ronnie50

Actually, they've had my Thai address for many years - they send statements twice a year..

My bank - Lloyds - won't send me a new ATM/Debit card after my old one expired. In a letter from Lloyds, 'we are unable to send a card to your address as Thailand is an embargoed country.' I'm aware banks in some countries won't send credit cards to foreign addresses, but this is the first time I've encountered this refusal over a new ATM/Debit card. Has anyone experienced this with Lloyds or other British banks (refusal to send a new ATM/Debit card)?

Move out of Chiang Mai. You'll also escape the upcoming pollution season.

So if I understand you, even an LTR-WP that has no tax owing on foreign income, would still need to file a Thai tax return if here more than 180 days, though maybe owes nothing, is that right? The point being a Thai tax return filing is still necessary for all residents?

I find this very telling, actually. If not THAI then who? While United is doing Bangkok now (only on a milk run basis, stopping in Hong Kong first), I recall a previous news report that indicated most major US airlines probably wouldn't add BKK as a non-stop service - or even as a direct destination. So let's see. I think I read the other day that next year Air Canada would upgrade its nonstop to Bangkok to year-round service (from the present seasonal routing). So that would be two Star Alliance carriers making the Pacific crossing - maybe THAI (also Star Alliance) will just do a code share with them.

I find the blocking tool increasingly useful...

Well said. Also, the people visitng the Thai border towns (those looking for a weekend getaway - not doing penny-ante business) tend to be the Chinese Malays. Like Thailand and Indonesia, they are the economic driving force of their countries. The rest of Malaysia, by that I mean by the majority Malaysians aren't interested in bettering things - and so the place is really dull. That's why Mahathir got so frustrated with them - and said so publicly - claiming that so many government advantages were deliberately made up for them, yet they still couldn't be bothered.

What I still can't understand, is why these people would travel all the way through such better countries in Europe, to make a desperate attempt to get to Europe's dingiest, poorest, rundown, dumbest, country. "Ere we go, ere we go, ere we go." "Oi mate, just signed on! let's go down the pub and see some slappers! You got a spare fag - any biscuits?" "Coo! Me shell suit is freezin in this rain!!" Yeah, of course, who wouldn't want to live there with all of that?

These knuckledraggers they're hiring for these violent ICE ops. They are clearly not your professional US Government civil service ICE career guys who worked the borders. These guys look like they're newly recruited, and many have no uniforms or standard issue stuff, like they were recruited yesterday. Maybe ex security guards, low level grunts, bouncers, Walmart guards, ex-military, former small town cops, former prison guards, ex-cons, etc. Their past violations or firings are probably overlooked (on purpose) - no questions asked - as long as they are willing to do the wet work. That is really what this looks like to me.

Just to clarify though.... If one holds an LTR-WP, and is exempt from paying income tax in Thailand on foreign income, but has some interest on Thai bank income (let's say only 2,000 THB per year or so), and has no other Thai income, does that person still need to even file a Thai tax return, even if resident in the country a full year? I guess, no, just ignore the whole Thai tax thing?

I don't think any SE Asian country is very clean, at least not by Western standards (beaches, street litter, etc.), except for Singapore maybe. (By 'Western' I'd exclude dirty Paris and much of London and some other rundown cities in the UK - (someone should write a paper on the number of Mars bar and crisp wrappers collecting at the end of the average windy Tube platform, per capita, of course)

Agree with that (on average, of course).

Dunno. It's not that beautiful. I mean not any better than Thailand. Wasn't impressed with Penang. And KL and Putrajaya are boring. Standard of living might be a bit higher than Thailand, and English is spoken much more in Malaysia than Thailand - and the My Malaysia Second Home is a good initiative -- if you really want to live in Malaysia. I don't.

I can kind of understand the hesitancy. They want tourists - but maybe not long-staying foreigners. Keep in mind their history with colonizers (French) and the Chinese occupations and pogrums of Vietnamese men - an occupation/landgrab that was on and off for around 8 centuries. Then of course there was the 'American War' (Vietnam War). Can't really blame the Vietnamese for not wanting to throw open the doors to long-stay foreign visitors/retirees.

well I guess things can't last forever..Still, as far as the "major" Thai beach joints are concerned, Koh Chang is still the best in that category (IMO), despite its rubbish removal problems, etc., then Krabi is second on my list of main tourist beach joints. Phuket is a write-off now for me - not interested. Samui... went there one Xmas/New Year and it pissed down rain and flooded the place for a week. Won't go again. Of course both Thailand and Vietnam have many stunning smaller beach areas that are great.

I read somewhere that Geylang is no longer the red light area, is that right? I remember all the Chinese hookers on the street in Geylang - sort of lined up like troops out for inspection of the guard. They were interspersed with filipinas, but many of the Chinese girls were stunning. I guess that's at least 15 years ago...

The price of hotels is all western cities (G7) seems to be crazy now. Simply not worth it (to me). Japan still not too bad, but that's thanks to the deflation of their currency over the last decade or so.

Da Nang is a great place to base one's self for an extended holiday. And yes most things are cheaper - taxis (they have GRAB), food, drinks. Nice beach. Likely cheaper to rent a place on the 'city side' rather than the 'beach side'. But as a city, it doesn't really offer much as far as I could tell, but I was just a tourist. Only a couple of shopping centers, though I think that will change. Korean corporations seem to be the main foreign entities. In general, the people speak English better than Thailand, where only hi-so people, bar girls and those in the tourist industry can speak English (at a conversational level). Also, speaking of hi-so, and maybe because it's still a communist country, there is less snobbishness among the Vietnamese locals - who are pretty straightforward. Not so sure about living in Da Nang long-term. Hanoi or HCMC are probably better alternatives - hospitals, shopping, day-to-day things/amenities.

I think this needs some global context. For example, is foreign tourism to other countries also down? Or up? Or level with previous year? While Thailand might be crying the blues - and noticing the Chinese arrivals are down - maybe fewer Chinese are traveling out of their country to any destinations? Just to say more Chinese are going to Vietnam, or fewer global visitors are going to the USA doesn't really answer the question about international tourism numbers in general. EDIT to add the link from UN Tourism below which says global tourism 5% higher. But again, devil in the detail - how much has the global population grown since 2019 - some 6 years ago? https://www.untourism.int/news/international-tourism-up-5-in-first-half-of-2025-despite-global-challenges

Americans have been shooting at strangers and neighbours for 200 years. But the preponderance of rapid fire weapons carrying multiple rounds - both long guns and hand guns - something that's a more recent thing is why these shooting are seen more and more in the news. It used to be that a lone nutter with a revolver could cause a mass shooting that was limited in casualties by today's standard, whereas the nutjob in a Vegas hotel could take out many, many people with his rapid fire weapon(s) before he himself was taken out.

This answer that Chinese had names the other way around is stupid anyway (as well as wrong). Why would it matter in any case?

Yes we've had one for many years - maybe 20. Kasikorn too. But it doesn't surprise me if things are harder now, given all the other nonsense going on in the banking sector with foreigners. (Yes, wife is Thai). We also opened them for our kids when they were minors, with our names on the account as well. Of course anything out of the ordinary here takes 5 people 2 hours to try and figure out. 'Cannot' is always the easy answer...as almost everyone has experienced in daily life here. It's up there with 'mot' (out of stock, finished, etc.)

Yes I remember that 'my sacred duty' I think were his words (to avoid flooding of central Bangkok). Poorer areas on the other side of the river though were not part of his sacred duty I guess, and were inundated with many flooded out of their homes (maybe as a result of that action). There is, coincidentally, a Netflix mini series right now on the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and how the poorer areas were left to flood and fend for themselves with no help for weeks.

I think you might be closer to the truth than you suggest..

Yeah, Cathay is the same. Really hard to ever use the points for a biz class seat. Same with Korean. In the case of ME airlines, there is intense competiton for customers and loyalty - it's a really crowded field now compared to 20 years ago - so maybe that's why they are a bit more generous in giving up seats for points.