sandyf

Which immigration officers? In 6 years of going to Ban Laem I never encountered a Cambodian IO. The Thai IOs were quite friendly, one time one asked my wife to help her load some carpets into the back of her pickup.

Only according to national reporting, nobody knows what the level was years ago, rural hospitals were the norm. The data presented by the MOPH is derived from hospitals that participate in the national reporting system. However, many rural hospitals and certain private healthcare facilities do not contribute to this daily reporting, suggesting that the actual number of deaths could be significantly higher.

Indeed, deep frying is almost in the DNA. Yes many years ago there wa a higher percentage slim but mainly the young. I think modern day affluence has a lot to do with it. We go to the food court in the local market regularly and see the children tucking into the sweet junk they have on offer, many almost obese before they get to their teens, that then tends to determine their lifestyle. The other problem is like my niece, growing up anything left on the table was given to her to finish off. Now she has grown up it goes to the dogs. She was obese at school but went to uni in China and lost the excess weight from financial restraint and stress.

The Thais generally have always had an unhealthy diet, given pork knuckle they would rather eat the fat and skin than the meat. Sugar in almost everything they eat. Nothing has changed, other than more detailed reporting.

There is a 14th every 21 years, got one a couple of years ago, not see another.

It is not a "missing" passport.

Who do you mean by "they"? Unless things have changed after you pass through Thai immigration you will encounter "agents" that will get you stamped in and out of Cambodia without you having to do anything. The other option is you ignore them and make your way to Cambodia immigration and get the visa yourself. Cambodian immigration are legally obliged to accept the visa fee in USD, but they don't have to be nice about it. I don't know what you mean by "corruption fee", never heard of it. I always used one of the agents and was out and back into Thailand in about half an hour, wife would have a stop at the market and then off to see friends in Chantaburi. Coming from Chonburi we joined the No 3 other side of Rayong.

Only ever went to Cha Am once, same with Ampawa, both were about 20 years ago so don't remember a lot. Not very impressed with HH either. I live on the outskirts of Chonburi city so have quite a lot within striking distance. My neice did an internship at the hospital just along from Iconsiam and hadn't been to Bangkok since she finished a few years back so just had a couple of days. Stayed at the Ibiss Riverside, left the car and just went along the river. That is the cheapest way to travel. Went from Sathorn to pier 22(MRT?), 30 baht on the electric boat with aircon.

Villages don't come any smaller than where I live. There is more to Thailand than what you see.

You are delusional, no embassy in the world is going to provide assistance to someone without a passport. Try looking at the bigger picture rather than your paranoia over passports in Thailand.

A friend of insisted on paying the official amount in USD, despite being asked for THB. Had to wait for 5 hours to get his passport back, that was at Poipet. I used to go to Ban Laem regularly, a lot easier now they have improved the road. The "agents" always asked for the visa fee in THB plus their fee for doing it, could normally knock a third off that. Used to be very quick, passport back by the time you come out of duty free.

Invariably there is a reason, and unlikely to be "odd". Posters however seem reluctant to give much detail. A year or so ago they introduced an interest bearing account so I put some of my GBP balance into that. Sometime later I got a message to say I had to confirm my tax residency, no big deal.

It wouldn't matter how much anyone read of what was an "ill informed" post. You talk as though there has never been previous initiatives of a similar nature. With the experience of the WTT and 50/50 schemes many of the fraudulant practices have been eliminated. It can never be a 100%, but those vendors that bend the rules do so at a risk and they raise their prices for doing so, only a small part of the overall picture.

Being in any foreign country without a passport would be a risky business for most people.

Not really, bit of a trek to the nearest railway station.

This is the most likely cause, and no amount of oil will cure it. I have replaced he capacitor in most of my ceiling fans. The general spec should be the same but not necessarily the value. It is the value that determines the speed and many are multiple values in a single package. The first one I did I couldn't get an exact equivalent so I just put in a single value capacitor that equated to the highest speed.

Maybe you should have a look in the 20 baht shop.

The following day.

Maybe not on the beaches but there were thousands at IconSiam when I went a fortnight ago. All waiting for the evening river boats. We were the last one out and I must have seen about a dozen go before us CP Princess alone had 7 go out that I saw and they can carry 5 - 6 hundred passengers. First interaction I have had with tourists in a long time, never again, too old for the crowds and the noise.

You mean like this. On my house the pads are a metre below the floor beams.

Exactly. Until immigration say otherwise there is no relationship between immigration and personal taxation. Even people on extensions may not be in the country for 180 days, the paranoia is getting out of hand.

That is not quite right. The reduced number of deposits only applies in the case of a very first extension, not the first extension from a new visa. Been there and had the rejection on that point.

Doesn't seem out of order to me. My May bill was 554 units and that was 2641 baht. My bill used to show the unit price but that is no longer the case, think it stopped when they changed the format to a combined bill & receipt.

I would disagree. In 2014 my annual bill was 18K and it remained close to that amount for 8 years, sometimes below, last year it went up to 21K due to the covid subsidies coming to an end. I anticipate a bit of an increase this year due to additional facilities outside that were used for several months by family and workmen during renovation work for cooking, hot water, etc.

I retract my previous comment regarding Thanaleng. I wasn't aware that Khamsavath was a brand new station, only opened in October 2023. A bit surprising as the new HS station is not far away. Being brand new there is no reason why there couldn't have been both Thai and Laos immigration facilities at the station avoiding any need for immigration check in NK. I went on the Eurostar a few weeks ago and both immigration are side by side, just the one queue is a real bonus.