DogNo1

My 90-day report sent in March wasn't returned for 45 days but tracking confirmed that it had been received at Lak Si so I wasn't worried.  When I did my extension later in March, the 90-day report section confirmed that they had rceived it and printed a copy of the receipt for me.  I received the mailed receipt about 30 days later.

There is lots of unemployment in the US right now.  Do you feel lucky?

For those married people planning to get a 60-day extension of stay, chucking the money in the bank right now and getting a one year extension of stay would seem to make more sense if you can afford it.  I don't envision travel restrictions between countries easing for some time. Just getting back into Thailand will be a huge hassle and you may not be allowed to return for quite a while.  Internationally the pandemic is still spreading.

On BBC yesterday, I learned that the Thai population is rather old.  Since we now know that the virus attacks many organs in the body including the blood vessels, catching the virus can result in a fate worse than death for old people - lifetime disability.  Thailand could do as America has done: open up and experience a huge number of cases.  Once again hospitals are overwhelmed with seriously ill and are experiencing a shortage of PPE.  There is also a shortage of tests.  People are waiting in many-hours-long lines to get tested with no toilet facilities available any where.  Those tested outside of hospitals are waiting as long as ten days to get their test results back.  If Thailand were to let in tourists and suffer a couple of local outbreaks it could result in a nightmarish situation.  At my age of 77, with six stents in my heart and weak kidneys, the outcome could be bad.

I have information from the front lines in America.  My daughter works in healthcare and still can't get tested because she lacks certain criteria.  My sister had to be tested last week before her knee replacement and because of her weak bladder control, suffered three "accidents" before she was able to be tested.  She had brought along a couple of diapers but went through all of them.

There is a solution that the business people don't want to consider.  That is to continue the government payouts and allow the national debt to increase.  That would eventually result in a fall in the value of the Baht which they definitely don't want.

BritManToo: I think that you must have a one-time year permission to stay.  The terminology used in Thailand is a little crazy but it is important to distinguish between visas and permissions to stay.  The requirements between them differ and people who confuse them sometimes have problems.  If fact, when you get your first year-long permission to stay, your Visa is cancelled.  Many of us have gone the route of entering on a Visa or Visa waiver, applied for a 90-day Visa in-country, then a one year permission to stay.  When that is granted, the Visa is cancelled.  I don't know why Thai Immigration does it that way, but they do.  Through the years, many posters have been preparing to get a new Visa only to find that they needed an extension of their permission to stay and have not qualified as a result.

The Central stores in Bangkok now use new SCB credit card charging terminals.  They give the clerk the option of charging you in Thai Baht or in US Dollars at the SCB exchange rate. I have a US credit card with no foreign exchange fee so I always want to be charged in Thai Baht.  I was recently charged in USD and didn't catch it until I got home.  Now I always tell the checker that I want to pay in THB.   I suppose foreigners whose banks charge foreign exchange fees may save money by paying in dollars but the exchange fee charged by SCB is over two baht per dollar.  Is this new system a benefit for some people or just a ripoff for the unwary?

I completed my retirement extension in March.  I presented a bank letter produced on the day by the CW branch of Bangkok Bank and my bank book showing monthly transfers of over 65,000 for the past twelve months.  They were accepted for this year although the IO warned me that I would need a twelve month statement from the bank the next time because some transfers were printed out or order in the bank book.  The October transfer was printed before the April transfer due to a glitch with the bank book updating machine.  Since then, a machine has printed a transfer over the top of another so I will definitely need a twelve-month statement next year.  A teller at the Central World branch has told me that she can get me a 12-month statement with five days lead time.  I wonder whether she is correct. Other posters seem only able to get 6-month statements from their local branches.  Perhaps I'll test her ability to do that now.  Knowing what is possible will be worth the 200 Baht.  BTW, it is advisable to always get your bank book updated by a teller.  The updating machines don't work reliably.

It is a very interesting article.  Thanks very much!  I was motivated to subscribe to SA.

Are the sidewalks owned by the city or by the businesses that they front?    
 

About three years ago, the Governor of Bangkok was at the FCCT and promised to fix the sidewalks but little has happened.

It was reported in the New York Times today that there has been a measles outbreak in Cambodia.   I don't know the percentage of children who receive the MMR vaccine in SE Asia is but I hope that it is high.  The measles is a dreadful disease and is much more contagious than COVID-19.    It hits adults particularly hard.  If you and your family haven't received the vaccine, now would be a good time to get it.  The measles could easily spread into Thailand.

Be cautious if you are using the monthly 65K transfer method.  A printout of your past year’s transactions may be required.  During my recent renewal an IO found an irregularity in my bank book and wanted that statement but relented and approved my extension.

There is a misunderstanding about the reason the White House perimeter was moved from H Street back to I Street.  AG Barr explained the reason in a TV interview.  The liberal media have spun the story to discredit Trump.  They seem to do this with everything.

Fortunately, racism and discrimination will now end on a world-wide basis.  Police departments will be disbanded.  Everyone will just be nice.  If people don’t conform to liberal dictates, a large national Politburo can be formed to control every citizen’s behavior.  Of course, this will require the establishment of local control cells everywhere.  They could be given the power to eliminate anyone who doesn’t follow the rules.

In the hurley-burley of life people need something to believe in and some source of forgiveness for their sins and mistakes.  Thai Buddhism is actually a syncretic religion which incorporates elements of Hinduism and Animism.  There is nothing in the Buddha’s teaching about reincarnation and the belief that bad actions will cause you to be reincarnated as some kind of animal.  
 

It apparently is not widely known but the monks who officiate at the King’s plowing ceremony and other royal events are Hindu monks, not Buddhist.  Just for fun, check out the statues of the deities at the Erawan shrine and Central World.  They are not of Buddha.

Cute little animals but their number is infinitesimal compared to the illegal animal trade out of China and SE Asia.  There are videos on YouTube.  Watch one and you will be shocked at the numbers and varieties of animals smuggled to various countries.  It's too bad that there isn't much feeling that the animals lives should be preserved and the animals should have decent living conditions.  Just look at the conditions the animals live in in various Asian wet markets including the one here in Bangkok.  Go down and have a look.  You should be revolted by their condition.

Thanks, Joe.  I interpret your comments to mean that it will be September or later until travel options become clear.  I hope to avoid the 14-day quarantine whichever direction I travel.  Right now Japan is mandating a quarantine at a "government specified" location.  That's not very appealing.  I hope to wait that out and travel after it is lifted.  

I had not received a new 90-day report slip after mailing it in late February by the time I went to extend my stay in mid-April.  There was no problem.  The report had been processed and the officer just printed me a copy off the system.  I did finally receive my new report slip in the mail two weeks ago.  I now have more confidence that if I can track the EMS envelope as having been received at Lak Si, it probably will have been processed and a copy will be in their system.

Many of us long-term stayers like to return to our home countries in the summer and come back to Thailand late in the fall.  Given the various travel restrictions, will that be practical for this year or should we just resign ourselves to staying through until summer 2021?  My adopted home country is Japan but a friend, being bored with Bangkok, will return to Germany on June 6th.  He has no idea when he will be able to return to Bangkok and his Thai girlfriend is quite anxious about this.  Has anyone figured out how travel to and from Thailand will work out in the future?

I believe in equivalent privileges and rights appropriate to each sex so that the balance is perceived as fair by reasonable people.  Equality is nonsense.  Men and Women ARE different.  Ideology does not lead to fairness.  Empiricism does,

I have mailed in my 90-day reports for several years.  The only problem that I have had is with the report that was due in March of this year.  I didn't receive the reply until earlier this month.    I checked on it when I did my one-year extension in April and the officer confirmed that it had been processed and gave me a copy of the receipt.

This year I had the problem of some TTF transfers being printed out of order but the IO let it slide for this year.  Since then I've had the problem of some transactions actually being printed over other ones by the bank book updating machine.  I took the problem up with a teller at the Bangkok Bank Central World Branch.  She suggested that I have my bank book updated at the teller's desk in the future and, best of all, told me that next April, she could get me a year's record of transactions if I requested it five days in advance and paid 200 baht.  Being able to get the statement at Central World will be a nice time saver for me.  I had previously thought that I would have to go the bank's central office to request the year's statement. 

Look kind of like the logo my Amazon Fire displays when starting:)

There are plausible arguments on some news channels and political discussion shows that the death rate from COVID-19 has been highly overestimated.  It appears that the low number of people tested made it appear that the death rate would be 3% rather then the 0.3% that is now indicated.  For the sake of the economy in various countries it seems to be a good idea to have a gradual reopening with social distancing.  Let's see what happens with the infection and death rates in some of the American states that are opening up.  As a 77-year-old man with pre-existing conditions, I will continue to be careful.  There are many details about the virus that we still don't know.

Well, we'll see how that goes.

iHerb has a handy dandy little bottle of NOW A(10,000 IU) & D(4,000 IU).  It contains 100 little softgels and costs $3.77.  You need both of those every day, especially the A for the eyes.  You can also buy Maquiberry on iHerb to help lubricate your eyes.  Many of us older folk suffer from dry eye.  Just think - you could buy a year's supply of A&D for $15.08.  I also like to use some Maquiberry from time to time to keep the eyes moist.  It's $9.02 for sixty capsules.  I prefer to buy my supplements separately so I know exactly how much I am taking.  It seems like a lot of trouble to calculate how much of a certain vitamin MAY be in a multivitamin.  The price is so cheap that it's easy to be sure of how much you're getting.