fittobethaied

It would seem that you would be entitled to be sponsored by your sons, but I have no facts to back that up. What we Westerners consider to be logical and reasonable aren't necessarily interpreted the same here in Thailand. Might be a good idea to begin investigating your options.

Thanks for your comment! I do use the government hospitals, and I am thankful that the prices are so low for us foreigners, but I am thinking ahead to the inevitable "big" event that could even bankrupt me, and I would like something to fall back on if I am legally entitled to it. I'm not asking for a handout, but only to be able to apply for that which is available to me by law or rule. I am 75 years old, and about 8 years ago I applied for private health insurance and was denied by two companies simply for having high blood pressure at the time. I have since lost 15 kilos and my pressure is normal, but now I am in the system as having been denied insurance. It's high unlikely that I would be approved at this time for a new policy.

I genuinely appreciate your reply, but do you know this for a fact, or is this just a "guess"? Plenty of foreigners marry Thai women who are government employees and piggyback off of their wife's health benefits, and this doesn't seem to be an issue at all. If a daughter can sponsor her mother and father, and the real father is not taking advantage of that benefit, then I don't see that it is too far-fetched to think that the stepfather could step in and take that benefit. If I were a Thai and not a foreigner, would that stepfather qualify to be sponsored?

I am a retired American legally married to a Thai whose daughter is a certified government English teacher. My wife piggybacks off of her daughter's government health insurance benefits and gets free care at a number of hospitals where she is registered. My stepdaughter's real father is a retired teacher and has his own benefits; otherwise, he too would be entitled to piggyback off his daughter's benefits. I am very curious to know if I would be eligible to piggyback off my stepdaughter's health benefits given that I am married to her mother. No one seems to know the answer to that question, and no one can show me a government rule book that even addresses the issue. My stepdaughter inquired on my behalf at the teacher's admin office in Nong Khai and was given a "no" with nothing to back up their response. I have observed over the years that "no" is the default answer in Thailand when someone doesn't really know the answer to the question, so I would like to nail this down once and for all rather than accept the answer from one office clerk who probably doesn't even have a clue. Since most Thais won't question authority, that one "no" completely shut down the search for the truth. Therefore, is there anyone on the forum who is receiving such benefits or has knowledge of where to go for the exact answer? This is of major importance to me, and all comments will be very much appreciated.

Welcome to the new normal. It's the way of the world now to espouse one's moral superiority. With the advent of the internet and the flourishing of cell phones, tablets and PC's, we are now exposed to a whole world of knowledge that was never available to us before. Hiding behind their keyboards, more and more people feel that it's their god-given right to have an opinion on all of these newfound subjects, and they don't have to worry about being punched in the face for being so outspoken and forcefully opinionated. It's the sinful nature of man to choose sides, argue and fight their fellow man. Sadly, it's only going to get worse.

None of these are okay, but you have to understand that we live in a culture where people are totally fixated on themselves with no regard for their fellow man. It's all about me, me and me. If they are male, then they have the additional indoctrination of being raised as a spoiled brat, so the whole world is centered around themselves. There are no more moral absolutes, so each person determines for themselves what is right or wrong. We are surrounded on all sides by evil in this country, so naturally, the choices they make are slanted toward the evil that lies within them. There is no accountability, and no one takes responsibility for their wrongdoing. If you do try to correct someone, then they have effectively "lost their face", and it could be the death of you for pointing out their error. What amazes me is how they can expect to "lose" something that they never had to begin with. In a normal society you earn trust and respect, and it takes years to build a good reputation and character. In Thailand, they expect you to give them "face" when they've done nothing to earn it. Good luck with trying to change them. It's only going to get worse!

Jim Tripper, in my younger years in the late '80's when I was running the girly bars in Manila, I always wore my brand name suits with ties, all of which were made in Paris. I was always the best dressed guy on the strip, and I never had trouble picking up the ladies. They always flocked to where I was seated. I moved to Thailand 13 years ago, and I like to think I am the best dressed farang in my city. Why would anyone want to dress "down" to blend in with these low-class farmers. I don't dress to impress others. I dress to please myself. It makes me feel good and gives a boost to my dignity and self-respect, so why not. Dress the way you like, and don't worry about what others think of you. When you get to a point in your life where you aren't concerned with pleasing others, that is true freedom!

I too suffer from high anxiety, and I found relief by taking Propranolol 10mg 3 times daily. It is a beta-blocker that is prescribed for heart disease but has several off label uses including anxiety. Even if you don't take it regularly, try taking one to two pills an hour before going to a stressful event like renewing your extension of stay. It certainly works for me. You can buy it at any pharmacy for 1 Baht per tab. https://psychcentral.com/anxiety/is-propranolol-recommended-for-anxiety-symptoms#does-it-work

A companion to high anxiety is OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. People with OCD do not like "change", and we don't function well in an environment where there is total chaos around us. This country is full of uncertainly, inconsistency and out and out lawlessness. Nobody has any respect for rules and regulation and laws, and nothing ever goes as planned. Murphy's Law is alive and thriving in Thailand....namely, "if anything can go wrong, it will"! Anytime I tackle a task of any sort, I always have a Plan A, B and C because I know that when I'm dealing with people that live in a bubble and don't understand critical thinking, reason or logic, then my plans are destined to be thwarted. There is also a spiritual component to the anxiety caused by living here in the Land of Scams. Less than 5% of the population claim to be Christians, and most of those believe in a Heinz 57 type of Christianity that is laced with ancestor worship, superstition, belief in ghosts and Animism. By in large most of the population have "hearts of stone", cannot be trusted and we are surrounded on all sides by evil which can affect our peace from day to day. I too recently flew out of Thailand for a two-week vacation in the US, and as soon as I boarded that plane, the anxiety left me as if a millstone had been taken from around my neck.

The truth is that there are so few "believers in God" out there, and that's why this thread is going nowhere. The mockers have taken over, and that's what they do. They scorn the name of Jesus, and they just can't help themselves.

Wow, where do I begin? I could write a book on this subject, but then again, one has already been written, and it is called the Word of God. It’s God’s instruction manual for how we are to live out our lives on earth as best we can with the help of the Holy Spirit until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, God can be trusted to fulfill all of His promises, but there is one caveat….”Ye must be born again”! Are you simply practicing “religion”, or do you have a connection to God by way of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Have you experienced the “new birth” by having received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and subsequently filled with the Holy Spirit? If so, then all three persons of the Godhead have taken up residence in your heart, and you can trust Them to work everything for your good and for Their Glory. If the answer is a resounding “no”, then your prayers don’t make it past the ceiling and “the wrath of God abides on you”. God has walked with me for the past 35 years, and He has always been faithful and trustworthy. He doesn’t always answer my prayers the way that I expect Him to, and there have been times when I have questioned his trustworthiness; however, in retrospect I can look back and see that He did what He thought was best for me. God knows the past, the present and the future, and He operates in a dimension that we know little about. Certainly, He can direct our lives much better than we can in our own strength. It is impossible to please God without faith, and the Bible defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for…the evidence of things not seen”. Your faith is a gift from God, and it is not something that you have conjured up in your own heart and mind, and “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So, in summation, stay in the Word of God daily, and increase your faith. Stay in the saddle and hold on!!! Life is a beautiful journey, and as a Christian your destiny is Heaven and perfection in Christ Jesus our Lord. God Bless You!

This is nothing more than big corporations trying to increase their ESG scores so that the big stock market hounds and hedge funds will promote their brand in the marketplace. If their scores plummet, then so does their stock value. It's all part of the New World Order's plan to control the populace and destroy the world's economies so they can enter into their Great Reset! We have got to start pushing back against this nonsense. Just wait until a customer gets too close to a shopping buggy with a dog in it, and the dog takes a chunk out of their body. It's highly probable! It's happened to me before. Environmental, Social and corporate Governance Environmental, social, and corporate governance is an approach to evaluating the extent to which a corporation works on behalf of social goals that go beyond the role of a corporation to maximize profits on behalf of the corporation's shareholders.

The ones writing here that the tiles are never a problem for them are probably just not at the age where their balance is off, and they don't have pain in their legs which keeps one from being able to stabilize quickly on slippery tiles. It happens to me all the time at 75 years of age. I also despise seeing a grown man wearing flip-flops or sports shoes, and I like to dress up and wear a traditional dress shoe with socks which is an accident waiting to happen in Thailand on all the tile floors. Far more dangerous are the bathrooms in hotels where there are no safety bars, and the tiles are very slippery in showers and even worse in a bathtub. I never enter either without wearing shower shoes to give me a good gripping, and even then, it's still dangerous without the handrails. I would like to see statistics on how many people are injured, maimed and killed by slippery tiles and bathtubs in Thailand. The figures have to be astronomical, and nothing every changes and no improvements are every made to make it safer. It should be a priority with the Ministry of Health to make the public safe by having tighter restrictions in commercial buildings and homes.

That's not Thaksin's photo! It's Jack Ma, CEO and founder of Alibaba, with more hair painted on.

When the US Embassy renews a passport, they attach a formal letter on the Embassy stationary to say that a new passport has been issued and replaces the old passport number. This should be sufficient, but then again, the Amphur may require a translation of that letter into Thai. My guess is something is lost in the translation of this request. Makes no sense otherwise!

And every ounce of this bizarre, abnormal, gangster style behavior....from the twerking to the gold teeth.....was imported from the Sodom and Gomorrah of the world, the USA. We used to be known for the Christian Missionaries that we sent to the world, but now the world is sending Missionaries to the US to turn us back to God and away from our lascivious lifestyles.

Just type all your meds in this site and do an interaction check. I have never seen a pharmacy do this, and it's absolutely necessary if one is mixing meds. Some of the local meds are not in their data base because they only include drugs that are FDA approved; however, one can Google the local drug and find an equivalent brand drug from the USA to enter into the interaction checker. https://www.drugs.com/drug_interactions.html

With the Thais it's all about "monkey see...monkey do". As long as the elites on TV are wearing masks, the peasants wouldn't dare shed the mask and insult the better judgement of those in authority. When the ruling class decides it's time to give up masking, the masses will follow suit. Obedience to authority always trumps common sense, critical thinking and following the science.

Better take that word "boy" out of the headline and replace it with "man" if you want to stay in good graces with the upcoming regime, unless of course you purposely added it to demean the new PM.

This gal's salary is only a fraction of what they are able to rake in by way of corruption. My stepdaughter is a government teacher who manages the accounting for her school, and she tells me horror stories of how much money the director steals from the coffers. Krung Thai Bank gives them over 400,000 Baht per year for the children's lunch fund, and the director steals half of it. She works the teachers to death having them do tasks which are her responsibility while she steps out for "important meetings" that are NOT taking place. When the children go on school trips, the teachers have to pay for the vans out of their own pocket while the director pockets the money dedicated for the trip, and the list goes on and on. These people are nothing but thieves and thugs and deserve to be in prison for the atrocities committed against the teachers and students. My wife is also a former teacher, and she confirms that this type of behavior by school directors is endemic in the society and not just a one-off. I can't tell you the number of times I have seen my stepdaughter come home crying, and there's not a thing she can do about it. If she speaks out, she will lose her job. There's no such thing as an anonymous "whistleblower" here. If they file a complaint, it's widely apparent who is making the claim, so whistleblowing is non-existent.

Bignok, if "at night I enjoy life" means that you are drinking alcohol, then that may be your problem. I lived that way for years in the Philippines, and I was always depressed and disinterested the morning after a night out. Booze will screw you up in more ways than one, so give it up. It may take a while to leave it behind, but life will be so much more amazing without it.

Happy, you sound like my wife.....assuming and guessing about everything. Of course, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion, but it is unwise for you to state your opinion as fact. Consider this....of all the knowledge in the world, let's modestly say that you are aware of .00000000000001% of it. Have you considered that the true knowledge of God is hidden somewhere in the balance of that, and you just haven't discovered it as yet? Keep searching my friend! Take it from a former "rich gone broke" alcoholic and drug addict, God the Father, Holy Spirit and Jesus are all real and can change your life dramatically when they come into your life. All you have to do is receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, and you will never have to worry about losing your life. You will find eternal life!

Stories like this are designed to give pot a bad name. It's all part of the propaganda campaign to reverse the laws on use of marijuana. No doubt he was either high on meth or mentally challenged or both.

I use the government's Military Hospital in Udon Thani and only pay 50 Baht to see a doctor. The meds from their pharmacy are dirt cheap, and no other hospital charges are levied. The private hospitals have recently raised their fee to 200 Baht for the nurse to check your blood pressure and weight you, but there is no such fee at the Military Hospital.

Just another of the continuing attempts to scare the public into masking up to remind the people that they are still slaves. Even 1000 cases per day in a city population of 11 million is only .0000909% of the population. That many people are catching the flu every day, and nobody's worried about that! It borders on insanity!!!!!!