northernjohn

NJ - Maybe a thread about hearing aids might get more mileage in the General Topic section, where more people might read it as it pops uo.

What do you think? You could always ask a mod to move it.

Good idea. I was concerned about the people here in Chiang Mai but as one can see it is not a well known subject here in Chiang Mai,. I hope some people got information out of it. I know it is not some thing people like to talk about but there are many who could use them.

Moderator can you move this post over to general forum so more people in Thailand can at least learn a little bit about them.

I can offer you a solution to your smoking and many other problems.

When you inhale the smoke do not under any circumstances exhale.

OP " It says the board have decided I would have thought the members would have been allowed some input into this decision first"

If the decision was River Market's (obviously you don't know), then there's no need for anyone to have input into the decision, unless you are a River Market shareholder.

If the decision was CEC's then yes you should have been advised and had some input, unless your membership counts as nothing in reality.

I believe the River Market had a lot of input on it. As I said it was for a Western Buffet a great bargain.

It required a lot of extra work as it was only twice a month they were open that early and for the most part the cooks were dealing with foods and quantities that varied from what they normally did. I never said any thing about it but I was surprised that they could put it on for that price.

I guess I should be happy as it was the only buffet I allowed myself.

I've had them 8 years.. I think. Might be 9 years... When there is an upgrade, the company sends me notice. In some settings I want to be able to hear EVERYTHING. But in a crowded restaurant I might only want to hear the person across the table from me. One program with a directional mic removes the noise from the tables the the sides and rear, reduce the highs and lows, leaving mostly the vocal range, enabling me to focus on my dinner companion's speech. Another program I set up gives me a better range of frequencies with a different mic for listening to a concert. Yet another program is set up for playing guitar, reproducing the guitar's sound just the way I like it.. When you can do your own adjusting, and do it easily, the possibilities are endless. I can change the program's parameters quickly.

sounds like the last pair I had. came with a little control you could easily carry around with you. Even had a setting on it for phones. Could change the settings any time. Still not equal to what I got this time. But as I said I get them free. The technology is much better now and that is why they told me it would take more than a year to improve them. $900 8 years ago would come close to comparing them to todays prices. I noticed on the internet the ones I have cost more than they did buying them from the clinic.

Regardless the technology today makes it worth while getting a new pair regardless of the cost as they will do things far better and as you have said they are upgradable. I did not realize this until now. It is certainly a great point to consider when your hearing gets bad.

I like Rajavej The service was good there. I had no problem with the staff of course I was not in any way offensive to them either.

I had my hip replaced there by Doctor Chanakarn Phornphutkul who had been recommended to me by Dr. Suttee for arthroscopic surgery saying he was the best in Thailand at that. He is a sports injury specialist who does do a bit of traveling and lecturing. I recommend Dr. Suttee for consultation. He is getting on in years and does not do all the surgery he used to do still an excellent source of information.

I left the hospital up to the doctor as he is Okayed to operate in several hospitals as are many doctors.

One other Orthopedic I can recommend is Tanawat Vaseenon at the university hospital. He has his own clinic. I saw him to get custom made insoles.

I got tired of paying for the audiologist's new car each year so I bought some hearing aids from "HearSource," over the Internet. $999.00 each for the same thing that Beltone, Siemens, and Starkey sell for $3,000... PLUS... the company gave me the computer program and interface so I could adjust them myself every six months if I wanted to. (I want to. Hearing changes...) It's hardly more difficult to make the adjustments than fiddling with a stero system's graphic equilizer, only you get a few more settings to filter out or filter in sounds as you hear them. No more trying to tell the audiologist "Gee, that sounds a little tinny...NOOOO now it's too dull..... NOOO now it's too tinny again... I wear the hearing aids while I adjust them myself, so I can dial them in exactly to my liking! Takes me about 15 minutes to do both ears.

Each ear is independently adjustable, with four separate programs; directional mics or omni mics, program for listening to music, listening to the TV, not listening to my wife...You set up what ever programs you need for daily wear. Programs are push-button controlled. Each aid also has its own volume control.

If there is a problem, and I need repair, the company will fix ANY brand of hearing aid for $100. Flat rate regardless of the problem. If they have to replace all the innards, it's still $100. As most of these companies all buy their innards from the same place, the quality is up there, without paying for the brand name. I've been wearing mine now for about 8 years, and see no reason to pay more... Having an audiologist in town is nice, but paying them three times the price to buy the aids, then being forced back to them and pay more to adjust them each year isn't so nice.

Well it sounds good. How long have you had that pair and is it possible for them to keep up with Technology. I know I have had 3 pair of them over the last 15 years now and this is the first pair that I wear regularly as there is no fiddling around to do after the initial adjustment which I for one reason or another missed the volume on one ear.

Even at that it is still far better than the pair I got 5 years ago. Not sure of what the other brands were. When I got this pair I mentioned that maybe wait one more year and get both of them free. I am allowed a free pair every 5 years by Workers Compensation. He said he would apply for permission to replace both this year. Party of my reasoning was that I was doing reasonably well with the pair I had that had a remote to change all kinds of sounds. I said if I wait the year they will have improved the technology, He informed me that they would not improve the technology in one year these were the latest tech for them. Brand new. It takes more than a year to go from this tech to brand new improved tech in one year. I don't know about other brands.

I am glad that you had mentioned the fact that they gave you a program to change them your selves. In the 15 years I have owned them I was never aware that Technology was that advanced. good to know. Here in Chiang Mai their is the one place in Pantip and another by Nimmanhemin that one handles Intimex. That is where the Rajavej hospital sends their patients when they need hearing aids.

As for the cheap ones I am more interested in hearing what people have to say than background noises. I believe that after a while your brain just turns back ground noises off.

Oh, my God....a thread on how many baht you can save on shaving cream...Just a notch up from feeding the pigeons on the park bench, I guess....

Well you can always join the troll thread on egg prices. LOL

I use bar soap cheap and as good a job as any cream. Never tried Gel might consider that.

O like the Aloe Vera in it did not realize that.

I have a set of Phonak hearing aids. They set the volume with the computer when you buy them. They do have a little button on one that will increase them and one on the other to decrease them.

As it turns out the one for my right ear is not really loud enough and if I raise the volume it raises it in both ears and the sound gets distorted. All I could find in Chiang Mai was shops that did not work on mine. I know there is one in Bangkok but it is not that big an inconvenience so I E Mailed the company and asked them where the nearest shop was that could adjust the volume.

The surprise was that they said they could do it if I had access to the internet. I am tech challenged and it has not been that big of a problem to me so I am going to be visiting the family next month in Canada and am going to go into the shop where I purchased them and get them to run me through the procedures. I do not know the price for them as I get them free curtsey of Workers Compensation Board in B C Canada.

I just post this in case others have hearing aids and are not aware of some of the things technology allows them to do today. Or are considering purchasing a new pair.

As you are facing the building, it pulls up to the left. I went through this....the <deleted> at the front desk was playing stupid....and obviously, there is a nest of Red out fron looking for fares...as in 2-300 for the trip. I had the number of Prom, and got them on the phone....when leaving Prom, I didn't want to wait for the shuttle, walked past the nest of red there, crossed thee street and was taken to Worrorat Market for 50 THB. Find Proms website, call them up, verify...

When you left the Promenada which street did you walk across? There are two major highways there.

How long was the wait for the what ever it was you got for 50 baht? Certainly not a tuck tuck. They also want 200 baht and I doubt there is many in the area.

The reason for the infrequency of "Sales" in Western markets is consumer protection law. Retailers are required to prove that they (for a set period of time) once sold the item for more money than they are asking for now. No such law exists in developing Asian markets; so "Sales" are on all the time. Of course, they don't usually represent good value for money. Discounting and clearing shelves to make room for new stock seems to be near unheard of in Asia. It seems that many places would rather throw away stuff than take a little less money for it. But then that wasn't atypical in the West during my youth so I guess they'll catch up eventually.

What gets me is I will go to buy an item and they will tell me there is no more. I say I will take the model I do not even ask for a discount on it but they refuse to sell it. If ever there was a time for a sale that is it.

Like at Rimping when they put a piece of tape around two and say buy one get one free.

I think promotions are to promote the product and sales are to get rid of it.

In my experience, the Mounties don't act that way.

They don't seem to have quite as much swagger.

I don't think they are fighting any battles at the moment, and so I guess I have not seen their videos similar to the ones of American soldiers in Iraq.

I am sure this guy was not from Quebec City, but possibly Toronto, except the police are pretty friendly there, and do not often act this way, in or out of uniform.

How do you know he wasn't from Canada?

In my experience, the Mounties don't act that way.

They don't seem to have quite as much swagger.

I don't think they are fighting any battles at the moment, and so I guess I have not seen their videos similar to the ones of American soldiers in Iraq.

I am sure this guy was not from Quebec City, but possibly Toronto, except the police are pretty friendly there, and do not often act this way, in or out of uniform.

Generalize much? Sherlock couldn't derive such conclusions from so little information. But then you had just been pumped up with religion so evidence may not mean much to you.

I don't think he was pumped up with religion. I think he is still reeling from the rise in egg prices. eating 5 eggs a day is an enormous amount of money for him.

Can some one please find him some 3 baht a piece eggs and let him get back to the real world.

If all else fails you can always use Star Visa. They specialize in getting Visas for Thais to foreign countries.

Defiantly not cheap.

"Then suddenly I saw ahead of me what looked like one of those GI Joe figures astride a bike coming towards me in one of those bike lanes I do not often notice. When this military man was just about on top of me, he suddenly stretched out his left arm in traffic cop fashion and called out for me to get back up on the sidewalk. Apparently, I had inadvertently encroached on his bike lane territory. He seemed extremely displeased, just as I was dismayed.

His accent left no doubt he was American, and he looked like a giant USA MP."

Are you stating that a large man in a US military uniform did this, or are you practicing your creative writing skills?

I think he is recovering fr0m the rise in the cost of eggs. He eats 5 a day and it has proven to be an immense dent in his spending money.

Troll

What would an American MP be doing in Chiang Mai vacation maybe. Also I really don't think they allow their MPs to get to the size he mentioned. I do a fair amount of walking around and can not rightly remember where there is 8 kilometers of bike lane. Have often wondered if some of them are for pedal bikes to go the opposite way on a one way street.

I make it a point when walking on the street to walk facing the traffic and if I am on a one way to walk on the same side as the driver is on giving them a better chance to see me.

Edit

I wonder what kind of a mentality would think it was illegal because a United States Military Police man told him. There isn't even a United States base close to Chiang Mai and they have no authority over civilians off the base any how. My money says he wasn't at church to begin with he was out looking for cheap eggs.

New immigration Offices have also been opened in Suphanburi,Chaiyaphum* Singburi and Ubon Ratchaithani.

(* How many foreigners living in around there , very few I would imagine )

Sadly no staff increase in CM where they are obviously needed.

Yes Chiang Mai needs a better setup. Its hard to fathom why offices are built in areas of little demand and ours deteriorates. Even the oneline queue system return would be a big help but under the current agent system highly unlikely. The only positive thing about the agent system is that the morning queues seem to be getting shorter. It is still a "waste a whole day" system. Go early get a number return at the allotted time for your interview leave and return at 4.30pm (if your lucky) and pick up your passport. I think we all know why

I don't know why.

I know what the result is but I have no idea why Bangkok will not supply adequate staff in Chiang Mai.

Are you saying the agents are sending money to Bangkok?

The sign says nothing about legal or illegal.

If it was illegal they would have posted it.

I doubt they check that one at the airport very often.I believe that it is not legal to take a Buddha carving out of Thailand. How ever if you are exporting them for sale it is legal. Go figure.

Never heard of horrible airline do they have a web site?

Www.horribleairline.co.th

Is KhonKaenKowboy the CEO?

I am happy with my smarter than me Samsung Galaxy 2. I had a cheapo that was not a smart phone. I got tired of having to be in specific spots to get reception. As much as 5 feet would some times make such a big difference it was worthless. Plus I could not get the volume turned up high enough to suit me.

He got there at 10:00 in the morning and got a queue number because they had not given out all 20 for the day. Seems like this time of the year there is not as many people asking for the extensions on their what ever. Mine is a retirement one. At least that is what it says on the original.

...........

In the past, they've not given out any "left over" queue numbers once they start to see applicants because they want to review the documents prior to giving a queue number and the "hostesses" at the desk aren't qualified to review the documents. Maybe they're just giving out that list of required documents instead.

That's what I said. He got there and they had not given them all out so he was given one. 10:00 in the morning and he got number 15 the girls at the front are giving out 20 queue numbers a day now. Awhile back it was I had heard 25 and a couple of times I heard 30. going to be interesting in August or September. I believe that is when the real line ups started last year. I find the processing in 5 minutes remarkable for some one with out an agent.

Never heard of horrible airline do they have a web site?

I have no idea but maybe if you would get another brand they might have some thing close to what you want.

No such thing as the best hospital.Major priority is the Doctor, or Specialist, that is treating you problem

You will just get a multitude of different opinions and that all they are

Bit like asking where's the best pizzza.

Recommended list of doctors etc at top of this page.

I so much agree with that. Seems like many people like the Bangkok because it is the most modern one and the most expensive one. I have heard some good reports on a baby being born there. But most of the talk was praise for the doctor who had delivered many babies in other hospitals.

I had an exam at Ram one year. Part of it was an X ray. The doctor wanted to operate on me immediately. It was an operation that the doctor who had done the original operation and his replacement when he was on vacation both recommended not having. That was in Canada. A few years later I went to the Ram again and Doctor Sudhee also recommended against it. He explained it to me and said in his 40 years experience he had only seen it done once.

My self I like Rajavej I have had no problems there cheaper than the Ram and the service was just as good. I have no idea why your wife was treated the way she was. Some times things like that happen when the supposed innocent one is far from innocent. Then there are days when some people react that way because they are just having a miserable day and take it out on another. At any rate it is not some thing I would worry about. I get that way myself once in a great while.

He got there at 10:00 in the morning and got a queue number because they had not given out all 20 for the day. Seems like this time of the year there is not as many people asking for the extensions on their what ever. Mine is a retirement one. At least that is what it says on the original.

I only take in proof of income statement from the American conciliate. I also have the proof but the one time I tried to show it to them they would not let me. Not needed they say. As for 5 minutes to do the whole process that is remarkable unless you are using an agent. I admit it is not always the applicants fault. It took me 1/2 hour one year at the airport. The lady was sitting at the back desk where a man usually sat. The other staff kept coming up and asking her questions. At one point she went into the managers office for 15 minutes. She had no problem what so ever with my papers they were all there and signed properly.

I wonder if he was using a partial bank balance and the rest in guaranteed income? Half of each or some sort of division. Not sure what the least amount in the bank would be acceptable.