Lorry

Good.

The private hospitals don't have vaccines anymore. As of last week, Bumrungrad, Bangkok Hospital, Samitivej, Medpark, St Louis and Sukhumvit Hospital all deny having vaccines. Kasemrad Prachacheun offers Pfizer only for those who earlier paid for Moderna and still didn't get it. Vejthani denies having vaccines, but you can get free Pfizer once a week if you make it on their list.

That level is unknown, unfortunately. The measurements of antibody levels aren't even standardized. Others have completely different values, eg you may be good to donate plasma if over 850. If you really want to know your immune status you should also measure neutralizing antibodies, more expensive (maybe 3000) and not done everywhere. But you still won't know whether you should get a booster or not.

Friends of mine just came back from the north. It's packed with tourists. People cannot get buses out of Pai. They are now back in Khao Lak, where they live. It's full. Farangs and Indians. Other friends just came to Bangkok and had difficulties to find a hotel on lower Sukhumvit. They had to settle for rooms without windows.

Why did I mostly meet the others?

Things don't work like this. Sheryl says, he is in a government hospital. Goverment hospitals only accept cash. They don't work with international travel insurance. You are not going to change this. Pay cash. You want to transfer the patient to a more capable hospital? To another government hospital? In this case, that's a decision between the 2 hospitals. You can politely ask them, but you don't have the power to change their decision. If you want to transfer the patient to a private hospital like BPH or Bumrungrad: The government hospital he is in now will not provide the documentation a foreign insurance wants. That's normal. Contact the private destination hospital (they will make millions of Baht from this patient); talk to their supervisor. They will handle the government hospital. They will organize the transfer and put it on the bill for the insurance (they will want a guarantee of payment from the insurance before the transfer - of course, you can always pay the transfer cash and claim it later) The insurance probably works with a local assistance company, eg April Assistance. A good assistance company can handle the government hospital (they may have to send staff to the government hospital). Most are not good. If you know the destination hospital, you can PM me, I might be able to help you with contact details.

Of course not. Then Thais might be unhappy with the decision of the goverment to let tourists in again. Quite a few Thais I know say that Thailand felt better the last couple of years without the farang. Obviously these ones don't live from tourism. 8 friends of mine arrived in the first week of this month on 3 different flights. 5 of them developed covid 2-3 days after arrival. I was watching when 3 of those infected took a taxi. All drunk, loud, boisterous. One of them had "a cold", was sneezing and coughing. No masks. The driver was wearing 2 masks, so he obviously took covid seriously. The next day, all three had a positive ATK. My friends had the new BA4/5 vaccines before they came and were only sick for a couple of days. The sickest one of them got Molnupiravir from Bangkok Hospital. The taxi driver cannot get the new vaccines (not available in Thailand), he will not get Molnupiravir and he doesn't have insurance to pay for Bangkok Hospital.

He is dead. Isn't that proof enough for you that he died?

This trick is well known. It just has the effect that every farang in Chonburi is considered a sleazy Pattaya sex tourist. What exactly is uneducated about these looks?

It coincided very well with an incredible surge of tourism, since end of October. Flights from Europe are fully booked. Airports at departure and arrival are packed. Airlines and passengers don't care about masks or disinfectants anymore. Difficult to find free rooms in Pattaya and Bangkok, at this time of the year this is very unusual. Tourists running around, maskless of course, in Bangkok everywhere. Lots of unmasked farang on the BTS. Many young American couples in my neighborhood. Europe and US have a death rate of about 2 per milion dying from covid every day. Europeans and Americans, and their governments, think this is just fine. Hundreds of dead per day is called "living with covid". Thailand has much lower daily death rates, tourism will level this out.

Sure, from the farangs in Pattaya.

I agree

I called Bumrungrad and Dr Donna 2 days ok. Both said they don't have any vaccines. I am talking about the original vaccines. The new, updated vaccines are not available in Thailand, as Sheryl has explained.

They may consider to (in 2026) raise the amount of liquid you can bring from 100ml to 125ml.

I very rarely get a flat fare quote. Then I just firmly insist on the meter. Almost always helps. I had to start taking pictures of their registration 2 times, it helped (those 2 times were once at the airport and once upcountry). If everything doesn't help, I get out and leave the rear door open. I do watch my back. BTW complaints to tel 1584, by a Thai speaker. These things are taken seriously. Like lopburi3, I hardly ever take taxis at lower Sukhumvit or Khasarn. And I always flag a moving taxi. Unfortunately, farangs usually do not firmly insist on the metered fare (see Kao's post). Many tourist happily told me how they bargained an inflated flat fare down to what they called " a very good price". Usually twice the meter price. They like to feel rich, and the taxi drivers take advantage of their stupid inflated ego.

Never a big fuss. But some do insist they don't go to my destination, usually they apologize and tell me the reason (end of shift, no more gas, doesn't know the destination). Then I get out and find another one. This is rare. Whereas when traveling with Thais (who always ask before getting in) lots of drivers refuse.

You are too polite and ask them first for the destination, like Thais do. I get into the taxi first, then tell them where to go. The barrier to kick me out again is quite high. I know I am not nice. I don't care. When traveling together with a Thai, the Thai will ask the destination first and many taxis will refuse, no matter where. BTW i found Bolt just as useless as you

I know of someone in a very similar situation with terminal cancer. In Bangkok. Friends of his are looking for some way to help him. If you can recommend a palliative care specialist, I would relate this information to his friends. Thx

PS anybody has experience how to get the money back? It is not that much and it certainly will be difficult, but I will at least try.

Bangrak? Can walk in? On Facebook they say every Wednesday. Anybody can confirm this? They don't answer the phone. What documents do they want for a vaccination? Passport and yellow book sufficient? Anywhere else? Me, too. Paid 1650 to Kasemrad Prachacheun Hospital last year for Moderna, now they refuse to vaccinate me. They say they don't have Moderna anymore, maybe Pfizer, maybe next month. It was clear that I am not the only one whose money they pocketed. Bumrungrad, Bangkok hospital, Sukhumvit hospital, Medpark all say they don't have vaccines.

Private. About the most expensive you can find.

No, absolutely not. Hungarian probably wouldn't sound similar like Russian even to you.

The very limited possible health benefits of quitting coffee have been explained by Sheryl. But is OP drinking pure black coffee? If not, the health benefits of quitting sugar and artificial "creamers" are more real. Whereas coffee has health benefits, this junk has no benefits at all.

It isn't even remotely close in quality to bad coffee.

Some people are not so happy if hospitals remember too much too long. I can lead to insurance problems. But yes, I was p issed off when BNH didn't remember my HN from 2542 recently.