shows

I hope these Roman weren't waiting for Jesus to turn up as they patrolled Calvary (on horses or not)?

Not all is perfect in Australia as one blithering idiot found out!

www.9news.com.au/national/2014/08/16/15/08/joe-hockey-s-driver-caught-stopping-in-disabled-space

My favourite at the moment, for lunch, is The Sathorn at Mode Hotel right off Surasak BTS. 499bt nett including water/soft drink, tea/coffee.

Another is Mistral at Pullman Silom Road - cost I think is 599bt but either with free water or free tea/coffee - the best value is to take the water costs 60bt. Coffee is 120bt for a pretty nasty tasting cup. Good buffet selection and lovely staff in both.

I had cataract surgery at The Big Named hospital in the Nana area in 2002. It was an experience I would not like to repeat. My mother had her cataracts done at almost the same time in Australia. She had full anaesthetic. I was given, on both occasions, a local. My face looked like I'd been in the ring with Ali for at least 60 seconds - I can't float like a butterfly. My mother had no outward signs at all. I will also say that when it came time for the operation on the second eye I questioned the nurse as to why she was putting the dilation drops in the eye that had already been done. 'Solly' was her only response!

Last year I saw an ophthalmologist in Australia to see if my eyes needed any attention. He asked me when the operation had been done. I told him 2002. He asked if I meant 1992.

No, I told him, 2002. He told me that the style of operation I had been given (I don't know the technicalities) ceased in Australia in 1995 and there was ocular fluid leaking from the operation which he said was not something to worry about. NOT WORRY ABOUT!!

Previous to choosing to have the operation at that hospital I had been to one off Silom where the ophthalmologist (let's say quack) after 2 examinations told me I didn't have cataracts! and the clinic in Asoke who told me, before I had seen a doctor, that they had a special price on this operation this week.

You can see why I am cynical about medical procedures here. I'm sure there are good doctors but with that experience and 2 others which have been unsuccessful I am loath to let any doctor near me for more than a cold (when they still prescribe antibiotics!).

The cost back then was around 45,000 baht for each eye. That was at least 10,000 more than I had been quoted. As I was insured I let the insurance cover that bit of misinformation and question it if they thought fit.

Just take care with whom you choose (you only have 2 eyes) and get the cost in writing if you are paying yourself. And question any extras because they will be there.

I wernt to Major Hollywood yesterday for Retirement visa, Re-entry, 90 day reporting. I left home (Chong Nonsi) at 9.30am (for the 10.30 start) and was back home by 12.30pm - all complete.

They are open before 10.30am. They have a very good pre-checking procedure which is carried out before you are given a number so anyone without the proper documentation doesn't clog up the works.

The busiest part was re-entry visas as obviously a lot of foreign workers were wanting to return home for Songkran.

i have nothing but praise and only wish Chang Watanna worked in a similar and efficent way.

Although unrelated to this but seemingly in the same vein I am about to apply for a renewal of my Retirement Visa based on the 65,000 baht a month criteria proved by a Statement signed by the Australian Embassy (and a letter from my pensions fund if necessary, but which I've never had to show in the 6 years I've been doing this).

I bring in money as I need it and do spend a lot on Australian bank credit cards but I never have anything near 800,000 baht in my Thai bank account. I will have the bank letter and bank book.

I know the procedure and documents backwards but I would be grateful for any updates as I will have only 2 days to get things sorted before leaving for an extended stay overseas (on a new passport! - oh yes, it's all happening!)

Has anyone had any problems renewing their visa in this way at the temporary Immigration posts in Bangkok?

Thanks.

BruceL while giving sound information was a little simplistic. Governments are not known for making laws/guidelines simple and logical.

I am an Australian of retirement age who, if I was living in Australia, would be eligible for at least a part pension BUT as I had moved here before retirement age to get the benefits I have to move back to Australia. I can get the pension immediately I move back BUT I could not retain it if I then chose to live outside Australia before a period of 2 years had passed irrexpective of whether I'd worked and paid taxes for 30+ years!!

This is the relevant section: If you returned to live in Australia and were granted or transferred to Age Pension within the last two years, you will not be able to receive your Age Pension outside the country. After you return, to be paid outside the country, you must have been living in Australia for two years since your last arrival for residence. If you travel to a country that Australia has a social security agreement with, you may be able to continue to get your payment under that social security agreement.

Oh it's not often I wish I was a Brit but this is one of them! OR that Thailand was a country with a reciprocal social security agreement.

I don't think this is much to be proud of when you consider the appalling wages and, in many cases, conditions the staff work for and under. Although I enjoy the prices part of me is appalled when I'm paying more for a night's accommodation than the staff serving me incredibly well will get for week's salary! And do they get all or even part of the 10% service charge automatically added to the bill?

Pay the staff at even half the salary level of the Western European/Australian hotels and see what the cost would be!

Emporium has one as well.

But if you see a Yamazaki shop elsewhere, it's the same - a slightly different selection of products but I think the breads will be mostly the same.

I find Yamazaki bread as good as any bread here, but why do they have to cut the slices so thick???

It's the thick slices that I like! Just eat one slice instead of two! I like to put a huge slab of Emmatal cheese and raspberry jam between two slices and then toast lightly in butter .............yummmmmm

But it's SO THICK you can't put it in a toaster! I have tried to tell them - I get that ';who do you think you are', Thai look. Sometimes I can get the bread uncut - I buy more than usual then. But it is farang bread, not that sweet Thai stuff that you wouldn't feed to ducks. It's too thick for toast and twice as thick as sandwich slices. At least leave some uncut for those who don't think the world's greatest invention was sliced bread!

This is very old news for any patient treated in a hospital. I hope that those in an outpatient situation, capable of getting their own medication, get a script or note of the name of the medication from the physician to obtain the medication from a pharmacy outside the hospital. The mark up on medications within the hospital situation is a bloody disgrace. And over-prescription would have me suspect that physicians are on a kickback but would I suggest that???

shows posted

I am a long term resident of Thailand (15 years) who was watching the only "live" coverage I could get from my hospital bed outside Thailand on BBC World. I was STUNNED at the coverage. I saw it as one-sided and with none of the analysis I would expect from a news organisation I respect and admire. When I read the article in The Nation this morning I felt my opinion to have been vindicated.

Tha is because you are a Democrat/yellow/PAD supporter, and I have no problem with that. I guess I can now be considered a "long term resident", if you add 4 years I worked here in the 80's, to the decade I have now lived here. and I view the Nations articles as stidently one sided as you can get - far more than CNN or the BBC.

Depends on what side you are viewing it from

I'm glad you can classify me in any way from my posting. I have no political allegiance in Thailand - it too alien for me to understand. I was just commenting on the coverage I saw on the BBC from abroad which did not take into account any of the complicated social and political problems that beset the country. I have much sympathy for the real Red Shirt protesters but I have little sympathy with their strident leadership and none whatsover with the paramilitary black-shirted brigade. That said that is not the topic. I was only and still am only commenting on the coverage from the BBC (and I expect Australian ABC) for not taking a wider more informed perspective - after all they did have 2 months to do just a little research!

I am a long term resident of Thailand (15 years) who was watching the only "live" coverage I could get from my hospital bed outside Thailand on BBC World. I was STUNNED at the coverage. I saw it as one-sided and with none of the analysis I would expect from a news organisation I respect and admire. When I read the article in The Nation this morning I felt my opinion to have been vindicated.

I don't want to take sides in the political argument only on the coverage which had none of the depth we got a few weeks later when Athens had violent riots which were covered with cause and effect commentary.

I think the one-sided coverage of the situation in Bangkok and Thailand as a whole for this event meant that many people world-wide remain ignorant of the many problems besetting the country which need to be discussed if only to get both sides of the political argument to look beyond their personal bank balances and spread some of the wealth fairly and equitably to areas of need. But that said the Army, for whatever reason and on whoever's orders, deserves congratulations for its handling of an awful situation which would not have been tolerated in many of our more politically "sophisticated" societies as the article quite correctly points out.

I had a Thai friend in Australia with what sounds like the same problem. He was very embarrassed. By the time I'd got him to the doctor it was hospital. Would he stay? NO - he kept sneaking out for some REAL Laos Food!

The THIRD time I got him to hospital the doctor put him in one quite isolated so he couldn't escape. He was there for 3 months! After the operation the wound was left open. When nurses tried to change the dressing on day one he fainted with the pain. After that they would "put him out" just to change the dressing and a doctor changed the dressing, not the nursing staff. This went on for over a week.

Three months in hospital did have 2 great effects - he learned English and he began to understand Australian politics (there was an election on at the time).

Anyway what I'm saying is that if HE had followed proper medical advice at the beginning the end result would not be the huge crater he now has on one buttock.

I, like the poster Samasama, have little faith in Thai medical practices - GET THE MONEY, dam_n THE CONSEQUENCES - as I'm about to go back to Oz to have a procedure redone which Bumrungrad charged me around 500,000 baht to fix!! They didn't and their only response was "Do it again!" NO WAY MATE!

BUT don't let the initial problem get out of hand. It is a nasty thing and will make you VERY ill!

All the best anyway.

Marshbags

As I said above get in touch with Tony at www.e-insurethailand.com and he will send you a summary of a number of different plans and different costs. Very detailed for a comparison. It does include LMU but also gives others BUT precluding pre-existing conditions are a condition of all of them.

Godolphin

The expat insurance I had in Australia was a QBE policy through the broker Marsh Pty Ltd Expat Med

[email protected]

Payment is extremely easy via credit card and their web site.

I will say that for the 16 years I was a member they were excellent. You can submit a claim by email. I have never had a claim questioned.

I am not sure how they react to individual cover as when I commenced I was working but it did continue once I had retired.

As I said part of the policy NOW says - it didn't 2 years ago - that they will not pay claims for anyone over 65 years of age which is why I've been hunting.

The international part of the business is done by AXA.

This year I had a major medical expense and except when I ran over my pharmaceutical limit because of the exorbitant rates the hospitals charge for medicines (I can buy them for a third to a half cheaper at any reputable chemist) they covered most of my costs.

I've been very satisfied and would recommend them. They also cover you if you are ill in Australia for costs not covered by Medicare such as private hospital treatment.

I have had excellent expat insurance from Australia which, whether it is contrary to the law or not, ceases when I'm 65 - this year! So I've been hunting. There is certainly nothing I have found that comes near the reasonableness of their rates BUT as I've been hospitalised this year and the cost was 500,000 bt (and counting!) even the most expensive insurance is worth it - I mean insurance is for emergencies and you always live in hope you wan't need it.

I've been through a few plans but the best summary of many I've come across is from www.e-insurethailand.com.

I was sent a couple of pages summarising the benefits and giving the costs of a selection of insurers. I found the chap who rang me to discuss the matter very personable. I've not yet bought the product but the summary is very helpful.

The important thing is that there are policies for even the over 80s. And they are not cheap but neither are a few days in hospital.

I hope that is helpful.