Getting Stuff

I am in a bit of a financial no man's land here. I don't have a bank account and use cash for most things. I get paid in cash. For bank stuff I use Luna's accounts. Is this not terribly inconvenient? Actually not really.

It's very easy to pay for things here by paying money into a bank account. Tonight I booked a hotel for next weekend by transferring the deposit into the hotel's bank account. The transaction cost 30 baht, about £0.60 and required a trip to the bank tonight. Yup the shopping mall bank branches are open so long as the shops are open. Easypeasy. We do this when we book airline tickets and a whole host of stuff and it has always worked smoothly.

Now recently I ordered some photographic equipment from New York. The stuff was available here but was twice the price. I wired the funds to the company at a cost of 1050 baht (just over £20.00 GBP) and the funds must have been received almost immediately because the goods were despatched a few hours later. I received the goods 7 days later and would have received them 2 days earlier had they not arrived in Bangkok on a Friday night. I know this because I was able to track the stuff online! This speed is really awesome to my mind and I have to say I saved a bundle notwithstanding the cost of the wire, the shipping and the duty applied by Thai customs. The savings were enhanced by the strength of the Thai baht against the major currencies. So I would be very happy to do this again although most things are available here if needed urgently.

As part of my weekend away next week I decided to travel by train. I am going down to Chumphon and I can travel by train from Ratchaburi straight to Chumphon. My return ticket cost 600 THB second class. That is about £12.00 GBP, and it is equivalent to London - Glasgow. Fuel for the return drive would cost about 3,000 THB. It's kind of a no brainer really!

We are all well moving towards the end of term and a trip to the Philippines a week on Friday. Benedict is wild and brilliant.  Luna is getting into retail buying up Pratunam and taking it to the Philippines for resale! Maybe retail therapy but I hope she makes lots of money as I like the idea of being kept!