mat999

I arrived in Thailand yesterday and want to extend another month. Can I do this tomorrow or is there a time limit, like it needs to be within 1 or 2 weeks before the end of my allowed time here?

The reason I want to extend it early is because I need to apply for a new British passport and the company that handles it in Chiang Mai says 4 weeks, but they are terrible for customer service, so I don't want to take any chances as it will already be a few days late by the time they can fit me in for an application on Thursday. Therefore I want to extend my stay so I have 7 weeks or so and won't be worrying about them doing it in time, which I would do if I only apply with 3 and a bit weeks. Thanks.

VFS Global are terrible if you don't get lucky with their usually broken website, zero customer support, thousands and thousands of terrible reviews online. Really ruined our plans to visit the UK with a UK visit visa for my wife. But I need a new UK passport. They charge £55 and say it takes 4 weeks. AssistThaiVisa charge 5,500 Baht (currently £138) and it takes up to 6 weeks. 

Anyone renewed a passport with VFS since they started doing it in Chiang Mai? Any advice or experiences shared would be much appreciated as I am nervous about using them again and would rather use a reputable local company. But VFS are well under half the price and faster as official agents, so it is tempting.

It is illegal to send camera batteries internationally. Does anyone know if it is legal to send them with a courier other than Thai Post? I am just wondering if there is a certain land postage or something which makes it safer.

Surely there must be a way to post items with batteries in. I have been told you can’t even post cameras with removal batteries. Is there an alternative like DHL that will allow batteries?

Anyone taken the train to somewhere not too far away for a day trip, then returned on the same day? I am wondering if there is somewhere worth a visit and whether the trains run often enough to get back in one day? Looking for ideas to get out of town and prefer train to bus, as this rain is giving me cabin fever. Thanks.

Melatonin is not a good sleeping aid. It is best used for jet lag. I have 2 capsules saved for the next time I take a long haul flight to help reset my body clock by inducing the element which makes us sleepy (melatonin) earlier.

Here are 2 local herbal capsules available here in the green herbal shop in Chang Phuak Tops and Airport Plaza food court (might be called Royal Herbal shop?), the strip comes in a white box, just show the shop assistant. There are also little blue sachets of 2 herbal capsules available in pharmacies. Might be called Calmy? 

You can also order herbal ones from iHerb. I rotate them as they all become less effective very quickly. Sometimes  a video like The Insomnia Key on YouTube is more effective.

Thanks Joe, I didn’t think we could just renew early. That means we have a fresh 3 months extension so our school said OK up to 6 weeks holiday. 

I asked for a rough idea of price and the price he should have given is for a small one. He was stalling so it will be very negotiable. But I have already purchased a beautiful alternative print, which I will get printed at a local printer for a fraction of the cost. The paintings are all imperfect, so 10K sounds crazy, but it will be special paper and paint.

The number in the shop doesn't work, I used the one in this thread. On the phone he 100% knew which paintings I was talking about.

We are on an education visa which will need renewing every 3 months, the next being mid September. However, we wanted to go back home for the whole month. Do you think that is allowed or do we need to be here for the date that the visa needs renewing? Our school will be giving us a re-entry permit.

Also, I am sure there is a limit how long you can leave when on an Ed visa. Is that 1 month or 3 months? I tried Googling this but the results weren't relevant.

Thank you

Thanks all and Pesky for the number. I just called and asked for an idea of prices. He said 10,000 Baht. ?

Might print something similar for now for 100 Baht on normal paper and keep it in mind for a retirement hobby. 

On 6/17/2018 at 9:41 AM, Trujillo said:

If the stall is pretty much abandoned, just take one and leave your estimated donation on the stool provided. 

Might get chased by a mall cop. The painting shop next door was abandoned for the day but the zen one had a light on the desk with paint open. Maybe s/he charges so much that s/he can afford a long lunch at Ragu or Dukes everyday, followed by a visit to the Cinema. ?

I will try the information desk next time. But it would be good if someone knew as I have no plans to go there for the next 3 months. They look so fragile and easy to make that they might just start at 500 Baht. They probably get almost free rent too.

There is a gallery upstairs with some simple zen paintings in various sizes. I waited for ages for the artist and their phone number on the wall wouldn’t work. So does anyone else know roughly how much they cost?

Thanks Wanderer. Now thats what I call scenery, beautiful photos.

On 04/05/2018 at 10:19 PM, Mooner said:

You realise how big issan is right? Which route is through it? North to south? East to west?

Sorry, should have said. We are going from Chiang Mai to Vientianne. So we stop off at Udon Thani. Where we could take a bus or plane to somewhere scenic.

Thanks to everyone who has suggested places, much appreciated. Looking forward to see more. ?

Done 

Not sure if it helped but someone had a website made and ranked it 3rd in Google for Chiang Mai Corrupt Police and similar phrases. It was purely about this one establishment. Plus there were all the locals and expats complaints. Took a while but they are now done.  

We are passing through the region next month for our visa and would like to visit a few places, but I am finding it difficult to find nice scenery. All the photos are of temples or basic fields. Is there any spectacular scenery and waterfalls in Isaan? If not how about a nice town to visit?

On this you can use the Plasma function or Ionizer. Which is best?

4th worst city in the world with a rating of 170 US AQI (92.3ug/M3) today, according to AirVisual.

40% of people who go to hospital during smokey season are there because of respiratory issues. For the long timers here, who knows of expats or Thai friends who have died because of something which might be related to the smoke? Not that respiratory issues are the only problem, the smoke is damaging the nervous system, creating stress, cardiovascular problems and basically lowering overall well-being. 

MAJOR CITIES RANKING

• PLACE AQI
• 1Lahore, Pakistan182
• 2Kabul, Afghanistan174
• 3Kolkata, India174
• 4Chiang Mai, Thailand170

Hallelujah- the rain has begun. Let's hope this is the start of the rainy season this year.

On 3/8/2018 at 5:59 PM, JimGant said:

Please get this word out to Tripadvisor, and all those other sites that advocate retiring in CM. We're inundated now with folks who took the bait. Sadly, for all the Chinese invaders, CM is just a breath of fresh air compared to their major cities' pollution. So, their overload here will not be discouraged.

 

Somehow the pollution doesn't seem to bother me, at least noticeably. I'm sure there's something else that will kill me other than bad air. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the hazy countryside -- and just chalk it up to "that's just Thailand."

Chiang Mai was far worse than any Chinese city the other day according to Citylife: http://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/news/chiang-mai-records-highest-pm2-5-readings-world-march-6-2018/

and for those of us who the pollution does bother, here is where some advice has been put together about the particles size, face masks, Filtrete filter material etc... http://www.symbioticlifestyle.com/survive-smokey-season-chiang-mai/

Rearching Google has not brought up much info, most is outdated. But it seems there is a festival in Chinatown. It also seems that the festivities run for 3 nights. So I wanted to check if that is tonight the 14th, 15th and 16th? Maybe the 16th is the best night? Or are they all similar? Thanks.

Putanesca is amazing:

Fry one anchovy per serving, lets say 6 for this (buy small jar in Rimping to save money as you probably wont need a whole tin).

Once hot turn off heat and mash the anchovies into the oil (cheap oil).

Add a big tablespoon of pre-fried garlic, pinch of chilli flakes, small capers (maybe a tablespoon), pitted oilives, get the green jar so it lasts more than once. Same for capers.

Then stir in about a third of a litre of passata tomato sauce.

Give it a good mix, if you cut the olives they go further, but for us they are the meat of the dish.

Then add some extra virgin olive oil, a good glug, maybe 3 tablespoons.

Then add 250g of spaghetti and a bit of the starchy water.

Mix well whilst on heat and let water evaporate.

Then serve with some sourdough white bread with grass fed butter.

Delicious, I promise. ?

Just in time for a quick escape from the worst of the smog perhaps. Isn't an airline also flying to an airport in the center of Vietnam? I assume less smog than CM with it being coastal.  I was thinking of the other one to check out Hoi Ann (already visited) or Da Nang as a place to live. 

If you want your voice to be heard it might be most effective to go for public awareness and shaming with a smear campaign against Chiang Mai tourism.

I know someone coming next week with her elderly mother and aunt. She had no idea about the pollution, but all the travel plans are booked. I am guessing nearly all other tourists visiting don't know about it too. I feel it on my chest as I type and am using aircon just to clean the air a bit, it is colder outside. A day of this is way worse than smoking a couple of cigarettes. This is how my chest used to feel after a big long night out when much younger in smokey nightclubs and bars and smoking 20-30 cigarettes.

The tourism industry obviously wants to keep poisonous air quiet so they can earn money. This is greed over human safety, so it is fair game to name and shame anyone who is a big name connected to the travel industry as someone who is covering it up. With images of people looking bad in hospital and people wearing facemasks, then in contrast pictures of the chosen looking fat, carefree and rich. Maybe there is a big name celebrity who owns a stake in a hotel or something. Maybe certain officials get paid more when there are more tourists. Maybe this could be something the new King could be encouraged to make a project to turn him into a great figure saving millions of lives.

Newspapers love scandals, danger, death, cover ups etc... So flooding the internet with warnings about visiting CM could work if some influential people pick it up and run with it with headlines like "Top Destination in Thailand a Death Trap", "The 5 Billion Baht Tourist Trap which is Killing Thousands Each Year", "Columbia taken over By Chiang Mai as the Most Dangerous Tourist Destination"  (these arent true, just examples)

With some well cited research even a small press release may be enough to send to Haro reporters and some journalists on Twitter. For example, find a report which has the statistics for cancer in the region compared to back home, compare the air quality to China where it was well covered a few years ago, some facts about this pesticide smoke and anything else relevant that can add to "the horrors" unbeknownst to holidaymakers.

There are some people doing good work researching and suggesting alternatives. But maybe the government need pressure to take action. Having a Chinese person involved would be helpful to educate their tourists too.

You can buy some more effective capsules here, than the almost useless pure powder capsules. I got some recently at a Citrus called Ya Capsule Kaminchan Plus. Includes pepper and oil. But I think Swanson’s Theracurmin will be much more absorbent as they do some science do make the particles easier to get in the bloodstream.