drbeach

3 hours ago, thaichina said:

This is also not true, and make a generalization of one or two incidents that happened to you with 1,4 billion people is not correct. I m fluent in chinese and I didn t see more racist in China than other countries. No one never treated me or my wife that way ever. People are just curious because there are not many foreigners in China small cities.

It's very true. Chinese are more racist than people in other countries - it's because their government tells the people to blame all their problems on foreigners as a way of deflecting from the true culprit: the government itself.

And racism can't be excused by claiming there are not many foreigners in small Chinese cities. There are very few foreigners in China period. Even in big cities like Kunming and now with the virus thing it's highly unlikely foreigners will be flocking back there, not to mention the increasingly hostile anti-foreigner government.

Now that being said, there are plenty of wonderful Chinese people. Most will leave you alone, but some are in your face racist or they might come up to you and say: "hey, your nose is big!" Which is just rude.

38 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

Is this correct

I will be flying from Thailand, where I have been resident to Years now.

Ian NOT flying into Vietnam from a European Country

I know it's crazy... but I think they base it on your country of citizenship. I haven't been to Europe in 10 years, but if I held a passport from one of the affected countries, either I'd have to get a visa or not travel to Vietnam at all.

On 3/8/2020 at 6:27 PM, ukrules said:

There's no way South Korea are going to allow any of these overstayers back in, they're lying about that.

 

Thai woman are already singled out and interrogated if they're relatively young and reasonable looking - they're looking for hookers and find plenty of them.

 

They also interrogate the occasional Thai 'TV star' about their travel plans which has made the news here in the past.

Of course they won't be. Anyway, they're Thai, why don't they just work in Thailand from now on? Currently, nearly every laborer position is taken by Burmese or Cambodians. Might make the 'ghosts' feel a little awkward, that in their own country, 90% of laborers are foreigners. But if they hadn't skipped their country for South Korea,Thailand wouldn't be forced to import it's foreign labor from abroad.

On 3/8/2020 at 4:59 PM, scorecard said:

Been there done that, my Thai DIL's elder brother is a middle aged full on know all / know nothing ladyboy who tries to dominate every conversation.

 

He's adamant that Germany is immediately above Thailand. Therefor because it's the next country Thai folks don't need a visa to enter Germany.

 

Another family member showed LB her Thai passport showing visas, he's adamant it's a mistake.

 

My Thai son and his Thai wife (my DIL) showed him a bigger size professional globe of the world highlighting where Thailand is and where Germany is.

 

He's adamant the globe is wrong. 

Are you being serious? Because if you are, that's one dumb motherf*****

On 3/8/2020 at 3:45 PM, DrTuner said:

God idea. Only way to get Thais to do anything is to publically shame them. A bell with an exploding collar that deactivates in 14 days should get them to stay in the quarantine.

The 2015 pandemic law allows officials to detain, quarantine, forcibly vaccinate and medicate anyone who they deem to be 'suspected' of carrying a contagious disease. Covid-19 has been added to this list and the government has warned that steep fines and/or imprisonment await these 'ghosts' if they fail to turn themselves in for quarantine. Since they are poor, they will be imprisoned for failure to comply.

On 3/8/2020 at 6:17 AM, meechai said:

In many ways it it a stupid policy anyway

 

One the one hand these workers have passed thru arrival immigration so had the same checks

that thousands of tourists arriving from the same & other high risk countries.

 

The workers are told to self quarantine the tourists are told sawasdee krup

 

Come now.....A little consistency would show the authorities have at least half a brain &

don't have one rule for income producing tourists & another for locals returning home

Completely disagree. Laborers have spent years in Korea (thus making them more likely to pick up a bug locally plus many of them come from one of the worst hit areas), they are also poorer and likely live less sanitary lives (look at the shacks laborers live in, in Thailand - I wouldn't last a minute in those things). If tourists are required to quarantine themselves, they'll stop coming, airlines will suspend all their flights and Thailand's tourism dependent economy will collapse.

Why would anyone choose to fly via the Middle East to get to Europe when you can fly direct? I haven't visited the Middle East since I was a toddler, and the only reason we even went through there (Dubai) was to transit to Africa.

22 hours ago, Ian Nagle said:

You can't even get a decent sausage in Australia, and their bacon is fat and water. 

Granted, anything's better than the atrocious excuse for "sausages" you get in Thailand. Absolutely revolting, inedible stuff that contains like 50,000 additives. No wonder Thais are so obese and unhealthy these days. At least there are plenty of European butchers in Australia. In Thailand, your best bet is something imported from Italy or Spain sold at Central Food Hall that costs like 300 or 450 Baht.

1 minute ago, Chazar said:

never  been asked there and just done my extension of stay, also not mentioned  when doing online 90 day report.......6 years now and been in and  out numerous times

Thailand has never been consistent on anything. Different offices, different interpretations of the same rules. Of course, good that a TM30 is not required or simply ignored at your local office.

To illustrate my point, a bit off topic but do you recall the 2016 debacle on all the Chinese cars coming in. Well, on June 27, 2016 they introduced a law requiring all foreign cars and motorcycles (except those registered in direct neighboring countries + Singapore) to apply for permission before entering the country using an agent. Then, at the end of the year they started requiring a guide and lead vehicle. No more campervans either. Well, I've seen numerous foreign vehicles in Thailand since then including some campervans who got in with no guide, and no permit. Some border crossings have been allowing foreign vehicles in without any pre-approvals, despite the rules having been published in the Royal Gazette. Admittedly, some borders have been strict this entire time, but there are Facebook groups devoted to finding out which borders are "easy" and which ones aren't. The only vehicles that definitely need a permit and guide in every case are Chinese registered, but everyone else can still come in, if they choose their port of entry carefully.

So even rules published in the Royal Gazette aren't necessarily followed.

4 hours ago, kimchibob said:

Flew in from the Philippines last night, so went to Immigration (Jomtien) today to file a TM30.  Just out of curiosity, I asked the IO if a TM30 is required when returning to a long established address.  I got a resounding YES from all 3 ladies at desk 10.  So there you have it, this the policy at one office at this point in  time.  Admittedly, that could change  this afternoon, tomorrow, or next week.  BTW, most people were paying fines.  The average seemed to be about ฿1300.

Why not just mail it in? Last thing I'd want to do right now is go to an immigration office with all the COVID-19 measures and the usual queues. Besides, there are better ways to spend one's time. I'd also rather spend 2 minutes in a post office than even 2 seconds in an immigration office.

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

As far as I know they still want a TM30 report if you stayed in a hotel that reported your stay.

Ubon immigration seems to be strict; on a trip to Ubon in December, I was asked to provide my passport for check-in. Usually, in all these years of travel around the country, my Thai driver's license suffices, with very rare exceptions.

3 hours ago, jackdd said:

After 80 Thai workers from Korea just went missing, the only thing they might do is to tighten reporting requirements.

This could mean that they will try to enforce TM27 for foreigners, and that they try to enforce that Thai people are registered where they are actually living.

TM28 is as good as dead, according to a Canadian lawyer in Isarn and some articles i've read in the English language Thai press. TM30 is still around, but depending on your immigration office, it's back to the status quo of yesteryear. Some want TM30s for every night spend outside your home province (although this is difficult to enforce), others just for when you come back from abroad. Others still, not at all. This changes almost everyday so it's impossible to keep up with what this office does today and what another office will do tomorrow.

I read/heard some offices are less strict now than they were last year. Definitely no more TM30s required if you are traveling within the country (at some offices). Also, I have seen the notices where it states that tourists and anyone on a temporary visa is exempt.

Only expats may still be required to comply, but only if they're on an extension of stay.

Non-imm O, B multi-entry, no need. Besides, if you have no dealings with immigration, no one will know or care whether you've done one or not. I've never done one and never will, as long as I remain on the visa I'm on.

7 hours ago, JimmyTheMook said:

Bet he was one hell of a car salesman though.

 

 

Considering he was only able to afford a motorcycle, I don't think he made the "cut".

Wow...I'm actually impressed by the government here. These illegal Thais definitely affect the image of all Thais who travel abroad. South Korea has almost stopped visa free visits for Thais due to the stupidity and selfishness of their fellow citizens. Back in 1996, the New Zealand government stopped visa free entry for Thais due to half of all Thai "visitors" ending up staying there and working illegally. Thailand responded by slashing the visa-free period for Kiwis down to 30 days from 90, since this meant the end of reciprocal visa-free arrangements.

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

The reason they go and work illegally in other countries is because they get so screwed over here, wages are abysmal, only the corrupt fat cats make any decent money here, what does that do for the much coveted country's image!

Thailand actually has pretty good labor protection laws. The reason these "little ghosts" go abroad is because they are greedy and don't want to earn an honest day's wages on 300 Baht a day and because they "heard" countries like South Korea pay a ton of money to be a massage therapist. What they aren't told is that the cost of living is much higher over there and that they will live in squalor and many end up in debt slavery.