AsianAtHeart

Those appear to be some of the requirements for Thai citizenship, not PR. Are you sure that those apply to PR, as in, you must pay tax on X income for three years before you will be eligible for PR?

There's quite a bit of misguided information in this topic, along with some fairly good advice. The challenge left to the reader is to discern which is which. As far as I know, no doctors have posted. Nor am I a doctor, but many of my closest/immediate family members are doctors: I grew up with them, and have a degree in biology. Knowledge increases continually, and what is called "fact" today may be classed as "myth" tomorrow. That said, it is my understanding that there are some credible reasons to discredit the popular notion that bacteria will evolve resistance due to misuse of antibiotics. Nor are there many types of antibiotics because there are many types of bacteria, with each antibiotic targeting a different bacterium. Before the discovery of special categories, such as nanobacteria, there were predominately two types of bacteria, and virtually all antibiotics would be best used against one or the other of these: the grams-positive and grams-negative bacteria, so named on account of their staining properties. In general, the penicillin variety of antibiotics will best attack a grams-positive bacterium, with the exception of a few grams-negative bacterial varieties that also are susceptible to it. A "broad-spectrum" antibiotic, such as amoxicillin, is so named due to its ability to prevail against a wider range of grams-negative species. The "strength" of an antibiotic has much to do with the dosage in which it is taken. Doctors have been trending toward higher and higher dosages, perhaps as more resistant bacteria become more common, or perhaps this compensates for weakened immune systems. Augmentin (amoxicillin + clavulanic acid) is preferred by many doctors nowadays for more stubborn infections. The clavulanic acid apparently increases the effectiveness of the amoxicillin, prepping the ground, so to speak, for the antibiotic to penetrate and do its work. While a typical course of antibiotics might be five-seven days, an infection of, say, the inner ear, might require treatment for 10-14 days. My first thought, in answer to the thread question, was "Augmentin." I see that I am not alone in this, as multiple others have also suggested this. In Thailand, this will probably come in the form of 900 mg. amoxicillin + 100 mg. of clavulanic acid. In America, the ratio might be 875/125 mg. It is possible, by purchasing lower-dose pills of a couple of ratios and then taking more of them, to compensate and approximate the higher clavulanic acid ratio (I have done this). But it may not be a significant difference, and the over-the-counter formula will probably work just fine. Be aware that antibiotics, particularly a broad-spectrum antibiotic, will work against all the bacteria in one's system, including the good ones in the gut. The doctors in my family growing up recommended having some yogurt to help replace some of these once the antibiotics course had finished. Even then, this is likely to alter the natural balance, and, where possible, antibiotics should be avoided. Take them when necessary, but they should not be one's first option.

Pre-covid lockdowns it involved going to the Thai consulate (NOT the embassy--these are two separate locations) in Vientiane early on a business day, filling out the application, including attaching a photo, and then returning on the following day to retrieve your passport with the visa stamped in it: cost, 1000 baht. Among other things, you will likely be required to fill in the address of your destination in Thailand--where you will be staying. If you have the money and/or qualifications, there are other ways to get longer-term visas, e.g. a six-month visitor's visa, for something like 5000 baht, IIRC, but there were some details required in the application that not all would be able to supply (was it a Thai bank account? . . . my memory is getting fuzzy). You should be able to find the forms at the consulate. Pre-covid, the policy allowed two free entries across the land border per calendar year, so the purchased visa may not be required if you plan to enter just once. NOTE: All of these recollections date to pre-covid border lockdowns. I do not have current knowledge of the policies in place once the border was reopened. It is likely that there are changes or additions to the requirements.

HIV is a blood-borne virus which can be transmitted through bodily fluids, though typically saliva is not in great enough quantities to be of any concern unless the person has mouth sores to allow actual blood contact. Because Caesarean sections were less common 17 years ago, it is possible that the girl did indeed catch the virus during birth. It may even be that the hospital, if she were not born at home, did not have full knowledge of the mother's condition, due to the stigmatization of, not just the virus, but the likely occupation by which she had acquired it. I knew a six-year old boy near Mae Tang, Chiangmai nearly 25 years ago whose mother died of HIV after having returned to her local village from her work in the Big City. I attended her funeral. I no longer recall clearly whether or not the lad was known to be positive for HIV, but it seems to my recollection that he was, and had acquired it from his birth. The lucky children are those whose immune systems manage to develop natural immunity following their birth-time exposure. Unfortunately, not all of them do.

EXISTENCE OF GOD Regarding the existence of God, no amount of facts, truth, or information will suffice to convince anyone, especially against his will. But this does not mean it is impossible to help someone learn about God. The ultimate truth about God is His love, and it is only the genuine article--pure, unselfish love--that has any real power to persuade. VALIDITY OF SCIENCE The term "science," as so often bandied about, is disingenuously applied to the concept of "fact," largely because "science" is a cover-term for the combined knowledge and contributions of many individual human beings, each of whom has his or her own opinions, biases, and subjectivity to add to the mix. Like the sea, in whose waters are dissolved minerals of countless types, "science" is often a mixture of multiple persuasions, with nearly as many hypotheses, theories, and conclusions as there are scientists to propose them. When there is a seeming "consensus" among scientists, it masks a considerable undertow of peer pressure which forbids the expressions of opposing views, at great personal cost to the one bold enough to defy the status quo. I know, personally, multiple individuals who have lost their jobs for expressing their own views which were at odds with the "party line." In essence, science is a religion of its own kind. The biggest problem with modern "science" is that it really isn't. The purported results of the majority of peer-reviewed, published studies are non-reproducible. The authors have, for various reasons, reached untenable conclusions, yet their math and statistical analyses make them appear valid. An excellent treatise on the problem, by William A. Wilson (May 2016), is to be found here: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/05/scientific-regress QUOTABLE QUOTE "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." -- Winston Churchill