Caldera

While I'm a fan of Airbnb myself, I must admit that I could do without the short-term renters at my condo building - they well and truly are a nuisance. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite.

If you take the neat uniforms away from Thai schools, there's nothing of any substance left - certainly nothing resembling "education". In that sense these uniforms are lipstick on a pig.

"A lot of thais in bkk hated that you spoke their language (falang lo mak).  Very very anti."

That hasn't been my experience at all, I wonder where you find those Thais.

Having a bank account in her name with $1000 in it might very well be required. When I applied for a tourist visa in Phnom Penh, I had to supply a bank statement. I would imagine (but I don't know for sure) that the same rule applies to a local applicant - best to check with an agent.

Wow, 70% complete after several years of preparations and they plan to start using it in July. Let's just say that sounds ambitious, they usually get much less done in much more time.

13 minutes ago, Encore said:

As I said, it all seems as a result of new neighbours who, some local friends have suggested, were perhaps jealous of my circumstances. 

I don't think mere jealousy could have caused such a series of unprovoked, escalating attacks on you. If you really didn't do anything to trigger all that, your street must have been the worst neighborhood in Thailand ever.

Let's start with bringing the Thai police up to Japanese standards. Unless and until that happens (and it won't), changing the rules won't have any effect, due to a chronic lack of enforcement thereof.

What does she want to study?

I'm not surprised. I've seen more than a few Thais who have a monthly income of about 15,000 baht (most of which they obviously need to spend on necessities) and managed to pile up 100,000 baht in credit card debt (2-3 cards maxed out).

Servicing such a debt at almost 30% interest with such a low income is a challenge. While the individual credit card limits might be alright, added up they are much too high.

"Deputy party spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said today that the party is also confident that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will win the vote in the parliament to become prime minister for a second term."

That's a bit cheeky, referring to his time in office as unelected junta leader as his first term, now hoping for a second term.

3 hours ago, lkv said:

You got a source for that or you're just guessing?

I know two Chinese nationals who've tried what I and many other Westerners have been doing for many years. After a few SETVs issued in China, they were told no more (and they cannot just apply elsewhere). Then we've had reports of Chinese nationals refused a VOA and sent back at Bangkok airports. Much like us with visa exempt, apparently they cannot keep getting VOAs forever.

All that considered, I'm not surprised that I see more and more ads for ED visa for Chinese who want to spend more time in Thailand.

2 hours ago, JimmyTheMook said:

Chinese can go ?

it ok ?

Most Chinese come for a few days only, many of them are first time visitors and thus have no immigration record in Thailand that could be scrutinized by an IO upon arrival.

Chinese visitors who have a history as long-term tourists face at least the same level of scrutiny as Western tourists in the same situation, with the added complication that they can't just apply for SETVs in neighboring countries.

Given his personality, I think the current PM will tire of his job pretty quickly once he will lose his magic S44 wand and face scrutiny by elected MPs from the opposite camps. Unfortunately he has neither the brains nor the dignity to get out before that will happen, and things could get ugly.

Well I'm glad that they've clarified it. Squeaky clean as expected.

Even by Thai standards, blaming delays at Ubon Airport of all places sounds beyond ridiculous. That really shouldn't be a show stopper, what's that airport's share of Thailand's international air traffic? About zero percent?

They probably made a mistake, tried to correct it, failed and didn't own up to it. Anything else is far less likely, and it would also explain their weird behavior.

If it's factually correct that he did reset the phone, I think a court in any country would have a hard time believing that he intended to return it as claimed. Not handing it in at the airport is highly questionable in itself.