JimHuaHin

17 hours ago, AlfonsV said:

Compulsory insurance is only needed if you continue the Non Immi O-A Retirement visa. At least in Chiang Mai. Ask and confirm at your immi.

Same in Hua Hin.

A couple of weeks ago I sent a letter to Adelaide from Hua Hin (EMS, registered express?), it took 12 days to be delivered.

Please, pray tell, what other alternative by-pass routes are available (especially for large or heavy vehicles)?

I know of no inland routes that are suitable for most vehicles, unless you want to take a 1 hour detour via Pran Buri Dam.

Driving down Hua Hin Soi 105 to near Pak Nam Pran, and then driving back to the highway south of Pran Buri is possible, but slow.

For almost every year over the past decade there have been these road works in Pran Buri - from generally the By Pass road down to Pran Buri Markets.  Some one is making big money from this stupidity.  One day all of this area will have a reinforced concrte road, but probably not in my life time.

About 15 years ago in Australia I had severe chest pains.   I did not think it was a heart attack, but I was concerned and felt well enough to drive myself, slowly, the 10-15 minutes drive (through light traffic) to my nearest government hospital.  After some tests the ER staff, declared it was not a heart attack, but they wanted to keep me in hospital overnight for observation and a heart stress test the following morning.  (I did not have a mobile phone, so I asked the staff if I could use a phone to call a colleague and inform her that I could not teach my 8.00 am class the following morning).  The heart stress test went ok, no problems, heart very strong, discharged.

The following week, after my Nursing student class finished at about 9.50 am, two of my students (they were Enrolled Nurses rather than Registered Nurses, thus they were studying for a Nursing degree) came up and told me the story of a similar patient who two weeks earlier under went a similiar heart stress test at the hospital, passed, was discharded, walk out of the hospital, and while waiting for a taxi had a fatal heart attack.

One never knows.

But, if you happen to have an appointment or operation at a government hospital/clinic on Monday, that appointment will now be cancelled/postponed.

I imagine many Thai public hospital/clinic staff will spend today and tomorrow on phones telling patients not to come to hospital/clinic on Monday and trying to reschedule appointments/operations.

I know that this is a bit off-topic, but ... I use an Android phone to call a bank in Australia 2 weeks ago.  "Your call will be answered by the new available customer assistant."  Call was finally answered after 45 minutes; was transferred to 3 customer assistantd.  Total call time was about 85 minutes, cost Baht 210.

As some earlier posts have hinted, "... Kirida Bhaopichitr ... Director for the Economic Intelligence Service at the Thailand Development Research Institute ..." seems to have a very distorted view of what is happening with the Thai economy.  Numerous publications since the begiing of this year from the Australian National University-based "East Asian Forum" have noted the failing state of the current Chinese economy, including Emperor Xi forcing a focus on domestic rather than foreign consumption and China being unable to meet promised BRI foreign funding.

Unfortunately, Thailand does not publish much demographic data (compared to some of its neighbours) , expecially data from its population censuses (which seem to be related to national security concerns).  Probably Mahidol University library at the Salaya campus maybe the best source of Thai demographic data, as the Institute of Population and Social Research is located there.

10 hours ago, ThaiPauly said:

Will Blueport do 90 day reports?

Yes.

What are the Thai police going to do if a few million Thais take to the streets of the major cities of Thailand?

Remember October 1973?

It is interesting to look at the social media posts of young Thai military and police personnel - the vast majority that I have seen show support for "the orange shirt" movement.

24 minutes ago, pagallim said:

Perhaps/probably wrong, but the Bangkok Post is perceived as the most read of all the Thai based foreign language news sources.   Given what is happening today, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that the BP is being deliberately taken off air to minimise international condemnation of what is flagrant abuse by those in actual power here and any potential suppression of unrest.   I'm sure that it won't be long before Reuters etc get this out there.   Thai social media is already alight with the  news.

Spot on target.

The web site has been down since about 7.00 am this morning.

During my first couple of years in Thailand I saw Dr Niyom at Bumrungrad Skin Center, and he is very good.  However, one year he was away, and I saw Dr. Nicha instead, and she is excellent - takes pictures of any moles which maybe potential problems and checks the original pictures when I have my six-month follow-up check.   Cost is usually about Baht 2,000, without meds or treatments.  I have yet to find a competent skin cancer dermatologist in Hua Hin.

As noted above, this is a controlled drug in Thailand, you will need to go to a (government) hospital and see a doctor.

I am surprised the names "Prayut" and "Prawit" were not proposed. 5 5 5

What an interesting post - I shall try not to upset the site's administrator(s) and have my post deleted and myself warned/suspended.

There are many super-smart/highly intelligent Thai (and Chinese-Thai) women in Thailand at any age; some of whom I have been fortunate to meet and befriend of many decades of visiting Thailand.  And I must hasten to add, not all of these women have had high (read university) education - high intelligence does not necessarily require high education.

Maybe if one has been unable to meet "super-smart" mature Thai women, then one has been moving in the wrong social circles.

Arrogance?  Yes, but also ...

As some earlier posts have noted - the need to keep the masses ignorant so that they can be controlled.

There is the conservative "accepted" Thai version of history, and then there are the ever-changing "contested" versions of history.

I have had similar problems with Westpac and gmail login verification - usually I just wait a few minutes and try again; if not, wait 5 minutes and all is ok.   Seems to be a temporarey glitch in the system, maybe.

My report on Non Imm O-A Retirement 1-year extension this morning:

I arrived at Immigration at 8.15 am - 1 farang in front of me.   However, I was third to be processed after the office opened at 8.30 am.

Documents presented (here I am copying in part from the original post):

Will these Royalists also be going to petition the Chinese and Russian Embassies?