Briggsy

I would try to embellish and develop the tale for your avid Aseanow readers. Try to work on the "old colleague" character. We know she is female and from Hat Yai but a lot more meat on the bones is required. You need to paint a picture in the reader's mind.

Malaysia versus Israeli passport?

I actually agree with both @Dan O and @Nick Carter icp

You have totally misunderstood. I was denied entry. The supervising IO had such mangled English that what sounded like a warning was in fact a denial of entry. When he said "This time mai pen rai. Next time get a proper visa," he then led me and some Russian dude to the underground detention centre at the airport and we were processed out of the country. Mate, I am taking a lot of time and effort to try and tell people what happens and has happened to me, specifically in response to your request. This is to help other people and you. It is not very nice of you to accuse me of lying.

The schools normally learn pretty fast what works and where is a good place to go. Remember they have to put together a lot of the application documentation for you so they don't want to waste their own time or your time. The issue now is that there is a large scale change occurring in the visa application process at nearby consulates so the school won't know how it is going to pan out. In fact nobody does until it actually happens. Prepare for the worst (2 weeks in Vientiane) and hope for the best.

I was on a 6-monthly cycle. 4.5 months in, 1.5 months out on METV's. To achieve the 4.5 months in, I did one border bounce and one extension. That gave me 60 + 60 + 30. I would then get a new METV from the UK. Each year I went back to the UK for 3 months in total. I assume the 75% of my time in Thailand on tourist visas was the issue. This was not overtly stated by the IO. "This time mai pen rai. Next time get a proper visa." were his words. Since I am still doing the same 75% of time in Thailand on a DTV, I expect the same to happen at some point.

I know I will never know the answer to this but I would love to know what was going on in the head of the driver of grey Toyota as he crept across a major highway into the path of a speeding pick-up. Poor eyesight? Blinded by the sun? Just glanced? Misjudged the speed of the pick-up? Distracted? Drunk? No sleep? Assumed nothing was coming? What was the decision-making process?

No enforcement = no point

In my case, they definitely did not ask to see onward ticket or cash. Entry was immediately refused based on history of stays in Thailand (no visa exempts, I should add). The denial stamp was for both "no appropriate means of supporting oneself" and "suspecting of illegal work in the kingdom". Both of these reasons were stamped in my passport with no investigation, no evidence and were palpably untrue. I had loads of cash on me, cash in a Thai bank account, etc. and was not working in Thailand. So, the impression you seem to be under that Immigration actually stamp true reasons for denial of entry in your passport is both demonstrably false and factually wrong. They are using the 2 reasons stated above as "catch-all" reasons to provide a veneer of legal cover for themselves.

I fully expect them too! A lot of hotels have a price list for damage.

Soi Arunothai is not a soi to be speeding on. No margin for safety.

Was this random or was this a targetted attack? We will probably never find out as updates are scarce.

Isaan News?

Checking for hidden cameras?

There is a myth that paying for a tourist visa will gain you entry to Thailand whilst visiting repeatedly of visa exempts will get you denied entry. This is not true as many, many have been denied entry with tourist visas as have those attempting to enter visa exempt. The metric they are looking at is staying in Thailand for a considerable percentage of the time over months and years without using a visa they deem to be 'a proper visa'. It is likely to be true that tourist visas give people a slightly higher chance of gaining entry than visa exempts but tourist visas should not be viewed as a safe bet. Entry certainly can be denied if de-facto living in Thailand on tourist visas.

Many posters just immediately assumed he was from an African country. How wrong they were. It doesn't surprise me he is British. They are very soft on crime in my home country and criminals are very entitled constantly playing the victim card knowing that they will likely not be charged. If they are charged and convicted, the penalties are very light. Hopefully the Thais will deport him in due course. I can't understand why he was not held in custody.

Parents shot dead in front of their children by a drunken man unknown to the family. 🙁

They whine, they cajole, they try to get as stupid drunk as possible, they negotiate, they become a real pain in the arse, they ignore anything they don't want to hear but over all they continue to ask 700 more times after being told "No." Easier to just bring a limited amount on board and run out quickly.

Is this part of the NP network? If so, the rangers are usually very strict about allowing unsuitable vehicles on steep dirt roads. This may be a private operation. I have never heard of this mountain and I have done a lot of them in Thailand. Does anybody have co-ordinates?

It may have been picked up from Indian media which often writes in a colonial-style jolly japes style of English. Or more likely somebody has provided the outline to AI and told it to write in a positive style.

Actually it is pretty much every one.

The Myanmar military rulers have a great deal on their plate at present and need to keep anyone they can onside. They are in an extremely weak position. You can be sure that Thailand's actions towards the junta's enemies particularly the KNLA came up in the negotiations.

Did they really run out or just lock the cupboards? 🙂 Given the behaviour of groups of South Asian men on planes when confronted with 'free' alcohol, that is what I would have done.

Is he okay healthwise, he seems out of breath doing nothing but strolling.

So, we have a severe chronic alcoholic using spirits rather than beer, drinking over 40 (UK) units (1 cl of alcohol) per day, who miraculously survived to 44, and drove every day to work. The point about spirits is for alcoholics the liver damage is greater in those that use spirits rather than those who medicate using beer or other lower abv. drinks even if the alcohol volume is the same. Spirits users will on average die sooner.