orchidfan

Hong Kong

Yes, look at the ancient history between Siam and Myanmar over many decades of battles and dominance. Finally the Thais drove them out. There was no love lost between them then.

I stopped my scooter for a woman gingerly crossing a newly installed zebra crossing on my way home yesterday. The car behind nearly ran into me and gave me good blast of his horn. The lady gave me a bow and a wei. After she crossed, the car behind pulled out and tore past me only after to have to stop at the next crossroad 50mtrs down the road! Where I passed him. Idiot !

Yes, this is the email address I use to contact Pathum Thani immigration. From memory it's at the top of the application form online. It certainly works for me, but accept that every office is different !

I'm pretty sure it has to be received, checked and replied to by the Immigration office you deal with. In my case Pathum Thani. So it's up to someone there to process it (ie. Not done by a robot computer ). But as mentioned, when it gets close to deadline, I shoot them off a polite email enquiring about its progress. Usually get the Approved email in a couple of hours. PT office is only a 15 minute drive (in normal traffic) but that office and the roads can be crowded and busy. No thanks, I'll stick with Online,but as DrJack has suggested, do it immediately after receiving the reminder email. Hope your approval has come through ?

As I've mentioned in a previous post recently. I waited 4 days (including weekend) to get the final Approved email. BUT, this was only after emailing (not calling) to my local IO in Pathum Thani, quoting the Reference number and date of submission (copied and pasted from their Receipt of Submission email) yesterday on Monday requesting confirmation that it WAS accepted. About an hour after this email came through the Accepted email and new 90days report date. Seems I have to do this "request email" almost every time after an online 90day report.

When I first registered for the "new" online system, they sent a password by email. This worked for the first report but not for the second, therein starting the chain of new passwords every new login. Wierd! But it's quick and easy to change the password. Mind you, the latest new password user last Wednesday DID work for logging on, on Monday to check the progress. We'll see what happens next this coming December !

Just a couple of quick observations re Online reporting, which I have been using successfully for over a year. 1. Every time I try to log on for a new report (roughly 80 to 90 days after last report) the site comes up with "incorrect password" and I have to reset it. Simple enough to do, but don't understand this glitch (I use a desktop computer for this task and passwords/logins.are saved to Google ) 2. After submitting last Wednesday I received the acknowledgment of receipt email. But then until mid Monday, it was still "Pending". So shot off an email to Pathum Thani immigration with a cut and paste from their email of transaction number etc etc. About an hour later I got the Approval email and attachments (PDFs.....one click to open) I've had to send this "Dear Sir/Madam" email every time for the past 3 reports! They seem to need to be jogged into processing my online submissions. (I have a saved proforma email to them for this purpose, only changing the specific details each time) Clearly, the members who report getting a very quick Approved email are dealing with a different IO to mine ! The deadline date was tomorrow Wednesday, so I was getting twitchy. I think I'll follow your advice in future and send it off as soon as I get the reminder email. Less worry about their slow response time!

Here in Rangsit, Thanyaburi... Many places about 30cm odd deep for the last 2 days but today subsiding gradually. Was the same as poster above under 1m+ stinking leech infested water for 3 months. Had to eventually give up a.d retreat by boat to condo in On Nut.

Exactly the same story when my Thai wife and I visited years ago. The queen drove out (slowly)...only a metre or two away. My wife also got it all on video. What really amazed her was that HM car was preceded by ONE motorcycle cop, and that they gently merged into the traffic without any fanfare. My wife just couldn't believe that the Queen could travel around so effortlessly knowing how things are done here.

I remember the Great flood of 2011 NOT fondly. Downstairs of the house and garden under metres of filthy smelling water for months. Moved what we could upstairs but still a lot of damage to built in furniture, garden 90% dead. Only transport in or out of the property by boat (until we finally abandoned and went to our condo). I think we got B20,000 compensation for hundreds of thousands of baht in damages. As I recall it was brought on by 3 consecutive tropical storms (which had been typhoons before making land fall) then the decision to open the flood gates upstream and let us in Pathum Thani cop it. Hopefully not again !

The 2 times I left my card in the ATM...Once a nice young lady ran after me im the the open fresh market market and returned it to me (she didn't have to do that but did) Second time the BB just replaced it in about 10 minutes. Most bank staff I've found know what "lost my card" in English means Finally. I gave up using my Oz ATM card because of the B220 ATM fee here and this combined with the $Aud5 fee plus 3% charge at the Oz bank.end. All up around over 30Aud in fees. Now only use Wise transfers directly to my BB account. Takes 2 minutes and they charge around 5 or 6 AUD total. Try that. ????

Frankly. It's a pain in the **s to stand at the atm and wait for some people going through this "cardless" procedure. Lost your card ?? Forgot your card ?? Give me a break.. In 20yrs have lost one debit card (forgot to take it out of the machine) . Bank replaced it free the next day. I think some.of the members here are paranoid about their millions in the bank. And the people I wait behind at the 7/11 atm doing this nonsense take out 100baht!

Wrongly reported as "Monsoon". It was as a result of Tropical storm Ma On which came across from the Philippines ,then Guangxi, Vietnam and into Thailand. BTW, the word Monsoon means a Wind...not a storm. But they often occur together.

Also one of the first UN contributors in the Korean war 1950~53. Ref. Wikipedia

Hong Kong don't stamp your passport but give you a small slip of paper with your arrival date on it.# Oz, they ask you (at least Oz citizens ) if you want a stamp or not. Both far more sensible in regards to not quickly filling up your passport......especially considering the cost and time to get a new one. # HKID holders only insert their card into a reader, press their thumb image and are in.

I have no "paper fetish" nor the yellow vaccine "passport". I lived and worked in Hong Kong for 20years and still have Permanent HKID, so know pretty well how it works ! My Thai wife is still working there (also Permanent HKID) and recently came back to Thailand. The ONLY record she had of her 3 vaccinations done in HK is a PAPER " Covid~19 Vaccination Record issued by their Department of Health. It has a QR code at the top which they scan on entry at.the airport. At the bottom of.this form in Bold. Large print is "Keep the record properly " Domestically they also have the "Leave home safe" app into which she had to scan, from her PAPER record, her vaccination status. I recall that she also had to show the CX staff.pre~checkin, her paper vaccination record and her PAPER, RT~PCR test result. So I agree with your sentiment but it's not a paperless world yet.

I personally haven't bothered with the yellow passport as any of the overseas places I have/will travel to readily accept the paper "certificate", but understand that some people might require it or prefer it for their travels. Incidentally there was a dedicated desk doing "vaccine passport" updates there that day too. So they had everything covered.

As I noted above, the person who printed me out a hard copy Vaccination Certificate also, without asking, updated Morprom and took my phone and showed me. I explained that I needed the paper certificate as some overseas authorities (Hong Kong etc) may not understand MorProm. But thanked him (her?) anyway.

I'm pretty sure that Red Line (to/from Rangsit ) stops at Bangsue.

Decided to get the 4th shot today (71yo) as it is free this month at Bang Sue station. Luckily had Thai stepdaughter to drive me there from Thanyaburi. It's a bit of a circuitous route to get into Bang Sue after leaving the tollway, but we made it. The place is gigantic and not easy to navigate into the huge vaccination center, but with helpful staff guiding us, we found our way. I was a "walk in" without appointment but that was sign posted, plus helpful staff to point us into Registration. This was amusing as the form I was given (one for Thais and another in English for "others") allows you to fill in all the questions including height, weight AND blood pressure! So as nobody took these measurements you could write anything ! Anyway, after nominating Moderna as the preferred vax (many choices) l was guided to the row of "stations" doing this jab. All very well organized and nearly nobody there (a few dozen overall) in a huge arena that could easily hold a thousand or so. No queues, no waiting....piece of cake! Then the mandatory 30mins waiting time...the "waiting over" period written on the form so no cheating on this. Finally handed in the Vax certificate to be stamped for release, and was told MorProm would be updated in a day or so. I requested an updated paper hard copy showing all 4 vaccinations (for International travel)and was shown to another desk, 4 metres away, where a nice young person put everything into his/her computer (hard to determine their sex) and not only printed me out a paper hard copy of all 4 vax but also instantly updated the MorProm app. Same nice young person also guided me to the exit door where daughter was waiting. Really excellent service, and free. Thoroughly recommend if you are in the oldies age group and want a Booster

That was a good and the correct decision by the crew given the threat to safety. Obviously the N Air crew were committed to landing "come hell or high water" !

I suspect the aircraft "slid" off the very wet runway due to "aquaplaning". Maybe the airport owners/operators need to groove the runway surface as is done in many countries where very heavy rain floods the runway ?

It was an."elderly matron" BA hostess, many years ago flying SIN to Oz, who knew/remember my name (in economy /world traveller) and my favourite Gin n tonic drink and checked on me regularly during the flight to keep me topped up. They don't come like that anymore ????

no again. Bali is predominantly Hindu, not Muslim. Hence the liberal availability of booze and other entertainment, and very low crime rate.