khunPer

It's still south-western monsoon time, so it rains off in south-west, with the little rain the clouds bring, before it hits north-east; my few plants up here on the northen cost are still unhappy with the performance of the weather gods...

You need to discuss that with your landlord – wish you good luck...

Dont forget that khun Thaksin is VVIP...

400 baht is about around 15% increase of the minimum wage. Prices will increase when labour costs increase more than just slightly more than "consumer price index". Soon after, the people with minimum wage salaries won't be able to buy more for the higher salary than before; that was what happened last time a Thaksin-government forced a high minimum pay rise from around 200 baht per day to 300 baht per day. The consumer price index is 108.41 (August 2023). 2022 index is just under 108 (107.7 in September 2022) – when minimum salary last time was adjusted to 331-355 baht per day, depending of province and local living costs – one year increase is 0.66%. If compared with the consumer price index during the Covid-period, the increase is about 8%; i.e. from index 100 to index 108.

The suggestion – "increase the current 30-day stay to 60-90 days" – makes good sense for Samui...????

You get what you pay for – "always look at the bright side of life": There is a toilet inside the room, instead of one for common use outside...

Nothing stops your uncle from studying Thai language on a retirement extension of stay...

For those of us that are not Americans, Vietnam – and Cambodia and Lao – was luckily just something to read about in the news, at that time. I'm vary happy that I was teen and young in the later 60s and during the 70s. Great time with the youth revolution for freedom, the pill, the flower power and hippies. Furthermore, the change in the musical scene, and all the things one could do without people being offended or infringed. Furthermore it was easy to start up something, a time where you could borrow money in the bank based on a good idea...???? During the 80s things began to change – a lot – at least in Europe, where I originates from. However still good memories even that many things got little more tough to deal with, the same during the 90s. Coming to Thailand in 2001 and especially Samui, it was like getting back to the good old time – apart from cell-phones and digital cameras – lots of the old music and a party life like the one in the late 60s and early 70s; furthermore cheap petrol, compared to Scandinavia, and lots of partying young girls in hot pants and even some topless on the beaches...???? I decided to stay and fully relive the "good old times" like "summer of '69" – cell-phone and digital cameras merged into smartphones, which were easier to carry, and faster Internet made the expat life a lot more attractive, like sitting under a coconut palm and checking the banking business at home while a couple of young girls serv ed cooled drinks – and I still enjoy all-year-summer and barefoot-xmas, the parties, the nightlife; and also the new great music...????????

When is enough, enough?

You need a work permit to make a workshop or seminar – the immigration authorities actually seems to search for foreigners without work permit at the moment, also on Phangan.

You can get an non-immigration O-visa and extensions of stay based on either marriage or supporting your daughter. If based on marriage, you need to prove that you live together with your wife. Medical insurance is not a demand on a non-immigrant O-visa and extension of stay based on marriage or child support; however often advisable to have an insurance. It can however be costly when 72 years old, and by some insurance companies difficult to get in. The self-insurance option – i.e. keeping a rainy day-deposit for emergency – works as long as there is money. If you use half of, or the whole, deposit, there is only half or no money left. When being self-insured you should continuously add up in the deposit, like paying into an insurance every month. Personally I use the self-insurance method and pay a small fee, equivalent to an affordable insurance, into my rainy day-account every month. To my knowledge it's not more complicated to be a foreigner living in Thailand than before – I've been living here since 2005 on retirement extensions from 2007, when no longer needed to visit my home country – but the various immigration offices have become little more strict with the documentation, especially the financial. I've burned my bridges to my home country and believe in, that if the financial limits raise at some time in the future, the Thai authorities will once again offer a "grandfather" possibility for those of us "veterans" that began out extensions of stay under old regulations; that has been done before.

Perhaps we should open a pinned thread with "What happened to...", so we can keep track on what happened to various criminals and other items in the news about Samui...????

Air Asia, they got a package including ferry/bus and air from Surat Thani to Bangkok and vice versa.

Actually, plenty of domestic tourists come and it seems like they prefers to bring their cars also, so they use road and ferry. Nobody was interested in funding an airport on Samui at that time, but Bangkok Airways. It's built for private money instead of tax funds, so there are nobody but the users to pay for it. Any airline can fly to USM and a number others than Bangkok Airways also do it. The private airport project on the northern tip of Phangan is to my knowledge stopped. According to the news there were problems with rights for land use. Furthermore, the runway would be very short, just around 1200 meters; it's hard to find space on Phangan. It was planned to handle an ATR-42 aircraft. It's in a way a huge benefit for Samui that the airfare prices are high and the runway too short for long haul aircrafts – the size of the island makes some limits here – it's a small island with an infra structure that cannot handle massive package tourism. Furthermore, it's not a problem to get to Samui and Phangan at an affordable price, just travel as the the original tourists did, when the island was "paradise" – the folks from those days in general think it was destroyed by opening an airport, so hard to think of what further tourism from budget flights and a longer runway could do to improve that image... – just take the train or bus and thereafter sail to Samui and Phangan; alternatively you can fly to Surat Thani or Nakhon Si Thammarat and continue from there, some airlines offers a package including bus and ferry...???? And by the way, Samui is in general little more expensive than many other places, because of being an island – apart from airfares people also complains about that – so those that cannot afford "the high costs" to fly in might also not like the prices on the island...???? And what about Koh Chang, a great alternative if you wish to visit an island and about half the distance from Bangkok. Some says that it's like Samui once was before it got smashed by building an airport. Seems like folks visiting Koh Chang don't complain about Bangkok Airways' airport monopoly in Trat at the mainland, they use the road instead.

Yes, that's the fate for people like us – I'm also told that it's parts of the music- and pro audio business' after-party...???? Yes, ignore it...????

Well, but it was important in creating Samui's tourism and looked at the number of flights and passengers, it seems to be quite the opposite...

Agree...????

A carbon filter takes away bad smell and taste, it don't clean the water; preferably you need a post carbon filter also. RO-filter cleans the water quite completely, and also takes out any minerals. In your case I would suggest a RO-filter. Don't forget that all water filters need to be maintained/changed to work.

This is not an option for AnnaPin, who has stated clearly that if she doesn't get a work permit, her employment contract will be terminated. That's why there is a first section in my reply, which you didn't quote...

Legally, you need one of the new visas that allows you to perform distance work/work from "home"; i.e., a LTR (Long Term Resident visa) "Work - From - Thailand Professional" visa. You can find more information HERE. In principle you cannot work legally in Thailand for a foreign company. However, there seems to be some doing it, keeping their work under the radar. In such case you need to find another kind of visa for long time stay in Thailand, for example if over 50 years old a retirement extension of stay and officially live of savings.

It might depend of the bank you are using. In SCB you can for example use any branch – they have closed so many branches that lots of customers became "homeless" – while Bangkok Bank for example still requires that some things shall be done in one's home branch. Check it in a branch of the bank in where you have your account.

"Thailand banks have the worst interest rates" – no, not at all. You haven't checked the Danish bank rates; so yes, indeed "leave surplus cash in Thailand"...

Yes, Op asks for "something similar for around this time of year?" "This time of the year" is when the low season begins on Samui and Phangan; so, OP seems to be fully aware of that...????

Agree – no visa needed for the child to enroll and start in a school.

Check TOA products, primer and for example SuperShield...