jimster

The ferry is running, but go on a weekday, unless you are OK with chartering one. Are you just going as a passenger? If taking a vehicle across, it's much more expensive and there are fewer services.

If you have the required funds or use an agent that knows the ins and outs, why bother with the embassy letter to begin with? The only reason why anyone so far would have bothered with it is as a soft "proof" you have the funds, when you really don't. Has Thai immigration ever accepted these letters and NOT also sighted evidence of funds 400000/800000 Baht or monthly income in a Thai or foreign account? If they did, they have obviously screwed themselves because the Aussie/US embassies have never verified the claims put on these stat decs or affirmations as the Americans call them. You can claim whatever you want and the embassy simply stamps and signs the document.

Now those days are coming to an end and it looks like you will actually need to have these funds in your account.

4 hours ago, koimiloi said:

Those guys outside my hotel were staff of the other hotels on the street, not tourists. As the street I stayed on was practically deserted at night, they were hanging outside doing nothing. 

 

I've heard that sometimes when Thais smile, they don't actually mean it. I've had Thais try to scam me and they were smiling in a way that was obviously not friendly. In my experience, Thais are in the middle, more easygoing than Japanese and much more polite than the Chinese, but not as polite as Taiwanese or friendly as Vietnamese.
I didn't mean to imply all Thais dislike tourists but that it seems a lot do. I've met a few very polite and friendly Thais too.

 

Not as friendly as Vietnamese? Vietnamese are rude as heck, and while there are friendly people there too, rarely does a Vietnamese person smile at a stranger like Thais (and Cambodians and Burmese) do.

On 8/1/2018 at 8:10 AM, cmsally said:

Herein lies yours answer. (above)

You obviously know little about the history,politics and economics of Thailand.

 

Getting back to tourism specifically, a lot of the workers these days are just low salaried employees. Many of the owner operated businesses have disappeared.

If you come across one of the owner operated/family businesses that are still "hands on", you will see the difference. 

Plenty of family/owner operated businesses in Thailand, but unsurprisingly, these will tend to be located in upcountry towns and cities, not in large cities like Bangkok. They haven't necessarily disappeared, only relocated or were never to be found in some places to begin with.

On 8/3/2018 at 4:24 PM, koimiloi said:

Oh dear, maybe I should get cosmetic surgery, which ironically Thailand is good at. Seriously speaking, maybe I might have that 'sort of face' but I've traveled to many countries in Asia without encountering as much arrogance and passive hostility like in Thailand. Considering I didn't know those guys outside my hotel and didn't say anything to them, I don't see how my personality has anything to do with it. 

 

 

The people in Venice are begging for less tourists. In my experience, people in Paris or Rome act indifferent to visitors.    

According to the Thai government itself, tourism accounted for almost 18% of income.
http://investvine.com/thailands-dependence-tourism-reaches-critical-dimensions/
"Economy-wise, Thailand’s reliance on tourism is unhealthy as it seems to be the only organic growth driver for the country under the current military administration, the only other (non-organic) being public project spending. And it is also confined to a few regions, mainly Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chonburi and the southern islands, which means that distribution of tourism income is highly disproportionate and does neither contribute to rural development nor balance nationwide incomes."

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/tourism-made-whopping-17-thailands-income-last-year/
By the way, is that woman on the left in the photo Thai? Damn, she's stunning. 

Are you sure those guys outside your hotel were Thai and not Chinese, Indonesian or something else?

I am very good at identifying who's what nationality and in tourist areas there are lots of tourists and most are Asian. Many could pass for Thai at first glance, but look a bit closer and it becomes apparent they aren't. Even if you don't speak/understand Thai. Also, no Thai wears a singlet and very short shorts, but Asian tourists do.

On 7/31/2018 at 3:49 PM, morrobay said:

Sure Thais make things  , that is from foreigners setting up manufacturing and production for export. Without FDI and tourism in Thailand take a look at Laos. And by the way even Stevie Wonder could see that Thais dislike foreigners.  

Laos is also heavily reliant on tourism, otherwise it's got mining, resource extraction such as logging and hydropower. Most countries in SE Asia are heavily reliant on tourism, this includes Singapore.

On 7/31/2018 at 9:21 AM, LomSak27 said:

I did a Visa run ten days ago - It was murky and rainy then BUT not a problem.

However if you are flying to NP then van to Mukdahan, or just taking a bus. The local rivers that feed into the Mekong from Isaan were brimming and that was 10 days ago. I believe a couple are flooding now. 

 

Secondly Air Asia Van takes you back from the Indchine market in Mukdahan - that was on last nights news as minor flooding closed shops and caused the locals to move inventory. So better have the Air Asia numbers on phone as they might move pick up locations

Good Luck

He said he was driving up.

Not sure if he will be driving his car across the bridge or not, but either way, as long as the customs/immigration offices on either side of the border aren't flooded, which is unlikely as they are located some distance from the river and the bridge itself is high enough to avoid even the worst flooding, then he'll be fine. Also, the Thai consulate is located on the slope of a small hill, as the road from the first roundabout after the bridge slopes downhill towards the city so there's little chance of flooding there. The only places that could be affected by flooding might be hotels and restaurants/bars located next to the river, such as the Daosavanh Resort & Spa, Savannakhet's best hotel.

21 hours ago, smotherb said:

There is little I can do about the ignorance of others.

Sure, but either way Thailand does not seem to be a country known for it's guns, as far as foreigners are concerned. Everyone knows about the US "right to bear arms", many also know that Switzerland also has quite liberal gun laws, with many Swiss owning a firearm but Thailand?

I still don't think the average Thai owns a firearm. Many do, depending on their profession or whether they feel threatened by someone, but not your average Somchai.

On 6/21/2018 at 10:17 PM, smotherb said:

With so many guns in Thailand, it does not matter that you show manners, possess common sense or have self-control; if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

However many Thais seem to be unaware of this. A US based show where Americans marry foreigners has featured a number of Thai ladies and they're always saying things like: "we don't have guns in Thailand" or "guns are very rare, compared to the USA" and things like this. Americans watching the show, which is quite popular and watched by millions will believe this.

32 minutes ago, StevieAus said:

I thought there had been something in the media recently about non Thais being prohibited from owning firearms.

Cannot recall whether this was only for prospective firearms owners or would apply to those already owning firearms.

Go back a page or two, there were two articles posted about the change in the law. The Nation Multimedia was the source, another news website simply linked from the Nation.

No mention of whether the law would apply retroactively or only from then on. As others have stated though, it doesn't mean everyone will get the memo and that it will apply across the board.

Just like the 2016 law, also published in the Royal Gazette outlining the procedures that foreigners need to bring vehicles registered in third countries (excluding neighboring countries that have an agreement with Thailand) to Thailand as temporary imports. It turns out that even 2 years after the law has been put into effect, it's only enforced for Chinese vehicles and for all vehicles at some border crossings. There are still a few borders where foreigners continue to make it in without the required permits and guides, as long as the vehicles aren't Chinese registered.

In a similar vein, even before the new gun ownership rules were announced, some police stations didn't allow foreigners to register guns. I suspect though many will still allow it, especially if you have good connections. So in that sense, nothing much will change.

Laws always seem to be selectively enforced in Thailand and depend on who you know, there are always loopholes, go figure...

9 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

And I certainly hope so and even more serious I hope it's strenuously enforced with serious punishment for offenders.

 

But it needs to be very soon before Thailand is awash with illegal guns and illegal sellers.

 

 

That's usually the justification for making it more difficult to own guns but the fact is, there is a worldwide push to abolish private gun ownership. We all know the big push to make it more difficult to own guns in the USA but it's also happening in other countries.

Currently, gun ownership is illegal for all, irrespective of whether you are a local or foreigner in Thailand's neighboring countries, including Vietnam, Laos and China. Apparently Myanmar does not have very liberal gun laws either (no idea about the actual law, except signs in Thai on the Thai side of the riverside opposite the casinos and border crossings stating that one should not bring a firearm to Myanmar because you could be arrested). Similarly, despite the proliferation of illegal guns in Cambodia, my understanding is they are illegal even for Cambodians (correct me if I'm wrong) so in SE Asia, Thailand has the most liberal gun laws. Also I doubt Singapore permits private gun ownership.

I have the feeling that in the not too distant future, as TheDeerHunter mentioned with the proposed law back in 2014, private gun ownership in Thailand will be abolished for Thai citizens too. It's only a matter of time.

3 hours ago, The Deerhunter said:

Well it was announced just a few weeks ago that foreigners will not be able to get any gun licence now.  But of course half the police stations probably were not allowing it anyway and the other half probably never even look at any new rules from BKK anyway so probably nothing has changed. About 4 years ago around the time of the coup, all gun licences were to be abolished and all guns were to be surrendered. Two weeks later never heard of it again.  Personally, as a retired gun dealer of 20+ years in another country, I think most households here have at least one or more personalities in or associated with the house that could not be trusted to be mature with the knowledge of any firearm being on the property.  My wife has wanted one but we have six farm dogs and a cheap Taser.  I say that is security enough.  But a single barrel .410 with a 20-24" barrel would be handy on occasions on the farm.   

Interesting. I'm surprised that foreigners were ever allowed to own guns years ago I looked up this topic and the consensus was "foreigners can't own firearms" yet all of a sudden we have a law dated from only last year. Just wondering, what is the rationale behind preventing only foreigners from owning guns in Thailand? And why especially only since last year, what happened then to "justify" this?

Also, can a foreigner on a permanent resident (PR) visa apply for a firearm permit? Or only those with Thai citizenship? I assume that by all foreigners that means Burmese and Cambodians aren't legally allowed to own a gun either.

4 minutes ago, FaFaHead said:

After reading many posts on this subject I have to say it has raised some concerns about moving to Chiang Mai in November. I am retired and my wife is a pharmacist currently here in the states. She plans on teaching English at a private school after we settle in. I had no idea it was this treacherous of a process to open a bank account. I am fully aware of the Thai way, etc., but there seems to be an anti-faring undercurrent that doesn’t quite give us a warm and fuzzy feeling when it comes to living in Thailand. I know there are agencies I have come across online that are supposed to take care of these matters with you for a fee, but now I wonder about their efficacy. Seems like this could be an expensive process even using one of them to secure visas and bank accounts and all the rest that they advertise. The average fee for their services is around $500.00 but wonder now how much that will increase with this mounting resistance to Farangs. I’m starting to wonder if our dream of retiring in Thailand could turn into a nightmare after a while. This is very disappointing to say the least. 

Anti-farang undercurrent or 'sentiment'? What are you talking about, I feel as happy and safe here as I did years ago. The main differences are that now Thailand has so many foreigners you are not special anymore like you used to be (fine by me, as I don't see why being a farang should be considered 'special' we're just human beings).

I think you'll be fine. However, there may be other reasons why Thailand may not be for you, but some imaginary anti-foreigner sentiment can't be the reason. For starters, Thailand has never (to my knowledge) had any anti-foreigner riots. On the other hand, there have been anti-foreigner riots in China in recent years (mainly against Japanese, but back in 1999 against Americans which then turned into all westerners because in China there is this erroneous assumption that all westerners are American) and more recently in Vietnam (against Chinese) and Cambodia (against Vietnamese and back in 2003 against Thais).

11 minutes ago, rumak said:

also dismissing the fact that so many of us have easily opened accounts as being out of touch with

how things are now....just because YOU had trouble..... might explain some things about your attitude

as well.    banks, and govt institutions do not like attitude.    just sayin

Yes true. Although being able to speak/read and write Thai, knowing the requirements for opening an account (check the banks website and print it out, preferably in Thai only or both Thai and English) and if possible, opening an account at the bank's head office in Bangkok or another branch in a place where lots of tourists visit/expats live such as Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai or Phuket helps. The OP mentioned Ubon which is an out of the way sort of place with no many westerners.

28 minutes ago, smily said:

Thanks for the info.

 

To be honest I would prefer to park at Thai Border and take a bus or train. A lot less hassle.

 

I was thinking about pedang besar as the train st is there with commuter train every 1-2 hours to Butterworth,.

 

My main concern will be if there is a good secure parking area or not and how much it would cost? If anyone has any info on that would be good. 

 

 

Most likely yes. In my experience there is reliable and safe parking at every single international border checkpoint Thailand shares with it's neighbors. In the past before I was able to drive my car across the border, I parked in such places as Aranyaprathet, Hat Lek, Mae Sot, Mae Sai, Nong Khai, Mukdahan never any problems. I don't see why Padang Besar would be any different. Just look for the signs in Thai where it says parking or ask around. Sometimes you can also park (for free) inside the immigration areas. This will depend on the border crossing itself, not all of them have space or allow it but there will almost certainly be some kind of parking nearby. Cost is usually anything from 50 to 200 Baht per day. 200 is on the higher end, typically you shouldn't have to pay more than 100.

It's very straightforward to take your car into Malaysia. All you need, apart from making sure the window tinting isn't too dark (though then again, it would depend upon whether an officer at the border notices this; if you get your insurance done through an agent ahead of time you won't be checked), and you'll need your original blue book + English translation from the DLT (costs 25 Baht), which is called a "vehicle inspection certificate" and is valid until the expiration of your road tax.

The JPJ paper disk (international circulation permit) is issued along with Malay insurance and you also need a translation of your license plates in the form of a Malaysian license plate, meaning white lettering on a black background. Agents at the border can do this for you, or you can get it done yourself at a sticker shop using the official translation provided by the DLT on the vehicle inspection certificate. For example, your Thai license plate might be something like this: กก 6789 สตูล, which in English becomes AA 6789 STN. If you have the white background English translated license plates from the DLT they won't be valid in Malaysia even though they are in English! Go figure, but Malaysia insists on license plate stickers in the format of their own national license plates.

There has been talk of Malaysia requiring an RFID chip for cars entering from Thailand and Singapore. The media has reported that Thai cars (and for that matter any foreign vehicle crossing into Malaysia from Thailand) requires this chip since June of last year, but it seems that they have delayed this plan because nobody is talking about it and the JPJ website on this matter https://vep.jpj.gov.my/ hasn't been updated since 2016. Singaporean vehicles are now close to being required to have this chip but so far no news of when it will apply to Thai vehicles. Until it does, entering Malaysia remains straightforward.

Note that you will have to purchase a Malaysian expressway toll card to travel on the Malaysian expressways. At the Sadao/Bukit Kayu Hitam border this can be purchased at the border. In fact, you have to pay a toll immediately after getting your passport stamped there. As for Padang Besar, it's been years since I went through there so not sure what the situation is at that border.

On 5/6/2018 at 12:00 PM, youreavinalaff said:

Are you talking about the one that is diagonally across from Hoong Thip? If you are then I'm sorry to say that it has gone. It is now a stationary shop. Shame. I went in there on my trip a few years back. Very nice it was. I did notice a new one right next door to HoongThip but did not go in. I had already had lunch on the floating restaurant "Savan Derm Lao.

Not sure about the other poster, but I was referring to the new one next to the Hoong Thip hotel. It appears to be part of the hotel itself.

3.30am? I thought the law in Thailand was no entertainment venues may stay open after 2am and that is supposedly strictly enforced these days.

On 4/23/2018 at 10:35 AM, NanLaew said:

Maybe in 2014 when the post you responded to was written. On the oil and gas exploration side, the gild is off the lily but that's a global thing dictated by the US's success in fracking. Interesting to read subsequent posts that banking and non-energy related businesses also appear to be hedging their bets though. The infrastructure is woefully inadequate despite the Chinese funding the 'motorway' from Yangon to Napyidaw but there's millions of Chinese-made solar panels in just about every bamboo hut so they can watch Chinese-made satellite TV while watching the cars go by.

 

The comment was made that Myanmar has the benefit of being a multi-ethnic nation. With the recent excesses with regard to the Rohingya and the quietly ongoing unrest with the minority armies in the Kachin and other northern states, beyond moving the capital further north, there haven't been any great strides in making The Union of Myanmar anything like a union. There's still a disconnect despite having elections and having an intramural, seated parliament headed by a self-admitted de facto leader with popular appeal and little else.

 

Sorry for the double post earlier. The ancient ipStar system we have on site can't keep up.

I thought it was a local company linked to the drug smuggling trade from Shan State that financed the Yangon to Naypyidaw expressway, not a Chinese one. Ethnic Chinese yes, the company has an office in Hong Kong.

On 4/22/2018 at 9:01 PM, NanLaew said:

Despite a boom in offshore oil and gas exploration around 2015 and a coincident but smaller surge of the same work onshore, very few E&P companies retain an office and full-time expat staff in Yangon. A lot of explorationists involved with Myanmar tend to run their 'Burma desk' out of another, regional office such as KL or Singapore. Not sure if it's a cost issue, a visa and WP issue or a board and lodging issue but the collapse in global oil prices probably didn't help. I have been involved with onshore exploration here since the new year and the whole permitting process is the biggest time waster as noted earlier. The excessively long time to get the top-level government permission is only matched by the excruciatingly long time it takes for such permissions to trickle down to regional, provincial and municipal levels. Both projects started about 6 months late and thus remain uncompleted despite the initial approvals being obtained almost a year earlier. I have heard from those involved with similar ventures over the past 2-3 years that this is par for the course.

 

Compared with my +12 years in the same game in Vietnam where they also have an overreaching bureaucracy with approvals coming from the PM's office, the trickle down is a lot faster... unless you time things very badly and lose traction due to Tet. Vietnam has a tad more dynamism.

 

I hope to add Laos to my portfolio before I hang up my boots but the last thrash for oil in Savanakhet drilled a duster about 7 years ago and there's been little uptake since. Bit of a bugger being land-locked too.

In Laos many companies especially multinationals are gradually starting to rid themselves of expensive farang staff in favor of locals and citizens of neighboring countries. Can't really blame them.

If you're in O&G Myanmar is really where you want to go, not Laos.

You were actually considering coming to Thailand from Canada over 30,000 THB? The flight alone from Canada will cost you much more than 30,000 Baht! Forget about it and move on.

On 4/28/2018 at 11:57 PM, Shaunduhpostman said:

For Savanakhet, the last 2 years I've stayed at Pilgrim's Guest House and for me its about the best place to stay anywhere in the region including Thailand. Its in the old town near the night market and near some good restaurants. The guest house itself has very good Indian, western and Asian food and coffee is excellent, its also not too far from many restaurants in central Savanakhet and not far from the river where there are some other bars and restaurants. They have bicycles you can rent for a few bucks a day which makes all of downtown Savannakhet a breeze to get to. The guest house is in a nice building, a recently renovated old French colonial mansion. The  managers are an American woman and her Indian husband, both fairly young and quite back packerish which the place caters to. Some people seem to not like backpackers, so that is the only thing I can think of that might be a disadvantage. Even if you don't like back packers I think even still this place is far better than similarly priced  guest houses in Savanakhet which are quite often not particularly well run, but the management at Pilgrim's have it very well together as well as being quite relaxed friendly helpful people.  The place is spotlessly clean, newly painted and furnished, almost beautiful. They even go out to the hills and buy their own coffee beans from Lao coffee plantations and  roast it themselves. Last year they had an open mike in the evenings on Thursday in their rather spacious downstairs cafe restaurant. I think every other place I've stayed and a good many of the restaurants in Vientiane and Savanakhet, staff seem to have a chip on their shoulders and more often than not are quite difficult or unpleasant to deal with, not so with this place, even the wait staff and other hired help are reasonable and interrested in doing their jobs. It has been a year since I have been there, I hope its all humming along as it was the previous 2 years.

I found the food scene in Savannakhet far superior to say Pakse, a much larger city where you can't even find French food. I drove around there for almost an hour trying to find a French restaurant that seems to have closed down. Nowadays in Pakse you can only find run of the mill western backpacker food, mediocre Vietnamese food and of course the usual Lao food. However, only Sinouk cafe and the restaurants inside the Champasak Grand Hotel have any decent food.

Savannakhet on the other hand has 2 good French restaurants, Chez Boune and another one next to the "night market" (the night market is currently not operating). Although i was the only customer when I went in both restaurants, they sure know how to cook a good meal and all for a reasonable price. Pilgrim's is good and cheap for a quick bite, they seem to employ a Filipino guy who i thought was the manager or owner when I was there but apparently not.

On 4/29/2018 at 8:55 AM, doctorbailey said:

I recommend Lin's Cafe, Pilgrim's Kitchen and Inn (also very clean looking and perfectly located rooms though didn't stay there and a very nice, helpful, and intelligent youngish American female owner), Macchiato de Cafe (bizarre closing times on occasion - not just Wednesdays), SookSavan on the old town plaza for night time beers (Beer Lao is excellent), snacks, music, and people watching, Miga for excellent Korean BBQ with non-Thai beef if you know what I mean, and Masa for Japanese and sushi. There is a wine shop across the street with a good selection and hard liquor as well if interested.

 

I am also looking for a nice place to rest my head. Savan Vegas Casino is terrible and poorly located, Hung Huang and nearby hotels cater to bulk tour bus tourists, many of the other larger hotels in the central area also cater to tour buses of Chinese, Thais, Vietnamese or other Asians which might be fine for the owner of the hotel but not good for independent travelers in my overall experience. Riverfront and Pilgrim's kitchen come recommended.

 

As for Mukdahan I stayed in the Ploy Palace and it was OK but not really a great value (maybe 1500-1800 THB). It is somewhat the old grand dame of Mukdahan and some rooms have been renovated. Ploy Palace location was OK and near a night market and about 1-2KM to the river market (which closes around sun down). I have stayed in other places on the river before that were fine but unremarkable beyond and super hard beds, lazy staff, and unappealing breakfast.

I thought the owner of the Pilgrim cafe was Filipino or something. When I went in to order, I spoke Lao as I usually do but found the middle aged individual who served me couldn't understand me and he didn't respond to my Lao, which I thought was weird but then I quickly noticed he was speaking with all the staff in English so I figured he was probably from the Phils. The food is good value and the atmosphere quite nice though.