SantiSuk

Strikes me that living in an area where there are loads of falang is much riskier than living "in the sticks". I'm not saying that the latter is risk-free, but certainly less risky. For me the Bangkok's and Pattayas of this world are places to visit, not to live. Each to his own. You are welcome to express your contraray views that the rewards exceed the risks.

Got the dates wrong and cannot edit. First hip replacement was in August 2022 and second was in September 2023. Also the price both times was close to 650,000 baht.

Just to say that I can confirm your "double the price" comment about Bumrungrad Hospital Bangkok and the thumbs up for their physiotherapy department. I have had both hips replaced at Bumrungrad, the 1st 4 years ago and the second 2 years later. The cost both times was about 600,000 baht. That said, I was very pleased with the results and their physiotherapy department is first class. The Bumrunrad experience is like staying in a 5 star hotel. I was walking with a frame during the 4 day recovery period in-hospital the day after the op and with a stick 2 or 3 days later. I was walking unaided within a couple of weeks of the op. I have had no pains or walking difficulties since The surgeon was Dr Charlee Summatavanich who told me back then that, in addition to the high number of such operations he had successfully carried out, he was the chairman of the Thai-wide surgeons' group that conducts such operations.

Agreed - probably the best forward line up as individuals that we have seen in our lifetime (I go back beyond '66) and a few excellent attacking midfielders. Have a chance of winning if we play to that strength, but I fear Germany in particular will be able to crack our less than exciting defence. Our main weakness is Southgate - nowhere near the tactical quality of the top EPL coach/managers (Pep/Mikel/Ange/Jurgen, different league).

As you can see I live in Sisaket province. In my 15 years here I have had experience of hospitalisation at Ubonrak and Rajavej in Ubon and recent experience of consultations with so-called specialists at Princ in Sisaket. Ubonrak is the only one of those 3 where I would contemplate having an operation. Rajavej is OK for walk-in consultations with a peripatetic doctor - they have two who seem to do most of the work fielding walk-in consultations - one is a cardiologist (he's good at that, and also good on diabetes for my other half) and the other a neurosurgeon (untested by me in his specialist area but seemed a good knowledgeable guy generally. So, Rajavej is probably not much use there specifcally for hernias, though they possibly do have an arrangement that brings in a specialist surgeon either from the big Ubon Public Hospital Sapphasit or potentially from any hospital in Isaan or even Bangkok. In any case I found being hospitalised in Rajavej (for Covid 3 years ago) to be a pretty soulless experience with little face to face contact with nurses or doctors (maybe just a covid thing) - the place looks/feels faded to me, as though It could be closed at any point. Ubonrak is much brighter and the staff are fine, meals are ok etc. I have not been impressed by the quality of supposed specialists at Sisaket's Princ hospital who were on various occasions recently lined up for me to consult about spine, colorectal and ENT issues. But first if you want to test out Ubon's capabilities you really need better local feedback about the capability of specific surgeons undertaking ingeunial hernia work in the city, with specifc emphasis on Ubonrak. I recommend that you join one or both of the Ubon expat facebook groups ("Ubon Expats" and "Ubon Ratchathani") and pose your questions there.

"Information on Medicare Malpractice on the so call one of the best Hospital in the World" Three (nay four glitches) glitches of English construction in one short title! Sack the proof reader.

*Spin the bottle and kisschase with the village girls in the local 'Wood' (small forest). Early to mid teens *Early more advanced sexual encounters. Groping the girl next doors magnificent boobs while deep kissing on her sofa when her parents were out. Non-penetrative experience until post university age *My 'gang'. A group of boy and girlfriends in our pre-teen and teen years. Completely non-threatning and no violence - just hanging out around the village and woods. *First record I bought - "Beatles For Sale" LP. Garrard automatic record player. *My father chasing upstairs and around the bed to smack my younger sister who was always naughty at bedtime ie noisy. *My sister's belief that me and 'my gang' were 'goody two shoes' *Pumping the local church organ and singing in the choir. Sunday school. *My parents' deep christian beliefs and the help my mother would give to anybody in trouble. I turned out as an agnostic but continue to follow my mother's lead in helping others where I can. My parents, other christians and our amazing local vicar (priest) were better for the village community than any social services provided by the state. I contrast what they did with the apparently inward-development approach of Buddhism. *Halloween. Knocking on doors with the gang and running away. Tying thin cotton to the knocker and knocking repeatedly from a distance. Staying at doors of likely suspects for treats. *Waiting down the road from the local church to collect money (small change) thrown out of cars of wedding parties after a marriage service - a local tradition *Learning to drive in my Dad's Ford Zephyr Zodiac with it's steering wheel stick gearchange. Failed 1st attempt as I struggled with the damn gearchange on a hill start and reversing manoeuvre. Had to retry via a driving instructor in an easy to drive Austin A40. *Watching Carlisle United home and away in my teens as they rose from 4th to first division. The most amazing acheivement in the history of British football at the time, according to Bill Shankly (revered Liverpool FC manager/coach in the 60s). *Holidays with a hired touring caravan. Annual summer fortnight touring around Scotland, always ending in Edinburgh and often visiting Britain's second only Indian restaurant before and during the explosion of foreign cuisines rescued the UK eating experience. *First foreign family overseas tour with a caravan. Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. An eye-opener and start of a love for travel *Family dinners. Always all 5 of us round the table. Good simple food cooked by my mother. Lots of talking and parental encouragement. Sometimes curries (my Dad having served as an Indian army captain in the 2nd half of WW2). Both parents and me/1st sister born Yorkshire. *Moving 4 times before university years. Doncaster to Southend to Carlisle to Norwich. Disruptive, but also great for ambition and perspective. Grew up quickly. *Overland drive from UK to India and back (the 'hippy trail') with two long wheelbase landrovers in my post Essex University years. Amazing. Great fun putting this together. Thank you OP. Have never explored my memories so intensively.

Nearly 4 years later I return to thank you for answering my questions of even longer ago. I'll be putting it to the test later this year or next. Got out of the habit of going "home" due to Covid and a full life here now.

My mistake. I thought the post had not worked the first time and pressed submit again. Haven't posted on this forum since ThaiVisa days. I guess you find all posts that do not accord with your own view as boring.

Should not pick on particular groups of people. A mask wearing rule should be applied to all people in specified high risk situations. Public transport, attendees at events where large groups congregate in enclosed situations. Those who have a specified health condition (which is what Thais typically did voluntarily before Covid - if sick they would choose to wear a mask to protect others - credit to them) My approach/attitude is based on personal experience of the effectiveness of masks in stopping the spread of bacterial infections. I have a lung condition called bronchiectasis (not the same as bronchitis). Sufferers are prone to pick up bacterial infections quite regularly and some of those can turn nasty. Prior to covid I would catch an infection that was unpleasant roughly 3 to 5 times a year and one of those typically would put me in hospital with a bad flu, pneumonia or worse every year. With the advent of covid I was a supporter of the Thai masking rules and wore them whenever outside. During (and since) covid I have had only one bacterial infection to speak of and that was easily cleared by standard antibiotics having not developed into the likes of flu/pneumonia. I am convinced that mask wearing has a significant effect on the reduction of serious bacterial infections (you will note that I cannot extend that determination to viral infections as I still get an occasional cold or runny nose).

Interested in any response. The concrete floor of my 15yo reserve/buffer tank (3m x 2m floor, 2m deep) is peeling scraps and could presumably leak one day. Thanks for posting

I recently (one month ago) had the denouement to having had a similar problem to yours - declining flow when pumping, poor suction when vacuuming and an obvious ingress of air in the system as evidenced by a frothy appearance of the flow at the pumps inspection lid. Also a noticeable thump had been detectable for a few moths when I switched the pump off. I should have attended to it earlier - the suction got so bad that I could not get the flow working through suction from the pool side alone and had to partially open the valve to allow water to come from the pool bottom to supplement flow and eventually even that was not helping enough. In the last couple of months before denouement i also experienced a slight water jet issuing up from the pump lid when I switched off. Then on the fateful day a month ago, when I switched the pump off, the thump from the system became a loud bang, the pump lid flew off about two feet high and I was partially drenched with water. The pump lid had cracked. The Emaux pump supplier, Swimming Pools Thailand said they had no experience of such a set of events. I was going to call Emaux but first looked up the internet, googling "water exploding from my pump lid" (or something along those lines). I found a relevant post by a pool specialist who said that air visible in the flow through the pump would have been a sign of a leak and the first place to look (and most likely culprit) would be the pump lid itself. If not there it could be any of the valves, the filter or pump itself. I sucked hard contemplating replacement of my entire system, but the internal contents of the pump room were only 3 years old (piping and main valves installed 12 years ago). I decided that if the pump inspection lid was the prime candidate I would replace that and see what happens. Bought replacement pump lids and seals from SPT and lubricated the seals heavily with silicone gel. Nothing else was changed but I did clean the reserve tank and the footer valve in there (it tends to need cleaning every month). With great trepidation I tried it out, this time facing well away from the pump. Success! The pump returned to a quieter operation with clearly better flow and only a bit of air in evidence. When I did my first vacuuming it was evident that the pump was sucking much stronger - back to as new in fact. Still not back to performance as new in terms of a small amount of air mixed in when viewed at the pump lid but the good suction and flow rate and the comforting soft noise I get when switching off now has persuaded me to put off the full replacement of valves, pipes filter and pump. I will watch carefully for deterioration and take action well before it all goes downhill again!

Picking up on this now old thread and avoiding the opinion fest on "the oldest profession", just to say that I think OnNut has net gained from the demise of the beer gardens cum pond at BTS OnNut and the increasing footfall in the Suk soi 50 entertainment alley (booze & food, rather than tugs & hugs) - opposite the Suk soi 50 car park entries for Lotus's OnNut - now that there are some good food options (nice crispy wood-fired pizzas, interesting selection of burgers and trimmings at Eazy Burger and the Japanese place on soi 50 itself (the latter seems to have recently moved out unfortunately?). Plus some bars where you can almost bank on being able to have a decent conversation with falangs and Thais (both genders) after 8pm - Cheap Charlies and the one to its right and left being in the forefront but there's two or three others which might have a good party vibe going on or some screened soccer on any particular night you call by. Just the opinion of an oldie (72) Brit expat who is glad he has a condo round the corner to mix with his Thai rural family existence in loveable Isaan. What do the younger-uns living here here think of SukSoi 50 alley?

I think maybe the OP is posting re the two beer gardens with food service right next to BTS on the outbound side. One had a pond in the middle. They vacated earlier this year AFAIK (irregular visitor to my condo in OnNut from Isaan during Covid).

We (me and my family from Sisaket Isaan) are supposed to be meeting up and staying with my Anglo-German nephew and his family at the Shangri-La Bangkok Hotel this Thursday and Friday night. The Shangri-La is on the river in the same area as the Mandarin, almost adjoining Saphan Taksin BTS station and just a couple of blocks west of Charoen Krung Rd. Bangkok Post last weekend were predicting that the Chao Praya would flood Charoen Krung Rd when the overload from the North arrives. They were talking specifically about Chinatown area. Knowing that area of Bangkok well (having stayed at the Shangri-La many times on business before retiring to Thailand 14 years ago and having owned a regularly-used condo in OnNut since retiring here) I would have thought that, if there is flooding in Chinatown, surely it will spread the few kilometers south and inundate those sois west of Charoen Krung Rd that contain Shangri-La and Saphan Taksin. Any thoughts? Has the Chao Praya overflowed into southern Chinatown before and did it get down to the area of which I speak? The hotel says 'we don't expect our area to flood' without giving specific reason for that confidence. They would say that wouldn't they.