buick

there was a recent report of someone opening an account at bangkok bank's branch at siam paragon.  as i recall, it was passport and tourist visa only.  no rental agreement, no embassy letter.

i had some friends in town a few months ago and i saw the retroasis on agoda at a reasonable rate (less than 1600thb for sure).  my friends chose a different hotel (suites 41 on sukhumvit soi 41) but i think retroasis is worth a try.  i've only walked by and seen pictures on the internet.  please report back if that is the one you choose.  i think many of the lower price range hotels have a 'dipping pool' on the roof.  not a real pool where you lounge around for an hour or two with beer and food, etc...  but it appears that retroasis has a legit pool and lounging area.

as others have said, once the new queue system was put in place, the wait times for a taxi on the arrivals level is not long at all.  i usually get the ticket and walk to the taxi.  no wait.  in years past, i always went to departure level to get a taxi to avoid lines under the old system at arrivals.  it wasn't to save the 50thb. 

these people were going to pattaya so i think that is the reason they went to departure level.  they wanted to negotiate a flat rate with the taxi.  if they'd used the arrivals level system, they would have had to use the meter.  i've never used the meter to get to pattaya but assume it would be more than 1,300thb.  maybe others have used the meter to pattaya and can let us know the rate if they can recall.

suzie wong on soi cowboy does a show most nights.  ladies using their private parts to shoot darts into balloons, some body paint, etc...  you could stop by and see what time the show is planned for.  shark bar and lighthouse (soi cowboy) don't have a show but are somewhat tame and hopefully wouldn't alarm your lady.

i'd avoid 'shows' in patpong, most are not shows at all just a rip off.  no show but you get to pay 500thb for a beer (or worse).  i can't remember seeing any shows in nana plaza but billboard is a popular place. 

is it possible for macron and merkel to discuss this issue with putin ?  i doubt trump is going to do anything on the topic (he's dealing with a quite a few issues right now !!!).

i just updated my bangkok bank savings account passbook at the machine in front of the branch inside the exchange tower at asoke/sukhumvit.  it appears to be a 90 day update (not 30 per other's experience).  the last update to my book was in connection with my extension done in May 2017.  the new entry (from today) started with December 5, 2017, this entry aggregated/combined all the transactions that occurred btwn May and December 2017.  the rest of the entries btwn December 2017 and today were shown individually.

edit:  i should note that i don't have alot of transactions each month.  rent and maybe one other withdrawal.  plus a charge of 15thb to have activity on my account sent to my phone.

4 hours ago, SpokaneAl said:

investment professionals tend to recommend no more than a 4% annual withdrawal from retirement funds if one hopes to have a reasonable chance of not outliving one’s investments. That would provide you with $20 thousand to live on. 

i agree on the 4% and am just about to start withdrawals, probably at 2.5%/yr for a couple years as a start.  the big question/dilemma i have is when is it appropriate to up the withdrawal amounts (and your spending) such that you don't die before you've spent at least 50% of the 'nest egg'.  i imagine the answer is different for certain people (single, only the wife, wife plus children, etc...).  Thankfully, i have a long time before i have to figure out the answer (i hope).  but it is a tough one.

some people do survive on 20k (usd) a year here.  i couldn't do it but others do. 

as for the original poster, i recommend you go with the non imm O-A visa obtained in USA using the money in your USA bank as evidence of the required funds.  i do not recommend getting the thai elite visa, you don't really need that at this point.

edit - i'm assuming you are from USA as you used 'dollars' in your post.

5 hours ago, cliveshep said:

However, salient point here, the update machine only allows for a maximum of 30 entries in a 30 day period OR updates going back 30 days even if less than 30 entries, so if like us you updated in May '17 and then did it again in February '18 the day before going to Chang Wattana you'll get a shock.

what if you go into the bank branch and have them do the update rather than the passbook update machine in front of the bank branch ?  i have to go to CW sometime in May 2018 to get my second extension based on retirement, but i'm leaving the country shortly and won't be back until mid May.   i think alot of us just let the money sit in the bank and don't touch it so i'd assume many of us are not updating the passbook every 30 days for the period they need (three months).

5 hours ago, cliveshep said:

One last thing - our ticket number was 90, we got in late (10.00 am) due to having to wait for the bank to open on the way in.

i'm a little confused here, did you go to bangkok bank on your way to the immigration office (maybe near your home ?) or did you go to the bangkok bank branch on the lower level of CW.  i'm pretty sure the BB office at CW opens at 9:00, maybe earlier.  i'm hoping it doesn't take an hour to get what you need from them as i plan to use that office when i go in May 2018.

5 hours ago, cliveshep said:

One last thing - our ticket number was 90, we got in late (10.00 am) due to having to wait for the bank to open on the way in. At ticket 89 we sat in anticipation of being

the next to be seen. Not so, a loudspeaker announcement in English and Thai told everyone to leave the hall, security would check and lock the doors, and they turned off all the lights to emphasise the instruction.

 

Everything stops at 12.00pm for lunch for one hour. As Brucie would say - good game good game! 

 

they must have been working fast that day.  the two times i've used the L area (one for extension and one for stamp transfer to new passport), i got a number in the 70's and the 50's.  i barely made it when i had a 50's number (getting served before the lunch break)  didn't have a chance when i had a 70's number.  i arrived about 9:00-9:15.

12 minutes ago, tilaceer said:

The Indian watch sellers you see hanging about mostly out the front of Moonshine Joint are the loan sharks, and are charging 20% interest. One of them is a really annoying <deleted>..wont go away....

i've always wondered about the watch sellers, they definitely mingle with the sharks.  i don't see them with the little books and i don't see them collect money.  but they've been there for years, before the obvious sharks came around.  i don't see them sell any watches and when they approach me, i ask 'how many do you sell each day, do you make good money' ?.  they don't approach me anymore.

1 hour ago, Suradit69 said:

So they no longer operate out of the many "tailor" shops??

i have a feeling they launder the 'shark' money via some of the tailor shops.  'i didn't get this 6,000thb from cowboy last night, i sold a a couple pant/shirt sets at XXXX shop'

the 'foreman' of the group dresses quite nice.  he uses the lower level of the jasmine city complex as his office.  it has some chairs and tables and nice A/C.  i cool off in there for a few minutes when i'm walking around the area.  but he was gone after the raid on the apartment block.  maybe his permit to stay expired and he went home.

i had referenced an incident in los angeles on a thread on this same topic.   i noticed the incident has a wikipedia summary.  it might be of some interest.  i lived in los angeles when this happened (i was 30) and as far as i know this was the first major incident where the issue of private citizens with illegally modified automatic weapons made national headlines.  so the issue has been around for 20 years and not much has been done to resolve it.  in this case it was the police being outgunned rather than students being killed.  but it was pretty clear some type of ban on weapons that can be modified into automatic weapons needed to take place.  america is a big place and unfortunately some states follow different rules than others.  similar to illegal immigration where there are sanctuary cities and illegal immigrants are somewhat protected.  in some states, private citizens are able to buy guns at a gun show with limited (if any) background checks.  and in other states, they require background checks but somehow guns are sold to those that don't qualify  (one of the guys in the attached link was a convicted felon, yet he was able to buy one).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout

part of the reason i put this out there is this deputy in florida was overmatched, pistol versus AR-15.  i think he should have at least gone in the building but he likely could not have changed the outcome.  the police in the north hollywood had no chance until the SWAT team showed up with equal firepower.

i don't mean to reignite a 'war' here but i was having a discussion with a friend the other day about when obama and the democrats had 'control' of congress.  we couldn't remember how long it was.  i did a google and found this article (i have done a cut/paste of the applicable phrase related to our discussion last month):

“Total control”, then, of the Senate requires 60 Democratic or Republican Senators.

https://www.ohio.com/akron/pages/when-obama-had-total-control-of-congress

as you may recall, we were struggling a bit with 'control' and this uses 'total control' which seems appropriate.  you don't have total control of congress unless one party has 60 senators (plus enough in the house to control the vote there also).  so in the vote we discussed here, the republicans didn't have 'total control'.

1 hour ago, fabphil said:

How come ur getting 60 day entries without visa, im from oz only get 30 days

 

you can extend a 30 day visa exempt entry for another 30 days at an immigration office.

at the bottom i've provided a cut/paste from the link below.  i can't say how current this website is.  but i don't see any 'fine' amounts for 2,000thb.  that said, i know people that have paid 50,000thb within hours of being caught by the police.  they are then able to leave the station with their passport as if nothing happened at all (in fact they didn't even have their passport with them).  this was in bangkok but i put it out there on this samui thread as it is helpful for others to know what to do if they are caught in bangkok.  i have read threads on this forum where members claim to have spent time in a cell and gone through the court system and paid small fines (i remember 5,000 but i could be wrong, i know it wasn't 10,000).

https://www.siam-legal.com/litigation/criminal-defence-drug-offences-in-thailand.php

For Cannabis Under Category 5:

• From 2-15 years imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 – 1,500,000 Baht for production, importation or exportation
• From 2-10 years imprisonment or a fine of 40,000 – 200,000 Baht or both for disposal or possession for the purpose of disposal. If the quantity is over 10 kilograms, the penalty is increased to a maximum of 15 years and a fine of 200,000 – 1,500,000 Baht
• Imprisonment not exceeding 5 years and or a fine not exceeding 100,000 Baht or both for possession
• Imprisonment not exceeding 1 year and a fine of 100,000 – 1,000,000 for consumption

edit - i think the last bullet point is supposed to be an and/or but got lost in the translation.

i know how you feel.  i have friends living in hong kong, the philippines and singapore, i visit them often.  it wasn't a big deal for me to leave thailand every 30 days (this is before they allowed a 30 day extension to visa exempt entries).  after a few years of doing that, i was told to use tourist visas.  more recently, people with tourist visas have had trouble entering the country.  i wouldn't view getting a tourist visa as a waste of time, etc...  now it is an absolute requirement so it is well worth your time to get one if you plan to stay long periods in thailand.  too many visa exempt entries will end up being a bigger waste of time (denied entry and having to fly out somewhere, hopefully a place of your choice and not deported to home country).  i turned 50 in 2016 so my 10 years of the visa exempt/tourist visa game came to an end.  it wasn't very fun towards the end as i felt i could be turned away on any of my entries.  some people suggest using land borders if you plan to do this a long time, that way you don't end up getting deported and forced to fly somewhere (which can happen at airports).  you should always carry 20,000thb cash and a return ticket (just buy a throwaway, i bought alot of those air asia DMK-SGN is cheap).

2 hours ago, halloween said:

A truly american solution to the problem - more and better weapons in SCHOOLS.

believe me, i'd prefer a different solution (like very strict gun control).  but i doubt that is going to happen.  and there are so many guns out there already that a ban of some type for sales starting today isn't going to make much of a difference.  how do you get people to turn in their AR-15's ?  making possesion illegal won't lead to everyone turning theirs in.

maybe it is better to just make it clear that deputies placed on duty at schools aren't really there to save lives.  they are really there to help detain students who have committed a petty crime in or around the school. 

i think the sad truth here is that security guards at schools (and other places where they are there to protect human lives, not just property, etc...) need to carry automatic weapons.  they need access to better firepower than those they might come up against.  and they should probably be required to fire the weapon regularly at a firing range to keep maintain their skill with the weapon.

back in the 90's, the los angeles police department figured this out after a bank robbery in north hollywood.  the two robbers had automatic, high power rifles plus body armor.  the police on the scene had pistols and shotguns.  the police finally got the better of the two robbers but it took quite a bit of time (i think the SWAT team came onto the scene with similar firepower and that took care of the problem).  as a result, i believe the police there now carry AR-15's in all their vehicles.

i recall bush and obama making similar comments, although it was about their hair going gray during their tenure.  so this is pretty typical stuff.  presidents joke about their hair.

21 minutes ago, Mum2 said:

Thank you

'007 RED' is the member i mentioned earlier on in the topic as someone who could help (although i think i used 'red007').  i've seen the advice given from him/her on several occasions and it is well worth listening to.  you can send private messages on this site if you'd prefer to communicate in a less public manner.  i hope i'm not suggesting something that 007 RED doesn't want, my apologies if that is the case.  also, if the bail money is 'gone', i would worry too much.  it is best to be out of the jail as soon as possible.  a lesson has been learned and there is no reason to spend another few days behind bars, etc..  it is not alot of money.  many people pay the money and don't get it back and really don't care.  they are thrilled to have at least a portion of the problem behind them.

best of luck over the next few weeks. 

there have been many reports of court cases in bangkok where the 'detainee' was not deported in cases related to marijuana.  so hopefully that is the case here, even though it is samui court system.

the table i read on #59 related to how long the ganja stayed in your system in the case of a urine test.  not prison time.

7 minutes ago, Mum2 said:

Thanks

mum2, it is post #59 on this thread that includes the link to the other case (per my comments in #92) .  i'm sure you saw it but just want to provide this info in case you missed it due to extra stress and can track it down quickly. 

there was mention of samui so i think it that is where the court is (and bophut police station was mentioned also).

4 minutes ago, Mum2 said:

Thank you -

mum2, i don't know if you have had time to read the thread that was posted here earlier 'brit kid caught with ganja on koh tao'.  if you haven't, take a look at post #1 and then #81.  it appears that 60,000thb bail was paid (set by police) and the 'detainee' was released but had not been to court yet.  20 days had passed btwn #1 and #81.