grain

I'd agree if it was toned down and held in designated areas for 2-3 days, but the way it is now is just insane, it's closer to drunken hooliganism than anything resembling "Cultural Heritage". There's also the huge death toll and terrible traffic injuries to consider, that's nothing to be delighted about.

Same story with us too. Last visa was Nov 2019, after several weeks waiting we got a phone call saying she needed a medical report, we live in Korat and the nearest acceptable hospitals were BKK and Udon Thani, so it was a mad rush to Udon Thani. A couple weeks later she was granted the 3-year visa, which was fantastic, then 4 months later the world locked down.

did you have the chanote translated to english?

Thanks for your reply: her last visa grant, in Nov 2019 was the 3 year multi, but of course she lost over 2 years usage due to the border lockdowns. She has been granted about 4 or 5 tourist visas over the past decade, so I'm not expecting any hassles, I own my home in Oz and have a sizable bank balance, so they're big pluses, in addition she has a very good track record of not breaking any visa conditions. All previous applications have been hard copies, so never done it before by the immi account. She already has an immi account and I've already started some of the filling in. I'll prepare all the supporting docs and save them as pdfs. What I'm not clear about is this: In the past I just made copies of all the docs and included them with the application, but I see now they want everything certified. So all these pdfs have to be certified first? In the past I gave bank balance statements, mine and hers, now they say the statements have to show 6 months of transactions. Before I included a copy of her chanote, but now all Thai docs have to be translated and certified.

could you please give me the contact details for the TH agent.

Just sent you a message mate.

Cheers, I've done several successful applications for her over the past decade, I really want to find out if it's best to do this new application by hard copy or the online application. Also where to lodge the completed application (hard copy)

Will be flying BKK to Perth late Feb 2024, and will no doubt transit through KL airport, and I'm considering breaking the journey at KL and having approx 5 nights stopover. So I'm looking for some recommendations for parts of KL to stay in and suitable hotels in those areas. I'll be with Thai wife, we're not backpackers nor are we 5-star, guess we're medium budget. Not into shopping, pubs or clubs, or fine dining. We'd like to be in an area with lots of character, and some nearby attractions, close to public transport, we like local food, night markets. As for hotels, I guess 3 star, a pool would be nice but not essential, AC of course, clean, and not noisy. Breakfast included would be OK but not essential as we can eat outside. So any ideas for me?

If so I'd like to ask a couple of questions.

Does this apply to ASEAN tourists too, like Thais?

I'm the exact opposite, I'm looking for a slow one, the ceiling fans I have are too damn fast, on 1, the lowest setting, it's way too fast, never ever had it on 3. I'd like to find one that circulates slowly on low setting.

The only solution is culling strays, any other approach will be a waste of time, effort and money.

I know several farang guys living in Lao with Lao a gf/defacto wife, they don't have any hassles and even get accompanied by their Lao gf when they go to immigration for extensions. I believe the law is an old one that was strictly enforced in the past but is now dormant. Mind you if some foreign guy was really flaunting it no doubt he'd get reported and the authorities would act upon this law, but if you're behaving in a decent and socially acceptable way you're ok. That's how I see it anyway.

I've been registered at my TGF's in Korat for the past 6 years. Some months ago I went to the amphur to ask about getting the yellow book (and after that, the pink ID card) but the amphur asked if we're married. We're not, so they said get married and then come back and we'll see about it then. Well, for an assortment of reason I don't want to get married. Anyway, I've been living in Thailand for a very long time, a few decades now, and have got along OK without a yellow book & pink card. I have 2 bank accounts, and own my car in my name.

Absolutely no. I've been through all this myself. Thailand doesn't recognize dual citizenship, you're either one or the other but can't be both at the same time. Switching PPs is not that easy. You can't do it via a land border but can do it via an airport.

Yep, great idea, extend it from 30 days to 60 days, then notice an increase in tourists after a few months, and get alarmed about all these dirty foreigners all over the place, so drop it back down to 30 days again and stuff up everyone's travel plans who have already booked tickets based on getting a 60 day entry.

Imagine bringing a senior family member with dementia and plonking them down in this country when on top of all the difficulties they already have in life, they now have visas, maintaining required amounts in Thai bank accounts, 90 day reporting, TM30s, and starting soon taxes on their foreign pensions to deal with. There's also the language difficulties, not so many Thais are fluent in English or any other foreign language. I guess the answer is some staff member will take care of all these matters. Do you trust Thais to handle a foreigner's finances? When my own mother was put into an Australian old age home with dementia she was frequently confused and lost in her thoughts and bearings. It would have been hellish for her to have been in a foreign country with vastly different customs and culture, plus communication difficulties. Finally, there's the never ending uncertainty hanging over all our heads. Other than those few foreigners who have been able to obtain PR or Thai citizenship, the rest of us, even people with homes, families, kids in school, are all here on a fragile year by year basis, never knowing if the day will come when the Thai government bring in further regulations and requirements that will make living here on a long-term basis impossible. Why would anyone place an old-age family member suffering with dementia into that kind of situation?

Not a good place in my opinion, for reasons too many to list here. However if you found a care home isolated in a natural scenic rural setting that offered peace & quiet then that would probably be good. Otherwise not a good idea. Anywhere in any of the cities or tourist hubs forget it, the old folk will have thumping karaoke pubs and howling soi dogs to contend with.

Another girl I knew, her mother had a large Roman nose, and this girl got the same nose from her mother. Later on in life the mother got a nose job and she looked so much better with a smaller nose. The girl told me she was p'ssed off about this and wished her mother had got the nose job before having her.

Another was the muscle guy who used to feed the Soi dogs nightly , haven't seen him for years ,but that to me is someone I admire Yep, that muscle guy was such an admirable person, apart from feeding stray dogs he also pimped young Thai girls, he used to beat the living daylights out of people, he was wanted for criminal activities in Thailand, Australia, New Zealand.

One young Thai woman I knew wanted a "sharp" nose so she had a nose job, it sure was sharp, the tip of her nose came to a point, at first I thought she had a boil on the end of her nose, it was that sharp she could have dipped her nose into an ink well and used it to write with. Later she showed me photos of her before getting the nose job and she looked a million times better with her natural Thai nose.

I suffered with hard stools and bleeding haemorrhoids for much of my life, had bright red blood on the toilet paper and was forever inserting suppositories in my rectum, and trying various treatments. Then about 30 years ago I totally ceased eating all meat and went on a vegetarian diet. And hey presto. All that rectum trouble totally stopped, now bleeding haemorrhoids is a distant memory.

Obviously a not a native English speaker therefore his post has got screwed up somewhat. However, I think what he's asking is about interactions among Thai family members compared to similar interactions in Western countries. In his observations the Thai kids are undemonstrative and selfish (always wanting) and not particularly interested in how their parents are faring. Well, it's probably true in many cases in Thailand, as it is in the West.

The retirement ext is miles ahead and definitely the one to go for. The only plus factor for the marriage ext is only having to show half the amount in the bank, 400K vs 800K. But in every other aspect the retirement wins. Less paperwork, faster time, it's YOUR visa not you're Thai wife's. I'm not currently married but if I married my TGF tomorrow I'd still remain on the retirement ext and keep her out of my visa.

Most of them don't go far from the border, about the furthest they'll go is HatYai, but the majority just visit the sleazy brothel towns a few kms inside Thailand.