DaRoadrunner

4 hours ago, Saltire said:

Anyone think the pound will ever recover or are we doomed? 

It will recover after Brexit (and, of course, after you and I have transferred our money here!). However, only Buddha knows when the useless British Govt will finally get its act together.

Is that a map in the background showing the various entry points into the country? Shame to see such fine machinery stuck in a Bangkok traffic jam and often wasted on someone who can't drive properly.... Sigh.

They might have gotten away with it if they brought in something a little less conspicuous. I wonder what percentage get caught?

In Thailand auto is the way to go due to traffic. Plus when the time comes it is not easy to sell a manual car. Despite which, Da Roadrunner drives a manual! I'd rather drive the car than have it drive me.

The proliferation of threads on this subject tells a sad tale of the state of play in Thailand. It's not what it use to be (no further bashing required). Basically I wanna go somewhere fun and friendly where it's like what Thailand used to be in the 70's - 80's. (Don't we all).

My plan B, when Immigration finally require us all to be micro-chipped or wear GPS ankle bracelets, is either Da Phills or Canbodge. Add as a sub list, which city? I hate traffic jams and pollution but want facilities like supermarkets and some vibrancy (once lived in an up country Thai village and went stir crazy).

I should add that Bali and Vietnam were 3rd and 4th choices if anyone wants to comment.

I consider and would like serious comments (some chance with you lot!) on the following criteria.

1. Types of visa... cost and ease of obtaining long term.

2. Medical care.

3. Cost of rented accommodation.

4. Potential and ways to buy property.

5. Food and supermarkets.

6. Language problems.

7. Acceptance and attitude towards foreigners.

8. Women (nature of) and facilities to ensure my knob remains well polished.

9. Anything else essential you wanna add?

Thanks to all for your posts.

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Luang Prabang, but I can't imagine living there.

@Jingthing.... why not?

On 5/30/2019 at 11:06 AM, simon43 said:

Women:  My 'tackle' has rusted up

Cambodia and a box of Viagra. Keep your knob polished.

Excuse me... I thought the original enquiry was "How To Report A Hospital?"

So where does one report problems with hospitals? Ministry of Health?

Anyone know?

15 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You're talking about a long term 1 year retirement VISA.

I'm talking about extending a 30 VISA waiver on entry, every 2-3 months.

 

Totally different beasts.

When I lose my marbles you can be my visa agent. Wait, the guys in white coats have arrived.... Yikes! .... Run!

11 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Philippines immigration are happy to make exceptions.

Why do you think Thai immigration shouldn't show, sympathy, compassion or understanding for an elderly person?

I'll spell it out for you M O N E Y and Thai G R E E D

12 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No,

You can just rock up to the Philippines and stay for 3 years without leaving. Then you have to leave for one night and can stay another 3 years. You just hand your passport to an agent and they will process the extensions every 2 or 3 months and never need to see immigration during that time. About $300/year. Friend of a friend was elderly and a bit unsteady, so he went along to immigration near the end of his 3 year stay and told them he was a bit worried about the night away, they said "no problem sir, we'll just make a note in your passport that you don't need to leave, and you can stay another 3 years".

 

Great place the Philippines, they don't force the old and the sick to comply with silly rules.

Thailand immigration are a nightmare, this lady is better off in a country that has flexibility and compassion towards foreigners.

Da Phills has regs that state anyone who is old and infirm must have sufficient medical insurance cover. Of course such insurance would likely be unobtainable for the lady in this case. How nice of Da Phils Immigration to help. I hope Thai Immigration are taking note.

It just shows you how there is such a huge difference between the rules and actuality on the ground.

Meanwhile I look forward to the day when I lose my marbles and can chase those wonderful Fillipina nurses around the care home.

Dept of Trade? Why isn’t the Ministry of Health involved?

Good to see the Gov’t doing something about rip off hospitals. The fine needs to be far more though.

Will they enforce it or will there be pay offs in brown envelopes to forget about it?

At least this might help lower the cost of medical insurance, which is no doubt coming our way.

2 hours ago, ThaiPauly said:

How and whom do you report this overpricing to?

Dept of Trade.... https://www.dit.go.th/en/

1 hour ago, bkkbudddy said:

Greetings,

 

Thai Government has no power to enforce price fixing or gauging over Bumrungrad Hospital!  Bumrungrad Hospital is the most powerful and expensive private hospital in Thailand!

In what way are they powerful?

On 5/28/2019 at 7:26 PM, RAZZELL said:

If I'm gonna shell out Thai prices I want "real leather."

Real leather, on a Benz.... you'll be lucky.

In Thailand, if it is real leather it will be Pig skin, not Cow hide as is normally found in cars in civilized countries.

While I'm on my soap box.... if it's a Benz made in Thailand by Thonburi Panich, then the quality has nothing to do with anything that came out of Stuttgart. To add insult to injury, your Thai Benz will cost more than a genuine one from Germany.

So many similar posts "Weird wife" ... "Wife out of control" ... etc. Yep, Thais are weird. Their behaviour in any given situation makes no sense to a foreigner.

As for this one, I'd do what I do best.... a runner!

Anyone know more about the income tax situation in Bali?

https://www.expat.or.id/info/individualincometaxes.html

Doesn't look good.

Or is this a case, where like so many things, the reality on the ground is different. For example, does someone on a retirement visa even have to register for tax?

Can someone who has lived there answer this? Thanks.

£2000 to ship it! How many clothes has this woman got?

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

if the NHS screw up, there's not much come back either.

They killed my mom on the operating table, and just said, "she had cancer she was going to die anyway"

 

Sounds familiar. The NHS killed my Dad too, he had a history of heart attack and the doc prescribed drugs that were contraindicated for someone with history of cardiac conditions. Bye Dad.

There is a saying.... "Doctors bury their mistakes."

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Hardly worth it for the 1,700bht the 6 visits cost.

(1,700bht for fixing the jaw, 1,800bht to rebuild two teeth that had snapped in half)

More than made up the savings by not paying the 2,500bht premiums for the next four years. 

Cheap, where did you get that done? (And you are correct, insurance companies are known world wide for finding excuses not to pay).

12 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Cluelessness. They should accelerate (or decelerate) to match the speed of the traffic they are merging into on Sukhumvit. It only takes one driver to stop or do that odd hesitant crawl and then nobody else can accelerate and you have 2 adjacent lanes with a huge speed differential.

Well, the Germans do it and merge into the Autobahn flat out. Think we may have a long wait before the Thais emulate the Germans. Even if they did, we'd just get some very entertaining accidents.

Like most critters, Water Monitors are usually no bother if you don't mess with em. But I would be wary of their bite and especially their smaller cousin the Tookae. They are not known for using a toothbrush, consequently their mouth is full of nasty bacteria.

Another problem, particularly with the Tookae, when they bite they won't let go. You can end up going to hospital with a lizard hanging off your arm. You get em off with Chloroform.

The Tookae is also rather impolite. If you listen to their repetitive call it sounds like they're saying "F-you." ....... Naturally, we have renamed it as such.

On 5/26/2019 at 9:05 AM, Alan Michael said:

Yes Iran can sink US ships, but the US can sink Iran back to the stone age too.

Iran never left the stone age, just like those who follow the Quran.

Your best bet for getting something done about this would be to make a complaint at your local Tessabaan (Council) office.

Avoid direct confrontation as he might get nasty, let the local Thai gov't deal with it.