Lorry

Correct. Actually, its just the other way round. "GDP influence" is not at all what counts. Impact on the money the elites can siphon off a country is what counts. A farang in Surin, buying his mia farang a house, a motorbike, a pickup and paying her daily expenses - how much exactly do the PTB (a word I learned on AN ) get from this? The Chinese understand this. You pay off the elites. If you are triad member XY, you pay the police chef of your province - who is not very high in the hierarchy, so its risky. If you are a national triad boss in China, you have to pay off at a much higher level, and then its not risky anymore. Off course, you could never do this in squeaky clean places like Singapore (3bn anybody?), von der Leyen's Europe, or Thailand.

It matters. Get your wife buy an ATK at 7/11. Test daily for the next couple of days, they can be negative in the beginning. If it's covid, you should wear a mask and isolate yourself for 5 days, especially isolate from old people, pregnant women and people on steroids (e.g. young women receiving steroids for lupus). After 5 days, if symptom-free, just wear a mask 5 more days. Until the first covid test, I always behave as if it were covid. If you would want to get therapy if it's covid, then it's a different procedure. Therapy with Paxlovid makes sense if you are old or fat or diabetic or have high blood pressure (doesn't matter if it's controlled by medication or not). Paxlovid is available at Bumrungrad (for 30,000 B), not sure if it's available outside of Bangkok. Other therapies, especially molnupiravir or favipiravir (popular in Thailand) are hardly useful (Budenosid spray = Pulmicort is probably useful). Paxlovid needs to be taken asap, latest at day 3-5 of symptoms. You cannot wait until you get worse. You take it now or you don't take it at all. That's why, if you want Paxlovid (and can get it) you should do a PCR in a hospital asap, express one. Most people don't bother to get Paxlovid (or cannot get it anyway). Most of them don't die. Some do (at the moment, 50-100 per week in Thailand die).

It was one of the German ones. They want proof you are a registered worker in Germany - which is pretty much the opposite of a digital nomad. The "portfolio" is not mentioned on their website, probably because they don't know what that means. BTW India seems easy

Are you joking?

Thank you for explaining. So, now, they can still go to Sweden? Which is government-sponsored human trafficking? https://www.nationthailand.com/special-edition/sustainability/40035574

A VE tourist could make very good use of a bank account. Formerly, many tourists would open an account, deposit some money and then use ATMs during their stay. Very convenient, especially for repeat tourists coming every couple of years, of which Thailand has many. Nowadays, you need a bank account for paying by "scan", if you cannot do this, sooner or later tourists will end up like in China, where it's hard for them to pay anything, A DL is convenient to have (that's why residents have had it for years, even when Thai police still let you use your international license forever), but not really necessary. A WP? Never heard of a VE tourist applying for one.

If you ever tried to "change management company" you would know this takes years, lawsuits, police, maybe worse. It has been mentioned on several threads. Managing a condo is a trough nobody will voluntary leave. If the condo is managed by a listed company (somehow, I just can't think of any...), you cannot change management.

Depending on the causes of the pain, a chiropractor may be helpful. But even if he gets the symptoms to clear completely, he is not the long term solution. After taking care of the acute problem by medication, surgery, chiropractor or physical therapy (usually used as an intermediate treatment, after the acute phase), the only long term solution is back strengthening. Formerly known as sports. And good posture, i.e. avoid sitting (office, driving, TV, beer, smartphone).

You can do this a couple of times. You don't want to live from this, year after year. Too dangerous.

Correct. Even the poor ones don't drink it.

I fully agree, the only way to avoid fungus is to wear open sandals, no socks. I am forced to wear sneakers a lot. I use antifungal powder (tolnaftate or clotrimazole) once or twice a day, or at least benzoyl peroxide. I also liberally spray my shoes with alcohol, twice a day. So far, it works.

I checked a couple of non-English consulates and embassies, in various countries, what requirements they have for DTV. All want proof of residence. For the soft power visa, all of them copy the text from the Royal Gazette, that's it. Seems like they don't know what to make of this smart idea: a 5 year visa for visiting one concert or for having one appointment with a doctor (that you can cancel anyway)??? For the dignom/freelance/remote worker, requirements vary quite a bit. London seems to take it very easy, others mostly want a bit more formal documentation, letterheads, stamps, official confirmations blabla. Only one consulate put up requirements that are almost impossible to fulfill (I had expected that they all would do that)

Ultracet is 37.5mg Tramadol plus 325mg paracetamol. Codeine is not OTC in Thailand.

Several posters advocated benzodiazepines like lorazepam or valium. Whether these are useful for back pain is very much in doubt, most doctors don't think so (they will make you tired, though, after 10 years of back pain 2mg valium may give you the first night you sleep well). They are difficult to get in Thailand, hardly ever OTC (illegal), and I would not want to be caught with illegally acquired benzodiazepines.

Yes

It was designed for people who come here often, many times a year. That's why all these funny airport perks. It wasn't designed for people to live here. And that's why it's just a kind of tourist visa. 20 or 30 years ago, when it was designed, there were not so many Westerners (except retirees) keen on saving a pound or two by living i a third-world country. Especially, as you couldn't work remotely and get a Western income. And Russians or Chinese, now the best buyers, were unheard of.

Yes, you can. Tramadol is not a "restricted agent" whatever that may be. It is also available over the counter. But: Pharmacies selling Tramadol should have a book to document each single sale and the customer should show his ID card, preferably the ID card number should be noted in the book. Most pharmacies are too lazy to do this, and just don't sell Tramadol at all. Some do it this way. Some just sell it without any documentation. Ultracet is much easier to get (much more expensive). Most pharmacies will only sell you one strip or two strips. Some even remember you if you come back the next day and refuse to sell you another strip. For acute pain situations like OP described one strip is enough.

I cannot figure out this story. Can someone please explain what's going on? I understand poor Thais get scammed by rich Thais (normal) who sell them a visa. Is that a real visa? Why do the poor Thais get arrested, what did they do wrong? I understand that the scammers don't get arrested, they are rich (normal)

They are blocked As long as you live in Pattaya or lower Sukhumvit

The answer seems to be in the post above yours.

So, they didn't care his vlogging is a hobby, not making money? Then it's really a METV for 5 years, not bad.

That's a bit of an over-generalisation. OP resides at lower Sukhumvit IIRC. Private hospitals there correctly assume that most farang there are tourists with travel insurance aka cash cows. AN carries almost daily stories of tourists treated for several hundred thousand baht without any guarantee for the hospital that they can recoup the money (the gofundme cases). Sometimes Bangkok Hospital loses millions, but overall, its very profitable to treat foreigners. You should not rely on this. Best would be to have the mobile number of a friend promjnently displayed in your wallet who can be reached 24/7 and whose credit card is good for 10,000 USD for a deposit.

1st: try to adjust your seating position. Sit on a cushion in order to sit higher, seats in cars and public transport are too low (exception: cabb (sic! = "London taxi") in Bangkok, some of the new buses in Bangkok have high seats near the driver. BTS is a disaster for your back). In long distance buses, choose a company like Chan Tours or 999 VIP with wide, reclining seats. Not Nakhornchai Air. Recline and put a pillow under your back as a lumbar support. International flights, choose business class. No low cost carriers. Do back stretches before, during and after travels. 2nd: travel with a heating pad, available at 7/11. Or a heat cushion from the pharmacy. 3rd: as Sheryl said, Ultracet and/or Ibuprofen or Celecoxib (brand name Celebrex and others, cheaper ones). Tramadol is stronger and still available OTC, but you will have to shop around. Most pharmacies don't sell it anymore, too much bureaucracy. 4th: Said tablets might be acting too slow. It would be faster to have drops (preferably on an empty stomach), like Tramadol drops or Metamizol drops (not recommended for Brits). Not available in every country. May be prescription only. Not available in Thailand. 5th: I used to have the same problem for years. After exercising for about 3 months (real exercise, not just jumping around stupidly) the problem was gone completely. Then, after not exercising for 3 weeks (really doing nothing) the problem was back again. Exercises for back pain: YouTube "Bob and Brad", they have a whole series for back pain. And ask a good physical therapist who stresses activity to teach you, you cannot only teach yourself (unfortunately, I don't know any in Thailand who stresses active exercises. Not BPC, not the hospitals)

That is why I wrote "hopefully" it's a good thing.

But Wall Street IS a financial hub.