Remember the olden days in Thailand?

[JamesPhuket10]

3 minutes ago, Dan747 said:

Multiple one year "Non-O Visa" for $200-"GONE!!"  

 

True, I got one for about $193 dollars today both the one year visa extension and the multi-reentry visa, done at the same time, that incuded the extra 700 baht 'service charge'. 😀

[fasteddie]

On 2/18/2025 at 2:39 PM, swissie said:

Recent Visitors/long term Expats may not know this. There was a time in Thailand where a "long-term" visa consisted of a monthly "border-run" to Cambodia. To be repeated endlessly, having fun on the monthly run, a change of pace. That was the "long-term-visa" for everybody.

 

The only persons that asked you "where you come from and how long you stay" where the bar-ladies. Immigration was not interested in such trivial things. One could have rented a car with a drivers licence of eastern Timbuktu. The word "feminism" was known, but interpreted as "a female must look as female as possible". Hotel clerks mostly unfamiliar with the western ABC.  Everyone welcome with some kind of stamp on some strange paper. That was a long time ago.

And today? A strict visa concept. Farangs having to pay taxes. Tel-Phone SIM Cards readable by "authorities". Hurdles to even open a bank account? While at the same time "property -rights" for Farangs have not been "liberalised". For example.

Boy, those were the days, when the only worrie a Farang had, was to miss the monthly mini-bus to the Cambodian border. Days gone by.

 

Buses to the border? Nah, back in the day I'd just drop my passport off at a certain g/h and pick it up three days later, lost count how many times I've been to Burma Lol

[spidermike007]

11 hours ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

 

I have never met an unpleasant Russian in Phuket, I was in Makro a week ago looking at Australian beef, and a massive Russian speaking perfect English laughed and joked with me about why there were so many Australian joints of beef on sale, "Have all the Australians" gone on holiday he laughed.

 

I asked him if he knew which were the best joints and so he took me to them, he and his wife were friendly.

 

I think one Russian family is living in my gated complex of 350 houses in Phuket, there are a few other farangs but the rest are Thai.

 

When shopping in Makro or Tesco etc 95% of the customers are Thai, the rest farangs, I do not see the millions of Russians the people living upcountry go on about, it is all false.

 

But there is one place I have seen them in a crowd, in Central Shopping there is one floor which contains many exclusive expensive shops, Louis Vuitton, etc where handbags and other items cost 2000 dollars each, the doormen for each shop only lets in two or three customers at a time, most of the people in the queue were speaking Russian.

 

The Russians I have seen in Phuket are well dressed, smart looking, and have Russian wives and kids, I have not seen a single one with a bar girl, they are here to escape the war, and I don't blame them.

 

The few of them who are here choose Phuket for the international scene, they woud not want to live in a village in the middle of nowhere. 

 

So when I go upcountry sometimes and the farangs tell me Phuket is overrun with them and that is why they do not live there I laugh to myself and think the reason you are not there is because you can not afford to be there more like. 😃

 

Plus Phuket is "Reassuringly Expensive", (as the old British advertiment said) which is great.

 

 

 

It makes sense that you would be seeing the Russians in the luxury stores, since Russian friends of mine tell me that the vast majority of Russians earning above 60,000 euros a year are involved in crime. 

[sandyf]

On 2/18/2025 at 10:28 PM, swissie said:

Just curious: When did you open this Bank Account? Recently or years ago? This is of importance, considering recent requirements for Farangs.

Things started to get difficult in 2014. I got an email from what was TMB(Thai Military Bank) saying I had to go and update my details. The address on my Pattaya account was Room 235 Apex Hotel, from when I opened account in 2000, still have the original grey book. I had to show proof of proper address and a long term visa.

[expat_4_life]

On 2/18/2025 at 9:57 PM, Harrisfan said:

30 days visa free

60 days visa free

 

Actually better now. Twice as good.

By your measure it's actually 4x as good ... suspect many were not around in the 80's when visa exempt was a mere 15 days

[chuang]

Thirty years ago I was offered a kg of heroin by a tuk tuk driver for a very cheap price, can't remember how much..also guns...no problem with immigration you can come and go as many times as you wish....of course opening of bank accounts no problem..

[Merrill]

On 2/18/2025 at 3:13 PM, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Wasn't you also able to just give your passport to the driver and he would take your PP to the border and they  stamped out and back into Thailand ?

   You didn't even have to leave the beach .

This was before photo technology 

Strange but true, I arrived in Nongkhai many years ago to do the run only to be told by an agent o go shopping come back later all done. And it was for a small fee and I mean small he was back in 3 hours.

[kingstonkid]

On 2/18/2025 at 10:19 PM, Lacessit said:

I can remember turning up at a Bangkok Bank branch in Chiang Mai, armed only with my passport and 10,000 baht in cash.

 

Took about 20 minutes of signing forms, and I was good to go.

 

I can also remember renting a scooter without having to produce any form of driving licence.

The bannk a good thing Showing up and getting a scooter with no DL or any idea how to drive NOt so good

[natway09]

How about walking down the gangplank, shown into a little room & smoking opium in 1968.

They had about 12 boats lined up along the river. Ceased to exist late 69 or early 70 I think.

We all sent our passports down to Malaysia with our "agent" for a new exit & entry stamp.

Funny one in later years, the boiler room boys from Australia used to send their PP to a consulate in

Canberra, I think for new visas. All was well until some "hawkeye" in Immigration noticed no entry

stamp into Thailand.

One time my PP did not come back from down south & much to my consternation this dragged on for weeks.

Finally it turned up in one hell of a mess.

Finally they told us that the guy who had them in his possession got caught in the floods & his young kid slipped from his grasp. In his haste to grab the kid the passports (12 of them in a bag) got dropped into the water.

The only two readable stamps in the PP ,,,,,,, exit Malaysia & entry Thailand.

I ironed the pages & told Immigration went through washing machine, he said where, I said Malaysia.

As I worked in Malaysia sometimes & had a factory in Ipoh I got away with it.

These days I would have been stuffed

Still got the PP

[Kinok Farang]

Never came straight back from a visa run.Always had a weeks hol wherever i went.

Great days and 72 baht to the pound.Win Win.

[Thingamabob]

On 2/18/2025 at 9:39 PM, swissie said:

Recent Visitors/long term Expats may not know this. There was a time in Thailand where a "long-term" visa consisted of a monthly "border-run" to Cambodia. To be repeated endlessly, having fun on the monthly run, a change of pace. That was the "long-term-visa" for everybody.

 

The only persons that asked you "where you come from and how long you stay" where the bar-ladies. Immigration was not interested in such trivial things. One could have rented a car with a drivers licence of eastern Timbuktu. The word "feminism" was known, but interpreted as "a female must look as female as possible". Hotel clerks mostly unfamiliar with the western ABC.  Everyone welcome with some kind of stamp on some strange paper. That was a long time ago.

And today? A strict visa concept. Farangs having to pay taxes. Tel-Phone SIM Cards readable by "authorities". Hurdles to even open a bank account? While at the same time "property -rights" for Farangs have not been "liberalised". For example.

Boy, those were the days, when the only worrie a Farang had, was to miss the monthly mini-bus to the Cambodian border. Days gone by.

 

Going back to 1962, when I first arrived, rules regarding foreigners in Thailand were always enforced.

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

The bannk a good thing Showing up and getting a scooter with no DL or any idea how to drive NOt so good

Want to bet on how many Thais driving cars and scooters DON'T have licences?

[Colabamumbai]

On 2/18/2025 at 9:39 PM, swissie said:

Recent Visitors/long term Expats may not know this. There was a time in Thailand where a "long-term" visa consisted of a monthly "border-run" to Cambodia. To be repeated endlessly, having fun on the monthly run, a change of pace. That was the "long-term-visa" for everybody.

 

The only persons that asked you "where you come from and how long you stay" where the bar-ladies. Immigration was not interested in such trivial things. One could have rented a car with a drivers licence of eastern Timbuktu. The word "feminism" was known, but interpreted as "a female must look as female as possible". Hotel clerks mostly unfamiliar with the western ABC.  Everyone welcome with some kind of stamp on some strange paper. That was a long time ago.

And today? A strict visa concept. Farangs having to pay taxes. Tel-Phone SIM Cards readable by "authorities". Hurdles to even open a bank account? While at the same time "property -rights" for Farangs have not been "liberalised". For example.

Boy, those were the days, when the only worrie a Farang had, was to miss the monthly mini-bus to the Cambodian border. Days gone by.

 

Thailand since 1971, retired heroin smuggler. 

[Suetape]

On 2/18/2025 at 10:13 AM, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Wasn't you also able to just give your passport to the driver and he would take your PP to the border and they  stamped out and back into Thailand ?

   You didn't even have to leave the beach .

This was before photo technology 

That’s exactly what my wife did when we lived in Pattaya 1969/70.  The Chief of Police handled it for us.  

[swissie]

On 2/19/2025 at 1:16 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

@swissie so, what do you think about immigration control at home, wherever you come from.

Do you think everybody should be let into the country, no regulations, etc.?

Or do you want strict control for those foreigners?

 

I think we should be consistent with our ideas. The idea that Thailand should let all foreigners do what they want but back home foreigners should not be allowed is a little inconsistent, don't you think? 

A Farang, Tourist or long-termer has to pay his way in Thailand. No welfare programs for Farangs.

 

Immigrants (refugees) entering Europe can hop on welfare programs from day 1. It's the money that makes them come to Europe, not the pleasant winters. Besides, most have no marketable skills and hardly ever learn the language. The European voter is getting tired of this kind of "welcome culture".

 

That's the little difference that makes all the difference.

 

[swissie]

On 2/19/2025 at 4:03 AM, Yagoda said:

My memories:

 

No BTS or MRT

No meters in Taxis

Rickshaws and Tuk tuks

No roof on Nana

Beer bars down by the tracks\

The Boss in Thermae had black hair and more of it, and you could use the back door.

No Terminal 21, no Icon Siam, no Emporium or Emquartier, among others

Electronics mall in Pratunam.

No Swampy, you came in at DMK

Good looking girls at BJ bars

"Good Looking girls at BJ Bars".

 

BJ Bars were the greatest invention since the invention of sliced bread. Just imagine: Sitting at the bar, sipping a beer, waching a soccer game on TV while enjoying a BJ. Ahhh, the good old days.

[SteeleJoe]

On 2/18/2025 at 10:19 AM, Harrisfan said:

What if they lose it?

You got a new one I suppose. I, and everyone I knew, did it countless times without a passport going astray (that I ever heard of).

[SteeleJoe]

14 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Going back to 1962, when I first arrived, rules regarding foreigners in Thailand were always enforced.

Going back to 1982,when I first arrived, that was not at all the case.

[OneMoreFarang]

11 hours ago, swissie said:

A Farang, Tourist or long-termer has to pay his way in Thailand. No welfare programs for Farangs.

 

Immigrants (refugees) entering Europe can hop on welfare programs from day 1. It's the money that makes them come to Europe, not the pleasant winters. Besides, most have no marketable skills and hardly ever learn the language. The European voter is getting tired of this kind of "welcome culture".

 

That's the little difference that makes all the difference.

 

 

I don't have the numbers, but I remember reading articles that end the end of the day many immigrants in Europe do actually work and pay taxes. And because many of them are young they help to keep the pensions going.

 

I think many European politicians have basically two choices: Let the foreigners in or reduce the pensions, increase the retirement age, etc.

The voters don't want A and they don't want B. But in reality, they have to accept that having everything just doesn't work.

 

I think it is obvious that many foreigners in Thailand work without work permit or have not really enough money to retire here and pay hospital bills, etc. In other words, they are illegal in Thailand - but obviously they want to stay here. But back home, ... 

 

[JamesPhuket10]

22 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

It makes sense that you would be seeing the Russians in the luxury stores, since Russian friends of mine tell me that the vast majority of Russians earning above 60,000 euros a year are involved in crime. 

 

A few guys have told me all Thai women are the same, they are all just after our money, so as someone told me,  it must therefore be true using your logic, they said you not only have to pay for the woman but you have to support their family as well.

 

Well, that has not happened in my case, but it must be true though because someone said it. 

 

I never take anyone's opinion on anything, I always cross-check it. 

 

[BritManToo]

11 hours ago, swissie said:

A Farang, Tourist or long-termer has to pay his way in Thailand. No welfare programs for Farangs.

Why the obsession with white folk?

2x anti-white racial slurs in one sentence!

[Thingamabob]

3 hours ago, SteeleJoe said:

Going back to 1982,when I first arrived, that was not at all the case.

Fair enough, but not in my experience.

[JamesPhuket10]

55 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

I don't have the numbers, but I remember reading articles that end the end of the day many immigrants in Europe do actually work and pay taxes. And because many of them are young they help to keep the pensions going.

 

I think many European politicians have basically two choices: Let the foreigners in or reduce the pensions, increase the retirement age, etc.

The voters don't want A and they don't want B. But in reality, they have to accept that having everything just doesn't work.

 

I think it is obvious that many foreigners in Thailand work without work permit or have not really enough money to retire here and pay hospital bills, etc. In other words, they are illegal in Thailand - but obviously they want to stay here. But back home, ... 

 

 

True.

 

I know hundreds of immigrants who came to the UK from East Africa in and around 1972, they were mostly Asian Indians who were being forced out of the country.

 

Many of them set up their own businesses and worked hard and the next generation became doctors, accountants, and all sorts of professionals, now their children are being well educated and will go onto good jobs.

 

I think 50% of the national health service in the UK is staffed by immigrants or children of immigrants. 

 

I do not support the current illegal immigrants who come in on boats from France, I  thought we had to help people who came to the country while escaping a dangerous country, but I don't think France is particularly dangerous. 😃

[kingstonkid]

16 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Want to bet on how many Thais driving cars and scooters DON'T have licences?

Thais I thought we were talking about tourists

[JamesPhuket10]

17 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Want to bet on how many Thais driving cars and scooters DON'T have licences?

 

I saw lots of Thais yesterday as I was stopped at a red traffic light outside a school.

 

I saw quite a few schoolgirls getting onto motorcycles, four on each bike, I asked my partner how old they were and she said about 15 years old, hence no driving licence, they must do it every day. 

 

Oh yes and none of them were wearing crash helmets. 

[JamesPhuket10]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Why the obsession with white folk?

2x anti-white racial slurs in one sentence!

 

Yes, that is the best policy and that is why they leave us alone as almost all of us are paying our way and not scrounging from Thai society. 

[Jim Blue]

You left out the most important thing.5 How much did a beer cost ?

[Hanuman2547]

Back in the day you would only get a 14 day VOA (visa exempt) if you were from one of the "privileged" countries.  Everyone else had to get a visa.  

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

I saw quite a few schoolgirls getting onto motorcycles, four on each bike, I asked my partner how old they were and she said about 15 years old, hence no driving licence, they must do it every day. 

You can get a d/l for a scooter in Thailand when you're 15!

My daughters government school took the whole class to get theirs as a school trip.

[richard_smith237]

24 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You can get a d/l for a scooter in Thailand when you're 15!

My daughters government school took the whole class to get theirs as a school trip.

 

I can't tell if this is 'gone native good thing' thinking or if you are highlighting the ridiculousness of a school being complicit in ensuring a whole class of 15 year olds will be riding motorcycles...