impulse

I don't get that the criticism is aimed at the site as much as some of the posters.

Me too, but sadly it takes longer and longer to filter through the junk to get to the good stuff. I quit participating when I became a Covid refugee living in the USA, and came back now that I'm visiting Thailand monthly. My 2 pet peeves: -There doesn't seem to be anyone deleting curating wrong information like they used to. Even totally wrong posts about simple visa issues are argued back and forth ad nauseum. Which makes the input harder and harder to trust. -We always hear about cool Thailand events after they happen, rarely in time to attend.

Not true at all. He just doesn't like getting bent over the table like our so called trade negotiators since the end of WW2. Americans have been taking it in the shorts on unfair trade agreements, for decades. That stops here.

Interesting that they didn't mention her name.

Looking at the grooming gangs in Europe and the apartment complex takeovers in the USA, who can blame Thailand for actually enforcing their immigration laws? Not me, for sure.

Doesn't matter what color. Either she had the cash to pay the fine and get sent on her way, or she didn't. She had over 6 months to phone the family and friends back home and ask them to front her the 20,000. During which time, she also spent at least 2 or 3x that on travel expenses like food and lodging. (I'm a tightwad and I'd have spent 281,000 baht in that time just on my cheap hotel and meals) Letting her go without paying would just embolden the next overstayer to show up with no cash and try it on.

When my friends ask if I have any advice for traveling in Thailand, number one on the list is "don't drink anything that comes in a bucket". I hope we get a follow up after the investigation, but I won't be holding my breath.

I'd be predicting a rise in prices in the buildings that suffered no damage. Simple supply and demand. Units in the buildings that did suffer damage will probably drop in price (and sales volume). Some to virtually zero.

No it's not.

That's not accurate. They can take any job that's not on the list of occupations reserved for Thai citizens. Edit: Subject to provisions like the employer has to be registered and hire 4 Thai citizens for every foreigner, and the foreigners have to pay taxes on some minimum salary one year to get their WP extended the next.

But if they let her through, every overstayer would show up at the airport with no cash and plead poverty. This is a good cautionary tale. Bring 20,000 with you if you're on long overstay. If you do, chances are you'll make your flight. If not, you'll be arrested and buying a new last minute plane ticket will probably cost a lot more than 20K. You'll get an overstay ban either way. It would have been good info had the OP detailed why she was arrested and not just fined and sent on her way.

It would be interesting to post the vintage of the buildings that are condemned and look at the building codes on the date they were built. In a lot of the world, older buildings were built when codes weren't nearly as strict as they are today. Thailand included.

Maybe. Or maybe she has an ATM card, or relatives that can Western Union her the funds. If they just gave up and let her through, they'd be denying her the opportunity to be creative in raising her fine. And set a poor precedent.

Is there a published list of the buildings that have been inspected and categorized? I'd hate to rock up to my hotel next week and find out it's been condemned... And I'd seriously consider burning my pre-paid reservation if it's on the yellow list.

Maybe she didn't have the 20K baht fine. If they started waiving that, more of them would overstay and just turn up at the airport when they decided on their own that it was time to leave.

Good info for sure, though my experience at that border has been at SangklaBuri and 3 Pagodas, which are a different kettle of fish. TBH, I don't view this as negatively as some. I think Thailand is protecting tourists from scammers trafficking foreigners across that border. And protecting Thai tourism that's seen millions fewer Chinese arrivals, partly (largely) because of a few high profile human trafficking cases exploding in social media. Coming to Bangkok from China once a month as I do, I get warned a lot by Chinese folks to watch out for human trafficking in Thailand. That's new. Also seems reasonable that they'd treat foreigners with their own cars and those who speak fluent Thai differently than they'd treat noobs on public transport, who may be chasing an elusive "job offer", with a script for dealing with authorities if they get questioned. Like others, I'd appreciate any on the ground updates.

Simple economics. The place I stayed in Galveston had about a dozen palm trees that needed trimming. If we called in a tree guy, they'd scalp them back to a single frond or 2 and that would cost $50 per tree and last for about a year. But they'd look horrible for 6 months or so. I ended up buying a chainsaw on a long pole and trimmed them back every month to a decent looking configuration. Had we hired the guys to do that, 12 trees x $50 x 12 months a year would have been $7,200 a year just to trim the palm trees. The numbers may be different in Thailand, but the concept is the same. And Thais are big fans of low taxes and saving money...

True. Lights that are on all the time can become just part of the scenery.

That's been a handy feature for calling my banks, my insurance companies, etc. They know my account when they pick up. I still have to answer some qualification questions so they know it's me and not an imposter. But that's not starting from scratch. I'm hoping Teams retains that option. (Assuming they even have dial phone service to non-Team entities.)

For about 2 years now, I've been watching a professional center go up surrounding the hospital I frequent in Tianjin. I'm amazed at how much they added to the skeleton after the buildings were topped off. And the welders tied it all into the skeleton, leading me to believe that the tons and tons of reinforced concrete "cladding" were actually structural elements. That's the changing nature of construction. I'll wait for the investigation.

I agree with that, but I think it's important to have some motion sensing lights that give the impression that something has been triggered by their presence, especially if it's a secluded area with no (or few neighbors).

It may have been topped out, but it was nowhere near completed.

I hope that's true, and I look forward to hearing from someone who actually moves over to Teams. I got "the email" from Microsoft this weekend, but I can't access the links to do the transfer from China here. I can't tell which end is blocking me, but oh well. That's expat life in the Middle Kingdom. And I hope they keep the per minute payment option instead of a spendy subscription that gives me a lot of features that are of no benefit to me as a retired recluse and a Luddite. And I hope they allow me to use my cell phone number for caller ID like they do with Skype. A lot of the devil will be in the details. I'll be clicking the links in a few days when I get to Thailand. In the meantime, I hope to hear some details from some posters who actually transfer to Teams. It may be an upgrade, but I've been disappointed before.

As I understand it (now), you can keep paying into the SS system after your WP expires to keep your coverage. Someone else may have more details. I wish that had been explained to me when my contract ended and my WP expired.

That's my question, too.