Sortapundit

I'm hoping someone can offer a little advice/clarification on a problem my girlfriend's sister is experiencing with her non-imm B visa.

I'm translating this from xyz, so any mistakes are probably mine.

As far as I can understand the girl, who has worked in BKK for four years, has a one year visa that entitles her to a single exit/re-entry and is valid until August of this year. Sometime late last year she accompanied her boyfriend on his visa run to the Cambodian border, where she crossed out of Thailand and stamped straight back in without entering Cambodia. At the checkpoint the immigration officer told her that since she'd only popped into no man's land and hadn't entered Cambodia it wouldn't be counted as an official exit/re-entry. Exactly what this means I don't know, but I'm told the visa itself wasn't marked to indicate that her single exit had been used up. I don't know how a re-entry stamp usually looks on a non-imm B visa, but she tells me that her previous visas always clearly stated when her re-entry allowance had been used.

Fast forward to December when the girl flew to Paris to spend Christmas with us, flying back to BKK in the first week of January. At Suvarnabhumi she was stamped back in on her non-imm B visa without incident, with the entry stamp dated up to the end of August this year (the expiration date of the visa).

Fast forward again to this week when she went for her 90 day check-in and was informed that she had overstayed her visa, and would have to pay a 20,000 baht penalty and head to Laos to get a new one.

The obvious conclusion to draw from this story is that the exit/re-entry at the Cambodian border was very much recorded as a genuine exit, and the immigration officer was just telling her porkies for whatever reason. On the face of it it seems cut and dried. She made two exits when she was only entitled to one, and she deserves the fine.

Where I get confused is at the point when she was stamped back into Thailand at Survanabhumi in January. The immigration officer made no mention of any issues and stamped her in without a problem, and according to her stamp she was legal until August. As far as she knew - and as far as she could know, without hacking into the Thai immigration database to check for herself - she was perfectly legal. She'd been assured she was operating within the constraints of her visa both at the Cambodian border and at the airport.

If everything had worked as it should, and if her Cambodia exit counted as a full exit, then the moment she left Thailand for Paris in December her visa would have been voided. When she tried to re-enter using that visa on her return from Paris she would have been refused, and instead given a 30-day tourist stamp. Clearly that isn't what happened, and to my mind it seems like a failure on the part of immigration rather than the girl carrying the passport. If I was in her shoes I'd be screaming bloody murder if I was handed a 20,000 baht fine when there was absolutely nothing I could have done to discover there was a problem.

So, here's my question: is there anything she can do, either above or beneath the table, to cancel or reduce this fine? I'm guessing there's no getting around the need to travel to Laos to obtain a fresh visa as this one has presumably already been flagged as invalid, but it would be nice if she could escape the hefty fee for somebody else's foul up.

Thanks for any advice you can offer

That sux.

Try setting your phone to GSM only, instead of Dual-mode.

IE, turning off 3G.

Have you tried calling support ? I've never called AIS myself, but true tech support speak great english, cared and are very very helpful.

Maybe give them a ring if you can't find the setting for it.

Calling them might be the best option, if they speak English. I've looked through my phone but, since it's an old school stone age Nokia it doesn't have any kind of on/off setting for data, just a few weird menus with options for choosing 'access data points' from 1 to 6.

In any case, it seems the cost comes from something going on at AIS' end, since I've made no attempt to us data on my phone, so tech. support can hopefully help. Thanks for the advice

I grabbed a One-2-Call prepaid sim for my old Nokia brick when I arrived back in BKK last week. The phone itself is a relic with only WAP Internet connection capabilities, but the sim I was given at 7-11 seems had some reference to data on the package (the only writing on the card itself is AIS One-2-Call 3G).

Since I bought the sim I've been getting regular texts from AIS3G that read as follows:

"NetSIM 99Baht 90MB cannot be activated. The system will try again later."

I figured the sim was attempting to connect me to the 3G network, but since my phone is old and crappy it couldn't do it. It was a little annoying to get the texts every day, but whatever.

Last night I bought 100baht of credit, and since then I haven't made a call or sent a text. A couple of hours ago I got the following message from AIS3G:

"NetSIM 99Baht 90MB has been activated."

Shortly after it arrived I tried to make a call only to get the low credit warning, then the call connected for 20 seconds before it cut off. No credit left.

So, it seems obvious that I've been charged 99baht for some sort of data package I don't want or need. All I want to know now if whether this is gonna happen again, or will there be no additional charges since I presumably have 99baht credit for data? Also, is there anything I can do to stop this from happening?

Cheers for your help

The annoying thing is that they made it nice and simple when we moved in in mid-February. They simply divided the rent by the days of the month and charged us for the days we'd be there.

If you paid pro-rata for your first month then I see no reason why you shouldn't pay pro-rata for the last month as well.

Either way, I would not expect to pay a daily rate for a partial month at the end of the stay of several months.

Pro-rata! God, I was staring into space trying to remember that term

Yeah, when you put it like that it makes perfect sense. Doesn't seem fair to apply different rules to either end of the contract.

Meand, I'll have a polite word with them and see if they back down. It's a shame they have me over a barrel with the deposit, as that's already been allocated to a debt to my girlfriend's sister (and, this being Thailand, there was already a decent chance they'd find a reason to avoid returning it).

You could decide to leave early if there is no one months notice clause. If you are dealing with the owner it may get a result.

Nah, no option of that. There's a one month notice clause (which we gave), and I'm still waiting on my Mongolian visa so we have to stick around until the 10th.

The annoying thing is that they made it nice and simple when we moved in in mid-February. They simply divided the rent by the days of the month and charged us for the days we'd be there. It seems a little cynical to charge for a full month now they're holding our security deposit ransom

My partner and I have been renting a studio at Sutti Mansion II in Thonglor for the last four months, and on July 10th we'll be leaving to return to Mongolia for the summer. Our leaving date was agreed several weeks ago.

The bill for July was just slipped under my door, and I notice they're trying to charge me the full month's rent for July, even though we'll be leaving a third of the way through the month. Before I go down to reception and go through the farce of trying to communicate, is this normal?

Edit: when I say 'normal' I mean is it an acceptable charge that I have no hope of escaping, rather than 'is this the kind of shit they try to pull all the time, the cheeky buggers?'

As above, the machine at the Post Office at Thonglor only has one button, they are pretty good in there.

Cheers guys There was indeed just a massive single button, which made things considerably less intimidating. 19 baht for airmail to the US, too, which is nice.

One of these days I'll work out how I can live in places like Thailand and Mongolia quite comfortably and happily without more than a basic understanding of the language, and yet fall to pieces at the prospect of looking silly in a post office.

Can you fax it?

I wish Nah, the IRS needs an original (apparently they're too good for faxes and photocopies).

Here's a quick, hopefully easy question. I need to post a tax form to the US, which unfortunately has forced me to face my greatest fear: looking like an idiot in front of a crowd of people while I struggle to understand how the postal service works.

Walking by my local post office beneath Thong Lo BTS I notice there seems to be some sort of electronic ticket machine by the door. Is this a 'take a number and wait' style ticket machine intended to impose a little order on the queueing process, or am I going to start jabbing at buttons until I accidentally pay my electricity bill?

If it is a ticket machine for queueing, are the instructions for use in English or just Thai?

To normal, well balanced people this will seem like a question that could easily be answered by pressing buttons or asking someone for help, but I'm sure my fellow maladjusted freaks will understand the fear of walking into a crowded room in which everyone else knows what they're doing while I have no clue

Thanks guys I did a search of the forums and found that you can get tramadol OTC, which has knocked the pain out of the park. Very happy to hear an extraction is cheap, too I'll go for a drug-addled wander in the morning to find a clean lookin' clinic

I recently cracked a molar, and while the on-and-off pain has been annoying it hasn't been bad enough to drive me to the dentist. Last night, though, it hit with a vengeance, and I woke this morning with my lower jaw screaming at me. I crawled across the road to the pharmacy but the ibuprofen I was given hasn't so much as taken the edge off, and my British stiff upper lip is now quivering girlishly.

Two questions:

1. What can I buy over the counter that will keep me functioning until I can get this dealt with?

2. How much does a tooth extraction typically cost? Is it possible to get immediate service at one of the many clinics I see around my apartment in Thonglor, or do you have to register and make an appointment?

I'd really appreciate any help anyone can offer, especially with the first question. I can't imagine having to go through the next few days with this pain.

I'm here because the Mongolian government is much more stingy with those visa things, so we have to spend much of the year hanging out in BKK before being allowed to return to Ulaanbaatar. That's not to say that Thailand is a booby prize, though. 7,000 baht apartment; 18 baht omelette at my front door; 50 baht large Singha from 7-11 or a street stall; I can support my partner and I quite comfortably on $1,500 per month; there's beautiful weather pretty much all the time, and friendly folk (most of the time).

Most importantly, though, this isn't f*cking Manchester: £500 apartment; £3 omelette a mile away; £3 beer in a dingy pub; struggling to do more than cover the bills on £2k a month; drizzle, just all the time, and everyone has a perma-scowl.

Ulaanbaatar is COLD a good part of the year! One big reason I live here. Weather's pretty darn good...and its "relatively" cheap.

Oh, we escape for the coldest of it. We were stuck there until early January this year and it hit -40 Celsius a few times. You'll never appreciate Bangkok as much as when you've just come from a place where it's cold enough to make grown men cry.

My friend Pariya does just this, and by the look of the before and after pictures I've seen she does it very well. Thai with pretty good English. I'll send a PM with her details.

The ticketing seems to work on the honour system. When your number is called (or a block of about 10-15 numbers) you take your place in the queue. Until then you stay seated. I've been there a few times and have never been asked to produce my ticket to the server, more's the pity.

And, of course, the people at the counter couldn't care less if someone takes the p*ss. As far as they're concerned it's been a long morning, it's hot in the booth and they want midday to come so they can stop telling idiot tourists they need two photos on their application form. Don't suppose we can expect them to police the queue as well.

I'm here because the Mongolian government is much more stingy with those visa things, so we have to spend much of the year hanging out in BKK before being allowed to return to Ulaanbaatar. That's not to say that Thailand is a booby prize, though. 7,000 baht apartment; 18 baht omelette at my front door; 50 baht large Singha from 7-11 or a street stall; I can support my partner and I quite comfortably on $1,500 per month; there's beautiful weather pretty much all the time, and friendly folk (most of the time).

Most importantly, though, this isn't f*cking Manchester: £500 apartment; £3 omelette a mile away; £3 beer in a dingy pub; struggling to do more than cover the bills on £2k a month; drizzle, just all the time, and everyone has a perma-scowl.

Thank you, Litlos. I didn't know about the contract internet options available, and it'll come in handy if I run into another agent like the first. When I asked about Internet she assured me that most people pay 2,000 baht per month for wifi, but if she worked on it she might be able to do me a favour and get it down to 1,500. I struggled not to laugh.

I love this thread. Lots of good points, lots of bullsh*t, lots of laughs and lots of people trying to 'out-Thai' each other. Brilliant

Now I barely live in Thailand what with leaving every few months, but I've lived here long enough to know that queue jumping and other minor slights are relatively rare here. As many have said China is worse, as is Tokyo during rush hour, and while living in Mongolia I'm either an invisible yellowhead or a fist magnet due to the fact that I dare date a Mongolian. Judging by the outraged posts here a lot of you would have a stroke if you ever found yourself crossing a land border in any of the 'stans - by comparison living in Thailand is like being licked by kittens. Saying that, I'll still get annoyed about it here even if it isn't something I have to deal with every day - perhaps more so, even, as it's all the more unexpected in Bangkok.

*Caveat*: Thais don't seem to have the slightest clue how to use a shopping trolley. I dread visiting Tesco or Big C to negotiate the carts abandoned in the middle of each aisle, and a trip to the Villa Market near Chong Nonsi the other day gave me a rage headache after slaloming through every aisle to avoid the cretins chatting, texting and doing their famous living statue impressions. Get it together guys (and idiot farangs).

The worst case of queue jumping I've seen recently came last week at the Thai embassy in Vientiane, and the Pattaya based poster on the previous page will be pleased to know it was a Russian at fault. If you've been to the embassy you'll know they work on a ticket system, and despite the almost non-existent signage it usually works quite well.

With 50 or so people having waited patiently for several hours in the sun, a chubby young Russian girl and a large, middle aged, possibly middle eastern woman sidled up to the queue with ticket numbers that wouldn't be called for an hour. The missus and I remained silent (her because she hadn't noticed, and me because I'm English, dash it, and it doesn't do to make a fuss), so I was relieved when I heard the English guy behind me lay down the law extremely loudly (but with commendable restraint) to the young Russian woman who, rather than acknowledge her mistake and sit down, simply stared him down with a bovine expression and complained that she had a young child with her who cries when he's left alone. The Englishman responded that in that case she should go back to her seat and comfort the child until her number was called. The older woman yelled at him not to be so rude, and at that point her English husband, a rather short John Sessions lookalike who really didn't suit the tough guy act, waded in to the scrum to defend his wife, assuring the complainer that she of course didn't intend to push in but was, rather, simply standing adjacent to the queue and would stand aside and wait her turn.

Of course the Russian brazenly moved up the queue, all the while absurdly attempting to defend herself while the 50 people ahead of her did their level best to kill her with their eyes, and attempted to be served. On that day God decided to smile on us. Our bolshy Russian was told that her paperwork wasn't in order and slunk off to the photocopier in disgrace, hated by every man jack at the embassy.

By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if the Englishman who had the balls to make a fuss while the rest of us sat silently frequented the forum. If so I owe you a pint.

For the last couple of months my partner and I have been living in a nice little place on Sathorn 11 for about 7,000 per month. I love the apartment, but the missus just got a job as a tour guide based out of Bumrungrad Hospital and she's finding the morning commute (and the short notice calls from bloody Mongolians who want to be taken shopping RIGHT NOW yet don't understand that BKK is a little larger than Ulaanbaatar) a bit of a struggle.

When we were shopping around for an apartment when we first arrived we really wanted to stay somewhere between Suk 11-19 as my better half's sister lives on 13 and she likes to be nearby, but we couldn't find anything at a reasonable price ('reasonable' being around 10,000, based on my paltry bank balance). Yesterday, though, we viewed a place on Suk 13 (Sukhumvit Suites) for a little over 14,000 a month - a good price for the room, but there was no internet and the agent was cagey about the possibility of providing it. In the same building there were studio apartments starting from 9,000, though the agent assured us the owners wouldn't offer short term rentals (we need to head back to Mongolia in June, so we only need a place for 3-4 months).

Anyhoo...

Now we know that there are apartments on Suk 13 available around 9,000 I'm wondering if anyone can advise me on how to find one in the area that would accept a short lease. As we're only here for a few more months we're not fussy about the standard of accommodation. As long as there's air con and Internet it could just be a room with a bed for all we care, and we have access to a gym and pool elsewhere. We'd be happy to go to 12-13,000.

Cheers

You're not earning 6,000 baht a month like the Thais, are you?

Sometime it feels like it

Cheers I'll head down to Chinatown and take a look

My girlfriend and I are moving into a place between Surasak and Chong Nonsi BTS tomorrow. Nice place for a decent price, but it doesn't come with a fridge and the woman who set up the rental doesn't believe the landlord will acquire one for us.

Up in the north we used to rent appliances from a little old man down the street who was never seen without a screwdriver in his hand, but I'm a little clueless in Bangkok. Does anyone know where I can rent a few basic bits (mini fridge, small stove, maybe a microwave) for about four months? If so, is it the kind of thing you can work out in English or is it better to ask a local friend to help?

Cheers

To the OP, i'm really interested in Mongolia (although i've never been there) and what its like as a place to live as an expat, how its changing now and what it might be like in a few years. So when you find a regular place to drink let me know and i'll meet you there - the drinks are on me.

It'd be my pleasure Send me a message whenever you're free for a beer and we'll sort something out.

If the OP wants to save money & still drink themselves stupid everyday, he should get into the Thai rice whisky (lao kao). 90 Baht for a big bottle, and it will send you absolutley brainless.

Coming from Ullanbatter I am sure you will find it not too dissimilar to cheper vodka's.

Good god, I used to drink that in Chiang Mai as a much younger man with a more resilient liver. In comparison the vodkas of Ulaanbaatar are smooth as silk. Lao Kao will tear your throat clean out.

Anyhoo, it looks like a mixture of finding a cheap Thai bar and spending more nights at home working even more hours is the most sensible way forward.

Sam's Lodge on Sukhumvit soi 19 is a pretty OK, basic but comfortable place. We're staying there now while we go apartment hunting, and while it's by no means the best place in town it's 2 minutes stroll from Asok (for both the BTS and MRT). 1,200 a night. Good fast wifi, not pretty but pretty clean.

http://www.samslodge.com/

rfukata's suggestion of the Miami is great for location. I stayed there a few days last year and it's in the perfect spot. The only problems are that it looks like a Soviet apartment block circa 1975, there are always unpleasantly rotund western old fellas lounging by pool like beached whales, and they charge for the wifi by the hour (at a rate that goes beyond silly).

If you like the Suk 11 area we usually stay in Smart Suites up at the top of the soi. Nice rooms, very clean, mini fridge, incredible showers and fast wifi, and it's far enough away from the bars that you're not walking through second hand street food and beer all the time. You can always get a room on a day's notice through Agoda for a little over 1,000 baht (don't book through the hotel's website, though, as you'll end up paying double).

http://www.smartsuites11.com/index-2.html

I had a very good experience with an apartment (studio) just 5 mins walking from BTS Surasak.

Quiet, relatively green area.

Studio (32 sqm if I remember correctly), shower, aircon, TV, furniture, cleaning, internet. Price was 8500 THB (should ad up to 11.000).

Very nice owners and staff. Small minimarket (drinks, mama, chips, toiletries) and laundry machine downstairs. Loved the place!

Baan Rimsathorn

22 Soi Sathorn 13

South Sathorn Road

Tel: 026758980

www.baanrim.com

Good luck

DocN, thank you so much We checked out the Baan Rim Ratchada this afternoon (as Sathorn is a bit far from my girlfriend's sister's place). The apartment looked great but the surrounding area was beyond dead, but on the way back, a little disappointed, we walked past a place that looks perfect near Rama 9 MRT, the Green Residence. If not for your recommendation we wouldn't have seen it, so cheers Fingers crossed they have a room available when we go back in the morning. If not, we'll head for Baan Rim Sathorn