TheRascal

Hey all,

My friend has a little girl who's had bad luck with accidents and sickness. Staying in hospital seems expensive here and everytime the kid has got sick it's wiped out her savings.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good health insurance plan for a child with examples of what benefits are provided and costs?

Thanks in advance.

Can anyone recommend a good visa agent in Penang for Non B.

I've got all the required documents.

A recommendation on the best area to stay for convenience would be great too.

Hello,

I need to go outside Thailand to sort my non B visa for work. I will have all the documentation from the company I will be working for.

They have suggested I go to KL but having read many negative reports about them being excessively strict I wanted to ask advise from you good people.

Also advise on how many days it would take would be awesome.

Happy to go anywhere in the region but would prefer to avoid Laos if possible.

I can stream from my iPad to apple tv also Ok but can not stream from my mac book to apple tv, no logic to this

If you're on a recent version of OSX you should be able to, I'm on Yosemite and have Airplay in the top bar and it connects to my Apple TV.

Unless they are going to do a proper job of searching they shouldn't even bother.

Every time I go to use the BTS with a backpack they stop me and ask me to look in my bag, at best they give a slight cursory glance into the top of the bag with a torch but never once have they asked to look under my gym kit even though there's clearly other stuff underneath. There have been times where they shine the torch and don't even look in the bag, just keep chatting. It's a complete waste of time.

Get a PS4, great fun. My uncle recently retired and he loves his. Personally I'm not a fan of the Wii, I think they are ok for a short amount of time but the games can't hold attention for long and are no fun to play 2 player.

Fighting games: Dead or Alive and Mortal Kombat are fun fighting games.

If you're in Bangkok I'd recommend Nadz Project as a place to buy. They have branches in Terminal 21 (Asoke BTS) and Digital Gateway (Siam BTS), the machines they sell are legitimate with a proper Sony warranty and they are friendly guys.

Som nam naa

6 dead and it "serves them right".

Wow.

There is a large (block up block upon block) attractive, grassy park that leads up to Independence Monument (I forget the name of the road). Furthermore, the riverside promenade is used as a tai chi and various other exercise spot for many. Phnom Penh has some excellent international cuisine (BKK1 area, among others). Those calling it "filthy" probably haven't been there in quite some time.

I went 2 years ago, I really like it but I stand by the comment that it's filthy!

it is no more dirty than bkk , thailand

Bangkok isn't a clean city but Phnom Penh is filthy.

The lab gym, corner of sukhumvit 31, they sell them in reception, the small orange bumpy ones.

Past 2 evenings True has been much slower than usual. Skype calls are usually super clear and speaking to my dad yesterday and the night before it was breaking up every few minutes.

As everyone has said it's completely subjective but when I first lived here I paid:

22,000 a month condo, On Nut next to BTS, 34sqm 1 bedroom place. New building

2500 electric average

2000 gym

150 water average

1400 internet

16000 per month food (combination of eating out and eating at home and paying for some meals with girls, this is one of the areas it could vary hugely, I like some western brands so villa is a must for me)

400 Cinema once a week (paying for 2 tickets and some snacks)

12000 per month partying twice a week, which would usually involve either drinking at home and going straight to meet friends at a club when they finished work or going for a few drinks in Thonglor and then to a club.

1000 a month on books

1000 a month on movies and series to watch at home

1000 a month laudry

1000 a month for haircuts

1000 a month for deodorant, toiletries etc

1500 month on travel

So a shade over 60k and whether it's everyone's cup of tea I'm not sure but I enjoyed it. This wasn't to a budget, just kind of spent what I wanted and found life to be quite cheap, some months might have been a bit more if I bought some tech gadget, clothes or went on a trip.

I think there are a fair few areas where that could have been reduced, definitely condo (5 minutes or so from the BTS in On Nut or Prakanong you'll easily find a place for 15k, less for a studio. A few more stops out and it's cheaper still. Food is another area where budget could be cut.

The question isn't how much does it cost to live, the question is how much does it cost to live a lifestyle that makes you happy.

I've had ongoing shoulder pain for a while now and it doesn't seem to be getting better by itself.

Could do with seeing a physio, anyone have recommendations of someone they have used, ideally English speaking.

When I say right click, of course I mean apple click or double fingered click - I don't think I'll will ever stop thinking of it as the right click

For the first issue when it's in the dock at the bottom right click it and go to "options" then un-tick "open at login".

For the second issue go into System Preferences > Dock and reduce the size of the icons in the dock so they all fit. At some point depending on the number of programs you keep in the dock you're going to run into issues.

Yeah London is nuts, even right on the outskirts, took a 5 minute cab from a friend's in Bromley to the station in the summer and it was £6. Ok that's a small amount of money but think how far 300b would get you in Bangkok!

I've never had a problem from Ikea. Did you get one from the little taxi stand outside? The guy there is usually pretty helpful in getting a taxi for you.

The guy at the stand was useless. There was a big queue and everytime the driver refused to take me and the gf he just asked if they would take other passengers at the stand, it ended up with 3 groups of people wanting taxis to various parts of Sukhumvit and taxi drivers refusing to take any of them.

That's the only stand I've ever had a problem at, the others on different parts of the park I've had no problem at all.

That's a shame. I've only taken one from there when it was fairly quiet, to be fair.

This was 3pm on a Saturday so I get why they didn't want to do it, although I'm more than happy going on the tollway. It's not a huge issue and I still think we're fortunate how cheap they are here. Went to HK in August and the taxis were efficient but the fares were high, I'd guess as much as 8-10x more expensive than BKK

I've never had a problem from Ikea. Did you get one from the little taxi stand outside? The guy there is usually pretty helpful in getting a taxi for you.

The guy at the stand was useless. There was a big queue and everytime the driver refused to take me and the gf he just asked if they would take other passengers at the stand, it ended up with 3 groups of people wanting taxis to various parts of Sukhumvit and taxi drivers refusing to take any of them.

That's the only stand I've ever had a problem at, the others on different parts of the park I've had no problem at all.

Most of the time I don't have problems with Taxi drivers and I don't bitch about them, there have been a few times I've had issues:

1) After a night out about a year ago, end of Suk 11 at 2am. Taxis were refusing to take ANYONE on the meter, Thai or Farang

2) Mid day near Lumphinee park with a friend and her baby, took 6 taxis before we got one who'd take us back to Sukhumvit. Really really hot and even though there was a small child they didn't care about saying no.

3) Last week at Ikea, wanting to go to Ekkamai. 6 Taxis refused before one finally said yes

It's definitely down to area. If I'm at home it's Uber or the car option on Grab taxi everytime.

Most of the time I don't have problems with Taxi drivers and I don't bitch about them. ....

1) ....

2)...

3)....

hmmm...looked in the mirror lately.

That's not bitching, it's a few occasions - related to the OP's original request where I've had issues. It's not conjecture it's fact. I didn't use these to make any assumptions or complaints about the drivers, their attitudes or Bangkok taxis as a whole.

Most of the time I don't have problems with Taxi drivers and I don't bitch about them, there have been a few times I've had issues:

1) After a night out about a year ago, end of Suk 11 at 2am. Taxis were refusing to take ANYONE on the meter, Thai or Farang

2) Mid day near Lumphinee park with a friend and her baby, took 6 taxis before we got one who'd take us back to Sukhumvit. Really really hot and even though there was a small child they didn't care about saying no.

3) Last week at Ikea, wanting to go to Ekkamai. 6 Taxis refused before one finally said yes

It's definitely down to area. If I'm at home it's Uber or the car option on Grab taxi everytime.

I stopped drinking in bars years ago. There are too many boorish idiots out there expecially after theyve drunk half the brewery...Wishful thinking on behalf of the courts to fine him over 6m baht.

As I understand it this was nothing to do with drinking in bars, they had a disagreement of some sort and the guy who's just been jailed waited for the other fella and hit him in the head with a crowbar.

I never said they were nutters, but where the UK is concerned, Muslims do really have to learn to accept that if they make the UK their home, they have to respect our way of life, and not expect us to change our laws, rules or customs to suit them.

But how many actually want to change laws, rules and customs? Some do sure, but most aren't extreme and don't care. People with an agenda then pick up on these extreme views and try to put it over as the views of the majority which is rubbish.

I loved England in the late 50s but it's let in too many Islamic Nutters .Still feel more FREE IN USA .

Really? How many "Islamic Nutters" have you actually met. I worked all over the UK, lived in a pretty multicultural city, worked a fair bit in Bradford and a lot in London and never met one.

It really depends on what you mean by "nutters", change that to how many Islam people can you honestly say have you seen intregating into our society?

Do not count shop keepers and business people into this unless you have met them away from their shops and businesses, as they have to intregate to get our business.

I've got two muslim guys I consider close friends, one I shared a house with for a while, both really nice guys. A couple of others who I used to socialise with and others I've worked with, I don't consider them 'nutters' for being religious.

As far as integration I don't see many people trying that hard anywhere. Muslims in the UK tend to live in muslim areas, have a preference for closer muslim friends and like to do business with other muslims.

I know loads of Jews, they are exactly the same, some so more than the muslims I've met - live in areas with predominantly other Jews, prefer to do business with other Jews and even moderate Jews I know have expressed they don't want their kids to grow up and marry non Jews.

Look at a city like Leeds, a lot of people from different backgrounds are put in areas together, in turn that attracts more. You see loads of polish living together, Chapeltown was a Jewish area when a lot of Jews emigrated to the UK and as they became more wealthy and moved further north of the centre it became a predominantly West Indian area. This isn't unique to this city or the UK.

People like to be around people who are similar to them, with common language, religions, culture, cuisine etc. For me that doesn't make them "nutters" it just makes them human.

Prasat Hin Phanom Rung temple in Buriram might be worth a visit.

I went there, was cool - steep as <deleted> drive up to it!

I loved England in the late 50s but it's let in too many Islamic Nutters .Still feel more FREE IN USA .

Really? How many "Islamic Nutters" have you actually met. I worked all over the UK, lived in a pretty multicultural city, worked a fair bit in Bradford and a lot in London and never met one.