mls

When I go to the consul this week to see about confirmation that my new passport is valid, I will also drop in to the immigration office and find out how long the proof of income letter will be valid for and also how much in advance one can apply for a visa renewal. I will post the results here so you all know.

Have been thinking that it might be simpler to have a bank account with 800,000 baht in it if I could find one that pays better interest than the standard savings account. Will have to do some calculations, but if I lose less in interest than the 2400 odd Baht it costs for the letter from the British Embassy, would be worth it, especially as would save more in special delivery post or petrol to and from Bangkok. Anyone know of any good interest paying bank accounts?

Well quite a lot of suggestions, but think Pontious has the best solution and yes, good idea to just go and ask at the office.

By picking all your brains, was hoping to save a trip to Jomtien, but as it's just a tad closer than Bangkok and somewhat quieter, think will go over next week and check both immigration and British Consul office.

I did cut my old passport correctly as recommended on the info sent with it. My visas are all intact.

Will see what transpires next week, but thanks to all for your input.

There were some information leaflets about cutting the corner off the old passport, but unfortunately have binned it all. Very unlike me as usually keep everything, but moving soon so have been clearing stuff out.

Any other suggestions?

That letter has always been required but UK has never provided it - but believe you can use receipt of some type instead. Perhaps someone doing the UK process and provide details.

I presume you are talking about the confirmation of passport cancellation. I have no receipts as it was all done on-line and then posted to HK and paid for on credit card. No receipt supplied. So seems the only thing will be a letter from the Brit consul.

As the Pattaya British Consular office is due to close before the end of the month, I was wondering if I could get my letter showing proof of income for my retirement visa before they do so.

My visa is due for renewal by 29th January.

One other query - I have a new passport and was told at my last 90 day reporting that I should transfer my visa into this. I went the next day with all the relevant photocopies I was told they wanted and was then told by an officer (in uniform) that I needed a letter from the consulate to confirm my old passport had been cancelled. As this is automatically done as soon as you apply for a British new passport I thought he was joking, but apparently not (don't think they ever joke!).

Can anyone confirm if I also need another letter confirming my old passport has been cancelled?

Thanks.

Thanks johnito and stevef, but I have found someone who is coming round tomorrow to pick them up.

However, if by some chance he can't take them all I will get in touch.

We have 14 beautiful multicoloured Koi Carp looking for a new home.

We are moving house and the new place does not have a pond. We were going to build one in the garden with the permission of the owner but realise that this will take a long time and be rather expensive so feel the best solution would be to re-home our fish.

Our Koi are nothing 'special' just raised from 4 inch cheap market fish to their present size of about 12 inches.

If anyone could take them all, would be great. No charge. But if you can re-house a few that's fine too.

Please PM me if you can help.

A man who has sex with men is not necessarily gay. Bisexuals are of both sexes. For a relationship to work, the woman has to understand that there are some things, sexually, that only a man can give a man, as there are things that only a woman can give a man. If the man is truly bisexual it is unlikely that he would be able to stay sexually faithful to the woman as his needs might change. However, a relationship with a woman is more likely to last in terms of love and affection. If as a woman you can understand his needs, then I would say it is easier to deal with him having sex with another man than another woman as it would more likely be only sexual gratification and not emotional.

As for ladyboys, a lot of men are attracted to someone who has both breasts and male sexual organs as they get the best of both worlds!

I'm afraid my opinion of Thai Government hospitals is not good.

My Thai partner's mother had some eye problems and went to the largest Government hospital in her home province. They didn't have the drugs to treat her and expected her family to try and track them down. The treatment made no difference and she gradually got sicker. After lots of tests and a different doctor with different ideas every week, she was referred to Siriraj in Bangkok. They had no beds so eventually I paid for a room, though she could only have that if a member of her family stayed with her all the time. After another multitude of tests at both hospitals and lots of drugs that were given without diagnosis (they treated for TB before they had the results - she didn't have it). They sent her home, she got worse so was taken back to the local hospital. They wanted her to go back to Siriraj, but again no beds and no ambulance to transfer her. By this time her blood pressure and platelets had dropped dangerously low and she needed oxygen. She was given transfusions and after almost a month she was finally taken up to Siriraj, not in an ambulance but a car, sitting all the way with no medical support. Again, a multitude of tests, admission to ICU and back to a ward, but still no diagnosis except that she had a lung tumour. By this time her kidneys were failing so they did a bone marrow biopsy. She died before we got the results. No final diagnosis except they thought she had disseminated cancer, probably hepatic and the lung tumour was likely to be secondary. The family agreed to an autopsy but the doctor didn't get them to sign the consent so it was never done. My partner is very upset that him mother went from having an eye problem to death in under 6 months and he has never been told why. I cannot believe that someone can go downhill so quickly either.

As he had also been losing weight and couldn't keep food down, he went to the Pattaya Government hospital (we live in Pattaya). Lots of tests and irrelevant drugs given to him and when he saw the doctor for the so-called diagnosis he was told he had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Total crap. If the doctor had ever seen anyone with CFS he would have known. The waits were very lengthy, the doctor's English quite poor and the time allowed to see him minimal. Far too busy running through the results on his screen to listen to anything asked of him. Eventually went for a BOGOF health check at BPH and he was diagnosed with Helicobacter Pylori, Very common here and I have it too. We have both finished treatment and he can now eat without throwing it all up. Just need one more test to be sure it's gone. Doctor's English good minimal waiting.

I have health insurance here though it only covers for hospital stays, not for outpatients. I would not chance my health in a Government hospital where the English seems to be only spoken by the doctors and you really need a translator for anything else. Most insurance companies will charge a higher premium the older you are and will not insure people over a certain age if they have not been insured with them for some time.

I would recommend buying health insurance as soon as you can to cover in-patient and accidents and make sure you have money saved to cover out-patients. If you end up with a major illness you should be covered for out-patient treatment related to a hospital stay, but it will have a limit.

At the end of the day, although a lot of the private hospitals are over priced, it seems you still get what you pay for.

Hope this helps and good luck with whatever you decide.

I'm afraid my opinion of Thai Government hospitals is not good.

My Thai partner's mother had some eye problems and went to the largest Government hospital in her home province. They didn't have the drugs to treat her and expected her family to try and track them down. The treatment made no difference and she gradually got sicker. After lots of tests and a different doctor with different ideas every week, she was referred to Siriraj in Bangkok. They had no beds so eventually I paid for a room, though she could only have that if a member of her family stayed with her all the time. After another multitude of tests at both hospitals and lots of drugs that were given without diagnosis (they treated for TB before they had the results - she didn't have it). They sent her home, she got worse so was taken back to the local hospital. They wanted her to go back to Siriraj, but again no beds and no ambulance to transfer her. By this time her blood pressure and platelets had dropped dangerously low and she needed oxygen. She was given transfusions and after almost a month she was finally taken up to Siriraj, not in an ambulance but a car, sitting all the way with no medical support. Again, a multitude of tests, admission to ICU and back to a ward, but still no diagnosis except that she had a lung tumour. By this time her kidneys were failing so they did a bone marrow biopsy. She died before we got the results. No final diagnosis except they thought she had disseminated cancer, probably hepatic and the lung tumour was likely to be secondary. The family agreed to an autopsy but the doctor didn't get them to sign the consent so it was never done. My partner is very upset that him mother went from having an eye problem to death in under 6 months and he has never been told why. I cannot believe that someone can go downhill so quickly either.

As he had also been losing weight and couldn't keep food down, he went to the Pattaya Government hospital (we live in Pattaya). Lots of tests and irrelevant drugs given to him and when he saw the doctor for the so-called diagnosis he was told he had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Total crap. If the doctor had ever seen anyone with CFS he would have known. The waits were very lengthy, the doctor's English quite poor and the time allowed to see him minimal. Far too busy running through the results on his screen to listen to anything asked of him. Eventually went for a BOGOF health check at BPH and he was diagnosed with Helicobacter Pylori, Very common here and I have it too. We have both finished treatment and he can now eat without throwing it all up. Just need one more test to be sure it's gone. Doctor's English good minimal waiting.

I have health insurance here though it only covers for hospital stays, not for outpatients. I would not chance my health in a Government hospital where the English seems to be only spoken by the doctors and you really need a translator for anything else. Most insurance companies will charge a higher premium the older you are and will not insure people over a certain age if they have not been insured with them for some time.

I would recommend buying health insurance as soon as you can to cover in-patient and accidents and make sure you have money saved to cover out-patients. If you end up with a major illness you should be covered for out-patient treatment related to a hospital stay, but it will have a limit.

At the end of the day, although a lot of the private hospitals are over priced, it seems you still get what you pay for.

Hope this helps and good luck with whatever you decide.

Hi Cheeryble,

I have high cholesterol levels too and have had for years. My GP in the UK wanted me to go on Statins which I was reluctant to do but eventually gave in. However, after a month I could hardly get up stairs for the pain in my leg muscles and had constant headaches so I stopped them and my GP didn't press me to take them again. I read up on cholesterol levels and Statin use and found a telling paragraph in the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (1994 edition), the yellow book all junior hospital doctors in the UK have in their pockets to crib from.

Here is a quote I found most relevant with regards to testing cholesterol levels:

"Half the UK population have a cholesterol level which is thought to contribute markedly to CHD, but careful meta-analyses keep on showing that treating any but the highest cholesterols incresases deaths from other causes (notably violent deaths). A real danger is to turn healthy people into patients chronically anxious about a hyperlipidaemia, when the risks and benefits of a life-time of treatment are uncertain. It may be healthier not to know."

It goes on to say that cholesterol levels alone should not be used when deciding to treat. All other factors should be taken into account.

Since reading that I have come across many articles and studies showing that the use of Statins for high cholesterol is not all it's cracked up to be by the medical profession and certainly not by the drug companies. I'm afraid I can't point you in any relevant direction as I read and digest and unless I write down the source I forget where it comes from! Basically from what I've read they seem to say that lowering cholesterol alone will not prevent cardiac disease and could actually damage the heart.

LDL comes in two types/sizes of cell. One which is more likely to cause cardiac problems and the other which isn't and there are new tests which can determine the type of LDL one has, though I doubt they're available here yet. There is also the importance of having good levels of Vitamin D, which is needed for heart function as well as other things. Have also seen lot of new information on the benefits of coconut oil, a saturated fat, which has now been shown to actually reduce LDL and increase HDL.

We do need cholesterol for proper functioning of our bodies and I feel that arbitrarily lowering it may not be such a good thing especially as it can be detrimental to liver, brain and nervous system health. As everyone here has said, what works for one won't necessarily work for another.

I get a regular e-mailed newsletter from Dr Mercola (you can find him via Google) and although some of the news is a bit repetitive there are some very useful articles particularly relating to diet, exercise and cholesterol. I'm not advocating that one takes everything he says as gospel and he isn't totally altruistic as he has a lot of supplements for sale, but he does back up his medical information with interviews with specialists and research papers.

I know what you were really looking for was some useful leads to data, and I hope you have found them somewhere in this thread. So good luck with your research and I do hope you come to the conclusion that you don't need Statins. I really don't know why, but I have come to feel very strongly that they are one of the worst drugs out there and are being touted as the magic bullet to solve the western cardiac disease dilemma.

I'd rather have a shorter, good quality life than a longer one popping pills for one thing and then having to pop more to counteract the side effects.

It certainly hasn't taken any longer than 12 hours to brew up.

I think it's crazy that people don't take care of their health. Especially with regards the intestines as that is where all our nutrition starts. So if that's not working how do we expect anything else to. But it's up to them if they want to spend a fortune on hospital and doctor bills when most of the time it's what you eat that creates the problems or the health depending on what you chose.

I'm certainly carrying on with this. May use a bit more milk than usual, but saves on buying ready made yoghurt and it's nice to be able to culture your own probiotics.

Bottled my first 4 litres of Ginger beer. Not happy with it though. It doesn't have much fizz, it tastes too sweet and the ginger flavour isn't strong enough. Am adjusting the feeding of my next batch (added some yeast to increase the fermenting) and think will reduce the sugar content when I bottle. Have 3 bottles and have not touched 2. Am hoping that if I leave those a few days longer they may improve.

If I get to a 'plant' that really works, will pass some on to you when it gets divided if you like.

Been getting a batch every day since the day after I picked up the grains. Split into two jars as didn't have anything big enough to take the milk and leave space for expansion. Oddly one was quicker than the other - started late evening and was ready by mid-day the next day, the other jar took a little longer. I reckon the first two lots were about 200ml each and probably drank half of that. My partner tried it and said it tasted like milk gone off! He looks at me as if I'm nuts. Ha ha! Well that's what it is, but it doesn't taste like it to me.

Didn't put what had already fermented in the fridge as Dom said it can be smoother if it's left out to ferment a bit more and can increase the vitamin content. Over the last few days I seem to have been straining and renewing twice a day, once in the morning and once before bed. Am now drinking 2 small glasses a day from the storage jar before I put the newly made in. Sometimes the stuff in the jar separates out but just stir it back together and it does taste a bit less acid than the freshly made.

The grains have doubled in volume and today decided to put them back all together in one jar. Don't know if the fact that the milk is cold from the fridge might slow it all down a bit, but it certainly doesn't take long to brew. Not putting that much milk in either.

Now have around 400ml stored so if I'm not careful will have far too much to be able to drink. Oddly my street dog loves it (he gets the straining bowl to lick when I'm done) but our other little dog will only take a few licks before she's had enough. She loves yoghurt pots though.

Not noticed any physical changes as yet, but can't expect anything much as it hasn't even been a week yet.

So all in all going pretty well and will also have enough grains to give away shortly!

<br />

<br />You're not wrong! The ones you gave me last week have already doubled in volume.<br /><br />Will PM you later to let you know how it's going.<br />

<br /><br />There doesn't seem to be many people in Pattaya interested in kefir. You're the only person in Pattaya who wanted free grains. I'll have to start eating them instead lol.<br />

Think I might have a go at doing the water Kefir as well or having a look to see what else can be made with the grains as I'm the only one that likes it so going to have far too much soon!

You're not wrong! The ones you gave me last week have already doubled in volume.

Will PM you later to let you know how it's going.

Hi,

I live in Pattaya and have been looking for some Kefir grains.

Do you still have them available? If so I would love to have some.

I live Banglamung/North Pattaya but have a car so can meet up anywhere.

Thanks

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Sounds like Euro Optic might be the place to try first. My prescription in the UK cost around £400 3 years ago, so anything under 20,000 Baht will be cheaper even at the present sterling exchange rate.

However, am due at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital for a check up on something else in a fortnight, so might ask my doctor there what he thinks. Though am pretty sure he will want me to test there - extra income for the hospital!

Will let you all know how I get on, for future reference.

Thank again

mls

Hi Soidog2,

One thing you don't mention about growing tomatoes (non-Thai) is when to plant.

Does it matter or is there an optimum time of year to sow seed? Do the seeds germinate better if you soak them first?

Haven't grown tomatoes in years and then it was in the UK. Been thinking of trying them in raised beds to avoid water-logging. Would that work here?

Thanks for all your other info.

Can anyone recommend a good quality optician in Pattaya - any area - that will provide a full eye test (including glaucoma test) and is able to provide quality transitional/varifocal and reactolite lenses and frames.

I have scar tissue on one retina from an old operation and really like to keep a check on it, so the test needs to be thorough.

Would be grateful for positive personal experiences (negative useful too - always good to know where not to go).

I still have my UK prescription card, but am well overdue for a test and have no plans to be returning to the UK.

Thanks in advance.

Been searching for a safe timber treatment to use on wooden compost bin and raised planters to grow veggies.

Found LifeTime Timber Treatment at www.lifetimewoodtreatment.co.uk/store/index.asp

Not too expensive and order arrived in 5 days. Company is extremely helpful, based in UK, product from Canada. Is primarily to stop rot, fungi and mould, but am told that makes timber less palatable to wood boring insects too.

For all those of you looking for something that will treat your timber but not harm the environment or your precious crops, this might be worth a try as it doesn't leach out of the timber and is even safe for fish...

Hope info useful.

I posted a previous query about finding a safe timber treatment to use for building a compost bin and possibly raised planters.

After some extensive research on the web I found a UK company that supplies a product called LifeTime Timber Treatment.

www.lifetimewoodtreatment.co.uk/store/index.asp

This is totally non-toxic even to fish and the timber only needs to be treated once. The product is made in Canada. As it is so safe it can be used for planters without fear of nasty chemicals leaching into your precious veggies. Although it is only for prevention of rot, moulds and fungi, the company tell me that it makes the wood less palatable to wood boring insects so hopefully that will help too.

I have already received my order - only took 5 days which is a first for mail for me - usually takes much longer. Will see how it goes as am treating softwood and it will be in contact with the ground.

Anyone out there looking for something similar for building or farming, the company was extremely helpful and efficient, so well worth a try.

I am about to build a compost bin out of timber (reclaimed softwood from pallets) and would like to treat it to prevent it rotting or getting eaten too quickly. I have looked at the timber treatments available in the usual HomePro type stores but am not sure if the chemicals in the treatments would be harmful to my compost (and therefore my plants) or to the wildlife around and in it. Would be grateful if someone could advise on which timber treatments are safe to use and as 'green' as possible and stockists local to Pattaya (am North/Bang Lamung).

On the same subject, I was going to use galvanised nails to build my bin but... Has anyone ever seen galvanised nails here in Thailand/Pattaya? Had expected them to be easily available considering the climate, but everyone has looked at my sample blankly. Any suggestions for alternatives available here most gratefully received.

u might post a quick query int he do it yourself section of the housing forum; several guys there could probably direct u to galvanized nails/screws whatever.

same same for a query in the pet/vet forum: several times people have recommended good gardening books and also reptiles and snakes of thailand books... just cant remember. better to post separate queries for each thing to get some responses cause most folks in thaivisa dont wander through here in the organic forum unless they are really into organic.

bina

Thanks Bina,

Will try the other forums.

mls

I don't suppose UBC would dare to show a little rugby .

They showed it live last year, but can't find it anywhere on today's listings. Seems the only matches will be the French ones on the French channel.

Hi everyone,

I am about to build a compost bin out of timber (reclaimed softwood from pallets) and would like to treat it to prevent it rotting or getting eaten too quickly. I have looked at the timber treatments available in the usual HomePro type stores but am not sure if the chemicals in the treatments would be harmful to my compost or to the wildlife around and in it. Would be grateful if someone could give advice on which timber treatments are safe to use and as 'green' as possible.

On the same subject, I was going to use galvanised nails to build my bin but... Has anyone ever seen galvanised nails here in Thailand/Pattaya? Had expected them to be easily available considering the climate, but everyone has looked at my sample blankly. Luckily had a friend coming over from UK and he brought a couple of packs - which might just be enough for my bin - but it would be good to be able to source some for future use outdoors. So far all I've come up with is steel nails. Could use masonry nails of course but they will rust eventually too. Only other alternative for building wooden structures for permanence would probably be dowel, but that's a bit more time consuming.

Any suggestions most gratefully received.

On a different note, anyone have any recommendations for books on flora and fauna of Thailand - titles, publisher, author and where to buy around Pattaya or online would be great. Am really interested in identifying the plants in my garden and my various amphibian and reptilian visitors.

Thanks

mls