LivingNThailand

I have a friend that is a taxi driver here in Phuket. She told me yesterday that Phuket People, born & raised in Phuket, don't understand what the government is doing to Phuket. A lot of her family customers don't want to see all those weed shops and expose their children to them. They don't want to come back. Only weed smokers enjoy all the shops. I think everyone should have a choice, but it needs to be regulated more. The last time I was in Rawai, I counted 40 shops just in a short drive. Does Phuket really need all those weed shops that cater to a lower end tourist?

I need to renew my USA passport before my next visa extension in March. I also need to renew my driver's license in September. My plan is to renew my passport early so I can have the new passport number on my new driver's license, thus avoiding several unnecessary trips to immigration and the Department of Land Transport. A couple of questions for anyone who has renewed their USA passport recently. 1. The embassy website states that it takes 6-8 weeks to process a new passport. The last time my wife did it about 4-5 years ago it was only 18 days from the post office to my door. Has anyone experienced this long time frame or a shorter time frame? 2. The fee of $130. The application form says I can pay in the form of a personal check or money order. I have some old checks for my USA bank account. They are still good. Do you think I can use one of those checks, or should I get a money order? 3. On the checklist list it says application fees: A printout of the electronic payment confirmation. Is this in lieu of the check or money order? How do you pay electronically? This part is confusing. Electronically or by check / money order for payment of $130. 4. Insured return envelope fees. The checklist says pay Courier Pass Back electronically via Thailand Post Mart website. I found the website and signed up for an account but can't find anywhere to order and pay for the return envelope. Thanks for any assistance you may give me. The last time I renewed my passport I went to the Embassy Outreach program in Patong and they took care of most of the items for me. Things have gotten a bit more electronically sophisticated since then.

I didn't say I was cheap. I live quite well here in Phuket. Not going without and plenty of money in the bank. I just asked if you had been to PI. I have, and it is not my cup of tea, so to speak. thailand much nicer, in my humble opinion.

great idea. But not going to happen, unfortunately.

Have you ever been there? Going from Samui to PI is a HUGE difference in a lot of things, including safety, cleanliness, food quality, etc. Wish you luck my friend.

I wonder why the news was different from my friend that owns a shop in a popular Phuket tourist area. Business is real real slow in the whole area. Only a few are making it right now.

Yep, I need to move some money over here soon but keep waiting for the baht rate to get better. I'm thinking of just sending a little over now and "hope" the rate gets better in a month or two.

I was at Lotus Samkong yesterday. Not a tourist hot spot, but there are usually some tourists and I didn't see any. Even the locals were thinned out. I didn't have to wait to pay, and when I left, there were still plenty of parking spots available. What is weird, too, lots of Thais are wearing masks. More than the normal "I have a cold" maskers. Hum?

Not very PM looking is it? Looks like she works at Children's Fairy Land.

I don't mean to be critical, but it looks like she is dressed like a little girl. Not very dignified and PM looking, in my humble opinion. Oh Yeah, Little Miss Muffet

You don't live in Thailand, do you?

Lots of elephant sanctuaries rent elephants. This is from an article I just looked up. Lots of farmers and others that live in the countryside have elephants and are willing to rent them out for money. It happens all the time. Elephants cannot be ‘rescued’ in Thailand, as they are classed as ‘working animals’ under the Beast of Burden Act 1939. This makes them private property of their owners, so they must be bought or rented. An elephant in peak condition might cost $100,000 to buy.

The elephants were "rented" (most of them) and he did not own the villa. He was only renting that too.

He did. Confirmed by some real estate friends.

The headline says he was jailed. He was sentenced, not jailed. He did not show up for the court hearing and is basically in contempt of court. Another article says he was sentenced to prison, but then further on, it says he was jailed. Two very different things. Probably left the country way before the first hearing. I hope they deport him in absentia. Lots of people here in Phuket said he was bad news. And don't forget he blocked an ambulance in traffic a few months before the kick. Good riddance.

I used it last week to call my brother on my iphone. No problem getting through but we kept getting cut off. After 3 calls, I gave up and sent him an email saying why I didn't call him back a 4th time. There was a big thunderstorm going on at the same time, so not sure if that had anything to do with it. Will try again in a few days. Overall, I was okay with this and have enough Skype credit to last maybe a year or so. If I were calling a bank or government office in the USA, I wouldn't have been as OK, though.

I'm glad you had a good experience. The place was promoted as serendipity. We couldn't handle the filth and poverty. Cow poop all over the road, trash everywhere, being ripped off by the hotel staff, men fornicating each other in the road, woman trying to sell me her baby, the begging, all the food cooked in rancid coconut oil. A man got run over by a train, and our driver wanted us to go look at the body. It just wasn't us. Oh yeah, a civil war broke out shortly after we left. I think it might have changed by the time we got there. And I agree, don't get involved in drug smuggling, just about anywhere. Not a good scene.

I read the story. 1. She was working on a Booze Cruise in Thailand on her 30-day tourist visa. Illegal, I think, duh? 2. She packed her bags the night before and didn't check them before the early morning flight. Didn't she think they were a bit heavy when she checked out of the hotel? 3. Food too spicy to eat. Lucky she has food. I was in Sri Lanka in the early 80s. I was supposed to be there for 3 weeks. After 5 days I made arrangements to get the heck out of that H-Hole, and I was a tourist staying in nicer hotels. Good lucky honey.

This does not make any sense that she checked in all this cannabis. Something is off here.

The duty for products coming from the US is a lot more than products from UK, Australia and New Zealand. I don't know the exact percentage amount, but if you compare similar Western items in a store like Villa Market, you can see the dramatic price difference. For example, a similar bottle of white wine might be 400 THB for an Australian wine and 700 THB for a US wine. Cheese, canned items, frozen items, is the same large difference. I used to import from Thailand, and the duty incoming from Thailand was 5% to17% on average, depending on product type. I don't know why Thailand doesn't lower the duty on US products so they can import more into Thailand to correct some of the imbalance. Seems simple to me.

Still flooding in October. Our worst month here. Nov, Jan & Feb only in Phuket. Dead after Chinese New Years.

Then move

Looks like touching the coral. ugh

Yes, I usually tell people to come to Phuket in May and June as the weather is nice, some rain off and on, and fewer tourists. It's been raining for two weeks, and it flooded by my house 2 days ago. Definitely different this year.

June 3 is the Queen's Birthday. So even if they pay you on the 3rd the banks are closed and the wire won't go through until June 4. FYI.