chalawaan

I'm all for bad guys out, but leave the good guys in peace, we're sick and tired of being treated like semi-tolerated suspects instead of legit family men and retirees.   

Hakparn really is a bit of a local LEO legend. 

And I'm not talking about his ability to toast his own impressive success.

He's the Jack Regan of Thailand. 

12 hours ago, Eleftheros said:

"Fusion energy is 20 years away from being a reality. And always will be." - attributed to some expert.

 

I know it's a tough problem, but really the fusion industry has made astonishingly slow progress..

Probably because no military application to fund the fast track.  

Probably an elaborate plot to force everyone to use the "fun" red bus route on that road. 

A civil engineer from abroad would probably be as stumped as the rest of us, maybe the theory is to finish it twice as fast, so 2043 then. 

Can't you find an alternative on the back Sois on the other side of the Ram? Less pollution for one thing, sidewalk or not. 

Plug the security gap if you can, and yes of course, stay. 

Moving is a major hassle why let the criminals beat you twice? 

I don't know, isn't it's major appeal to the world based on it being a "shagging city"?

I can walk around plenty cities overseas, nothing unique about that these days. 

2 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

No doubt, there are moronic IOs, different "requirements" in different provinces and many foreigners had bad experiences with the crazy burocracy.

 

But let's be realistic: Thailand still is one of the most easy countries to retire to, especially for people on the lower range of income.

The 800/400k bank thing has not changed since ages.

 

Back to the "good old days", when people, who did not qualify for a correct visa or a retirement extension made monthly border runs for years? Would one of us want to have those people living in our home countries?

 

I think, for each one who reports here about problems with IO, there's another one doing his yearly extensions without problems, but that usually will not be posted.

I stay here a long time now and never ever had any problem with visa and - later - extensions. Some IOs were more polite, others less.

 

My decision to leave Thailand when my son is old enough to study abroad comes not from bad IOs or the feeling "they don't want us", but from the political situation, the pollution, environmental problems and a climate, that fits less for me than in earlier years.

I'm still grateful to Thailand and it's people for the very good time I had and still have here.

 

Most of us still have options beyond going "home" there is The Philippines.

Thailand IMO is far more developed, but it's not impossible to be happy there. 

The biggest problem for me here is Immigration. 

Yes brother, you said it's easy for you.

But WHY do we need to deal with it at all? 

We are retired, most of us cause no problems, we are not a significant source of national income at all, but we still contribute significantly in our small hometown economy. We maybe spend at least 4x the average Thai working family minimum. 

I would be happy to still pay 2K a year for my extension, but just make it online! 

Scrap all this BS of signed copies in blue ink!

Photographs, stupid stamps wasting space, this is immigration procedure from my childhood in the west in the middle of LAST CENTURY let it all be in the SYSTEM!

And just let us live in peace.  

The best solution would be to get a one time retirement visa and done!

But if they must hassle us then make it all digital. 

Rant over. 

1 hour ago, mikeymike100 said:

Quite, it seems the ONLY thing they are interested in is money?????

Yes there's absolutely nothing for free, consider Panama, where they throw in the usual pensioner kindnesses like subsidised public transport etc. 

I'm not asking for unwarranted freebies, it just compared to anywhere else we're breathing ATMs to them and they crow about this in their PR like it's a BENEFIT? 

On 7/4/2018 at 5:55 PM, ELVIS123456 said:

This link gives several options for voting when overseas.

https://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/overseas/index.htm

 

Best to advise AEC in advance so your details and location are on the electoral roll.

This covers you for all elections, as the AEC Electoral Roll is used by all levels of Govt.

 

You can also opt out if you're no longer domiciled.

I never liked being forced to vote anyway. 

Thanks for the laughs OP.

In news just in:

You're being played like Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster. 

41 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

To be sure.....always diddling with the already overloaded bureaucracy/cost of "resident" visas. Just another justification to muck with the the programs further. 

 

More intelligent and wiser old hands have never felt the need to play the game with the non-O types * very life restrictive. There are a couple of alternative avenues for foreign residents to take advantage, as they've been in place forever. Know quite a few of these selective types that aren't harnessed with the dreaded retirement, marriage, family or business long term visas. 

The only ones I'm aware of are Thai residency, or Visit Thai Family Multi entry. Both are not freely available to all comers. The latter obviobviously requires the commitment to a family. 

The former, an income that's not a pension, and I think that requires a marriage to a Thai as well, from memory. 

If there were another avenue widely available to everyone, it would be no secret. 

I've never had a problem with ice in Thailand.

For sure, contamination happens, to all consumables, and in every setting.

Cruise ships, with hygiene standards light years beyond local stalls and markets are notorious for these outbreaks. 

Ice phobia among many of us here I think is wildly disproportionate to the risks. 

It's no fun to be unwell in this way, I've been there too, but to drastically alter ones enjoyment of life after recovery is similar to this unhealthy unending local obsession with masks 

Tourists don't have the first clue about Thailands political uncertainty, nor would they care if they did.

Understandably, it's all about them, and the value they are exchanging for their hard earned. 

The various clueless think tanks need to understand that primarily, if the world is worse off than in 2019, the cash to be extracted from those who can afford to come in 2023 and beyond, will not be greater than the cash cow of mass tourism pre Covid. 

There's an existential war about to escalate, and likely another around the corner, literally around the corner, in the case of South East Asia, 

but they're making grand plans in their bubble of ignorance regardless. 

What was, is over, and not coming back.

The absolute brass of this lying entitled freeloader grub and his gang of worthless peerage prostitutes should turn average voters stomachs.

Instead, people will actually pay good money to hear him crap on at sumptuous lunches and buy his next overpriced book. 

This is the true definition of a world gone mad. 

I doubt Thawee 27, is long for this world. Years ago, a colleague of mine fell a short distance getting off a ski lift, got his noggin, and his brain apparently released fluids into the skull as a protective response, doctors drilled in to try and alleviate the pressure, but it was fruitless. 

In many cases, if you suffer brain trauma, you're better off dying than living out your days like that. 

26 minutes ago, petermik said:

Patong...aka mini Moscow

Be like Ukraine, just get out there and take it back!

On 6/2/2023 at 9:51 AM, Jingthing said:

To be replaced by a pair of humongous 

 

 

...

 

 

Weed Shops

That's another industry filled with "entrepreneurs" who must have come up with the idea while high on their own supply. 

Coals to Newcastle much? 

We and plenty neighbours were all home growing years before Anutin was even a qualified idiot.  

Ate BBQ seafood from a Pattaya Beach vendor, lounging on a beach and random food vendors are not my usual thing, but a pal on the whole "two week millionaire experience" had arranged it.

Three days of fluids from both ends followed, we even missed the flight home. Luckily he had a two week millionaire girlfriend who ended up being very kind and ran errands for us both, we literally couldn't leave the hotel room without the risk of filling our shorts. 

I don't otherwise stress too much here, dodging everything with ice, and worrying about salads, it takes too much joy out of living.

I don't go and eat those giant pork knuckle stews, and other curries at food courts, that's a dish too far.