Post deleted by Mat Sklansky

[beats]

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Ok, I think I understand the whole visa renewal/border run/Thai embassy thing once I'm in the country, but will I be fine if I just get the 30-day tourist visa on arrival? I'll be coming in mid-March for about 4 months. Should I try to get a 60- or 90-day visa initially?

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Nope, just show up with your passport.

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If you are in the USA... I would get a tourist visa if it isn't too much of a pain and since you have enough time. If you are in california, you USPS with paid return express your passport to the thai embassy in los angeles and get it back pretty quick with the visa in there. It's not that difficult, just fill out the form, stick a picture on there, money order and you are set. I never had to include copies of my plane tix.

http://www.thai-la.net/consu_info/consu_info.htm

If you don't get a tourist visa, you are going to have to do at least 3 border crossings to stay there for 4 months. they can be a pain in the ass. if you are in Bangkok, the bus takes about 3.5 hours to get to the Cambodian border (closest) then you hang out for a bit, play some roulette and ride back. It pretty much takes up a day to do it. Leave at 9am get back around 6pm. Doing that every 30 days can get old fast.

If you get a 60 day tourist visa from a thai embassy in the USA before you leave, you pay 25$ per entry. you can get a single reentry tourist visa and you don't have to leave thailand for 90 days. After 60 days you go to the immigration office, pay the extension fee 1900 baht and then get 30 days more. usually done in about 20 mins. After that 30 days you could extend for 2 more weeks but at that point it is probably better to just cross a border and get a new 30 day stamp and go from there.

The usual border run/visa run bus services charge 2000baht (about $50) here is one I used to take:

http://www.thaivisarun.com/




Hope you have tons of fun in BKK..have a good trip!

[imthaifool]

Lol @ Degen. So true. So very, very true. Your english will suffer. That's the price you must pay to ship Thailand.

[fish2plus2]

re: respect, if you go to a shopping mall and see a farang with a thai girl, the odds that she is a prostitute are:

Farang over 40 yo = 95% chance
Farang > 30 yo = 80% chance
Farang 20-30 yo = 66% chance

So I think thai people respect farang about as much as you can respect someone walking around a shopping mall with a prostitute.

((im not trying to talk bad about prostitutes. i could really care less; i am just trying to give you a thai person's perspective))

Also, there are millions of farang in thailand. its not like you are a sight unseen - unless you get into the rural regions.

you can discuss all of this boring stuff endlessly on www.thaivisa.com/forum, although the only time i post there is to troll: having a conversation with those guys makes me want to jump infront of the bts.

[Dave_K]

Hey Degen, first off I just wanted to thank you for all your info in this thread and on your blog. Good stuff.

I am thinking of taking the plunge and moving to Thailand and I had a couple questions.

A little background info: I am white. I am from a somewhat well-to-do upper middle class family. I live in Virginia. I drive a new benz (I think the exact same one as you). I am very social. I have tons of friends here in the U.S. I make over 100K a year from poker. I have other business ventures that I am involved in that cause me to travel worldwide about 1/4 of the year.

I also have travelled worldwide extensively and have even lived in India and Pakistan for a total of 2 years on business. So I know what to expect in 3rd world countries. I also understand the power of the dollar and how americans are viewed etc.

There are 2 main issues I am facing.

#1) Thailand vs others (Carribean, Bahamas, Hawaii etc.)

The main thing that thailand entices me with is the value of my money. Having an income of over $100K and living in Thailand I could live very very well. In the carribean, my money is nothing special. Everyone vacationing in the carribean or hawaii has tons of money and things are quite expensive (golf, food, real estate)

However, there are some downsides that I see to Thailand. For example, friends wont be able to visit me as easily as if I was in the carribean. How do you deal with that? I mean do you have friends in the U.S. that you are losing touch with being so far away? I want to get a place that friends want to come visit and the flight price and travel time makes it tough.

I would just appreciate any thoughts you have on thailand vs other closer more expensive resort destinations. I am sure you have put some thought into why you chose thailand over these other places.

Issue #2) If Thailand, what real estate should I get. I have done some looking online and found some houses that I would love that are in my price range.

Here are 2 examples: http://www.siamrealestate.com/proper...age.php?n=1474
http://www.siamrealestate.com/proper...age.php?n=1794

So then the question becomes location. Is having a sweet house like that optimal, or is location more important. Those houses are in Phuket, but should I be looking for something less nice, but right on the beach? I might have some friends moving there with me and people visiting so I want a social place, but something close to some bars and such. Obviously another option would be a condo/apt right in the heart of the action. That would allow us to be closer to everything, but wouldn't be as nice of a place. Do people ever throw parties at their own houses anyways? Or is it pretty much just at bars and clubs?

Anyways your thoughts on location and real estate would be appreciated. Thanks.

[beats]

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Good stuff.

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Here's a random pic from Qbar circa 2004.

Now everyone go on vacation ASAP and party with Degen! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]