grain

For about 15 years when I lived in Pattaya I had KeyVisa do my annual retirement ext. Everything was kosher, I had the money in the bank and all my docs were in order, it was just that I couldn't be stuffed dealing with Pattaya Imm and having to stand in line and maybe get the runaround, so I paid an agent. About 6 years ago I relocated to Korat and found it was very fast and easy to handle it myself. So the answer to OP is sure, if for any reason you don't want to do then pay an agent.

It's was only 3 years ago and the Thais at these tourist hubs were sleeping on the pavements on flattened cardboard boxes and lining up to get a free box of rice and a bottle of water, and they were moaning away...Oh when will the tourists return. Now they're punching tourists in the face and stomping on their heads.

My dad was a poor Scot who struggled his whole life to put food on the table and a roof over his (and our) heads. Probably the greatest thing he taught me was to live within my means, to budget and keep within that budget, and if you want something you save up and pay cash, and if you can't afford it then you don't get it (the only exception to this philosophy being buying a house). So I became an excellent money manager, and have spent the majority of my life debt free. I've never owned a credit card, but have a couple of debit cards for use when paying online.

Photo I took in 1987, this was at Koh Samui, from memory it was near BoPut.

Great song, they really were an incredible band, I saw them live a few times back in the 1980s, and had several of their albums. They were immensely popular in Thailand back then.

One time driving in my car in a small NE city there was an old lady on a crosswalk in the middle of the road obviously having difficulty crossing, being a gentleman I stopped at the crosswalk and smiled at her and gave a wave sign with my hand indicating for her to cross, then as she walked past the front of my stationary car she almost got whacked by some Thai flying through on the outside. So it hit me then that I almost got that old lady killed by giving her a false sense of security, I should of just driven straight through the crosswalk like every other driver, at least she knew how to deal with that.

Hang about, give me time to return. 😁

Dunno about that, couple of years ago I was at Danang, great beach, didn't see any surf there but beach was clean, water was clean, didn't have any stupid hawkers all over the beach, no dog<deleted> either, that a big plus in Nam compared to Thailand, you don't see mangy mutts everywhere, cause the Viets will catch and eat the bastards. 😂

Taking the micky out of Catholics or Christians is easy, but for a real test of balls try taking the piss out of Islam. So if Trump dressed up as an Imam or the Prophet Muhammad, that would be really something. Be fun to see a fatwa on him too.

Like Fried Rice with Crap How about Crap Fried with Whore Dust

It's actually baked into the culture. Thais see signs in Thai listing dual prices at temples and gov run places like national parks, so they don't think it's a wrong thing to do, they think it's the correct thing to do. If they don't overcharge the foreigners they're letting the team down.

I agree with many of the above sentiments, but how Albo and the ALP are running the show is still a better option than that horrible Dutton. Obviously the bulk of Australians felt the same way. Warts and all it was better to stay with the devil we know than that horrible Dutton. He was the worse leader the Libs ever had in their entire history, and probably the worst political leader in Australia's history. He was so bad he almost decimated the Liberal Party.

He always made me think of an executioner. If capital punishment was ever reintroduced Dutton would be the man for the job. If they ever remade the movie "Braveheart" and were casting for the guy who chops up William Wallace at the end, then Peter Dutton would be perfect for that part. He'd probably win best supporting actor. 😂

I agree, with a better choice of leader, someone with charm, wit, charisma, and a solid vision for the future they could have won this in a landslide, as Albo was definetely on the nose. Quite frankly Dutton frightened too many people, he still had that QLD copper mindset and persona.

Dutton must be the worse thing that's ever happened to the Libs in their entire history, not only did he lose this election, he did so in a massive landslide giving the ALP a huge majority, he destroyed his own political career at the same time, and wiped out a whole bunch of future Lib leaders. Talking about a big-time loser. Good riddance.