dannyspurs

7 hours ago, JackThompson said:

 

If you do not come to Thailand frequently, and/or stay for long when you visit, there will likely be no problem. 

 

But, those who take longer trips, and/or more frequent trips, may be targeted for denial-of-entry, there. 

 

At any other land-border in the country, there is no enforcement of a non-existent rule on "too much time in Thailand, before."  That non-rule is only enforced at Poipet/Aranya, and some airports.

Got in today, although it was so crowded it was nearly a two-hour wait. One of the immigration guys told my wife that the rules are changing so often they even have trouble keeping track themselves. 

2 hours ago, JackThompson said:

If you are entering Visa-Exempt or METV - DO NOT Try at Poipet Tomorrow - go to Ban Laem, instead.  People have been told "come back tomorrow," then given official denials of entry when they did as instructed.  Going rate reported for "fixers" there is 20K Baht.

 

If on a Non-O-ME, you will probably be OK, tomorrow - but I'd never try to enter there, myself. 

 

Note: to Ban Laem - taxi direct fastest and most expensive.  Bus or shared taxi to Battambang, then shared-taxi to Ban Laem is the least-expensive option.

My car is parked at Aranyapratet so I have to give it a shot. Good news is it was a fun night in Poipet. 

Can tell you it’s a problem now. I’m staying the night in casino hotel because Thai immigration here said absolutely no about coming back in the same day i left. I’ve done the same here several times as recently as last February, but even the supervisor refused to bend. 

I've heard Hanoi is better, but both times I've used the pre-approval letter system in HCM I've had to wait quite a while at the airport. This time I paid the extra $15 for VIP service, and while the guy from the company was there to meet my flight, it still took nearly an hour. The explanation was that I had arrived at shift change time. Judging by the others waiting who didn't pay the $15, I still got off easier than most.

While we live in New York now, I brought my wife to Michigan when she first moved to the US. She had big-time culture and weather shock at first. She stared out the window for an hour the first time it snowed, and she had trouble grasping the idea that it could be sunny and freezing cold at the same time. But she came to love living here, to the point that I'm probably more willing to move to Thailand right now than she is.

From my experience, biggest keys to adjusting: 1. Find out if there are any Thai people living nearby. You may be surprised. 2. Find out where you can find ingredients for making Thai food. In Michigan, we could find many things in Vietnamese stores or Chinese stores. 3. Pay for an internet stream of Thai TV.

There's no guarantee your wife will adjust, but don't simply assume she won't. My wife and I have met many other Thais who live here and love it.

Just told my wife about this thread, and her response was, "Tell them Thai people do leave tip, if there's good service. And 20 baht is small money now. Leave 50 baht."

I'll admit that after years and years, I still tend to ask my wife every time how much to tip (as she still asks me every time in US). Normally it's 20-40 baht in a mid-level restaurant or bar, although if one waiter is particularly helpful she'll hand money to that person. If you put it in their hand, as opposed to leaving with the bill, they can keep it themselves rather than split it. Also, as others have said, we never tip in a noodle shop.

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There is the third option, which my wife and many of her Thai friends in the US have opted for: Thai name on Thai passport, married name on foreign passport or ID (in this case US). This leads to minor hassles, such as deciding which name to use for frequent flyer points, or when she had a plane ticket in Thai name but wanted to use her American credit card (married name) in the duty-free shop at BKK.

Ah! That's basically what I was asking in post #7. I guess there are little headaches here and there going this route.

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Yes, little headaches, but my wife (and most of her friends) are willing to put up with it to avoid having to change name on all their Thai things (ID card, passport, credit cards, etc.). We've been married for seven years, with yearly trips back and forth, and the minor hassles haven't had her even close to thinking of changing (in either country).

There is the third option, which my wife and many of her Thai friends in the US have opted for: Thai name on Thai passport, married name on foreign passport or ID (in this case US). This leads to minor hassles, such as deciding which name to use for frequent flyer points, or when she had a plane ticket in Thai name but wanted to use her American credit card (married name) in the duty-free shop at BKK.

Went to Golden Chimney last night and both my wife and I really enjoyed it. My wife is Thai, but we live in New York and she is very familiar with Indian food there. We had both the vegetable and chicken samosas, the paneer tikka, butter chicken and yellow lentils. We also had both the butter and garlic naan. I thought the lentils weren't as good as the others,but overall was very happy with the meal. We were the only ones in the restaurant,and we were saying today that we hope business there picks up because we want the restaurant to stay open.