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Drumbuie

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Posts posted by Drumbuie

  1. 13 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

    Laos is what I would do. Removes all uncertainty.

     

    The "flak" on visa exempt entry sometimes extends to refusal. Not usually, but it can. And questioning can go on for hours. Personally I would not want to go through that or risk it.

     

    In Vientiane  believe may need an appointment, check prior threads on applying for non-O based on marriage in Laos. And make sure to have all required documents with you.

    I discovered, the hard way, that you definitely need to make an appointment in Vientiane.
    So I went to Hanoi in February - no queues, was seen right away ( and the ladies in the visa department were courteous, friendly and helpful). I collected the visa three days later.

     

    • Like 1
  2. 5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

    Does that mean the "luxury tax" heaped onto imported goods will be dropped in future when the agreement is implemented?

    Generally a free trade agreement means that both parties agree to drop tariffs on goods imported and exported between them. 

     

    The EU is Thailand's fourth largest trading partner but Thailand is the EU's 26th largest trading partner.

    Full details can be found, if you're interested in facts rather than  speculation, on the Europa website https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_1628

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  3. On 12/4/2022 at 10:06 PM, ESLTeacher1989 said:

    true but UK minimum wage has increased from £5 an hour to £10 an hour for over 25's over the last 5-10 years

    And it's still nowhere near enough to live on because rents are sky high ( if you can find somewhere to rent at all, that is), utilities are almost unaffordable, petrol is twice the price, and food prices have shot up since Brexit. A quarter of the UK's children now live in poverty and schools in England are falling apart.

    Count your blessings. 

    • Like 1
  4. On 2/22/2023 at 3:33 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

    To stay on a long term visa would they not be too old to be eligible for the draft anyway?

    I don't see how young guys can stay longer than a tourist visa.

    I'd hazard a guess the young guys will come across the concept of the 'border bounce' pretty quickly if they've managed to get this far already.

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  5. 12 hours ago, ozimoron said:

    Please explain the mechanism by which government recommendations to wear masks enables political control. I've been at a loss to understand this conspiracy theory and nobody seems wiling to explain it. Will you? My understanding is that recommendations to wear masks saves lives, simple as that. You know, Occam's razor. The same recommendations have been made by every nation on the planet, yet it seems to have not resulted in political control.

     

     

    Top virologists in most other countries are increasingly concerned about the long term effects of COVID-19 on the immune system, particularly in children ( in which it appears to be connected to outbreaks of Kawasaki syndrome - I'll wait while you all make your motorbike jokes - which can also be fatal). Not to mention Long COVID.  

     

    Its actions appears to be more akin to vasculitis than influenza ( see several reports in The Lancet, amongst other medical journals). It is mutating all the time. It spreads as an aerosol. It has worse effects on the elderly, whose immune systems are already weakening. 

     

    We live in a country with high AQIs, also, so why would any intelligent person object to wearing an N95 mask? 

     

     

  6. 4 hours ago, sjbrownderby said:

    Even if the investigation isn't advanced in any way, then at least a few policemen got a free holiday in Thailand courtesy of the British taxpayer. I wonder who they will send now that Dennis Waterman is dead. 

    My youngest son is a policeman in Scotland and my cousin's son is in the CID in Cheshire - if the police force in Yorkshire is sending police officers out here, it's because they've assembled enough evidence to persuade the CPS there's a good chance of a successful prosecution. Police budgets are very tight, and they wouldn't spend the kind of travel and accommodation expenses money this represents just so that someone can have a "free holiday".

    They are  also human beings. One of the least favourite duties they have is to go and tell people that someone they love is dead. My cousin's son explained to me that he manages to cope with traumatic cases  by reminding himself that a successful conclusion brings closure to victims' families and enables them to move on in the process of grieving.



     

    • Like 2
  7. 8 hours ago, Dante99 said:

    please move your comments to the "dude" forum, this forum is for adults 

    Adults? Technically, perhaps, but this may be the time to say that I have rarely seen so much regrettably adolescent sneering and sniggering on any forum - and I used to be a moderator on an MMORPG ( look it up, old guys) with a couple of million players worldwide. 

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  8. I took the sleeper to Chiang Mai from BK a few years ago and loved it.  I did all the research beforehand on this site so even though I was travelling on my own, it was easy. The toilets were a little bit of a shock but I managed ok! 

     https://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm

    I'd like to do the day journey next time. You really get a sense of the countryside from a train and it's much more relaxed than traveling by bus or car. 

     

    • Thanks 1
  9. In my ideal world, everyone would have to work in hospitality for at least a year at the age of, say, 16, to teach them a) how much hard work it entails,  and b) empathy and respect for the people who do the monotonous tasks of cleaning, waiting tables, changing sheets, or whatever. 

    And to tip them.

    As my great grandmother said to my grandmother when asked why the box of chocolates she and her brothers had been given was being taken instead to the people in the local village, " You have so much, and they have so little". 

     

  10. Having spent rather too long trying to trawl through the myriad posts and topics here, I'm just going to post this - can anyone recommend a good visa agent here in Bangkok? I've slightly less than a month till my 90 days non-immigrant visa runs out. I'd intended to open a bank account, deposit the requisite chunk of money, and apply for the retirement visa extension but due to various family/nanny/grandchildren emergencies I haven't managed to open a bank account here yet, let alone apply for an extension.

    Also an indication of the rates. I had one quote of 14,000THB for the visa, with an extra 4000THB for re-entry permit, and an additional 14,000 for assistance in opening the bank account which seems, from the posts I have managed to fish out, rather a lot. Informed advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

     

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