Somchai Jaidee - Easy Thailand Visa (Page 6)

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Practicalities

The Thai Phrases That Get You Further Than Google Translate

I have watched a tourist say 'khop khun' nineteen times in a day and still leave Thailand able to buy nothing, argue about nothing and know when a motorbike driver was being polite or sarcastic.

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Slow Travel

Pattaya, Honestly: What the Town Is and Whether You Should Go

I have spent enough time in Pattaya to have an opinion most travel blogs refuse to print: the town is genuinely not for me, and that is a feature.

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Visas & Immigration

The Land Borders to Laos and Cambodia, and Which One to Take

There are six land crossings you can use from Thailand and the differences between them are bigger than the map makes them look. The wrong one costs you a day and a bus ticket.

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Practicalities

Buy the SIM Card at the Airport, Then Immediately Do This

The airport SIM is more expensive than the city SIM by about 40 per cent, and the difference buys you one thing: not missing a flight home because a taxi driver had the wrong number.

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Temples & Culture

You Are Allowed to Talk to a Monk. Almost Nobody Does.

There is a generation of monks in Thailand who were not ordained at twenty and have degrees, and they will happily talk to you for twenty minutes.

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Street Food

Chatuchak Is Not a Market, It Is 15,000 Shops and a Survival Test

Fifteen thousand stalls across a square kilometre, open Saturdays and Sundays only, and the single most common mistake is arriving at three in the afternoon expecting a market and getting a heatwave.

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Practicalities

Thai Massage Is Not a Spa. Here Is What to Ask For.

Two hours, 600 baht, and a person trained in a technique several hundred years old that has nothing to do with relaxing. Getting this wrong is a wasted hour.

Flat illustration of a residence permit card, a bank statement and a pair of sandals on a beach chair, deep teal and gold

Visas & Immigration

Why Most Expats Should Not Get a Thai Retirement Visa

The Thailand retirement visa costs about 65,000 baht a year in government fees, gives you the right to live in the country, and pays a pension you cannot claim from.

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Street Food

Why the 7-Eleven in Thailand Is the Best Chain in the World

In most countries the convenience store is a place you stop because you have no choice. In Thailand it is a genuinely good restaurant, it is everywhere, and it is open when nothing else is.

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Street Food

Khao Soi, and the Eight Other Northern Dishes You Should Eat

Khao soi is the dish Chiang Mai is actually famous for, and the version in the tourism brochure is a coconut soup with a photograph on it.

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Visas & Immigration

Extending a Thai Tourist Visa: The Real Procedure, Step by Step

Two documents, one rubber stamp, a queue at an immigration office that is free, and a 1,900 baht fee. The hard part is not the process, it is the two-week rule and people find out about it on day 58.

Flat illustration of a tuk-tuk driver talking to a traveller near a temple gate, with a shop window behind, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

The Grand Palace Tour Scam, and the Four Words That End It

A man in a white uniform tells you the Grand Palace is closed this morning. He is a driver, working with a jewellery shop, and the script is good.