HappyExpat57

I won't point out your personal tag line, then ask you to actually read my original post. I won't do that.

If the Honda shop had balked at selling to me, I was going to get their number, return to immigration and have the IO talk directly to them. Fortunately I didn't have to go there.

I occasionally think of my dad, always fondly. My mom? The entire family would p!ss on her grave if anyone knew where it was.

I just switched from Jomtien to Chanthaburi for my TM-30, then asked the IO for a certificate of residence, application form TM-18, in order to buy a new motorbike from Honda. I've been here over 15 years and you practically need the cert of residence to buy a stick of gum at 7-11. I had the form, all filled out, along with a picture. She said they don't do those here in Chanthaburi. I was extremely skeptical as I immediately went to the Honda shop, but two hours later I'm driving home on a brand new Honda Click 160. Is this a good sign of better times or is it (yet again) up to the individual immigration offices/provinces to decide what rules to apply?

When you go for your next extension they examine your bank book carefully and check if rules have been adhered to. At Jomtien immigration a letter from the bank is also required. Costs 100 baht, the banks know exactly what to do.

Did you stop over in Tokyo then on to Swampy?

I believe Taiwan is just closed down hard. I usually fly EVA, but they won't even sell you a ticket. That was a few months ago, but I'd be leery even if they reopened.

If you go via JAL, they connect in Tokyo. Even if just passing through they require a Covid test 72 hours before entering.

I believe you are quite correct. I've a rice farmer friend in Isaan and she tells me they're getting too much rain.

I would have preferred to click on the "laugh" emoji cuz this is funny. So there ya go, wasted electrons and time.

Like they ever really stopped? Pleeeeeeeeeeez!

The issue of China's ghost cities is going to bite them in the a$$. When? Your guess is as good as mine, but it's gonna happen, and its effect will ripple around the world just like the housing bubble bursting in the US.

The very south end of Jomtien beach is pretty quiet. Vendors got chased off a few months ago, though I don't know if they crept back in like cockroaches often do.

They're trying to polish a turd. Let the shops open unencumbered as before and this "travelution" nonense will become moot.

I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS chat with the vendor to make sure they have the item in stock.

I've had worse, and some when I was actually sober!

Oh my Buddha! For 200k he could have had many wonderful groping sessions, receiving a grateful wai after each one.

There are flat earthers all around the world. Let that sink in . . .

Oh, that's next.

Not where I'm from. I JUST went to buy a motorbike at one of the Hondas in Chanthaburi and they told me they needed the letter from immigration.

So, the price of loyalty is a fruit basket? Good to know.

I suspect whoever is requiring a certificate of residence would balk upon seeing a piece of paper from the US embassy.

I know of a neighborhood where the soi dogs reach critical mass then suddenly disappear semi-annually. No one complains, they're glad to see the beasts gone.

I believe you missed a subtle insult. Mullets are loosely associated with uncouth backwoods inbred rednecks.

Before the days of credit cards, life was slower, smaller, friendlier. You went to your local grocer, got your goods on a tab which you paid at the end of the month. In those days a simple savings account earned 6% compound interest. Enter corporate greed. Tempt young people with a large chunk of money that appears as free money. Only a fraction of the balance needs to be paid monthly. Ignore the fact that most of that payment is interest and that it would take seven years of minimum monthly payments to pay off the balance. Want another credit card? No problem, you can use THAT one to make the payments on the FIRST one. Soon you're giving the banks hundreds of dollars every month in interest payments alone. And thus began the financial enslavement of millions of people. If you use a credit card, use it like the first paragraph of this post - pay off the balance every month.