thailien8

8 hours ago, MangoKorat said:

So, given that so many members here currently live in Thailand and have made major financial and marital committments in the country, how safe do you feel in Thailand at the moment?

Mango, thank you for this thought provoking post and question.  
After reading thru all the silly, hostile, off-topic reactions, this is my answer.

I feel much safer living in Pattaya than where I used to live, Silicon Valley, California.  
USA has caused far too much trouble, and is set for blowback.  
Short of all-out nuclear war, Thailand could be a relatively safe refuge.  
Down Under could be safer.
 

10 hours ago, Felton Jarvis said:

I had an American Attorney here in Pattaya, get my renewal done. It cost me a bit over 5000 baht, but service was quick and I was able to pick up my new (and old) passport in about five weeks. I had already paid the Embassy fee for the passport and had a receipt. Integrity Legal can do the whole package for you if necessary. The Embassy website is a garbage can of bad tech.

Thank you sir.  I may do the same.  
Did you have any tech problems paying the Embassy fee online?  
Did your attorney deal with the thailandpost website that is mostly in Thai?

On 10/28/2023 at 8:00 PM, Felton Jarvis said:

Is anyone else having difficulty with the Passport Renewal process at the US Embassy in Bangkok? They seem to be trying to route everyone into doing the renewal by mail.

I have tried to do that but keep getting thrown into an endless computer loop that can only be terminated by backing out of the website entirely. I live in Jomtien, so it would

be easier for me to do the renewal in person, but there is scant information on how to do that. My passport still has a year on its validity but the Embassy website process

is so daunting that I question my ability to complete the process. I have never seen a more useless website in terms of the links provided that sometimes lead nowhere and even though

I have a year to get this done, I am losing hope that I can get it done in person, which would be my choice. I suppose I could call them but a friend has already been told that the appointment has to be made online. When I keep getting thrown into the "loop from Hell", I question whether the site is working correctly.  Any advice?  I'm not interested in flames and insults. If you can't be civil, don't bother to comment. Again, what I want to do is make the application and pay in person, if that option is available.

My sentiments exactly Mr. Jarvis.  
I’m currently stumbling through this unexpected, unwelcome new process.  
It’s been no picnic so far and I’m deep into the weeds of tech, my nemesis.

Full disclosure:  As an American citizen, I don’t appreciate my government excluding me from our embassy for this service.  Instead we are now forced to do their work for them, and pay for the privilege.       If only I had been trained to do this work….

But at 77, it’s a little late.  End of rant.

I have made some progress.  The helpful Thai guy in an internet shop did some printouts.  I even made it thru the Form Filler and got it printed.  
 

But today another tech roadblock.  My plan is to do something positive each day.  Gotta move this forward now.  My passport expires in October.  Sure hope US government stays open.  
Today my plan was simple, I thought.  I wanted to sign up on the thailandpost.co.th  website.  Then maybe I could meet the challenge of making the first online payment of my life.  I do have a Bank of America debit card.    
But first, the sign up….  Well, all I can say is the thailandpost website was a complete disaster.  Where is the English?  I hit the English button so many times, only to get a mishmash of languages, most of it in Thai.

I tried a few searches.  “ courier pass back” was my best try.  
Search result:  “ Sorry, There is no information support your selected language! “

So that was my dead end, doom loop today.  Tech makes me feel so stupid.

Appreciate any help.
 

Many years ago I was driving alone when a song I’d never heard before started playing on the car radio.  Before the song finished, I had to pull over and stop as I was in tears.  

“Mothers, Daughters, Wives” by Aussie folksinger Judy Small, is IMHO the greatest antiwar song.

18 minutes ago, joealx said:

It look like it's for all foreign residents. 

Sure hope you are right.  I just registered using my Bangkok Hospital (in Bangkok) HN number.

Sadly my number starts with 01, not the 02 suggested by the BHP registration site.  I am prepared to be eliminated from their queue again.  

But is this still only for former patients at BHP; not for patients at any other Bangkok Hospital?

Pattaya International Hospital.

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

too easy .......  a Pfizer jab next week and it's all good ......

Sounds good.  Which hospital please?

Well, I had nothing to do today, as usual, so to get out of my room and get some exercise, I hiked a couple of kms. out to BHP, where I had never been.  My hopes were not high, as I had read about their vaccination offer being only for their former patients.

But I had my plastic patient cards from Bangkok Hospital (in Bangkok), where my Aetna insurance policy covered two ear surgeries costing 30,000 baht; and from Bangkok Hospital HuaHin, where I had some dental work done.  I hoped that maybe dragging my 74-year-old unvaccinated body into BHP might possibly get me a vaccine appointment....  Uh, nope

Well, I got out of my room and got some exercise.

7 hours ago, jingjai9 said:

My problem is remembering which words get which tones. I know in Thai they have the same word for rice and news. But I cannot remember which tone to use for each word. Rice is chao - is it rising or falling? How do you remember? I have some vocabulary but it is not of much use to me.

 

 

You can remember by learning to read Thai and learning the tone rules.  This is the only way.  It takes a lot of time, but eventually it begins to start making sense.  

Now that I can speak with a tiny bit of fluency on occasions, knowing the tones and speaking accordingly, when the Thai listener knows that I am speaking Thai and not English, I am usually understood.  I know how to keep it simple and use words that are easy to pronounce.

There is hope.

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

It would depend upon the school and the course of study you are doing.

For those schools classified as being a formal school it would be possible to apply for a non immigrant visa (category ED) at immigration.

If now you would have to go to a embassy or consulate to apply for a non-ed visa.

 

Joe thanks for your prompt reply.  Two more questions please:

1. Is there a list of formal schools in Pattaya for studying Thai, or should I just go to some and ask?

2. Is there a typo in your last sentence: “If now” should be “If not” ?

On 6/19/2020 at 11:59 AM, ubonjoe said:

The first thing you will have to after enrolling in a school and getting the required document you would have to apply for a single entry non-ed visa. Then you would apply for a 90 day extensions at immigration until you have reached a total stay of one year from that includes the 90 days from the non-ed visa.

After the year you have get another non-ed visa.

Does this require a trip out of Thailand at some point?

36 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Thanks. Interesting link,

and a rather frightening graph :

 

One looks like a proper wave, the other like a tsunami.

The search function gave very little; surprised as I’d thought this would be a hot topic?

My question is about changing from my current retirement visa / extension of stay that will expire in January 2021.

The requirement of keeping 800,000 / 400,000 in a Thai bank is getting less possible for me.  I would like to be allowed to spend this money in Thailand.  

So my hope is to change to an ED visa in January, and study Thai language in a school.

Is this possible?

Kilkenny on LK Metro is open but the pool table is covered.

Or they could just hire a few unemployed people to pick up the litter by hand.

8 hours ago, bangrak said:

You must have "missed" my #71 that was just the next post below it, but I guess that one didn't give you the opportunity for this blah-blah.

Maybe your "My fear as an expat living in Pattaya ..."?

As an "Alien" here, watch out for- and avoid contact with- every authorithy in Thailand is a very sound piece of advice, no doubt. But when you feel the need to "fear" the authorities whatever, maybe, IMHO, there could be more "comfortable" places for your kind of person...

About little-me your guess would be both right and wrong: right that I have learned to keep myself at a safe distance (read above), wrong as I am in Thailand, not that far from you.

I'm not "a tough guy" at all, but let us better not make an appointment, as I have histamine problems, and I ...fear having an allergic reaction to you, even at 1.5m. with a mask. 

If you are in Thailand, how are you “at a safe distance” from what your despised Thai authorities could do to you here?

7 minutes ago, bangrak said:

Why not in Thai...?

There are many signs with the same message in several languages, most definitely including Thai.  

Some posters here are so quick to mock and belittle Thai authorities.  

My guess is that most are doing this from a safe distance in their home countries.  My fear as an expat living in Pattaya is that these authorities are reading the comments and reacting negatively.

If Bolsonaro gets Covid and dies from it, that might wake up Trump.

Being an only child was early training in how to survive alone.

This has served me well for 72 years.

I do envy some people who do well with other people, but pity the many people addicts who have none.

In our world’s current sad situation, enforced solitude worries me much less than getting sick and dying a miserable death from Covid, not to mention nuclear war or Pattaya’s looming drought.

Hun Sen showing his usual compassion.