soi3eddie

Thailand is generally very safe except for in certain scenarios suich as the OP. Think about London, where people are afraid to use their mobile phones in case of robbery!

This won't end well for him once he's handed back to China. Vanuatu passport? Wonder how much that cost him. How long do Vanuatu citizens get visa free on entry to Thailand?

Here in Bangkok, it is very rare to get a power outage other than for planned maintenance by my condo engineers. I think daytime has higher load due to A/C so more chance of transformer issues. Another factor, often seen in the news, is power poles being snagged and brought down by construction vehicles (happened in our soi a couple of years ago by a cement truck - MEA were great and has us back on-grid within a couple of hours on a Sunday). Do they even still take depopsits for meters? During covid in 2020 the MEA refunded my 4,000 Baht meter deposit.

The turmoil in someone's mind to even contemplate suicide is immense. Things must have seemed so bad that living was so painful for this man. Finance and emotion are often linked, and I think here in Thailand, one frequently has an effect on the other. I realised that there is always a better way and thankfully got through the difficulties I was having to now live a happy life. Not easy but so lucky to get through it. RIP and condolences to his GF, friends and family. They will suffer more than him.

He was looking for the beef curtains. If he was looking for anything else, there's a xxxxhub for that!

Jeez! What the hell were they thinking? Did they have cleared passage from Iran? Looks like a low impact. Was it a mine, torpedo or low drone attack? Will be very interesting if we ever hear the truth. At least they were able to abandon ship safely. All Thai crew I suppose (or cheap "neighbouring country" cannon fodder labour?). Lots of questions.

Heading to the USA on 6th April. I do not miss songkran in Bangkok or Pattaya. The best songkrans ever were in Nakhon Si Thammarat (typically main day was 13th April). Or Laos (several days). Super fun and friendly.

I support my long term GF, de facto wife, who doesn't work. I'm happy to support her and assist elderly parents. She is NOT happy as she really wants to work (clever lady) and would be a huge asset to any service oriented establishment such as a restaurant or bar here in Thailand. The issue is, she is not Thai so unable to work here. She is so desperate to work that we are considering a move to Phnom Penh where she (and I) can either work easily or start a business. I love Thailand and would rather stay here for now. At least, she goes to the gym each day to maintain her milf 6 pack and figure. I'm not complaining. 😀

Typical. Pass the buck and avoid any responsibility in this sad case. Still, the ongoing care should be covered by the plastic surgeon's insurance, shouldn't it?

Surely advisable to keep a low profile if up to no good. Sounds like he had a clever ruse to try and beat the cops with his illicit supply system. What next, banning of apps such as Telegram?

Yes, Wise card doesn't work at all in Myanmar. I tried mine in each of the 5 different bank ATMs in the Yangon airport arrivals in March 2023. My Thai Kbank atm/debit card did work there. Curiously, my UK issued MBNA credit card worked in all the restaurants we tried in Yangon (at least those few that accepted cards).

It saddens me to read about drownings of children in Thailand. So easily prevented with parental supervision or teaching kids to swim. A former GF lost a 2yr old niece who drowned in the family pool whilst mother was playing with her phone. I have helped (possible saved) 2 kids out of their depth and struggling in hotel pools here whilst family not paying attention to them. We read about kids playing near canals, falling in and drowning. Each one a tragic loss. If only more could be done to teach people the dangers of waters and teach them to swim. If only.

The 3 stages of air travel from Thailand to USA that might ask for "fit to fly" or refuse travel are: 1) Check-in desk 2) The gate 3) Boarding the plane Asking for wheelchair assistance could help, so long as he has his faculties, and shows no obvious signs of distress, illness or injury. Frailty should not be an issue. I hope it works out well for the OP's neighbour. BTW: We are booked next month to fly from BKK to Seoul to Seattle. Easy route to that west coast destination. My family departing Bangkok in October 2022. Mother 84yrs and Uncle 80yrs old. No issues whatsoever. Uncle could hardly walk as waiting for knee replacement.

I'm looking to buy in Phnom Penh. Massive oversupply incoming. Spent two days with a real estant agent being chauffeured around looking at recently completed, soon to be completed, off plan sites and resales (mostly in the BKK1 area). Was a great way to get a feel for the locations and general info on how things work there - apparently all condos pay electric to the juristic at a marked up price of about 25c US per KWh. $1 per Sqm per month common area fee. We looked at a 60sqm recently completed unit at $168k. Well overpriced but quality and location was pretty good. A couple of weeks later, same unit was offered to me at $135K. Our plan is to wait 3-5 years before contemplating a purchase and hoping for a bargain resale unit. Also, no foreign quota issues in Cambodia, only restriction is that foreigners cannot own first (and I believe) second floors.

Many legitimate passengers arriving at Heathrow with a properly obtained and valid visa (usually at great cost and effort), wait longer than that in the queue just to get to the immigration desk! @Smokey and the Bandit @Dionigi I wrote the above before reading the full thread. Now see you both beat me to it. I'll leave my post just to reinforce what you said.

Tommy's visa was almost certainly approved by someone at a high level in the US government. ESTA would not be possible due to his history.

A very good friend and I had a Saturday night out on Sukhumvit in December 2023. We went separate ways about midnight and he would often walk home. That night, somewhere between Soi 18 and Soi 26 he had a problem. He doesn't know how it started but most likely an innocent verbal interaction (probably with a lady) taken the wrong way, he was not robbed but beaten badly and sustained ligament damage to his arm/shoulder. The black eye was less an issue but the arm took ages to heal. He thinks it was motorsai taxi riders and that the police may have been involved. Other than medical costs, no legal issues or arrest. He is totally non-aggressive and very placid - never heard him ever even raise his voice. He's street smart, speaks Thai quite well and has lived in Bangkok at least 10 years. My GF now worries when I stay out late at night. I've never had an issue or felt threatened on the numerous occassions out until 6 or 7am. I still feel much safer here in Bangkok than London.

I doubt it will revert back to 30 days before end of March 2026. Once you are here, if it does revert after entry of 60 days, you'll still have the 60 days as stamped. IF it should change back to 30 days BEFORE you board your flight, then the biggest worry would be overzealous airline check-in staff not allowing you to board due to your return being beyond the 30 days - even though you can extend easily for another 30 days once in country.

The collision was so intense it made the camera shake. So 11 people in the pick-up truck or others on the ground hit? The motorcyclist and the other truck were so lucky to have avoided injury.

If relying on something important, such as medical cover, people should check to find out what, and what is not covered, before paying for insurance.

The enemy here is the airline check-in staff. They can be very strict, especially with Low Cost Carriers as they are afraid of getting fined and having to return passengers from a country in case they are denied entry (at airline cost). Reality is that Thai arrivals immigration don't give a rat's, as it was their organisation that likely created the staple holes!

The revamp is already well under way towards completion (so approval now is a bit late, or is it an old story?). I walked the "green bridge" last week. It was always good to connect the parks but what they are doing makes the route much nicer. They've taken out steps and converted to ramps so easier for the less abled. Must be costing a fair amount. Good job being done!

What is a "real friend"? One who can be relied upon in case of need, illness or disaster? One who will assist my GF on my demise? That, is the true meaning of real friend. I'm fortunate, in that I have a large social circle (GF says "how you know so many people"), but truly, about 5 or 6 are true and real friends. I'm happy with that.

My GF came to visit me in the UK for the first time in summer 2023. Awakening early and looking out of the bedroom window she was shocked to see "maa baa" in the communal gardens. Have to say, not only foxes but an abundance of squirrels too. Amazingly we have the parakeets that screech through the London skies (2 even landed on our open window and she snapped the picture below). Horses in the next field also. All this, just 5 minutes from Heathrow Airport. On topic: VAT in the UK is 20% so 10% in Thailand, for us expats is cheap. Sad for the Thai people though.

A gym really is not needed in my experience. During the height of first covid lockdown from 1st April to 15th May 2020, I was in Hua Hin and Bangkok. Just about everything was closed; bars, restaurants etc. Even had the curfew from 10pm to 5am (later relaxed to 11pm to 4am). Each morning at 05:00am, I got up and walked either to the beach or parks. In that 6 weeks, I went from 95kgs to 87.5kgs. Felt great. Better sleep. Better food. A shame that swimming pools were closed though. Gyms didn't re-open until June IIRC.