phuketandsee
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Posts posted by phuketandsee
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You know what the French used to say - The Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Lao listen to it growing. Pretty good summation really.
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I lived in Vietnam for 5 years and would summarize my reasons for being here as others have above namely better infrastructure, weather, food, availability of retirement waiver and I wanted to sail. Also the lifestyle is way more relaxing here. Vietnam is 2/3 the size of Thailand with 50% more people and they're all on motorbikes honking their horns at the same time.
Again as another poster has said, Vietnam and Cambodia have definitely a more Asian feel, certainly more than Phuket. The only advantage Vietnam has in my view is that the women are way more beautiful and I respect the people and what they have achieved much more than I do here.
All that being said I think Vietnam is on the way up and could well pass Thailand on it's way down.
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My Thai wife and I spend up to 6 months every year in Thailand and the rest of the time in the US. My wife has her 10 year Green Card. A couple of years ago we were in Thailand for 2 days short of 6 months. The Immigration Officer in the US gave us a warning about my wife staying away too long, but let her in anyway. He wanted her to have a re-entry permit next time. Apparently at least this IO defined "extended period of time outside the US" as 6 months. I looked into it, and the cost of the re-entry permit is $445 total.
It is my understanding that to become a US citizen requires 5 years in the US if single or 3 years if married to a US citizen before you can apply. Any "extended absence" doesn't count towards this requirement. The OP obviously has met this requirement.
FYI ~ There is huge perceptual difference between a British male (married w/ green card, to a female U.S. citizen), compared to a Thai female (married w/ green card, to a male U.S. citizen).
Some pretty major biological, not to say emotional, differences too!
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I would not invest any money in Thailand right now. Do you read the news at all? Wait at least a year (or maybe 2).
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Second update - I went back to Immigration this morning and first they said not ready (after 2 days!) and I should come back on Monday. After I persisted they found it easily but had neglected to transfer the re-entry permit. Yet more hassle.
Lesson - triple check everything before you leave.
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I got my Extention transfered in our local Immigration office in less then 15 minutes and payed 50 baht for the tipbox. I don't undertand what kind of hassel the OP means. II showed my pld passport and the new one that's all.
An update as I went to Phuket Immigration this morning:
They now require copies (signed by you) of every page of your old passport that has a Thai immigration stamp of any kind. They want to know your entire history.
They also require a copy of your last entry stamp if that is in your new passport as was my case
I arrived around 9 am and got ticket number 17. I thought this was promising as the transfer should be a simple matter but at 10 am was told to come back the next day (not even after lunch!) as they were "too busy" to handle more than 16 cases. I have usually had reasonable experiences at Immigration but this was a new low.
This is exactly what I meant by hassle.
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Thanks for all your comments guys
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You are correct Beachman, it is an "extension of stay." I'm curious whether anyone has had a problem using 2 passports. I got the new one while I was in the UK and immigration at Swampy had no problem stamping me in on my new passport and entering the "admitted until" date from the extension of stay in my old passport.
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Hi,
I have just obtained a new UK passport and have about 5 months left on my retirement visa/re-entry permit in the old one. I know I can get the visa transferred to the new passport but is it worth the hassle? I believe I can just take both passports with me when I next travel outside Thailand until I get the new retirement visa in my new passport in November.
Anyone had any problems doing this?
Thanks
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If you have 2 passports showing different nationality, would it not be difficult using one for entry and the other one for exit, interested to know how this works.
I have British and Australian passports. You cannot use one passport to enter and a different one to exit. But when you arrive in the next country by air you can then present a different passport.
Thanks for that Asiantravel. I also have two passports, Australian and British. Seems that this could be an advantage in the case of the Vietnam Visa for example so as to avail yourself of the Visa Waiver. So, if you used your UK passport to exit Thailand, as presumably this would contain your entry stamp, and maybe a Thai visa, and re-entry permit, you would then want to use it to re enter Thailand, but it would not show an entry or exit stamp to any other county, so if an eagle eyed Thai immigration officer spotted this, would he not ask the question, where have you been ?
Highly unlikely. But even if he did just say you'd been to the UK where they don't stamp UK passports.
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Anyone know how many 15 day entries you can have in one year?
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If you have 2 passports showing different nationality, would it not be difficult using one for entry and the other one for exit, interested to know how this works.
You certainly can't do this in Vietnam since they place the exit stamp next to the entry stamp.
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Boring is the last word I would use to describe Vietnam. Frustrating, noisy, stressful, hot, yes. But also beautiful, surprising, exciting and exotic. I find it hard to imagine a less boring place frankly.
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They've been talking about this for years. Be great if it actually happens.
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"1. There is No such thing as a visa on arrival. What you can get from an agent is a letter of introduction. It is NOT a visa. You present this letter of introduction (for which you paid the agent a fee) as you arrive They give you a real visa".
No such thing as a visa on arrival? Then what the hell do you call a visa you get when you arrive??
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1. No need to go to your embassy - use http://www.vietnam-visa.com/vietnam-visa-fees/ and get a visa on arrival.
2. 3 month multiple entry visas are still available but harder to get. These guys will do it though but you have to email them.
3. No retirement visas available (that's why I moved to Thailand)
4. Many 4 star hotels at much cheaper rates than here. Metropole is the best but very expensive. Worth a few nights though. Biggest range of hotels located in or near the Old Quarter. Fun area but very crowded and hectic.
5. No need to get any airport bus. Turn left out of the terminal and get a taxi - preferably either Mai Linh or Vinasun to avoid rip-offs
6. I don't wear my Rolex - bit of a red flag. I once had someone call out "hey Rolex!" as I walked into my hotel.
7. Be prepared for a lot of noise. Vietnamese use their horns ALL the time and if you think Thais are bad drivers, wait till you get there.
8. Use your regular ATM card - loads of machines all over the place.
9. What time of year are you going? Stinking hot right now (40o+) and will be damp and miserable in the winter (just like London). Another reason I left. Best time to go is October or March.
10. The women are amazing - much more beautiful than here - the reason I keep going back!
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I'm not sure the education system is the cause or a symptom of the things Emster23 mentions. Andrew MacGregor Marshall has written a lot recently about how the education system is designed to teach total obedience to the point of producing "slaves." This, of course, is to ensure the maintenance of the status quo but, sadly, the whirlwind will be reaped before too much longer.
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Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.
Tripadvisor reviews are not verified and anyone can write anything about anywhere, good, bad or indifferent...
sorry you are wrong
there are moderators on tripadvisor the same as this thai visa site
so you cannot write freely whatever you want
Wrong, as long as you keep the vocabulary right you can dump anything there. You do not have to provide proof of who you are nor if what you write is true based on facts!
Sorry, you are the one who is wrong. See my previous post. I was very careful to keep my vocabulary "right" and I was still not posted. I have over 100 reviews there good and bad and never had this problem before. I think there is a connection between Tripadvisor and TAT
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They are definitely moderated. I have twice tried to post negative reviews of Tiger Kingdom in Phuket and they would not post them. My reviews were no worse than other negative reviews and they refused to explain why my reviews were rejected although they hinted I was "biased." Strange that they want your opinion on a place then reject it as biased. They obviously had a full quota of negative reviews for that place for that month.
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Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.
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I just Googled this, very interesting -
The slow loris is one of the only poisonous mammals in the world. Its subtle nature makes it popular in the illegal pet trade, but unknowing humans should stay clear of its toxin, which is released from the sides of its elbows. When threatened, the loris takes the toxin into its mouth and mixes it with saliva. The animal will also lick its hair to deter predators from attack. The toxin can cause death by anaphylactic shock.
I read that they operate on the Loris to get rid of the poison, maybe their fangs and glands. Also they inject the poor thing with a sedative, so it will not show its true temperiment
They rip out the teeth (no anesthetic) so they can't bite and administer the venom
You two just made that up....
You are wrong. Go take a look at one. Sedatives are not so much used (they are "slow" after all) as ya-ba to keep them active.
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A compromise instead of meeting safety requirements. More pure Thainess
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They are going to swear? Will "I'm going to f---k you all" be sufficient?
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I just Googled this, very interesting -
The slow loris is one of the only poisonous mammals in the world. Its subtle nature makes it popular in the illegal pet trade, but unknowing humans should stay clear of its toxin, which is released from the sides of its elbows. When threatened, the loris takes the toxin into its mouth and mixes it with saliva. The animal will also lick its hair to deter predators from attack. The toxin can cause death by anaphylactic shock.
I read that they operate on the Loris to get rid of the poison, maybe their fangs and glands. Also they inject the poor thing with a sedative, so it will not show its true temperiment
They rip out the teeth (no anesthetic) so they can't bite and administer the venom
Increase in Thai violence and anger, or an increase in reporting?
in General Topics
Posted
Not sure the Vietnamese boat people would agree with you. Thai pirates raped and murdered over 200,000 of them after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Peaceful, smiling people? I think not.