TheRascal

I'd rather pay 3000 if it was fast. Last time at BKK immigration I was there 5 and a half hours and I arrived just after 8:30am. Got to go again tomorrow and I'm dreading it.

It is the big ripoffs in the OP that don't happen in Western countries. I've never heard of it in the US, Canada, or anywhere in Europe.

Similar scams used to happen quite often in Soho in London - and maybe still do. Guys (generally tourists) would be invited into sex shows by touts and then charged anything from £50 (2500baht) up to a couple of hundred pounds and given very little option to pay by the security thugs. Difference is if people reported it (a lot don't out of embarrassment) then the police actually do something. Admittedly the amount of these scams pales into insignificance in comparison to what these guys got stung for.

50k for 8 persons sounds reasonable

Are you high? 50k sounds reasonable, here's an example of how hard it would be for them to hit that figure

- They drink beers at 150 a pop (very expensive) - 41 beers each

- They drink whisky by the bottle at 2000 (again much more than it would actually be) - 3 bottles each.

I disagree about Ekamai being one of the most expensive parts of Bangkok but it's certainly not one of the cheapest.

Why not try living further out, Udom Suk etc you won't struggle to find a room for 4k a month. For food no wonder you're spending so much if you're buying all your meat at Tesco/Big C, have you tried going to Klong Toey wet market on a night time/early morning? You'll pick up meat a lot lot cheaper than in a supermarket

I was watching the movie Elf with my gf last week and she asked me if Elves existed.

I think these stories are appalling. I read another similiar tale yesterday. A tourist on his 2 week trip to Thailand. Second day in the mid- afternoon.

I don't know Bangkok very well, but tell me are Thonglor and Asoke 'red light districts'?

Soi Cowboy is in Asoke but it's also home to a major mall, many many offices, restaurants, hotels and high end condos. It's a huge business district and they are searching people all over it, in the daytime too and clearly not just sex tourists.

Thonglor is known as a hiso party area and an expensive neighbourhood. On sat night they were slowing taxis on Soi Thonglor and searching farangs and waving on Thais.

Tourists should be able to understandbthat junkies are not welcome in Thailand. They should be able to figure out before they cross the border. Given that, they should be able to get clean in their home countries. If they prefer a trip on meth to a trip to Thailand, then it's up to them. Is that so difficult to understand?

Obvious Troll is obvious.

Yeaaaaah... cos it's actually about stopping drugs. There's a huge gang of chaps selling drugs between Sois 13 and 15 (and on Soi 11) every evening, stalls openly prescription medication, pharmacies selling prescription medication with no prescriptions and a Thai guy offering drugs to any westerners walking past New York Gardens but these kind hearted policemen obviously just want to help expats/tourists and stop them poisoning their bodies.

I did 2 nights on Kradan in January - for chilling out it was the best island I've been to. Pristine white sand and clear blue seas and not crowded at all. There's an italian chap who's opened a pizza restaurant right next to the beach - damn good pizza, how he gets the ingredients there I have no idea!

The sunset alone is worth it.

Lots of talented people on this thread!

I think anyone that has tried know how credible is to state that one can learn reading and discerning tones in three months.

Depends what you mean by discerning tones. Hearing them and pronouncing them completely accurately no, however what I meant in my most was recognising what a tone should be from the written syllable.

ie. knowing that from the class of the first consonant, the length of the vowel, the end consonant (if there is one) and the tone mark (again, if there is one) what the tone should be and also if there's something that changes it like a preceeding hor heep for example.

I'm in that position too - 3 months is plenty of time to go from nothing to being able to read (but not understand) almost everything. This is including recognising all tones from the letters (the presence of a tone marker merely changes the tone, the absence of a tone mark doesn't mean an absence of tone) and knowing some of the more peculiar language rules.

Don't pay anyone. Try the Stronglifts 5x5 routine to start. You can download videos on YouTube to get your form right for all the lifts.

Second this, they have an app too if you have a smartphone.

If the basic gym has a bench, barbells and a squat rack / cage you're sound.

He's as far up as On Nut and quite often at Phrom Phong. Heard him referred to as the Sukhumvit Slug and Concrete Swimmer too.

High end to me is minus the MSG and using healthy oils.. Such as coconut oil. I know it’s expensive but well worth the effort.. yummy..

Damn right. My girl doesn't use MSG or sugar in our food and is happy to use coconut oil. Her Khao Pad Gai using coconut oil and brown rice is as good as anything I've tasted and I have no guilt eating it!

Joe, you're a gentleman as always. Thank you.

That's awesome thank you. Now if someone knows about the form and if it's available to print online that would be really helpful!

Thanks

I have my first ED visa extension on Friday. Knowing how long things can take at Chaeng Wattana I want to prepare everything beforehand.

The school are preparing all the documentation which I will have by Wednesday. On top of that I guess I will need:

- Photographs (not sure how many or the exact size)

- Some kind of extension form (any idea which one this is or where I can download it from)

- Photocopies of the photo page of my passport, the visa, the entry stamp and the departure card.

Do I need a separate form for the 90 day report?

Thanks!

No disrespect to thai women, but I guess once u stopped giving, they start disdaining! Lol

So many that don't care about money, my girl got angry when she thought I spent too much on her for her birthday.

Disdain...

I cheated on my girl once, she pointed at the bed and said... "what is dis stain"

That was my gut feeling but just wanted someone else to say the same for my peace of mind - ideally you!

Thanks Joe.

I got a ED visa in the UK on July 11th this year. Flew back and landed in BKK on 28th July.

Entry stamp says 28th July, 3 months entry until 28th this month at which point I'll take the documents from my school to Chaeng Wattana to get my next 3 months. Stamp on the exit card stapled into my passport also says 28th July.

the "Used" stamp on the visa he's put 28th June - I didn't realise until today. My guess is that it's no major issue due to the other 2 stamps and the fact the visa wasn't issued until 11th July so it makes it clear it's an error. Just wanted to see other people's thoughts.

Cheers.

Both the same shit in Thailand, as the pizzas and Italian food. Thais have no idea how to prepare western food, even in most restaurants with farang owners, because the owners are not able to teach the Thai staff. I love Italian food, but in in Thailand I not even think about it, they are even not able to prepare a good spaghetti or pizza.

I don't know about other locations but there's plenty of good locations for burgers and Italian food in Bangkok.

Saturday evening, Sukhumvit near Soi 7 . . . 5 drivers in a row refused to take me to near On Nut BTS . . . and this was with a Policeman standing right beside me who (even though I told him they were refusing to take me) acted dumb and ignored me and eventually moved away . . . doubt much is going to change.

I live near On Nut BTS too and it's almost impossible to get them to take you in that direction from Nana as they are generally blocked in traffic as far as Asok/Phrom Phong on a busy Saturday and then it's almost impossible for them to get a return fare. Probably a good 40 minute round trip for what is generally 70-80 baht tip. My record for stops was 8 drivers in a row just past the corner of Soi 3.

I have better luck getting a taxi on the opposite side, near McDonalds on the corner of Soi 4, they turn left and then left again along the road that runs parallel to Suk road, then onto Rama 4 and get back on to Sukhumvit around Prakanong. Also offering 100 baht off the meter usually appeases them, if it's going to be 80 anyway what's a 20 baht tip.

Response from Language Express at Ploenchit regarding the changes (received this via email after I emailed this evening).

As you mentioned before about a new regulation, we also have heard about this news for a while.

We are not sure this information is correct or not at this moment. If it's correct, we aren't sure when this new regulation will occur. At this moment, our students can extend 3 month ED VISA except some students who hasn't studied regularly.

We are going to contact to Immigration and Ministry of Education again tomorrow. If there are some changes, we will contact to you.

He was only made to write "my name is...", he was on a re-entry permit of an existing visa. Someone else I know is coming back next week and as it's actually after 12th I'll be interested to see if that makes a difference.

4 x 2 hours a week isn't that much, especially in a class environment. I did 5 x 2 hours for a month 1 to 1 tuition at Baan Aksorn, now that was an intense course! On top of that there was about an hour of written homework everyday.

Right now I do two mornings a week at a school and then a few hours 1 to 1 tuition to really practise my reading and writing. I'm quite happy at that and making reasonable progress. I think I make more progress in two hours 1 to 1 tuition than I do with a couple of weeks of the standard lessons.

Thanks for that, be interesting to here what happens with the other person after the 12th.

We all learn at different speeds, I personally find the tones difficult, have problems writing but can read pretty

well. So , if they asked me to write I might fail but some reading I might pass. I wonder if anyone is being asked why they are studying Thai

I'll update once he's back (or not as the case may be!).

I'm similar - reading is pretty easy where as writing is much harder, I guess with reading it's there in front of you so there's some frame of reference, with writing it's all from memory.