Gaccha

June 1

Notoriously, for the work permit, there is a syphilis test (VDRL). Putting aside that this makes no sense at all*, I'm interested to know how long before submitting the documents the test may be taken.

To get it out the way I decided to do it 3 months prior, but that might or might not be acceptable. Does anyone have a number? Thanks.

If not, I guess I will go and get the test done again within 30 days of the submission of documents.

(*For curious readers who want to know why it makes no sense to demand a syphilis test and no other disease test, you need to ask yourself what is the function of the test. Syphilis is almost impossible to spread except by sexual contact, making it exactly the kind of disease that they do not need to worry about for somebody in a work environment. It would obviously make more sense for them to test for tuberculosis or any other disease spread by air)

May 30

5 hours ago, roo860 said:

Chiang Rai Provence

I still don't get it. Even the province is 8 hours drive from Mae Sot police station.

May 30

13 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

transfer to the Mae Sot Police Station in Chiang Rai

Why on earth is the Mae Sot police station in Chiang Rai?

May 29

I spent A LOT of time looking on Lazada. And these were the brands you can buy very good quality chairs from at Lazada:

Tozient

Ergotrend

Ergomax

Newtral

Xpanse

Sihoo Doro

Nubwo

Dreamdesk

Bewell

Moderna

Musso

The genuinely good options begin at 5,000, but if you make design compromises then 3,000 baht is possible. For example, if it doesn't offer decent control on neck support or back support then 3,000 is possible.

Consider these factors and ask yourself what you will compromise on:

•height capability

•lumbar support

•spring on lumbar support

•neck rest with control

•backrest height control

•cushion support

•seat control

May 21

This is much clearer than yesterday's summaries that led to confusion on another thread.

This is clearly good news for expats with earnings abroad who have been avoiding repatriating the funds to Thailand. A good public policy decision to encourage earnings dispersal within Thailand.

May 19

The article appears to be suggesting that non-resident Thais can now repatriate money to Thailand without paying the tax if sent in that year etc.

This seems baffling, because I assumed that non-resident Thais would not pay anyway.

Can somebody clear this up?

May 15

It's important to turn your finger back at yourself and reflect on your own thoughts. Stop pointing it at the bar girls.

Why the Western obsession with the Holocaust and the Nazis? Why your demand that the Thailand have the same level of obsession?

The Holocaust is a special learning moment for Westerners because the most seemingly civilised and cultured Western country on the earth committed a mass genocide.

There have been plenty of genocides. Just look at Thailand's neighbour or Rwanda. But these are primitive backwaters that don't require any struggle session for the White man.

So the Western obsession is a parochial obsession. It is simply not a learning moment for Thailand. It doesn't matter. The Cambodian genocide would be much more useful for them to learn about and care about and obsess about and moralize about.

Compare with Mao's evil cultural revolution. Far more died than in the Holocaust. Yet any westerner can quite calmly wander the streets of any Western capital wearing a Mao T-shirt. Nobody cares. Despite millions of deaths nobody gives a s***.

Stop mast***ating about the behaviour of bar girls, even if you are disappointed with them because you had such high expectations of their moral fabric after sitting on your bar stool for weeks discussing Plato's Symposium with them, and start pointing the fingers at yourselves.

May 12

The British police have officers permanently stationed in Pattaya and Bangkok. They are actively looking.

May 10

If you are going to offer up a Latin legal expression, please make sure that you spell it correctly. "Habeus corpus"

May 1

11 hours ago, Mutt Daeng said:

Google Lens is also useful for reading signs/notices etc

Google Translate also has this function.

April 30

Hopefully this will dissuade Chinese from visiting.

April 26

Ttb's absolute bog standard card ("All Free") operates as a good travel card. See below:

April 23

1 hour ago, Chelseafan said:

How stringent do you think immigration will be ?

Very unlikely that the airline will let you fly. They are not flexible because any breach of the rule results in a heavy fine on them.

April 16

14 minutes ago, nick supreme said:

Diversity is noble goal.

Firstly, why?

Secondly, macro-diversity necessarily means micro-homogeneity. If you insist on everywhere being diverse then everywhere becomes the same slop.

Thirdly, you lack a sense of tragedy. A well-functioning civilised successful society is very rare in this world. What exactly produces the success is difficult to ascertain but radical experiments to change it are not such a great idea.

Chesterton's Gate tells us to be very cautious about changes that upend the very way mankind has lived for thousands of years.

Fourthly, the premise that diversity is a morally good thing only exists in societies with a high openness and high trust. These societies, like Sweden or the UK are vanishingly rare, and through the diversity importation they will cease to be open and high trust. The groups arriving will suffer from "third worldism": clannish inwardness and low trust.

Fifthly, wanting to move to live near White people is not a human right. It does seem like the whole world wants to move to White dominant countries but there is literally not enough room for 4 billion desperate people.

Can you imagine how boring the world will become if everywhere and anywhere has exactly the same population makeup.

April 14

Hot news! Miraa now supports Thai. It has the astonishing capability of AI learning: it will analyse and interpret any sentence's deep meaning.

For example, let's pick a random Thai drama off YouTube:

I can click for an explanation of the vocabulary, and the grammar:

And then you can ask for instant deep analysis:

This is like having a teacher in the room with you.

I have never seen anything like this before.

It gives you 30 minutes free a day.

April 11

On 4/10/2025 at 9:12 AM, JackGats said:

I feel the need to revise my dismissal of auto-generated sub-titles. I was wrong to dismiss them as useless.

The situation is even better now because there are Apps utilising the auto-generated subtitles allowing us to even do quick re-listens to segments of dialogues. They space out the subtitles so you can see them in full paragraphs. They even allow you to dub over the voice with a clean autogenerated Thai voice (if absolutely necessary).

I strongly recommend both LingoTube and LingVotube as examples of these apps (the former is slightly superior). I'm also hoping that the remarkable Miraa App will become available for Thai readers and listeners. In their free versions they are all excellent and I have never felt a need to pay for the extra functions.

April 7

9 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

my plan B is to arrive just prior to 12 to obtain que ticket

I did this for many years, albeit for the work extension. But recently I've found arriving very last minute minimises the wait the best. I think the queue tickets are stopped from 3:30pm, so 3:20pm would be safe.

I did have a photo of the queue counter close times but I can't find it now so hopefully somebody on the ground can confirm.

If you do this, owing to large numbers of dropouts and staff desperate to get home, you should be seen and done within 2 or possibly 3 hours.

April 5

Does your phone still receive regular security updates? It could be that it is so old that Samsung is no longer providing enough security for the bank to be comfortable.

April 5

Some very major updates by the son:

"As things move forward following Friday's earthquake in Bangkok, things have also continued to be delayed in acquiring an answer from the UK embassy with regard to whether my dad would receive the care needed on arrival back in the UK on time and there is a concern over NHS waiting lists. The last thing I would want for him is to be repatriated back there, only to find he would be waiting for a year for treatment.

It seems the best option will be to keep my dad here in Thailand and look to proceed with an amputation, investigation into his internal health issues and to put him on a feeding tube until his weight is brought up. I will also need to look to find other suitable, "honest" carers where things do not get stolen in my absence to support me with him so I can go back to working as I have lost a lot during the last few months. I have therefore updated the GFM target to reflect addressing the medical needs here and caring for him over the next 6 months."

Obviously you don't give up a (lucrative?) job in finance in order to do care work for your father far away from home, when clearly the medical costs are going to hit you.

The hospitals in Thailand are Grade A level and there is no reason to go to the UK to get better care. In fact, the care would probably be worse because of the long waiting lists and the decrepit structure.

April 4

Have you switched off phone WiFi?

April 4

Go to "Settings", go to "Accessibility", go to "Installed apps", and then deactivate every single app which is currently on.

April 3

Just now, Jeff the Chef said:

can we find enough for a Sit and Go?

Count me out. Under Thai law, playing poker even for fake tokens is strictly prohibited. (I've read the relevant gambling legislation)

April 2

I would go if they had a poker table (I mean real poker, not poker where you play against the bank), and it had a low rake.

There is a lack of poker in southeast Asia. The nearest reputable poker establishment is Nagaworld. There are also some dodgy places but I don't want to go near them.

There are a lot of fishy players (think of all the ASEANnow posters) in Asia making it an ideal place to enjoy myself.

April 1

15 hours ago, rwilem said:

This page on passport renewals for British people residing in Thailand was updated last week

I noticed that that link confirms my position (I'm the only person in this chat pointing this out so I will emphasise it again): you must submit your old passport and they will send it to the UK with the rest of the documents. You do not get to keep it.

I suspect most people in this chat are either not UK citizens, or have never applied for a new passport from Thailand. To apply for a new passport from Thailand you must prove that you are resident in Thailand. You cannot be a mere tourist by your visa.

To quote the link:

Do I need to send original documents with my application?

Yes, you must send your old passport, and in some cases, additional supporting documents (such as a name change certificate).

April 1

6 hours ago, rwilem said:

Are British passports valid for only five years?

No. But my passport fills up very quickly with visa renewals and travelling to other countries. This is a common problem among expats.

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