@Gary ********

I don't get it. I'm 71 and bought the insurance online via a compare the market site. I paid even more last year. Somehow they must see me coming online and raise the price. No serious health issues.

@Gary ********

That's the one that cost me $260 for a month. And it is about the cheapest available in Australia. Travel insurance is now ridiculously expensive.

@George ******

If for a year, it's super cheap. I paid $A260 for a month in Thailand, and that was the cheapest comprehensive insurance available.

@Nigel *************

Yes, I have stuck to hotels since for long and short term stays. There are apartment buildings where you can legally stay and cut yourself a decent deal with the owner for longer term staus. I particularly like On Nut's KV Mansion in that regard. It's no fun staying somewhere that makes you feel like a pariah throughout your stay.

@Nigel *************

It's meant to be the rule so if you have a booking for 30 days or more you should be OK. I stayed in a cheapish airbnb condo a few years back for 21 days and the security guard told the condo admin which hauled the owner in for questioning. The owner stuck to the story that I was a friend but I didn't feel comfortable staying after that, particularly as every building in the complex had notices in the lift lobby about short term stays being prohibited.

@Nigel *************

It's not illegal if you stay 30 days or more.

Some medication cannot be easily obtained in Thailand - strong painkillers including anything with codeine and sedatives of any kind. Others like antibiotics can be bought over the counter.

@Rob ********

I am sure in my country that money paid in fees and taxes filters down the chain far more effectively than in a corrupt country like Laos too. Interesting that Laos has a state of the art high speed railway when mine doesn't but allows the road system, which is far more important for local villagers than the train to deteriorate so badly in just a few years. Like too many developing countries, I doubt very much that the money derived from visas and tourism in general benefits ordinary people not living in the major cities and towns. But you are free to believe that your tourist money directly benefits those people in the country most in need of assistance.assistance.

@Rob ********

What infrastructure are they spending the money on? Not the roads which have fallen apart the last 5 years since the railway which has robbed the country of its rustic travelling charm has been built. I thought already an extra ten percent tax had been recently applied to accommodation. I'd be deterred by a $60 visa fee too - $80 in Australian money.

@John ********

You would not get anymore than half an implant and crown in Melbourne for that price - B0