Simon1287

Yet, I think I may have read somewhere that UK pensioners living in Spain etc still get it, due to some Brexit clause or other?

Big time..

Just watched the video. Puts stuff in a different light doesn't it. You may as well punch a Thai as push them. The result will be much the same usually.

The 5 years ago was when that particular bouncer made that statement. It's always been like that and still is. The bouncers aren't in it just for the money. Last attack I saw was a few months ago. If anything, they are getting more frequent as the perpetrators know they can pretty much get away with it. Though, frankly, more than a small proportion of it is deserved.

Nothings changed. Bar owner by any chance?

Probably 5 years ago. I have witnessed (not only in Pattaya I am including Bangkok) around 7 or 8 pretty much unnecessary attacks by "bouncers" on farangs who's real "crime" was to be a bit drunk (not even behaving particularly badly) or had good reason to dispute a padded bar bill, to know perfectly well that great enjoyment was taken by the "bouncers". I have also witnessed a few attacks that have been thoroughly deserved and would have happily bought the bouncers a drink if they weren't so worked up I would have been flattened too. I have been around Pattaya (and Thailand generally) a lot since about 1994. Long before there were even bars in Soi 7 (a dark quiet soi it was to walk down then) The boy friend of my then girl friend had the very first bar in soi 7 I seem to remember (1995??) so witnessing that number of attacks is still really quite a small number over all those years. I stand by what I said though and if anyone who actually knows the situation there first hand says he disagrees then he is probably a bar owner in soi 6 or somewhere who employs thugs, sorry, bouncers.

Good point. Silly me :)

Remember that most bouncers in Pattaya, in the words of one I spoke to years ago, do that job as they “like to fighting with farang”. That has always been my opinion anyway after witnessing many such incidents over the years. Even the slightest negative contact with one (and his 4 friends that appear out of nowhere) can put more than a little dampener on an evening out. Keep smiling at all times and they will tolerate you. :)

I think it very likely indeed the police either own the bike rental shops a lot of the lads rent from or are getting a % from the bike rental shops for not closing them down for allowing them to be rented without licences, insurance etc etc.

I lived not far from there for many years and regularly walked through that area day and night. Was, by far, the most likely part of Pattaya to get knocked down by a motor cycle at night (Soi Bhoakow totally pales in comparison) Many times a middle eastern lad has crashed his bike very near me. One barely missed me while crashing into a row of refuse bins one night. A lot of them I am sure have never ridden a motor cycle before getting to Pattaya. As to why the police do not clear them out, they could, in 5 minutes, by stopping Thai's renting the motor cycles to them or locking a few of the offenders up as an example. As any local knows though, why would they. They are a "cash cow". 10,000's (100,000's?) Baht are paid out everyday in "fines". A lucrative business. Some of the offenders are children of high ranking people in the middle east also, in Pattaya to "sow their wild oats" so that plays a part too. Only time anything looks like happening (and doesn’t) is when the headlines become a bit too big.

Never once been asked to show my passport in that way in decades of being in Thailand, except on busses and I think and once on a train down near Sungai Kolok. The most recent being on a bus mid last year when entering Phuket at 6 am or so. (After about 600 or 700 flights in my lifetime I fly only when necessary now as I am bored sick of planes and all the faff that goes with them these days) A large mean looking policeman went almost silently through the bus checking all ID's. I remember thinking as he checked my passport what a total nightmare awaited anyone on that bus that did not have the correct visa. Even a day overstay can begin the nightmare in such circumstances I believe. The return leg, being Phuket to Pattaya, via bus change at Morchit at 5 am was about 15 hours but I still like travelling, other than planes, even at my age. Only other times I can remember (though as I did spend many years just travelling around 72 or the 77 provinces I daresay it was more) have been up in Chiang Rai a couple of times on busses. The police officer questioned the lady I was with each time about what the farang was doing there as he checked the passport. The time at Sungai Kolok was probably over 15 years ago and the passport may even have been checked twice I can't quite remember. I fell into a deep sleep at Hat Yai and woke up in my seat sometime after to see two soldiers beside me and 3 opposite, all holding M-16’s (some with grenade launchers underneath) and another 25 of their colleagues in the carriage with us. It did seem a bit surreal for a few seconds after waking I must say as the carriage was quite quiet when I went to sleep. They all got off at Sungai Kolok for a while and went back on the same train.

Yes, short term visits i.e 90 days are no problem at quite reasonable costs but even so the price you mentioned seems very reasonable indeed at age 77. Is this a company you have been with for many years? Would you let us know who it is? I was on an annual policy with a UK company that allowed me to stay in Thailand the full year and could renew while in Thailand but that had to end at age 66 and the final years cost was still only about £500 for £5 or £10 million GBP in medical cover, repatriation etc. Less than £10 a week. It's when you get over that 90 days that the costs start getting silly for people almost 70 and when you do actually get to about 70 the 90 days is about all you are likely to get I think at the lower costs. I haven't really taken the trouble to look into it all carefully so there are almost certainly better options than I have found so far but, like yourself, I am now going to split my time between UK and Thailand so 90 days is fine for me, knowing I can go back to UK or back to Thailand any morning I wake up and decide to go.

Easy to get annual emergency cover for that kind of money if you are say, a UK citizen, have a UK address, are registered with a UK doctor and are mid 60's or under. The problem comes when you get to about 66 or so. Then they don't want to know you on long term stays at anything like that low price. As a guess, if anyone really had to self insure, I would throw the figure of 4 or 5 million Baht in the ring as the minimum that should get you out of 99% of problems. I have personally known farangs over the years who have spent over 5 million Baht on one hospital stay, rare though that is.. Long term in ICU / intensive care after stroke or road accident etc etc. Then they may have the problem of needing an air ambulance home. Mega money. (Would be interested to hear what Sheryl has to say on that) I would never go to Thailand without some kind of insurance anyway. Many companies will give lower prices the higher the excess you will pay. Health insurance concerns are one of the reasons I am now, after a very long time in Thailand, splitting my time between there and UK. I could self insure at the sum I mentioned easily enough but much as I love Thailand it's just not as much as I used to, what with all the air pollution and changes there over the years, and certainly not 4 million Bahts worth. Going for 3 months at a time still only costs me something like £300 in travel insurance for millions of GBP of medical cover. For some strange reason, after more than 30 years of hating going back to the UK and gagging to get back to Thailand anytime I had to, it just doesn't seem so bad anymore. A shadow of it's former self though it is it will take care of me if I fall down now I am getting older rather than telling me to drop dead unless I can pay enough, as in Thailand. Yes, the weather can leave a lot to be desired but compared to the deadly air pollution in Thailand these days it's actually preferable a lot of the time. Not that cold weather worries me when I make sure the UK house is at least 25 degrees day and night anyway.

Yep. The "online" bit was just pure clickbait. 1000's of foreigners are working online in Thailand so pretty much all of them seeing that headline will panic and wonder if a crackdown is coming, then click to see they just wasted a click.

Well, we are all adults anyway :)