maurizio04

is there a delete account options somewhere?

The Baht is back to nearly 34 to the US Dollar

Baht slow and steady weaking

BANGKOK: -- The Thai Baht opened at 33.93 THB/US dollar on Thursday morning and at 4PM Bangkok time it was noted at 33.86, according to Bangkok Bank.

-- Thaivisa.com 2007-08-09

Huge gain i would say.......

16 july 33.27

1 august 33.73

9 august 33.90

-m

From my reading of this thread, and numerous other threads over the past couple of years, it is my understanding there are two main things happening in relation to visas:

1. Visa laws and regulations have been tightened up and enforced more efficiently to crack down on abusers (there is that word again) and evaders ie a proper application of government policy. Examples are the 90/180 day rule, and the 800k/3 month rule

2. Individual immigration officers have imposed idiosyncratic and sometimes nonsensical conditions on individual visa/extension applicants ie not seemingly government policy. There are numerous examples of this.

I am therefore struggling to conclude that the government is trying to make life universally hard for the vast majority of the farangs who are living in Thailand in accordance with the laws and policy objectives - which of course are the prerogative of the government to determine.

JMHO

Thailand have any rights to ask even very confused and complicated rules for retirements.

What i find anacceptable is the yearly cycle. No way, a retirement should be for life, so why bother people EVERY year. The minimum cycle acceptable should be 5 years.

I will never apply at this condition, better doing very long vacation, you can even get travel health insurance for close to nothing.

or perhaps people start flyng with low cost Air to surat thani ??

AirAsia Bangkok-surat thani is 1710 bath, BKK Airways to samui 3800.

The problem is that AirAsia has ONE only flight and the ticket is fixed, while BkkAirw has 1 flight every hour and no restricyion on using tickets....

How much is the bus/ferry from Surat thani to Samui?

-mau

Seems a distinct lack of photographers/snappers on this forum!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=125263

http://picasaweb.google.com/maurizio04/KohSamui

next visit i will bring a better camera, zoom 12 :-)

-m

Better than todays "taxi"'service!

The number of taxi in Samui is really exagerated, with all the minibus they are totally useless apart during the night and too expensive, never used one....

But I saw sumerous times brits or french duscussing with a minivan to save 10 bath. One time I was really searching 10 bath in my pocket to give it to them. Gee, at home 30 seconds of taxi will cost 10E, bus starts from 1E, in UK double....

The only annoying ripoff difficult to avoid in Samui is the trip back to the airport. Coming, there are the airport minibus at fixed price, 150 bath, but coming back the hotel will always charge what he wants, 300, 400 bath. OK, it is the price of a cappuccino in Seattle , i know, but to have a minibus service to call will be a very good service.

Maybe if you search the forum, I had that prediction last year. You can't expand & speculate on one year's result, post tsunami.Many people have spent money on a false or admittedly fake assumption at the time. How silly is that?

The price in peak season actually doubled in 2 years, now i see long list of resort at 2500 bath when it used to be 1000/1500. The flight to Thailand is so expensive that for the classical week vacation europeans people will go to the carabbean for half the cost. And for Samui there is an additional flight, so no tour operators....

Since we've jump-started this thread, how much worse is it now than it was a few months ago? I am still getting nearly 35 baht to the dollar, roughly the same as in December. The painful decline was mostly in year 2006. My friend calls the baht a Mickey Mouse currency, and I wrote back and called it a toy currency. Okay, I love Thailand and the Thais are personally friendly, but the currency exchange problems are beyond the control of Thais and Thailand.

So, has the dollar's decline against the baht effectively stopped, roughly in November?

Judging by the Euro/Bath exchange the thai market is really out of control. The Euro is going up every day against the dollar but i can have the same bath for Euro than in last december.....

You have done well to get a quote of 3,780baht. I've checked various date combinations during the week because its for a visa run. The best I can do is 667 MYR. Still, it does avoid the boring land journey.

I managed to get that quote departing Tuesday the 24th April and returning Thursday the 26th April

MM

How can they charge 20+20USD for fuel surcharge is beyound immagination...

Nowadays it seems that plane ticket never include fuel, so why not charge extra for the seat.....

Fuel surcharge as the word tell means to pay more IF the fuel is gone up AFTER the ticket payment.

Asking it at the same time they create the ticket cost is treating people like idiots :-(

-m

ps: total fees to samui is 300 MYR, like 3000 bath........

Well, i can only say 1 thing as an island resident ready to pack my bags and move to other regions in Thailand.

"SAMUI is DYING"

and it is not only the real estate market but also the local people that complain, even bar girls say they don't have customers these days, never been so bad here.

And i guess they all have to thank it on their own greed, this is the result.

The island that was so nice 10 years ago is gone and will never come back again........and it will never be the Bahamas or Virgin Islands, don't worry.............Another lost paradise again, When we will ever learn folks !

"Best things in life are NOT things."

Scottbiker

I had the same thoughts when i went to the beach and saw the resort on the right of mine:

it looked like a Las Vegas weird casino.

Goodby coconuts island....

The fact that every medium class resort is increasing rooms 500 bath every year won't help.

Overcharging for peak season either, they just shrink it and before mid december the island is empty....

But maybe with the russian turists the 200$ resort will be full...

ps: problem is, the other places are worse

-m

There was a very large scale fraud like this a few years ago with one of the UK banks. The thieves intercepted both cards and PIN numbers at the post office! Took a LOT of cash that way.

Banks in europe stopped sending credit cards by mail long time ago......for this reason.

Now only the PIN is sent by mail.

-m

So MM you mean the banks could have security breaches?How could that happen? Steal the card's details ,then establish their own password or PIN ?This is getting scary.

Correct,

Stealing the card would be easy, Im sure that alot of banks have a draw or box full of cards waiting for customers to collect, that a light fingered member of staff could pilfer.

How they managed to get the PIN number is another matter

MM

Why dont all card companies put the cardholders picture on the card . simple !

Do the ATM machine look you in the eyes?

Anyway i'm still wondering about ATM card fraud. I try to avoid Visa for small payment because for credit card there is no pin, nothing, you just need the number. Not even the need to duplicate the card, any waiter can write down your number and use it on the net......

ATM card are supposedly very secure, not even the bank know your PIN, that is generated random and sent by mail.

-m

With a single or multiple entry Tourist Visa to get to the police station for a 30 days extension do I have to wait until the last day? When the 30 extended days will start? From the original end of Visa or from the day of the request?

thanxs

-m

It's the immigration office, not the police station.

It starts from the end of your visa, you can go a few days before expiration(but why?), I usually go 1-2 days before exp or the same day, never been there like 10 days before. Di piu' nun zo!

There is no immigration office in Koh Samui ......

The Central Police Station must have a visa office......

If it start from the end of the Visa no need to worry about the day to go. For a Visarun is better to go 1 weewk before the end date....

I'm just trying to see if with the extensions i can avoid a visarun for a double entry visa....

Last time in Thailand i departed exactly the last date of the entry-stamp, very lucky there was a seat on the plane, i counted the 30 days like a month.....

ok, ok, the immigration guy at the airport say no problem, 500 bath per day but as people pointed out outside the airport is better not to go around without a visa....

-m

With a single or multiple entry Tourist Visa to get to the police station for a 30 days extension do I have to wait until the last day? When the 30 extended days will start? From the original end of Visa or from the day of the request?

thanxs

-m

A tourist visa entry can be 30 or 60 days depending on your passport. Most with visa exempt entry get 60 days. A tourist visa is routinely extended for 30 days. I have not seen anyone on this forum in four years of posting here that has reported not been able to obtain such an extension of stay. Any stay is always at the discretion of immigration but suspect you would have to be a major mess not to be approved.

thanxs, all the people I've asked told me the same, in Samui it's enough to go to the Police staion in Nathon to get an extension. Just an info: the 30 days extension will start from the moment of the operation of from the original ending of the Visa?

Well, at the end all the confusion about the 3 visarun limit will just create a huge load of work for Thai embassy around the country, like Penang. If every visarun must be converted to a real Visa they will need 10 times more people.....and they could start charging more money....

-m

Yes and most countries are allowed visa free entry stamp as Thailand. You are aware that you can obtain another 30 days by paying 1,900 baht for an extension of stay at any immigration office on each tourist visa entry?

Yes, but the consulate here says that twice entry visa is always 60+60, extension is discrectionary, meaning not 100% sure. I doubt it and going to Penang to exit to get another 60 days seems a waste of time and money. At least until there will be a direct flight from Samui to Penang, I saw a banner about Firefly airline starting a very cheap service.

Anyway, i will get a 60+60 and if i get an extension i will not use the second entry.......maximum flexibility, some money wasted....

-m

It is absolutely not illegal to have a travel service obtain a tourist visa if you are in Penang at the time. The only time it would be wrong is if you used a service to take your passport across a border.

If I come to the border with a double entry Visa just to start the second 60 days period can I just enter malaysia and come back immediately? Do Malaysia use a no visa entry like Thailand?

-m

Huge mess....

Last year i had a slight idea to buy a villa in Samui but the Thai Law and the skyrocketing price mad eme change idea...

On the other end resorts price are going up every year, i would say 500 bath more every peak season for medium level places...

Thailand is still cheap but it will not be forever, particular using the dollar. With Euro we are happy, even it seems that the Bath is going up against the dollar for no apparent reasons.....

-m

Maurizio, why don't you apply for a double or even a triple entry at the consulate in Milan?

If things have not changed you shouldn't have any problem to obtain one.

I'm using a triple entry issued on 25 Oct 2006.

edit: and to activate your next entry (on a multiple entry visa) you have to actually cross the border (usually you can cross the border and get back to Thailand nearly immediately) .

I will go for a double entry, at this point seems the safest way. Even if I have to do a "visarun" just to exit the country anyway. The UK suggestion that at the airport is possible to avoid exiting is new, i'll check at my arrival.

-m

This is interesting, from the uk thai consulate:

You should be able to enter on "visa exempt entry" for 30 days. But some people have reported problems on how immigration counts the days, entries,etc. within a given time frame.

If you think you would want to stay longer than the extra thirty days, you could probably get another "Tourist" visa in a neighboring country.

Also, regulations may change before your trip, you may want to check for current information shortly before you go.

I have no previous entry in thailand after feb 2007 , so if I enter 1 dec the visa will be good until 1 march (ok the immigration use 30 days less 1 for month...). I cannot see different count if I have no stay.....

In theory I can do 3 times a visarun but it's not clear if a visarun is possible after a nornal Visa.

-m

Hi, i'm from Italy and i'm already planning a long trip to Thailand this fall.

I've read contrasting info about using 1 or 2 Visarun AFTER a normal 60+30 visa.

I will probably need just less than a month in addition of the standard Visa so better be sure.

-m

hello just to advise people when using there cash cards over in thailand to make sure they always use the hand/wallet when keying in your pin number.

Did you use a bank ATM, meaning one outside a real bank?

Cloning ATM card is much difficult than Credit Card.......

In Europe we had lot's of theft made putting a fake reader in front of the real one, for this reason now all ATM have metallic and very strong card aperture......

-m