gilligan

Thanks ubonjoe,

I really hope to have a work permit before then but I'm curious, how can I stay in the country when my visa expires?

OK, my bad. I now see my confusion. I see the stamp when I arrived (on July 26, 2015) that was stamped on my visa. On a separate page, there is another stamp with July 26 admitted until September 23, 2015!

So if I understand you, I have until September 23, 2015 to make a visa run and my overall stay expires on December 17, 2015 as indicated on my visa.

Please confirm but I think I can relax for now. Thanks for your patience!

Thanks jimmpy, I'll call her tomorrow

Whether you get the 30 day extension or not depends upon how long you want to stay.

You can get a total stay of almost 6 months by getting the 30 day extension for each entry.

My understanding is that I have a maximum of 2 more entries so if I get a 30 day extension for each that would only give me 2 months total vs 4 months by leaving and re-entry.

I think that I may be missing something here

Wow, thanks so much everyone. I'll double check my passport but I'm pretty sure that it says till December 18, 2015. This is 6 months from the date the visa was issued. It is a 60 day visa with 2 x 60 day multiple entries which brings me to December 2015.

I went to the immigration complex in Bangkok 2 days ago and was told that they could do it there for 1900 baht, but he said it would only be for 30 days. He recommended that I leave and come back and that way I get 60 days.

Hi everyone,

I tried searching on the site and the more that I look, the more confused I get.

I came to Bangkok on the 26th of July but my tourist visa (60 day with 2 multiple 60 day entry)was issued June 18.

1- when do I need to extend my visa, 60 days from June 18 or 60 days from July 26?

2- can someone recommend a company to use for a Cambodia visa run and a way to contact them? I'm staying in Bangkok.

All help is greatly appreciated,

Gilligan

thanks,

the closer i get to departure date the more i realize how much more there is to take care of.

any canucks out their who live in thailand that have some info?

Thanks pib I will look into it. I'm curious though, how are your credit cards when it comes to the foreign exchange rates that they charge?

Hey pib,

Seeing as I will be living in Thailand shortly, I better get used to "tit" and not get too upset over the 5 fold increase in fees, lol.

I am looking into other ways including wire transfers, western union and other ways.

I have been learning that what be OK for my American and European friends may not work for Canadians.

Hey lovelomsak

I am pretty sure that I will be avoiding travelers cheques. I am starting to feel like an old fart since I always likes using them, lol.

mmmm, it looks like hifx is available in canada, but....

my luck, it is not available in 1 province in canada.... the one that i live in, lol.

i'll keep looking:)

thanks fork,

i will see if it available in canada.

i think (though i may be wrong) that europe has more options than us canuks.

don't even get me started about our telecomunication fees, lol

thanks guys.

i'm also looking at western union as an option to have money sent to me.

the fee seems reasonable (i think). on $5000 there is a $100 charge (2%).

my concern would be the exchange rate the western union would use.

note that this option (western union) would be used for receiving money from business ventures in canada and not for accessing money that is currently in my account.

does anyone have input on western union (i see plenty of thai girls using their services, lol)?

hey pib,

thanks for the info.

i was going to try to bring $500 denominations. The bank actually told me that they are not getting any new travelers cheques and are only finishing off the cheques that they have in stock.

have they said why the big jump in fees? Fraud?

Hello everyone.

I just got off of the telephone with my bank here in Canada.

I'm planning on moving to Thailand this summer and I wanted to bring travelers cheques with me as I have done the last 10 years.

My bank manager told me that the bank no longer receives any travelers cheques due to the fact that "it is more and more difficult to cash them".

I have never had any issues at all in the past.

I missed my annual trip last year to Thailand so maybe things have changed.

Does anyone know if the currency operators are now having issues with travelers cheques?

Also, for any Canadian expats, what is the best/cheapest/safest way to access my Canadian funds while living in Thailand?

ATM, wire transfers both have fees that seem high (I think ATM fees on the Canadian side are about $5 per transaction plus the Thai fees...).

I just met a Thai man who owns a restaurant not far from me and I am planning on speaking with him to get his advice as well.

Thanks in advance

(Also thanks to TV for providing us with this avenue for information. It has truly been so helpful with helping me plan for my move!!!!)

Thanks, will do.

thanks for the reply.

i also think that i would probably be better off taking the tefl course in thailand.

in fact, during the interview for the celta course, the interviewer suggested that i might want to do that.

i thought about it and decided that i wanted to have that "taken care of" before i landed in thailand.

any thoughts about health insurance?

hey guys,

it looks like this topic may be "dying" by the amount of replies, but i'll get it another "go".

things are progressing, although slowly.

it seems that there are a million things to take care of.

i will be posting some questions as they come up.

to start, lol, what are the options concerning heath insurance?

should i be looking to try to get health insurance in canada or will the school that i find a teaching job offer health insurance (i assume if any schools offer health insurance they would be the minority?).

thanks guys!!

Hey everyone,

Just a brief update.

last Friday was my last day at work. after almost 35 years of working i am "unemployed", lol.

it feels a bit weird and it hasn't really sunk in that i will be living in thailand in about 4 months.

Monday I spent all day between the bank, license bureau and the Frickin' dentist.

Yesterday was a real wakeup call.
I downloaded the application for the CELTA course that I am planning on taking before I get to Thailand and I realized that English must not be my first language, lol.

It is a 6 page application and I was pretty well lost.
I started to sweat a bit. I was online trying to get the best answers for the application when I said to myself "if I can't complete the application then I'm in f$#ked"!
I called the school and told them just that.

The representative started laughing (when I told her that I always thought that English was my mother tongue but now I'm not sure what is).

I was told that they just wanted to see if I had an aptitude to being able to research the correct replies. I told her that is what I was doing but thought that I was cheating, lol.

I will definitely be buying some English Grammer books before the course (even though the rep told me that I didn't have to).

Guys, the countdown has officially started!!!

Will keep you posted about my trials and tribulations sure to come:)

Take care,

Gilligan

thanks,

i really hope that i can find a good job relatively quickly.

then i can start my search for a decent gym.

i do a lot of training with resistance bands and body weight so the gym could wait, but i still like my compound movements that i can only do in a gym:)

funny thing is that in a few gyms that i looked at in parttaya there weren't any squat racks which i found to be strange since at home, every gym has a few of those.

sorry mommysboy,

i didn't realize the thread topic. i just read someone's post about trying to ose weight. my mistake.

on another (but similar) note, I am planning on moving to Thailand this summer to try to find a job teaching English.

does anyone know the availability and costs of gyms in and around Bangkok?

i know it is a big area (Bangkok).

In Pattaya, I went to a cheap gym (100baht/visit) but no airconditioning which was insane to train in:)

a few have said it here, it all starts with your mouth.

how you eat will be and always needs to be the first step. this doesn't mean that you are hungry all of the time and it doesn't mean that you are on a "diet".

there are millions of opinions out there on "how to eat". i go with the "kiss" principle (keep it simple stupid). eat "clean" and proper sized portions.

i don't have any portion controls on how much veggies i'll eat less so with my proteins and fats but i do watch closely the portion sizes of my starches.

the working out part is great (assuming you aren't on the stationary bike reading a magazine), but start with what goes into your mouth.

it's not easy (for many people) since like i said, there are millions of opinions out there!

i usually don't post anything on this topic because like i said, there are so many different opinions and "experts" who will disagree with you.

just my 2 cents

thanks tonray,

someone has sent me the link for mrroomfinder and i will check it out.

as for the link to the "diamond", i think it will be over my budget sadly.

Thanks for the links!

Most independent hotels will give you a sometimes substantially discounted rate if you pay a month upfront, especially if it is not high season.

Many options close to the BTS and MRT lines.

thanks dddave,

can i ask a silly question?

if i am looking at renting a studio condo/apartment, what would be the differences between renting a "discount" or independent hotel and renting a studio condo?

i assume that it is price? anything else that i am missing here?

This may be a good starting point .....

http://migrationology.com/2012/02/rent-cheap-apartments-in-bangkok-thailand/

wow, thanks Thai Chi!

on quick glance at the linked site, it seems to provide a lot of info.

Thanks again.