Somchai Jaidee - Easy Thailand Visa (Page 4)

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Practicalities

Forty-Four Letters and You Only Need Eleven of Them to Read a Thai Street Sign

Thai is not a difficult language to read and it is not written in pictures. It has a genuine alphabet, a genuine spelling system, and it takes a fortnight to stop being afraid of a menu.

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Visas & Immigration

Thailand Needs Two Different Passport Photo Sizes and Nobody Mentions It

One photo size for the embassy, a different one for the airport, and a face-size rule that is checked by eye. Getting this wrong costs an application cycle.

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Visas & Immigration

Thailand Halved Its Visa-Free Stay. Here Is Exactly What Changed.

A friend landed at Suvarnabhumi on 20 September, looked up at the screen above immigration, and found out the thing he had planned three months around no longer existed.

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Street Food

Seven Days in Chiang Mai on 300 Baht a Day

I tracked every baht for seven days in Chiang Mai eating the way a local eats: morning khao kha moo, midday curry, evening noodles. The number that surprised me was not the food. It was the coffee.

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Islands & Beaches

The Islands Nobody Is Talking About (And Three You Should Skip)

Koh Lanta is not a bad island. It is a fully-built resort with a jungle attached, which is a different thing. The mistake is treating it as undiscovered, because a lot of people have.

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Visas & Immigration

Every Country's Thailand Visa, Country by Country

There are 226 countries and territories whose nationals can hold a passport and travel to Thailand, and as of 15 September 2026 they fall into six groups.

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Temples & Culture

The Temples Worth the Train, and the Ones That Are Just a Car Park

There are roughly ten thousand temples in Thailand. You are going to see four of them. Getting those four right matters more than seeing twenty badly.

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Money & Costs

What Thailand Actually Costs in 2026

Every cost-of-Thailand article quotes the same four numbers, and none of them come from anyone who paid rent. Here is a month I actually spent, broken down.

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Visas & Immigration

The Destination Thailand Visa, Explained by Someone Who Has Watched People Get It Wrong

The most common DTV refusal is not a criminal record or a weak employment letter. It is someone opening a savings account in August and applying in November.

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Practicalities

The Arrival Card That Costs Nothing and Stops People at the Border

I have watched a queue of twenty people find out that the arrival card is mandatory, at the counter, with a departure flight in four hours.

Abstract illustration of a suitcase, a motorbike helmet and a temple spire in a calm travel still life, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

Twenty Things Nobody Tells You Before You Land in Thailand

The motorbike rental counter is the most profitable scam in the country and almost everyone gets caught by it, because the warning is always in a language you do not speak at that moment.

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Slow Travel

I Moved to Chiang Mai in the Rainy Season. It Was the Right Call.

Everyone tells you not to come in the rainy season. I came in June because the room was 4,000 baht instead of 9,000, and stayed for two years. The rain is not what people think it is.