Go to a hardware store and they'll make you an extension cord. It took me about 30 minutes of confusion to figure out ready-made ones don't exist.

Just tried out to transfer money from my moneybookers (its in AUD) account to my thai bank account

Experience:
1. Took about 4 days so not lightning fast but ok
2. Exchange rate received was outrageous. I got 24.83 to an AUD when actual is about 27.8.
Moneybookers have an 1.75% fee to their wholesale rate so don't understand what happened here (only did 100 bucks as a test)
So any of you guys have experience transferring to a thai bank account? How do you find the exchange rate you get? I cant accept a 10% fee.

By the way recently arrived in Bangkok and am and loving it. Will be my base for the next 6 months so maybe I'll see you around...

I'm probably coming over to Phuket in the middle of november for about 5 weeks, need to be on Patong beach (near Rat-U-Thit Road, wherever that is?!)

Any idea what a decent place with ac and wifi should be?

Cheers guys, beers on me

I think the biggest fee in this case is the bank's fee for accepting a foreign deposit. for kasikorn it is 200-500bht per transaction. even with the min 200bht fee it would be almost 6% alone from $100. also kasikorn takes 0.25% as foreign exchange fee.

I tried a small withdraw too from noiq straight to my thai account as a test as you did and was wondering the same thing.

just do bigger withdraws (2-3k us and up) and you will be fine

which bank would you guys recommend?
I just paid like 2.5% in fees to transfer 22k baht from my bank account at home to a thai account. also, is there online banking ?

i have a 1 year non immigrant visa and a lease agreement, do i need anything else ?

I went with Kasikorn and didnt require anything but my passport and an address (I stayed at a hotel which was fine). Cant remember fee but I think it was 300 baht for a year including an ATM card (non VISA/Mastercard). You get online banking with this as well.
You can then also set up an online debit card linked to your account which you can use for online purchases (which you obviously cant with the ATM card since its not a credit/debit card)

anybody from 2+2 currently living in samui? i'm looking for a place to rent for 1-2 months here. do i pretty much have to have connections with thai people in order to get a decent deal? i googled a couple sites but the prices seemed a little higher than what i expected.

Why don't you have a USD bank account? Then you wouldn't lose anything in the exchange rate.

You've mentioned this before. Do you really just cash out from Moneybookers to your US bank account?

You mean I can just add it as a secondary account (which has a slightly higher fee to cash out to) and I'm all set to cash out to Bank of America?


Thanks,

Bill

I believe you can have a USD account in a Thai bank. I have a USD account in Laos. The banking system in Laos is way behind the times so there are no EFTs, I have to wire money. This costs me about 1.5-2% depending on the amount (the local bank takes 1% in addition to the wire transfer fees). I then go to the bank and get dollars which I exchange for kip at the regular rate. Degen said he connected MB to his US bank account without a problem. I'll try this when I go back to the US in December and open a new account.

Thanks for this idea. In my case it wont solve my problem since I have an AUD moneybookers account. But If I did it would be ideal.
Anyone having any experience or heard of anyone having a USD bank account with Thai bank? I never heard of it. I think that in Laos you can because the local currency is so weak and economy so small compared to Thailand.

Secondly with my moneybookers account. It says I cant change it to USD after I opened it in AUD and have transactions on it. Anyone been able to get around this? Is it possible to change or do one have to open a new one and go through the hustle of verifying addresses and bank accounts.

Whats the best alternative to Moneybookers where I can open a USD web wallet and then transfer to Thai banks? (not Neteller since they dont to business with people in Thailand)

Finally, is there anyway I can open a USD bank account online without having to show up in person? Don't really care where it is located as long as its not super dodge any unreliable country...

I am looking for a place for two persons in BKK. Please recommend places which offer 1 month deals. Our budget is over 30k but hopefully under 50k per month.

So far we have found Legacy Suites Bangkok (46m2), which is somewhat under 60k per month including electricty, water and daily cleaning. It's almost like staying in a hotel. 10 mins from BTS Phrom Phong. Clean and OK place.

http://www.legacybangkok.com/

Still I would like to see other options. Please share.

legacy suite is perfect imo if u want 'basic luxury'

Also I'm not sure if I wanna spend too much time in Bangkok, but a reliable internet is a MUST, so my options are somewhat limited. Being able to be near the sea and driving my own motorbikes are luxuries that are not offered in BKK.

I've heard that there internet is reliable on Samui. Any hotel recommendations there if we wanna make couple of days to a week getaways? Am I correct in thinking that the hotspot WIFI on the Chaweng/Lamai Beaches covers most hotels?

Huahin/Phuket are also options so suggestions for hotels there are also appreciated.

I think you can open a USD account with HSBC global. Assuming they don't rape you on ATM fees, this would be a good way to go. Thai ATMs are great because they don't charge you a fee to use them. The ones here charge 2% plus any fees from your bank.

edit: other people know more about this than me, I'm sure they'll provide some input.

Let me get this straight with moneybookers

You can ADD a thai bank account to your regular moneybookers account without getting banned?

But you cannot create a moneybookers account with your thai address?

Withdrawing directly to kasikorn would be awesome.. now i have to withdraw to my cousin's canadian account and use his ATM then deposit in my kasikorn


Btw ATM's do charge you if you do not take your bank's atm. it's 20baht for any ammount. if you take the the atm from your bank(anywhere) its free..

much much better than using your international ATM and getting 90baht in fee + xchange rate every transaction

Yes you can add a Kasikorn account. You need to know the swift which is KASITHBK plus your bank account number obviously. I just did this and have been able send money as well.

I dont have any experience in creating moneybookers account with thai addresses and cant answer this question.

What I have noticed is that when I tried to use moneybookers from my poker client to deposit money it didnt let me and said something in line with "gambling illegal in Thailand and cant do this transaction through moneybookers" So instead I logged in via remote desktop from Sweden and deposited the money resulting in my poker account being locked due to suspicious activity... Was able to unlock quickly though so no problem.
So I expect that I will have to do the same when I want to withdraw to my moneybookers account from my poker account.

Pumpui,

Why do you withdraw to your cousin's canadian account, why don't you use your own?

so is anyone doing mb transactions from thailand to poker sites? wd or deposits.

i emailed them and they told me since my mb account was verified to a thai address i should be ok.


i cant wait till tomorrow to find out.......lol.
im on my way back to the los.

thailand with the top 3 threads in the travel forum nice

bump.. looking for something on samui i can rent for 1-2 months in the <$400-500/mo range, will need a/c, fridge, a real shower, preferably within 10 min drive of chaweng or someplace that has a tesco lotus or equivalent.

ps. i've never ridden a motorbike before but it's really tempting to rent one because i would spend less than half of what i've been paying everyday for taxis (or saengthaw or w/e they're called?). considering i can barely ride a bicycle what would my odds of dying or being paralyzed be if i go for it?

A planet ticket to a non-tropical island.

do any of you guys now where i can find Ritalin or Adderal in Samui ? I've been asking around but nobody seems to know what the fk it is.

wat: I stayed in a nice 2 bedrooms house for a month, payed 12k, had Internet installed when I was there so they prob still have it. 5 minutes walk to BigC, 20mn walk to Bophut, and approx. 10mn drive to Chaweng. Name is Patcharinton Garden Homes but i can't ***** find the website (was all in thai IIRC), I prob still have their number somewhere so I'll look for it.

btw Samui is ***** overrated and u should go somewhere else because after a week there is nothing much to do here.

From what I know you can't just walk into a pharmacy and buy Ritalin or Adderall. You could probably get a prescription but I don't know how many pharmacies will actually carry them.

i couldnt find adderall in bangkok last year...

Now today im going on a hunt for it.. if not monday im gonna go get a prescription on my insurance.

I heard ritalin has some nasty sideeffects and is much less effective?