NanLaew

Wow. That's an annual check, no? You wouldn't care to share which immigration office is so keen on keeping close tabs on their furreners?

I found about about the alternative to UTH when all Thai Smile flights to BKK came up booked solid after the mid-October national holiday. There was still good availability out of KKC and it's not a long drive. There are alternative airlines of course but I prefer Thai Smile.

Oh dear.

It's only 25 quid. Now if it's a UK TV license, I can see the logic.

You never flown AirAsia?

I guess being sequestered away from the real world for 60-od years does make one a bit "blunt" and "clumsy." We need more cruelty. Henry VIII sort of cruelty. That'll get their attention.

Got to agree. She was hounding the poor woman for totally irrelevant information. You can add ignorance to the stench of "entitlement and privilege" but what on earth is an 83 year-old biddy supposed to be doing at these things anyway? Oh...hold on. Is that me being ageist?

Yes. I agree that the increase must be recent. My last search was probably over 7 months ago and I have been overseas quite a lot this year. I just trawled two aisles of power strips at a large wholesaler just off the Sam Phrao road in Udon Thani. There must have been maybe 20 different brands and all of them were the new Thai standard.

Why not? The agent acquires the same stamps and permissions to stay from he same offices as those that don't use agents.

I stand corrected but it's still mostly Chinese-made stuff and at that price, I will stick with the ones I have.

Thanks for the link.

I was talking about power outlet strips that are 'universal'. They are scarcer than hen's teeth. You won't find them in Thai Watsadu, Do Home, Home Hub, Amorn, Home Pro and most all other retail stores. I've only found one on lazada in the past 6 months and that was a Chinese import job so probably a fire hazard anyway. The last branded ones I bought almost 10 years ago were Belkin and Wanpro and both have superseded their local product line with Thai standard pin outs which emulates the 3-pin US style (with L & N reversed). Universal wall receptacles are still available at hardware stores but they are going to be phased out, just like 'universal' power outlet strips.

Passing by I noticed they usually have the younger stunners there. Great for people watching! Yes, Fun Bar - Home of the Untouchables.

It has more daily Thai Smile flights than Udon Thani and the timing for their Air Asia non-stops t0 Phuket is better than Udon Thani's.

Probably, but why would you even go to Khon Kaen and Buriram?

Or more simply the farang on a Ret Ext (like the OP) are the low-hanging fruit in this quota-filling, box-checking exercise.

So, what you gonna do?

If you were in quarantine, this was in the bad old days before the vaccines leveled the playing field?

Who are 'they' ?

In my experience, you only need to do the 2FA verification once on each of your non-android devices. I did it on my laptop and my office PC several months ago. At my work which can be in several different countries, if I want to log in to my gmail on a PC that's connected to someone else's network, it's a simple matter of responding to the "Is this you?" request that will pop up on my android phone. As soon as you hit 'yes', the login on the PC is instantaneous. It will not allow you to save your password on those machines (which you wouldn't want to do anyway unless you're a lazy <deleted>).

2 years ago I would have agreed, but now most modern phones/tablets etc use USB-C ports for power. Where is technology going in the future? There's also issues with quality and reports of fire hazards with the integrated 5V USB stuff that comes mostly from China. I recently read on these forum pages that the Thai regulatory authorities have ruled that those 'universal' type sockets will be illegal so expect them to disappear from the market. It's already been a several years since power outlet strips with 'universal' style sockets were available here.

So, what's the OP's overall opinion on AIS versus DTAC for the "average" user?

After that visa-exempt history, I don't fancy the OP's chances of getting a hassle-free visa-exempt entry. Taking a year off and getting a new passport doesn't erase the prior history from Thai immigration database. After the Penang visa refusal, maybe the OP should make sure he has a return ticket, just in case? Then again, they are gagging for tourists and income so the OP may manage dodge the bullet.

Yeah i think he just decided that traffic is meant to stop so I'll walk out, that's a deathwish attitude, maybe he's a tourist and doesn't understand how it works here It's that Asian spatial awareness deficit. Local drivers seem to be unaware of peripheral vision or things in the near-field when they're clipping along, focused on the far-distance. I had to bang on the bonnet of car to get the drivers attention when he was inching forward at some broken traffic lights, looking for that gap to change lanes into while I was threading my way across three lanes of gridlock. I got that stunned "Where did you come from?" look. I was there all the time, looking right at him.

Maybe the authorities will respond and install speed bumps either side of the crosswalk. Then again, maybe they won't.