sampson

Trevor has a fight every night of the week & his battered face is often shared all over social media. Then goes on his channel acting like he's a top bloke.

I wouldn't assume a restaurant has any better standards. My Thai girl said the Thais have a saying, something about don't worry about what the kitchen looks like or you'd never eat anything. Mostly I've been ok in Thailand but Cambodia was another matter altogether

I have heard from more than one about larger restaurants / hotels selling their oil. It's taken away and re-sold/used by smaller ones. Whether true or not I don't know but wouldn't surprise me?

A lot of the food here is pure garbage, that is true. I wince when I read comments on social media about all that amazing healthy Thai street food. Salt, MSG, Sugar and old or even second hand oils are the norm and often crazy amounts of it. They are even loading salads with sugar. Check out how bad diabetes is here .. In the defence of Pad Krapow thoug, it's comfort food, it's not supposed to be healthy as such. The only way you can really be sure about what you're eating and it's preparation is to cook it yourself. Even the vegetables are full of pesticides though. If you're on holiday you're probably not going to do that but if you live here and eat every meal out then being genuinely healthy will be a struggle. Most places to rent don't have ovens but buy a large air fryer and that will do most tasks for you and the hob the rest. A rice cooker / steamer all in one combo might be a good investment too.

Go to Myst or Insomnia nightclub any day of the week, any day of the year and tell me under 40s don't travel to Thailand for Pattaya 'whores'

That's not true. They can ask you on re-entry why you are coming back and ask for proof. Just like they do with ad-hoc Thai language tests for ED visa.

That is not a free for all by any means. They want to see that somebody has a job or are a genuine freelancer. It remains to be seen what will be accepted as proof for a "professional portfolio." Plus, they will need 15k Euro's in the bank, which a heck of a lot of people simply don't have. If you were able to apply for this within Thailand at a local visa shop then that would have the potential to be abused, but that doesn't appear to be the case. A free for all is anybody over 50 turning up and going to an agent who "facilitates" a Visa they don't have the money for.

The rejection rates are posted and they are very low for Thai's, it's about 5%. Some African countries are closer to 50%. There are various Visa groups for Thai's coming to the UK where rejection letters are posted and the applications must have been appalling judging by the content of those letters.

Strange story. Fly Dubai don't appear to fly from Dubai to Philipines The capacity of this VIP version of the jet according to the owners website is 19 but the article states there were more than 100 on board. It seems as though either the picture of the jet involved is wrong or the article contains some misinformation. If the flight was operated by Fly Dubai then they do have services from UTP so I guess it would make sense to land there. Story seems to have some holes in it though

My understanding is that, contrary to reports, they got up and walked away. Is there anything from a reliable source that says otherwise? Just to be absolutely clear, I think the attack is sickening but these guys would be best to leave it at that

Why would they bother reporting it? Do they really want to go through all of that, everybody knows you can't trust the BiB. If they decided to charge the Brits with anything at all they'd be stuck here. They've probably got lives and jobs to get back to. They would be better off enjoying their holiday quietly or moving to another country as you say.

The knocking shops of Europe will be well stocked

Looking for company was a polite way of looking for a punter. Not about being lonely 🤣 But the point is they don't have to sell their bodies, and what they do with the money usually doesn't have much to do with basic survival. Opinions and <deleted> and all that

It's not survivalist prostitution & you certainly don't need to feel sorry for them. These figures seem low. The Thai scene dwarves the foreign scene. When I lived in Bangkok, pretty much every Thai bar, live music restaurant, night club had loads of girls who were obviously looking for business. Many of them have day jobs and go out a few times a week/month looking for company. Many of them seem to become someone's paid mistress, does that still count? Then there are all the massage shops with extras, KTV bars, side line girls on social media. Pretty much every random Thai town I've stopped in for the night has massage shops or karaoke places.

First of all thanks to the OP for his PM's and not to hijack his thread but I thought I would update on my post above. I spent 90 days in Thailand on my METV, went to Cambodia for 6 nights and then came back into the Thailand at the Cham Yeam crossing. I travelled from Phnom Penh to Trat with the same company called Virak Buntham, who I would recommend. Not perfect but OK. Road from Phnom Penh to Koh Kong is rough, mostly dirt and gravel but I guess it's nothing that should put you off. It is a very quiet border, there were around 10 people on the minibus and maybe a couple of other people who made their own way. 1 unofficial guy trying to take over who was friendly with both the Cambodian side and Thai checkpoint crew but I fobbed him off. It took 2-3 minutes to stamp out of Cambodia then walk over to the Thai side, fill out TM6 and then was stamped in without so much as a word from the IO. 7/11 and Amazon on the Thai side and then a 30 minute or so wait for the van for the hour or so trip to Trat. Virak Buntham will take you all the way to Bangkok if you want though. I'd recommend it as a place to cross, it was very easy.

I did this with a Thai lady in 2019 and the price was around 400 baht, no more than 500 baht, so does seem to have gone up a lot. The guy actually dropped us off at her house way out of town for that price too. But you can always say no and walk away if you don't like the price. It's pointless to agree and complain later. I'm pretty sure at the corner where soi farang meets the road that has the hotel Ayotaya that they have the fares published

Congrats on getting back in and not to high jack the thread but .... I am on an METV. Coming to the end of my 60 days + 30 days extension. I want to go to Cambodia or the Phillipines for a week before returning to Thailand for 2 months before going home. I am worried about what might happen on the return to BKK. I stayed around 6 months last year on regular tourist visas too and did get some grilling coming into BKK this time. Am I best returning to Thailand by land or by Chiang Mai or a week out and back to Bangkok by air on my METV will likely be OK?

30k a month rent is a lot in Pattaya unless he's going for something fancy. Most 1 bed apartments are between 8 and 15k. It's funny how on the internet most people claim to have a champagne budget and try to convince you that you need one too, but on the ground all across the places I've stayed in Thailand most people are living off 40-70k baht per month, usually as a couple and happily enough. Your friend sounds like he could do it on 60k to me. There's only one way to find out and that's do a 6 month stint starting as you mean to go on and see what the damage is. Keeping a lump sum in the bank and eroding it is a bad idea though. Best to turn it into a regular passive income and live off that, this may also help with budget management and negate those terrible ideas people have in their first 1 or 2 years in Thailand, usually involving the transfer of wealth to a lady.

Maybe he didn't have a keycard and tried to climb to his room. Sounds more like an accident than somebody who jumped anyway

Great post this. Very good summary of so many Thai village women who seek out foreigners. I have been with women like this myself and I am sure many of us see this everyday with our friends in Thailand. The wife of the OP sounds like she ticks a lot of the boxes. It's so exciting being in Thailand and starting a relationship with somebody totally different to what you have met before, it really is a different world and it masks a lot of the problems for a year or two then all heads south very quickly when you realise the reality. It won't get any better so it is just about doing the best for the kids and self preservation. She probably doesn't want the kids but she will definitely use them to gain a financial advantage. Seek legal advice, I doubt there are too many Czech experts on the forum to help you out. Do not send the kids back to Thailand with her, they will have a very poor future waiting for them. They will grow up with a poor education and the same crappy life skills your wife has. In the cold light of day, when you look at your wife and her family what do you see? That is what your kids will be if you send them to Thailand with her.

Riviera condos seem to have a good reputation and are expensive. Expect very small rooms but high quality amenities. I think you are talking about Ocean Drive here on second road, which is pretty much brand new. There are very few lights on in there at night. If you rent a room in there then there is a good chance it will never have been lived in

Anybody of any nationality can be a director of a UK Ltd company and they can be tax resident wherever they want. The only requirement at all is that it has a UK address

There has been a rise in digital nomads setting up businesses in Dubai, some US states (as a none US citizen) and a few other countries then living in Thailand tax free on elite visas. This setup was promoted in various groups online. The grey area I guess was they weren't supposed to be working but the nature of the work meant if they kept their mouth shut they were OK. The devil will be in the details but sounds like with the double tax treaties in place, most won't caught up in this but those taking advantage of the previously lax system will. The Elite visa was probably too cheap to truly serve it's purpose. Once you throw in all the agents, visa runs and general messing about, it wasn't that much more expensive go Elite as long as you could front the cash.

Took less than 2 weeks from the appointment to delivered to my condo for my Thai lady. Mid August it was.

A friend of mine is very close to his Thai nephew who is dating an Isaan university graduate with a good job in Bangkok. I believe she makes around 40k a month. The sinsod they were asking for was 350k (it was around there if not that exact number), which was a sticking point as they simply didn't have the money. The solution was they lived together without getting married, as they had done for the past 7 years. That might be a solution for them. I know it's hard to agree with sinsod and I wouldn't get involved with it myself, but I do recognise it's not just a scam to rip off foreigners but something that seems to be deeply ingrained in village life especially. The family would probably feel they'd lose face in the village if they married their daughter, who has amounted to something and has good standing, off to an American for less than what a Thai might pay. There are a lot of cross cultural relationship struggles in Thailand and these seem to go on speed if the Thai's are from Isaan. Buyer beware I guess.