Jeff Olssson

I like this quote about marriage: Marriage is a beautiful forest where Brave Lions are killed by Beautiful Deer. - Brad Pitt

Obviously there are honest and courageous people even in the high ranks of Thai army but unfortunately there are few and far between. The problem is that the system is corrupt and individuals have very little chance to beat the system.

It is always nice to read an honest and balanced story so thanks for sharing yours. I am sure you are happy that you have kept your options open and I plan to do the same.

I have two speakers which are connected to the home network through Samsung's multiroom system: see here for more info. I am not sure if this counts as an internet radio but the quality of sound is really good and it has also the added advantage that you can play music from other devices or NAS which are connected to the same network.

True, but maybe they prefer to do something they love 24/7 than doing something they would hate 9-5. But as another poster pointed out, that privilege comes at a price.

Just out of curiosity I compared cost of living in Bangkok with Port Louis in www.numbeo.com. Their calculations suggest that cost of living plus rent in Port Louis would be about 25% lower than Bangkok for the same standard of life. I know you have just moved to Mauritius and you might be living in some other areas than Port Louis but it would be interesting if you could update this thread at some point and comment if that sounds reasonable.

Yes, that is part of the risks I was referring to because if someone in a family tests positive, then all of them are at the mercy of Thai authorities as to how the case will be handled and either them or their insurance company must pay the induced extra costs.

I am afraid there are many cases which point to the contrary. I really don’t know what they think or how much they know about the risks but it seems to me that these are normal families who probably think traveling to Thailand is the same as traveling in Europe nowadays.

It is really saddening to read these stories again and again. The other day was a Norwegian family which had ended up in quarantine hospital because a family member had tested positive for Covid-19. Imagine being in their place and all the hopes of being in a nice and relaxing holidays turns into a nightmare of quarantine and isolation in a second when your test shows positive. It is not really worth all the risks of traveling at this point of time IMHO and I don’t think most people are aware of those risks.

I would generally agree that one needs to find all information about the regulations before traveling but I also think travel agencies bear the responsibility to clearly inform people about the risks of traveling under the current pandemic but they don’t provide full information because it simply is not in their economical interest.

This is great info. Is the residence permit you applied for would be ”short term residence permit” they describe in this page: https://en.goc.gov.tr/residence-1?

I personally know two foreigners who teach fulltime at universities in Thailand. One is 82 years old now and he teaches in Bangkok (not Chula). The other one is in Chiang Mai and he is around 75 now. Both started working in Thailand after retirement from their home universities in Euroope and Australia when they were around 65. However, both are married to Thai ladies who seem to have good connections at their universities so I guess they pulled some strings to get them their jobs.

Thanks for your reply. Actually the phone number which is registered with my K-bank account for OTP is working outside Thailand so I can try to install the K+App. However, in the link for K+ App which you sent in your previous post, I noticed that that Swedish krona (SEK) is not included among the currencies which can be transferred to so it looks like I will have to leave the money in the account for the time being. My K-bank debit card has expired and I gather they won't send out new card overseas either.

I have also an account with K-bank. I can login to their online site at https://online.kasikornbankgroup.com/K-Online/login.jsp?lang=en as well but I do not have installed K+App so I wonder if one can also transfer money using their cyber banking site. A related question is if I can install K+App while I am outside Thailand.

It all depends on what numbers you assume. This is off topic but just as an example let’s assume there are 1000 expats on TVF who can possibly choose a date among one million Thai girls. The probability that they all date different girls is 60.67%.

But luckily there are more than 365 girls in Thailand!

I am planning to do something similar but I was just wondering if the requirement for 800K in the bank two months prior to application for extension of stay can be replaced by an affidavit from the embassy (Swedish Embassy in my case) confirming that one receives at least 65k per month in pension. I know that some embassies have stopped issuing it.

Thanks for your reply. As I mentioned in reply to another post, it is not that cheap for me but the advantage is that there is no age limit and the insurance is issued in Europe where the consumer protection is fairly strong. I guess one could make arrangements with a few hospitals in advance to make sure that they accept the insurer.

I can buy up to one year but it is not cheap. For 6 months it costs about 55 000 THB.

I have followed this thread with interest since I was thinking of having a similar setup in a near future when I plan to spend about 6 months a year in Thailand. I am not sure if travel insurance and accident insurance are the same but I am planning to get travel insurance from my home country which is a member of EU. As far as I understand, if one has a travel insurance and needs emergency hospitalization, then the insurance will cover all costs until the person is in a condition that can be flown back home (if the insurance company decides that). I am aware that the travel insurance will not cover planned health care but for such cases I was thinking I would go back home. So I wonder what is the main problem with this setup? Is it that in an emergency situation you need to have access to a substantial amount of money anyway to provide to the hospital even if you will get reimbursed from your insurance company later on? Would not hospitals in Thailand accept a valid certificate from the insurance company back home guaranteeing that the emergency costs will be covered?