Enzian

It's beyond me. I heard him speak in person at the FCCT about 6 months ago and he repeated with emotion that the goal is medical and that he didn't approve of mobs of westerners taking advantage. Deep down on some level he really dislikes or feels above foreigners, but at the same time anyone with half a brain could see where this was going, and boy did it! It's cognitive dissonance on a grand scale.

What is this, what are the items in it, and what is the process of "debating" it? Are they serious, or is this just a delaying tactic so that the big money can have more time to make the fait accompli completely entrenched? I don't feel that all these pot shops around Sukhumvit have improved the quality of life (such as it is) here, but I would never want the stuff to be illegal. It's probably: the cat is out of the bag, that ship has sailed, the horse has bolted, take your pick.

A further thought about "cultural" differences, regarding the issue of providing money to an IO for overlooking the financial requirement in a long stay renewal. If a Thai woman spends time with you in your room, and you put money in her hand when she's leaving, she may well not-as a woman in America would-see that as being paid for sex (also a "crime" in LOS). From her point of view she's "taking care of" you, and you're doing the same for her. I'm not trying to be clever and equate IOs with prostitutes, I'm just referring back to the-still valid I think-time honored view that we westerners will never fully understand the asian mind. The beat goes on.

One thing that makes this discussion difficult is that the "rule of law", as it is understood in the west, is problematic in Thailand. I'm not taking sides in this (is there a crime or isn't there?). I just want to see something really authoritative one way or the other, and imo no one so far has provided that.

"in any country" is the hard part I would submit. Places and cultures (culture is higher than law here I would argue) around the world differ more than we can imagine. East is east and west is west and sometime they don't meet--that's the limitation in my previous comment. Clarity would be nice but maybe we will never get it. But I would further argue that it is all such a mess that the whole system should be scraped and started over in a way with a greater appearance of fairness and equity. Drop the 800K requirement. The east for centuries has been moving slowly toward the west. Keep it up, and hope that China doesn't take us all down before it happens.

This is the crux of the matter that keeps coming up. It's fresh to me because I just renewed for 1900 baht 5 days ago with bank letter, monthly printouts, and bank book photo copies showing monthly activity and current balance of over 1.2 mil. Now either that 800,000 requirement is a hard and fast rule written in the instructions IOs must follow, or it is an option, the other option being that top IOs have legal discretion to do it differently on a case by case basis. NO ONE HAS ESTABLISHED WHICH IT IS. If it is the first, then corruption is the system, and bribery exists. If the latter, then there's nothing to talk about, we're wasting our time. I'd appreciate a truly informed view on this.

Yes, in minutes, a separate page of paper for every month going back. Each page was only a few lines of small but readable print at the top of the page for that month, so most of the page was blank in every case. The IO also wanted a photo copy of every page of the actual bank book going back to this time last year, to make sure the two agree I assume. And the letter was perfectly stated but not a word longer than it needed to be. And the bank's red ink stamp was on every page of everything. Fee of 300 baht.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread, even those who argued. I got it all done on Tuesday the 13th. Waiting a day or two might have been better, but my nerves couldn't take waiting, had to get it done. Krungsri bank office at CW did a beautiful job with the letter and a printout of every month. And much faster than my original branch. The frustration came with the fact that the queue system for the re-entry permit is a separate system, and the window to get the number closes at 3:30. We got there at 3:36. But an officer at the re-entry desks told us that if we just wait till those with numbers are served they would try to fit us in before they close up--and they did, but it meant waiting for an hour and a half without knowing what would happen. GF said she saw one guy without a number start asking a lot of questions and they told him to just leave. But we were super polite and they did do it for us as almost the very last of the day. Again, thanks.

I was just in southern France for 5 weeks and couldn't believe the number of people feeding those things. Feed them, just have more of them. Of course the French smoke relatively a lot, so there's that too.

I always thought it had to be the morning of the same day.

How is such an appointment made these days? Online or phone? I'm planning to go in Tuesday morning after the Monday holiday when they are closed, so am I too late to make an appointment? Thanks.

I opened the Krungsri account at the Chid Lom branch, but it has been suggested that the branch in the Immigration building can issue the letter just as well, so there is no reason to stop on the way, but just go directly out there. Sound right? Thanks.

What about Constitution Day, December 12, this Monday?

I just wired $2K to BK to cover my new apt (plus some) getting ready for my arrival this weekend, and Chase asked what the money was for. Family Expenses seemed to satisfy them. Money changing seems to have virtually ended in Europe. I spent just under the 90 day limit in the Schengen zone 2nd half this year, and spent less than 300 in Euros cash. Money changing rates are not reasonable, and ATMs can be a complicated <deleted> shoot and require some trial and error, or friends with experience. Everything, even an espresso, went on the credit cards.

So if I (American) were to lose my Non-O by failing to (using my single re-entry permit) enter and renew before its drop dead date, the start-from-scratch plan would be to enter visa exempt as soon as reasonable, apply for 90 day Non-O, then apply to extend it for 12 months, and at that point I'm back where I started, correct? (More than enough money would always be in the bank.) Thanks.

Anutin has actually said exactly what these people are saying, while knowing full well the reality that has emerged and having no plan to control it. As with prostitution, that's the Thai way and it will prevail, as it always does.

Everyone knows, or should know, there's no freedom of speech in Thailand, what are they talking about?

Krungsri has always done it while I wait when I go to the central branch at Chit Lom where I first opened the account. I would go there first in the morning and then out to CW. But thanks for reminding me of that step.

Thanks much for the two above replies. Question: If it's the owner's responsibility to file a TM30, how do I "have" it? By asking the owner to show me and taking a picture and making a screenshot? My old place in The Trendy never filed that form and said so. Another recent thread on this forum indicated that compliance and enforcement is all over the place. But I will see if i can comply. The main point I'm getting is that it is not necessary at first to have a long term commitment in writing to extend a non-O by reason of retirement. I meet all the other requirements I believe. Thanks.

I'm flying in on Friday Dec. 10, Monday the 12th is a holiday, must renew my non-O by 20. I don't know yet where I will be staying--but almost certainly not in my old rental in Trendy 13. Can I just set up in a hotel and go to Chaeng Wattana to renew and tell them that I'm in a hotel and looking for the best long term place to commit to for the next several months? and will report when I'm situated? Or must I commit to a term lease place to stay before arriving? I've been away since July, so forgot a lot of the details, but have a re-entry permit. Money is in the bank, in baht. Thanks all.

But there is a scary side to it. When I heard him speak at the FCCT earlier this year defending his decriminalization crusade, he slipped in some nasty allusions to foreigners which sounded like his real attitude. He totally rejected the idea of a stoner culture of foreigners. He is a complicated character, and not easy to read. But he is not our friend.

My gf from Khon Kaen told me how years back she reached a point where she had to tell he parents she was no longer giving them her earnings from Bangkok. Recently she complained that her father had failed to wish her happy birthday, and when she mentioned it to him he told her to get lost. I know him a little, he's an old jerk, and deserved to be cut off.

I for one never get tired of looking at naked women, and I'm a scholar and a gentleman. I guess I could do that elsewhere, but it would probably cost more.

No, because the most destructive thing that can happen to a country is out of control inflation. The Fed has made a lot of mistakes but at least that is one thing they know from history. High inflation almost always leads to populist leaders taking over, and the last thing that bunch wants is another likeness of Trump.

The Ghost Ship venue fire Dec. 2, 2016 where 36 died here in Oakland (where I am at the moment) not only killed all those people wrongfully but incidentally changed the culture of thousands of people here in ways great and small. Wikipedia has a detailed entry on it.