Merylhighground

When reading through all this news daily, I kinda feel like we are dealing with clowns here

No, clowns are funny and can actually perform the task they are meant to perform unlike these cretins....

I don't know why this tale saddened me so much for both parties involved......

Lovely pics.

Reminds me of the first time I went to 'the village' with a Thai lass (minus the photographer, mind you) also, some of the venomously bitter comments here echo those made by the envious old Westerner drunks in said village towards someone who has clearly picked some fresher fruit from a more wholesome tree than they had...

8 hours? Its been a few years but I think driving is faster. Hopefully the train is safer.

Eight hours gentle pitching and rolling through the pleasant countryside along that route, being able to kick back with a few beers, a lazy smoke, some cool tunes, as opposed to facing the increasingly white knuckle qualities of the road trip down Highway 4 which the last time I took it didn't seem to be wearing too well either and getting congested' (by Cambodian standards) seems a good alternative option.

As long as it's not like the PP - Battambang- Srisophon/Poipet route where you have to get out and push in places or get on a 'Norry' and departs both directions at a decent hour so one arrives in the destination at a decent hour and not in the middle of the night it could be a good thing.

The future for train travel in Cambodia is interesting. I know they have been looking for foreign investment on their railways for a long time now. Some serious work on the PP - Thailand line taking it through to Viet Nam could make the future of rail travel in the Mainland of SEAsia very interesting. Bangkok to Hanoi (and beyond) would be a belter of a trip.

First date... first of all she has to be on time !

Another reason to choose a place where you can sit down, relax with a beer and a breeze or AC.....

I had a sure fire place by the river just before Nonthaburi for a long time but they closed a few years ago after the sad passing of the owner.

It was perfect. Not too heavy on the pocket, lovely open terrace overlooking the river with great views of the BKK skyline, a live 'band' to keep her entertained, an illusion of sophistication, good grub and a decent reputation. Gave me many a 'result' back in the day did the old spot......

That is a perfect sounding place

It was pal! I found it by pure fluke one evening while wandering lost in the area near the river ferry and stumbled in a dripping mess to a warm welcome and one of the lasses nipping off to 7-11 to get a cold towel to relieve my heat related distress.

It had a good enough rep that when I mentioned it when asking out a lass in my single days, their eyes would light up which always surprised me as it was nothing flash, just a great spot probably just beyond the pocket of the average Thai worker.

The wife and I had our first date there many moons ago. She was heartbroken to find it had closed after we'd travelled all the way across town from Samut Prakan to pop in and say 'hello' to find it all boarded up and hear the news of the owner's passing....

Reminds me of a lad who was a Friday regular at our Friday meet ups in Lower Suk. He'd been on about a lass from his work for ages until he finally got up the bottle to ask her out. She accepted but as he was a relative newcomer (compared to the rest of us) he had no idea where to take her. Everyone stressed 'Anywhere but NOT Lower Suk', and "Under no circumstances bring her within a kilometre of Lower Suk" and so on. Our local was a perfectly respectable place but surrounded by several less salubrious establishments.

However, as some folks are apt to do he thought he knew better and totally ignored our advice, then the week after he turned up with a lovely looking lady, well dressed and clearly a cut above most of the other women in the area. She was looking around her thinking 'what the heck is this place? Why has he bought me here?" "What does he think I am?" "What sort of bloke comes to an area like this regularly?"

After an hour or so and a couple of drinks she seemed to relax and became more chatty but still seemed a tad mortified at the location. As her English wasn't too hot and my Thai is reasonable, I went and had a chat with her and she voiced her concerns to me as we chatted.

Being a total rat who can see an opening when one pops along once it seemed that the lad wasn't going to be taking her on anywhere nicer, I put in an offer to get her out of there to my 'safe home' (see my above post).

She almost took my hand off. As not to make the lad look too daft, nor wishing to create a 'scene' by strolling out into the night with another lad's date on my arm, I told her to sup up and meet me at the fast food place on the corner of the soi from where we could hop in a cab to nicer environs. She did, and I made my excuses and followed her, and that was the beginning of a two year relationship for me. I got some initial flack for my actions however I was unrepentant for if the fool had had followed our unanimous advice he'd have been quids in, but he left the door wide open.

I had a sure fire place by the river just before Nonthaburi for a long time but they closed a few years ago after the sad passing of the owner.

It was perfect. Not too heavy on the pocket, lovely open terrace overlooking the river with great views of the BKK skyline, a live 'band' to keep her entertained, an illusion of sophistication, good grub and a decent reputation. Gave me many a 'result' back in the day did the old spot......

On our recent return to the UK we found ourselves and two small kids literally squashed into a corner of a tube carriage (en route for Euston) surrounded by snarling, tutting, frowning London commuters for having the temerity to have just landed at Heathrow and having two smallish bags with us and taking up about a square foot of space. The change at Green Park wasn't much fun, nor the subsequent nip up to Euston. The missus was just too tight to let me spring for the Heathrow Express/Taxi combo or a cab all the way, curse her (she's the same in BKK too)...

Compared to when we came from Hualamophong after New Year and had to get to Udomsuk in rush hour where the Thai commuters even helped us, luggage and the kids on/off the BTS and MRT, I know where I'd prefer to meet congestion on a daily basis.

Most of these places are a rip off too. I'm surprised the 'sheriff' don't get called out more for Thai blokes kicking off after they've got their bills and realise they've actually had to pay for the attentions of the attractive dolly birds they've been feeding all night and they won't be taking them back to meet mother after all.......

In my old neighbourhood (Bangkok,not Pattaya) there was three karaoke places, all basic types, thatch rooves, bamboo furniture etc but there weren't half some attractive lasses working them. One somehow had spawned a really nice view of the distant BKK cityscape too.

If one could get a seat outside away from the cacophony they made for an OK asides from a regular night in the neighbourhood though was always interesting the lasses would never 'do a turn' as it were, even with the Thai blokes who would come and play at being 'rich' until their padded bills arrived and things got nasty until the cops came.

Was the same tale every night. Luckily for me I got on well with the half Swedish/Thai owner who let me sit outside chatting to the lasses, my bill unmolested. The gaffer had been predicting the demise of such places for ages but his places still remain and thrive.....

Yes, have to respect the rules of any country that you visit or live in. I carry a photo of my passport on my phone to ensure I abide by the law.

At the end of the day if this catches only one illegal foreigner or only saves one life by arresting a potential threat then this initiative has worked.

I am sure the very same people that suggest this is too controlling of the govt will be the same ones that complain about the govt if someone that this initiative is targeting commits a violent crime.

Can't win if you do and can't win if you don't.

oh right they do that in Australia do they? stop anyone for no reason and ask to see their passport? I should not be surprised from you I suppose but I think you would be in bliss in North Korea

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/22/chinatown-protest-immigration-border-agency-raids

Good find Harrrry, I imagine djjamie and the other gutless, brown-nosed 'obey the Thais without question or go home' lapdogs would hate to see such a public display of indignation by Westerners/Foreigners at their poor treatment in Thailand by the Thai authorities.

So what they implying. Falange are the top Criminals. Maybe they should look closer to home. How many Thai people without ID cards. Or counterfit. That's why Thai people cannot get there I D cards renewed at Big C anymore. But I suppose it's the Country and Law.

What, pray is a 'Falange'? I think I used to have such an effect in my bass effects rack.....

^ Excellent detective work Sherlock. There is a future for you sitting at that table on Walking Street in a silly uniform as a Bat Belt wearing TPV yet......

I must admit it does make me laugh when Right Wingers get all excited over a few people waving placards.

The snag is that it is never, ever just 'a few people waving placards'. What a feeble-minded way of looking at things.

These people seem to be continually unable to 'protest' without becoming violent. The Left always like to portray themselves as 'peaceful protesters' yet from these anti Trump thugs through to the hooligans who infest and smash up London every Mayday they are far more violent when their 'ideals' are opposed than even the Nazis they so claim to revile. They seem to be able to justify their hideous actions as they are so convinced they are 'in the right' yet are utterly unable to accept opposing viewpoints rather like the Nazis were....

Politics is indeed made up of fine lines.

As for spouses being chased, i know of an elderly German resident here who has been chased by 'mafia types' trying to pressurise him into paying for the default on a debt his wife stood as Guarantor for.

That could be similar to where in the UK banks can 'sell' the debt to a 'collecting agency', basically a (somehow) approved company of thugs who then seem to have carte blanche to chase people down to reclaim the debt though in recent years such vile bodies have thankfully been clamped down on.

From reading your above post, I'd say that while legally the 'farang' may not be liable for his intended's obligations to the bank, I'm sure that as soon as they get a sniff there is a (posssibly) moneyed 'farang' in the picture he could find the bills heading his way either from the bank or the wife....

I know that you weren't looking for personal advice for your pal but if I were him, I'd be running a mile in tight shoes to get away from this one.

She could look like Apisamai Srirangsan and bang like a toilet door in a cholera outbreak but there were so many alarm bells ringing here from the first reading of your OP to even more clanging now after reading more.

• Why start a married life with such a financial obligation hanging in the air, especially one which is out of the hands of both parties?

• Has she just raked in a 'rich foreigner' as she knows he'll dig her out of the soup if needed and the whole thing is a marriage based on money?

This is one of those friendly arm on shoulder over a few beers moments we all face at some point in our lives in Thailand, which begin with 'you aren't going to like what I have to say buddy....

Good luck to your pal but I know what I'd be telling him......

But logic and the Law do not always coincide.

Indeed they don't Pauly.

Nor, sadly do common sense and marriage go hand in hand either, especially in Thailand. Off the cuff, not knowing either person involved, were this a friend of mine I'd tell him to leave well alone until his intended's obligations to the bank have been met.

While comparisons to NK, Nazi German, Stalinist Russia may be a little OTT, however a squad of 30 officers turning up to detain a person on iffy charges is never a good thing.

I can't see how they could come after the husband who has signed nothing with the bank and wouldn't have any legal obligation to the bank.

Personally I wouldn't have touched this situation with a twenty foot pole with bells on it...

Don't the Thai Embassy in London, or a regional consulate issue the equivalent of an Emergency Travel Document (or similar) which may be valid for this one journey?

I'm sure the Singaporean Authorities are not that unreasonable as to punish you for what seems like a bit of a mix up.

I just hope you can explain it clearer to them than you did to us in your OP.

Wish the "good guys in..." part would also mean a lot easier resident permit for those married ( and especially have children too) without 90 days reporting.

Sadly, 'Good Guys in' won't change a thing and doesn't mean a thing. It is just a preposterous phrase nicked from a Philippines Immigration campaign from a few years ago.

They'll still want to make us jump through hoops and 'pay to stay' as we do now. Don't think this current campaign will change anything for the better or make things any simpler as some deluded fools seem to think it may.

If anything, this is just the beginning of more difficult times or foreigners in Thailand.

If they get the 'bad guys out', this time, they'll look to lessen their workload by shifting the goalposts on the next demographic of 'expats' who they deem too troublesome.

They've already gone after 'Teachers', Retirees and Spouses, by upping the ante required to stay in the Kingdom and the documentation required for teachers.

It could well be your demographic next which is why there is so much bile on these threads aimed at over-stayers being the cause of future difficulties as people realise their own circumstances aren't as solid as they'd like to think.

The next few years could be rough for many of the smug 'good guys' posting here about their affidavits, how over-stayers have ruined everything for them, and blah, blah, blah...

Soon the only demographics of foreigners left in Thailand full time unmolested will be those gainfully employed by a Thai or multi national company (), NGO workers, diplomats or the rich but most of the wealthy seem to prefer easier pastures like the Caribbean, Spain, France the USA where they have rights and don't have to bow to the latest whims of officialdom continually etc....

Why aren't older farang ladies flocking to Thailand to enjoy all these benefits the article describes too?

They tend to go to Indonesia, Greece, Morocco, The Gambia and Jamaica for their 'groove' as the feminists call it, where blokes who come to Thailand/SEAsia are 'dirty, desperate old men'......

Fine -- you folks have a good laugh at the immigration folks. No worries. Just a civil annoyance. Big joke. The gang on ThaiVisa knows so-o-o-o much better how they should run their country than they do.

Why don't they ... Don't they realize ... If they had any common sense they would ...

I don't think anyone is laughing at Immigration officials though your cartoon is a nonsense.

The two people I knew personally on lengthy overstays both took it deadly seriously.

One, a younger guy in his late thirties, managed to clear it all up last year after getting financial assistance from his brother, cleared his 4 years, returned to the US, got a new visa, worked in the US for a few months, repaid his brother, got some money in the bank, then found a new job in Thailand and returned just before we left with no difficulties.

He was at times, in a constant state of nerves. Even the sight of a police truck or a copper coming into, or even passing, one of our locals in Bangkok (not an uncommon sight) would be enough to set the sweat seeping from his brow. Eventually he bit the bullet and got his act together.

He couldn't do anything, not check into a hotel, use the bank, take a train....not much of a life....

I don't know how your beloved cartoon guys managed to travel around so much

The other was in a bit of a mess. Little money, elderly, would suffer moments of confusion, no valid passport, 6 years over, a morbid fear of red tape and bureaucracy which is how he got into this mess in the first place.

He just managed to beat the ban by leaving on the 17th of March (if the 20th March really will be the watershed and they don't decide to move the goal posts post hoc ergo propta hoc - after the event).

Luckily for him he had us to take him to task, something, in hindsight, we should have done a long time ago.

As he had no passport we had to waste valuable time in our last few days in Thailand, we'd earmarked for other purposes, making sure he got his ETD from the Embassy as well as lend him money for a flight and the fine which his son returned to me yesterday which gives me a few bob for the Derby this afternoon now He got it all sorted OK though he did get a bit of grief at the Overstay Fine Area while he was leaving; they dithered for a long time only stamping him out thirty minutes before his flight, figuring he'd waited so long already before leaving, another hour or so wouldn't hurt

To suggest either of these two I knew, nor the many who have cleared recently according to Thai law, are/were casually sitting back puffing on Hoyos over a glasses of chilled Sancerre, sneering at Immigration is a nonsense.

For many their existences seemed pretty miserable.

I have a feeling that people on visa run buses today are going to be hassled at checkpoints before they reach the border crossing.

I believe the visa run bus operators are not accepting passengers with an overstay.

I understand (maybe wrongly) that people with overstays of more then 90 days can't clear at a land crossing and have to depart by air. Though I stand to be corrected on this point.

Youtube direct from IMMigration -- seems THEY think heretofore too many thought overstay was a big joke

Which scarcely supports your claim. This silly video which shows the 'criminals' running all over Thailand, committing various crimes doesn't mean the majority of over-stayers are scoff-laws...or are involved in criminal activities.