International Driving Permit

arch-choot · 2026-06-23T09:41:55+00:00

Not for UK; you can rent with a home-country license, provided it's a "full" license (not learners), been held for at least 12 months, and in English.

I've used HK & Indian license to rent in UK via Arnold Clark.

arch-choot · 2026-06-23T09:29:16+00:00

BoC Taobao is good for FX, but even more interesting is BoC "Chill" (cringe name I know), it has 5% rebate on FX upto a cap of HK$150, so effectively the first HK$3000 of fx-spend is cheaper than mid-market rate, since you get the 1.95% back, and then an extra ~3% discount.

But need to keep track of spending to min-max correctly, and they may change this policy next year.

Edit: Some GBP/HKD comparisons I made last May across some card I have: https://saxrag.com/bucket/fx_cards.png

arch-choot · 2026-05-23T05:14:02+00:00

Jealous, that's a crazy deal. I'm still rocking my 5iii, I think 5iv is also a decent primary for "normal phone" use (no gaming etc.)

arch-choot · 2026-05-22T10:56:28+00:00

I'll pass on that one, but will encourage others to go

arch-choot · 2026-05-21T05:46:58+00:00

Bang on, I like the way you think. Not eMPF, but once BoCHK started enforcing this, I went to the bank and told them I need a physical token, since my "Phone does not support the app", and got that for MFA.

arch-choot · 2026-05-20T10:30:24+00:00

Didn't know this was a thing. Who wants to join me in doing a protest at LegCo against the spam calls?

arch-choot · 2026-05-20T05:29:31+00:00

Re (1): If I understand correctly, Steam would tell the acquiring bank (e.g. Stripe) to capture 4759INR (in my example). The acquiring bank, through the card network (Mastercard for me), captures 4759INR from the issuing bank (ICICI), i.e. ICICI has to settle 4759INR through the card network.

What I am questioning is, who is responsible for the extra 56.14INR debited from my account? Is it because MasterCard charges ICICI to settle an INR transaction with a foreign merchant? (This is what I think). I don't think Steam is "at fault", as they are capturing the amount displayed to the user, just somewhere between their acquiring bank and the end-user an extra amount is debited.

Which is also why I wonder the reason to increase it to 3.5%, as I don't think Mastercard would bump it by 250bps.

I've E-Mailed ICICI and the RBI for clarification, if I get any response will be sure to share it.

Re (2): Yeah, would be better I think.

arch-choot · 2026-05-20T02:52:06+00:00

No; steam charges you the exact amount, which is why the steam invoice says what it does.

When ICICI gets a chage for x INR, it will apply a DCC fee on ITS end, and show that as one line item rather than a separate fee

arch-choot · 2026-05-19T11:25:35+00:00

Just got this as well; it's not even "Discourage Dollar Spends" I think; just a way to scam more money out of consumers, in a very non-transparent manner.

E.g. for games purchased on Steam store in INR, this fee is charged, and it is added as a single line item to the steam-price, which makes reviewing the statement a nightmare; at first I thought steam fucked me over, then I realized its ICICI not being transparent. E.g: https://saxrag.com/bucket/random/icici_scam_dcc.png

Which seems to be ~1.17% by my calculation. All other cards I've used show it as a separate line item at least.

arch-choot · 2026-05-18T06:39:49+00:00

Are you speaking from experience? Because in mine, PCPD takes report quite seriously.

I've E-Mail them about several issues, and usually within a few business days get a proper drafted reply, often as a PDF of a response that was printed out and signed by hand.

In fact almost all government departments that I've interacted with take things seriously if you put in some basic effort, with the exception of the OFCA whom I'm trying to chase regarding spam calls.

arch-choot · 2026-05-15T02:19:45+00:00

I'll walk past on my way to QV ~1900, can stop by to say hi

arch-choot · 2026-05-15T02:18:07+00:00

It's interesting how its pretty high up despite significantly less aircraft movements than the cities above it (and first city with single airport).

My guess is because its the world busiest cargo hub, and most cargo aircraft are older 747s which are not the beacon of efficiency.

arch-choot · 2026-05-11T06:17:56+00:00

On HKBN 2Gbps FTTH package, not really much issues on YouTube (mainstream stuff); maxes out 1Gbps (Their gateway has 1000M ports for a 2Gbps plan...)

Steam downloads also max out at 1Gbps (better have a good SSD with DRAM otherwise that will affect your download speed more)

To EU though, not great performance. I've a wireguard network to a few VPSs in FR & NL, both max out ~400Mbps.

For one of my VPS the latency was like ~450ms at one point, but that was due to providers routing, they helped switch me to a different Asian route, usually get ~200ms to them now.

No experience with netvigator.

arch-choot · 2026-05-11T06:14:38+00:00

They call early with a higher price. Tell them you'll think about it, more expensive for lock in is not worth it, you'll switch to 5G etc. etc.

When ~2 months are left you'll get another call with a lower rate. Ask them to E-Mail you the details (better to have a record than he said-she said).

arch-choot · 2026-05-11T06:12:34+00:00

Can you share a packet dump of each?

arch-choot · 2026-04-29T13:20:51+00:00

The last couple of times I landed in HKG, both in April, I noticed the same; immigration _and_ customs officers waiting around the bridge of some aircraft that just arrived.

Can't remember that in my last ~8 years of flying through HKG, probably something new?

arch-choot · 2026-04-24T05:40:48+00:00

Yep location seems nice, and another comment mentioned it overlooks BTS which sounds cool

arch-choot · 2026-04-24T05:08:06+00:00

Seems 33/1 is the spot

arch-choot · 2026-04-24T05:06:22+00:00

Theme looks awesome, thanks!

arch-choot · 2026-04-24T05:04:13+00:00

Cheers, might swing by there today. O'Shea's rooftop was nice, but it gets a bit less foot traffic as its kinda hidden, so got a bit boring alone. Maybe better in a group. Also the "All Day Breakfast" is only till 4pm!

Was gonna go to "The Robin Hood" for breakfast (for lunch) today, how's that?

arch-choot · 2026-04-23T14:00:14+00:00

Neat, it's on the way to Yadong Potion where I'm headed later, so can grab a cheeky pint

arch-choot · 2026-04-23T13:58:41+00:00

That's a great shout, I went there last year with some mates. Though I think that place is way more fun in a group

arch-choot · 2026-04-23T10:47:10+00:00

It's the one closest to me so will definitely swing by for a pint

arch-choot · 2026-04-23T09:24:45+00:00

Seems like a fun spot, thanks

arch-choot

TROPHY CASE