hidbehindthesofa

I applied for STV via Thai Embassy in London and was asked by email to separately produce $50,000 of insurance.  I sent a copy of my standard travel insurance (issued by Post Office) which covered my intended six month stay with cover for £2,000,000.  I stated in my response email that this equated to some $2,600,000 - and I received my STV a day or so later.

I was expecting to have to purchase a separate Thai policy but it was not required in my case.  There was no specific mention of Covid cover on the document, merely £2,000,000 of medical cover.

The same document was also accepted for the Thailand Pass.

I am trying to apply for a STV via the London Thai Consulate website but it is only giving me options for single entry or multiple entry tourist visas.

Has anybody successfully applied in the last few days ?  If so, can you please tell me where I am going wrong and what I have to do.

I understand that I will need to have booked my accommodation and flight in order to apply for the visa (and then subsequently apply for the Thailand Pass).

I can only apologise in advance if I am being thick or stupid - but I have struggled for two days and would appreciate some idiot-proof help please.

Unfortunately this is just another part of the mentality of the majority of Thais.

They will quite happily just drop discarded items (packets, bottles, cans, etc.) on their own land without a thought as to what will happen to them.

Shrug shoulders, walk off, 'mai pen lai'

5 hours ago, Migrosmarket said:

Bought a car... gf used the red plate numbers and won. Most of the family did the same.... everyone happy with the only Farang in the village.

 

Picked a ripe papaya off a tree in our garden. Had numbers ingrained on its skin. Gf used them. Won. 2 weeks later half the village are up our ladder looking at the fruits. No more winners. No one happy with the only farang in the village.

 

Numbers off frogs, any fruit, car plates, dreams, parrot tasked with selecting numbers, temples, womens hairy legs, coffee stains, tea leaves, palms of someone's hands, leaves, dog poo....... 

You forgot to mention the number that appears on the underside of the turtle that has crawled out of the nearby canal and onto to your land.  I assume you count the number of plates on the bottom of the shell.  If you then safely return the turtle to the canal your good fortune is assured.

Clearly the survey failed to consult my girlfriend in this matter . . .

My return flight to UK was also cancelled.

Both Thai Air and Crystal Travel were ignoring my requests for a refund.  Thai Air eventually told me I must pursue the agent.

Three emails sent to agent had been ignored but eventually I managed to get through on an "on-line chat".  The agent was insistent that I re-booked the flight and seemed to have no grasp of the fact that I had already returned to the UK on another carrier and all Thai flights are cancelled until further notice !

I am now told that my refund will be processed but will take a further 6-8 weeks - so we are potentially looking at four months overall - and if I receive anything I am sure I will only receive a small proportion of what it actually cost me to book a single flight home !

7 hours ago, ezzra said:

Poor choice of words, wouldn't people who are not "white" will take offence... i'm half Cherokee and i take offence already...

Just think yourself lucky it was not designated as a red area - then you could really get on your high horse . . .

So if I understand it correctly - as from next month, one will be able to sit in a restaurant and have coke, water, coffee, etc., with a meal - but not a beer . . . or have I just simply misunderstood ?

 I can only conclude that Thai scientists and doctors and other such experts have discovered that the consumption of alcohol with food encourages the spread of the virus whereas eating in a restaurant is safe provided you dont drink any alcohol with your meal AND that you sit a metre away from your wife, girlfriend, children or whomsoever you have been cooped up with at home for the last six weeks ?

Don't be fooled by the temperature scanner - it is only there for show !

When the alarm buzzer activates to warn the monitor operator and the person applying the stickers that a customer's temperature is too high, they both ignore it, apply sticker and allow the customer to enter.

This happened when I went last week to somebody in front of me in the queue when the scanner was at the front of the store and again this week when it is at the rear of the store.

This is Thailand and the answer is always, "Up to you, or up to me, or up to him, or up to her, or up to them".

Big C are operating a thermal camera and monitor screen at the entrance which indicates temperature.

Last week the person operating it was too busy on their phone to bother watching the monitor.

This week, somebody in front of me activated an audible alarm with a temperature of 41C but the operator did not look up and the customer was still allowed to walk into the store unchallenged.

Clearly the supposed precautions or safeguards are merely for show and of no practical use whatsoever ! 

It transpires that Thai Air cancelled my April flight from BKK to LHR without telling me - so I rebooked with EVA yesterday.

EVAs website shows it will continue to operate three flights a week BKK to LHR.  It is a direct flight so removes the risk of being stuck in transit through another country which may be on "lock-down" and making it difficult for foreigners to even pass through its airport.

Having witnessed Chinese visitors in restaurants spitting unwanted mouthfuls of food onto the table, I can understand why any restaurant would not want them.

Last week in Chiang Mai, a Chinese man was spitting the heads and tails of masticated prawns onto the table in front of him.  Other diners changed tables and moved away in disgust.  The restaurant owner presented him with the bill before he finished eating and told him to leave.

My advice would be to look at a "bridge" camera that sits between a compact and a full DSLR. You will get an optical zoom (far better than digital zoom that merely crops the image), better quality optics, a larger sensor for recording a more detailed image and a wider range of apertures and speeds than a camera phone.

Whilst many camera phones are boasting 12mp or 15mp or 20mp the true quality is not there when you come to manipulate or enlarge the images due to the minute camera lens and sensor (and should you ever want to print off anything larger than 6x4 forget it).

I have been running a Lumix/Panasonic FZ200 since I found my Fuji S2Pro and lenses too heavy and cumbersome to lug around. 

Don't knock it - it can be a source of constant entertainment  . . .

Sitting on a beach on Samui I watched a gang of construction workers join two pieces of wood together.

The boss told the man with the marker where to mark the hole.

The man with the drill drilled the hole.

The man with the bolt put the bolt into the hole.

The man with the hammer hammered the bolt through the hole.

The man with the nut threaded the nut onto the bolt.

The man with the spanner tightened the nut.

Job done !  (And it keeps seven guys in employment).