jobsworth

Yo!

I am in Perth Australia.

Just yesterday Tuesday at 9am I went to the Thai consulate

with my passport, money and all of the paperwork.

Not Yvonne but her friend told me to come back at 1pm

when she returned my passport with a one year non o visa.

I had money to show but was not asked.

I did show a letter of guarantee and a photocopy of my girlfriend's id.

They have changed slightly the format of the application form

but were happy to accept the old forms available from this thread.

A note about flying:-

Bangkok to Perth with Singapore Air costs 26,500 Baht with a change of plane in Singapore.

There is a minimum stay of 5 days and a maximum stay of 60 days.

You can change the departure date.

Bangkok to Perth with Thai Air costs about the same and is a direct non stop flight.

You cannot change the departure date.

(Information and prices from BAAS BOSS on Pattaya 2nd Road

near the intersection with Pattaya Tai)

Australia is not so bad and the food is great.

The Thai consulate is just down the road from Jewell House

a backpackers at A$41 per night.

Expensive by Thai standards, cheap by Australian standards.

Pity about the old church which is being rebuilt as a concrete cathedral with a 2 story car park

and all of the other development in Perth but it is still an interesting place

worth spending a little time in.

A few days ago when the reds had their big meeting

I was eating and drinking at a local cafe in Bangkok Sukhumvit Soi 22.

The owner is a red and he and three of his friends were there in their red shirts.

One of them had 2 red clappers and he offered to sell me one for 10 Baht and then , no, 50 Baht.

Thinking that this was a falang price I declined but now I regret not buying it.

Anyway he said he needed it to go and battle with the yellows.

The reds are very falang friendly and were very happy to meet me.

I speak a little Thai and they speak a little English.

They think that the 800,000 Baht visa requirement is too much

and that the yellows don't like falangs.

The reds want to keep the airport open and welcome more falangs to Thailand.

Just felt that I had to add something after reading the 13 pages of this thread.

The other day I was on the sky train in Bangkok passing some factories at lunchtime.

One of them had a game of football with one team wearing red red shirts and the other team wearing yellow shirts.

If only this could be settled with a game of football.

I used to get a friend put all of my mail in one large envelope and send it to me.

If it did arrive it was usually opened and poorly resealed, certainly not officially.

It had been rummaged and found to be of no value.

I have received no mail from the uk for the last 3 years.

Nothing that I have sent to the uk has ever been received in the last 3 years.

A Thai friend tells me that it all get stolen at the airport in Bangkok.

I use email if possible.

Mail is usually financial but of no value to a thief.

Things like bank statements and credit cards,

which need a telephone call and some security questions, before they can be used.

I hear that DHL are now refusing to carry credit and debit cards to Thailand.

I ask a friend coming from the uk to carry them for me.

I did receive a birthday card from Holland from a Thai lady.

I presumed that it was not stolen because the address was written in Thai.

I have a jpg file (photo) of my address in Thailand, written in Thai.

I have emailed this as an attachment to someone in my house.

I have asked them to send me a debit card using the Thai address written on Thai

and at the cheapest slowest mail (seamail.)

I am awaiting the arrival.

Thank you MookyG because I have the same idea.

I love Perth but have not been there for 7 years and never applied for a Thai visa there.

I have just obtained an Australian visa using the internet and my credit card.

I have a UK passport.

I know the area well or used to.

Please could you say more about this letter of guarantee.

Guarantee of or for what?

Why did you need a copy of your girlfriend's id card?

I have the idea to apply for a one year non 0 multiple entry. I am over 50.

miserable jobsworth

I am not miserable and it was not me, honest.

To the administartors of this forum:

Would you please ask your advertisers to remove the adobe flash

since most internet cafes in Cambodia do not support it.

Thai ladies do not like Cambodia much except for the gambling.

Cambodia ladies do not like Thailand much exept for the cleanliness and modernity.

Cambodia ladies resent explaining

that although they have brown skin they do not speak Thai.

I got my Cambodia girlfriend a Cambodia passport

but first she had to get a family book and then a certificate from the chief of police

in her area stating that it was genuine.

This cost an arm and a leg, involved one forgery, and took a year.

The Thai visa I got her in Phnom Penh mostly on the strength

of a my year residency permit to Thailand, which is proof that I have money,

and my one year visa to Cambodia,

otherwise you or she or both of you must show proof of substantial funds.

The Cambodia passport can be obtained most easily from Lucky Motorcycles

on Monovong Boulevard near Psar Orusey.

It costs about $300.

The Thai visa costs only $35 and gets her a one month visa to Thailand.

Lucky Motorcycles charge $85 but don't want to do it anymore

because of the trouble involved.

Remember that the Thai immigration officers still don't have to let

you or her into the country if they don't want to even if you both

have visas.

When we got to Pattaya/Bangkok she did not like everything because

her friends had told her that they were very small places.

She did not like the food either.

There is a cultural iron curtain between Cambodia and Thailand.

Much better to keep a Cambodia girlfriend in Cambodia

and a Thai girlfriend in Thailand.

Cambodia is not like Thailand.

In Thailand everybody has a free identity card given at birth.

In Cambodia identity cards are expensive and difficult to obtain.

In Thailand a passport costs 1,000 Baht and is given in one day.

In Cambodia a passport is a process involving a family book

and an interview to check that you can speak Khmer.

You do not need to have brown skin.

The author has white skin and is busy learning Khmer.

It is more difficult than Thai.

Good luck to all who may be reading this.

As for an English visa, I would not want to try.

Ask some of your Indian friends resident in Southall or Leicester.

They seem to have mastered the technique.

What the English gevernment seems not to like is

how first one young and very eligible family member

obtains a visa and then sponsors all of her extended family,

who then follow him or her.

Just out of curiousity.

Does anybody know what happens if you SELL Thai Baht in London?

Do you really get one pound for 63 Thai Baht?

Or as somebody told me there is a hefty commission charge

which effectively reduces the price of a pound to 69 Thai Baht.

Has anybody done this recently?

Is there a way to only increase the size of the Thai font in your internet browser (and not the Roman font)? I am using firefox and IE on windows and konqueror and firefox on linux.

Sorry I don't know either and it is a real problem.

When using mixed Thai and English fonts the English fonts are very large.

Yet if the Thai fonts were are smaller they would be difficult to read.

I am also trying to install Kymer fonts and they are less well supported than Thai.

I guess that it is just a problem which has not been addressed yet.

It costs time and money to create fonts.

One day I am sure that there will be a way to adjust the two fonts independently.

Of course it is possible to do anything even now. It is just very difficult.

Have you looked at the Thai newspaper sites.

They manage some weird and wonderful things which I find very difficult to understand.

Like http://www.thairath.co.th/

and

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-874">

and unicode.

Sorry I am rambling a bit but maybe this helps a bit.

I was attacked this evening at about 10pm while eating at the Kiss Restaurant on Pattaya 2

opposite Mike shopping mall. I am 61 years old.

My assailant took exception to my refusal to buy or look at his goods.

I was hungry and I wanted to eat.

Is that not why one goes to a restaurant?

There were an exceptionally large number of hawkers

drifting around the tables selling as usual everything

including laser pointers and torches.

When I stood up and asked him to stop,

another took a swing at me, giving me a glancing blow with his fist to my head,

and then he lost his balance and fell over backwards into the table of food and glasses.

Being the farang I was of course wrong and expected the worst

but my assailant declined to call the police as I suggested he should.

The restaurant even told me that I would not have to pay for the glass.

So all ended well fortunately.

It does just show that you must be very careful what you do in Thailand.

"Hutch wireless internet through their cdma mobile network"

When I tried to buy this in MBK Bangkok

I was told that it is only available to Thai people

or Foreigners who had a work permit.

Being neither I don't have it.

I tried it and it works well.

Hutch are a great telephone network

but the administration is very Thai.

Cambodian nationals do require a tourist visa to enter Thailand.

This can be obtained from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.

Before that they need a passport.

Before that they need a family book.

Mostly they do not have identity cards.

This is a grey area since so many Cambodian nationals are smuggled into Thailand.

There are special arrangements for Cambodian nationals to enter Thai border provinces.

For this they need only a smaller cheaper mini passport.

For example the residents of Koh Kong province in Cambodia

can enter Trad province in Thailand with this special passport.

That is mostly what you see at the border.

They cannot visit say Bangkok without a full passport and tourist visa.

Yes.

Pattaya.

But I use Onspeed, which uses port 7000 from Battersea.

Most things are slow but ok

BBC is particularly bad.

I have never been to this new airport

but expect that I will have to one day.

I have yet to hear a favourable report from anyone.

From what I understand this new airport has provided

a lot of job oportunities for the poor Isaan people

who live in the North East of Thailand.

One of their charactaristics which I have noticed

is a sadistic pleasure in the misfortune of others.

They are not really Thai people.

They used to have their own country called Champassek

which was taken over half by French Laos and half by Thailand.

Yet these are the people who get all of the tourist type jobs

in the hotels, the gogo bars and now the airport.

The Thai smile from Isaan people has a different meaning.

Just as the mayor or Pattaya said to all of the hotel employees,

they must learn to be polite, friendly and welcoming to tourists

and not just to have their hands stuck out demanding tips.

The last time the water pump broke down in my Thai condo

I was asked if I could help to fix it

and I did and it is still working.

The Thai owner did not want to employ somebody to do the job.

I received no money for this service.

Was this work?

Can I expect to be deported?

As usual the welcome for foreigners is finishing.

How will it be in 10 years time?

I am neutral on this issue and will leave it up to the Thai people to decide what they want...but...it seems to me that I heard that in times gone by there used to be young women dancing with bare breasts as a regular thing at temple festivals.....am I mistaken or has anyone else heard of this?

Chownah

Yes it was a part of Thai culture.

Women were naked from the waist up.

Not just in the temples but everywhere.

No this is not just a male fantasy.

Apsara I think it was called.

Also any man could and did take any lady he fancied into the bushes

and she had to submit.

It still exists today but I cannot say where or by whom.

I have been to Laos a couple of times in my life

and I have never enjoyed the experience.

I certainly don't want to go there again

and certainly not after this story.

Please could you post a description of the Laos immigration man

who shouted at you.

These sorts of people get off on intimidating their victims.

Such techniques never work on me and are counterproductive.

I am sorry that you had this bad experience

but like I said I would not want to go there anyway.

On the first occasion 20 years ago I was followed around Vientiane

by a rickshaw driver who I could not shake off.

On the second occasion 5 years ago

I reached Luang Prabang by bus

and found only a tourist trap.

I travelled with an Isaan lady but this did not help.

2 months later the same bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vienne

was shot up by Hmong tribesman and all the passengers were killed.

Keep out of Laos!

Who wants to go to Bali?

That is Indonesia isn't it?

25 US$ to enter and the same to leave.

Why not just leave?

It is not even Bali Hi of South Pacific fame.

That was an island off the south east coast of Malaysia.

Sorry folks I still love Thailand.

It has many problems but if you persevere you will win.

The problems are all known.

There are very few new ones to catch you out.

I will not be leaving for a long time.

Could someone please explain to me what is the "airport trap".

About a year ago I went to Bangkok to buy 2 wooden doors.

I hired a pickup truck and driver to transport me and the 2 doors to my condo in Pattaya.

They were well roped down and hanging slightly over the back.

Maybe this is an offense.

Sure enough we got stopped just after the toll booth on the expressway near the airport.

The police spoke only to the driver,

who then passed him a 100 Baht note wrapped in a tourist brochure.

I would not have done this.

The driver would not explain the problem to me but only smiled.

Is it an offense to carry goods in a pickup truck?

Or am I missing out on something.

Why is it that they always target the pretty girls?

They are not underage.

Then the pretty girls get frightened and run away.

This leaves a vacuum and the seasoned old pros replace them.

This leaves a vacuum and the ladyboys are quick to move in.

Then the ladyboys are replaced by homosexuals.

This is why Pattaya has become a mecca for homosexuals.

Is this what they want to achieve?

Hello All,

I also deal with Gemma Jackson.

[email protected]

Here is my latest email to her:-

"Hello Gemma Jackson,

Last year I was refused an electronic visa.

This year I was again refused an electronic visa.

(application number 4803031)

We met last year on or about 20th June 2005.

You very kindly gave me a sticker visa for one year to Australia.

At the time you told me that there was something about me on your

computer but that you could not tell me what it was.

I was informed in London that there was somebody by the same name

aged 25 who had overstayed.

You needed to meet me.

I am 61 years old so do not match the profile.

I did not in fact visit Australia but would still like to do so.

Again I have applied for an electronic visa through the Internet

and again I have been refused.

Please can I meet with you again

hopefully to resolve the matter.

Best wishes

John Black

UK passport 093132391"

I think that Australia is a beautiful country and I love the people.

But they are making it so difficult for people

to go there that Thailand wins every time.

As you know the Australians in Bangkok have 2 places;

the embassy and a sort of travel agency staffed by Thai people

on the top floor of the China building

near Patpong or Suraposon? MRT station

who are supposed to preprocess all applications.

They make it deliberately difficult for Thai people.

The attitude of the travel agency was very stuffy and unhelpful.

They retained my passport for 2 weeks and then said that they had lost it.

It is also an expensive place.

1,000 Baht for this and 2,000 Baht for that.

On one occasion I was assaulted by the Thai security staff.

They were armed with steel tennis rackets to detect metal objects on a person.

I was struck very hard and painfully on the thigh.

Also the Thai staff would hide their id tags which were worn around

the neck and throw them over their shoulders.

Especially when my demands for the return of my passport

became to loud.

I was asked by Gemma Jackson who had done this

and told her that they hid their ids.

This is obviously standard procedure.

But since there are video cameras everywhere they must know who is doing this.

I never wish to visit this travel agency again.

It's getting worse, sure I used to get higher speeds and better performance with my old dialup last year.

28.8 kbps dial-up

30.2 kbps YOU which means you can download at 3.78 KB/sec. from our servers.

33.6 kbps dial-up

53.3 kbps dial-up

56 kbps ISDN

128 kbps ISDN

384 kbps DSL

768 kbps DSL

1000 kbps DSL

1500 kbps DSL/T1/Cable Modem

Mike.

Yes good point. Don't think that ADSL is faster than a good dial up.

The fastest internet connection I have ever had was a 56k dial up from Eftel in Perth Australia.

It delivered a true 56k and you could watch movies using REAL.

Here I am experimenting with ADSL from TT&T, TOT and Loxonfo.

Yes, despite what they tell you, it is still possible to run Loxinfo on TT&T.

Loxinfo 512/256 is very good.

Another route is One2call *99***1# using a mobile telephone and bluetooth.

30 Baht per month for 4 and 1/2 hours. After that 1 Baht per minute.

There is also a speed up service called onespeed.

I have not tested this. Anybody ever used it?

Anybody know about Hutch?

Do they offer an internet servive like one2call?

Like *99***1#

Asianet the best 56K dial up card available from 911 stores.

The only safe foreign mail in or out of Thailand is DHL

which at about 1000 Baht per letter is expensive.

I have received nothing for 3 years now.

Anything sent to the UK will not arrive.

I am told that the stealing happens at Don Muang airport in Bangkok.

A friend of mine sent a letter to the UK using EMS,

the Thai registered service which can be tracked on the internet.

It arrived in Bangkok and was never seen again.

I keep telling people to rent condos and not to buy new condos.

If you buy, you buy a shell.

You can then either be ripped off by a property developer

or,if you can speak Thai, employ Thai workman

but then, unless you have a work permit,

you are engaging in an illegal activity.

You cannot win.

Hello Thaivisa,

Hello George,

Thank you for your informative coverage of this story.

I received an email with a link from you about 12 hours ago.

Since than I have been desparately trying to access the Thaivisa web site.

It was of course taken off line for necessary housekeeping and backup.

I finally found the story on the BBC web site about 3 hours ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4971530.stm

Next time please could you add a ps to your email

so that we know that Thaivisa has not been taken down

but merely closed for maintenance.

Best wishes to all

Jobsworth