Atum

4-5 times a year in Chiang Mai shops try to short-change me (I smile and tell the clerk there's been a mistake - and I get my money back with a smile from the clerk). About twice a year I get too much change back - I always give back the "long-change" because I have heard that the store clerks have to cover losses like this with their own wages.

I have lived here 12 years now, so this makes for a lot of incorrect change given. Most of the time I think it comes down to weak math skills or inattention rather than trying to rip me off.

....you will never win....

For those who say noise won't be annoying at 2km better think again. Low freqs can travel some distance before being attenuated by the earth. I can't hear any music or singing at my place just the steady, mind-numbing beat of the bass.

Anyone who isn't affected by that is either extremely insensitive, permanently whiffled or deaf IMHO.

Really heavy bass sounds can be felt (but not heard) even by deaf people.

Ok, Thanks all for your "helpful and sympathetic" (Not!) responses. Its morning now and gone. I suppose my post last night was borne out of the frustration of just how loud this was. Honestly, it wasnt just the usual village event, I m used to those, I ve been here eleven years, this one last night was ramped up to a noise level where you could hardly hear the telly on full volume, and it was across an open field from me so perhaps I was the nearest "Falang" house to this "evening of entertainment".

If this had been in the UK, the "noise abatement" authority would have gone in and turned it down ( they forced a Bruce Springsteen concert in a stadium to reduce the volume last year!) but of course, no such authority exists here.

So, apologies for my grumpiness last night, but it really was a lot more awful than it normally is !!!!

You have answered your own problem. Move to the UK

that wasn't so hard now was it?

Ah... He's "attacking"/criticizing Thailand, so he should Go Home To His Own Country. Classic ThaiVisa comment from an angry old man with nothing better to do than rack up his post count with nonsense posts.

If you have the funds for an annual 7-week vacation from about Feb 20 through Songkran, then Chiang Mai is a VERY good place to live.

Also it seems to me that the traffic south of the city is slightly better than north or east of the city, but I'm not an expert on this, just my opinion.

Why does this upset you so? How does it possibly affect your stay in Thailand?

You're a little upset yourself, aren't you? Why else would you post? Why do you care?

I did my marrage ext this month , got there at 4 am put my chair out and went back slept in the car. Wife came at 8 30 we were done at 11 am..

Where is "there"?

The old immigration office near the airport.

1 year extension based on supporting a thai child is also done at the old immigration office near the airport, not just marriage ext.

I renewed my 1 year extension based on marriage in late november. The only change from last year is that it is more difficult to get a queue number: you have to be there earlier. In my experience you have to be there at 5:30 AM at the latest - and yes, you have to go to the old immigration building near the airport.

It's amazing how often discussions on TV "sound" like they're being conducted by a few old ladies nattering over the fence, punctuated by "tsk, tsk."

The old generation longstay tourists have such a totally boring live that they act like old tarts all the time. These poor guys really should wear dresses.

What are two "manly men" such as yourself doing reading this thread, let alone commenting on it? Your sexual insecurity is showing, gentlemen.

I used to shop a lot at local markets the first 3 years I lived here. I also got food poisoning 2-3 times a year back then (throwing up every 2 hours all the night, sometimes with diarrhea "thrown in" as a bonus). For the next 5 years I shopped only at Rimping and Makro - and had food poisoning only once, not a year, but in the whole 5 year period. Of course you have to take into account my body getting used to the local germs, but I still choose to stay clear of the local markets. Maybe I am unique in this experience, but I don't think so.

Obviously, it was a bookworm.

Why is this not in the immigration thread? Is there something radically different here I should wade through all this to find?

The pinned Immigration thread is only/mainly about Immigration at Promenada, I think.

This thread was about Immigration at the Old Office (Airport) and then it branched out to deal with other topics as well.

90 does not = 89 !

Open the link and learn to count whilst recognising the "fencepost" problem !

http://betterexplained.com/articles/learning-how-to-count-avoiding-the-fencepost-problem/

Immigration has made a choice to count day number 90 twice - over and over again.

If you always make a new 90-day report on day 90, then it goes like this: 1-90, 90-179, 179-268, etc.

There is no reason Immigration could not have done it like this instead: 1-90, 91-180, 181-270, etc.

There are just as many "fenceposts" in each example.

But Immigration chose Option A, and that's the way it is, that's the way we have to count, kind of like 90 is 89, but not quite...

Correct.

Your latest day would have been Wednesday, Dec 9.

For your next visit

Thank you for your help, KhunBENQ! I learned something new today. 90=89=thai logic.

Aaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You ARE right, 89 days after last due date.

One of the quirks of immigration time schemes.

Only with using the grace period you can manage to make the year (365/366 days) with (only) four reports.

It can become an art of time planning to keep the one year extension in sync with the "90" day report , so that you can do report and extension on one visit.

To me the internet report works fine, so I don't care about it anymore. Be it five reports per year, who cares then.

I even use the grace period for internet report in advance (14 days before due date).

What was your exact due date for the report that you did today?

And likely they won't notice that missing report if you leave on March 1.

Its not checked at departure.

I arrived in Thailand on a flight from Europe on 5 SEP 2015. I think that makes my 'Exact Due Date' 3 DEC 2015, which is today, when I was at Immigration and made my 90-day report.

Today, the 3rd of December, I went in person to Immigration to make my 90-day report. I only stay in Thailand about 176-178 days a year and the rest of the time I stay in my home country in Europe. I'm leaving Thailand on the 1st of March 2016 to spend 6 months in Europe. Last week I checked to see which days I could make my 90-day Report so I would not have to do it again right before my departure on the 1st of March - and I found out I could do the report on either the 3rd or the 4th of December - and then my next report would be after I left Thailand, on the 2nd or 3rd of March, which would mean I wouldn't have to do it until 90 days after I came back again to Thailand, because the arrival card counts as a 90-day report.

But on the receit after I finished my 90-day report it said "1 MAR 2016". That is only 89 days from 3 DEC 2015, unless they count INCLUDING 3 DEC. Which means next time I use a date calculator on the Web I have to put in 2 DEC to 1 MAR when I want to calculate a 90 day report from 3 DEC to 1 MAR??

And this also means I have to make another 90 day report just before I leave on 1 MAR 2016?

Fun, fun, fun!

And yes, I know I can report by post on the 90 day report, but that was not my question.

So am I right that 90-day reports are really 89 day reports? Or did Immigration make a mistake today - and I can go back there and get the stamp changed to 2 MAR 2016 from 1 MAR 2016?

Help!