Tomtomtom69

The Americans did squat in terms of helping to design a grid road system for Bangkok. Nothing at all was done for Bangkok until the early 80s when the first expressway was built, with fast progress during the 90s and early 2000s but very gradual since then. Bangkok builds a new road only once every 5 years or so. The Srinakarin-Romklao road, connecting road between Phuttamonthon 1, 2 and 3, the new connecting road between Viphavadi Rangsit and Phahonyothin road south of Don Muang Airport (not yet opened to traffic) and the newly opened connecting road at Chaeng Wattana, 1km in length to the canal road that connects Chaeng Wattana with Ngam Wong Wan are the ONLY new road construction projects that aren't expressways to have been built or currently under construction over the past 10 years. Just 4 road projects (again, excluding expressways, of which 2 are currently under construction along Rama 2 highway).

Most? Only two, which are the Friendship Highway between Saraburi and Nong Khai and route 304 between Prachinburi and Nakorn Ratchasima.

Simple. Poor road design and layout. Too few roads for the volume of cars. A reliance on u-turns over intersections, a lack of right hand turns, no grid layout. Many dead end sois. Bangkok has only 8% of its surface area dedicated to roads. The international norm is 25%, in some cities its even 50%. 37% of all roads in Bangkok have no exit (dead ends). That's why everyone has to pile onto the main roads as there are few alternatives. Other cities are only marginally better; whether it's Nakorn Ratchasima, Chiang Mai etc. still no grid road system and thus few secondary road options.

Nonsense. Thailand can and will change and I'm fairly sure they'll go back to 30 days visa free fairly soon. Thailand is all about changing rules with little notice given. Thailand doesn't like foreigners anyway, why would they want to keep the horrible situation that you described going?

5000 Baht fine and maybe a day in jail...

Time to send this ____ back home. Boorish behavior in the extreme.

All foreign registered vehicles now get 15 days + 7 day extension (you just rock up to a border crossing and get the extension there).

Never heard it was possible unless working in Thailand. It's more likely they will allow retirees to quality in the future, as Thailand and the rest of the world is forced to open up to more foreigners, it almost becomes inevitable, eventually at least.

The article first referred to him as a Thai-Indian, but later in the article he became a foreigner again.

The perpetrator here is of African appearance. They've never been well liked in Thailand. To be fair, in recent years, many farang, be they Russian, Belarussian, from Europe, America, Australia, wherever, have been known to behave badly while in Thailand, so I guess I shouldn't be singling out Africans.

10 minutes is a very long time to spend on filling out an online form.

It's similar to the Cambodian "e-arrival" form, which has been mandatory for air arrivals since July 2024. It is not yet used for land based arrivals, where a paper form continues to be used and the e-arrival is ignored if you happen to complete it. It also asks health related questions, which makes it feel very Covid-like. Even China has done away with health related forms as of late 2023. The only form you fill out is a basic version of the TM6, in paper form. It asks for less information than the TM6 does.

I'm not sure there ever were any on beach road, but within 2-3km you'll find plenty of gas stations.

Dual pricing at government hospitals is probably more widespread than you are implying. Also, given that Thailand is home to millions of migrant workers from neighboring countries (including illegals), with estimates suggesting there could be in excess of 10 million foreigners from neighboring countries here, I think most hospitals throughout the country would have treated Lao, Burmese, Cambodian, Vietnamese etc. citizens at one point or another, and many do so on a regular basis. Hospitals out in the sticks are less likely to have treated farang, of course. Also, being Thailand, greed sets in, so I'm sure a hospital that receives a farang patient would more than likely find an excuse to charge them more than locals...especially if it's a more involved case. For a simple wound cleaning or the sniffles, probably not.

If she's not a Thai citizen, she can't get a Thai ID card.

He's African. How can he be British? OK, by nationality, sure, but that doesn't make him a real Brit. It means he's an immigrant.

They do. Malaysia receives around 75% of the visitor numbers as Thailand does; Singapore about 60%. The last time I entered Malaysia was by land and prior to the rollout of the MDAC. The fact its not a seamless process makes it even more concerning.

Does everyone arrive through Suvarnabhumi? No. Also, I've just told you, you would probably be filling out this form BEFORE getting on a plane or arriving at the border. Some airports may even require you do this. For example, even though no one at the check-in counter checked whether my family and I filled out the Singaporean form when we flew there from Australia en-route to Thailand with a 1 day stopover in SG and you could fill it out on arrival, for others, they were refused a boarding pass until they could show evidence of having filled out the form. I suspect the Thai version may well be similar. I wish they'd just have stuck with the paper form. As annoying as it might be, it takes 2-3 minutes to fill out and doesn't require any pre-planning. You get one on the plane or for those arriving by land, by an immigration helper at the checkpoint. I can already picture the chaos at land borders where hordes of Laotians, Cambodians and Malaysians cross (especially on weekends and holidays), scrambling to fill in this electronic form (even if only enforced for holders of passports) it will be pure pandemonium and increase crowds and processing times.

Again one of these discriminatory things, where foreigners need to fill out more paperwork but locals are exempt. In Australia, they're planning to introduce a pretty much identical form, but it will be required by ALL including Australian citizens. Australia is not going to discriminate only against foreigners, but also it's own citizens.

A phone isn't needed. One would assume this form would be filled out on a website and an email address entered. Once you've completed the form (at home, before departure) immigration would know, as it would be linked to your passport when you check-in or cross the border. If all else fails, you could print out the confirmation. There, problem solved, no phone needed. Also, even among those who do have phones, many won't have working internet on arrival, unless they have a roaming plan from their home countries or are returning residents and thus already have a local SIM. Even then (and this happens to me all the time) it doesn't mean you'd have working internet as you may have no credit left. I usually "borrow" from my network, up to 300 Baht or so, once that has been reached, I can't borrow more without topping up. I sometimes go quite a while without topping up, because I just don't use my phone much, except at home or a hotel when it's connected to wifi. Also, for me when I do have credit, I am charged 22 Baht for unlimited internet per day until my balance goes down to zero, regardless of whether I use it or not. I thus don't bother topping up on days I know I won't be needing it (such as weekends when I'm not going out, except for a walk). Same thing when I return from a trip to a neighboring country; I've usually exhausted my balance and my Thai SIM will have zero credit when I cross the border. Land borders may or may not have wifi, but again, as I've illustrated, it would only be needed if you haven't completed the form in advance. If or when this comes into effect, I'll fill out the form within 24 hours of my arrival into the country, prior to leaving home/my hotel etc. bound for Thailand.

Dual pricing is officially sanctioned at government hospitals. Farang pay more than locals; work permit holders pay less than retirees and tourists.

It's a common practice at PUBLIC hospitals. It shouldn't happen as much at private hospitals, because all patients, Thai included, need to pay in cash/credit card or using insurance.

Even more surprising is when they do this, despite there being a gas (petrol) station with clean and free to use toilets just 500m or 1km down the road.

Totally agree with you on that and I've noticed the same in my neighborhood. The ones in my area speak some Thai, but not very well and with a noticeable accent. In fact, I think a lot of what many farang think of as "thuggish Thai teens" may very well be Burmese or possibly Cambodian teens.

Yes. You just designate the entry and exit points in the app. Same thing on the Thai side - tell customs where you want to exit. You can enter or exit anywhere you want, as I have mentioned. Poipet is better if you're coming from Bangkok as O'Smach is too far away.