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Carrying ~300K On Soi Asoke ..


gobbledonk
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No, I'm not heading to Cowboy for 'the week to end all weeks' :D

 

As many of you know, I'm a hi-fi nut, and there is a store in Exchange Tower - near the monster 4-way intersection - that has many of the goodies I want. The issue, and I know some will find this funny, is that I dont want to cop the 3% Visa charge for ~300K worth of toys, even if it means catching a cab into Soi 22 and then getting a second cab going back down Suk. Under no circumstances do I want to have to explain to the BiB what I'm doing in that part of the world with that much cash - it's exactly what they are hoping to find and I have little doubt that they would want a donation - that isnt going to happen.

 

While google maps makes doesnt particularly like '210 Sukhumvit Road', it knows where Exchange Tower is - from memory, that may have been a massive construction site the last time I was in BKK over 2 years ago. I remember the luxury car dealership on the Emporium side of Asoke, but I cant say I recall a giant gold building on the Nana side of the intersection. Even if I make my way there via side sois, the front of the building will almost certainly put me in the zone where the stop-and-search antics seem to be most common. Any advice greatly welcomed.

 

Jet Live Audio Co., Ltd. 388 Exchange Tower 2nd fl unit 210 Sukhumvit Rd. Klongtoey Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110

 

OF61.jpg

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Sure, first hold Toto next to you, stay close to the Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion and especially Scare-Crow; then tap your heels together three times (not once twice or four times) and say to yourself, " there's no place like home" do that three times as well and it will all work out and the nasty gold bldg with the wicked witch of the west will disappear, all the time screaming, "what a world, what a world, who would have thought that a little girl like you could ruin my beautiful wickedness".

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Sure, first hold Toto next to you, stay close to the Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion and especially Scare-Crow; then tap your heels together three times (not once twice or four times) and say to yourself, " there's no place like home" do that three times as well and it will all work out and the nasty gold bldg with the wicked witch of the west will disappear, all the time screaming, "what a world, what a world, who would have thought that a little girl like you could ruin my beautiful wickedness".

 

Feel free to disappear as quickly as you've appeared.

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Just do your shopping early in the day. The coppers who do the shakedowns don't even wake up until 2:00 pm. Based on the flow of traffic, you can do a circle from Exchange Tower, to Soi 16, to Soi 22, back to Sukhumvit, and then back to Exchange Tower. Where Soi 16 intersects Soi 22, you can also divert to Soi 24, or down to Rama IV Road.

 

Cheers!

SS

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KS, you know where I got the info re stop-and-search, and its not a source that you place a lot of faith in based on his last effort on this board. Politics aside, I've realised that I'm now paranoid about carrying cash anywhere along Suk - the report of a Farang being searched in front of shoppers on the footbridge between the BTS and the upstairs entrance to Emporium was particularly disturbing.

 

I expect that there is a solution here, and it involves getting an all-up price for the audio gear, going back to my hotel, taking the money to a bank and getting whatever the equivalent of a cashiers check is in LOS. Compared to the way I would be prepared to conduct business in almost any other city in the world, this seems farcical, but so does the prospect of having 3 or 4 cops demanding that I give them a 'valid' reason for having the much money on me. Totally pissed off at the prospect of having to deal with one of the most corrupt Police forces on the planet, particularly when I've looked forward to this shopping spree for - literally - years. Its the other reason I dont take kindly to the earlier attempt at humour from a (recycled ?) newbie re my predicament.

 

For those who feel I need to grow a set, feel free to expand on how you'd deal with Thai cops when they find themselves looking at roughly a year's pay for one of Thailand's finest and they've been told to search anyone they suspect of buying drugs on one side of Suk to sell on the other. If that isnt a dream gig for a (beat) cop, I dont know what is.

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Just do your shopping early in the day. The coppers who do the shakedowns don't even wake up until 2:00 pm. Based on the flow of traffic, you can do a circle from Exchange Tower, to Soi 16, to Soi 22, back to Sukhumvit, and then back to Exchange Tower. Where Soi 16 intersects Soi 22, you can also divert to Soi 24, or down to Rama IV Road.

 

Cheers!

SS

 

Thanks SS - I guess I'm so paranoid at this point that I remember that Police Box at the intersection and picture a cop standing there as I get out of the cab. Wont hurt to make my first trip without the cash on me and take it from there.

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Gobbie, old son....the answer...is blowin' in the wind

 

Simple...even to a techno challenged old fart like me... :grinyes: :grinyes: :grinyes:

 

Go to the shop...select what you want...get an Invoice.....get the Shop's Bank a/c details........

Go to your Bank.....transfer required funds to the Shop's a/c....take receipt back to shop

Collect your stuff.....

 

You don't even have to have 1k in ya pocket

 

Now...take a valium....3 Vodka Tonics...sit back & think about April

 

Cheers DS

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