Lorry

All people in Taiwan learn English in school (not necessarily successfully). In class, they chose an English name. They will use this English name when they communicate with foreigners because foreigners would not be able to pronounce or to remember Chinese names. Their clerical staff cannot even correctly spell them. Taiwan's economy is built on trade, mostly with America, Americans are not known for their proficiency in foreign languages. You want to trade with them, you better learn English and have a name Americans are able to handle. Thais, in interactions with Westerners, use their nicknames which are easy enough. BTW foreigners living in Taiwan sometimes need a (self-chosen) Chinese name

Can you recommend a doctor or a team in Bangkok for this?

None. But you have to go in person. The first 90days report with your new passport cannot be done online.

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/april-international.com You can try and post here

Find out the path that your requests follow. Etaoin seems to imply it goes like this: you contact AA, they contact April Assistance in Thailand, they ask April in France. Ask AA whether they really contact April Assistance in Thailand. If yes, April Assistance is most probably the bottleneck. Based on experience, I recommend to call them every 3 hours. If no, ie if AA contacts April in France directly, call them in France and speak to a superior of the person(s) in charge. Follow up with an email to this person. Find a French person knowledgeable about how to handle French insurances. Is it advisable to use a lawyer? Do they have an ombudsman? Is it advisable to pay yourself and claim later? Questions like this differ from country to country.

You should never compare US prices for health care with the rest of the world. US prices are obscenely expensive, and the rest of the world knows it. Your gallery is very instructive!

Alternatives would been: a place with a bad reputation, on the other side of the road; a place closed down before covid - maybe they are open again?; a plastic surgery place, not sure whether they are still in business after covid; the public hospital, 1 hour away - should have gone there

Not avalable in Thailand. No need to ask private hospitals, they only have what the government imports. No plans to import them, either.

Death of a zebra For the last decades, there has been a zebra crossing in my neighborhood, across a deadly road. Nobody ever cared. Then they put some police there. They would stop the motorists from time to time, so that pedestrians could cross the road. After the poor doctors death, all af a sudden motorists would stop for pedestrians, no police required. Very nice. Pedestrians took notice, and turned out in large numbers. Most people can walk, not everybody has an engine. After a year, there was a continuous stream of pedestrians crossing. No fun for the motorists. Now they brought back the police, so the road belongs to the motorists again. Pedestrians are forbidden to cross the zebra crossing if not explicitly allowed.

Yes, bank book required for transfer of stamps at CW. At least sometimes. A friend of mine had his stamps for retirement extension transferred to his new passport today at CW. They required his bank book (preferably an updated one). He had it (because I told him), otherwise they would have sent him home. (As posted above, I had the same experience last year. I was sent home because I didn't bring my bank book.)

I very much doubt whether this would work. He is in Bangkok, not in Pattaya. During the last 10 years, pharmacies in Bangkok have started to follow regulations rather strictly.

Certainly not the amount that OP requires

I agree that masks are the most important thing when planning a holiday, OP has already scanned the whole planet. I suggest Myanmar. It's in the region, and it's not a small island. It's not boring like Laos, for sure. They are not as cruel to their citizens as Australia. And people have other worries than wearing a mask. Maybe you will like it and stay there forever?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/27/us/corporal-punishment-schools.html Paddling Makes a Comeback in a Missouri School District Corporal punishment had been in a slow decline before the pandemic, but remains legal in 19 states, mostly in the South. The practice makes children more aggressive and disruptive, researchers say. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_corporal_punishment_in_the_United_States

Correct. No. By far the best answer... but personally, maybe I would rather take the travel document, even if it's very inconvenient. Kind of scary to be an undocumented alien in overstay if you don't even know when you will get a passport.

You can (maybe even should) use Pulmicort spray instead of Symbicort. Pulmicort is easily available in Thailand. 650 Baht. Pulmicort is inhaled steroids. Several studies show they are useful. https://www.cochrane.org/CD015125/AIRWAYS_are-inhaled-corticosteroids-effective-treatment-people-mild-covid-19 Symbicort contains additional Formoterol. I have never heard that this has any effect on covid. If you are in a risk group, molnupiravir is available in Thai hospitals.

I sounded like a rhetorical question to me.

Yes, many do. Actually, I don't know about USA and UK. But I know several European and Asian countries where they do it.

From the last threads, I didn't have the impression it's a requirement at all. Just some people were asked for the bank book, some were not. A friend of mine will transfer stamps of retirement extension next week. I will ask him how it went.

This is exactly what the supervisor told me: "Every time you visit immigration, you must bring your bank book." So now I bring it even for a 90-days report. Nobody ever wanted to look at it. :)

I had to show my bank book to transfer retirement extension to my new passport. Didn't have it with me, so they sent me home to get it. At CW, last year. There are at least 2 threads about this, it happened to several people.

Maybe they lived in different countries. What you and Ryan say - I hear this from Brits and especially from Americans. It often sounds unbelievable to me. But I never lived there.

That was standard behavior when I was young.

Krungsri = Bank of Ayutthaya

I once talked my way out of getting a ticket for running a redlight in Iowa. The officer was female, I was a young man.