northernjohn

I've been watching Thai TV for the past 7 years. - You must have amazing powers of endurance if it`s taken you 7 years before cracking up. Most people go insane within the first week of watching that crap.

I have been ignoring it ever since I started visiting Thailand 11 years ago.

You guys have to much time on your hands.

I think it could have something to do with moving from a more developed country to a less developed one and the arrogance of English speakers thinking everyone should speak English.

Sad to say I have to agree with you on that.

You're kidding, right? Pretty much everything inside the moat is Farang Town.

But that's lumping ALL foreigners in together. That's not the case in the West. There, each nationality has its own distinct enclave, streets with all the shops selling only that country's goods and services, with signs all in that language. Today, most of the signs inside the moat are in Chinese... for the tourists, not for residents.

By 'The West', I guess you mean the US - enclaves like those you describe aren't particularly common in Europe.

Yes, foreigners here tend to get lumped together in farang ghettos - but they're certainly not integrating into Thai society like your OP suggests.

Canada has the same situation in it's larger cities.

I suppose if one only eats bread products a few times a week rather than with every meal, it really doesn't make very much difference if there is fiber in it. We can get more than enough fiber from the vegetables that make up so many Thai dishes. Vitamins and minerals too. Choose your breads for their taste and texture rather than nutritional content. There are plenty of great ones in Chiang Mai!

Well said. I only buy my bread at one well known bakery in town and I do not believe they have the ingredients on the packaging.

There is a free shuttle from the Le Meriden. The first one leaves from there at 11:58 in the morning.

The next one is at 1:30 in the afternoon and then every hour at half past the hour up until 9;30 at night.

The returns start at 1;00 in the afternoon and run at the top of the hour until the last one at 9:00 at night

I got these times off a schedule I picked up yesterday at the information in the mall.

Friday and Saturday night it leaves at 10:58 at night. Latest return is 10:30 at night

I would get there a little earlier as I have seen them leave a few minutes early. It has a black Canyon there and several other coffee shops. It also has 6 movie theaters there. I believe most of the banks have a branch there also. Toy's or us has a store in there also. The only one in Chiang Mai and the Rimping market is the biggest one Rimping in Chiang Mai. As has been mentioned it has several nice restaurants including a KFC It is two buildings with a different lay out than the square ones. Not a lot of people there as it is a bit far from Farong land. I feel comfortable there as it is not crowded.

I was in Immigration yesterday and they had given out 30 extension queue tags and I noticed they had given out 150 90 day queue tags. That was about 2:00 in the afternoon. I noticed that the 90 day being serviced was #129 so they must be moving along very well there in that that department.

I didn't get a chance to see what number they were serving at the year extension. But I did see the lady sitting there with two passports. How would one person have two passports?

Also heard a rumor that all agents had the same accessibility to the immigration officers. It is not just one agency that has it. Just a rumor but it does answer a question I have always had how did the agents know what time to tell you to be there?

I was there with two friends getting what ever it is you want to call it permission to stay for 30 more days. Took about one hour from the time we got there to the time they had them. The girls out front where very helpful at filling out the forms and they just went next door to get photo copies. They already had pictures on a white background that were excepted. I did notice that the photographer had a blue background to use for the ones they took.

I guess the answer to the level of access to immigration could be determined by going to each of the "professional" agents late morning on any particular day and asking them to arrange your "retirement" visa for that same day.

My wild random guess is that they,the professional agencies,could not do it but just by chance there is one other agent that could?

NorthernJohn -- the "other" agents "know" what time to tell their customers to come to Immigration because they look at the number their staff member is given after having waited in the queue since 5 am and they can estimate what time that number will be called. It's not an exact science. Friends of mine were upset because their agent told them to be at Immigration at a certain time and they still had to wait an hour until he said it was time to sit at the desk for their interview. The agent simply misjudged when they were going to call the number that his employee had been given that morning.

Kind of like the guy that went next door one morning and they told him to come back at 2:00. Wouldn't surprise me if they all paid a 1,000 baht. That would help the staff pay for supplies that they have been buying out of their pocket according to the Fellow who spoke about the situation there at the CEC business meeting. I talked to him in private after the meeting.

I was in Immigration yesterday and they had given out 30 extension queue tags and I noticed they had given out 150 90 day queue tags. That was about 2:00 in the afternoon. I noticed that the 90 day being serviced was #129 so they must be moving along very well there in that that department.

I didn't get a chance to see what number they were serving at the year extension. But I did see the lady sitting there with two passports. How would one person have two passports?

Also heard a rumor that all agents had the same accessibility to the immigration officers. It is not just one agency that has it. Just a rumor but it does answer a question I have always had how did the agents know what time to tell you to be there?

I was there with two friends getting what ever it is you want to call it permission to stay for 30 more days. Took about one hour from the time we got there to the time they had them. The girls out front where very helpful at filling out the forms and they just went next door to get photo copies. They already had pictures on a white background that were excepted. I did notice that the photographer had a blue background to use for the ones they took.

He forgot to mention "circus pants"

That's because there really IS a God...

How do you know?

I told him.

In addition to the high cost of renting is there all the modern conveniences there. How is the internet service. I have heard that for a tourist a five star hotel is really only a three star and not cheap.

I have some friends visiting Thailand and they have a 30 day visa which runs out on the 5th. They want to extend it Is that done at the Promenada or the AirPort?

Also has any one had experience doing it lately is it a long Queue or an in and out deal. I imagine there is a form to fill out but will they need some thing else photocopied out of their passport.

Any help appreciated.

These are the good old days for many people in the future.

Just as 5 years ago there was people saying where are the good old days.

My understanding is they are against the industrial scale halalfood production and all that involves, keep in mind that anything not haram is halal... that is most non animal foods so Roti is not affected, though that bright yellow "butter" they fry them in looks very suspect to me, I pass on them.

Yes I fail to see the connection between the Roti carts on the street and the articles.

Just another troll post. I wonder how far this one will go.

It is a solvable problem. Back in the states where I lived in the 60s they went out quite often. Now I hear it doesn't happen any more and the area has grown tremendously.

Yes, I had the numbers from Nancy in mind. Most are obviously retirees as you can see at the long queues at Promenada. Add some more marriage and other Os and you arrive at the number I estimated. Even if it would be double than that, 12000 farangs, it would still make one report in 5 mins. That is already divided by 4.

We can not be exact with the math but the fact is they are still getting as high as 180 queue numbers handed out.

Let us say that it averages out to 120 a day. That would be one every 4 minutes. That would still leave the mail in and the lucky to get through on line filing.

Let us not even try to pretend that the 120 a day are ready when they get to the officers desk many times I have witnessed them having to help them. Also what about the agents with more than one. Last time I was there they had to take one lady to another desk leaving just the one and as you know they have the next person in line sitting next to the one they are dealing with. The lady next to me got hers done no problem and then brought out another one. Which also was no problem.

Bottom line is there is a heck of a lot more people than the retiree's filing every 60 days. Do the work permits have to file? How about the ones with educational visa's do they have to file every 90 days. The subject is a useless one as we only have one number and the number of walk ins can not be done in that time frame. It would be interesting to know how many different Visas have to do a 90 day but I am not going to wade through the immigration laws to find it. I will just work with what we have which is a whole bunch of guesses and not worth the time.

The only reason to go there in the first place is to catch a play when they have them.

Where do they have the plays?

I have reasons to go there and plays is not one. I go to Rim Ping and Som Tum Udon. There are also quite a few restaurants that have and are opening.

They are on the 7th floor. Presented by the Gate theater company. About 5 or 6 a year all well done. Maybe you can find them on Google.

Sorry people my mistake it is Kad San Keaw.

On the positive side it is nice to see that some like plays.

Always nice to make a big mistake like that.

It gives some people an opportunity to feel good about them selves.

Thank you for the information. As always interesting.

Actually it's not rocket science. There are some 6000 Farangs in Chiang Mai IIRC, the numbers were posted a while ago. Given about 220 working days a year, divided by 4, this makes about 100 persons a day. Half of which probably report online, by mail or just fly out.

So it's 50 reports a day they need to handle. In 8h this makes one report every 10 mins.

Can you clarify your statement. We already know from previous posts that there have been as many as 180 queue cards given in one day and people told to come back tomorrow.

Nancy had reported that their was 5,250 reported retirement extensions in 2014. She had received those figures when Immigration was talking to her. I have no doubt what so ever that 2015 had more but 750 seems a bit high to me.

Also these people have to check in every 90 days not just once a year, In addition to these people I believe there are other type of visas that require a 90 day check in. Not sure on that. Still your numbers do not work out. Every 90 days works out to one day under 13 weeks which only leaves 65 working days to report in. Also to figure in and I have no way of knowing is the fact that many of them report early and wind up some place down the line making 5 reports in 360 days. As you say there are mail in's and on line that we don't have any figures on, But the fact remains that there are well over 50 a day checking in. I can remember at the airport going in shortly after lunch and getting numbers in the 60s to the 70s.

Edit

Just want to say it is a stupid thing reporting in every 90 days when you are a permanent resident.

But then we all know that.

Wow, someone came to Thailand for its speed, efficiency and highly developed internet.

good one.

For myself I notice as I age that I do prefer the internet more and more to getting out and doing it personally.

But I am not new to Thailand and realize e mails may or may not be answered and that the wait in line at many places is normal. I am also aware of the fact that not only can Thais not read maps but they can not make them.

I moved to Thailand to retire not to worry about how fast I can get things done. I just plan ahead. If I had to work for a living I would be bent out of shape about the lack of speed at getting things done. In fact I would not have moved here. But I don't I just plan ahead and give it the time it needs.

The only reason to go there in the first place is to catch a play when they have them.

In emergency cases: Also a vacuum cleaner or a hairdryer (as well as any other electric device) transform all consumed electric energy into heat.

Using a hairdryer to heat up a room is a bad idea. These devices are not designed to run for long periods and are likely to overheat and burn out. Besides that the only way to keep warm using a hairdryer would be to put the thing on your lap blowing directly on to you.

Or, blowing under the blanket/duvet when in bed.

Just to warm things up, not to let run continuously of course. And making sure the air intake is not obstructed.

It works VERY well though.

They are really great at thawing out frozen pipes.

Kind of pretentious to live in a foreign country and claim you don't care about exchange rates. Ironically, you are also living in a place, where you could easily get chased down the block for five THB. Crossing HK is a risk.

It's not pretentious at all. When one only has a small amount of money to convert, the difference between one or two baht per dollar amounts to nothing. I'd use up more money in gas chasing from one money changer to another trying to get a better exchange rate on my income. In the past three years I've ONLY changed my dollars for baht at Bangkok Bank. I don't feel the need to make an extra 50 cents a month by going elsewhere.

It's also foolish to live one's life worrying about getting chased down the block or crossing the street.

So long as you look both ways before crossing, the risks are pretty low.

Trust me on this; there are better ways to occupy time than with worry.

I pretty much agree with you but when you are living on the guaranteed income and it drops 5 or 6 baht to the dollar and shows no sign of returning soon you might worry.

You make the common mistake that every one has a lot of money and can just tie up 800,000 baht with precious little return on it. Not always true.

Since the responses have long drifted away from anything to do with my original question, I will unfollow and thank you all now who actually did respond to me.

L

Oh come on, Lew many of the original responders are still in here, we've just drifted off course, which is par for the course with Thai Visa. Usually the OP's question is answered in the first page or two and then the thread veers off in "interesting" directions. Sometimes a strong OP, like Jingthing (you'll get to know him, he's from the Pattaya forum, but pops over here sometimes), can get it back on track by challenging responses and reminding people of the original question, but most OPs just sit back and watch in bewilderment.

Edit: I don't mean this as an insult to you, Lew, just a statement of what happens here on ThaiVisa. Sometimes it gets so bad that the moderators have to step in and shut down a thread "for maintenance" like Tywais did recently with the important thread about Immigration Promenada. It had veered off into another galaxy.

It's called a 'conversation' and is completely natural. Trying to keep things 'on topic' is unnatural.

Many years ago just to pass the time I took a Psychology course. In the instructors opening talk he said that when in conversation if the topic changes just go with it. Got to admit it is easy to follow that and loose sight of the original issue.

and when it's that bad a taxi-car is better than your own, because parking it will be a beach.

Good point.

Also people are getting older and less willing to walk. Need to park as close as possible to their destination.

So if you entered the country and never did a single 90-day report (for a year), that would mean you would/could be fined:

5,000 baht (non-reporting fine)

+

200 baht x 364 days = 72,800 baht (daily fine)

Grand total: 77,800 baht.

Can that be right?

I think there is a maximum fine of 20,000 Baht.

I do recall several posters claiming they never filed a 90 day just paid a 2,000 baht fine when the extended.

Mind you it was on Thai Visa and we all know some people stretch the reality a little bit.

clarification....his date will be a bargirl. Budget under 700.....

I think most of us knew that just having a run at you with it. Loads of places in the Soi's off Loi Kroh.

Also depends on the dates he is coming. Many places are booked during the flower festival.

Something that is kind of strange is the number of foreigners that won't make eye contact with other foreigners. This has been fairly well documented. I've been told that this exists in the farang ghettos of Huay Kaew, too, which is ironic because you would think if they didn't like farang they could go live in Lampang or Phitsanalouk and see very few of them. It's not really country specific, I've had French neighbors, who were a lot more friendly and better neighbors than some of my fellow Americans are. They generally seem to have very few Thai friends, as well. The US State with the largest Thai influence was also the first to give able bodied men SSI checks for conditions like drug addiction, even if they were homeless. Guess where a lot of these people wound up?

Many of us like western luxuries and amenities, which CM has and Lampang/Phitsanalok hasn't.

But don't want to be approached or accosted by strange unhealthy looking white foreigners who appear to be slightly demented.

I don't want to speak with Americans under any circumstances, no matter what their race.

Can you understand that?

Yes you are a bigot.