egeefay

I like the idea.

Technology can make things much more efficient and save a lot of time.

I had to get a visa in Bangkok to go to Laos one day.

It took us an hour to get to the visa office, 30 minutes to wait in line, 20 minutes to pay the extra money and wait for an "expedited visa".

Then, right in the middle of the process, they closed the office for a one hour lunch break.

By the time we got back home we had lost a half a day.

If you don't trust or like new technology you can still do it the old fashion way.

Nothing is perfect. There are always pitfalls and disadvantages to using technology.

But I, for one, certainly wouldn't want to go back to the days before ATM's, Cel Phones, online banking, etc.

Try this link if you want to see a video on how Fried Rice is cooked

http://www.thaifoodtonight.com/thaifoodton...ilFriedRice.htm

Pretty unique stuff, haven't seen anything like this anywhere on the Net before.

Excellent teaching aid for English teachers too. Im already using them in class......as well as the kitchen!

Opps. Got them now. Had to download them first.

Thanks

If you want to learn how to cook Thai food, check out this website.

Each recipe has the ingredients listed, cooking instructions.....and a video that you can watch online...

Price. FREE.

http://www.thaifoodtonight.com/thaifoodtonight/recipes.htm

I wasn't able to access the videos. Not sure why

But try this for free Thai cooking videos

http://www.thaifoodtonight.com/thaifoodtonight/recipes.htm

I recall visiting Thailand about 20 years ago. We were all riding in a mini van ...a bunch of friends and relatives . One of them collected all the garbage , put it in a plastic bag, opened the window and tossed the bag out thw window as the van sped along.

I can never forget that.

The people we were travelling with were very nice folks. Mostly well educated and from good families.

It's a cultural thing, I think.

Perhaps not all Thais are as sensitve to litter as long as it isn't on their property.

I'd like to get a Thai's point of view on this

Ceramic tiles are totally maintenance free (just don't buy the cheap shiny, slippery rubbish)

and they never stain

Naka.

Maybe not never.

The person using my bathroom previously moronically let the gas cylinder sit right under the boiler close to the shower. They couldn't be bothered to put a bit of extra hose in and get it outside. Pathetic result: big rust ring stains. They seem to be unmovable, and I have since learnt that bleaching rust stains forms an insoluble stain. THis has probably happened.

If anyone knows any different I'd love to know.

Try this product

http://www.ironout.com/

Like tourist, retired expats will always be subject to the whims of the currency exchange rates.

Thai authories have decided that a farang could live comfortably in Thailand for 40,000 (or whatever the numbers are) a month : housing, transportation, food, clothing , utilities not include emergencies like medical care.

They figure if you have that much in the bank or coming in each month you won't be tempted to try to find a job in Thailand.

If the exchange rate causes a drop in your monthly income, the Thais want that to be your problem. They want you to be able to come up with the extra money to make ends meet. They know that no matter what the exchange rate, it's still going to cost you 40,000 baht a month for expenses. No one is going to drop the rent or lower the cost of utilities or discount food to you just because you can't come up with as many baht when you exchange your Euros or Dollars

I think that is perfectly fair,(but a hard pill to swallow if the exchange rate dips down to 25 baht to the dollar.)

At that point, a lot of folks living in Thaialnd are going to have to reevaluate their circumstances.

I doubt that the Thai government will allow the dollar to baht exchange rate to drop that low.

The US is Thailands main trading partner and when the dollar only buy 25 baht, Thai exports are going to be too expensive. Hopefully, for those of us living in Thailand or planning to live there , it won't go much lower than where it is now...Hope, hope

Found some interesting information about mosquitos at this website

http://www.mosquitobuzz.com/facts/mosquitopestcontrol.html

It's a site trying to hawk an expensive mosquito killer but the information on mosquitos might be useful

Ive wondered if you could possibly catch hepatitis or some other disease using a thai toilet being you are splashing yourself from the bucket and posssibly getting waste on your hand and when you put your hand back in the bucket to get more water you could be introducing germs into the bucket unless I am not understanding the correct way to do this.

Thais usually use a plastic dipper...not a traditional "bucket". You use one hand to hold the dipper and pour water on yourself... and the other hand to wipe your body. You never put the dirty hand in the plastic dipper. So there shouldn't be any cross contaimination.

The problem comes when you don't clean the "wiping" hand thoroughly after taking care of business.

Foodworkers can easily transmit fecal matter to food this way.

I think its better to use toilet paper...plus wash hands thoroughly too.

Unfortunately Thai style toilets seldom come with facilities for washing hands.

Hence so many incidences of dysentery in Thailand

Why does everyone love bashing the US?

If the company that laid them off is a Hong Kong based company, shouldn't they be protesting in front of the Chinese Embassy.

I find traditional Thai toilets in public places a lot cleaner than many public bathrooms in the west.

In western toilets if your aim is off there is no way to clean up a toilet seat after a mess has been created so toilet seats tend to get nastier as the day progresses.

Thai toilets don't have seats and everyone uses the plastic dipper to flush and also to clean the bowl and the surrounding area.

You don't get that smell of old stale urine.

Also, western toilets waste a lot of water. One flush...3-5 gallons compared to a dipper or two of water for a Thai toilet

Coming from the UK, i'm sure you are framiliar with Bupa. Well Bupa in Thailand is the best, and will insure you for life if you purchase before the age of 61, Covers you in Thailand and the UK.

I pay 60,000 baht per year for myself who is 61 years old, my wife and my son.

Last year they paid out 90,000 baht. Pays directly to the hospital. I live in Thailand.

Barry

$1500 a year for a family of 3 sounds pretty cheap.

Do you know how much coverage that buys.

What are the limits for hospitilization?

I would have to agree that self insuring isn't for everyone.

It works better for folks who have enough savings in the bank to feel comfortable taking the risk of a major medical bill. The longer you stay healthy, the more sense it makes.

Just remember that insurance companies stay in business by taking more money from you than they dole out. So if you have insurance and start making big claims some insurance companies will either raise your premiums or find ways to drop you.

Is $10 000 a sufficient fund for serious hospital fees? I'm extremely new to Thailand and have zero experience of hospitals, so my question is to be taken as that. What would be a safe or even generous fund to aim for? Or maybe it would be more realistic to simply never stop saving - in the manner of perpetual premiums to an isurance company?

Hard to say what you might need in future.

I think I heard that a heart bypass operation at Bumrungrad Hospital (most renown, most expensive)

runs around $12000. A lot of money for Thais but not nearly the over $100,000 you'd expect to pay in the States.

You are banking your own money in an interest bearing account so The more money you can set aside the better.

So I would agree, there's no harm in continually adding to a self insured program.

One other thing you might save for down the road is nursing home care.

If you plan on living in Thailand permanently, there's a good chance you'll find yourself needing 24 hour nursing care if you live to a ripe old age.

Currently Nursing home care in the US runs about 200 dollars a day or about $6000 per month. Compare that to the $1000 per month you would pay at Golden Years nursing home in Thailand.

Thailand is hard to beat when it comes to retiring

Each airline is different but most will allow you to change the departure date.

Some charge a small fee.

You'll have to check with the agency but I'm sure they can't insist that you leave on a specific date or lose your ticket.

Starting at age 57 what would be reasonable ball park figures to put aside each month - marginal, conservative, generous - in people's opinions? What might one add to cover expenses for a thai partner who's rather younger?

Here's what I might do.

If you are single and in very good health you might want to check how much a health insurer would want you to pay for a policy that appeals to you. I think BUPA or someone like that can give you an estimate.

Just put that much aside each month in a bank account as self insurance

How much to set aside would also depend on how much savings you already have. If you don't have much in the bank you might want to start putting aside a larger installments each month. In any case, if you self insure make sure that you have built enough money and credit to take care of any large bill...say up to $10,000???

Thai private hospitals expect to get paid right after they deliver service. They'll assess your ability to pay beforehand. They won't let you go past due like in the US. They'll make you pay cash, credit card or insurance right away. I've even heard of them trying to hold the patient or a passport hostage until the bill gets paid.

It sounds a little harsh but Thai hospitals are run just like a business. If you can't afford to pay for the service they'll point you in the direction of a government hospital.

If and when I retire to Thailand I plan to self insure.

Insurance companies have many restrictions and if you don't keep reading the fine print you might think you are covered when you actually aren't

Let's face it, Insurance companies like to insure those that are young and healthy...people who pay premiums but don't file claims. If the insurance companies could get away with it, they’d dump anyone over 60 like a lead weight.

Besides, medical care in Thailand is a fraction of the cost in the west. And that makes insurance less of a necessity.

My 84 year old mother in law spent a little over a week in intensive care in a private Bangkok hospital and the total bill for hospital, doctors and medication came to around $3000 US!!

That’s a lot for Thais but a bargain for US citizens. I hate to think what a week in intensive care in the US would cost.

My plan is to save the money I would have spent on premiums in the US. Put it in a savings account and use it when I need it in Thailand.

With cash I'm guaranteed to get treatment.

With insurance...you pay the premiums, you pay the deductible and then there’s no guarantee that your medical problem is covered.

7/7 victims forced to pay for operations

Survivor who will have to go to Thailand for surgery says pledge on fast-track NHS care has been broken

Sarah Sims

Sunday October 1, 2006

The Observer

A woman who received horrific injuries in the 7 July London terrorist attack has received so little government support for her treatment that she is travelling to Bangkok to pay for it herself. Beverli Rhodes, 45, a mother-of-four, was injured in the Russell Square underground explosion, receiving significant facial injuries. More than a year on, and after her insurance company said that her health policy did not cover terror attacks, she will travel for jaw realignment surgery in Thailand where the procedure is cheaper.

Rhodes has now set up the London Bombing Foundation because of what she says is the government's repeated failure to provide urgent and long-term medical care for 7 July survivors. Two weeks ago a Home Office report, Lessons Learned, revealed a catalogue of errors in dealing with the victims in the aftermath of the attacks.

'We were supposed to be made an NHS priority, but only a handful of specific survivors with extreme injuries have been fast-tracked,' she said. 'A bomb does not discriminate, yet the rest of us have been discriminated against by the government and we've been unable to get the medical and psychological treatment promised because the government has failed to action this at NHS level.'

After a year of waiting on NHS lists, many survivors are being forced to borrow thousands of pounds to pay for urgent private treatment. 'We're using our savings, cashing in our life insurance policies, remortgaging homes, selling cars or borrowing from friends and family to pay for the health care promised by the government,' Rhodes said.

Around 10 survivors so far have received hospital treatment in Bangkok and another 40 are on the list. One survivor, quoted a price of £100,000 for private treatment in the UK, is being charged £7,000 for the same procedures in Bangkok after three hospitals in Thailand offered survivors significant discounts.

Rhodes faces medical costs of around £20,000, yet so far she has received only £1,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. 'We were assured of full compensation by the first anniversary,' she claims. 'But, like hundreds of survivors, we've only received an interim payment from the authority and no guarantee of when to expect a full pay-out.'

She has been awarded grants of around £3,000 from the London Bombings Relief Charity Fund, soon to be disbanded.

Rhodes was travelling on the tube to work when the bombs struck. She was knocked unconscious, damaging her jaw, which is still out of alignment, and dislodging several teeth. But instead of being fast-tracked up the NHS waiting list, she was forced to spend £10,000 on treatment for her jaw and facial injuries after discovering that her two private health care policies did not cover terrorism. 'I can fall down the stairs and be covered, but not be in a bomb attack,' she said.

Survivors are mounting a legal case against the government to claim for medical costs. Rhodes plans to complete her treatment in Thailand, where hospitals accept patients without a doctor's referral, but she needs to raise a further £10,000 to cover scans, neurological tests and surgery.

Although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which dealt with the victims of the 7 July attacks, said that the government made no guarantee to fast-track treatment because the NHS treats all people on the basis of need, Rhodes says that is not the case. Since the attacks, she says she has participated in seven meetings with senior ministers at the Home Office.

'The assurances were all verbal. The meetings were recorded, but the survivors have never been allowed to hear or receive copies of the transcripts,' she said. At the last meeting, held three weeks after the anniversary of the attacks, the Home Secretary, John Reid, announced an end to any further discussions.

'We were so angry and upset that the government were deserting us when we still had not received the support promised,' said Rhodes. 'Many of us broke down in tears knowing how many survivors are still struggling from day to day.

'Marriages are falling apart, homes are breaking up and many are losing their jobs - many can barely cope. Everyone suffers survivors' guilt.'

Rhodes has also been diagnosed with extreme post-traumatic stress disorder. 'I wasn't sleeping at night, I couldn't eat properly because of my injuries and I couldn't concentrate on my work.'

A Culture, Media and Sport department spokesman admitted that more could have been done to support the victims: 'Those injured in the 7/7 attacks have had to not only deal with the immediate pain of their injuries but also the long-term effects on their lives. More could have been done to support all of those caught up in the attacks.'

A Home Office spokesman said the government was committed by law to provide whatever money was needed to settle all claims connected with 7 July.

One developer told Phuket Post that he had been inundated with requests about a piece of land he had been trying to sell for over a year. “Last week we had three people interested in a plot of land we had for sale,” the developer, who asked to rename nameless, told the Post. “Yesterday [saturday] one buyer called to make a definite offer. When the second called and I told him the land was already under offer, he said he’d take the other plot we had. Then the third called and said he would improve on the first offer we’d received so he could get that first plot.”

--Phuket Post 2006-09-25

Why would a developer with land for sale want to "rename nameless" (I suppose the author meant to write "remain nameless")

...unless, of course,he doesn't exist.

Looks and sounds like "paid advertisment"

I found this article on the internet

a Canadian citizen paralyzed from the neck down on July 12 in a motorcycle accident in Thailand - is scheduled to return home to Montreal on Oct. 4, his sister, Brigitte Mrvosh, said yesterday.

The longtime Montreal resident remains immobilized at Prince of Songkla University Hospital in Hat Yai, 930 kilometres south of Bangkok. He spends 21 hours a day on a respirator.

The need to bring him home and start rehabilitation triggered extended efforts by the family to arrange a medical airlift.

After an air-ambulance operator quoted a price of $157,000, his sister arranged the trip via Cathay Pacific Airways, at a cost of about $80,000.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news...601&k=36453

I'm sure many foreigners living in Thailand have received serious injuries and required a medical flight back home. But $80,000 for a 10-18 hour flight??? Even with a respirator?? For that amount of money you could reserve a almost every seat in the first class section. Does anyone know why it costs so much?

Has anyone ever had to be flown back home on a stretcher for medical reasons?

Is $80,000 the cheapest rate?

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT : Thai ranking slips down further

Published on October 14, 2004

Kingdom now 34th with poor corruption, technology gradings

Thailand’s global competitiveness rating has fallen for the second year in a row, amid worsening corruption and deteriorating technological capabilities.

A report unveiled by the internationally recognised World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Thailand at No 34, down from 32 last year and 31 in 2002. The Kingdom now lags behind countries like Slovenia (33), Estonia (20), Malaysia (31), Malta (32) and Bahrain (28), the report announced yesterday.

I came across this posting two years ago saying that Thailand had slipped from 32nd in 2002 to 34th place in the GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT.

Fast forward two years to 2006 and the same report that just came out shows Thailand slipping to 35th place...definitely headed in the wrong direction.

Hmmm.

For the report

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competit...006_summary.pdf

Yes, the new bridge, once open (December ?), would probably the fastest route.

Check the site "2 bangkok", quite a lot of information there on anything related to transportation in Bangkok.

Do you have any more information on the "new bridge" going up. Is that a bridge near Hua Hin area ?

I thank everyone for your help and good suggestions

I finally found a nice Condo called Palm Pavillions. One bedroom 60 sq meters for 30,000 baht during December. It has an infinity pool overlooking the ocean.

It's actually in Cha Am , on the ocean, across from Palm Hills golf course

I rented direct from the condo management but was able to check out the photos and reviews on many websites.

My sister-in-law went to check out the place for me and put down the deposit.

She said the room looked very nice.

Looking forward to spending a month there this December.

I'll report back on how I liked it.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Foreigners from countries qualifying for visas on arrival can come in and out of the country as many times as they like with a visa on arrival, but can stay for a maximum of 90 days in any six month period.

MUSIC TO MY EARS :-D

It looks like RIGHT NOW the only folks who can get a 90 day visa on arrival are from

1. BRAZIL

2. CHILE

3. KOREA (Rep. of)

4. PERU

Everyone else gets only 30 or 15 day visa

So on October 1, do all the other countries get the 90 day visa on arrival??