@Curtis ********************

"The test must be taken at a recognised or accredited clinic, laboratory, or medical facility. Please note that self-administered pre-departure Covid-19 tests will not be accepted for transit through Singapore. " from here:



Do you think a pharmacy qualifies?

Here in the US, I can go to a pharmacy and get tested. You actually swab yourself while a pharmacy person watches. It IS a RT-PCR test according to the report, so that is cool. It is also pretty fast to get the result.

However, I was reading that Singapore adds a condition to the testing requirment that requires the test be administered by an accredited medical facility or some such. I don't think this pharmacy test would pass muster. I'm not sure that Singapore is actually evaluating the source of the test, but they are pretty regimented there, so I would be concerned. They may also know about the pharmacy tests in the US. I am pretty sure the Thais don't check. However I believe that they also say that the test should not be self-administered.

The Wise card is not the greatest for routing cash access through ATMs. It only allows two withdraws a month of $350 CAD each. Then it is $1.50 fee per withdraw and then 1.75% over that if a subsequent withdraw exceeds $350 CAD. It also has "default" transaction limits that I guess are a security feature. However, at least some of these limits can be increased.

You have more flexibilty when using it to pay for stuff as a debit card. I was thinking about using it to buy domestic airfare, for example.

One good thing about it is that you can load with baht. So the currency is converted when transfered into the Wise account. You can keep an eye on the exchange rates and load it when things look a bit more favorable on the rate side.

69/how-much-does-it-cost-to-withdraw-cash

@Jared *********

I think he just transferred money from his Australian bank to his Wise debit card account. Nothing transferred into Thailand except he carried the card in.

They have reputation for doing this. I have a Wise debit I planned to use in Thailand. It is loaded with Thai baht. Now I wonder if I can rely on it. These cancellations seem pretty random.

@Carlos ********

Everyone has a QR code for vaccines? Not in my neck of the woods, and that means millions only have the paper record card, no digital record. Some sort of third-party vaccine passport is coming soon apparently.

@Michael **********

Wow! Great message.

I told a female Thai colleague that I was considering marriage to my girlfriend. She asked, "What do you know about her family? You marry the family too."

This is a consideration for anyone considering marriage, Thai or foreigner.

The point being, if you really want to integrate and be part of a Thai family, you will have obligations, same as any man who is married into the family. It is very, very difficult for Farang to understand this commitment and it is greatly complicated by the potential for ripoff.

It seems some folks here have married women who reject this obligation to family. That is rare. It is a very, very powerful obligation with karmic implications to many Thais.

I knew someone who married a poor fat German guy, lives in a sh*tty area outside of Frankfurt, faces the cold weather, has the pressure of passing the German language exam and finding some sort of employment, etc, all to avoid obligating her family to take care of her after she lost her job.

Family obligation is no joke.

Very difficult to say goodbye to someone with whom you have such an emotional investment, but it does not sound good. If nothing else, she is really short-sighted to not appreciate the benefit to herself and child just by marrying you. Even if you object and these demands are dropped, it is very possible the obligations will continue after marriage, when you have much more to lose if you plan on buying a house and other property. Say no then and you may lose everything.

I would be incredibly disappointed but would hopefully have the sense to move on.

@Bob *********

Just been looking at that card and it looks good. I was a little concerned about exchange rates, but it says that it offers very fair rates. I'll consider getting one.

@Bob *********

I was thinking more to use it for making purchases rather than pulling cash. I just want to lower the amount of cash that I would be carrying.

@Nirmal ******

As far as the US, we don't have digital vaccination records. The ThaiPass app accesses the digital vaccination records from a centralized stores. For other countries, they have to individual check scans of vaccination records that are supplied in the application. I wish we had centralized digital vaccination records here.