Stickman

I wonder if Immigration has come to realise that there are some retirees getting this declaration from the embassy who don't actually have the 65,000 baht + per month income they purport to have. MANY stories of folks getting retirement visa extensions but they barely have a pot to piss in. There has long been a flaw in the system whereby all you had to do was make a (false) declaration at your embassy to get a letter which Immigration accepted. Maybe that's where the problem comes from?

Brad, just his normal extension. He said you have to go to the Ministry of the Interior, which is in another building at Jaengwattana. The Ministry needs to verify that your embassy statement is genuine! Supposedly takes six hours. That means more running around and maybe two days instead of one. As I said, he lives in Nonthaburi (retired US military officer). No idea if it's nationwide or just his office, but it sounds crazy. I keep 800,000 baht sitting in a Thai account drawing ridiculously low interest, so I wonder how this will affect me.

 

I don't have to renew for a while yet, so hopefully the dust will settle before I have to go there.

If only it were that simple. Governments are made up of people - and people often have their own agendas. People may be dishonest, corrupt.etc. Citing the war on terror has become this big catch-all that governments attempt to use to persuade the ignorant masses that extending their powers and eliminating your privacy are entirely justified. I am not convinced by the governments' claims.

This is a no-brainer. The Government should have access to your smart phone in certain cases such as this, involving terrorist acts. Look at safe deposit boxes, which one may think is very private; but the Government can get access to them. If one commits a terrorist act, the government can do things like body cavity searches -- how's that for lack of privacy.

The signature I had at my Farangland bank dates back to the mid '80s. When I was in there recently they asked me for a new sample and the new and the old bore no resemblance whatsoever. That said, you hardly sign for anything in banks here these days - everything seems to be electronic, even within the branches.

Very sad indeed. Nice guy, always fun, always smiling.

It's the lead item on a major New Zealand news site this morning.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/76600297/unusual-suspects-kiwi-among-elderly-tourist-bridge-players-arrested-in-thailand

FWIW, the Pattaya Addicts forums sends out a reminder email every month telling members to go to Pattaya Addicts, click on a link for Agoda and then make the booking to ensure Pattaya Addicts gets the commission. It does not result in a higher cost or anything like that and Pattaya Addicts gets the commission. No reason why you cannot do the same.

My understanding is that Agoda changed the cookie settings. In the past when you clicked on a link through to Agoda from this site, a cookie was stored on the user's computer. It remained for however long and so long as that person made a booking on Agoda within the period of time that the cookie was still there, you, as the webmaster, received a commission. However, my understanding is that now there are no commissions so the only way you get a commission is if someone clicks through to Agoda from a link at this site and makes the reservation there and then. If they log off and come back later in the day, or the next day, then you don't get a commission. A number of webmasters were up in arms over this when the policy changed, which I think was a number of months back.

I get the feeling that some people are frustrated that some things which should really improve haven't, and some have in fact got a lot worse. I also get the feeling that the investigation in to the murder of the two Brits on Ko Tao and the outcome was a catalyst for a lot of the anger being shown by foreigners.

For me, personally, I lived in Sukhumvit soi 16 for years and I used to walk through the Asoke intersection every day and I used to get stopped by police all the time and hassled - and saw the same happening to many others. That really put a downer on things for me and while there was no single reason that caused me to eventually say, "I've had enough, I am out of here", there were a lot of contributing factors and this sort of thing and the feeling of general unease I had simply because I was a foreigner was amongst them.

What is it with oil and gas industry workers earning shitloads of money but often being broke? Admittedly, I don't know that many guys who work in the industry but if there is one commonality amongst those I do know it is that they make a lot of money - tends to average out at close to $200,000 per year...but they never seem to have money and it's not like they're asset rich either. A couple of mentioned to me what you say here - that contracts are much harder to come by and the contracts they do take up don't pay anything like they used to. One mate used to earn $1,000 a day and now earns $600 per day. I'd be delighted with that sort of money and if I earned anywhere near that I'd have gazillions stashed away....but some these guys seem to never be more than 3 months away from being totally broke. What gives?

There are now unprecedented lay offs amongst contact staff, the Likes of SHELL and BP have put numerous multi billion dollar projects on hold.

 

30 months ago I chose to take a drop on income and ride out the recession in Vietnam, at the time my co-workers thought I was insane, but even this year I have received 10 emails from ex co-workers begging for a job over here, nice guys etc but it is a dog eat dog world and I am the meanest pup of them all, som nam na fuck them.

 

This will have a knock on effect in Thailand, due to my line of work the majority of people I know in Thailand rely on O&G work and once the work dries up many of them will be skint and will have to return to their home countries

 

Melly Chris-a-mut!

I note they raided two venues, Sensations and 808. 808 has had problems with the police before but I never heard of anyt problems at Sensations. Was this as much about making a statement at the venues concerned as much as anything, I wonder?

I'm not sure how much longer the V8 Diner/Insanity has their lease on the building - but looks for sure like a smaller footprint on that corner than would fit a full size hotel. (Corner of Soi 12 / Sukhumvit)

The operators of V8 / Insanity are conresting their lease which ended and are trying to remain there for a few more years. The lease actually ran out at the end of March, but they want to stay there as long as possible. An office building is planned for that spot.

It's a lovely town and I particularly like the river-front road and promenade. It's in the Isaan region but it doesn't feel like Isaan. The small town actually felt quite prosperous to me (unlike a lot of smaller towns in the region).

I made two visits there and found it rally relaxing. It's pretty in a similar way to downtown Nongkhai, but less harried, fewer people and less going on.

50 km south of the provincial capital is Pra That Phanom, a magnificent temple that can wow even those who feel that when it comes to temples they have seen them all.

I agree with the recommendation for Summer Breeze - good location and very well run by a very nice American - and it's where I always stay when I am in Phuket.

Here's an interview with the owner of Summer Breeze: http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2013/Phuket-farang-hotel-owner.htm

I haven't been to a DC since late last year, but let's just say they are rather spicier than they were in the past.

If I have one piece of advice, it is this: Get there early!

The last two DCs I went to late last year saw the bar full at 7:30 - and I mean so full that even standing room was tight. So get there at opening time if you want to get a seat!

I have two friends I want to take a long this time who weren't here then, so I hope they get to experience what it was like back then.

Which is great because the less time I have to spend in the Netherlands the better!

 

Is the Netherlands really that bad? Ok, so it's 25 years since I was there but it was one of my favourite countries in Europe with much to like about the place and the people.

11 bullets was crazy. In typically PC New Zealand I almoist swore at the TV when a police spokesman came on and said a cow walking down the road is a danger to the general population.

Just about, except that the airlines have all started playing revenue management games that make it essentially impossible to get a flight ANYWHERE with miles.

This guy manages to travel a lot on mileage schemes and whatnot:

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/ben-schlappig-airlines-fly-free-20150720

Hello, stickman really left ? do we know the reason ? Thanks.

This article from a couple of months ago explains the reasons I left Thailand: www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2015/StickmanBangkok-Not-The-End.htm

There is a clue in the name of the mountain.....

Not just yet...

Did stickman pass away?

Drove past there about 2 hours ago!

General HappyFace would probably rather just shoot them all, but that might be problematic...

VERY unlikely to be extradited.

Can't say I have ever had a dump in public....so it must have been Coss.