The Fugitive

Agree. First time I applied for retirement extension myself (instead of via a Visa Agent) the immigration officer looked at my passport saying; 'Ah! Chonburi, how much did you pay your Visa Agent?'.

Used 'Quinoderm' myself in the 1960's. Can confirm it's effective. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14199634/

My Thai wife runs her deceased mother's Buddhist religious goods shop. She keeps all receipts for the stock she buys. She takes these, plus bank statements of payments received, rent paid to shop owners, water and electricity bills etc. each year to the local Income Tax office. Every year they send her away, telling her 'nothing to pay'. I'm guessing it's to do with the thresholds for Income Tax liability?

Thanks for that. My Mrs had a thin prep (smear test) included with the mamogram and ultrasound breast screening package. I guess we've both found out the value of screening! My wife has also gained considerable weight since the menopause. She did like her whisky and soda but is now tea total due to the chemotherapy and the whole cocktail of tablets she takes.

Absolutely!

Many thanks for all your help. I agree entirely. Good tip about the DWP Life Certificate too! I asked my Thai neice (aged 30) who has just told me that the age to qualify for this list is 60. That would appear to make this a National scheme. I've received A/E treatment at both my nearby Government Community Hospital and my Government Regional Hospital thus I must be registered at both. I'm surprised that my Thai wife hasn't informed me about this as I was 61 when I moved to Thailand. However, she's taken out Life Insurance on me instead!

Very helpful information thanks! I wasn't aware of any list of elderly patients. Or, that they get a checkup every three months. How old do you have to be to get added to this list? What does the quarterly checkup entail please?

Love Cornish pasties!

Thanks for your kind words! Very pleased that you appreciate British cuisine. The pie shown looks excellent.

Looking at the damage to the front ends of both vehicles it's a credit to modern vehicle technology that nobody was killed IMHO. That and airbags and seatbelts of course.

Thank you for your informed and balanced report. It is reassuring that the UK NHS got things right back in 1971 when my mother had her hysterectomy. The doctor was obviously speaking with hindsight; i.e. he wouldn't have been in my house watching my mother vomiting 'coffee grounds' if the NHS had removed both ovaries 40 years earlier. Incidentally, she was then admitted to our local Medical Investigation Unit. The doctor in charge was adamant that she hadn't got cancer. CT scan revealed no tumours, gastro endoscopy reported cancer negative and, the most reliable indicator, blood tests, returned normal results four weeks prior to death. He told me it couldn't be cancer and the fluid in her abdomen was a symptom of heart failure, which is treatable. He told my mother she was 'fixable'. Unfortunately, one week later, blood tests reported 'abnormal' and a more senior doctor noted raised lymph nodes under her arms. She died of metastatic disease three weeks later.

Thanks for your info! Bangkok Hospital are good for screening. Many promotions. My Thai Mrs was screened for breast cancer, cost 2,900 baht. It was positive so the next stage was biopsy. That was 26,000 baht. However, the doctor suggested that treatment be carried out in the Government Hospital Cancer Centre. Fair play for that. Do you know what type of hysterectomy your wife had? My mother had a complete hysterectomy in UK. Unfortunately, at that time, it was the practice to leave one ovary in-situ to avoid the need for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). My mother developed ovarian cancer, albeit 40 years later. A doctor told me that, in their wisdom, the NHS has killed thousands of women by doing that.

Agree on that. If you've always had good service then why change? Our other vehicles are; 30, 23 and 22 years old and we always take them to a local guy. He has a yard (or rather a field) that's always full of mainly pick-ups at the rear of our house so we know he does plenty of business.

Thanks for your information. No surprise about main dealers! However, good to know about Maxxis tyres. Had good experience (and prices) at AutoBacs myself for tyres.

Thanks for the information!

Very helpful. Thanks.

Makes good sense. Thanks.

You've made my day! Many thanks.

Didn't renew my Bangkok Bank debit cards when they expired about eighteen months ago. Have managed without since. Yesterday evening my phone battery was flat and refused to charge. Tried a couple of power banks, various mains chargers and different cables and adapters. Needed to draw some cash. Used a U.K. credit card at local ATM. Wouldn't charge first thing in the morning either. Mid-morning it accepted charging as normal. My backup phone is now too old to install banking apps, hence not a backup in this instance!

Good suggestion thanks!

I agree. But it isn't my vehicle and I don't drive. Mrs thinks it uses too much petrol. Plus, she has cancer and thinks this will be her last car so wants a new one for once in her life.

Wow! Many thanks for that, hadn't checked. Mrs bought it secondhand from a friend four years ago for 400,000 baht. Sounds as though she got a good deal.

Good suggestion, thanks. Incidentally, we had four new tyres in May 2024. The steering rack was replaced in July 2024 at a different garage.

Thai wife took her 2012 Pajero Sport (2998cc V6 petrol) for oil change at 101,000 km. Garage found faults and gave her an estimate for replacement of the steering gear set etc. totalling 39,000 baht. She’s decided enough is enough and wants a new SUV. The garage offered 100,000 baht in part-exchange. Our old vehicles go to the grown-up children who are normally grateful. However, they don’t want this. Neither do any of our friends. Even for free. Too heavy on petrol for them. Wife’s decided on a 2.4 ultra diesel. She’s convinced it’ll be much more economical. However, she likes the present one because it’s fast. She says don’t pay cash because she has cancer and doesn’t want me to be saddled with it as I no longer drive and hate the things. She intends to buy in installments. I’m looking at 1,579,000 baht less PX. It’s not necessary of course but difficult to refuse in the circumstances. For those who’ve bought vehicles on credit is the downpayment currently 25%? I’ve seen repayment periods from 4 to 7 years. Anywhere known around Khon Kaen for good finance deals?

Two years ago someone must have captured my bookmarks. They went through all my websites that could have a credit card saved to them. I received many warnings such as; 'Multiple attempts have been made to log into your account from Russia/Romania'. Fortunately, at that time, I only used one credit card and quickly cancelled it. I've since changed all passwords and set up 2FA where possible. A couple of days ago I received a warning of 'suspicious activity' upon my PayPal account. I therefore changed my password yet again.