Megascott

6 hours ago, uesnyc said:

I would have cut the Vietnamese women loose 

Don't you think they are loose enough?

It's good to see that Immigration Officials are coming to their senses. The gals in the IO have to be breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Thanks OP. Good relevant info.

Here's the link again, in case it's not intuitive to find from the Thai immi web page. https://www.immigration.go.th/read?content_id=5e468147cf638702b11f9cb9

Everyone knows,

Balding old guy, Tee shirt and khaki shorts wearing Birkinstocks = American.

Well dressed and hiking in golf shoes = British.

Scruffy looking bear of a bloke wearing Road worker colors and Crocs = Aussie.

Well trimmed long beard but sporting a huge Man bun with Bob Marley Dreads extensions = European.  <<<<< Must have been this guy!

My former Job was assisting the airlines doing this exact thing. Good to do occasionally for maintenance reasons. It takes proprietary hardware and software to download the flight/voice recorder data. Well documented process, but not easy to do on a burned up or damaged box.

On 12/6/2019 at 1:52 PM, 1Gringo said:

lovely weather.  wish we could have some of this all year long!  (except for the burning part)

 

I second this. Love the crisp morning air and moderate daytime temperatures. No need for air con at night. The winds do help out the smoke.

It pays to arrive in the baggage hall quickly if you can. In my frequent travels to Thailand whilst working on India, I found two occasions where my bags were walking off by themselves. Once in India, by an Indian guy, and once in DMK by a Chinese guy. Of course they were animately surprised that they had made such a "mistake". Most likely they were surprised that I had caught them, since they probably had done it many times before.

"Thai women arrested for selling sex on 15 day tourist visas in Japan"

Doing it that way could ruin your passport.

I often stop for pedestrians at crosswalks but many times I have stopped and the pedestrian starts to cross, only to realise that the cars and Motorbikes in the other lane are more than eager to run them over. The other thing is people behind me do not expect me to stop at a crosswalk, and then they speed around me, or even skid to a stop almost rear ending me.  There's no end to the Danger on Thai roads or predicting what the drivers will do.

I drive on the Canal road in CM almost daily since I live in San Patong. The shoulder is often used during rush hour but at many intersections, the shoulder is also a Right turn lane. The accused in the black car was wrongly in the turn lane, going straight, right turns are permitted on the right lane as well, though a prudent driver would never do that. Driving here, you need to be prepared for literally almost anything to happen and leaving yourself open to turning across another car or motorbike in your blind spot is adding to the already dangerous road conditions.

In the many times I have travelled overseas through the Thai customs machine, going through BKK I have never gotten my bag scanned, same at DMK. However in the rare case i have terminated an overseas trip directly in CM, they quite often Xray bags. once had to pay 2000baht duty on my 3d printer. I ebb with caution now, except lately they either don't check, or they say only need to check one bag, which is strange.  The last time through BKK there was a line of Chinese waiting to get scanned at the Xray, and I just sailed right past without a word.

Right on Time? Right on what time? Time to just confuse everyone? Holy smokes. I think I need more popcorn.

My previous Country of domicile was S. Korea. Practically every light in SK is Camera equipped and not just for Red light Runners, they also monitor your speed and issue tickets for Red light running, and/or Speeding through the intersection. SK drivers are horrible nonetheless, and even the huge amount of traffic cameras does not seem to improve Koreans driving style even in the slightest. 

My contention is that these lights are simply another form of Tax collection for the government and lets not forget the profits of the third party company running the system. 

I don't have a VPN and my wife uses the full Thai Netflix site with Thai shows and subs. When I switch to my profile I get what appears to me like  the full USA version of Netflix. My Panasonic "Smart" TV has the Netflix app which works like a charm. I've used Netflix on my computer and my phone and my Samsung Tab, it seems every device is a little bit different. Perhaps Nextflix treats TV apps differently than the PC app?

Never had a problem with Lazada, of course now that I've said that, Murphy will prevail and my next purchase will be honked up. 555.

The local Kerry guy here knows me and calls ahead of time, if I'm not home I tell him to deliver to the neighbor. no worries. only use COD once or twice on small items. My wife uses Shopee all the time, slightly better prices than Lazada and seems like quicker shipping. My only complaint about Lazada is the lack of a reliable ratings system, so if I cannot find something at a local shop, and Shopee no have, I see about Lazada last, usually I choose the seller that allows COD, though I rarely use COD.

16 hours ago, moe666 said:

Excuse me you thought Thailand was bad wait till you hit India, dogs, cattle, monkes, dirt and garbage stacked a mile high, horns blaring, and the runs every time you blink. Been there a few times and no reason to go back. You can get a ten year visa but you have to leave the country every 6 months.

I lived in India recently for over three years on a work VISA. Still pretty much the same as the Movie "Outsourced" except much more filthy and the Garbage has accumulated a lot since the last flood. The constant Honking, the vast corruption on every level, the crappy daily living in the dirt and dust. The horrible air quality, the people living on the streets and the gutter, the lack of clean water and sewage system. The masses of people that are impossible to get away from. The ignorance most Indians is sad, but somewhat admirable. I was constantly told how India has the greatest this and that...When it is simply that they do not know anything else and everyone believes what they are told by the government run press.

When I retired, my Indian co-workers could not believe it, how could I move away from such a utopian place that is India? I told them stories of a life away from India which many did not believe. Freeways where there are no potholes and you can drive 120k for hundreds of kilometers and never see a cow, goat or buffalo, slow moving Auto Rickshaw (tuk tuk) or even other people on the road.

My wife and I built a retirement "villa" which has water harvesting and clean RO filtered water, never out of a bottle. Solar to offset some of the electric cost of running a pool pump all day. We have a nice pool and municipal electricity that stays on most of the time except an occasional storm brownout. We also have 100mbit internet and Garbage service weekly. All utilities at a reasonable cost. I could be describing many western countries outside of India, but we chose to live in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Yes I think the regulations related to the retirement VISA and the treatment of Foreigners here by the government is a little overboard, but I can put up with it for my style of living here.

Will we be leaving? I think going back to my yearly family reunion in Seattle every summer is going to be good enough for now.

19 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

Black interior? Black attracts heat - smart idea? NAH.

Does it matter? Everyone adds the 3x tint on all the windows except the front, which only gets 1x or 2x. Drivers here don't need to look out of the windows anyway.

46 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

What if the latter decided to go dine at fancy restaurants, and when the bill came, started to tour the restaurant and beg the other customers to pay for them? 

I actually had this happen to me in Cambodia, OK, not a fancy restaurant, but I digress. Four (what sounded like) German male backpackers, full tattoos, Dreadlocks, Man buns, 5 day shitter pants and all, ate a whole three course meal at the table next to mine at a Siem Reap Curry restaurant, at the conclusion, one of the party asked ME for money to pay the bill. Of course, I said no and they walked out without paying. Nice touch, but then again, most backpackers aren't like this.

Legalizing "Medical Marijuana" and only allowing CBD oil is two different things. This scam of creating an industry based on government grown plants and even confiscated plants, instead of tightly regulated controlled growth industry produced product will lead to nothing but continued corrupt practices and a failed industry, much like bragging that every household in Thailand will be providing solar, "The biggest green solar initiative in Asia" and then add a 20kbht "Engineering" charge and only allow certain expensive grid tie equipment to qualify, full well knowing that most Thais cannot afford any of it, but then the brother in laws solar company gets all of the solar contracts.

I've lived and have obtained Residency in five other countries besides Thailand.  In most cases the residency was easily obtained after receiving an VISA good for a year or more. Most countries give an ID card, like the Thailand Pink ID card. That alone should be proof of residency. The immigration people "IO" in most countries do not care where you live the country, since they can easily look up your residency registration to see where you live, they are only concerned with the qualifications of the particular VISA you are applying for. BTW, even Indian Immigration knew that if i flew out of the country, and then flew back, that i would still reside in the same place as my previous residency. because I had not moved, I just took a trip.

I think it's relevant that he is a relative of Celebs. Thais worship these people as if Gods and if just one person can take notice and prevent an accident in the future, this would serve a good purpose.

Here is a WHO compilation of the top Asian Countries concerning road deaths. The chart is arranged by Deaths per 100,000.

¹ Data obtained directly from the country 
² Data modelled according to WHO assessment. Data from countries with a reliable civil registration system have not been adjusted
³ Mortality rate per 100 000 inhabitants

 I do the 65k per month deal, they want to see the transfer papers for every transaction showing from an overseas bank. I have BKK bank print out a statement, and then I print out all the Transferwise receipts for each transfer. Seems to be good enough here in CM.

1 hour ago, tingtongtourist said:

OR it could be their simple explanation is the truest..

they just checking people have 800k in the bank instead of lieing about it through a BS embassy letter or agent.

 

I dont know of many countries that let you in if your flat broke unless you are refugee and come in a leaky boat of course.

 

and really 800k baht is not a lot. 

 

its a decent hospital bill, 3 month living expense, and ticket home if you should have some bad run of luck and need to get out.

 

Many posters say they wouldnt dare to live here without at least

1-2million in backup, and i tend to agree with them 

This is true, no Immigration Laws were changed, if the Consulate had just continued issuing income guarantee letters things would be same same. The old timers have it hardest, some pensions from 10 years ago don't pay out 65k thb and on a fixed income, where are these guys going to find even 400k for show money. 

I just extended my Retirement VISA for another year. No big deal. I went to the Uni foreign studies for any translations (to get the yellow book) Didn't need any translations for the Retirement VISA. (no kids) and I keep copies of everything organised for next year. Just have to do the 90d reports. Also while I was at it, I bought a multiple Reentry stamped in my passport, because I will be doing some travel in the next 12mo. 

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

They only have to fire a nuclear missile once. Or are you saying that as soon as these subs are launched South Korea will be hunting them down?

North Korea does not have Sea launch capable Nukes. And yes. You can bet that the South, and the americans, will be tracking these subs everywhere they go, Most likely for rescue purposes. The North does not have a very good track record keeping these afloat.