spongeworthy

5 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Do not believe that is generally an option due to Condo management rules.

 

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.

16 minutes ago, Paris333 said:

you pay for optic fiber TBHT 4000 equivalent to €102 per month for internet access? (yearly €1.224 or TBHT48.102)

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.

20 hours ago, racinkc1 said:

So to reiterate, the ACR card is not a visa, but will enable me to stay in the country past 59 days, correct?

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.

20 hours ago, racinkc1 said:

And I am "extending" the ACR card, since I wont have a visa?

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.

20 hours ago, racinkc1 said:

And Im assuming they are relatively easy to obtain?

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.

20 hours ago, racinkc1 said:

I guess my only other questions are do you think I can realistically find an apartment in downtown Davao (or somewhat close to) for 10,000 a month? Im finding apartments on the outskirts of the city that are too far from infrastructure, gyms, food, etc.

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.

20 hours ago, racinkc1 said:

Also, do you know if they will accept a 6 month lease, or will they try to rope me in for a year?

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.

36 minutes ago, spongeworthy said:

beauty

 

50kg+ land whales

 

acceptable BMI

29 minutes ago, bignok said:

BMI was discredited years ago.

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.

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.

Quote

at Tahitian Queen Agogo ... he suddenly took off all his clothes and paraded around the bar stark naked.

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.

5 hours ago, moogradod said:

Does the AN Management not think that it would be slowly time to think about alternative hosting ? As far as I know AN is hosted in Hongkong. There are very reliable suppliers in Europe, for example in Switzerland and in todays world distance does not matter. Or is this a political thing ?

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.

3 hours ago, driver52 said:

where? I haven't seen any.....post some please

And does that mean in the 'cold spots' they're only 5k a month? ????

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

1 minute ago, bignok said:

Sounds dodgy. Holiday in Laos for 500 years on 150k.

You're not OP. I assume OP is looking for an adventure that won't take 500 years. ????

9 minutes ago, bignok said:

Is it even working yet? He talked about it 10 years ago.

No flights yet, but for only $150k USD deposit per person you can reserve your seats now.

...if that flight goes well, Virgin Galactic said it is prepared to commence commercial service during the second quarter of 2023.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/after-nearly-two-years-virgin-galactics-space-plane-returns-to-the-sky/#:~:text=And if that flight goes,with the Italian Air Force.

I imagine going to space is unforgettable.

https://www.virgingalactic.com/

28 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I live in a 3 bedroom house ......... if that's of any interest.

Fitting that you think that alone is of any relevance. Is this out in Nahkon Nowhere? Did you furnish the house yourself? There are plenty of tiny, empty, and/or dilapidated 3 bedroom houses going for under 10k baht in and around the hot spots of Thailand.

If you're experience is that it's normal for landlords with a property fitted and furnished to western standards (i.e. 500K+ in furnishings), to accept a one month security deposit, then you've either been dealing with desperate or naive landlords, or you're paying double what they expected.

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Just because you are seen as an easy mark, doesn't mean everyone else is. 

Just because you live in a 20m white box doesn't mean everyone else does.

See how easy that was? ????

On 5/1/2023 at 12:03 PM, BritManToo said:

Do not move to any rental property that requires 2 months deposit.

One month is enough and plenty of landlords are happy with that.

Not my experience at all. 100% of the places I've looked at required 2 months security deposit. If you're looking at a 20m white box with 2,000 baht mattress and 1,000 fridge then 1 month or less might be applicable, but for any proper fully furnished place 2 months is the norm.

I'm not chancing COD again after a seller attempted the COD scam on me, which was easy to catch in this instance as I had already paid with a cc.

Credit Card gives me miles/cash back, extended warranty... basically any issue with the product or order from scam sellers, lost in delivery, dead on arrival, damaged in shipping, website being difficult with refund, etc., I have no worries. Life in the land of scams and poor customer service is so much more pleasant when you don't have to give much thought to these sorts of things thanks to benefits of having a first world payment method.

Was using a 65" for a year recently. I personally wouldn't purchase one.

The remote and OSD were cheap/poor all around compared to the latest from LG and Samsung.

Had to point remote directly at the IR receiver on the bottom left of the TV to get button presses to register.

It would shut off at night when I wasn't in front of it. I never setup internet access on it, and I couldn't find a time setting anywhere, or any other setting related to shutting off at certain times, but for whatever reason, it would shut itself off late at night if I was at a table a bit off to the side using my laptop. But when on the sofa in front of it, it never shut off. I wonder if there was a camera or some other sensor in the TV and it sensed that nobody was in front of it watching so it would turn off. I'm glad I never connected it to the internet.

Have LGs now and couldn't be more pleased with the picture (better than Hisense), connectivity (HDMI + optical to sound bar work flawlessly), remote, etc. They just work. If there was anything I didn't like about the OSD / home screen, there's a setting in there to change it. Similar experience to recent Samsung TVs I've used.

If I was going to purchase now, I'd go with a cheap LG or Samsung over Hisense if all you need is a "dumb" display with good/working connectivity options.