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As usual gents, some very good information from you all, I’m on a Uk license but will now go and get a Thai drivers license as I think it’s going to make things easier for me. many thanks for all the help and information

Hi all, I’ve been living in Khon Kaen for almost a year now, I have been driving the mrs car on occasions, mostly at night or in heavy rain…I asked her if im insured to drive the car and she said yes I was insured, how do I go about sorting out my own insurance policy for a car as I’m considering buying an older type pickup just to get around in, I lived in france where the car was insured so you could have anyone drive that car if they were legally entitled to do so, how does the insurance work in Thailand?

Thank you for your trip report, it’s very detailed and of great help, I’m in Khon Kaen so I wouldn’t go to CW but it’s still good to get an idea of what’s required, many thanks for taking the time and effort to detail it all.

Thanks for the replies gents, I will look into my internet speeds and probably buy a better package, I left it to the mrs to sort it out and it looks like she went for a 30mbps deal so probably to slow

Hi all sorry if this has been done to death, I’ve got a firestick that I’ve had for a year or so, it’s been messed about with so I can watch sky sports and movies, in fact it has the complete sky packages on it, all the documentaries sports and movies etc, it’s also got Netflix loaded up so no need for a subscription, but I find on the live stuff like football or F1 on occasions it just sits there buffering to the point that I hardly use it to watch football because if it buffers it winds me up, it’s a subscription service so I pay a guy in London £70 a year and he renews my subscription. is there anything similar available here that might work better but has the same sort of capabilities as my firestick? My internet is good I’m getting 35mbps down and 28mbps up, thanks for any suggestions or advice

Hi Drjack, I’ve had a cortisone injection in the knee for pain relief, it worked well and dulled the pain but it was only good for about a week. I don’t know anything about wheelchair assistance in the hospitals here, but I’m guessing if you turn up on crutches that the hospital would get you a wheelchair ( my friend here in Khon Kaen went to a private hospital, he got wheelchair assistance and they charged him 100 baht for the privilege of being pushed in it) good luck with it all hope it goes well and have a good flight.

All sorted now thanks gents, we bought a wifi modem and got an unlimited data sim from true, all working great. many thanks for all the information and ideas and suggestions

Hi redbackman, thanks for your reply, we are a bit remote but saying that since we started our build another five houses have started going up so I reckon give it a year and the companies will move in and make fibre happen as the customers will be there, thanks for the link I have been looking at what’s on offer we are going out tomorrow to try and get a good data package deal for a SIM card only plan , there’s only me and the mrs in the house and she’s at work during the week so our demands are not high but we want a good set up

Hi all, we have just finished building the house and recently moved in, we went to AIS as they were running a good deal on their fibre broadband anyway long story short they came to the house and ‘no can do’ I don’t know what the problem is as whatever my mrs is telling me I just can’t understand what she’s telling me..whatever it is in Thai doesn’t translate into English…we are going to the 3BB store tomorrow to see what an be done all I can make out is it’s something to do with a line ?!, it has been suggested by AIS that we buy a router and get a good data sim package so my question is is anyone using a router with a SIM card and which supplier are you using, where do you get the best deals? Sorry for the long winded questions

Gents once again thanks for the links and the information it’s all very helpful, I have had a delivery of sausages from a company in chiang mai called the tasty hog company, prices were good and the product looks good ( I haven’t tried them yet) also got a price list from ‘Korat chef’ and I have been looking at siamburis and I have ordered from britishop sausages were good, black pudding wasn’t great pies were very good and bacon was good. I’m going to have a go at doing my own bacon as the recipe was in the links given above and pork is plentiful here so can’t be that hard to do..

I went into lotus’s in Khon Kaen on Sunday 3rd July to get some money from the Bangkok bank ATM only to find the bank was boarded up and the ATM was gone as well as the bank book update machine…god knows why they closed it it seemed a busy branch to me…anyway just to warn you it is closed.

Thanks for all the replies and help gent’s, looks like I can get my western food fix in Khon Kaen…

Many thanks for the replies gents, I will look at makro when I go next and I will check out the boxwood restaurant. many thanks to all for taking the time to reply

Hi all, I see lots of adverts on Facebook groups etc for western food, and I have recently used britishop to order some bacon and sausages etc, food was good and very quick delivery, but is there anywhere in Khon Kaen that is selling sausages and bacon and pies etc…never seen anything advertised it always seems to be Pattaya or chiang mai, any help much appreciated

The woman who took the money and ran probably knows the Thai legal system will probably only ask her to make a public apology plus a few heartfelt wais and appear on the news surrounded by police and cameras, and that will be it…probably why she returned a lot of the money it might go in her favour when she’s caught

The police house I would put up a couple of wooden panels to block out his light, I would then chip off any brickwork overhanging the boundary wall, as for the other neighbour with the roof overhanging into your garden I would either fix up a tarpaulin so that it attached to the roof tiles and then tucked back over to their side of the wall this would catch the rain and push it back over their side, or I would remove the last row of roof tiles if they pulled out and key the rain into their property. But in the first instance I would talk to them individually and ask them to look at the problem and see what r they will do to resolve it

There should be some sort of fuel filter in the supply line this should be replaced as they are normally a fine mesh (washable) or a paper filter (disposable) they do get clogged up and will block some of the fuel supply off

@bprinceuk many thanks for that info, the girlfriend went to that hospital to see the doctor, we are going back this Thursday so I will take a look, and thanks for the link, very helpful ????????

Thanks for the replies gents, after a 6 hour wait in the public hospital the gf got seen and x rayed she has an inflamed disc in the spine and it’s pushing on the sciatic nerve, the doctor has given ant inflammatory tablets and pain killers and prescribed lots of rest and sleep if possible…he has made an appointment to go back to see him on Thursday next week, so we will see what’s happening then, I think I will more than likely go for private chiropractor sessions which is what the public hospital doctor was saying could be needed. thanks for the replies gents.

Hi all, the gf has a lot of leg pain it’s symptoms are like sciatica which I’ve had before and it normally clears up in a week or two, just wondering what I might expect to pay to see a doctor or chiropractor in a private hospital, she works for the government so has health cover but it’s only good for public hospitals, as it is now she’s been waiting at queen SiriKit hospital for approximately 5 hours waiting to be seen…we are going to go to a private hospital anyway either Friday or Saturday I just wanted an idea of cost for a consultation. look forward to any replies

I lived in France before I came to Thailand and I was struggling to get spices but apart from the curcuma listed above the french call ginger gingembre ! So it was a lot of faffing about to get spices and as for fresh chilli’s the french don’t like spicy food so I used to have to buy the large green chillis that hardly have any heat…I found a Moroccan butchers about 20km from where I lived and you could get fresh hot chillis there and a few more spices…they used to do do rotisserie chicken outside the shop very nicely spiced and roast potatoes underneath the racks getting cooked in all that lovely spiced oil…

@ubonjoe lovely thanks for the reply, all I will need to do then is get the confirmation of pension letter from the Irish embassy to prove to immigration my monthly income…I guess I just take that letter to immigration instead of messing around with the bank book and bank letters etc ( I want to do the income method as opposed to keeping larger sums of money in my Thai bank account)

Hi gents, following on from this topic yesterday I have been reading the Thai embassy in londons requirements for the non O visa, it states that I have to prove legal residency in the Uk or Ireland, I have my Irish passport but no other documents to prove my legal residency is my passport enough to prove that? Or should I just come back to Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver then change to a non O here in Thailand ( which is what I done this time) any advice appreciated. I will attach a copy of the non O requirements from the London Thai embassy web site Non-Immigrant Type O (Retirement (pensioner aged 50 or above with a state pension who wants to stay in Thailand for no longer than 90 days) - single entry only) Financial evidence e.g. A copy of pension statement if the applicant is a pensioner, or a copy of 1-month bank statement showing your income from pension, or 3-month bank statement of at least £10,000 Confirmation of legal residence in the UK or Ireland. Copy of health insurance that covers COVID-19 related medical expenses, both inpatient and outpatient, no less than 100,000 USD for the whole period of your stay in Thailand.

@ubonjoe sorry I didn’t mean to exclude you from the thank yous, I had read your suggestions but didn’t scroll up far enough and missed your name out… thanks very much for your as ever useful input ????????

@DefaultName I have only just got my visa and extension sorted out so I’m loathe to start the process on another passport until my current extension expires, but thanks for the info. @Doctor Tom I understand where your coming from but hopefully they will accept the embassy letter, they should do as that used to be the case but as you rightly suggest, it could become a headache @OJAS yes I will certainly be doing it through the Thai embassy in London, after dealing with the french system for my health card and residency permit I’m loathe to do anything with the french regarding paperwork, I would say they run Thailand a close second with the paperwork requirements and then turning up at the government office to be told you need some other paperwork! again to all, many thanks for the help and suggestions it’s much appreciated