JackGats

I am ok with the gvt downplaying the figures. I am more worried about panic, infrastructure collapse, social breakdown, etc. than I am about coming down with the virus. If broadcasting only 4 deaths a day though there might be 400 can keep hotels and grocery stores open and prevent Thai Society from running amok I'm ok with that.

3 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Don't believe the: "Only one room left at this price"...they are trying to get you to book quickly.

I know. But there were also quite a few "you're too late, no more rooms available".

Could the Russians be filling the hotels? They're all over the place in Pattaya.

I live in hotels, half the time in Pattaya, the other half in BKK or in at a beach destination. I am wondering whether it would be wise for me to try and spend the next 3 weeks in Ko Chang or Ko Kood rather than stay in (now boring) Pattaya. I have no idea how things now look like on Ko Chang. Is everything going downhill or the reverse? According to some booking sites many hotels still seem to fill. The sites might be deceitful though.

I was ill for 3 days last week. Headache, sore throat, muscle pain, fever in the evening and during the night. No cough, no respiratory symptoms. Appetite only 20% down. Felt like a very mild case of influenza. If this was the coronavirus it'a joke.

I got hit by a diarrhea bug twice in Thailand before and it was much scarier. Lost 30% of my muscle mass within days.

If someone throw water at me I hug them and cough in their face.

I have the feeling most hand gels used in Thailand contain more perfumes than anything else. I miss that cooling effect and smell typical of alcohol or rubbing alcohol. Wouldn't it be better if solutions were sold instead of "gels" that make your hands sticky?

TM28? Never heard of it. This is my 3rd year in TH. I live in legit hotels (TM30 assured), 10 days here, 8 days there etc. Does this mean I was legally required to report every time I came back from a "holiday" somewhere in Thailand? I don't have a permanent address either. I live off a suitcase in hotels. I thought this was legal, now it seems it wasn't.

Tourism down in Thailand? I waited to the last minute to book hotels on Kho Chang from late February to early March, thinking there would be bargains. I was wrong, hotel rates are now through the roof. I had to give up on Kho Kood entirely, nothing decent at reasonable prices there. Thailand tourism in crisis my foot.

13 hours ago, Skallywag said:

Human logic.

Come to Pattaya on holiday and rent a motorbike.  60 traffic fatalities a day, 80% of those motorcycles, plus another couple hundred hospitalized from vehicular accidents per day. 

Cancel a trip to Thailand because CoVid 19 has infected 34 people out of 39 million and no fatalities  

Lol. Damn right.

Better go to immigration while you are still legally in Thailand and explain you need a few more days. That is what I would do myself as 4 days might be considered not so short and overstay after all these days.

I have a question about the extension of my retirement visa. It expires on May 2nd 2020. If I fly back into Thailand, say end of April, 10 days before expiry, what kind of "admitted until" stamp do I have to watch out for at Suvarnabumi? Should they give me 10 days (until 2nd of May) or should they give me the longer 30-day tourism stay permit? I am not against getting a 30-day permission to stay as it gives me more time, but I have read this could nullify the visa extension procedure.

Especially as we get older, what would be needed more than a list of countries to retire is a list of methods to painlessly off oneself. Life was a rotten deal all along if you account for our inborn optimism bias. It gets more rotten with age and it will become sheer hell for all of us at one point. Nowhere to hide from this.

1 hour ago, brokenbone said:

i reiterate, why am i not allowed to select destination myself ?

Do you mean allowed to choose your destination if you get deported? The answer is no most of the time. Immigration (in any country not just Thailand) decide where they deport you to. Your home country or the country where you boarded before landing in Thailand.

On 3/5/2019 at 11:08 PM, Jingthing said:

Information is needed for Peru on exactly how you get an acceptable police record from Thailand in time apostle and translated. A number of Latin American countries will require similar but how to get it in Thailand may vary. For example perhaps in some cases you can work with Latin American nations Bangkok embassy. These issues can potentially be very difficult or even deal breakers.

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Indeed. Peru requires documents from the coutry where you reside. Now do I reside in Thailand? Yes and no. My retirement visa is a "non resident" visa. Legally I am not a resident here. That's already a bad start. Would the Peruvian embassy in Bangkok play game or send me packing? Could be an uphill struggle.

I don't understand why US expats who are sexually active can still prefer Thailand to the nearby Dominican Republic. If my home base was the US I would retire in the DR.

On another note, I had a look at Peru's retirement visa program (visa de rentista). It is a lot of red tape with some catch-22 items like needing a bank account to get paper X which you can't get without already having a bank account. There's also the interpol clearance and the infamous The Hague Apostille. All in all, the Thailand visa is kid's play compared to Peru. The same probably applies to Chile. Only exception is if you have a spouse to bring along. Peru makes this rather easy. Of course once you have you retirre status you don't need to jump through the same hoops to renew it each year like in Thailand. But getting it in the beginning is daunting.

I've heard banks in Peru can be a pain in the neck. Same thing with getting money out of the country once it is in (not so difficult in Thailand).

As a European with my money in € I am at a disadvantage compared to US guys because in SA I get punished with a double exchange rate (€ to $, then $ to local currency). Other things to consider for Europeans: flights to Europe are expensive.

Earthquakes are a horrid way to die.

Since Argentina gets mentioned, I don't think foreign pensions are taxfree in that country. Neither are they in Colombia. They're taxfree in DR, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama, ....? No taxless pension (any more) in Brazil I think.

"The remaining balance must be no less than 400k". In other words you can no longer get back the remaining 400k even if you leave Thailand for good. If you liquidate your account you're breaking the law.

Just as a further epilogue to this never-ending story. My girl didn't reach home until yesterday, ie 2 weeks after leaving Thailand on a flight Bkk-Addis-Entebbe. She got lost in the stopover in Addis as I had feared as she was not at all well in her mind when I saw her off in Bkk. In fact she had got herself arrested in Thailand after she started losing her mind. She ran to Bkk airport one night though she had no entry stamp into Thailand. Detention did of course nothing to improve her mental health.

She must have been easy prey for police in Addis who stripped her of the 600 euros I had given her in Bangkok. At least they didn't keep her inside indefinitely and ended up putting her on a flight to Kampala. I hope she can get some neuroleptic medications in Kampala (and be checked for possible brain tumor). She complained about hearing voices in Thailand and I blame myself for not having the presence of mind to recognize at the time that hearing voices is a serious medical condition.

Just now, Ks45672 said:

Didn't you say it wasn't a Smartphone? 

Nope

Just to wind up this thread and tie up loose ends:

1) I could see her at the check in counter for about 45 minutes before she was led through customs. Her passport was to be returned at the gate ( not kept by the crew).

2) No belongings were returned, no smartphone, no nothing.

4 hours ago, 007 RED said:

FYI - I have just checked BKK Departures and there are no flights to Addis Ababa today.... the next flight is in the early hours tomorrow = Ethiopian Airlines Flight  ET609 scheduled to depart at 02:00.

 

As I said in my previous post.... you will not be able to see her as she will be escorted straight to the detention facility in the airport where she will wait until her flight is ready to board.

You're right "today" was misleading since the flight actually departed at 1:15am "tomorrow".

I was at IDC this morning and found out they'd rebooked her on a connection to ENTEBBE next week. So Nairobi was the bug.

I'll be at Suvarnabumi next week. I'll report about the outcome ( and whether seeing her off was possible or not). This is harrowing. If I don't get her out before my April Europe summer break she'll be here for many more months.

Shame on the African consulates washing their hands of their own people.

9 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

Sorry Jack… There is no way that you will be able to see your friend before she departs.

 

Normally deportees are transported from the main immigration detention centre in Bangkok the evening before they are due to depart by police van.  The van will enter the airport via a side entrance and the deportees are then escorted straight to the airport detention facility (which is airside) where they will be held until shortly before their flight is ready to start boarding.  Check-in is done by the Immigration Officers.

 

Once the aircraft is ready to accept passengers your friend will be escorted to the gate and allowed to board the aircraft before the other passengers.  Her passport will be given to the purser who will return it to your friend once she arrives at her destination.

 

There is no way that they (Immigration) will take deportees to the normal departures check-in area because of the potential risk that an individual may either make a dash for freedom or create a disturbance.

Well there were deportees at the gate. And the idc van was stationed outside. The immigration guards told me to check the van, insisting "no females today, idc closed"

11 hours ago, roo860 said:

Surely she's gonna check in at the airline she's flying with?

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You're right she was to have been brought at the check in counter.

They didn't bring her though. Other deportees, all male, were there but not her. The officers could tell me nothing, as usual. Ticket wasted for nothing. Hopeless.