jaideedave

We used to go on big bike road trips to Cambodia 10 years ago. I've seen what the ChiComs have done to Sihanookville for example. A deserted oasis on unfinished high rises. Its fooked now. Luang Prabang was a quiet backpacker place before the railway line. They are raping Laos IMHO. They cause nothing but grief wherever they go.

ck,Precisely , It was a sealed deal well before his plane landed. Does anyone think for a minute that he would risk his freedom on his arrival. The police copter and crew were warming up in another area of the airport. These unusually wealthy civil servants will do as they're told and no more.Its all smoke and mirrors for the press so the public can be assured it was all done above board and absolutely no favoritism was involved.555 It took how many years to get a conviction for the 2 Red Bull judges announced the other day?

I share your point of view. I've spent about half of my 20 yrs here on rotational work assignments in O&G. On my time off I didn't prioritize sitting in a classroom studying. The few phrases I did learn usually provoked courious looks or a rapid response in Thai and always ended up in speaking "Tinglish" (my friend you) I can count with the best and don't require a calculator thrust at me by a vendor.I only know a couple farangs who who you could describe as fluent.

GF, correct I did miss some.I'm an old dog and happy I had the pleasure of living in the world without these " Young Global Leaders"

This does not bode well for the Thai population. It's the same fraternity as Trudeau,Macron, Ursula von der Leyen and all the WEF zealots.NWO,DEI,digital ID and currency if they succeed. "You will own nothing" but we are filthy rich.ffs

105,I love your solution to the problem.If they only followed half your suggestions the UK taxpayer would save millions...

Money

2ndhome... best advice yet. Rent in the building of your choice.I'm currently in a building in Jomtien.I researched it as best I could and talked to Jurisdic concerning Air BNB .They came across as serious against it and have signs posted around. They recently installed face recognition technology for the gym/sauna so I think its coming to the lifts also. A few bad apples slipped through (Ruskies) those <deleted> love to slam doors all the time. Pay the extra for only a 6 mon contract,by then you'll know whether or not you want to live there.Also consider resale as pre-owned condos can be difficult to sell in this overbuilt market. All you need is one <deleted>ty neighbour and you are screwed.

Yes and the acting coach was waiting aboard the chopper with the kit required> neck brace,arm sling and eye patch and to round it all off with a wheelchair.

TAK BAI temple murders...aka war on drugs

Correct! My neighbors son's family did exactly that. His number came up for the Army and he was strutting around the moo ban for a couple days in Army fatigues then "presto" back into civvies. He's done quite well for himself. He now struts around the village in an orange vest with his own number. 555

TIT..Yes I'm afraid its a foregone conclusion.This is the place a lot of us call home. smh

Among the 50+ pages of documents I submitted to the IO one of them was our marriage certificate that he noted and kept. My bank provided the 12 monthly deposit/transfers from abroad but only 100k baht in my Kbank account.I'll just repeat this again next year.Its a good feeling to get away from the agent dependency though.But I must say the agents I used were very fair and proffesional.

Exactly. We were going to buy 2nd hand 3 years ago. The 2-3 year old cars were so close to new price we decided to but new. Best decision we made. I bought a 2nd hand car through my BIL and it was real bad.The rad was plugged up with rust and had never seen coolant. A long list of f,d up items. New or nothing from now on.

Since it opened. I believe its a 2 way street.Yes some foreigners are rude and ill prepared. Once I was screamed at by an IO about some insignificant rule he made up and pissed me off and embarresed me in front of the whole room.I then reverted to using an agent to avoid this. Only this year did I try and succeed to use the monthly transfer method . The IO never spoke to me but him and my wife chatted the whole time.He only spoke to me when he said stand up for the pic and asked for the 1900b. I'll contine to do it this way for the future if it goes that easy. The IO that caused me to use the agent is deceased as of about 2 years ago and many people knew this fellow who held court at the front desk.

I've been using The Immigration office on Soi 5 Jomtien

Correct scuba..I've had my extension done with and without agents before and compared the signatures and are exactly the same .. I can even point him out to you(won't) at Jomtien...he now sits at the back and plays on his phone and acts as a supervisor.

I agree about being lucky.I went in giving myself maybe a 50/50 chance. There are some old original Visa stamps in my PP dated back to 2006 that were transferred from my last PP when I got this newer one.That may have something to do with it. I did notice him confer with a senior IO in the corner at one stage so I'm sure they were aware something wasn't 100%. BTW: Thanks for your advice and encouragement.

Dr Jack,my experience at Jomtien to for 1 yr extension using monthly income vs agent last year. Luckily I had an example sheet to show Kbank desk Pattaya Klang. I hadn't updated my passbook for over 2 years.They went ahead and printed every transaction for that time period.(50 pages plus++) I also received the foriegn deposits for the past 12 months.Average 70k/mom. At Immigration the IO looked that over with a fine tooth comb.Ruler and highlight pen in hand. He really took his time and found nothing out of order. No mention was made about previous agent stamps etc. I took my wife and they chatted the whole time and I was the invisible man.happily. He only acknowledged me when he said stand up for the pic and 1900b request. A real big sigh of relief from me. So in my opinion if a persons foreign deposits are correct they should be okay.

@Tod,my experience at Jomtien to for 1 yr extension using monthly income vs agent last year. Luckily I had an example sheet to show Kbank desk Pattaya Klang. I hadn't updated my passbook for over 2 years.They went ahead and printed every transaction for that time period.(50 pages plus++) I also received the foriegn deposits for the past 12 months.Average 70k/mom. At Immigration the IO looked that over with a fine tooth comb.Ruler and highlight pen in hand. He really took his time and found nothing out of order. No mention was made about previous agent stamps etc. I took my wife and they chatted the whole time and I was the invisible man.happily. He only acknowledged me when he said stand up for the pic and 1900b request. A real big sigh of relief from me. So in my opinion if a persons foreign deposits are correct they should be okay.

I'm in Pattaya. Yes, the Kbank statement will/should show monthly deposits from abroad. I also have the Wise transactions printed out. Apparently the letter should say its my account only and confirm the deposits from abroad. My passbook shows TFD (trade finance deposit) deposits which I had confirmed indicates "deposit from obroad" > Kbank...other banks are probably different.

Yes, I'm going to Kbank on Monday for the 12 month statement (An Imm officer provided a printed format for Kbank) and letter. How about a border hop mini van Visa run ? Get a Visa on arrival? Would that work? FYI: My 1 yr extension expires on March 14th so I don't have a lot of time.

I'm going to try this on Tuesday. Kbank on Monday for the letter etc. Will let you know how it goes. A lot of viewers are saying it won't work. Perhaps as one suggested I need to do a border run and start over?

I'll be switchhing to the 65k/mon next week to get away from the agency. I have about 70k depending on rates. My plan is to keep several hundred $ in my foreign bank in case I need to top up my monthly transfer when/if x-rates drop. Next challenge is to get the correct bank statement and letter from Kbank. I went to Jomtien Imm office and they gave me a Kbank template so fingers crossed. All my last 12 months have been right around 70k. So thats my new job in monitoring the exact amount to transfer with Wise.They're easy to use so I think I'm okay!

@ Chivas> I really like that idea of the scanner. I researched the Jomtien condo I'm renting and management told me short term rentals are not allowed. The buildings only use a key card sytsem.In over a year I've only noticed a few obvious short termers. I won't hesitate to report any I see if they cause issues. The real problem here is the Boris and Svetlana people who love to slam doors and fight with each other. Juridic asks for a video clip which I'm sure would get me involved more than I care to. Hopefully they don't stay more than a month.