.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
Lancelot
-
Posts
2,721 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Downloads
Posts posted by Lancelot
-
-
Hello,
I just renewed my Retirement Visa at Bangkok Immigration Although I was impressed with the more efficient process of directing everyone to a reception, then assigning a number, the Immigration lady that processed my Visa renewal was a real b****!
I arrived at 1 PM because I had to get my bank balance certificate letter and the Verification of Pension Income form the US embassy.
At approximately 2 pm, my number was called and I presented my self to Khun Dragon, badge number 131. I greeted her with a polite Sawasdee krap, but she stared at my as if I were from another planet. First she questioned my pension amount (B72,000/month) with another officer. The conversation was in Thai, but I understood everything, especially when the other lady emphasized, “it is enough, do it!”
Last year I presented the following presented the following documents to an Immigration Officer and:
1) Form TM 7
2) Passport
3) “Pension” Letter certified by US Embassy
4) Bank Book - From My Thai bank
5) Letter certifying balance in my Thai bank account
6) Photo copies of: a) bank book first and last page,
passport first page, c) expiring retirement visa, d) last entry stamp, e) last re-entry permit stamp, f) departure card. Last year I had forgotten one copy and the Immigration officer cheerfully made a copy for me at no charge. This year Dragon Lady creased the page of my first Thai Tourist Visa and my first 90 Day Type “O” Visa, saying “you, copy outside!”OK, what ever; I jai yen-ed it across the street, got the copies and presented them to her.
Then she collected B1,900, took my docs to another desk and eventually returned with my receipt. Then she waived me to another desk, where I collected my newly stamped Retirement Visa. I thanked the reviewing officer, she acknowledged me and I was out the door. I will have to return to get a re-entry stamp, but that can wait for another day.
All in all, I was only at Immigration for 1.5 hours and, in fairness to the staff, the place was packed. This is my fourth renewal, so eventually I was going to get a surly officer, but I was still shocked at the unchecked rudeness of this lady.
Good luck to everyone at Immigration and I hope you successfully avoid Miss 131. What a B****!!!!!!!!!!!
Lance
-
The Victory Monument beer garden has been closed for about a year now. The small bars and food stalls around the defunct beer garden have been closed for about a week. Soi Rang Nam still has a bar or two...
Lance
-
I have been retired in Bangkok for three years and never paid any income tax. No (Thai) earned income - no Thai tax.
Most goods and services include the 7% VAT tax, but that is no big deal.
Chook dee!
Lance
-
I just renewed my Thai car and motorcycle licenses at Mochit (BKK) and my experience was similar to Corkscrew's.
I got the residence certificate from the US Embassy, tried keep the original and give the license bureau two copies... No deal, they insisted on the original and one copy.
The lady that processed my renewal also wanted a copy of my last re-entry stamp, in addition to the first page and visa page of my pp. I'm single so no "Thai wife" stamp required.
All in all, pretty easy and she issued me the five year license, which expires on my birthday, so I actually received 5.5 years.
Yes, my one-year licenses were six days expired
Lance
-
Most people spend 70 to 80% of their total, lifetime medical costs in the last one or two years of their lives.
In Thailand I prefer to roll the dice...
Lance
-
I just went through that same thing. One answer I got was 400 BTU per square meter for a typical Thai house. Typical being no insulation and poorly sealed doors and windows. Sometimes they refer to how many tons are needed. I have found out that a one ton unit is 12,000 BTUs. That said I put a 9000 BTU unit in my 18 square meter bedroom and it may be too big. Too large of a unit will not do a good job of removing humidity besides costing more to start with. Also watch the EER rating. That number is how many BTUs is produced per watt of power. My Sansung is rated at 11.5. All the units I looked at here had the ratings on a sticker. I don't understand Thai but just ask which number is BTU per watt.
I do think my unit is too big for the room. It feels fine shortly after it is turned on but by morning the air feels a little clammy because the unit cycles very little. I'll buy a humidistat the next time I see one.
Gary is 100% correct. Better to slightly undersize than to oversize. Oversize A/C=cold, clammy atmosphere. My 2 satang
Lance
-
There's more than one hole in the story. The notion that a Thai official would do something nasty to a farang (like the supposed cancelation of his visa extension) and then publicly announce it to other farang sounds pretty far-fetched - as does the idea that a Thai police official would apologize to a group of farang strangers for the behaviour of another farang stranger.
It's more like someone's fantasy of "good" Thai officials and "good" farang being united against the "bad" farang.
It's one of those tales that, even if untrue, I enjoyed it anyway.
-
I'm sure that the majority of TV members have noticed how Thais have 'waiting' refined into an art form.
We recently went to the licence office to renew the car road tax. It was very busy and the FG explained that we'd have to sit and wait. "How long?", I asked. "Oh, I'm not sure, maybe two hours", she said. Now we all know that 'two hours' in Thailand could mean anything from one hour to two days but she was prepared to sit and wait. I asked, "Why don't we pick the tax disc up tomorrow?". "No, we can't do that", she said, "We'll end up at the back of the queue".
Anyway, I got my way. We sat and waited in the pub and picked up the tax disc, no problem, the next day.
More of an Asian thing than a Thai thing....IMHO I think they just have an immeasurable amount of patience for things they cant change. we see waiting as a waste of time...they see it as a means to an end.
It used to amaze me that we would rush to pack bags and get transport to the Bus stop only to wait for an hour for the bus.....then at the bus station it was hurry hurry hurry to wait an hour for the next bus. Reeow reeow, deeow deeow
Interesting thoughts about waiting.
I just think of it as one of the several non-cash "taxes" of living in Thailand. "Taxes" like BKK traffic, double pricing, people pushing in while one is try to exit, etc.) They just do things differently here.
But, all in all, still a pretty good place to live...
-
Lance,
A friend of mine uses the same pension document every year.
So do I and it's dated 2000.
Thanks guys-good info. Unfortunately the lady at immigration kept my Feb 2005 original. I'll try to use my copy.
Anyway, they have the original, so I'll just smile and be extra polite on Feb 2006
-
I have a RV but I am not on a pension
I have to show where my monthly money comes from.
Lancelot has a RV and a pension.
He does not have to explain his expenses.
I am only guessing.
By the way Lampard your "man in the pub" was not on a RV as these are issued same day.
Actually his account sounds a bit suspect. Why did his PP have to go to Bangers.
When I was on a marriage visa I had to go back the next month month to see if it had been approved. It was always stamped there never in Bangers.
Correct. I originally deposited 800k, but have drawn it down to about 350k. I think the pension doc helps. Next Feb I am goig to try and use the same (Feb 2005) pension doc. The nice folks at the US Embassy request B1,200 for it and I am keeneow, nid noi...
-
I have a retirememnt Visa and live in BKK. I deposited 800K two years ago and have not topped it up since.
I normally use my USA based bank for living expenses. I just renewed my RV last Feb and no problems at all. I did have the "pension" letter from the US Embassy, certifying my income.
Maybe I was just lucky; like you said TIT
-
I live in a "condo" (one room) in BKK and pay B5/unit to the landlord. Usually my bill is B400-500 per month. One refrigerator, lap top on most of the day, one fan running when ever I'm in the room. Have A/C but rarely use it.
A/C is your biggest consumer of electricity. After that, probably your fridge, because it's on 24/7. Filling up the fridge will help-but only marginally.
If your really serious about bill, simply list all your electric appliances on a spreadsheet, enter the wattage for each device * hours used (for a/c when the compressor is actually running) per day / 1,000. That will give you kWh or units of electricity consumed per appliance. Sum up all of your appliances, then * your unit cost. Should give you a pretty accurate pro forma bill. If your way off, look for neighbors tapping in or possibly a fast meter. But 95% of the time, the meter (especially as they age) runs a little slow, because it's mechanical. Think about it: most mechanical devices slow down with age-not speed up.
Watch out for those mobile phone chargers-they really suck up the juice
-
...Now to one of the main reasons I left the UK. Tax is getting totally ridiculous there.
This point always amuses me when I see it. British taxes are not that high.
Weather you cosider taxes high or low is dependant on your income.
semed to me the harder you work to make something of youself in the UK the more you subsidise the scroungers that can't be ar33sed to get out of bed
Taxes overall are high... it's not just income tax you have to look at, it's also National Insurance, Council Tax, Tax on fuel and booze, Stamp duty to be paid when buy a house, capital gains etc...
Interesting that the UK (and US) are such terrible places to live. Every time I walk by one of their foreign embassies, there are always a ton of locals lining up to apply for a visa.Yeah, the UK really sucks whistling.gif
Everyone wants to get in to the UK because of how easy it is to get something for nothing, this doesn't apply to many Thais who want to come in because most are supported or want to work, however a large number of people come to the UK from all over the world and live off the public funds, the reason a lot of tax payers in the UK are pissed off is because it's them who have to pay for these peoples healthcare, rent, spending money etc..
It doesn't just stop there, also a large number of people in the UK who are unemployed and want to stay that way, why shouldn't they, ultimately they get more income from government benefits than they would if they worked.
As I wrote before, taxes in the UK are not high. I paid 50%+ income tax in Denmark plus all the other taxes, which are also considerably higher than the UK e.g VAT in DK is 22%.
Having read this thread all the way through, I am now convinced that the Aussies are correct in their assessment:
the vast majority of UK ex-pats, as reflected by these postings on TV, are whingers.
A tax can still be high even though its less than what you are used to paying....just means your getting screwed even more than us! Also though its the tax on world wide income which is not done in Thailand that im looking at too....what I would pay tax on world wide income in the UK covers my cost of living for a whole year in Thailand, living in a bigger house with a pool and a maid.
/Start Rant
Also I have serious issues as mentioned further above about scroungers etc coming into the country and the way this country is going in regards to its own countrymen. Case in point, in the paper the other day was a women with Arthritis who had tried to get hydro therapy treatment for 2 years...she saw an advert for a local pool and physio, applied to join and was turned down.....reason: Asian muslims only!!! <deleted>!?!? Its paid for by the lottery and they are turning away white people! You see if Thailand would put up with shit like that, or Aus, or USA...they look after their own people first!
Im certainly not letting my taxes be used to fund Mohammed and his 10 kids, 5 aunts, 3 uncles and building a mosque. Note: not just Muslims I have an issue with even though their the major part....Gypsies also tearing up land and leaving rubbish/crap everywhere they go etc while we then also end up paying for land for them. Note: Im well aware about British scroungers also, not just "asylum seekers"...Their both as bad as each other...but at least one group are your countrymen. Rather than cash handouts Id offer rent/food coupons so Sharon and her 10 kids cant go playing bingo and smoking 10 packs of fags a day complaining they have no money!
Also criminals in this country getting away with bloody everything when if you stand up for yourself your the one who gets in trouble. My taxes paying for "troubled teens" to take ###### holiday trips to Kenya and other B.S like it...
Controversial maybe...no doubt screams of racist bigot coming my way....but many people feel the same way about the way the UK is headed. I also have no issue with 2nd/3rd generation immigrants that came here decades ago from the likes of Jamaica etc etc...but these days I feel we need to be a helluva lot more selective. Australia went through exact same phase, in 60s/70s Aus welcomed huge number of migrants but now they ###### well make sure your not going to be a drain on the state and they dont put up with B.S from asylum seekers.
Please spare me comments about myself being a migrant going to Thailand etc also and any percived hypocrisy...Thailand dont exactly make things easy if you have no finances and they ###### well protect their own people before outsiders...you only get in if you have something to offer them be it money, certain skills, whatever...as every country should...
/End Rant.
Sure, there are bums who try to get into the UK. A lot of immigrants do the dirty jobs most Brits don't want to do. (Same, same US)
Anyway, the UK seems ok to me. I'd be more concerned when NOBODY wants in
-
Interesting that the UK (and US) are such terrible places to live. Every time I walk by one of their foreign embassies, there are always a ton of locals lining up to apply for a visa.
Yeah, the UK really sucks
-
Congrats MGN! Ypu'll never regret retiring here in Thailand. I've been here two years and love it. Enjoy those Changs!
Lance
-
Hey Spuds,
You seem like a decent, intelligent guy and you can sort this out for your self. I know you'll make a good decision.
Many people will offer well meaning advise, but it's your life man. Do what your inner voice tell you to do.
I liked Dr. John's post: some bar girls are good and some are bad. Sorta like the general population...
-
Nothing like being a tight arse is there ??
More money for other activities old buddy. Yo'all enjoy paying top dollar now...
-
Yeah, try Sawasdee Mansion on Soi Honey Inn (there is a 7-11 on the corner) and Second Road. If you buy a discount card, they'll give you another 10% off. Small room is B350 (- B35 discount) So you can get a small a/c room for B315.
http://www.sawasdee-hotels.com/new/hotel/s...e_mansion.html#
Also, just try going to any small "family run" hotel and bargain with them. I've always had good luck doing that, especially if I'm staying for several days...
Chok dee!
-
If she was scowling in the first place she shouldn't have got a tip at all.
so, patpong, crap bars, ugly girls, bad music, I think the service is just trying to keep the same standard.
Yeah, you're probably right-no amount would have been enough in that particular bar
-
I thought Red Horse kicked butt, more so than Chang (alcohol reference) Personally, I usually drink Leo. I've learned the hard way to add some ice to my beer-puts a little water back in the system.
-
Took the "Sprinter" train from Bang Sue (BKK) to Chiang Mai. Depart Bang Sue 0900; arrive Chiang Mai around 2000. One snack, meal, and two coffee/drink breaks provided. B511
Returned by 32 seat "VIP" bus. Departed Chiang mai at 2100, arrived Mo Chit, BKK next morning at 0630. Again a snack, coke and one coffee in the morning. Had a voucher for a bowl of noodles at a rest stop. B403 Have heard good reports on the 24 seat Super VIP bus, worth a try.
-
What do you mean. OUR bars? They are not your bars. As for th shit service and scowl. Maybe it was the time of the month for her.
Yep, somebody's bar. I think some of those girls have 30 day periods, each and every month. Know what I mean by that?
-
Last Saturday night I went with my girlfriend and two of her friends to a typical Thai “pub’ in central Bangkok. Just me and a couple of other farangs present; the rest was 98% Thai. Friendly people and reasonably loud music, so that normal conversation was still possible. What impressed me most was the service.
Several drop-dead gorgeous Thai ladies hovered about, constantly refilling our drinks and fetching refills. They were polite, but just a little flirty. A sanuk evening all around. After drinking for about three hours, my girlfriend tipped the waitress B20 and received a wai. The waitress seemed satisfied and everyone parted friends.
By contrast, two Saturday nights ago, I wandered down to Pat Pong. I sat down in one of those open air bars on the Soi parallel to the night market, and go-go bar, soi. The waitress scowled when she brought me a beer and rolled her eyes when I asked for a glass with ice. I finished the beer, and then paid my B80 check bin with a B100 note. The change came back with four B5 coins, of which one I left for a tip. The same scowling waitress made a show of looking for the “tip.” I just ignored her and walked on.
I’ve been here a couple of years and find myself enjoying the farang girly bars less and less. The exception, of course being to kick back with some mates and chat a bit.
Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone else get fed up with the sh*te service we farangs get at some of “our” bars?
Lance
-
I live in BKK and most of the farangs (90%) I acknowledge here never bother to respond. I usually say hello one time; if they ignore me, cool, I don't waste my time greeting them in the furture.
I'm mostly refering to people in my apartment building or immediate neighborhood. I don't pester every farang in BKK with "Good morning" salutations.
Personally, I think it's just a sign of the times we live in. Folks are just a little more insular and self absorbed now a days.
passport first page, c) expiring retirement visa, d) last entry stamp, e) last re-entry permit stamp, f) departure card. Last year I had forgotten one copy and the Immigration officer cheerfully made a copy for me at no charge. This year Dragon Lady creased the page of my first Thai Tourist Visa and my first 90 Day Type “O” Visa, saying “you, copy outside!”
Retiremnt Visal
in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits
Posted
Yes, at least I did receive my Visa and I was only at Immigration for about 1.5 hours. Actually, in the past I've had some very pleasant dealings with immigration. I always dress properly and act in a polite manner.
I wonder if government officials ever tire of being surly and become (temporarily) polite to break the monotony?!?
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa