o cool wolf, so let me get this straight, gf and i just got single entries from US embassy, we can extend it by 30 days in Phuket if we go to a local office. Then at the end if we both want to stay a little longer we can go to Laos and most likely get another 50 day entry as US citizens?

you should be able to get a double entry (although again Laos may not be the best destination for it) which is 2x 60 days which can both be extended to 90 days so 180 days.

Having lived in both countries I would agree with the above statement.

Short Nakhonsithammarat Update:

I wrote a longer one but lost it with sketchy-internet here. Oh wells, cliffs-

-Girls: Am getting better at Thai, getting lots of numbers but language barrier sucks, boom boomed-out one of the Singha Girls at this open-air type place. Asked for the number, she is like, where you stay, came by after work. She probably thought I spoke a lot better thai than I did, so doubtful repeat. Need to get a lot better at the Thai, or have chill older Thai dude set up dates for me with digits. Rajabhat Uni just opened up this week so college girls, (Singha girl was at least 30, but I like) that are more my age, speak nit-noy English should provide for better opps.

-Have found more chill spots, the classic Thai open-air restaurant/bar beats KFC or Farang bars. Over-employed with bored hot thai girls, cheap, mellow.

-Found a country western dance/bar which was pretty awesome/lol "Take Me Home" (The West Virginia Song) played by Thai band was the highlight. Some chill English Teacher who had a Thai BF led us there, Thai bf was super happy that he could bring farang and had farang gf to boot.

-Still pretty limited living 50m from the school and 6km from downtown. That changes as I move out with the chill aussie, (peter) to a cool house with 3x the room at half the price. A/C, water, electric, pretty new/good. Have to get an internet hook-up, which has been answered 7097097689 times in this thread. Also, old-chill-thai-guy has got a used Honda Wave for 10k which I'm snap-calling soon. So bike+closer to town apt means a lot more freedom.

-Still haven't seen anything that would qualify as a club, they do exist I hear, just haven't checked them out yet. 2 other guys I kick it with are busto until payday, and not going to go there by myself. Mai pen rai.

-Found coffee shop with wifi that I just show up, put on headphones+pimsleur and have 3-4 barista/Thai teachers helping me out. Good motivation to learn lol.

-Wandering around with Alex, (san diego guy, him and peter I like, all others not so much) got a little lost came across what was half restaurant/half families house. Make awesome yellow-noodles dish, kids are playing around with us, parents are taking pictures. Father proudly gives us a ride back home. Getting lost is awesome, but avoid dark areas + lots of barking dogs.

-Haven't got my camera fixed. Missing specific Nikon USB hook-up, might just buy another but kind of lame. Alex might just go on a little photo-safari with me to show the few 'sites' of Nakhon.

-School is actually pretty fun, been teaching the kiddies 'Farang Phrases' which is US Slang, and they love it. Short lecture-lesson, small worksheet, a game at the end if we have time. Kids can get chatty/add so gotta be fast paced. Another difficult thing is massive gap of knowledge within classes, some kids on hello/how are you level, others could probably get by in an english speaking area after a month or so.

-Still a little more to discover in Nakhon, and when the Uni gets going will liven up, other teachers (except the 2 aforementioned) are crying/dying of boredom. Just putting them on ignore and out of sight out of mind.

-That being said, staying till next March doesn't seem too appealing. Especially since this is my first ESL job and I could make more baht grinding, (though not sure it would fit me well, I'm not ballin poker-wise, and if I did it I wouldn't do it in Nakhon unless I was in like srs Thai GF mode, keeping poker dl too, etc etc). Plan is get the most I can out of here, earn resume/exp points, go teach at a new locale when bored (mecca for me = South America) 3-4 years max. Go back home, law/grad school probably end up carrying poppa's briefcase around for a bit, (attorney) then i guess...uh...settle down. End emoness, just some good realizations I've made here, a tad bit of direction won't kill me.

-Alex booked a plane ticket home, he can't save money here, has a girl waiting, is turning 30 having some early mid-life crisis. Not the best for him, Skypeing at rando hours with the gf, no effort to learn thai but he's the closest thing to a kid I'd kick it with back @ home. He's gone into I DONT GIVE A **** MODE @ school which is tight. We're supposed to wear ties and nice shirts to I guess fit in with the super-uniformed students. He rocks some plaid short sleeve flannel stuff with silly ties, Thai teachers whisper amongst eachother. We had to make intro speeches to the whole school, mine was very very short boring and sweet, except for like putting on my sunglasses at the end and waving goodbye. Alex comes up all sloppy haired, wearing his flannel and silly tie. The kids start applauding and he does the dictator pound and wave and is like "I'm from CALIFORNIA and I LIKE SKATEBOARDING!!!" He instantly enters legend status with the kiddies as the dean frowns on. I play the game, it works out well, lots of Wais to teachers and small-talk. They give me every worksheet and try to help me all I can. I do little to know work aside from actual teaching. Also good b/c they found me a house, showed me the coffee shop, (one of the teachers husbands own)

-Long weekend coming up, have this Friday off. Going out to Khanom, friend from Pattaya is going to Full Moon Party. I pretty much am a tool for not going if I'm already going to be a ferry-ride away chillaxing @ Khanom? Don't trust myself in that situation, even though we'd have a big group, but getting wasted and doing drugs is not something I plan on doing ever or until I get a super chill set-up, (like Peter and I @ the house, maybe hot Rajabaht students) Also my wanderlust and admitted prejudice against the backpacker/traveler/farang-visitor type probably won't mesh with the FMP. I can tell I'm overthinking it already, but wondering what you guys think, I guess have just had really bad experience b/c the only farang down here are scummy English Teachers, old dudes that locked down thai wives, and just random travelers who just look super-sketch and insta-look away cross the street if they see another white person, (**** YOU MEAN OTHER FARANG KNOW BOUT THIS PLACE DAMN IT!) seen maybe 4 total of the last group and they all had fanny packs. Teachers/old dudes, there's a few good apples in the bunch, and I definitely am a partier at heart, faking professionalism so ya.

Hi All,

I'm thinking of heading over soon and just trying to work out how much cash I will need to bring with me to get set up and going.

I've read that alot of the online real estates inflate their prices. Does anyone know roughly how much they inflate their prices by? For example; A 1 bedroom, fully furnished with internet apartment/room is around 13k baht in Phuket online

How much realistically, could you rent an apartment like this for?

Also, I notice alot of you have KasiKorn bank account, is this in USD? if so how are the exchange rates they give, and can you easily send money to an overseas account to pay any existing bills you may have back in your homeland?

I would bring 3-6 months worth of spending money

pretty sure the inflating varies depending on how expensive place you are trying to get etc. dont book anything only seeing pictures online AND without testing the internet. having internet is different from having grindable internet

dunno about kasikorn in USD. most of us have it in baht

hey so i was looking at the thai consulate of los angeles website and it says:

"- Do not apply for a visa earlier than 3 months before you will arrive in Thailand.
(a visa valid for a stay of more than 3-months up to 1-year validity may be granted on a case-by-case basis ) "

What? i am planning on coming in June and was going to drive over there and get my visa very soon (I live close and can come pick it up the very following day). Is the above quote true?

Also, for an american getting a tourist visa, will i need to show an exit ticket once i arrive?

....The site also says something about extending a visa at the immigration bureau in Thailand. Is there any merit/is it possible to just book the flight and get the standard 30 day transit visa on arrival, and then look to extend it once im there?

Is it a guarantee that ill have to show my exit flight when i arrive for a 30 day visa?

much thanks for any help

something occurred to me while sending a welcome PM to Evantair.... thought i should publicly post this

the 2+2 community in Phuket has a good friend who is a driver. his name is Jonny, and he's by far the most trustworthy thai man I know. (this sentiment is echoed by most of the phuket community)

he quit his job to work full time for a 2+2er that had to leave for medical reasons, and is trying to make a living as a freelance driver again (that's what he was doing when we met him, well over a year ago)

there are a lot of reasons to use him as your driver when you need one.

1. he's trustworthy and never tries to rip you off or any of the things you're afraid of/don't want to deal with from a tuk tuk driver
2. he charges about the same as a tuk tuk, but has an A/C car
3. he knows all the spots we go to regularly, and where most of us live
4. he's a good guy who is fun to have around and gives good advice.

when he can, he often stays around where you are going for convenience in giving you a ride back. I (we) shill for this guy b/c he's our friend, and also want him to remain a freelance driver both for his own good, and ours. life is so much easier when Jonny doesn't have a regular job to disrupt his ability to give us rides when we need them.

here's his number. 0848521494

if you're coming into phuket, and want him to pick you up at the airport, you can always PM me or one of the community in advance, and i'll be happy to set up a pickup for you.

Unless I'm misreading something I don't see why that quote is an issue. They're saying that you shouldn't apply too soon for a visa cause it could become invalid before you enter the country but you're coming next month so you're fine.

Just make sure you apply for your visa early enough so that they have time to process it. Most embassies require a couple of working days.

Probably not. I had no problems entering the country without one twice and I believe my country (Iceland) is in the same category as the US.

When you enter the country without a visa you don't get a visa. You get a 30-day permit of stay (if you qualify). I forget whether or not you can extend that but it's certainly not by 30 days, probably 15 or less.

I believe so.

Just get the Tourist visa. It's very little hassle and free right now and it'll save you a ton of hassle later. You'll instantly get 60 days with the option of extending for another 30 with a short trip to the immigration office in Thailand and a cost of 1900 baht.

If you can get a double entry one then you can get up to 180 days by flying in and out of the country once and then doing another 30 day extension.

i have like 6 thailand stamps so ... Better go to Camdodia then ? Also are the embassys open the entire day or ?

thanks !

are you talking about stamps or visas?

i think they count your visas (from vientiane only?)

fwiw I had 3 visas with 7 total entries when I applied mine in vientiane 2 months ago and I had no problems getting another double entry

though at that time they were charging a fee for them

the problem of exit tickets isn't with the thai government, it's with the airlines. the airlines know that if for some reason you get turned down at immigration b/c you don't have an exit ticket (which is the law but is never enforced) then they are required to fly you back home...

thanks a lot.

and yes, i am rather dumb and did in fact read that first quote wrong

Hey guys,

I will be going to Phuket in July for a 4-5 day holiday! I'm reading the backlog of this thread but it will take a while probably Just saying hi for now, as far as I can tell Phuket is still safe

yea phuket has been on the same level of safetyness as before. looks like bangkok is better now too

the results oriented will point out that John Beans probably would have been safer in Bangkok.

I dont want to sound like a douche. i like johnbeans a lot and I hope he gets well soon but his accident should be a wake up call to all others reading this that you are not on godmode in thailand even how good time you are having

I'm sure most of ya'll know already but 7 more days of curfew.

Phuket Guys,
What was the name of that place that serves the best Pad Thai in Kata?

when i went on a visa run to Laos about two weeks ago with one of the mini buses (don't use them they are ****!!) the organizer guy told me that the limit is 7 entries via tourist visas (they don't care how many visas they are over) and if you have that you run a serious risk of being denied. I had six and was sweating it a little bit, but I only went for a single entry (need to change my passport anyway when go back to Europe this summer) and had no problems

so i think with your situation if you want double entry you are better of going to Cambodia. but i would throw in a question in the thaivisa forum and ask the pros

and this doesnt matter if you are a US citizen? You can just go to a nearby country to get an another entry?

the pad thai place. :P

no one knows the name, the sign is in thai. it's the ramshackle building across from the open sheesha bar near Kata Night.

Yeah. You just need to go to a country with a Thai consulate/embassy. It doesn't matter which country or what your country of origin is. Although again not all countries are equally desirable. It just depends on who works at a given embassy, etc. Malaysia, for instance, is well known to be a very unfriendly embassy, now Laos is becoming quite bad, and before Cambodia was fairly bad for visas but now they've become much friendlier.

thanks a bunch, was a little unsure from wording of other ones, you cleared it up well, i'll post before we do a run if gf wants to stay longer when we are there

That place is good and def the best late night pad thai shop. There's also a different pad thai place that is only open for lunch between Kata and Karon. On Patak road coming from Kata it'll be on the right maybe 150 or 200 meters past the stop light. It's also just a small place and the sign is only in Thai. Pad Thai there is the best IMO. They also have some noodle soup and fried rice but that's about it. Check it out for lunch some time.