kinyara

I genuinely feel sorry for you, to start every day with such a negative outlook on life often focussing on scenarios you are unlikely to personally encounter must be an unbelievably miserable existence.

Maybe someone who frequents go-go bars these days in Walking Street and LK Metro can answer your pricing point, from Hooters online menu a pint of Chang works out at 230 baht and a bottle of Heineken 175 baht. The only certainty is it isn't remotely comparable entertainment wise to a go-go bar. As a customer to me it's neither one thing nor the other entertainment or food wise, which I think at it's price point makes it hard to succeed against the vast choice of venues offering either dedicated female entertainment or those concentrating purely on food.

Yeah, epicentre of those prepared to pay Hooters prices.

It's the perfect springboard in making the transition from an enthusiastic and talented amateur to a professional chef by your definition as several previous winners have shown, opening their own restaurants or working in top ones. Given this lady's drive, charachter and obvious talent I'm in no doubt she'll go on to achieve her goal of opening her own restaurant.

Looking at the average for the first 4 months of this year the Chinese are the only major tourist market NOT to have returned yet using the 2019 monthly average as the previous best benchmark. Given their massively decreased volume it's probably why people get the impression tourism is quiet despite the fact other markets excluding China have recovered remarkably well given global flight prices and inflation/cost of living increases. Russia - 137% Germany - 101% Malaysia - 97% UK - 92% Korea - 85% USA - 82% Singapore - 78% India - 69% China - 23%

True if you were comparing 1 European against 1 Indian on a standalone basis, however as a target market if you look at the last decade the European market has pretty much peaked with very little potential for future growth, whereas the Indian market is growing and has the potential to grow much further in the future. Patterns of expenditure are also different, a European spending in their favourite beer bar for weeks isn't better for the traditional tourist event venues or pursuits.

How much does that AIS package cost you ? I only use my 749 baht/month 3BB package for watching YouTube videos, which often buffers due to I suspect toold cables/junction box, and general surfing and pay a small amount for internet add on on my phone. I think I'd rather have an unlimited package on the phone if it could handle YouTube casting and do away with the 3BB.

Really I don't know why, I'm all for enjoying the Asian tour when you're young but at some point they'll realise they have to face economic reality like everyone else. The fact the lot that you describe disappeared overnight from Thailand when Covid hit despite the visa situation actually working in their favour showed just how shallow, inconsequential and hand to mouth their existence was/is. Nothing more than backpackers with a computer playing at work, a million miles from successful ambitious entrepreuners with solid business models, ideas or qualifications.

If they are all Leicester supporters I'm glad they got relegated.

I think that is just as much or more due to failed economic policies in countries whose currencies have weakened against the baht.

This would be my approach if push ever came to shove with retirement extensions here and why I don't stress out about potential and in my view unlikely visa changes. Become a maximum stay tourist and move between Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and possibly Vietnam. Would require a bit of effort initially to establish a comfortable repeat set-up in the other locations, although I've spent some time in Cambodia and Malaysia before and it would likely be more expensive overall, but I think barring any long-term necessary medical issue I'd much rather stay in the region than return to the West.

Too much of a coincidence I'd say when also factoring in Anutin's trip to Hong Kong last week and Shinawatra's daughter travelling out the country the other day. I think Pheu Thai are keeping up a facade of standing alongside Move Forward for the time being knowing full well that the Election Commission or the Senators will fulfill their role and scupper Pita and Move Forwards coalition. Then it's " well we can form a workable coalition " from Pheu Thai with the worst combination of the usual self-interested dodgy taxpayer funded billionaires again. Sad but inevitable, just needs a bit more work to dress it up this time given the increased popularity of Move Forward. The deliberate lengthy process between election result and official government formation is perfectly designed for the old guard to have enough time to get their ducks in a row and maintain their self-interest.

I'd wait and see who actually manages to form the next government first, it's early days as far as I'm concerned and I'm not even cautiously optimistic yet. I seem to remember a figure of 60,000 resident retirees being mentioned by the head honcho of immigration in an interview he gave to a news outlet in the recent past, if anyone can definitively confirm that ball park it would be useful. At that level while you may think we are important to Thailand, the reality is we are insignificant in number and economic contribution in a country of circa 72 million. I expect any government here to prioritse their efforts towards ensuring a successful tourism policy given it is far more important economically than making any sweeping changes to a well established retirement visa policy. Bigger fish to fry on many fronts.

Her predecessor mentioned between 24 - 30 million arrivals by December

The steady increase in Chinese numbers from a still low level should more than make up for the traditional decline in the Western market at this time of year. Should tick along around 2 million a month as per target.

Personally worked as normal the other week for me from Jomtien office, received the automated reminder, submitted and back within 24 hours.

Potentially one of the best aspects of this result is that BhumjaiThai aren't needed in a coalition if Move Forward and Pheu Thai can agree to work together. All the mega Transport projects with billions of baht budget not under the control of a grubby party headed by 2 families in the construction business is a definite Move Forward.

I had the exact same experience as the OP doing my retirement renewal last week, when I explained to them that my condo submitted online for me as usual when I came back from my last trip overseas in 2020, they said I needed to do it again as I was now on a new passport issued last year. A bit surprised they didn't ask me to do it when they transferred the stamps from my old passport to the new one. I'll get my condo to do it again when I return on my new passport since I'm leaving next week. The queue for the TM30 is the worst one in the Jomtien office from what I saw.

It's a massive money spinner from the Chinese given the volume of them, ( not sure if Indians pay the same ), 2,000 baht a head VOA as opposed to 1,200 for a pre-arranged visa. I'd imagine the reason they don't do it for all, i.e. Western countries , is recognising their longer length of average stay and increased spend as a result. They are also collecting 1,900 a pop from the Free Visa Exempts who can afford to stay longer, unlike the typical Chinese or Indian.

" Chinese tourists can also get a visa on arrival ". There is your answer from the article itself.

Same here, I got my new UK passport via VFS in Bangkok in October and thought I might have to do my first one in person on the new passsport but gave it a try anyway and it was approved as per usual. Jomtien office.

Where do you get 1 million for 12 months ? The article clearly states that the total for the first 4 months was 843,920. They are only expecting to hit 1 million per month in the last quarter of the year hence the 5.3 million forecast.

Depends on what passport you are on, not sure whether mentioning you go through the Thai only desk signifies you have a dual Thai passport, and what visa you have - tourist visa or 30 day exempt for tourism.

The good news is you don't need to be appalled any more, those hundreds if not thousands of " number counting officers " were replaced by a thing called the computer years ago.

No, but I do look at the statistics every month. Jan - 2,144,948 Feb - 2,133,550 Mar - 2,219,040 Apr - 2,130,715 May ( est. see above ) - 446,936 / 7 / * 31 = 1,979,288 10.6 millon after 5 months is an average of over 2.1 million a month. If you look back at recent years pre-covid the Chinese and Indian markets have reduced the variation between the old " high season " model.