BigStar

Typical that the only possible remedies you'll get here are pills, creams, injections, supplements, and surgery; i.e., nothing that might involve any effort on your part and spending little to no money. Effort, OMG. I love this forum. First thing to do would be to try some physical rehab on your own that might well fix your problem IF you keep at it consistently a couple of months. Lots of free vids on youtube, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbe_DqMJfzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSZkzh4BaxU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikt6NME0k9E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UxUfRb619A And if you can't work on your own, you can also see a good physical therapist if you can find one. Maybe the members will have some recommendations; had some in a thread not too long ago here. Mostly we like to resort to physical therapy only after we've had surgery first, however.???? Doctors much prefer it that way as well, of course. You can also use a knee brace for a while to supplement the rehab. It's not a fix. Cheap on Lazada or Alieexpress. Nothing I don't do myself. I do some strengthening exercises, stretching, foam rolling, and massage to keep my knees rockin' along. Just massage is rather helpful; got that from Bob & Brad. I do it manually on the kneecaps and use a foam roller or sometimes a massage gun on the muscles surrounding. So that's it. Getting ready for my walk on the beach (sun's out!) and then up 15 flights of stairs.

The good news is that those waiting 25 years already for the prices of Royal Garden Cliff condos to colappse will be happy to learn that in only 5 more years they can pick up one for mere satang on the baht. ???? Can you hold your breath? Somebody go get the Imminent Collapse report. How long is a piece of string? We’re all still strong believers in the AN/TVF Mausoleum Principle: unlike in other countries, a Thai(land) construction/development/business establishment must last eternally, like the Great Pyramids, maintenance-free. So it’s been seriously wondered why Thais can’t build roads like Romans. Why does this country’s roads have potholes, unlike those in the UK? Thais! Well, I think we can all rest easy now that they probably won’t fall until the year 3000, certainly beyond any of our lifetimes, so again it’s a good time to buy. Why? AN (TVF) predictions are excellent reverse indicators. A recent prediction that the old Tops building would be a casino was how we knew it would most definitely NOT be a casino. But besides the portentous Economic, Financial, and Market Forecasts, we have such in Construction Engineering as well. Some of our Engineers still wait for the predicted collapse of the Central Festival mall. And we have a few in the closet still eagerly anticipating the flooding of the Tunnel. One has confessed to the comforting thought that it WILL flood whenever a typhoon hits Pattaya. Which could happen just any day now. Another has vowed to watch forever for land subsidence and the collapse of businesses near the Tunnel. Waiting, waiting . . . . A forum prediction never expires, ever. It’s good that we still have some still around to stir the pot. Sadly, you see, the ranks of our ace Construction Engineers were decimated after the first big rain following the completion of the Tunnel, that complete bodge job. The horrendous disillusionment and disappointment proved too much for many to bear. A Known Certainty demolished; worse, a basic principle of Forum Construction Engineering-- water naturally flows uphill, not downhill (hence into, not away from, the Tunnel) --shown the usual utter nonsense. And all the bigotry against Thais, too stupid to build a tunnel (never mind Chiang Mai) shown for what it is. Not that this mattered in the slightest, of course. For days you could hardly walk around Soi Buakhao without hearing the thud of another Bigot Engineer hitting the ground nearby after jumping from a balcony. It was like the ending of a Doomsday Cult but without the promise of redemption.

Same here. But the OP's question was answered long ago. Problem is, many of our members, who claim never do anything unnecessary--merely eat, drink, bonk, sleep and defecate--are afflicted with the dread Pink Card Derangement Syndrome. So they absolutely MUST rehash the same old arguments about why they and nobody needs any stinkin' yellow book or pink card and how they're actually invalid for everything.???? It's all based on a straw man argument. First, nobody cares whether YOU have a pink card. AND in fact owners of YBs and PCs have all agreed they aren't necessary, merely convenient sometimes; and they listed, for the umpteenth time, the conveniences. They're multiple. And I've found mine convenient. I do need my card for proving my identity and account at my registered hsp for Thai SS. I used the yellow book to avoid having to get and pay for a CR to renew my DL. Yes, I really did. And after I got a property tax bill, I also found that showing the yellow book at the City Hall Tax Office would enable me to avoid paying tax on my primary residence--forever. Officer promptly canceled my current bill and told me ignore future bills.???? Nice; you keep paying yours if you like or find a workaround using your passport and driving license or whatever. As for acquiring them (another INSURMOUNTABLE OBSTACLE), I found it a fairly trivial matter even in Pattaya, which understandably has some of the strictest requirements, given all the riff-raff. Rather enjoyable, actually. Joked around w/ the ladies, gave my phone number to one (still waiting), met the Mayor and his capos in his big office overlooking Pattaya Nua, gave my witnesses some nice little gifts (all smiles) . . . . So, just do a google search for "yellow book" and Pink ID" on the forum and read countless thread with the same tired arguing. And let's stick a fork in this thread. It's done.????

Well, there you have to ask for the "extra mesh" with the op, as when you order extra chicken (piset) with your chicken and rice dish. More than fifteen years ago I had two hernias repaired, open surgery, mesh, at Queen Sirikit. No special order. They've been just fine since.????

Meet a fellow Kiwi stuck in NZ who'd much prefer to sit "it" out, whatever "it" is (you admit you dunno), in Thailand: I know where you are coming from. I'd give anything to be able to live in LOS the rest of my life ( in the style I was used to- I'm not talking about existing in a 2,000 baht a month hovel, eating rice every meal and not ever having a nice lady to sleep with ). --Why isn't every male in the UK living in thailand? I should stop sitting "it" out at the beach in Pattaya as I've been enjoying all these years? Can't think of any reason why. Been doing more than just sitting, actually. I guess, as P. D. Mangan says, One man's way of life is another's harsh discipline.???? Maybe. Who knows? Well, have you started the planning? Ideal would be to fall off a Pattaya barstool, beer in hand, as half-nekkid black-haired angels dance above your corpse to celebrate your Ascension. So far I haven't been muddling, so I'm not sure why'd start. Sounds more like you're muddling in NZ. Now if China and "the west" go to war, Kiwis will no doubt be affected as well. Perhaps it's time to re-watch On The Beach (1959).????

I had such lousy service from 3BB I terminated my contract early and took the hit. Went with TOT, much maligned here, and have had excellent service.

But the exceptions are of interest. Those may the hospitals adding foreigner surcharges. Some reports have said they may be waved if one is registered with the pink card. If so, would that be a good thing? Yes, for most posters here anyway. Above, we had a case of an emergency visit to a gov't hsp. When asked the hsp said registering with the card would have made no difference. But in that hsp there was obviously no surcharge. By the way – the bill for all that diagnostics, treatment, drugs, overnight accommodation with food [which looked good but I was a little out of it and not hungry], hospital clothing, drugs to take home etc. was 3,959 Baht. So we need some recent examples whether foreigners registered w/ the pink card at hsps w/ the surcharge were still charged the Thai price. @ivor bigun could do that at Sirikit next time he goes. Yet policies may vary per hospital and even per clinic. TIT. In the meantime, just in case, including an addition of the surcharge in the future, I registered at my local gov't hsps using the pink card. No harm in doing so and possibly some good someday. This, for any small issue that may come up when I don't want to journey to my registered hsp under Thai SS. These facile generalities made by forum "experts" aren't very helpful. The only useful point, repeated a dozen times, is that the pink card alone, in the absence of being a member of Thai SS, doesn't grant anyone free health care. Obviously the OP was misinformed. Rumors abound--some hopeful, some dire.

May need to level up from making beer & sex the key.

It was the laundry.

Our ace barstool Market Analysts--renters, coincidentally--have long predicted the Great Thai Real Estate Crash. All the indicators of AN (TVF) Econometrics have LONG been flashing doom: the critical condo lights-on-at-night count, the red-plates-on-cars count, the lines-at-the-bank count, and the shopping bags count. COVID was the last nail in the coffin and prices were confidently predicted to bottom out last year. Prospective buyers were advised to wait just a little longer--the CRASH was imminent.

I've had two strong recommendations for Dr. Nitivadee Teeyapan-Songdej. After a biopsy she excised an ugly skin cancer for one of my old friends, and he's had no further problems, extremely satisfied. a Board Certified Specialist in Dermatology and Aesthetic Laser Surgery. She has practiced in the U.S.A for 15 years and has received training in over five countries. http://www.lanitivadee.com/ Like Dr. Anna, not cheap but worth it.

You have to prove your identity and that you are enrolled in SS. The card is the necessary proof enabling them to verify your identity and check on your enrollment. My office stopped giving out separate insurance cards years ago.

Inspection tells you whether the walls are paper thin. Walls tend to be thicker in older buildings. I'm a fan of older, well-maintained buildings. In the better condos, neighbors tend not be noisy, at least regularly. Many are mostly absent, esp in resort areas where the condo is a vacation home. If your neighbors are too noisy, you can work things out by talking to them and even complaining to the condo management. Very different situation than living in cheap apts or fleabag hotels with mostly Thais and farang drunks around.

Nobody told you, OMG. And your lifestyle interrupted for 10 months. SO sad.???? And your business, destroyed? How much time in ICU, where a friend of mine died of COVID? He had taped a "Do Not Resuscitate" notice to the side of his bed. That interruption will last a bit longer than 10 months. Me, I've never invested in Thailand. I only buy to consume and enjoy. I lack the expertise, as do most expats, no matter their pretensions. If you know what you're doing, as @newnative and his partner do, and are willing to work hard, then you can make some good money. I know a Belgian engineer who owned a small factory employing Thai workers. Now that was a real challenge. Speaks fluent Thai, conducted his own sales presentations, made a pile and sold to a large Japanese company. Super guy, smart, calm, patient, resilient. Deserved his high return. Otherwise, you may end up like these idiots: Pattaya residents and expats accuse bank manager of fraud, hold protest Around 50 to 100 Thais and foreigners in Pattaya held a protest last Friday accusing the assistant manager of a local Kasikorn Bank branch of scamming them out of more than 300 million baht. A report was filed back in February accusing the assistant bank manager of defrauding people out of millions of baht, for some it was their life savings, by promising high returns for investments. --https://thethaiger.com/news/other-news/pattaya-residents-and-expats-accuse-bank-manager-of-fraud-hold-protest For the average naif, I suggest only buying a property that will become your home--if want your own place. And that only after due diligence. I haven't yet seen a need for the requisite Plan B yet as I still enjoy my life in Pattaya. It's been smooth sailing for decades. Posters, usually renters, promoting Plan Bs are mostly paranoid and disgruntled, even already plagued by hellish brain-eating Whither Thailand? and Whither Pattaya? space monkeys. Now one can try this remedy: I recommended this solution to one of our stricken members and, incredibly, he's made some progress. But most find the only remedy is to leave. Find happiness elsewhere and so improve the signal/noise ratio on the forum. Expats who return to Blighty are all just happy as clams and no longer inundate the forum with whinges. Bug out bag, hmmm. Now, no thread daring suggest the mere possibility of buying property in Thailand is complete without mentioning the classic, shrewd, street-smart AN (TVF) Poster Three Primal Laws Of Survival In Thailand. They've been formulated from countless disasters over the many years wherein expats have lost their ENTIRE LIFE SAVINGS--never less. 1. Never invest in anything you aren't ready to lose; 2. Never own more than you can carry with you; 3. Keep your suitcase packed at all times. You got to be ready to head for exits at just any moment before you lose everything, Quoting one or more of the Laws gives you ten (+10) instant points of posting cred from renting brigade. Looks like you hit #1 and were close on #3, bingo.

Worked for a few years with a Thai company and enrolled in the system then. HIGHLY recommended for anyone under 60: work with a Thai employer who offers the benefit.

I am Foreigner in Thailand with Pink ID Card that serves as my SS card. I pay Thai SS about B450 a month. I paid nothing for an eye exam, back X-ray, CT Virtual Colonoscopy, and a few meds (for nothing chronic) just a couple of months ago. Close enuff.

I don't submit any TM30 receipt, just a copy of my pink card.

No.

Merely hot air, since you don't really know. There have been reports of not having to pay the foreigner surcharge at some hsps if one used a pink ID to register at the hsp. I get free healthcare from Thai SS (well, I pay B450 or so per month), but I also re-registered at the local gov't hsps nearby for times I don't want to bother traveling to my registered hospital. Worth doing if it works; if not, they're still cheap and for anything major I'll use SS.

Earlier this year to renew my 5-year I used my yellow book in lieu of residency certificate at the Chonburi DLT. The lucky part was not even having to take an eye test or reaction test. I was out in about 20 minutes.????

I've had two strong recommendations for Dr. Nitivadee Teeyapan-Songdej. After a biopsy she excised an ugly skin cancer for one of my old friends, and he's had no further problems, extremely satisfied. a Board Certified Specialist in Dermatology and Aesthetic Laser Surgery. She has practiced in the U.S.A for 15 years and has received training in over five countries. http://www.lanitivadee.com/ Like Dr. Anna, not cheap but worth it.

Actual certificates. Then taped together and used to shelter on a sidewalk from the sun and rain. Near Walking Street, perhaps. Lot of simplistic binary thinking here. I much prefer to think in terms of both/and, not either/or. Why deprive oneself needlessly?

Who knows (not you) or cares? In my experience, in a large building, none. Little self-serving anecdotes prove nothing. One owner supposedly "bolted," but we'd need a legal deposition to know the exact reason, which may have been some trivial snowflake reason. Maybe needed to go get extra photocopies for Immigration. Some of our members find that request just absolutely devastating. Or, maybe he didn't "bolt" at all but simply left for the free healthcare in Blighty or somesuch practical reason. Living in Thailand permanently does take due diligence. Some helpless farang fail to do that, having no agent who might have held their hands and done it for them--as one might expect in this population. Owners in my building often rent out their units when they're away for extended periods, as they often are, using their condo for vacations. Great thing about resorts. OP, buy a unit with a sea view in a resort.???? Only busy during high season. Yeah, more "bolting" would make for a quieter building. It's good that everyone has the freedom to rant and "bolt" whenever they choose. Our posters have a typical response to the departure announcement, too. If that leaves the unit(s) to be seized and sold by the JP and the proceeds used for building maintenance, then all to the good. Now the supposed "multi-millionaire" wasn't an owner, and for all the supposed wealth and free rent couldn't afford the trivial expense of a long-term visa and instead put himself to a lot of bother. So he was basically, and rightly, kicked out by Immigration, assuming you didn't make it all up. (Yeah, we do that here.) Good on 'em. Irrelevant example.

Exactly, nothing to worry about. Main worry for the old fossils here is a phishing email with an offer for curing erectile dysfunction, BPH, or growing dementia. Or, say, a fake demand from facebook, gmail, or a bank that they change their passwords and info at a fake site. Get an earlier version. But then, being ultra cautious, you'll want to be sure you ignore this warning from Kapersky that came in today, obviously a plot by the Russians: A report from Kaspersky today provides technical details about CosmicStrand, from the infected UEFI component to deploying a kernel-level implant into a Windows system at every boot. The entire process consists of setting up hooks to modify the operating system loader and take control of the entire execution flow to launch the shellcode that fetches the payload from the command and control server. --CosmicStrand UEFI malware found in Gigabyte, ASUS motherboards