Hal65

Those who called me a coward will be vindicated by this post. I thought what I would have done in the white guy's situation: 1. Don't drive. I've already "not driven" for 11 years here. But, I live in Pattaya and take a lot of girls, so that is another threat vector (girl gets mad, calls some aggressive guy over, or a bouncer at a club instigates etc). 2. Don't let them stand behind you. He just kept standing there talking to his thai lady, saying things like "why does he keep punching me?" "He needs to stop!" In that situation I think the best course of action is to give a shocked look and then move away to across to the other side of the crowd, facing his direction but not looking at him. Now he has to actively keep following you even after seeing your stunned look. In the "thai mob" videos I've seen online the Thais seem to see shock and desperation of the person they are group attacking as the sign that it's enough, "they've won." So maybe this does it. 3. If the aggressor does follow, now you have permission to run. No one including in Thailand has the right to keep pursuing you to punch you in the back of the head every 30 seconds. There is a legal issue of hit and run but if you call the police (which is what he was doing on his phone) and explain the situation, they should understand.

I've read that one can apply for the Lao E visa prior to flying into VTE. And now, apparently as of this month, the TM6 replaced by TDAC... which is done online, within 72 hours prior to re-entry? Let me know if chat GPT is lying to me. Or if it's true, is the experience relatively painless? Just exit and exemption stamps? That would be nice. Paperwork at the border has always been stressful to me. Never knowing if it was filled out correctly or not. The one concern I might have is having bad Internet in Vientiane, and fighting with the Thai TDAC website to get it filled completely.

Yeah, I didn't even list that as an option. After a 12 hour Savannakhet to Bangkok border run a decade ago I swore never again, That's interesting about trying to intercept the visa run service at the border, I'll ask 1st Class Visa Runs (in Pattaya) if they will allow that. It might be hard to coordinate the meetup though.

Weighing my border stamp options for getting back into Thailand 60 days exempt (starting in Pattaya): 1. Fly to VTE and take the train back 2. Fly to VTE and use a one way border run service back to Nong khai with connections (do these exist? Anyone know any?) 3. Fly to Udan thani and use a Border run service. 4. Fly to Mukdahan and either use a border run service or stay in Savannakhet 2 days and come back myself (or do they not enforce the 2 day stay at the moment)? Since I know of no one way agents in Vientiane I'm thinking to just use the train for minimal strictness. I have a long chain of ED visas hence the planning. PS: Cambodian borders are all closed

The distraction idea sounds out of a cartoon. "Hey, over here!" (waves arms frantically)

BKK or phuket right? That is the key point. Maybe CNX these days too. If you've heard of this at land borders I'm curious which ones. I tend to use Nong Kai and Ban Laem. 10 years ago I used Poipet, I heard that one is bad now.

It was about 3:00 AM and I was heading to the local 7 eleven on foot. Suddenly I hear a crash and then a bunch of thais shouting. I look over and I see a truck stopped on the road with a motorcycle on the ground. The thais are angrily yelling at a white guy. It's hard to say who was at fault, One of the thais keeps punching the foreigner in the head. He punches once, waits 30 seconds or a minute, punches again. After about three rounds of this, the foreigner gets angry and squares up. A moto taxi driver mediating suddenly does a lunging punch, punching the white guy in the head. The foreigner realizes he's being attacked from two sides and covers his head. This prompts both of the Thais to stop. My read was the moto taxi guy was enforcing violence one way and successfully forced the foreigner not to respond. I watched for about three more minutes and then left. There was at least less Thai to foreigner punching in the next three minutes (I counted one more). I didn't see the accident, but while they were trying to get police coming over, the Thai men were clearly in the wrong by punching the foreigner while he was simply asking the crowd "why does he keep punching me?" That was a scary situation to see one way enforcement by the moto taxi guys. I wanted to video it but man, that level of street justice... no thanks. Thai men seem to know they can get away with casual violence and use it unprovoked if they feel justified.

2016? Wasn't much of a crackdown then. Only at BKK have they ever tested me. I just said "beginner" and they let me pass. He chuckled snidely (he wasn't happy but I guess it was too much a risk or similar calculus). This was I think 2018/2019. Like I said, 1 year volunteer visa, rest on EDs for 11 years. All it takes is using land borders or CNX (though someone above said CNX is harder now).

Class is up north so no. I'm either flying in or mailing (or 13 hour train ride... sucks without a bar girl... then becomes way fun)

My agent at the school said I can (postal) mail my passport directly to the school to handle cancellation around 3 weeks before the 1 year expiry date. So no worries there. I'm always a little nervous sending my passport by mail. Once did it to the US embassy too.

Yep, don't fix something working 😉 Okay, visa exempt it probably is. There's 2 reasons I usually go for the tourist visa 1. Higher chance of passing through immigration with a visa instead of exempt stamp (visas are more respected). BKK and Phuket airports excepted of course. CNX is safe with a tourist visa. 2. Border run is a full 8 hour day lost. Tourist visa is a small series of trips (UTP, Udon, Vientiane and back) that one can make a short vacation out of. But the tourist visa also introduces the chance of tourist visa denial as well. I could go exempt from there I suppose. I think if I can cancel my ED at the border, I'll just go exempt. (Yes, EDs need to be cancelled prior to exiting).

I always check with the forum because it's bad to assume the past is the present. The school might know about tourist visa concerns, since many of their students are going through the same.

I'm in Thailand and have been since 2014 😉

A Thai language school told me they don't know if I can get a tourist visa immediately after my ED visa. I've done this in the past so has some rule changed? I have a US passport. I have a lot of Ed visas, probably 9 or 10 at this point. In the past I've always just gone to Laos, gotten a tourist visa, used a land border to get back into the country, and then reapplied for an ED visa.

I like to time a vacation at the end of my Visas, re-entering as a tourist (best option for my status). Later I switch to ED in country. Vientiane is still the best option right? What about Phnom Penh and Yangon? One of my vacation stops are Jakarta and Singapore but i hear those are non-ideal. Same with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

As a US citizen I'll be visiting Japan at the end of my most recent ED visa. I was thinking of getting a tourist visa from the Thai Embassy there instead of doing a stop in Vientiane. Does anyone have experience getting a tourist visa at the Japanese embassies? I'm wondering how hard it is.

Hi I was planning this for the future, trip not taken yet

Has anyone ever gotten this visa (or extension of stay) before? Happens if someone is suing you or accusing you of a crime, but the crime or evidence doesn't justify jail yet. Length of stay attached to the case right? How slow are the courts? Anyone know a lawyer who can advise?

Pattaya and Krabi have flights from Dubai, and Samui from Singapore and Hong Kong. As an American with a long history of EDU visas, I typically enter Thailand through Chiang Mai. I come in on Tourist and convert to EDU. Are Pattaya, Krabi, and Samui low on immigration officer scrutiny like Chiang Mai? Or more like BKK, DMK and Phuket?

I can confirm they are still there and also close 8pm. My guess is the Terminal 21 guy was mistaken. He probably meant to type 20:00, not 22:00 as their closing hour

The 2nd Rd DHL and Naklua Rd Fedex both close at 6pm. But I have noticed that the Central Festival 5th floor UPS table, and Terminal 21 UPS, close at 8pm and 10pm. For someone on a night schedule this really helps. Have you guys seen any other UPS stores around town? I am on Soi Buakao Google maps claims there is one in Big C Pattaya Klang: https://www.google.com/maps/place/UPS/@12.9303573,100.8869361,15.46z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x310295fceccffb25:0xdff528b42843bd0b!8m2!3d12.9352298!4d100.8948128!16s%2Fg%2F11c5x7b9q7?entry=ttu I went there and no one knew where it was. I even searched the parking area for it.

Anyone have a good apartment cleaner they can recommend? I stay in Pattaya.

My plan is to always enter through CNX. Chiang Mai seemed pretty easy. I need to go to Cambodia for a few days at a time. Over a year I may need to do it 3 to 5 times. It can be timed to look like mostly weekend trips to a neighboring country.

Is it "harder" to get approved for? Or just costlier at 3,800 baht? I assume unlimited re-entries? Do I need to prepare an excuse for it? I am considering using an agent. In my case, the US embassy Cambodia (Phnom Penh) has next day appointments for notary service (I'm in real estate) and BKK is 2+ weeks booked out. I probably need a cover story as that blows the lid on my stay in thailand for "education"

So back on the Thai Elite, has there ever been a period where they appeared to roll out new pricing, determine it was too high, and actually lower it? My guess is no but I'm happy to hear otherwise.