ThaiEye

How much do Thais have to pay for a visa to Western countries? And to what extent (and financial one) do they have to go to, to actually get one? Thailand is free..

Many western countries like the US, UK and Australia have a two-teir price system for international university students. They can end up paying twice to three times the amount as locals, running into thousands and thousands of dollars. Much worse than having to pay a 100 baht to get into a museum..

Could somebody with some knowledge of Thai tourism please explain why the TAT spend vast amounts of taxpayers money attempting to attract visitors to this country, whilst other government departments are doing their best to discourage tourism.

I cite the racially biased imposition of double pricing i.e. 10bt for Thais - 100 or 200bt for foreigners (unique to Thailand I believe) and the somewhat new addition of ATM charges of 150bt for foreigners. These impositions are now beginning to appear in guide books and travel advisories, thus pointing potential tourists elsewhere.

Are we now to assume that TAT stands for Thailand Against Tourism?

You have to understand how Thai authorities work. Different bodies have their own strategies and plans and have nothing to do with anyone else.

The two-teir price or banking system has nothing to do with the TAT. The TAT can only advise, they have no authority to interfere with the goings-on of other parts of government actions.

Sometimes their advice is accepted and a lot of the time it is not.

Learn more about how the Thai system works and you will realize.

Sorry, just one more thing. My friend now wants to get a multiple non-imm in KL. He asks if the embassy need to see the original marriage certificate. Thanks again.

Thanks a lot Joe. The embassy only shuts on major holidays like Songkran and kings b-day.

I'll apply for a multilple there, since im going on holiday there anyway (already booked). If it doesnt work out, then ill head to KL.

Much appreciated....

Im flying out to Penang soon actually, do they issue in 24 or 48 hours?

Im looking at the calender, i'll be in Penang 6-8 July; the 7th and 8th are Buddhist holidays in Thailand - embassies close on such days?

Brilliant.

Can a multiple entry non-imm visa begot in Phnom Penh and Vientiane now? Before, it was impossible. Yes, a few years back i got multiple in Singapore.

Thanks Lopburi and Lite.

100,000 show in KL, is this for a multiple entry one year non-imm visa? Yes, i have Thai spouse.

Thanks again

Before to get a multiple non-imm O visa (marriage) in neighboring countries, i had to show 400,000 baht. Lat year i got one from my home country so didn't have to show any money.

I read on another forum the other day that to get a non-imm visa in say Laos, Cambodia or Malaysia you don't have to show that much these days - 100,000 is enough, is that true?

Thanks in advance.

The statistics prove that Thailand has become more and more popular each year. Tourism is down this year but that is the same for every tourist country destination in the world.

A lot of the guys here are very nostalgic and may compare with how things were years back - but that can be said for long-timer tourists and expats, again everywhere, not just Thailand.

Westerners to Thailand forget to realize the amount of Asian tourists Thailand now gets - number one destination in Asia.

Thailand is as good as it's ever been, just in a different kind of way.

"I walked slowly down the stairs, it was raining when i got outside, i was terrified and then decided to run"

Listen to more of Sheila's lies on Oz radio interview:

Sheila is still adamant that she didn't realize there were was a 5 foot long mat in her handbag.

Tattooed Westerner Found Dead on Nai Harn Beach

THE BODY of a Western man was found on Phuket's Nai Harn beach at 6.30am today.

Chalong police, called to the scene, estimated the man had died about seven days earlier. Locals found the tattooed mystery man, dressed only in red underwear or swimming trunks.

The left shoulder bore a tattoo of a dragon and on the right, a dolphin. The back of the man's left hand carried a tattoo of a tiger. The body is to be autopsied at Vachira Hospital in Phuket City.

If the man has a police record in Thailand or through the Interpol database, then the information about the tattoos should reveal his identity quickly.

- Phuketwan / 2009-05-21

Continued here:

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/tattooed-west...nai-harn-11139/

This makes victim number seven.........all dying mysteriously in the same area within a two month period.

Conclusions, conclusions, conclusions, speculation,speculation, speculaion.

Same posters who write that lovely friendly Sheila from Australia must have been set up when and was totally innocent and that a headless man hanging from a Bangkok Bridge was murdered by the local police mafia and that backpackers countrywide are being hunted and murdered by avengers with a liter of cyanide.

Hold your horses for once can you? Instead of just jumping to conclusions, can you not wait for a little more info first. And that goes for a lot of posters here.

Theft of something worth the equivalent of two week wgaes.

Resisting arrest.

Verbally abusing the law enforcers.

Petty crime, why lock her up?

Chaps, what country in the world would not bang Sheila up for the offenses she committed?

Getting a lot of bad press in OZ

What are the headlines?

Increase in exports of aussie thiefs to asian countries has grown 3% this year

Stealing is now a crime in thailand.

Thailand has issued a travel warning to all its nationals that people are now being arrested for stealing and is not a laughing matter like in oz.

Some more kangaroo tabloid headlines:

*The Australian government applauds the Thai police for not enforcing the law

*Local woman makes precendence. Swearing at law enforcers in Thailand is now legal

*Innocent Sheila didn't say F*** You, she did instead say Frog Who? (Mr Kob was the arresting officer)

*"I was fleeing that rabid dog outside the bar, not the cops!" pleads Sheila

*"I thought the price of the bar rug was 60baht, not $60" weeps Sheila (Her bill was 620B, so so what)

It was a 60 dollar bar mat maybe a weeks wages for the average thai, maybe a petty crime in OZ but not in thailand.

Would you be happy if someone stole your phone and the police said don't worry its only worth 60 dollars ?

What state do you think this country would be in if they said steal what you want as long as its under 60 dollars ?

She is a thief or her friend is a thief I am truly shocked at the people on here who think its ok for people to visit a foreign country and steal,

Not just a week, 2,000 baht is about equivalent to two weeks salary for a working class Thai.

Sara: How was your visit to Thailand?

Jane: Great! Look what I stole, a bar mat from the Aussie Pub in Phuket.

S: That's so cool? Are you allowed to take things that don't belong to you?

J: If you're a foreigner, you can do anything!

S: Really?

J: Yah! If you get caught, you simply complain that you're being persecuted because you're a foreigner.

S: That's so cool.

J: It is cool! Why should we follow laws in a foreign country?

S: What about the people who say what you did was wrong?

J: They're just a bunch of moralistic haters. They don't know me - they shouldn't judge me!

S: You go, girlfriend! Stinking' A!

J: STINKIN' A! I am so cool. Besides, Australia was stolen by the English, and they put all of their criminals here. So, I'm just getting back to my cultural roots.

S: That's so true, and it is so cool!

J: Stinkin' A, it is cool.

S: You are so cool to think that I'm cool.

J: You're cool, just being you

Surprised drunken Sheila didn't also claim she was beaten, had to crap in a view of a 100 men and was starved. Ow.... that bit about being starved, she already mentioned.

The silly cow deserves everything she gets except the cash handouts from the Australian media.

and the story from Steve Wood leave a bit to be desired - he claims she was abusive to police - ran down the beach and that he was not going to press charges - what a pack of crap -- according to the interview with the police commander - he said that the owner sic Steve Wood was pushing for charges to be laid and no mention about running down the beach drunk - being abusive - i can just imagine the scene in the police station

Abusive to police, running down the beach. That's what all the witnesses are saying. You haven't been doing much reading.

ya and your as stupid as the witnesses - do u really believe what a bar girl who values her job is not going to say what she has been told to say -- come on - get real - and when did you ever believe a bar girl when she said she loved u haaa or are u one of those who married one - the witnesses for her side said that she was not abusive -- up set yes and understandibly - sure i would be also - even sober - so again conflicting stories but i know what most readers here would believe and its sure aint the bar girls stories ----

Go back and have a good read on other threads on the story. Plenty of witnesses, foreign ones, passers-by, not just barmaids.

The silly cow deserves everything she gets except the cash handouts from the Australian media.

and the story from Steve Wood leave a bit to be desired - he claims she was abusive to police - ran down the beach and that he was not going to press charges - what a pack of crap -- according to the interview with the police commander - he said that the owner sic Steve Wood was pushing for charges to be laid and no mention about running down the beach drunk - being abusive - i can just imagine the scene in the police station

Abusive to police, running down the beach. That's what all the witnesses are saying. You haven't been doing much reading.

She wasn't in jail for 4 days, she was in there for 2 nights. Including the night of arrest

Try verbally abusing police and resisting arrest in the USA - zzzzzz... Tasered !!

That's what she deserved.

Som Nam Na...

While I do think 5 years is quite a harsh sentence, If they had of demonstrated a bit more respect - perhaps the circumstances would have been a-lot different.

Bullsh*t, 5 years exggerated press. 5 years is the maximum sentence possible for theft in Thailand ie.... perhaps given to bank staff for stealing tens of millions.

Petty theft cases are usually nothing more than a suspended sentence and small fine - and that's all she get.

Would you try and steal something on sale in a pub worth $60AU in your home country?

Would you run away from the police in your home country?

Would you verbally abuse the police in your home country?

What kind of 'mother' is she?

Have a look at the beer mat, they are nice and on sale in the Aussie Bar:

Thanks lad. I dont fancy taking the risk then, i booked a cheap return instead to Singapore, feel like spending a few days there anywhere.

Cheers

Thanks for the quick reply Joe. I want to go to Vientiane in a couple of weeks to get a new non-imm visa, is a train ticket to Laos (newly opened route) all right as proof of onward travel??

Thanks

Slipped my mind altogether. I'll be flying down to Malaysia for the weekend on Thai Airways and flying back. Since my non-imm visa is just up, i'll be getting a 30 VOA when i arrive. I forgot about having, theoretically, to show an onward ticket.

Last night got talking an old friend and he said that not long back he had lots of hassle when checking-in with Emirates from Hong Kong with no onward ticket on him. Almost didnt let him on the flight.

What about Thai Airways, are they strict about either having a Thai visa or an onward ticket?

Theory, theory, theory - speculation, speculation, speculation. I don't think ive ever met so many FBI special detective wanna-bes in the same place.

Boring......

Fair-skinned?

Bah, keep it.

Gimme a dusky Issan lass any day.

Give me a well-bronzed working class Thai woman anytime. They make more of a honest living than having to disguise their face over the Ineternet as some Thai Chinese hi-society hypocrits.