dluek

It surprises me that so many vendors are giving up so easily. This is now affecting the livelihoods of thousands of people, most of them poor -- if they all organized together they could be a major force to be reckoned with. Some of those hardened street vendors are some of the saltiest people I've encountered in Thailand. Imagine a few thousand of them protesting together?

If you ask me it's eroding the soul of Bangkok. Most of the markets that are closing are not fresh markets. The fascinating Phra Chan amulet market is now closing. Previously the eclectic Saphan Lek market and Khlong Thom electronics markets closed. And then there's the Sukhumvit Soi 38 and On Nut street food markets. If the authorities go the whole hog and try to end the most iconic street markets, like Pak Khlong Talad and Yaowarat, Bangkok will become as boring as Singapore but not nearly as clean. It's a crying shame.

When Singapore "cleaned up" its streets, it pushed the street vendors into "hawker centers" but at least those are relatively centrally located within the city. Bangkok is trying to tell these vendors who have been selling in the heart of Bangkok for generations to go and re-start their businesses way out on Rama II Rd or in Bang Bua Thong -- an hour's drive from the city center in the outskirts, practically in other provinces.

Meanwhile major temples like Wat Yannawa, Wat Kalayanamit and Wat Bavorniwet have and are evicting some very old communities so that they can tear down the old houses to build parking lots and the like. I fear that Bangkok will really lose its soul within the next 10-30 years -- it happens a little more every day.

I've stayed pretty healthy living here in Bangkok but did find it was easier to stay healthy back in the States. I like to run outside (can't stand treadmills), but I live 7 BTS stops from the nearest real park (Lumpini), so it takes some effort to go there around rush hour and put in a few laps. In the States I lived in a couple of small cities and one big city, and in all of them it was easy to just run outside on the sidewalks. In Bangkok it's pretty much impossible to go for a jog out on the streets, what with all of the motorbikes and traffic and crowds and street carts... Occasionally I see a farang jogging down the side of a busy road in Bangkok and they just look totally ridiculous (but hey if it floats their boat).

But the building I live in has a decent pool so I swim laps some days, jog in Lumpini Park about twice a week, and also have some dumbells at home for minor lifting. My girl does most of the cooking and most of it is pretty healthy Thai food and delicious; I agree that most street food isn't too healthy. I try to stock up on fruit b/c I have a sweet tooth and anyway most of the "cake" they make here has a texture like plastic -- can't be too healthy. Keeping the boozing to a minimum is tough anywhere far as I'm concerned, unless maybe you move to Saudi Arabia or something.

Should tell soibiker about this according to him its only foreigners that complain. Seems Thais also think that its a taxi drivers job to bring them to their destination if they have a in service sign on. Its even a law that they have too.

According to him its not so bad with taxi drivers.

While i agree in general there is a large group of taxi drivers that is bad certainly not a majority

Does soibiker know many Thai people? Virtually all of the Thais I know in Bangkok complain like crazy about the taxi drivers. They're at least as annoyed by taxis as the foreigners I know, if not more.

My resettling to Thailand would have happened a lot differently -- or maybe not at all -- had I embarked on it now rather than four years ago. I came to do freelance travel writing; for the first year I used tourist visas and for the second I did an Ed. visa. After those years I was offered a full-time gig and was able to switch to a Non-Imm M, which I'm about to extend for another year. If I'd started now, I probably would have been forced to spread myself around the region more, covering some of the other countries rather than focusing mostly on Thailand as I've done. Who knows? Maybe I would have decided to settle in one of them instead. But actually, if I were just moving to the region now, I'd also have misgivings about settling in Thailand due to the current political climate. Explaining to my American family how I can now live under military junta rule is not so easy.

For that kind of cash I'd look around the Sathorn / Ratchadamri areas... Lots of really nice luxury condo type places on Soi Lang Suan, for example, which is close enough to the BTS but a bit removed so it's clear of the noise and annoyances of lower Sukhumvit. Lumpini Park (IMO Bangkok's best park) is an easy walk away. A lot of embassy staff live around there (American, British, Swiss and other embassies are close by) and that's where you'll find some of the swankiest hotels in Thailand (St. Regis, Four Seasons, etc.).

Otherwise I'd be thinking about a really nice riverside apartment with a view, somewhere off Charoen Krung or maybe on the west side of the river off Charoen Nakhon.

I can see why a lot of people are recommending Thong Lor / Phrom Phong area but it's not my cup of tea... Pretty far from central Bangkok, really far from the historic district and Chinatown, and I just don't think the area is worth the inflated prices that you generally see there for everything from streetside fruit to high-rise condos. The closest park is Benjasiri, which pails in comparison to Lumpini. Plus I get annoyed on Sukhumvit by all of the tuk tuk drivers propositioning "sexy girls" when I'm just walking by minding my own business. You don't get much of that around Sathorn.

Phaya Thai area might also be worth considering, or even Ari / Victory Monument.

I would not recommend Ao Nang unless nightlife is a priority. It's crowded, the beach there is ugly compared to many other places in Krabi, and it draws a lot of scammer types like on some parts of Phuket. North of Ao Nang there are some pretty beaches like Ao Siew and Khlong Mueang, though I'd recommend hitting them as a daytrip by motorbike rather than actually staying on them.

Railay is beautiful and a top spot for rock climbing... If you've got a group, renting a beach house at Raileh Beach Club could be a great option. It was the first tourism-related development on the peninsula and has an incredible location on one whole side of Railay West, which is a phenomenal beach. From Railay (or Ao Nang) you can take a day trip by longtail to Ko Poda and Ko Gai... I left Railay at 7am and was the first one to arrive at Talay Waek, an incredible sand bar that forms between Ko Gai and a couple of islets. That was really special, but by 9am it's already crowded with speedboats. If you do one of the package tours to those islands (they call that the Four Islands tour) or Ko Hong or Ko Phi Phi, expect the crowds to be so thick that it won't be enjoyable. That's especially true for January.

Also Krabi town can be fun for a night out -- it has some good little traveller bars, not the sleazy kind like in Ao Nang.

Then there are the bigger islands... Ko Lanta is beautiful with plenty of room to explore.

Following on this thread from early August, does anyone up in KK know if the centrally located Bor Kor Sor Gao (Ordinary Terminal) has actually been moved out to the new Bor Kor Sor 3? Bangkok Post is reporting that's the case but the article isn't so clear. I was last there in late July and would be really surprised if the whole shebang could be moved so quickly... Such a massive bus station servicing not only countless long-distance buses but also tons of old provincial buses and songthaews. Anyone know what the deal is?

If this is true and the passport photo is actually a much-better identifier of the suspect, then why is that photo not being released to the public? Not denying the motorbike taxi driver's story, just wondering why the police would not want an actual photo released after they've already released a sketch that, according to the moto-taxi man, doesn't look all that much like the actual person. If they're sure that this passport photo is their man, then it should be released worldwide and fast.

Based on the videos I've seen, it's not possible to conclusively say that the suspect is not a Thai citizen, or even ethnically Thai (though there hardly is such a thing as "ethnic Thai" in Thailand today given all of the mixing over centuries with Chinese, Lao/Isaan, Malay, Indian and Westerners, among others). He could be one of the many Thais of Indian descent, or he could be half Thai / half something else, but was born and raised in Thailand. Or he could be an immigrant who has lived in Thailand for many years. There are countless possibilities and -- unless they know something that we don't -- it's irresponsible for the police to make definitive statements like this. Seeing everything in black and white is not the way to solve a crime.

I don't really get it. Carry-on bags are always X-rayed at the main security checkpoint that all must pass through before entering departure gates -- it's not like they're letting passengers walk on to planes without their stuff being checked at all. I always figured that the initial X-ray machines near the front doors for checked luggage was just an extra precaution, but why is that even necessary if all bags are being X-rayed after they're checked in and before they get placed on flight? In the US these initial X-ray machines at the entrances to airports don't exist. If they're not needed there, then why does Thailand need them? Because they don't trust the people/machines that are employed at the main checkpoints?

Hello, Can anyone recommend a good health insurance broker in Bangkok? I've contacted aainsure.net and e-insurethailand.com several days ago and neither have responded. Will try contacting a few more today but wondering if anyone out there has had a good experience with any? Thanks.

Yup, the jerks are the ones that get talked about most (especially on this forum) but there really are a lot of great people here. Just recently I met a guy from Phattalung on the island of Ko Libong, he runs a little shop near the pier with his wife and they seemed to enjoy chatting with me in my broken Thai and his broken English. That was when I arrived. On the way back a few days later, he insisted on giving me a ride back to Trang. Turns out he had an old pick-up parked near the pier in Hat Yao and he accompanied me on the ferry then drove me all the way to Trang town, talking all the while about everything from Taksin to Suthep to George Bush and bin Laden. I tried to pay him at least what the minibus would have cost but he graciously refused, saying something like, "I'm happy to help my friend."

On another occasion my brother left his backpack, filled with electronics and some cash, in the back of a taxi that picked us up near Saphan Taksin and drove us to Khao San Road so we could catch a very early morning bus to Ko Tao. It took my sleepy/hungover brother 20 minutes before he realized he left it, and we figured that was the end of it. But when we walked back to the spot where we'd been dropped off, there was the taxi driver standing with my bro's bag in hand while perusing the street in search of us. He accepted the 1,000 baht "reward" that my bro gave him, but never once did he open the bag, much less take anything.

I have many other stories of random acts of kindness by Thais, and I can't say that I have many negative stories. The patronizing and passive-aggressive attitudes that foreigners sometimes in Thailand receive can be expected in any country -- and obviously it's way worse in a lot of places. For the most part this is a fun and easy place to be an expat.

I was at a Thai Burmese border a while back and there were hundreds coming in. Think there are quite a few turning a blind eye for compensation

I've also seen that, at the Three Pagodas Pass border in Kanchanaburi. It's part of some Burma / Thai border workers agreement that makes it legal for hundreds of workers from Burma to cross the border during daylight hours in order to work at textile factories on the Thai side. They cross back over to Burma every evening. Human trafficking is not so blatant.

Thanks Mario. It's not possible to apply for a 90-day extension, right?

I have a Non-Imm M visa, originally received January 2014, and I was recently approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a one-year extension of stay and work permit. (The fact that it's an M visa might not matter -- I think the same rules should apply for any Non-Imm.) Today I went to the Center for Visa & Work Permit and first received the work permit renewal, good until March 10, 2016. The visa extension I'm currently on is actually good until April 6 of this year, so today I expected to get an extension to April 6, 2016. But I (stupidly) overlooked the obvious: My passport is due to expire on January 8, 2016, so I was only able to get an extenstion until that date. I should have gotten sorted with a new passport beforehand, but, well, I didn't.

So my question is: Come early January of next year when I'll have the new passport, will I be eligable for a 90-day extension of stay that would (more or less) set me back on the track that I would have been on if my passport weren't expiring?

This is perhaps tricky because normally the one-year extension of stay for the Non-Imm M visa hindges on backup letters written by the company I work for and the MFA, and this is normally only done once a year. Unfortunately I didn't make a copy of the letter from the MFA regarding extension of stay, which was submitted as part of the application. If I can't get the 90-day extension in Jan. '16, I guess I'd have to apply with the MFA for them to support my next extension way earlier than I should have to. Any advice from the experts greatly appreciated.

It doesn't make sense how this "makes admission fees for foreigners consistent across the country." It just means that there are now a few more parks that charge 400 baht as opposed to 200 or 100 like all the others. Wouldn't making them consistent mean making them all roughly the same? Strange. Anyway I don't find it to be a big deal. Khao Yai has been 400 for a while and frankly I've been surprised that other major parks, like Khao Sok and Kaeng Krachan, were not changed to 400 a while ago. If they start upping the prices on the really small/insignicant parks by 100%, that would actually be something to moan about. Also if we don't see major improvements at these now pricier parks, like the outstanding visitor center that Khao Yai now has and English-speaking officials / quality maps in English, etc., then it will be worth lodging a complaint with the TAT. If they raise the price, they should raise the standards.

"On-line work" is not now or never has been legal in Thailand without a Work Permit.

I doubt that will ever change.

To get a work permit you require a Thai company to submit the paperwork for you to get that work permit.

Usually that means you must be working for that Thai company.

Now that's the LEGAL way to work on-line in Thailand.

In practice, many people are getting away with it, and the Thai goverenment is allowing it because of the difficulty of finding and the expense of prosecuting these illigal workers.

But, each time you do any activity clasified as "work" in Thailand ....... whether you profit from it or not ..... that activity is illegal without a work permit.

You may get away with it, but then you may not.

As the Thai bargirls say. "Up to You".

It doesn't always have to be "a Thai company to submit the paperwork." I have a work permit based on a couple of letters from an Australian company with no office or any actual links to Thailand -- Non-Immigrant M Visa.

"Meanwhile, security expert Panitan Wattanayagorn said yesterday that it was possible that some former Thai politicians were working with certain American interest groups, resulting in the latest US move against Thailand."

This suggestion that Thaksin is paying off anyone in the US with enough influence to provoke official comments like Russel's is not only insane, it also shows the self-inflated attitude of some of thes nationalist Thais. In addition to the US, the European Union, Australia and Japan (in other words, the whole free world) have been equally critical of Thailand's unelected military regime that suppresses basic freedoms. Did Thaksin pay off all of them? The truth is that Prayut and company do not have many friends in the world. Thaksin might have influence in Thailand, but not outside. This idea that he's powerful enough to influence some of the world's most powerful governments (not to mention major media outlets -- remember the "BBC has been bribed by Thaksin" BS?) is utterly absurd. It also only serves to inflate his ego and the delusional perception that his enemies have of him.

I have a feeling that Yingluck won't flee. She's mild-mannered on the surface but fiery underneath. And she's smart enough to realize that going to jail while organizing her allies to preach the injustice of it all would eventually work in the Reds' favor. I'm afraid that Thai society is a long ways away from any sort of lasting stability. This current coup is just another chapter in a never-ending book.

I suspect Air Asia's Thailand business was down partly b/c of the political crisis and partly b/c Nok Air is simply beating them out for quality and value. I fly somewhere domestically almost every month and always book whichever airline is cheapest: 9 times out of 10 it's Nok Air. Doesn't always appear so at first but when you factor in Air Asia's checked bag charge, Nok usually wins. Nok also let's you pre-select seats for free and gives you a snack on board. It's a consistently better experience than Air Asia, in my opinion.

Being many US states are going the legal route,I imagine in A few years Thailand will possibly do the same.If nothing else medical

Marijuana.It has now been proven some of the chemicals in the product now control seisures in epilepsy patients.

Thailand? Not in this lifetime. Nor any other ASEAN country. That would put cops out of an incredable amount of extortion money. Though it looks like they're making an example of Mr Tattoo Face by putting him through the system.

I don't live in Chanthaburi but have spent a few weeks there at different times. Really like the city and province -- one of my favorites. The cultural make up and history are very intriguing; lots of old heritage buildings amid the narrow lanes in the Chanthaboon Old Town district, which is gradually being restored and turned into a tourist attraction (in a good way I'd say). The city has a lot of ethnic Vietnamese who are mostly Catholic from what I understand, explaining why the largest and probably most striking church in Thailand -- Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception -- sits in the heart of town. Also a lot of Chinese shrines dotted around town. This was where General Thaksin regrouped before leading an army back to Ayutthaya to repel the Burmese back in 1767 and eventually became king, so a lot of pride about that and there's a shrine and large statue dedicated to him. Also the province was controlled by the French for 12 years in the early 1900s. Phenomenal food as well, especially crab and fruit; also don't miss the local dish, muu chamuang). As mentioned not many expats, which I felt made the city feel more welcoming to foreigners... Unlike in Pattaya, Udon Thani and elsewhere, the locals aren't used to seeing foreign males all the time and perhaps don't carry some of the prejudices that Thais in cities like that are more likely to have. Both Ko Chang and Ko Samet easily reached for a weekend for some Western comforts. I've usually gotten there by Chertchai Tour bus, not the best but gets the job done. Unfortunately no airport; there's one in Trat but I think it's only serviced by Bangkok Air. The roads that run the length of the Chanthaburi coastline are very scenic and some decent beaches there, like Chao Lao, which gets its share of European visitors in high season.