NanLaew

If in doubt, make a second layer that's offset from (or orthogonal to) the original so the 'grid' is tighter. Now waiting for the Australian civil engineers to spit the dummy.

This is unique to Thai people? I see.

Where? In Bangkok? When?

Terrifying? I see.

Hold on a mo' @nchuckle, let me fire up my stogie...

'bama aint no country.

Nice pictures [insert yawn emoticon here] Why do people like to bang on about how cheap it is compared to the UK? [insert rolleyes emoticon here]

Gotta die o' somethin'

The National Energy Regulatory Committee (NERC), which is chaired by the current caretaker PM, opted to peg the Ft (fuel tarriff) rate for May to August based on the January price of imported LNG. In the meantime, there's been a ~35% decrease in LNG costs since January. I read that the current caretaker PM is going to ask the Election Commission (EC) for permission to allow the caretaker government to intervene with an extraordinary budget to subsidize the public's electric bills. The assumption (mine) is that NERC factored in Songkran and the election and the fact that nobody would be paying attention in this overly long (in my opinion) application of a spot rate. There's a whole lot of bad management (I'm being polite here) going on when EGAT is compelled to sell energy at a lower price than it's paying the private sector for. The consumer is served with strangely factored utility bills that makes it hard to correlate use versus cost at the best of time. At the end of the day, most consumers, private and business, are paying more to subsidize the "losses" of a state entity. I don't really think any money is getting lost here, it's just going somewhere else. This gravy train has probably been massaged and tweaked year-on-year by this flawed administration and would probably have slipped unnoticed through the end of summer as it has always done if it wasn't for this unpredicted and sudden, record-breaking heatwave. Airconditioners and refigeration started working overtime and 'Bam!' most bills shot up by a disproportionate amount.

This fact, albeit true, does nothing to appease Mrs NL who is now whipping the living daylights out of any of our squatters that dare leave a light on, flush twice (water pumps need electricity), use the hot water wash option on the front-loader or spend too long in the shower (see earlier comment on water pumps)!

Nobody's getting embarrased here... 'dude'.

How many aircons? Our house has 1 or 2 aircons going 24 hours and the last bill was 8000THB. The house has two bedroom aircons that see maybe 6-8 hours of evening/night use and one in my shed which is on maybe 12 hours during the day. The usual bill was around 7800. I am assuming that while I am away and due to the heat, the bedroom units are getting longer service. Doesn't really help to try and get a correlation between two different houses with different constrcution, insulation, window frames, natural ventilation, etc.. Not quite apples with apples IMHO.

Sponsoring bar girls and buying salaengs for the brother-in-law do not confer any legitimate immigration status. Never have done either. Carry on lashing out if it makes you feel better, but get a visa before trying your Thai philantrophy again.

I already said I stand corrected. However, your experience differs from the OP where the IO you dealt told you he wouldn't let you go and we assume you decided not to go whereas the OP was advised he couldn't come back which he chose to ignore and he left anyway. I may be wrong but in your case, having a Non-O multi-entry, you had an entitlement to stay whereas the OP had maxed out ANY entitlement and the IO could not have detained him as that would have made him overstay.

Yes.

So the Thai hooligans and potential killers get clean away while these two idiots get arrested. I see.

Easier to send the wife money so she can buy her own Samsung Galaxy locally.

Go home (or somewhere else) for at least 6 months.

I would wait until @DrJack54 and/or @ubonjoe respond to this thread as their advice will be as close to bullet proof as you will get. I think you have run out of regional options for now but stand to be corrected as I think I read recently that Singapore were emenable to issuing aa TR visa if you qualify but that option may already be negated by that "no money" denial of entry stamp.

Probably time for the big reset then and that doesn't mean getting a new passport.

I stand corrected. I am a very infrequent land border crosser, like four times in over eighteen years.

Surprised at what? When one gets stamped out of Thailand, they're not into offering advice on options for returning and they certainly won't detain anyone. If the OP did visit another country beyond Cambodia and is returning via Cambodia is of no concern to Thai immigration. They probably saw another 'perpetual tourist' jumping in and out on visa exempt entries so nipped that in the bud by stamping the passprt that he was broke. Problem sorted.

A lot of immigration officers that use that rule at DMK and BKK also never ask for evidence of funds either. It's like they never asked for it, therefore they never saw it, ergo it doesn't exist. It's sort of the same when a motorbike flies out of a soi on your left without looking right causing YOU to take avoiding action. They never looked, therefore they never saw you ergo you never existed (and you are wrong if you hit them). Before this thread grows arms and legs on your drip-feed of what actually happened, you could post your more history of entries/re-entries to Thailand, the entitlements used and the chronology thereof. This should yield a more definitive answer to what your longer term options are.

Our bill went from approx 7800 baht to a little over 9000 baht and this is with one less airconditioner being used (I am out of the country and my office shed is shut). There's a line item on your Thai electric bill labeled 'Ft' which appears to be the factor that's triggered the jump in the most recent electric bill. There's a very good article on the newspaper we can't mention/link that explains this Ft (fuel tarriff) charge and what is (or isn't) being done to address the situation longer term. After reading the article, and sharing with a friend who has has a had a whopping increase on the electric bill at his small apartment complex, I share his opinion as follows. "EGAT buys high and sells low, and wonders why they are in debt, so the consumer has to make up for their loses. So basically Ft can be anything they want, to make up for their s**t business practices with the 'private company'." Fundamentally EGAT is broke. The 'private company' cited in the article isn't identified but someone's making a fortune and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) that sets prices, seems to be happily kicking this can down the road. A lot of people have been speaking highly of how PEA has invested in the infrastructure with long overdue upgrades and improvements in services. For example, in certain areas of Muang Udon Thani, a +15 year low voltage problem was finally resolved last April witha new sub-station and distribution lines, a work that is still in progress. It's a pity that EGAT appears to suffer the same cultural issues as SRT, THAI and those of that ilk. Fill yer boots!

Methamphetamine