BigStar

On the contrary, it's included according to the checkup package you choose. I had one myself in a Phyathai Hsp promotion package. And it was comforting to learn of my low score. 🙂

Just as TAT: ANF is always confident in their total lack of numbers based on Eyeballs. They wouldn't be posting otherwise, would they? The exception to their lack of numbers is the clownishly wrong number they ALWAYS get for the average tourist spend. This they arrive at by dividing TAT's estimated revenue generated (NOT the total spend) by the estimated number of tourists. Then sneer and chortle at its impossibility, LOL.

Banglamung Hsp has greatly improved since the old days. Friend of mine spent his last 2 weeks there, first in a ward, then a private room. He received perfectly good care for a fraction of what he'd have paid at BPH. Recommended. For those of you holding one of those utterly useless pink cards, I suggest using it to register there and at hospitals generally. Been reports of avoiding the farang surcharge thusly. I dunno, I'm under Thai SS and use Sirikit free. No harm in trying; it's only your wallet.

Testifies to the power of prayer, no? More of our mongers should try it in hopes of paying lesser bar fines.

Traditional, too. Good 'nuff for Mick Jagger. Actually a doo-rag looks pretty good and certainly better than that old bald head. I always wince when seeng a baldie riding his motorbike w/o a helmet. SQUISH! There you go, Stevie Van Zandt. Changed to a hairpiece on The Sopranos.

Duh. You'll bicker and throw out your autodidactic nonsense forever. All that needs saying about your "advice" has been said.

I totally agreed with you until this. The average person hasn't a clue about how to evaluate his numbers. The report itself will show which numbers are out of normal range. Then the question is how to bring them into normal range. Some of them are rather obscure. Even a knowledgeable person won't be able to evaluate them off the top of his head, and in context with the other numbers perhaps. (On the forum, we seem to have a weekly question about what a member's blood pressure numbers mean.) The GP will have some idea, however. So you take that into account and do some of your own research AND then see a specialist if it seems necessary. In fact the GP may suggest you do that. No, you don't have to accept his recommendation; ask Sheryl first. 👍 Yes. Now, that said, all docs everywhere are notorious for prescribing meds and surgery instead of lifestyle changes. They hardly hear of the latter in med school, and they're notoriously out of date, esp. in Thailand. In fairness, that's what patients want to hear anyway. Few, if any, want to consider lifestyle changes and would ignore that advice anyway. We see the evidence here on the forum daily. If they had been receptive already, they probably wouldn't be having the problem until much later, if ever.

In fact, you yourself made the claim to authority, so you're merely contradicting yourself. And further are appealing to yourself as the authority, with implication that each person is his own authority.🤣 Your argument is wrong simply because it's ignorant, misguided, and dangerous. I've seen firsthand its unfortunate consequences. Nobody cares if you follow your own advice, but I'm happy to warn others to ignore it.

No they aren't. Since you aren't like a car, you'd best get regular medical checkups to ascertain the state of your health and, if needed, take steps to prevent any underlying conditions from becoming life-threatening. See @newnative 's post. And checkups promote discovery of your true medical condition, are evaluated as part of your history by a doctor, and may help determine your medical history, perhaps critically. Your idea just leads to seeing a doc after a condition has become symptomatic, already done a lot of irreversible damage, and now needs expensive, perhaps lifelong care. Duh. Having a snapshot of the day can be extremely helpful towards understanding your health. Some tests reflect past history as well, such as the important HbA1C. But one doesn't need to go to a private hospital for a checkup. And private hospitals run yearly promotions. Phyathai has one running now, and I doubt it's a great earner. It is a way of finding new customers, but hardly the only one. And customers may choose treatment, if needed, at a different hospital. Utter nonsense. Besides, the lab reports clearly note any anomalies found. Excellent example of what bad advice is offered on this forum. I recall that kwilco has insisted on disagreeing with, even berating, Sheryl and ended up with egg on his face.

Some good modern research argues that the LDL isn't so important. Many also recommend against statins. You might read Dr. Malcolm Kendrick's well-regarded The Clot Thickens: The enduring mystery of heart disease The thing to do is get the numbers into optimal ranges, which are: including the HbA1c below 5.7. The TG/HDL ratio is probably the most important number here. If it's good, the other numbers tend to be good as well. So you'll need to go to a good lab and get a comprehensive test. I've used Lifecare labs in Pattaya annually for many years. Their numbers correlate well with hospital numbers, including Bumrungrad's (from my one test there). Lots of info on how to improve or maintain optimal levels. Good body composition, low carb diet, moderately intense exercise, and intermittent fasting are common recommendations, and that's how I keep all my own numbers in range without any meds.

Whatever. It does seem to have left you with reading comprehension inadequate for you to carry on this discussion rationally. Yet by your own admission you haven't been able to achieve compatibility with Thais (in Thailand, where you live, unless said Thais, a small minority, have traveled abroad); and, amusingly, seem proudly to have no interest in trying to do so or learning how you may do so. 🙂 Big success with South Koreans, though: I speak almost fluent Korean and never felt like this in Incheon, Seoul, Songdo, Suwon or Busan. Oh, and i have related and even connected with people from all walks of life in other countries. Heh. Obviously, we have different point of view. Wherever I am--and I've also traveled around, of course, lived and worked in Japan (not as a teacher)--I take it as a challenge to adapt to my environment and manipulate as best I can for my own convenience. It helps that I'm kind of a lifelong learner. Well, all that needs saying has already been said. It's been fun, but I still don't see any prospect of hearing anything useful. Yet you'll continue to pettifog and bicker until one of our overburdened mods will need to step in. I'll bow out now, and you may declare victory with a last self-justifying post if you wish.🙂

Yawn. In fact, I more than once carefully acknowledged you didn't, by using IF you wanted. And, as I noted, Besides, you implied puzzlement, or at least inconsistency, with your compatibility with other cultures but not Thai. And brought up your big success in South Korea, as if this were somehow relevant. This leaves our anxious readers on tenterhooks; how could this possibly be? 🤣 Alas, it must remain forever a mystery. Expressions of pride in one's achieving knowledge of the obvious are always welcome on our forum to fill up posts, thank you. Now, occasionally, since this is a Thai forum, the question arises as to how to deal successfully and happily with Thai culture in particular--as our hapless OP has failed to do. In the course of the thread, we've had posters offer some answers, though ignored, as usual, amid the self-satisfied complacency. 🙂 Are we done?

Learn to read carefully and critically. Ask yourself: am I the OP referred to? Not that I asked, you see. Love it. On the specific point about your achieving greater compatibility with Thais, IF you wished to, I have reason to think I probably know more than you, as I've given specific methods while you've given none. Besides, you implied puzzlement, or at least inconsistency, with your compatibility with other cultures but not Thai. But then the rest was self-satisfaction. You yet may recommend some of your own methods for the OP, yourself, and others, if in fact you do possess hitherto unapplied expertise. I'm always open to improvement. 🙂

That didn't land, sorry. You'll need the "we," the rest of the hive, to help out.

Keep your pants up. Turn around with your backside towards the window. Aim true. Sorted. I was so proud once of persuading my Thai gf to use the men's toilet. At Chatuchak there was huge line for the women's; men's almost vacant. She needed to go. I pointed out that female maids are often in there anyway. She came out and we had a big laugh. She told the other ladies to go on in there, too, but none would.

True. And so you don't speak Thai. My informed advice as to how you--and by extension the perpetually unhappy OP--may become more compatible, if you wished, is based on my own success with Thais. If you want to explain the relevance of your experience in Korea, a modern, developed, Westernized country with a long-standing critical relationship with the USA, you may feel free to do so.🙂 Otherwise my judgment stands.

That's time enough for a battery to die. Recently had one die on me after 3 years.

Good for us who appreciate Russian hotties wearing their thongs around on the beaches. Walked by one the other day sunbathing while she wore only a couple of small white seashells on her chest. Nice.

You missed the rise of domestic tourism, 'cause we aren't able to conceive of the fact that Thailand has a large middle class now with money. Contrary to popular delusion, wealthy Western tourists didn't build the Thai tourist industry. As the industry changes to cater to a more international demographic, it continues to prosper. Hence TAT targets those you think are hurting tourism. Maybe you've missed something as usual, laboring under the common forum poster belief that only farang have money, lol. Thailand is as attractive as ever, but a lot of baked-beans-on-toast tourists ran out of Golden Eggs. GBPeso fell, socialist economies are practically bankrupt, the males are feminized, hooking up via apps, and watching porn in their council estates. Golden Egg Layer soon to depart Thailand So the Golden Egg Layers left Pattaya in this condition: And the newer demographic made possible an economy, oh, say, 5 times larger with two big shopping malls and many more luxury hotels, condos, and restaurants, though I don't think a new fleabag hotel's been built on Soi Buakhau in the last 20 years. Perhaps one of the members can enlighten us.

No one here ever admits to feeling superior while being superior. True, in many cases it's so ingrained and natural as to be subconscious. Some bigots here even have Thai wives they profess to love. One of the biggest, now gone, waited for his wife to leave for work so's he could enjoy his daily Thai bashing. 🤣 S. Korea's a First World developed country with a Western mentality and a critical long-standing relationship with the USA. Do you speak almost fluent Thai? You have humanity in common with Thais. If you patiently spent time trying to know them and empathized with their often mundane concerns (just as farangs have, but theirs (cough) is yours as well), appreciated their character and mannerisms for what they are, learned to joke around with them, stop being so serious, then you'd learn to have more in common. But you'd have to want to do that, you see.

No, he was businesslike but quite personable there with his capos in his well-appointed office overlooking Pattaya Nua. I remember well our brief conversation. And I also found City Hall staff pleasant to interact with. Gave one lady in the pink card back office my phone number. Still waiting, ha ha. They all did their jobs thoroughly. Caught it that the official MFA-approved translation spelled my name differently than on my Chanote. I had to go get an amendment from the Land Office. No big deal, but it was an extra step for me in the process. So there you are. The most dreaded, frustrating, horrendous, knicker-soiling interaction with Thais imagined by our Thai bashers: piece o' cake. Point of View is worth 80 IQ points. —Alan Kay

True of most of our culture-bound farang. I find exactly the same limitation among farang I have encountered. But not only in Thailand but of course elsewhere, notably the USA. Over the last nearly 30 years, of all my friends and all the people I've met in the USA, not one has ever expressed the slightest interest in Thailand and asked me any questions about Thailand. If a foreigner, for example, a Chinese (the only Chinese they've ever met) happens to be present in a group--a well-educated group--they'll make some perfunctory greeting and then wander off discussing among themselves the details of their mundane suburban lives==their home maintenance, lawns, cars, the sale at Costco, their kids' schooling, etc. And we sometimes hear a silly whinge that bar girls can't discuss the important international issues of the day or other intelligent subjects. You'd then expect it of expats themselves, but no. Nothing about Wittgenstein or the Boxer Rebellion or the Muslim takeover of northern Britain. Expat blather is often just about footy, bars, women, impressive pub crawls and drinking bouts, the best bums and breasts of the women passing on the street, good places for fish 'n' chips, sex, laments over the difficulty of finding a favorite food, and the stupidity of Thais. You want to relate to Thais well, then you have to stop feeling so superior and learn to have an interest in them as individuals and their culture here in their own country. Speaking basic Thai with good pronunciation and showing kindliness and good manners are keys. Talk about things they're interested in. Most obviously, their families. I always ask about parents, brothers, sisters, kids, etc. pretty early on. Thais are fun to joke around with, can be great characters, and they often have some interesting stories--sad stories among the lower classes. I'm often surprised at some of the things I hear. Interacting with them is then like practicing a learned skill. I count it as a victory that I managed to get a smile out of the Mayor when I got my yellow book at Pattaya City Hall. Part of the problem here is that so many can't relate because they can relate that well anywhere. They came over to Thailand for cheap beer & pussy and feel disaffected that they aren't loved and adored just for being their lovable, beer-bellied selves having fun and, as golden egg layers, keeping the entire Thai economy afloat.

And Thais have a very difficult time replicating the accents and intonations of, say, Brummie and Geordie.

You walk the same way in both directions. Just takes a little practice. Lemme illustrate:

And you have no opinions about the stats and facts, and are merely acting as our very own little Farmer’s Almanac. Spot on; what a valuable service. The OP is expressing an opinion that Thais are annoying. My observation is that most such negative opinions about Thais and Thailand are merely about the posters themselves. So actually it is the OP who’s annoying. Other members here, and Thais, might well agree. Given your own unquestionably high intelligence, you’re disturbed about the possibility that our posters’ common opinion that Thais are stupid may just mean that they are stupid. True, they may, like yourself, have observed an indisputable fact. Shockingly, now, often the facts given here by our inevitably smarter-than-Thais are wrong or merely hearsay. Countless examples of such in the Visas forum. But that really isn’t the issue, you see. To continue, a few prominent examples illustrate my point. A poster insists that it’s stupid of Thais to charge him a baht or so to traverse through a BTS station. In fact, they do charge. After a few pages, it’s found that there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for the charge, and he’s stupid for his inability to figure out what it is for himself AND thinking it’s stupid of Thais in particular AND moreover displaying his stupidity on a public forum. At bottom, he doesn't like paying anything. But that’s an average poster whinging about some practice he doesn’t understand or like, poor thing. In view of our most cherished stat (right up there with our bigger willies) that the average Thai IQ is 88, it’s instructive to observe our forum intelligentsia in action. Among many others in the rarefied atmosphere at the top end of the IQ bell curve, say 140+, we have, for example, our Economists and Construction Engineers. Our awesome Economists observe a true fact: the Central Festival shopping mall is being constructed on Beach Road in Pattaya. A chorus of sneers promptly erupts led by the Economists. One of the most knowledgeable explains bankruptcy will ensue because the fools are trying to charge Bangkok prices! Yeah, nobody will shop there. 🙂 Same with T21. Same with Big C Extra, Pattaya Klang. Even today, they may insist all the malls are always empty, though they never go there. And the greatest example of our high IQ Engineering idiocy involved the construction of the Tunnel at the Sukhumvit/Pattaya Klang intersection. Fact: Tunnel. But Thais are too stupid to construct tunnels! It would never be finished. It would flood immediately: Thais never thought about that. Members joyously entertained themselves with rubber ducky cartoons, hee hee. Then it turned out that our Engineers hadn’t known that water doesn’t run uphill. I could go on for pages. Bigotry is behind many of the negative opinions, so therein lies the explanation of why they typically say more about the poster than Thais. Often, they're excellent inverse indicators, as in the above.