MisterBean

Went to CM Immigration today to get the extension. They did not ask for a plane ticket or proof of onward travel. They did want a photo but was able to do it there for 100THB.

Watch the validity of your visa, you must use your second entry before the 'must enter before' date.

Entering and not using a visa entry (so getting a visa exemption whilst having a valid visa) is a bit of a lottery, don't put the visa number on your arrival card and ask nicely if the immigration officer spots your visa.

I wonder if I can win this lottery 3 times. They gave me till the end of November to use my double entry tourist visa, I am on the first one right now. I think maybe they made a mistake since they did not give me 6 months to use the last double entry tourist visa. I am taking 3 short trips in quick sucession and I am thinking I will try to save the second for after these trips.

What do you think my chances are?

Thanks. If I have a reason to start a thread about travel in Asia I will try there.

I am not sure what kind of lifestyle you are used too, I live a fairly simple life here. If I were looking for a place with maid's quarters I would just rent the apartment next door for the maid!

Good advice on the safe deposit box. I like to travel while I am here so I keep US and other currency there for my travels. I also keep half of my credit and ATM cards there. A smal box costs $30 a year. It is also good if you are leaving your home for any length of time to lock up any valuables. Ask if they have any before you open the account.

Everyone here has a favorite bank, I use the main branch of SCB here in Chiang Mai. I can bank online and I was able to get a safe deposit box. I don't even have to go to a teller, there is a row of people at desks when you walk in who are used to dealing with foreigners, if they are all busy you just have a seat and wait for one of them to call you over and sit down and do whatever business you need too including withdrawing cash. I can transfer money from my account in Canada and they will convert the money into baht and deposit it into my account. The fee my bank in Canada charges is higher than SCB. What I like most is that it is the only bank that you can pay for AirAsia tickets for anyone, online directly from the account, which means nothing if you don't intend to travel much or if you are an AirAsia Hater.

Depending on the amount of money you will have here having a USD account is also very good advice. The currency can fluctuate quite a bit at times.

The first time I came here I used my ATM card and after seeing the fees I was charged I stopped using it. I know some people get a certain number of free international transactions, but I don't. Travelers checks and cash are the way to go to get started.

orang37's advice to keep your financial affairs to yourself is spot on, don't trust anyone.

I'm sorry Nancy but I don't see how a Visa or MasterCard is going to pay the 2 month deposit and first month rent on a place to live. He/she also wants to employ a maid as well and they don't take credit cards either. I would never show up in a foreign country without some cash. Bring enough to at least be able to purchase 250,000-300,000 THB. You can always stick some in the bank if you are concerned about having too much cash on hand. It takes 15 minutes to open an account.

Many people have credit cards and ATM cards which allow for large ATM withdrawls. I am sure that I am not the only one who could access this kind of money quite easily with their cards albeit not in one day, due to daily maximums. I do think it would require having more than just one Visa or MasterCard. I have several cards that I can withdraw 30,000 baht per day. As Nancy suggested, I can pay the card statements online from my bank in my home country as well. The only downside for me is the service charges on foreign withdrawls which is why I suggested travelers cheques. I would be very leery about carrying around $10K in cash from the moment I arrived.

While it does take 15 minutes to open an account, it may require being told no at a couple of banks before you find one that will, depending on what kind of visa (if any) you have.

You can get baht at the airport when you arrive in BKK. If you are flying direct to Chiang Mai there are a pile of ATMs and probably a currency exchange counter although I can't remember for sure. I would bring high denomination travelers cheques. I don't know what country you are coming from but in Canada I can get $500 USD Amex checks free of service charges. There is a charge per check to cash them in Thailand so that is why I say bring large denomination cheques as the fee is the same for all cheques regardless of denomination, about $1USD.

Many apartments have all the basics, bed, wardrobe, desk, and a fan on the wall. Chiang Mai is a very inexpensive city. If you have never been to Thailand before maybe you should get a hotel for a few weeks and see how you like the place and get the lay of the land before you commit to something long term.

I use Thailand as my travel hub to travel throughout Asia. When I saw a post regarding Japan I replied as I will be going there shortly. I had not noticed there was a list of countries that the forum was restricted to and the thread was locked. I noticed recently that a thread regarding India was locked but a thread regarding Taiwan was left open. Currently there are two threads regarding Japan, however I don't want to waste my time responding to threads that will be locked at some time.

Is the decision to lock threads in this forum arbitrary? The reason I ask is because the thread for India was locked but at the same time the one for Taiwan which was started a few days earlier was left open. I wanted to reply to the Taiwan thread as I have travelled there. I have travelled to many countries in Asia and could offer my experiences to those traveling somewhere for the first time but I don't want to waste my time. I would also like to be able to read about the experiences of people who have travelled to countries in Asia where I would like to travel more.

I have poked around your forum quite a bit and enjoy reading it, is there another place to post on these countries that I have missed? My apologies if this is an often discussed issue. I did not do any search first to determine if this subject has come up before, as I was interested in the forum as it stands at this moment.

Thanks for the help.

If he does a border run he will need to change his ticket before going.

Assuming you are talking about coming weekend (12/13 September), then his ticket (7 Oct) would still be outside the 15 day stamp he should get.

He stands a fair chance of the immigration officers not letting him enter at a land border point unless he can get his ticket changed so his departure day falls within the 15 day time-span...

Yes, this coming weekend. I went to Mae Sai last year and went across for shopping. I had no visa and was not asked to show a ticket. I know they always have the option of asking for a return ticket so are you saying "better safe than sorry" or is there something new that they are asking at land borders for onward travel?

Thanks for the quick replies.

Thanks for pointing out the need for the return ticket as well. His return ticket is for Oct 7 and he was going to change it to go back earlier anyway. He was trying to decide how to extend his stay and he was thinking of going to Mae Sai to get 15 days, and then changing his ticket to fit that.

He was the one that mentioned going to immigration to ask about his options but I figured it would be easier to search here for the answer rather than going to immigration.

I did a search and I would like to know if the information I found is still current.

A friend is here with a German passport and he got 30 days (no visa) when he arrived. He would like to stay longer. I read that you can go to immigration and get a 7 day extension for 1900 baht. Is this still the case?

His 30 days is up on the weekend, I am guessing that immigration is closed, if he went on Friday would he get 7 days from Friday or a 7 day extension from expiry of his 30 days?

I love a good fry up so I had to go and find out how good the breakfast was. Good food, good service. Thanks OP for bringing this place to my attention.

I have stayed several times at Silver Gold Garden. I booked through ratestogo each time as the price was less than booking direct with the hotel. The free airport pick-up and drop off is very good, only one time did I have to wait for the van, and that was only about 10 minutes. The hotel is new and clean but no elevator, so get a low floor. There is nothing else in the area except a Tesco Express, a 7-11 and a small Thai market out front of the hotel.

Thanks for the heads up. I usually get their specials by email but they aren't too swift sometimes. Fortunately their flight service is quite good. This sale is a little more than the one they had at Christmas, it was only 1190 baht all in. I have been waiting for a sale, I was afraid I might have to fly into Manila instead as PAL also has a sale going.

I stayed at LaiThai Guesthouse, on the SE corner of the moat. Free wifi and a pool, but no breakfast included. It is 650 baht a night this time of year but they have a special on so it's 590. When I stayed there they gave me a card good for 10% off my next stay.

Now that I think of it, air conditioning isn't all that important if it's in a great location and under my budget.... When you say noisy, is it during the day or at night? Also what type of noise?.....like traffic or hollering drunk people? Thanks

I don't think you will need air con that time of year, I rarely use mine that time of year. Around here there is a lot of traffic noise, including those loudspeaker trucks selling whatever that drive up and down the street. There are no hollering drunks, everyone else in the building is Thai and the night watchman is banging on their door if anyone is too noisy. Only happened one time that I can remember, some young guys had a few too many and were a little loud. The main problem with my place is a VERY loud open air restaurant next door. Everyday from about 5pm till 11pm there is a LOT of noise. It is quiet during the night, but the traffic gets going again early in the morning.

As I say there are plenty of inexpensive hotels and guesthouses (although more expensive in Dec and Jan) you could try one for a night or two and then if the noise level is acceptable then try to make a long term deal.

I don't think it is reasonable to think if you arrive in the morning you will have an apartment by the evening. If you had a car or motorbike and spoke Thai then I think you could do it. I am not saying it is impossible, but it might be wise to look around a bit to see what's here.

There are plenty of guesthouses and hotels, you might be able to negotiate a deal for 2 months. How quiet do you like it? I am in the Nimmanhemin area and it is very noisy around my building. I took the apartment to try it out, but also thinking I may have to move because of the noise. I have been here over a year and the noise doesn't bother me. My rent is under your budget, so places do exist but again the problem is the shortness of your stay. My landlord does rent out for short stays but there are no units with air con available (and I am not giving mine up!) and as I say it is very noisy.

Will you be getting a work permit for your volunteer work?

It has to be in English. I have booked flights for Thai people and they take the name from the ID card and translate to English. My Thai friends and also the clerk at the airport was able to do this. I am sorry I can not help more. If you go to an airline counter in a shopping center or airport they can do this for you.

I shop at those shops, they also have in Bangkok and Pattaya. A good portion of their stock consists of REJECTS for export, I kid you not. You have to examine each item very carefully, some of the flaws are very major. Rejected stock that is OK is better than nothing, but better to import Grade A clothes for a bargain price from the west, NOT available in Thailand.

ALL of the stuff there are rejects for export for one reason or another, that's why it is there! But there is plenty of stuff there that is perfect, you just have to check. I always get a laugh when they cross out the brand name on something with a black marker but then there are twenty more of the same item without the name crossed out. I have had good luck shopping there, but I admit I did buy a golf shirt for 79baht that had a small defect that I didn't notice until later. It wasn't major, I threw it in the pile of clothes I took to Cuba to give away.

Your location in LOS will make a difference for shopping. Chiang Mai is a great place to buy western clothing brands (and sizes) cheap because of these "export" shops. I saw a couple in BKK, but the prices were a little higher.

Shaving cream! If you shave with a razor, that stuff is expensive here. The same can of Gillette gel is 3 times more in Tops that what I pay in Canada.

As for clothes, the biggest shirts I have seen here are 7XL (XXXXXXXL) so if you are bigger than that then you better bring some from home.

I hope that includes Canadian cards as well. Had a terrible time trying book during their Christmas promotion last year. My card wouldn't work and I even called my bank to find out if it was at their end, but it was Cebu. I used a Thai friend's credit card and brought a copy of it hoping that would be enough. In the end they didn't ask to see it, and I got my round trip to Clark for 1190baht! I was quite happy with the service, it was a new plane and friendly staff.

I did email them a few times to see what the story was but never got a reply.

Make sure if you book with them you have a return ticket with them or an onward ticket, or you might not be going anywhere.

Might be worth taking a look at the AirAsia sale starting tonight, just in case there isn't another in time for your trip here. I have some $0 fare flights booked from the last one, though you still have to pay the taxes. Even if your plans change and you don't use the ticket it's easier to toss a 100baht ticket than a 1000baht ticket.

I think GMT +8 is Malaysia

I think GMT +7 is Thailand

Someone will politely correct if I'm wrong

That's why I put 11pm in Thailand which in midnight in Malaysia, or is my calculation off?

I just got the email as well. It says GMT +8. so, I am guessing 11pm Thai time. Should be good, "better than free seats" I like the sound of that.