bbbrisco

I entered Thailand on Jan 11, 2016 with a 60 day tourist Visa, obtained in my home country of Canada. I'm traveling on a Canadian passport. I went to the Jomtien Immigration office today to get a 30-day extension, since my return ticket is April 11th. It was kind of a zoo, and the lady at the information counter, when I informed her that I wanted a 30-day extension and showed her my passport with attached documents, said something about "can't do it today - come back on 10th or 11th at (or maybe it was after) 8am" and handed me 2 forms (TM-7 and TM-30) and an information slip.

I'm really confused by the TM-30 form. I've been staying for last 3 weeks in a condo I've rented via AirBnb, and am moving to a hotel downtown from 12th-18th, then going to Bangkok and staying at another hotel from the 18th-24th. My plans after that are flexible, but likely include coming back to Pattaya and staying in a hotel or guest house. The hotels I'm staying at are the Grand Bella Pattaya and the Amora NeoLuxe in Bangkok.

What do I put on the TM-30? The information slip says I need to bring one of: 1) copy id card of house owner, 2) copy house book or 3) contract of rent.

I've been trying to search for what to do, and it seems like I shouldn't need this at all since I'll be staying in hotels, which should do the reporting. However, I need to renew by Friday and am staying at a condo rented via AirBnb until Sat morning. Trying to get docs, photocopies or a signature from the local AirBnb property manager sounds like a huge pain in the butt. Would I be able to print out my AirBnb reservation and my hotel reservations and take this instead of filling in form TM-30?

Any advice? Sorry to come here before exhausting my web searches, but it seems like I had better get this right on Thursday or I'm kinda hosed.

Thanks!

The other option is to go for a mid-range to top range lesser known brand..some suggestion on here, Motorola, Asus zenphone, Huawei Ascend G6, IQ II phone etc.

I am really looking for a phone that offers value for money more than anything. Without all the bells and whistles.

Just saw an interesting series of reviews for the sub-$100 phone category: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgLZvFga2ml5iOptffI_QW60XA0_FSe5k. Only deals with US-sold LTE phones, so may be missing out on some good buys from the Asian markets, but a decent start for those looking for the cheapest sufficient phone.

Can anyone recommend the iphone 4 or 4s?, for basic phone use, SMS, using 3 or 4 apps, maps, and internet browsing. Not too bothered about phone camera pixels.

I'm still using my iPhone 4 that I bought in 2010, so it's served me well. However, it's getting slower and slower as apps are getting more and more bloated, to the point that it is driving me nuts and I'm about to get a new phone. Perhaps I should try reflashing it and reloading everything, but I think 5+ years is a very useful life for a phone, and Apple sure doesn't owe me anything. I'm also looking forward to a lot more oomph and new features - in particular, a fingerprint scanner so I don't have to enter an unlock code every time I want to use my phone, waterproof, better camera etc.

Anyway, if you can get a 4 or 4s for almost free and are a very minimal user, perhaps it's worth while (they are well built). But if it's gonna cost you more than a $100 (or 3000 baht for the gentleman complaining about the US$ pre-eminence above), I'd look elsewhere. I'm not very familiar with the lower end of the market (I believe in buying reasonably decent and hanging on to it as long as possible - my primary goal is to minimize my personal irritation, not save money), but I'd be surprised if there aren't some good buys to be had for $200 and less.

Just be sure any Sony Z-5 localized for Thailand covers whatever the bandwidth is you'll need in Canada. With 4G, it's getting complicated.

Sorry, no idea if or where they are being sold in Thailand.

I've been looking into that, and you're right it's a mine field out there for some phones. Luckily, the Sony has just two models (E5823 and E5803) and both seem to have a pretty wide (and identical) selection of LTE bands. From what I can tell, the only difference is that the E5823 supports something called LTE Cat 6 (up to 300Mb downloads) while the E5803 supports LTE Cat 4 (up to 150Mb downloads). Not sure which countries the E5803 is aimed at.

Thanks!

Has anyone seen any Z5 Compacts in the Sony stores (or other retailers) in and around Bangkok? If so, any ideas of prices charged? I'll be in Thailand for 3 months in Jan and badly need a new phone, and the Z5 Compacts are not sold here in Canada, so my best bet may be to pick one up in Bangkok instead of ordering from an international shipper.

Thanks!

Thanks for all the advice folks - looks like each of the two areas has fans and points to consider. Since it's my first time golfing in Thailand, perhaps I'll spend a month at each and see how they compare.

Also, thanks for that heads up about the Spanish resorts. Let me know if there are any that you recommend. I wanna stick to Thailand for this round cause I'm also gonna be learning some Thai language and kind of scouting things out to see if I want to come over and teach English for a year or two. But Spain might be a nice option for later years.

I've been stalled out between a 5.0-8.0 hdcp for the last few years, and think I'm gonna try and get back on the path to progress next year by starting off with a 3-month golf sabbitical. Thailand looks like an affordable, golf-friendly location to duck the Canadian winter. I've been going over this very helpful forum trying to decide where to go. I'm looking for decent practice facilities, a decent selection of affordable courses, opportunity to join some clubs or organized groups so that I'm not always showing up as a single, affordable accommodations and decent weather.

Based on what I've read so far, I think Chiang Mai and Pattaya sound like my best bets.

Both have organized groups which sound like good bunch to play with (Royal Society vs. PSC), with the nod going to Pattaya which seems to hava quite a few active clubs.

As far as practice facilities (I'm looking for grass tees, good short game areas and putting greens), Stardome seems to be a little better than Harold's in Pattaya (refreshers bringing me beverages sounds nice!), but both sound adequate.

I like the sounds of some of the CM courses, Highlands in particular, but the weekday rates that PSC has in Pattaya seem quite good (ie 200-600 baht for some courses).

The weather at both places promises to be hot, since I'm looking at Jan 15-Apr 15 or so.

Getting to/from ranges/courses with clubs concerns me in both locals. Are they close enough to make taxi's reasonable? I noticed that one of the PSC groups mentioned an organized van to take you from downtown to courses for events for a very reasonable 200B, which sounds like a nice way to do things. Don't think I want to drive in either locale, so a car rental doesn't seem like a good option. 45 min cab rides to courses on the outskirts of CM could quickly eat into the golf budget.

Any bad conclusions I've reached so far? Anything to add that I'm overlooking?

Anyone have a pro to recommend for lessons in either location? Having a recommended teacher would probably swing me in one direction.

Right now I'm kinda leaning toward Pattaya, since I'll also have access to the beach and the possibility of diving, plus day trips to BK for gear at Thaniya and possible lessons if needed.

Thanks!