sampson

First of all thanks to the OP for his PM's and not to hijack his thread but I thought I would update on my post above. I spent 90 days in Thailand on my METV, went to Cambodia for 6 nights and then came back into the Thailand at the Cham Yeam crossing. I travelled from Phnom Penh to Trat with the same company called Virak Buntham, who I would recommend. Not perfect but OK. Road from Phnom Penh to Koh Kong is rough, mostly dirt and gravel but I guess it's nothing that should put you off. It is a very quiet border, there were around 10 people on the minibus and maybe a couple of other people who made their own way. 1 unofficial guy trying to take over who was friendly with both the Cambodian side and Thai checkpoint crew but I fobbed him off. It took 2-3 minutes to stamp out of Cambodia then walk over to the Thai side, fill out TM6 and then was stamped in without so much as a word from the IO. 7/11 and Amazon on the Thai side and then a 30 minute or so wait for the van for the hour or so trip to Trat. Virak Buntham will take you all the way to Bangkok if you want though. I'd recommend it as a place to cross, it was very easy.

I did this with a Thai lady in 2019 and the price was around 400 baht, no more than 500 baht, so does seem to have gone up a lot. The guy actually dropped us off at her house way out of town for that price too. But you can always say no and walk away if you don't like the price. It's pointless to agree and complain later. I'm pretty sure at the corner where soi farang meets the road that has the hotel Ayotaya that they have the fares published

Congrats on getting back in and not to high jack the thread but .... I am on an METV. Coming to the end of my 60 days + 30 days extension. I want to go to Cambodia or the Phillipines for a week before returning to Thailand for 2 months before going home. I am worried about what might happen on the return to BKK. I stayed around 6 months last year on regular tourist visas too and did get some grilling coming into BKK this time. Am I best returning to Thailand by land or by Chiang Mai or a week out and back to Bangkok by air on my METV will likely be OK?

30k a month rent is a lot in Pattaya unless he's going for something fancy. Most 1 bed apartments are between 8 and 15k. It's funny how on the internet most people claim to have a champagne budget and try to convince you that you need one too, but on the ground all across the places I've stayed in Thailand most people are living off 40-70k baht per month, usually as a couple and happily enough. Your friend sounds like he could do it on 60k to me. There's only one way to find out and that's do a 6 month stint starting as you mean to go on and see what the damage is. Keeping a lump sum in the bank and eroding it is a bad idea though. Best to turn it into a regular passive income and live off that, this may also help with budget management and negate those terrible ideas people have in their first 1 or 2 years in Thailand, usually involving the transfer of wealth to a lady.

Maybe he didn't have a keycard and tried to climb to his room. Sounds more like an accident than somebody who jumped anyway

Great post this. Very good summary of so many Thai village women who seek out foreigners. I have been with women like this myself and I am sure many of us see this everyday with our friends in Thailand. The wife of the OP sounds like she ticks a lot of the boxes. It's so exciting being in Thailand and starting a relationship with somebody totally different to what you have met before, it really is a different world and it masks a lot of the problems for a year or two then all heads south very quickly when you realise the reality. It won't get any better so it is just about doing the best for the kids and self preservation. She probably doesn't want the kids but she will definitely use them to gain a financial advantage. Seek legal advice, I doubt there are too many Czech experts on the forum to help you out. Do not send the kids back to Thailand with her, they will have a very poor future waiting for them. They will grow up with a poor education and the same crappy life skills your wife has. In the cold light of day, when you look at your wife and her family what do you see? That is what your kids will be if you send them to Thailand with her.

Riviera condos seem to have a good reputation and are expensive. Expect very small rooms but high quality amenities. I think you are talking about Ocean Drive here on second road, which is pretty much brand new. There are very few lights on in there at night. If you rent a room in there then there is a good chance it will never have been lived in

Anybody of any nationality can be a director of a UK Ltd company and they can be tax resident wherever they want. The only requirement at all is that it has a UK address

There has been a rise in digital nomads setting up businesses in Dubai, some US states (as a none US citizen) and a few other countries then living in Thailand tax free on elite visas. This setup was promoted in various groups online. The grey area I guess was they weren't supposed to be working but the nature of the work meant if they kept their mouth shut they were OK. The devil will be in the details but sounds like with the double tax treaties in place, most won't caught up in this but those taking advantage of the previously lax system will. The Elite visa was probably too cheap to truly serve it's purpose. Once you throw in all the agents, visa runs and general messing about, it wasn't that much more expensive go Elite as long as you could front the cash.

Took less than 2 weeks from the appointment to delivered to my condo for my Thai lady. Mid August it was.

A friend of mine is very close to his Thai nephew who is dating an Isaan university graduate with a good job in Bangkok. I believe she makes around 40k a month. The sinsod they were asking for was 350k (it was around there if not that exact number), which was a sticking point as they simply didn't have the money. The solution was they lived together without getting married, as they had done for the past 7 years. That might be a solution for them. I know it's hard to agree with sinsod and I wouldn't get involved with it myself, but I do recognise it's not just a scam to rip off foreigners but something that seems to be deeply ingrained in village life especially. The family would probably feel they'd lose face in the village if they married their daughter, who has amounted to something and has good standing, off to an American for less than what a Thai might pay. There are a lot of cross cultural relationship struggles in Thailand and these seem to go on speed if the Thai's are from Isaan. Buyer beware I guess.

Genetically they tend to be smaller and of a slighter build. Some of the Thai guys at my gym are in fine shape, low body fat etc but they struggle to build muscle mass almost to a man. My GF's sister eats like a horse and is 38kg, she is drinking 2 litres of Pepsi most days as well. She is oblivious to any negative health effects this might have. Many of them are getting fat though and when I pick my step daughter up from school seeing obese kids and kids with completely rotten teeth is just normal. They live at 7/11 and the markets selling almost exclusively fried foods, deserts and high sugar drinks. When I walk around these markets with my partner I usually pass on everything, it is just utter junk. They can drink an awful lot of calories and are oblivious to it. Those bubble tea drinks that are everywhere can have 300+ calories and mountains of sugar and are available as little as 20 baht. The lack of education and the convenience of it all is going to really cause a lot of health problems. There are a lot of fat people in the UK but I'd say there is a much higher % of very healthy people too

I don't know the name unfortunately but a friend of mine was "hung out" on one of the large groups after he cheated on his missus. The story wasn't that simple however. He was taken in by her charms but she was fond of a little extra cash on the side if you catch my drift and once he found out he took out his own revenge. She took it very badly and wrote a long post about him which had an enormous amount of engagement on it - running into the tens of thousands of people "liking"/commenting and sharing etc. You have to be very careful if you're messing around these days, in Thailand I think it's more like 3 degrees of separation and if you're hanging around with girls in tourist areas I just assume they all know each other

It is a poor branch of Immigration. Usually there is total confusion and a lot of very rude officers who do not help you in any way. A lot of shouting incoherent instructions and pointing. It looks like as mentioned above, you needed the TM30 form to be completed to get the extension, which I assume is technically the correct protocol. The hotel should have done this for you but many of them don't bother. If you're going to immigration the next day I would always check with the hotel, some will just say "can not" which means they aren't going to do it because they're too lazy. Booking in at a chain style hotel will probably fix this problem and ensure the TM30 is done. Just on a side note, they actually fine people for not having TM30 all the time at Jomtien, usually 800 baht so you actually got off light

Had problems today with my Tourist e-visa. Wanted me to fill in all the supporting document requests, most of it which weren't necessary for a Tourist Visa like an ID card for the Thai national who invited you?? Wouldn't let me proceed without putting something so had to create a PDF saying I was coming as a tourist. Awful website!