Highlandman

Don't all domestic flights automatically have Thai and English announcements? I've never heard of any airline in Thailand only making Thai language announcements. In China, yes. All announcements on a recent domestic flight were in Chinese only and the pilot never speaks to the passengers, which I don't like. The safety announcement does have an automated version in English but the cabin attendants never speak anything but Chinese (they're probably able to speak English if you address them in English though). For me no problem, my Chinese is good enough to understand most of what was said.

What a rental agency and the police accept are often two different things. While you might be able to rent a vehicle with just a Thai DL,an IDP might be needed for the police or insurance purposes in case of an accident.

The only thing that might have changed is they definitely no longer accept foreign national ID cards or drivers licenses. They must now be Thai issued or if foreign issued, only a passport is recognized. That being said I thought that had already been the case for a while now.

Correct. This works even if the drivers license has an old passport number on it. A few years back I went to a New Years event at government house in Bangkok. This was on New Years Eve I think. Everyone but small children had to present some sort of ID. Foreigners had the option of showing a passport, pink ID or driver's license. I showed my drivers license. They were able to check my immigration status using the old passport number, linking it to the new one just from my Thai driver's license alone. I was then cleared for entry. No issues whatsoever.

Banks have been checking visa stuff for years at least in my experience. They simply want a photocopy of your latest entry stamp to show you're in the country legally.

The first source I read reporting on this was Malaysia's The Star. Curious, I read the article, but came back more confused than ever. They seemed to claim that Thai passengers had the option of presenting student ID cards and national ID cards for international flights, which is sheer nonsense. Foreign authorities neither accept, nor are they interested in any documents, which isn't a passport. Therefore, a passport (or an equivalent such as a UN certificate of identity) are the only acceptable documents for international travel for both Thai and non-Thai passengers. A part of me couldn't help but think this was another attempt by the Thais to try and separate foreigners and Thais, but all it likely was a very poor translation from the original Thai language article and thus a misunderstanding. Personally, I no longer fly domestic, since I purchased my car several years back. Thailand is a small country and with almost all flights operated on a hub and spoke system through Bangkok, flying domestically isn't practical unless you are a tourist from overseas or a Bangkok resident wishing to fly to a major tourist destination with flights from Bangkok such as Phuket, Krabi, Samui, Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. Most of the few so called "cross-country" flights that don't involve flying into Bangkok first are operated by low cost Air Asia or Vietjet Air. The only full service carrier to operate a small number of cross country flights such as Samui-Chiang Mai is Bangkok Airways. As such, domestic air travel is of no interest to me. My main domestic destination is rarely one where I can fly into and even when I do head to one, I'd need a car to get around. Flying and then renting a car comes out to be much more expensive and inconvenient than just doing the driving myself from start to finish, not to mention I usually don't limit myself to just one destination which happens to have an airport. Quite often I'm doing a triangular route and forget about flying when I'm traveling with family or business associates. Too expensive, too impractical and frankly unnecessary. That's why this change (if it is indeed a change) doesn't affect me. However, I can't help but think IF they really no longer accept Thai driver's licenses or pink ID cards unless your passport is lost (again, this may be a misunderstanding and it could be they still accept them unequivocally) not to mention a lot of workers from Lao, Cambodia and Myanmar don't have passports or full passports but do have non-Thai ID cards, it's not a good sign of things to come. I can't see airline check in agents NOT accepting pink ID cards from this large cohort of workers who generally don't travel around with a passport. I know that in Myanmar and China, I'm in a police state, as in those countries they've always required foreigners to present passports for train and air travel (although in China some other equivalents may now be accepted too) but thought Thailand was a little more free. Now it seems like that claim can no longer be made. Besides, in China, there is definitely no check of your visa status made for a domestic train or flight. In fact, even on the international train to Laos, they're not checking your visa or stamps as you board in Kunming. That's done only at the border itself and is thus the travelers responsibility. In Myanmar though, on domestic flights they do check your passport and entry stamps/visa both upon check in and when arriving at a domestic airport. This is also done at certain checkpoints within the country if traveling by land, especially in border areas. Of course things are even tighter now with the civil war having expanded since the coup and some of these areas are inaccessible. Foreigners are no longer allowed to fly to Lashio or Tachilek unless they present a difficult to obtain permit.

Ok. Hopefully it is, and not only for those who've lost their passports with a police report. The problem with news stories like this in Thailand is they rarely present the facts concisely or explain, like in this case, what, if anything is being done differently to previously? I remember seeing the signs at Suvarnabhumi airport on the types of documents acceptable for domestic flights for both Thai and non-Thai passengers when I last walked past there a few months ago (I don't fly domestic, which I'll get into, in a separate post). The sign said, for non-Thai passengers, a passport or equivalent document, Thai driver's license or non-Thai ID were acceptable documents. In the past, one could sometimes get away with showing a foreign driver's license or national ID card as well. I guess that boastful guy on the Thai visa Facebook forums, Steve Smythe from Australia, who has lived in Thailand for more than 23 years and refuses to apply for a Thai driver's license, boasting he can show his Australian state issued license instead, will either have to show his passport from now on or if he has it in him to apply for a Thai driver's license, finally get that done.

Because he's under 7 and therefore has no other ID except for a birth certificate. A Thai passport is easier to carry around than a birth certificate.

Air Asia isn't going to transform Bangkok into a hub that rivals Dubai. Yes, Bangkok is a better positioned airport for onward flights to Laos (from Dubai there aren't any), Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, but overall, Bangkok isn't what it used to be. Vietnam Airlines is now a solid competitor of THAI, currently operating to 3 Australian cities and 1 US city, while THAI only flies to 2 Australian cities, though Perth will be back online by late March. THAI still dominates in Europe, but Vietnam Airlines connects IndoChina better with triangular flights and is it 5th freedom flights? (one of them anyway) such as Siem Reap-Luang Prabang and Hanoi-Vientiane-Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh. You can thus take Vietnam Airlines for a journey connecting two World Heritage cities or between the capitals of these two Indochinese cities without having to route through their hubs in Vietnam. THAI for its part, with its Bangkok obsession is losing a lot of regional traffic. Not everyone needs or wants to go through Bangkok.

Or you could travel via Australia, though the options are more limited that way. Still, from Bangkok to Chile would be on the same carrier (Qantas) via Sydney but it would be expensive.

Would be good if Suvarnabhumi, like Zurich, had a world class supermarket. Why doesn't Suvarnabhumi open a Tops Food Hall in the basement or something?

You mean within SE Asia? Nope. Kuala Lumpur is number two behind Singapore. There are far more services to Indonesia from KL than from Bangkok (combining the two airports), which mainly have services to Jakarta and Denpasar-Bali, with one or two Air Asia flights to Surabaya and Medan as well. Thus Bangkok is only number 3 in terms of flights and destinations in SE Asia.

It's obviously fine but not on a bus in front of other people! Then it becomes mentally ill behavior.

Yes, possibly, and in fact I just returned from China and went there/traveled through the country by a combination of transportation modes. First car (drove to Luang Prabang and back home again from there at the end) and then train to Kunming, another train to Sichuan the next day, then car to the next stop in Northern Sichuan and finally car/flight from Chengdu to Kunming and train/car back to Thailand. I really enjoyed the Luang Prabang to South Kunming train ride, 160km/h top speed. Actual travel time not including the 2 hours spent at the border (1 hour for each side) was around 5h30m. The train to Sichuan was bound for Chengdu, but my business trip required me to alight about 2/3 of the way in the mountainous region to the south of Chengdu. Was expecting this leg of the journey to be faster, but also only 160km/h, so it took 5h30m as well and this from the main Kunming station. That stated, the fastest trains between Kunming and Chengdu are listed as taking around 5h30m as well, meaning minimal stops along the way. My train stopped a lot. All these lines are new though (less than 5-6 years) and conceivably at some stage their speeds can be increased. Kumming-Dali for instance, which I took in July 2023 runs at a top speed of 200km/h. I think someone coming from no further than Chengdu might consider traveling by train to Thailand in the future but anything further away will still be by plane unless you have tons of time and/or don't like flying. Incidentally, I met a Chinese businessman in Vientiane with whom I traveled to Kunming, he went all the way from Luang Prabang to Chengdu by train. Incidentally, he mentioned something about not feeling safe flying in the mountains though he flew Air Asia from Phnom Penh via Bangkok to Vientiane on his earlier leg of the journey (which has very few mountains en route or surrounding any of the three airports).

Ok I didn't know that but let's see whether this holds or not. Benjamin Hart seems very well informed on tax matters and should know what he's talking about so if what you're saying is true, then it seems odd that it would have escaped his attention like that. He did a video on this some weeks back where he went on a rant about how he doesn't believe the BOI can make a declaration like they did, but on the other hand, so much about this whole tax issue has been sensationalized that its best to wait until we have all the facts. At this stage there's a lot of different opinions and interpretations floating around (of the tax loophole being closed in general).

20 years ago, on my first trip to Siem Reap (and for that matter, Cambodia) a thief, who I assume was a Cambodian baggage handler loading my backpack onto the Bangkok Airways aircraft that took me back to Don Muang stole my camera with all my Angkor Wat vacation snaps. While it could have been someone on the Thai side, I suspect it was the Cambodians who did it. The missing photos, rather than the camera itself is what I miss the most. I think the only reason I even loaded the backpack was because it was an ATR aircraft with very limited overhead luggage space.

You'll be fine. Like others have said, you're spending your funds here, you're not remitting anything from abroad by using said approach.

According to Benjamin Hart from Integrity Legal, he's not sure the BOI has any authority to declare that LTR visa holders are exempt from taxes for remitting funds from abroad. I've not heard of there being a "RD" covering this visa class either, but then I'm not an expert. I think like all things, it will become clearer in the months and years to come.

Well you should change your name to Cambodia Bill as you're clearly not Burma Bill. You were Thailand Bill before.

Chinese car imports?? I think you're confused. The Chinese have set up several factories on Thailand's eastern seaboard producing GW (Great Wall), BYD and starting soon, Chery vehicles. There's at least 3, possibly 4 big Chinese EV/hybrid brands that have been churning out cars here or are about to, since around 2021. Imports of cars made in China to Thailand are miniscule, if they even exist (ditto in the case of Thai built cars going the other way). That's why the Chinese took the incentives and invested in Thailand. Thais wishing to purchase luxury cars not sold via conventional dealerships or brands typically turn to importers who bring in mainly European brands and such makes as Lexus, not Chinese brands. Strangely, even the Toyota Landcruiser is imported via import brokers and sold through them rather than by Toyota who would sell them through their showrooms. I have no idea why, probably just another short-sighted decision Toyota Thailand has made. In any case, isn't there an FTA between Thailand and China now? Or at least they were negotiating one.

I'm not going to do anything, I'm not filing anything unless forced to..numerous articles I've read on the subject are quite clear - don't do anything unless advised to, which is not something we'll even know about for months to come. Filing of tax paperwork may be voluntary for years to come, according to the opinion of several experts. If it came to this, immigration would find itself dealing with daily criticism if it ended up going down this path as I don't know of any other countries that do this, but if tax paperwork became part of the immigration extension apparatus (probably only for non-immigrant visas) then that would certainly cause many, many expats to voluntarily depart. So many in fact that the government would do one of its typical "u-turns" to save face. However, even if that did happen, it does sound like it would be several years away at the earliest. It's worrying but not something to freak out over, at least not until there is concrete information available, not speculation or various interpretations that may not fit with reality. I'm actually more worried there might be another Covid like "pandemic" and associated restrictions between now and 2030. If it happens, that will impact our lives way more. I would like to think that stuff is behind us now but something tells me the lessons of 2020-2022 have not been learned.

Yeah then more than half of all expats will flee. No one's going to put up with that for a visa extension! What's next, immigration requiring an EKG of all retirees, proof you've been wearing a mask every day or no extension?

Nope. Essentially no dual pricing at hotel rooms. Dual pricing at tourist attractions including national parks, museums, zoos etc? - absolutely. This is a huge one.

That's not true at all. A few hotels offering residents promotions (which expats are eligible for) doesn't constitute dual pricing. The vast majority of hotels in Thailand do NOT engage in this practice. Those that do, like I said, extend the lower price to expats as well, but often it means a basic hotel room without breakfast and other perks. A totally different story to tourist sites, national parks etc. Which not only practice dual pricing actively but generally don't grant expats the local price (except at privately run places).

72% of all license plates in the country are Bangkok registrations. Many rental cars that are rented in Pattaya have "Krungthep Mahanakorn" [Bangkok] plates. On any given day in any location in Thailand, a good percentage of the vehicles you'll see have Bangkok license plates so your observations mean nothing in terms of where visitors are coming from. Pattaya tourism is driven by foreigners. The only exception to this was during Covid. Once July 2022 came around, foreigners started outnumbering Thais again.