Caldera

They've done nothing to earn that trust, and a lot for the public to distrust them.

You'll be fine. They'll send you from the exit immigration counter to a special desk, where they will do the passport transfer and stamp you out in your new passport. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes, but allow some extra time just in case.

The meddlers are busy meddling, nothing has changed in that regard.

... among other things

The Thai authorities' biggest concern when it comes to foreigners working in Thailand is whether they are taking away work from Thais who could do it instead. That would make the OP a prime target, as "helping around" the wife's resort clearly is something a Thai could do, more specifically a Thai the wife would then have to hire.

This latest wave really wasn't worth reporting all this much, the whole thing looks a lot like an ordinary flu wave nowadays - just move on, as other countries did a long time ago.

Breaking News!! There will be major rainfall in the monsoon season.

The people shouldn't allow the election to be stolen from them yet again, and I think they won't. What's different this time is that the majority of Bangkok's voters voted for Move Forward, so unlike the Red Shirts, their supporters won't need to be bussed to Bangkok from upcountry.

Ah yes, the "rainy season", it rains from time to time. ????

They do allow walk-ins, in fact they have very few available slots for appointments compared with the total number of applicants they serve. If you can make an appointment, I'd suggest to do it to save yourself some time. The default time zone shown is based on your system settings, nothing immigration controls. As you wrote, just change it to Bangkok. Yeah, it's pretty nonsensical not to have it hard-coded to Bangkok, but then again, I've seen worse.

I've often wondered why this isn't even a bigger issue, tourists getting scammed and then talking about it back home (or on social media of course). Thailand's reputation in this regard is nothing to be proud of, and when I encountered European tourists again last year after the Covid slowdown, most of them were mostly talking about how they've been scammed. Some weren't talking about anything else, in fact. That was in Trat and about rip-offs related to visiting Koh Chang, which arguably isn't even one of the worst places.

Yawn, yet another ineffective crackdown just for show.

Yeah, sounds a lot like he's working illegally and complaining that he needs to pay bribes for the privilege. Mind-boggling sense of entitlement.

That's a bit rich, considering they aren't even being held in custody and, by all appearances, free to mingle and meddle.

He should have gone for the complete makeover, what some Bangkok hospitals are famous for. They'd have never found him. Tough titties.

Intimate 555

I got my last 7-day "leave the country" stamp in 2009 after doing a border bounce at Mae Sot for a new 15-day (!) entry. 30-day extensions for visa exempt entries must have been introduced at some point later, I'd guess in 2014 or so.

Yes

Can't they just team up with the Chinese government and make it automatic for those who are first-time visitors to Thailand and have a sufficiently high "social credit" score? Then focus on and give more scrutiny to repeat visitors.

You can find a list on this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Thailand

Yes, that limit is strictly applied. Depending on your residency/visa status in the neighboring country, you might be able to get a METV from a Thai embassy or consulate in that country, which would allow you to enter Thailand by land as often as you want to. Expats living in Vientiane have reported success obtaining one for shopping/weekend trips to Thailand, for example.

The eVisa system is shoddy work, nothing to be proud of. Maybe the stringent criteria for Chinese applicants do make sense, but they could make using the system a smoother experience.

I think they give him sensible advice. After all those years, at the very least he should have the patience to wait until a new government is in office.

Careful there, they might well "keep running" well past Pattaya... ????

Just an honest misunderstanding I'd guess, the masseur probably had more experience with customers wanting THAT kind of massage.