Sunday, February 8, 2015

Paying Your Thailand Water Bill


Water bill in Thailand

Paying the utilities are an experience of its own here in Thailand. For starters, we live in a detached house in a residential neighborhood in Mahasarakham,  Thailand.  This is a college university town in the northeast part of Thailand. We got our first bill in a small box on our outside gate. You have to be on the lookout for it because it can easily be missed. Translation of this bill goes as follows.  The bill was delivered on January 12, 2015. You can pay the bill from January 13, 2015-January 19, 2015. The date at the very bottom says that they will turn your water off on January 26th, 2015. Believe me, there is no grace but what it says. They will turn it off on that date. This bill was very confusing to read at first. Now, how the heck do you pay it? We asked around and of course the language barrier hits again. So we use body language. I show my bill to any local I see on the street and they point me in the direction. I drive a little farther and continue the process of showing the bill and them pointing until we find the place. I knew the place was in town near my school but I wasn't for sure of the exact location. If you don't want to do that, you can go to the mall or a place where foreigners hang out and ask them. Foreigners in my town like to hang out at the amazon cafe. There are two in my town. Either way, there is a way. The top picture is a picture of the inside of the water department.  If your interested in more from Thailand, check back often. I have a few posts brewing about my electric bill, transportation, and a very large informational one on travel vaccines. Have a great day!



Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Emergency Room Trip Cost In Thailand


ER trip Mahasarakham, Thailand
 
I recently visited the ER in Mahasarakham, Thailand for my ear that I thought was infected. I originally had planned to visit the doc upstairs of the hospital who had an actual office. Due to the fact that I can't communicate fully to the Thai's, they sent me to the ER area. It was fine but I just didn't want to pay an arm and a leg. I know how expensive it can get in America, what I am used to. They told me the spot behind my ear (forget the technical name) was infected and my ear in fact was not infected. They prescribed me an antibiotic and made an appointment for the next week in case I needed to come back. They were very helpful and all went well. I was there probably a total of 20 minutes from start to finish. The icing on the cake is perfect. I only paid 106 Baht, which is about 3 dollars with no insurance. 3 dollars for the whole hospital visit plus antibiotics, which I filled right there in the hospital lobby. I am going to be going to get my tooth looked for a loose filling and also an eye exam for my family and I. I will keep you posted on my findings as far as prices and such. Have a great day!