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The U.S. Consulate General in Chiang Mai invites U.S. citizens in Chiang Mai and nearby districts to attend a townhall meeting with Ambassador Robert F. Godec, on August 29th from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Topics will include Mission Thailand priorities and frequently asked questions about consular services. I am going to see what the Ambassador is like.

It’s cheap and comfortable. I can get most of the things I want in LOS. Routine health care is affordable. I have serious doubts about Emergency or even Trauma level medical care in LOS. I have doubts about any kind of Emergency type of rescue response in LOS. Just imagine you ore on the 18th floor of a condo in BKK and a fire breaks out or you are having a heart attack, what would the response be? Otherwise it is a good place to stay for awhile.

In California it can be. 240 of the California Penal Code. I have never arrested anyone for attempted assault unless a weapon was used (for instance swinging a baseball bat at someone could amount to an attempted assault with a deadly weapon).

LAX, yes it does occur and not all incidents make it on the news or on youtube. However I do agree with you on the "quota" hiring practices of large American Police Departments. I know because i spent 20 years on one this departments located in Southern California. I won't name it but you can guess. Also, this video only captures about 2 minutes of this entire incident. It does not offer the full context.

90K per month sounds about right. A few years ago Al Jazeera aired a documentary about an old folks home in Chiang Mai and the per month cost was about $3000. One of the residents was from Europe and she had developed Alzheimers in her 50's and the family chose to place her in this home. The actual home looked nice and there were plenty of young Thai men and women who took care of the residents. I just can't recall the name of the home.

“Agree that police officers shouldn't be assaulted, but you know what - it's part of their job - and they handled this skateboard swinging Chinaman easily without resorting to drastic measures.” In all my years in policing I never felt it was part of my job to get assaulted. I did get verbally assaulted almost every day. “

"American Style police commando response". This type of behavior occurs often at US Airports. I wonder how "Thai Police Diplomacy" would have worked with this guy"?

I was never adopted. I spent the first 18 years of my life in various foster homes. At my age it does not matter where or who I came from.

Arrogant? That is your opinion. The only thing that matters is the money I spend. My experience in the actual Rome was very pleasant.

You just described how I have been lately. It took a few years to realized it did not matter if I was very courteous or not. No need for me to smile. Just go out and get what I needed to get done. I am polite but no longer overtly friendly. I realized to most of the locals "it just doesn't matter".

Mixed race. My first foster parents did not know what my actual ethnic backgrounds were.

This is my "2cents" worth. I am American and of course I have an American Passport. I am not Caucasian or as some say White. I am what you can call as a Human Mutt. I have been a regular at Chiang Mai Ram hospital in Chiang Mai for 7 years. I even have a Hospital Identification Number. Every time I go to this hospital I am asked two questions: 1) Do you speak English? 2) Do you need a translator? This despite the fact that I had presented my American Passport to the reception counter just minutes before and had answered the preliminary question in English. Recently I threw them a curve and said "yes, please get me a translator". The lady replied "yes" and then stopped and pondered what I had just said in English. We started at each other for almost 5 minutes as she pondered what had just happened. I then said "no need for a translator". i was then escorted to the vital signs check room. This is just my opinion but it appears some have a difficult time accepting me as an American who actually speaks fluent English even though I am talking to them in fluent English. I once even pulled out my California Drivers license when I was accused of lying about being from Cafliornia because "impossible for you to be American". TIT and 555.

Not really new because Chicago has a Thai Consulate and the Tourism Office just has to put up a sign. Also, the Los Angeles Tourism office is inside the Thai Consulate which is located on the border of Hancock Park and Hollywood. If the Riyadh office holds a tourism fair does this mean Singha or Chang has to produce Zero % alcohol beer?

Will there be a Thai Festival in Kyiv or Pyongyang?

Does Thailand have Zoning laws? I still amazed at how the infrastructure in BKK can support so many high rise condo buildings.

If the statement about “keeping criminals out” is genuine then the only real solution is s a fingerprint based criminal background check conducted in a visa applicants home country. In my case an FBI fingerprint based criminal background check would be the answer. In my last Non Imm OA visa application I obtained the FBI Fingerprint based background check. This can only be done in your home country. Also, in my case the cost was $50 dollars and the check came back in a few hours. Of course if one has an extensive criminal history the response time could be longer. Just this requirement alone might reduce the number of all visa applications. That is unless the Agents can find another solution because after all “TIT”.

It could depend on how long she has been a bar girl. I saw an interview of a long term expat in Thailand and in essence he said “you can the girl out of the bar but can you take the bar out of the girl”. He said can someone who stays up all night, wakes up at 1200 and drinks really adjust to getting up at 700 AM to go to a low paying job?

Last time I checked a Non Imm OX is issued by Thai Embassy or Consulate. This would require an application on the EVisa system.

I contacted Thailand Elite about the 5 year Elite. I got a response that I should consider the 20 year because prices will go up. . 20 years could be beyond the span of this life.

On Oct 1 it will be 900,000.

The PI is called SRRV. It has 4 different options. The simplest is $20,000 deposit into a PI bank without a pension. But the SRRV process can be a month or more. It requires a home country criminal background check, financial documents and a medical exam done in the PI. So for those who are seeking something similar like the Thai Non O Retirement Ext of Stay this might not be a good fit.

The TPC ( Government ) will announce the Elite visa's NEW Packages formally in 1st Oct 2023 which is starting at 900K.THB and for the current package started at 5yrs 600k.THB will be discontinued soon. For the new applicants if apply for the elite visa before 15 sept 2023 4.30pm(Thai time) still be the current one started 600kthb, unless will be the new one is tending to be higher price started at 900kthb. There is no effected for any privileges for the elite member who already applied the current one. But for the Upgrading from EEA package 5yrs 600kthb to 20yrs 1mb or 2.14mb by the upgrade payment 400kthb or 1.498mb is required to apply the upgrade application form Before 15/8/2023, unless is not accepted and waiting for Jan 2024 New package upgrading is tending to be higher price. The current packages attached the post. Contact to Ms.Lee GSSA-Authorized Agent Line contact no: 0814552596 Whatsapp: +66814562596 900,0000 for 5 years. Amazing Thailand.

I had a conversation with a Grab Driver today. He pointed to the many Chinese Language signs on our drive in Chiang Mai and said the government is allowing “A soft Chinese Invasion”. I agreed with him. He also said many Thai people know the Chinese are dominating in Cambodia and are plundering it. It seems like the informed Thai’s know what is happening but are powerless to do anything about it. Beside my age, things like this are the reason I would not invest in a 20 years non refundable visa. If I was wealthy and in my 40’s my opinion would be different on the 20 year non refundable visa.

1) Homicide 2) Suicide In many cases it is the husband/boyfriend. But let's not rush to judgement and let the experts investigate it.

Man, you just summed up the reason why many come and live in Thailand. Like many I could say “only if my pension was xxx amount more” then I would have never considered LOS. Amazing, great food and smiling faces are most say for coming to Thailand but honest people will say “it’s cheap and comfortable”. If Thailand had Singapore or even Malaysian prices then how many us would still be here? My guess is not many.