siam2007

3 hours ago, Number 6 said:

Well, it comes directly from experience.

 

And here you are, still on TV bc the lack of intelligence of 95% of foreigners living there is shocking. Alcohol, women (boys). That's it...

 

Perhaps you are one of the exceptions that prove the rule.

 

Everyone has two and three names. You have your original name you give to no one. Then fake1 which are given to the more trusting of your 'friends' then another you give to the world so to avoid schemes and blackmail.

 

The guys that can't make a life in Thailand with Thai women downshift to Philippines. No standards.

 

Everyone thinks of beautiful beaches but it could not be further from the truth.

 

It's like living in a penal colony, everything is caged. A karaoke joint on one corner, a pawn shop on the other and two of each in between.

 

The food is disgusting.

 

Everything and I mean everything is imported. Phils could have industries but mafias choose to import everything bc it's easier to control ALL goods. Govt gets its taxes and VAT commoners can just piss off. Chinese run everything.

 

It's more the South Pacific than Asia. Hell, it's more Africa than Asia. People living in 60b a day. Most marginal of unemployment.

 

No wonder ten percent up and leaves the country for ANYWHERE.

 

I felt I had to warn people. I apologise for hijacking the thread and I'm done here.

 

I do not feel the least bit sorry for the OP that he cannot bring his Filipina 'girlfriend' here to shack up with him in Thailand. As I stated before it is exactly as it appears. Stop complaining.

I agree with most of your (harsh) comments, though not with what you say about the beaches. The Phils has some of the most stunning beaches I ever came across in my life, and as someone who had/has to do with the tourism/hospitality business, I have seen quite a few. If you only visited beaches on Luzon, I would agree though.

18 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

As I wrote very few offices want to see movement in the account. There is no old or new rule requiring it.

If asked you could show ATM slips to prove how you get money to live on or bank statements showing the withdrawals done here. 

Good Idea

I usually keep credit card purchase slips or withdrawal slips for 3-4 months and then when all is above board when checking my accounts, I dispose them.

I guess I will now start keeping the withdrawal slips for a year or so. Unfortunately, many of them bleach out quickly no matter where you store them

11 hours ago, wump said:

A 6-hour journey from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet is 48 Baht. Do you think you could fly for 96 Baht when the airport tax alone is 100 Baht in most places?

nobody with a minimum of self respect would endure on a 16 hours journey to CM on a wooden bench with no aircon, isn't it ?

A decent 1st class overnight ticket indeed is more expensive than flying nowadays, though admittedly one can save cost for one night at a hotel

6 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

Learning Thai is one of the most useful things that I have ever done in my life and I did not put a lot of effort in it - my Thai is far from great. However, beggars AND parasites completely leave me alone after a few words. I get charged reasonable prices most of the time without much bargaining and young beautiful girls don't seem to mind spending time with me as we can chit-chat. If you don't want to learn Thai, that is up to you, but you are really missing out on a lot.

couldn't agree more.

This rule has to be applied at any other country of touristic relevance.

And in most cases, the lingo is not difficult to learn. Look like a Gringo in South America? Some Spanish certainly helps to keep the scum at bay (maybe not if they produce firearms, though). Speaking some Indonesian in Bali? OFF the beggars go.....

14 minutes ago, theoldgit said:

And you know that how exactly?
I think you'll find that he's posting from Thailand, as am I, and most of the others.

Those teachers know that staff is usually too shy to kick them out so they exploit the situation and premises.

The same happens at McDo, BTW. When I still lived at Bangkok's Huamak district, I sometimes stopped at the McDo at Srinakharin/Pattanakarn intersection. In the late afternoons, certainly 20-30% of the tables were occupied by "teachers and students" and real diners had to sit on makeshift stools . Saw this at many other McDo's all over the kingdom

On 31/01/2017 at 7:54 PM, dddave said:

Than

Thanks for this link...very interesting read.  I had no idea it was a network similar to :AirBnB...I just assumed a small boutique style hotel chain.

I stayed at the "Zen Makati Riverside"   quite small, close to the canal ferry off Rizal by the Poblacion if that means anything to you...not an easy place to find.  

As I said before, small room but they seemed to go out of their way to make it comfortable.  The level of cleanliness was beyond criticism, the staff great.  I can understand the high rating. They deserve it.

If you sometime need a accommodation on the cheaper side, and can deal with a small but well appointed room then I would recommend it.

seen it on googlemaps. Actually an interesting location as it seems walking distance to the Makati / Burgos strip. At night this is another story,  Makati is certainly safer than most places in Metro Manila, but at night you need to be extremely cautious everywhere

23 hours ago, dddave said:

As the OP,  this is a follow-up to my Makati hotel question.  First of all, thanks for all the good advice. I checked most of the recommended hotels but they were either beyond my budget or not available on my dates.

Ended up staying at  "Zen-Riverside" a small hotel off Rizal, about a 10 minute, fairly difficult walk to the Makati business/restaurant/shopping area.

The room was small but spotlessly clean, as was the entire facility. Comfortable bed, good wifi and AC, small fridge, 40" TV with good cable channel options, reasonably quiet at night. I paid $25 per night which I thought very reasonable for the quality.  Great staff; always friendly and accommodating, free coffee but no meals served.

 

If I never see Makati again, or Manila for that matter I wont be unhappy;... dumpy and depressing.

I went into a couple of the Borgos (sp?) bars but was unimpressed...reminded me of the worst of Walking Street. Lots of girls wandering around, making their availability obvious.

I tried to see some local sites during my free time but traffic and the general hassle of getting around  soon had me watching tennis on TV.

Happy to be back in Bangkok...and a little more appreciative of it. 

good to hear you found some advice here helpful.

ZENROOMS is actually a sort of booking system for cheap small and independent accomodation places and guesthouses that would otherwise be overlooked (many of them right so, I have to say). It is some sort of a booking system like airbnb. Would be interesting to know what the actual name of the place was as you seem to have been satisfied with what you got. This ZEN place has the highest rating of any ZEN places that I ever came across. There are literally hundreds of ZEN places all over South-East-Asia. They for example have signed 74 properties in Bangkok alone, plus 237 on Bali - all Hotels / guest houses / apartments that actually operate under another name but sell their rooms under the ZEN brand now too to attract more guests.

The Co was founded in Indonesia in 2014 by two French guys, under the roof of ROCKET INTERNET (a German company investing in Tech-start-ups)  and has its headquarters in Singapore now.

interesting read here:

http://www.thestandard.com.ph/business/227322/rocket-guys-shake-ph-hotel-industry.html

https://www.zenrooms.com/press-media

.

I am selling a quality juicer (new and unused , though I bought it in Europe several years ago already). If interested, PM me pls

18 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Any moneychanger can do this but there is no reason why one would want to. It's US dollars, not riel, that you need. Riel is basically used as small change and you'll automatically accumulate some paying in dollars.

 

Hotels, restaurants, taxis, buses - all charge in USD in Cambodia

 

In the immediate border areas, you can pay in baht as well

Just for a same-day-return-Visa-run one certainly would not need or want RIEL, but for longer stays in Cambo I found it very useful to have a certain amount of RIEL with me as this will usually LOWER the prices for small purchases in many cases.

I usually change at some places in PP on the day of my arrival, just make sure it is not too much and you cannot get rid of it when you leave. Motodops, TukTuks, small purchases in Minimarts or in markets or eating in local hole-in-the-wall restos etc you can easily pay in RIEL, though the transport guys may not be happy about it but who cares. For them a bad deal (RIEL) is always better than no deal at all

13 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

Air Asia cleared for flights to USA:  http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/24/news/airasia-us-flights-low-cost-budget-airline/index.html

 

I don't know if this is good news or not.  I guess this can be the longest Border Run alternative on record?  I have never flown Air Asia but will try them soon.  I can just imagine KL to LAX:  Purchases food and drinks and pay for Entertainment on a 15 hour flight? 

They plan to fly to Hawaii, not LAX. Their A330 can not fly such a long distance, me thinks, even though SQ started flying non-stop ex-Singapore using their new A350 recently, and UA started to fly SFO - SIN using their new B787

.

For many years, this message on AA's website read: 

"If this is not INTERNATIONAL, please reselect a later return flight" until obviously finally someone told them there is a difference in the meaning of "intentional" and "international" 

26 minutes ago, baansgr said:

http://slice-of-thai.com/rental/

By far the best and fair contract and around for more than a decade.

My current landlord and me use this contract and I would not rent any place anymore without using just this one specific contract

You can not "phase out" the crazy drivers, but you can make it more difficult for them to speed. Micro Buses almost certainly cannot go 160 km/h as most Minivans can. That alone might already help, but of course the main culprits are the drivers, not the vehicles.

There needs to be an APP where passengers can immediately report speeding Vans and if one van driver has been reported many times, he should get his driving license suspended.

5 hours ago, Farang99 said:

One more thing in favour of Malaysia - Malay is an easy language to learn, at least enough for basic communication. It has no tonal inflections, is written (nowadays) in western letters, and has very simple grammar. All Malaysians speak at least a version of it (Bazaar Malay) which has no grammar at all.

a "BAZAAR" is a market in most languages, whereas the word for language in Malay and Indonesian is "BAHASA".

Hence, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Indonesia

On 14/01/2017 at 5:11 PM, Lovethailandelite said:

Stop being so Paranoid! It was happening long before I went there. If you really want to know Chang Mai revived this old law from 1970's months and months ago. Maybe you should learn the Thai Immigration laws before you hit the keyboard?

I am afraid, but it is indeed utter madness. No country of touristic importance worldwide treats their long stay guests in a humiliating way like that. My friends in Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam are having a good laugh when I tell them the latest adventures of us long-stayers in Thailand

no civilized and developed country in the world does apply a death penalty

48 minutes ago, Lovethailandelite said:

Jomtien require the TM30 and not only the one time. Here is my report of how it works there which I posted for info for those who haven't yet lodged a TM30 there. I hope it helps you.

 

The problem is that the TM30 needs to be done. Someone MUST do it or it is us that pay the fines....As I found out. I have been in and out of the country since the early 1980's and owning property here too. In September I decided to come and stay. I went to Jomtien immigration as I thought I may just as well get it sorted due to the reports being stated. First question from immigration after looking at my passport 'Why you come to Thailand so many times and no TM30'? I tried to explain that I had only just heard of the requirement, although secretly I knew the law existed but nobody ever bothered. There answer was that everybody coming in to Thailand needs to know the immigration laws. They then pulled up a computer screen going back 5 years showing me every single entry in and out of the country I had made.Now whether this information comes from your passport or a TM6 entry I don't know. To go back 5 years in my case either the previous passports are linked or indeed they are entering information on the system from the TM6 as this passport I have now is only 2 years old. She asked wear I had been staying on these entry's? I said sometimes my Condo but sometimes in hotels if I am travelling around. She showed me the last time I was reported which was 3 years ago by a hotel in Hua Hin and since that time I had 15 entry's and exits.Now during this 3 year period only, I must of stayed in at least 8 or 10 hotels incl Novotel, The Landmark, The Pattaya Hilton, Fraser suites Bangkok and others but not one of them had reported me. To cut the storey short, the fine was 4000bht. I did object by saying surely the hotels need to report me but her answer was yes but you need to make sure it's done if not you pay the fine. I said I find that unfair and her answer was would I like her to go back further than 5 years and increase the fine? I said, no, it's ok 4000bht seems reasonable 
I received an official receipt and also a Glossy leaflet printed as being from the Royal Thai Police Immigration Division 3 which explains the rule.....but it's all in Thai but I can make out some horrendous figures from 200bht to 1 millionbht but no doubt the leaflet contains other information and the penalties involved. If the forum wants to see it I think I can scan it. I asked what I need to do to avoid a future fine and was told that on EVERY entry to the country a TM30 must again be logged even if returning to my own Condo because I would have a different TM6 when and if doing a 90 day report and they would see that was different from a previous entry and anyway she seemed to indicate that any dealings with Immigration and they look at your entry and exit history so would see if the TM30 was logged or not. I have never ever done a 90 day report as I travel in and out a fair bit anyway but I may need to do one in the future. She also said if I leave Chon Buri province for anymore than 24hrs again, the TM30 needs to be logged on my return as where ever I stay needs to log me in. Great! I don't do the hastle of a 90 day report because of travelling but I can do a TM 30 report instead. I asked could it be done online she said yes BUT if it's lost in the system I get a fine. I since asked the Condo management to set up a reporting system which they have done.( I was led to believe that private individuals cannot do it) I went out of the country 4 weeks ago for 7 days and on my return they reported me and printed me a receipt for the report. In that case a hotel can do the same for people to see that they have actually reported you. To make sure it worked as it should, I then went to Jomtien immigration within 24hrs of my return to check if the system actually worked. It did and I never had to fill the form in again. They then gave a me another receipt to say it had been received ( Which the reporting system used by hotels and Condo management cannot do) and said to keep it with the TM6 and passport.
When you enter immigration to report a TM30 don't waste time at the reception desk. Go straight in and past the desks and seats where everyone is waiting. Turn right and go upstairs and the office dealing with the TM30 inquiry's is directly in front of you. Just walk straight on in.
On a side note I have heard of people getting bigger fines up to 5000bht there. A guy from Singapore in the same Condo block as me shelled out 12000bht for him, his wife and daughter. I have no idea of the daughters age but she looks over 15 so have no idea how old children need to be to have this rule applied to them. I hope this post go's some way to let people understand how Jomtien are applying this rule. I have a friend in Ubon who's immigration office are applying the rule exactly the same but I see other immigration offices apply it different.If the mods want to move the post to a more appropriate thread great but please don't delete it as it's taken me an hour to compile it 
Once again I hope this helps anybody dealing with Jomtien immigration.

 

 

Thank you very much for this detailed report, every tenant living in the Jomtien immigration jurisdiction should print this out and give to his landlord if he/she is reluctant to do the reporting. and hopefully some more Condo offices will implement the online reporting system in the near future

14 hours ago, Apsharas said:

Well, I'm back home. In the end I had to endure on another delay, and I was not able to leave until 23:00. The guy pushing my wheelchair brought me to inmigration after going through the secondary security checkpoint, and... 500 tbh fine. The new stamp in my passport does not seem to say overstay, just the day I left and some characters I don't understand next to it (maybe that's the overstay mention).

 

Last ever time I fly with Air France.

those characters may well be the flight number, in your case maybe AF123 or so

13 hours ago, Deepinthailand said:

Luck of the draw it seems no such problems in Khon Kaen as told only need to submit a tm 30 again if we move along with TM28. Even after leaving Thailand and returning

does anybody know if the same applies to Jomtien immigration ?

6 hours ago, wpcoe said:

One benefit to keeping the 30-day report receipt in your passport if you use Cholburi (Jomtien) Immigrations is that once you are in the computer and the form has a bar code, you don't need to submit any paperwork for subsequent 30-day reports.  They scan the bar code of the form in your passport, make a computer entry or two, print out a new form with bar code and staple it to your passport and send you on your way.  Once you are at the 30-day report desk the transaction itself can be under one minute. And, with such fast processing, waiting in queue for the desk is much faster.

certainly you are talking about the 90 (ninety) day report, not 30

On 03/01/2017 at 7:01 AM, JB300 said:

 

.

But they've been a bit lapse around enforcing the rules & now things are changing in some places (Phuket, CM, HH, Patts/Jomtien amongst others)

 

as you seem to be in the know, could you please elaborate further WHAT things are changing?

1 hour ago, elgordo38 said:

If you can afford a weekend getaway she could be watching you and you say your suspect GIG maybe you have given her reason to suspect. You seem like a nice harmless guy I am sure her fears are groundless. Move the drone to the next target.

as I said, I am free as a bird atm, so the GIG thing was just a thought and does not apply in my case. Oh, I don't like ground floor lodgings, BTW, but that's another story

4 minutes ago, burgerking said:

I would be more worried about the spy cameras your misses has had installed in the condo if I was you.

does not apply in my case as I am "free as a bird" atm.....

I am at my weekend retreat place right now in Pattaya. High floor unit of a Condo, balcony doors open as it is cool and no Mozzies, lights fully on inside my place. Nobody usually can peek inside. No human, that is. Suddenly seeing a small enlightened spot on the sky, seems slowly moving. Very sure it was a drone. I have a buddy who owns a drone and goes "droning" virtually every weekend, and I accompanied him a few times, so I know how that thing looks like when it is flying in darkness. Maybe 50 Meters away from the Condo, a bit above my floor level, slowly moving. It's a kinda scary thought that even at a high floor you nowadays have to close the curtains if you do not want to be watched / spied on by whoever it might be. And those cameras employed on those drones are incredible.

I closed the curtain and watched the object through a small slit, it eventually disappeared after another 2 minutes, flying over the roof to the other side of my building. I wouldn't have been able to spot it during daylight hours. So always be aware that someone out there is watching you for whatever reason. It can be a perv, your local immigration office, the CIA, your wife which you think is in her home town when in fact she wants to find out if you spend some quality time with your suspected GIG and who else. No more walking naked inside your place. Reality of 2017. Don't like it....

Honestly, that "scouring of the internet" can not have been very thorough.

Easy to find are those two reputable companies with branches in Phitlok:

www.avisthailand.com

www.hertzthailand.com