Gaybutton

Does the UK have the same problem Thailand claims to have - foreigners getting hospital treatment and then skipping out on the bill?

Seems to me that's the way it comes across. "Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I didn't know it had to be yours." - Ed Asner (Lou Grant), 'Lou Grant'

"The day I don't like living in Thailand anymore, I know where the airport is." - Geezer

My own favorite was when I had a boy at my house and it was raining rather heavily when it was time for him to leave. I told him he should stay until the rain ends. He said, "No problem raining. I have condom." Of course, he was trying to convey he has a raincoat.

Not at all. In Pattaya there are plenty of them all over town, and now more of them than before. They're not just for farang and Thais. Most accommodate Thai couples who need a place to go other than at home with their entire families present. As stated above, if you want to off a boy and take him to a short-time room, why ask us? Ask the boys. They all know just where to go. Have a look here, and these are just some of them: http://www.pattayasweethearts.com/loveinns.htm

Of course I do, but your post said, "I wonder what your opinion will be when you reach 70 years and cannot get or afford health insurance here." Maybe I'm wrong, but that comes across as directed toward me. At age 70 my annual premium will likely be somewhere between US $4500 to $4700 based on the rate at which the premium has risen annually.

As much as I hate to disappoint you, I'm with Cigna Global. As long as I pay the premium, it's good for life.

I wish whoever wrote the article in the first place would have clarified exactly who this would apply to. The sentence that has me the most confused is "According to Nattawuth, the new rule applies to both new applicants for the non-immigrant visa (O-A), which offers a stay of up to one year, and those wishing to renew their visa. Each renewal is valid for one year." I don't know quite what to make of that. "Those wishing to renew their visa." Who does that apply to? Isn't renewing our retirement visa the same thing? We can quibble all we want about whether we are renewing or extending, but the only thing that counts is how immigration will see it. It doesn't make sense to me that people applying for an O-A visa would be required to prove health insurance, but those actually living in Thailand under the retirement visa would not have to meet the same requirement. Once again, we have confusion. "What we have here is failure to communicate." - Strother Martin (Captain), 'Cool Hand Luke'

Sometimes rules that are in effect are not enforced. There are also plenty of instances where various immigration offices, and even individual immigration officers, make up their own rules. I think many of us have heard plenty of those stories. I can understand why Thailand would want farang retirees to have medical insurance that covers inpatient. But outpatient - for 40,000 baht, which is less than US $1300 for a full year? In my opinion that is asinine. Why not simply require 40,000 baht to be held in a Thai bank account, just like that 800,000 baht? If they ever do put this rule into effect, maybe that will be an option. The bottom line is we simply don't know yet what to expect or how this will play out. I have no idea if this rule is actually in effect and being enforced. If it is being enforced, how? What would immigration require as proof of insurance? All I know is when I renewed my retirement visa this past Friday, nothing was even mentioned about medical insurance. That means either nothing about this is being enforced or I just happened to renew my visa on the last day it could be done without showing proof of insurance. At the time of this post, so far all we have is a couple confusing news articles and a lot of people talking without having any idea what the hell they're talking about. I'm a believer in "Don't worry until you have something to worry about." If my visa renewal experience is any indication, then at least for now there is nothing to worry about. If anyone wants to worry, then if you are living in Thailand without medical insurance, unless you are independently wealthy that's what to worry about - rule or no rule. In my opinion people in the retirement age bracket are taking much too great a risk if they're here without decent medical insurance. I'm an example. About 2 years ago I ended up in a hospital for 7 days - pneumonia. If I wanted to stay in a semi-private room, then all I would have had to pay would be the deductible - and for me that is US $375 - around 12,000 baht. But I decided to pay the difference to stay in a private room. For the week, the total out-of-pocket I ended up paying was 42,000 baht - a little over US $1,300. Meanwhile the total bill was over 400,000 baht - almost US $13,000. You're not gonna catch me without good medical insurance - again rule or no rule . . .

It would be rather foolish for people to be living in a foreign country without adequate health insurance. If it makes you feel any better, I just renewed my retirement visa this past Friday, May 10. I was not asked to produce any proof of medical insurance. The immigration officer didn't even mention anything about insurance at all. Nobody else renewing their retirement visa at the same time I was there was asked about medical insurance either. So unless I happened to renew on the very last day when there was no medical insurance requirement, then there is no requirement - not yet anyway. (PS: please spare me the lectures about how you're not renewing, you're extending.)

I just looked at their web site and menu. Is it in the Lotus Hotel? I am definitely going to give it a try next time I'm in Bangkok. Thank you for posting about it.

Why not? Go for it and have a fabulous time.

Yes, I do. If someone on my board is causing problems I don't play games, give second chances, ask them to stop that kind of behavior, put them on moderated mode, or anything else. It doesn't work. I learned a long time ago to just solve the problem the easy way. I don't feel good or bad about it. How I feel about it is not even a factor when I decide somebody needs to go. I do it because I think it's best for the board and quite frankly I don't give a damn whether they like it or not. Since you ask it, I dumped bkkguy off my board a long time ago. All he ever does is submit these adversarial posts that he tries to couch in pseudo-politeness. I have yet to ever see a post from him that indicates he has ever so much as set foot in Thailand and not a single post actually helpful about a thing. Not exactly a major loss for the board if he, or anyone else causing problems, no longer has access to the board to continue doing that.

It's really not a problem at all. I'm much more interested in the content of the posts rather than the software used to contain them. Since the software responds the way it does, it takes a couple more clicks to get to the forum. Not a crisis. I'm already used to it. I'm sure my own board has its share of things that annoy the users - especially the board's owner . . .

Yes, really. That is the URL I use and when I am still logged in I get directly to the forums page. But if I have to log in first, that's when I'm sent to the profiles page first after logging in. Obviously that's not a major catastrophe, but it is annoying.

I guess we'll all get used to logging in all the time. Is there a way, after logging in, to be sent directly to the forum rather than the profiles page?

Here's something strange. I was on your board very early this morning. I checked in again just now - 12:00pm. And I was still logged in. As for big bills for Emails, that has never happened to me. If it ever did and it was because of something that was no fault of mine, I would tell them what they can do with their big bill and move on to another hosting company - one that doesn't try to charge for Emails or anything else beyond the standard hosting fee. My board has a setting so that Emails can be sent only by board members. Doesn't this one have such a setting? And if even that becomes a problem, with one click of a button I can set my board so that no Emails can be sent from it at all.

Ok, if that is set by the hosting company, then it's beyond your control unless you go to a different hosting company. Can you be a little more specific? What sites have had issues, and what kinds of issues did they have, due to unlimited log in time? I've never had any problems and I don't know of any sites that have had any problems due to unlimited log in time. It's not a major inconvenience, but it definitely is annoying, especially when logging in takes you to the profiles page rather than the forum. Lots of profiles, but none even say where the person is located and for most, the last time they logged in was months or even years ago. I don't see the point

Thank you for that. At the time the board was Gaybutton.com. Now it's Gaybuttonthai.com I'm curious as to why this board doesn't have some sort of stay logged in feature, to avoid having to log in every time.

I'm having the same problem. I don't log out, do have Java enabled, and don't do anything with the cookies, but I do have to log in again whenever I come back to this board. Also, when I log in, instead of bringing me to this forum, it always takes me to the gallery page.

I hope it all works out for you.

A Thailand flat advertised with WiFi and it either doesn't work well or doesn't work at all? Why, what a shocking surprise!

Do a Google search for 'wireless internet pattaya' Several sites that may be able to take care of your problem will come up.

There are several "love" hotels situated throughout Pattaya - actually situated throughout Thailand. These are primarily for Thais who want to have a place to go, but can't do what they want to do at home. But farang are perfectly welcome and nobody gives a damn whether the couple checking in are gay or not. They'll only want to check to make sure the boy is at least 18 years old. Many of them have the option of renting by the hour or for the entire night. They are usually quite inexpensive, but many are very nice, and I mean very nice- some nicer than many popular hotel rooms. I stayed in one a few years ago during a trip to the boondocks. The room was beautiful - immaculately clean, with a fantastic bed, fully furnished, air conditioning, big screen TV with DVD player, refrigerator, full scale bathroom, and even an in-room Jacuzzi. The fee was 600 baht per night. If you search around, you'll find many similar places throughout Thailand. To find the ones in Pattaya, do a Google search for: love hotels pattaya

That brings to mind my next question. Given that the most people who go to Saranrom are not farang, but older Thais looking for boys, then if Saranrom is declining available boy numbers, where now do the older Thais go to look for boys?