Nautilus05

100k for 11 day monkhood and village party? Whew!

I think your wife may be looking for a bonus. 50k for the party, 50k for her and the mom, and sister, and uncle, and whoever else.

If someone from an Issan village tried hitting me up for 100k for an 11 day monkhood party, I would just hysterically laugh for a while, then go grab a beer from the fridge without saying anything.

Tell them 20k, and let it go to 30k during the day of. That's lots for a village party to go be a monk for 11 days and be stripped of all material possessions. If they need more than that, tough titties for them.

Does anyone else here use Bayticol? It's a small bottle of chemical, that I used to be able to find at any decent sized pet shop, and looked like this:

It seems to have magically disappeared though. Did the Thai version of the FDA recently ban it, or something? That actually wouldn't surprise me, as I usually got a little light headed after mopping the floor with 2 - 3mL of the stuff in the mop bucket. Nonetheless, forgoing the temporary stoned effect it would have on myself and the dogs, the stuff worked like a charm! No fleas, ticks, mites, anything anywhere in our house.

I can't find it anywhere anymore though...

Maybe you could invite him to 7/11, and you can two can hang out together.

Nautilus, how did the top or bottom saga pan out?

I can confidently, bottom freezers are excellent! I'm actually quite happy they screwed up my order, and gave me the wrong fridge, as this one seems much better than the one I bought. Maybe I'm just so handsome, they thought they'd do me a favor.

But yeah, works like a charm, as stated above having the veggie drawer up higher is mighty convenient, it's very quiet, seems to use only minimal power, and doesn't seem to dissipate much heat. Too bad I'm leaving it here when I move in a couple months.

I would be pissed they delivered the wrong one.

meh, it's not actually my fridge, although I did pay for it. This house is a rental, and I accidentally broke the owner's fridge, so bought him a new one.

I tell ya, I'm a pretty nice tenant. That old fridge was a crapper -- just a small one door, with the freezer inside at the top. Was scraping ice off the freezer part, and accidentally punctured the coils. This new fridge I bought the owner is much nicer, and quite a bit larger too.

Ummm, I have to admit, hanging out at a 7/11 never occured to me.

Now a mom & pop shop who have tables and benches outside on the other hand, sure, have hung out there loads. Most times have someone with me, but sometimes alone. That's different though, because those mom & pop shops actually want you to sit there, and drink beer (more sales for them). That's why they have a table or two setup outside of their place.

"Also when i order pee-set (extra big) then still i get a very small amount"

Well, that's probably because "pee-set" means "special", and not "big". Special, as in for example, "pad thai peeset" will usually get you pad thai with shrimp instead of chicken or egg.

There's probably a better way to say it, but try "jaan yai" (big plate). Maybe someone can chime in with a better word to use.

My dear chap, be patient and wait to see how the thing works.

Yeah, I guess. Tomorrow is trip into town for grocery run to stock up the new fridge though. I'm just hoping I don't stock up on 3000 baht worth of meat, only to have a house that smells like rotting meat the next day.

But if I had more than 5 brain cells, I guess I'd realize I can just put some water in the ice cube tray overnight to test, eh?

Bought a new fridge yesterday, which was delivered today. Sure enough though, this is Thailand, so I got a different fridge than the one I picked out at the store yesterday.

I checked out the model though, and it sells for basically the same price as what I paid, so I'm not complaining (yet!). However, this one has a freezer on the bottom, where the one I picked out has a freezer on top. I'm not sure, are these things any good? Is it going to keep my meat frozen, or should I be complaining at them to drop me off a fridge with a top freezer?

Everything here is normal. Well, the one corner store shut down early, but I'm assuming that's because they took his TV away, so he decided screw it, he's going to bed early.

I love it. "This is not a coup, we're just taking over control over the country for the time being, without notice or warning".

Of course it's a coup. How else would you describe it? Monday night all the politicans went to sleep, and when they woke up the next morning, they found out they lost all their power and the military has assumed control of the country, and moved soldiers into various locations. I don't know about anyone else, but that sure seems like a coup to me. They just can't call it that, due to the international backlash it would bring.

It's not like the military is going to hand back control of the government next week. They'll be in power at least for the next 6 - 12 months, which is fine. Last time military was in power they actually did a great job to restore peace, and settle the tensions, while letting business run as usual.

Quick question. Say you leave Thailand, and they blacklist you. Does that show up if you pull a criminal background check with the Thai police?

Or since it's immigration law, maybe it wouldn't show up on a criminal background check?

If they had introduced new rules I may agree with you about something being draconian, but there are no new rules, the difference between the west and Thailand in this instance is, in the West they typically enforce the rules fully the day they are enacted, where as Thailand enacts the rules and then doesn't enforce them, or enforce them properly from day one.

Come on, you can't possibly think what they're doing is a fair and justified way to go about this. For years now (maybe decades?) even Thai immigration officers have been telling people, "no problem, just get double entry tourist visa, and you can stay long time. no problem!".

Just think what would happen if the US did this towards Mexicans, or if France did this towards African and Middle Easterners. There would be riots in the streets, and a massive outrage by the public.

Joking aside, Thailand certainly is changing, and adopting western standards, good or bad.

Honestly, I'd say they're sticking with the Asian angle quite nicely, as what they're doing is fairly draconian. If a Western govt decided to do a crackdown like this, they'd give notice, have media campaigns, most likely provide a pathway to amnesty and a way to legally apply / stay, etc.

But nope, not Thailand. Just going to straight out deport and blacklist everyone they don't like, no notice, no questions asked. Well, ok then... have fun in three years from now with your media campaigns trying to attract foriengers and tourists again, because the numbers dropped so low.

Does anyone know, is this immigration crackdown getting much attention within Thai media? If so, how harsh are they being on foriegners? Are we the devil's spawn and eat babies, or are we still pretty decent folk?

“From August 13, if we suspect any foreigner of working illegally in Thailand on a tourist visa, that person will be detained and deported, even if the foreigner has not previously completed even a single visa run,” he said.

“People who are deported will be banned from re-entering Thailand for five years, not forever. After that, the foreigner may appeal to re-enter the country.

Hmmm... so say someone has a bunch of VISA exempt stamps / tourist VISAs in their passport and/or an overstay, then leaves Thailand via BKK airport. If the immigration officer decides you've been here too long, they're now going to officially detain and deport you, meaning a few days in the IDC while it goes through a judge and gets processed?

Or are they just going to blacklist you for 5 years on the stop then & there, and still let you get on your flight?

Am I maybe right in assuming the Thai govt got a stern talking to from some of the powers-that-be in the world due to those two stolen passports that ended up on the MH370 Malaysian flight? Is that maybe why this is happening?

"You enjoy being our ally and friend? Well, let's have a chat about your immigration rules, to help ensure our friendship continues"???

You got it right:

Thailand visa: Missing MH370 ‘behind visa run crackdown’. Fingerprints next

Hmmm... so I wonder how this will play out in say 3 months from now? It sounds as though Thai govt themselves don't have a problem with the border runners, which makes sense. Even though some / many probably only spend 20k - 30k THB/month, it's still decent amount of money flowing around in Thailand much of which is from outside countries, which does help support the livelihoods of many Thais, mainly in the tourism industry.

Not to mention, what are they going to do? Just all of a sudden kick out like 15,000+ teachers? That would put a good dent in any countries education system.

So I wonder if this is just a charade that will die down later, or will the powers-that-be in the world keep a constant eye on Thai immigration enforcement for quite a while, or? Maybe a whole lot more black market / underground / favors from immigration officers will begin happening? Maybe a new VISA class or two will appear? If the Thai govt is doing this because they have to, and not because they want to, then that changes the situation quite a bit.

Am I maybe right in assuming the Thai govt got a stern talking to from some of the powers-that-be in the world due to those two stolen passports that ended up on the MH370 Malaysian flight? Is that maybe why this is happening?

"You enjoy being our ally and friend? Well, let's have a chat about your immigration rules, to help ensure our friendship continues"???

^^ You've never even run so much as a lemonade stand in your life, have you?

Hell you can buy a GreenCard for 500,000 usd. Sure let's play devil's advocate for a moment but I am afraid that your logic is about to go up in smoke. Who in their right mind truely believes that a retirement visa to a third world country should cost 1 million usd?

You may want to read the regulations a little closer, because that's not true at all. 1) has to be in an area of economic hardship, 2) you have to invest in an industry in economic hardship within that area, 3) you have to work full-time at that business to create new jobs.

It's not "here's $500k, thanks for my residency". There's a whole lot more to it than that. There was a bill on the floor years ago after the housing crisis first hit, that would have allowed Canadian retirees to say 12 months instead of 6 months/year, if they purchased a house for $600k, but it never even made it for a vote I don't think. Then I think there is one for Chinese, but that requires several million.

If you are so tired of seeing people older than you happy, but perhaps poorer than you think you are, then maybe its you who should leave - they are not worried about you, so it's your problem.

Ummm, I think you missed the first sentence where it said I was playing devil's advocate. I could personally care less, and no, I don't actually want to see retirement VISA regulations get stricter.

However, I do find it absolutely dispicable how many people in this thread are dancing for glee at the misfortunate of many. These new regulations don't affect me, but that's beside the point. If the shoe was on the other foot, and the retirement VISA got put up to 30mm THB, I bet all the people dancing for glee would instantly change to absolute silence and outrage. And don't think it can't or won't happen. Again, 800k THB is nothing compared to what other countries require.

All the socialist-minded backpackers must now become ruthless capitalists!!! Money will solve many problems. This law enforced will get more money from people who overstay. 500 a day is good income. watch that fine go to 1,000 a day. Definitely the max of 20k is way too low. I predict that will go to 100k.

Let's play devil's advocate here. I think the piddly sum of 800k for a retirement VISA is way too low. That's only about $28k USD, which is nothing. Considering most countries require proof of several million USD before granting residency, I think it's about due time Thailand raised its requirements to 30 million baht for retirement VISA.

I'm getting tired of watching these poor, old schmucks in their wife beaters and shorts, packing their Chang beer around, who obviously don't spend more than their 25,000 THB/month pension here. Let's get rid of them I say!