Lorry

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.

It works the other way round. To run a place like Bangkok Hospital you have very high sunk costs. For example, Bangkok Hospital Udon had the first cath-lab north of Khon Kaen. To get a return on investment, this kind of hospital has to make a certain amount of money every day for every patient The break-even point is rather high. I remember being told 25,000, but that was another hospital and long ago. So, you cannot expect to stay there for less than 25,000 per day - they would lose money. What they do to justify these 25,000 doesn't really matter. Just be creative and find some tests you can do, or give the patient 5 useful meds where one would do, or find another specialist to consult. In the end, it must be at least 25,000. It is a business, after all.

6 figures 6 figures, too, during my lifetime I am still out of the money, but not by much.

5 different meds, in original packaging

Nobody is complaining. OP has a purely educational purpose, for those who think Thailand or medical treatment in Thailand is cheap. It is sometimes cheap. But in the tourist areas, even government hospitals are not cheap for farang.

Hm. I remember a bill of 15,000 USD for half an hour treatment (suture of a ruptured tendon of the left pinky). That was in Boston, in the last millennium. It would probably be much more expensive now.

18,000, more than 500 USD No, not a plastic surgeon. Regular surgeon. Nothing else involved Meds were less than 2000 In hospital: for treatment about half an hour. It then took 2 hours to print the bill. Biggest item on the bill was the doctor, 10000 Not shafted. These are now normal prices in the tourist areas.

For those who think Thailand is cheap: Fall with laceration wound at forehead, no loss of consciousness (so no x-ray or CT), cleaned, 5 stitches, sent home with antibiotics. Small private hospital (part of a well-known chain) in a tourist place. 18000 baht.

Today's other newspaper reports that there aren't really many bookings by Chinese yet. The hotels expect tourism from China to pick up in Q4, that's the end of the year. Right now, covid is ripping through China, it's on the news everywhere, for example in this link https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/14/world/asia/china-60000-covid-deaths.html China reports about 60000 covid deaths in the first month that restrictions were lifted. Many news outlets report that experts think the true figure may be 10 times higher and want more data. https://www.afr.com/world/asia/china-reports-60-000-covid-deaths-in-a-month-20230115-p5cckn https://apnews.com/article/health-china-beijing-covid-425a5de577126b04 The peak may have passed (in the cities). A couple of days ago, there were reports that 90% of people in Beijing have been infected already. For Thailand, and for people who live in Thailand, this means when the Chinese come next winter the exit wave of covid in China has long passed.

Best private hospital in Ubon is Ubonrak Hospital. The government hospital Joe mentioned is well-equipped, very big and very busy. They do have private rooms. Cleanliness used to be a problem, I hope it has improved.

This story is well- known, and AFAIK it is not clear who - if anybody - was harmed and what was the purpose of the stock manipulation. https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-09-28/the-little-restaurant-that-scammed-the-stock-market.html The SEC alleges that the “Defendants have injured innocent investors who purchased the stock of Hometown International and E-Waste Corp. at artificially inflated prices,” although the SEC does not quantify the financial harm nor the number of investors deceived, which appears to be small, given the little activity in the company’s stock.

You can, but 3T is recommended. I wouldn't assume this. You can do a conventional contrast MRI with a 3T machine. For mp MRI you really have to explicitly ask for it.