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MrWorldwide

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Posts posted by MrWorldwide

  1. When one rides enough VIP buses in Thailand no wonder some come to consider themselves as VIP's.

    Buses ? That's crazy talk - you can be a VIP here for a lot less. And you will have left Thailand, keeping this discussion within the parameters of this crazy thread.

    DSC09256.jpg

  2. I use Emirates Bangkok lounges theyre ok

    Does Emirates fly BKK to Cambodia?

    More importantly, is Cambodia West of Thailand?

    The sentence should have read 'Bangkok might only be an hour west of Phnom Penh' but I guess I'll have to cop it sweet for that error. Fortunately, the pilot had a significantly better understanding of geography and I'm not in Burma.

  3. I was fine till i fired off a couple of farewell texts - who knew moving an hour West would still feel like I was facing another long haul back to sydney.

    Thank you Thailand for everything you've given me over many trips, good and bad.Hopefully Cambo will mean new faces and new places - bring it on.

    Mate, you moved west. You are in Burma, not cambodia.

    Thanks for the correction - I'd better get to a travel agent and sort this mess out. :D

  4. Good luck finding out if the grass is greener. Feel free to come back and post here anyway. Most people seem to.

    Greener ? No - just a different latitude, er, longitude and hopefully some slightly different attitudes. I contracted chronic food poisoning on my previous trip and I'm hopeful that I can avoid that for the first week in country - about the only observation I can make at this stage is that the traffic is worse than I recall in 2010.

    To those who've wished me well, it's greatly appreciated. No shortage of discussions on TVF re alternatives to Thailand and its amazing how close 'Utopia' is when someone starts waxing lyrical about their favoured destination : suddenly it's 'just like Thailand 30 years ago'. Right ..... ;)

    Out of respect for sheryl, the SiemReaper and others who contribute longterm perspectives to the Cambodia forum, I'm going to try to keep my thoughts to myself for the first month. If I fade completely, so much the better - IMO, this is a board about life in Thailand primarily for people who still live there.

  5. I was fine till i fired off a couple of farewell texts - who knew moving an hour West would still feel like I was facing another long haul back to sydney. That said, I know that change wont get any easier as i get older and this move is at least 6 months overdue.

    Thank you Thailand for everything you've given me over many trips, good and bad. No other country leaves me feeling this despondent when it's time to leave. i wont miss the negatives but that isnt what i'll be focussed on tonight in my PP hotel room. Hopefully Cambo will mean new faces and new places - bring it on.

    Happy trails,

    MrWW

  6. I know two Aussies who are desperate to get the visas for their Thai GFs to relocate to Australia, but neither of the guys has any apparent interest in living here and one of the ladies is making noises to the extent that she's just fine with the current sponsorship arrangement and has no intention of moving to Oz. Smart girl, IMO - he's a possessive sod who cant seem to make it to 5pm without getting hammered when he's in Pattaya and drones on about how much he hates his job : hardly the formula for longterm bliss but that's too far OT so I'll leave it there.

  7. At no stage did I mention renewing anything. My extension of stay was granted on the understanding that I report to Immigration once every 90 days and submit a form basically confirming my address - that's it - but when I got on a flight to Japan last November and returned to Thailand, that 90-day period started from the day I landed at Swampy, and after I did my report in Feb the next reporting date was May 5 : a normal sequence of events, but at that stage I had never missed a reporting date.

    If I flew out on May 5 and returned May 10, I believe my next reporting date would have been somewhere in early July - beyond that, I would have been back at Immigration in December to apply for another extension of stay based on retirement. Instead, it seems that I'll be giving some nice man in Cambodia a little under 300 USD on the expectation that he'll give me a 12-month Business visa - chok dee, right people ? :D

  8. Good to see they also explained how NOT to wear a helmet - as displayed by the model in the middle.

    They are not models but a Korean pop band who are trying to stop the road carnage. I say good on them. If this works then well & good.

    I thought it was just their schtick for 'Bar Bar Bar' - kinda weird to see them continuing to wear the helmets in vids other than their big hit. Still, if that's what it takes to get the kids' attention, all power to the people who decided to get them onboard.

  9. Thanks for the feedback, all - at this stage, I dont intend coming back to Thailand between now and when my extension of stay expires in September (moving to Cambodia for the forseeable future), and I should have made that clear in the OP : just wanted to see if I might be able to get out of the country without Immigration trying to fine me. It's a small fine, admittedly, even with another 400 baht on top of the 2000 baht they start with but if people were leaving the country after overstaying 10+ years (!) for nothing more than a 20K fine, I thought it was reasonable that they would let me leave without questioning my 90-day status.

  10. OP, go back and look at the history of Thailand over the last 10-15 years and ask yourself if you can honestly compare that to the execution of convicted criminals in Indonesia. Those who live here - and that will soon be past tense for Yours Truly - know that the stakes are a lot higher for foreigners in Thailand. I could type up a scenario for a 'perfect storm' here, but I'm sure the same sequence of events has occurred to most who live here on a permanent basis : here's hoping it never comes to that.

  11. OK - tried the online reporting and it told me I had to use IE or piss off - will try again from a net cafe as the only computer I own is a Macbook Pro.

    If I can go back to my OP, this is the 'grace' period I refer to (from the immigration.gov.th website):

    Procedure and notification
    1. The foreigner makes the notification in person, or
    2. The foreigner authorises another person to make the notification, or
    3. The foreigner makes the notification by registered mail.
    4. The notification must be made within 15 days before or after 7 days the period of 90 days expires.
    5. The first application for extension of stay by the foreigner is equivalent to the notification of staying in the Kingdom over 90 days.
  12. Hi All,

    This is my situation:

    - next reporting date is May 5 - a holiday in Thailand this endless long weekend

    - my re-entry permit is valid till 30 Sept 2015

    - I fly out May 7 - within the 7 day 'grace' period but I dont know if that will upset anyone at Immigration when I turn up at Swampy

    From memory, the worst that happens with a late 90-day report is a small fine, but I thought I should check. I admit that I should have done a little more planning around this weekend, but I spent the last week just trying to get everything out of my old apartment and handing it back to the owners : May 5 crept up on me.

    Thanks,

    MrWW

  13. I don't understand when they say the correct license is needed. Sisha is illegal in Thailand. Do the police mean the correct donations are not being paid.

    Precisely. The bars - AFAIK - dont make a satang from the sale of Shisha : the guys who sell it bring the pipe into the bar, collect the money and leave. What really surprises me about it is that many of the biggest 'addicts' are people who dont smoke cigarettes, and many cigarette smokers wont touch it. I've never been a fan of any form of smoking, but I dont find shisha as annoying as cigarette smoke unless its being blown directly in my face.

    The BiB would have recognised this as a solid gold revenue stream from the day the first pipes began appearing in Pattaya and I believe that its no coincidence that the General's crackdown on their revenue raising activities coincided with a jump from 150 to 180THB for a pipe and the tobacco/charcoal etc. Ironically, it seems even more popular with many of the girls when their bars are empty for most of the night than when they're busy - presumably it helps kill time. I've had both sexes tell me it has an aphrodisiac effect and others tell me they get some sort of high from it - smoking simply doesnt appeal to me but obviously there is a huge market for it.

  14. Chooka/WW: I posted the content below in the other OP, thoughts?

    In today's only Australian national newspaper, The Australian, is a front page report that the current government of Australia last year advised the Australian Federal Police not to take into consideration the death penalty when sharing info on Australians with foreign government agencies. If the report is accurate it stinks of Australian government policy deceit in its dealing with Indonesia over the executions and a blow to the reputation of the PM and Foreign Minister of Australia.

    Its called diplomacy, and if you go back through the history its clear that Canberra has spent a lot of time trying to mend fences with Jakarta after East Timor, Australia's participation in the Coalition of the Willing and other blips on the radar. The billion dollars in tsunami aid was definitely part of that 'fence mending' effort. Threatening that relationship over the fate of drug traffickers in SEA makes about as much sense as losing Japan as a major export market simply because the majority of Australians are appalled by their ongoing attempts to restart commercial whaling. If Indonesians already see Australians as a soft touch after the live export fiasco, images of people burning candles for two convicted drug traffickers in Martin Place are unlikely to improve that perception.

    For one man's view of why this relationship is so important to Australia - and why Indonesia could even be a valuable ally in the 'Asian Century' - read on. Economic growth may have slowed since this was written but he makes some interesting points re the size and power of the RI relative to Australia over the next 80 or so years,

    https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/june/1370181600/hugh-white/what-indonesia-s-rise-means-australia

    • Like 1
  15. The Aussie tabloid media continues to milk this for all it's worth.

    http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/dear-president-widodo/story-fnh81fz8-1227327235382

    My question is simple - if Chan and Sukumaran were both living in a halfway house in Sydney after serving 10 years in an Australian jail for trying to bring 8kg of heroin into the country, would any Australian who had lost someone to drugs give a flying fig about their welfare ?

    Of the original nine, at this stage only Renae Lawrence can expect to be released within the next 10 years - not entirely sure how many Australians particularly want to read her account of life in Indo prisons (Kerobokan 2005-14, then relocated to Bangli), but I believe the remainder of the nine will be completely forgotten. If the Australian media is going to maintain outrage over anything in Bali, it should be the 2002 bombings not a series of arrests in 2005.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Nine

    • Like 1
  16. Why was the bar open at 4am??? Good gosh the owner should be jailed or at least pay 500B! facepalm.gif

    This morning's WS raid didnt even get under way until 5am - I suspect you have a Protestant attitude to nightlife. I dont spend a lot of time in the bars after 3am, but I'm not 25 - some of the under-40s definitely want to keep going till dawn. Both Thai karaoke joints across the road from me go all night - why shouldnt the Farang bars be allowed to do the same, assuming they get the relevant license ? You dont christen a town 'Sin City' then expect everyone to be in bed by 10pm.

    http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/821057-district-licensing-officers-check-late-opening-pattaya-bars/

  17. Just a quick observation - of the Thais I've met, Buddhism is only one part of their religious belief structure. AFAIK, the spirit houses have absolutely nothing to do with Buddhism and shrines like Erawan wouldn't be considered out of place on Bali. I dont know which part of Theravada Buddhism teaches kids about Ganesh or any of the other Hindu Gods, but they all seem happy to wai to the images.

    As I said at the start, I dont want this to be a discussion around religion, but our early indoctrination provides a rich vein for novelists and scriptwriters. If you can grow up believing in a magical elephant, surely you can accept the concept of a man with wings - I guess James Cameron needs to write one into the next instalment of Avatar.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_folklore

    ganesha.jpg

  18. Mr Worldwide,stick to Ghosts, Angels are a long way down the line,at least 3 decades!

    True, but they instantly recognised this image from notorious Japanese horror classic 'The Ring'. As I said earlier, these ladies have absolutely no problem with the demon concept.

    TheRIng.jpg

    Seems men with wings disappeared about the same time as Marvel rejigged Iron Man for the 21st century.

    5ee002a2d31f320cf4fd26210fbc2703.jpg

  19. That was that. It's 5 a.m. Wednesday morning now and I'm expecting the sun to rise soon; so the world in fact didn't end...contrary to what one could have expected from some of the comments here.

    Let's get our priorities sorted, shall we - Pacman vs Mayweather from around 10am Thai Channel 7 : that's something worthy of the hype. This has been dragged out for far too long by a series of inept bureaucrats who couldnt run a chook raffle.

  20. Let the finger pointing begin, and from the man who handed the nine over to the AFP no less .....

    http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/bali-nine-execution-fallout-barrister-bob-myers-says-afp-has-blood-on-its-hands/story-fnh81fz8-1227326038120

    Any lawyer who honestly thought the Australian Federal Police would act in the best interests of a group of alleged drug couriers has to be either naive or high.

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