Guderian

Bank Gold on Soi Rungland.

Same same, I was expecting it to be an advertorial for weekend breaks out at Lake Mabprachan! lol

If the Pattaya burghers think that's a crowded beach, they're lucky they don't live in Spain or Italy...

Many years ago, you could apply for an IDP in the UK online, I think it was handled by the AA. The last time I got one, though, back in 2019, the online process had been abandoned and you had no choice but to go to one of the few main post offices issuing them. I hope the Thais can make a success of this, it will show yet again how far Britain is lagging in digital delivery of services.

I did it for the first time a year ago. The trick, as far as I could tell, was to have some other interaction with Immigration after you returned to Thailand but before your 90-day is due so that your current situation is updated in the system. In my case, I come back from a trip to the UK in October so the 90-day is due in January. However, my permission to stay on the retirement extension expires on January 1, so I have to apply for a new annual retirement extension in December. Last January, I then tried doing the 90-day online and it worked. I got my latest annual retirement extension earlier this week, and the next (first since I got back) 90-day is due in the first week of January. Whether it will work again or not I will only find out when I apply this time. Maybe the 90-day last January was just a fluke, we shall see.

Thailand seems to want to adopt all sorts of Western habits and ideas and become a similar cultural and economic basket case. A lot of us moved here a long time ago specifically because it was so different from the West. Nowadays, with the banking rules and new global income tax proposals, the differences are becoming confined to the weather and the temples.

If you lived near the Imagine 79 Chinese show on Thepprasit Soi 8 you wouldn't think there were fewer Chinese coaches in town.... 😞

Really? That's the first time I've seen that scary number, no wonder they're desperate for yet more tax. The UK is in a pretty poor position fiscally, yet its interest payments "only" account for some 8% of expenditure, the Thai figure is almost double that. To make it worse, the return on gilts is presumably higher than the coupon paid on Thai government debt since the central bank base rate here is much lower than it is in the UK, so the Thai government debt stock must be seriously large. Still, when you borrow 400 billion Baht to bribe voters, that's what ends up happening. They need to get their spending under control, not try to tax the life out of the economy.

Great, thanks, it seems like the way to go. I'd wondered for years how people who get free accommodation manage to prove their address, and now I understand.

OK, thanks, the blue book would certainly be the simplest solution by a long way.

OK, thanks. I'll take it along with me in case they decide that my 6-month-old TOT bill is too dated, and they don't like my Sophon cable TV bill. It can't hurt to try. BTW, which office are you using, I'm in Pattaya so it's Jomtien, the acceptable practices often differ between the various Immigration offices.

Please explain how that works, since the blue book is only for Thai names and, without your own farang name listed in it, it doesn't prove anything at all as far as I can see.

Very difficult to get in Pattaya, it's been discussed many times there. How hard can it be simply to get an official document with your name and address on it once a year?

Here we go again, with Thaksin's extra-judicial mass-murderers let loose...

It's for the annual retirement extension. My TOT internet bill has always been accepted in the past, but the most recent one from NT is six months old and I'm worried that the IO may decide it's too old.