highfive

I've had it happen to me twice, both at Ban Laem and at Ban Pakkard. Both times it was because the IO failed to notice that I have a MULTIPLE entry visa. Each time, after they finally realized it, they let me through. The Cambodian side also needed a lot of pointing out that I still have a valid multiple entry visa.

Go to Ban Pakkad instead, it's ~100km from Poi Pet and you can do an in-and-out if you have a multiple entry visa. I did it last month. They might ask for an extra payment on the Cambodian side for getting stamped out immediately. Just make it clear that you already have a visa for Thailand.

12 minutes ago, steve187 said:

come to Thailand to learn English, makes sense

I had multiple reasons to come to Thailand but thank you for your valuable input. As you can see, I have learned English successfully. I might study Chinese next.

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

The immigration act clearly states a report of staying longer than 90 consecutive days in the country requires a report to be done.

A extension of stay application does not count as doing a 90 day report unless it is the first one.

It does not matter whether you getting 90 day extensions or one year a report is needed.

It could be a case of Samui immigration making up their own rules again.

I guess you are right. I just called 1178 hotline and Surat Thani immigration office (not Samui). They told me that I (and you) are correct and I indeed have to do the 90 day report right now and since I'm late I will have to pay a 2000 baht fine.

So I went back to Samui Immigration. They were super confused and told me that no one with this visa does 90 day report, and with 90 day extensions I shouldn't do the report. I told them what they told me when I called Surat and the hotline. Then "the boss" said the same thing and asked why I don't believe them, at this point I didn't want to argue so I thanked and left. I even pointed to the extension stamp where it clearly says that 90 day report is required. They didn't care. ????

I wouldn't care too, but I will be moving out of Koh Samui soon and I'm wondering whether I will have any problems because of this if my passport gets checked at some checkpoint, or when I visit an Immigration office outside of Samui.
 

1 hour ago, EricTh said:

Which school are you learning Thai at?

I'm studying English. I don't think the name of the school is relevant in this case.

Hi, I'm currently in Thailand based on Non-imm ED visa (initially for 3 months), arrived in June 2019. Every 3 months I get a new extension of stay, an agent (the school) does it for me and I just pick up the passport at Immigration.

I have never done the 90 day report (TM-47), I don't have any receipt for it in my passport. The school told me that it's not required because I'm getting 90-day extensions, and don't have a 1 year visa. However, everything I read on thaivisa, immigration page, various blogs etc. states clearly that I should do the 90 day report if I stay in Thailand over 90 days and it doesn't matter whether I have 1 year or 3 month visa.

So I went to the Immigration office with a filled out TM-47 to find out whether I should do it or not, since I've read that I can get a pretty big fine if I get caught by the police and they detain me for not doing the 90 day report. But at the Immigration office they wouldn't take my filled out form and clearly said that I don't need to do the 90 day report unless I have a 1 year visa.

Does that sound correct? This is all at Koh Samui Immigration. Do they have different rules than other immigration offices?

The garbage dump is currently on fire.

To anyone who's interested in this - I tried to get a visa exempt 30 day stamp at Wang Prachan today. I asked about it before I got the actual exit stamp out of Thailand and I basically had to talk to four different officers about whether they would give me the 30-day stamp if I came back on the same day or not. The senior official who was making the final decision seemed very angry, especially when he looked at my passport, he really wanted to know when will I go back to Europe finally.. At the end they said that they will not give me the stamp unless I stay "at least a couple of nights (more than 1) in Malaysia. Didn't want any tea money either. He said it's so bad that I stay in Thailand so long and I have to go back to my own country or get visa in Penang. One of the younger officials was about to let me through, but the senior one quickly scolded him by saying "look at his passport, look how many entries" (mostly tourist visas) and that was the end of it.

btw. I have used this border in the past to get a 30-day stamp last year, but that was with an agency who was "friendly" with the officers there. 2000 baht per person for visa exempt stamps friendly to be exact

On 3/17/2019 at 9:30 AM, wilcopops said:

There are of course AQI indices for Samui.

https://air-quality.com/place/thailand/ko-samui/746adcef?lang=en&standard=aqi_us

 

 

The last few days have been very hazy, people are blaming burning in Northern Thailand, but depending on the winds either at ground level or higher it might be from Indonesia.

These figures are not accurate at all. The air quality in Koh Samui in many areas (especially on the west side) right now is absolutely horrible, if I placed a PM2.5 sensor next to my house I'm sure that the readings would be just as high as they are in Chiang Mai or Bangkok, if not higher.

In Koh Samui they asked for a copy of the passport, 500 baht and your address written on a piece of paper. That's it. I was on a tourist visa, due to leave the country 3 days after I got the residency certificate.

On 7/28/2018 at 5:07 PM, highfive said:

There was a small restaurant selling only khao soi in mae nam but sadly it's closed now. Also there was a khao soi vendor at the temple market in Bophut this week, we asked and they said normally they are selling it in some shop close to/opposite Replay condo, but Im not sure where exactly. The Khao Soi in Central food court is not worth it.

It's here: https://goo.gl/maps/6v9hseLiRcL2 it's a big house next to the clinic, they mainly sell Khao Soi for 60 baht.

A lot of power outages recently. Yesterday @ Bophut between around 10am and 1pm, around 8pm-11pm and today between around 3-5pm.. so the time is probably correct..

There was a small restaurant selling only khao soi in mae nam but sadly it's closed now. Also there was a khao soi vendor at the temple market in Bophut this week, we asked and they said normally they are selling it in some shop close to/opposite Replay condo, but Im not sure where exactly. The Khao Soi in Central food court is not worth it.

On 16/02/2018 at 10:43 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

You were just lucky, is all.

 

When I went to Koh Samui I rented a scooter, even though I never rode a motorbike in my life. This was one of the most stupid decisions I made in my life, or seriously the most stupid one, because it could have gotten me killed. Around one hour after I rented it... I crashed it into a truck parked at the side of the road.

 

Had you actually needed hospital treatment it could have bankrupted you too, as your travel insurance probably didn't cover you riding without a licence in your home country.

 

I actually did need hospital treatment, or maybe I didn't need it but, I got it anyway, and my (quite expensive) insurance covered it. I know I was lucky anyway.

On 10/02/2018 at 10:25 AM, RickG16 said:

See what you're saying, but to be honest a riding a motorbike is probably closer to a car - not in the operation of it, but when to indicate, when to check your mirrors, spacing etc... it is lack of doing these things which probably means people have accidents, rather than falling off. 

I have plenty of experience driving a car in Eastern Europe without issues, and after spending almost a year in Thailand I kind of already "feel" the way traffic flows here and what kind of drivers Thais (and tourists) are I know what to expect from them (which means I always have to expect the unexpected, that anything can happen and there are no rules). This was not an issue for me. My issue was actually never riding any motorcycle in my life, nobody ever even explained to me how to ride it, and then hopping onto one in Thailand... on Koh Samui... alone... and riding straight onto the ring road.

On 06/02/2018 at 8:26 AM, PoorSucker said:

If you don't have a MC driving license, don't rent a bike, period. 

 

You need a driving license, technically your travel insurance is void because you are breaking the law.

I used worldnomads insurance, they covered everything and didn't even ask a single question about my license and I clearly told them that I crashed on a scooter that I rented. I only have EU drivers license for cars. But, yes, from what I understand after reading the terms&conditions, they could refuse to pay.

My post is actually not trolling, but I understand why you guys might think it is. Usually people have quite the opposite experience when they crash on a rented scooter. But seriously, is it always so bad that you cant believe what I said? I too was really expecting to pay more, and to have a lot more problems with the rental company after everything that I have read. What actually happened shocked me. I would give you the name of the company I rented from, but then obviously everyone would think it's just an ad. I did do some research about a good scooter rental business around Lamai that wouldn't take my passport, I found this one, I used them and I was positively shocked after my crash. I really read a lot about this before renting the scooter and after what happened I was expecting everyone - the rental company, the people I crashed into - to milk out as much money as possible from me, the clueless tourist, but quite the opposite happened. But I know that in most cases, in most companies, with most people, this would look totally different. I was just lucky, or everyone else on the internet is lying

On 06/02/2018 at 12:01 AM, RickG16 said:

 1. You were in Samui not Ko Tao

 

2. Yes you were stupid, but unfortunately it happens every day on these islands - tourists think it is a great place to ride a motorbike for the first time. Isn't the rental people's responsibility to stop them and the hospitals make a living from bike accidents.

 

3. I think the rental people attach a bit more sympathy to a clueless tourist who has wobbled off on a bike they rented from them. In the back of their mind they know it isn't safe, but they aren't forcing anyone to rent a bike. So when you crashed there was probably a little guilt attached, hence the low price for repairs. 

Yeah, I was stupid.. I later rode a scooter in Koh Chang too, but this time I practiced for a few hours on some side roads supervised by my gf and learned from her tips, then after practicing I rode on some busy roads with her and I was okay. In Samui I lacked basic understading on how to ride a motorcycle, had literally zero experience before riding on a busy road and nobody to teach me. Very stupid.

The guilt and sympathy probably played some role in what happened too since I didn't lie to the rental guy at all. I told him that I never rode a motorbike/scooter in my life etc. He explained some things to me, but not much, and in the end said it's just like riding a bicycle and if I can ride a bicycle, then I can ride a scooter too for sure.