air bars.