orientalist

I made the 1-hour trek to the Nonthaburi Ganja Clinic today (after calling to make sure they were open) and was told, "Sorry we don't accept foreigners anymore. Thai citizens only." Apparently the reason is they never should have accepted us in the first place because it is a free service.

But couldn't they at least have contacted us before we went there for our appointment? Well, no, that would require an unacceptable level of forethought and organization. 

Qantas cancelled flights and the default offer was a "flight credit" that was good for partner airlines. When I checked the prices of a September flight with those partners, BA and Cathay, they were way more expensive and I believe BA has cancelled its Bangkok-London flight already. The terms of my ticket are that if I cancel it costs me 5,000 baht. But will I ever get the refund if the airline has no money? If the virus problem subsides in 6 months - which I seriously doubt - will I get my refund in time to book another flight?

While getting a flu jab at Mahidol Hospital yesterday I did get to talk to a doctor about all this in depth. Her opinion was that Covid 19 damages the lungs, and that makes the heart pump much harder, so any existing conditions may well be exacerbated. In my case I know that my heart was fine when it reached 100% on the stress test, but that may not be the case when fighting an aggressive new virus.

I think the best thing us wrinklies can do is avoid getting the virua until there is an effective drug or vaccine. But even a good drug could be a year away unless it is an existing one that is re-purposed.

Be safe, everyone.

Underlying heart disease is listed as a danger for those infected with Covid-19, and that includes "congenital heart disease," which is often not a disease at all. I have MVP (mitral valve prolapse) and infrequent PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) but have been asymptomatic all my life and these were only discovered on a stress ECG done when I started lifting weights in my 40s. 

So, would these seemingly benign conditions pose additional dangers to me if I became infected?

I have also had rare episodes of near-syncope in the past few years, which seems a bit more serious. I don't want my heart stopping while fighting a viral infection!

Seems like Covid 19 and future Corona viruses is a good reason to go cashless and cardless! 

3 hours ago, lkn said:

I think you misunderstand.

 

I still use my physical rabbit card, but it is linked to LINE Pay. When I use the physical Rabbit card, the amount is charged directly to my LINE wallet (which is linked to my bank account), and I *do* get the 1 baht discount for my trips, but I never have to top up my card or use any ticket machines.

 

Furthermore, I can buy ride passes for cheaper fares (from within LINE) and I also can see my ride history via my LINE wallet, which is how I just verified, that my last trip was 1 baht cheaper than the advertised price.

 

Also, when I first set this up, I got a few free ride passes, so my first four or so trips on the BTS were free of charge ????

Ok, I get it now. It doesnt work for me because my Line wallet is connected to credit cards rather than a bank account or debit card. I can buy a pass with the linked CC but I can't use it to debit the physical card going through the turnstiles. I'll give it a try. Thanks. 

17 hours ago, lkn said:

Unclear if you know this, but you can link your physical BTS rabbit top-up card with your Line Pay account so that you can use it with a zero balance, and it will just withdraw from your Line Wallet (which in turn can be linked to a debit card / bank account).

 

So the end result is that each trip on the BTS is charged directly to your bank account, and you never have to refill your card.

 

Yes, that works for single trip tickets, but then you pay 1 baht more for the trip. I prefer topping up my Rabbit card to save the one baht and to avoid queueing at the ticket machines.

When I tried to subscribe to the newsletter I just got a blank page after entering my new email address. It's the same with Chrome on Windows and Android.

I had both shots done at the Thai Travel Clinic (Mahidol University) a year apart. Prevnar 13 is 2360 baht, Prevnar 23 is 1114 baht.

https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/cost.html

I suppose if we were truly cashless it would be harder for a new coronavirus to spread since we wouldn't be touching money handled by strangers! ????

Much as I personally find it convenient to link my credit cards to a wallet, this won't be the usual case in Thailand where so few have a CC. And I don't really see the point of linking a debit card. Most Thais will either link a wallet directly to their bank account or just keep pre-loading it through the various channels offered. The wallet system will then charge a micro-commission from the merchant for each transaction, as I think Google Pay does. So I don't see consumer prices going up as a result of this.

Online merchants can already reject a payment if it is linked to a CC. Perhaps the POS machines in shops will be able to as well in the future. That would be an option for those places who currently allow you to use a CC only with an extra 3% charge or not at all.

Security-wise it seems to me that that biggest risk is from using cards. Your details can be skimmed at ATMs and also by thieving staff in stores. QR codes seem a good way to go. Can a billion Chinese be wrong? ????

Well, my first year with them I got a summary, the second year a female clerk wanted me to accept 12 pages and then reluctantly did a manual summary, then this year the po-faced male clerk told me one page per month was the only way he could do it. Even crappy Krung Thai can click a button and give me a one-page summary in 2 minutes.

On 1/28/2020 at 6:51 PM, sanmyintmaung said:

I need to select the circled radio button. It actually said credit/debit card in Thai.

Not sure if you're aware of this but True Money Wallet now has an English language option. I imagine it was a pain to use before that.

6 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

The real problem is the lack of the Thais adopting common digital wallets like Google Pay or Apple Pay, and therefore encouraging a fragmented, proprietary digital wallet universe, as the OP outlined

Apparently, this is because True (Truemove) has a customer base of tens of millions in Thailand and Line has 43 million customers to sell their wallet system to, so they have become the leaders. Also, they are local. Samsung Pay does not seem to have got its foot in the door and neither have Google or Apple.

One thing about Line Pay is that the UI is terrible because it was just bolted on to a messaging app. Really clunky.

24 minutes ago, snairb said:

what an excellent idea " to scratch off the 3 digits " not just thailand the world

but what if i forget ?

I keep my passwords etc in the aWallet app for Android. In theory you could just forget about physical cards and have them all linked to your wallet, using cardless ATM withdrawals when you need cash.

Regarding "fees" for cashless transactions, so far the various mobile apps charge zero for paying bills. Presumably they charge a small fee from the vendor, but we're talking micro-payments. Meanwhile the average Thai pays 10 baht each time he settles a utility bill at 7-11.

Only about 18 months ago we had to pay for an interbank money transfer. That ended with Promptpay. I just cancelled several ATM/debit cards because I don't need one per bank anymore - just transfer the money to the bank I prefer and use that debit card or a cardless withdrawal. So I don't think cashless is more expensive for the consumer.

A couple of years ago on New Year's morning I was stuck up a mountain (Phu Tab Berg) in Phechabun with only a thousand baht note and a desperate need for a cup of coffee. No problem, said the owner of the coffee shack, "just send the money to me with Promptpay." Very convenient.

At the end of the day, cashless won't work unless it is convenient for most of us and no more expensive than cash. Thais don't really care about privacy or BB so I doubt that will be an issue for them.

11 minutes ago, sanmyintmaung said:

I was able to use True Money Wallet at many 7-11 in rural locations.

Apparently, 7-11's system runs on the True infrastructure, so True should work anywhere 7-11's own wallet can.

I've always preferred cashless. Before meeting the gf a few years ago I used my credit cards for almost everything except BTS and food courts, so I could see my expenses on a couple of monthly statements.

But after we hooked up and later began looking after a granddaughter there were a lot more cash expenses and in addition I needed some accounting of my payments FOR her and other expenses WITH her. That prompted me to investigate electronic wallets. The gf and her family seem to live out of 7-11s and since we currently live apart there are a lot of BTS expenses. So that meant looking into True Wallet for 7-11 and Rabbit Line Pay. To me it ain't "cashless" if I have to faff around loading the wallet with actual cash at a kiosk somewhere (although the bankless Thai masses will find this an advantage), so I was happy to see that both wallets allow linking to credit and debit cards.

A word about security: In 35 years I've only had two problems with card fraud and both were obviously a vendor skimming my credit card details. I now scratch off the CVV and also don't use debit cards in shops. Online I use Paypal when I can and only one CC.

Both of the above wallets are way easier to use if your phone has a fingerprint sensor.

True Wallet: Pretty easy to set up. You send a photo of your ID and a selfie holding it to get verified. I received an approval SMS a day later. I can link my credit cards to it and swap between them. I do this to separate my expenses from the gf's. You can also load it with cash by bank transfer. The big advantage of True is it can be used at 7-11, so no more 50 satang and 25 satang coins in your pocket. The disadvantage is that for bill payment, as opposed to shop purchases, it will only take money from your preloaded funds and not a linked card. As a test I purchased something cheap on Thai Lazada with True Wallet but it insisted on taking wallet funds. Also you cannot import a QR code photo, you have to scan.

Rabbit Line Pay: This one also allows linking of cards as well as preloaded funds. The obvious advantage is payment on the BTS. With the Line Pay card (registration requires a copy of ID and photo - which they take). If you have the Line Pay card you can pay for monthly passes via credit card but not for BTS card top-ups. With just your phone, you can buy skytrain tickets at the many QR-ready ticket machines with the cost taken from a credit card (the price is still 1 baht higher than using a refillable card). As with True Wallet, you can't pay utility bills via credit card and can't import QR codes. Line seems to have a better penetration of stores than True - including food courts at Big C and Tops - but often you must use your card rather than scanning with phone, and smaller shops like Lawson often tell me their machine is broken.

Banking apps:

I like the K-bank mobile app for some things but I don't like the idea that the "wallet" is my entire bank account. I use it for the various utility bills. You can import a photo of a QR code that someone sends you. You can also get money from some ATMs with just your phone. I use this app to do occasional top-ups of my wallets.

All in all, I am mostly cashless now and can monitor my expenses, but that's around Bangkok. I'm not sure about upcountry. Security-wise, mobile apps seem more secure than Windows-based online banking. A mobile wallet seems more secure than using a card in shops and using your phone at ATMs is safer than using a card.

Anyone have any good experiences of going cashless in Thailand - or bad ones - to share?

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Life is full of these stupid, nonsensical issues, they come at you from every angle.... we can’t protest everyone, we just have to roll with it and take it in our stride and move on with a smile.

 

By closing your bank account in protest you’re just moving your frustration onto the next bank and probably creating extra work for yourself. 

The girl at the bank doesn’t care, she’s probably happy you closed your account and may not have to deal with your rants about visa etc.... 

Agreed. I've had horrendous problems with various Thai banks over the past 35 years, but I don't close an account unless the overall service is terrible. Most recently CIMB Thai locked me out of their online banking and changed their app to Thai-language only, but with patient insistence both problems were sorted out. The less said about Krung Thai's smaller branches the better! My K-bank branch is a small one and they often aren't on the ball. Last year in January I spent an hour with them (and calls to head office) registering my Tax-ID so they wouldn't withhold tax on my savings account interest, but I see in December they still withheld it (sigh). When I got a new passport I informed them of the number and they assured me the change applied to all services and accounts, but I found out later it didn't. But K-bank's android app is the best out there so I definitely won't being closing the account.

 The gf loses her bank book and debit card roughly once every 6 months. With SCB she has to file a report with the police to get a new book, with K-bank she doesn't. So that's a big plus for us. We'll probably close the SCB account soon.

I'm clutching at straws here but does anyone have any experience of the ideal age for crossbite treatment? Most websites say "8-11 years old when the adult tooth is erupting and the new root forming" but some say it can be as early as 7.

Our adopted granddaughter has just turned 7 and has a mouth full of rotten teeth due to baby bottle caries (now "arrested", i.e. mineralised, but still a mess). The top two canine teeth are now pointing inwards and do not touch the lower teeth. The corresponding lower teeth are less than half the normal height due to caries and so cannot act as a placeholder. Our dentist has referred us to a specialist, but it seems a bit early to me. The treatment would consist of a brace at the top and possibly a steel cap at the bottom. It sounds quite expensive and I'm not sure the kid could handle fitting a cap just yet.

44 minutes ago, earthyearth said:

how did you get 4 bottles? I only got 1. took 15 drops and felt nothing.

They are small bottles. Four bottles was the amount needed to get me to the next appointment in 1 month at 7 drops a day. Given that this is some kind of traditional medicine formula, I think the amount of THC in it is very small and I wouldn't expect to feel any particular sensation when taking it. In my experience with CBD, it takes around three and a half weeks to start reducing the pain.

Was that at the Terminal 21 branch?

After letting CIMB take the lead in 2019, LH is now fighting back with 9 months 1.6%, 12 months 1.75% and 24 months 1.80%.

https://www.lhbank.co.th/Rate/Deposit

But they are a PIA when it comes to annual tax withholding certificates, because their system spits out one sheet per month per account. If I talk to a female staff I can usually persuade them to do a manual summary if I come back an hour later, but with male staff they won't. Every other bank I deal with can output just one sheet per account.

I still prefer Thanachart's e-Savings account at 1.5% for short-term savings.

When I switch on the aircon it makes no difference to the PM 2.5 levels. I use a cheap air purifier I got from lazada. It is rated for up to 32sq meters and my room is 35, so it takes 2 hours to bring down the PM 2.5 to reasonable levels. This one:

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/xpx-32-jd55-i273701284-s433554982.html?

I went to the Nonthaburi clinic today as a walk-in patient. You go to the Ministry of Health stop on the MRT purple line, then take a motorcycle taxi for 20 baht. You need to speak Thai or have the wife with you. I registered with my Pink Card. There was a two-page form to fill in - I used Google Translate in camera mode. You take your own blood pressure and eventually get into Room 4 where you queue to speak with a doctor. After that you take the documents to Room 5 to get the oil. It's a secret formula of CBD and THC. They gave me 4 bottles. No charge. They make an appointment to see the doc again after 1 month.

It's probably easier to have the wife register you on the app and make an appointment. The walk-in queue is quite long in the afternoon. I was there 4.5 hours.