Andrew65

On 4/16/2025 at 2:08 AM, hotchilli said:

He might not want to go home, but at his age he will have little or no savings, and no job.

His stay in Thailand will be difficult without the correct visa or income.

I was 20 when I made 3 visits to Thailand in 1985/86, and I had to work lots of overtime to fund those trips.

When I started working in the oil industry in 1997 I was able to subsequently spend 20 year living there.

I live in Thailand for 20 years. After mum died I spent 5 years never setting foot in the UK, 2011-2016.

38 minutes ago, Presnock said:

well the tourists came which was the intention of the government just to get them to come for several days or a week to spend money.  I know that and avoided the crowds for sure.  I don't drink nor smoke drugs nor participate in those activities' locations.  Used to be that Bangkok during SongKran was deserted and one could drive around the city with no traffic.  

I remember that during my first visit to BKK in 85/86 traffic wasn't really an issue there, 24/7/365 (and you haggled before getting into a taxi, no meters).

1 minute ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Ive been to Lebanon (beautiful country) a few times... the leg over from Dubai, always filled with  hairy men wearing white bed linen.

 

The bars and clubs in Beirut, filled  hairy men wearing white bed linen getting pissed up !

...lucky that you got your leg over in Dubai then?!☺️

Bahrain is a similar kinda place, many Saudis wipe themselves out in car accidents on the way to/from Bahrain.

4 hours ago, Presnock said:

Yeah I recall many decades ago when I would go out on SongKran day, except for very little ones, the teenagers and adults would just put a bit of talcum poweder wetted down so it would stick.  None of this splashing like recent years has seen but I see too, that the government is trying to get as many tourists in as possible do they can make a few bucks.

A very different thing for someone who is there on holiday for a few weeks compared to a long term expat.

The Thais are perfectly cool with you having 2 passports. I had 2 British 48 pagers for 10 years, and over that time had used both entering Thailand.

6 minutes ago, grain said:

Because they are the earliest dates, it starts May 1, so the biggest issues will happen on those first few days, after May 3 or 4 they might well dump the whole idea, or at least solve some of the initial problems.

What starts on those dates?

5 minutes ago, grain said:

I'd hate to be flying into Swampy or DM on May 1,2,3. It's gonna be pandemonium, not everybody lives online and has heard about the TDAC, plus there are all those Chinese, Koreans, Russians and so forth who can't read or write English, so it stands to reason they'll be thousands of such arrivals who haven't done their TDAC online and not knowing what's going on and what to do. How can the Thais have sufficient numbers of staff ready to assist all these incoming travelers? Any AN members planning on flying in early May make sure you have this damn thing done online so you can get outta the airports fast. It's going to be fun seeing the vids people will post online of their arrivals in Thailand around May 1,2,3.

May 1,2,3, why those dates?

Many years ago it took me 2 hours to get through immigration at Swampy.

Fastest ever was at D M, earlier 2,000's, plane to taxi in 11 minutes!

On 4/10/2025 at 5:00 PM, Gottfrid said:

Because 40-50% of the cases we read of here is connected to Brits. And I hoped it wasn´t this time.

Apparently a German guy tried stealing a motorbike recently?

10 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

If that is the case......

So if you can't write English as i suspect many Chinese cannot, it may cause a problem?

I am not picking on Chinese, but languages that dont use the Roman/English alphabet are going to be at a disadvantage.

12 minutes ago, shortstop2 said:

I suggest that the smart way to implement this is to have Immigration lines at the airport such that there might be a 5 minute wait if you have done the stuff online but a 15 minute wait if you haven't.

 

Alternatively Swampy has free wifi and i suppose could be completed after one lands.

In later years I started getting the e-visa for Cambodia, preferable to the scrum to get a visa at PP Airport.

2 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

I doubt that very much. There is no money to be made in reducing over tourism and undesirables are a price that successive governments have been willing to pay

Just wait until there are protests as we are seeing in Spain and other places. I saw recently that the ratio of vistors to residents in Phuket is 118:1.

I suspect that in years to come totally visa free entry could become a thing of the past. Reducing overtourism and denying entry to undesirables being an upshot of it.

19 minutes ago, Anthony mellows said:

So you know he is on a

3 hours ago, emptypockets said:

Yeah, let's make the retirement extension 2 million baht. Clear out some of the losers.

It's possible with zero Baht.

3 hours ago, rumeaug said:

It ised to be confined to pattaya, not anymore. And that's not good...

Patong has long been pretty much the same thing as Pattaya, Soi Cowboy-on-the-beach, such places attract the dregs from all over the world (some good people there too).

12 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Dont worry Mossad will have him out by tomorrow, 

He is Mossad!😁

An old friend whose lived in Goa for 15 years said that they have the illicit drugs scene sewn-up there.

In years to come, and when and if tourist numbers become excessive, I could see Thailand starting to require an e-visa before travel for most countries. In the UK we have the DBS system to help filter out crims/undesirables.

A recent figure suggests that the ratio of tourists to residents in Phuket is 118:1.

1 hour ago, quake said:

 

There is more people,  and it's more loud now days.

But Pattaya and Jomtien are more like Chalk and Cheese.

It was at it's best,  when it had the gay reputation.

it was nice and quite back then, 

But it's still a great place.

 

Looking back I would've probably chosen to live in Jomtien rather that Pattaya.

In my 20 years in Bangkok I lived within a 20 minute walk of Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza, but in the last 5 years I hardly ever visited, no longer interested in that stuff.

Just now, quake said:

 

Jomtien beach is not a ( sketchy crime magnet zone )

Total BS from you. 

The last time I was there J B wasn't quite as downmarket as P B?

7 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Pro Tip: whenever traveling, dont fight with the locals.

Another Pro Tip: Smashing a bottle over someone's head could kill them!

On 4/4/2025 at 10:23 AM, bkk6060 said:

Nana is so yesterday I am surprised people still go there.  The entire area smells like feces, urine, vomit and semen. Mostly dumb clueless tourists.

Rather like Pattaya, such places attract trashy people from all over the world. How do I know, I have been there often, but in my later years in Thailand I didn't.

15 hours ago, MalcolmB said:

Maybe the Thais were trying to bash some sense into Fatty Farang

Americans seemed to embraced the Plus size, Europeans not so much, Koreans and Japanese not at all.

It's very hard to embrace plus size, unless you have arms like a gibbon!😆

41 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

 

Thankfully, it only lasts for one day here on Koh Samui.

Very dangerous for a motorbike rider though.

A full buck of ice cold water - with ice cubes, thrown straight in your face!

My old Thai friend would be in his 80's now, he said when he was a kid, 1950's, it was one day, and just sprinkling drops of water.