jojothai

Pictures may deceive. Traffic is still very heavy at rushhours. Thats with an "S". A few hours morning and evening. During the full lockdown there was far less traffic in most places, although some near market places etc, were still busy. The new MRT lines and links have changed things substantially in terms of getting around, to malls and across bangkok. The underground links in shopping malls and the high level connecting walkways on the skytrain are fantastic improvements IMHO.

Depends what you are after. There are enough girls in some of the bars, say only half are open. but not many customers. Fairly dead then , but a few bars in Cowboy have groups of long term regulars for getting out and socializing. eg Moonshine, Lighthouse. IMHO Friday and weekend are best nights to go and look. Been to Nana, hopeless except for Billboard. That was busy and the place to try if you want some lively entertainment. If you just want to get out for a drink where people are socializing and there are eating places, then a couple to suggest are W district outdoor food court Phra Khanong, or train night market Ratchada (NB. music can be very loud)

I have 44 inch TV and the size of the top right screen is good to watch.

If you have local truevisions, without the football package, currently you can see all games live on TRUE channel 247, 662 P&G HL. But with thai commentary. Thats while the games are all at different times. You need a big tv to see it well in the top right.

I had to go recently to the place on chaeng wattana 5. I had some medication posted. They want to check contents. And send you to the FDA desk if there is any medication. The FDA want a prescription / thai doctors certificate. Regardless whether it is not a prescription or controlled product. Silly, why would i need a prescription when not necessary. Law is the law, TIT. Then Customs want to tax what they can. Tax includes cost of sending, the customs guy proudly pointed out, which doubled my cost value. At the place you go in a big main entrance, to the right and straight into the big office. Lady checks the paperwork, gives you a queue number, go outside and wait for your number. Fairly busy when i was there, about 1.5 hrs queuing. Took over an hour for the FDA hassle and debate over shipping costs.

More than one reading i record them and would normally average. Very big differences is a matter for judgement and repeat readings as you think appropriate. It don't happen a lot, but they do, and when they do then i personally take one or two more readings until stable. My own approach is mainly as below. If I have initial high readings then I always take another reading. If the first and second readings are fairly consistent then the average. For 3 readings If the second and third reading are very close i take the average of them, that's a more normal occurrence in my experience. if the first and third are close and second has a big difference then i take another reading and judge from there. Also, The article said 5 points difference, IMHO 5 or 10 points is not a lot. especially on the systolic. 10 points on the diastolic is a lot and I would repeat a third time, but not on 5.

If people are going to be encouraged to use public transport, then more people have to use the trains. Some MRT lines are already very busy for long parts of the day. Does it really make sense encouraging people to carry bikes onto trains? Yorkshire Tea already pointed out the folly in this logic.

With respect to the original post. One medical web site says "The patient should sit or lie comfortably. The arm should be fully supported on a flat surface at heart level." So as Sheryl points out there is probably not much difference provided the reading is being taken at about heart level. That's most important. As well as that i add some Harvard medical school tips below Being relaxed is also very important. One of the hospitals I go to is very difficult for traffic and I often use MRT and then a motorbike taxi. Always such an amazing or frightening experience. The hospital staff always try to do the BP reading fairly promptly and I have to tell them to wait. I need to get fully relaxed first. To prove the point sometimes i have let them take the reading and then requested a repeat 10 minutes later. They seem to be so surprised that there can be such a big difference in a short time. The following is from search on a Harvard medical school webpage, and may also be helpful guidance. "Don't drink a caffeinated beverage or smoke during the 30 minutes before the test. Sit quietly for five minutes before the test begins. During the measurement, sit in a chair with your feet on the floor and your arm supported so your elbow is at about heart level. The inflatable part of the cuff should completely cover at least 80% of your upper arm, and the cuff should be placed on bare skin, not over a shirt. Don't talk during the measurement. Have your blood pressure measured twice, with a brief break in between. If the readings are different by 5 points or more, have it done a third time."

I still don't understand why this is being referred to as a "Tourist visa". do tourists go abroad for long stay eg 9 months? The original wording was "The Cabinet has approved a proposal of issuing long-stay visas for foreigners visiting Thailand. Deputy government spokesperson Traisuree Taisaranakul said on Tuesday (September 15) that the Cabinet has agreed to allow foreigners to live in Thailand for up to nine months per trip, provided they can prove they have spent 14 days in quarantine." then it became called a tourist visa. Looks like a pathetic political play on words. As if 1200 tourists means anything. Clueless.