CALSinCM

Tossing a grenade?  He must have be 'crashing his own stash' so to speak.  That's something I'd expect a 'tweaker' to do.  

2 hours ago, Squeegee said:

This fad opens a wonderful opportunity to use old bicycle horns for Pokemon Go! Player Baiting.

 

And soon we'll see copy-cat apps like:

 

Falang ATM Go!

 

Love In A Beer Bar Go!

 

and

 

Underage Cambodian Boy Go!

 

And for all the social ladder climbing albeit somewhat unsophisticated gals in the LOS,
Catchy Rich (Nigerian) Doctor Go!   Just send 200,000 THB and the 'Rich Doctor' will appear on your Smart Phone screen in a jiff!    Once you catch him, he'll give you 10M THB!!!

The government should start a Farangemon Go (Home) game where over-stayers are lured to police as they attempt to track and catch an elusive visa extension. 

"It will be helpful, if any foreigner comes and commit crimes, because in the past they have been able to flee or it can be difficult to find them," said Pongsathorn Chansri, an official in the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

And when an evil foreigner commits a crime, and then pulls the SIM card out of their phone and tosses it, why is it that the luminaries of justice think they'll be easier to apprehend?
 

I'm thinking that not a whole lot of thought has been put into the implementation, which leads me to believe as another poster noted that this is probably more about the money that can be generated by manufacturing and selling SIM cards to a 'captured audience.'

It's much more likely that Clinton will succumb to her own failing body then any external threat. 

4 hours ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Did CNN take any account of the warnings regularly issued by the various governments about the dangers of street food  ?

Food poisoning for my family to date:

*Well know international franchises in Thailand:  2 cases

*Thai street food: 0 cases

There's a sucker in every crowd. 

Best of luck.  I just stop carrying the phone.  I've just been looking for a reason.  Thanks! 

Guess it's time to create that 'alternate persona' that will be useful for filling out all the questions with truthful but totally irrelevant information. I have no problems listing what they already know. Cars and motorcycles? Wife owns those not me. Foreign address? What address. Guess it's time to plan before the next visit. Can anyone post an electronic copy of the form?

I don't see a penal code number on the form so it begs the question is there actually any penalty under the immigration laws that cover this or is it just a scare tactic

I'd say at the moment, it's a bluff, with no actual 'Penal Code' backing the form.

If social media is optional, then I'll 'Opt-Out' (thank you very much). All the other information can be found on the various 'TM' forms and supplemental visa forms that we are required to fill out. But if they insist of killing trees and wasting paper, so be it. I'll give them the same information again.

As far as were do I frequent? "Nong Gui's Mom & Pop Store, Nong Kip's Mom & Pop Store, Luang Tak's Mom & Pop Store, 7/11, Big-C, The Mall, Awbataw, local hospital, local train station, local gas station......" Essentially I'd write until I ran out of room, because in reality, it's all useless information - right along with the form. Think about it: Really, if someone committed a crime and didn't want to be found, just hang out somewhere that isn't on the form you submitted. They have actually provided a way for 'real criminals' to obscure their trail: The criminally minded provides of list of 'places they frequent', and then go elsewhere as the police are busy combing the list of 'hangouts'.

You can't make this stuff up. Why Thais are incapable of thinking things out to a logical conclusion is beyond me. But, there you have it.

Where can I find a listing of new pickup truck prices for most major manufacturers/models here in Thailand?

Are playing dice illegal to own in Thailand because they might be used for gambling? I have been unable to find a set in any store in Thailand.

Yes. I very against drive while drink. Drive while drink is suicide and put everyone on road at risk. Drink driver should have them car and license take away. There enough dead on Thai road with no allow drink driver to run up the dead number. Thailand number 1 dead on road in ASEAN, and number 2 in World. Just say no to drink driving. Safety First for Happy New Year.

You can still find it in pharmacies as Ultracet (Para 325mg and 37.7 Tram - expensive 180THB+), Duocetz (Para 325mg and 37.7 - less expensive 120THB+), or generic 50mg Tram (Matradol 30THB+). My local pharmacy stopped carrying it because it requires a trained pharmacist to be on duty and you have to (legally) sign for it, but it's still very available OTC. However, many pharmacies have stopped carrying it because of the hassle. But it's out there. Spend a day cruising pharmacies where you live. Ask using the brand names above starting from the cheapest. I've found that Duocetz is still pretty widely available and I'll occasionally stumble across a pharmacy that still stocks 50mg Tramadol capsules (like Matradol), but they are by far the most difficult to find.

I've spent the day researching these critters. I now know what they look like and how they move. I even know where I picked this one up. Night market. I remember something biting my ankle while the wife saw shopping. I looked down and could recognize the insect: flat, oval, about the size of an apple seed. I reached down to kill it and it disappeared. That fast. I'm sure that was it. I must have jump or run up my trouser leg, and from there to home. Now that I know what I'm looking for I at least have a plan. Steam treat the mattress and bed, continue washing clothes, continue inspecting the area. Heat will kill them at 120 F. Considering I've only been bitten twice, I need to kill this sucker before it lays eggs.

Does anyone know a reputable exterminator in the Chiang Mai/Lamphun area who has experience killing Bed Bugs.

Preferably an exterminator that a TV member has used and can vouch for. I don't want the exterminator killing myself and my wife as we've heard happen before on TV forums.

Here is something that I really don't understand. From what I read, bedbugs can feed on you then run across the room and digest in the laundry hamper, in your light socket, in your dresser draws, in the bedroom curtains, etc. If that’s the case, how does it find its way back to within 10mm of where it fed before with me fully clothed and the only exposed flesh is my hands and head? Our bedroom is immaculate considering my wife is a clean freak. The floor gets mopped daily and I was wearing newly laundered clothes, and the clothes I was wearing when I was bit were washed in very hot water.

So how does this bug find it's way back to within 10mm of the place it fed the night before? That's what totally floors me.

Any experts in 'bed bug behaviour?" And again, it's not biting me on exposed flesh. It has to either crawl from my collar then underneath my sweatshirt and t-shirt to my leg, or it has to crawl up my socks, under the spandex ankle lining of my sweatpants then up to my thigh to bit me within 10mm of the previous night's bit, and it bites nowhere else. Why not bite me on the hand, or the head, or the neck? No, it comes under my clothes and finds it's way to within 10mm of the previous night's dinner. It obviously likes thigh. They must be amazingly intelligent or have a homing system better than pigeons. I don't get it?

I know I have a bed bug that has found its way home with me. Two nights ago I got bit in three spots on my leg. I washed the clothes I was wearing in hot water (sweatpants, t-shirt, sweatshirt, and socks - it gets cold at night where I live). I hung my blanket out in the sun all day.

Last night, I wore new sweatpants and other new clothes, and I got bit three times within 10 mm of the first bites.

I can't for the life of me figure out how something the size of an ant can crawl from wherever it's hiding, navigate its way over my socks, under the spandex cuff of my sweatpants, up my leg, and bite me virtually the same place as it did before. I noticed this when I when to the bathroom and immediately soaked the clothes in hot water, stripped the bed of all the linen, and checked the entire mattress especially the seams. Nothing.

I had this happen about 5 years ago. Went through the same process and the bites stopped after washing bed cloths and bed linens in hot water. Now it (they) are back. Neither my wife or I have travelled anywhere recently so I've no idea where they are coming from.

Any ideas that I'm missing?

50M THB for a walkway.

Boy, what we could do in our village with that amount of money. Wow.

But, walkways must be very important in Thailand, and rural farming communities are, well, just poor folk. Bad karma brought them to this life of toil...so sad too bad.

That people have nothing better to do than carry on about the Immigration Police says it all.

I bet you don't see the irony in your comment.

"About the on-line queue: Col. Rutjapong said it was discontinued because it can't accommodate two locations and generated many complaints."

If complaining is a reason to discontinue a service then a whole lot of people should shut up before more complaining shuts down more services. HELLO!

Hellooo, if anyone really believes immigrations "online queue system" was discontinued due to expats requesting more appointment slots (complaints) then chances are you still believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. There is only one logical reason this vital service was shut down, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

I knew that Santa Claus didn't exist. I caught Mom and Dad eating the cheese and crackers that Sis and I put out for him. And I'm pretty sure they polished off the egg nog too. But the Easter Bunny doesn't exist either? Say it ain't so! No wonder I haven't found any Easter Eggs since I left home 40-some years ago. <tear, sniff>

Truth is it probably ain't Sarc.

Lol Just a little early morning levity.

"About the on-line queue: Col. Rutjapong said it was discontinued because it can't accommodate two locations and generated many complaints."

If complaining is a reason to discontinue a service then a whole lot of people should shut up before more complaining shuts down more services. HELLO!

So we should be good, quiet, compliant, non-questioning sheep, correct? Try going forward and read my last posts http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/855742-interview-about-new-chiangmai-immigration-office/?p=9870480.

At some point in the future: near, intermediate, or on a longer timeline, Thailand is going to have to face the facts of existing in a global community. Look at the mass migration happening in the EU, UK, and US. We're just 'guests' of our 'host country'. I think that particular paradigm is going to have a relatively short shelf life and will soon start to break down under the influence of the large, global players. It will start with the implementation of ASEAN when suddenly there is going to be significant global pressure applied to Thailand to conform to immigration policies that, from their highly nationalistic perspective, they are not going to like - at least if they plan to continue to export to the EU, UK, and the US or other nations that can actually buoy their GDP. Once there is enough international pressure applied by entities such as the IMF and various international (Western) NGOs, this closed border policy is eventually going to succumb to the realities of global economics and politics. It will start locally (actually it has already started) with an outcry of indignation over the treatment of workers who legally enter Thailand under immigration policy governing those nations who signed on to ASEAN, including the working conditions they are subject to, and will eventually expand to expats, like ourselves, whose home countries implement immigration policies that are light-years ahead of Thailand. Eventually there will be a call for quid pro quo. or equal application of immigration policy, international law, and human rights. What Thai National who accompanies a spouse or family member to the EU, UK, or US is subjected to the type of demeaning treatment that is the norm for treating foreigners here in Thailand? Even the Buddha said, "Everything changes." Thai immigration policy will eventually be forced to change. Even if they cut ties with the West and attempt to support their country by aligning with China and the BRICs, Thai immigration policy will eventually still be forced to change, most likely by China.

Do I feel like a 'guest' in my 'host country'. No. I make more money than a average middle class family with all members working and earning. I contribute more to the financial benefit of Thailand than the majority of Thais. I pay taxes. In many coherent, sane counties, I'd have a clear path toward Permanent Residency, and if I wanted, possibly Citizenship. If you buy into that 'guest' malarkey, then you accept being a 'classless entity' who simply is a conduit to funnel money into Thailand in return for nothing. Not even a modicum of respect.

But change will happen! Will this happen in my life-time? Maybe. Maybe not. But it will change. For better or for worse? The future is uncertain. Only time will tell.

Fantasy land.

Let's give it ten years and revisit it (Fantasy Land). I'll put in on my calendar

In the meantime, I'll keep the dialog going. Am I going to "Shut-up"? I doubt that. You don't shine light on a problem by turning the flashlight of knowledge off. Lol. You address problems by dragging them out into mid-day sunlight of public opinion.

Are they going to discontinue services due to foreigners voicing their opinions? What other service can they discontinue without making an equal problem for themselves?

Some people will b*tch and moan, some people will simply criticize, and some will offer constructive criticism. They're all valid, particularly when focused on an institution that is so near and dear to our hearts, like Immigration. And especially when the criticism is well-founded. And from what I read from the OPs interview, Thai Immigration is listening to us. I'm sorry to see the Online Queuing system go, but somewhere else in the future, perhaps improvement will actually occur. I have some hope. It's just gonna take time.

I'm baffled by the anger about the move. The airport location was small, cramped and chaotic. There was no parking. The small waiting area was hot and uncomfortable. I find the new office to be better organized, faster and much less stressful.

I guess haters are going to hate, no matter what....

You sound like a progressive liberal. They like to bandy around that word 'hater' when other individuals voice an opinion that is counter to their own. You should just agree that you disagree. It's a much more mature approach to establishing constructive dialog. Tossing out the word 'hater' is simply adding a rude pejorative into the dialog. Name calling is effective (if you're a follower of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radical) but at it's best it is infantile. It's akin to using a sledge hammer to push in a thumb tack.

So, join me in dropping the name calling, like the 'hater' liberal-speak and you'd find we (and others who have voiced opinions counter to yours or those who have expressed frustration with CM Immigration) might actually agree on a number of points. Immigration at the Promenade is a work in progress which is hampered by Thai Immigration in BKK. However, they need to either build an adjoining air conditioned waiting room to at least accommodate the older folk, frail, and elderly from the elements (sitting outside in the Hot Season is pure, uncompassionate BS, and I don't know of any Thai public offices who force their Thai customers, let alone their elderly, to sit in the sun outside), or implement a Promenade wide public-address system to call queue numbers so individuals can seek shelter within the mall proper. Both of these were addressed in the interview, so I see hope. The 90 day reporting seems to be stabilizing, so I see hope, I think that the eventual move to combine both the Airport and Promenade system will be fought with difficulties and will probably be an aggravating mess for a number of weeks (now I'm a 'hater', 'eh?), but over time I see hope for improvement.

So, try lightening up that 'hater speak'. Accept others opinions as just that: opinions. The world becomes a dangerous place once free-speech is replaced by the narrow-minded use of pejoratives and name-calling in order to stifle opinions that you disagree with. Once the majority of the world gets to that point, I'll be looking for John Galt.

Signed,

Concerned Immigration Hater Customer Willing to Voice His Opinion

BTW, a friend of mine who was a psychologist gave me an exercise to try years ago. The exercise: Think of a person or group of people you dislike, and list all the characteristics that you dislike about them. Then take a long hard look at yourself and see how many of those characteristics that you dislike about your target person or group are actually part of your own personality. How much hate do you hold in your own heart, and how does it manifest itself in your speech and actions? It might open your eyes.

Best wishes.

About the on-line queue: Col. Rutjapong said it was discontinued because it can't accommodate two locations and generated many complaints. He said the programming is done in Bangkok.

Well, duh! Two locations? How on earth could that interweb computer thing be able to know how to book at TWO locations? The mind boggles!

And clearly nobody in Chiang Mai could possibly have the skill and knowledge that the computer geniuses in Bangkok have. Making a program to put your name in a queue to go to ONE location is so impossibly complex that only the computer mavens in the nation's capital could possibly make it happen.

It's obvious you don't know a thing about computer systems. This is a centralized system designed and put in place in Bangkok. Of course, they're not going to give local offices the ability to make changes.

/Sarc On

It's probably coded in COBOL with (compatibility patches in C and Perl that no one in Thai Immigration IT services can understand) running on a IBM XT with Window NT 3.51 / IIS 3.0 and coded by an Indian foreign national who has long since left the country due to work permit issues in order to work in Silicon Valley on a H1B visa considering he rather be coding with current programming languages on state of the art computer platforms and making 20x the salary.

/Sarc Off