LoudHailer

I moved to Bangkok from Tokyo for career reasons and agreed that I would stay for three years. That was 37 years ago. I have visited 80 countries, many of them many times and have worked and lived in seven countries. Bangkok is my home on a Type-O Retirement Visa. I love Thailand and don't wish to live anywhere else in the world at any price. My advice to all is to travel more within Thailand to appreciate just how wonderful this beautiful country is.

I suspect that you're on the cusp of the legal number of days you can spend within a 12 months period without an 'appropriate' visa. I understand that is 181 days including the days of arrival and departure. You might be challenged in the unlikely event that a diligent immigration officer takes the time to count them in your passport. I know an elderly Chinese couple from Hong Kong with an apartment here who were coming and going as you do but were 'advised' by an airport immigration officer to get Retirement Visas for Thailand.

Thai style "bum-guns" are discouraged, even forbidden in Australia. They can be connected in to older toilet plumbing but there's no way to connect one in more modern toilets. It's alleged that they are subject to leaks or bursting and flooding.

I recently returned from Japan. I initially struggled to complete the online immigration form to enter Japan because I couldn't upload my passport photo page plus a selfie, trying over and over. It worked when I entered my passport details manually and ignored the request for the selfie. It worked. I received a QR Code in response. The lines were long. I exposed the QR Code to their reader device. I was then subjected to questions by the Immigration Officer which had already been answered in the online process. It didn't speed up the process of entry! Passengers who hadn't done the online form were completing the paperwork and progressed through immigration at much the same pace. Completing the required online reservation for the Airport Bus back from the hotel to Narita airport was more complex. I had the obliging hotel Concierge do it for me, well practiced as he had become by necessity. Everything is going online. We have no choice but to accept and to become adept at it.

Always so much "outrage" by these writers. There's "outrage" with every flick of the finger, caused of course only by foreigners. Where's the "outrage" with taxi drivers peeing every day of the week against the construction site fence on Wireless Road between Ploenchit and Petchaburi Roads. Oh, they're Thai. No "outrage" called for. "Outrage" is reserved for foreigners only. Overuse of outrage is like peeing in the ocean!

Other than the taking or possession of illegal drugs, what is illegal about this gathering of scantily clad like-minded men and women?

Interpol Red Notices work. I am confident that the Moroccan will be brought to justice in Thailand even if it takes years. A Greek-Australian man on the run from a double murder flew to Greece and lived there for 10 years. An Interpol Red Notice was issued for his arrest. The Greek government has a 20 years Statute of Limitations and refused to arrest him. He recently flew to Italy for a vacation and the dormant Interpol Red Notice appeared on the Italian immigration screen. He was held by the Italian immigration police and subsequently arrested by the Australian Federal Police and flown back to Australia in their custody. He is languishing in an Australian prison, charged with a double murder and is awaiting trial.

What a movie plot! 23 year old Ukrainian who appears to have over US$500,000 in crypto currency residing in Thailand perhaps avoiding being called-up to fight in the war with Russia. Enter the Armenian gangsters. All this leads me to urge readers to see the American 2024 movie currently screening in Thailand called, 'Anora.' It's got "everything" to keep you intensely entertained from beginning to end, including Russian billionaires and Armenian thugs. And girls!

My Immigration Lawyer is emphatic that 1. Relevant changes in this regard to the Tax Code require a law to be passed by parliament and it doesn't appear on "the to do list." 2. The current conversation DOES NOT apply to expat retirees on Non-Res Type-O Annual Renewal Visas. Not once have these fear-mongering articles in ASEAN NOW specified this. Without the facts relating specifically to expat retirees and without the act of parliament, this is Fake News.

Given the Manager's 'tone and manner' in his response, it is reasonable to suspect that he was already teetering on the cusp of dismissal. It is reasonable to suspect that this was "the last straw." None of us knows the history of encounters between the Manager and other former clients and hotel owner.

Crosswalks in Thailand are used for target practice by Thai drivers. Stopping appears "optional." Foreigners on home soil are used to vehicles stopping when pedestrians approach a crosswalk. Failure to do so, in New Jersey, for example, may subject the driver to $200 fine plus court costs. Violations in Australia and Europe can be more severe. Striking a person with a vehicle on a crosswalk could mean jail time.

- Asian and other currencies, like the Australian dollar, are strengthening against the dollar across the board as market watchers see a potential rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve paving the way for Asian central banks to do the same. A rising tide lifts all boats. It's not confined to the Thai baht.

The New York Times reported in February 2021 that: "Since 1933, the economy has grown at an annual average rate of 4.6 percent under Democratic presidents and 2.4 percent under Republicans...The average income of Americans would be more than double its current level if the economy had somehow grown at the Democratic rate for all of the past nine decades.