Lorry

Correct. Same for Vejthani and Bangkok Hospital in Bangkok.

Vachira Phuket also has dual pricing. Quite expensive for foreigners.

Correct.

Sounds like a good idea. The way this started was more like a radiculopathy (result of soft mattress, lifting and carrying heavy loads). It sometimes gets worse when I cough, something I wouldn't expect from hip arthrosis. Pain even in rest. I tried traction, it made it worse. No, abduction is quite limited. Extension not normal, either. So, yes, I certainly do have an arthitic hip, but I doubt whether my current symptoms really stem from the hip. Dr Somyot, and he referred me to Dr Nadhaporn, both Bumrungrad.

Any recommendations? Symptoms: pain in thigh, sometimes (not often) radiating to lower leg, feeling of weakness in the thigh > painful walking with a limp Doctors: Physical therapy doctor: this is musculofascial pain, you need physical therapy (helped just a bit over 3 months) Hip specialist: your hip x-ray is bone on bone, range of movement of hip joint is reduced, you need a hip replacement (steroid injection into the hip joint to confirm that the pain is actually coming from the hip was refused by the specialist) Spine specialist: your lumbar spine MRI shows multiple narrowed foramina, you need spinal fusion, never mind the missing neuro symptoms like Lasegue etc (epidural steroid injection to confirm the pain is actually coming from the spine has not yet been requested) I really love doctors :p)

555 Yes. I follow this thread very diligently and I appreciate all the answers. This is not something that has to be decided in a week or two, it's rather planning for the long term. A decision is probably due in the autumn, about 6 months from now. I apologize if I gave the impression I wouldn't care about this thread. I do, and I am very grateful for all the comments. One thing that hasn't been addressed: often, Thai bureaucrats distinguish between tourists and people living here (eg for DL, tax office, hospitals), for example on a retirement extension. Any experience whether OA in these contexts is usually equal to non-O?

Well said. I really like your attitude. Wish some of your advice I had read 20 years ago.

Sorry, that was info from tax advisor. No link

There was a lot of Information on AN, unfortunately very difficult to search and often outdated. What are the main differences? AFAIK O visa needs money (800000) in Thai bank for extension, which has to be done in the first 3 months of stay in Thailand, then yearly. OA can have money in bank abroad and still stay in Thailand 2 years (border run after 1st year necessary; the visa is valid 1 year and allows multiple entries, in the second year need re-entry if leaving and returning within the time of the permission of stay) OA needs health insurance (3m inpatient, 60000 outpatient, can use a foreign insurance company). Can only stay as long as covered by the insurance. Is this correct? Which other differences are there? I am asking for a long term O visa/retirement extension holder who wants to move his 800000 out of Thailand and is thinking of OA. He leaves Thailand every year anyway. In any situation, where it might be useful to be a longterm resident (or however it is called), would OA usually be just as good as O?

Update: Thailand does now participate in AEOI/CRS. First automatic exchange of financial data will be Sep 30, the financial data from 2022 will be exchanged. The CRS requires exchange with your tax jurisdicition, which is not necessarily the country of one's passport. To open a new bank account, customers are now asked to tell the bank their tax jurisdiction. Whether Thai banks will just send the financial data of old accounts to the country of the passport of the account owner, or whether they will ask all foreigners where they are taxed, i don't know.

In countries with a decent health care system you cannot just "buy" tadalafil, nothing "weird" about this. Don't know where you come from. The reason is that tadalafil is a real medicine (with potentially dangerous side effects), it isn't candy. Having said that, many pharmacies in the areas frequented by western sex tourists sell it under the table. The recommendation to buy it from a street vendor is not a good recommendation (I am being very polite here), because you really have no idea what you get, could be any fake cr@p. The recommendation to buy potency-enhancing pills on Lazada is just as dangerous,. Here you definitely know you are buying some fake cr@p (and you have no idea what dose of what drug you ate swallowing).

AFAIK Pantip is dead. But so is Patpong...

Patpong?

you are free to make your own informed decision, unless you wanted to infect me, or others My sister's bf made his own informed (he watched a lot of youtube) decision not to get vaccinated. He then made his own informed decision, not to wear a mask when talking to like-minded people. He then made his own informed decision, not to tell anyone that he got sick with a bad sore throat. He then made his own informed decision, to sit in the same subcompact car as my sister, for 2 hours, without a mask. My sister, who was in a risk group, didn't get the chance to make her own informed decision, not to travel with him. Because he kept his condition a secret. You want the freedom to infect us. Fortunately, some governments didn't give you this freedom.

It's actually floor 12A, not 12. Still vaccinating today, very easy and efficient, not crowded. Foreigners bring passport (required), pink card (helpful if available) and documentation of any vaccines you have had in Thailand (they need the number beginning with 6000000... from that documentation for their database). They don't care about vaccines you had in other countries. Seems like everybody gets "Pfizer Bi" (meaning bivalent). A big "Thank you" to Tallguy for keeping us updated in face of all these <deleted>in <deleted> <deleted> antivaxxers. Interesting, TV wil not delete the word "antivaxxers" - isn't that the worst expletive of all?

Interesting to know. I was wondering about this, because in Thailand you are not allowed to call yourself a hospital without an ER, and I didn't have the impression that this is the place to go with a serious emergency. So, if they really do have an emergency system, it's the receptionist who does the triage... reminds me of my home country.

I was always wondering what kind of people live in Siam Garden City (a posh Mubaan between BTS Onnut and Khlong Bangna Chin). Now I have some idea....

I went there in the morning, without an appointment (because my eyes got sick overnight). They immediately told me I could have an appointment at 5pm, not earlier. They found me in their system, but as I hadn't been there for a long time they made me register again. They then wanted to do the usual blood pressure thing. I asked, if I would come at 5pm, how long would I have to wait for a doctor? 1-2 hours. So I told them, I will do the blood pressure thing during those 1-2 hours and left with 2 big appointment papers. I went to Bumrungrad. Waiting time for doctor 30 minutes. I then called Rutnin to cancel my appointment. Turned out, I didn't have any appointment at all.

The word "only" is the big mistake here, as mentioned by 3numbas these 3 are what most people will die from. In Thailand, even in the big cities fast access to good medical care is unpredictable. People have collapsed on the doorsteps of Bumrungrad and the first responders brought them to the police hospital (travel insurance had them transferred back to Bumrungrad). A guy I know had a life-threatening emergency on the zebra crossing from soi 2 to soi 3. He was brought to the most distant international hospital because they paid the highest commission (he survived). But in a remote village, your chances are very poor: first, the famously smart villagers have to discuss what to do - 1 hour. Second, find transport - 2 more hours. Then discuss cost of transport - is 500 baht too much to save a life? Can't it be done for 300 baht? The concept of "urgency" is not well known in rural Thailand. And finally it's a trip to the district hospital (30 beds), then to the provincial capital (can take 2 or 3 hours). And not all provincial hospitals are very good. In Western Europe, response time to get EVT (big stroke) or cath lab (HA) is ideally measured more in minutes than in hours. Here, it's days - if at all. My personal choice: 15km max paved road from a decent provincial hospital like Surin or Kamphaeng Phet (not something like Ranong or Amnat), 50km if I own a car. And some possibility of transport to a big city (this pretty much rules out Ranong or Kamphaeng). There once was a young poster from Umpang who discussed this dilemma - yes, it's nice to live in Umpang. But you don't want an accident there. You pays your money and you takes your chances.

People posting here should read the guides to exotic cultures (Germany, Japan, US...) written for Thais. Whenever Thais ask me for an example of hard-to- understand farang culture I tell them how we would get angry at a drawer that won't open (or car that won't start, a vending machine that doesn't work etc). I have yet to find a single Thai who understands why anybody would shout at a drawer, kick a car or beat a vending machine. Have you ever told a Thai how many Americans and Europeans seriously believe in immaculate conception? Obviously, farang are "primitive societies which mix animism and magic with" lack of scientific understanding of furnitures, machines, and human biology, as another poster said.

Same here. The BMA's recommendation to see a doctor is funny. Will the doctor prescribe a holiday in the Swiss Alps (Bangkok AQI 200, Swiss mountains AQI 3) or on a Norwegian beach?

Yes, but if your order is high enough to qualify for free shipping you run the risk of having to pay import duty

Bangkok 10-15 days

Same here. About 10 years ago, customs began to be a pia. So all people I know now keep their orders low, not over 45 or 50 USD per package. Otherwise you may have to travel to a post office (and it may not be the nearest one) to pay 500 baht import duty, takes the better part of a day.

The unspeakable four-letter word, not an option for people from the Land of the Free!