ChristianPFC

Are cameras cheaper in Germany or in Thailand?

I am going to buy a new camera in the near future, and I wonder if it's cheaper to do so in Germany (where I am currently) or when I am back in Thailand (next month). I will use the camera mainly in Thailand.

Thailand has lower VAT, but there might be other taxes and import tax.

(A camera range 10 to 20 kBaht, maybe Nikon P330 or 7100 or 7700 or Sony RX100 II.)

Proof of leaving Thailand required for tourist visa at Thai embassy Berlin

I am just back (in my hometown in Germany) from applying for a triple entry tourist visa at the Thai embassy in Berlin, and they asked me for proof of leaving Thailand. This caused some minor inconvenience (I combined the trip to Berlin with a visit to a friend, so I could book a flight out of Thailand from my friend's home and go to the embassy again on the following day with the ticket).

This is new to me, all previous visa (tourist in Vientiane Feb 2010 and Feb 2014 and Non-Imm in Berlin Dec 2012) did not require proof of leaving Thailand.

This (proof of leaving Thailand, bus or train ticket is sufficient*) is stated in the list of documents required for a tourist visa, but I disregarded this (same for address of guarantor in Germany and in Thailand in the visa application form, I didn't fill in and still got visas).

But it could have been worse, they sent me away to come back the following day with proof of leaving Thailand; if I had sent the application by post it would have taken more time and cost more money.

I prefer some flexibility, usually I started planning my visa runs (date and destination) two weeks before expiry; now I have a flight ticket out of Thailand and haven't even entered Thailand.

Any similar experiences?

*The embassy's website says that bus or train ticket is sufficient, but I am in Germany now, and had only one day, so a flight ticket (airasia, Don Muang to Phnom Penh, 1580 Baht) was the best option. Anyway, the ticket would be more than 60 days in advance. And to be pedantic, a bus or train ticket to Nong Khai or Aranyaprathet is still in Thailand.

http://www.thaiembassy.de/de/menu-consular/how-to-apply-for-a-visa (in German)

It's illogical to me to issue a double entry visa with 90 days validity, but that's how it is, I cannot use the second entry and wasted 1000 Baht (but at the time I applied for the visa my travel plans with return to Germany in April were not clear).

Will get new visa in Germany (I will go to Berlin anyway to visit friends, but will check the advice on Munich as well).

Thanks everyone for your contribution.

My visa sticker: Date of issue 31 Jan 2014, Enter before 30 Apr 2014

First entry was 9 Feb 2014

Thaivisa says about tourist visa:

4. VALIDITY OF A VISA

The validity of a visa is three months or six months. That means that you must utilize your visa within 90 or 180 days (dependent on number of entries) .

For double entry, 180 days would make sense. If the second entry has to be made within 90 days (by 30 Apr) then indeed I cannot use it.

http://www.thailand-visa-service.com/thailand-tourist-visa says:

Validity of Visa:

The validity of a single-entry tourist visa is three months, while the double-entry tourist visa is six months.

http://www.thaiembassy.se/minmapp/filer/pdf-pages/Visa/Frequently_Asked_Questions_new.pdf says:

Tourist visa double and triple entries having visa validity 180 days so you will be permitted...

Does this mean they made a mistake by giving me 90 days validity for my double entry tourist visa in Vientiane?

As far as I know, a visa waiver cannot be converted into a work visa (not the correct name, but you know what I mean). Your husband has to enter Thailand on a visa to get permission to stay based on work.

I am German, I did a visa run to Vientiane on 31.01.2014 and got a double entry tourist visa, one entry I am using now (Feb-Mar 2014). I will spend the entire April in Germany will return to Thailand on my second entry on 03.05.2014.

Can I apply for a triple entry tourist visa at the Thai embassy in Berlin, but use the second entry from Vientiane when I return (I probably will have to notify the immigration officer which visa to use)?

Or could I even ask the immigration officer not to use any of the tourist visa, but give me a 30 day visa waiver (but I don't have a ticket for flight out of Thailand)?

(My visa history: ten normal holidays in Thailand - 30 days visa waiver, one single entry tourist from Hull UK three years ago, one single entry tourist from Vientiane three years ago, one year work visa Feb 2013 to Jan 2014.)

I am genuinely travelling in Thailand (however have a room in Bangkok as base station), can transfer money from Germany to my Thai bank account if necessary.

Visa run advice?

Abstract: where in South-East Asia can I travel and stay cheaply, even during Chinese New Year, and get a triple entry tourist visa for Thailand?

As I plan to go home to Germany in April, single entry (60 days) would be sufficient, but I plan to spend more time in Thailand, so triple entry would be more convenient. (I had one single entry tourist visa from Vientiane in Jan 2011, apart from that visa waivers. My current passport just has work visa transferred becaue my previous passport was stolen during Songkran, and re-entry permit for return to Germany in July.)

My work visa and work permit end on 31.01.2014. (1) I have to leave Thailand, but want to come back after a few days to spend two more months (Feb and Mar) in Thailand. (2)

It will be Chinese New Year, which will make travelling and finding accommodation difficult. In which countries in South-East Asia Chinese New Year is not celebrated to a large extent?

I want to go for a visa in a country where I can enter preferably without needing a visa and without entrance fee of any kind (as a German). Visa on arrival is acceptable, applying for visa before travelling is unacceptable for me.

I would go to the Thai embassy of that country and apply for a triple entry tourist visa. (I plan to spend the entire April in Europe and want to come back after that.) In which countries/embassies is this process easy, where can I encounter problems?

Last but not least, I like to travel and stay on a low budget. I want to do some sightseeing in that country (several days, up to a week).

Any suggestions where to go or what else I can do?

Apart from Chinese New Year, the political situation in Thailand might change and make a visa run difficult or impossible.

(1) Is it possible to get an extension for my work visa, after the work contract ends?

(2) After these few more months, I want to stay in Thailand on a tourist or ED visa, find a new job in Thailand, or go back to Europe for work if I find a job.

(update: I discussed this with a friend and he said that there are an additional 7 days time to leave the country after the work visa expires. But if this was true, it would be stamped in the passport? It would make sense, according to my work contract I would have to work until 5 pm on Jan 31st and then leave the country on that very day because my visa expires at midnight.)

Currently working in Thailand. All my coworkers speak English better than I speak Thai, so job doesn't help.

I have a few Thai friends who can't speak English, that helps.

When I was in Europe, I used camfrog for online chat, that helped a lot because my problems is listening, and on camfrog I can read and write which is much easier to understand for me.

A very interesting topic! Let me join in.

The Thai writing system (vowels before, above, below, behind consonants, tone marks on top) is an utter mess compared to languages that use the Latin alphabet.

Lack of puntuation and capitalisation in Thai is a good thing. Even native speakers have problems with punctuation (especially apostrophies) in English or capitalisation in German. The little information that punctuation and capitalisation adds is not worth the problems it creates.

Lack of spaces between words is no problem, I found there is no need for current writing in Thai (i.e. combining letters like we do in handwriting).

Thai is phonetic (similar to German, Russian and Spanish), from the written word you know how to pronounce it. There are not many exceptions, some of them mentioned in earlier posts. English pronunciation, on the contrary, is a mess.

Many Thai words are monosyllabic (here comes the need for tones to distinguish them), and other words are formed by combination. It's easier to guess their meaning than in English. Nam dta = tear (literally eye water), nam rak = semen (love water), nam dtan = sugar (brown water, because the sap from sugar cane is brown), nam peung = honey (bee water).

Let me throw in an observation about Russian here. The cyrillic alphabet has more letters, so the information per letter is higher than in English. Nonetheless, I have the impression that words are longer, not shorter, than in English or German.

I have a book about homophones in English, and a very small collection of homophones I found in Thai. The number of palindrome words in Thai is low, I think the language is not suitable for formation of palindrom sentences.

(My background: German native, English fluent, French almost fluent, Russian and Thai intermediate, interested in Linguistics and Languages.)

I wanted touch screen, therefore no blackberry for me.

I don't remember exactly what apple censors (I read about it somewhere on the internet), and now I found out that some pics in gay dating apps are censored on my IQ6 with android as well. But the mere idea that something is censored on a Apple device that is not censored on another device is enough to confirm my rejection of Apple's products.

I never encountered this before, and I was not aware that it is possible. But to my great surprise, when I try to type it turns out as อีีก and even three i are possible: อีีีก And how about อััก อัััก I thought the program you use for writing would suppress such impossible combinations. I cannot write this in Word, only here in the forum. (E.g. in French you can put only one accent on a vovel, in German umlaute are separate so you can't put two double dots on a letter.)

More ways to write a final t in Thai

All words that end in ซ pronounced t are from English, so who came up with the idea that ซ is pronounced t, if there is no precedent in Thai (including loan words from Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer)? Here is one where it makes sense: พิซซ่า (pizza).

Various “pit” (open for further suggestions)

ผิด (be illegal), พิษ (danger, poison), พิซซ่า (pizza)

ราชบพิธ (Wat Ratchabopit), พิษณุโลค (Pitsanulok), เบญจมบพิตร (Wat Benchamabopit)

Various “set”

ฝรั่งเศส (France), พิเศษ (special), เศรษฐกิจ (economy)

one “tet” (are there more?)

เทศกาล (festival), เทศบาล (municipality), ประเทศ (country)

My op was about 16 ways to write a final t with one letter, here are ways to write it with more than one letter.

One additional letter (no garan):

(unpronounced ร) บัตร (cart, ticket), เพชร (diamond), มหาสมุทร (ocean)

(unpronounced อิ) อัตโนมัติ (automatic(ally)), ชาติ (nation, country)

(unpronounced อุ) เหตุ (cause, reason), วัดพระธาตุ (Wat Prathat)

(unpronounced ธ) พุทธ (Buddha)

(unpronounced ร) สามารถ (be able to)

One addtitional letter plus garan (there should be up to 16 x 42 =672 combinations):

โบสถ์ (Buddhist temple), แพทย์ (doctor), สัตย์ (honest), สัตว์ (animal), ไทยพาณิชย์ (SCB Siam Commercial Bank), โทรทัศน์ (television) = วัดสุทัศน์ (Wat Suthat),

วัดพระศรีสรรเพชญ์ (Wat Phra Sri Sanphet Ayutthaya),

Two additional letters (no garan):

เฉลิมพระเกียรติ (chalerm phrakiat)

Two additional letters plus garan:

วิทยาศาสตร์ (science), บริสุทธิ์ (pure, clean), สาธุประดิษฐิ์ (Sathupradit road in Bangkok), ราตรีสวัสดิ์ (Goodnight), ราษฎร์บูรณะ (Rat Burana district in Bangkok)

i-mobile IQ6

I finally (mid July 2013) bought an i-mobile IQ6. An amazing piece of technology! Price was 7690, you can get it from 6990 Baht.

I was looking for 4.5 to 5 inch screen, other options were IQ5.3 (big battery, but lower resolution), IQ1 series, IQ4. But upon recommendation from the shop assistant and reading a review elsewhere, I settled for IQ6.

Quite a change from my previous phone (Samsung SGH-E720 from about 2007). In general, I am satisfied with my IQ6, it will take a while to explore all possibilities (and I will need a SIM for internet).

(The Nokia 6210 is still working, and the original battery now lasts about 3 days – it lasted a week when I bought it 12 years ago.)

Battery lasts about a day (with two SIM cards, one for calls and one for data, WiFi and GPS off unless I use it). When I used it in Europe with one SIM (calls only), it lasted about 3 days.

Amazing screen, I can read documents that are intended for print on A4. Incredible!

WLAN (or WiFi) did not work. I tried to log in in my room, authentication problem. I tried at work, or rather ask IT service and let them play with it for half an hour to no avail. I went back to the shop, they couldn’t get WiFi to work. That was before a two week holiday in Germany and Austria. Upon return, I went to the service center, they couldn’t get it to work and finally gave me a new phone that works without problems (but some data was lost that was stored on the old phone).

GPS works only in connection with an application? At the begin, I didn’t have internet, so no google maps, I could not get anything out of GPS, it is just „on“ or „off“ and nothing more happened. After one connection to internet, googlemaps works with GPS, sometimes a bit slow. Very useful!

The touch screen keyboard in Thai has the same arrangement of letters like a computer keyboard (I can touch type Thai and my digital dictionary has a different arrangement, which is very annoying).

Charging battery takes up to 5 hours (my laptop: 2 hours). When I used the phone until it switched off due to empty battery, and then plugged it in, I only got the „charging“ symbol on the screen, but I could not switch it on. I had to unplug from USB to switch it on.

Switching batteries is not an option, I would have to remove the protective cover first, then the back. With previous phones, it was click (old battery off) – clack (new battery in), not here, rather carry a charger.

The headphones are not loud enough. I tried several music and movies, at maximum volume most of it is ok, but in some cases you still need an quiet environment. I could not understand some movies I watched in a railway station, the surrounding noise was louder than the sound from the headphones. I have a similar problem with my laptop. In Thai discos it’s the contrary, I use earplugs.

After data connection to a computer „File Manager“ sometimes shows an empty Home (SD card + Phone storage). I have to do some other manipulations (I don’t remember which activity brought back the contents, but you can access some data via „Settings“ - „Storage“ – „Pictures, videos“).

SD card and Phone storage are recognized as two drives (F and G), I have to eject both separately from my laptop (although they are both under i-mobile IQ6).

The jacks for headphone and charging have no protection. I keep the phone upside down in my pocket, so no dirt can fall in. My previous phones had covers for jacks.

When I read pdf documents, I turn the phone 90 degree (so it is in landscape position). Then I have to tap twice to “screen width”. How can this be done automatically?

I used that trick (click on the video, then "pop out" and download or similar, was posted somewhere here on Thaivisa) for a while, but then the item on the menue disappeared.

I don't want a program to download a video.

I recently learned that typing "ss" after "www." and before "youtube" redirects you from youtube to another side, where you can download the video, and it works (you can chose file format and resolution).

e.g. www.ssyoutube.

Indeed, in the control panel my location is set to Thailand, I will play around with this and see how it works.

https://www.blogger.com/?hl=en redirects to https://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g and the webpage is in Thai. I tried in firefox, chrome, IE, all the same. If I add something to the address, it give 404 error.

Languages are set to English, according to

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/settings-fonts-languages-pop-ups-javascript?esab=a&s=language&r=0&as=s#w_languages

But if I log into google with a German Email (I am from Germany), I get the website in English language. The problem obviously was that I last accessed google from an account that registered in Thailand.

Another related problem (not really a problem): when I create word documents, it sometimes displays the icons with date in Thai style (month abbreviated in Thai), in Details view with "เอกสาร Microsoft Word" in Thai.

Some months ago, I bought a laptop in Bangkok (where I still live and work). It has Windows 7 in English. Most other programs and websites are in English, but some websites and programs that should be available in multiple languages are in Thai.

For example

https://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g

is dislpayed in Thai language and I would like to read it in English

Avast free antivir shows messages in Thai language

Where can I set English as default language for all programs and websites?

I can read Thai at intermediate level. When I used internet cafes, I had the same problem: Microsoft Word was in Thai in some internet cafes.

I am still searching, and the thread "I-Mobile Iq6 Evaluation After 2 Days Of Use" was useful, thanks to everyone who contributed there.

I think I will purchase a phone from imobile (low prices and large range of models).

What is the difference between i-Style and IQ or 5.1 and 5.3 or IQ6 and IQ6A? A shop assistant told me that IQ is better than i-Style (whatever "better" means).

Do these phones come with a manual in English? Shop assistants did not know and advised me to search in the internet, but I prefer a printed manual in English that comes with the phone.

I am curious about phones that can display television, but for me that would only be for playing, not for serious usage. So I wonder: does this increase the weight of the phone or reduce battery time? Does it require a special antenna?

At least the search for a shop where to buy was easy. IT-Square (Lak Si) is in walking distance to my place, there are many shops but most of them do not have prices displayed and some have prices on large labels that cover the whole phone, so I can't read the technical details. My mental abilities allow me to remember three facts at one time (for comparison with other models): model name, screen size (I am pondering whether to buy a 4 or 5 inch or something in between), and one more technical detail. If I have to ask for the price (and remember it for all models or write it down), this exceeds my capabilities. Anyway, there is only one shop that has prices on display, seems to have the full range of models and at least one staff who speaks good English, this is where I will buy (if/when I can decide which model).

Price is not that important, between 4000 and 8000 is ok.

From my limited experience (two years ago, Thai Language Solution, classrooms in Phaya Thai and Sukumvit, detailed report under "success report: six months of studying Thai" with updates), there is not much choice for time and day of courses (in my cases, there were only courses in the morning, I would have preferred afternoon). Anyway, I think it is a better use of your time and money to have a private teacher, i.e. no class, one to one teaching. At least for me it turned out to be more efficient in the end.

They have classes (or private teacher) for reading and writing. I can't compare to other language schools, but I found nothing wrong with them and would go there again.

My mistake, ศรีสะเกษ is correct (can a moderator edit this in the op?).

Some more words with final t (meaning end of syllable, not necessarily end of word) spelled in different ways:

ภูเก็ต อำหาจ โกรธ ปัจจุบัน

And I like pairs (or triplets) like บาท บาด สับปะรด รถ รส

กาซ and กอซ seem to be transliterations from English, are there any genuine Thai words that end in ซ?

kriswillems, how did you find these? Is there a backwards dictionary (or search with place holder)?

I have a burmese aquaintance who seems to be fluent in spoken Thai, but cannot read or write Thai and does not speak English. He has been working in Thailand for some years and says he learnt Thai from watching TV.

There is a website that has sentences in Thai and English.

I made my own flashcards (word documents) on paper (total more than 1000). They include the whole vocabulary of "Thai for Beginners" and half of "Thai basic reader" and words I encountered in real life. If interested, pm me. I am curious to hear about other's flashcards (paper, but generated on a computer) as well.

The transcriptions are taken from Thai2English, I was wondering about the pronunciation of makarakom and pokadi, now I know. There are more errors in transcriptions in Thai2English, maybe I make a list one day.

16 Ways to write a final t in Thai

In literature about Thai language you find that a final t in a word can be written in 16 different ways, but there are no examples I know of, so I made my own list (in alphabetical order):

1 จ กิจการ business, trade, work

2 ช เพชร diamond

3 ซ any ideas?

4 ฎ กฎหมาย law

5 ฏ any ideas?

6 ฐ รัฐบาล government อูฐ camel

7 ฑ ครุฑ garuda

8 ฒ วัฒนะ progress, development

9 ด จุด ผิด คิด วัด

10 ต สัตว์ animal

11 ถ รถ car สามารถ to be able to

12 ท บาท baht

13 ธ อาวุธ weapon อยุธยา Ayutthaya

14 ศ โทรทัศน์ television

15 ษ เศรษฐกิจ economy ศรีสะเกษ Sri Saket อังกฤษ English

16 ส รส flavor, taste

Can you help me to fill the gaps and suggest other common words to get more examples?

Unwritten vowels in Thai

The pattern –a-o- (like in ถนน, - replaces a consonant,) is well known.

The pattern bori- (like in บริษัท) is less common, but still described in most books about Thai language.

I came across other, irregular, patterns of unwritten vowels and start to see a similarity: most of them are –ora-. (translations and phonetics from Thai2English website)

ธรณี tor-rá-nee earth ; ground ; soil

มรสุม mor-rá-sŭm monsoon ; storm

กรณี [กอ-ระ-นี] gor-rá-nee case ; circumstance ; event

ทรยศ tor-rá-yót [to] betray ; be treacherous ; be unfaithful

ทรมาน tor-rá-maan [to be] in pain ; tortured, [to] torture ; cause pain ; abuse

มรกต mor-rá-gòt emerald ; oriental sapphire

วรวิหาร wor-rá-wí-hăan

Other words with irregular unwritten vowels are:

จระเข้ jor-rá-kây crocodile ; alligator

(it the short a was unwritten, it would fit into the pattern above)

สมรภูมิ sà-mŏn poom battlefield ; battleground (I think in the Thai name for “Victory Monument” they pronounce it sa-mo-ra-pum, and friend confirmed: สะ-หมอ-ระ-พูม)

(from the second syllable, it fits the pattern above)

The following are rathers syllables that consist of one consonant and one unwritten vowel?

บรม bor-rom supreme ; greatest ; utmost

วัดบวรนิเวศ wát bor-won ní-wâyt Wat Bowonniwet

มกราคม mók-gà-raa kom January

ปกติ bpòk-gà-dtì [to be] normal ; ordinary, usually ; normally ; commonly

Is this described in any book? Do you have more examples?

Went to my embassy on Thursday to pick up the passport (no queue, less than 10 minutes total), and to Immigration on Friday.
There I had to wait a total of 5 hours (including one hour lunch break)
on two counters: K2 and N2. K2 is to report lost passport (didn't know
this, but reporting over a month after the theft didn't seem to be a
problem, in fact, they didn't ask when the passport was lost). They kept
originals of police report and letter from embassy at K2, and the
copies of my old passport I brought. Then I proceeded to N2, where
copies of my old passport were required again. I told the officer that I
gave them to K2, he went there to pick them up. In the meantime, I
tried to count the stamps on his desk, between 36 and 39 (they were not
in order, so I lost track). 9 of them for date alone. When I thought of
counting the lying and the standing separately, the officer came back.
The stamps occupy two pages in my passport.

Direct
expenses were 6500 for new passport (including express surcharge, that
is for 2-3 weeks, normally it takes 5-6 weeks!), indirect between 500
and 1000 Baht for travelling and total time spend about 15 to 20 hours.

Now only work permit left.