QED

I can confirm that bumrungrad gave me the certificate 3 weeks ago with just a visual test for stage 3 syphillis and no blood test.

My work permit application is in process so can't confirm yet if the generic bumrungrad wp medical certificate will be accepted this year but it certainly was 2 years ago.

Apart from (lack of) Syphilis, what else is mentioned in the certificate? So far I have never had to do the Labour Dept medical.

Leprosy, acute tuberculosis, elephantiasis, narcotic addition or habitual alcoholism.

How they can tell all that by looking at me and asking if I feel alright, I don't know

My experience with working here: you will be offered a job subject to medical. This will be a very thorough medical, and failing that will invalidate your job offer.

Once you have the job, then you need a medical for the work permit - this is the one that talks about syphillis, elephantiasis, insanity etc. My experience in the last 4 years is I go to the local clinic, the Dr asks if I am OK, then signs the work permit certificate 2 minutes later for 100 baht fee.

I work in oil and gas where medical fitness is very important, your industry may differ. But from my experience it is the work medical rather than the WP medical that you need to worry about. Good thing about that is that the work medical will normally be conducted in a large private hospital, where you can sit down and discuss everything with the Dr.

Good luck!

Were you renewing your exisiting WP or getting a new one each time? I'm not worried about a "real" medicial check as I'm super healthy and free from everything else. I am just worried because I know how inconsistent things can be here in Thailand and I read something on one of the boards about a girl having her job offer retracted after failing the blood test.

This was both for new and renewal for the last 3 times. I use a small clinic not a hospital, and they have standard forms they complete for the labour office. As the forms are standard I don't think it is down to the labour office or your employer as to whether you have the blood test, I think it is down to the hospital trying to get some more money out of you. I pay 100 baht, but a full medical like one poster described would run into thousands.

My experience with working here: you will be offered a job subject to medical. This will be a very thorough medical, and failing that will invalidate your job offer.

Once you have the job, then you need a medical for the work permit - this is the one that talks about syphillis, elephantiasis, insanity etc. My experience in the last 4 years is I go to the local clinic, the Dr asks if I am OK, then signs the work permit certificate 2 minutes later for 100 baht fee.

I work in oil and gas where medical fitness is very important, your industry may differ. But from my experience it is the work medical rather than the WP medical that you need to worry about. Good thing about that is that the work medical will normally be conducted in a large private hospital, where you can sit down and discuss everything with the Dr.

Good luck!

OP, don't listen to all the grumpy old farts on here, go for it! I did the same thing at age 33, gave up the rat-race and moved to Pattaya on a wing and a prayer. I had plenty of cash but that soon disappeared after 3 years hard partying! I then requalified and now work in the oil and gas industry for a locally based international company, for the last 4 years.

Long term you need something to do, to retain your sanity and economic ability to stay here indefinitely, but use your 6 months as fact-finding, and treat it mostly as a holiday. Enjoy, and good luck!

1) Thai police can also take your blood any time they want legally

2) It IS legal for them to search your bags etc. in any public place and also ask you to empty your pockets

3) It is NOT legal for them to put their hands in your pockets in public

4) You are required by Thai law to carry your passport with you at ALL times but the smaller laminated ones were excepted in 2008

Agree with 1-3, but 4 is incorrect. You are required to carry some form of ID and be able to produce your passport in a reasonable amount of time. This has been done to death on TV, just search for it

Slightly off the subject but to do with corruption by police officers.

Sunday I travelled over to a market near the Cambodian border, on the way back there are many checkpoints many of which areunmanned or the pc is reading his paper or chatting to his mates. However on one of them they were checking the cars asthey came through. i was following three cars who were stopped and waved on. I was asked to stop which I did, wound down the window and showed my thai driving license. The policeman wasn't interested in looking at the driving license just said something to my Thai wife. she told me that he said 'i had been driving in the wrong lane and I was to pull over to the side and pay 100b' Now those of you who drive through a checkpoint know there is only one way you can go and only one lane besides i did exactly the same as the previous cars. Anyway we parked up outside the building then was told to move further along then my wife got out of the car with a 100B and took it to the Police building. the man there told her just to put it in the box by the window. This no doubt was tea/beer money 'donated' by farangs. If it was a legitimate infringement and fine then one could have asked for and got a receipt. Bent coppers everywhere but you have to chin-up smile and accept this is Thailand.

Come on, did you just arrive? This is not news to 99% of the people here

as some will know im working in scotland at the minute,on nightshift,

the other morning i was in asda, some beautiful very big strawberrys, ill have some of them i thought,

got to the office at night, held one to my mouth took a pic and sent it to my wife,

got a message back, never mentioned the bloody strawberry,, she said,

DARLING your fingun nails want cutting also your hair,!!!!!

made me bloody laugh, could only be her,, bless her,

jake

Why is it none of my ex long term(ish!) thai girlfriends ever used to call me darling.

Is it just me or is it that only thai girls who have learnt English in a certain environment use this word ?

Not aimed at the OP but just asking other members where most thai girls get darling from

Darling is really considered an old fashioned word and so is probably found in old English language text books.

I have often found that Thais who have very little English language will not ask me about my wife/gf, but about my "Darling" or more precisely "Darling You"

And it's no good getting defensive, everyone with a brain got the snidey insinuation when you wrote "Is it just me or is it that only thai girls who have learnt English in a certain environment use this word ?"

PigeonJake is a happy man and you should be ashamed of yorself for trying to pull a nice thread down to your gutter level.

I have to agree, a humourous anecdote suddenly became about girls from a certain environment - from the outside looking in it looks like you're back pedaling ... I'm sure pigeonjake's missus is a real angle...

Or even a right angle?

Never been to Bira so just asking is there any where you could park a pick-up and sit there with a few friends, watch the racing and have a bottle of champers and some caviar on toast few cans and a couple of pork pies etc

You can't as the parking is behind the grandstands. Best bet is to go over the bridge to the section in the middle of the track, find a nice piece of grass with a good view, and have your picnic there. Just don't talk to the security guy on the bridge, he will only stop unaccompanied Thais. You can also have a walk up the pit lane from here.

Note the 14th will be a practice/qualifying day so not very exciting for spectators.

I had a similar problem in my local 7/11 yesterday as they would only sell me 2 packs of cigarettes, but wouldn't repeat the order on a second bill.

It is probably a government ruling brought out very recently.

How about if you go to Makro and buy 10 cases of beer or 2 cases of whiskey? Would that be OK.

That's a different issue, to do with the tax hikes on cigarettes that came in on Tuesday, they don't want people stockpiling at the old prices.

As for tesco - that's just weird. If you want to buy a case, do they take half of them out?

If you can find a Malaysian restaurant, Roti Chennai is exactly the same thing (I think the S'poreans nicked it from Malaysia)

Thanks all for the replies, seems the general concensus is Marlboro's are now 90 baht (15.4% increase). That sucks. Lucky I bought some duty frees in Hong Kong last night for 600 baht a carton

"For cigarettes, the hike will see an increase of between Bt6 to Bt8 per packet of eight local and imported brands, Benja said.

Cigarette hike 2% on average"

Bt6 to Bt8 per packet is more like 10-15%. Apparently this comes into force today - anyone been to the shops for some smokes? What was the price increase and brand? I am in Hong Kong for a few days, just interested to know how much I will have to pay when I get back.

And please don't turn this into another smoking haters thread, there are plenty of those where you can go and procrastinate.

Australia increase the taxes on cigarettes/booze every year saying it will reduce the number of people smoking/drinking. Didn't work in all the previous years people still smoked and consumed alcohol. Now they have come up with a world 1st initiative to stop people smoking, plain packaging, cigarette companies can no longer put thier brand on packets which must all be the same plain pack. Apparently this will make people kick the habit. Now we have the Australian State of Tasmania with a new initiative to ban the sale of tabacco products..

Tasmania in bid to phase out tobacco sales - http://news.ninemsn....t-tobacco-sales

A little like phasing in Prohibition, people will still smoke and drink and the only thing it will do is benifit the black market. A lot of cheap booze and chop chop tobacco will be sold under the counter at less cost to the consumer.

Smoking is a horrible habit that is a. much more addictive than drinking b. much more likely to causes serious health issues and c. costs the government a hell of a lot in medical treatment, from everything from general lung conditions to cancer. Add to that the effect of passive smoking and there is a huge reason to ban it/get rid of it.

It should be banned, I hate smoking and when other people smoke it affects me. When people drink it doesn't affect others.

As you obviously missed the last part of my post I have highlighted it in red for you

"For cigarettes, the hike will see an increase of between Bt6 to Bt8 per packet of eight local and imported brands, Benja said.

Cigarette hike 2% on average"

Bt6 to Bt8 per packet is more like 10-15%. Apparently this comes into force today - anyone been to the shops for some smokes? What was the price increase and brand? I am in Hong Kong for a few days, just interested to know how much I will have to pay when I get back.

And please don't turn this into another smoking haters thread, there are plenty of those where you can go and procrastinate.

Great journalism, dealing outside a nightclub that was totally demolished several months ago.

Deleted facecious comment, I see Pattaya One have said it was indeed opposite the demolished old Xyte site

Are you using a DNS server in China?

No

The button clearly points to an URL starting with www.thaivisa.com. I am thinking whether some malware on your computer could redirect your browser but have no ideas yet. What's the website you are being diverted to? (Please post only if it does not have questionable content or is other forbidden by forum rules.)

Hi Tom,

It goes to the link below, but please be careful. No questionable content, I am just worried that the website itself may be the issue. I have never visited this website intentionally btw.

http://tjdnserror4.wo.com.cn:8080/?HOST=www.thaivisa.com&R=/forum/index.php&app=core&module=search&do=viewNewContent&search_app=forums

What happens when you click on this link?

http://www.thaivisa....arch_app=forums

Hi Will,

It diverts to the same website. I can post the url, but I don't want anyone else to click on it if it is tainted.

I returned from a business trip to China a few days ago, I think it must be something I picked up over there. All other applications work fine however, so I am confused why this only happens when I click on this button.

As the title says, when I click on this I get diverted to a Chinese website. I can view the forums individually, but not via this button.

Is this a forum problem, or do I have a bug on my computer?

Thanks.

Ok thanks guys, looks like I wiil have to call them out to look at it. To clarify I am on sattelite, and it does seem to be happening across all channels

Cheers,

QED.

Anyone else getting this? I have just returned from 3 weeks in China, got my HD box installed before I left and everything was fine.

Now I am getting signal drop-outs every few minutes, just for a couple of seconds, it is not weather related.

Any suggestions? Trying to avoid calling them out as it is always such a drama on the phone, and actually trying to get them to stick to an appointment.

Thanks.

Damian,

You need to get the visa in Australia, they probably will not let you on the plane with a one way ticket and no visa. After you finish that visa then Vientenne is quite friendly for getting new ones, quite a nice town for a few days visit also.

You sound like I was 7 years ago, but I was not brave enough to post on here then. Good luck mate, Send me a PM (personal message) if you need any help here.

There is also definitely no shortage of women where I am

Where exactly are you then, mate?

Yes, where are you? And how much are the lights?

In Tianjin at the moment. Looking forward to getting home for a rest on Wednesday

//Edit for spelling

I go to Bali about 8 times a year, my brief synopsis:

Beer is more expensive, cigarettes are cheap. Gasoline is very cheap, as are cars and motorbikes. Accomodation is quite a lot more expensive than here. Avoid Kuta and there is a lot of beautiful countryside/beaches. Kuta is like a mini Pattaya if you need a wild night from time to time. Full of Aussies, but they are good for taking the piss out of, and I have actually made a few good mates over there. Traditionally Hindu as stated previously, however the island is now run by Jakaratans and Sumatrans so getting more and more Muslim by the day. Everyone speaks a bit of English, and as said the language is a lot easier to pick up.

I always enjoy my trips there, but always glad to get back to Thailand, could not see myself living there.

I'm pretty sure you get a day's grace at the airport too. If you were fined it might just be 500 Baht.

I was a day late out and the immigration guy just gave me my passport and said 'don't worry'.

Well I was two days over for sure. Maybe it was the way I was dressed or my beautiful passport, but I was sent on my way with no bother at all.

So was it one day or 2 days?