Thanks

2 hours ago, bbko said:

Here's a Thai government site with many free plans available for download, it's in Thai but on my Google Chrome browser I can right click on any open area and select the "translate to English" option and it works for me.

 

 

http://subsites.dpt.go.th/construction/index.php/2018-04-18-02-39-39

Thanks!

Seems many links that worked in the past (including from Crossy, Thai Government website) are dead now.

Anyone know where I can find the free Thai Government House plans?

22 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

You make "marriage" sound like going to 7/11 for a coke.

Don't think OP even mentioned a gf. 

 

I know some lady here in the village is married to some foreigner, but the foreigner is never here.

I believe this lady made a deal with the foreigner to get married and he would send her some money every month or so. So for her it's a little bit easier life, while he can easily enter and leave Thailand.

5 hours ago, wombat said:

 

With that pesky treasury buying baht with the money in the foreign exchange account it isn't going to happen.

The flow on from Europe having to pay for gas in Roubles not US dollars is only just starting to be felt.

If I was into doing the currency thing I'd be offloading $US and buying Roubles...the only place that Roubles can go is up in value and the only place $US can go is down.

Congratulations on your sanctions.

This is very likely to happen to be honest. Russia now demands payments for its resources in Rubles for any country that has put sanctions on Russia. So demand for Rubles is very likely to rise, just so countries like Germany can get their gas from Russia.

7 hours ago, arick said:

Can somebody tell me what the rating is? I can't seem to see it in the article. 

The rating is some value corrupted by financial interests. 

2 hours ago, KhunMorris said:

So is Scotland and everything is opening up there. No-one except 80+, morbidly obese and the unvaccinated are dying.

 

 

Problem is, this is the key demographic for Thailand ????

j/k

7 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Not sure where you've done your research on Pfizer but you're very wrong on all counts, in addition its far more effective than the Chinese vaccines.

Against the original variant of the virus? It seems hardly effective at this point. Check the numbers in Israel if you believe otherwise ...

2 hours ago, 3STTW said:

I have a ten year TE visa and now view it as a colossal waste of money. You don't get a ten year visa at all; you get a one year visa which you have to renew annually at your own cost. This is not made apparent to you and, as many people on this forum have discovered, you can end up with a massive overstay fine and exclusion from the Kingdom if you miss it.

 

None of the services they provide are free - you literally have to pay for almost everything they do for you. You still have to do 90-day reporting, TE will do it for you - but for a fee. And don't get me started on passport renewal; my wife had to renew hers last year and our costs, including TE's charges, were well over Bht 8000.00.

 

When I got my visa, none of the above was made apparent and, as far as I can tell, there is still no fixed tariff of service charges. Even worse, their telephone support is (and I need to be careful here) 'sub-optimal'. Granted, their staff have bee WFH for a long time, but still.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the only 'privilege' I will get is fast track at immigration; i.e. the choice between waiting for an hour at immigration or waiting an our at the baggage claim.

 

Retrospectively, I would have gone for retirement visa. I'm still kicking myself.

As someone who's only 40 years old (and have been using the Elite visa a couple of year now), for me it's a great deal. But I understand your situation is different. As a matter of fact I will probably extend my Elite visa from 5 years to 20 years, which means when I am about 55 years old I can switch to retirement visa.

However, Elite visa still has a few nice features above other visa like marriage or retirement. You don't have to lock up money in a bank. And with marriage visa you'd be dependent on the wife, with Elite visa you only depend on yourself. 

The main features I appreciate of the Thai Elite visa are:

- Airport taxi service

- Airport lounge on departure

- Quickly get past immigration in airport

- Immigration will probably give you an easier time wherever you stay in Thailand

All the other stuff I don't really use and are of little value to me. 90 days reporting can be done easily enough by myself. Online doesn't always work, but in the immigration office in the nearby amphur it's always a very smooth and speedy process - just a couple of minutes. The only thing that might take a bit of work is the yearly extension (I'd have to travel by car or motorcycle 3 hours to Chiang Mai). However, if you leave and re-enter Thailand once a year by airplane than this would be of little concern, as you will get the stamp at the airport by then.

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Why not.

Sounds like nice deal to me..

Yeah it's a good deal, so I will very likely do it. Feeling another 15-16 year secure here would be nice.

20 hours ago, ukrules said:

Also if it turns out that you really like staying in Thailand you can 'upgrade' the visa to the 20 year model for 400k Baht which is the difference between the current price of the Easy Access 5 year version and the 20 year 'Superiority Extension'.

 

That way you can just sit back and won't have to much at all for a full 20 years apart from the usual 90 day reports, yearly extensions and 5 yearly new visa insertions.

 

I plan to upgrade my current 5 year visa to the 20 year option, that will cover me until 2040 which is nice.

 

I am also tempted to extend to 20 year. If I do this in the next couple of months I still get a 100.000 THB discount (basically old price total). 

The visa has been really convenient for me. Back in Pattaya I was always a bit annoyed while dealing with immigration. Every time they'd find something wrong with some ED extension or some such and I'd have to come home and arrange something later that day, perhaps the next day. It wasn't fun and quite stressful. I always thought they were looking for some bribe to smooth the process, but not sure.

Either way with my Thailand Elite visa I never had any problems. But, I only went to Chiang Mai immigration with my Elite visa the last couple of years, so perhaps the people in Chiang Mai immigration are also more easy going than Pattaya immigration. 

On 3/20/2022 at 7:25 AM, DrJack54 said:

Simple answer.

All depends on how long you wish to remain in Thailand. 

If it's 5 years up then PE Visa excellent option.

Some can't afford the 600k tag. 

From what I understand, if you leave and re-enter Thailand just before the 5th year expires, you should get a 1-year extension. So it should be possible to stay close to 6 years with the 5 year Elite visa.

1 hour ago, Jeffr2 said:

Vaccines work.  Sad some don't believe this.

 

https://www.vox.com/22894978/covid-19-vaccine-lives-saved-deaths-avoided-omicron-chart

 

 

 

 

Those deaths from 2021 in the graph. The vaccines were quite effective against Delta. They seem very ineffective against Omicron (remember: the booster is still the same vaccine). Again, look at Israel, the most vaxxed and boosted country in the world. Cases through the roof ...

53 minutes ago, Jeffr2 said:

The vaccines help stop transmission significantly. But don't 100% stop it. So yes, people still get infected, but don't get as sick if vaccinated.

 

This has been widely discussed.

 

Covid will eventually be endemic. Just like the Spanish flu. But nobody knows what's up next. Nobody, especially if a new crazy variant crops up.

Transmission isn’t reduced in a significant way else we’d see much less spread in Israel compared to many less vaccinated countries. Again, it’s one of the most vaxxed and boosted countries in the world. I just don’t understand how you can claim this especially with Omicron for which the current vaccines were not developed.

On 1/26/2022 at 6:58 AM, Jeffr2 said:

Vaccines do stop transmission.  How?  By helping you not get the virus in the first place! LOL

 

If transmission stops, it's less likely to be transmitted to animals, or to mutate.  A very good thing.

 

A political choice?  What?  I don't know any government that doesn't want this pandemic to end.

COVID vaccines don't stop transmission. Plenty of people still get infected, even with COVID vaccine and boosters. Have you seen the latest stats on Israel, one of the most vaccinated and boosted countries in the world?

https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/israel/

These stats are only possible if vaccinated people transmit the disease to other vaccinated people.

Yes, classifying COVID as a pandemic is a political choice. Several countries want to categorise COVID soon as an endemic disease (like the flu), including Thailand:

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/thailand-will-declare-covid-19-endemic-whether-who-agrees-or-not

On 1/23/2022 at 6:46 PM, Jeffr2 said:

Because we want this pandemic to end. We're tired of it. Sadly, we're all in this together. Sadly.

How will vaccinating kids help the pandemic to end? ... Besides, COVID has already been detected in many animals, which means human to animal transmission is possible (and likely vice versa). Do you want to vaccinate all animals too?

Actually some countries are already considering to declare COVID to be an endemic disease (like the flu). Which means at this point it's basically a political choice if we want the pandemic to end. 

I have had the app for quite some time now.

It was easy to add my car driving license, but I can't seem to be able to add my motorcycle driving license.

I think this might have something with my car driving license being linked to my foreign passport number while my motorcycle driving license is linked to my Thai ID card. Can probably sort this out at DLT office, but can't be bothered right now.

22 hours ago, swm59nj said:

.  This type of crime seems to happen quite a bit here according to what I see on the news. Against both children and adult females.  Not only in so called bad areas.  Many against family members.
   And rape doesn’t occur just because the guy is horny.  It’s all about being in control that satisfies them.  

My girlfriend could tell me of plenty of cases of sexual abuse in our village in north-western Thailand, so my guess is these kinds of abuse are endemic. Perhaps even more likely to happen here than in e.g. Europe because parents often go work in a city far away while some relatives take care of their children. 

On 12/28/2021 at 2:08 PM, Bkk Brian said:

"Dr. Thiravat said the best way to administer a booster shot is via subcutaneous (under the skin) injection.

P.S. I am just happy this good doctor didn't advise people to take the vaccine as a suppository. 

On 12/28/2021 at 2:08 PM, Bkk Brian said:

When I see a doctor recommending the following (from the linked article):

 

"Dr. Thiravat said the best way to administer a booster shot is via subcutaneous (under the skin) injection.

Medication to treat symptoms from the Omicron variant infection is as important as vaccination in reducing the risk of hospitalisation or death, he said, adding that such medications include the Fah Talai Jone Thai herbal medicine, Ivermectin, Fluoxetine or Fluvoxamine."

 

Then I know its time to ignore anything else he mentioned also.

With regards to Ivermectin: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41429-021-00491-6

15 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

I certainly remember mine and I don't recall them having 3-month planned obsolescence.

I did get several vaccines as a child, but in my country they were never mandatory. I don’t believe the situation should be any different for these mRNA gene therapies.

My daughter is 4 years now, 5 years in half a year.

If our school would force vaccination, I'd either look for another school or do some home schooling. 

13 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Damn, I was going to treat myself to one when my wife got old. 

Only ever had one, 21 years ago when single(unmarried)

I tried a soapy twice, many years ago, and both times I found the experience lacklustre. The ladies there just seemed kinda bored. If those 2 times are an indication of the experience, I don't think it's great business. 

I had a lot more fun with "normal" massage ladies back in the day, those ladies were often much more enthusiastic ...

I've lived in Chiang Mai province for about 4 years now but never seen one of these big centipedes. I wonder if they don't like to stay up north too much because it can be a bit colder at times?

I did see small centipedes in our garden occasionally though, maybe 5 centimeter long.