DogNo1

I received an email from Fidelity saying that they would remain open for business by telephone or Internet during the crisis.  I transferred my monthly amount just a few days ago.  Now I dread having to brave the crowds at Chaeng Wattana to extend my stay.  I sure wish that Thai Immigration would just grant everyone a gratis 60 day extension so that we could go to extend once the pandemic has dissipated.

I think that the poster is confusing 90-day reports with the one-year non-O visa.  I have never heard of a non-O that simply allows you to check in at your local immigration office.  There is a lot of confusion on TV about terminology.  With a one-year extension of stay (not a visa) you are required to report every 90 days.  I mail mine in.  Some people report online and some go to their local immigration office.  A friend who definitely, absolutely has a one-year non-O visa granted by the Thai Embassy in Amsterdam must exit and re-enter Thailand every 90 days.  

Unlike most other countries, Thailand has many types of permission to stay only a few of which are visas.  The misuse of the term visa is the source of misunderstanding for many people.

A test in Tokyo would cost me 1,500 yen.  I am guessing that in Japan any outpatient clinic could send it on to a lab or large hospital  Although transportation of the samples from the Diamond Princess seemed to be a big problem.  Being over 70 in Japan confers a huge advantage .  My co-pay is 10% but cannot exceed 8,000 yen per month.  Too bad that it's such a wet and humid place to live where you can expect rain at least twice a week.

Right about Navy Fed.  Only the credit card charges no foreign transaction fee.  I sometimes use the credit card for an over-the-counter cash advance at Bangkok Bank.  There's a dollar amount limit so I only get 20,000 baht at a time and then immediately transfer the amount from my checking account to the credit card because interest is charged on the advanced amount from day 1.

Has anyone noticed the doubling of ads on You Tube?  There used to be an ad before the beginning of a video and then one or two during a 30 minute video.  Now, there are two or three before the video begins and then one about every ten minutes.  I am moving some of my viewing to inexpensive paid channels.  Anyone else?
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For USAA, I use my daughter's address in Washington.  She forwards all mail correspondence to me here.  There have been no problems.  I actually use Navy Fed most of the time.  They accept foreign addresses and charge no foreign transaction fees. I get a small rebate on each credit card purchase.

If you turn 50 a week or ten days before the extension of a visa waiver expires, you could probably obtain a 90-day Non-O at your local immigration office In time if you applied on your birthday.  It would be cutting it close though.

Seat configuration is something to consider.  The JAL business cabin is 2-2-2 while ANA is 1-2-1. Of course, ANA is more expensive but you get to transit Tokyo.

Chinese guests from China are continuing to arrive at my hotel on a daily basis.  So far, management has had no comment.  This virus appears to be highly contagious.  I have read that the staff on the Diamond Princess docked in Japan wear masks and gloves and practice sanitary procedures yet more people continue to become infected.  There has been no comment on how the transmission of the virus is happening.

I have seen Peppina branches in both Central Embassy and Central World.

The microbial content of the lungs is very complicated.  A viral infection can alter which resident microbes predominate.  Some of the microbes are anaerobic and don't show up in the routine culture tests that are run on the contents of phlegm from the lungs.    After having been sick with a viral lung infection for a month, my sister in Massachusetts insisted that her doctor prescribe a course of Azithromycin, a Quinolone which kills both gram positive and gram negative bacteria.  Now on her fourth day of the drug, she is very much improved.  It appears that the present diagnostic procedures for lung infections need a lot of improvement.

The English fluency of the Thai Airways staff may not have been adequate to explaining the problem using polite language.  Give them a break!  The sensationalizing of this incident is similar to the reaction to the language that the health minister used when he apparently was stung when a foreigner refused a face mask from him.  Give the people a break!  The media sensationalizes everything.  We are all going to have nervous breakdowns if we can't calm down a bit.

Interesting reading!  There are lots of books about the subject of sex workers in Thailand: Patpong Sisters and many more.  There are many facets to relationships between Western men and women in SEA.  Often the women are the big losers as in Madam Butterfly and Miss Saigon.  The most time-worn story is that of the western man who wants to "rescue" the woman from a life of prostitution.  There are lots of books about this theme too.  Just search on Amazon.  The problem seems to go deeper than the western man's expectations, it also involves feelings that he doesn't anticipate before he becomes emotionally involved.  For the uninitiated, an affair with an SEA sex worker can be a roller-coaster ride.

All of the variously located Central Department stores carry both metal and plastic bottles.  Usually there are some English-speaking staff who can tell you the type of plastic in the bottles.  Some come with built-in straws but, of course, these require frequent and careful washing.  I have five-liter bottles of mineral water delivered to my apartment each week.

Time and talking with a person who can comprehend the loss can help.  Also, you can Google for how to handle grief.  I think that there are five stages one usually goes through in dealing with loss. It would be good to know them.  Getting caught up in excessive rumination can lead to depression.  Soundtrue.com might be a good resource.  Good luck.

mogendave:  Your assumption seems likely.  Maybe I was just unlucky in getting boxes that hadn't been repriced.

Tops at Central Chidlom sells goat milk.  For me, it digests more easily than cow milk. I don't touch soy in any form.

The price had been 599 per box before it was reduced to 279 per box.  Recent arrival cherries were sold at a different location at a per kilo price but not from the stack of boxes being sold for 279 each.  I watched the woman pull my three boxes from that stack.  Some worker could have misplaced the higher priced cherries weighed out for a customer who then didn't take them but it seems to be more than a coincidence that the very three boxes that a worker selected for me from the 279 per box stack were overpriced.  Whatever the error, I will carefully examine all price tags and prices rung up in the future.

The price was not per kilo.  It was per box and I had bought many boxes previously at 279 per box.  As I said, I returned three days later and examined many boxes in the stack of hundreds and found that they all had mass-printed stickers of 279 on their bottoms.  The ones that I bought were boxes with a computed price according to weight stuck to their sides.  It is interesting that the produce worker took them out of the stack of boxes priced at 279 and that each  box that she put in my cart was accordingly overpriced.  So it wasn't a coincidence.  There many imaginable ways that the overpricing could have happened but since each box that I received was overpriced it doesn't seem to be just happenstance.

 A recent news bulletin said that the new coronavirus is communicable from human to human but it is not known just how contagious it is.  The "fish market" where it supposedly was spawned also sold lots of live animals including civet cats, the original vector of SARS.

Yes, thanks for the warning about Avelox.  About five years ago when I contracted a lung infection in Bangkok, a doctor at Bumrungrad prescribed two other antibiotics first and then went to Avelox which finally cured me.  So it was the antibiotic of third resort.  Could you suggest an alternative medicine which would be equally effective?  BTW, it seems that the flu vaccines are not very effective for elderly people like me.  This is information from several recent studies.

My sister's sister-in-law just died from a case of influenza at the age of 51 in Massachusetts.  My sister said "It had turned septic." I think that means that the viral infection had triggered a bacterial infection.  The present wisdom from health care providers is that it is not necessary to take antibiotics for the flu.   What seems to hsppen, in my opinion, is that the flu transitions to pneumonia with out the sufferer being aware of it happening.  Of course overuse of antibiotics is a problem but if these people had been taking an antibiotic that is effective for pneumonia such as Avelox or Aizithromycin, they may not have died.  Personally, if I have flu-like symptoms that linger for 7 days, I start a ten-day course of Avelox. So far, I have been cured every time and don't have severe side-effects.

I wonder how many people are aware of when their infection progresses from viral to bacterial.  My hunch is that, given the standard medical advice, most people try to just wait the flu out without going to the hospital for tests.  

Thanks.  I now know to be careful and double-check the prices.  Perhaps I'll take it up with the management the next time I am overcharged.  I don't know how much of a hassle that will turn out to be but if I am charged the wrong price I would then like to get the item for free.

Three days ago, I purchased three 450 gram plastic containers of fresh black cherries at a supermarket in the Rajaprasong area.  A large sign above the cherries showed that they were marked down from 599 to 279.  I asked a worker in that section to pick out three containers of sweet cherries for me.  From among the hundreds of boxes, she  chose three and put them in my cart.  When I got to checkout, the boxes rang up at prices ranging from 400 to 500 baht each.  A sticker had been applied to the side of each box with its weight and that price.  I told the checker that I had intended to buy the cherries for 279 each.  She took the boxes back to the produce section and returned with three boxes with a sticker on the bottom showing a price of 279  and that's what I paid.  Today I was back in the supermarket and bought three more boxes of cherries.  I looked through the stack of boxes and didn't find any without the regular 279 sticker on the bottom.   I am certain that there were no cherries anywhere in that area that were priced other than 279 per box.  I am mystified.   Why would a produce worker put a higher price on a 279 baht box of cherries.  Would this just be an inadvertent mistake?  Could it be a scam in some way?