orientalist

Thanks. Since I'm being sucked into car maintenance I suppose I'd better educate myself about it. The gf is a lost cause as far as this is concerned.

The situation is complicated. We don't live together and 2 years ago after telling the gf repeatedly we couldn't afford a car she got a second hand one behind my back with repayments supposedly to be made by her daughter. I vowed not to put any money into it. But recently the daughter reneged on the deal and we've become dependent on the car to get the granddaughter we're raising to school. The car had about 35k on the clock and we are now at 70k. I remember her occasionally putting water in the radiator... and then she didn't. So last week the engine overheating light came on, smell of burning, steam, etc. Then she filled it up with water again. That's when I looked in the manual. My last car was a used Cortina in the 70s and in those days you just used plain water. Antifreeze was for winter, so this is all new to me. We had the same problem with oil. She never checked it or changed it (magical thinking) and we had warning lights come on one day - luckily close to home. After reading about the damage that can do I've insisted on having proper oil changes at B-Quik. They usually check a whole bunch of things. I had to pay for new brake pads and rear shocks this year but they haven't mentioned coolant so far. I suppose I'll have to ask them how much coolant flushing would cost.

I don't want to flush the system at present. Right now it's 100% water so I want to start topping it up with the correct coolant so it at least has some antifreeze in there. I assume 5 or 10 percent antifreeze is better than none at all.

I just discovered that the gf has been putting plain water in her Honda Jazz radiator since she bought it (when she bothers at all!). I see from the manual it's supposed to be Honda All Seasons Type 2 pre-mixed coolant. B-Quik quoted me 790 baht for their own (green) coolant but that seems expensive. Many shops on Lazada have what they claim is the real Honda stuff for around 180 baht. So, is the cheap stuff genuine or at least ok to use?

The freebie camera on the gf's Honda Jazz 2019 is kaput so I 'd like to buy a new one from Lazada and screw it into the existing bracket. Two questions. Are the bracket screw threads all a standard size, and are the USB sockets mostly the mini-B like our existing one?

A bit of extra information about the IOLs: It turns out the m-i-l, because of her dense, hard cataract, needed a procedure called extracapular cataract extraction (ECCE) which allows for a bog-standard rigid IOL made of PMMA. It was manufactured by Neo Eye in Indonesia. I got the ultrasound surgery using a popular American IOL made by Alcon. It's foldable acrylic and comes with its own inserttion device - supposedly more accurate and quicker to use. So that's why my op was more expensive. Unless you have a dense cataract I think ultrasound is probably the default procedure.

LH currently has FD 1.88%, 2.00% and 2.10% for 8, 10 and 11 months respectively. Minimum 100k. Until Aug 31.

Oops. Scrub the above comment. When I checked both bills it seems the lens cost for the m-i-l was just 700 baht whereas mine was 6,500. Not sure why. Possibly because I had asked for blue-light-blocking IOLs and they may have been a foreign import. I didn't discuss the cost of the lens with the doc. Anyway, had my other eye done yesterday and all went well. Total cost 30,600 baht.

An update on Metta Pracharak eye hospital: First, my bill was not reduced because of my having a health check elsewhere. When the bloods are done there the cost is added to the bill. It seems they just tell everyone the cost will be plus or minus 35k and then it depends on what they have to do. Impressed with the service we took the gf's mother there as she was blind in one eye (almost blind in the other) due to a very dark cataract. They insisted on an overnight stay at the hospital as the op would be more difficult. They must have expected it to hurt because they gave her an injection under the eye. The op went ok and we chose the private room at 1800 baht. In the morning the occular pressure was so high they asked us to stay another night. She was discharged the following day but really couldn't see much other than light. The total cost was 27k including the 8k after-hours fee and 3600 baht for the room. They had reduced the basic op fee from 22k to 11k without any explanation. My guess is a trainee surgeon did the op under supervision. They had us install their app to do a video call consultation for the first 3 days. So far so good.

Doing an image search on Google it looks more like a Green Iora. So far, it is green all over. But it seems to be weak or injured so I'm not sure we'll get to see it's adult plumage.

Anyone know what this bird is? It can't fly and we don't know what to feed it. Looks like an insect-eater though. This is on the outskirts of Bangkok.

No, this was my first. I was putting it off for financial reasons but uveitis and steroid drops last year made the cataracts much worse. Like Tropicalevo I have used multiple pairs of glasses and now varifocals but at my age couldn't justify the expense of varifocal IOLs and they have some disadvantages.

I recommend anyone thinking of having the op join the FB Cataract Op group, read as much as you can and ask all the questions you have before seeng the doc. You can have the lens set for close-up instead of distance, you can have multifocul lenses or you can get toric lenses for astigmatism, the latter more expensive. You can also choose a blue-light-blocking lens, which seems to be standard these days except in the UK NHS. I believe they knocked 4500 baht off my bill because I had already had a full health chexk at another hospital and given them the report. The nurse told me about a foreign teacher who went for the op but was so terrified they had to give him an injection to numb half his face. I guess that's an option but it isn't necessary. The doctors know what they are doing!

I had the op 2 days ago. My eye feels the same as before but it's like the vision has gone from 720p to 4K and colours are vivid. I paid by credit card. They can handle foreign cards but you should inform them in advance. The first time I went to the hospital all the doctors were at a conference so they gave me a 2pm appointment the following week. On that day I did all the different tests and measurements for a cataract op and then saw the doc around 4pm. Another test and then saw the doc again to finalise things. I wanted a simple monocular lens set for distance, so nothing complicated. I didn't ask about toric lenses to correct astigmatism. The doc asked what time I wanted the op and I said afternoon, so I got a 1pm appointment a month later with the op scheduled after 4pm. This is what the receipt describes as "outside government office hours." On the day of the op there is a fair bit of waiting as you prepare for surgery. They dilate your eye for an hour, give you paracetamol and Valium (2mg), and wheel you down to the operating rooms. Then another wait of maybe 20 mins before you go in. The op takes about 15 mins after they put numbing drops in your eye. No pain, just some pulling sensations and slurping noises from a machine, plus three briight lights. You are allowed to blink except at the end. They put a patch on your eye and wheel you back to your bed. Then later a nurse comes annd shows you how to clean the eye and tapes a guard over it. She tells you how to prevent infections and gives you a leaflet. Then a long wait for the doc to come and check the incision. I got out about 7.30pm.

In the end I had the op at the Nakhon Pathom facility - Metta Pracharak Hospital. You need to speak Thai, but very good service. It cost me 30,400 baht, 8000 of which was the "out of normal hours" surcharge.