SportRider

Youtube premium is so cheap in Thailand... IIRR i pay THB 149 pm.  Music app is good. 

Thinking aloud, personally I'd be worried to keep $700k in a safe.. not just for safety, but devaluation by inflation, and how to take out of the country.. 

3 hours ago, Wanderer555 said:

ThaiWatsadu has a decent assortment of metal toolboxes. Many are decent quality, though not the same as Western level of quality & functionality. 
 

I would recommend shopping in person if possible. 
 

Cheers. 

Agree.  Came here to say this. 

There's parts of this story I'm missing.. 

Is this saying that somewhere near or on Soi 6 there's an establishment where people can gamble using online sites on PCs that are made to look like electronic slot-machines? 

Why do people use this kind of place instead of go online at home? 

How do they collect their winnings? 

Thanks 

(I don't have Facebook.) 

I've lived in numerous countries in the region for about 25 years in aggregate, with 10 in Thailand.  Never have carried my passport on the off-chance of being asked. 

Was only ever asked once, in 1995 in Bandung Indonesia, about 1am on the way back from a bar.  

Today, I have all docs on my phone and can show electronically or send to plod by Line if needed. 

What is best? Cheap? Fast? Comfortable? Service? 

There are entire websites that deal with this topic. 

"Fell into the wrong crowd" always sounds like an excuse to me, diverting blame or diluting responsibility for ones own actions. 

First time I saw a ladyboy was in the early 90's in the bar at Grand Hyatt, Jakarta. 

My first trip to Asia. Work colleague and I were sitting at the bar, watching another westerner be seduced by the LB and ultimately leave with her. 

The next night the guy was back at the bar, my friend said to him 'do you know what you took last night?'. 

The response 'Mind your own effing business.' 

Not a sucker. Knew it. 

So am I right in saying that Genki has identified a specific niche - internationally mobile people who may not be permanently resident in just one location - and then they've worked with established partners to bring a product to market? 

Doesn't seem like a bad thing? 

Thanks again for all your investigative help! 

11 hours ago, Lorry said:

How???

This is a start-up, founded in 2021 during covid.  How can there be experience?

 

They are a broker,  you can google their managing directors. 

 

Dr Walter is another broker (a big one, specializes in expat insurance for many years), so they are really a sub-broker.

These new products target young, healthy, educated people ("digital nomads") - the most profitable group to sell health insurance to.

 

The people you will really have contact with when you are sick (and who handle your claims) are their assistance companies:

"EuropAssistanceSA, Niederlassung für Deutschland, Global ExcelManagement Inc. GMMI, Inc., International SOSB.V., International SOSGmbH,MDMedicusAssistanceServiceGmbH"

That's a very mixed bag, without going into details. They certainly have direct payment agreements with all major private hospitals in Thailand.

 

The people who pay the money are Barmenia, that's a good German insurance. Gothaer is very good. 

 

I copy from their insurance conditions (you find them as the second part of their "consumer conditions"-pdf):

 

"Thepolicyprovisions arewritten inGerman. Anycommunicationduring the termof the insurance will alsobe inGerman. If documents areprovided inEnglish, this is tobeunderstoodas a serviceof the insurer, whichhas noeffect on theagreedcontract language."

 

"The insurancecontract is subject toGerman law."

 

I take it your German is good enough even when you are sick, and that you have a basic understanding of continental European law.

Funnily, I couldn't find their T&Cs in German.

 

 

Thankyou for your kind commentary. 

My thinking was that 3 years in existence is long enough for some people to have knowledge and experience of this firm.

13 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

 

I'm not familiar with the domestic German health insurance market, so I can't really comment on the claims-paying attitude of Barmenia, but since it is incorporated and regulated in Germany, I think there are probably adequate consumer protection laws in place.

 

I looked for an AM Best rating, and found four of Barmenia's operating entities listed, but none have been rated by AM Best. I also could not find a Standard and Poors rating, but an indirect rating can be inferred. Gothaer is in the process of merging with Barmenia and the merger has had a positive effect on S&P's rating of Gothaer, which already is rated at "A" by S&P: https://disclosure.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/3195744

 

In addition, Barmenia's website gives some financial information on the company: 

 

In addition to earning an underwriting profit, something that not all insurers manage to do, Barmenia has substantial investment income. The company employs over 4,000 people in Germany and has a turnover in excess of two billion Euros. From a financial standpoint, at least according to what I can find,  I think Barmenia is pretty solid.

 

This isn't an insurer I would lose sleep over from a financial or regulatory standpoint if I were a policyholder. But I would ask a broker who deals with Barmenia on a regular basis about their claims service and claims-paying attitude.

Thanks so much for taking the time to dig into this, very much appreciated. 🙏🙏

Many thanks Sheryl, I'll dig in a bit more.

Appreciated,

SR

Hi all, I searched but didn't find any reference to this, hence posting a new thread.

I was looking at Genki "Native" which seems pretty good, however not applicable for those over 55.  I booked a support call and was told about "Resident" which seems like pretty good cover, and perfect for expats who flit between home country and elsewhere (180 days year cover in home country).  

Setting aside the matter of price (it's in my range), does anyone have first hand experience of this company?

Many thanks,

SR

Product Information.pdf Genki Resident - Table of Benefits.pdf

1 hour ago, Gottfrid said:

Can you read sarcasm when you see it? Others can! But, don´t worry. I will make an exception for you next time "For MrJ2U, this is Sarcasm. please read and understand it like that".

I assumed MrJ2U's response was tongue-in-cheek ..

This is relevant to Thailand how?

Thanks for this post.

Please can we have a link to the original. 🙏

Daytime, in my study 25°c, or elsewhere fans only. 

Nighttime 19°c.

Just do the TM30 online.  You can't backdate it. 

Using the online service, once you've done the submission you can 'export' a doc that is proof of submission.  Also a good idea to make a screen grab of the data page, and print both. 

edit. 

I should add that the system is not searchable beyond 7 days, and even a one night away from your residence is a technical reason to do a new TM30.  No problems about the date not matching some random one in the past. 

18 hours ago, connda said:

Define "prostitute."

Most women I've met could fall into that category other than hard-core feminists.  It's amazing how "wet" a Western farang gal can get for a wealthy, handsome guy especially one who is also a total Dick Richard, or a band member, or pro athlete, or socially connected, or economically connected.  Off come the skirt and it's horizontal mambo time.

Then you come to a third-world or developing world country where the concept of Christian-morality isn't at the top of anyone's list.  Even here in Thailand what is considered to be "traditional conservative Thai values" were in fact Western conservative Christian values that were imposed on the Thai natives by the leader of the 1932 Siamese Revolution by the military leader Plaek Phibunsongkhram.  He implemented the "Thai Great Tradition" and the "12 Thai Cultural Mandates".  The mandates go a long way in explaining Thailand nationalism as well as their dislike and distrust of foreigners especially at the elite levels of society.  Well, not that many farangs study history nowadays, no less Thai history.

 

But back to conservatism. 

 

What is pronounced a Thai cultural conservatism in dress and action was actually the result of Thai cultural mandate Number 10 implemented circa Jan 15, 1941.

• "Thai people should not appear at public gatherings, in public places, or in city limits without being appropriately dressed. Inappropriate dress includes wearing only underpants, wearing no shirt, or wearing a wraparound cloth."
• "Appropriate dress for Thai people consists of:
  • "Uniforms, as position and opportunity permits;
  • "Polite international-style attire;
  • "Polite traditional attire."

So essentially in one fell swoop - just like that - Thais were mandated to embrace Western attire and Western morality.  This was force on them by their military "leaders."  Thai conservatism isn't an "organic" occurrence.  It was mandated.  (Caveat - some of those outlawed dress styles like "wraparound cloth" became culturally appropriate post 2014 with Prayut in charge as Thai began to re-embrace their culture dress from the past.)

So you now have a very conflicted society, one that on the surface espouses conservatism in dress and morals, but underneath the facade? 

Giks, mia nois, shower massages (òp-àap-nuat), curtain hotels, karaoke bars (you think they just sing?) and that's basically a Thai cultural phenomenon geared for Thai men and one that is "Shhhhhh" rather disavowed unless you interact with Thai culture and society at a deeper level than foreign tourists, or even expats, encounter.

Then there is the bar scene geared specifically toward farangs and other foreign men.  And this scene gets all the attention in the press ("Don't look at the Giks, mia nois, shower massages (òp-àap-nuat), curtain hotels, karaoke bars - look at the bad farang sex-pats!!!")
So the gals who engage in the farang bar scene obtain the hypocritical labels Western men reserve for "loose women," e.g. "whores, prostitutes, sluts, etc," which of course is actually reflective of Western Christian morality.  "But I'm an Athetist!  Grrrr."  Yeah, but you reflect Christian morality with your actions and your language, "Bar-girls are all Whores!"  and "yada yada yada." 

Now - "Go native" and live here long enough outside the confines of farang gated communities and farang social clubs - and you see the realities pretty clearly: Sex in Thailand is a commodity and its widely for sale. Those engaged in the sex trade could be your next door neighbor (gigs and mia nois).  In the cities your next door neighbor could be working in karaoke bars or in shower massages.  The perky little university gal living in the next apartment over could be a side-line girl in a shower massage to pick up a quick 1000 THB before heading to the clubs, or finding sugar daddies on Tinder and other social media platforms.  Even your female "caddy" at your golf course probably makes significantly more money from her after hours liaisons with her day-time clients by "straighten your putter" on the 19th hole rather than what she makes by handing you your putter on the 18th hole.

But for the average expat or tourist closeted in their own cultural and social worlds - you don't see what is below the surface in plain sight. 

So do "bar-girls" make a "good date" or a "good wife?"  Well - as good as any Thai women who works in that particular trade be it in the Western farang community or the Thai male community.  It has a lot more to do with true Thai "culture" than it does a Thai woman's temporary choice of rather lucrative jobs.

 

This is really good, thanks for making the effort to post. 

"over 64.7% of people have lower-than-average reading skills, and more than 74.1% have lower than average digital skills" 

How? 

Surely 50% must be better than *average* and 50% worse? 

43 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I think it refers to simply closing time... some have to close at midnight, some at 2am, some can go to 4am, all dependent on location and licence type. 

Yes, it could be edited to read "are allowed to stay open until between midnight to 4am."