ukrules

Not one of the comments or the article mentions the actual reason that the Chinese are not coming to Thailand like they were before. Thailand is on a list of countries around South East Asia which are unofficially 'banned' from travel outside of official tour groups. Unofficially being why some people are allowed to come and the masses are not. This is the reason why they're not coming. The Chinese wield their tourists like a weapon and this is the effect. It's across many countries in South East Asia, not just Thailand.

On the gofundme page it mentioned something about being in Thailand beyond his original planned duration of stay. Perhaps he had a 60 day policy and decided to extend for another month. I've never seen a travel insurance policy which is linked to flight dates but maybe that's a thing. Not very helpful if you get ill on the way to the airport - like the taxi crashes - 5 hours of treatment then they cut you off because you're holiday has ended. Strange.

I'm doing nothing.

I decided to give this a go and compare it to my ChatGPT Plus account I keep trying again but the stupid AI continues to give me the wrong answer

Well I don't have any of those, I'm on a Thailand Elite visa which is not a non immigrant or smart visa. I checked with their support and they confirm that the Elite visa is ok to use as well as non immigrant / smart visas.

I've been in your shoes before though I never went as far as getting married

Ok, makes more sense now with this as some added context. I did lookup the law about the age of consent in Germany and was surprised to find out that it is in fact 14 with some caveats and additional rules applying to the age of 16 and 18. It's definitely an unusual country with non standard rules which I found surprising.

Define 'underage' in Germany? What is the age of consent there?

It's interesting that this guy has been arrested in Germany, does anyone know what the age of consent is in Germany? Normally when considering international crimes it needs to be a crime in both countries. For example, the age of consent in the UK is 16 but I'm not familiar with German laws.

I would not be surprised, it's the next logical thing to crack down on. Anyone going this agent route is 'making their own card' for potential future issues. Nearly everyone I know who lives here in Hua Hin uses an agent except for that one guy with PR, I don't know why as most of these people (but not all of them) do actually have the money, they just don't seem to want to put it in a Thai bank.

Perhaps you should have a word with some of the Doctors and pharmacists who are often the first line of treatment here. Nip a small infection in the bud with some amoxicillin, not ciprofloxacin which seems to be handed out like candy here. It's the strong ones which create the really treatment resistant infections

I suspect you're correct on each point you make

Personally I would take Amoxicillin 500mg 2 x 2 capsules each day 12 hours apart at the first sign of any infection and then see a Doctor if it doesn't clear up within 3 to 5 days - but that's just me. This is not medical advice - I would have acted far sooner than you appear to have acted so consulting with a Doctor immediately would likely be your best option. He may well recommend a stronger antibiotic or even a very strong antibiotic - which is something to be wary of in my opinion.

My account is with the UK company and they sell it direct all around the world. This is the premium option and nothing like the previous offerings in Thailand https://www.bupaglobal.com/en/

BUPA Global is the international arm of the UK company which remains a part of the insurance empire which is BUPA and it's very much still going.

See a Doctor and they will recommend something which will likely come in tablet or capsule form. Is it the actual eyeball itself or a part of the surrounding area that's infected?

Not if they make any kind of commission on my hospital stay - do they? I believe it's kind of standard to supply membership cards with proper reasonably high end health insurance and you carry it with you in case of emergency. If the hospital get hold of my card they can make a phone call, read out the member number and get authorisation to do whatever is necessary including medevac to other hospitals or countries if relevant treatment is not available locally and the yearly limit is like 65 million Baht of coverage - this buys you a lot of treatment out here. But if they don't get to see this card then I guess I'm out of luck. I wonder if they do this all the time but this incident only came to light because the seriously injured patient died en route to the second hospital and happened to be a foreigner. I'm glad they are investigating this and I hope they throw the book at the hospital involved and ensure it never happens again. I think we all know that's a joke though.

Nothing less than a pathetic excuse issued by a failing agency. Of course it's not their fault that China has all but banned tourists from coming to Thailand. Whatever China wants they seem to be holding out for it and whoever they want it from doesn't seem to be providing it. Must be something big for this to happen.

Wow, this could happen to any one of us any day.....makes you think. Quote from the linked article : I do carry my BUPA Global card in my wallet all the time when I'm out and about - I guess if I'm unconscious and alone that would be my only hope - they are a big and well known insurance company and this cover is among the best they offer.

They want the copies of every page for a reason, we don't know what that reason is but for sure they're being stored in a computer somewhere forever. Should you one day become a 'person of interest' for whatever reason then it will be available to whoever comes looking for it with a subpoena in hand.

Does this mean that a foreign currency account is kind of classed as an off shore type account? What I mean is - lets say I remit a bunch of money into a USD account and only make monthly transfers into Baht as I need them - are they going to tax every cent deposited into the USD account regardless of whether I actually change it into Baht or not?

No, it's 14 days before or 7 days after if you do it in person. Otherwise 2000 Baht fine is the norm - but that might vary depending on where you are. I wouldn't be rushing down there too quickly, the fine will be the same even if you leave it until the next time it's due - I did that once and they didn't seem to care. I forgot to do it so I waited until the next 90 days were done - 2000 Baht fine.

Ok, doesn't sounds too bad, not a full inspection where they check your clothes storage, toiletries and sleeping arrangements like they do with a marriage extension.

What exactly do they do on one of these visits? Do they look around every room in the house or just sit there like idiots. With tha marriage extension I can see some use to ensure you're married but that's a bit over the top, for you however - once you open the door and they see you have control of the house I can't really see what else they would need to see.

Is it really illegal though, I know there's a sign but that's just a printed piece of plastic? I was in a bakery in a large Hua Hin mall and took a couple of photos of the bread rolls so I could remember their size and the price and some woman who worked there came over waving me off and pointing at the 'no photos' sign. I ignored her and her stupid sign.