bamboozled

The woman is bad news. It occurred to me....was this a dark theater and the footage is from an infrared camera? It kind of looks like it. I don't care to defend her, however, if it was indeed dark, at least the groping wasn't quite as blatant and obvious as it seems in the vid. I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere.

He said "and spend money"? The turnaround thing has been going on forever so no surprise for the agents. If they were interested in folks spending money in Laos they wouldn't let people pay the visa fee without getting a visa. I think the agent was just making up an excuse. You still pay a visa fee/Laos still gets the visa money whether they issue one or not (or someone gets it). I still don't understand why they won't take USD and do the same thing...just giving a stamp and sending you back. Hmm...perhaps since 1800 baht is more than $40, they're just trying to get the larger pay-out. And if someone insists on paying $40 USD (and that's an official rule/rate), they don't want to argue the point and possibly get any higher-ups involved thus they revert back to official visa procedure. The real reason doesn't really matter....just fun to ruminate on.

Take the $40, don't issue the visa. Take the 1800 baht, don't issue the visa.

They could take $40, too. ...It would seem to me. Plenty of places to change it.

Not picking a fight or anything, just musing.... I wonder if this is true, as stated. It's oft repeated, yes. But maybe the cart is before the horse...or something like that. The reason Thai's supposedly don't want to do that sort of work is because it pays so damn little. And the reason it pays so little is because there is foreign labor available, made up of hungrier, worse-off folks who are willing to do it because they don't have better opportunities. If the foreign workers were excluded/prohibited, either the work wouldn't get done or the remuneration would go up. Perhaps to a living wage. This is the same story everywhere in the world. It's all about the money. A friend of mine studied to be a nurse at the most basic level. Not a super skilled position but not laying bricks, either. The hospital in Bkk where she did her internship, that was very happy with her, offered her a job. The pay was 12k per month. Working 6 days a week, 10-12 hour days. This is in Bangkok, mind you. What kind of life does that get you? The pay here in Chiang Mai at a nursing home was only 7k/month. What burns me up is there are labor laws, minimum wage laws, amount of break-time laws, but so many businesses don't seem to follow them. And the workers don't seem to complain. Nor do the authorities seem to do anything. Did you folks know that when a waiter/waitress breaks a glass at MK restaurant (and inevitably, glasses will get broken in a restaurant), they have to pay for the glass out of their 38 baht/hour salary? Shameful.

I wonder what they're up to? I can't figure the game. Anyone? If you paid them in 40 in USD they could certainly change it. Not sure the USD/Kip rate but black market is much higher than the official, I know that much. But I suppose they would get less than 1800 baht of Kip? Hmm, what's the Baht/Kip exchange rate? Does that make any sense?

Congrats, Lolothai. Did you show a KR2? I've never shown one but it's talked about a lot on here.

First part of your post was nice and I will check those. I have heard they both do a nice spread, now that you mention it. Googling Chiang Mai buffet turns up little to nothing of value unless you like PITA or are searching for shabu. Plus, we don't only come here for info but to converse in the modern style.

The drink was an add on. Now drink minus 1k.

The buffet I first talked about at La Favola, and would like to find again, does not have luke-warm food hanging around. It's a fancy place and if you don't like the temp of the food you can tell them. There were a lot of food stations where things would be made to order. Carving stations, pizza station, pasta station. Seafood with oysters, shrimp, etc.... Desert station. They would come around with various small plates or to dish out pasta, etc... There was a separate room with artisanal cheeses and charcuterie, breads and crackers, dried fruits and nuts. The setting is lovely and you don't go wearing your sleeveless-tee and sandals. And if you paired it with the free-flow drink, you had your choice of sparkling, white, and red wines (not out of a box) and various mixed cocktails with high-end liquor. Everything was not perfect but it made for a fun "event" every once and a while. Worth the 2k splurge if you can spare it. As mentioned, it's a nice break from the usual routine (for me) and feels like I've taken a mini trip somewhere. Cheers all.

Thank you. I've heard they do a pretty good spread. I will give it a go!

I'll have a look, Hummin, thank you!

Thanks all. I'm asking about Chiang Mai for myself but if folks wnat to throw in Bkk stuff, have at it. La Favola was pretty darn good and kind of hi-so therefore a nice break from my usual MO. That's what was half the fun. You felt like you were on vacation somewhere else. Auf der Au is great and a completely diff experience. I see the Centara advertises buffets but not sure about the alcohol drink situation.

I used to go to the Meridien on occasion for this type of thing, La Favola restaurant, and was pretty satisfied but they're closed right now. If I remember, it was about 2k (pre covid) including open bar. Anything like that to recommend, folks? Thank you, Bamboozled

I always feel like I ate fast food after a 5-star chicken. That is, I feel bloated and my stomach heavy. Makes me wonder what they do to the chickens/put on them. Nobody else has this reaction? I don't get this from other roasted chickens, just the 5-star. It kind of tastes too good, too delicious, too juicy, etc... So I tend to steer clear of 5-star.

I sent 69k on Aug. 9 and it arrived via local. But I did not play around seeing if anything would change. I will next time.

I will give it a try, thanks!

Yup. There doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason to it. You're one of the lucky ones.

I suppose one could do the 65k per month and if unacceptable to Immi, for some reason, switch to an agent.

Yes, you don't have to hold the money in the account. Spend as you see fit, when you see fit.

So everything is as clear as mud; par for the course. What's frightening is one can do his/her best to adhere to the rules but not everything is in our control. It comes down to the moment the Immi officer yeas or nays an application. And a nay can have drastic consequences. For example, as mentioned, I had done the monthly transfers and gotten the credit advices and printed out the Wise transfers, etc... Immi officer wasn't having it. Luckily, I could get a visa in Savannakhet but a year prior, due to Covid, that wasn't an option. I would have been...up <deleted>'s crick without a paddle.

I have accounts now at SCB, Bangkok Bank, and Kasikorn. Yup, I'm very cool. I will use any account that works for Immi. My latest choice is Kasikorn as more often than not the transfer seems to arrive via Kasikorn.

Thanks Khun Per, it's all too expensive for me.

I'm on it! Thanks again.

Thanks Gwapo. I had opened a business account via the lawyer and he had an in-house person to do the accounting. It was a legit business just that I was only using it to invoice another company abroad to invoice my expenses. So the accounting was very simple: no employees, no billing. He delivered what he said he would but I can't comment really if his cost was high or not. He just had a weird way about him and would talk talk talk while saying absolutely zero. It was an amazing ability. I DID realize he was full of it when I closed the company for 150 baht compared to 30/40k quoted by him.