grain

If you're planning a trip (holiday?) to HatYai you shouldn't let something like the Muslim food deter you, as Stocky pointed out there's heaps of excellent food to be had in HatYai. The general Thai food is very good, some of the best Isarn food I've ever had was in HatYai, lots of Chinese and Western options. But there's not a lot to see or do there other than shopping and nightlife. Songkhla used to be recommended more for farang visitors but I was last there a few months ago and it's no longer to my liking, though the scenery is still very nice.

I lived for several years in HatYai, and Songkhla, they don't refer to Malaysian food, it's Muslim food, and there are a lot of Muslim gaeng shops. These are the ones that the visiting Muslim Malaysians prefer to eat at. In general the food in HatYai is pretty good, but the Muslim food is not so good. As you mentioned the Muslim fried chicken is very popular, there are also some good murtabah shops about, Muslim tapioca pudding is good too, but none of this Muslim food in HatYai is as good as you'll find in Malaysia, S'Pore or Indonesia.

OK thanks a lot, you've been very helpful. I'll need 2 so I reckon I'll go ahead and order these, 100gb a month each will be sufficient, and 100mbps speed beats those other sims @ 15 or 30 mbps.

Thanks for those links, I just checked them out and also saw this one.

Yes good point about 100GB a month, I've been thinking the same thing. I download a lot of music every day, plus I was hotspotting my smart TV to my phone, so I was using well over 100gb a month, but we have 3BB now and I'm sure 100gb a month for my phone will be adequate.

OK thanks for that info, you just pointed out a flaw in my plan, which is the reason for this thread.

Good info, thanks.

I don't know anything about My by NT, we live out in the rice fields of Korat, my DTAC and my wife's AIS work very well out here. Would My by NT be the same coverage? I did check and as far as I can tell my Redmi Note 10 smartphone and my wife's Redmi Note 7 are OK with B28.

Yes, that's why I'm asking here. Last year my 12 month unlimited data 30 mbps DTAC sim cost around 1600Bt, I just looked yesterday and it's now 2890 Bt. So I thought I'd ask around and see if anyone else knew a better deal. I always buy 2, one for me and one for my wife, so if I can save a couple thousand baht it'll be good.

I need 12 months as I travel out often, so I want to be online the second I return to Thailand. But I will ask in some shops soon, generally though they are more expensive than ordering online with Lazada.

Yes agree, I currently have annual retirement ext + multi-re-entry permit, and that works fine and I hope to just continue that way, all I'm doing here is looking for info for a plan B, should it become necessary.

In past years I bought DTAC pre-paid sims with unlimited data for 12 months, I've looked online and it seems they have increased a lot in price now, does anyone know of any good deals, good value pre-paid sims? Not really concerned about phone credits, just the data.

Hi Phillip9, are there any danger spots doing this. You do hear of people being refused entry and told they're coming too often and need to get the correct visa. So what are the legal limits? Only one extension at an immigration office for 1900 THB? And how many land border crossings allowed in a 12-month period? I believe it is 2, is that correct?

The idea of changing PPs is to keep my time spent in Thailand under 180 days in one year. If I spent 3 months in Thailand using the visa exempt method I describe above, then returned to Australia for a couple months, the back to Thailand to do the same 3 months visa exempt thing again on the same PP, that would be it, I'd be sitting on 180 days and couldn't come to Thailand again during the remaining 4 months of that year, or else be classed as a tax resident. However, if one of those visa exempt entries was using the other PP, then I'd never clock over 180 days. That's my plan anyway, unless some can point out a flaw in it.

Just curious if life becomes too difficult here with new tax regulations and I wanted to reduce my time spent in Thailand to under 180 days a year, what's the max time I could be in Thailand entering Visa Exemption with UK and Australian PPs. I have dual citizenships, so 2 PPs. I believe I'd get 30 days on entry and I can extend for a further 30 days for 1900Bt. Is that correct? Could I then get a further 30 days by doing a border entry (have a few nights in Vientiane then back in)? If I could do that I'd spend 3 months in Thailand, then return to Australia for a couple of months and fly back to BKK and enter with the other PP, and do the same again. Is that doable or would I run into problems?

Just imagine the chaos at Pattaya Immigration if they did manage to lure 27 million visitors. A fair percentage of that 27 million would no doubt wish to extend for a month. If just one one hundredth of that 27 million wished to extend, that would mean 270,000 more foreigners lined up at Pattaya Immigration. Even if they split them up, some on Monday, some on Tuesday and so forth, that's still 54,000 a day. The Immigration system would collapse under such numbers.

It's more than the entire population of Australia.

Or just format your current laptop and install Linux Mint, which will run much faster than Windows, if you just want to browse websites and send emails that will work out fine. You can download Mint for free, it comes with all the necessary apps preinstalled. Many people have got extra years from older low-spec laptops by switching to a Linux distro.

Are you going to the Big 40th next Monday? If so see you there. On On...BD

Well I hope your GM put his ass in the bucket or on the ice and left him there for a very long time.

Can't you just enter visa free with Aussie PPs and get 30 days, then extend at Hua Hin (Blue Port) for a further 30 days, you could cut you stay back from 70 to 60 days then depart, or if you really want those extra days do a border hop and get another 30 days.

In Australia he'd be shot dead by the cops, it's a disgusting situation there now. As already pointed out here, Thai police have excellent skills at decelerating these situations with distressed members of the public.

Thai Rak Thai

I used an agent (Darren) for about 10-12 years running when I lived in Pattaya, but these past 5-6 years I've been living in Korat and done it myself and it's been surprisingly easy. I have the dosh in the bank and never touch it, it's there year after year purely for immigration. As for dress/smile, I agree entirely, I always dress very smartly and act polite and friendly. I see may guys at Imm in shorts, tank tops, flipflops, they may not realize Thais in gov departments consider this disrespectful to them. I've heard of guys arguing Thai immigration law with IOs, not something I do, if they require a copy of the King James Bible translated into Thai, then I'll get it for them.

It's required at Korat Imm, if you've been out the country and back in again must do a new TM30, but it's easy, no need to supply any docs. I had to do it last July when I renewed my retire ext. a couple months earlier I'd made a 3-night trip to Lao, so I was told to go to the TM30 office and update it, then I could proceed with my annual ext.