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So I went to Bumrungrad Hospital yesterday to get a Urinalysis to make sure I had completely gotten over a Urinary Tract Infection. I had previously seen a Urologist there with a great reputation. I went onto their website and then got to select the day and approximate time I would like to see the Dr. You make your first and 2nd choice for a day and a 2 hour window. 24 hours later I had confirmation of my first choice. If you have ever been in this Hospital you have a number that follows you anytime you return. Every Dr. has access to all your medication and treatments on his computer screen in his office. How backward can the USA be?? I checked in and was given a cup to provide them with a urine sample. . When I returned the sample they told me it would be about an hour for the results and they I would see the Dr. Imagine 1 hour for lab work. Can the USA be any more backward? Right on time the nurse came to take me to the Dr's office. He had the result of the Lab Work on his computer screen and gave me the all clear and we had a discussion on some other matters. Total time with Dr about 10 minutes. Returned to the desk where they printed me a copy of the lab work and sent me to billing to check out. I went to the billing desk and handed in the paperwork with my credit card. The girl inputed a few things in the computer and then said the Total is 950 baht. I said give me back my credit card , I will pay cash. 950 baht is $31.50. Unbelievable !!! 350 baht for Doctor, 250 baht for hospital 350 baht for the Lab work. You do the math> Now before any of you might think this is a neighborhood Hospital, it is one of the biggest Hospitals in Asia and the World. There are 3 High Rises and the building I go to has 8 elevators serving 21 floors and there are 2 more buildings the same size. Believe me I know there are many wonderful Doctors in the USA and some really good hospitals. But they are in the Dark ages in record keeping , providing LabWork and the prices that are paid are too often determined by too may people feeding at the trough. The insurance companies, Hospitals, Doctors and with all this money going into the system, in many ways Health Care in the USA is comparable to a 3rd world country. When will the idiots in Washington DC wake up and fix the system. For this simple visit in the USA , I would have waited ad least 2 days for the results and my co pay under Medicare would have been considerably more then my full bill. And if I was someone without insurance and had to visit an Emergency Room, I shutter to think of the bill in the thousands of dollars.

5 minute walk to 2 different ones!

The Breakfast Buffet was very nice from my view. I can not comment on the Asian offerings. The executive lounge had some very nice snacks and free booze etc from 530-730pm. Very little to dislike about this Hotel!

I have been in Thailand for 3 weeks and have some reports I will share after the trip but thought I would post this to show the type of reasonable Hotels you can get in this wonderful city full of Hot Boys. Checked in yesterday . The rate was $85 a night including breakfast. I have stayed at all the Marriotts in BKK and find this Courtyard very good value for money. First the staff greets you at the front door with a big smile and "How are you Sir" and there is just something more genuine about it. Front desk speaks excellent English and as requested they upgraded me to a Corner Room because of my Gold Status. Now the last few years I have stayed at some of the best serviced apartments in BKK and got quite used to the space. So I approached my room with some trepidation. It was going to be hard not to have kitchen etc but I just don't feel like spending $160 a night for a short 5 night stay. I was pleasantly surprised with the room. Big windows on 2 sides with lots of light. When you first walk in is a large area to place your open bags, plenty of draws and closet space . Safe and small frig which is mostly empty so you can fill it up with stuff from 7/11. Nice desk space with enough outlets and comfortable chair. Good TV with decent channel selections. Comfortable bed with many great pillows. Also one lounge chair very comfortable. A/C very quiet . Bathroom has decent counter space and under sink storage and a window. Big shower with great water pressure and a place to sit down. And fast internet. Will report on breakfast buffet later. Have included some photos , I apologize for the quality because of too much sun. Oh and the boy was in my room an hour after I checked in. I love Gayromeo!

I certainly agree with those comments and felt that that was exactly what we were doing. How boring life would be if we all felt the same way about things. Hope you did not think I was being disagreeable because that was not my intention.

Two totally different things. Building a house , it is easy to check the costs of materials etc. Impossible to check costs in medicine in the USA. Like I said if some small Blue Cross President in a small state like RI is getting a salary of millions then that is adding ridiculous costs to the patient. Same with a President of a small Hospital. Of course health care providers control their costs by only paying so much for a procedure. Unfortunately there is nobody to control the Providers cost which eventually effects the patient. The thousands of people who go bankrupt every year due to medical costs are charged ridiculous amounts that no insurance company or medicare would ever pay.

I agree Doctors are not the main problems. It is greedy health care providers, hospital owners, drug companies etc. There are no controls on any of them . The US Government controls many other industries better then Health Care . Why should the President of a medium Hospital in NW Florida be getting a salary of 2.4 million. And of course this continues down the food chain and this hospital gets higher prices for procedures then any other hospital in FL. Many times people don't have a choice which hospital they go to and have no idea how they may get screwed by greedy owners and management. Same for Health Care providers. Blue Cross is famous in many states for ridiculous salaries to management in many states and nothing causes prices to rise more then this. Health Care should be a right and the government should have rules to determine what a Hospital can charge for a certain procedure or for an aspirin. There has to be some variation based on locale . But there is no excuse for paying $14 aspirin and no excuse for paying 7x the price for 2 stents then the hospital 5 miles down the road. Greed and incompetence is the only explanation.

Yes Oz there is no doubt the USA medical system is screwed up. Last time I visited an emergency room was a few years ago and it cost me $1750. What you just had done in Bangkok would have cost $15-20,000 I am sure. But that is what happens when the entire system is run by greedy corporations and drug companies. Time Magazine recently did an exhaustive Cover story on the ridiculous charges that some hospitals charge and how the same procedure can be 5 to 10x as much in the same city and many times the most respected Hospital had some of the lowest charges. Go Figure? Why? Greed!!!

Lucky I have no intention of ignoring you and in fact I always found your posts fun and informative. And if you read my post a little more closely you would understand I was saying nothing about your posting. My comment was that when you had decided not to post you were still on the Board almost every day. And if it was such a bad place where you no longer wanted to post the question was why are you viewing the Board every day rather then never coming to the Board?? As far as the 2 posters who left the Board , I find almost nobody here that thinks they had any valid complaint. And one of them failed to even make a complaint, he just removed all his photos with no discussion. Maybe the Moderators should be mind readers as well as baby sitters??? Anyone who can't handle some repartee on a message board has no business posting in the first place.

And that is just what the Moderators have always done here. And because 1 or 2 individuals are unhappy with a post or two does not give them the right to criticize the overall Moderation of the Board. In fact if you can find a Board that that has as many discussions and as much information with as little Vitriol then anyone is free to go there. I find it interesting that someone who supposedly has disappeared from the Board is viewing the Board almost every day and surfaces to say he is not posting. If things are really so bad here then why would an individual be viewing the Board every day. It would seem he could find a much better place to go. I also find it interesting that the recent unhappy members here have no response to the heartfelt post by OZ on the situation. Me thinks some people can never be made Happy!!!!!

Not sure how this will translate or maybe you have to be there but here goes. I am in Thailand now and the word pronounced smaoke is the word for giving a Blow Job I finished a session withe this very cute 19 year old and we are on the balcony looking at the Boats and the Sea. He takes out a pack of cigarettes and takes one out and I grab him and say " Smoke Cock is good. Smoke those Bad. Without hesitation he replies. "Yes but I don't always have a Cock"

There is also something called www.ustvnow.com which allows you to watch NBC,CBS,ABC and Fox for free live on your computer and you can pay a fee for more channels. Works out good if you are bored in the morning between boys (hehe).

Could not agree with you more. I just watched this weeks episodes while in my room in Thailand. Please send Fik-Shun to my room!!!

Luckily Lurker you don't have the power to lock threads or ban posters. You are just one of many here. And like many here I found your contributions worthwhile and enjoyable. I would prefer you grow up and begin posting again and recognize it is not a place to have such a thin skin. I see nobody here that has supported you in saying you were threatened in a private message. No one who reads that would consider it a threat and for you to take it as one is just ridiculous. By the way Seg may have never posted before but he has been a member as long as you have and if you knew anything about forums , there are way more members then there are posters. And both are valuable!!! And by the way if you speak for Tomcal , he should know better then to let someone else put words in his mouth . Believe me this Board will go on and be successful without you but it would be better with you!!

Pretty sharp words from a first time poster although I kind of feel the same way!

To Lurker and Tomcal if you are reading. Hopefully you are beginning to get the picture. Your posts are valued here by the over whelming majority. When you elect to disappear because of one or two posters or posts , you are depriving the many of your posts and making the few happy. Put the few on ignore and resume your activity and understand that there will be occasions that you will not like what someone says. That is life and it happens every day at work , at social engagements and yes on Forums.

Lurker I see nothing in the PM message you posted that could be construed as a threat. Just someone saying he is happy to compete in a war of words with you if you want to continue the conversation. Of course I know who the poster is anybody that reads the board knows and if they didn't it would take them 2 minutes to discover by reading your last posts before you withdrew. Boards for the most parts are anonymous so some people feel it is their right to take a strong stand. Does not mean you have to engage and most of the time it is better to ignore and move on. I have to say it is ridiculous for someone to give up conversations with many people because of 1 poster he doesn't get along with. Just ignore that poster and understand that although you may not get along with him there are people here who value his posts. As far as Tomcal his withdrawal if true is even more ridiculous. I can't think of anyone who has gotten more positive thanks for his posts. He lets a few catty posts drive him off ????? After all this is a Gay site catty comments are to be expected. LOL I think both of you need a little armor plating and it should not have to be that thick . IMHO

I think NYC is great for short periods. Weather there is not that great and certainly for a short time visitor it has become cheaper to fly an escort in then it is to get Hotel Rooms which now average $400 a night for anything decent. But since you already live in some of the greatest weather , maybe you need that foggy, rainy weather of LONDON. LOL

Gotten better each episode. Hope the writing continues to surprise?

Hands down SanDiego. Perfect weather and anything you could possibly want to do. Just so damn expensive to live near the water. Would not want to be there unless I could see or was on the water. Carmel is great about 80 days a year. I lived there once and overall the weather sucks but when it is 75 and sunny it may be one of the best place s on earth.

Just to expand on what OZ explained. He is staying in a serviced apartment which is essentially a Hotel of apartments. Everything that you would expect in a 5 Star Hotel except instead of a 300 sq ft room, you have a 1700 sq foot apartment. It equates to $80 per day. That might get you a Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn Express in a small town in the USA.

Lurker where are you . We miss your photos etc etc etc!!!

His fancy words don't change the fact that he is a Bigot in all respects and is faithful only to the Corporations and never the individual. He would have been on the wrong side of every Landmark Decision practically for the last 100 years. All the Courts including this one have been wrong every time in his opinion. Thankfully many times the opinions of this bigot and guardian of the corporation have not prevailed.. Just imagine if this country had elected McCain and then re-elected where we would be with a RIGHT WING COURT.

My Federal Income Taxes were quite substantial last year .Thank you very much and I noticed you had nothing to say about this never happening if Obama had not been elected.!!! And as far as it being a vacation costing $100 million, that is just inflated drivel from TeaParty and Fox News Idiots!

I am so sick of seeing this bullshit about spending 100 million to go to Africa. So what? I didn't hear you complaining about his trip to Israel or Germany etc etc etc. Thats what Presidents do, they visit different parts of the world . And Africa is an important continent and too many countries harbor terrorists. We need to be engaged on that Continent. Sure we have problems, We always have problems . But raining on 2 Historic decisions on this forum with some petty complaint about spending money going to Africa is just plain disgusting!. Start another thread with that bullshit. What chance you think we would have had with McCain or Romney as President. Zero