friendphil

On 8/15/2023 at 8:41 AM, Longwood50 said:

I know you can get "ripped off" by going to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya.  However does someone know if any of the other hospitals have neurologist that can test for nerve damage.  I suspect she has either Carpal Tunnel or Ulnar Tunnel or perhaps both.  

 

I'm not in Pattaya, but in Khon Kaen.  My wife very recently had a nerve test on her right arm/hand/fingers and the cost was around 11,000 baht at the Bangkok Hospital here. I don't know if I'd call that a rip-off or not, but it seemed to open the door for more treatments at the University Hospital here. 

3 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

A price they pay for giving visas-on-arrival to anyone. If people had to apply for a visa before travelling, and that included a criminal record check, a very large number of people would be barred from visiting Thailand.

Sure. (with my apologies for the sarcasm.) 

13 hours ago, inThailand said:

The cat is already out of the bag. 

 

Every farmer is already growing ganja. There is going to be a lot of weed here soon. They have jumped on the bangwagon for its going to be a cash cow. And cash is King here. 

Yeah, sure. If every farmer were (and of course every farmer is not)  growing marijuana it would be a very cheap substance to procure and would be about worthless to the government in terms of tax revenues.  Cash cow?  I can imagine weed at the morning market about 500 baht a kilo. 

10 hours ago, 2long said:

May I ask what the duty of a lifeguard is if it's not to save people in cases like this?

I know, I know, he did warn them etc. But that would surely mean he's just a guard, not a lifeguard.

I think you are confusing "lifeguard" with "live saver".  I was once a life guard, however never saved a life, nor was I ever called upon by circumstance to do so.  Also, in this case, it would have been foolish to swim  out after the victims.  Using a jetski might have been plausible, but evidently was not an option. 

5 hours ago, lanng khao said:

Why not get a 90 day non o visa before you leave, nothing to worry about then.

Good question.  (all questions are good, only there are inevitably some stupid answers.) 

Back to the 30+30+60.... it the 60 day extension "to visit Thai wife" a relatively recent change?  I've been away from LOS a few years, and I believe at the time I was there, after a 90 day visa, one could extend a month, but with a Thai wife could extend two months.  

So believable and so sad.  Is anyone paying any attention to this?  

Would not infamous be a more apt word than "renowned"?  

Thanks for posting your video. 

10 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

Another one of your comments that puts foreigners down?

 

You seem to relish doing this.

I thought Neeranam's comment at least showed balance, and using the word  "seemed" seems to be a self-admission of a lack of precise accuracy.  

I am not living in Thailand now, and am not really up on the news there...  But I wonder if the numbers of accidents, injuries and fatalities are down because of Covids and people staying home more.  Your thoughts?  

12 hours ago, CM Dad said:

Wow!  "over-speeding"?

CM Dad.... I guess you didn't know, probably, that there is under-speeding, over-speeding, and then (thirdly, but most importantly) right-on speeding.  ????  (I noticed this term with, I imagine, equal amusement as you.)  

37 minutes ago, Postmaster said:

Ubon Joe has confirmed in the past that Insurance for 30 days has been adequate on entry even with a one year's Non-O Retirement Visa with a longer unexpired period.

Do you mean that ... I mean, what do you mean?  When you say ".... with a longer unexpired period."?  Thank you. 

Very interesting post, this.  What is funny (as in 'odd' or 'peculiar' or 'interesting') is that the question asked in the title never really gets squarely answered. I was teaching in Thailand for about five years, and never heard of this "waiver business".  However, I can well imagine, given the inventiveness of Thai bureaucrats. I eventually got tired of the runaround and was able to escape back to the US.  Here (in California) there are different requirements, and less "runaround" and jumping through hoops. 

Well, I'm missing my point: What is this waiver business? Can someone (or several) explain, please? 

On 8/10/2019 at 8:05 PM, bowerboy said:

 

Thank you for your succinct summing up of the issue (you did a much better job of it than me).

 

Its a scary prospect and I think it effects a bit insignificant number of people living here.

What is "a bit insignificant number of people"?    Just trying to figure out if that's a lot or not a lot.  

Nevertheless, my story: I felt pretty stuck in LOS, where with an employed wife, one child, and myself over 60 and doing part-time teaching plus a small pension, I had enough, but not enough to buy my cashews or pizza every month, for example. Eventually a friend offered me a job remodeling his home back in the US, and it included room and board for the course of the job.  I was then able to save enough to bring the family over to the US, where I am again feeling stuck!  ????????  Now I'm just scraping by but would be doing fairly well if the wife would pitch in instead of sending her money back home and saving up for her future.  

IN fact, Transferwise gives an incentive to share your experience with others.  Please use this link if you care to give this service a try, and both you will save on your first transfer.  

transferwise.com/u/philipl89

1 hour ago, how241 said:

Yes,  TransferWise  works Great.  Their fees are smaller if you only transfer $1200 USD  or less,  otherwise they quickly charge more than Bangkok Bank does. 

I haven't found that to be the case at all (that they quickly charge more than Bangkok Bank).  I just went to Transferwise site, plugged in 100,000 baht for the amount to be received in Thailand, and (from the US) the fees would be about $26.00.  The exchange rate would be 31.77 baht per USD. Here is a copy and past from XE.com "

Try this: transferwise.com  I have been using it for several months and have saved many Thai baht, many USD on fees and exchange rate differences. 

They have their own system by which they don't actually move money out of one and into another country.  They have reserves in each country, to that if you send money from the US to Thailand, for example, the $$ would move from the customer's US account into Transferwise's US accounts.  And money would move from Transferwise's Thai reserves into recipients Thai bank account.  Conversely for money from Thailand to other countries.  It is relatively easy to set up an account, and easy to use.  You can try it here: transferwise.com/u/philipl89

Thaivisa friends.... for the benefit of others reading this and less seasoned in the lingo, I would suggest the use of abbreviations only after introducing the term spelled out fully the first time.  This is very helpful in learning what the abbreviations or acronyms mean and doesn't exclude the ignorant.   In this case, "O.A." and "VE" are mysterious terms to me.  Maybe if I just thought about it enough, I would figure them out. 

Thanks! 

I never heard of ths incident before now, and the story doesn't say when it happened. Or did I miss something?

I was watching an expat video on how it is surrounded by mountains and there is no way for the smoke to get out until the rains come. Wow really who would want to retire there? This sounds like a night mare. The air quality is bad enough down here.

Where is "down here"?

Good question!

Generally, my health has declined, and I find it more difficult to remain healthy here.

For one, I find it harder to eat well here. Good food seems comparatively expensive, in proportion to the relative value of things, and the affordable food is usually lots of rice, and a few veggies and a little meat. Also, coming from California to here, I truly miss the abundance of ethnic foods there, as well as lots of organic foods. Here it's hard to know what one is eating in that regard.

Weather-wise, the heat doesn't help my energy, nor my appetite, it seems. So I think I've lost a little weight that I didn't need to lose, and generally have lower energy--- especially when it gets hot (which, of course, is a lot of the time.)

Another thing I miss is all the hiking and out-of-doors exercise opportunities that are available where I lived before. Here, I don't get nearly the exercise walking and hiking that I did before. And my work in the U.S. was often outdoors, and constituted darned good exercise.

But, the good nature of many of the people make up for a lot here. So, it's a compromise, no matter where I am living.

I guess one might glean from this that a good alibi, should one be needed to offer Thai police, MIGHT BE to mention the night market at Thonburi. Seemed to work for him!

WHAT I found missing in this story were some details such as dates and time spans (re: for one, "after the new Act relating to drug suppression measures was enacted, 31,196 drug cases with assets of Bt17.3 billion were seized."), and who is/was "Kosin Chuchai"? (owner of a Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a Rolex watch.)

I did really appreciate the in-depth explanation of a motivation for drug dealers. : "Permpong said the wealth accumulated by drug dealers motivated them to take risks to make more money." (Do you detect some sarcasm from me here?) "No shit, Dick Tracey."

It's okay to piss in public,

but kissing not.

I crossed around 3pm on Friday coming into Thailand from Laos, no problems whatsoever.

It sounds like it is not the same for all people.

Are you Lao, Thai, farang or ??? thanks.