Tod Daniels

If he is now back in the USA. Contact the Consulate in L.A. and get a NON O (Spouse) multiple entry/ 1year. This is pretty easy and can be done via Post. No BG check or anything.

That would also be another viable option, as it’d allow the person to stay for up to 90 days at a time, then border run to get another 90 days. This type of visa would give him almost 15 months in country, and I concur, he should at least contact the thai embassy/consulate in LA to see what their requirements are.

He’d probably need copies of his thai wife’s i/d, registration of the marriage at the local amphur, and some other documentation but it could work

FWIW: you can’t get marriage visas based only on the dog-n-pony show of a thai village ceremony, it’s gotta be a registered marriage.

Good answer, and one I didn’t think about.

Dont worry too much. I dont know ANYONE who attends their language school more then 1-2 times a month. <SNIP>

The "wordz-'o-wisdom" spewed out by the poster known as "JayS" run exactly OPPOSITE from what I've seen in most private thai language schools . (FWIW; I've seen more than my fair share of both thai language schools and students of them) .

Most students I've met, actually want to learn to speak to the thais and do show up the 'posted minimum attendance' as required by the Ministry of Education to continue getting their 90 day extension paperwork from the school they attend.

True, often times when a new class starts there is a higher than normal 'attrition rate' in new enrollees at the various and sundry private thai language schools. This serves to weed out the 'wannabes' from the ones who 'really-wanna-speak-thai'. It can actually makes the class better as people are there wanting to learn versus the clock watching bunch who offer little or no participation in class.

Now, whether the people who 'wash out' continue to secure their extensions of stay; I dunno, (and would hope they couldn't). However, this being thailand, perhaps they do, although I have NO first hand knowledge of this at all.

I'm sure if you miss a lesson here or there, you're not gonna be called on it when trying to secure another extension of stay. In fact looking back at the copies the paperwork I was given back when I went the ED Visa route; no where on any of the documents does it have a time sheet, showing my attendance during the preceding 90 days. It only said that I'm still enrolled in their thai language program.

Come on man.... 4 frickin' hours a week ? You can't be that 'solidly booked' here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" to wash out on that minimal of a time investment, can you?

In fact several schools now offer 'on-line' thai classes which do still qualify for the 90 day extensions of stay, so you can learn from the comfort of your own home.

I think the biggest confusion is between visa TYPES. Securing a Non-Immigrant Type-OA (often referred to as a Long Stay Visa); the kind that is only issued in your country of origin DOES require a police background check.

That is NOT the case in when securing a Non-Immigrant Type-O visa for what ever reason, or inside thailand when getting a yearly extension of stay based either on marriage or retirement. (I mention the retirement visa as well, only because the requirements of no police check are the same, I'm aware the person in question is too young to utilize this option)

The person in question could with the proper documentation go to to a tha comsulate in S/E Asia and secure a single entry 90 day Non-Immigrant Type-O visa based on being married to a thai national. When he returns to thailand and there is about a month left on the visa he'd go to his assigned Immigrations office again with supporting documents as well as meeting the financial requirements, and could secure a yearly extension of stay.

As I said, there is NO police check required from his home country regarding the issuance of extensions of stay based either on Marriage to a thai national or on retirement. An ED visa would work too, but hed hafta be enrolled in an school registered with the Ministry of Education and take the documents the school provides to a thai consulate or embassy to secure that type of visa.

Conversely, unless I am mistaken; the person in question might also be able to go to his assigned Immigrations office here in thailand and with the correct documentation secure a 60 day stay based on 'visiting his thai spouse'.

Certainly either option is better than slogging across a land border to extend his stay by 14 days each time.

I read the O/P states this person is now in the US. One of his easiest and possibly best options is apply for and receive a double entry (or even a triple entry at some of the more lenient thai consulates) Tourist Visa. He also might be able to secure a single entry Non-Immigrant Type-O visa based on being married to a thai national, and do the extension of stay once he's back here.

There are several ways to go about this, and none of them, other than the Non-Immigrant Type-OA require a police check.

There are also more than enough Honorary Thai Consulates scattered around the US, and a few emails or phone calls should get him sorted out on his options and what will work best in his situation. FWIW: I'd avoid Washington DC, and Los Angeles but certainly try every other Honorary Thai Consulate in nearby states.

Good luck, and if you can; let us know what's what, when he returns.

As an aside; other than the glowing report of some convicted felon in the US being a great guitar player, never traveling, and getting "hot, white, killer, hot chicks in their 20's and 30's", I don't see how the post made by "My Friend Same" (a truly original moniker if there ever was one) had ANY relevance to the O/P's post, by any wild stretch of my imagination . .. The mind truly wobbles at some of the wordz-o-wisdom offered out sometimes.. ..

By "in the mean time" do you mean BEFORE you apply or AFTER you receive your '30 day pending approval stamp', as in while you're waiting the interim month to get your yearly extension of stay stamp? I'll answer under the assumption you mean the later.

Unless I am mistaken, you most likely need to purchase a re-entry permit to keep the process alive, BUT again I could be wrong.

I'm sure more illustrious thai visa pundits will weigh in on this and get your question answered.

One couldn't help but notice on the red-rabble stage at Rachaprasong, as things escalated in tempo and turned into hate filled violence inciting rhetoric; Veera was on stage less and less, spoke to the press less and less, and finally disappeared altogether a coupla weeks before the dispersal.

Whack-job Weng kept giving excuses for him, saying he was sick, etc. However it was clearly apparent he was sidelined by the firebrands in the red leadership due to his conciliatory nature in solving some very valid issues and problem(s) the reds were protesting about by working WITH the government instead of forcing the governments’ hand in the matter like the redz ultimately did. (We all know how well that worked out for the red rabble don't we?)

Veera was certainly the most moderate of the red-rabble leaders, and was instrumental in putting together the red leaders and the government on television garnering nationwide coverage, no small feat in itself.

He's a sly old political dog, and I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of him. He’s definitely a survivor. I also read somewhere that he’s done time (nearly 2 years, I believe before being pardoned) for a lese majeste charge as well. It would appear he's not afraid to speak his mind about anything.

I'm glad he's out, and FWIW; he was a FAR more an engaging person to chat with than whack-job Weng, or Jatuporn ever was.

I often wonder what ever happened to the other red-rabble leaders; the ones who 'escaped' during the dispersal at Rachaprasong. Weren't there 3 of them? Arisman, Suporn (maybe), and some d/j from a red radio station? My memory fails me on this. I also thought they offered a reward for info leading to their capture. Guess the ones on the run can offer bigger incentives to have people keep quiet.

"Sorry to cut your post apart, BUT you asked THREE different questions about ‘a person’s particular situation'"

Is there now a limit on the number of questions that can be asked? I must have missed that notification.

Nope, I checked, and you didn't MISS the notification sent out limiting questions in a thread on T/V, although you didn’t RSVP that you received it .

Perhaps I should have said; “I broke the post down into the individual questions asked.”

Sorry about your misunderstanding in reading my post.

FWIW: Your first answer before you edited your post was not at all in line with the O/P's question(s), and even your follow up didn't address the questions he asked per se.

He specifically asked WHAT IF questions; like if he was red stamped in Vientiane on a previous trip. That red stamp basically says 'you've been here too many times, and we may NOT give you another Tourist Visa when you come back'.

Even on the T/V forum, hard facts about this are thin on the ground. Few people have wanted to try getting another Tourist Visa in Lao PDR once they got the dreaded ‘red-stamp’ there. They just use other embassies/consulates in the region, (as you so succinctly pointed out ).

He wanted to know about a situation where he was denied another Tourist Visa forcing him to return to thailand visa-less, the ability to repeatedly cross into another country and garner a 15 day visa exempt stamps, and if he actually had to go into Lao PDR before returning.

I'm fairly sure the O/P knows Tourist Visas are free at the moment too, as there are several open threads on T/V concerning it, but I could be wrong.

Then again, he was asking for a ‘particular person’, so maybe not even for himself.

This is a good example of why threads sometimes go waaaayy off topic so quickly.

I concur with your post. .. But with the caveat that things are not always what they seem to be on the surface. Now that statement could be as true in (fill in the country of your choice) as it is in what I refer to as the glorious "Land 'O Thais".

Sometimes it takes a while for the 'rose-colored glasses' to come off, and for foreigners who live here to see that this is just another country; full of people both good and bad, nothing more nothing less.

I think a LOT hasta do with the HUGE language barrier. That fact in and of itself forces people who can't speak thai to congregate in certain areas in the country. Areas which by a large degree aren't really a good representation of the country as a whole. This tends to isolate them from thailand the country, often times giving them more than a skewed perspective on things .

I still consider myself a 'newbie' here, yet I passed my 5th year anniversary some time ago.

While my penchant for what is known on the forum as; 'thai-bashing' is certainly no secret, if the truth were to be told; I have FAR more thai friends than I do foreign ones.

Granted, some of the things that thais do, I still find hard to wrap my mind around, but last time I checked, this is their country so I try to 'suck it up' and take it in stride as best I can .

It's the same when I meet foreigners, I try to deal with what ever 'take' they happen to have on thailand. As long as it doesn't impact me or my life, I don't care one way or the other . ..

Good post. ..

I sincerely hope it doesn't get derailed by 'experts' on all thingz thai, of which I am most definitely NOT . ..

Todd and Bhoydy, thank you for your kind words regarding my translation.

Regarding the quality of the handwriting, I don't think it's particularly bad. At least, I've seen much worse!

You could probably say that about any language, though, really. <SNIP>

That could possibly be due to the fact that at least english (and maybe more languages) have a 'cursive' font (one that we all learn in school), as well as a printed one. I can sign my name in cursive, but that's about it (unless I want my handwriting to look like someone in 3rd grade ); for everything else I print (yeah, I know a tough slog for taking notes in class ).

Thai has no upper/lower case, no cursive, only one style; errr thai (I think ).

I can read stylized thai fonts commonly used in advertising MUCH easier than I could read this handwritten thai .

By stylized, I mean when "ร" looks like an "S" in engrish, "ค" looks like a traditional thai "ก", and the "P's"; พ,ผ, and Fs; ฟ,ฝ are virtually indistinguishable from one another except for a TINY line inside or outside of the letter itself. ..

Certainly very good reading practice; especially if as Peppy says, this wasnt a particularly bad representation of handwritten thai.

Sorry to cut your post apart, BUT you asked THREE different questions about a persons particular situation' . ..

Question #1: "Can he then enter Thailand at Nong Khai and get 15 days?"

Answer; YES, land border crossings depending on your nationality will give 'him' a visa exempt stamp for 15 days (really 14 cause when you enter, its counted as a day) .

Question #2: "Can he keep going over and getting 15 days more?"

Answer; In theory, YES, in reality who knows? Im sure therere people who live close to a neighboring country with thailand who do this.

Question #3: "Do you have to have a Lao visa to just cross the bridge and get your 15days and come right back?"

Answer; YES . You gotta go into PDR Lao, get their visa, get their entry/exit stamp and THEN you can come back.

FWIW: You must be stamped out of thailand and INTO/OUTTA another country. You can't just cross the bridge half way, turn around and come back.

You would have NO entry/exit stamp from another country, meaning; even though you were stamped outta thailand, you didn't go anywhere else.

Sorry dude; you're far from the first person who asked this question on the T/V forum. But it IS a valid question (especially given the price of a visa to PDR Lao (&lt;deleted&gt; is it with their prices? Is it a day pass at Disney Land or what? )

Last time I checked (which I do quite often) The rules say; after youre stamped out of here, you gotta enter and exit another country FIRST before comin back to the glorious Land O Thais. ..

To the poster known as Peppy;

Man, that was some in-fricking-credible reading and back translating of what was for me some really tough to read handwritten thai.

Even after I saved the pix on my p/c, rotated them and blew them up so I could read the script, AND knew the subject from the O/Ps initial post; I couldn't make out more than about 60-70% of the words. Most of them were by context or placement in the sentences rather than actual word recognition.

FWIW: At least to me, handwritten thai is a tough row to hoe, even when a thai takes the time to attempt writing clearly . I find it interesting how much a thai character can morph in style from the way its written in a typed font into handwritten thai yet still be totally understandable to almost any thai reading it .

If in fact the translation is correct (which I have no reason to doubt all that much, if any ..); I will hereafter humbly doff my cap and tug my forelock as you pass by, marveling at your ability in reading (and back translating) these two letters.

Id like to hear responses from the other thai language pundits, as I think these letters are a good examples and therefore good practice in reading handwritten thai.

Just one (tongue in cheek) question; Peppy, your not the author of these letters are you?

Tod, sorry, but I find this below an uncharacteristically senseless comment... <SNIP>

You are completely correct, in that was a flippant remark . (Although given my posting penchants I don't know how uncharacteristically senseless it was ) ..

I sincerely apologize (yeah, I know I’m so rarely sincere, how would anyone know, but take my word for it! ).

Actually, if the truth were to be told (which it is as I'm telling you now ) I tried to go back and edit that outta my post, but alas my 'time had expired'. I was in the middle of another post at the time, and was gonna write a mod to delete it, but it slipped my mind. BTW: I sent a P/M to the mods already

FWIW: I too hate the abysmal interest rates given for money in a standard savings account here. ..

Again, sorry to ruffle any feathers.

Well, at least it seems the O/P is back on the path to getting this resolved, and his quest for a year long extension of stay based on retirement seems to be coming to fruition, albeit slowly .

So now you have a 90 Day Single Entry Type-O visa and, like the Immigrations Officer told you; when there's about a month left on it, you return to Immigrations, pay the 1900 baht fee and receive a yearly extension of stay based on retirement.

While the last thing I wanna do is further muddy the proverbial waters ; one thing NOT to forget is; IF you hafta leave the country between now and when you return to Immigrations in another two months, get a re-entry permit!

Also realize; if you do purchase a re-entry permit BEFORE you get your yearly extension of stay, the re-entry permit will expire the same time your current 90 day Non-O visa will. Re-entry permits are tied to your current ‘permitted to stay until’ stamp.

In other words, if you don't need to leave the country before you go to Immigrations in two more months, don't purchase a re-entry permit. Perhaps AFTER you get your yearly extension of stay it might be a good idea to get one, especially given your saga in dealing with them . Even a single re-entry purchased after your yearly extension will be good during the whole year your extension’s good for.

The only reason I'm mentioning re-entry permits are; you certainly had to jump thru some proverbial hoops to get things back on track, and you don't need to derail things at this stage in the process.

I know an 'acquaintance' who did virtually the same thing at Changwattana here in Bangkok, not too long ago. He went from a 60 day tourist visa to a Single Entry 90 Day Non-Immigrant Type-O, and was told by Immigrations, to return to Changwattana when there were 30 days remaining and to apply for his yearly extension of stay.

What he neglected to tell me was; he planned on traveling outta the country during the interim. As he didn't bother to purchase a re-entry permit when we were at Changwattana; his 90 day single entry Non-O was canceled when he exited the country. So when he arrived back here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" he came in 'visa-less' . .. He got the 30 day visa exempt stamp on arrival which compelled him to start the frickin' process all over.

Although FWIW: when I accompanied him out to Changwattana again; they simply did the 2000 baht Non-O and the 1900 baht yearly extension in one felled swoop. He also got a re-entry permit at that time.

It's sometimes a crap shoot on if they'll do both steps right outta the gate or make it a ‘two step process’. I've yet to find a rhyme or reason for why some Immigrations Officers will do it all at once and some won't. Then again, I try to never look for logic where there is none to be found.

Let's hear from you in another 60 days and see if it all works out. Given what you've been thru I sincerely hope it does. ..

Oh GREAT, good to see, this thread about what I like to call; "the 'F' word" has still refused to die a slow death as it should have LONG ago .

A quick search lead to post after post about this same mundane topic .

I believe its right up there with other mind-numbing topics like; how much salary to pay my thai girlfriend? , or; how much sin-sod should I give my previously married, totally uneducated thai wife-to-b from Nakhon Nowhere with 3 thai kids by 2 different thai fathers? , and the ever popular; how much salary do I give my thai girlfriends family to live on each month? . The mind sometimes wobbles at the fact that these topics are resurrected time and again yet still get hundreds of responses..

But I digress, so without further ado;

BACK ON TOPIC:

Context context context IMHO

<SNIP>

You really need to see the whole picture and understand the surrounding words in the sentence using "farang" to understand if its being used derogatory or not.

I concur with the quoted post made by the poster known as "sanook2me": it's the context ALONE in which the word is used; nothing more, nothing less.

(I will offer out, in places where long nosed, white skinned foreigners are thin on the ground, its mostly an innocuous observational comment. Conversely where foreigners are thick as ticks on a dogs back, it can and quite often does carry quite a different meaning! )

Only by understanding the word in spoken context could a foreigner discern if a thai is painting you as not thai with "a very broad brush" with this word, or if it's meant in a disparaging and/or derogatory way.

FWIW: Here's a "Mock-u-mentary" posted on You Tube which should clear up any questions you have about the word;

Sadly, when in doubt about the engrish translation of ANY thai regulation or police order, (or even an official looking piece of paper) it always behooves a person to resort back to the original version written in thai. (I know not too much of a help if you can’t read thai, or don’t happen have a fluent engrish/thai speaking thai national hanging about!! )

The visa rules and regs published by Sunbelt Asia are pretty close to the mark. However back translating thai into cohesive and clearly understood engrish is ambiguous at the best of times, and down right confusing at the worst .

While more than slightly off topic (still of interest):

I remember a post a while back about a foreigner adamant that for his extension of stay based on marriage to a thai that no where in the engrish translation did it say specifically the money had to be in his account alone. It was tossed around on the T/V forum for days. I finally 'parsed' out the engrish translation of the thai word by word. Where it clearly (at least in thai eyes) said it had to be in his account alone (not a joint account).

BACK ON TOPIC:

Hull's wording does seem to be rather murky ; BUT once you understand that Visas and Work Permits are implemented by totally DIFFERENT governmental departments in thailand, it becomes a little less hazy . Hull doesn't issue work permits, just visas. The burden then falls on the applicant of said visa to meet the stated requirements as far as a work permit to "work" here.

And yes, in case you haven’t noticed; the thai definition of "work" is a very broad all encompassing term.

Perhaps even flushing the toilet after you use it could be interpreted as 'work' and thereby requiring a the 'flushee' (or would that be the 'flush-er' ) to have a work permit . It may in fact, even be on the "prohibited list of occupations" which are reserved ONLY for thai nationals and which foreigners cannot even be gainfully employed in here in thailand.

Consider yourself warned next time you flush !!

BTW: GREAT Avatar!! KISS still rocks, even after 35 PLUS years. ..

Ok Tod I don't want to get into a big argument here and perhaps I miscommunicated.<SNIP>

I don't want to argue either and apologize for my very blunt, condescending and acerbic posting style which, more times than not, comes across a little harsh...

Perhaps I lashed out at your post more out of honest to goodness envy than for any other reason.

The toning of words in my spoken thai is terrible, (well not too bad with frequently spoken words carry either the rising or falling tone); but bad enough to make my thai language teacher friends shake their heads when I speak. Even though, I've found once a thai knows how my obviously foreign accented thai sounds, and I've interacted with them a while, they have no problem understanding my off-toned words.

Early on I tried to learn the 'tone rules', and I mean really tried, spent hours studying the rules, had charts, etc. But, for some reason they just never stuck inside my head.

Other than garnering the meaning of a spoken word via context or seeing the word written out and gleaning the meaning from rote memorization, I couldn't tell you the tone of an unfamiliar thai word with any degree of accuracy. (Unless that word happened to be spelled with ไม้จัตวา ). .

I admire your efforts and the progress you've made in a part of the thai language (recognizing tones from written words). This particular quandary can and does throw foreigners 'off-script' much more so than bad thai sentence structure. It's right up there with a foreigner drawing out the pronunciation of a thai word like we do in engrish so someone can understand it easier. Sadly in thai, changing vowel length is nearly the same as changing the tone of a word; again, you run amuck quite quickly .

Again; I meant no personal disrespect, and give you "two thumbs up" in both your effort and your ability.

I wonder just how many MILLIONS of baht they poured into this insightful 'study' ?

Anyone who's spent 10 minutes in ANY public thai school could come to the same mind-numbing conclusion that the thai education system is out-dated, and woefully inadequate in today’s day and age, especially for a reputedly ‘developing third world country’. You could come to this conclusion even if you didn't speak or understand a single word in thai . You need only observe the format for teaching, the lack of in-class interaction and the lackadaisical way subjects are taught here.

Sometimes these studies (of which it appears there are no shortage of here in the ‘glorious Land ‘O Thais”) seem to be more about a Department of this or Ministry of that getting to spend their budget; as opposed to actually solving any of the problems they turn up with these incredibly important 'studies'.

I especially loved how the article quoted Dr. Benjaluck Namfa the "Director" of the "Bureau of Academic Affairs and Education Standard" as recommending; "authorities (should) compile information relative to the matter, analyze why students under-perform, and come up with long-term solutions."

So in other words, except for finding and pointing out that some 3rd grade students had difficulties, she offered NOTHING in the way of even a rudimentary solution or fix for the problem... .

At least she had the balls (albeit, small ones ) to say the students were not solely the cause of the problem. (WOW, she went way out on the proverbial limb with that statement!)

Even someone without the illustrious letters; PhD in front of their name might think it could be the teachers, the antiquated learn by rote methodology, or some other factor instead of blaming the students.

The mind wobbles.

In looking at statistics which thailand posts about its literacy rate (one of the highest in the world, far ahead of the US, UK); I’m sure glad thailand has its own version of the United States’ “No Child Left Behind” education initiative. It’s called, “no child EVER fails thai language in thailand.”, also known as ‘every child passes thai language, even the ones that fail”. ..

Dear readers, you are missing the point completely.

It is NOT the TEMPLE GROUNDS which are in dispute; no matter what ANY thai says about it . THE ICJ decided that issue way back in 1962. .. All the bluster, mouthing off, and rabid nationalistic rhetoric isn’t gonna change that in the least.

It’s that 4.6 square kilometer piece of b/s land which both countries lay claim to and which thailand was afraid Cambodia would ‘include’ in their management plan of the UNESCO site, thereby ‘encroaching’ on thai sovereignty. Until they hash out the border there; something that hasn’t been done since the ICJ decision, (so both countries have only screwed around with this issued for 48 frickin’ years!!) this problem will not go away.

This temple hot-potato topic (really a NOT potato topic, or much ado about nothing!!) is resurrected every once in a while, usually as a smoke screen to take focus away from more pressing internal issues facing thailand. After all these are some ultra nationalistic people, fiercely protective of their lands. Plus it plays well in the news. It’s a well known fact; thailand has a less than friendly attitude with most of the countries they share land borders with.

The quote in the article which says it all is this one;

“The Joint Boundary Committee of the two countries is now in the process of negotiating the boundary demarcation but its work has made little progress.”

That hasta be the understatement of the frickin’ century, as I don’t believe they’ve delineated even a single meter of that disputed land.

Oh well, another year that thailand will act like spoiled children and keep the access to the Preah Vihear Temple Complex closed from the thai side, losing income, and strangling out the people who were lining the road to sell food, drinks, etc as people went thru the National Park in Sisaket to get to the temple.

Way to go thailand, you showed ‘em. ..NOT

Wish it was the same here in Chiang Mai as Immigration always seem to be in total disarray when renewing l year stay of extention. Maybe worth a drive to Nahkon Sawan

Unless I am mistaken (which I could be ); since the Thai Immigrations implemented the program which I call "Zone Specific Immigrations"; foreigners must go to the Immigrations Office in the 'zone' where they live for change of visa status, extensions of stay, re-entry permitz, etc. Example; you live in Chiang Mai or the zone which is serviced by Thai Immigrations in Chiang Mai and that's where you go. In other words, you can’t pick and choose which Immigrations office you go to for your needs. It’s based on where your address is.

At Changwattana here in Bangkok; they have a big color-coded map on the wall showing how the country is divided into 'zones'.

It is heartening to hear that the immigrations offices are dialing in their efficiency. I think a lot of it had to do with the newer offices whose staff wasn’t really trained with any degree of consistency.

I still read posts about difficulties in dealing with a particularly pissy immigrations officer at some locations. We can only hope as time progresses they too will begin to 'see the light', and operate in a more straightforward manner.

All this rampant nationalism over a management plan to a temple which was decided back in 1962 belongs to Cambodia? A management plan I might add that thailand hasn't even laid eyes on, nor requested an 'advance copy' before showing up with their pissy attitude, their bluster and bluff?

I love the quote by 'Mark';

"We think the World Heritage Committee should not consider this plan until Thailand and Cambodia have agreed on the demarcation line."

In the time since Preah Vihear was designated a WHS in 2008, I don’t think even a single square meter of land has been hashed out by the two countries. In fact I don't believe the Joint Demarcation Committee members on either side even met with one another .

This entire pissing match is about 4.6 kilometers of economically unviable and nearly totally worthless, rocky 'scrub' land.

Not to mention thailand has closed their access to the temple site which was a former cash cow for the national park up in Sisaket as the access road to the temple site from the thai side runs thru it; letting thailand charge tourists to pass thru.

I think thailand shot themselves in the foot on all this posturing and rabid nationalistic rhetoric.

I totally concur with the synopsis given by "Just1Voice" about how this sour grapes attitude on thailand's part came about. OLD NEWS.. In fact a country can appeal an ICJ decision IF they can provide compelling new evidence. I think the statute of limitations on filing an appeal is 10 years. In that time thailand didn't supply even a single piece of 'new evidence'.

I also remember going to the FCCT and listening to a thai guy talk about Phra Vihear a coupla years ago when it was listed as a WHS. He rambled on about how the ICJ's decision wasn't unanimous, and therefore somehow 'didn't count'. He even had a booklet made up of the judges comments who didn't vote for decision, yet conveniently left out any of the judges comments who did vote for it.

BTW: 'asiawatcher' the reason UNESCO is involved is once a location is listed as a World Heritage Site the country in which it resides hasta follow UNESCO rules about it's management, including filing a plan for the management. What UNESCO is not involved in is this pissing match between Cambodia and thailand over the 'disputed' land.

I also whole heartedly agree with other illustrious posters in the fact that the poster known as "Piengrudee"; (the ‘nearly 100 post’ new resident expert on all things thai) has some skewed ideas about thai history and in their posting penchants overall. Not to mention some very marginal engrish skills. Probably some old, bald, beer bellied, fat foreigner who ripped the avatar pic off the internet and is tryin’ to type ‘thai-speak’.

My advice; DON'T FEED THE TROLL. .. ..

“Jingthing”; I really don’t know the answer to that question. .. I wish I could tell you one way or the other.. BUT, until I have an ‘acquaintance’ who meets those requirements as in 10K in an thai bank and 790K with an income verification statement from his embassy, I honestly don’t know the answer. Sorry … (I'm not too proud to say I don't have a frickin' clue ..

As an aside (to everyone NOT from the United States) :

Actually it is quite sad that the American Embassy only asks you “pinky swear” or for you US people; to say “Scouts Honor” before they notarize that B/S piece of paper, which the thai immigrations takes without a single question ever being asked. ..

I recently saw “how many hoops”, an ‘acquaintance’ from the UK (as well as one from OZ) had to “jump thru” to get a piece of paper which looked the frickin’ same as the piece of paper from the US, only he got it from his embassy so it had UK (or AUS) letterhead at the top!! He needed bank statements, pension letters, etc.. .

It was totally pathetic, labor intensive and very troublesome for him, (ahh, not so much for me ).

I wish the US Embassy vetted the income verification statements much better than they do now , (and FWIW; I’m American!!).

In all reality, the paper from the US is a total “crock of shit”, and certainly NOT worth the paper it's printed on (even at $50US) !!

((off topic remark removed per OP request - lopburi3))

As an aside to "Jingthing": If you know someone in the Bangkok area who can use Changwattana and has just a little bit of money in a thai bank BUT has the income verification statement from their embassy, send me a P/M. I go to Changwattana a coupla times a week. Let's see if it worx, that's the ONLY way we'll know where their "cut off" is as far as $$ in the bank. I'm out nothing for tryin' it, except time. And seeing as I do abos-tively poso-lutely nothing every day except study the thai language, err I'm out nothing.. .

I concur with the poster known as “jfchandler”;

Very FEW if any ‘acquaintances’ of mine have EVER used the combination method of income verification for an extension of stay based on retirement.

Either they have sufficient funds in a thai bank, or they go the “embassy income statement” route. Rarely (as in over 250 ‘acquaintances’) yet only 3-5 people have I seen use the ‘combo route’ (as I call it). ..

Although FWIW: Changwattana knows about the “combination of funds dealy” and there’s never been a problem with my ‘acquaintances’ there before…

And NOT to disagree with “jfchandler”, as that poster is far wiser than I am in “all thingz thai”. ..

BUT; we are about as far from “guests” in this frickin’ country as you could throw a stick!!

I pay my own way, I ask NOTHING from this place, and that is NOT a guest, no matter how you ‘spin’ it!!!

To AmericanInExile youve got SIX frickin posts, and joined in FEB of 2010; but now youre a goddamn thai visa expert??

Now unless youve been here a LONG time on other visas; I think youre WAY outta your league here.

To answer the poster known as Jingthing (which I can only decipher as the real thing) . ..

I recently had an acquaintance that had only 10,000 baht in his thai bank account but had a letter from his embassy that said he had a pension of 790Kbaht a year.

FWIW: Thai Immigrations at Changwattana took it without a question, and gave him an extension of stay for a year based on retirement without any 'seasoning' of his money.

I have never taken an acquaintance out to Changwattana with only 1000 baht in a thai bank and a letter from their embassy with the difference and tried to push it thru, but believe me, when I do I will post it here..

P/S: to the poster known as "AmericanInExile". .. DON'T type frickin' thai words using engrish!! That is actually retarded!! There is NO standardized way to sa-pell thai in engrish; เข้าใจไหม (In Thai-engrish it is "DO YOU UNDER-SA-TAND???)

FWIW: you’re gonna be hard pressed to find ANY thai newspaper which doesn’t show MANY policemen standing around, ALL pointing at the (obviously) dead body (even if the brains scattered on the ground are blurred out).

That’s just thai news. ..

My advice; suck it up & deal with it, don't look at the pictures if they distress you, read the articles. ..

I was hopeless with tones too, the problem for me was that every method I attempted only served to confuse me more.<SNIP>

Sadly, just reading a thai word and knowing the tone will NOT give you the frickin' definition of the word.

True, you might be able to clearly ask a thai what the word means, but, other than that, learning the tones to read thai is IMHO; as "worthless as tits on a bull".

I can read, understand, and back translate into engrish almost everything I read in thai, yet my tones in spoken thai border on being abysmal.

How can I read thai, without knowing the tones? Because reading thai is done by ROTE. You learn how a word is spelled in thai, you learn to recognize that word when you see it, and you learn to know what it's meaning is in your native language . It's not rocket science here, we're not decoding the human genome. (I will admit though that compound thai words whose individual meanings do NOT equal the meaning when combined, do throw me for a loop. ..)

I've met way too many foreigners who are what I call; "thai tone smart" but "thai word stupid" . I'd prefer to know the meaning of a word when I see it written, rather than know how to say it in perfectly enunciated thai. But that's just me, so don't take it personally.

At least in my book; speaking thai clearly, and reading thai for comprehension are "horses of a different color" (Note; your book may, and probably does differ ).. .

And FWIW: I looked at "hi-speed thai" and thought it bit the big one; especially at their ridiculous price. Sheesh, a person could by a bookshelf FULL of great books on how to learn the thai language for the price they charge. ..

But I digress. What ever floats your boat is fine. .. ... After all we're just trying to communicate with these people (the thais) in their language.. ..

Sorry no editing, it was dust on the p/c screen

Actually the remaining money doesn't even need to be in a thai bank. You ONLY need the letter from your embassy stating you have the difference in income from your country. That is totally okay.

As an example:

I had an 'acquaintance' who had 600K baht in a thai bank account and got a letter from his embassy which said he had an additional 200K baht in income from his country.

Even thought that money wasn't here; (here, as in inside thailand), it flew thru with NO 'seasoning clause', and more importantly it flew thru with NO questions from the Immigration Officials at Changwattana as it met the minimum requirement for retirement 800K baht.