Mike Teavee

I used a hotmail.com account & had no problems getting the Thailand Pass, applied on Wednesday 9th March, got the approval on Tuesday 16th March for arrival to Thailand on 27th March. OP If you're conscerned, I did see on a youtube video that Key Visa have been helping to get these for people & generally gets a very fast turn around - No idea of costs but if you email them, I'm sure they can help you to get it well before 20th April.

Maneerat have just quoted a friend 25K for the initial Non-Imm O + 1st years extension (total of 15 months)... Edit: He was also quoted 38K at another place but this included the opening of a bank account for which Maneerat charge 4,700 THB, so the difference in price is 8,300 THB not 13,000. I meet all of the requirements (including keeping 800K in the bank) for extending a Non-Imm O but use an agent because I want to make the process as painless as possible for me, it costs 8,000 THB for a 12 month extension & (IMHO) is money well spent, others may prefer to spend their money differently... to each his own...

Arrived in Manchester at around 2pm on 10th March & was straight through immigration through I was in Business Class using the Egates so somebody coming off the back of the plane needing to go through the manned immigration might have had a completely different experience.... I did have to hang around the baggage belt for 45 mins & then another 15 minutes at the desk when my case didn't turn up - 8 days later it showed! Coming back through Manchester Airport at 5:30am last Saturday was a nightmare, I would guesstimate the queue to get through security was at least 2 hours long, fortunately we were travelling Business Class but even then the "Fasttrack" lane took 40 minutes (NB to anybody travelling Business with Qatar, they don't give you the FastTrack sticker so be ready to argue your case with the Manchester Airport staff). Absolute joke of an airport, will probably fly into London or Birmingham on future trips to avoid it or better still, arrange to meet my family somewhere outside the UK.

The Rembrandt on Soi 22, test & go package was 5,630 THB

He has a BOI Visa which is good for 2 or 3 years & multi-entry. I entered on a re-entry permit but have Pacific Cross Health Insurance which covers me beyond my next extension date & had no problems getting the appropriate letter from them I believe you'll have no problems re-entering on your re-entry permit with the 30 days cover (have seen UbonJoe post the same a view times) but if there is a problem, the only time it needs to be shown is when you apply for your Thailand Pass so you'll hopefully have plenty of time to get a longer policy.

I got back from the UK yesterday, made the mistake of staying in one of the Airport SHA+ hotels as my plan was to go straight home from there rather than go into Bangkok. Landed 7am Through Immigration / Checks & baggage collected by 7:30 Hotel Van picked 8 of us up at 8:40 Test completed & on to hotel at 9:10 Test results back at 19:25 In a Taxi & on my way home (Wongamat) 19:30 Home 21:00 Compared to my mate who lives/works in Bangkok so stayed in a hotel in central Bangkok. Landed 7am Through Immigration / Checks & baggage collected by 7:30 Car waiting to take him away & at the hospital by 8am Test done & at Hotel by 8:30 Test results back at 13:50 Home by 14:15

My mate bought one of the 650THB policies 7 days before returning to Thailand & had no problems using it to support his Thailand Pass application. Edit: NB He didn't need the cover as he's fully insured through the company he works for but was having problems getting HR to send him something he could use for the pass so it was simpler to spend the 650THB

Mine was checked when I arrived at BKK today after already being checked at the Check-in desk in Manchester & again when transferring in Doha.

The Russians trapped on a Thai island as war rages in Ukraine https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60818869 The Russians I've seen around Wongamat all seem to be families with young children so, just like in Ukraine, it's not just the adults who are suffering for their "Leader's" actions.

Thanks ????

Can you please share the email address you used (3 have been mentioned in this thread & I'm not sure which one gets a response/result). Thanks MTV

Not so great news when you're arriving on 27th March but at least they've not made it any worse...

Am due to do my pre-departure PCR test in the UK next Thursday (flying on Saturday/landing on Sunday) so following this topic with interest...

£55 for a nurse administered PCR test for me (North West England) haven’t paid it yet as I’m booked in next Thursday (flight is on Sunday) so fingers crossed I won’t need it.

I don't know about the "Favourite List" but I did once go to pay my GF's postpaid, got her number wrong & it came back as > 1,500 THB! - Obviously somebody has AIS Fibre & 1 or 2 mobiles on their account but at least seeing the amount made it easy to spot that I'd got her number wrong, with pre-paid you just top-up...

@jessc, do you have any recommendations for cheap hotels/websites on Koh Lipe? GF is visiting her mum in Satun next week & I'd like to book them a holiday on Koh Lipe but the prices on Agoda etc... look crazy given the current environment. Ideally somewhere around Pattaya Beach (We were originally planning on staying at Bundhaya Villas when I was also going but my many times moved UK trip looks like it's going to go ahead). Thanks for any tips for booking accomodation on Koh Lipe, I've always just used Agoda but by your comment it sounds like there might be better deals to be had elsewhere

Same here, I try to spend about 20-25% of income on the property... - Last year it was having the exterior repainted & the gardens upgraded. - Year before it was a new gas boiler & some panels in the conservatory changed. - Year before was having the kitchen appliances upgraded (That hurt as I spent a small fortune on the ones that were there!) - Year before it was having the driveway & paths around the side of the house / patio area upgraded. All can be offset on your self assessment form in the UK plus my accountant sorts out something like a 10% discount on the assets (furniture) that I have within the property

I'm in a similar situation (14 years, bought in 1999 but kept my UK house empty for 3 years as I was always 3 months away from being sent back to the UK) & it's almost paid for itself, but recently I've been looking at it a different way... E.g. If (completely made up numbers) I get 30,000 pm income from my house in the UK that I could sell for 15 Million and in Thailand am paying 25,000 pm for a condo that I could buy for 10 Million then I'm effectively trading 5,000 pm income for 5 Million (1,000 Months) Obviously there are increases in income/costs on both sides going forward & the flexibility of not owning in Thailand is worth a lot of money but I am leaning more to selling my UK property and buying a smaller one there that will generate a smaller income (say 20,000 It's hard to find a decent place in the UK for less than £500 pm) and provide me with a bolt hole if I need it.

I kept my house in the UK, but even if i were to move back there, I could never live in it as I've had 14 years of living in modern condos so what would I do with a 4br detached house in the middle of nowhere!. I understand the argument about keeping a bolthole in your home country but why not downsize to somewhere that costs 1/3rd of the price? At the moment the house is generating approx 3.5% on what it's market value is (mainly because I really like my tenants so I've never put their rent up in the 4-5 years they've been there)... "Sensible MTV" knows I could be getting a lot more on that equity if I sold up, but it does help balance my overall portfolio of assets. I have (This week) told the tenants that I need to increase their rent by 8.5% this year (mainly due to increased landlord costs in the UK), which would still see them paying rent 25% below market value but I bought the house as a home not an investment so am happy if it just ticks over with no hassles for me. I'm yet to get a response from my agent (Oh, there goes 10% +VAT (so 12%) of your income) on whether they're ok with the increase, but if they're not then I'll probably sell & look to buy a bolthole somewhere else, which I will then rent out until the day (hopefully never) comes that I need it...

For train travel in Asia, it might be worth checking out "The Man at Seat 61" https://www.seat61.com/ which should have links for buying tickets (Though if you can't buy them in advance then it seems like you're stuck with turning up at the train station to buy them)... Not sure how set you are on the train option & am assuming you've decided not to fly, but there are "1st Class" sleeper buses from Bangkok to Chiang Mai that are apparently quicker and as nice (if not nicer) experience... There's a few YT videos about them, this is the one that brought it to my attention

I'm preparing for a trip to the UK next week & so trying to prepare for what I will need when I come back. So far I have made sure that I have JPGs of my Insurance Certificate & International Vaccine Certificate (from Mor Prom), I understand that I will need to book an SHA+ hotel for the 1st night, is there anything else that I need (I already have a re-entry permit for my Non-Imm O).

For an online shopping Portal the Lazada website/app is a pretty poor experience. Before I switched to Postpaid, I used to use the mobile topup website (https://mobiletopup.com/?l=en) & then when I moved fulltime to Thailand, Bangkok Bank's mobile app to do my top ups, never had a problem with either. EDIT: I did have one problem with Bangkok Bank's mobile App, I once put the wrong mobile number in & ended-up adding 500 THB to somebody elses mobile!!! - Be careful when entering the number you want to top-up, there seems to be no checks/validation.

OP I think you'll find the price of rent in the PI to be more expensive than Thailand, especially around the Makati/Taguig/BGC areas. I rented a 1br studio near University of Mindanao (Davao City) for my Ex-GF & it was 25,000 PHP (Approx 16,000 THB), a studio in a ladies only boarding place near GMall was 20,000 (approx 14,000 THB). I do prefer the Southern Philippine Islands (Visayas) though, if I were to move there it would probably be Davao, Cebu or Bahol, Palawan is a tourist spot so would expect it to be more expensive. If I were on your budget, I'd probably choose Tagum (about 1.5 hrs north of Davao City, I used to have a house about 20 minutes further up in Kapalong & it was the closest "Town") or somewhere like Cagayan De Oro which I've heard is popular with Expats. I wouldn't worry about the lack of "Visible" P4P anywhere in Philipines, it's easy enough to find a willing partner whether it's paid for or longerterm (& so more expensive ???? ) Still say Pattaya is cheaper than anywhere but the boonies in Philippines, Udon Thani even more so...

Lol... assuming you're not joking, think of the Lionel Richie song "Hello" and how a Japanese guy might sing it... Remings me of the time I was on holiday in Tenerife and the hotel had a singer on who started singing "Yesterday" but it came out as "Jesterday" (Because of the way the Spanish prounounce the letter Y). To this day everytime I hear that song, in my head I hear Jesterday & wonder if it's some sort of medieval court celebration day...

I've noticed the same in the Wongamat area where there seems to be many more Russian (or possibly one of the Former USSR countries) people about, mainly young families. 4-5 familes have moved into my condo block (2 on my floor alone) so it seems they're planning to stay for at least a month, can't say I blame them given everything that's happening "Back Home" but can only imagine the financial hassles they're going to face if they can't use their credit cards / ATMs.