DrPat

BD’s excellent ‘Little Sally’ gag reminded me of… Little Jimmy came home from school and his mother asked him what he had done that day. Jimmy, rather excitedly replied, “I had my first sexual experience today”. His mother, somewhat shocked by this, said, “Eight years old and you had your first sexual experience?!? Get upstairs. Wait till your father gets home!” When Jimmy’s father arrives, the mother tells him what little Jimmy had done, the father saying to her, “I’ll give him a good talking to!”, but, walking upstairs, he starts thinking to himself, “My son… eight years old… first sexual experience… can’t be bad… ” Going into little Jimmy’s bedroom the father says, “So, you had you first sexual experience today, eh son?” “Yea, that’s right dad.” “What was it like?” “Yea, it was OK.” “Are you going to have another one tomorrow?” “I may do… but my bottom’s still a bit sore…”

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It's not all bad, but it is mostly bad.

I think it's all been said above, but, as is traditional, can I add that I think it’s UK or (God forbid) EU law that you must be offered the option of paying in home or local currency, sometimes called: 'with or without conversion'. When I use my card in Europe (and I think also in my usual BKK hotel) before taking the actual payment, the credit card machine prints a slip (in English) asking if I want to pay in the local or my home currency. Choosing ‘local’ always gives a better exchange rate by the time it reaches my statement. In the LoS if I did ask to be charged in £s, the payment slip would show the charge in Baht and £s. When I ask to be charged in Baht I don’t know the exact £ cost until I check my statement – but I know it will be less. In any case, when I use my credit card abroad, I always try to remember to say I want to pay in the local currency, not £s. As Nkped points out in #27, ATMs often give the choice of charging in home or local currency. Again, local always gives a better exchange rate. To save some work, you need to check comparison web sites in your home country for the best international credit cards. Unlike the UK, it may be the case that in NZ the best deals are with debit cards?

Teelack! Absolutely correct – but you need to have the correct (UK) card, as all of the banks have different terms and conditions and most banks have different Ts&Cs for the various cards they issue. Bizarrely, credit cards often work out cheaper than debit cards when the various charges are taken into consideration. For example, (to the best of my knowledge) currently the best UK credit card for foreign cash advances is the Halifax Clarity. There is no cash advance charge and no loading for foreign currency. The only charge is 12% (i.e. 1% per month) interest, which can be minimised by paying off the cash advance soon after getting the cash. Contrast this with a Halifax debit card which has a loading of 2.75% for any foreign transaction, a £1.50 cash withdrawal fee (regardless of the amount) and they also take an additional £1.50 ‘spending penalty’ each time you use the card abroad - because you have the nerve to spend your own money. I kid you not! The loading and ‘spending penalty’ apply to both cash advance and purchases. Using my Halifax Clarity credit card some of the actual exchange rates (baht/£) I was given in February were as follows: 09/02 49.42 12/02 49.92 16/02 49.94 18/02 49.79 Basically these rates were the same as the ones I was given for purchases (hotel bills). The total interest on three weeks-worth of cash advances (the only additional cost) was just over £2. There are no other charges or fees from my bank or the Thai bank. The moral is always check the charges involved and use comparison web sites to find the best cards. As The Druid pointed out in #11, in the UK MoneysavingExpert is excellent for this purpose. One final point, to achieve the best rates always pay with your credit card in the local currency not you home currency. If the merchant does the currency conversion you will always get an inferior rate.

Post 1: Post 20: So after all of the advice offered, nothing has changed from the OP. Gawd Elpus, indeed. On the positive side, he did thank us.

The Druid and Tarkan have summed it up nicely. Can I add that debit cards can be one of the worst ways to raise cash, as the associated fees are generally much higher than with credit cards. During my February ’15 trip I used the Krungthai Bank Kiosk (open every day 11:00 to 20:00), next to Pizza Hut, outside Big C. Going inside the bank (to avoid any ATM charge) with my Halifax Clarity credit card and passport, the whole process took less than two minutes each time, although there is a 15,000 Baht limit. Paying off the cash advance via internet banking the following day, I paid a total of just over £2 in interest for three week’s worth of advances – the only additional charge. Nationwide used to be my credit card of choice, but now they have a cash advance charge. With any card always check what any additional charges will be. I use Halifax Clarity, with Santander Zero as a backup and Nationwide as my third reserve, but in all of my trips I’ve never had to use any other than my first choice. I’ve never been challenged about not using the ATM. If I was, I’d say I once lost a card in an ATM and don’t want it to happen again. In BKK I use Citibank ATMs as they are (to the best of my knowledge) still free to use. Sadly the branch on the corner of Sukhumvit and Asok (near Soi Cowboy) seems to be closed now. I was told it was relocated to the opposite diagonal in ‘Interchange 21’ (not Terminal 21), but couldn’t find it.

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Good advice. I always carry a photocopy of my passport in my wallet, with my insurance details (including the emergency ‘phone number) on the reverse. Back at the OP, I always kick off my LoS visits with a couple of days near Nana – BKK Sukhumvit Soi 8. On arrival I ask the hotel receptionist to photocopy my entry stamp and departure card, which I cut down to carry with my passport copy. In fourteen years of visits I’ve never had to show them, but maybe next time…

Yes, I saw this and note that the police will only stop people who are 'acting suspiciously'. That's all of us, isn't it?

Songkran dates? Easy! It's the same every year - avoid Pattaya from April 10 to 20.

Happy days!! GB £ rate fractionally above 50 Baht today. Just off to celebrate.

Thaivisa is running an item about the ‘Mandatory registration of SIM cards in Thailand’. http://tech.thaivisa.com/sim-card-registration-thailand-update/3112/?utm_source=newsletter-20150122-1454&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news There was a thread back in 2005 about this: http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/topic/14538-ids-to-be-mandatory-for-sim-cards/ When I first got my TrueMove SIM (about four years back) there was no mention of ‘registration’, but when I upgraded to 3G in BKK last year I was asked to show my passport, although, as I recall, a photocopy was OK. I was given some sort of contact, so I guess my SIM is registered. Are other BMs registering their SIMs?

The ladyboy series is currently being repeated (again) on Thursday evenings on Pick TV, just in case you missed it the other several times it was shown.

Apparently the BBC has made six one-hour programmes about my favourite airport. The series starts next Thursday (22 January) on BBC3 at 9:00pm. The write-up for episode one is: Documentary series observing the people who work and pass through Bangkok International Airport, including immigration officer, Jack and a man stuck without a ticket. (I’m sure Jack will help him out.)

In September, riding the Baht Bus felt more like being on a rollercoaster - even on the sections which had been resurfaced in 2014. On more than one occasion I though, ‘if there was a mattress on here it would save me the job of bouncing up and down at the hotel’. Edit in: NB Bouncing up and down for mattress testing purposes.

I was quoting the ‘bulk’ rates from xe.com, I thought it may be even worse on the ground – but not as bad as 47 point something. During my three visits in 2014 the rates I actually got were 53.7 (March) 55.2 (June / July) and 52.7 (September). Ah well, it’s only money.

I usually try to refrain from posting bad news but… The £ exchange rate has worsened by around 4% in the last month and between 2 January and today it’s dropped from 51.2 to 49.9. I’m hoping it doesn’t drop to £1=1 Baht before I get there next month.

Was this happening before or after midnight? I’m in town for Chinese New Year and if there is this sort of behaviour going on I may well decide to have an early night. What gives anyone the right to do this to a stranger?

As England and the USA share a language, it always comes as a surprise when there are differences in culture or the use of language. In the USA do you have a pudding club? At Christmas do you enjoy stuffing? When Father Christmas comes does he fill your socks?

It’s Christmas! So, as we all endure the old Christmas songs on the radio, it’s time to endure my ‘controversial’ pantomime gag again… A very merry Christmas to all my friends and fellow Pattaya enthusiasts.

As always, excellent work! Best wishes for Christmas and the various New Years in January, February, April, etc.

Good work! One of my favourite Irish jokes is: How do you sink an Irish submarine? …knock on the door.

Saw this sign on a change booth on Beach Road, outside the 7/11 just south of Central Festival Anyone tried this? Are the withdrawals really ‘free’ of ATM charges? I didn’t try it myself, but the ATM was doing a steady trade.

Sometimes things that makes me very cheerful upset others… During my visit to Pattaya this month I had the great pleasure of finding a particularly attractive example of the female form. Someone who, in less politically correct times, would have been described as ‘a little cracker’. I took this particular young lady to dinner in a restaurant that was principally populated by falang couples. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the food and the company, I also enjoyed the reaction of the other couples. Virtually every woman was looking as much to say, ‘Pervert! She’s young enough to be your daughter’. Whilst every guy looking was obviously thinking, ‘You lucky bastard!’ A couple of night later with the same young lady (I thought I’d see her again as a special treat – for her), we were having a quiet drink and a falang lady actually came over and, contrary to what I was expecting, said, “She’s gorgeous!” I had to bite my tongue not to reply, “You should see her with her kit off.” This comment only served to confirm my suspicion that my lady was so stunning that even a woman seeing her would get a woody. I was so pleased by this lady’s comment that later in the evening I spotted an almost equally attractive specimen accompanied by a gentleman who appeared even older and more decrepit than myself - i.e. not too handy with his fists, in case it all went Pete Tong. So, I wandered over and said to him, “Bloody hell – you’re punching above your weight, aren’t you?” He had the very reasonable come-back of, “I was just thinking the same about you.” We shook hands, agreed what a great country it was and went our separate ways. And another thing… Whilst out with said young lady, we were interrupted on numerous occasions with, “Flower for the lady?” I know that this happens all over the world, but just for once wouldn’t it be great if someone went up to the lady and said, “Spanner for the man?” or “Pornographic DVD for the man?” ...or something similar…