owenjones

I agree. Our thinking is on the right track in that it is an insect of some sort. But although I respect traditional medicine, I don't think it is something internal manifesting itself externally. Perhaps I could suggest that you ensure you drink a fair bit one night, and have a torch ready when you get up to pee. Then have a good look around at what is in the room. I have found cockroaches this way, which I would not have suspected were there.

The whole thing is an interesting problem-solving exercise.......I'll be very interested to see what eventually comes of it.

Good idea!

What bugs me is that I had one of these things in January.

It no longer itches or anything, but it has left a deep blue mark to this day like on my photo.

The affected areas are isolated. If it was caused by a millipede then it must have just stopped for a rest allowing time for an straight burn, if it was alarmed it would have curled up.

Yep, I've gone cold on the millipede idea.

I had an identical looking thing on my arm when I was last in Thailand, the locals told me it was a millipede trail as they have poisonous legs. I just used some aloe vera extract on the trail and it cleared up after a while.

Yes, I was told to put this green cream on it, wait a day and then use aloe vera, which grows wild in our garden.

However, I have since asked a few more Thais about it and they all say that it is not an insect or worm.

It comes from within.

I was told: 'Thai people get this'.

I know that that does not mean that foreigners can't, but it does not help much either.

Doesn't look bed bug related in the photo though people react to the bites in numerous ways. They are attracted to co2 so the upper body often gets bitten before other places but I have not seen a strip of skin dying before. This is more like the effect of milipede secretion which is a chemical burn and may or may not cause the skin to die. This is why I mentioned a strap as leather is often treated with something that causes burns to the skin if it's not washed off. Shingles can cause a burn like feature along nerves around the back and chest but not on the shoulder as far as I know. Jelly fish tendrals?

I don't think it's a bed bug either.

So far, I would go with the millipede idea.

I haven't seen one for a long time, but it has been raining a lot and that does bring them out.

Thanks.

Ok......looking at this logically, I think we can rule out some individual condition, as your neighbour has one too. So what does that leave us ?

Well, you say :

"I know about bed bugs and did consider them, but no.

My wife, my masseuse and my local publican all say that it is definitely not an insect bite, that it comes from 'within'."

So are your wife, your masseuse and local publican medical experts ? I guess they are Thai, but Thai people are notoriously superstitious, and furthermore often have quite odd ideas about things which Western medicine looks at logically and in a completely different light. As the most simple direct logical explanation is usually (though admittedly not always) the answer, I deduce that they are bed bug bites. They follow the typical pattern of bed bug bites, which are often in a straight line. What else could cause marks/bites in a straight line ? And from the photo, the are not following a nerve or vein. Check out the photo in the bottom right of this page here :

http://www.bedbuginf...of-bed-bugs.php

This thing is....it can be a few days between when you're bitten and the symptoms appearing, so you weren't necessarily bitten in your home.

Also, you appear to only have had one bug bite you. Is there any place where both you and your neighbour go ? Alternattively, you may be just STARTING to get an infestation. I don't know how fast they spread.

Well, OK, understand what you are saying, but I have been researching bed bugs for a year now and have a website on them, so I know more than most people about bed bugs as it happens.

I haven't been anywhere or slept outside my home in the village for months.

Nobody has reported a bed bug infestation here that my wife of I know of.

That doesn't mean anything, but you do not tend to get one bed bug per house that only eats every few months and only from one host.

My neighbour, 30 m away, and I do not hand around together or frequent the same places.

You are quite right that the people who offered me a diagnosis are not medically qualified, but the masseuse is a professional physiotherapist who teaches massage at a college in Sukhotai.

She is in her early 50 and has probably handled thousands of bodies in her 30 year career.

People like that can be expected to know something about skin conditions.

She could be a stupid old duffer, but I think not.

Thai descriptions can sound rather poetic, like oil in the blood, but it doesn't mean that they are wrong.

The last time i saw bed bug bites, a decade ago in Moscow, the man had 10-20 more bites every night.

As you say, in straight lines.

Fleas can do that too.

i think that it is an insect bite, but I don't agree that it is bed bugs.

Bed bugs tend to come in groups.

When one bed bug finds a host it secretes a pheromone to invite others to the party.

I have been bitten four times in six months.

I think that it is a lone, more unusual insect - a fly, perhaps, or a millipede.

Funny though, because i have lived here for seven years now and don't react badly to insect bites normally.

I too would love to know what the cause is. I own and run a number of sites and forums dedicated to resolving issues such as yours without having to resort to the supernatural so this is right up my street.

If you have time then some additional information would come in handy so I can give it to my team. Are the bumps evenly spaced? Do the 'wounds' locate to where seams would be? Have they all appeared on the same side of the body? That kind of thing.

It looked just like a a straight line of pimples.

I am told that it follows a vein (or a nerve) my wife has given up on the distinction.

Two appeared on the same morning: one on my shoulder (I do not wear a bra) and one on my lowest left rib.

Owen.

Is it possible for you to post a photo ? Or at least take one to post later ?

OK, I had a bit of battery left in my camera, so a photo is attached.

However, it is in phase two now.

The other two I had were in phase one for a week or so.

In that phase these evenly spaced 'pimples' stayed there a week or more and became painful after a week.

After a fortnight, I tore one strip off like a long scab, but it was more like a piece of leather than a scab.

The masseuse put some cream (not sam buk, but similar) on this one and it has progressed to phase two in 24 hrs.

It hurts a lot now if touched, but the mark that you see is what I have left of the previous two I have had.

It seems to leave a blue line.

My neighbour (Thai lady) has just shown me one on her leg.

Bed bugs bite in a straight line, as do fruit flies if undisterbed. Millipedes secrete a toxin which appears as a burn on most people, small bumps on a few though either way they are normally in a circle. Could be a reaction to a coating on a strap or chain.

Thanks for the ideas, Gumbo.

I know about bed bugs and did consider them, but no.

My wife, my masseuse and my local publican all say that it is definitely not an insect bite, that it comes from 'within'.

It is 'fire in the blood' or 'the snake'.

None of that scares me and the 'wound' doesn't bother me except that I want to know what it is.

Owen

Hi,

Yesterday, I woke up to find a 'thing' on my shoulder.

It looked like someone had run a sewing machine over about 2" of my skin in a straight line like a seam.

No pain, just raised 'pimples'.

This is the third one I have had this year and I put them down to insects.

A lady saw my new one today and said, I think, 'fire in the blood'.

I asked my wife later what had been said and she said something about a snake.

I thought maybe ringworm, but it does not look like that.

I asked about a cure and was told that 'a shaman' will have to spit on it.

Now, leaving aside whether you believe in that cure or not, what have I got?

One more clue is that I was told that old Thais believe that if 'the snake' encircles your neck, you will die.

Any ideas?

Owen

Here, here!

Four years on and I was asking the same question.

Thanks for your answer.

Owen

In Thailand IPSTAR costs 1,500 B for 256/128 Kbps

In Australia IPSTAR costs 900 B for 4/2 Mbps

Why is IPSTAR putting Thais and Thai businesses at such an unfair disadvantage?

(Data from : http://www.ipstar.com/en/faq.html)

I went to Nan to renew my visa, non-imm O last April.

We went by bus from Uttaradit and stayed for three nights.

I had previously always gone to Pattaya/Jomtien to do this and so I took all the paper work normally required there.

However, I was switching from a retirement visa to a married visa to free up 400,000 Baht.

We stayed in the DV Hotel, as the locals call it, and they layed on their taxi to take us the couple of kilometres to the immigration office at 9AM. He said he'd wait for us as he had no bookings. We thought it would take an hour or so.

Anyway, they took my documents for a pre-sorting and found that I was short of a few phocopies, 22 in all.

OK, that could be done upstairs at 2 Baht each.

Three hours later, they asked for my medical certificate and said they were going for lunch.

OK, I thought. No one knew where to get a certificate, but our driver reckoned the hospital. There must have been 100 people in front of us, so we went back to the hotel for a beer and a think.

The driver asked around and we walked to the doctor's surgery while the driver had his lunch.

[it is, left out of the DV Hotel to the first main road crossing; turn left; walk to the next main road crossing and go straight over. It is a little way up on the left. 10-15 mins walk in all].

There were at least 20 locals in front of us. Everybody smiled and I sat down. When the next patient was called, I was shown in. I must admit that I felt bad about queue-jumping, but I had not asked for it. The doctor spoke English fluently and I told him what I needed. He pulled out a form and began ticking boxes. He asked me one question: 'Are you feeling all right?' and that was that: 3 mins and 30 Baht.

We went back to the hotel and the taxi took us back to the immigation office.

We had to wait in turn again

We we went inside, I was asked for my 'Wedding Album'.

I did not have a clue what he was talking about, he gave me a 30 day extension and told me I had to see his boss.

My wife and I went in and my wife was told that she had been harbouring me illegally for five years because she had not informed the police that she had a foreigner in her house.

Fine should be 3,000 Baht.

My wife was visibly shaking with fear.

Anyway, that subject seemed to pass over and he said that he would have to visit our home and neighbours to check if we were happily married.

I said we have certificates from Pattaya.

He said you can buy them in a bar.

I said phone them up and check the numbers.

He said they did not do it that way.

He said his time is very valuable, but that he could come and check on us for 3,500 Baht.

I paid thinking that was the end of it.

We left at 5PM.

However, three weeks later, there he was on my doorstep with an assistant, a laptop, a printer and a camera.

He chose two of our neighbours at random and they gave depositions about us and signed them.

I didn't catch all the questions, but I know he asked whether we were happily married, whether I drank too much Lao (I don't, I prefer beer) and whether I fought with the local Thais.

Then he looked around the house and took three photos, one of us sitting on the couch, one sitting on the bed and one standing in the front doorway.

Then his assistant took one of us with him (as proof that he'd been there, I guess).

We went back when my 30 days were up and I got my visa after 30 minutes or so.

I have done the intervening three 90's by post. Registered post.

The first two were OK, this last one 'has not been received'.

I have the Post Office ticket but I don't know what will happen yet.

All in all, I thought that the Nan immigration were pretty good. Certainly very polite.

They kept apologising for their lack of experience.

They had only been at it for two months and they were constantly refering to their manuals.

That did not bother me too much.

The wedding album did though, but I have since met a man who was sent back to Phitsanulok from Bangkok to make one and then sent back twice more because it wasn't good enough. So, at least that is 'done for life', or so I was assured.

I'm back up there in April and I'm looking forward to it. The people are friendly and the city is old and beautiful. There is nothing to do after about eight o'clock outside the hotel though.

No bars and only one good restaurant - The Isaan Garden near the DV and is used lunch time by the local police, bank managers and govt officials.

The museum, by the hotel is well worth a visit even if it is 20B for Thais and 100B for foreigners.

Owen.

not to be funny but they must have seen this coming? and i'd imagine that swine 'flu has sod all to do with it.

Maybe my friends are all cheap Charlies, but the main reason I hear for people not coming here is cost.

Visitors were happy with 70-75 B = £1 or 40 ?B = $1, but they don't want to buy Baht at 50-55 or 32-5 respectively.

Couple that with rising prices (maybe not hotel prices) and they are happy to give another country a try.

Loyalty can go only so far.

If they want the tourists back, devalue the Baht.

This just prove one thing. PM salary in Thailand sucks. Even Thai PM needs a second job to make ends meet (not to mention ordinary Thai).

I heard AFC (Asian Food Channel) is after Samak CV. Any offer from KFC?

ROLF

THBOMK around 45,000,000 people in Thailand are elegible to vote.

I'm lost with this acronym....What does it mean?

Cheers

To the best of my knowledge. (I made it up due to laziness! )

Ah, I see ....

'H' stands for 'the'

Well, it didn't happen.

Did the guy run naked wherever he said he would?

Anyone see him?

Maybe Samak will resign next week, eh?

It's a tough call whom to support, when you have an ultra-right-wing, democratically elected PM and a retro-active PAD in opposition, where the Thai People want them to be.

In Soi 7, Pattaya, the music and lights used to go off a t 1am (3 months ago).

In the north (in the vicinity of where I lve), it's when the profits from staying open don't cover the costs of staying open.

Owen.

It must have been an escaped pet.

It's highly unlikely that a wild one would make it that far into Pattaya without being killed.

My nestdoor neighbour came across a 7m reticulated python in one of his fields last week.

He was very proud to say that he wrapped a bannana leaf around its head and released it in the nearest woods as was the old Thai style.

"Now-a-days", he grumbled, "farmers know nothing and kill all snakes".

Owen.

I know that Option 2] has worked for me two years running at Jomtien.

One year fixed interest a/c with Krungtep Bank.

The annual letter was free too!

Is it true that the med cert is no longer needed?

Owen.

Your friend should concentrate on getting well.

Anything he needs short of medication, he can do himself.

Drinking too much and worrying are not the answer.

(Not that you have said he is drinking too much, it's just a 'given' for farangs in Pattaya).

Get him to try exercise, swimming, Tai Chi, Yoga etc.

Owen.

Sorry Homeless007, I just noticed that you're in Phuket.

I would have sworn I'd read 'Pattaya'.

Another trip to the opticians is called for.

Good Luck,

Owen.

3 months before your application date.

The retirement extension (not visa) costs 1,900 Baht and does not include a re entry permit.

A single re entry permit costs 1,000 Baht

A Multi re entry permit costs 3,800 Baht

These can be obtained at any time , depending on when you want to use them.

OK, I recognize that the prices you quote are correct now that I see them. Thanks.

However, I have always had a Multiple Entry visa so have never been in this position before and am far less certain.

Are you sure that the basic visa does not come with one in/out?

A friend of mine was telling me on Tuesday that he always has the basic visa and goes back to Norway once a year for two weeks. This year, he wants to go to Malasia and so has to buy a 1.000 B permit. He's considering getting the Multi instead.

The point is: he's never had to buy an exit/re-entry permit before.

Owen.

Thanks, this is very helpful.

My Non/Imm 'O' visa with RTX expires on 19th April 2009 and my passport in August 2010, so it's better for me to get a new passport early in 2009.

Regards,

Owen.

I have had two visas under this rule, both obtained in Pattaya / Jomtien.

My 800,000 was in the bank 3 months before the date that I applied for the visa to begin, which was also the day I actually appliied

So, I went there on the 19th April for my visa to begin on the 19th April and my bankbook showed that the money was in there on or before the 19th Jan.

This worked fime.

This visa costs 1,900 B (Non-Resident O with retirement extension) it comes with the right to one exit and one re-entry. Multiple entry rights can be bought at the same time for (I think) 2,500 B more (maybe it's 3,500 B more). However, I'm pretty sure you can buy the multiple entry bit ay any time after you have the main visa, although the multiple entry rights may well expire with the original 1,900 B visa.

Regards,

Owen.

I received an email from a friend yesterday.

He has lived in Thailand for eight years, but had to go home to Northern Ireland to attend a funeral.

In the email, he asked me whether it was safe to return as he had just heard a warning on the news not to go to Thailand unless it was absolutely necessary.

I don't know whether that was the advice in mainland Britain too.

Here, in the nortth, you wouldn't know there was a problem.

Owen.