LivingNThailand

I'm not 100% sure, but my experience is that the money has to be in the bank on the day you apply for the extension. Not the date of the expiration.

Nice for us, but the airport is in the North....Too much concrete jungle being built up there.

Yeah, I like rainy season. mostly peaceful and a lot less people. LIke the old days.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Very low season in Chalong. Yesterday I was at Siriroj Hospital and there was NO ONE (hardly) there. It was like a ghost town. And that is the preferred hospital for a lot of tourists. It is usually packed with Russians and the like. Another paper said the high season starts in September. Huh? September & October the rainiest months. Usually mid-November. These stories that float around are all totally ridiculous.

Well, I just watched it and it was just plain awful. It actually portrayed Americans as awful, not Thailand. I'm guessing this was supposed to be a comical satire. I wouldn't have known Apple produced it until the last minute of the show. The PM is completely delusional if he "believes the ad will enhance Thailand's global appeal and boost their tourism sector." Two thumbs down

This puff piece is about tourism in April. Yes, it was a bit crowded in Phuket in April, but there were a lot of people here from Bangkok. Now in July, it is a ghost town. It is hard to find tourists in Rawai, Chalong and Wichit. A vendor at Homepro Chalong told me that HP is turning down/off their air con because they aren't making any profit. Central Festival is crowded, but vendors have told me that the tourists are just window shopping in the aircon and eating at the food courts. I saw a few Chinese women at Villa Market yesterday and they were buying instant noodles and chips, local expats were buying much more food. My neighbor's mother visited from Russia for a month, she stayed in the house and babysat the grandchildren. These are the tourists I have been seeing in Phuket. I suppose Patong is busy, as I hear about the Taxi and Tuk Tuk drivers getting in trouble. I have never seen it this quiet during the off season except curing Covid.

Yes, it works well government supporting business instead of taxes and red tape This is how it works (in basic math) If a factory in China makes something that costs $1 and they want to sell it for $2 to make a profit the Chinese government gives the Chinese factory a $1 subsidy so the Chinese factory can sell it for $1. If a factory in Thailand makes a similar item that costs $1 and the Thai factory wants to sell it for $2 to make a profit the Thai government does not give the Thai factory $1 subsidy so the Thai Factory has to sell the item for $2. Now the public can choose the $1 Chinese product or a similar $2 Thai product. Chinese government subsidies hurt Thai factories. The Thai government could impose duties or tariffs to make it more competitive. I'm not an expert on what and if there are duties and tariffs that the Thai government imposes. I do know that I used to import into the US from Thailand and even with the duties and tariffs imposed on our projects we could not compete with the Chinese subsidized products even though the duties and tariffs were the same for each country. Chinese government-subsidized products hurt other country's bottom line.

All countries with car industries do it. Chinese government subsidizes all industries, including clothing, electronics, toys, bags, you name it, they do it.

Better workers, less taxes and red tape, scale of production, smarter, less profit per unit. Government subsidies. I know from personal experience.

I keep thing what happened to the two new "roads" they 'built" to Patong. One going by the dam in Chalong and the other ending up at Tiger Kingdom. Have they washed away yet? They certainly weren't built very well.

Well it's been raining like cats & dogs here in Phuket since Monday. Lots of flooding.

I read that. Poor writing, I guess. It still would benefit the local vendor selling the phones, though.

This is very confusing . Do they mean you can't pay for something with the digital wallet using your mobile phone.? That is how I read it. Or you can't BUY a mobile phone with the digital wallet?

Traffic police with proper bikes that actually patrol. There are so many problems with traffic in Phuket. Ghost riding, speeding, going too slow, parking in the street, ignoring traffic signals, weaving in and out of traffic, tourists riding bikes that don't know how to or never have ridden a bike, running red lights. I could go on, but the fundamental problem is that there is absolutely no enforcement. None. And all the seminars in the world will not help unless they actually Enforce the Traffic Laws. (if there are any???)

flash the lights at someone at green light looking at their phone, a couple of times. Honking not usual in Phuket. People too much is a rush....bad driving and rude. What is the hurry? Big Bikes should be banned.

I wish you luck. It seems Uncle Sam is trying to get everyone to personally go in and get their money. Don't forget to do the "Proof of Life" form. My buddy forgot to do it, and it took a couple of months for him to get it reinstated. All retroactive, but still a pain.

Do you have US Social Security deposited in that account? A lot of us had our accounts frozen because the US government, not Thai government. It's an anti-fraud thing to prevent someone from taking your social security money after you die. My bank manager said he had a case where the US government wanted their money back after someone else took the money out after the account holder had died. People do that. I have a separate savings account for immigration, no ATM card or access unless I go to the bank. But the regular ATM account had social security deposited in it every month, which now is frozen. Everything has changed now. A bit of a hassle, just wish they had given us a little advanced notice.

No, but if you vote for Joe you get a larger COLA increase next year. 😂

Still need internet and mobile banking to pay water, electricity, rent, buy stuff on Lazada, etc. My days of going into 7-11 and begging the clerks to take my money to pay for electricity are long gone.

Everything stopped working at the end of last month. ATM, mobile banking and internet banking. BKK Bank said if I got a letter from SS that the deposit has changed to an US bank then they can convert back to regular service. Called Social Security and changed my deposit into my US Bank starting next month. A lot of people have recommended WISE to transfer the money. Meanwhile this months SS money is just sitting in my BKK bank and I'm running out of cash. I have been online to My Social Security about 4x a day to look for the letter they promised me they would send (10 days ago). If it doesn't come by tomorrow I'm going to the bank and have to open a new account with ATM, mobile and internet banking. What a pain. The banks could have given us a few weeks notice to prepare.......Let's blame Uncle Joe. 😅

Yes, many "tourists" buying groceries and supplies at the markets here in Phuket. If you see a tourist buying toilet paper, then maybe they aren't the high spending tourists the government wants. I feel for the regular Thai people. I really do. they need better government support. Worse now than a year ago. Very sad.

Chinese government wants Chinese people to travel domestically. I read a report that tourism is booming in China. PM and his gang should read the paper once in a while.

I have a friend that completely spaced out about it and when he got to the airport in Phuket they filled out the paperwork and took photos, etc. and he got the reentry permit, but barely caught his flight. IF you space out and don't have the paperwork or photos, better to leave at least an hour extra to the airport. While I was waiting for the paperwork, they were processing the airline crew at this desk too. Really pushed them through fast, so I figure if you get there and there is a lot of airline staff waiting, it won't take much time to get to the head of the queue...just guessing though.

Did this in December at Phuket International . Easy, just get there about 20 minutes earlier than you usually do. Fill out paper work in advance and have photos ready + 1,000 THB. In Phuket you go into immigration, and before you go through the line look for the desk that says 90 DAYS OVERSTAY PAY HERE NOW! 😅 That is where you get the reentry permit. Don't go through immigration first!!!! Kind of stressful the first time, but pretty easy.