YaiJung

A few days ago my gf and I were flying out of Phuket, heading to Cambodia for a holiday to visit some friends and maybe get another thai visa(depending on if the government decides to let me continue spending my money in Thailand).

My gf of 3 yr was flying out of the country for the first time and thus had a fresh passport. DIrectly after stamping her out, an immigration officer pulled both of us into the an office and had her fill out a form of some sort, seemed to be about human trafficking or something. Then they took our photo together and demanded 500 baht.

Everything seemed above board until they asked for the money. Now, it was early in the morning and I was barely awake, plus not thrilled to be flying, stressed about my visa situation, etc, so I wasn't at the top of my game. So we just paid and then boarded the plane. Only after did I realize that we were probably just ripped off for 500 baht by the immigration officers(not the end of the world, but still...who likes getting ripped off?).

I have traveled the same route HKT-PNH several times in the past with an ex-gf, although the last time was about 8 yrs ago. We were never asked for any money or any special forms to sign.

Looking back, we were for sure easy targets that morning. Tired, stressed, not thrilled about flying in general, etc.

Is this some kind of new procedure to prevent human trafficking or were we scammed by petty, thieving, predatory immigration officers?

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I'm just in the process of applying for a visa for India. As I live in the South, it will take me 3 (THREE) flights to Bangkok, to finally get the visa.

Just the normal crazy Indian bullsh***.

My passport will be in Bangkok for approx. 8 days (without me). 

So, my question to the Immigration officers is: How can I please apply for a visa without breaking the law?

 

 

Indian Embassy have to make do with seeing and photocoying your passport .... they have no right to hold on to your passport.

They also have a natural right to not stick a visa in a passport unless they are given the original.

 

The Indian Embassy does not keep your passport while you wait the 5 business days.  You apply, then bring your passport back on the pick-up day, dropping it off in the morning and picking it up in the afternoon with the visa attached.  You will only be without your passport for about 2-3 hrs for one day and you will have a receipt from the Indian Embassy. 

My extended family arrived at phuket airport in the last two days and paid $5 per adult for the fast lane. They said the slow lane was a nightmare. Now I understand.

The main people they are helpful to is the Thai Immigration staff. Now they no longer need to learn english nor try to explain the rules.

I would be very careful when relying on the volunteers when it comes to correct paperwork. Last time I asked them about transfering a visa extension to a new passport, the guy gave me very wrong advice that would have voided my visa and cost me a lot of time and money. He was very sure that he was correct too. Luckily I had prior experience with the visa transfer(about 10 yrs earlier though) and decided to verify with Thai staff anyway. The expat volunteer was basicly trying to send me out the door with wrong info.

I guess if it makes them satisfied to be doing the Thais jobs for them, for free, then good for them. I can think of about a zillion other things I'd rather do with my time though.

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On the other hand, this being Thailand, I very much doubt they are doing it for free. They probably get easy long-term visas, but will never admit it, especially here on TV. That is one way to stay here I guess.

Definately the horrible traffic. It is getting to the point that I don't want to leave the soi anymore and that is no way to live. I have near-death experiences everytime I go anywhere.

The other annoyance is the constant burning of trash/air pollution. The locals have always been burning trash, but now the population is so large that it is becoming much more noticable.

It seems to me that not just Phuket, but most of SEA is headed this way. Just way too many people.

They have one now on Soi Sai Yuan in rawai. The place is always empty when I drive by. I doubt it will be there for long.

The one on the bypass road was a hangout for cops, several were killed there one day in a drive-by-shooting. Place seemed to go downhill after that.

Food was tasty, but portions way too small for me.

Paklok and Thalang are cheap for a reason. If you follow the local news you will soon find that those areas are rife with crime, much of it drug related(meth). Also the location is somewhat isolated, away from everything that is nice about Phuket such as beaches which were mentioned before. Personally I would never consider living there.

If you are bringing kids here you will probably be best off finding a place near the school they will be attending. Traffic is on par with Bangkok and will quickly make your life a living hell.

If schools aren't a concern, as others have mentioned, you can find a Thai-style box house for 15-18k baht in most of the west coast beach towns.

Very well done!! ... those scumbags at the airport. I wish I had my phone camera recording when the POS immigration officer tried to get "a tip" out of me last yr when I was coming back to Thailand from KL.

Arriving at Phuket airport is a nightmare and absolutely pathetic on part of the Thais. The only way this will change is if more people make videos and post them to youtube. The Thais are in for a rude awakening when google glasses become common place.

In Villa Market Chalong, overripe mangoes - 145 baht per kilo.

In the local market, exact same overripe mangoes - 50 baht per kilo, 70-80 if they are less ripe and will last a few days at home.

Also check the expiration dates on anything you buy at VIlla. Just yesterday I found sausages for sale that were 2 days past the latest expiration date. No doubt they are still there today.

Darasamut is one of the better middle-class schools on the island. Daoroong is another that is more or less in the same league. Both are good choices for somebody who can't afford the over-the-top expensive international schools.

These schools are both much, much better than government schools. My exgf's son went to darasamut. He came from a government school and couldn't read in the 3rd grade. Darasamut held him back a yr and taught him to read and to love learning. If you were ask him he would probably tell you the swimming pool wasn't so bad either.

Most of the kids come middle-class families, parents have decent jobs or businesses, etc. Both darasamut and daoroong are solid choices in that price range.

What did you expect living next door to Thais?

If you want peace and quiet in Thailand you must live in a condo(higher up the better) or in a wealthy, mostly expat type area(not easy to find, nor cheap).

You can complain all you want, but you will just drive yourself crazy. In Thailand(and most of the 3rd world) you will have to spend money to get peace and quiet.

Just show them your old licence if you get stopped. 95% of the time they will just hand it back without actually looking too closely, thank you, and send you on your way. On the off chance you get one who actually notices it is expired you can just pay 300-500 baht. Keep the reciept because that is you "get out of jail free" card for the rest of the day.

I think these days they are more concerned with your visa status. Make sure to have photocopies of your passport, including your current stamps.

You are probably better off home-schooling her completely than putting her in a tesseban school. These schools are basicly just daycare for the poorest thais and a complete waste of time if you actually want your daughter to learn anything.

If you don't like the eye-brow raising thing, you are in for a real treat when she starts to grow up and the "thai" habits of her municipal school peers become fully entrenched.

If you are looking for an alternative to kajon kiet, I would recommend checking out dara samut or daoroong. Here you will find more of the kids come from "normal" Thai families where there is some discipline and the parents are a bit more involved.

drives passed my hotel

At this point you are supposed to tell him to stop so you can get out.

I experienced the same thing a couple of weeks ago. Used to be 350 on the meter to Kata, but last time it was exactly double at 700 baht on the meter. Crazy.

Driver stopped at a tourist office on the bypass road and tried the old hotel changing pressure con(no chance since I live in a rented apartment).

The trip before last, immigration at the airport asked me multiple times for a "tip", which I refused and requested to speak to a superior, since I was perfectly legal on a visa aquired at an embassy abroad. Finally he let me enter.

Phuket is less and less attractive as a place to live in Thailand.

Toploader all the way. I've had both and as far as I can tell they both do the same job, but the toploader is much easier on my back. It kills my back to bend over, reach in and grab the wet clothes. You couldn't give me a frontloader for free.

You can talk to therapists until you are blue in the face, but it won't shed the lbs. Only one way. Eat less garbage and exercise more. You have only one life to live, being a reasonable weight will make everything better.

Your depression is probably a result of being fat. I go through the same thing. When I am fat I feel horrible. Everybody is the same. Anyone who says they are comfortable being fat is FoS.

Go running. No excuses. If you run 30 min 4-5X per week you can eat normal meals that taste good, without having to resort to a depressingly bland diet. I see my friends control their weight by eating like a rabbit. Personally that isn't for me. I love pizza, burgers, rice, curry, mocha frappaccinos, etc. so I run.

Thailand is a great place to exercise. So many interesting places to walk/run.

Ok, I will be the first to say it. He was probably on some kind of drug binge (meth).

Patong Pool Club on Nanai Rd in Patong has by far the best tables(brunswick from USA). They have tournaments weds, fri, and sunday. Weds, fri are 9-ball and sunday is 8-ball. starts at 8:45pm.

P.S. Can anybody tell me what are my neighbours cooking everyday that smells like 5 days dead dog? I don't know how it looks, - avoid their place like plague. My wife thinks it is this salty cutlets of barracuda looking fish preserved in some kind of oil???... GOD! It's really bad!

this sounds like pla-chem or salty fish. absolutely foul and the only dish I insist is cooked outside(my gf doesn't eat pla-lah...thank god). it can stink up the house for days.

my neighbors cook this and it turns my stomach to smell it. once I ordered some french fries from a burger place in phuket and the girls had just cooked pla-chem in the deep fat fryer. had to toss the entire meal.