retayl

Methinks thou doth protest too much!

I was wondering what those submarines were for! 

A few years ago a British tabloid newspaper headlined with a picture of a London bus parked on the moon, how did it get there? A couple of weeks later the headline read “ mystery of London bus disappearing from the moon”. Nothing is ever new in this world but at least nobody got hurt.

When the arrival of 3 yachts is considered newsworthy one needs to say no more about the state of the Thai tourist industry.

Caution. People could get injured in the scramble to get on this gravy train!

My wife & I are fairly typical “snowbirds” in that for the past 10 years we have flown from UK in January to house rented in Hua Hin, and return in May. There is no chance of us returning under the circumstances described here. 3 weeks restricted in Phuket at our expense then travel to HH, no thanks!

There’s going to be a lot of monkeys reassigned to inactive posts. No room left for all those corrupt officials now?

 I returned to the UK 10 days ago and can say that the approach in Thailand is far better than in the UK. While in Thailand I had my temperature taken every time I went shopping, even stopped twice at road checks on the way to Suvarnabhumi. Wearing masks compulsory, curfew and good compliance by most people. Compare that with UK. Whingeing about civil rights because Asda tried to implement temperature checks on entrance, crowding in Westminster Bridge to applaud the NHS, just so the snowflakes can feel good about themselves and UK numbers hurtling towards being the worst in Europe. Don’t be so hasty in knocking Thailand, you’re a damn sight safer there.

I posted last week about immigrations insatiable demand for more & more forms just to get a 30 day extension, as my landlord lives in Switzerland I was unable to provide the ID & house book requirements + with this lockdown it was proving almost impossible to get stuff printed. So we booked the first flight to UK that we could, leaving us with a 3 day overstay and sure enough here at the Suvarnabhumi today we were fined bht1500 each. I hope the Thais enjoy the revenue they’re getting as a result of their short sightedness because they’re sure as hell going to loose many more times tourist income in future years. Good luck to them trying to deal with the “free spending” Chinese tourists. As always in this country it will be the little people in the service industries who will loose out.

I must confess, the thought had occurred to me that this could be the first ever pandemic that saved lives! With road traffic & pollution down the analysis after all this is going to be fascinating. Having said that, if overall deaths are down it will merely serve to illustrate what a totally f**ked up world this is.

1 hour ago, teatime101 said:

What kind of visa are you on?

90 day non Immigration O, single entry. 

<deleted> that sounds like a real must goto place! Pattaya, but without the moral compass.

8 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

you know all the 87 women will have large breasts.

 

Too right mate. I suspect like me your p**sed that we just miss out on the age range!

As always when buying into markets, timing is everything. Buying-in when the market has tanked is a sound strategy. However, has the market bottomed out yet? I doubt it, but then again have no idea when it will so sorry to say - you’re on yer own mate! When you do invest I recommend Fundsmith. An investment fund with a common sense philosophy and a stellar performance record in the 10 years I’ve been a client. 

I know this is a serious situation but 15 months is a long time. The Monty Python in me sees an already qualified but now 25 stone porker lining up for the 1st heat of the 100m. Cor, he’s let himself go!

2 hours ago, Venom said:

The air pollution was through the roof today as well. Seems Hua Hin as a retirement destination has gone down the toilet. 

Yes, Up in the 90’s. I wondered why that is because this past week the air has been excellent. But good that you haven’t overreacted.

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Are you sure you need the letter?

The letter is only needed if applying for a 2nd 30 day extension of a tourist visa or visa exempt entry. If it is your first one you certainly do not need the letter.

I guessing many people that are requesting one do not need it. There is a lot a of false info floating around about them.

If you are here on a 90 day non Immigration O visa you do need a letter. After initially being somewhat diffident, requiring proof of flight cancellation, the Embassy did a volte-face and emailed my & my wife’s letters within a couple of days. The communication was excellent so they have got their act in gear. I’m not sure if we’ll need a second letter if still here at the beginning of May? In any event we could always print the original letter again as I see no reason in an unchanged situation, why that wouldn’t be acceptable to IO. But heyho, who knows?

I went to a branch of pretty well all the main banks in Hua Hin yesterday trying to exchange $ travellers cheques. They are all on foreign currency exchange shutdown. Exchange bureaus were changing cash but don’t do travellers cheques. As anyone any idea where I can get these changed? It says temporary ban, does anyone know for how long?

1 hour ago, spinner2020 said:

I don't want to confuse things even more, but the link as you posted the update still refers to "tourist visa". Is there anywhere any suggestion they do actually mean all visas? (OP is on a non-imm).

This looks like the Brit embassy's own internal c*kup, as if we needed any more.

Do not ever, under any circumstances, question the words of Ubonjoe because he is,          well.     He is The Man.5555

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You have to request your 30 day extension under number 2 of the order since you entered the country on a non-o visa that requires a letter from the embassy since it under clause 2.28 of the police order.

Have you requested the letter according the instructions here on the embassy website. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial-and-documentary-services-guide-for-thailand#covid-19-visa-extension-applications--support-letter

 

As always Joe thanks for that clarification. Potential problem may be that Embassy require proof of flight cancellation as part of the package of documents requested. As borders closed/flights cancelled before we could book the the flights we are unable to provide. Explained that, and now waiting for a response. To be honest we are comfortable staying here at the moment, and family advising us to stay. UK appears to be going to hell in a handcart at the moment.

I guess Thailand doesn’t want our money and I’m not sure I want to spend it here in future.

A translation of the new initiative sent to Immigration offices, with regard to granting visa extensions, appeared on here recently. As we are in Thailand with our non imm. O visa expiring on 4th April and our flight back to the UK scheduled for 2nd May (we were unable to do the planned border run for obvious reasons) we visited Hua Hin Immigration Office. Asking for the extension they point blank refused to consider an extension without an Embassy letter, despite being shown the mentioned instruction. We have requested one from the Embassy but the don’t appear to be busting a gut to issue one. I guess our only solution is to overstay and pay the fine when we leave.

we have been visiting Thailand for our 4 month stay every year for many years and we spend around £10,000 each year. I guess Thailand doesn’t want our