Woke to Sounds

So 23 days after submitting my pprwork for the SETV, the Thai embassy in Ottawa Canada today emailed me asking for further info. They need "a copy of the Thai ID of the owner" of the guesthouse where I'm staying upon first landing in Thailand. Looks like the confirmation email from the guesthouse (that I submitted to the embassy confirming a multi-nights stay) wasn't good enough. So, I emailed the guesthouse asking for this Thai ID, which to me seems intrusive and rather silly, all things considered. Anyone know if this is a common embassy request? Waiting to hear back from the guesthouse......

Stayed at Jimbaran Beach area, south of the airport, in 2016. Top shelf hotel. It was nice. Then I went to the beach at Jimbaran Bay. Couldnt enjoy the waves because the water was like a plastic soup, so much plastic pollution. My legs kept getting tied up by plastic bags and tarpaulins. The development in the area was insanely over the top. Too much traffic, nowhere to walk safely. Imagine the area south of Jimbaran is well and truly overdeveloped by now. No desire to go back, but perhaps other parts of the island are more sedate... and cleaner?

@Trip Hop No worries. Mine's not yet sorted. Applied online from Canada, it gets processed in Ottawa. The Thai consulate site in Ottawa says "up to 25 days to process." Other nationalities seem to get theirs sorted in less than a week. I guess Canadians are at the bottom of the pile as far as foreign tourists go....

SETV, correct? May I ask where you applied from? Sent mine from Canada 29 Oct and still waiting. Day 12 now. Ridiculous.

The book Wild Swans by Jung Chang. Great read and tells you everything you need to know about the CCP. Of course she is persona non grata in CN and the book is banned. Says it all.

Thanks for the info. I submitted my application for a SETV October 29th, also from Canada, and Ottawa is processing it. Site said 25 business days. Fingers crossed they ain't too backlogged.. My flight leaves Canada January 9th.

Quality tourists?

UPDATE: To my surprise I didn't need to upload a bank statement 😜 Wonder if the application process for Canadians was modified when the site went offline for maintenance yesterday? They asked me for only flight tickets and proof of accommodation. Had to send to Ottawa embassy, unfortunately. Was hoping for Vancouver because I heard faster processing times. As it stands, 25 business days to process according to embassy site. Wonder if they'll bust my b@lls over accommodation. I sent only my first 11 nights (nothing else booked yet because, duh..... traveling!) Will update.

Seems to me in lockstep w those certain govts fawning over the ideologies of the Schwabinator, the whole "you'll own diddly, eat bugs and smile" crowd. They can't force you to stop traveling but they can price you out of it. Or shame you out of it.

Don't forget the so called mentally ill. I've often wondered if Kanada - like Aus and NZ - are test labs for, you know, the "whole build back better" and "you will own squat, eat bugs and smile" agendas. At the very least, all that money and manpower into a euthansia programme smells like population control to me. I read Brave New World in high school. Didnt expect to be living it.

MAID = Medical Assistance in Dying. Shortages of GPs, long wait times for specialist treatment BUT plenty of money for euthanasia! Expanding like McD's. Woe Kanada.

Paradoxical isn't it. Cry over lack of tourists but then make the evisa process unnecessarily intrusive and cumbersome. If I wasn't going for personal / family reasons I'd give it a pass altogether. The SETV application asks for only the most recent month's bank statement, at least in my case.

@Des1 May I ask if you flew Air Canada? I heard rumours of AC hassling passengers at the gate if no RETURN ticket is booked back to Canada - even if you have a tourist visa and an onward ticket out of Thailand to a neighbouring country!

Thanks to everyone for their input. I talked w my bank today. October monthly statement available in a few days, so I'll submit that.

I hear it's been a nightmare for many of those applying from the UK. Hopefully the one for Canadians will be less onerous.

Yes you do. I did that too at the Vancouver consulate - 15 years ago. It was easy peasy. The clerks were friendly and welcoming. Now everything has gone online via the eVisa. Personally would rather deal with people and the postal system but it is what it is.

Hi folks. About to apply for my SETV from Canada. Can I submit a bank statement from ANY month in 2023 or will the system accept only the current one at time of applying? (In my case, October 2023.) I checked out Bob Sultan's excellent YT video from last year but it wasn't clear to me how recent the bank statement needs to be. Not wanting to start my application till I've gathered all info. Thanks

But if you say any of what you wrote in Canada you are pounced on, declared "racist" and immediately canceled.

@Liverpool Lou Yes finally reached them by phone today. Thank you sir! Glad to hear they survived the pandemic.

Long time guest of KT Guesthouse near Huai Khwang MRT. Their website has been down for several days and no response to my emails. Can anyone confirm if KT is still up and running? Thank you.

Anus behavior I would say. They are not to be trusted. A real eye opener for me was reading Wild Swans (1991) where the author recounts Mao's many disastrous policies and how her family - her father in particular - was denigrated by the Party and sent away to rot, all for being incorruptible. The book is banned in China. Speaks volumes.

In step with 2030 agenda goals. "You'll own nothin and be happy." AI replaces hundreds of millions of workers. You will get your digital breadcrumbs, enough to keep you in soup and little more. Every month your credits reset. Nothing to see here folks...

@koolkarl Beat me to it. Are digital nomads expected to fork over the cash to buy a Privilege Card?

Chinese tea is the best - BUT I still prefer green tea from Japan. Absolutely positively do not add milk or sugar to any of em! Tea grown near Chiang Rai was somewhat floral, at least the ones I sampled at Choui Fong. Check it out if you can. Chinese red tea (i.e. black tea to westerners) grown in Yunnan province is spectacular. Easily get 10 gai wan pours from 5 gr of tea with certain types. Aged pu'er very tasty too. Vietnam grows tea, in the northwest I believe. In Hanoi I was buying the local version of Earl Grey. Very good and a fraction of the price of imported Twinings. Also quality teas grown in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from what I've sampled.

Why bother wasting your breath? The tyranny is already here, at least in former first world countries. Most folks have cognitive dissonance...