Burma Bill

With respect, not if the Chinese tourists paid for package holidays in Yuan back home or were staying in AirBnB apartments on Phuket owned by Chinese investors also back home.

Thanks - exactly the same for me (pre-pandemic). The parking company even provided its own free transport service to the Thai Immigration Office.

Thief Attempts to Steal from Laundry Shop Perhaps he wanted to "wash his dirty linen in public"?

Thanks - my thought as well. The cab unit is well and truly ablaze!

A new source of "income" for Thai Immigration???

First this: Now this:

For reference if you are in, or passing through Khon Kaen with time to spare, there is a Laos Consulate that issues visas in Khon Kaen. It is situated on the east side of Highway 2, north of the city towards Udon Thani. Visa service available normal weekdays (Mon - Fri). You arrive around 8:30am with pp photo, valid passport and whatever the current fee is. You complete the visa application form and present to a Consular Officer. You return at 3pm to receive your passport with Laos visa attached. I used this service when going to visit Luang Prabang and Vientiane. The next day I drove to Nong Khai and parked up in a security area. Having left Thai Immigration, I used the old bus across the Friendship Bridge to Laos Immigration. No problems for me, I bypassed all those wanting visa on arrival and showed my valid Laos visa in my passport. I was cleared to enter Laos - no 100 baht! Admittedly this was pre-pandemic, but hassle free for me avoiding confusion over E-visas and visas on entry for Laos. (photo of Laos Consulate in Khon Kaen - entrance is via small gate on the right - the main entrance on left is usually closed).

The locomotive pictured above, is one of the new Chinese built for SRT. Delivery commenced last year. For reference: The first 20 locomotives among a batch of 50 ordered from Chinese manufacturer CRRC Qishuyan Ltd were shipped to Sriracha Train Yard in Chonburi...................... The new diesel-electric locomotives use German-made engines............................They come equipped with an ATP [Automatic Train Protection] brake system and CCTV cameras, have low emission rates and are compatible European Train Control System (ETCS) level 1. https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40011931 Interesting, they have German engines, unlike the Thai submarines!!

Well blow me down! Mister "Concrete" Anutin now in charge of infrastructure construction projects!!!!!

So much being posted about "agents" and Immigration Offices along with the rights and wrongs - some good, many garbage! Let us not forget the possibility of dodgy dealings at Thai Embassies. The Thai Embassy in Vientiane (Laos) comes to mind. Several years ago (around 2010) I had to go for a visa extension in Vientiane and found a very long queue standing out in the excessive heat and humidity facing a long wait. Across the road was a line of white vans, some containing copying machines linked to shops by electricity cables, with Laos agents ready to process peoples passports. The agent took my passport, pp photo, and gave me a blank visa extension form to sign - he completed the rest of the form. The fee was 1,000 baht. I went to a hotel (owned by the agent's family) where I relaxed and enjoyed excellent food and beer along with many other foreigners on the same "deal". True to his word, the agent appeared at the hotel's reception at 11:00am the next day with all our passports duly stamped with our new visa extensions. No doubt this hassle free 1,000 baht arrangement no longer exists.

Reminded me of the days when KAN AIR operated a fleet of 1 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, 1 Beechcraft Premier 1, and 2 ATR 72-500's from its base in Chiang Mai Airport to many domestic destinations in Thailand. On two occasions I flew in their ATR from Khon Kaen to Chiang Mai - very comfortable with plenty of legroom and a hot meal! Sadly, the airline stopped operating in 2017 due to technical difficulties and non-compliance with certain safety regulations. When aircraft were grounded for maintenance, no replacements were provided and cancellations became a regular occurrence. Photo of Kan Air Cessna:

In an "off shore" account by now??

To visit the Kings Romans Casino complex on the opposite side to Thailand?? Back in my Tourist Police Volunteer days in Chiang Rai, there was a regular small boat service across the Mekong from a reception center with car park on the Thai side near Chiang Saen to the casino complex opposite - no visas. Car ferries (similar to photo below with a pontoon being guided by a tug) brought vehicles down river (from Burma/China?). This was the only place in Thailand I visited where my mobile phone automatically displayed "China Telecom" instead of "AIS".

I've never heard of it, so for reference (Google)

So that's what a pole dance looks like!

My thoughts as well. Could also include these recent events: Chinese tourist was taken from Koh Phi Phi to the port in Krabi unconscious after suffering a near drowning. Taiwanese tourist died after snorkeling at an island in Mueang Krabi. A German tourist has been rescued after she sustained injuries inside a cave in Mueang Krabi. Krabi International airport in the south of Thailand were affected after a fire caused by an electrical problem Safe and Trusted Krabi???

IMO, neither does "Thai Smile"!!

Personally, I hope Bangkok sinks into the mire along with it's "elite"!

Sad, I would have let them cross the nearby border to get back home. IMO now a waste of Thai public money to investigate the circumstances!

Don't forget to pack the Imodium!!

With respect again, he was not regarded as a criminal but a Champion of the people (and still is - he and his family). IMO he was stitched up by the "Bangkok Elite" using political skullduggery!! Whatever, if it isn't Pheu Thai then possibly Move Forward.

Thank you but I no longer have a Thai bank account, or a Thai visa, as I now live in Cambodia. I was relating my experiences of visa extensions during my 20 years retirement in Thailand.

With respect, I was living up north during the coups and I can assure you no flowers or soft drinks were handed out to soldiers manning the military checkpoints. People were unhappy that Thaksin had been removed by the "Bangkok Elite"!

Thanks for your comment and yes, I believe so. My first Thai Non-O visa was issued in the 1990's at the Thai Consulate in Birmingham, UK. It was located on an upper floor of the HSBC Bank near New Street Station. I paid just under 100 GB pounds for one year with no bureaucratic paperwork as there is today. All my subsequent retirement visa extensions over 20 years+ in Thailand were based on this original visa.