Sao Jiang Mai

Thanks Nancy, we will revisit our tapes but at this point we are pretty clear on what was said. There was one tiny translation mistake which, thanks to you, we have corrected. (New building not signed off, but about to be...apparently). As a news outlet, we can not speculate, and can only report on what we were told. Our news editor is an old hand at BKK Post and Straight Times so we are not being wishy washy. We report on what we were told and correct mistakes immediately. Please don't imply that we make mistakes willy nilly! Thanks!!!! We will keep you posted. P.

Ah, yes, that's what they said. Very confusing...but there we go. We did, however, make one mistake. The new office hasn't been signed off. So we will correct that but the digital nomad thing was word for word! Thank you. Pim

Hi, can you please point me to the other thread? I am not clear what we supposedly misunderstood and want to see it to make sure. Thank you!

Here are a couple of the items from that link above: http://chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=4366

Is something being done to the crowded Chiang Mai Immigration Office? What about the online service?

Funding has been confirmed and a new, larger office is scheduled for construction next year. More immigration staff will be employed when it opens. Immigration staff work long hours and are currently struggling with the workload as the number of foreigners resident in the region has increased in recent years. Officers urged people to be patient until the new office opens.

Online booking is a limited option, and operates on a first-come-first-served basis. This is to avoid clashes in appointment times with walk-in users. There are no plans to extend it at this time.

Ninety day reports

The Immigration Office apologises that an online service for 90-day reporting is not yet available. It currently operates a new system which no longer involves barcode scanning, and has tried to transfer biometrical information from its old server to the new one in order to establish an online reporting service. However, due to technical difficulties which it is now trying to solve, online reporting is not yet available.

Foreign residents may submit their 90-day reports in three ways:

- In person at the Immigration Office (with a leeway of 15 days before the due date and seven days after)

- By post (at least 20 days before the due date)

- By someone given legal powers of attorney.

the article says

Foreign residents may submit their 90-day reports in three ways:

- In person at the Immigration Office (with a leeway of 15 days before the due date and seven days after)

- By post (at least 20 days before the due date)

Does this mean they must receive it before the fifteen days allowance. Being as the mail would should not take 5 days.

- By someone given legal powers of attorney.

In other words my wife could not take it in for me with out obtaining a power of attorney. I guess that would require an attorney. Not sure of that.

If you are a 'digital nomad' running your own business on the internet, the immigration office says you can do this on a tourist visa.

There is another thread running about this that has many posters claiming that is not what the other offices are saying. Is their a misunderstanding in the question that was asked. For instance from the rest of the post I wouold take it to mean one 30 day tourist with one reentry. According to the crackdown on the visa runs.

Contact the Farangutans. I think they have fb page.

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It is not about love, it is about rule of law. Stop allowing badly behaved politicians, monks, business "leaders" to get away with it and that would be a good start. Let all the poor buggers out of jail for a handful of yaba pills, and start filling up those empty cells with politicians, religious and business leaders.

Amazingly it comes out if a carafe and into a glass. Marvellous!

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Kafe Vino at Think Park opposite Maya probably has the cheapest for quality wine going now. 349b for a LITRE of decent South African/Aus and Chilean plonk!

How? The scheme is, by every single account (but the gov's) untenable. So how were they supposed to pay the farmers?

Have we actually established the veracity of this whacky tale yet?

Yes, we have done our duediligence; would be crazy to publish something like this without doing so. It is ugly, but is one woman's attitude, hence our agreement with the university in question to later remove their name from the article. The reason we decided to publish it is that she is in fact a head of department and has influence upon the young. She also posted this on a very public forum and we believe it is a topic which is relevant to our times. Her comments have also sparked huge debate amongst her Thai students.

Pim Kemasingki (publisher of CityNews)

Mods, do you mind terribly not publishing our entire story here? Just take the first paragraph and link back to us pleaes. Thanks! Pim (Citylife,CityNews, etc.)

Sangdee Gallery, Khun Nai Teun Sai, Why Not?, Kamrai, Beer Republic, House of Wine...so many!

They didn't have anyone else's phone number!

Phuping police called this morning to thank all of us for the lead and that matters are now out of their hands and in process of law, so they reall have no follow up as they were only assisting arrest, apparently it was Muang station who led it, following Phuping's lead. I will try to find out more, but we are a small outfit with no real contacts, so not sure how deep we can get. At this point they are out on bail in accordance with the law. Don't konw about Pattaya case as they have skippd town so it is probably like most cases in Thailand where lack of jurasdiction, manpower and resources limits action.

Phuping Police......its a very apt name for them.

not sure why they called the citylife to thank them for the lead, when the lead was presented in their face by an irate eyecatcher, followed by an even more irate mrs E, followed by 3 or4 others who submitted a report against this scum gang.

taking nothing away from citylife, it was their heavyweight pressure we are grateful for but It just shows that as individuals or even a small group, our credibility is zilch.

But then for Phuping to delegate this to district speaks volumes about their likely involvement or simply Phuping lacks credibility for anything other than knowing how to drink coffee and b/s everyone.

So the out on bail scenario seems to be par for the course, and they will likely try the next town until they come up against another Chiang mai.

I have to say I am certainly happy they are "not in our back yard" at the moment and I hope for us Chiang Mai will remain a very hot potato for them.

Sadly though others will no doubt suffer now until someone in authority with some balls puts a final end to it.

Lets not forget this though as they may return next year.....STAND HARD and SHOW THEM THE DOOR

Phuping police called this morning to thank all of us for the lead and that matters are now out of their hands and in process of law, so they reall have no follow up as they were only assisting arrest, apparently it was Muang station who led it, following Phuping's lead. I will try to find out more, but we are a small outfit with no real contacts, so not sure how deep we can get. At this point they are out on bail in accordance with the law. Don't konw about Pattaya case as they have skippd town so it is probably like most cases in Thailand where lack of jurasdiction, manpower and resources limits action.

Think I have to change my name soon, Sao sounds a tad disingenuous the older I get!

You are absolutely right, I would never demand people do something they are uncomfortable with, some people have more to lose than others and perhaps are not in as a secure place as others. Sometimes I just get a bit bullheaded and there is nothing that riles me up more than corruption and thuggery - well, maybe a corked bottle of wine! I have gone too far myself some times, one of these days I will tell you about when I insulted teh head of the 5th region police commander (calling him an embarrasment to Thailand in front of his face and the international press probably wasn't the best thing to do in hindsight!) and ended up being followed for a week by all these policemen and having my name given to the press to find out more about me! That was a tad scary!

We were contacted directly by these kind people and given permission to publish. Personally I don't believe that there is any danger and that one must be brave to confront bullies, but that is just me personally.

OP I'm not sure City Life News giving out the Original Posters business type, date it happened and explaining why you started the thread is wise.

I understand what you are saying Sao and I think it was very brave to give you permission to publish the business type and the date it happened etc. However IMO AND IMO ONLY, TIT and often the so called bullies are the type that will also put a bullet in your head and this doesn't seem to be a one man fly by night organisation. I'm not saying that action shouldn't be taken, I'm just saying that we live in a country where a certain amount of caution also needs to be taken......you and others might disagree.

We were contacted directly by these kind people and given permission to publish. Personally I don't believe that there is any danger and that one must be brave to confront bullies, but that is just me personally.

OP I'm not sure City Life News giving out the Original Posters business type, date it happened and explaining why you started the thread is wise.

Sorry I don't know about raising money, frankly I don't think it is the job of foreigners to raise money, but that of the government to make sure that their department runs efficiently. Hence the petition. They have already allocated funds for 66 employees, but yet they refuse to fill the positions...since positions need to be filled by BKK. They also receive over 80% of money raised in fees from CM (over 80 million baht), but apparently not much over 10 million is returned to run the office here. The petition, as ineffective as it possibly is, is simply to add one tine pressure to the government to ask them to support the much-needed reforms at CM immigration.

If you read the article you would see what the petition is about (the article's link is in the opening part of the petiton. Frankly being Thai this issue doesn't affect me one way or another, and you are right, the petition will probably not be at all effective. But I find that it is hard to sit back and listen when I hear a sensible request by a government official to receive help he needs from central government (where the vast majority of money collected is being channeled), that, combined with complaints I have heard - and read here - over the years by people. I thought it would be a better thing to actually get off my arse and try to help than to sit and complain. But that is just me.

What I am doing is compiling all the comments made on the petition site, on my web page and facebook and translating them, then i will send them all, along with the petition results, to the PM's office along with a cover letter and a copy of the interview. The head of immigration CM will also be gettting a copy. It may help, it may not. (BTW, the 500 request thing is an auto programme of Chang.org, we are just grateful to receive any suppoart at all)

I just looked at the petition.

It dosen't even say what it is about. It only asks for 500 signatures,

Looks like some one took a really candid article and cut and pasted some nonsense petition on to it Hoping people would think it was about improving immigration when in fact is a petition to bring back Tony Blair.

Farang Ses - Mandarin Oriental, the best, lovely French; Le Coq d'Or - old fashioned elegant French fare; Chez Marco - fine Mediterranean food, if not ambiance; Tengoku de Cuisine - lovely Japanese (think foie gras sushi); Reun Tamarind - Tamarind Village, Lanna, regional food, boutique hotel; Favola - Italian at Le Meridien, so too hotelly in setting, but good food; Cafe Mini - cute, not that elegant, but good food; Cuisine de Garden - again, not that fine, but fascinating nouveau creations; Ginger - adorable, cosy, elegant, designy.

You are right, were it called the Art Festival! But it is called the Nimmanhaemin Art and Design Promenade (NAP)...hence the crafts and designed products.

Greed about bowls and petenque. Was also thinking fun croquet days in winter. Also more evening events with wine tastings under the raintree or social Sudnays for the family - get a lovely lunch with some kiddyplay things and parents can sit and sip g+ts on the veranda. Thought we could do a monthly party for members and friends, get Rimping or Wine Gallery or someone to put on some stuff for some inexpensive tickets...You know, things! Also want to start thinking about renting grounds out for events, easy month if they use outside catering and staff - ours are not quite up to scratch yet - for weddings etc.And want to encourage social groups to meet there; mummy groups, writers' groups, IT groups, that sort of thing. Thoughts?

And I agree, parking was waaaay better than it used to be at Citylife. And as to having more Thai people, well I don't see anything wrong with events aimed more at expats than Thais. 99% of events in Chiang Mai are aimed at Thais, sometimes expats want something different, nothing wrong with that! I thought they did a really good first job. But yes, more small outlets like Freedom House would be good. However, you try getting all these stalls to come to your event, it is like pulling teeth - I know, I have done it! And even as a media organisation with many clients, we struggled to get people to join in. I have no vested interest with this group, but thought they did a good job. More PR definitely would have been good. I think that was the main weakness. Oh, and as to the date, they set their date months and months ago, it is the high season afterall, there are happennings every weekend now, so whenever they pick it it is going to coincide with something. So I think it was lack of PR rather than bad timing that saw so few faces there. My tuppence.