RE: Thailand authorities attempting to woo Chinese tourists - Too little, too late
Exactly. Good thing you do not have to interact with the immigration workers all day!
I met a guy who has lived on the island of Koh Phagnan for the past 15 years. He's pretty wealthy and he went with the retirees visa and plunked down about a quarter million dollars into their banking system to maintain his visa. He's now having issues with getting his money out and changing how he stays in the country or leaves. I forgot the details, he isn't going to get robbed, but he was explaining this huge ordeal with a bunch of his money tied up.
However, Thailand is worth the BS. I love it! The food, culture, people, weather, beaches, and overall lifestyle. They know many people around the world do too, that is probably partially the reason why they can be such dicks and get away with it.
And I'll be leaving....Countdown! T Minus 8 days to Bangkok! haha
It will be interesting where you decide to move to from Chiang Mai. What comfortable place to be. I'm sure your new place with bring lots of excitement into your life and it will be great!
I meet people that fall into the category of your Koh Phangan friend on a regular basis. People with substantial amounts of money and as you might expect, these powerful people don't take very kindly to being treated like children by government officials. Many of them have already moved over to the Elite VIsa, which as you may have heard is basically a "pay to play" system.
I think that this was the government's intention all along: To frustrate the rich folks into paying a fee to be left alone.
"I think that this was the government's intention all along: To frustrate the rich folks into paying a fee to be left alone."
Exactly! I wish Thailand was like Ecuador in that manner. Ecuador has a large expat community too but they are way friendlier. In fact I actually got my permanent resident visa there and it's very rewarding to do so as well. You just have to put at least 25k in the country and you get about 9% interest on it!... and Ecuador uses the US dollar too.