jimster

On 7/8/2017 at 2:58 PM, FritsSikkink said:

Wife didn't get steered for a Caesarean birth with 3 kids (4, 12, 25) FACT. Didn't feel the urge to develop a birth plan.

 25 years ago things were way different and even 12 years ago they may have been quite different from today. C-sections have been pushed on women in Thailand for many years now though, especially at private hospitals where the c-section rates are as high as 100%. Few Thai women object, as they are almost universally trustworthy and submissive towards medical authority, which is very concerning. Thai women in relationships with foreigners or those who have lived abroad are exceptions.

Thailand is a terrible place to give birth to a child. Especially for foreigners.

On 7/8/2017 at 11:37 AM, perthperson said:

 

Before you start chucking words like "nonsense" around you should check some facts.

 

It is a fact that Cesarean births are 'preferred' by wealthy Thais and that option is also pressed upon non Thais especially within private hospitals. It is also a fact that most(all) Thai maternity facilities (public or private) exclude a woman's partner/family members  from the delivery suit.

 

It is also a fact that Western women are encouraged to be involved in their pregnancy/confinement.   https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/developing-a-birth-plan Or http://www.kemh.health.wa.gov.au/services/fbc/index.htm are examples. 

 

Find one woman in Thailand who has been actively encouraged by Thai Obstetricians/Midwives to develop a "birth plan" and I will withdraw from this thread.

100% true. C-section rates at most Thai private hospitals are close to 100% (100% at some) and as high as 70-90% even at government hospitals, which is amongst the highest in the world. By comparison, the 30% c-section rates in the USA are already considered many times too high yet are only a third of the Thai rate. Many Thai mothers demand them and there was even a case recently where a set of parents who bore a stillborn child blamed the government hospital where they went to give birth for their child's death because the doctor surprisingly didn't order a c-section. They ignored the fact that the reason(s) for their child being stillborn could amount to any number of factors including environmental exposure to toxins, poor hygiene, poor nutrition and poor sanitation.

On 6/29/2017 at 5:29 PM, off road pat said:

You are absolutely right in this, but in my case things happened a bit different. I stayed 10 days in Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai.

And was repatriated to my country, A specialised Male Nurse came over to pick me and my wife up and he was mandated to paid the Hospital.

I never had to take out any money. We flew Business class back home, Paid by the Insurance !!!
I am travelling half of the year for the last 30 years and was very lucky to have that insurance several times !!!

To quote a famous commercial slogan "Never leave home without it ".

Best regards.

Exactly. Normally there is a minimum above which the insurance company pays the hospital directly because very few people would have hundreds of thousands of Baht laying around for some sort of reason, much less for an emergency. Most people have very little in savings these days so even paying 30,000 Baht out of pocket and waiting a week to be reimbursed is not an option for most people. Luckily it is/was OK for me, but 330,000 obviously wouldn't be.

Also, this isn't just some ordinary train project. It's something that has never existed in Thailand before.

Just now, worgeordie said:

That does not sound like the way things are done in Thailand,maybe you assume too much.

regards Worgeordie

I'm not making any assumptions. I've been reading about this project since it was first announced in 2011 (maybe it was announced earlier but in any case that's 6 years) and since this is a Chinese project, they'll be doing things the Chinese way. Do you really think the Chinese will allow the Thais to do things their way? You are very naive my friend.

4 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Yes it is a Chinese project but the worrying part is that Chinese engineers and architects have to be trained and certified and licenced by their Thai engineering counterparts.

Are these are the same Thai engineers who have only ever built extremely slow trains running at 70km/hr and are now expected to teach the Chinese how to build HS trains that travel up to 270km/hr?

From an earlier story:

Chinese architects working on the railway project in Thailand should be trained and tested in 3 areas; architectural engineering, technology and collaboration. 

 

The same old Thai nationalistic philosophy. We are the best and know everything......... as exampled by their leader.

 

Actually it was on the news just in the last few days that this licensing may be bypassed in the case of this project using S44. Anyway, this sort of thing keeps going back and forth so if they've changed the requirements in the last couple of days I wouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, whatever requirements need to be met for the Chinese engineers to practice here, make no mistake, the Chinese will be teaching the Thais, not the other way round.

3 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Just to clarify, regarding the bridges and tunnels.

Does this refer to bridges and tunnels on the railway track, or on the roads that the railway crosses?

Probably both. if you want to learn more, go to Youtube and find some videos on the China-Lao high-speed railway, which links up with the Thai section and is already under construction. Laos is mountainous and as such more than half of the entire project length between the border at Boten and Vientiane will consist of tunnels and bridges. The Thai side is mostly flat, except the section from Pakchong down to Saraburi over the Phanom Dongrak mountains but that's a minor slope compared to anything in Laos or on the Chinese side.

On 6/22/2017 at 7:55 PM, Machiavelli said:

And you do? Are you Thai?  Its pathetic for a foreigner to lay claim to Thailand. Why don't you go back to wherever you came from if you don't like the current racial make up in Thailand. The nerve......

The current racial makeup in Thailand is 99+% Asian (the vast majority of these are Thai citizens) and will always stay that way. Thais will never allow that to change. Also doubt that self-hatred, cultural marxism, nhilism and SJW studies will become de vogue in Thailand anytime soon. Hence Thais will continue to place pride in their race, ethnicity and culture. What the previous poster said has nothing to do with your reply. You are completely confused.

8 minutes ago, Laab Muu said:

Hopefully not.

 

 

Not sure of your point but this project is called the "Thai-Chinese High-Speed Railway Project" and has been in the news since at least 2011 if not earlier. It's a Chinese project, period.

On 6/28/2017 at 8:33 AM, worgeordie said:

No way will it fail,! unless they put really secure gates at all crossings,were

people on motorbikes and trucks cannot go around or even under.

regards worgeordie

Well obviously they'll be putting secure gates at all crossings - although most likely there won't even be any actual crossings because bridges and tunnels will be built in those places. Actually, not only that but there will be fencing on both sides of the track throughout it's entire length. Where necessary, bridges and tunnels will be built depending on the terrain. This is a Chinese project, so everything will look like the HS trains in China.

2 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

The Indian/Nepalese probably have residency. Lots of Indians live here legally.

The Indians that live here legally tend to be Sikhs - they are also Thai citizens. I have my doubts about the very large number of Indians/Nepalese/Bengalis/Pakistanis I am referring to. Also, just because you are living in Thailand legally and have a work permit, it doesn't mean you can do any job you want. Many professions are banned to foreigners. I was also under the impression that any visible customer service role must be filled by Thai nationals. How do these South Asians get away with working these jobs - not only are they not Thai, they don't even look remotely Thai. Unlike Malaysia where ethnic Indians make up 8% of the population, in Thailand there are perhaps 30,000 Sikhs, so it's rather unusual in such a homogeneous country to see a non-East Asian face working in a restaurant or another customer service role. Anyway, I'm just trying to make a point whether or not they are legal is not my concern - as long as they aren't harming anyone.

2 hours ago, off road pat said:

A couple of months ago I had a infection and stayed 10 days at Bangkok Hospital in Chiang Mai, my travel insurance paid some 330.000 Thb and my Belgian Healthcare paid back the insurance !!!

Me too, my insurance has always paid me back too (pay first claim later), but I wouldn't want to pay 330,000 THB myself to the hospital, that's what the insurance company should be doing. I assume that's what your travel insurance did in your case.

30,000 is doable, then you make a claim and wait for the refund to be transferred to your account but surely an amount like 330,000 wouldn't be paid by the patient first.

10 minutes ago, off road pat said:

Hm, I quote you, 1- " Imagine a Malaysian driving his car from Kuala Lumpur being forced to buy insurance at Sadao just to go shopping for 2 days in Hat Yai. ", We have to buy a insurance when we drive into Malaysia !!! I did several times !!!

2- "I can't think of any other country in the world that checks this at the border or has in place a kiosk system at the borders to purchase a policy.", My Thai wife had to buy a travel insurance prior to get a Schengen Visa otherwise the Visa would not have been granted !!!,...for the rest I mostly agree with you !!!

Car insurance and health insurance are 2 different things. Also, there are 1-year car insurance policies issued at the border (they can also be issued in advance without having to waste time at the border - same thing is possible for Thai cars going to Malaysia). An alternative would be for the Thai, Malaysian and Lao governments (and others eventually) to create a single region-wide car insurance system, much the same as in the EU. Already Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are co-operating on this matter - the policy I purchased when I last drove to Malaysia would have also covered me in Singapore and Brunei too.

As I said, a possibility would be to request insurance details at the time of applying for a Thai visa. Any other method would be ridiculous and unworkable. Even in the EU you don't have "insurance kiosks" at every border crossing or airport where Thais and other foreigners are forced to buy insurance.

40 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

In answer to the lengthy post above, yes the law is enforced when illegal workers of any nationality are caught.

Well they're not trying very hard because it's still possible to spot Russian and African prostitutes in Pattaya, and even more prominently, what's the deal with Indian and Nepalese restaurant workers who work at Italian restaurants in beach resort towns? Surely the department of labour doesn't issue work permits to these people for such low-skilled work? If I were an enforcement officer, I'd literally be able to round up dozens of illegal workers from Ao Nang, Krabi and Khao Lak alone.

On 6/25/2017 at 2:26 PM, off road pat said:

Hmm,...with all due respect, if you say "medical in Thailand is excellent and extremely cheap" You have to be American...It is well known that Medicare in the US is outrageously expensive. I stayed one month in hospital In Belgium and paid approximatively 100 Euros....less than a 100 $ US, that is the social security / health insurance we have.!!! and we have some of the best Medicare in the world !!! To be honest, I will receive more bills from that stay but there will not be more than 200 Euros!!!

Best regards.

Go to any Thai hospital (private ones at least) and expect to pay like 30,000-35,000 THB for any given procedure for a 2-3 day stay! As far as I'm concerned, that's extremely expensive! Didn't someone say that Thailand was cheap? Well, why then does conducting a few tests and NOT even needing surgery cost this much? And yes, I can guarantee this is a genuine amount charged by a hospital in Chiang Mai for a procedure that did NOT end up requiring surgery!

As you say, in Belgium it's only 100 Euro...except in case of a genuine emergency, I avoid Thai hospitals like the plague. In fact, I try to avoid the allopathic system altogether, too many pharmaceutical products wreck havoc on your body and that's why one should only go to a hospital if you have a broken leg, need surgery or something like that, not for the sniffles, which is why a lot of Thais go. It's absolutely ridiculous.

On 6/5/2017 at 0:54 PM, Orton Rd said:

Idiotic, it's bad enough now with the Chinese at DM, imagine the 'queues' for insurance machines, folks with no baht, arguing, kids crying, machines breaking down, laughable.

 

'The requirement is seen as helping to reduce the burden on Thai hospitals who are being forced to treat an increasing number of insured foreigners.'

 

No problem then according to the article if foreigners are insured why is it costing Hospitals?

 

The assumption seems to be that foreigners love coming to Thailand to rip off hospitals, in practice however this is not the case. I hate hospitals and try to avoid them at all costs (except in the event of a genuine emergency) and Thai hospitals are, no matter what the government likes to claim not all that great and not as cheap as they like to claim either. Most of us (in the west at least) have health coverage under our local insurance schemes meaning we can get good medical treatment at home that is paid for by the government through our tax system and will usually cost us a lot less than going for the same procedure in a Thai hospital. About the only time most foreigners go to a hospital here is in the event of an accident or emergency. Aside from Bumrungrad hospital perhaps, the vast majority of other hospitals nationwide have only a small fraction of their patients as foreigners and most of these will be manual labourers from neighboring countries, not rich westerners or Japanese as the government likes to pretend.

Yes, it would be a good idea to take out accident insurance before traveling abroad and this includes Thailand but at the end of the day it shouldn't be imposed on anyone, especially since I can't think of any other country in the world that checks this at the border or has in place a kiosk system at the borders to purchase a policy. This proposal is short-sighted and ridiculous.

A better approach would be requiring every foreigner applying for a Thai tourist visa (including a visa-on-arrival) to show proof of insurance alongside their other visa application documents. While that would leave out foreigners arriving visa-free, the hospitals could either ask for proof of insurance when being admitted (except in the case of an emergency when it would be unethical to do so, although I understand this is exactly what Japanese hospitals do) or not allow the patient to be discharged without some kind of commitment to paying the bill (this already happens and has happened to me once, so what's the problem)?

And yes, this would be a major burden for Chinese, who make up 30% of visitors to Thailand, not to mention ASEAN visitors driving/bussing/flying in/out of Thailand from Laos/Malaysia and Cambodia on a regular basis. Imagine a Malaysian driving his car from Kuala Lumpur being forced to buy insurance at Sadao just to go shopping for 2 days in Hat Yai. Said individual will probably be thinking - let's hop on a plane to Indonesia or Hong Kong instead, this is too much trouble.

It's high time the tourism department hires some people with actual brains, this kind of proposal is just stupid and unworkable. 

12 hours ago, Kim1950 said:

So is every commentator on ThaiVisa technically working on-line with or without work permits. Is this Whole Thing Click bait or simply shaking down all these third rate on-site merchant sales or how to date Thai Girls. Besides what do digital nomads do, but seem to Social Media with each other.

True, though without placing any judgement, this applies mainly to some of the moderators or others with knowledge/experience in a specialised area who are known for giving advice to members. I doubt any of these people have work permits though it's none of my business, but just saying. Same thing can be said for any other Thailand based forum, even a Facebook page (based in Thailand at least). I'll leave out digital nomads because technically they are not working in Thailand, if they don't have any dealings with Thai based companies or clientele. It's been debated back and forth whether the latter group is working in Thailand, the legal consensus seems to be no, but you never know what kind of interpretation officials may have.

9 hours ago, AloisAmrein said:

That is only partially true. Switzerland is not a EU member, but I can work in the whole EU (if the salary or the payment is not to low). But mostly I work for my own customers or companies in Switzerland. If on holidays in Thailand or not I simply not care. I work where I want and I will never ask the Thai junta if I can support my customers abroad. The law of the Thai junta is from before yesterday, middle age. If I cannot work during my holidays in Thailand, I also cannot support the family of my Thai wife, because of loss of income. The law is absolutily shortviewed and stupid. Thai system. Stupid. One more family facing poverty. The Thai government will be responsible.The Thai system is very racist and xenophe, they not even give residence to husbands of Thai women, which is normal in Europe. Thailand is 200 years behind of our time, perhaps because they never have been a colony of the British Empire.

 

I think you meant "short-sighted" not "shortviewed" and "xenophobic" not "xenophe" but I get your point.

I agree with you in part, although every sovereign country should be allowed to determine it's own immigration policies. Note that being part of the British empire in the past has nothing to do with anything, case in point is Myanmar (Burma), a former colony of Britain (part of British India) that gained it's independence in 1948 but until recently, foreigners faced many major restrictions in traveling to many parts of the country including arriving overland (this only changed in 2013, though some parts of the country are still off-limits to foreigners) and this included taking up residence in the country - foreigners could by all accounts only reside in places like Yangon and Mandalay and nowhere else. Most laws governing the activities of foreigners have only been made in the last couple of years. By contrast, foreigners have been residing in Thailand with official status for decades. I agree that foreigners married to Thais should be given more rights, especially if the marriage is legitimate and there are children in the relationship. Yes there is a pathway to apply for citizenship after being married to a Thai without first being required to become a permanent resident, though it usually takes far longer than the official minimum length of time claimed.

Obviously as you say the Thai government can't control the activities of foreigners who come to Thailand on holiday or temporary business and decide/need to check work emails, call their office, call clients etc. often from their hotel rooms. If the government were somehow able to "crack down" on people like this, the whole tourist industry would collapse and they'd be left only with 5 day Chinese fly-in, fly-out tour groups bussed around from place to place and young jobless backpackers who don't need to check work emails because they don't have a job.

If this law is really enforced, tens (hundreds?) of thousands of Burmese, Lao and Cambodian labourers could be in trouble. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Other questions are:

- What about Burmese traders who come to Thailand (Mae Sot, Mae Sai, Ranong etc.) for one day to sell their wares? Will they all be arrested? Good luck, because in Mae Sot alone reportedly up to 70-80% of the labour force is Burmese. The same can be said for Cambodians, where if you go to the Rong Kluea border market in Aranyaprathet next to the Cambodian border town of Poipet, the vast majority of shop employees (official or otherwise) are Cambodian. Rarely does one find a Thai working in these shops.

- Filipino waitresses/nannies/English teachers. They could pass for Thai, but they aren't. Only the latter group of workers is usually in possession of a work permit, though very many aren't. Are the authorities going to inspect every single employer without notice to find out whether they are employing foreign workers?

- Western financial advisers, many working across countries, some are working on retirement visas (for those aged 50 and up) without a work permit of course. It's hard to identify or find these types, they usually work from home, sometimes they may be seen talking business with potential or actual clients at coffee shops, restaurants and other places. Most (all?) of their clients are non-Thais. This group of workers would probably be the hardest to apprehend, especially if they work from home rather than from an office or co-working space. Even in the latter case, they could say they work for a company based abroad and thus be exempt from prosecution.

- Many positions require their employees to work in different locations, not merely at the main office, which is usually the only location listed on their work permits. Could be a big problem for employees working even in 2 locations, let alone multiple places.

- Foreigners about to receive a work permit but have already started work. This could apply to just about any type of company or position.

- African, Ukrainian and Russian prostitutes (mainly in Pattaya). Not only is prostitution illegal in Thailand (although Thais engaging in this practice are usually left alone), it is illegal for a foreigner to enter Thailand for the purposes of engaging in prostitution. Certainly no work permit can be issued for this type of work. I picked out these nationalities in particular, due to their distinct physical differences compared to Thais - hence it would be child's play for an immigration enforcement officer to spot a skimpy (or fat) African or Eastern European woman going into an area of a bar that is normally reserved for employees only and bust them. I am aware of there being even larger numbers of Burmese, Cambodian, Lao and even Chinese, Vietnamese and South Asian nationals working in the industry in Thailand. With the exception of the latter, these 5 nationalities blend in more easily with the Thais around them, though they are in just as much danger if they get caught.

- Foreigners (of various nationalities) running boiler room scams, card scams, passport forgery and other dubious activities. Including of course foreign mafia engaging in child trafficking and other illegal activities. Sometimes legitimate businesses such as travel agencies are set up as fronts while the real money is made behind the scenes. One often sees middle Easterners, Russians, Indians/South Asians and Africans working front desk in these businesses (mainly in the Nana area for middle Eastern and African businesses, Pattaya, Phuket and other beach towns in the case of Russians and Indians/South Asians), when it is my understanding that all receptionist/customer service type work must be undertaken by Thais. A lot of Indians and Nepalis stand outside restaurants in popular tourist haunts like Ao Nang, Krabi and Khao Lak, Phang Nga to advertise for business. Perhaps in the near future all these guys will be booted out of the country?

Personally, I think if the authorities wanted to clean up undesirables who work illegally, they would mainly target the bottom two categories (prostitution and general illegal activities including legitimate businesses that illegally employ foreigners especially from 3rd countries not surrounding Thailand for simple, low-skilled tasks like being a receptionist or a waiter/waitress).

If they start going after foreigners painting their own fences or holding up a ladder for a tradesman fixing their roof gutter system (like someone mentioned earlier in this thread), you'll know they have either gotten their priorities wrong or the country has decided to put out all stops and dramatically overhaul the system in a way never seen before. If Thailand were capable of doing that, they would be more successful than probably every other country on the planet, though I'm not sure that would be something to be proud of.

Although I'm not in any way a proponent of open borders and "let everyone in" like a lot of people are these days, going to the extreme opposite direction is just as ridiculous. Thailand has a labour shortage in many areas and until robots/automation replaces these jobs (probably in the next 5-10 years they will), bringing in foreigners from neighboring countries fills the void. Then you have English teachers and many other positions that require advanced foreign language skills often in combination with advanced technical skills that only foreigners can perform. A successful economy these days should recognise the need for foreign talent and as long as only a limited percentage of the workforce is composed of foreigners, alongside all the necessary steps taken to ensure Thais have been given the opportunity to apply for these jobs first, there should be no concern that foreigners are taking away locals' jobs. Certainly your average Joe Blo office worker, English teacher, consultant engineer, marketer, oil and gas worker, insert job description here shouldn't be blamed for taking away anyone's job - they earned that position.

Just now, Goldbear said:

As much as Facebook is a pain in the ass sometimes, I use the messaging function to keep in touch with a lot of my friends. I hope that it doesn't get shut down.

 

(It's better than the first time I came to Thailand when it was only letters and postcards.)

Not so sure about that because letters and postcards are much more personal. Nowadays nobody writes each other letters and postcards anymore, except very close friends living in the west. In a way this is a sad reflection of the times. As far as being able to contact people easily, nearly every Thai has a mobile phone and you can always send them SMS messages or even more popular these days are instant chat apps such as LINE, WeChat, KakaoTalk, Viper, Skype and WhatsApp. The former 2 are the most popular in Thailand and in my experience a much better way of getting hold of people than FB.

3 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

I think the government wants access blocked to 100 pages, or about 0.001% of FB's content. It seems a bit heavy handed to threaten to penalise 99.999% of fair dinkum Thai users because the government can't control 0.0001% of the content.

 

The government is also pushing ahead with a single internet gateway to Thailand and has already twice successfully tested its ability to shut down FB.

So it's still pushing ahead with this single internet gateway thing?

What would this mean to accessibility of online content? So far, except for very, very limited banned content everything I search for is available in Thailand (fortunately) including content that is or may be restricted in some European countries, for example.

Just now, anotheruser said:

 

The thing is that it isn't just Thais. The fact people are online on social media talking about Thais and their internet obsession, seems to be an irony lost on many.

 

The single gateway was abandoned as far as I know. However if they do ban FB (which I highly doubt) it is a slippery slope leaning towards putting the gateway in place. this proposal won't work because Thailand can not enforce it's laws on the global community at large. In this sense it would be easier for the junta to make a single gateway.

You're right, of course it isn't just Thais. However, what I have noticed is that a large number of Thais are still very much into FB in a way that people in the west were 5-8 years ago, but now you are starting to see people leave FB but I haven't noticed any real exodus away from FB amongst Thais. This could change in coming years, but a reported 44 million FB users in Thailand out of a population of around 68 million is very significant.

You mentioned that the single gateway could mean a loss of access to Google, YouTube etc. well what would replace them? Unlike China, which has it's own domestic versions of these, such as Baidu and YouKu, Thailand is almost completely dependent on western companies for these and many other services. No way should any attempt be made to regulate the internet in Thailand or anywhere else in the world but unless Thais create their own alternatives to FB and search engines like Google, they'll remain completely dependent upon them.

4 minutes ago, anotheruser said:

Love the posters who are gleeful that this might irritate Thais. i hope those same people will eat their words when they are "protected" by the single gateway and they lose google, wikipedia, youtube and some of their favorites. 

 

Be careful what you wish for you might find yourself lacking a place online to post smug comments if they implement any of this ever. I would also bet more posters here use FB than would like to admit it. Because slagging off FB is so original and edgy these days.

Well I think the commenters were simply referring to the fact that too many Thai people are obsessed with FB and it's kinda getting ridiculous. Whatever one thinks about FB, there's certainly more to life than wasting time on that social media network. I have a FB account but have all but stopped using it, in fact I'm considering shutting down my account and I think my life will be better without it. A small number of Thai friends I have spoken to are the same - even one friend whose business website has more likes than many multinational companies (yes it was hard to believe at first, but it's true) rarely uses her personal FB account these days, preferring Instragram and LINE, while her boyfriend has, like me, essentially stopped using it.

However, of course I don't think FB should be banned, except if it was proven to be subversive in nature or a threat to national security, which obviously it isn't.

I believe there was massive opposition to the single gateway you describe, I thought this proposal has been abandoned?

12 hours ago, Bill Miller said:

I was required to leave the Kingdom because I was one day late filing for an extension of stay, thinking the "day of" was included.
Whatever.
A bit of a disappointment that obvious law breakers are not dealt with, but people who make an honest mistake are booted...
Guess that is a difference between "police"and "immigration".

How do you know this? Of course they will deport these foreigners, it's in the ministerial regulations that it's illegal for a foreigner to come to Thailand to engage in prostitution, and Africans stand out much more than say, Lao or Burmese do. In fact, even the latter are regularly deported for engaging in prostitution and other activities the Thai government requires a work permit for.