TheSiemReaper

visa on arrival

Most likely you mean a visa exempt entry.

A visa on arrival is only available to certain nationalities, is good for only 15 days and cost Baht 1000.

Umm... no. The OP's post asks about visa-on-arrival when crossing INTO Laos not into Thailand. There's a visa-on-arrival service for most nationals in Laos and it's not a visa exempt service.

Wow, haven't been there for four years. Looks like full-on commercialization has really hit. I knew then that people were all trying to hop on the Pai bandwagon ("Pai is love," "It's got that special vibe") and cash in on something that is pretty much contrived.

You should post some pics of the waterfall. I imagine that it's crawling with tourists feeling the "vibe" of over-tourism.

"Banana Pancake Trail"? I don't get it.

It's "not the road to Hana"? If you mean Maui, Hawaii, sure, it's missing the ocean.

Banana pancake trail = wherever you can find the great unwashed backpacker congratulating themselves on how awesome their miserable contribution to the tourist economy is. It's because they exist on banana pancakes whilst travelling S E Asia.

Oh the enclaves are there alright - just not based on where you live but rather where you drink (which has been true of English speaking expats since living ex patria became a popular thing). It's natural for people to seek each other out based on shared language, heritage etc. but most Western expats are economic migrants leveraging geo-arbitrage to get the most bang for their bucks... so they come alone, choose somewhere to live and then become involved in social ghettoization. Conversely, those emigrating to the West tend not to come alone... they move to be with families and extended networks (which the Chinese call guanxi) - so they tend to settle together. Their cultures often involve less "bar/pub" time too than ours does.

While amusing as incidents go - it also goes to show the prejudice built into farang against Thais. If you put on the coppers' shoes for just a minute - you find them arriving in the middle of a card game (one they don't play or understand), to find no money changing hands but score sheets (which are used in illegal gambling dens throughout Asia - precisely to ensure money changes hands privately to protect the establishment) and so they charge those they find there. That seems pretty reasonable to me. They've now let them all go again too - when things turned out not to be the way they thought. (Though to be fair - I used to play bridge, in the UK, for a penny a point - so I don't think the assumption that gambling isn't taking place because it's bridge is correct either).

OK. If you are fixated on shooting the messenger, so be it.

I make my living as a writer - this kind of thing is important to me but I think I'll stick with facts and industry analysis rather than uninformed commentary on Thaivisa if that's all the same to you?

I used to write scientific papers as a research chemist for a living. How good a living you make as a writer is another question, which is not important to me. I'm a reader of books i.e. a customer. Used to buy one hard copy a week, average two books a month on the Kindle. Use a library when I'm in Australia.

I stand by my comments re closures and downsizing of book stores in Australia, which can be checked by searching online. I think it's reasonable to express an opinion based on that, not exactly uninformed commentary.

Having published one book, I can appreciate writers don't make as much in royalties from eBooks as they do from hard copies. I can also appreciate the world of publishing is filled with sharks and con artists.

Ebooks may be a sensitive area for you. It's reminding me of King Canute.

I'm beginning to think that to be a research chemist in Australia takes rather less qualification than elsewhere in the world. (I was a research chemist once myself).

I make a very good living as an author and have nothing invested in any particular format. You're still not reading what I've written. Amazon are opening 300 bookshops... the bookshop is not dead, the people who make Kindle are so convinced of that - they're opening bookshops. Sales of paper are UP this year - not down. E-book sales are flat-lining. (E.g. we appear to have reach device saturation in the current market).

As for royalties? Who cares? The trick is to be paid before a book is published and not rely on the fickle tastes of the public to pay your bills. Oh, yeah - I'm a ghostwriter; which makes life much easier.

OK. If you are fixated on shooting the messenger, so be it.

I make my living as a writer - this kind of thing is important to me but I think I'll stick with facts and industry analysis rather than uninformed commentary on Thaivisa if that's all the same to you?

Just wondering when Kindles will destroy the Thai book market, as they have elsewhere.

Just wondering when people will start using facts rather than making things up. Not only has Kindle not destroyed the book market, in the West, but Amazon are opening 300 bookshops in the coming months. You'd think they'd not bother if Kindle had destroyed the demand for paper books being that Kindle is their product and all. Last year's sales figures show "peak e-book sales" but ever increasing sales of hard copy books.

If you want facts, just take a look at how bookstores in Australia are closing down. Borders collapsed in 2011, Angus and Robertson shed staff in droves, Whitcoulls, Collins - the list goes on and on. A lot of country town bookstores have closed in the last five years. That's a fact.

Amazon is selling books ONLINE. Its whole business model is based on minimizing investment in bricks and mortar.

Some people like the feel and smell of paper and ink in a book. To me and others who like to travel light, Kindles and other eBook readers are a godsend, because I can take a library of 1000 books or more wherever I go.

There are also a lot of free books available in eBook form. Can't remember seeing bricks and mortar stores handing out free books.

If you want to think about it instead of lashing out, costs of publication and distribution of an eBook are peanuts compared with hard copy, so profitability for a popular author with the price set by the publisher is probably higher. It's a bit like postal services worldwide who are losing money hand over fist on their letter segment because nearly everyone uses email.

When I was downsizing in Australia, I tried to sell about 2000 paperbacks from a library accumulated over 20 - odd years. Garage sale, eBay, Gumtree, local bookshops - tried everything. Most were in very good condition, full series of authors such as John D. McDonald, Ed McBain,

Tom Clancy, Arthur Upfield, John Grisham, Lee Child, Frederick Forsyth. Sold about 10, the rest went to a second hand bookstore at $5 per milk carton.

Yes, there may be a market for hard copies. I suspect they will become like other collectibles, where people have a library shelf which reflects their tastes, or their desire to impress visitors with their erudition. I can't see anybody except the most obsessed accumulating large physical book collections anymore.

You might try reading my response before replying. Amazon are opening 300 bookstores. Fact.

The old bookstore model has failed because it has always been more expensive than ordering online. People were browsing in bookstores and then buying online. Amazon's bookstores will cost the same in store as online. Amazon has recognized the important part bookstores play in selling books.

Fact: Last year's sales figures show an increase in sales for hard copy books - brand new ones at that. Fact: Amazon's own figures show that e-book sales have plateaued.

Your own interpretation of this is pretty much irrelevant to the facts.

It would take a while to walk from the Night Bazaar. No, you won't get there for 20 Baht either.

It's not bigger than Central Festival but there's a different range of stuff and it has the best Rimping in town. Yes, it has coffee shops.

Just wondering when Kindles will destroy the Thai book market, as they have elsewhere.

Just wondering when people will start using facts rather than making things up. Not only has Kindle not destroyed the book market, in the West, but Amazon are opening 300 bookshops in the coming months. You'd think they'd not bother if Kindle had destroyed the demand for paper books being that Kindle is their product and all. Last year's sales figures show "peak e-book sales" but ever increasing sales of hard copy books.

i liked vietnam when i had my own apartment.

did not like police coming in late at night and checking room for girls when i stayed at hotels though. they even checked the bathroom, in closet etc.

it's not legal there for foreigners and locals to be in the same room after a certain hour, could have really been a bad scene, and everyone watches and reports.

How long ago was this? Hard to believe police checks would still be happening in 2016. Talk about the State intruding into people's bedrooms.

Guys,

I have three friends all living and working there with Vietnamese girlfriends who they are living with and unmarried and these girls are from Hanoi.

They are not ' bar girls ' but these guys have had no problems at all with Police I have been many times and never had my hotel room checked and actually never spoken to a policeman except on two occasions, once, when I was passenger on a motorbike in Halong and the other one was when I laid and got into a museum at lunchtime.!!

I found police very low key, and that's Hanoi, the capital.

Saigon (HCMC) is the same... the whole police busting hotel rooms was true years ago and is pure fantasy now. Same in Laos... used to be illegal and enforced, now no-one gives a monkey's.

In fact, you probably should walk around and knock on a few doors before committing yourself to seeing something for such a long time that you haven't seen. Don't worry, high season only seems to last a week or so now, there's plenty of accommodation around and you will always negotiate better in person than via the internet; once you are here you are in the position to see lots of others without inconvenience to compare.

There is plenty of accommodation, but cheap like what the OP is looking for?

Might be useful to know how much OP is willing to pay and what they expect, e.g. internet, microwave, aircondition, a kitchen, tableware, etc.

For 3,500 baht/month I would expect a basic room with nothing in it and would not be surprised by a squat toilet.

Then you'd be pleasantly surprised. You'll get a room with a bed, a table, a fridge, a microwave and air-con included. You all also get a separate bathroom with Western loo and shower facility (though sadly the shower is next to the loo in most).

It's pretty much what the richer uni students rent.

I know plenty of Westerners staying in places like that. (Though I'm not swapping my serviced hotel apartment for one thank you very much).

1. There are no "better" bars... they're all rubbish but the kind you seek are found between streets 104 and 130 in their highest concentration.

2. Pretty much, yes. Though some charge a small fee for doing so.

3. Naga World is OK. Rake on the poker tables is high but the number of fish make up for it (to some extent). The disco has the "better" girls and their price tags are commensurate. Nowhere you want to go is much more than a 15 minute drive away from (1) and will cost $2-$3 in a tuk-tuk one way.

4. Learn to use the safe in your hotel room.

The good news (sort of) for your friend is that Cambodia doesn't like to detain over stayers (it costs money they don't have). If your friend cannot pay - they will allow him to leave (as long as he makes some token reparation of some form) but what they won't do is allow him back into Cambodia ever again.

The imaginary good old days. Just like British people imagine Victorian London to have some form of innate superiority over modern London (it had none - unless open sewers and endless disease were your thing).

I find Chiang Mai to be very friendly. Its worst traffic is piddling compared to Dubai or Bangkok or Jakarta. It's an easy city to navigate. It has a wonderful blend of both modern conveniences, traditional Thai (and Lanna) life, and a bunch of stuff to do. What more do you want?

Your business is doomed to failure. You wouldn't be asking this question here if you knew how to run a tourist-facing business or had the experience in that industry. It also means you have no business plan and have done no market research at all. The best businesses make money because they're run by talented, experienced people with serious passion for their craft. You lack the passion too... or again you wouldn't be asking this question. Save your money and do something else.

Unbelievable insults.

I suggest you look up the word "insult". An accurate assessment of someone's incompetence is not an insult.

There are also about a dozen other residence buildings on the same road as the Baan Napat which offer short-term rentals at around 3,500 - 4,500 a month. If you can't book anything in advance - don't panic, just walk around and knock on doors....

Given the eye-watering expense of renting a decent place in Yangon (which is about the only livable city in Myanmar for the moment)... it seems highly unlikely that there will be droves of low rent expats from Thailand rushing to live there. And in fairness even if housing was cheap; why would you want to? Burma needs another 20 years worth of infrastructure development to be worth living in. Nice place to visit, very unlikely (unless you're on a very good salary - and I turned down a senior management role for a telco there because salaries are pretty poor compared to other international markets, so don't hold your breath for this) to be a hot spot to live in.

There's nothing wrong with halal meat - in the scheme of things it's a minor injustice to animals - compared to say, battery farming.

And as someone else says; all food that is not haram is halal. They going to ban water, bread, milk, etc. too?

Your business is doomed to failure. You wouldn't be asking this question here if you knew how to run a tourist-facing business or had the experience in that industry. It also means you have no business plan and have done no market research at all. The best businesses make money because they're run by talented, experienced people with serious passion for their craft. You lack the passion too... or again you wouldn't be asking this question. Save your money and do something else.

Had it last week at the Le Meridien Sunday brunch.

Meetup.com has quite a few (both booze-filled and not) social groups in Chiang Mai. There are tons of Facebook groups dedicated to different interests and pursuits in Chiang Mai (including as I recently discovered one that promotes polygamy/polyamory - which was rather odd to say the least). Then there's the time honoured tactic of just getting out of the house and meeting folks as you wander about...

50 Baht gets you a cardboard box outside of Tops supermarket. 300 Baht gets you a gas burner. Plenty left for beer... but more seriously there are plenty of apartments with a burner and a microwave available in that budget range but none with a stove. Just Google and find where the broke digital nomad lives in Chiang Mai.

The whole hi-so, lo-so argument is uninteresting and a touch petty. It is how Thailand works even if it comes across as somewhat bigoted in English thanks to Western cultural mores.

However, the key take away is this - you should have health insurance if you make Thailand your home. The older you are, the more this will cost. The fatter you are, the more this will cost. The less healthy you are, the more this will cost. So can you live on 65K Baht a month? Probably... unless you're 78, a lifelong smoker with emphysema and weigh 500 lbs. In that case you may find you can't afford the health insurance (though if you've made it that far in that condition - you should still be celebrating).

If you don't drink or smoke then you can live on an " ALL IN " perfectly well on 15,000 baht a month!!!!!

Regards to all our viewers,

Canary sun ( your lovable Thai Visa friend... ) x

Or eat proper food. Or have air-conditioning. Or have a life.

Couldn't agree more. No health insurance, prison cell of a room and an all street food diet? No thanks.