JerseytoBKK

Interesting post about why Russia hasn't called up more reserves, more background info on the retired Russian colonel, and  other topics including the possibility of the US sending Harpoon missiles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo2ZVKRK00E

Update:

Got the pop up notice at least 4 times in the last 7 days. When I clicked the link it just took me to the Morchana app but there was nothing in the notification tab. I've been taking screenshots all this time. Today finally when I click the link in the pop up, It finally shows the screen to upload the test image. Within 15 minutes of submitting the report with image,  the status turned from orange to green

I got the pop up notice at least 4 times in the last 7 days. When I clicked the link it just took me to the Morchana app but there was nothing in the notification tab. I've been taking screenshots all this time. Today finally when I click the link in the pop up, It finally shows the screen to upload the test image. I got the report has been submitted message.

Another weird thing is that the notifications tab is now showing me that I had 7 days of messages to upload the test! 

UPDATE: Status turned from orange to green

22 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Day 8 now and still no notification on the APP...Still orange and it has been in Bluetooth mode and on since I returned and scanned in my TP QRcode......cluster as usual.

Same for me. Bluetooth and Internet on. Day 10 and no notification. Still orange.

7 hours ago, Isaanlife said:

We live in Brevard County.

 

There are at least 20 Thai restaurants here and they are all sorry except 1. Thai Kitchen in Melbourne, Fl is small Thai restaurant run by Isaan family. They will cook for Thai people like Thailand if you request it. Most Thai restaurants Americanize their food here for Americans to the point it doesn't taste anything like in Thailand.

 

Melbourne also has Thai Grocery "Jason's" and also Thai Temple. I heard there was another Thai temple now?

 

Lots of Thai's in Brevard county.

 

Orlando has large China Town and Vietnamese Town. Asian grocery as big as a Tesco Lotus. Many of them.

I go to the BJ's and Sam's in Melbourne 2-3x a month. Just down the road from Melbourne is Sebastian. The top rated restaurant is Wasabi Thai Sushi. Most of the workers are Thai including the sushi chefs. Their Masaman curry is superb, but the rest of the Thai dishes are between OK and don't bother. The place does great sushi, sushi rolls and sashimi and it's frequently packed. After 7 pm usually you see people sitting outside waiting for tables, even on a Monday night. Calling in for take out orders can sometimes result in a 45 minute wait.

What Florida county? I've spent the last 3 years commuting between Indian River county and Bangkok. Trying to convince my fiancee to leave her job and join me in dividing time between Thailand, Florida and some additional time in bucket list destination places.

While there are Thai restaurants in most towns, I wasn't aware of Thai grocery stores. Where do you think is the most Thai centric place in FL?

22 hours ago, bungalow1969 said:

I arrived in Thailand on the 25th and was booked to do my day 5 test in Hua Hin today, so I have been trying to get confirmation for the past few days if I could cancel the day 5 booking or not.

Different stories coming from different people as usual.. I called the number for Test & Go yesterday and was told that I could just do an ATK test and submit the result on Morchana. I then went ahead and cancelled my day 5 hotel and PCR test. Hotel was happy to cancel and give me a refund.  

This morning I done my ATK but could not find anyway to submit results on to the Morchana app, so I called back to the T & G number. I spoke with a different woman, who told me that I must do the day 5 Test & Go!

Luckily the hotel in Hua Hin was still able to take me. I hope to get my results early evening. If so I will check out and drive the 30 minutes back to my house to sleep in my own bed. Bit of a farce but only a few more days and nobody will have to waste the time and money doing this anymore. 

What would have happened if I never came here for my 2nd test, who knows but as I live here, I thought it was best not to tempt fate.

2 people, including me, have written confirmation from hotels that we don't have to do the day 5. Today is my day 5 and I am waiting for the notification in the Morchana app to upload test results. People in other posts said they didn't get notices to upload until day 6 or day 7 or that some hotels had trouble uploading with the app. Hopefully, I'll soon find out who was right but at least I have written confirmation from a hotel that has a dedicated manager for Covid stays.

Contact the hotel either through email or their Facebook page.

I just stayed at Aloft Bangkok and asked multiple questions including when will they test since my plane arrived at 23:30 and I got to the hotel after midnight. They informed me they test even before check-in. I got my results before 10 AM.

I'm guessing that the hotel will tell you to book the night before your actual arrival date. You might be able to leave the hotel before noon or soon after, but again, best to contact the hotel.

8 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Then the rules do not apply to you. 

 

This is for arrivals on and from March 1st. 

 

Thus: as you arrived on 27th, you are still expected to do your day 5 Test & Go. 

 

 

 

-------

 

This was the same last year when the quarantine reduced from 14 days to 10 (from 1st April).

Those who arrived on 31st March still had to complete 14 days quarantine getting out on 14th April.

Whereas those who arrived on 1st April go out on 11th. 

Fortunately it seems that there is a more reasonable response this time. See previous message,

I also came in last year on April 1 and only had to do a 7 day quarantine. Did a similar 7 day quarantine in October.

17 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Maybe they push RE investing in those countries, because 'owning' is easier.  Which would make those countries a better option to retire.  May also mean those countries have easier visa requirement for those buying in.

 

Not everyone lives out of a hotel / condo room.  I'm on my 3rd house build.  And never owned any.  Not a risk many are wanting or able to do, especially if 1st one was a failed endeavor.  

 

Many non-savvy expats have lost their life's savings because of it.  Savvy and not so savvy expats will go where it's safer to buy into the economy.  And that's not Thailand ... 11th place seems fitting.

 

1st in Asia, doesn't bode well for the rest of the Asian choices.

They were pushing investments in those countries because they owned the developments. They would encourage people to fly down to attend free seminars and then use high pressure tactics to get them to buy into their developments.  A lot like timeshare pitches in resort areas. They developed a bad reputation. They stopped doing that and no longer pitch their own real estate developments, but they are making money from pitching the locations and rentals in the areas. They are not a non-biased source.

15 hours ago, Thaiophil said:

Being beaten by Panama and Colombia is a bit embarrassing ????

I've posted this response before and it seems like an annual event. International Living is trash!!! Look at heir website. They used to heavily promote real estate investments through their website that were in Panama, Costa Rica and Columbia. Now they "just" mention investments in those countries. The website is a scam!

"We're aware that a woman traveling alone could raise suspicion but assumed that the evidence would clear it.".......

" (she also answered that she had no contacts in the US).".....

"We'd still like to make a trip"

Unfortunately there have been many posts where people are advising women to never state they have a "friend" in the US. Bad advice. Telling the complete truth might not help, but these highly experienced interviewers are looking for any responses that seems less than completely truthful.

5 years ago I told my GF to ignore that advice and she even listed my name on the application where they ask if anyone helped you fill out the application. She has an engineering degree with a high paying long term job. Was approved for a 10 year visa after only 4 questions. One question was "do you know anyone in the US" and she replied yes and gave my name. Another question was "where do you plan to go" and she mentioned some famous tourist attractions. Also started to pull out a page where I listed an itinerary where we would spend the 12 days of her trip but the interviewer waved off the paper and said interview over. Passport with visa arrived within 7 days.

The last point is also something that I think trips up applicants. Both in the US and Thailand, people with jobs usually don't take long vacations. Saying that you're planning to come for 30 or 60 days might raise red flags. Before anyone thinks it's a good idea to lie about length of stay, know that the immigration officer in the US can still turn away someone with a valid visa.

16 hours ago, TorquayFan said:

Scancell, the developer of 'Covidity', a 'universal' vaccine candidate against Covid virus, features among 6 'Companies to watch' in 2022 in 'The Observer' yesterday :-

 

"This spinout fom the University of Nottingham, founded in 1997 by Lindy Durrant, professor of cancer immunotherapy at the university, specialises in developing cancer vaccines and has started testing them on humans. But when the pandemic struck, the company decided to modify its vaccine technology to develop Covid shots, in collaboration with Nottingham’s two universities and backed by £2m funding from the UK’s innovation agency.

 

Check out Valneva. It's an old fashioned inactivated virus vaccine. Completed Phase 3 testing and supposedly better than AZ but seems some politics happened and the UK cancelled their contract. They recently announced a deal to supply EU countries pending approval.

Here is a list of 91 different vaccines that are under development: https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker.  That website is not 100% up to date but gives you an idea of the global effort underway.

23 hours ago, howerde said:

I got my license at DLT area 3 Bangkok in late Sep, trying since July, had to go in person as could not book online or via the app, went there booked an appointment, at that time there were only a few appointments for foreigners, went back late sep, with resident certificate, and medical certificate, did all the tests, i did not have to watch the video as i had a IDP, took about an hour, i am sure you can do the video test online.

Thanks for the info. I have an IDP also.

23 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Yes embassy can provide.

IMO your best to go to Mueang Thong Thani immigration.

That's were you can obtain residence certificate. 

They mail it out to you. 200baht.

Can take up to 2 weeks most likely you will have it in one week.

Appointments currently unavailable. 

If you happen to have a 90 report due thats handy as same office.

If that's the case do the report then the RC same visit.

 

Thanks DrJack54.

I had heard that the DLT had reopened but my girlfriend just checked their Thai website and they are not doing any testing (reaction, color-blindness or showing the video) so it seems that getting a new license is still not possible.

If anyone knows something different, would like to hear about it.

I need to get an address verification letter in Bangkok as it's finally time to get a Thai driving license. Is this still at Muang Thong Thani or has it moved back to Chang Watthana? 2 years ago I got one at CW but needed to leave Thailand before I could apply for the license.

Are online appointments needed or available to get the letter? Saw some posts where it was said that the Land Transport office now needs to contact immigration - is this correct?

The alternative is to get the letter from the US Embassy. Has anyone done this lately?

If you had scrolled through some of the posts about this topic written in the last 2 months, you have have seen some excellent advice.

What is your status? Work permit or retired? How long have you been here in Thailand? Your wife should have taken your passport with her to show that you are committed to staying in Thailand. Perhaps the interviewer thought that you plan to take your family to the US to enroll the kids in US schools. Is there a reason your parents can't visit and was that documented?

"coverage for the remaining duration of that extension" I've seen that posted repeatedly on different forums but there is an exception! I flew in 4 weeks ago. Stamped in until July, 2022 when I will renew my extension. Only had to buy 90 days of insurance. Reason is I showed a paid return business class ticket because I will return to the US within 90 days.

Sheryl - Thanks for the help and suggestion.

About 3 months ago, while in the US, I started experiencing pain in the back of my knee. Saw an orthopedist and after xrays and exam he diagnosed a bakers cyst and recommended it be drained using ultrasound. Said that was a first step and that there was a good chance it would return. Unfortunately I returned to Bangkok before I could do the procedure.

When leaving the airport, as I went to step into the van, I experienced severe pain in my knee. Couldn't lift my leg more than 4" from the floor. Since I was in quarantine for 8 days, was able to ice and rest the leg and over 4 days it improved. Also very glad that I had an excellent compression stocking. However, my knee is still much worse than when I was in the US. Can't walk more than half a kilometer without pain. 

The doc at Phaya Thai planned to remove the cyst and seal off that bursa to prevent the cyst from coming back. Also pointed out an issue with cartilage being displaced.

I'll check out the doc at Bumrungard for another opinion. Since I'll return to the US in about 7 weeks I also might go the draining route first.

I have a "baker's cyst" in my right knee. Had an MRI last week. It's been getting worse over the last 2 months and I'm at the point where I need to have surgery. The quote I received from Phaya Thai seemed really high at 280,000.  I see some other hospitals have promotions for arthroscopic meniscus knee surgery, with Bumrungrad at 220,000. Anyone here have arthroscopic knee surgery recently and what was the price?

On 10/21/2021 at 10:18 PM, hackjam said:

I am considering the Cross right now, Like the look. I am also considering the Honda HRV but looks like they are waiting to launch a new one towards end of year, so will wait and see.

I had a Hyundai Santa Fe a few years back, in Europe and was well impressed with it. Is the Tucson similar and is there a Hyundai garage in Pattaya?

The Tucson is slightly smaller than the Santa Fe. Last year I was stuck in the US longer than I expected so I went shopping for a vehicle. I liked the Tucson but it was under powered so I bought the Santa FE Limited 2.0 Turbo. It has an amazing and very long list of features. Heads up windshield display is very cool and with the lane assist I can take my hands off the steering wheel and it will go around a 60 turn on the highway by itself! Leave your hands off the wheel more than 20 seconds and it flashes a warning to put your hands back on the wheel.  Seeing it do that showed me that autonomous driving vehicles are almost here. Also love the air ventilated seats.

However, for 2022, Hyundai released a completely redone Tucson 1.5 Turbo Hybrid about 6 months ago. Very fast. When I went back to the US this summer, I was going to trade in my Santa Fe (resale value higher than original purchase price) but the new Tucson Turbo Hybrid Limited had extremely limited availability and dealers were asking for $3,000-10,000 over the $39,000 list. 

If Hyundai sold the Tucson Hybrid in Thailand I would be at the dealer now.

13 hours ago, cardinalblue said:

Hard to see hotel giving up easy money…

 

their argument will be you were willing to stay and pay for 14 days….you should feel happy you only have to stay 7 days…that money is now water under the bridge…that was the policy when you applied and accepted it….move along foolish boy

When they changed the rules back in April and went from 14 to 7 days, the hotels were required to refund the difference. Yes, I received a prompt refund from my hotel.

TV cynics will always find dark clouds to walk under.