For those who recalled last trip, it was a complicated yet successful ordeal to open a Thai bank account.  Eventually I succeeded with a small branch of Krung Sri bank in Si Racha town.  That's now my home branch.  This name might ring a bell for those familiar with the famous Si Racha hot sauce.  This is surely the origin and is a town about 30km north of Pattaya.

You know you've accomplished an impressive feat when both expats and Thai locals ask how the fuck you managed to pull it off.  Everyone knows it is very very difficult for a foreigner to open a Thai bank account if you're not on a work permit.  It got even harder to do this after covid.  The big takeaway I got from that was to keep the accounts active no matter what, as any dormancy risks them being closed.

The drawback, I suppose, means having to bike to Si Racha in the hot sun, but for a cycle tourist this is actually desirable.  I set off reasonably late as there was no rush, the business hours are 11am to 8pm.  So after arriving early I chilled out with a coffee nearby.

Once inside the mall, the staff were extremely courteous and giving me that rock star treatment again.  I helped teach some English to the bank staff who were dealing with my case and they were all soft spoken, smiles, and just genuinely friendly.

Basically what I wanted done was set up an electricity bill autopay.  That way, it would prevent a repeat of the meter getting cut in my condo and sorting this shit out trip after trip.  The process was of course complex, and it required multiple signatures and application forms in Thai which the staff helped fill out.  Then they said I needed to visit the electricity office with the forms and then back to the bank again.  Oh boy.

In the middle of things I realized I had lost my ATM card.  No idea when it happened but I no longer had it.  The staff said no problem, they could make a replacement on the spot for 130 baht.  Nice!  She even helped me set up mobile banking with the app so this makes for the possibility of online shopping.

Next, the electricity office.  I tried the nearby one in Si Racha but they said I had to go back to the one in Pattaya.  This was going to complicate matters.  I started panicking then realized it was pointless.  Once I got on the bike and started riding, I was able to think more clearly.  Did this even have to get done today?   It made more sense just to visit the Pattaya electricity office again and do another run of this tomorrow.

Once there it couldn't have been any easier.  The staff greeted me with a smile and just one signature later, they took the forms and said "Finished".  The autopay was complete, I didn't need to go back to the bank.  

While there, one of the guys remembered me and asked "Did you come here on Friday?"  I said, "Yes"  and they showed me the ATM card I had lost.  They said, "You left this here with us"  Well that would explain everything.  I thanked them very much.  So now with two cards, the one they gave back was effectively canceled but it didn't matter.  It was the friendliness and the Thai courtesy that mattered.  They were all laughing to each other in Thai.  I caught from this conversation that I was the famous crazy guy on the bike who showed up after the office closed.

This was all fantastic and it turns out my colleague who flew into Phnom Penh was now in Bangkok.  I told him to give that place a pass and convinced him to make a side foray into Pattaya where I would be leading tours of my own.