pomchop

The last time I was there I would say maybe 1/3 or more of the people on the ship got so fed up with the rip off taxi mafia ($400 USD r/t Bangkok for example) that they just stayed on the ship meaning that they spent nothing in Thailand. Truly disgusting.

I have been on over 70 cruises all over the world. Laem Chabang port is controlled by a taxi mafia that is one of the worst I have ever seen anywhere and they rule with an iron fist insuring that passengers get fleeced. It all operates very openly with posted taxi fares to Pattaya and Bangkok at prices that are truly obscene. Obviously a Mr Big is receiving some very nice fat envelopes and TAT is either on the take or scared to mention the stain that this creates for visiting cruise passengers. The ships dock at a mile or more walk from the front gate so good luck with older passengers being able to escape the mafia. Heaven help any taxi that are not allowed by Mafia that tries to pick up any passengers near the ships.

Vaccines have never ever been promoted by any serious person as a "cure". They are a preventative measure that have been enormously successful for decades in reducing the spread and severity of a variety of diseases.

Put out a reward for anyone who provides his whereabouts and the bounty hunters would find him in a week or less. Of course that would indicate that the "justice" system of Thailand really wants to find him to face the music. An even bigger Lie than lost elections...."equal justice for all".

thanks all..usa.. .don't need til next fall so hopefully borders open then...at least it appears worst case is 60 + 30 days and best case 60 +30 then leave and get new 60 + 30 in vietnam or Laos...would like six months total ..if not then will make 3 months work.

Not using turn signals is certainly not just a thai thing...no shortage of idiot drivers in most all countries....never ceases to amaze me how many brand new cars often mercedes must not be equipped with turn signals or their drivers don't know what they are for as they rarely use them....

so can not be extended at immigration for sure?

If T has done it he would have had his picture embossed on the vials and sold them to the highest bidder along with a bright lite to stick up your butt for $39.99 extra (all made in china of course).

Does the 60 day tourist visa still exist? If yes can it still be extended an extra 30 days at immigration? Can I leave at 90 days and get another 60 day tourist visa at Thai consul/embassy in Laos or Vietnam etc allowing me to come back to Thailand for another 60/90 days? Thanks for any up to date info.

For those who want mandates cancelled:

It would be better for her if he were 93...then she wouldn't have to put up with him for long...of course 77 is not exactly a spring chicken....her chances of ending up with some amount of $$ are much better than working in a market in burma....easy to judge peoples motives from a comfortable seat....but if you came from a dirt poor family with little to zero hope of ever making enough $$ to live some semblance of a decent life many might , like this gal, grab at any chance to "hit the jackpot".

The stupid stick has arrived in thailand with parading moron experts who think they know more than the experts who have spend decades studying and treating viral diseases.....but of course the morons saw something on the internet or facebook or heard a rumour from noi's sisters cousins friend who surely is more believable than worldwide data that has demonstrated without doubt that the vaccines have prevented untold numbers of deaths and hospitalizations with a tiny fraction of serious adverse reactions.

Dumb and delusional or intelligent and rational? Unfortunately the D & D bunch seem to be growing rapidly. New arm chair "experts" who know more about disease than people who have first hand experienced studying, comparing, identifying and treating disease for decades. D & D who are willing to believe some hot air blogger BS over detailed data. D & D who still cling to the big lie that T won the election even after 60 court cases thrown out and vote recounts by republican state officials. D & D who buy into the idea that Jan 6 was just another tourist day at the US capitol in spited of thousands of hours of high quality video taking by thousands of different people who were there. It is always ok to question information but an intelligent and rational person should be able to sort out facts from internet BS. Jim Jones would have a field day with new cult recruits these days.

If all the people who rant and rave about covid would have gotten the vaccines when they first became available the number of hospitalizations and deaths would be exponentially less along with the economic chaos around the world. But millions refuse to take the vaccines in spite of overwhelming evidence that they provide a high level of protection from serious disease and death. Whining about masks and the media will not change that fact.

If you get a retirement visa and plan to stay in thailand for six months do you also have to have health insurance for a year or six months? Is the health insurance required just for covid or for all medical? Thanks

and the soi 7 beergarden has been torn down and redeveloped for decades...according to rumours...yet it is still there...pretty much same same with some different girls

There are a lot of retired English speaking ex pats here, many of whom are bored, and would likely be glad to help out as a volunteer English teacher IF IF they didn't need non sense work permits for volunteering to help the kids. In my experience what the kids really need is more hearing the English language and less studying diagraming sentences as taught by Thai teachers. I was a volunteer and my task was to speak English only to the kids and attempt to get them to give it a try. Most of my kids had never even met/heard a native English speaker in person and amazingly after a while I was able to get most of them to not be so shy and to actually give speaking a try. And a few actually picked it up pretty well. If the Thai govt would treat these expats as a valuable asset and develop a program to encourage them to help and give serious people an incentive of an easy to extend one year visas and no work permit BS I suspect that a few thousand expats would volunteer a few days a week at their local schools. What have they or the kids got to lose? (I know, it could mean a loss of face but get over it for the kids sake.)

"Use your head for something other than a hat rack." "Might as well, too wet to plow and can't dance." "So if your friends jump off a bridge does that mean you will also jump?" "Dumb as a box of rocks." My grandmother.

OP English is likely better than 99% of the English teachers, professors, government officials, as well as a lot of expats whose native language is English.

If all the unvaxxed anti vaxxed would have gotten the shots when first available i suspect that the covid pandemic would have been and would continue to be much much less severe and millions of deaths would have been saved not to mention all the economic nightmares that continue to drag on and on. Argue all you want and cite obscure internet "experts" but I do not believe for one minute that above is not a true statement. Does anyone who is not delusional?

It would be great if the rest of the world gave up shaking hands and went with a wai...never did much care to shake hands with some strange guy in a bar who had just likely returned from a toilet.

and no prices shown on link?

If all the unvaxxed anti vaxxed would have gotten the shots when first available i suspect that the covid pandemic would have been and would continue to be much much less severe and millions of deaths would have been saved not to mention all the economic nightmares that continue to drag on and on. Argue all you want and cite obscure internet "experts" but I do not believe for one minute that above is not a true statement. Does anyone who is not delusional?

take a few bowls of mango sticky rice to hand out to immigration folks...a good investment in reducing hassles

so i have to go outside, climb a ladder to open a second floor window? no thanks