noserious

After making an appointment I dropped off my passport and application at American Consular Services in Bangkok on July 14. Received new passport today August 5. So it took 22 days soup to nuts. Although the envelope had some damage the passport seems ok.

I had dropped off my passport in person on Monday, July 14 and today Friday, July 18 I received this email. It took the government 4 days just to receive the passport. Yikes.

I had already paid for the Courier Pass Back envelope because that's what is on the check list. The staff I spoke with did say that I had the option of picking it up at American Consular Services. Now I'm waiting for the new passport to be mailed to me hopefully before my visa expires in October.

I made an appointment online last week and today I went in and dropped off my documents for US passport renewal. The consular staff checked everything for me. Instead of mailing everything in and hoping I did it correctly I prefer to go in person and confirm there are no mistakes.

It looks like there are more African girls than Vietnamese because they are easier to distinguish from Thai girls. Some Vietnamese girls may get mistaken for Thai girls. You would have to hear the girls speaking to make a more educated guess about their nationality.

A Thai friend who had worked at 7 in Bangkok once told me that her manager instructed the cashiers to add items to the total that weren't selling well and/or items close to expiration date. It was usually done to customers who appeared to be tourists that were buying many items. The cashiers would put the extra items in the bag first so they'd be on the bottom. I bet most of the 'tourists' were none the wiser. As far as getting short-changed it has happened to me at 7/11 and Big-C over the years. One cheeky staff even announced in Thai to the other cashiers that he was going to keep some of my change. Recently at Big-C I paid with 1000 baht note and she gave me change in several 100 notes with two 50 baht notes on top without the receipt. That was easy to catch. Obvious red flags include no receipt given. When I told her my change was incorrect she immediately took another 100 baht note from the drawer. Always count your change.

Yet the myriad of beauty and hair salons illegally run by Japanese continue to operate. Perhaps their brown envelopes a bit thicker and business operations more subtle.

perhaps the culprit was a weasel copycat of a similar incident in japan

perhaps the culprit was a weasel copycat of a similar incident in japan

2 days ago I got a big shock when I woke up and saw that my Thai credit card had been used to buy a Spirit Air ticket for 7300 baht. I immediately called Kasikorn bank's English language hotline. The lady was so helpful. She cancelled the card and refunded the card fee (125 THB) right away. Within 4 hours of my call they had reimbursed me with a chargeback. I was so relieved. When I was looking for tickets this past February I was finding really cheap fares on these "discount travel" websites but I was getting spoofed. I entered in all my credit card info, pushed the buy button and then it said that this particular ticket had just sold out but here's an alternative. Of course the alternative was more expensive. Either one of those websites used my credit card or they got hacked is my guess. I've been banking with Kasikorn over 20 years and have had very few complaints.

Look no further than the Japanese government's own website. https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/toko/tokei/hojin/index.html (Click on PDF or Excel link once on the page.) Or refer to the attachment below. Thailand (red box) has dropped in ranking according to the data of the government of Japan. As of 2023 Thailand has the 5th largest population of Japanese residents outside of Japan after being overtaken by Canada, eh! 78,000+ Japanese living in Thailand is consistent with the MoFA Japan website for 2022. Otherwise try qualifying your opinions with "I think" or "I believe" etc.

I didn't pay more for expedited. Yes, things may have changed.

As I mentioned in my first post the reason is an upcoming international flight. (You could use another reason.) I don't know if they check. I've done this twice in Thailand. Temporary passports are fine for immigration/working visas.

When applying for temporary one-year passport the regular application and new photos are needed, just add the request for the emergency/temporary passport and reason why. Just before the 12 months are up, apply to convert/renew to normal 10-year passport. No new photos, application or payment is needed although you may need to sign something. A receipt is given to you after you submit the 1-year passport. Then the 10-year passport will be on the way.

Pro Tip: Request an emergency one-year passport reason being an upcoming international flight. The price is same AND process is expedited. At the end of the 1-year period it's free to convert to the normal 10-year US passport. That way you can get 11 years for the price of 10.