bluebellpepper

On 4/23/2021 at 7:02 AM, pixelaoffy said:

Where to buy insurance that had 100,000$US Covid coverage for 7000 baht ?  Because it has to be 100k according to site

https://www.tipinsure.com/Ph/step_1

 

According to: www.entrythailand.go.th

this automatically registers with your application.

Here the 100K USD is not mentioned. Don't ask me why.

I need to go to Europe soon because of family matters.

It scares to <deleted> out of me with all the BS I need to go through when coming back.
I have full insurance from EU but not a specific Covid plan. How to deal with that?
From Website I can buy it for almost 7,000 THB. What a waste.
I can't stay in my home for quarantine so the nearest place is a hotel of 35K  Baht for 7 days assuming I have my vaccination in EU.
Oh man. Why do they make it so hard?
 

Happy New Year!
Just back from 90 day reporting at Pattaya Jom Tien (Jomtien) immigration.
Coming from the dark side by car it is something which takes time.
Within 15 minutes I was out of the immigration office already including an outage in the computer system which has to provide the queue-number so pretty smooth service.
Asking why I couldn't report online the officer told me that I can only do this if YOUR LAST REPORT WAS AT THE IMMIGRATION OFFICE.
I left the country by car to Malaysia and so my data (TM number) changed. Next time I can report online if I don't fly or drive out.

Can't compare the night-life with Thailand and it is also way more expensive.

Good news is that there is now a direct flight to Pattaya from KL (U-Tapao Rayong-Pattaya International Airport).

Will test it this weekend!

Just watched "Elsa and Fred" from 2014 yesterday where they refer to this lady. A must see!

One thing is for sure, GMO related companies have no interest in the people or the planet. The only thing they want is $$$, preferably lots of it.

We are talking about Bio-Chemistry or Genetic Roulette, something we still don't no f&%k about and is on itself not an issue.

What is an issue, is that food which contains GMO parts is never properly tested for a period of 10-20 years and therefore we do not know the impact on animals or humans. This (testing) has to be (properly) controlled by governments and not by companies like Monsanto which happens in the US.

There are many papers where both animals and humans got sick from GMO crops but that doesn't mean all GMO crops are bad.

Personally I would like to move away from monoculture and pesticides in general. I think permaculture / hydroponics / aquaponics is the future and luckily this is a growing trend.

Please think twice before dealing with companies like Monsanto, DuPont and others.

Hi there!

Lived in Penang for about a year in 2009-2010. Now almost weekly in KL. Also live just outside of Pattaya for about 8 years.

In general nice island, great ex-pat community with many activities. If you like scuba diving, easy to go to Pulau Payar Marine Park by ferry. Marine parks are treated with respect unlike Thailand.

#1 - Traffic jams & sane-ness of drivers (especially motorcyclists).

Close to George Town can be pretty tough, especially during the festivals from the different ethnic groups.

#2 - Peace & quiet (i.e.: some clown drives by on a tricycle every day BLARING out in Thai that he's looking for scrap/junk).

Oh yes, no issue

#2.1 Peace & quiet (i.e. neighbour has a yapping poodle & feeds soi dogs right outside her gate & poodle yaps 24/7).

In general no issue. Living in a house, a burglar alarm is a must because there are many break-ins.

#3 - Soi dogs/stray dogs - Can I count 50 of them within a 5 minute drive of my house?

Muslim territory... so hardly any stray dogs

#4 - Cleanliness of the beaches

Beaches are clean but water polluted because of too much construction. The water between Penang and mainland often has a bad smell!

#5 - Access to shopping (ie: Tesco/Big C/Makro equivalents).

I love my cheese and it is cheaper in Penang than when I buy it in Europe. Of course it is a special address and the company sells whole-sale to hotels and supermarkets. Groceries are easy e.g. "cold storage". Also... no plastic bags!!!!

#6 - Parking (do they try to take up EVERY SQUARE MILLIMETER of parking space)..I mean every time I park somewhere in Pattaya I'm 2 inches away from the car next to me.

Get used to paying for parking...

In general I had a pleasant time and night life for me was Philippine live music in hotels. My Thai wife prefers (Malaysia) over Thailand.

I like both countries.

Pattaya Pro:

Asian food

Religion goes unnoticed

Sailing is great

Night Life can be anything you want it to be and your imagination sells you short!

Penang Pro:

Foreigners are not the usual cheapskates (generalising here)

Government is foreigner friendly

Cars are cheaper

Petrol is cheaper

Roads are very good

Internet / Electricity is stable

English speaking level by locals is high

Alcohol is expensive but if you know your shop you'll find Langkawi "imports".

Shorter distance to e.g. Bali

My advice: enjoy both cities for what they have to offer.

Keep on going like this guy is doing (and forget that it is a commercial):

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

I'm seriously looking into Dumaguete, Philippines. Cost of living is less than CM and it seems the standard of living is about the same

From what I've seen of the Phillipines (so far, just Cebu and Manila) the same quality of apartment costs twice as much as it would in Thailand. Then higher elec / air con / internet costs on top.

Infrastructure, safety and amenities are worse. So I'd consider standard of living lower and more expensive. The positives would be easier visas, English language being spoken, girls, friendliness of the locals, and it just being nice to get a change from Thailand.

Part of my business is in Dumaguete and I agree, standard of living is lower. Personally I couldn't live there because it is too much 3rd world.
Getting there can also be tricky if you fly Cebu air. With every fart in the sky they cancel the flight to Cebu or even turn around when you are already half way!
Typhoons is another thing. Although hidden behind Cebu it can be quite nasty. Food doesn't come close to the Thai flavours so also a minus point.
Good thing is there is live music everywhere which I happen to like. Scuba Diving is way better than Thailand if you compare it to the Gulf.

Completely agree. What has this to do with Thailand. (other than, maybe, geographic proximity)

I did once make this same point in connection with a posting on MH370. The topic remained. My post was deleted!!!

But seeing as we've now got there, yes, I too hate football! Where I live, in Egypt, we only have one conveniently located Thai restaurant. And guess what they have on the wall. A damn great flat screen which is constantly showing European football. 'Why?' I ask. The Thai owner, who is a friend of my wife (also Thai) knows my views, but nothing ever changes.

Ban football in all restaurants would be my rule if I ever became a dictator!

A bit off topic but I think you need TV-B-GONE to "kill" any TV:

I remember a message posted by me which was rejected because it had nothing todo with Thailand.

Well that's fair but then what does this message have to do with Thailand?

I am not a soccer fan, but MU now has a Dutch flavor which makes it sort of interesting for the coming months (for me).

First I thought lightning could be the cause, but decapitated bodies?

portugal was forgotten. nice people. first 10 years no taxes , after 75yrs old anyway no more taxes. good infrastructure. easy to het a permis de residencia.

Azores was mentioned!

Azores. Good climate year round, stunning scenery and clean. Good food too!
Would be best to do 6 month Thailand (Oct-March) and 6 month Azores (Apr-Sept).

You can't trust anyone these days when it comes to making $$$. In Europe there is a food related scam in the newspaper every week. You want to be sure about the quality? Start your own permaculture project in your back-garden!

I wished I already had the quantity needed for our own use but it is coming. When buying organic in the stores here in Thailand I notice the tons of plastic being used for packaging. This should change as well. You can't go organic without also taking care of the waste around the products being sold.

Have to go now... kill a chicken which will be served for dinner.

Setup an account with www.a2hosting.com and many of the (free) tools are available there.

For a nice Website use Wordpress or Joomla (my preferred choice) which both have many free design templates available.

Eventually you have to customize it to your likings and this needs some development expertise.

Have fun!

Don't want to be looked at as an A..Hole, but as an animal lover, mostly cats and dogs, there is a limit IMO.

 

That limit has been reached with this poor dog, IMO.

 

Sometimes hard choices need to be made and you should put her to sleep.

AirHole, AimHole, AlaHole.... I suck at wordgames!

Doglover myself but fully agree with you!  
 

They must have lost a lot of customers. I for one will never fly with them again as it is too difficult to get to and from Don Meung.

True that. I for one am a frequent flyer to Malaysia and only wish to leave from Swampy. Don is just too far. Malaysian Airways is often cheaper than Air Asia and they also arrive at a better terminal in KL.

If I was the OP I would be looking around the Nong Palai or Mabrachan lake area's.

Mabrachan is great to live. Only 10 minutes to the Regent International School by car.

Downside:

1. Electricity fails often during the monsoon season. Just on the other side of intersection Phon Prapha Nimit 26 and 21 (Siam Country Club Road) it seems to be ok most of the time. See also http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/664522-power-cuts-in-maprachan-area/

2. ADSL sucks BIG time in this (my) area. Sometimes I had a day that it actually worked, like 1 in 90! Now I use cable + mobile as backup.

3. Make sure you have a good mobile connection because you are going to need it in the monsoon (October) season for Internet.

Why in heaven would anyone chose to live in a place like Pattaya? I am just asking. Sure, the girls and the booze. We all know that, and the STDs are free. But honestly, you have a gf. Why would you not respect her and yourself and move somewhere decent? Unless you found her there.,.. Then you've got more than one problem

When I moved to Thailand with my family in 2000 I had 3 requests:

1. Close to an International Airport with direct flights to Europe (my business was still in Europe)

2. Good International school

3. Close to the sea (I like sailing)

This only gave us one option... Pattaya.

Just recently I wondered if I want to live somewhere else in Thailand and so we traveled South.

I still use the airport a lot but to other destinations in Asia and just around the corner from Hua Hin it is still a freakin long drive to the airport, so no thanks, I stay where I live today, 6 km out of Pattaya.

It looks like that the OP has no income (600 euro/month is enough for non-O) and that all his money is in a Thai bank otherwise i cannot explain why the OP went this long way ...

Correct! The last time I received a salary was 14 years ago.

Eventually all roads lead to Rome Bangkok and this is just one way of getting there.

The money is needed in Thailand anyway so that's why I chose this road.

The 800K is eventually needed (for me) to get my OA.

OP, do you know if the consulate accepts alternatives, such as

- money in European bank

-European income

Did the consulate actually suggest 800.000 in a Thai bank, or was that YOUR initiative, and they approved of it?

Thanks.

They actually requested 20K Euro in a (local) bank account and/or salary evidence over the last 3 months.

Is it a non O or a non OA (retirement)? If it is the 1st you still have to make a visarun every 90 days ...

edit: May i ask, are you Dutch?

"non O" only, so yes, I need to leave every 90 days but most likely I'll leave every 6 weeks anyway and yes, Dutch all the way

For your information.

Just came back from the Thai Consulate in Amsterdam and received my 1 year Non Immigrant O Visa with multiple entry.

I just turned 50 a few months back.

I have been reading so many posts on TV about this and all was quite confusing. This is what I did:

1. Opened a Kasikorn Thai Bank account on a 30 day visa-exempt entry (no hassle) last January

2. Transferred 800,000 THB to this account in January this year

3. Received in April a Kasikorn statement in Thai which proofed the 800,000 Baht amount (English version is preferred)

4. Went to Consulate with the following:

• Passport and copy passport
• Copy ticket to Bangkok (one-way)
• Copy bank-book which showed the 3-month old statement of the transfer
• 140 Euro
• 2 passport photos
• Kasikorn bank statement

Only issue was the Thai letter because the farang officer was not able to read Thai but this turned out to be no problem.

5. 2 days later I picked up my Visa and I am done for the rest of the year.

Hope this helps other Visa hunters.

Important is that no other documents are needed like: medical statement, police report, etc.