It was 15 years ago today.....

[PREM-R]

..............I joined Thai Visa forum.  I remember Professor (or Dr.?) Pat Pong being a regular contributor but cannot remember any other 'names' from that time.  There was a guy (American?) from Chiang  Mai or Chiang Rai who was a regular contributor but got busted as a 'big time' paedophile.  At that time it was possible to 'live' in Thailand via border running, no questions asked.  Over the bridge, around the block, grab as much duty free booze as you could carry and back to Thailand where the smiling IO would stamp you in for 30 days and say, "see you next month".  Some folk, at that time, didn't even leave the country for their visa run, there were services, at a price, that would take a passport over the border and get a new stamp while the owner stayed in Phuket, Pattaya , Bangkok or wherever.  Very different now, both Thailand and Thai Visa forum.

[smutcakes]

I think there are quite a few members around from that time.  However most of them either post less, or under different names after multiple bannings. 

[jerry921]

I joined 13 years ago. I planned to retirie to Thailand for a long time, but when I did retire three years ago I ended up moving to Mexico instead because of family concerns. I still think I may end up in Thailand one day, and have recently restarted reading threads here based on a sort of grass-is-greener impulse.

 

Actually I've concluded that the water is bluer here on the Caribbean coast. There's no grass, just jungle.

 

You've got me curious about the stories, being gone in the interim I can't match the stories to the prolific posters from back then.

[phuketrichard]

Joined in 2004, seen lots of changes as moved to phuket in 85

so far have not been banned

[simon43]

I joined in January 2003, not many 'old-timers' still posting :)

[steven100]

I joined so long ago I've forgotten when,  now a titanium member with so many followers & likes than i care to remember. :)  We use to drink at Queens park bars when it was thriving ...

[cornishcarlos]

3 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I joined so long ago I've forgotten when,  now a titanium member with so many followers & likes than i care to remember. :)  We use to drink at Queens park bars when it was thriving ...

 

Hahahahahah.... You make me smile every time I read your posts :)

[i claudius]

I think there are quite a few members around from that time.  However most of them either post less, or under different names after multiple bannings. 

I cant believe people get banned and then post under another name.how naughty of them

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[PREM-R]

4 hours ago, steven100 said:

I joined so long ago I've forgotten when,  now a titanium member with so many followers & likes than i care to remember. :)  We use to drink at Queens park bars when it was thriving ...

You joined 30th June 2007.  As FDR said  " a date which will live in infamy "

[1happykamper]

I joined 13 years ago. I planned to retirie to Thailand for a long time, but when I did retire three years ago I ended up moving to Mexico instead because of family concerns. I still think I may end up in Thailand one day, and have recently restarted reading threads here based on a sort of grass-is-greener impulse.
 
Actually I've concluded that the water is bluer here on the Caribbean coast. There's no grass, just jungle.
 
You've got me curious about the stories, being gone in the interim I can't match the stories to the prolific posters from back then.

Progresso? Cancun? Where did you go?

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[swissie]

Quote: "At that time it was possible to 'live' in Thailand via border running, no questions asked.  Over the bridge, around the block, grab as much duty free booze as you could carry and back to Thailand where the smiling IO would stamp you in for 30 days and say, "see you next month".
Oh boy, I remember those days.

As I gather, these days, to apply for a Marriage-Extension means that you have to provide hand drawn maps of where you live and provide pictures of a clothline displaying your and your wifes underwear etc etc etc.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry.
Immigration has thightened rules to discourage "undesirables" to reside in Thailand. Strange, I get the impression there are more "undesirables" in Tourist-Hub's today than back then! Changing demografics I suppose.
Cheers.

[jerry921]

11 hours ago, 1happykamper said:

Progresso? Cancun? Where did you go?

Currently Cancun - I need to be near an airport with flights to the US east coast. I would enjoy Thailand, but the flights are too long for me to handle 4x a year or so. Although I could probably save US$500 on rent per month and still have a nice condo with an ocean view, and if I put that $500 toward business class tickets ...  but I think it still doesn't work out.

 

Mexico is much less hassle as far as visas & residency is concerned, and I can read the signs and guess their meaning. Medical care is good and cheap. But the security situation here is deteriorating consistently, and the variety of international-cuisine restaurants is lower than some place like Pattaya. So I think it's not a rest-of-my-life-solution for me.

[Dexlowe]

It was 15 years ago today ...

 

... Sgt Pepper taught the band to play ...

 

And now all that's left, dear comrades, is the Lonely Hearts Club Band -- those who've loved and lost and now spend their time in tawdry Pattaya bars feeling up old chicks and pretending to be disenfranchised CIA agents. Well, that's what some would have you believe.

 

Comrade Prem, I joined just a few months after you, and despite an interrupted career as a poster, never achieved any glorious heights of literary fame. Thus, despite what I consider wonderful witticisms on my part which tend to go over lesser mortal's heads, I remain unknown to you. 

 

Yours in ignominy,

Dex.