Vermillionline

Hello all, this is more belated info still, and I'm not sure the OP is still reading this. Times have changed. I'm only familiar with certain hospitals in BKK for psoriasis treatment. Bumrungrad now has phototherapy but it's expensive.

Chulalongkorn (sign up for a hospital number in the lobby G floor at the central info booth area and fill out a form and get your photo taken) has it. Phototherapy there costs about 200 baht per session ($6+), there's no one in front of you in line, in and out in about 5 minutes, one person dedicated staff, a quick walk from the Saladaeng BTS station on an overhead roofed walk deck.

I know that as recently as last fall - October - Chula offered 2 biologics to treat psoriasis. One was Cosentyx. I can't remember the other but it began with an S - so maybe Scapho but maybe Siliq. One was about $400/mo and the other about $800/mo. Bumrungrad offered biologics but at far, far higher prices. I don't know if biosimilars have arrived since then.

The in between steps at Chula are more complicated. You need a doctor to authorize the phototherapy and biologics. You can get a private appointment once you have an HN, but you have to go there to make it since they never answer their phone ever ever ever, and they will try and talk you out of a private appointment and make it months away. That runs about 1600 baht.

What they prefer you do is show up for a dermatology clinic. I've avoided this but I believe you have to get in line at 5 am. and wait all day for your number to be called - in Thai. Enormous waiting rooms. No one is remotely helpful.

Methotrexate pills are available at most pharmacies near hospitals OTC for pennies. Literally pennies, no Rx needed. Recommended dose for psoriasis tends to be around 15mg 1x weekly followed the next day by 2.5-5 mg folic acid, same drug store, even fewer pennies. I recommend tapering on and tapering off.

Articles today say "international tourists" - aka the Chinese - will have to show proof of vaccines and maybe Covid tests and health insurance to enter Thailand. Will that apply to non-Thais who have visas to live in Thailand - retirement, student, work, etc.?

Sorry if I'm being redundant, but I'm still unclear if in-country annual extensions of a retirement non-immigrant O visa in 2021 must have proof of the mandatory health insurance coverage. 

I see entries regarding re-entering Thailand with a retirement non-immigrant O visa, but not for the annual extension while here.

Does anyone know the final answer to this?

And if so, which health insurers do you recommend? And, any tips to being accepted for coverage?

Thx!

It's hard to explain. Of course the rackets can be recharged, but only to the baseline mosquito killing level. The midges/no-see-ums are a tiny fraction in size of mosquitoes. So the rackets have to be extra-responsive to kill the midges.

What happens is that I now know what racket style works. I go to the store and test the ones they have in stock. I don't buy any that aren't highly charged, trying to eliminate those with electrical shorts (unsuccessfully, lots of them after being charged at home). Then I charge them for some period of time, use them once or twice, or every so often more than twice, and that's it. They're still highly charged, they'll still take out mosquitoes, but they won't react to midges.

Trust me, I've tried every possible workaround to this I can think of, whether it's length of time recharging, lying fallow, etc., etc. But I've been doing this in four countries and this seems to be the only option. I'm just bottomlessly grateful if I find the one racket style that works. I've got a big pile of one-offs I've bought to test the style and never worked even once, though I'm sure they're great for mosquitoes. 

Part of the difficulty explaining this is that I've not met anyone in Asia besides myself who has a midge biting issue. I tend to think that everyone gets bitten but only I react with pain and burning. Careful perusing of posts here and on expat.com and through google I've found two fellows currently in Vietnam with this problem, and in past posts two in Bangkok and sixteen in Hong Kong. So it's really a rare thing. That's why it's hard to explain what works for a mosquito racket.

Can't someone please come up with a grandpa or teenage electrical tinkerer who wants a steady cash gig? I've probably got more thousands of rackets at this point. Even if the financial end weren't insane, i'm running out of storage space...

Thanks, everyone. Your comments all make sense and are much appreciated. Good news tonight as my former attorney rang me to say my immigration stuff could be ported over to the new job. This attorney is exceptional in every respect - legal, personal, financial, logistical - and exceptional anything is hard to come by. I'm happily stockpiling any recommendations though because you never know what the future may hold. 

You're right, of course. I don't need an attorney. But I'm busy, and I hate the immigration office in BKK, and by the time the Grab driver or taxi charges me the rush hour price and wandering around in a no-comprendo haze trying to figure out what goes where, the attorney lowers my blood pressure. They pick up and return my passport from my building by messenger. You're quite right that the 90 day reports can be done online and I will see if that's a realistic option for me with no Thai speaker around to help. I also wonder about the database security of online forms....

Hello - I'm in need of a new, competent, no drama, proactive Thailand immigration attorney in Bangkok.

My first lawyer, American, made Shakespearian dramas on Broadway look like flatlining by comparison. I've never seen histrionics like that in my life. Scary actually. 

My second lawyer, Thai, was absolutely wonderful but she left the firm. And nobody told me for three months until I went down there to ask <deleted>? They had no record of me despite a hefty retainer. 

The surviving lawyers in that firm are utterly incompetent and we're back to Drama 101. Don't want that. 

I have my 12 month visa - now 11 months since the replacement attorneys filed the 90 day report much too soon - so all that's needed in the short term is someone to take care of my 90 day reports until 8 or 9 months from now. 

Please PM me if that's possible? with any recommendations you might have, and if it's not too intrusive, why you recommend them.  Thank you!

Only one kind of mosquito racket sold in Bangkok works for me. I use it for killing midges not mosquitoes. But unfortunately it only works once, at the most twice. Then I've got a working but unusable racket. Here's what one youtube repair fellow says:

"First open the mosquito bat by using screwdriver, Inside bat we will find simple power electronic circuit, consisting of battery, Transistor, resistors, capacitors , diodes and small transformer.

The basic function of this circuit is to generate very high voltage across output and electric fence so mosquito will die immediately when it came in contact with fence.

We need a digital Multimeter to check the various electronic components."

I would like to hire a local tinkerer to restore maximum power to these rackets. Someone's grandfather, a young teenage boy, someone unemployed, someone who makes a living out of fixing broken things. I'll pay them for every racket fixed, plus pay for parts. 

This is a job that could go on forever and be a regular income. Once we figure out how to restore them, it should almost be an assembly line. I've got about 100+++ of these rackets and I'm reasonably certain they can be restored to action -- again and again.

Know anyone who fits the bill and would be interested? They have to be reliable. More than that I don't care --- whether about appearance, hygiene, location, age etc. 

Can you please ask your relatives if they can ask their friends to ask their relatives and so on until we find the magic tinkerer? I'll hire them to dismember a couple rackets to figure it out and money for parts and we can do a trial run together. 

Thank you!

The two main contenders appear to be  CB Lockers in Gems Tower and maybe another site and Safe Deposit Centre at Charn Issara Tower in Bangkok. I see zero negative reviews online which immediately makes me think of suppression. Has anyone had, or heard of, a negative experience with these two companies recently? Or suggest another non-safe-buying alternative? Thank you.

Hi there - I'm trying to get hold of some insect repellent containing picaridin, not DEET or herbal ingredients. The brands include Autan, Natrapel, Bayrepel, Sawyer's, Cutter's, etc.

I can't ship it in via amazon because I don't have an address here and my credit cards will be shut down for fraud if I ship to a third party in Asia. 

Can someone moving to or visiting Chiang Mai please bring me some repellent, any repellent, containing only picaridin? I will pay you back in whichever you prefer, dollars or baht, on the spot. 

I'm really desperate. (Please don't respond with alternative solutions - I've tried them all and then some)
Thank you!!

Hello! Arrived in CM yesterday and went off to DTac recommended for a Thai SIM card. After low level grifters there tried to sell me low data for very high prices not even listed as an option, the manager intervened and appeared to sell me much more data for a cheap price. What he didn't tell me was that the new SIM card would completely mess up my cell phone, making dates and times either unreliable or in the years 2500+ BE, and making it impossible to use Uber or Grab. I've done a manual on date and time but it doesn't seem to help. Can anyone please suggest an alternative company and where to find them? Thanks!

Hello! I've just arrived in Chiang Mai. I purchased three tennis racket mosquito zappers and a net yesterday evening. None of the rackets work, one is actually broken, and the net doesn't fit the bed. The midges and mozzies in my lodging are fierce and plentiful. The a/c's don't work and the screens don't meet up. So I need new rackets that actually work ASAP. In Vietnam I would find them in the local markets. Any suggestions please as to where I should go to find them here? The lighter the racket - which in many cases means the newer - the worse they work. I had two, winnowed from more than you would believe, that worked incredibly well and Vietnam security took them out of my checked baggage yesterday. I said to the fellow, "Merry Christmas."