I am so offended you left Vientiane off the list of possible cities to fly to. Plus it's only like 5000 baht round-trip from bkk.

Paul, if you hate visa runs and are not on a budget, go with what Wally said.

Do you guys know if it is possible to buy a 5 year visa or something like that?

There are two short visas:

1. Tourist visa - you need to get this at an actual embassy/consulate. This is 60 days and u can extend it for 30 days. After this, you can go to Kuala Lumpoor, Penang, etc whatever to get the same thing and come back.

2. Visa on Arival - As your coming in, they give you this, so you don't need to do anything before hand. It is only valid for 30 days, and after that, you can head to any border (up north we go to Mae Sai) and get another 30 day visa. NB They did change the rules last october saying that after 90 days on a Visa on Arrival, you can not get it again for 90 days after that (3 x 30 day stamps max per 180 day period)


So, if you are out of your country now, I would suggest getting a 60+30 Tourist visa (some countries you can get a year, so try for that).

Now, if you want to stay for a long term, when you arrive, ask them to NOT stamp and use this. Get the visa on arrival. Then do a border run 2 more times. After this, head to a border (or maybe u can just go to immigration, i dunno) and tell them to use your Tourist Visa. This will last 3 momths (2 months plus go to immigration to extend for 3rd month) and then you can go and do 3 more monthly border runs. That gives you 9 months without leaving the country other than a border run.


After that, you need to head to one of those countries to get a new 60+30 Tourist visa, then when that is used up, do 3 border runs. Rinse and repeat every 6 months.

Or if you don't mind travelling to another country, you can just get a new Tourist visa every 3 months.

I think there are lots of western countries where you can get a 1 year visa. Like the UK, probably Australia (where I'm from), but it might need to be your home country.

If money is no object (ie like trying to buy a 5-yr visa), then going to ur home country to get a new yearly each year is probably not a bad bet (tho someewhat expensive for me when I don't even wanna go back there just for a visa).

There is also permanent residency which is like 5k USD or something but you have to have lived here on 1-yearly visas for a few years first.

for suckers only imho

I think they did away with that visa or were trying to. Besides why spend 1 million baht on a visa when you can spend 5,000 baht every 3 months to fly to Singapore or Hong Kong for the weekend?

I will be flying back to Bangkok sometimes in about 6-8 weeks and need a place to stay. Im looking for a 2 bedroom place around the BTS. I prefer the Rachadamri / Sathorn / Silom area. Can anybody currently staying in this general area chime in on what they are paying. Previously I paid 25k a month for a 1 bedroom in a condo behing the Four Seasons but I want to look around a bit more this time and find something a little different.

Hahahaha. With that 25k you can travel half the world.
Or you can spend 20% of that and go back to your home country once a year and get a yearly visa.

you still have to leave Thailand every 90 days.

I think this thread is going to outlive all of us.

If you want to stay in Thailand for 12 months without having to leave then signup at one of the bigger language schools for a 1 year program. It will cost about 30,000 baht and you will get 3 sessions a week each about 3 hours.

You dont actually have to goto class though once you have your visa. So pay the 30k for the visa and then your home free.

I'll probably be going to Bangkok in the next few weeks for a visa run/mini vacation. While I'm there I want to get a complete physical--tests for blood pressure, cholesterol, STDs, liver function, etc. It's not that I'm a hypochondriac, it's just that the health care system in Laos sucks and I want to make sure everything is ok with me physically. How would I go about doing this? Just go see a doctor? Anyone know a good one? I should also probably get my teeth cleaned so if anyone's had a good experience with a doctor or dentist just PM me.

also, does any1 know how to do this in USA?

If you're serious, just call your doctor and say you want a physical including bloodwork. They'll listen to your heart, take your blood pressure, look in your ears, etc, then draw some blood. They'll send you the results and your doctor will tell you if anything is off. I think pretty much all insurance covers a yearly physical.

Ok, I'm sold...I didn't read the whole thing, but still, I'm sold.


That said, my gf and I are going to be coming to Thailand for a month or so in Feb 2008.

What island(s) should we be looking to get a "hut" on and I'd kill for links/ideas/suggestions, fellas.

Gonna start getting our passport's next week :thumbup:

Lastly, for 1 month, for the both of us, how much should we budget and do the islands have reliable internet service?

What I described will be harder in Thailand then other countries because there are more tourists, but there are many parts of Bangkok where there are very white faces and large Universities. If you read this thread there is tons of information.

What do you guys do about US taxes etc? I promise to go back thru this thread, between now and Feb. but long story short, what's the trick?

We (gf and I) have talked about just taking a year or so and just traveling abroad, but I have yet to make the transition to "full time" poker etc... I understand the tax implications if you are IN THE US PLAYING POKER, but what about if you're traveling abroad and the money isn't made in the US, nor comes into the US?

thoughts/help?

If you are outside of the USA for at least 330 days in any given tax year then your first 80k is 100% tax free. There are certain limitations to this law though so you should read up on the specifics. 'Self employment income' is not covered by this break. Im not sure if poker winnings falls under this category so if it doesnt then you should be home free.

The tax break alone is more then enough reason to live in Thailand if you are making more then 80k playing.

Additionally, under certain circumstances you can deduct your housing costs among other things. So if you make more then 80k you could still take some nice deductions off the rest.

(My uncle is a CPA and did my taxes and I paid almost nothing while living in Thailand for 2+ years)

Ok good stuff. So it may just behoove us to hire a CPA to do this for us and let me know, before we go, what we need to do etc.

Thanks bro.

Bumped for awesomeness.

any ways to spot a ladyboy?
kind of like if you play poker for 5 years you can spot a donk, well same goes here I assume?
I dont wanna be a joker, but really ladyboys dont sound good. I mean I see trannys in SFbay all the time, but I might actually do something w/ a LB (when drunk obv) b/c some of em are pretty hot (beat).

They are pretty easy to spot usually. Just avoid the tall girls.

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but does anyone know what poker sites can be acsessed out there. My roll's currently on iPoker and I'm wondering if I should move it before going out, thx.