Sept

The jihad is here. It's not about getting along. It's about following Muhammad's command to submit the world to Sharia law and make Islam the only accepted religion.

You're spewing foxnews' crap alright. Good boy.

Who cares about being reasonable, sometimes fighting and war is necessary, this is Siam land and I think Thailand should just go in and smash Cambodia out of there and to hell with the consequences, no one would give a dam_n next year.

What are you still doing here? Do something useful: go grab a gun, and enroll yourself!

If you get yourself killed you'll have helped clean the gene pool.

How about little perspective, and a touch of reality?

Johann Hari: You are being lied to about pirates

(...)In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."

This is the context in which the "pirates" have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a "tax" on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence".

A friend just left from Suvanapoom without any kind of trouble other than having to pay the fine:

- Nationality: Danish

- Length of overstay: 4 months

- Where you/they attempted to leave Thailand: Suvarnabhumi

- Showed up at departure immigration on: Oct. 10, 2010

- What was done by the immigration authorities: Charge THB 20,000

Disussion here.

Nope, it's not a lucky timing for me as actual downloads never happened here during the last 2 weeks. The minute Deluge got online it was getting some packets. It definitely did the trick.

Edit: btw I'm getting 100 kb/s now, almost back to normal (I used to get 150 kb/s max before). Thanks again Gollum!

Yep, that's the one I'm trying. I won't pursue it further as a couple of other members have already posted comments saying it makes no difference. I suspect those that it has worked for have just been lucky with their timing - TOT's torrent throttling does seem to vary at different times, day and night.

I luv u

With Deluge I now get *some* d/l speed, nothing great 25-50 kb/s but at least my files will get eventually get here.

I'm with TOT in Krabi, have been d/ling with an unstable speed of 0.3-0.8 kb/s since Aug. 11... :->

It's not "JUST" another client.... Deluge does FULL STREAM ENCRYPTION, something utorrent/vuze do not. Since i use Deluge (since 2 days....) my speeds are back to 600kbyte/sec again....

I don't think the Thai government cares all that much when you spend your future pension money.

Oh so you're some kind of spokesperson for the Thai government? Or maybe some kind of psychic, able to read into the mind of the Thai government? That must be fun...

Just because lots of people have been getting away with bending the rules in no way means that people will continue to be allowed to live in Thailand on tourist visas in the future.

If there's no rule to bend, then nobody's bending any rule. The rules might be changing now, but so far people have been allowed to tour Thailand for long periods of time, using legitimate tourist visas that were legally delivered by Thai consulates, said visas were checked and accepted by immigration officers upon entry in the Kingdom, and in many cases said visas got (repeatedly) extended by other immigration officers throughout the country.

Looks like we were playing by the country's rules, or some official, somewhere along the process, probably would have blown their whistle, don't you think?

Get the right kind of visa if you want to migrate to Thailand - one that means you don't need to misrepresent your purpose of stay in the eyes of the authorities.

Maybe you could get yourself another thrill, than insulting around and accusing people of misdeeds they are not committing. Only people working while on their tourist visa are misrepresenting their purpose of stay in the eyes of the authorities, and they're a very small minority of the tourist visa holders.

Welcome to the requirements of the Immigration Act - you either get the right visa or close the door on your way out.

Care to point us to the provision(s) of the Immigration Act that limit the time an alien can spend touring Thailand?

And getting back to back visas is what the new rules are about, people exploiting the loophole to stay in Thailand this way, I have no problem with people who have the money to stay in a country of their choice and support themselves where the rules allow, but people who are working illegally with the wrong type of visa only have themselves to blame if kicked out of the country, I mean come on, we or most of us are against illegals working in our country of origin, but some of the same people think it's okay to work in Thailand illegally.

Double standards or what spring to mind.?.

Genuine tourists I believe have nothing to fear with the new rules if implemented to the full, the people who have most to fear are those who have been using the back to back visa as a way of remaining in Thailand and working in Thailand illegally. For all those who are working in Thailand illegally, either get the correct visa or face the consequences if caught working with the incorrect visa and be prepared for a lenghty interrogation Thai style when trying for a new back to back visa.

Please cut the crap now. Self-righteous preachers are getting a little... tiresome, to be honest and still remain polite.

Same for the "get a proper visa" crowd : the only proper visa for long-term tourists under 50 years old is a tourist visa. As far as I know there's nothing in the Thai law that limits the time you're spending in Thailand as long as you respect the prohibition to work on a tourist visa.

Getting a non-O for visiting friends one doesn't have would be a lie, and as such, illegal. Let's get real, please.

Most long-term tourists are not working illegally in Thailand. Many of us get some kind of revenue (rents, pensions...) from Europe/the US/wherever and spend it locally, therefore supporting the Thai economy. That's not 'abusing' the system nor 'exploiting the loophole', no need to insult us please.

Most people that are somehow working illegally here are on a non-O visa, like married to a Thai girl and manage a guesthouse/bar/restaurant without a work permit. Those won't be affected by the change of rules re: tourist visas. Hundreds in Phuket, Pattaya, Samui... The day the Thai govt decides a crackdown on illegal foreign employment it won't be too difficult to implement : visit schools, farang-owned businesses, etc., and request work permit from any foreigner working there.

A simple search of our forum will show you you can apply for a work permit on a tourist visa or visa exempt entry. It happens all the time. As I said earlier, you wont get a work permit untill you have a non-immigrant visa. This you get on show of the WP3 receipt, which shows an embassy that you will get your WP once they issue the non-immigrant visa.

"A simple search on our forum" can hardly be called a decent source. I conducted a simple search on our forum, and a couple others on Google, but couldn't find anything authoritative.

Can you provide a single direct link in support of your assertion?

Wrong. You can arrive in Thailand with any visa or even without a visa, look for work, get signed up for a job and apply for a work permit. It is to receive the work permit, once it has been approved, that you need a non-immigrant visa.

--

Maestro

That's incorrect : you need a non-B to apply for work permit.

Legally you're not even allowed to look for a job while on a tourist visa, although that's hardly enforceable.

Wrong. Maestro is correct.

Care to provide a source for your assertion that one can apply for a work permit while on a tourist visa? Your own pages are stating the (obvious) opposite.

Unless you can provide a decent source showing that one can apply for work permit while on a tourist visa, why don't you quit confusing your readers with erroneous bits of information?

http://www.thaivisa.com/288.0.html :

How to get a Thai work permit

First, you must have a Non-Immigrant visa to apply for a work permit.

Wrong. You can arrive in Thailand with any visa or even without a visa, look for work, get signed up for a job and apply for a work permit. It is to receive the work permit, once it has been approved, that you need a non-immigrant visa.

--

Maestro

That's incorrect : you need a non-B to apply for work permit.

Legally you're not even allowed to look for a job while on a tourist visa, although that's hardly enforceable.

AirAsia's website is beyond overloaded but if you -really- insist you still can get a booking. I managed to book my November visa run Krabi-BKK-Bali for THB 2,300 (return). Should be more fun than the usual Penang trip

It took me 2.5 hours of harsh fighting with the error pages, though

Well we had 2 european visa cards bouncing all day, even with the girl at their call center trying to manually proceed the transactions. Each card worked fine for 1 ticket last night, then got declined any time we tried again for a new ticket, even for a regular price BKK-Phnom Phen for tomorrow : my friend will have to pay in cash at the airport's airasia office for her same day ticket. Kinda weird as her card works just fine at the ATM.

We didn't snooze, just got somehow unlucky

Last night I was able to book a Krabi-BKK flight in march for THB 220, but then I always got an error saying that my visa card was declined when I tried to book BKK-Krabi on march 31st. This morning I'm not able to find any THB 0 flight from anywhere to anywhere...

I find it hard to believe that they sold 100,000 'free' tickets just yesterday. Last night at 11pm there were plenty of them but this morning at 8 there appears to be none left? I suspect they advertised 100K tickets but only input maybe 10K in their booking system :/

I just wanted to share my great experience with Cambodia's e-visa service (I had read here and there that some people had second thoughts about providing their banking details, or were suspicious of delays, or whatever else reason not to do it).

I submitted my application at 15:50 today. I received my visa by email at 16:00. 10 minutes, without leaving my room. Beat that, anyone.

Cost $25 (THB 850), paid through Paypal. So nobody else than Paypal gets your banking details.

And I just saved a precious page in my passport...

And I didn't have to give my passport to some sneaky-looking tout in Poipet. I really hated to do that on my 1st visit to Cambodia, watching my passport go away on a motorbike.

In short... Highly recommended !

http://evisa.mfaic.gov.kh/e-visa/vsindex.aspx

...Was checking the weather for Cambodia, on intellicast.com ... The monsoon must be very bad this year, with a 4% chance of snow today

Intellicast... I really wonder what 'intelli' stands for...

Ok, I had all this confirmed by immigration office here in Krabi. All good. And thanks again for good advice.

For them, last possible day of entry is Sept. 24. I still won't take that chance but it's good to know, imho.

Oh, and I just got a nice email from the Khmer e-visa service, they just got back online.

Thanks a lot!

So the last 'good' date is actually Sept. 23... That's good to know, for sure. I could have got tricked by that one

Although I had this answered by someone at immigration in Ranong, I'd like a second advice, hoping the 1st one was wrong

- my 1 year non-B was issued on 25 September 2007, valid until 24 September 2008

- my last visa run was on June 22, 'admitted until 19 September 2008'

When I asked in Ranong whether I could get a 5th 90 days entry on that visa, the immigration officer told me that "yes, but before September 19th". Is that really so? Is this some immigration rule, or did he just assume that I'd only go for a 1-day visa run, for which Sept. 19 would be the last possible date?

Or, can use my visa to enter Thailand until its last day of validity (September 24) and still get a 90 days entry (provided I exited Thailand before Sept. 19, of course)?

Head back a day early just to be safe. Siem Riep and Ankor is worth the risk 10-12 days there will be a tonne.

I'm dreaming of it since I was there in March. I promised myself I'd go back at other time of year to see Angkor more watery, more greeny, and less touristy

My plans are to spend 6-7 days in Siem Reap so I have a chance to catch a day with decent weather, then 3-4 days in Sihanoukville to check it out. Then probably a couple days in Koh Chang, on the 18th just to be sure.

That's the way I like 'em visa runs. I'm not so fond of Kaw Thong

How about getting your visa for Cambo online for $25 instead of the Bt1000 the thiefs will want at the border (they have been known to tear $20 notes as well) ?

Just noticed (edit in) that they may have suspended this as well ! or just problems ?????

http://evisa.mfaic.gov.kh/e-visa/vindex.aspx

dam_n, I indeed wanted to do that e-visa thing. I guess that will be the THB 1000 at the border, then :/

Thx for the info Marca!

I so much want to go and visit Angkor Wat during the rain season... I think I'll take the chance.

I'd like to plan my next visa run in Cambodia, staying like 10-12 days there. If I do that I'll have to make sure I re-enter Thailand before september 19th, which is the end of my 1 year non-b (so I get the 5th 90 days entry). In short, no room for a delayed entry or I find myself visaless...

Considering the current events, I'm wondering if there are any 'chances' for the Poipet border to get closed in the coming days/weeks? Was that ever the case ? What happened at borders for the 2006 coup ?

It could be a an application blocking youtube's scripts, installed on some TOT servers only... I dunno. There must be some kind of reason for our traffic going through 17 hops in the TOT network before leaving Thailand

...As only TOT users are affected, it shows that it's not youtube blocking Thai IPs.

It's possible that youtube agreed to block TOT's users only. But then, TOT would provide youtube with their ranges of IPs, and all TOT users would be blocked.

A server-running application on some TOT servers would be consistent with youtube going on and for you, with the same IP (I assume?) : that IP is not being blocked by youtube, so it must be a TOT server along the way. If your TOT routing changes then you can get youtube, it changes again and you lose the video script. It's a possibility.

It'd be interesting for you to print a tracert report now, and another if you ever gain access to youtube again : by comparing them you might be able to identify the blocking server, if that's the case.