persimmon

I`m sure TAT won`t be worried about the fall in numbers from Europe - India and China are going to be the new economic superpowers and will provide many more high spending tourists . For us Brits , the attraction was always cheap sun . When flights were £ 400 and the xchange rate was 70 , rooms could be had for 6 k baht / month ....happy days , very different now .

Good for tourism ? I don`t think so judging by the reaction of the crowd on Walking street when threatened with people throwing buckets of water - they made a big detour to avoid being soaked . At least some of the Thais ask before a soaking - I was crossing the road last year and a Thai chap with one of those blue water pipe guns pointed it at me and said " Hey Mr. ...you want ? " .... er. let me think about this , do I want to be blasted in the face with dirty water , ruining my whole evening , or not ? I politely declined his offer .

OK , thanks - sounds like it might be ok as a back-up but probably too expensive to use all the time . One thing I was unsure about - Do I have to convert my £ balance held with Wise into Baht before I make an ATM withdrawal in Thailand , or can Wise do an instant xchange . ?

OK , I`m in the UK at the moment .

I`m thinking about ordering one of these as a back-up in case my Krungtai ATM card ceases to work / gets swallowed by an ATM etc . I haven`t used my KTB account for over a year now , but I sent some £ last month and checked the balance at the ATM in the UK and it was credited , so I assume everything is still ok . Any downside to using the Wise card ?

I usually hand them a photocopy of my PP - don`t trust the real thing with anyone apart from an IO . Been accepted so far . Do they really check your PP for stamps and visas ? Are they even qualified to do this ?

I often see trucks loaded with sugar cane heading for the local factory churning out huge amounts of dirty black smoke from the exhausts , nobody seems to care . Then there`s the burning of crop residues and general rubbish . The GF wanted to get rid of an old 3 piece suite - solution , burn it generating unpleasant smoke . Nobody seems to care though ,nobody complained .

OK for those who enjoy travelling or live close to the border , not so good for those who don`t like waiting in immigration offices to do extensions . Still , very useful to know about as a back-up plan if the SETV doesn`t turn up in time for the flight .

Good question . Maybe you could ask the IO when leaving the country if there might be any problem getting back in ?

" Going to taste the water to see if it was salty " ....good job he didn`t choose Patts , he`d probably be in hospital now . More seriously , makes you realise how fortunate we are on here - able to travel internationally and buy expensive airline tickets . I hope he gets loads of sponsored freebies including a new bike .

Maybe he could be a busker - seen some of them in Patts . Or a dive instructor .

Enjoy yourself , it`s later than you think .

It`s actually cheaper for me to live back in the UK , but the weather in Winter is usually bad - cold , wet and windy . Nowhere to go , just stay in and try to keep warm - it`s quite boring . When I add up the cost of rent , food , travel , entertainment , visas etc , it`s more expensive in Thailand for me , but what price can you put on those clear blue skies and warm weather ? Here`s a question - if the weather in Thailand was similar to Northern Europe , how many of you would stay here ?

Is there any way of avoiding x-rate worries though , apart from holding large amounts of Baht , which most people won`t want to do ?

As the OP said - it`s her job , so she is trying to improve her lot by getting as much money as possible out of her sponsor . As far as she knows , her bf might be an internet billionaire , so keep on asking until she gets a refusal . My impression is that in Thai culture , the man is supposed to give most of his income to support his familly . If she finds out the OP is not doing this , she`s going to be pi**ed off , regardless of how much she is actually getting .