Kerryd

Duplicate - please delete.

Wow - these scam "news" articles are being posted at a rate of what, one every 2 days now ? And shocker - just like the guy supposedly in the Hua Hin hospital with a "mysterious ailment" - she was in India just before coming to Thailand. And lol - both stories claim they had insurance - but it expired. In this case they are saying they had 2 policies, one that only covered them in India and another for Thailand - but (naturally) it had "expired". "John said: 'We have two insurance policies. One [...] was for like 134 days, which covered us for India. And of course, we came over to Thailand. 'What they're saying, because we were in India and then went to Thailand, we're not covered on the insurance policy. 'The [other] they're saying you get 31 days of cover, which is free, but because we left the UK on November 2, that cover ran out on December 2. We were thinking that would cover us for Thailand, but it didn't.'" And, naturally, the story appears only in the Daily Mail - and has a GoFundMe already set up. It's like there's a site somewhere that people can go to, pick a format and create a fake travel story that they can then sell. What are the odds that 2 Brits (it's almost always Brits for some reason) both were in India, then both suddenly decided to travel to Thailand as well (within days of each other), and both end up in a hospital with a mysterious disease/infection and both find out their travel insurance "expired" and they suddenly need huge amounts of cash to pay their bills and return home. And both stories end up in the Daily Mail within 2 days of each other, with GoFundMe links already set up. Amazing coincidence eh ?

ASEAN Now - the Hub of GoFundMe Scam stories lifted straight from quality media sites like the Mirror and Sun.

01:35 in the morning - coming back from the Burapha bike event. I left that party (sober) at 11:30 and there were thousands of people still partying hard. Can't say who was at fault because we don't know all the circumstances. In Canada the SUV driver would have immediately been given a breathalyzer test. Also we can't really see the accident scene so it's hard to tell who swerved into who's lane. One would hope the SUV had a working dash cam. Not that we'll ever hear the outcome of the investigation anyways.

I'm guessing a certain nation to the north doesn't want it's citizens to have to worry about paying taxes in Thailand while working on Chinese projects Thailand has contracted Chinese companies to do with money borrowed from Chinese "investment banks" who will own/operate/collect revenue from those projects for decades. Guaranteed this sudden "re-evaluation" has absolutely nothing to do with a couple thousand white-hairs squeaking by on their meagre pensions being worried that their non-taxable pensions might be taxed because they have no clue about the tax treaties or the actual Thai tax scheme itself. When "Big Red" whispers these days, Thailand is quick to jump. Hence the recent announcements about changes in condo ownership rules (in "certain designated areas only), changes in Visas, proposed casino legislation, submarine deals. Many expats have the ludicrious notion that the Thai economy hinges on what they spend in the country every year. A lot of them actuall think that a few thousand "Farangs" - most of them barely skimping by on their pensions as it is - has such a huge impact on the economy that Thailand makes all those changes with them in mind. And not the 10s of millions of Chinese coming here every year. And the multi-billion dollar projects like the high speed troop transport - er, I mean "rail link" between China and Thailand. Or the condo projects. The weapons deals (i.e. submarines). The proposed "southern bridge" entirely meant to allow Chinese shipping to get to Europe without having to pass through the Straits of Malacca - which China has no influence or control over. One just has to look at how Big Red has it's hooks deep into Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia to see that Thailand is a priority for them to gain control over.

I suspect it's the same story as the Uzbek and various African hookers. They come here for the money, their "handlers" hold on to their passports, when they stop "earning" or get too "independent" suddenly Immigration gets tipped off on exactly where to find them and then they are someone else's problem. And the handlers simply make a call or text and a couple days later "new talent" arrives at the airport and once they've cleared Immigration they hand their passport over to the "handler" - probably unaware of the rules or what's expected of them and maybe after a party or two to "test" the new talent they get put to work making money. That stuff has been going on since the first civilizations started springing up and people in the "oldest profession" found they could ply their trade and earn better money in other locations.

It's been awhile since I was in a go-go but I recall most of the ones I visited had signs all over the walls mentioning how much "lady drinks" cost and what "ringing the bell" meant. (It used to be that "ringing the bell" meant every person in the bar got a free drink regardless and many would take advantage of a bell ringer by ordering the most expensive stuff available, knowing it was unlikely the bell ringer would realize it until too late.) A lot of bars changed it to either just the "dancers on stage" or "just the staff". Some even have 2 "bells" (or a bell and a siren). That must have really killed the "balloon chaser" crowd who would (literally) patrol the bar areas looking for places putting up loads of balloons, indicating that a party was going to happen there that night. And the parties almost always included a lot of food - and a lot of bell ringing. I stopped having my birthday parties at the old FLB bar when I found out the manager would put out the word to all his buddies so they could come to his bar for a free night of food and drink - at my expense. Years later, a guy I sort of knew (friend of a friend) bought the go-go bar in the Center Condo complex and named it the "Wet & Wild A-go-go". It never did a lot of business due to it's out of the way location and lack of advertising. But they always had 15-20 attractive ladies and 5-6 staff. And "ringing the bell" bought the staff a shot of tequila, which was only 90 baht (and it really was tequila, not water). So on a "full night" when they had all the normal staff working, ringing the bell would cost you about 2,400 baht. And they would put your name in letters on one of the large mirrors around the sides of the club. I'm not saying I drank a lot or rang the bell a lot - but by the time the club was closed (when the cops found out how the owner was really making his money) I had 3 full rows on that mirror. (And dear old dad had his name up there 9 times as well the randy 75 year old bugger !) But I always knew what the cost was for the lady drinks and the staff would bring the new bin and show me how much it was so I knew the new total. In some clubs they gave you individual bins with each drink order and then totalled them when you were ready to leave (hence the "check bin" phrase - check the bins and total them). More updated clubs used computerized printouts and they'd bring a new, updated (and longer) bin with each new drink order so you knew the new total right away. I've never seen them not give someone a bin or purposely keep the bin cup by the cashier to hide it from the customer. Sounds like a load of crap to me. And whenever you see a case where there were 2 or more people involved but the other "friend(s)" left beforehand and were waiting outside - it's often a failed attempt to scam out of paying the bar tab. 2 guys drink, one guy leaves. The other guy pretends to get a phone call and starts walking away "distracted" by the call and "forgets" to pay his bill or "forgets" which bar he was in. I've actually WATCHED people try to do that. Some even tried to leave an (empty) cigarette pack and (dead) lighter on the table as "proof" they meant to come back. (I've seen service staff immediately check the cigarette pack and alert the guys at the door to stop someone from leaving - they've seen it all before many times.) Remember the case on Soi 6 when "security" put the boots to that guy ? Same thing, he'd been drinking with "friends" and they left before him. Then he tried to leave without paying, claiming he wasn't paying their bills (or was it he claimed one of the other guys had already paid the bill which was BS). All those "newbies" arriving everyday and a lot of them seem to think they know a sure-fire way to party all night for free. And probably got away with it a few times "back home". And think that the locals in Thailand won't be smart enough to figure out what they are doing until it's too late. And the "locals" are beating them with their high heels and manishly large feet.

People sometimes forget that for every jaded, pence-pinching, balloon-chasing old expat in Pattaya, there are 500 "newbies" that have just arrived off the plane and have never been outside of their home region/state, let alone in a foreign country on the other side of the world. And despite how widespread and easily available the internet is - very few ever do a detailed search on their destinations aside from things like "where is the hotel and where is the beach". But they've heard stories. Hand-me down tales from cousins and uncles and that nice man who used to take you out to the shed in the back for naked "sword fights" when your parents weren't around. But those stories usually lack two important things. Relevant details and - reality. For example. When I was in Afghanistan and people found out I was living in Thailand, invariably there'd be someone in a group that "had a friend who went to Thailand and he rented a house right on the beach, hired one woman to do all the cleaning and laundry and another woman to do all the grocery shopping and cooking - and he was sleeping with both of them - and it only cost him $75 US a month !" Seriously ! Between 2003-2005 in Kabul I heard that same story, almost word for word, from 3 different people ! And it was hilarious to see the confused look on their faces when I told them the Vietnam war ended 30 years ago. And then had to explain that things haven't been that cheap in Thailand since the mid-late 70s. (Then ask who their "friend" is and invariably they'll have forgotten his name or it will actually be a "friend of a friend" and so on. Because what they are really doing is retelling an old wives tale that gets passed around in bars and schools and workplaces for decades and none of the people hearing the story ever question the details.) But then some people hear such stories, hop on a plane and arrive in Thailand - totally clueless about how things really work here. And then they go to a bar, thinking it's just like the bars "back home" except they seem to be full of young(ish), attractive(ish) women that actually seem to like them ! And they start thinking all those stories they heard are true ! Until they get their bar bill and that "reality" that was missing from those stories hits them. Some sheepishly accept their newly learned reality that things aren't as cheap - or easy - as they were led to believe. And some get into drunken brawls with ladyboys in high heels. And one day, maybe, 2 or 3 of the 500 (per jaded expat) will become older, wiser and equally jaded expats themselves. (Right about the same time they learn about ThaiVisa/ASEAN Now and join the rest of the "socks with sandals and wife-beater undershirts" brigade of expats.)

Undoubtably this has to do with the vast amount of Chinese tourists passing through the airports. I too am a former smoker and I remember getting off a plane and zipping to the nearest smoking room for a butt before zipping to the Immigration lanes. Canada was actually one of the first countries to ban smoking on Domestic flights. And then they told airlines that smoking would be banned on any flight departing from Canada or landing in Canada. That was in the very early 90s. Some airlines even threatened to reroute flights to US airports instead so Canada softened the rule to flights that were less than 2 hours in duration. By the mid-90s though the ban was again on all flights. I remember flying on a charter 747 when we deployed to Croatia in Sept '92. Once we were airborne and out of Canadian airspace the smoking light was on. That deployment was also when I took my first flight to Thailand. Flew Lufthansa from Zagreb to Frankfurt to Bangkok. The plane took off from Frankfurt and you could hear the wheels retract and "clunk" into place and bingo ! The smoking light was on. I waited until I'd seen half a dozen other people lit up before I did myself. But when our rotation was over in Croatia in Apr '93 and we were flying back to Canada, the chalk commander declared it was a no smoking flight. We landed in Ireland for refueling and they let everyone off the plane. There was a mass rush for the smoking room and it was way too small. The chalk commander relented and allowed smoking only in the rear 8 rows of the plane. I swear that 747 flew tail down/nose up all the way to the West Coast of Canada after that because of how many people were crowded into the back of the plane so they could smoke. But when I took my 2nd trip to Thailand ('97) there was no smoking on pretty much any commercial airline And yeah, in SOME airports they have (or had) very nice smoking rooms. The Emirates Business Class lounge smoking area was a huge, well ventilated area above the main lounge area so the smoke never went into the rest of the lounge. The smoking rooms in the Taiwan airport were nice as well - when they weren't busy. But there was literally one room for the entire International terminal and one for the Domestic terminal and if you arrived at a busy time they'd usually be very crowded. The smoking room in the Bahrain terminal (Departure side) was terrible. A tiny room barely 4 meters by 4 meters with almost no ventilation. Whenever the door opened a huge cloud of smoke would fill the corridor. And it too was so crowded that people just started smoking in the corridor. I pitied the people who had to walk past there to get to the bathrooms. Swampy was a bit better - mostly because the smoking rooms were hard to find if you didn't know where they were already. But regardless of how nice or uncrowded the room is - you will still stink of smoke afterwards and your breath will still smell horrid. After I quit (13 years ago) I was shocked when I suddenly started noticing what other smokers actually smelled like after they'd had a cigarette and then I realized that I used to smell exactly like that as well. Then I thought of all the times I sat in a smoking room right up until my flight started boarding. I imagined a cloud of smoke following me all the way to my seat and hovering over me the whole flight. And then I imagined what my breath must have smelt like whenever I spoke to anyone just after having a cigarette. Not pleasant at all. And no, the smoke does not stay in the rooms because every time the door opens and people enter/leave, clouds of smoke usually escape. I remember finding smoking rooms in airports literally by smell. I could smell the stale 2nd hand smoke in a corridor and knew there had to be a smoking room nearby. And of course - the people who have to clean those rooms get exposed to the smoke as well. People getting cancer from 2nd hand smoke is what led to smoking bans in bars and restaurants in the 90s as well. But - there are 10s of millions of smoke-happy Chinese arriving every year and if they don't give them a place to smoke - you know they'll be doing it somewhere.

I've transferred stamps at Jomtien twice now. Last one being in 2020. Filled out the one form, handed it in with my new and old passports. Came back the next day to pick them up. No charge (that I can remember), no hassle. I don't even recall having to make any photocopies of anything. I do remember it being quite a simple process which was nice as I thought it might be a hassle. And definitely did not have to show an updated bank book. They could have been checking to see if you still qualified for whatever Extension you were/are on ?

I remember that. A birthday party. A birthday suit. A canine. (It was on WikiLeaks as well.)

Note there is NO actual details about his "death". No date. No location. No circumstances. NO NEWS except for the copy/paste story in the original post. He allegedly was last seen on the 20th. I seriously doubt he died and has been decomposing in his room for over 2 weeks without anyone noticing. Also, a quick search found another group where someone who seems to have a lot of knowledge about his activities mentions he was actually seen on the evening of the 21st at ABUNdance Modern Fusion Club - which is a totally different place than the Abandoned Mansion Bar & Restaurant. That person said he was staying at the The Coach Hotel and checked out at 1pm on 22 Jan - and then says the hotel refused to check the CCTV. (That guy seems to have some pretty intimate details about the guy's activities for some reason.) And whenever you see one of these stories with NO details - but they've already had a "GoFundMe" type appeal set up - you have to wonder. And surely if a dead Brit was found in Bangkok it would have made the LOCAL news long before it appeared - with GoFundMe link - in the news "back in Blighty" don't you think ? Think about it. Normally a "foreigner" being found dead anywhere in the country makes the news, with media and cameras taking photos of the location the body was found and so on. Yet almost ALL of these stories originate from English garbage media sites like the Sun and Mirror - with NO local news about them. I've even queried Thaiger about incidents that supposedly happened in their back yard (Phuket) and there was NO news anywhere about it - except for the story copy/pasted from one of those lame sites in England that "pay people for their vacation horror stories". And ALL of those stories have the SAME clues. NO specific date. NO specific location. NO specific details about the incident. NO local news reports. Nothing that can actually be researched or investigated to see if it's true. Think about it. An Indian gets pickpocketed by a ladyboy - it's headline news. A Brit gets into a fight with bouncers on Walking Street - it's headline news. A Russian gets into a scooter accident in Phuket - it's headline news. But a missing Brit being found dead weeks after going missing ? NO news at all ? Just a convenient "GoScamYou" link in an article in a British media site. If you can't see through the Kwaii khee then maybe you should get some glasses. And keep in mind - this is not the first "news" story like this to be posted here. They literally scan those Brit tabloids daily for any "Thailand horror stories" and then cut/paste them into Thaiger and ASEAN Now - often without mentioning where the story originated from (i.e. a British tabloid site). Surely some of you have friends/relatives in Essex that could give the Sangwine family a call and ask when - and where - the funeral is. After all, they've already scammed - er- "fundraised" more than enough to fly his body home so the funeral should be pretty quick - especially considering how long ago he may have died. Wanna bet you don't get an answer ?

Does having PR let you buy land ? No. Does PR let you pay the "Thai" price at hospitals ? No. Does PR let you pay the "Thai" price at National Parks or tourist attractions ? Some - but not all. Does PR let you skip out on paying taxes on foreign (or domestic) income ? No. Does PR mean you don't need a Visa/Extension to stay here all year ? Yes. Does PR mean you don't need a re-entry permit to go outside the country ? Yes. Does PR mean you will be treated any differently than any other tourist regardless of how long you've been in Thailand ? No. You will always be "just another farang". 190,000 baht fee if it's approved ? No wonder all the world's riff-raff flock to Canada. Spend 3 years in Canada pretending to be a refugee or "asylum seeker" (preferably from an African, Middle Eastern or Caribbean country) and so long as you aren't arrested (for anything serious) - you will be GIVEN full Canadian Citizenship at NO cost. The right to vote. No visas needed. Go anywhere, do anything with you shiny new Canadian passport. No need to speak English or French. No need to know about Canada's history. And now - no need to even show up in person to swear the "oath of allegiance" that you don't care about anyways ! Added benefit - as a refugee or asylum seeker living off of Canada's generosity - you can immediately start demanding that Canada change it's laws and regulations to suit you ! Meanwhile in Thailand - you will always be a "farang tourist". I'm betting that even if you were one of the very few that actually acquired Thai citizenship and you had a valid Thai ID card and passport - you would STILL be treated as a "farang tourist" 99.9% of the time.

It is safe - if YOU follow the rules and meet the requirements. In other words - do what you are supposed to do to live here legally. There is no need to use an agent - unless you do not meet the requirements. An Extension of Temporary Stay costs 1,900 baht. That's it. Add a couple hundred baht for photos and photocopies every couple of years. I put my 800k in a Fixed Term account the year before I could apply for a Non-O (and then apply for an Extension). That money has sat there ever since. Doesn't earn a lot of interest but technically it earns more than enough to pay the fee for my annual Extension as well as those photocopies/photos and a Re-Entry permit or two. And I never have to worry about "topping up" the account or withdrawing "too much" or having to pay an "agent" to scam the requirements. I've done 13 Extensions so far with NO problems and don't use an agent. 15 years ago, my 77 year old dad who was dying of lung cancer was still able to go to Immigration to apply for his Extension - 6 weeks before he died. If he could do it - without an agent, there's no reason anyone else can't. Pro tip: It's the SAME paperwork and photocopies needed every year. THINK about it and prepare it AHEAD of time. Get your photocopies done, update your bank book the day before you go. Sign your photocopies. If you don't have a computer/printer, get extra copies of the TM.47 from Immigration and photocopy them and make extra copies of the required passport pages. Each year it takes me barely 15 minutes to update and print the TM.47, print the scans of my passport pages, attach a photo and sign all the paperwork. A quick run to the bank to update my bank book and get my "bank letter". When you arrive at Immigration all your paperwork should be 100% complete. It takes me maybe 4-5 minutes with the IO from the time I hand over my paperwork until I've paid the fee and he's taken my photo (with the "ticket number") and I'm heading for the door. Pro tip: Take a pen with you so you can sign all the pages you didn't bother doing beforehand or the photocopies you decided you might not need this time. Pro tip: SHOWER and wear CLEAN clothes before going to Immigration. Seriously - WTF are you thinking when you show up stinking of body odour and looking like you haven't changed your clothes in weeks ? And yes - I HAVE seen people sit down with an IO and hand over their passport and bank book - and then expect the IO to fill out the paperwork and make the photocopies for them. (And of course they are ahead of me in line every time.) And yes, there are always people who "forgot" to make photocopies or sign half their paperwork and need a pen. And yes, far too often I've had to stand in line with people who stunk so bad it almost made you retch. And it sucks when they are directly behind you and you approach the desk/IO and they see you and then get hit with the smell and think it's you. (I've even made eye contact with an IO, pointed at my nose and then behind me so he knew it wasn't me that stunk so bad.) I spent 10 years working in Afghanistan and you could literally smell them from 500 meters away if the breeze was right - and they didn't smell as bad as some people I've seen at Jomtien Immigration. And people wonder why so many of the Immigration Officers seem to be in a bad mood all the time. (Another good reason to show up really early - to catch them before their mood turns really sour !) Still shake my head when people claim they'd rather pay an agent 20,000+ baht to get their Extension for them - because they "can't be bothered" to spend 15 minutes to do the paperwork themselves and only pay 1,900 baht instead. Uh huh.

Different Immigration offices have different procedures. For example, Jomtien doesn't synch-up your 90 Day report dates with your Extension application date. They treat them as two entirely separate procedures. At Jomtien: You need to drop off your: Passport, TM.47, Photocopy of Face Page, Photocopy of Visa/Extension page, Photocopy of Last Entry Stamp page, and Photocopy of your "Receipt of Address" notification slip. Pro tip ! TAKE a pen with you !! Save yourself time and effort as it can be hard finding one when you are there. Depending on when you go in, it can take 20 minutes or it can take an hour. They collect a dozen or so passports and take them inside. The next time they have a dozen or so more passports ready to go, they'll take those inside and pick up the batch they'd previously dropped off. They then call out the numbers in no particular order and regardless if you were the first person in line or the last. I have no idea why they decided to require a TM.47 and stack of photocopies each time now. When the 90 Day was inside the main building it was quick and easy. Even when the "90 day desk" was outside and we sat under the awnings. But ever since they moved into that new building, they've decided to make the process more complicated for some reason. They must have boxes of photocopies just from the trips I've made there in the last couple of years since they started using the new building. Major waste of time - and paper - doing that every single time.