BangkokBaksida

I worked in Ho Chi Minh City from 2015 to the end of 2021, at which time I fled the country to avoid getting vaccinated.  During my time in Vietnam, I visited Dalat a dozen times, Nha Trang four or five times, and Danang three times.  They are all highly livable places.  Should the world ever normalize again, I would consider retiring in Vietnam, basing myself in the lovely beach city of Nha Trang, but then spending the three or four months of the year when Dalat's weather is at its best in that city.  (November through February).  The rest of the year in Dalat is quite rainy.  It's just a relatively short/cheap bus ride from Nha Trang to Dalat - about four hours or so - so it's not necessary to fly.

Danang is also a wonderful city - a good sized city right on the sea, so you have the beach life there, along with all of the amenities of city life.  And the cost of living there is quite low.  The airport is right in the city and you can fly to pretty much everywhere in Vietnam (and a few destinations abroad) directly from there.

Finally, the Vietnamese are quite welcoming towards Westerners, which can even be seen in the word they call us:  "Om tay" - which means "Mr. Westerner".  It has a totally different feel to it from "farang".

On 4/11/2022 at 12:55 PM, RayWright said:

Have similar HP Pavilion i5, 16GB, 128SSD + 1TB. Did notice laptop was getting very warm / hot when used, so bought a pack of rubbers / erasers and positioned under the laptop to increase airflow. Certainly noticed a difference in laptop base temperature. Also I use a USB wireless mouse/keyboard so not flexing the laptop when aggressively typing. Have now  changed from a wooden desk to using a glass table, so even better cooling properties. 

Hope this helps.

In terms of HP, always bought Compaq, so when bought by HP in 2002 switched to HP ever since. Never had any serious issues, only replaced when Windows O/S forced an upgrade. Still have an old XP laptop for playing the odd DOS game. 

I had a similar problem with my old HP ZBook laptop, which I had bought second-hand in Vietnam a few years ago when I was living there:  It suddenly started getting VERY hot.  I first took it to a repair shop at Seacon Square, and they replaced some little foam pads inside of it - for 800 baht.  I'm pretty sure I paid the special farang price for that.  Unfortunately that didn't help much at all.  Then I bought an aluminum rack (originally meant to be a dish drying rack - from HomePro - which happened to be the perfect size) to elevate the laptop from my table, and that seems to have solved the problem.

The battery also just died, so I will follow the recommendations here - and try to find a replacement battery at Fortune Town.  Or maybe I'll just use it without a battery, as I only ever use that one at home.

Finally, my seven-year-old work laptop recently started acting up on me, so I bought a lovely Fujitsu laptop that weighs well under a kilo.  I had seen it at the Emporium for around 50,000 baht, and it was love at first sight.  (It is made in Japan, and I trust Japanese quality.  And it's just so unbelievably light - about half the weight of most laptops.)  The deal was sealed when I found it on Lazada for just under 40,000 baht during their recent anniversary sale, and I couldn't be more pleased with it:

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i3273787395-s12164887105.html

On 1/16/2022 at 7:51 AM, Danderman123 said:

The difference is that flu vaccines are not very effective. 

How is that different from the COVID "vaccines"?

First of all, I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question.  If it's not, please move it to the appropriate one.

I moved to Thailand recently from Vietnam, but I was unable to carry all of my personal possessions with me on the plane.  So I left a lot of my stuff with a friend in Vietnam who will ship it to me.  It's all used personal household things, such as books, clothes, sheets, and a few kitchen appliances (yogurt maker, black garlic fermenter, etc.)  First of all, what is the best way to declare my things?  As used household goods, as they are?  Or as something else?  And secondly, how will they be taxed, if at all?  Obviously, if the tax would exceed the value of the goods, I would prefer to just abandon them to my friend in Vietnam.

Does anybody have experience shipping personal household goods to Thailand (from Vietnam, if that makes a difference - and I am on a non-O visa, if that makes a difference.).  If so, what were the import duties?

Thanks and regards.

Is it actually absolutely necessary to make an appointment to do this visa?  Or can I just show up at Chaeng Wattana?  Thanks.

Thanks Sheryl.  So can you provide me with a link - or some other connection - to get April's French International policy?  As I mentioned, I searched for it on the internet and I wrote to what I thought was the French office, but I got an automated response from the Bangkok office of April.  It looks like somebody is trying very hard to steer me towards the Thai office/policy.

Hm, I just sent an email to what I thought was April International in France, and I got an automatic response from the same lady in the Bangkok office of April as I got when I thought I was writing to the Bangkok office.  So does that mean that I would be able to get the "International" policy from the local office?  Again, what would be the difference between the Thai policy and the International one, assuming there is a difference?  Thanks again.

23 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Sounds like you are referring to April Thailand not to be confused with April International based in France, best to get an International company insurance to avoid disappointment later

Aha, another thing that I didn't know.  I just assumed that the local office of April was a representative of the main office, and that I would get the same policy from both.  I have just sent an email to the one based in France.  Let's see what they can offer me.

Do you happen to know the main differences between using April Thailand vs. April International in France?

Thanks again.

3 minutes ago, sandyf said:

This is something i have heard claimed, but not the case at the hospitals I use. You need to do some research on the hospital you plan to use.

When I started to get my blood pressure tablets from the hospital it saved me 30% against the discounted Fascino price.

A very good point!  Maybe it's not true, at least not everywhere.  I will get my Thai nurse friend to call a government hospital for me and ask this question.  Thanks.

This is all very useful information, Sheryl!  I had no idea about a lot of the things you mentioned, such as not being able to reduce the deductible later, etc.  I am really glad that I asked - and I am glad for the willingness of people like yourself and the others here to share your knowledge.  So, as you advised, I will take this as a long-term decision.

I have been in contact with an April representative here in Bangkok, and she provided me with a link to their website where I can check the changes in price of the policy by changing various parameters.  One thing that I noticed is that the minimum amount of coverage appears to be around US$100,000.  Is that much coverage really necessary in Thailand?  Or is this another case of needing to think about the long term?  

Also, what about outpatient coverage?  From what I can see, the cost of outpatient coverage increases by around the amount of the coverage, so essentially I would be paying in advance for outpatient coverage that I might not need.  So my feeling is that it doesn't make sense at all to get outpatient coverage.  Do you concur with this?

30 minutes ago, Why Me said:

International operators like April, Cigna, Pacific etc. have a good rep. Local ones not so much. You get what you pay for. Like Pravda says it's emergencies you want to take into account when you want access to the best care, no questions asked. Which won't happen without insurance.

 

For planned procedures another option is India. Kolkata and Chennai (10k b. return air) have excellent hospitals costing a fraction of Thai private.

Very good point regarding India.  Thanks for reminding me of that option.  I have good friends there whom I can stay with, and I even once had a colonoscopy in Chennai - for less than a hundred dollars.  So yeah, it can be an option for planned procedures.

About seven years ago, when I was between jobs, broke, and without health insurance, I developed bladder stones that needed to be removed.  As a foreigner, my first inclination was to try to get the issue resolved at one of those fancy private hospitals.  But the $5,000 cost at a nothing-special private hospital was unaffordable to me.  So, with the help of a Thai nurse English-student friend of mine, I went to a Thai government hospital.  I had to wait for a couple of months to have my procedure done, but boy was it cheap!  $300 for the whole thing, including three nights in the hospital and three meals a day.  (About the same price as the quarantine hotel that I'm staying in right now - without the operation.)  The doctor was wonderful and he did a great job; the nurses were pleased to have a chance to interact with a (handsome) farang patient.  All in all it was a surprisingly good experience.

I spent the intervening years since then outside of Thailand, but now I am back - and considering my health insurance options.  Again, as a farang, I tend to think in terms of expensive insurance to be used in expensive hospitals.  I have also heard that government hospitals no longer allow foreigners to pay the "Thai" price.  (Is that correct?  And if so, is there a standard multiplier that they apply to the Thai prices for foreign patients?  Are these prices transparent?  Or is it a matter of what they think they can squeeze out of me?)

Anyway, my thinking is as follows:  Even if I had to pay triple the Thai price in this example, it would have still cost just $900 at the government hospital vs. $5,000 at the private hospital.  And my point is that if I could have such an operation done for $900, I could essentially forgo the expensive foreigner insurance and self-insure, thereby saving three or four thousand dollars a year.  Does anybody have any thoughts about/experience with this option?  Is there anything that would prevent me from doing this?  Am I missing something?

Thanks very much.

23 hours ago, johng said:

If you and the rest have been "fully jabbed" then why are you afraid of MIL ?

Because his vaccine only works if everybody is vaccinated, obviously.

This is my dermatologist in Bangkok - at Samitivej Hospital.  A great doctor and a really wonderful person.  I highly recommend him:

https://www.thailandmedical.news/pages/thailand_doctors_listings/dr--paritas---sukriket

Good luck.

15 minutes ago, Emeraldisle said:

You have to tick the box  , " I herby acknowledge etc" , which is a bit faint and then confirm

I had the same problem on my first few attempts, and this was the solution.  They really don't seem to want you to find that button!

For the retirement visa, there is this requirement, among others:

8. Rental Agreement between the Applicant and the Landlord ; A copy of house registration. Location map of the house and a rental receipt Past three months.

How can someone who is in the country on a 60-day tourist visa present rental receipts for the past three months?

Great!  Perfect!

I need to show a return flight for getting the visa, but I'll just book one and cancel it after I get the visa.

Thanks very much!

I will enter Thailand on a 60-day tourist visa, which I plan to convert to a non-O visa in order to remain in Thailand more or less permanently as a retiree.  So practically speaking, I will only need a one-way flight to Thailand.  But will the Thai immigration officers still expect me to have a flight leaving Thailand since I will still be entering the country on a tourist visa?  Or would it suffice for me to just tell them my plan to convert my tourist visa to a non-O visa - as an explanation for why I don't have a flight out of the country?  Thanks.