buick

i had to show funds for a visa exempt entry in july 2021. so i'd assume there is a show funds requirement for an SETV. if you have to show a hotel booking, you could try booking a hotel reservation and then cancel it after you've recvd the SETV. it is pretty easy to find bookings that can be canceled for no charge. the proof of flight is likely a requirement so that'll be the tough part. which flight does one book for the departure/throwaway ticket. you could always buy a roundtrip but change departure date once you've arrived in thailand. it might cost extra money but might be worth it in this case. if the fare stays the same, might have to pay only a change fee. those aren't real high. while you are here on your 90 day stay (SETV plus ext), you will learn more on the situation ahead of you. if border runs or flights aren't really easy to do, just go on home instead. edit: i came in visa exempt so i had to show a return ticket within 45 days of arrival, i think that is now back to 30 days. but i got lucky, asiana canceled my departure flight before i did the rebooking. so i was able to change it to next year with no fee, no increase in fare. the fee was going to be $200 which i was okay with but if it is free, i'll take it.

i'm glad you found some decent food. when CW first opened, there wasn't much in there. it has definitely got alot better over the years. i got along just fine until it was time to go into the L section. got a little too crowded at that point. they were limiting access to the area to those who were within 10 numbers, so i went in when 104 hit (i had 114). next year i'll try doing the extension early in the month. see if it works out better.

this was the first person i saw, the 'document checker'. maybe she was new. my balance in the foreign currency account just sits there. not alot of activity.

i arrived in july visa exempt and then changed to non O at CW in august. not asked for any type of insurance.

i went to CW on wednesday to do my non o extension (retirement) using 800k equivalent in a foreign currency account at bangkok bank. on tuesday, i went to bangkok bank and got the bank letter. on wednesday, i stopped in the bangkok bank branch at CW and had my bank book updated as they seem to want the bank book update to be same day as your visit. when i arrived i knew it was going to be a long day, the lobby area was very crowded, it was about 9am. i went down and did the copying and bank book update and got a queue ticket at 9:15. i was number 114. i always arrive about that same time and i usually get somewhere btwn 50 and 70. i wasn't done until 2:30pm. didn't get into the L section area until after the lunch break. i think there was a holiday on friday last week. i figured i'd be safe going 3 days later. not sure what happened. i've made the mistake of going after a holiday before, that was for tourist visa extension. i was at CW changing my visa exempt to a non o in early august and the place was a ghost town. i walked by the L desk a couple times and was shocked how empty it was. so i was expecting minimal crowds. keep a close eye on those holiday dates, they really can add a few hours to your visit. i was not asked for a TM30 or a lease. just the usual forms, passport, bank book and i had to draw a map of where i lived. they did mention something about a bank statement but i said 'what ?', and then the lady went to check with someone else and that request was withdrawn.

i got mine at the seattle airport, i was flying asiana SEA-ICN-BKK in july this year. my flight left on a wed about 2pm and i made an appt for 2pm on mon, roughly 48 hrs before departure. the results of the test were ready about an hour after the test. i waited at the airport to get the results. appointments were available and recommended. they also had walk up service but that line was fairly long and the appt line had priority over them. alot of the walk up service folks had flights out that same day and were stressing alot about missing their flights. i can't remember the name of the company doing the testing but they operate testing centers at many of the major airports in the US. it was $250. i assume you can use google to find out about testing info at the airport you are using. i figured doing the test at the airport was best as they'd surely provide the proper 'papers' needed to check in with the airlines. i wasn't as confident with an offsite tester.

it is my understanding that mixing the ladyboys, post ops, etc.. with the 'normal' girls is no longer tolerated by the customers. i would say this was somewhat widespread many years ago, however in more current times, the two groups have been kept separate. as an example, on soi cowboy, there are/were two go gos with ladyboys, post ops, etc... the rest of the places were 99% 'normal' girls. i'm talking about places like crazy house, baccara, shark, lighthouse. dollhouse, suzy wong, etc... same is true for nana plaza, i'd guess there are/were 6 places there with all lady boy, post op, etc... so if i were to estimate the percentage, for cowboy, i'd say there are about 8 legit go gos there (not counting deja vu, sahara, kiss, etc..) so it would be 20%, 2 ladyboy and 8 normal. the ratio is higher at nana. maybe 12 legit go gos and then 6 for ladyboys. so call it 1/3 there. and i will say there may have been a 'mix bar' in nana, i saw some interesting 'suspects' walking into a place while i was on the patio of rainbow 1 (R1 is/was not a mix). but they may have been staff rather than dancers.

this is definitely a tough one. i believe there is a limit to the number of land border entries per year so he can't be shown to have used land borders to stay current until covid hit and then be on covid extensions. i'm fairly sure it is easier to get back dated land border stamps than those provided at airports. that said, i do believe the various officials are hurting for cash these days so that might be a positive in this case. money does solve alot of problems here in the kingdom (and many other countries as well !!!).

i can file a report on dmk-buriram-dmk on nok air. traveled over this past weekend. vaccination proof required at dmk to fly to buriram. i showed the proof i had from a USA vaccination, the CDC card. nothing extra is required to fly buriram to dmk, only passport like pre-covid days. also no testing done at arrival in buriram. just a temp check. they did not look at vax card upon arrival.

i spent nine months of 07 and 08 in phuket (i skipped peak rainy season aug/sept/oct). i lived i patong, i was single, i had fun. for a couple, staying approx four months, i'd suggest kata. you'll have some decent restaurants there plus two beaches, kata and kata noi. and can journey to nai hairn fairly quickly. i thought nai hairn was the best beach in phuket. i grew up on the beach and was always fond of the cove style beaches, not the long stretches. back then, nai hairn seemed a little isolated. maybe there is more around there now. i didn't like having to ride a moto or take tuk tuks to get places. preferred being able to walk most places. i think you can do that in kata. in patong, i found a generally reliable driver that used to take me outside patong a few times a week (golf courses, beaches, etc..).

my ext expires on 31 and one year they put 21 instead. i didn't notice until a few weeks later. i went to get a re-rentry permit and they noticed the error. they took me over to the L desk at CW in BKK (for retirement and marriage extensions) and had them correct it. back to 31. i assume they'll correct it when you go in for your extension.

what airline did you fly ? and what did you need ? proof of vaccination ? negative covid test ?

with indonesia posting a sub 100 death number (per a chart in this thread), that suggests we might see a 25 number here in thailand (adjusting for population) in the not too distant future. indonesia was peaking a couple weeks before thailand (mid august versus late august). not all death charts are the same but most of the charts for southeast asia look similar, indonesia, thailand, vietnam, and malaysia. philippines is an outlier, an odd pattern. but the drop off in the death numbers on the way down is typically as steep as the rise in deaths was so the fall can be surprisingly fast. hope we follow indonesia and see 25 in two weeks.

just as a data point, i took a car service to buriram from bkk on the 17th of sept. passed through one checkpoint and was not stopped. i did do a RT-PCR test in bkk before i left in case i was asked along the way. i stayed in a hotel in buriram and they required proof of vaccination (double vaxxed). i flew back, buriram to bkk, with nok air. there were zero extra requirements for that flight. so i think headed to bkk via air is fairly straightforward. as one member noted, it is going back that could be tricky.

i'm glad to see that thailand is loading up on vaccines and planning for booster shots, etc... i saw a segment on CNBC business news last night and it sounds like a therapeutic/oral pill is not too far away. so maybe the thought of endless booster shots will go away as these oral pills come into play. from the link: Pfizer said in July if the PF-07321332 trial was successful, it would file for a potential emergency use authorization in the fourth quarter. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-starts-dosing-patients-oral-covid-19-drug-trial-2021-09-01/ and some others are trying also: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-19-pill-developers-aim-top-merck-pfizer-efforts-2021-09-28/ maybe a pill will be available sometime next year.

it is interesting how there are complaints that the case figures can't be relied up and then each and every day those same complainers rely on the case figures to assess the covid situation in the country.

i didn't see anything resembling a 'celebration' in the post you quoted. i also didn't see a reference to 'only 100'. it seems you added alot of drama to a post that didn't have any. the informational posts here are alot more helpful than those adding the 'drama'.

the virus has hit different countries at different times. i understand it has recently hit thailand. so naturally they have a higher death number over the last couple months than a country (UK) that has been completely engulfed by the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. it makes perfect sense. i fully accept that thailand has had more deaths than the UK recently. not ignoring it all. i'll say it one last time and be done with it, i'm not buying this 'the UK is doing such a great job' topic that comes across this forum on a daily basis. and by the way, i am pro UK. so nothing against the people from the UK. i think the people of the UK are fantastic.

i am not mixing anything. it is real simple. the pandemic started in march 2020, the first case outside of china was in thailand !! now it is 18 months later and i'm comparing the deaths in thailand to the UK, USA, etc... for some reason the UK covid mgmt keeps get touted here and i'm saying they failed. certainly more than thailand did based on the deaths during THE pandemic. several (most ?) on this board are the folks that are doing the mixing.

on a deaths per capita measure, the one that really counts, thailand has still not broken the top 75 and the UK is in the top 25. this is for THE pandemic.

why would we do that ? it isn't a new pandemic. you just make that up. and then tout the UK ? that is like saying a sports team down 5-0 in the first half and loses 5-2 had a great game as you only look at the second half. i'm not buying what you are selling. people criticize thailand for 'managing' the numbers in their favor, you are are doing the same thing.

i see the UK's 'covid mgmt' touted on here quite often. and i understand there are some positives. but when someone says something postive about sweden, it is immediately discounted by using the deaths per capita as an argument. said another way, everything was done wrong in sweden because of the death rate. i realize that is a bit of a generalization. but to make the point, isn't the same true of the UK ? and the USA for that matter ? they have a worse death rate than sweden why would we heap praise upon their actions ? sure there are a few positives, but the bottom line is alot of people died and they don't seem worthy of being presented to us as a 'model' of how to do things. edit: and let me add this, a govt can only do so much. alot of the 'results' come from the population. how do the people react, conduct themselves, etc... i don't think certain countries populations get enough credit,. govt's can make rules but often they aren't followed (i know the USA was like that).

i think that comment is a bit over the top. the thai's don't have a massive testing program, we all know that. but what they do have is sufficient to know whether someone has died from covid or not. i'm going to assume that most die in the hospital where they are being treated for covid. maybe the thais under count the deaths a bit, but it has nothing to do with their testing program.

that is interesting. i was very late to the smartphone market, got a used iphone 4 from a friend for free. around 2015 or so. a couple yrs later i had to get a newer phone as the LINE app was no longer supported on the iphone 4. looks like whatsapp kept the support alot longer than line.

yes, that's right, my 125 number was for the day. the others were the 7 day average.