Andrew65

I'm pretty sure that we now have to pay for the test kits in the UK, they were free during the pandemic.

Many years ago an old Scottish friend nearly died of bacterial meningitis, having first showed symptoms about a week after arriving in Thailand. I suspected that he might have caught it on the aeroplane on the journey from Scotland. He nearly died but Bumrungrad saved him. (Travel insurance paid). Thailand has a large 'transient-population'.

When I used to do that stuff a lot, a long time ago, my golden rule was to always undress in the bathroom before showering, for this very reason.

Between 2006-2011 I lived in a condo in Bangkok. There was a landline telephone there which I never once used in 5 years. There would always be a 117 Baht (something like that) charge on my room rent for it. When I enquired about having it removed I was told that this wasn't possible because of the cost of reconnection.

Most students start university after their 18th birthday, as they are then legally able to enter into contracts with the university and other organizations like student finance.

The same in the UK. When I returned to the UK from Thailand I had to pay 7 month's rent upfront too, twice. The process of getting somewhere to live in the UK is starting to be rather as it is when trying to get a job.

The nudism test: Walk down any high street in the UK and ponder as to how many of your fellow shoppers that you would like to see in the nude. For me it's usually 0% - 0.1%.😊 That's what I think whenever someone is espousing the wonders of nudist beaches.

My old friend was on lower Sukhumvit many years ago where we both lived. At one of the sidewalk stalls a farang spent what seemed like 15 minutes trying to squeeze another 10 Baht reduction from the stallholder, who got so annoyed that he told the guy to **** off. In my last 10 years living there I never bought things where haggling was involved, I just found it too tiresome in the end. When I did haggle, if they said 200, I would say 100, and we would agree on 150. That was my target, suggest 50%, and settle at 75% of the quoted price. I'm not gonna spend 20 minutes in the heat and pollution and crowds trying to stiff someone for 10 Baht (around 20p). Thailand being cheap Charlie-central, many will do so.

Their main function seemed to be catching tourists dropping cigarette ends, and then fining them for it (I expect that some of them were also smokers😊). They use to have a table set up on the sidewalk in a strategic position on lower Sukhumvit as like an observation point.

I wasn't saying that Thailand is more expensive, or as expensive as the UK, just that it's my perception that it's not as comparably cheaper than the UK as it used to be. It's no longer the cheap & cheerful destination that it used to be.

I would often be walking into 7/11 to buy my ciggies (I could actually afford to smoke in Thailand!😊). Often I would see Thais walking out of there, unwrapping whatever it was they had bought and dropping the wrapping on the ground. I was conditioned by the fact that I was paranoid about the fag-end Police (AKA the tourist Police).

The place that I lived in in Bangkok had no gym or swimming pool. (I don't use thise things anyway). What we have to remember is that this article is about tourists, and tourists tend to dwell in touristy (pricier) places. Conincidentally, I just saw an advert for a 500ml tub of ice cream selling for 150 Baht in Thailand, it's £1.50 for the same thing in the UK (imported Swedish ice cream). Another thing being is that this year is the 40th anniversary of my first trip to Thailand. In 1985 it seemed sooooo cheap compared to the UK, in my perception, it just doesn't feel that way any more. Some old friends moved to Cambodia years ago for this very reason.

In the UK (Bromsgrove) I can go out drinking more cheaply than in the downtown/touristy parts of Bangkok, where I lived for 20 years. My rent in the UK is similar.

A few times I bought expensive 100k+ Baht airline tickets, and because of the 2 or 3% charge for using plastic I used to pop down to Bangkok Bank and get the cash instead. I once did that for 3% on a 140k Baht ticket. (A 30 minute walk to the bank & back saved me almost US$150 in charges.) I don't think that they can charge you for using plastic in the UK, the bank or the merchant has to 'suck-up' that cost.

An old friend once got rinsed after using his plastic in Soi Cowboy, and apparently it had happened to quite a few people. (By that I mean non physical cash). Not saying that this was the case with the Hungarian guy, but there are also 'depth-charges', what my old Royal Navy friend used to call it. They're dropping extra bills in your check bin when you're not looking. I now use plastic for everything in the UK, but it would still be cash only in Thailand.