NanaSomchai

I've heard about the 4 floors of whores in that tower on Orchard Road, I wonder how active/bustling it is post COVID-19. Any insights?

A passed away veteran German friend of Pattaya used to tell me... "Pattaya is a sh!th0le, but it's the World's best sh!th0le". I now think this can be extended to Thailand as a whole. "Thailand is a sh!th0le, but it's the World's best sh!th0le!".

I'd rather eat out at your local Ma and Pa restaurant or the discrete food cart vendor around the street corner, that's more in-line with Thailand's image and enriched experience, but that's just me. Remember what happened on Soi Khao San Road in BKK after the current government decided it was time to kick out all the street food sellers?

Mayyyyyyyybe?

Indeed. It's all a scam.

Indeed. Makes you wonder who makes theses lists of green lighted countries. Edit: Portugal is actually at 88.1% of the population vaccinated now, not 87%. 2nd top Worldwide, with that being said I'm proud to be one of the remaining unvaccinated 11.9%.

Again, when was that? The biometrics are in full force since mid 2019.

They are just going to do passenger pre-screening using the APIS. Not much else they can do anyhow.

I went to London and stayed there for 6 months during the winter... after seeing how the UKVI and the DWP treats people... never felt the urge to go again.

Implementations in Thailand... The way to hell is paved with good intentions...

We all have our priorities, I don't blame you.

Endless, limitless, inifinite greed have finally killed the golden goose. Good luck reviving it which is what they're trying to do.

Cheap women, cheap booze. Which neither are being offered at the moment due to too many factors even pre-pandemic. The Thais inifinite and limitless greed have finally killed the golden goose.

I could not agree more with that statement of yours, if only I had known back then what I know now...

Because just like every countries in the World, Thailand has it's fair share of Pros and Cons. Everything indicates that at the moment, given the current context, the Cons outweight the Pros by far and things are looking pretty grim I'd say.

And how would you predict a such thing would happen again? I got about 30k USD worth of bitcoin I'd like to trade in the near future...

errr... the lack of understanding in technlogy in your post is astounding. Facial recognition software doesn't digitally store pictures of your face, that is just not how it works, instead it captures critical waypoints across your face like distance between your eyes and other key points of your facial structure, then stores it in a database for recognition at a later time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_recognition_system A biometric system based on facial recognition only is subpar at best in terms of efficiency, it requires other data input such as fingerprints or identity details (name, surname, DOB, etc) to be fully functional. This is what the biometric system at swampy does by taking your pictures AND now your fingerprints since 2018~2019.

Neither of these sites seem reliable at all to me. Let alone the 2nd link gov.capital one indicates that on the 2022 October 14, the THB will jump from 43.703 to 69.485 just overnight. Complete rubbish.

- Visas are delivered by Embassies and Consulates whereas applicable, Embassies and Consulates are tied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. - Immigration officers/offices are a branch of the Royal Thai Police, most likely tied to the Ministry of Interior (think Home Office). From that view point it is safe to assume there is either very little communication to no communication at all between these two different ministries/branches of the government. It's like going to your national electricity provider and enquiring about your water bill and vice versa, they might be bodies of the govt, however they have no access to either's database. Again getting a visa applied to your travel document (passport) doesn't guarantee you a full entry into the Kingdom. It is at the discretion of the immigration. TL;DR The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

I'm looking forward to it, I won't be holding my breath though. Edit: Also, source?

Excepted in this case, the system used in Thailand has been designed, implemented, installed and maintained by a German vendor. There's nothing Thai to it.

That is my experience as well. Entered exited 3 times via Suvarnabhumi before the COVID-19 blew up, fingerprint scanning was mandatory every single time and working just fine. For a typical petty criminal to defeat the system he would: 1) Get a new citizenship from a different country he's known for in Thailand. 2) Get a firstname/surname change in his new passport. 3) Be extremely lucky and bet on the sheer chance that the system is down on the day he's entering/leaving the Kingdom every single time. Seems highly unpractical to me.

Your post screams of deja vu.

Okay, I'll bite. Portugal is one destination where one could retire; if you are coming from another EU country, you are free to stay 6 months at a time, no visas required, no questions asked. After a year spent in Portugal you are eligible for PR, fill two forms, two pictures and a fingerprint scan, total cost is 10.50$. After three more years you may apply for the citizenship, you de facto becoming a Portuguese citizen and a EU passport holder (the PT passport is ranked highly in the World). As for your cost of living, you can move to Lisbon the economical capital of the country, and apply for a social apartment, the average waiting time is 3 years, once you get it, you can expect a 35$ monthly rent for the council/local authority. The Cascais beaches are immaculate and only 59 minutes away by train from the center of Lisbon, the country has one of the nicest weathers in all of Europe, there is zero police corruption and the state/government is taking care of all your needs albeit a bit slowly. I am sure there are other retrirement destinations that may be worth looking into, I can only speak of what I know, I don't speculate, therefore you should do your own research.

I do understand, but you have to look at the context; What does Thailand offer apart from whores and opened beer bars that other countries in either South America or even yet South Europe (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Malta, etc) don't have? The answer is: Nothing.