jrmaanda

Thank you Mike. I'm trying out your idea.

Thanks Mike, That's what I suspected. They are trying to force me to pay for their exchange service. Their exact wording is " SWIFT CODE : REVOFRP2 can only transfer from Thai Baht into foreign currency and the offshore bank does not Thai Baht account with Bangkok Bank." But if they say "no", what on earth can I do?

Until a few years ago, if one wanted to convert a large sum of money between currencies, say over the equivalent of about one million baht, most banks worldwide would do so at a reasonable rate (typically about 0.3% between buying and selling rates) instead of the grossly rapacious tourist rate (at least 2% between buying and selling rates). Now the only bank I happen to know of anywhere that will exchange at the old honest rate is Revolut. I need to transfer 20 million baht from a Thai stockbroker to any bank in Europe. Before, the broker's bank would have done this at an at least bearable rate, but no more. It would cost at least 200,000 baht. So I set up a multi-currency account with Revolut in France, Euros, £ and baht. I sent £ to it from Britain with no problem. Now I've asked my Thai broker to send baht to it and they claim they cannot because its SWIFT code is denominated in Euros (in which case, how could the British bank manage it?). If anyone has experience of this or can offer a solution, I'd be extremely grateful to hear from them.

I've often wondered about this too. However, one difficulty, given that Pheua Thai has now confirmed its sole purpose has always been to bring back Thaksin, is that once Thaksin is in Thailand, he will be a hostage to his party's deal with the establishment. Even when he's been granted a royal pardon, they can always arrange for other charges to be brought against him (versus quash them if Pheua Thai sticks to its deal with them).

I am due to do a 90-day report on 11 April, but will be leaving the country on 14 April. Can anyone tell me for sure if I have to do the report or can I safely skip it?

Many thanks. Passport British, with French carte de séjour. Original two vaccinations in France, Pfizer. Booster in Thailand: Moderna.

I have paper and digital versions of two Covid vaccinations in France and a booster in Thailand (registered with Mor Prom), but they cannot be combined, or not at least while I'm in Thailand. Can anyone reassure me that I'm not going to have trouble with airline officials in Suvarnaphumi or French immigration?

Thanks for giving me such a full reply. It is not so much that I insist on European style, as that I insist on looking pre-19th century, as I find modern architecture hideous. I've already experimented here with traditional (wooden) Thai architecture and 17th-century European brick, and found the latter much better for comfort and maintenance. I am absolutely keen on adaptation to tropical conditions, but hope to do so without compromising exterior aesthetics. But I don't know how to do so in any detail. No, because I don't want anything modern in any national style. Yes, as with the similar kind advice of AJBangkok, you have here opened me up to possibilities that hadn't occurred to me before, and that I must explore. Thank you.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the traditional Thai way"? My understanding of that expression is a wooden house on stilts. I've already built two little houses that way, one in Lanna style and one central Thai, and I personally think they both look superb, but they leave a certain amount to be desired in terms of comfort. I've also built a smallish house modelled on a 17th-century English gate-house, which worked out well, but it was fairly simple and my craftsman employee "got" it. But my new project is much bigger and this time I know I'm not up to designing it: I'm much too ignorant to avoid serious mistakes. Can you explain a little more why you think a Thai builder wouldn't be able to cope if he had clear instructions from a competent architect?

So where should I look for a good one?

Yes, you are right of course. I must confess I haven't made up my mind on anything specific beyond the requirement that it look pre-19th century (I stress "look" only for the poster who sees inconsistency in my wanting electricity and plumbing). Beyond that, my mind is open, and something hybrid might suit Chiangmai better. Thanks for your kind good wishes. I expect I'll need them.

Can anyone recommend a good architect near Chiangmai, or at least give me advice on how to find one? I may need a rather unusual one as it is for designing a house that will be 17th or 18th century European in appearance. I wouldn't need him to take charge of interior decoration (I already employ a skilled craftsman full-time), and he wouldn't need to speak English fluently (I can speak Thai). But I badly need: - Someone who can advise on and probably take charge of electricity, lighting, plumbing, drainage, ventilation etc. - Someone to draw up plans that would be accepted by the local planning authorities, and possibly for other purposes. - Someone with wide knowledge of how and where best to order the materials needed (excluding the stone and brick to be used for the walls), ideally including knowledge of how to obtain some materials from abroad that can't be found here. I'm afraid I don't even know where to start looking, and I got badly cheated when I tried to find something like this twenty years ago.

Thank you FalangTingTong. Can anyone who has received a booking confirmation from Elegant Hotel please tell me what they filled in for "Booking ID" on the Thailand Pass website? I can't see anything that corresponds to this and dare not simply hazard a guess.

Please could you tell me exactly you booked with them? Did you telephone or did you fill in their online form and wait for them to e-mail you? Could you have paid them by credit card?

Thank you both very much. Does it matter that the "EU Digital Covid Certi ficate" does not have (in addition to the date of the first vaccination) my passport number. (The Thailand Pass website says "The certificate of vaccination should include your personal information for identification such as your full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number and vaccination details.")

Please can anyone who has used an "EU Digital Covid Certificate" please tell me what exactly they uploaded to the page of https://tp.consular.go.th/en/registration where it asks for vaccination details? I would be very grateful, as I don't dare buy flights etc when it's possible I will be refused the Thailand Pass because I uploaded the wrong things. They seem to want at least three different papers, including one that gives the date of first vaccination. But I only have one paper, the one with a QR code titled "EU Digital Covid Certificate" given to me after the second vaccination, and it does not give the date of the first vaccination

I should consider sending your 17-year-old on a short trip to France, where they've been double-vaccinating children of 12 to 17 since June, free (including tourists). That's where my 17-year-old got it done.

As the original poster, I should in fairness add that while I stick to my criticism of the website as inexcusably user-unfriendly (after having had ages to get it right), I should imagine that is no fault of the London Thai Embassy, which I have been finding superlatively efficient so far in dealing with my application. For example, I got prior approval at 11 pm on a Sunday night, only 11 hours after my application.

Thank you, everyone who has replied to my post. As regards getting the website to give its automated acceptance of the application, John435 had the answer, also stumbled on by my son after lengthy googling. It would be superfluous to comment further on such a user-unfriendly website which has been given such vital importance. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the website does say "Certificate of vaccination shall include personal details (full name, date of birth, nationality and passport number [emphasis added])", so I remain very worried that my application will finally be rejected. Can anyone reading this whose vaccination certificate did not include a passport number please confirm that they have been either granted or refused a Certificate of Entry by the London Thai Embassy, and/or allowed/refused entry by immigration in Phuket airport? Aussierooming, is there any chance you could give me a link to one of the Facebook groups you mention, as I may well find myself in need of one?

I am trying desperately to return home to Thailand via the Phuket Sandbox from London, from which it appears absolutely essential to obtain a Certificate of Entry from the Royal Thai Embassy there. I have tried carefully seven times to register with them, and each time, after checking meticulously that all was in order so far as it could be, my application has resulted in a demand to upload my vaccination certificate, which had of course already been painstakingly done. Naturally, not the slightest explanation is given as to why my upload has been implicitly rejected, but i have noted that the website demanded that the upload include passport details. I must admit that my vaccination certificate (the European Union's standard "EU Digital Covid Certificate" obtained through vaccination in France) does not include this, but then, so far as I can gather from googling from images, neither does the standard British NHS certificate. So what the hell do they expect? I find it hard to believe that such a stupid website (I use the term on reflection for one that fails utterly to give a comprehensible explanation for its reactions) is really capable of automatically detecting that passport details are missing from an upload, but i suppose anything is possible. Two years ago, I despaired forever of getting another Thai visa from my birthplace of London when the same embassy's website inexplicably rejected good documents in like manner without intelligible explanation and decided thenceforth to fly especially to Vietnam for a human treatment of my application, but this time there appears to be no other way home. I would be eternally grateful to anyone who can furnish a workable solution.

I am now in France, but hoping to get back to my home in Chiangmai in September, and considering the Phuket Sandbox. Can anyone tell me what my options would be for traveling on to Chiangmai from Phuket, and would it involve quarantining at home when I got there? Are there, for example, trains running from Bangkok to Chiangmai? Also, are there any serious disadvantages to the Phuket Sandbox versus a quarantine hotel elsewhere?