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.

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.

- 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.

Thousands of New Zealanders are pouring into Australia for many of the same reasons. They’re in for a big surprise. Out of the frying pan into the 🔥 fire. 😮

Double, double, toil and trouble: fire burn and cauldron bubble. By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. With the sound of gong, pollution gone!

High end tourism is booming globally. The world’s travelling population is very much “on the move.” Thailand is simply too hard and too expensive to get to and from with a limited number of seats at scalper’s prices. TG too is wallowing in incompetence and is only flying the long haul, more profitable, international routes. Short haul routes would fill hotels and resorts fast.

CHUBB THAILAND Travel Insurance online is an excellent option. Just type it into Google and away you go. Easy.

Chang is Carlsberg by a different name. Delicious. In their former joint venture, Carlsberg took the venture while the partner took the joint. Goodbye Carlsberg, hello Chang. 🥹

“Context” is important. Thaksin is a convicted criminal and is meant to be in prison. It is “in the public interest” to know exactly why and on whose authority he is spending this extraordinary amount of time in hospital.