moon47

IMHO

Waving down normal Taxi service in the city is horrible. 80% of them refuse to go where I want to go, 25% of those do not know where I asked then to go. I have been dropped off far from where I wanted to go because he misunderstood me and I speak very clear Thai.

I started using Grab exclusively as they always know where I want to go and how to get there without heated conversation.

However over the past few years Grab has become unusable as well. 

Almost every time I call for a Grab the driver complains that he is too far and want ME to cancel so he does not get points deducted for canceling too many rides.

Even after giving plenty of extra time before requesting I am always late now when trying to use Grab because of the constant cancelations!

Because Grab is basically a monopoly in the area there is no incentive for them to fix their broken program.

Uber should be allowed to operate in Bangkok and heavy traffic areas as the system they have set up now is made to prevent that constant frustration between driver and passenger needs.

What would that take? Involving international news to shame the horrible and backwards Taxi system in the country?

Who else even cares, or is it just me... =]

I can see this light show from my hotel/condo balcony.

I can't find any concerts for tonight online.

What is going on up there, anyone know?

Tararom Business Tower is the white building just to the right of the show. So it's just to the north of Ekkamai and Petchaburi Rd.

Thats what I thought. Conflicting info at best. =]

bamnutsak I will ask our head man when we go back to the country and look into the "Community Enterprise" or an "Agricultural Cooperative" avenue. That sounds more in line with what I read before.

Smallest land plot to work with would be ~1/2 Rai so a few more than 15 plants.

Pla Simon I will have one/some of them apply as soon as possible.

I am wondering what the requirements are to register for a license to grow on our plot of land to wholesale to retail shops?

I realize that the laws regarding this are muddy at best. All I want to do is have the wife apply for a license for now.

I have read similar posts to the below:

http://www.channelweedthailand.com/2022/07/27/thailand-launched-new-certificate-for-cannabis-seller/?fbclid=IwAR2Qg2rQ6QfcgRHqU6l1tRmb5iDgX6YVzPM7JlbuKrl6xXxZgi1TRTHGrsc

That seems to be for research, retail sales, or export license. What are the rules to register for cultivation?

Again I do not expect to start growing until there are proper laws in place but want to get started with licensing.

I thought I read somewhere that 7 people from different households need to apply together to get cultivation licensing.

Any constructive help or a point in the correct direction is appreciated. =]

M

What a truly unintelligent idea. =[

The official transliteration is useless for both locals and foreigners. 

Simply put. It is not pronounced anywhere near how it is spelt here in roman characters.

Most Thai people can not even pronounce the "TH" sound like in "THis way to Bangkok" 

Why write the official name of the capital in those characters? Confusion for both sides.

...=/

Maybe it is because none of the people holding out trust this flip flopping, money grabbing government enough to pay for something that is not top quality. 

My brother in law paid for Modern and still has no idea when he will receive it. Had to get Sinofarm (paid again) to satisfy his employer.

What a joke... =[

How about acquiring Modern, Pfizer and J&J, then offer it for FREE to the entire population?

Then make sure it is done right the first time through without falling all over themselves in the process (them = government, hospitals, etc...) !

Not in Thailand... =[

I spent quite awhile tracking down some Epsom Salt or Magnesium Sulfate for a bath to relieve pain.

Would like to share where I found it for others who may be struggling to find some in Bangkok.

If you have time to wait there are lots of sellers on Lazada and Shopee now but do not pay too much. Some want several hundred baht for a kilo or less. I got mine for 35/kilo.

If you are in the Bangkok metro area, and in a rush like me, this shop is just off Lat Phrao MRT station.

I did not even have to go down there, I contacted them by phone (in Thai) to ask them the quickest way to get the product. They told me to send on LINE: My name and address with the name of the hotel/apartment and they ordered a grab delivery for me. Just sent them a bank to bank transfer and received the product shortly after.

I just had a really good experience with them so I highly recommend them if you are in need for Magnesium Sulfate.

https://www.kmemart.com/contactus

Link to location. I think this is the other sister chemical company.

https://goo.gl/maps/Y6Gsf67fCGnhVChCA

They have Lazada and Shopee shops as well.

7 hours ago, webfact said:

They reported that the PM no longer wants to wait for virus numbers in Thailand top come down or for enough people in the country to be vaccinated. 

A failure to recognize the truth always ends well...

Good luck with that. =\

Regardless of what happens to this case, It makes me think twice about wanting to spend time in the country any more.

My wife always warns me that if a dog attacks me I am not allowed to harm the dog. This is 100 times more ridiculous than that.

If anything threatens me or my family I should not have to think twice about defending myself, or anyone for that matter.

If Thai law does dot support a person defending themselves in their own home, perhaps I do not want to be here... =[

Very sad regardless of the outcome of the "Investigation"... !!

Wait, don't tell me there will be a "re-enactment" to determine how "justice" is served... =[

Sad was an understatement, FRIGHTENING is more like it...

I can not express in words how relived I am about the COVID extension being pushed out until November.

It makes all this trouble that much easier to swallow... 

Whew...

On 9/20/2021 at 7:13 AM, Farma said:

What a lot of you are missing is the fact covid is being introduced into villages from people mostly travelling back from Bangkok or other red zones.

 

I've been told by medical staff that sometimes up to 80% of my provinces daily cases can be traced to an outside arrival not quarantining then spreading it to family and friends. I imagine the same could be said for other provinces.

 

...

 

I've done ASQ followed by another 14 days home quarantine. It not a big problem. 

It is a bit of a problem for me, I have limited time here and allot to do.

All of witch will take longer than expected because of COVID restrictions. I only have 90 days on my Non-o (Getting a multi entry is useless now) and I do not want to go through the hassle and money required to do the 1 year extension.

We can only stay  a max. of less than 6 months.  Otherwise my wife will loose her ability to get US citizenship. Otherwise she has to wait another 3 years and more problems with US immigration.

I will probably still have to do the 1 year as I anticipate not having enough time, having lost almost 1/3 of my time to ridiculous quarantine requirements. I will probably end up having to purchase 1 year of insurance and go through Thai immigration hoops just to get less than 3 more months use from all that.

Getting a covid extension now will not help and I do not anticipate it being available when I need it.

Hoping for the best and expecting the worst. It's usually the latter. =[

I do understand the need to be extra safe.

However these people carrying COVID from province to province are most likely unvaccinated people that are visiting bars and shopping malls before they return home. Not usual fully vaccinated people that received 3 PCR tests, reported their temperature 2 times a day then left 14 day ASQ and went straight to the country.

To me if you are contracting and or spreading COVID there are just a few main reasons:

- you are either forced into a dangerous situation like nurses or poor working conditions in a factory/construction site

- you are being irresponsible, ignorant or just not being safe

- you are exposed and infected by the above two without your knowledge (least likely)

The germaphobes had it right all along. Whoever points and laughs at someone using a tissue to open a door or carrying disinfectant with them now is just ignorant by choice?

People in our town always looked at my funny. Now they do it with ignorant hatred when most cases are spread by the locals.

Sigh, please forgive my lengthy rant...

Sincerely,

Frustrated with humanity... =[

Is any one else having problems in other provinces/towns outside of major cities?

I just arrived in a small town just south of Phetchabun in Phetchabun province.

We just finished our mandatory 14 day Quarantine in Bangkok and drove straight to our house in the country.

The town headsman is requesting all of our info (14day official quarantine proof, vaccination proof...) and is telling us we have to quarantine in a rented room for 7 more days. We can not stay in our own house with our own family because there are children and old people living there.

Is this whole country gone bonkers?

We would have to do this AGAIN even if we went to another town for ONE night and came back home. We will have to do that several times to go to a hospital in the closest city as my wife, myself and her daughter need to see doctors while we are here.

Again this is a VERY small town in the country not a major city. My wife tells me her cousin won't go to see a funeral of his family because the rules of this town and the town where the funeral is. If you know anything about Thai people, they will go through great lengths to visit family for any marriage, funeral, etc. So for him to decide not to go means these rules are difficult for the local Thai to swallow.

Any experience with expats in the country towns and provinces would be helpful.

Thank you.

M

My point is that I have been "told" several dates as well as official posted dates that are all different.

• COE website reads it should only take a max of 6 days.

• Embassy website reads it should take a max. of 15 days. (7 for pre. approval and 7 for confirmation.)

• When I called the office back on the 17th I was "told" that I had to wait the full 15 days regardless.

Once that had passed, and others had posted on here that they received theirs one week before departure, all of those dates had passed.

To tell me later that I have to wait 3 days before departure is mind boggling.

I finally received my COE after my Thai wife called 4 days before (As I was instructed to do after my previous. call) to ask what the heck was going on. I received it about an hour after that final call.

Government agencies should not be allowed to treat people this way.

What an EXTREAMLY stressful and unnecessary experience. =[

4 hours ago, smedly said:

classic infantile blame shifting going on 

 

Government - it is not our fault so stop blaming us 

 

shameful

Did you click and read the article, or just the title here?

Last paragraph:

Quote

The professor added that confusing government policy has also compounded the situation as the CCSA and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration did not stick with public health guidelines forwarded by their team of advisors.

Seems that he divided the blame evenly to me... =\

FYI my flight is next Wednesday.

So far I have waited past any date posted above... !!

Extremely worried... !!

This is really ridiculous already.

I called on Monday:

I had to repeat myself several times to say that it had been 15 days already.

She finally told me to wait 15 min while she looked into it and call extension 204 for COE.

After 15min I called with x204 and no answer.

Called back the main line and a man answered.

He looked over my info said it looked fine and told me that COE are normally given 3 days before departure.

After explaining several times AGAIN that it had already been 15days he told me to call back on Thursday if I still did not have my COE.

Looks like I will be on the phone AGAIN with the embassy tomorrow as I still do not have my COE after 17 days.

I was informed that there was only ONE officer handling the all foreigners COE applications for that office.

Thoroughly confused and frustrated at this point.

Today is day 15 since submitting first application.

I have not received any reply from my emails and will have to call the embassy AGAIN today to see what is going on.

This has caused me severe anxiety for weeks.

What a horrible way to welcome someone into your country.

Waiting with no explanation as to exactly how long or why is not my idea of a welcome mat. =[

I do check the web portal as well, just incase. As you can see by the screenshot still waiting for approval.

12 hours ago, MayPutThai said:

I had some trouble with the Singapore Embassy ... then I added the following email in copy to my email to the SG Embassy.

'[email protected]'; '[email protected]'

Therefore everybody should use the complaint email. It is exactly for cases if the officers play games with the applicant.

 

 

Those are handy emails to have thank you MayPutThai... =]

Thank you for the replies everyone!

 At least I understand the situation now after seeing how many other have a similar issue.

Clearly the embassy is not interested in explaining current policy. 48 hours since email and no response.

For those wondering 15  business days from first application date (2nd Aug)  will also be about one week before my flight.

Fingers Crossed for Monday/Tuesday next week that I receive COE.... =]

It's a shame these government agencies are not more accountable for their actions. To have several timeframes posted on official sites (3+3 days on COE site, 3-7+3-7 on embassy site) and to uphold none of them is a sham. If it were a private company handling things, this would not ever be accepted by anyone.

My own US embassy in Bangkok is an example of one of the worst. Not interested at all in actually helping those they are supposed to serve at all... =[ 

Short end is :

I have been waiting about 10days for my COE and am a bit nervous.

(1day after application/9days after travel conformation)

I submitted my COE application on the 2nd.

I then received and completed the travel confirmation on the 3rd

I also received an email "Thai Consulate-General, Los Angeles has received your travel confirmation" on the same day the 3rd.

I called the embassy on the 10th because I was reading the 3days stated on the code page https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/regis/step?language=en

She kept saying "you have to wait" and something about 15days. I was confused so I said thank you any way and she hung up on me.

Then I remembered another notice on the embassy web site.

 https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ 

Quote

Due to the large number of travelers requesting the COE,
please be informed that the estimated time for the pre-approval process is around 3-7 days

and the COE will be issued within 3-7 days after you submit all required documents and provide all relevant information. 

Hence, the whole process could take up to 15 days.

Do I really have to wait 15days to get my COE? I am definitely over 7 days since the travel confirmation.

Has anyone else had delays in receiving a COE longer than stated on https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ 

I sent the below email to the Embassy on the 13th, so 24hrs now and no reply to that. I am getting worried. This does not seem right.

Quote

It has been 8 days since this email was received.

 

Per the website https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ it should only take between 3-7 days after the travel confirmation is received.

 

"the COE will be issued within 3-7 days after you submit all required documents and provide all relevant information. "

 

...

 

Please explain why there is a delay in my COE approval past the stated timeframe.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Ryan Mooney

I sent an email to the Embassy.

Not sure why it is taking longer than stated on the website for me.

Keep in mind this is after receiving the initial confirmation email with 6 digit code.

Tho OP has not even received that yet. I have given myself plenty of time so I "SHOUD" be fine but still worried.

I would call the Embassy ASAP if I knew I may run out of time. Good luck to you Jeff.

Quote

It has been 8 days since this email was received.

 

Per the website https://thaiembdc.org/visas/ it should only take between 3-7 days after the travel confirmation is received.

 

"the COE will be issued within 3-7 days after you submit all required documents and provide all relevant information. "

 

...

 

Please explain why there is a delay in my COE approval past the stated timeframe.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Ryan Mooney

Per the link (see green box at top of page) everything could take 15 working days. 
 

https://thaiembdc.org/visas/

I got pre approval the next day. Submitted flight and asq. This is now day 8 since sending  travel confirmation. I am also worried. Los Angeles office btw. 

Here is the reply from the local consulate.

Quote

1. 12  - Residence permit in a country in which visa application is submitted (In case that applicant is not a national of the country in which visa application is submitted.)// Please upload US ID or US passport.

2. 13 . Travel booking confirmation -- Please provide reticket and ASQ hotel confirmation letter.

Short answer is, yes these are duplicate entries but required.