Highlandman

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.

Lol. Much faster to come by plane. I like high speed trains too, but unless one has a fear of flying, they're going to continue flying rather than catching a train, which takes far too long for most short term tourists with little time.

Pattaya has always been dominated by foreigners except during Covid. The other cities you've mentioned aren't even known by foreigners, hence why Thais always greatly outnumber foreigners there except for Mae Sai, which sees plenty of cross border traffic from Myanmar and thus probably has almost as many Burmese visitors as Thais. However, other than a few Chinese, you're unlikely to see any other nationalities there now, especially with the border being closed to foreigners, thus meaning few reasons to go there.

Lol. Most tourists aren't even aware of that issue. Fixing scams, eliminating or at least reducing dual pricing and improving tourist safety would certainly increase tourist confidence enough to bring back visitors in large numbers.

Haha. Perhaps, though unlikely. Generally it's Thais who report activities they don't believe farang should be engaging in.

No they don't.. Thais aren't allowed to sleep on the beach either. Hobos and homeless people may have different experiences but your average Thai would certainly be moved on as well.

Excellent comment and I was about to say something similar. Indeed, camping on remote beaches in Australia is still very much a doable thing despite the country becoming a bit of a nanny state. That said, Thailand is more of a nanny state, at least if you're non-Thai. With Phuket being a tiny island and having 100-1000 times the population density of most parts of Australia, it's clear why it should be the last place anyone considers camping.

Phuket isn't so safe for foreigners wanting to sleep in tents, especially lone females.

So a "concerned" snitch aka busybody decided to rat out a foreigner staying in a tent. Why can't Thais just leave others alone?

That's because Thais are ignorant about the concept of an "expat". Their racism is so strong, they don't believe a foreigner can reside in their country. I bet you few Thais are aware of the 5 million migrant workers from neighboring countries working here. Because they look Thai, to a Thai, they are Thai. As for taxis trying to force me to use their services - barely happens anymore in Thailand. Unlike in Cambodia, where every minute there's a "want tuk tuk?" being shouted in every direction.