Russia would be my 2nd guess, but they're on the list too.

It will probably be based on the time spent in the country (more than 183 days), not on the visa used.

I was watching a YouTube video on the freelance girls (street girls) of Nana Plaza, some looked damn hot. What’s the freelance girl situation like compared to the bar/brothel girls?

Umm, I have not been in these parts for a while but let's just say I have been there more than once and that thought has never crossed my mind. These are often ladyboys or drug addicts or both. I mean maybe you're into that, I don't blame you, to each their own. But, except for the bar fine, I doubt their asking price is much different from the other gals, then it just depends on your negotiation skills...

Meh, maybe I didn’t look carefully enough lol. Some decent though.

So far they just mentioned they'll find a school nearby me, so maybe it's a tutoring assistant, or an English camp kind of thing.

Thaivisaservice.com put me in touch with the guy, the website that everyone uses in bkk for the 30 day stamp border runs to cambodia, and tourist visa runs to Laos. Since they're legit I took a gamble the other guy would be and so far it's working, I got back with the initial 90 day non-O visa which they claim they will extend to 15 months. Still haven't done the 12 days volunteering yet

Guy called Dirk, Line ID was 300077

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...on-drug-policy

Is this actually happening? Seems like a lot of speculation based on a few quotes in the article.

Weird that the guardian won't let me through their free paywall so without reading the article it seems like the new ruling party is quite keen to make new, stricter regulations and the party that originally legalized it says they will not stand in the way. Really frustrating as I've yet to see their reasons for why they want to dial it back. Like what are the negative consequences it's having on Thai society? Saw an article a couple of weeks ago that a 12 year old boy shot and killed his uncle for not giving him money to buy weed, so we're still at Nancy Reagan level mentality.
Pretty much every client I've had come in from out of town hits up a weed shop their 1st night in town and these are not people you would ever consider as smokers so I think they're underestimating how much the tourists like it also. Hopefully it's an issue where the genie is out of the bottle and there's not much they can do about it.
The only thing I don't like about the current system is that a lot of the weed is imported in from Canada and the US. Would like to see it benefit local production more but I guess they need more time to learn how to make a better product. I know a grower in BC that crunched the numbers to set up an operation here but the power bills for climate control and salary for the foreign grower didn't add up but if they cracked down on imports then eventually people will have to start setting up shop here.

You can post it in here: https://archive.is/


and it will give you a link like this to read the article: https://archive.ph/PSvW6


You've pretty much the gist of it though. They don't refer to that boy but they do mention "marijuana overdose(s)" lol.

It is a major reason that I do my visa runs to Thailand.

I think people are also just getting tired of smelling it everywhere in the tourist zones. Just be a bit more discreet about it, don't do it in public, maybe confine it to a couple well known coffee shops, and it wouldn't be a big deal. It will also help in about a year when 80% of these businesses fail so it doesn't seem like it's on every corner.

Nah, it's literally reefer madness era thinking. Nothing about being a public nuisance due to oder. Have to remember during the Taksin era the midnight bar closure time was strictly enforced and the war on drugs was practically Duerte level. This is who they are. Pretty wild that the more progressive outgoing govt is literally a military junta.

is anyone here having connection issues with Chico network lately? I get DC from poker client and can't even access website lately. Works with VPN, I use True internet....

Going backwards with a ruling that created a shitton of new jobs and basically kickstarted a whole industry from the ground up because "people are getting tired of smelling it everywhere" would be the most stupid thing in the whole ****ing world. I ****ing hate smelling people smoking cigarettes, seeing drunktards **** around touristic areas or even smelling chili when it's being fried near you and makes you sneeze, will they ban street food or clubs because of it?

That said, I could expect pretty much anything from these muppets in charge of running the country, but if they do go back and make cannabis illegal again that will show everyone how precarious and dumb Thailand can be sometimes.

Not saying it makes a ton of sense, but it's an excuse I'm hearing bandied about in certain forums. As 5 south mentioned, it's probably just a front for the real reason which is based on morality.

As for your second part, I'm committed to at least 5 years, but already starting to get worried about something super dumb happening. The tax thing has the potential to be that. They already also already made a big shift in Thai Elite and I think went back on some promises there. And this is after only a couple months of following Thai Policy. I've lived in several countries with a similar GDP as Thailand, but Thailand is a whole different level of silly.

It used to amaze me how Thai people just let things roll off their back. When I moved here there was the red shirt protests that 94 people were killed, the floods, the airport closure which was a big deal for international business, a military coup and through it all everything just kept rolling on and no one seemed to really care. I think I'm pretty well assimilated now because whenever the govt does some stupid **** or threatens to it barely moves the needle for me, things pretty much stay the same.
For the tax stuff, if you're paying taxes in your home country and have a tax treaty I doubt it's going to be an issue. If you're looking for tax free income then Thailand is probably not going to be the place but it's not like there are a ton of countries that are tax free but even so I'd like to see them enforce anything. The govt is pretty useless.

There are not a ton of countries that are tax-free but as for foreign income, yeah there are a few, and also a few relatively nice ones, so that makes a difference. And I doubt many peeps around here are paying taxes in their home country. As for the Thai govt yeah they are next level, even as far as govts are concerned, certainly somewhat culturally related but I have no better explanation.

If you walk from the mountain to the beach in Patong you will see more than 50 weed shops, in an area of 5km, there is less than 1% chance to make it illegal, just rumours

If you go beyond the Siam to Ekkamai corridor on the BTS, what are the best stations with the most activity and things to do?

We'll be moving into a pet friendly place for a year in mid-late October (we have AirBNB until 10/30, just need to find a place before then) and options can be pretty limited for pet friendly condos.

For example, we saw that the M Jatujak(Chatuchak) condo looks pretty nice and is within our price range. It has a nice pool, yoga room w/pole, sports center (basketball, soccer, badminton), jogging track, nice outdoor areas, pet zone, etc. Probably all of which we'd make extensive use of. And near Saphan Kwai/Mo Chit, there are a couple nice markets, good street food, nice bars, decent parks, etc. Would this area be sufficiently cool to live in? A couple people recommended it upthread. I know Ari gets mentioned a lot too, anywhere else we should be considering?

We're hoping to keep it under 35k baht/month, preferably 25-30 if possible for a 2BR, pet friendly place.

Whelp, looks like I'm never leaning up against the door in a metro car again. Sometimes you don't have much choice if it's packed. That's probably 4-5 dead if it had been busy.

IME if you ask ten peeps these kind of things you get twelve opinions. Staying on the main line is certainly not he worst of all ideas though, yes, more expensive, traffic etc. but other places also have backdrops.
Youd really have to find a very experienced person to even know enough of most of these places. Maybe check Bangkok Pat (or something like that) youtube channel, IIRC he shows many districts and seems a nice guy, maybe ask him directly. personally I'd not venture out much further than Thonglor or something, at least not until knowing the city pretty well, but to each their own

That M Jatuchak is not a great location. The nearby park is fantastic but there is not really going to be anything right at your doorstep to do which I feel is something you're kind of looking for. Still worth a look when you get in town just to check it out though.

We had a 9 hour flight from Istanbul set to arrive at 6:30AM in BKK, but was delayed 3 hours, so we arrived at about 9:30AM instead. Got to our place on Soi 39 and crashed for a couple hours. Woke up hungry and went to EmQuartier food court and had some very good boat noodles w/pork (170 baht) and canesugar smoothie (also delicious). Went back to unpack and relax a bit before heading out again at 6PM. We took the BTS to Siam and then spent about 3 hours walking Sukhumvit and stopping off at various sois that looked interesting along the way before ending up near Phrom Phong BTS and looking for more food. I had a stir fried basil pork for 140 baht, also delicious and a 70 baht coco water that was massive and must have had half a liter of water. My wife loved her phat thai goong too. The food scene here just seems absolutely incredible. Like endless options for meals, desserts, beverages, smoothies, juices, etc.

We had never even seen the city before signing up for 5 years, but after 1 day, we're already in love.

The city still seemed very lively even on a Monday night at 10PM. I love being outdoors when it's warm and there are an endless supply of cool looking outdoor restaurants and bars to people watch.

We walked down Soi 6 to check out one pet friendly apartment and would absolutely love living on that soi, but the building is small and chances are a place might not be available.

Our AirBNB is in Maestro 39, and I'm not really a fan of the near 20 minute walk along soi 39 (which is boring imo). That's probably a walk we'd be making hundreds of time if we signed a 1 year contract, so I think living on a fairly lively soi or at least <10 minutes to the BTS is probably a must. That sucks to hear about M Jatujak and as you mentioned, yah we wouldn't really like that it's dead around the building, so that might disqualify it for us. We want to be in an area/building where you don't have to walk over 20 minutes or take public transport for a bit just to get to a livelier area.

We liked the R-walk and it would probably be a huge advantage too on rainy days or super hot days so a place north of Siam to Phloen Chit would probably suit us as well.

We still have until the end of the month until we need to decide so will probably spend 7-10 days checking out different areas and then start viewing available places.

So far we're super amped to be living in Bangkok though

Glad you like the city. Learn to take motocy taxis, then you just hop on them when your need to go to the BTS. More good news is your food costs will be cut in half soon. No way you should be paying 170bt for a pad kra phrao

Yah, I misspoke actually. The phat kra phrao was 110 baht and my wife's phat thai goong was 85 (with pork/chicken only 65). Place is called Im Chan right next to BTS Phrom Phong

Next to Bearing bts is a big night market 'tonsai market' and there's a pet friendly condo a short walk from it, brixton pet & play. Small units though, I think only 1 bedrooms which is weird for a pet friendly place

https://www.facebook.com/Tonsaimarket456/
https://www.fazwaz.com/projects/thai...-sukhumvit-107

there's a mall (imperial world samrong), a 24 hour foodland for western stuff - foodland srinagarindra - and it's a cheap area

I remember 2+2ers like robbie quipping that once you go over the On Nut bridge it's busto land, but in the last couple years it's improved a bit, lots more to do now. Lots of condos right next to On Nut BTS as well and malls. Udom Suk has improved as well.

Some people would still hate it though, it's very opinion-based as FWWM said

I'd rather be on the sukhumvit line of the BTS line than on the Silom line personally, which is the one with Ari, Mo Chit (near Chatuchak). It feels like living closer to the centre, like Phrom Phong / Asok to me when on that line