JeezeLooeze

This incident reminds me of the time I popped outside my condo front door to get rid of a bag of garbage. I also live alone and in the brief 10 second time I was outside my condo a gust of wind came in from my condo balcony door and slammed my condo front door shut. The lock mechanism wouldn't allow me to open it without a key -which I didn't have with me. This wouldn't have been so bad as it just meant waiting around for a locksmith to come. The worst part was that I was only dressed in rather revealing underwear, expecting to sneak out and back to the garbage room without anyone seeing so no need to get fully dressed. Without my mobile phone I was forced to go down to lobby reception and organize a locksmith only to be met with the staring gaze of all and sundry passing through! No threat to life and limb as in this story but I could have died of embarrassment! Lesson learned: have key and dress modestly at all times!!

My current non-O visa with the Chaeng Wattana IO expires 31 March 2023 when I plan to be out of Thailand. Going forward I would prefer to have my annual 1 year visa renews land in either June or July annually when I know I will more likely to be in Thailand. What are some proven strategies other knows of that work to be able to shift the date when my non- O visa is up for renewal and also ensure I maintain eligibility to re-apply for a non-O in the interim period between March and June/July together with the minimum THB800K/400K bank balance requirements over the 12 month period leading up to the new renewal date? Thoughts?

All world fiat currencies are 'falling' against the USD (except the Russian Ruble). Or you could say the USD is 'strengthening' against all other currencies. Why? Because of the international demand for USD (despite all that printing) to pay off USD denominated debt and interest. A better measure, over the long term, is to compare the gold price against all other currencies. You might be surprised at what you find.

For those crypto savvy and have both a Thai bank account and an account with Bitkub I've found some of the best forex rates can be had is by buying crypto (maybe a stable coin) on the Bitkub exchange with your THB then sending this crypto to your overseas crypto exchange where you can trade it back into EUR (or USD) to send to your EUR SEPA bank account (or EUR a/c with WISE). Bitkub charges USDT4.00 withdrawal fee or USDC10.00. Cheaper transfers can be if you use some altcoins and trade carefully but there maybe tax implications.

Meanwhile, overheard while getting a haircut at my local salon was the hair stylist asking a regular customer, a 'leading doctor' at a prestigious hospital down Sukhumvit way, whether he should get his second booster shot. "Don't bother" was the reply. "They don't work. The hospital puts pressure on doctors to push these drugs onto patients". Such is the state of the medical establishment that many of us have had grown to trust.

Prior to 2002 National Parks were controlled by the Royal Forestry Department. Their attitude was less about conservation and more about resources "on their land" ripe to be exploited hence a lot of illegal logging. With serious deforestation and corruption NPs were moved over to the newly created National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Plodprasop Suraswadi was the permanent secretary at the time and introduced those huge increase in park entry fees for foreigners. He continued the attitude of exploiting natural parks to provide income but as the few remaining trees could not now be cut down (without a public outcry) he introduced and/or increased numerous fees for Thai and foreigners alike for those using NPs. In March 2020 Plodprasop was jailed for 2 years on corruption charges at the time he was acting permanent secretary. TIT.

Yes it might seem that way but it's actually legally required for Thai government departments to use Thai language and Thai numerals in official notices and letters. What gets me is when the Thai private sector also uses Thai numerals instead of Arabic when double pricing....

Went to Khao Sok NP last April and tried to get the Thai ticket price to no avail. This is despite having worked in Thailand for over 2 decades and paid over THB6million in Thai taxes. I do have a Thai driver's license and Pink ID card as proof of my long term resident status but the park warden did not accept them. I'm very selective of the NPs I visit as many of them don't warrant the expense. What was interesting was that at this park entrance there was a ticket vending machine so that the local officers did not have to handle any cash. Very trusting of their fellow state employees? That said however I doubt if much of this income ever gets onto the books at Bangkok. An interesting aside is that the huge increase in park fees for foreigners was introduced by Mr. Plodprasop Surasawadi quite a few years back when he was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of which oversees the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department. In March of 2020 Mr Surasawadi was sentenced to 2 years jail for corruption and misconduct at the time he was acting Permanent Secretary.

Reminds me of my experience arriving at Swampy with 6 bottles of wine in my suitcase required for a New Years Party to be held later that month. I chose the customs green lane. As chance had it my suitcase was selected to go through the customs x-ray and upon said suitcase exiting the machine there was a customs officer pointing to a sign that said only 1 liter of alcohol allowed duty free. The suitcase was opened there and then and the offending contents verified and removed. In broken English the officer attempted to advise me that as I didn't declare the goods I would have to pay 4x the duty and the goods would be confiscated and that I would need to go to the office to fill in some forms. I then proceeded to withdraw some THB from my wallet and started to speak fluent Thai to him - "bro can I pay the "instant" fine instead? His eyes lit up upon hearing this farang speak his language! This farang understands the system! Before I could say 'Beaujolais' the THB was snatched from my hand, bottles returned to my suitcase, and the officer was directing me to exit in the opposite direction to where his superiors were located. Welcome to Thailand!

One would like to think that international scientific peer-reviewed consensus and recommendations from (presumably an uncorruptable?) WHO to its member states would have every country on exactly the same page with regard to vaccination requirements and their efficacy - or lack thereof. That this is not the case reeks of political interference and incompetence with policy driving the science rather than science driving policy.

I would like an official answer to this as well. Others on this thread have suggested that if you have Thai SS (or Thai govt issued "medical card") then upload proof of this as "proof of insurance" at the Thailand Pass website. Preferably do this and see if you get the pass before you leave Thailand to verify it works before leaving the country to avoid getting stuck overseas. I guess one could download a copy of one's monthly payments into the Thai SS from their website and use this as proof as they do not issue SS cards anymore.

Cause it's not about your health. It's about control. When that realization is made the insanity makes more sense.

It's off. As of 27/9/21 WHO stats say 50mil doses administered. With 2 doses required assume 25mil Thais fully vaxed of which "464 people or their families who have died or become severely and permanently disabled". Assuming this data doesn't under report this gives a current conservative figure of 0.0018679% or inversely a 99,998% chance the vax will not affect you seriously. Compare this with the current 16,620 C19 deaths in Thailand's 70mil population. Which gives a current survival rate of 99.9762% - or only a 0.0238% more chance of dying of C19 than a jab. Given the miniscule differences in risk, gaining natural immunity after coming down with C19 seems a no-brainer as you won't require any booster shots or be able to infect others and better positioned to ward off any C19 variants.