Jonathan Swift

Guilty as charged. There are so many things to weigh and consider. Much of it is balancing risk and financial situation against the odds of something happening. I make about $1665 a month SS, a pittance in the S but can live nicely here. I have medicare insurance in the US. I have $200,000 US in a mutual fund. I keep between $5000 and $10,000 in liquid cash in case of emergencies. I have comparison shopped for insurance from covid onward but haven't made a decision. The sticking point in the past was whether a substantial insurance premium would take a significant amount out of my living budget and place my finances at risk. Thanks for the reminder. Cheers.

I'm convinced that most of the commenters here regard commenting as a blunt contact sport requiring little or no real intelligence. People don't understand the difference between speculation and fact based theories and conclusions. Congrats on spelling queue correctly. It drove me crazy because I have a memory malfunction that causes me to have to look up words that I absolutely know. I came up with this: "kew-ee-yew-ee" as a reminder. haha. Cheers mate, and long happy life to you.

There is a very good possibility, given the number of cameras here. If the family has doubts they can get an autopsy which might be conclusive, at that point it is likely to be kept private. There are so many things that can happen. This is too sad.

She seems to not understand the difference between the corrupt brown envelope driven Thai court and a real court. I hope the sons win legal costs from this greedy c*&t

More than that, they can bring criminal defamation charges.

Correct. There were a lot of angry Thai people. Thai people don't get angry over nothing, especially this many separate people. He clearly made up the drug accusation in order to bolster his story. If someone had tried to drug him he would have been drugged. Learning the hard way how NOT to deal with Thai people. I think he was less than "polite" But This is speculation, I don't claim any special knowledge or expertise.

No doubt you get what you pay for (I hope) haha. Cheers.

Bear in mind that much of what agents do is illegal and they rely on a system of payoffs and falsified bank statements to streamline the process. Every once in a while they get prosecuted, or the customer has the agent run off with their money. You are legally required to appear and apply in person with photographs and forms in hand. The agent who tells you you don't have to is breaking the law. Most get away with it but I would never place any of my personal affairs in the hands of anyone who has a profit motive.

Unless you're rich and have money to burn I highly recommend you learn to do everything yourself. It's not hard once you get past the learning curve, no harder than the paperwork for registering a car in your home country. You book your immigration appointments online. There are staff at every immigration office that are very helpful. The extension is 1900 baht. You can get a single reentry or multiple reentry permits. I think the multiple entry is about 3800 baht, I never get just a single reentry because I like to travel around.

Let me correct a half truth. You have been issued a retirement visa, based on which you are granted 1 year extension of stay every year. The extension and the visa are separate, but you most certainly have a retirement visa. If you didn't there would be nothing to extend from.

The sad thing about this behavior is that it plays right into the hands of anti muslim racists and bigots which can point and say that this proves them right. So these mόrons are betraying their own culture with their behavior

Based on my observations, Thai drivers may look crazy but they actually know more about what they're doing than the average farang. I would equate Thai drivers to stuntmen.

To put it another way, while they were hatching their plans to increase tourism they should have also planned the necessary increased law enforcement to deal with the inevitable increase in bad behavior. But hindsight is 20/20,

It is in the nature of unevolved people to judge entire cultures by stereotypes perpetrated by bigots.

These kinds of people can't be "taught lessons" because they don't learn. They are arrogant and disrespectful by nature, and nothing is going to change who they are. None of their antics will land them in jail and they know it. Sad but true.

“Anyone caught submitting forged documents, including travel agents, will face strict action, including blacklisting.” Is someone insinuating that "agents" use fraudulent means to obtain visas? You don't say. As to expats in Thailand, yes most are safe using reliable agents whose brown envelopes are all in order, but there's always the outside chance that a careless or less savvy agent will be caught and the expat will have big problems. For that reason I advise people to do it themselves, once you're past the initial learning curve it's not difficult at all, especially if you book your appointment in advance.

People wear their bigotry like a badge of honor. They love to hate, meanwhile, what does it say about their character?

The only reason Americans don't seem to be much of a problem is they are fewer here and outnumbered by the others. I'm American and I can assure you that, ethnically, Americans are equally misbehaved. Not me though, cus I'm special. Haha, actually I barely drink, maybe that has something to do with it. Seriously though, just my opinion, I think it's a combination of age/immaturity, the reasons they come here in the first place (non stop party free for all), and the drunkenness that comes with all of the above

Remember where you are. Those charges might literally not exist here. Bio Hazard? Walking down any given city street is a bio hazard. Except probably indecent exposure, which might instead be called public urinating or any number of variations.

"Where I live it is the Thais who drive their motorbikes in the wrong direction, on the pavement, without a helmet, while texting on their phones and urinating." The circus has come to town.

thanks for your post. I'm sure it helps a lot of people as a direct hands on experience

That is what I was told by a Thai/UK tax expert specializing in expats. I have social security non assessable income

A very perceptive and insightful comment, for a change. I see it the same way - victimless "crimes" by desperate people, who would do it legally if they could.

I see a lot of FB posts of people looking for work especially in Pai Backslacker Hippietown. If they really wanted to enforce this in Pai they'd end up removing half the town's population, who are contributing little or nothing to the local economy