suzannegoh

20 years ago there were people griping that Chiang Mai wasn't what it used to be.  And 20 years from now there will be people reminiscing about the 2020s as if it was Chiang Mai's golden era.

1 hour ago, khaepmu said:

Why do the banks/financial institutions assume you are living overseas just because you make some transactions or emails from Thailand. I call my mutual fund/brokerage company from Thailand and during the conversations I always point out that I am vacationing in Thailand and SE Asia and staying at my Thai wife's house for a few months. (I have been using  my brother's American mailing address since the company informed me that I must have a US mailing address.) I also send emails from Thailand, not often, but they have yet to give me a warning. More recently, when I call from Thailand I use SKYPE. Don't know if they can tell if the call is made from Thailand using SKYPE. I transfer money to Thailand from my American bank using TransferWise. Once I make a transfer request using Wise I don't know if the bank knows where the money is going.

 

Depending upon what type of account it is, there could be other explanations for there being only transactions initiated from abroad, but it's understandable that it might trigger a letter being sent asking for verification of your address.  If I was creating an algorithm to detect customers that might have moved abroad, accessing the account only for foreign IP addresses is one thing that I’d include in it.

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Logins from Thailand.

With or wiithout a VPN?

17 hours ago, Jingthing said:

He could.

It would be a challenge to open from Thailand and I wouldn't assume continuation of any policies you may have heard about Fidelity in the past.

I'm with Fidelity. They were aggressively investigating me for years because of Thailand logins, but they dropped bugging me after I started only logging in from the US directly with TeamViewer (not a VPN).

It might be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. 

 

I'm hanging on with Fidelity because they are good and I've been with them since I was 20. I was disgusted when they starting hassling me. It seemed unethical to treat such long term customers that way.

 

But I would have the most confidence in Interactive Brokers long term to be actually expat friendly.

Before you started using TeanViewer, what was it that tipped them off that you were outside of the United States?

Why not just use a phone as a hotspot?

1 hour ago, Phnom Penh Trader said:

I have some Magic Beans for sale if anyone is interested,maybe Neeranam it looks like he’s willing to go all in on Tulip Bulbs etc?

Iraqi Dinar is where the action is.

On 11/20/2022 at 7:58 PM, Neeranam said:

I bought gold in 2001 when I got married as I thought it a safe investment. Sold at x4 in 2012 ish.

Wish I'd bought BTC with it then! 

Of course you did, and you probably talked other people into investing in gold when it was slightly off its all-time have as you did with Bitcoin.  An estimated 75% of people who invested in Bitcoin are underwater now, including a disturbing number of retirees with limited investment knowledge who were swayed by Bitcoin evangelists last year, just as many similar people where swayed by goldbugs 10 years ago.

13 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

None, but danger to society does not exclusively mean that someone can OD on a substance. There's lots of other ways a drug can be a danger to society. In my opinion none of those apply to cannabis, though. 

Except perhaps the reduction in IQ that it causes in teen users who overindulge.

The best exchange rate that you'll get is from ATM cards and credit cards that have no foreign exchange fee.  Some ATM cards, such as ones from Schwab and Fidelity, refund the 220 Baht fee charged by the bank that owns the ATM machine to boot.

32 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

What's your point?

 

Do you think BTC is a stable asset?

 

 

As bizarre the claim is, some do argue that.  Goldbugs argued that about gold too when it tanked after peaking out sometime around 2012.

In retrospect that $200K investment wasn't very well timed but if it's any consolation, people who "understand" bitcoin tell me that it doesn't matter if the price of Bitcoin goes down because 1 BTC will always have a value of 1 BTC. 

Is Avastin (bevacizumab) available at Thai hospitals and, if so, how much does it cost?

On 6/27/2022 at 9:42 AM, EricTh said:

Some of these go-go girls are actually transgender if that's alright with you.

You don't say,  I thought that all the lady boys were in the West.

On 6/27/2022 at 8:49 AM, Tuukka said:

I'm 45,  looking more like 35. But I think I'm probably too old to hit on the girls in places like shopping mall. Women usually consider me as handsome, but obviously the age is an issue.

 

Off the record, once in Cambodia I visited a fish market, and it was filled with beautiful girls working there. It was almost comical.

Being from a different social circle is likely to be as much of an issue as any difference in age.

On 6/25/2022 at 9:24 PM, BritManToo said:

I quite like this one .........

 

These look pretty good as well .......

 

Yeah, if you're looking for a girl to strap one on a eff you up the a.

On 6/25/2022 at 7:14 PM, morrobay said:

About 2005 , Classic go go on one of the Pattalands. No silicone no attitudes, I would be surprised to see any photos of go go bar today this nice.

 

That's a pathetic looking scene.

12 minutes ago, elektrified said:

Hi Sheryl, I've never had any cancer coverage on any of my policies over 15 years here?

 

And as far as the Thai SS coverage, we witnessed a young (25-30 y/o) Thai woman (colleague of my wife) with Ovarian cancer die at a Chiang Mai Hospital. They said she needed 2 million Baht of imported chemo drugs to save her which government insurance won't cover. They gave her Morphine until she passed.

And that 2M Baht for the chemo drugs was probably at least 2X what they cost in the US.

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

By the way,  do you have parents and grandparents who are not up to date with current technology? 

 

Yes, but they were not up to date on technology in the 1980s either.

If the story is legit at all, it’s probably the immuno drug that they are talking about is most of the cost and it's not an FDA-approved treatment.  There are cancer clinics in Thailand, similar to ones in Tijuana, that charge thousands of dollars per week for cures that “the government doesn’t want you to know about”.  Some of those treatments are legit drugs that are under clinical trials elsewhere in the world but in many cases they are offering things like Vitamin C infusions and Coffee Enemas for even more money than what chemotherapy would cost in the West.  Few insurance policies, Thai or Western, will cover any of that. 

14 hours ago, impulse said:

What makes you believe that would cover him for a pre-existing condition?

Theoretically a US citizen could assume residence somewhere in the US and get coverage under an ACA (Obamacare) policy within a month of applying.  You can get one of those policies regardless of pre-existing conditions.  However that can be difficult to do if you've been abroad for a long time since you need to have money to move back and you might not have any connection to any particular place in the US anymore. 

52 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

 

Where/by whom are you being treated?

I've consulted with many.  The doctor that I talked to at Siriraj Hospital was the only one in Thailand that seemed to have any depth of experience with cases like this.  Erivedge was mentioned to me by a doctor in the US who has only seen pictures of the affected area but has not examined me.

20 minutes ago, kidneyw said:

I had a great deal of success with a cream called Efudex. It was given to me by my dermatologist, but is unavailable in Thailand.

Maybe you know someone who can bring it in for you.

Here dermatologists seem to prescribe Aldara (imiquimod) instead of that.