mran66

Will have my Non-O retirement visa annual renewal in couple of weeks time, using the 800k-in-bank approach as before. The post-renewal reporting requirement that came some 3-4 yrs ago I guess is still there - wondering what kind of experiences people have if not filing for that report at all? I have properly done it since it came, however thinking if should skip (and go for agent approach if causes issues next year) as every time I have done it, it appeared that the officials really did not care about the whole thing, and no receipt or anything given submit the report. Felt like direct-to-bin approach. Anyone who have skipped the reporting completely, yet successfully renewed their visa a year later without issue? Will be doing in Pattaya immigration.

Whats the puzzle? Dictators usually don't criticize fellow dictators as that easily hits own foot later. And if they do, it will be more subtle and diplomatic, kind of like expressing their own idea of dictatorship rather than condemning. Having Thailand condemning Russia would have been surprising actually. Public explanation of why not to condemn is ridiculous of course.

News comparable to a headline "Roads were found to be wet when it was raining". With 1.1B funds accessible without extraordinary controls to Thais you are pretty much guaranteed to find some stolen in some way or another, let it be university, department of roads or a buddhist temple. Odds of finding case not like this I would say are about equal to finding a dry road when its raining if you ask me.

Almost got a freebie on Soi 6 yesterday. Wasn't refused entry though, not even almost.

Place looks quite unique so should be recognizable by someone who has been there, even if there would be condo or hotel nowdays - looks like a place with two fairly small beach coves and a small cape between those, and recognizable stones on sea not far out. I wonder if such geographical location exist at all between dongtan and jomtien as beach is mostly one long curve for the some 15 km it covers. Looks like a place that could be in some of the larger cape areas (naklua, pratamnak, sattahip), however does not look familiar to me. And Sattahip capes mostly occupied by army anyway, just few public beaches open in the areas that geographically remind this. And sure not further out in Rayong area? Do you recall if the place was on flat land, or had to drive down from a hill to the beach resort? That might give a hint.

Pattaya has been center of culture and arts for quite a while. I recall it was late 1980's I came here for first time, and already then there was a lot of cultural shows and acts and different artistry visible, mostly focusing on dance performances on stage. Predominantly female performers I recall. Areas of cultural shows have since expanded,, which I think is normal in places where culture is so unseparable from local life. I recall cultural activies were mostly in WS and around soi 13s where most of artist shows happened. Now spread to Buakhao and even Jomtien, so for sure Pattaya deserves to be called a hub. Gender balance also broadened, though only a bit. Modern approach to sexual orientation choise broadly accepted, including all shades of grey between the extreme genders joining the culture activities. Graphical and sculpture artistry seems to be more and more extravagant also, esp on skins/bodies of performing artists. Graphics used to be fairly small scale black-white art before, now quite large size and multicolor. Sculpture was fairly uncommon, now sculptural work visible everywhere, mostly using modern silicon and other chemical materials, not bronze or clay like in some other places. In terms of the core Thai cultural shows that include objects like fruits, pingpong balls and bottles, progress since 80's seems less - which often is the case with areas of art with long history and deep rooting in local culture, progress just slows down and things start to look like ancient culture. Thus, we have combination of ancient show culture and more progressive too. Now just call it hub (like they do for everything these days) instead of center,!

Can recommend Eastern Home Decor on Sukhumit directly opposite to Tesco (at Thepparasit junction). They have all kinds of curtains and blinds (made to measure & installed blinds for me) https://goo.gl/maps/1SNvsLa1mWrFPrfU6 I recall they also have wallpapers but no personal experience on those. Friendly and professional family business, good price compared to many other shops.

Past couple of decades have been mostly steady improvement in terms of foreign income from tourism, thus regardless of all the talk over the years about casinos, there has not been burning need to proceed from that perspective, rather more than enough work to keep infrastructure in match with tourism volumes. Now, with the developments since 2020 with covid, the war, and consequent coming recession, situation is different and I also would be pretty suprprised if casinos would not come into the toolbox. Unrealistic to expect the decisionmakers to let that money to flow to neighboring countries who have the gambling places that attract asian gamblers. I would guess those casinos would be for foreigners and maybe for rich thais, and local mass market gambling will stay underground as it has been to fund police and other goverment officials related to that.

I had some plywood cut in this shop, they had several different thicknesses. But couple of years ago already not sure if shop still there. If not, stop by a woodworking shop and ask. Thepparasit also have some. https://goo.gl/maps/F6z2oHdAB5bxCPKi9