Francois wrote.
"This is all Jellybean's fault for making an interesting post about his Passport and his eyes."
Now that's banter. See the difference?
Francois wrote.
"This is all Jellybean's fault for making an interesting post about his Passport and his eyes."
Now that's banter. See the difference?
Ah-ha! I knew it, I just knew it, that the disgracefully out-of-control rogue poster Jellybean would get the blame for this outbreak of serial rule breaking.Originally Posted by francois
Any minute now there will be a poll calling for his permanent exclusion from this hallowed forum for the criminally insane.
I did not imagine what havoc this little joke will wreak during my absence.
Lang Suan and Hua Hin, of all places! I'm glad I didn't cross Smiles!
For all those who don't recognize a joke, here again:
Thread starters may derail their topics with impunity. (ChristianPFC the Moderator)LOL
arsenal (January 27th, 2018)
Renewal of my Extension of Stay Visa and my Multiple Re-Entry Permit
Following on from my OP about transferring my visa stamps from my old passport to my new passport, I thought some readers might also be interested in what followed next. I refer to my annual renewing of my Extension of Stay Visa (which I shall refer to as retirement visa from here on in) and my Multiple Re-Entry Permit here in Bangkok.
In years gone by, I chose the option of maintaining 800,000 Baht in my Thai bank account, which must be held 3 months before the visa renewal date. But in recent years I have been running down the assets I hold in Thailand and now I opt for the proof of monthly earnings of at least 65,000 Baht route. This means, in my case, applying in writing to the British Embassy for an official letter confirming my income statement in the form of a P60 (certificate of earnings in the UK). At one time, applicants could visit the embassy to obtain the letter, but now it can only be done by post. It takes around 10 days for the letter to arrive from the embassy, so I had to factor this in to the process. Rather helpfully the embassy allows payment by debit card from my UK bank and thereby saves me using up my precious Thai Baht. It cost £52.00.
Armed with a letter containing a copy of the photo page of my passport, my P60 and the completed embassy application form, I headed for my local post office. Luckily, it was not busy and I was seen promptly by a young male postal clerk. I explained I wanted the letter sent by EMS to the British Embassy, in Bangkok. But instead of simply sticking a stamp on the letter and charging me the fee, the postal clerk proceeded to ask me twenty questions, such as how long had I been in Bangkok and did I have a job etc. I thought perhaps it was part of some security protocol he had to follow. He then surprised me by asking if there was any way he could keep in touch with me. Hmmm . . . this just took a turn for the better, or did it? I handed him one of my cards with my address and telephone number on it, which I had printed at MBK shopping mall.
Later that evening, the postal clerk contacted me on facebook. I don’t think he is gay, just a Thai who wants to practise his English. We agreed to meet for lunch the following Saturday. We had a pleasant enough lunch and a very long chat, but nothing about him indicated he was gay. A friend said I should have asked him, but I don’t know why I didn’t ask. When the bill arrived, I naturally picked it up and paid it, something I normally do when eating with a younger Thai gay guy. But he wanted to pay his share and was quite insistent that we shared the cost. I said he could share the cost next time. And he said he would bring some Thai fruit for me at our next meeting as a thank you for paying the bill.
After lunch he wanted to do something else, but I was not really sure that I wanted to spend more time with him and, to be frank, I wanted to avoid any awkward moments. We did however agree to meet the following Saturday.
This time, I asked if we could meet an hour later to enable me to go to the gym and make it on time for our lunch date. We agreed on a 1:00pm meeting. He arrived twenty minutes late at 1:20pm and handed me the fruit he promised the previous Saturday. Rather oddly, he asked if I was hungry, “Well yes”, I said, “we are about to have lunch, aren’t we?” It turned out he was not hungry, because he had eaten at 12:00pm! Eh? What? Why had he eaten when we had agreed to have lunch together? He said he always eats at 12:00 and was hungry, so he had lunch. Well, no matter how long I live in Thailand I don’t think I shall ever understand Thai logic. We ended up in a cafe drinking smoothies.
He is 24 years old, quite attractive and speaks English very well and I do fancy him a little bit. He could turn out to be a pleasant weekly lunch companion, but I wouldn’t say no to a bit of, how’s your father, but doubt that is on the cards. He had a girlfriend, but she split up with him. He is currently single. It all seems very odd to me, considering our wide age difference and apart from my misjudged encounter with the Hua Hin pool boy, I don’t recall being in a similar situation in Thailand. We are due to meet again next Saturday, but I gently asked him to refrain from eating lunch that day so that we could eat lunch together. I can’t believe I had to even say that to him!
Right, I seem to have been side-tracked from the main thrust of my story. So where was I?
Ah yes . . . After receiving my official letter from the British Embassy I was considering going to the Immigration Office at Chaeng Wattana, in northern Bangkok on Monday. But I thought that maybe Mondays are busier than other days, so best avoided. I have no evidence to substantiate this assumption. And importantly, the Oscars were live on TV from 8:00am on Monday, so that settled it, I would go on the Tuesday.
Ah, but this post is turning out to be longer than I planned and I haven’t even reached the main part concerning my visit to the immigration office, so I think I shall split it into two and continue my story in my next post.
To be continued . . .
christianpfc (March 19th, 2018)
What a lovely piece of writing. I am authorising myself to promote you Mr Jellybean to chief features writer.
Well thank you kindly Mr arsenal, since we are being so formal.
But I must respectfully decline your offer, as I do not consider myself worthy of such a crucial position on this, the most important of the gay Thailand forums.
If I may be so bold, I would humbly suggest you approach, snotface, a member whom I hold in very high esteem. With his proven and much praised high quality writing skills, he would almost certainly bring a considerable amount of authority to such a prestigious post.
Renewal of my Extension of Stay Visa and my Multiple Re-Entry Permit - Part 2
Before I go on to describe what happened on the Day of Days I should like to mention a conversation I had with an Australian friend a week prior to my visit to the Immigration Office in Bangkok. I told him how much I dislike and how much I fret about the day. He enquired if I had ever considered using an agent. I said I had given it some thought, but did not think the cost was justifiable. My friend thought the agent charged around 1,000 Baht. Hmmm . . . I feared it would be much more expensive. My friend got on his ‘phone and called the agent. Within 15 minutes he turned up and, just as I thought, his fees were, for me, excessive. He charged 6,000 Baht, which was more than the cost of the visa and permit, which would cost 5,700 Baht. I politely declined his offer of assistance.
The agents are all too pervasive at Chaeng Wattana, as they pop in and out of the booths with bundles of passports and supporting documents with, for me at least, an irritating air of entitlement. Being so important, they do not need to queue, use tickets or have to wait for hours on end like us mere mortals. Grrrr . . .
Day of Days . . .
The day of the year I most dislike had finally arrived. It did not begin well; I had not checked my file notes about my departure time from 2017 and left far too late at 7:15am.
At Mo Chit, the BTS terminal station in northern Bangkok closest to the Immigration Office; I decided to engage one of the local parked taxi drivers, knowing full well they were more expensive. But I was running late and I did not want to risk hiring a taxi driver who didn’t actually know the route to the Government complex at Chaeng Wattana, or the correct building within the site. I agreed to pay 200 Baht, although he had asked for 250 Baht.
The taxi pulled up at the Immigration Office at 8:25am, just five minutes before it opened. I had arrived too late, the previous year I had arrived at 7:55am, but then I had set off at 6:45am.
There was the most enormous queue! Once inside, I received a ticket for my Extension of Stay Visa ('retirement visa') at 8:55am showing there were 47 people ahead of me (there were only 21 in 2017!). I was not called until 11:00am and handed over my completed form TM7, with photo and supporting documents and paid 1,900 Baht. I knew then it was going to be a long day. I waited until 11:40am before my passport with retirement visa was returned to me.
The Immigration Office closes at 12:00 until 1:00pm for lunch, so I had to attempt a mad dash from the Immigration Office to the down escalator to the lower floor and endeavour to run, at intervals, which because of the bone removal from my hips, is not at all easy these days. It seemed to take forever before I found the copy shop, where I got my new retirement visa copied. Why-oh-why can’t they just copy the new visa at the Immigration Office, charge double the price if necessary? It would save so much effort on the applicant’s part. Grrrr . . .
I then attempted to sprint back to the Immigration Office before it closed for lunch. I made it back with 6 or so minutes to spare. My ticket for my Multiple Re-entry Permit indicated there were 50 people ahead of me! Oh my Lord! I should explain it was necessary to get the ticket before the office closed, otherwise had I waited until after lunch, a new lengthy queue of people arriving for the first time that day would form. So I wanted to avoid having to queue for a second time.
When I returned at 1:00pm, after lunch, I checked the electronic ticket display board and noted that there were only 38 people ahead of me. I estimated I had at least another 2 hour wait ahead of me. I was not called until 2:00pm. It took just a few minutes for the officer to look through my completed form TM8, with photo, supporting passport copies and pay 3,800 Baht. I then waited an hour and 25 minutes until 3:25pm before my passport was returned with the Multiple Re-Entry Permit.
I had been at the Immigration a total of 5 hours 9 minutes, compared with 2 hours 39 minutes the previous year, 2017.
But my bad day was not yet over. Outside, there was a queue of around 60 or more people queuing for taxis! There had been a thunderstorm and a huge downpour earlier in the afternoon and there was no line of taxis waiting. I got chatting with a very friendly American guy and his Thai wife. I said I was thinking about walking out of the Government compound and trying and find the main road. She advised against this action saying it was too far to walk.
And not for the first time did I scratch my head and wonder, why-oh-why had they placed this most important of government offices for foreigners in the middle of nowhere. A place where there are few taxis, a location so far from a Sky train station. A central location would have made more sense or at least a location near a Sky train station, or well serviced by taxis. I am sure if gaybutton was here, he would add it to his ‘I don’t get it’ list.
An occasional taxi did arrive, but the drivers refused to go to the nearest Sky train station, Mo Chit. The Thai lady told me that the immigration staff said no more taxis would arrive, so they were arranging shuttle buses to take us out of the gigantic government compound. The first shuttle-bus arrived at 3:55pm. I was glad I had not attempted to walk, it seemed quite a distance to the main road.
Once outside, I accompanied the Thai and American couple as I had absolutely no idea where I was or in which direction I was heading. Oh my God! To make matters worse, no taxis were stopping, they were all engaged.
I spoke with another two American guys; we spoke about sharing a taxi, i.e. if we could find one!
The Thai lady recommended I take a mini bus to the nearest Sky train station. I did not even know they were public mini-van buses, they looked like ordinary mini-vans and the signage on the window was in Thai script, which I cannot read. A mini-bus stopped, the two Americans boarded the bus, I went to join them, but the Thai lady stopped me, saying the bus did not go to Mo Chit. The Americans were already aboard.
Another mini-bus arrived and the very helpful Thai lady told me that bus would take me to Mo Chit. She spoke with the driver and asked him to let me off at BTS Mo Chit. I was amazed when the driver said the cost was a very low 25 Baht! I arrived at Mo Chit Sky train station at 4:25pm and got back to my condo around 5:20pm. Without the Thai lady’s helpful assistance, God alone knows what I would have done.
But what an exhausting day! Next year, I really must leave earlier at between 6:30 and 6:45am. I would absolutely hate to have to repeat the experience I had this year.
Again, apologies for the length of this post, I hope, at least, that some readers found it helpful.
christianpfc (March 19th, 2018), colmx (March 9th, 2018)
I'm not trying to be helpful here, Jellybean, but didn't you carry a cellphone for keeping your bearing on Google maps and trying out the services of Uber or Grab taxi?
Nice little writing though. I could feel the intensity.
christianpfc (March 19th, 2018)
Jellybean, I suggest the next time you use an agent and skip all the grief. That is what I do.
You must be a psychic, dinagam (see below).
What I did not say in my very long post was that after I was handed my passport at 3:25pm, I then went to the toilet. After the toilet I re-entered the Immigration Office and picked up blank forms TM7 and TM8 for use next year. So by the time I joined the taxi queue it must have been around 3:31pm or 3:32pm and bear in mind I was absolutely exhausted by this time.
It took some time to realise that the few taxis that were arriving were refusing to drive to the Sky train station at Mo Chit. And remember there had been a thunderstorm while I had been waiting to obtain my Multiple Re-Entry permit, so there had been some flooding, which had an effect on the supply of taxis.
And this is where your psychic powers come into play, dinagam, when it looked like I might be waiting some time, I did actually check Google maps on my mobile phone (cell phone), although I could not see it too well, since I did not have my reading glasses on. It was at that point I mentioned to the Thai lady that I might head for the main road and see if I could find a taxi there. As I said in my report, she advised against it, saying it was too far to walk.
And another thing I did not mention, it was at this point my thoughts turned to the SGT posts made by a former member, bruce-nyc, when he advocated the use of Uber taxis in Bangkok. At the time, I dismissed the idea as unnecessary in a place like Bangkok, where I could normally find a taxi within a few minutes. Now I had a change of mind and thought having the Uber app’ would have been very useful in the situation I found myself in. I therefore plan to have the Uber app’ in place by next year as a Plan ‘B’ option and, hopefully, understand the process of ordering a taxi, as I am not familiar with the process.
Another point I omitted in my report was that I noticed there were a few motorcycle taxis turning up. I thought about getting a motorbike out of the government compound and hail a taxi on the main road. I told the American guy what I intended doing and asked him to hold my space in the queue. I then walked across to the area where the motorcycles were pulling up. There was a small queue. I had hardly been there a few minutes when the friendly Thai lady approached me from the main taxi queue and told me the there would be no more taxis and the immigration staff were arranging a shuttle-bus to take us to the perimeter of the government compound. So I rejoined the main taxi queue. Shortly thereafter the shuttle-bus arrived and we boarded, although many in the queue did not realise what was happening.
This whole process took no longer than say, 23 or 24 minutes.
And once outside I simply followed the American and his Thai wife as we turned right outside the compound and climbed the stairs to the pedestrian bridge that crossed the main road, so that we were heading in the right direction. Almost everyone on the bus followed us.
Happily, I was in good hands with the Thai lady, who spoke excellent English, and did not wait too long before she arranged for me to board the mini-bus. I was at BTS Mo Chit an hour after obtaining my passport.
Grab taxi is a business I have not heard of, so will have to do some research, but assume it is similar to Uber. And I have no idea how quickly an Uber taxi would be available in such an out of the way place as the Immigration Office in Chaeng Wattana. I suspect only a member who has used Uber to pick them up at the Immigration Office can answer that question.
Lastly, the best solution for next year, as I see it, is to ensure I arrive at the Immigration Office 30-45 minutes before it opens and hopefully have both my visas sorted before the office closes at 12:00pm. This is what I did in 2017 and 2016, the two years for which I have been maintaining detailed records.
You may have noticed in my preamble, in post #36, françois, that I did have a chat with an agent, the same one my Australian friend in Bangkok uses. I did say I thought 6,000 Baht was expensive, but I also think it is extortionate considering the two visas cost 5,700 Baht. And, besides, the applicant still has to be present. The only benefit for me would be a shorter waiting time and does not, in my view, justify paying a further 6,000 Baht on top of the 5,700 Baht visa charges.
Completing the paperwork is no problem, it is all very straightforward. It is the time taken that I found was a problem this year. I did notice that there was fewer staff on duty at the Multiple Re-Entry Permit section than I recall seeing in previous years.
And you are in the enviable position in Pattaya, françois, of having an immigration office situated in a location that is easily accessible by public transport. And, as you know, I had to use the Pattaya Immigration Office on one occasion, to carry out my 90 day sign-in. It was nowhere near as busy as the Bangkok office and I took a motorcycle taxi there and either took another motorcycle taxi back to my hotel or took a sxng-tєєo, I can’t remember now, but I found it very easy to return to my hotel.
As I said to, dinagam above, the solution is to arrive at the immigration office significantly earlier than I did this year and have an Uber app’ on my ‘phone in case there is a dearth of taxis. Then again, I may find myself living in Pattaya this time next year and all will be plain sailing.
I haven't used Uber but I have used Grab in similar circumstances at the Immigration Office in Chaeng Wattana - late afternoon, no taxis arriving etc
the app showed many cars available and they allocated the closest who unfortunately was on the other side of Chaeng Wattana road and it took him 20 minutes in traffic to get to the nearest U-turn and get back and into the complex and down to Immigration but he did keep in contact to assure me he was coming and the rest of the taxi crowd were jealous when he turned up and I got in leaving them stranded with still no other taxis arriving
and like you I am usually not in a good mood after wasting/spending hours at the Immigration Office and I find the difference in price v's the difference in comfort and convenience for a taxi to Mor Chit then Skytrain to SIlom then a walk v's a taxi straight to my place in the Silom area makes the Skytrain option hard to justify - particularly as it is only once a year for the extension, but "your mileage may vary" and I am sure some here would not agree with this laziness and flagrant waste of money, there are after all non-air-con bus options that will cost less than 30 Baht for what could be a 3 hour journey during afternoon peak hour - at my age personally I just couldn't be bothered!
Grab, like Uber, offers many types of service, but one of their options actually uses licensed Bangkok taxis with licensed drivers if that consideration is important to you, and their corporate philosophy does appear to be slightly less toxic - but again "your mileage may vary" with that
bkkguy
Jellybean (March 10th, 2018)
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