Lorry

Can you elaborate?

But on the other side, they will lower visa fees for Chinese and Indians. Tourists who make a trip dependent on the visa fees are the lower end of the spectrum. Here they are seeking volume. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but it doesn't have to.

Austrian business class is good. Good seats, friendly service, easy transit at VIE. Austrians often fly Austrian (Germans rarely fly Lufthansa)

Would be unusual (and illegal, obviously). Shingrix has been available in China for years, so a "grey-import" would be doable. My guess is the person answering mails doesn't know there are several different Zoster vaccines. It's all shingrix for them.

4 hours flight Thai business class to BKK recently: Plane was hours late. Initially, it wasn't sure it would fly at all, a bit kaputt. Mediocre lounge. New business class seats are very small, much smaller than the old comfy fauteuils. Traditional Issan girls (40 kg max) would fit in nicely. I couldn't lie flat - pitch is 183cm, about 10cm shorter than me. Leg room is non-existant. Arriving at BKK after 1 am, then a nice sightseeing bus tour "Swampy by night". On the flight out of BKK it was "Swampy by day ". Skybridges are for whimps.

Cash. First, why do I have to let the CC company know which hotels and hospitals I use? So that they can monetize my data (sounds nicer than "sell", doesn't it)? Second, I use cheap hotels, small places in the provinces, even if in theory they accept a foreign CC, why should I torment the sweet sleepy receptionist at midnight with something she is not familiar with? As for hospitals: I have heard enough horror stories about the way big international hospitals refund the deposit people paid by CC. "We will send the refund to your CC in 2 weeks." (commonly said to tourists who 2 weeks from now will have left Thailand - it's not true BTW, but this sentence leads to a lot of bad feelings) I once paid a hospital deposit with my Thai bank card. Not a good idea, either. When I was discharged they couldn't transfer it back to my bank account. The cashier asked me to accept 80,000 in cash. I said, no, if you give me 80,000 in cash I will just have to go down to the bank in your lobby and deposit it into my bank account. Please transfer it. She answered "Then I have to take 80,000 cash out of my till, go down to the bank in our lobby, and deposit it into your account. I do it if you insist" I accepted the cash.

I was there about 15 years ago. At the time the place was similar to Ubonrak, but eerily quiet. Half empty. I don't know why. Since then, it seems that Ubonrak gets all the business. But Rajavej is geared to Thais, not foreigners, so I wouldn't really know if they were busy. I am curious to hear from others whose experience is more recent.

Exactly. The villagers I know do not play "stand your ground", "don't show fear", "drive slowly" as recommended in this thread. In a village, most dogs do have an owner, people know who is the owner, people know which dogs (i.e. which owner's dogs) do bite people, and they avoid these owners and their dogs, keep a safe distance of let's say 50 meters. If they have to pass there they will drive fast. Maybe the villagers should read this forum for advice. As for soi dogs in cities: Thais are scared of them, and they will not walk in a soi that has of might have packs of them. Unlike farangs.

That's very cheap. As another poster (the guy bitten by a Tibetan mastiff) mentioned RIG can cost several thousand US dollars. 1000 USD is a normal price for RIG. So yes, you can easily spend 20000 baht on rabies shots. If you don't get RIG (it's not always necessary, and because it's so expensive it's not always available), you need between 1 and 5 rabies shots, depends on the wound and whether you were vaccinated against rabies before being bitten. A shot costs between several hundred (government) and 2000 (private). You may also need a tetanus shot (depends on your immunization history), wound cleaning and dressing, and if it's a deep wound several antibiotic shots (up to 3000 per shot if private hospital). So even without RIG, 20000 is possible, but it's on there high side.

Correct.

Exactly. I always have something suspicious in my luggage. Once, it was dumbbells - too dangerous, I had to discard them. Another time medicine from Bumrungrad. On my last flight, something suspicious showed up on their screen, I had to open my luggage, "oh, these are books!"

Yes, yes, yes,.... this is all true, most probably. 24 years in jail? Sorry, "most probably" isn't good enough for me. I did have some benzos in my transit luggage in Doha (original package, and i had a prescription that meticulously followed Qatar regulations). In Dubai, I wouldn't do it. 24 years is just too much.

It's not basic at all. I didn't know this until last week. I was very surprised you can do this, I thought Airplane mode switches off Wifi and didn't know you can switch it on under Airplane mode.

Mistake - happened to me a couple of times. Once 200$ roaming charges, another time line went dead because credit was used up (only 30$) IR is a bit dangerous, you really have to be careful with your settings. Don't touch your phone too much! That's why I still like Wifi calling, or use a dedicated phone only for (free) OTPs from abroad, using IR. Otherwise, NextG is of course completely right.

I regularly advise clients not to transit in the Middle East, especially in Dubai, if they have some not completely innocent medication with them. The last guy carried morphine and a benzodiazepine. He did have a prescription, but do you really want a discussion with some customs officer in XYZ that there is a dot missing or that they don't accept prescriptions from this particular country or that the prescription cannot be older than 3 days or ... No thank you. He flew Bangkok - Europe non-stop.

The banks are under no obligation to ask for tax numbers and tax residency. They may very well do this, but I have seen banks reporting without asking the customer these things. The banks are not supposed to report to the country of nationality - they should report to the probable country of tax residency (which they can ask the customer). Nationality is in theory not relevant at all, tax residency is. In practice, some banks may just guess that if you have a passport of country X you are probably a tax resident there.

Hua Mak. Lots and lots of condos, should be able to find something for 7000

Normally, it should appear under settings. Call your provider first to enable Wifi calling, then enable it on your phone.

Yes

I am another one who has never been asked for a TM30. I don't think I even have one.

How did you manage to be treated by these professors. AFAIK it is graduating students and junior staff. Special clinic? After hours clinic?

My mouth is full of crowns done by students about to graduate (their final assignment). Every dentist I have seen later said they are very good. No experiences with Mahidol, though

Because nobody else wants to hear it

This is the normal way every Thai buys house and car. I quote a Thai girl having plans to get a car from her farang boyfriend: "Who in his right mind would buy a car and pay cash??? That would be completely crazy!" Actually, I can't think of a country where people usually buy houses or cars paying cash.

Ask your bank. (My source is not in English so cannot be quoted here and you wouldn't understand it anyway)