Caldera

I stopped using my Bangkok Bank card for online payments many years ago, ever since they changed to TPN it has been unreliable at best. No problems whatsoever with my Kasikorn Bank cards, on the other hand. So that would be my recommendation if you're looking for a reliable alternative.

Like every year at this time. Meh.

Yes.

I had to check my calendar reading this. Surprisingly, we're more than three weeks past April 1st already.

I'd argue that not having access to this "famed" yet shoddy instant coffee isn't a big loss!

Looks like Thailand is yesteryear's destination of choice for Chinese travelers, nowadays they prefer to travel to Japan I don't think there's anything Thailand can do to change that. Those scams, boat accidents and abductions sure didn't help!

Better make sure that your payment terminals work at all times then. I still remember trying to pay cashless at an IKEA restaurant once when the lady couldn't get the terminal to work. Back then I could pay cash, what would I do in the future?

The "promise" of future income doesn't matter. You can qualify with $40k/yr income plus an investment. Which is what you have in mind, just why you mention 10 million baht is a mystery (it's $250k).

For people already in Thailand, going to a hotel elsewhere in Thailand for a few nights to be eligible to apply for the certificate of residence at a more accommodating immigration office would be a lot easier and cheaper than going on a visa run. That's why I threw that in.

It's worth noting that many immigration offices do issue a certificate of residence to someone who entered Thailand visa exempt. Even Bangkok nowadays, where that used to be impossible in the past. Which means that, being a tourist on visa exempt, you can "shop around". If you're in Surin and they refuse to issue you one, book a hotel in another province where they do issue them to tourists. Sorted.

Clearly he wasn't a suitable person for his park ranger job.

Good grief.

And pre-Covid? Everything looks great when compared with times of closed borders.

I think it's just your perception. Thailand has been chasing a higher tourist spend for years, so there's been no shift. It just doesn't materialize, no matter what they try. The result is always the same: they open the flood gates and make do with whoever they can attract. Only to whinge about low quality tourists later.

They didn't make it temporary unlike when they had previously upped it to 45 days though. So whatever they'll do next (and when) remains to be seen.

What they failed to make clear is if "Thai residents" means "residents of Thailand" which would include some foreigners or "Thai nationals" which would exclude them. The example given (foreign tourists being excluded) isn't really helpful to determine that. As the BTS and the MRT currently have different policies on whether the discount for the elderly applies to foreigners, that's quite an important distinction.

How come you're still moaning about Songkran after all those years?

Whenever I've exited, you could. Someone would direct people to the auto gates, but if you just walked past to the manned booths, nobody has taken any action to force you to use the auto gates.

Sounds more like a careless traveler to me who didn't queue up to get his entry stamp after getting his visa on arrival. Two different things, usually processed at two different counters. And in any case, you never walk away from an immigration checkpoint before you've had a good look at your passport to ensure that everything is in order.

Isn't it his tenure yet again all over though?

Can you really not imagine having that much money? How much do you spend per month, 20k? In reality, 40k really isn't all that much!

They had already been busy before the changes that were introduced last year. Those changes obviously mean two things: Firstly, more nationalities qualify for visa exempt entries - and extensions thereof. Secondly, many if not most of those who would have gotten a tourist visa before and would have gone to the main Chaeng Watthana office to extend are nowadays entering visa exempt and have to go to Laksi instead. Mayhem? Maybe. Very busy, especially between holidays? Certainly.

Yes, that's definitely not "normal", at least not at Chong Mek. Have a great Songkran, too!

Some people collect watches and others collect visas. I won't even claim that I understand which ones of the OP's visas are current and which ones they intend to get.

One has got to wonder if this particular building was built so poorly that it would have collapsed anyway, even without an earthquake or with a weaker one in the future. The thought that this could have happened later when fully staffed is quite scary.