forcebwithu

Work has restarted on the Jomtien beach expansion project. What's surprising is I didn't see any sand bag reinforcements going in like they did on the Pattaya beach project. It'll be interesting to see how long the expanded beach holds up to tidal action and strong side onshore winds.

Pics of the clearing of MIT bar complex from this morning. And something I haven't seen in months, parasailing. It didn't look like the flattop launch platforms were in operation, so this might have been just someone out for a bit of fun.

This could be the anthem song for all the conspiracy nutcases out there.

Not a bad idea in case a pipe burst, or a toilet was left stuck open, but given how rare those are really not worth the effort of turning the house water off and then on again on your return. As an aside, my favorite water saving measure I saw was where they left the faucet to trickle water into a big bucket. The idea being the water flow wasn't enough to trigger the meter so they were getting free water. I still see that to this day in some of the massage shop bathrooms. That idea many years ago was true as back then water meters used a mechanical impellor to measure water consumption. If the flow rate wasn't high enough the impellor wouldn't turn, thus you got free water. Modern meters use a sensor so that cheat no longer works.

Now I'm a bit peeved at my lady. I just explained to her what I last posted and told her we can go to the city office and ask about the forgiveness of the 969B. She then informs me she asked the neighbor lady who wen to the city office this morning to pay our bill who has already done so. I have to temper my irritation somewhat as the chance of the city forgiving that line item was somewhere between nil and are you crazy to even think about wasting your time to ask.

A BM's question on another forum about the how large the water consumption resulted in what I think is the answer to why this invoice was sent out. Here's C&P of my reply. When I translated the invoice I assumed the line items were water consumption for the year. The text of Feb - Feb Fiscal Year 2017 was what lead me to that assumption. Although in hindsight it should have been Feb - Jan if that were the case. Your question did prompt me to dig out my saved water bills and have a closer look. The key one I was looking for was the bill for the month when I had an undetected underground water pipe leak. That bill was for 7,400B, and yes I shit a major brick when I saw that bill. I found that bill and lo and behold, the unit consumption of 277 matches the 2nd line item on the invoice, as well as the month and year (Sept, 2017). So the line items are in fact for one month. I no longer have the water bill for Feb, 2014, but that might have been the month where I had left Pattaya for a few days to come back and find the tank refill valve on the toilet had got stuck open on the last flush before leaving the house. Putting the pieces together it looks like there is probably a minimum water usage allowance allowed before the wastewater surcharge comes into effect. Doesn't explain why the city took over seven years from the earliest date to get around to sending out an invoice. Might be because they're scraping for money now due to the pandemic and are leaving no stone unturned to bring more money into their coffers. I will try to get them to forgive the 2nd line item of 969B as technically it wasn't wastewater I was generating, but doing my part to refill the water table.

Part of the translation indicates the wastewater charge is limited to those living in Pattaya city, so I imagine there are few if any with private wells. If it's like where I used to live, the city govt required the capping of any private wells when city water was brought into residential areas.

I expect so. That's how the local govt back in the US used to figure the wastewater portion of the bill. Not even sure this is a real invoice. Other houses, but not every house on our soi received an invoice too. Told my lady to pass the word they need to call Pattaya City govt to confirm the legitimacy of the invoice. They also need to ask about the odd months and missing years if there invoice is like the one we received. Come to think of it, I'll also tell her to ask everyone to compare bills to see if there are any other oddities.

I just received a wastewater invoice from Pattaya City govt. It's the first time I've received such an invoice in the 10 years living in this house. In addition to never having been billed before for wastewater, the invoice is also odd as the first line item is for Feb - Feb Fiscal Year 2014 and the next line item is for Sept - Sept Fiscal Year 2017. Has anyone else received a wastewater invoice? And would anyone happen to know why my invoice has gaps in the years billed, plus a change in the beginning month of the two fiscal years?

The forum is actually doing quite well considering all that has to take place behind the scenes on moving to a new server. Only mentioned the error in case it was something you wanted to be informed of when it happens. Sounds like it'll resolve itself once the software is on the solid hardware. Thanks again for all you're doing to keep the forum going. Any time you want to rattle the donation bucket, I'm in.

I saw this mentioned in the Announcement topic on the server move, but since BM's can't reply on there posting here about having encountered the error message just a minute ago. Waited a minute and tried again and no error.

Two that I have dealt with that have good quality bikes for sale, and decent repair service are: S.V. Bike on Thepprasit and Soi 8. Eastern Bike on Sukhumvit near 3240. And if you're interested in checking out different places to ride outside of Pattaya, have a look at this topic...

Suggest visiting PI with no re-entry permit, then put the $1000 to better use getting yourself a Non-Imm O visa on your return.

During the day I use my push bike exclusively for errands and exercise. If you can keep up with the traffic around you, push bikes are probably slightly safer than a scooter. Reason being is you have a bit of height advantage so can see and avoid better what's happening up front. Push bikes are also more nimble than a scooter and can brake faster, again if you're alert enough to see and avoid. At night, even though I'm a competent rider, I would never go out on a push bike. The risk is just too high for my taste with the darkness and increased congestion around the entertainment areas.

From what I've read there is now a insurance certificate letter that needs to be completed by the foreign insurance company. Wonder if anyone has been successful getting an insurance company to sign off on the form. https://longstay.tgia.org/document/overseas_insurance_certificate.pdf

And if you should ever need a backup to the backup, another all female taxi service I've used many times is Nam's. https://www.namstaxipattaya.com/

Thought I'd capture a few pictures for posterity of the soon to be demolished MIT bar complex. Starting at the top end of the complex. Last two shots on the Buakhao end at the split towards Tree Town. With the closure of MIT, thought I might see some signs of a few bars moving to Soi 7. Nothing going on this morning though. Can't see it in this shot, but work going on at a couple of new places on Soi Pothole.

LOL, happened to me twice in years past. Good thing too as I was way over the limit and in no shape to ride. Edit to add: It was quite the chore going back the next day on a search and recover mission with a vague idea of the general vicinity of where I left the bike.

I have a friend who walks most of the time and occasionally uses a motorbike taxi or baht bus. He gets along fine, but for most, myself included, having at least a motorbike is a necessity for the independence it offers.

Even after looking up the answer, thanks to your hint, I'd expect only those with an advanced mathematics degree would have heard this one before.

Seems immigration is following the pattern I've seen elsewhere with Thais is they insist that a required document is on a single A4 sheet. Purchasing my motorbike in my lady's name they gave us grief when they required a photo copy of her ID, front and back, and I showed up with the copy on two A4 sheets as that is what I needed to do to get a copy of the front and back. After listening to several minutes of them go back and forth in Thai I interrupted to ask my lady to translate what the problem was. When she explained I took back the two sheets and used the edge of the table to rip them in half. I then asked to use their photocopy machine. Problem solved, but I did wonder why they couldn't figure out that field expedient solution on their own, or alternatively just make another copy of the damn ID using their copy machine.

The only way I know to get the A knocked off the visa is to leave the country without a valid re-entry permit. When you return to Thailand the original visa is no longer valid, thus allowing you to go the non-imm O route. As dumb luck would have it, that's what happened to me 12 years ago. Stupid me left the country thinking the expiration date on the O-A visa was enough to allow me back in again. To add to my stupidity I didn't realize I could jump through all the hoops myself to get the O visa and instead paid 20k to a "helper". But in the end my error turned out to be a blessing in disguise when they started the money grab disguised as insurance requirement.

Please define "catastrophic". While infections are up considerably, the number of deaths is nowhere near the pre-vaccination days. In addition hospital admissions are not showing a corresponding spike in numbers. All in all the numbers appear to show the vaccine is doing its job and while there is a large increase in new infections, it appears they're mostly asymptomatic or with mild symptoms that don't require admission to the hospital. Hardly a catastrophic situation. Of greater concern is what new variants might mutate out of the large rise in infections.

I would expect same requirement for the extension to stay if the original visa is O-A. All the more reason to go for the non-imm O, although I wouldn't be surprised if at some point they also add the insurance requirement for that visa as well. What is a real kick in the backside with the insurance requirement is you can only obtain the insurance from a Thai company. On top of that, it's overpriced for what you get.