bubba

Just now, Mike Lister said:

**Apple Pay is not available locally in Thailand.

But it is if you have Apple Pay linked to a foreign card. You simply use it with your iPhone or your Apple Watch at any contactless card reader. I’ve been using mine that way for years. 

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

I have enough money in Thailand to live on without remitting funds from  overseas, my assessable income is zero so I don't need to file a tax return. How do I prove I have paid my taxes?

I would assume you would file a personal income tax form showing zero assessable income. 

12 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

A foreign credit/debit card transaction has a large footprint. The merchant has a record, the merchants bank has a record for settlement purposes, Visa/Mastercard has a copy and the central bank gets a copy.

If using a virtual payment such as Apple Pay (which does work in Thailand), there is no card information exchanged - only an anonymous, randomized token and a one time security code. That’s the security advantage of using such a system and it prevents anyone in the middle from collecting any personal details from users or tracking them. 

Here’s video. Looks like it starts out with the drunk Russian causing an altercation in the lobby and several farang attempt to subdue him. 
 

https://youtu.be/wzbDJzfRB9M?feature=shared
 

Don't worry about a drop in tourism . Those cheaper lao khao prices will more than offset these fees.

12 hours ago, Korat Kiwi said:

  It was in a Chiang Mai News forum also :  https://www.fox5dc.com/news/crazed-thai-smile-passenger-rips-planes-emergency-exit-door-open-before-takeoff

Your Fox News article regarding WE161 is dated 8 November 2019

31 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Yeah I noticed that.

 

Thaiger reports it was a Thai Air Flight TG121 due to depart CNX at 9.05pm

Fox reports it was a Thai Smile flight WE161 due to depart CNX at 3.40pm.

 

Was there two separate incidents both involving a Canadian ?

Duplicate 

Thai media are now reporting that he was beating his head bloody against the wall in jail so the authorities have moved him to Suan Prung psychiatric hospital. 
 

Just a thought…even if he eventually gets released, what airline is going to allow him to board a flight back to Canada unless he’s in a straight jacket?

On 7/6/2023 at 10:23 PM, Sticky Rice Balls said:

there was a thread here about an alternate border close by mae sai if u can find it

 

something about a boat across a small river in that region

Regarding the border run to Laos across the Mekong (not a small river) from Sop Ruak (not close by to Mae Sai), I posted this back in February and presumably it is still accurate.

Go to the immigration office in Sop Ruak. They will stamp you out and they also ask if you have at least 10,000 baht in cash and an outbound air ticket. (On arrival, they did not ask to see that).

After getting stamped out walk out the back door which leads to the boat dock. The boat across to Lao costs 70 baht if there are at least three passengers and they run on demand.

Once on the other side, you disembark and walk up to Lao immigration. The first window checks passports and hands you an arrival form, which you complete, then hand it to the next window and then pay at another window. The visa cost varies by country - for Americans it was 1,500 baht. There is a small duty free shop inside the Lao arrivals hall just after you enter with decent prices on spirits and wine. If you have USD, use those as they were doing 37 baht/dollar for purchases.

You can then go to departures, get stamped out and return to Thailand to get stamped in. The boat back to Thailand costs 150 baht. 

Once back on the Thai side, you just need to go through Thai arrivals and you're stamped back in. The immigration officer advised and confirmed that they will only allow this twice each year.

All together this will cost you 1750 baht which is more than the Mae Sai crossing would cost you, but it’s there if you need it while Mae Sai remains closed. 

I do not know what the cost of a Lao visa on arrival is today, but at the Sop Ruak crossing it was definitely 1500 Thai baht for American nationals in the middle of last month. 

Just up the road at Sop Ruak (“Golden Triangle”), crossing the Mekong to Laos is an option and you get 45 days. I posted this in another thread. 
 

Here's how it worked:

Go to the immigration office in Sop Ruak. They will stamp you out and they also ask if you have at least 10,000 baht in cash and an outbound air ticket. (On arrival, they did not ask to see that).

After getting stamped out walk out the back door which leads to the boat dock. The boat across to Lao costs 70 baht if there are at least three passengers and they run on demand.

Once on the other side, you disembark and walk up to Lao immigration. The first window checks passports and hands you an arrival form, which you complete, then hand it to the next window and then pay at another window. The visa cost varies by country - for Americans it was 1,500 baht. There is a small duty free shop inside the Lao arrivals hall just after you enter with decent prices on spirits and wine. If you have USD, use those as they were doing 37 baht/dollar for purchases.

You can then go to departures, get stamped out and return to Thailand to get stamped in. The boat back to Thailand costs 150 baht. 

Once back on the Thai side, you just need to go through Thai arrivals and you're stamped back in. The immigration officer advised and confirmed that they will only allow this twice each year.

All together this will cost you 1750 baht which is more than the Mae Sai crossing would cost you, but it’s there if you need it while Mae Sai remains closed. 

On 1/10/2023 at 4:58 PM, bubba said:

You can also do a border run from Sop Ruak ("Golden Triangle") by boat across the river to Laos. Friend of mine confirmed this with Chiang Saen immigration and will be doing that next week. There is immigration there for your exit/entry stamps and you can buy a Lao visit on the other side. 

An update on that if anyone is interested...

Here's how it worked:

Go to the immigration office in Sop Ruak. They will stamp you out and they also ask if you have at least 10,000 baht in cash and an outbound air ticket. (On arrival, they did not ask to see that).

After getting stamped out walk out the back door which leads to the boat dock. The boat across to Lao costs 70 baht if there are at least three passengers and they run on demand.

Once on the other side, you disembark and walk up to Lao immigration. The first window checks passports and hands you an arrival form, which you complete, then hand it to the next window and then pay at another window. The visa cost varies by country - for Americans it was 1,500 baht. 

You can then go to departures, get stamped out and return to Thailand to get stamped in. The boat back to Thailand costs 150 baht. BTW, there is also a small duty free shop inside the Lao arrivals hall with decent prices on spirits and wine. If you have USD, use those as they were doing 37 baht/dollar for purchases.

Once back on the Thai side, you just need to go through Thai arrivals and you're stamped back in. The immigration officer advised and confirmed that they will only allow this twice each year.

Seems easy to me if you need to do a border run and maybe faster than going through Chiang Kong and across the bridge there, at least until Tachilek reopens, which of course is faster and cheaper.

You can also do a border run from Sop Ruak ("Golden Triangle") by boat across the river to Laos. Friend of mine confirmed this with Chiang Saen immigration and will be doing that next week. There is immigration there for your exit/entry stamps and you can buy a Lao visit on the other side. 

Anutin: 

Quote

You can overdose on anything if it is misused, even paracetamol

Clarification: there are no confirmed reports of marijuana overdose; however, there are many cases of paracetamol overdose and casual overuse, particularly with alcohol, is very likely to cause substantial and permanent liver damage. 

 

Our Sinet internet went down abruptly a couple of hours ago. Just tried calling their support line and all I get is a recording, saying:

"Now the internet system in Chiang Mai is down. The internet service will be temporarily disrupted. Apologise for the inconvenience"

It's impossible to reach a live officer for any advice. 

Does anyone have any information regarding what's going on? Are they still in business and operational or has someone pulled the plug on them?

On 1/30/2022 at 11:25 AM, HaoleBoy said:

Do stop in Ban Rak Thai - just before Mae Hong Son ... beautiful area with the tea growing on the hillsides.

 

 

Ban Rak Thai is not quite just before Mae Hong Son. The village is actually nearly an hour's drive off of the main highway (1095) and includes some fairly steep climbs. But yes, it is indeed a beautiful little Chinese KMT village, albeit a bit touristy.

Flew BKK-CNX week last week on Thai Smile and the checkin counter agent asked for either a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test (but not both).

According to recently published research, "Mix and Match" boosters generate the best immune response.

This graphic nicely sums up the various combinations and resulting antibody response. An initial two Pfizer vaccinations followed by a Moderna booster was best.

https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1455980142149443590?s=20

51 minutes ago, tonysilly said:

Because I'm america we have freedom.  Does not say if he was living in Spain or not!! Don't know if They have real freedom in Spain.  Im sure you will be social distancing in Boys town tonight in pattaya. 

The 35-year old man has lived in Spain for about a year and left for Dubai on November 29th, where he stopped over for nine hours before flying to Thailand the following day.

During the stopover in Dubai, he wore a face mask all the time and did not talk with anyone. After arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport at about midnight, he was driven to a hospital, where he was given a swab test, and he then proceeded to his hotel under the “Test and Go” program.

Dr. Apart said the test result on December 1st showed a COVID-19 infection and samples were sent to the Medical Sciences Department for additional tests, which were positive for the Omicron variant when the results were retuned two days later.

He also said that the American has not been infected by COVID-19 before and has not been in close contact with any other passengers.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-first-omicron-case-in-hospital-for-observation-no-symptoms-yet/

5 minutes ago, poohy said:

There is  positive information that new "omi whatever" virus is not  is not as deadly and most people teste for it dont know they have it

Check Dr John Campbell you tube

Nurse John Campbell does indeed produce some informative and entertaining YouTube videos; however, I would not place him in the category of epidemiology experts who are qualified to draw any conclusions regarding the fate of Omicron at this early stage. I don't think anybody will be able to do that for at least two or three weeks time.