spongeworthy

Only in Thailand could you find a condo association / board that would restrict a telco, which already has fiber to the building, from building out the structured cabling to each unit adding huge value to their asset. In 2024 no less.

I'm pretty sure he paid a one time installation fee of 4,000 baht to run fiber to his unit from the main telecom closet, which is quite the bargain if his building does not have existing structured cabling.

So I took a look at my passport and realized you get a 30 day stamp on arrival, not 59 days. This can be extended an additional 29 days online or in person. Your second extension will likely have to be done in person as immigration will require you to complete the ACR application. It's possible they offer this online too, I just don't know. Yes, it's an ID card which is required for stays beyond 59 days. In my case I was told to come back to immigration in 4 weeks to pick up the card as they are made in, and shipped from, Manila. No, you're extending the permission to stay, which I guess is technically the stamp you receive in your passport (visa-free permission to enter and stay for so many days based on nationality). The receipt is your proof of extension (an email if done online). No additional stamps in your passport. You'll only receive additional stamps upon entry to the country. The date of entry on your most recent stamp is what your foreign drivers license validity is based on (you can legally drive with a foreign license for up to 3 months from date of entry). The card is just an ID card which expires after 1 year. If you leave the country and return, even multiple times, the card is still valid until the expiration date on the back. I don't know if immigration looks into anything beyond what they typically look at when issuing the extensions, but I've haven't heard of anyone being denied an ACR ID card after being approved for an extension. Never been there and no plans to go, but most of the apartments I see on facebook marketplace are going for around 5k. Condos appear to be going for 10-20k at the low end, with a few exceptions below 10k. I don't know anything about the city so I can't comment on the locations of these units. Back when I was looking, most condo ads will state their desire for either a 6 month or 1 year minimum term, but everything is negotiable. I don't know what's typical for <10k apartments. If an apartment building has high occupancy with 1 year leases, management will have little motivation to offer a shorter term. Supply and demand. Plenty of apartment and condo ads though, so I imagine you'll be able to find something nice with a 6 month term. Airbnb is also an option, and most owners should be open to bringing the price down to typical rates for long term stays if you reach out to them. Good luck!

As for the rental, there is no similar requirement for landlords to report your stay as is there is currently in Thailand. You will find it's quite common requirement (request) of landlords that you provide post dated checks for the full term of the lease, but I would never do that as it could lessen the landlords motivation to maintain the unit. Everything is negotiable, so just use standard common sense that would use anywhere when leasing a place to live. Another thing to be aware of when renting, if looking for a longer term lease at a condo, is that condos in the touristy areas appear to be more likely to allow daily airbnb rentals. If such a transient environment bothers you, be sure to ask for a copy of the house rules before spending much time on negotiating a lease.

You will receive a tourist visa stamp in your passport upon arrival with a validity of 59 days. As mentioned by Brit you can extend that for up to 3 years at which point you'll have to leave the country for a day (as in be out of the country for 24 hours) and then return and start the process over again. Tourist visas can now be extended online at https://e-services.immigration.gov.ph. No need to use an agent or go to an immigration office in person unless for some reason they've requested you to do so after applying for the extension online. While the immigration website states you can receive up to a 6 month extension, in reality this varies at the regional offices for whatever reason. Smoothest option would be to apply for 2 months at a time as you're basically 100% guaranteed to have that approved. If you apply for a 4(?) or 6 month extension you may be denied. Now that the extensions can be performed online with online payment, there's really no reason to apply for more than 2 months. After your initial 59 days here immigration will require you to apply and pay for the ACR card. I don't know if they will allow you to apply for one online at the moment. The card will state Tourist. If you're here on a retirement visa (SRRV) it will state Resident or something similar. This status will impact your ability to open a bank account at certain banks and obtain a drivers license, although just like in Thailand, corruption is rife and things that shouldn't be possible may become possible... with or without repercussions down the road. Opening a bank account with a tourist visa is possible, but in my experience and the experiences of others, not at BDO nor BPI. They don't open accounts for tourists. There are plenty of other banks to choose from. You may have to try a few branches before finding one that will open an account for you, as depending on the bank, different branches can have different ownership and policies (franchise model). In addition to opening a bank account, you'll make you're life a heck of a lot easier if you create a gcash account. Banking here is not as simple as in Thailand, and paying bills via your bank (electric, phone, internet, etc.) is often limited to certain "partner" banks but the bills can almost always be paid via gcash and some other e-wallets.

Thailand's natural beauty is currently being crushed under the weight of PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestle... the usual suspects. If they expect to still have a tourist industry in 20 years, they need to start locking up all of the 50kg+ land whales until they get back down to an acceptable BMI. BRB, Grab just arrived with my KFC family bucket.

The translation feature in Grab is welcome but definitely needs some work. If the menu is already in English, it still attempts to translate it to English resulting in gibberish. You then have to go back through the options to change the menu back to Thai, in order to read the menu's native English. ????‍♂️

Yeah, never really heard of weed strength. Can't help but wonder if the chef wasn't a bit too generous with the penne alla ya ba.

Before finding a place to live I stayed at a hotel in central Pattaya for a few weeks. I never noticed a shortage of staff at reception or elsewhere throughout the hotel, and things appeared to moving quickly and smoothly even at 100% occupancy. Maybe it's the 3 star and under hotels unable to find capable and trustworthy staff at minimum wage? Real shocker there.

and surely the police have asked to see his work permit

If true that would likely increase the number of Grab taxis and decrease wait times. ???? Good news for me, bad news for everyone else.

This is an issue they're working on with the forum software vendor (likely vBulletin based the general layout and appearance), not a hosting issue. The site is sitting behind cloudflare so I'm not sure how you figured out that it's hosted in HK, but I'd love to know how you did it (unless it was just a guess based on ownership).

The Mazda Thailand website is useless. Key materials are either posted as an image making translation difficult or are in marketing brochure format as a protected pdf making them a pain to read and navigate and again difficult to translate. Does anyone know if the vehicle and available trims are identical to those offered in another country with an English language website? Would also love to know if anyone has heard anything about the Grand Highlander being available in Thailand at some point. I realize odds are slim to none but it checks all the right boxes for me.

Everywhere. You're not going to find much online at the big listing sites that agents use as those are targeting foreigners. If in Bangkok you'll want to ask around at local outdoor shops/markets near what train station or intersection you're looking to live near as the people working there probably live nearby and see posted signs on houses daily or otherwise know what's available from word of mouth. Motocy taxi drivers would know as well as they see the signs listed all day, every day. You're not going to find even 1% of what's available online, but here are some examples for Bangkok. https://www.kaidee.com/c16p9-realestate-townhouse/bangkok?sort=price_asc