thaikahuna

You need a visa to enter Laos. Have not seen reports of being allowed into Laos for shopping (as is allowed by Burma), but Thai can get border crossing permits easily. So yes you would have had to pay that fee for a visa to Laos and on return you would only obtain a 15 day visa exempt entry. KK immigration could have sold you a re-entry permit to allow your current stay to remain intact but suspect they did not know that was a concern. You could have departed and returned. So both were right.

I'm still learning all the rules myself, but if you have a single-entry visa then I think the immigration official was right. I think you would have had another alternative which was -- in advance -- stop by an immigration office & pay for a 2nd entry on your current visa for around 1000 THB. That would have kept your current visa which is good till May.

Failing to do that, then when you leave your current visa is superseded & you get a new 15-day visa normal for land-crossing.

Mostly I'm posting this to test myself. I'm trying to learn the rules myself & I know ppl will jump all over me if I got anything wrong. Anyway, you made the wise decision to stay on the Thai side of the border that day.

This is correct sir! When you leave Thailand (when you arrived on a single entry Non-O) you are finished with the Non-O and must get a new visa or accept the 15 day exempted entry. Additionally, you must also get a Lao VIsa.

I have a standing monthly transfer form the US to BKK Bank. My BKK Bank account is tied to my US account as an external account and by doing so avoid origination fees. IT goes through the BKK Bank clearing house in New York and on to Thailand all in about 36-48 hours. As one other posted the middle bank (the clearing house) takes a pieces as does my local bank branch here. My regular transfer of $1500 USD incurs me a fee around $17-$18 USD.

The I don't give a shit attitude comes from their inability to be able to think on their own without someone approving the action.

I like the idea. Hack away guys and keep telling them what you think.

or even "Keep telling them THAT you think!"

A good friend who is a retired American administrator of Thai education says that when you teach them to think and not what to think it jeopardizes the free money, under the table giveaways and other graft they all enjoy. I hope for the sake f the country they keep pushing for education reform.

I can actually see why they're doing this. Pattaya and Phuket in particular are being swallowed whole by Russians and their 'legitimate businesses'. If they don't act, they'll end up colonised by the mob.

How effective it's going to be against Russians who are quite capable of paying bribes is another matter.

Its too late. They are already colonizing Pattaya and Phuket because the Thai men of wealth and power have starting thinking with their little head....instead of their brains and now, its too late. The only way you will rid the country of them is to cut off diplomatic relations and throw them all out.

Well that is good news. Every day under a PTP government seems to start with either a political U-turn; a sob story about lack of money / overspend in various depts; political backstabbing and in fighting that stinks of corruption, criminality, nepotism or stupidity (or combinations of).......Or a hub story!

At least our news is consistent.

Well done, another day starts with 'good news' from PTP led policies.

Next thing you know they will just start printing money like other counties..... ;-)

"The bank then sent us back to the police with the ATM number for them to investigate further as the ATM isn't a Bangkok Bank ATM."

"I feel that this is Bangkok Bank's responsibility as it was their ATM that had been scammed"

How can it be Bangkok bank responsibility if as you say, it is not their ATM?

I could care less how trendy the damn things look so long as they are clean and THEY WORK!

You certainly have a lot in common with a puppet.

You both have fist for brains and someone else is pulling the strings.

But you keep telling yourself that.

The more she keeps spouting that drivel the more entrenched becomes my belief that her brother is in fact calling the shots. Anyone who believes to the contrary is actually capable of blowing smoke up their own ass.

THis reassurance does NOT include the gaurentee of power being constant at intermediate air traffic control sites, does it?

It is common practice for incoming and outgoing flights operating in country to report their altitude, heading, and such traffic details as they pass a traffic control site.

Nowadays it is automated process as the aircraft comes within that ATC sites area to identify themselves via a on board transponder to that ATC site.

There is NO gaurentee that, despite Swampy and Don Mueng having good backup power, that ATC site lets just say .... (picking one at random) the ATC site at Buri Ram ... will have power to run it's transponder as a scheduled flight comes into it's area.

Hopefully they will, but there's no gaurentee.

Which will mean they are basically just flying Visual Flight Rules or VFR (without communicating to the ATC net).

and without a co-ordinating ATC net.

They are being very irresponsible by not having dorect back up power for all ATC facilities.

The Thai government should offer government insurance as a BUY IN option for expats. If so, then it would fair to require this of all expats. Otherwise, yes all uninsurables will have to leave, and it's a lot more people than you think.

Try and buy insurance here if you are over 59 - it ain't happening.

How will this affect those of us who are on Retirement Extensions? We derive our incime fromthe West yet we must prove an income of at least 65,000 per month or have 800,000 on deposit. As one who lives here full time I meet the 180 day criteria.

I think Russian tourism have saved Pattaya at the very time that European and US tourism was dropped off with their economies slowing down so much.

If you believe this, I have some ocean front property in Khon Kaen - CHEAP!

Thank you all for the responses. You have all pretty much settled the matter for me and I will continue with the Retirement Extension. I have all paperwork for that in ready on the computer and the only side trip I need is the income verification from the Embassy.

I have been living here for nearly 8 years now on a long term visa...Retirement extension of a non-immigrant O visa. My visa is valid until early May. I recently got married and realized I could now qualify for the spousal version of the Non-O.

My income is more than adequate to meet the requirements for the Retirement extension. My quesion is am I better off continuing with the Retirement extension or should I switch over to the Spousal extension?

thanks in advance ...

I am an A- but live in BKK. Is there a place here where I can donate?

Since Cambodia and Thailand drive on different sides of the road, the bus is going to have wheel on the wrong side for part of the journey (probably the Camb segment) which is something of a safety issue....

Would not be surprised to see vehicle changes at the border/

Typical American.........they think that all crime is some kind of organized.

Conspiracy theories and maffia.............problem with Pattaya is, that most crimes are NOT organized.

Most petty crimes are not organized. Most other crimes/scams are highly organized. And protected. No conspiracy theories there.

+1

Good idea

Good idea yes but how are they going to do it? How many tourists actually read the government travel advice websites? Handbooks maybe and why stop with a handbook on thai driving habits, lets extend the hand book about the scams and violence.

" We have to warn them of the improper or risky driving behaviour of Thai motorists," DUH! I wonder how much thought they have actually given to trying to change their own bad behavior on the roads? But given the level of corruption and the "what's easy for me" mentality we could do with something like this...especially since most Thais could give a shit less how they look to the rest of the world...

Start by making the street vendors PROPERLY dispose of the waste they create.....but that will go over like a turd in a punchbowl creating still more smell......

More lip service and the last thing Thailand needs is 4,900 'Thai' toilets in Bangkok as stinking eyesores in the streets. Where will they fit them? Amongst the illegal street vendors? You can't walk down any footpath in Thailand without being forced on the roadway already. Add a "hong naam" and you would need a traffic cop to monitor the queues. I wonder who comes up with these blind ideas?

Add 4900 public toilets and you have 4900 less people sleeping on the streets.......NOT!

Terrific news this. More and more cars on Bangkok's roads, gridlock everywhere. Signs that Thailand is indeed becoming a first world country.

Soon Bangkok will be touting itself as the world's largest parking lot, but at least the cars have air-con and stereos.

Comfort while you wait.

You forgot to include the increase in vehicles operated by the repo man when they can make the notes...

<snip>After buying new tickets, the family have arrived in Phuket with only B50,000 left between them.<snip>

Seems to me they were not using a great deal of common sense AT ALL! If I knew that the cost of new tickets was going to be XXX and after that I only had 50K Baht, I would be reexaming the prudence of even coming. Even with the relatively inexpensive costs here in Thailand that is not enough money to do much more than sit by the pool and eat khao pad every day. Those funds should have been used to save for the next holiday and write this one off.

I wonder what Yingluck wants to do when she grows up?

A political puppet maybe?

The doctor's first rule is do no harm. The second is do not lose face to an untrained medic who is not as well trained. The medics need to have the authority to think outside the box which clearly cannot be done here without the approval of someone with authority.

I hope the man pulls through also.