FalangTingTong

Hello all! At the risk of redundancy here is a short recap of my arrival Saturday. I flew EVA from Vienna to Bangkok direct (the flight then continued on to Taipei), Business Class. Would recommend if that route works for you, much better than Austrian for similar money, and very nice seat layout. The only preflight check was my vaccination status and digital was fine. Onward ticket not checked, and I had a one-way VIE BKK. Arrival was uneventful, I was helped to Fast Track immigration (I asked because it was not mentioned on my boarding pass and the BKK staff were happy to see me, maybe they have a “spendy Falang” counting device.). Immigration was efficient and businesslike. I was asked about my previous O-A retirement and explained it expired while I was out of country, I would like to please enter Visa Exempt. Agent said “extension” and I said yes, assuming she was reading mind, as they do. Asked how long I would stay I said 29 days. No other documents were required and I was stamped in for 30 days including my arrival day. The immigration lady was friendly enough but not wasting time. Out of an abundance of caution I had an onward ticket for 28 days out and a cheap but plausible hotel for the first night, both paid in full in advance, total under $100. This time they were completely superfluous but I don’t regret buying them. Taxi home of course had no change for 1000 ฿ but the doorman happened to have, so low-level fleecing avoided. Hope this is useful to anyone traveling soon! And do come back to Thailand, it’s lovely here, even if the Chao Phraya is probably going to wash away the drunk Aussies from Jack’s tomorrow. ????

This is sure to be an unpopular opinion, but with the new, enlightened legalization of herbs, I would prefer they don't also start handing out 90-day tickets to everyone who shows up. If you're too high to organize your extension of stay then hey, sorry, but NorCal always needs trimmigrants so better luck next time? Here in Europe people are slowly starting to hear about the legalize-it happenings and it will surely be a factor in travel plans soon. Hopefully nobody gets strung up in the city-state as a result.

Interesting thread! I married, unwisely, mostly due to wishful thinking about the woman and the possibilities for our relationship. The next years disabused me of these notions and I was divorced four and half years later, thankfully without any kids, but also without any money. This was in Europe, in a country with a very high divorce rate, so while painful it wasn't weird to get divorced. I think I will marry again, because I want to have kids, and I want my kinds to have every advantage I can provide them, and having married parents is a pretty big social/reputation advantage in Thailand as far as I can tell. Probably also helps with securing their second passports. But this time, I will always have a Plan B and a Plan C for myself in case it doesn't work out. On the one hand that's the sad part of being divorced, probably most divorced people privately keep an escape plan up to date; but on the other hand, Thailand offers better fallback plans for men than we have in the West, and that's a good feeling!

Where you get divorced determines what law applies. And you can usually get divorced in the country you (legally) reside in, i.e. any country either one of you legally resides in, or any country either one of you is a citizen of. IANAL but I'm pretty sure that's how it works. It's how I got divorced, mercifully in my ex-wife's home country where divorces go pretty fast if you agree to terms. It's funny, you can marry on a whim in Vegas, but you have to reside there for six weeks before you can get a divorce. Not sure what "reside" means for foreigners, maybe it's not even possible without a visa?

Phuket Town has great nightlife, unless you mean girlie bars. There's an awesome little jazz club just a block or so from main drag of the old town, and several of the old-town bars have live music. But of course it's very far from the beach. If you mean girlie bars, or thump-thump EDM discos, I think Patong might fit your bill. Your tastes may differ, but if I were going solo (and not trying to hook up) I'd go to beaches by day and plan to get back to Phuket Town for dinner and to enjoy the civilized nightlife. When I was there last New Year's, taxis were godawful expensive compared to Bangkok, and also really hard to find outside the main tourist centers, and the drivers weren't very friendly. If you're trying to save money, research the bus options. If you're trying to save time, just suck it up.

Last I checked, Taipei requires a Covid test for transit passengers. I'm flying direct on EVA so it's not a problem but if I had changed planes in Taipei I would have had to get tested before departure. Just FYI.

Just to add a couple data points even though I'm not an SCB customer yet. I use (Transfer)Wise extensively for USD/EUR/HUF/THB in all combinations. Transfers from Wise to Thai banks have ranged from instantaneous to a couple days, and I've never figured out why, it seems pretty random. Instant is the norm, waiting is the exception. Filling up the Wise account also sometimes settles immediately, sometimes takes a few days when I can't use "SEPA instant." Having done all the same routes pre-Wise, I am *very* happy with the pricing. You don't get standard proof that the money's from you, and there are <50K limits with some Thai banks but I think not SCB -- but if you're OK with those limitations then you can save quite a lot even compared to normal bank transfers, let alone ATM fees.

FWIW I have used a throw-away ticket to Singapore in the past and will be doing it again in a couple weeks. Current prices are about $55 but some of that is due to my procrastination habit, I think it was under $50 when I first checked. My theory -- probably stupid -- is that Singapore looks more respectable because it's so obviously not a cheap/backpacker destination.

I guess Brighton would be the proper comparison to Pattaya? A bit of flash Internet research tells me that in 2020 the average beer price was £5.19 a pint in London and £5.02 in Brighton. It probably hasn't gotten any cheaper. 5 GBP is 220.92 THB says Google. So if we agree that Guinness is more expensive than the average beer, and that Pattaya is nicer than Brighton, then I think 209 THB is a very competitive price!

Is this a weak Baht or merely a strong Dollar? Sure looks like the latter to me. If you want to see what a weakening currency looks like, check out the Hungarian Forint at the moment.

Hello benevolent Forumites! I was until a couple months ago living in Thailand on an O-A with Retirement extension via a well-known agent. I'm outside Thailand now and it has expired, as planned. I was originally going to get a long-term visa before returning, but plans have changed. I now plan to enter Visa Exempt and get a 30-day extension, as I can only stay max two months right now anyway. My question: is there anything special I should know about / watch out for because I previously had a longer-term visa? I am using the same passport. This will be about 10 weeks after the extension expired. I suppose I will remove the stapled-in pages from my passport as the visa is no longer valid anyway. I will probably have a burner ticket out inside of 30 days (I did this in the past, and it seemed helpful). Sub-question: should I book a hotel -- because I'm a tourist? I rent an apartment and will of course stay there, but before I had the visa they checked the "onward hotel" for sure, during Quarantine Times. In context, it's not a big expense. Thanks in advance for any tips!

Thanks everyone! I’m aware of the cost-benefit calculations, for me it makes sense if my cash arrives in time.

I thought they had stopped doing that because of the Covid protocols, is it now back on? That would of course be my preferred way of getting the visa.

Hello Forum! I'm leaving soon and will be outside Thailand for 2-3 months, during which time my Non-O retirement extension will expire. I'm considering a 5-year Elite Visa for when I return. According to this agent's site, the current process is very problematic for us travelling types: you're supposed to get the final approval by post, then drop your passport at your local Thai embassy for however long they want to keep it. https://thaielitevisa-his.com/how2apply/ It seems like it must be possible to do the application and send the payment while abroad, then come back to Thailand on Visa Exempt and get the visa affixed to my passport at Immigration here. Has anyone done that, and have any advice on it? Thanks!

Same for two of my friends, big eaters and drinkers who surely would have chartered a fishing boat for at least one day. They went to Sri Lanka, which required vaxx and a PCR before departure and had absolutely no BS after arrival. Said they had fun and it was very cheap. So now there are however many planeloads of tourists who have gone to Sri Lanka instead of Thailand and noticed how cheap it is, and I wonder how many of them will choose Thailand in the future after that experience.