bradiston

Almost complete nonsense. The beaches are full of trash despite the best efforts of Trash Heroes, made up of mainly expats with a few Thais, but mostly because of the lack of any coordinated clean up campaign from the local authority, land owners and TAT, plus there is a MAJOR sandfly problem on the beaches. They've been pushing this low carbon destination for 10 years now. It's a tiny island, 16 sq km, but mostly the "low carbon" campaigns are to do with milking grants from central government. They tried to set up a recycling plant. It lasted a year or two, then it was back to burying/burning everything. There used to be a couple of places you could take your plastic bottles, run by locals, who shipped them all to the mainland. That system worked well. But there's only one left and his place is a junkyard. Some resort owners simply dump all their waste on land they've acquired especially for that purpose. In one instance, it's the first thing you see on arrival. When challenged, the answer is the usual "it's my land, I can do what I want with it". There are successful initiatives though. Trash Heroes for one, which runs on most Thai islands, on a voluntary basis. No funding apart from enlightened locals. There's a coral planting enterprise run entirely by locals which I believe had had a lot of success. There's even a solar powered boat and some solar powered street lighting. Electricity used to be generated on the island but now comes via a cable from the mainland via Koh Kood. Koh Mak used to be a back packers' paradise. But like most places in Thailand has overwhelming ambitions to move upmarket. The fact is, there's very little there and parents with children have a nightmare keeping their kids off the beaches for fear of them being bitten to death by sandflies. Just my 2 satang worth.

It seems PAI is a complete waste of money if you're thinking of insuring yourself against what I had in mind, which was hip replacement in the event of slipping over and breaking same. Prices in Thailand start at $7500 and go all the way up to $30,000, and beyond. The typical coverage for PAI medical expenses is 100,000 THB, maybe 200,000 and somebody here quoted 250,000, but it's based on age. 100,000 is a complete joke. 300,000 THB, $7,500, at the very minimum. I see $4500 as being a typical price in Türkiye. So much for medical hubs. I'm going to start over on this. Seems I've been deluded.

I didn't see anywhere a reference to broken bone cover. Is it included in tour policy? Or just loss of sight, two feet, head, foot etc? Murder? Fine, but I'm interested in fixing a broken hip.

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I've decided to stay with my current insurer, Allianz Ayudhaya. It seems as good as it gets for my age group, 70+, (for whom there isn't much choice), covers my biggest fear, which is broken bones from, for instance, slipping over on wet tiles wherever they are, and let's face it, they're everywhere, and has medical expenses up to 100k. Not as good as AXA, but AXA won't insure above 70. Plus, the broker I use (I don't think Allianz will deal direct) is quite responsive and does answer my questions as best she can in decent English, which is asking, and getting, a lot. Some policies I've seen are just scandalous. 50k for loss of sight? Murdered? No problem. The beneficiary gets 20k! They're having a laugh aren't they? It just beggars belief!

Broken bone coverage? And what is 2.4000.000.- THB? And does the 45 in Happy 45 have age connotations?

Correct me if I'm wrong but is this not life insurance? It makes no mention of broken bones, fractured skull, dislocations etc etc. This is very typical of Thai PAI. What happens if you slip over in the bathroom and break your hip?

Medical expenses 100k per accident

Agreed. Trying to get clarification is extremely difficult. I think it's 500k in any year maximum cover across all claims. So not 500k per claim.

It was 6700, but now they're quoting 9100. Like all pai I've seen here, it's linked to life insurance, and rather grisly physical damage - dismemberment and the like. But it does over motorbike accidents as both rider and pillion upto 250k I think. The maximum cover is 500k pa but then there's a sliding scale of percentages per particular accident. There's a section for broken bone cover, where they give an example of broken hip only attracting 60% of the 500k, all the way down to 10 or 15% for various other breakages. I'm chasing the broker for clarifications and an English version (I have an old one) of their Ts & Cs. I use AXA for house insurance. I don't think they go above 70 for pai. I contacted Wrlife. Remember them? - as I have med insurance with them and they have an option they say is for pai, but it turns out it's just life. It was suggested I buy outpatient cover instead!

Has anyone had any success obtaining this in Thailand? I have a policy with Allianz but it only goes to 500k coverage. I'm really interested in covering an accident like slipping over in the bathroom and breaking a hip. The Allianz policy does go some ways to covering this, but seems to limit the cover to 60% of the maximum. TIA.

He'd be better advised to carry through on the thousands of outstanding refunds owed by Air Asia, than criticising the government for a 300 THB levy.

Unlimited but 30 GB at Max Speed over 15 days? What does that mean? 30 Giga Bytes of data at what speed? Data is usually in bytes (MB or GB), speed in bits per sec (15 Mbps). It's just a meaningless jumble.

I just signed up for the 12 month version of this on both my phone and my router. 100Gb pm should be enough I think. I don't do movie downloads anymore. Definitely enough for browsing etc, and can do updates etc over eg condo WiFi. YMMV.

I rent a condo now in Pattaya. Life is a whole lot easier. I buy most stuff online. Despite some reports, things have improved in my experience no end with returning goods online. I've never heard of Siam TV.

I bought a fridge freezer from them in Chantaburi. I live on a small island where returning large goods is hardly ever worth it. Everything has to be packed exactly as received, and shipped to the mainland on a 3 times a week boat. Then picked up from there and taken to their depot. The fridge they delivered was dented in several places. It was basically the display model. They knew where I lived as they delivered it, at least to the pier. So they also knew the chances of me returning it were minimal. So, they offloaded the damaged display model onto me. It's happened many times, with other shops. I returned a food processor. It cut out continuously. They looked at it and said oh, you've used it. Well yes, I said, I wouldn't be bringing it back otherwise. 20 minutes to and fro. In the end, very begrudgingly they issued a refund as they had nothing else which I wanted as a replacement. Homework. Half an hour of to and fro over a faulty, as I saw it, induction cooker. Had to argue and argue. Eventually, refunded. But you know. What's their point? They just send it back to the manufacturer. And they lose me as a customer. There's a lot of illogicality to the way businesses operate here. Like, if they aren't getting a lot of customers, they'll put their prices up. Massage parlours do this all the time. And they won't ever lower them. Maybe they have their reasons. All it tells me is go elsewhere.

I have 2, both bought from Index. ( BTW, I think Index is just a knock off low quality IKEA. They pinched the concept but that's all). These big 4 poster double beds have a central metal bar to make up the frame for the slats and mattress, with a vertical steel leg to support it, and the slats slot in either side. And break. In the end I bought some 5mm ply and laid it on top of the slats and mattress frame. It's 'held up' for 7 years like that. With a decent mattress, it's fine.

I didn't go in with that attitude. I come out with it, never to return. I can speak enough Thai to communicate in those circumstances. But take something back to Lotus (at least in the old days, and I refuse to call it by its ridiculously rebranded unpronounceable mash up), and it's pretty much no questions asked. Try that in Power Buy or whatever it's called. Never again.

What about returns? IKEA has a very simple process if I remember. But Index? Non western company response is usually "you bring back, why you buy?"

Salmon with il? Is that short for so ill I thought I was going to die?

It's already been identified as Philippines. Why don't people read the whole thread? Endless pointless posts on a subject already covered.

You'd think this study would have been done months, if not years, before the merger was announced as more or less a done deal many months ago. This is just a clean up exercise for the scandalous lack of oversight.

Promoting crypto or a duff bride. Hmm, now which one to choose? I know. Let's ask immigration. No mention of Filipino involvement. Same as in Cambodia. Just Chinese.

Watch out for promos in big c and the like. Nearly always got them and mouthwash on promo. 3 for 2, 2 for 1 etc.

Could be Siargao, surfing capital of the Philippines. Best island I ever went to.

I agree. Went there 3 times, excellent one hour Thai massage for 180 which even just by price is good for Jomtien and Pratamnak areas. For some reason a foot massage there is 250. Not sure why and didn't pay to find out. Eventually I made the mistake of going for 2 hour Thai. I find 2 hour massages often become one hour massages in slow motion. Eeeeek! I believe there are other blind massage parlours in Pattaya, but not tried them. I find they are pretty much fail safe. Have been to one in Phnom Penh also, if you're ever over there. ????