wisdomwizard

So surprised how few either missed or refused to comment on the corruption in the OP.  I have had others living in Chumphon complain about this extra "express fee" but are afraid to complain. Maybe the officials recently in the news talking about stamping out corruption in the immigration department will catch this posting and go have a talk with the culprit in that office. Everybody knows the official's name there that demands this fee. My fingers are crossed but not very hopeful.

Just search on YouTube. There are some great videos depicting the reality of Koh Chang.

There is a site with over 60 videos about some of the places and prices of living in Thailand. Good info in the videos. The site name is retirecheap.asia I hope that helps.

I got caught up in this kind of stuff. My wife owns a restaurant and I go by for coffee and to talk to the customers. One morning I was sitting behind the counter drinking coffee and checking my email and up came immigration and arrested me saying "Because we had a complaint from Thais regarding illegal work activity. We (immigration police) are compelled to act."

Notice it mentions this in the story.

I showed them when they walked up the email on the computer to no avail. Locked up and booked. The rest of the story I can't talk about.

Moral of the story. Watch out for jealous business owners.

I needed the same information about the Airport Express Train and found a video describing the trip in detail.

I hope this helps. It made it very clear for me.

I saw the Red Shirts setting up again in Chiang Mai so I immediately sold my business and can take no more. Due to this craziness that is allowed we had a miserable summer and most businesses here are down at least 30% and some up to 50%. The streets are already sparse of tourists due to a bad economy and with this combined it will sink this tourist season. It seems that, as usual, the cause and effect are not considered and it is only a selfish motive with no consideration of the peoples lives it will affect. Many others are considering the same. Not sure why this is being tolerated AGAIN.

Our summer season was destroyed (about %40 of what it should have been) because of the political problems. I scraped by in hopes tourists would have forgotten about all this by winter and we could recoup some of our losses. When I saw one of my suppliers in the latest rally here in CM I mentioned to her that if the winter season is disrupted I along with many others would have to close our businesses. Which means she would lose a lot of her own customers and income. She looked dumbfounded. She never saw the cause and effect of her actions. I was the first person to inform her of how her own demonstrating would be her own demise..... Yikes!

PM, PLEASE BAN GATHERINGS again.

As a business owner in Chiang Mai I am begging, pleading and groveling for the PM to re-institute the ban on gatherings in Chiang Mai. Our summer season was destroyed (about %40 of what it should have been) because of the political problems. What are these people thinking. When I saw the red shirts parading down the Sunday walking street market again my heart sank. I scraped by in hopes tourists would have forgotten about all this by winter and we could recoup some of our losses. Doesn't any body realize that travel plans will be made for winter travel in the next month? I am wondering why Thais will not become a voice to stop this before it starts. I know personally 30 businesses (that include Thais) that will close permanently if they don't get a good winter income. The amount of foreign owned businesses up for sale now are too many to mention and many more will follow and with sorrow that their love affair with this country is over will move on to another place to call home. I would love to continue to call Thailand my home (I have lived here 9 years now) but I cannot afford to lose any more money and live with no certainty of the future. I hope there is a place we business owners foreign and Thai can all can be a strong voice to the PM to pay attention to this major problem. We need to kill the monster while it is still a baby and not let this grow again to an unmanageable problem.

So I am begging to PLEASE BAN GATHERINGS again.

Just an update to the falafel shop in Chiang Mai mentioned above (Cafe Tropico). A few changes to note. Was surfing and on a site mapsnmore.com I came accross the same restaurant but the name has benn changed to The Funky Monkey Cafe. And now there is another branch at the corner of Moon Muang and soi 9. The same soi that heads off to the Blue Diamond restaurant. I saw they now have veggie burgers and fried fillet of fish sandwiches as well so I tried out the new one a couple of times and the food is still good and the same low prices.

Question... where does that leave the retiree wanting to locate here?

Answer...... In Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam!

I have just tried to connect my Paypal account with my Siam Commercial Savings Account and have categorically been told that it is not possible to do this. Does anyone know what kind of Thai bank it is possible to use with Paypal in order to upload and download funds?

Thanks in advance for any help.

We did ours (easily and successfully) through BKK Bank using a Kasikorn debit card (as was recommended at the ebay seminar held here in CNX last december). The only drag is that after you've withdrawn your money from PayPal into BKK bank, it takes 5-7 days for the money to become available here. But an exceelent, easy service.

I am not fully understanding, You did it through Bangkok Bank but used a Kasikorn debit card? I thought the card had to be tied to the same bank.

For 5 years I had a 1 yr. extension based on a Thai marriage. Last year I got a retirement visa. Now I am thinking about working so I want to go back to the type O upon my expiration and get the 1 year extensions again. My question is how to do this. Do I have to leave the country to get an original 90 day type O and then extend it OR do I just go somewhere like Panang and pick up a Type O that is good for a year? Or can I change my retirement back to a Type O? Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

I have lived at 9 Karat for three years, first as a renter now as an owner. Have a great recommendation compared to the many horror stories of other condo projects. I have now moved to the North for work and have a beautiful newly remodeled 32 sq. mtr unit with built-in furniture and kitchenette for less than 1 mln. Baht. that I might sell. If interested email me for details and photos.

John