sandyf

Exactly.

Absolute garbage and the mods should stop this false information being posted, it is what leads to the confusion. The slip in passport states quite clearly that submission of a TM7 is taken as notification at the first time. Extending a visa will reset the clock, extending an extension will not.

You need to be careful with the language being used as this is what creates the confusion. This statement is incorrect. "I didn't know that you could apply for a Non O Retirement Visa while in Thailand?" You cannot apply for a Non O visa, of any type, while in Thailand. When you enter the country you have a visa status, if you still hold a valid visa would depend on the type of visa you originally had. If you had no visa then your visa status would be "exempt", or tourist visa if that was the case. What you can do, is apply to immigration to change your visa status to Non O, which is a requirement to obtain a 12 month extension. I know the form says "Change of Visa" but this is the way immigration talk, no actual visa is issued. Visas come under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If you need to get a visa as such, it would need to be done outside the country. I lived here for the first 6 years on a visa, no need to go anywhere near immigration, not quite so easy these days.

My account was with TMB and never a problem. However when I went along in Nov it was a bit of a nightmare. All the staff had been replaced under the restructure to TTB and they didn't have a clue what to do. The manager was on the phone to head office before anything got done and then it took forever. Sorry, I appreciate another bank to avoid is not particularly helpful.

Only a certain mentality would plan to go to the airport with a recent extension and no re-entry permit. Even in normal circumstances if it is busy could be problematic. Over the years several times I have turned up at the airport and been off loaded and re-routed which has often been a panic to get you on an aircraft already boarding.

I would agree with your assessment, and this line also supports your view. "Avoid this place, do your visa with time ahead, and online." Vietnam is not on the Thai E-visa platform but you can get a visa online for Vietnam.

Maybe if western countries offered the same number of visa options as Thailand does then Thailand would have a better idea on how to do it properly. After all western administration is faultless.

Stay in context. My point was regarding the comparison between USA and Europe, both continents have rich and poor. Of course you are free to disagree.

So you are telling me that everyone in the USA gets paid the same, gets the same number of days annual holiday, the same social benefits and has exactly the same contract of employment. Yes, that I didn't know.

Irrelevant, Texans are citizens of the USA and spend USD Germans are citizens of the of the European Union and spend Euro. Canadians and Brits are out of it.

ditto

Another quiet day for news so have to fill the pages with something. A lot depends on where you are. When I first came to this area in 2008 the dry season started in November and there would be no rain at all until at least April, with temperatures regularly into the 40s. One year no there was no rain until June. We are self sufficient, normally, on water but that year had to start buying it but fortunately we went to UK mid May. Since 2016 we have not gone through the winter months without some rain of varying degrees in Jan or Feb with temperatures being relatively lower, not run out of water in that time. In 2011 our wells run out during my father in law's funeral end of Dec, still going strong at the moment so who knows. It was forecast last Wednesday that we would have rain, never materialised just a bit cloudy. So much for predictions.

You would have to show us where balloons are mentioned.

When the house was build the electrician put conduit in the wall with a feed to the outside. Although the connection box on the ouside wall had been sealed the sealant had aged and cracked and they got in there and up to the connection box under the ceiling in the lounge. From there they got into the coving and along the coving into the kitchen. With the units aging they had started to delaminate exposing the bare composite and easy dining. The wooden coving was supposed to have been treated but not very well. I had the coving replaced with plastic in the lounge and kitchen not that long ago and you could see most was untouched but some badly eaten away. Damage repair is still ongoing. Where the units have been weakened having to put in additional support for the granite worktop.

I should have done that. Built the kitchen myself european style. Just on 13 years old now and in the last year or so a fair amount of termite damage.

Good location and ok for a night, don't think I would like it for any length of time. We were booked into the Pannarai but had to cancel that and then couldn't rebook.

Ugly, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Some must like it it if a hotel deliberately chooses to surface mount steel pipework all over the room.

When I said the electrics were in pipework, I meant metal plumbing pipes. Added a photo to the post.

Quite a bit actually. Foreigners tend to surround themselves with more combustible material than Thais.

I was in a hotel in Udon last week where electrics had been put in surface pipework and used as "Decor". Ball valves on the wall lights etc !!! Must admit, not to my taste.

Quite. I use Chonburi DLT, that has been rebuilt in recent years, downside is they included a video room, never had one before. When I went last year to make an appointment she said when do you want it, this afternoon or tomorrow.

Without a doubt. Vacuum packing is a bit hit and miss, I have seen the cheese start to discolour before the use by date but wax should be good for years. When I was in RAF training in the early 60s we were fed "compo" rations from WW2, everything was in tins and as good as the day it was made, only problem was the tin opener was in a tin. Wax coating would be as close as you could get to being tinned.

The easiest is an E-visa but it costs $50.

Statement is badly worded. What you did was a visa status conversion which would have been for 90 days from 28th December followed by a 12 month extension which would run from 26th March 2023 till 25th March 2024. Normally a first extension would reset the clock on 90 days but by doing the conversion and extension concurrently I would think that this has not happened and the 90 day reporting requirement from date of entry would apply.

Many a true word said in jest. This may help trade a bit but do little for tourism. I came across the Nong Khai border about 3pm on 26th Jan and couldn't believe how quiet it was. There was no one at the immigration desks in Laos and when I got off the bus on the Thai side by the time I had filled in the TM6 everyone else had gone through.