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Kaoboi Bebobp
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Posts posted by Kaoboi Bebobp
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Reuters confirms the death of the shooter too. Odd that the above original headline and story did not match.
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A month later . . . Are the tourist (i.e., Chinese) numbers down now? Was thinking about taking up a month's residence in SR in order to get up to speed on new services and developments, and get a reading on the look and feel of the place since I was last there.
Is Rosy's Guesthouse still operating? I know the original family sold it several years ago. Was a good place to stay with good food.
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Here is the key VN immigration law amendment, among many, passed last November and effective July 1:
Quote13. Amendments to Clause 1 Article 31 as follows:
“1. A foreigner making entry without having a valid temporary resident card or permanent residence card shall be issued with a temporary residence certificate at the border checkpoint valid within definite period as follows:
a) Period of temporary residence granted shall equal his/her visa validity; in case his/her visa is encoded as DL and valid for more than 30 days, he/she shall be granted temporary residence for 30 days and shall be considered for extension of temporary residence as specified in Article 35 of this Law;Yup, it appears to say that even if you have a 90-day tourist (DL) visa, you can only stay 30 days and must get out. But you can come back.
Taken as it is, it sure seems like long-term "tourists" are not welcome any more. However, the government is keen on getting rid of "tourists" who, for example, teach English without a work permit. There was another news article that went further:
https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/police-profile-foreign-criminals-entering-vietnam-601182.html
All that said, we don't know a lot more than that. Several legal firms have said they expect more "clarifications" and "guidance" before the July 1 effective date.
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6 hours ago, BritManToo said:
As an American you've gotta get an eVISA or an invitation letter before you go.
Here is the link to the Vietnam government e-visa web site:
https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/trang-chu-ttdt
All other links that pop up when you search for VN visas are private agencies that will email you an invitation letter.
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On 1/22/2020 at 3:08 PM, SteveK said:
If you produced that Roy, please get in touch. I want to employ you.
This hilarious video was made by Eli the Bike Guy, who has a YouTube channel featuring Da Nang. He rides a bicycle and narrates his tours around the city. He's very tuned in to things Vietnamese, and is married to a Viet girl. His vids are very informative.
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Rock on, Nyezhov!
An open mind is a healthy mind.
Best of luck in Siem Reap (yes, part-time) and do report from time to time because, for selfish reasons, I'd like to hear from someone with his head on straight (well, a bit like Pisa maybe but in a good way) and currently on the ground. Been thinking about moving there.
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2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:It was better than Chiang Mai and Bangkok last year, as was Phnom Penh and Saigon.
Strange because I assumed they would all be the same, but it wasn't so.
Yeah, Saigon is not so bad, not nearly as bad as Bangkok is on a daily basis. I know because I check many AQIs every day and I'm stuck here in the Bangkok soup. Off to Vietnam this weekend for a break.
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11 minutes ago, Don Chance said:
The situation of smog and visa is not any better in Cambodia.
The whole country is filled with smog now just as in central and north Thailand.
SR is for me a top 3 choice for escaping Thailand, but I'd never checked SR AQI before. Just did. It's not good. Two sources: Air Visual 180 (!!!) and Air-Quality says 152. Must be all the crop burning in northern Thailand and Cambodia. I don't know how accurate the AQIs are, but there you go.
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FYI: The central highlands and coastal region of Vietnam are clean as a whistle. Stay away from Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh.
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"Makara" also means January in Khmer. And there's a district in Phnom Penh called 7 January or 7 Makara.
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I once sent a standard letter via EMS service from Banglamung, Thailand to Toronto. It was out of Thailand in something like 36-48 hours. Clearing Canada customs and arriving at a government department took weeks. Tracking was working. About 7-10 days to clear customs and over a week to get to Toronto and a few more days to be delievered. Absolutely abominable service in Canada.
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I'm just adding to the positive reports here. I know two Thai-American couples very well. The Thai girls absolutely blossomed in the States. Took courses to upgrade their English, learned other skills, run businesses or have a good job, very active in their communities. They have loosened up a lot, i.e., became American and embraced freedom.
One relationship, I'll admit, I thought would be a disaster. No, not a bar girl! I'm happy to report I was dead wrong. She emails me once in a while. So, coming to Thailand this winter?, I ask. Doesn't want to. The other couple, nope, not coming back this time. In conversations with them, they don't want to talk about their families and frankly, avoid the visits as much as they dare.
In both cases, the American husbands, long-time friends of mine, are cool about not visiting Thailand. But they do travel elsewhere, such as Europe and South America.
OP, a good topic.
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16 hours ago, Roy Baht said:You can't apply for a Vietnam business visa as easily as you can apply for a tourist visa. There are agents who can get you a business visa illegally (just as there are agents in Thailand who can get you visas illegally). If you don't mind breaking the law and don't care if you are caught and deported and banned from ever returning, you can try that. Otherwise, if you want a legitimate business visa, you need to set up a legitimate business.
The Da Nang-Hoi An expat page Admin just reported in the last few days dozens of business visa holders were turned back, some deported and banned for varying lengths of time for not having a proper business. The figure used was more than 50.
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3 hours ago, Roy Baht said:Cambodia is talking about clamping down too!
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kingdom-drafting-new-law-strengthen-immigrationI think the doors of SE Asia are closing
Thanks for that. I never saw this news item. However, I think it's mostly aimed at many non-documented Vietnamese, which number in the thousands, and possibly Chinese. Then again, many others could get swept up in any changes. But I hope it's not something to worry about too much.
Doors closing in my face, sadly. A few weeks ago I bought a 3-month multi-entry tourist visa for VN in my plan to move back in the spring. VN keeps closing down avenues for long stays there. And now they plan to squeeze harder with the 30-days-and-out rule. I think I just got smacked. With the July 1 law, there's no way anybody living on short-term visas can or will want to stay there. There could very well be an exodus. But where, that's the big question. Guess Cambodia is it. I'm too old to go treading new paths.
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On 1/16/2020 at 7:11 AM, Roy Baht said:You were right about that. New rules go into effect 20 July 2020:
"Accordingly, the amended law stipulates that a foreigner will be allowed to remain for only 30 days in Vietnam when granted a 30-day or longer tourist visa"
https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/police-profile-foreign-criminals-entering-vietnam-601182.htmlVery worrying. If the law is enforced as conveyed today, then thousands of expats will be forced to leave Vietnam and look elsewhere. And I will have to trash my plans to return to VN to live. Granted, there are some new investor visas but it appears all the old methods are dead and buried.
Some legal firms in VN are saying they are waiting for further "guidance" and "clarifications" before July. But there appears to be a strong government move to clean out all the foreigners working without a proper visa or permit. In fact, I think the 30-day-and-out rule is meant to discourage people (oh, just for example, maybe teachers and Chinese) from even entering.
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6 hours ago, Rimmer said:
Right. I committed a wording kerfuffle. I meant to say that within Vietnam, there is nothing resembling Thaivisa forum for the whole of Vietnam.
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On 1/11/2020 at 9:16 PM, kinyara said:
Is there a Vietnam forum you can recommend ?
Sorry to say but there is nothing like Thai Visa for Vietnam. However, there are FB pages for various VN cities. Some are atrociously combative, e.g. HCMC (I left group years ago). Some are very nice, e.g., Da Nang-Hoi An Expats. It takes a strong Admin to run an FB group.
Cambodia Expats Online has occasional Vietnam topics but no particular separate sub-forum.
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Ho Chi Minh is "only" 102 by the AQICN.org and 93 by AirVisual. Believe it or not, Beijing is in the 40s-50s at various monitoring stations. KL the same as Beijing. Hong Kong in the 80s. Taipei in the 30s to 70s.
So Bangkok is No. 1 again.
Every morning I open my curtains and see the dark cloak of dirty air over what ought to be a rather spectacular view of the city. I am impatiently looking forward to leaving this all behind in the spring.
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Sad to report that Reuters says death toll is now 36. It's hard to look at the photos of the concrete floors literally collapsed one upon the other. Shockingly poor construction practices.
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Ghosn saved Nissan's butt and earned an immense amount of respect in the global auto industry. I was an outsider yet closely involved in the industry at the manufacturer's level for almost 20 years.
At the beginning of this Japanese caper, it felt odd that he was arrested for corporate internal misdemeanors. It just didn't feel right. Then he spends weeks, then months in custody without charge. I recall reports he was badly treated in custody. I then started to feel in his favour. It almost looked like authorities wanted to arrest him for something and then looked for a "crime."
Japanese justice operates a lot differently. See this Japan Times article
Looking forward to Ghosn's statement Jan. 8.
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4 minutes ago, Beggar said:Perhaps the people are tired of seeing hordes of tourists and a little bit of Angkor Wat.
Yep. Throw in the massive ticket price increase from $20 to $37US for a day pass and watch the numbers fall.
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Good news and good riddance. Maybe the crime wave perpetrated by the Chinese -- extortion, kidnapping, theft, loan sharking, beatings and murder, plus suicides -- will rapidly decline.
And maybe, just maybe, Sihanoukville will return to being the beach resort and expat haven it was meant to be. Selfish, I know, but let the healing begin.
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2 hours ago, Ej2562 said:I felt that there is still much animosity towards Americans(USA).
I visited HCMC last year. Did not have any problems with rip offs.
Food at the Street food market is fantastic. Stayed there 3 days. US citizens are required to get a visa to enter Vietnam. Most European countries are not required to get a visa to visit there. So the government changed it's thinking about the US fighting there.
Actually, you are misreading the visa situation. Only a few Euro nationalities get a visa waiver but it's only for a 15-day stay. Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis and dozens of others have to pay like Americans do.
Americans, however, get a great deal for a bit over $200US for a 1-year multi-entry visa, having to leave every 90 days. It's due to a reciprocity agreement between US and VN. The rest of us must shell out $350 to $650 or more for anywhere from 6 months or 1 year.
I think the animosity is in your head. Most Americans I knew when I lived in VN loved it there, as do your former allies, the Australians. Vietnam has a huge young population and they only have time for the present and the future, getting a good job and helping their families. They don't dwell in the past.
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1 hour ago, alex8912 said:
Use grab taxi. My cab ride 2 weeks ago from District 1 to airport was 75,000 dong. You overpaid. Bus is 20,000 I took it from airport to District one. I preferred door to door service in a/c taxi of course.
I said from the airport, not from D1. Different fares due to traffic and time. But I agree about the fare to the airport. In a Grab taxi from my hotel near Bitexco Tower to Pasteur, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Nguyen Van Troi is 86,000 to 96,000 to the airport from 8 am. From the airport I don't bother with Grab and take a lineup taxi. The airport roads are always very chaotic and D1-bound streets very busy. It's always the same route to Ho Tung Mau, same early afternoon time and roughly the same fare. Taxi from the airport door to hotel door is as I said.
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Wash your hands and wear a face mask to protect against coronavirus: Thai health ministry
in Thailand News
Posted
The Singapore minister of health tells it like it is. It's virtually same information recently issued by a Canadian provincial centre for disease control to dispel bad info in social media.
Singapore minister of health gives safety guidelines to the legislature