samjaidee

" Tuition fees for middle and high schools in Region 1 will gradually rise over the next three years to VND410,000, VND530,000, and VND650,000, respectively. Now the monthly cost of education for the two children is a whopping VND5-6 million." How did you come to that conclusion based on the figures in the article?

"Many people are 100% honest" - that is not an honest comment. It would be more honest to state that most people are 100% honest or that the majority of people are honest.

It's a bit worrying that a hospital would give you an antibiotic for a viral infection. Antibiotics are used for bacterial infections.

I refuse to believe those figures. I live in a 40 sq m serviced studio with a lift in HCMC and according to those figures I should be paying nearly 22 million yet in reality I pay 8 million.

Does testing positive for drugs in Thailand automatically lead to prosecution? Tests for THC can be positive for as long as a month after last use of marijuana. If a tourist on a two week holiday tested positive for THC they may not have come close to weed whilst in Thailand and had therefore broken no laws.

That a great idea in a perfect world. Unfortunately all over SE Asia (I live in Vietnam) there are thousands upon thousands of families who do not have sufficient funds to buy another motorbike let alone a four wheeled vehicle so they have little choice but to transport their whole family on one motorbike.

Sorry, you're not going to Vietnam, not for a long time yet. I live in Saigon and haven't been allowed to leave the house for three weeks now, and the last time I was able to go to a supermarket was on 8th July.

Perhaps this is a silly question but is Thailand a welfare state? Do the unemployed get any form of state benefits like they do in western countries? If not, how do they measure how many people are unemployed or do the government just randomly guess like they appear to do with most statistics?

I live in HCMC. I'm not a poor worker, I'm a teacher but I haven't worked since the end of April. In May & June my landlord reduced my rent by 25% and last month he reduced it by 50%. I didn't ask for it and told him I have savings but he insisted. We're in a very strict lockdown here at the moment. He keeps delivering food to my door and has gone out of his way to help me, including registration for a vaccine. The sense of community is very strong here regardless of a person's nationality. I'm very lucky to live here.