Remember the olden days in Thailand?

[olongapo]

And no Russians or indians .

[NoshowJones]

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.

 

When I first came here about 20 years ago, it was a 90 day border run (In my case your nearest border) to get your passport stamped. Cost 500Bt. Not every month.

 

[beecher]

No border runs to Cambodia in the old days. In 1993 on a visit to Trat took a long tail to Koh Kong. ฿100  for a slip of paper to enter.  Not much there. Mostly brothels on stilts over the water Spent the day eating grapes and drinking U N beer until we were advised by the U N best to return before dark