The Fugitive

A Thai friend pointed out that my iPhone and Android backup phone were both seriously bulging and could be dangerous. He persuaded me to let a friend of his instal new batteries in both. The iPhone very soon split apart but the Android phone continues to work satisfactorily. 50% success rate has to be good?

Thai Mrs had tumours cut out of her leg at Khon Kaen Regional Hospital. She was covered by the 30 baht scheme but decided she wanted a private room. It was basic but adequate and very clean. Cost 1,000 baht per day. Her daughter stayed with her to provide personal care and fetch noodles. The surgery was performed under local anaesthetic by the tumour doctor who runs the hospital clinic. Most satisfactory.

At it since 7th century AD. Doubt it will ever end.

Thanks for your information. It sounds as though it isn't a problem with the OP's operating system.

Providing your data is safe (external hard drive or cloud service) the simplest solution may be to instal a different Linux distro. Personally, I favour MX Linux and Linux Mint. A reinstall of the same distro you are already using might do the trick too.

Just tried Bangkok Bank on MX Linux (updated today), using Google Chrome browser (stable). No VPN selected. All OK.

Agree! In my experience, all the Phuket and Krabi hotels we've stayed in insist upon passport from myself and ID cards from ALL Thai's. I have watched whilst they search for the latest retirement extension stamp and make a copy of that plus, of course, the data page.

Agree. A solicitor (criminal defence) once told me that I'd be amazed at what is found on 'ordinary' peoples computers. Also what people collect; printed matter, cine films, VHS cassettes, DVD's and, of course, download. I asked if it made a difference whether the material was illegal at the time it was obtained or legal/illegal where it was sourced from but she didn't give me an answer.

I have heard a judge tell a defendant that he will not send him to prison because the length of the sentence would not provide sufficient time for his rehabilitation. A community order was made instead.

It's been known since Victorian times that it's not the severity of the sentence that acts as a deterrent, it's the certainty of being caught. Locking people up with other similar minded people can only make them worse. Prison should be reserved for those who would otherwise, physically, cause harm to others.

I've read that OTP's via SMS are considered less secure than such as authenticator apps. However, how many people receive OTP's and install their authenticator apps upon the same device as their banking apps?

Thanks for this, things do change. Santander contacted me wanting to know my future intended use of their current and savings account. I told them I was abroad until further notice and the lack of use was due to Chase UK paying 1% cash back on purchases with their debit card. I told them if their account became competitive I would recommence use. They were happy with this and left it at that.

May be out of date information now but Santander customer services told me they permit a Thai address and will send renewed/replacement cards to Thailand. Halifax allowed a Thai address but wouldn't send renewed/repalcement cards to Thailand.

No personal experience of Lenovo although my Thai family have had a couple of Lenovo laptops for some time without problem. My other and previous machines have been Acer. One continues to work after more than a decade and the other lasted for 15 years before it wouldn't boot. The problem wasn't the hard drive or the DVD optical drive so was almost certainly the motherboard.

I was at the point of being removed from my GP's panel. They had made several appointments at my local hospital for preventative medicine tests during my six years absence. Of course, I was unaware. When I failed to keep those appointments my GP rearranged them, more than once. There were letters behind my front door from both GP and hospital complaining and asking what I had against the principle of preventative medicine? Upon my last visit I saw a medical student at my GP's practice who had to keep leaving the room to ask questions. He/they decided upon a full blood count test (4 tubes). As the results were within the parameters of the analysis machine that was the end of the matter (or as far as they were prepared to go).

Sorry about that. At what point of contact were you denied treatment? i.e. No longer registered with your GP, outpatient's appointment at your local hospital or 'walk-in' centre? I was abroad for six year's but remained registered with my GP. The check-in machine for outpatients appointments at my hospital asks the question; 'Have you been resident in the UK for the previous six months?'. Having said that, due to personal experiences, I would only use UK NHS if I was unable to afford treatment in Thailand.

Thai Mrs keeps reminding me that my house in UK is her inheritance. She knows if I don't make a will it will go to HM Government. Ideally, she wants me to sell it now. However, I view it as somewhere I can return to if we split up. Also, it would provide me with free accommodation if I ever needed to return to the UK for treatment under the NHS.

Very helpful information thank you. Alternatively, a Skype monthly subscription for unlimited landline calls to UK costs 1.70 GBP. Free trial for one month. The downside is that you don't have a number therefore they can't call you back.

I would consider cancelling your credit card and going with another bank/issuer. How else were you supposed to use their card online other than by pressing the 'PAY' button? 100% wasn't your fault!

Are we losing sight of basics though? When we buy a new computer, chances are it has Windows pre-installed thus we have paid to use it. Computers don't last forever, however, some of us will upgrade our OS during the life of their machine. Didn't MS offer free upgrades from W7 to W10 for a while? Some people will continue to run obsolete Windows OS and/or install Linux on their elderly machines. MS isn't losing out in that scenario.

Yellow Fever vaccination costs 82.00 GBP under UK National Health Service. Had mine when aged 53. No problems at all. As Richard has already advised, when entering Thailand they require sight of your Yellow Fever certificate when arriving from/via endemic countries. Good news is that one vaccination is now valid for life. Prior to 2016 you needed boosters every ten years. This applies retrospectively.

Their fault and they made you wait for two months. Totally unacceptable customer service.

Moments ago booked 6 Air Asia return internal flights. On Air Asia website the price would have been 13,800 baht. Agoda would have been 10,121. Trip.com was 9,510. In the case of Air Asia it would appear that paying more to book with them direct isn't a good idea.

Debit and credit cards can both be subject to chargeback. In your case I believe the time elapsed is out of order. You never made a booking. Air Asia payment system failed to process correctly. It doesn't need investigation. You should be entitled to immediate refund.

Oh no! I'm under instructions to book Air Asia for six of us later today. I'll be booking via Trip.com. They refunded my card within 24 hours when Air Asia cancelled the first leg of a two leg internal flight last month.