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Kerryd

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Posts posted by Kerryd

  1. 19 minutes ago, transam said:

    But why do we have to do 90 day reports....?

    So they can tell if you are still alive !

    Really no other reason for it. Most people on yearly extensions aren't changing addresses every couple of months or doing anything else that would concern Immigration so the only real reason they could have for the 90 day reports is to see if you show up (or mail it in or do it online).

    Lol - though I suspect if you don't do the report, they won't actually go check to see if you are dead or not.

    (When Dad died I did go to Immigration to inform them so they wouldn't list him as being on overstay or something. If I recall they did cancel his visa/extension.)

    • Like 1
    • Confused 1
  2. On 8/17/2022 at 9:11 AM, Wuvu2 said:

    So what happens if you die here without any family or friends? Lets say my condo staff follows the smell and finds me bloated on the sofa, surrounded by Indian Viagra knockoffs and empty bottles of jack Daniels. What then?

    First off, they'd probably search your place and make off with any valuables. Then call the cops so they can get rid of the body before it stinks the place up too bad.
    Body goes to hospital for autopsy, then to the morgue. Hospital issues death certificate. Police notify Embassy. Embassy can't find any next of kin. Body sent to local temple for "paupers" cremation. Temple staff (not monks) dump your ashes somewhere. Probably the landlord/property owner dispose of whatever personal possessions are left behind. Any money in the bank sits idle for 7 years and then the account is closed and the money transferred to a gov't account (or filched by someone along the way).

    Eventually someone notices the old scooter that's been sitting in the parking lot for a decade and "sells" it to a local shop/scrapyard and that's the end of you in Thailand !

    • Like 1
  3. 9 hours ago, Kwaibill said:

    6

    Weird, isn't it? I served domestically during a period of no "declared conflict", even graduated from OCS, and am not considered a veteran. Even trying to obtain records is nearly impossible. Of course my regiment having been disbanded may also be a factor.

    Meanwhile, in Canada they decided that basically anyone who served for a day could be considered a veteran, even if they quit on day 2 of basic training.

    Used to be you had to serve in a "declared" combat zone (or war) to be considered a vet.

    Needless to say, a lot of actual vets were not impressed. Guys/girls that served 3 or more tours in Afghanistan and missing body parts standing in line behind "Waaaa I served for a day and demand my benefits" wash-outs.

    Pretty much every country has different "rules" about dealing with deceased nationals. In most cases, it is up to the Embassy to try and inform next of kin (remember that they will, or should, get the person's passport and can trace that to their application which should list NOK and/or home address and contact numbers).

    For countries like Canada, that's pretty much all they'll do. To get the Death Certificated "officially" translated costs extra and so does each "notarized true copy" you ask for. (I asked for 10 and I think I used 8 by the time I finished settling dad's affairs back home.)

     

    • Like 1
  4. 2 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

    Just watching the shocking scenes right now people running of fire absolute horror show ????Rip

    Same.
    People running out the front entrance, the roof has open flame, then reddish smoke comes out the doors, then it turns to thick dark smoke and suddenly "whoosh" - there's a burst of bright yellow flames coming out the door. People can be seen exiting and running around on fire.

    I was shocked how many just kept running and no one was trying to put out the flames and almost no one was doing the "stop, drop and roll" to put out the flames on themselves.

    At the end of one video you see a guy standing about 5 feet in front of the person filming and there's a patch of flame on the back of his jacket and he's just standing there unaware and no one is trying to put it out.

    • Sad 1
  5. So they haven't detected any other cases in Thailand other than the one Nigerian tourist, but now they are thinking he may have contracted the disease in Thailand ?

    He arrived in Thailand in October 2021, spent some time in Chiang Mai before going to Phuket. In July he went to the hospital as he'd developed blisters on his dick.
    When they figured out it was monkey pox they told him to come in for treatment but he decided to skip the country instead.

    What about the 19 people he supposedly had "close contact" with in Phuket ? Supposedly they were all tested by 25 July and the results were supposed to be back by the 28th.

    I just saw a report on an English language Chinese news site dated 2 days ago soys that a 2nd case has been discovered. A Thai man in Bangkok.

    • Thanks 1
  6. My 1st trip here (Feb 1993) I think the exchange rate was about 20/1 (Baht to Canadian). I remember buying 5 t-shirts for 100 baht and laughing at the bargain prices.

    In 1997, much of SE Asia was hit by the "Asian Flu" banking crisis brought on when Rakesh Saxena, an Indian national working for the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, swindled the bank out of billions of baht before fleeing the country (to Canada of course, where he lived in luxury for over 10 years, committing even more crimes, until finally being extradited back to Thailand).

    His swindles cause the collapse of the Bank of Commerce, which lead to massive losses at other banks (who buy/sell/lend each other money all the time).

    That cause the Thai baht to take a dump of course and led to unrealistically high exchange rates for awhile.
    By the early 2000's, things had settled down and, unfortunately, Thai banks started dropping their interest rates. A lot.

    Remember that after the Tsunami in Dec 2004, the World Bank offered to loan Thailand money and Thaksin, despite being a crook himself, basically told them to shove it. (Because the money came with "strings attached". Conditions that the World Bank expected Thailand to meet in order to get the money. However, Thailand had mostly recovered from the banking crisis a few years earlier and, aside from the downswing after the tsunami, tourism numbers had been on a stead climb.)
    They really didn't need to borrow money from anyone.

    Around 2008-2010, I was getting 32/33 baht to the dollar and the US was around 35-37. That was when oil prices were going through the roof.
    It was quite annoying at one point when the Canadian dollar was worth almost $1.10 US, but the US dollar was getting 3 baht more on the exchange rate in Thailand (because the Thai gov't had pegged the exchange rate to the US dollar instead of letting it float naturally).

    (And no, it wasn't worth buying American $$ and then converting to Thai baht as the loss on the exchange fees would negate any gains on the rate differences. I had calculated at the time that I'd have to be doing over $100,000 in transactions to even make a small profit, which could be wiped out in a moment if the rates changed before you could get a transaction completed.)

    Then of course, the Liberals (in Canada) got into power again and our dollar took another massive dump. Historically, going back to just after the end of WW2, every time a Liberal gov't is in power, the Canadian dollar loses value.
    Normally, when a Conservative gov't is in office, the dollar gains strength, or at least doesn't take a massive drop.

    After Trudeau gained power, our exchange rate went down to around 23/1. Not far off from where it was back in 1993.
    It's up to about 28/1 now, but more from the Thai baht losing strength than the Canadian dollar gaining strength.

    Transferring money is a <deleted> shoot because you transfer a wad today and next week kick your self because you could have gained a couple thousand baht if you'd just waited a bit longer.

    Or, you wait a bit longer and realize that you should have done it a week ago because doing it now means you'll lose a couple thousand.

    I'm sure a lot of people thought the baht would take a massive drop when the stopped letting tourists into the country. How the baht didn't drop dramatically I can only guess. Most likely the gov't just set the exchange rate ("pegged it") to the US dollar to prevent a massive drop in value.

    Just have to hope some other con artist businessman swindles another bank out of billions and causes another Asian Flu. Just so long as it doesn't happen to "my" bank !


     

    • Haha 1
  7. 7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

    Thank you... it has been irritating me for a while trying to remember that!

    It was called the Blue Lagoon before that. Some Scandinavians owned it (part of the Samurai motorcycle club). They relocated to a place just off of Beach road.
    The owner of the Wet 'n Wild was using it as a front and was on the run from the cops "back home". He apparently upset the wrong people over here as well and got busted back in 2009 I think it was.

    Never heard what happened to the bar after that. 

    Used to be a hoot to go there on a Friday evening as they had the cheapest drink prices of any go-go and never any customers ! I'd be in there alone at 10 pm with 20-22 half naked dancers. Dancing on those large, metal, reflective tables. In their little short skirts with no knickers on.

    It was rough I tells ya !

    (The bar got in trouble a few times after I took girls up to the pool, or the sauna, or the jacuzzi. Apparently we "made too much noise".)  

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  8. On 7/21/2022 at 3:52 PM, Shuggy said:

    There used to be a gogo bar in Pattaya with a huge fish tank that the girls would swim in.

    On 7/22/2022 at 7:41 AM, jacko45k said:

    There was a Go-Go bar off Tai in Centre Condo 

     

    On 7/21/2022 at 3:07 PM, Kerryd said:

    Wet 'n Wild

    Checking to see if I have any "safe for ThaiVisa" photos of the tank there.

    Hmmm - appears I may have to edit a couple.

    Almost forgot to check the reflections and what appears on the far right.

    Never liked the "green" water. Kept telling the manager they should clean that tank and fill it with fresh water but that would have taken effort (and money) so they left it as is.

     

    1457877082_FishTank.jpg.70158589f52a249b09dd8ab86585ff11.jpg

     

    Some fond memories of that place.

     

    • Like 1
  9. I got another email from Paypay yesterday, informing me (again) that my (personal, not business) account would be suspended if I didn't register with the NDID.
    Which of course we can't do.

    I posted in PayPal's "help" forum. I noted that not only can we not get a Thai ID, but we can do things like get driver's licenses, open bank accounts and buy condos using our Passports as ID.
    Doubt I'll get an answer there.

    I also emailed the NDID and asked them if there was an alternative method of registering, like using our passports, which are good enough for pretty much everything else in Thailand.

    I'm guessing I won't hear anything from them either.

    Ah well, PayPal won't miss all the money going both ways from people living here, will they ? 

    They seemed to take notice when this scheme first broke and we were going to have our accounts shut down last Spring, which was then delayed "indefinitely".

    Got to lol. On one hand they are trying to attract people to come to Thailand and then on the other hand they are trying to make it so no one wants to be here !

  10. 1 hour ago, Wytchend said:

    Any mention as to...............why?

    Gotta be a back story to this one?

     

    At the end of the video he says "I want my ****ing money. Give me my ****ing money Bangkok Bank."

    And no, he's not "French".

    For what ever reason, he's been on overstay since mid-April. 

    From the sounds of it, he tried to get money from an ATM and it didn't work (for whatever reason).
    (No, Immigration doesn't put a "hold" on someone's bank account as soon as they are on overstay so don't bother speculating about that.)

    Could be his card expired and he didn't renew it - because they'd want to see his passport. 
    My card was set to expire next month and every time I went to an ATM, as soon as I punched in my PIN I got a message across the screen (impossible to ignore) that my card was going to expire next month.

    As I had to go to the bank to get my annual bank letter, I took the time to also get a new card.

    No hassles and the bank letter only cost 100 baht, as per usual.
    No charge for the new ATM card and they gave me a choice of Mastercard or Union Pay (for the ATM system, not a credit card). As per usual though, they had to make a copy of my passport to attach to the paperwork.

    Could be a dozen reasons why he did what he did but the end result is, he'll sit in jail until he goes to court, he'll be fined for the damages and ordered deported (and blacklisted for the overstay) and then sit in jail until he can pay the fine and pay for a plane ticket home.

    Not the smartest rock in the pile as they say !
     

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