NanaSomchai

And it would COST them money to get it fixed. Thailand Money Number #1.

And here we go, I encourage you to watch (again) Nicholas Cage's BEST role/movie ever: Lord of War (2005). The ending scene dialog goes: "And while the biggest arms dealer in the World is your boss, the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year, sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns." As for Vladimir Putin's, the next line fits him perfectly: "I would tell you to go to hell, but I think you're already there." Source:

- China wants the whole ASEAN region to itself+Tibet. (No one's talking about China has been doing to Tibet for decades yet it is... disgusting). - Russia wants to regain control of the former Visegràd block, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia under their (economic) control. - Erdogan wants the remaining half of Cyprus, Syria, Georgia and Armenia (to massacre them all) under their control all that while joining the European Union. - The civilized Western occidental European Union wants the whole of England and Scotland back in the European Union (rightfully so). - Israel wants the entire Gaza strip for them, eradicate Palestinians until the very last one. - North Korea leadership dreams of reuniting with South Korea under their terms, their communist biased views of what a society should look like. - The USA sees their Canadian friendly neighbor to the North as the 52nd state. They often jokingly label Canada as their 52nd state but make no mistakes. Nothing new under the sun.

I'm convinced as well. Same goes for XI. In fact one could argue that the US and China war has already been going on for years, albeit an economic one. Be careful who you are laying down in bed with, a shark with a wig, lipstick on and a nice looking Prada dress is still a shark. Thailand and China are probably too far linked, tangled and intertwined now in that weird "bromance" ongoing relationship for anything positive to come out of it. Which is why I've already sold everything and left. My only regrets is not having done sooner than that. Welcome to Chailand.

What Xi wants, Xi gets.

Woah there, easy easy easy Mike. Don't fall for this bait. Not everyone in Russia agrees with Putin's statement shows polls. In fact it's quite the contrary, most Russians aspire to freedom and peace. Putin does not represent what the entire Russian population thinks and vice versa. Don't fall for the easy trap, don't paint them all with the same brush please Mike.

Not negotiable.

Clearly your details or at least your email addresses are in the wild. Why would they? Loss of face, this is Thailand. Again why would they? Loss of face, this is Thailand. And they never will.

I couldn't agree more with that part.

They will "support" blockchain only because they figured out they couldn't control it or restrict it or benefit from it directly (in the form of brown envelopes) or even outright ban it, so at least that way by pretending they are "supporting" it, they are at least saving face. Despicable cowards this joke of an incompetent "administration".

That's Thainess to you. This country is fubar'd beyond words.

You nailed it, sir.

Context: Statistics say just over 36,000 Saudi tourists arrived in Thailand in 2019, and Thailand made about 3.2 million baht. TAT’s deputy governor said direct flights will help promote tourism to Thailand, and expand tourist markets in Saudi Arabia, Europe, and the Middle East. He also said it will allow tourists to conveniently transfer to other countries. TAT plans a new marketing campaign for this year called “Visit Thailand Year 2022: Amazing New Chapters”. The campaign will promote three main types of tourism in Thailand, consisting of Medical tourism, beaches, and shopping. Source: https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thailand-news-today-tourism-industry-pushes-for-scrapping-of-thailand-pass-and-pcr-testing There you have it, medical tourism. I myself have a severe case of blue balls, maybe I should apply for a medical visa, I've heard they have great massage/clinics on Soi Buakhaow and all across Pattaya...

Read between the lines.

A dark red one even. Bolded the relevant bits for added emphasis. Millions, dare I say, billions were lost this winter season. "Thailand: The Land of flip flopping rules and changing requirements", how fitting. 7 or 8 months also known as; After the elections. Good luck with that!

Right. This in a nutshell.

5000 baht is a bit high to my liking, 3000 baht is the norm (or at least it used to be), every time I was border hopping, renewing late, being on overstay a day or two, 3000 baht slipped into the passport's first pages would usually make every problems go away. Get used to it, do not complain, smile, wai salute, lower your voice and be grateful/thankful you were given this "option", you need to see this as an opportunity and walk away smelling the roses. Also may I suggest, if you want to do it right(tm) next time go with your Thai partner and ask her to exchange LINE contacts with that same I/O, because he's about to become your new best friend. Welcome to Thailand.

Essentially this. Long gone are the days where one could pick a "regular" girl on Beach Rd. in the middle of the day for a 300THB ST session. These days one must; walk into a bar, look at the available "bar girls", pick one, order yourself a drink (120THB), order a lady drink (150THB) just to get her to sit near you, at that point you're not even sure whether she "likes" you or whether she's "allowed" to go out with customers yet, so you've already shelled out 270THB just to get her "attention", then you play a few games or chat a bit to assess whether she is willing to maintain "eye contact" with you or whether she's already trying to get away from you as fast as she can, by then your drink and hers (scam non alcoholic orange juice) drinks are done, therefore you order a second round for yourself and for her (120THB) and (150THB) again to "break the ice". After your second drink, the effects of alcohol loosens your guard a bit which how conveniently is the right time for her to introduce her "friend" who also works in the bar, friend that is immediately "begging" for a drink within the first 15 seconds, at that point you roughly compute in your head "okay, 120+150, 120+150, that's already uhhh... 540THB, what kind of difference does it make? 150THB more or less?" so you give in and pay her "friend" her own lady drink, because afterall you're already 540THB "in" at this point, should you decline there would be a loss of face for everyone taking the risk of walking out alone, so you add up another 150THB for her "friend" to the mix, you're sitting at a whopping 690THB, you still haven't seen the color of a nipple. At that point you start trying to hint her that you'd like to take her back to your room, but she makes it clear that you would have to buy a third round before you can even get to the negotiation part, so you eventually cave in, here's the last and third round, 120THB and 150THB again, your bill is already at 960THB and you still haven't discussed whether you will be able to bring her "home" or not. If all goes well, she will tell you the average ST price is around 1000THB while the long time (for the rest of the night) is usually 2500THB and that also there will be a 500THB bar fine fee for taking her out of the bar. You attempt to negotiate a bit, get the LT fee reduced to 2000THB which she agrees to, because after all this is Asia and it would be somewhat insulting (plus that would make you look like a newbie or a simp) if you agreed to whatever fare she gave you right off the bat, so you get it down to 2000THB. You pay your tab, including the bar fine, walk away with her, few steps later she asks you "oh, you have condoms and everything?", because guess what? she doesn't. So she goes to 7/11 and there again, you're footing the bill, condoms, gel, shower gel, maybe a little snack, candy bar, energy drinks, massage oil, whatever, there goes another 500THB. Finally you'd think you'd be done? Guess what, you're not even close. You try to get a cab, but it's still somewhat early in the evening, the cab looks at you and sees you have a girl of the night with you so suddenly the cab fare that was 30THB earlier in the day is all of a sudden 200THB plus for no apparent reasons, disgruntled you decline letting it go waiting for the next one, bad luck for you, the next cab is trying to extort you of 250THB... you decide again to let it go and wait for the next cab, next cab is going to be 200THB again, you have the feeling they all are going to be pulling the same trick on you, the girl starts to give you a dirty look probably thinking to herself "ki nok farang", after the third scamming taxi you cave in and shell out those last 200THB. You get to your room, she rushes for the bathroom, gets undressed, tatoos everywhere on her back, pregnancy birthmarks left and right around her belly and her private parts, no breast, fake hair, fake nails, fake eyelashes, (Thailand; the Land of the Fake!) as she cleans up her face removing her makeup, you realise she's ugly as !@#$, the alcohol effect has worn off, the beer glasses effect is wearing off, her mood has changed, she's no longer the "fun, trippy happy, smiling, super overtly friendly girly" girl you had 30 minutes ago but then again you've got blue balls, you grab your smartphone, reach out for the calculator app and off you go; quick recap of the evening, so far: - Your 1st drink. 120. - Her 1st lady drink. 150. - Your 2nd drink: 120. - Her 2nd drink: 150. - Her "friend" lady drink: 150. - Your 3rd drink: 120. - Her third drink: 150. - The barfine: 500. - The long time fees: 2000. - The 7/11 shopping spree: 500. - The taxi: 200. Total of the evening: 4160 THB and yet, she doesn't even like you and you don't even like her anymore. But there you are, you've got blue balls, you've already paid for it all so... there you go! After a short 10 minutes session (because let's face it, we're not all bodybuilders athletes) you turn to your side of the bed and you fall asleep telling yourself "yeah sure, Thailand is cheap, what a bargain that was! NOT.", it is now past 3AM but you're telling yourself, I'll go for another extra round in a few hours because... !@#$ it afterall, it cost me a whopping 4160 THB might as well get my money worth. 5AM you wake up again and want to go for a second round, 50/50 are the chances she says no, you insist and go in for a second round, she'll do the bare minimum, you'll be shagging a starfish, you'll last a whopping 5 minutes, it'll be a very mechanical experience at best, 6AM sun rises you throw her out, you can tell by the looks on her face, even though she's the one departing your hotel room, she's the one throwing you out. She slams the door, you grab your wallet and your smartphone again, you go recounting your bank notes and ask yourself while scratching your head, "maaaaan? have I really spent 4160THB on that cheap ugly *depleted word*???", it's 6AM you're now alone in your hotel room, after a quick glance across the room to make sure she hasn't left with any your valuable belongings (iPad, laptop, passport, whatever of value you may have) you notice in the distance what appears to be the corpse of a cockroach, you mutter "yeah 4 stars hotel my a$$", crawl back to bed (because after all it's 6AM there's nothing else to do) and force yourself into sleep because hey, the hotel's checkout is at 11:00, so you have less than 5 hours left worth of sleep worth of your money, the room was another 500THB (so 4160THB+500 THB) and of course you'll miss out on the disgusting "free breakfast". At this point you tell yourself: Who cares? Not only Thailand ain't cheap no more, but also it is not even a good value anymore. Edit: This was meant to be a funny/humorous/satire post, yet... it reeks of truth.

Did you really expect any different? Welcome to Chailand.

She's going to be delighted to hear the good news. Thanks!

That's what I thought as well, but wanted to make sure she would be exempt of any hassles when attempting to do this every week, we're talking about 52 crossings per year here. Is this going to raise any eyebrows at some point? Last question; Do you have any feedback or experiences (positive or negative) about that specific checkpoint/border? It is notoriously known the Poipet one must be avoided at all times. Thank you for your time.

I was asking the question for a close "relative" who travels on a Cambodian passport, she is a Cambodian national, she is interested in "setting up" (but not working) a resort business on the Thai side of the border, nearby Ban Hat Lek (Trat Province) but would like to cross the Khlong Yai Border Checkpoint on a weekly basis, (be in Thailand weekdays, return to Cambodia on days off/week-ends), my question is, is she exempt from 2 entries per calendar year by land crossing the checkpoint on foot or is she going to run into immigration hurdles? What do you think? What should I tell her? (apart from the obvious answers; get a proper visa). Thanks.

Be careful what you wish for.

Blacklisted people would effectively be stopped by the APIS system, unless they have had their details such as names changed. However with the fingerprints scanners at every single point of entry/exit, the blacklisted sheeps are getting caught with a 99.9% success rate. The only way for a blacklisted person to pass through the security nets would be when the entire biometric systems are down. I recall a few posts on these forums hinting it is sometimes the case, but there's no way for you to know whenever the systems are up or down. Being blacklisted and betting on the odds the biometric systems being down is akin to winning a lottery ticket. I don't think any countries in the World (minus the USA and Israel) have enough "weight" to make changes to the APIS system, but I could be wrong.

This, really, this, people seem to undershadow the importance of this, not so much at the ports of entry by Air because of the cameras, etc. But I assure you most immigration officers do "judge the book by it's cover", show up well dressed, well mannered, explain to the I/O why "you stay Thailand too mutt", add some tea money to your travel documents if you must, do a Wai salute, always control your temper, show them respect, they will let you in. On the other hand, show up in flip flops, with a "I love Soi 6" t-shirt with dubious stains on it, along a protruding beer belly, bad smell, bad breath, low hygiene, bad attitude, a passport in lousy conditions and start yapping your mouth using foul language, see what happens next, no matter what visa you may have. Thais are relatively simple minded people at the end of the day, they really do judge books by their covers. Once they got a bad impression about you, you're done.