4MyEgo

I learned a long time ago when I first came here that principals, something that I grew up with, just for your information, don't gel here, so rather than beat myself up about it, as I used to when a situation arise (often), I realised that I had a choice, i.e. drop the ball and walk away from it, e.g. refused to play that game, or catch the ball and complain because they threw it too hard. I have learned to duck and weave, and don't look at all Thai's as trying to rip me off, but I know they will have a go, e.g. walk into price car tyres, I was quoted 6,500 baht, next day wife walks into price same car tyres, wife comes home with 4 new car tyres fitted price was 4,800 baht, now I could get upset and spit the dummy, but when I accept the fact and learn how to play the game, I don't get upset anymore, I expect and accept the culture as it is warts and all, but that doesn't stop some trying to rip me off, it is what it is, accept it, be aware of it, duck and weave and you will survive without being upset every time, this works for me, maybe not for you, that said, I am certainly not a Thai empathizer or a Thai basher, just a realist moving along. I hope you give your sister-in-law 100 baht for the haircuts ????

Another one who just doesn't get it, you are in a foreign country, and using labels such as an apologist or an enabler have no foundation to me, I call a spade a spade and see things for what they are, and of course don't expect the red carpet to be rolled out because I am a farang. I would presume a Thai being treated for Cancer would fall under the 30 Baht scheme, similar to Medicare or the NHS. Farangs do not have that privilege so they have to pay, now whether a Thai pays 500k baht and a farang pays 2.5 million baht is a different matter, suffice to say there are insurance policies to purchase for us farangs or we self insure, if you can't get insured and can't self insure then you either cough up or go back to where you came from, simple really. Fact of the matter is that there are a lot of disgruntled and failed farangs here who rely on the pension, in other words they didn't save and or invest for their futures, and then end up here expecting the red carpet to be rolled out for them, and complain over having to pay an extra 30 baht for a haircut, like I said, happy to contribute to the struggling Thai population depending on the circumstances, and we all have choices, i.e. we can go back to where we came from if we think the grass is greener and see if the red carpet there is better, nothing to do with anything else. You have it good here, but can't see it, once a complainer, always a complainer IMO.

Is your surname Charlie ????

Such a harsh label. I'm not a Thai apologist for the record. Just stating the facts as I see them, seriously, if they want to charge double, let them, I choose to avoid them, but common sense prevails when it comes to personal stuff, like a haircut, e.g. 650 baht back home, or 100 baht here, like I said, common sense, suffice to say if a Thai pays 30 baht or 50 baht for a haircut, I'm happy to support the person cutting my hair for the extra 50 baht, after all, they are saving me 550 baht. I take it you don't shine when it comes to math ????

Seriously, your complaining about departing over an extra 30 baht because it said 30 baht on the wall and not 60. Ask yourself this, (principals aside) because we all know that doesn't work that way here, unless your thicker than others and expect it to be the same here as back home. How much would it cost you for a haircut back in your country ? Last time I got a haircut back home it was 650 baht, that was 6 years ago. I pay 100 baht here and sometimes tip them if I am happy with the cut, still miles ahead and that's not just for a haircut, so best to adjust to where your at, or go back to where you came from, no doubt you will complain more there when you realise how good you hag it here regarding the cost of living.

Not a big deal for me, have not gone to one and will never go to one while dual pricing remains in place. Dual pricing is only for those who want to pay for it, a bit like paying an agent 20,000 baht for those who don't have the funds to do their extensions in my opinion, i.e. bribing their way to stay here only adds fuel to the already corrupt system to serve their purpose of staying here, i.e. you get what you pay for. I contribute to the Thai society by living here, but that is what I get for living here, that said, it's part and parcel of staying anywhere in the world, you get what you pay for, so I don't expect any special treatment, suffice to say I won't spit the dummy over dual pricing, I simply stay away from it.

Delta, we all know was a deadly strain, however we are no at Omicron which is much milder and we can compare it and discuss it for what it is, and the sooner they just let it rip through the communities the quicker we can get on with our lives, that said, the fearmongering serves no purposes, the old, the unvaccinated, the ones with immunocompromised conditions have to stay vigilant. This fearmongering will take a while for people to get over, I want to be free of the mask, was at a BBQ yesterday and I felt alive again.

From all the people I know personally around the world who have had Delta (two), and Omicron (at least 30), they got over it in basically a day or two symptoms wise, i.e. the heaviest part of the symptoms, then it took about another 3-4 days to say they were back to normal, self and family included. Delta was worse for the other two, one 60 years of age, was in hospital who thought he would die (unvaccinated), the other about 26 no hospital, in bed for a few days, also vaccinated. The ones who got Omicron were in the age ranges of 8 to 74 and all vaccinated. I haven't heard of anyone having bad symptoms that were vaccinated. That's said, it goes for all viruses, I believe the flu is something more to fear than Omicron and in the next day or so I will be going with the wife to get our annual shot. If Omicron rears it's head again, I won't be fussed knowing what it's like to have it, like I said, it was like a head cold, or a mild flu if you like, nothing I would fear for myself or my family, everyone being double vaxed, myself 3 Pfizer's, however I suppose you could say it's now 3 & 4 doses if you add Omicron as infecting us (natural immunity).

Someone should tell that nut, what's his name, Anut something or rather, the real ugly so called health minister who isn't a Dr at all, but holds that portfolio.

Ditto that x 6 people in this household with ages ranging from 8 to 62, no more than a mild flu, although have to admit only the two adults, i.e. me and the wife were on a heavy drug to get better, it was Sara (paracetamol) ???? not for any fever as there wasn't any, just the occasional headaches. The above said have had much much much worse in my life, like flat on my back in bed for 4 days twice with a real flu and I was half my age.

What can we learn from Depp-Heard case That she love him long time, still does, but Johnny finally woke up one day singing, "is this love, is this love, is this love that I'm feeling ????

6,2,1, half dozen the other in my opinion, in other words, if it feels the same, tasks the same, it's basically the same., like a car, it drives, it takes petrol etc. The only difference with Omicron to me, is that it is known to be more contagious than other COVID-19 variants and it largely infects the upper respiratory tract, making it easy to confuse the variant with seasonal flu, of which none of my family showed symptoms of.

Have to say one thing, it is clearly evident that they don't light westerners, e.g. can you tell me of one western country that doesn't have a multi-cultural population, to be more precise, one that doesn't allow visa's ?

Booking.com and Agoda who I believe is owned by Booking.com have the biggest platforms for bookings, hence the hefty 17% booking fee the hotels pay. It is also part of the contract that the hotels prices be much higher than Bookings.com and Agoda so that they do not compete. I once waked into a hotel knowing what they charged and what Bookings.com charged and said, look, I don't want to book on the website, but will book direct with you and pay cash, same price as Booking.com and they looked at me as if to say W-T-F- I said don't worry I don't work for them but know you pay 17% to them, just give me a good clean room and breakfast and I will be happy, they jumped at the opportunity, however don't know if others will as a contract is a contract.

Please continue, tell us all that its symptoms wasn't more than a head cold, that's what we all had, and all the people that I know, same same, the worst part about it was the headaches that would come and go, nothing that Paracetamol couldn't handle, and of course the eyes being a little sensitive to light. The above said, if I was employed, I could have worked easily as I have had far worse than this "mild flu", so it's going to be around for decades, let it rip I say and let go of the scaremongering !

1) It's no longer Covid 19, it's Omicron 2) It's nothing more than a mild flu 3) The entire family and lots of friends have had it, no one went to the hospital, some paracetamol and isolate for a week, more like a head cold. Enough scaremongering, move on after you've had a drink, oh that's right you probably don't drink or have a life.

Exactly, I had two accounts in Oz, one had the Thai address and the other has an address in Oz, I did try to change it online to here in Thailand but it said I would have to do it in person, so I let it slide, fortunately for me it didn't allow me to change addresses. Couple of months back after living here for 6 years the bank with the Thai address rang me and asked me questions like do you live in Thailand, yes I answered, when are you coming back if ever, not likely in the future I said, having to much of a good time here, ok, so you are living overseas and aren't coming back in the near future, that's right I said, and the reply was that the banks policy states that you must be a resident of Australia to hold an account with our bank, so we will be closing your account effective in 7 days, ok, that's fine I said as the majority of my money is with another bank, I did that when you shut my wife's account down 2 years ago because she couldn't satisfy your money laundering questions the way you wanted them answered, i.e. translation of address from Thai to English, witnessed by a Notary, hardly worth the cost as she didn't use the account. From my experience, best to keep an address in your home country because I keep hearing that I am not alone and they are closing a lot of expats accounts down who live here from all over the globe.

So 100 cops of the 230,000 cops in the entire Thai Police Force, which represents about 17% of the civil servants, excluding the military and the employees of state-owned enterprises. Hardly anything to brag about, actually it's disgraceful if you ask me. At this rate, it will be the year 3030 by the time they get to 200 a year.

Give it up and to get rid of this clown, then hopefully everything will return to normal for what I consider Omicron to be nothing more than a mild flu. I say the above as it swept through the whole family, and I can say that I have had much worse in my life, twice from memory, 4 days in bed at much younger and healthier ages vs basically a head cold and headaches at 62 with Omicron, no bed time on this one. Lets move along to Monkey Pox ????

Agree with you one million %, hopefully someone will put a blade in his ticker and snap it off.

Sounds like they don't want to do it if there are not making any money on it. I would check out Krungsri Bank and see how you go, they are the only one that I knew that don't charge for over the counter withdrawals of up to 150,000 baht, that said, it also depends on how up to speed the staff are, as mention in the post above, one staff member wanted to charge me 3% but that is for a credit card charge, but wasn't having a bar of it so I moved onto another Krungsri Branch and they confirmed no fee for debit card up to 150,000 baht over the counter transaction. This was a few years back, so don't know if the same still applies, but worth looking into.

For the over the over the counter withdrawals I have used Krungsri Bank once or twice many years ago and the over the counter transaction using my debit card had no fees attached on either side, Krungsri Bank or my bank where I obtained the debit card from. The above said, one of the Krungsri Bank staff at one of the branches upon my enquiry said 3% charge, I said no, I am using my debit card, not credit card, that went straight over the top, so I let it go and went to another Krungsri Bank and they confirmed no fee, up to 150,000 baht over the counter limit.

That is why we are telling as many people exactly what the symptoms are and how we have easily endured it, suffice to say, we do start to see them relaxing and accepting it. If others want to live in fear, then won't waste my time. I have had far worse than Omicron, like 4 days in bed flat on my back, twice, once in Oz and once here, not even able to get up to go for a leak, when comparing Omicron to this, it's so mild, I wouldn't care less if I got it again, although the wife does keep asking me if I got the number plate of the bus that hit her. The above said, hasn't stopped us doing anything, wife doesn't stop doing her chores and me mine, not bed ridden, but the headaches and light to eyes are the only things to really mention as a pain.

I learned a long time ago that we are all dispensable when it serves those that pay us, not that I have ever been laid off. Best thing anyone working can do is to wake up and escape the cycle, i.e. have as little debt as possible, invest what they have and keep doing it and then when the time is right, break off those shackles and earn your keep via your investments and if that means moving country, so be it, worked for me and was the best thing I ever did.

Agree, I have worn the mask since day one, received 3 Pfizer jabs and still ended up with Covid, 62, underlying condition and it was nothing more than a mild flu, a little tired and headaches. I am off to the store now to see if I can buy a Superman T-shirt without a mask on ????