Baaksida

...thinking they can have a "easy life", spending their pension on hookers and thinking they are something special.

We in Switzerland just voted them OUT...

Hahahahahahaha... don't tell me that Switzerland is, or has ever been the chosen expat home of overseas retirees, spending their pensions on Swiss hookers...

For HSBC check again as i informed in the bangkok office last january.

They don't mind the visa but or ask for a work permit , or ask for an existing hsbc member to vouch for your application.

Wow, that's how internal bank rules can change! Back in 1997 I opened my savings account at HSBC Silom with my passport (30 day stamp "visa") and a U.S. drawn check (of Charles Schwab). Took them more than two weeks to credit the money to my new account...

I got Accounts on both Bangkok Bank and TMB earlier this Year with a 30 Day stamp.

I was also in contact with HSBC Thailand about opening an account there, they said no problem with 30 Day permission, too.

Well, as for my experience, yes, you can open a savings account with HSBC with a 30 day stamp. The minimum (opening) balance (back then in 1997) was 1,000 US$, and your account's balance should not fall below this minimum, as you'd have to pay hefty monthly fees for having a lower bank balance.

Kasikorn and Bangkok Bank allow tourists to open savings accounts.

As for Bank of Ayudhya - flip a coin, as every branch seems to have its own rules.

The Thai Military Bank on Phuket refused to open one for me back in 1998.

As for Krung Thai Bank, usually no problem, except at some branches in Bangkok.

Maybe time to move away from Pattaya (wild guess) ?

Did already. Live 'upcountry' now. I guess things are different in Bangkok, where

people are more used to western influence.

It should be plus/minus 7 days.

Thanks.

How many days in advance can I do my reporting (without immigration officers telling me 'too ealy, come back ratel')??

Which bank?

Bank of Ayudhya

There's too much good to appreciate and enjoy to allow truly insignificant events color your entire landscape.

Well, I have to admit, that I sometimes have very pleasant experiences with Thai people, not only negative ones. Usually with the ones I know and who (want to) know me.

Just came back from the bank. Deposited some cash on my savings account, which I have with the local bank, but also withdrew money from my account with another of the bank's branches in Bangkok. (I live 'upcountry' since five months.)

So I needed my passport, as I was withdrawing money from a branch in another province. Nothing unusual so far...

But then I experienced something that was new to me. Handing my passport to the bank teller, he immediately checks (no, not my name), but my visa pages!

He even hands the passport to teller #2 (a woman), who also has a good look at my visas. Then they have a good look together, after which teller #2, hands the passport (still having checked the visas only), back to teller #1, who has a look alone. Then teller #2 wants to have a look again, after which she gives back the passport (visa pages still opened) to teller #1, who, finally opens the passport on page 1 to compare the name in the passport with the one in the savings account passbook. Seem, that the 'undercover immigration agents ' where satisfied, as I had not overstayed...

So what is going on? Are private banks and the Immigration department working together to crack down on overstayers, etc.??

By the way, teller #1 seemed to have quite a problem to add the cash amount to the withdrawal sum plus a destroyed banknote. He managed, however, to do the calculation within two minutes without a calculator...

Tourist visa's are not intended for long-timers!!

I know many people who spend 6 months in a row and more every year in Thailand, going back to their home countries for the next six months, and so on...

It happened to me in a neighbouring country in 2002 that my tourist visa application was refused, because I had already three tourist visas in my passport (from 1999, 2000 and 2001)! And I was for several months in Europe in 2002, before applying for a new tourist visa over here in Asia.

Thai Immigration: Dramatic Cut in Visa Extensions

Immigration now give only a 7 or 14 days extension to the 60 days tourist visa

Most Immigration Districts now only give 7 days extensions (fee: THB 1.900,00) on tourist visas. Others, like Nong Khai, only 14 days. Some few might still give 30 days, it's up to the single district to decide, but we don't have knowledge of any doing it.

Source: Thai Immigration, Nong Khai 2004-09-30

I'm no expert...

"You could die anywhere;  why not make it here"

Why not in Pattaya, after paying the last bar fine?

...but I do think that the inability (or unwillingness) to speak English by Thais lends itself to a kind of X-factor which helps draw in tourists eager to 'have an experience' abroad...so it's not necessarily such a bad thing eh..

I agree that this is actually attractive and interesting for many tourists. But how about foreign trade? Won't Thailand lose out to countries like China, India and Vietnam in the future?

Seems obvious that Thailand was not colonized by England(nor the US) so didn't get co-opted by force into the English speaking world...

I did ask my students in 8th grade yesterday. Answer: Thailand was never colonized by Britain or France, so the people were not forced by the colonial powers to learn English...

As the originaly poster stated, simply leaving Thailand is not good enough. I tried to do this once...

I once took a Thai girl to Malaysia. At the Malaysian checkpoint they told her that she would have to go back to the Thai checkpoint again, as she didn't have a Thailand exit stamp.

A new experience for someone like me who is from an EU country...

i know...i know....TIME changes everything.

but - as it is gonna happen for me personally soon - I am not sure about IF I won't MISS my (original home town) weather conditions after moving to Los.

Well, in my office it is usually freezing cold, same as for minibusses, shopping malls, etc. etc.

So I don't miss the winter back in Europe. It's just that I can't build a snowman...

I enjoy the hot, sunny weather and I've learned to cope with the floods in the rainy season.

It is also treating the ladyboy like a curiousity and not the real people they are wrapped up in the package of their own chosing.  Quite distressing so many overlook that they are just people too..........

True. I don't like if ladymen grope me in the dark, I just can't stand it to be touched by men, but I respect their choice and lifestyle, as my motto is 'live and let live'...

I've been to a few Karoke bars in Hatyai where the bgs sing dreadful tear-jerking material...then the Thai men take the mic and spill out the same heart-wrenching ballads...

I went to such a bar once on Penang with another Westerner. Found it pretty boring, listening to silly songs rather than checking out the panties of the girls.

I have a regular girlfriend now, so only limited sanuk...

Miss the good old days in Pattaya, Patong and Bangkok.

(Living 'upcountry' now.)

Oops that was supposed to start...  " 6,379,157,361 people...

Source:

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factb...eos/xx.html#Geo

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female

total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

Hello... I've done exactly this poll about three weeks ago...

It's here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16018

No, it isn't. I don't care where you did see (friends, internet...) her, but what was her job at the time (government employee/student...)

As an example, you met your future fiancee at Big C, in your poll one would vote 'met her at a shopping mall', but in my poll you would vote 'at the time she worked in a beer bar'...

Thanks guys for the many replies!

I'm surprised as for the many Brits, Scandinavians and Canadians. Thailand as a expat and traveller destination seems to be very popular in your countries.

Nobody from Japan or Korea?? Have they left LOS obvernight?

Where are other "russian" republics? Or Eastern Europe countries?

My guess is, that most expats/tourists from Eastern Europe come from these three countries. I often see many Russians (?) in Pattaya, Phuket and Bangkok, and I sometimes meet the odd Hungarian...

How come Germany is in with Austria and Switzerland but Ireland is all by itself and not grouped in with the Brits?

Even Australia and New Zealand appear as separate countries even though they share the same head of state!

That's easy, as a teacher I am interested where the English speakers are from. Also, there are probably less German speakers on this board than Brits and Irish...