pczz wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:25 am

Bubble T wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:56 am

pczz wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:32 ambet its a lot less than the bureaucracy thais experience when they try to go to the west. the thais are lax compared to most "developed" countries

This simply isn't true with regards to what happens when you're living there. Yes, western visa applications are harder, but there isn't a western country in the world that forces immigrants to fill out paperwork if they are planning on leaving their house for the night, and there would be huge uproar if they tried to implement such nonsense.

Unfortunately the days of the white raj are long gone. You have to respect their rules the same as you expect them to obey your rules if they come to your country. imagine a Cambodians complaining about being asked to stop at a red light. this is not Europe or the USA it is Asia, their rules, their customs. If you don't like it then leave, it is not your country, it is not your playground, it is theri country and they can run it as they see fit. I will not stay in Thailand becasue, like you, i find them to be utter pricks. Sort of the same reason i won't live in my country

You sound confused. I don't live in Thailand, never have and likely never will. You don't have to live in a nation to call out bullshit laws when you see them.

Thailand. Land of Fake Smiles.

Thanks for the advice, PR. But I'd call the Thai bars the Land of Vertical smiles!

Bubble T wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:54 pm

pczz wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:25 am

Bubble T wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:56 am

pczz wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:32 ambet its a lot less than the bureaucracy thais experience when they try to go to the west. the thais are lax compared to most "developed" countries

This simply isn't true with regards to what happens when you're living there. Yes, western visa applications are harder, but there isn't a western country in the world that forces immigrants to fill out paperwork if they are planning on leaving their house for the night, and there would be huge uproar if they tried to implement such nonsense.

Unfortunately the days of the white raj are long gone. You have to respect their rules the same as you expect them to obey your rules if they come to your country. imagine a Cambodians complaining about being asked to stop at a red light. this is not Europe or the USA it is Asia, their rules, their customs. If you don't like it then leave, it is not your country, it is not your playground, it is theri country and they can run it as they see fit. I will not stay in Thailand becasue, like you, i find them to be utter pricks. Sort of the same reason i won't live in my country

You sound confused. I don't live in Thailand, never have and likely never will. You don't have to live in a nation to call out bullshit laws when you see them.

Bullshit laws that you read off the internet? Whether they are bullshit or not it is up to the Thais to make their own rules. i am not particularly fond of many UK rules and i have the right to vote against them and the right to complain, I do not have the right to complain about the rules implemented by other countries any more than they have a right to complain about my countries laws. I am sure Thais, or any other Asian, can find a lot og immigration laws they don't like in the west. if you want to look at exrtreme immigration you should look at the uk system. You only realise how devious it is when you have to fight it

Yes, I agree. Western countries make you jump through a lot of hoops to get in. But once you're in, you're in, after a number of years you can usually get citizenship, a passport, right to vote and claim social security. Plus you get to live in peace.

Thailand might be easier to get into through a non-O visa, but once you're in, you are never left alone and always hassled. You can never assimilate into the country the way a Thai could in somewhere like Australia, Denmark or Germany, for example. Even if you've lived in Thailand 20 years, are married to a Thai with children and a local business, you still need to complete paperwork if you spend a night somewhere which is not the address that immigration have on file for you, there are constant hassles every time you leave and re-enter the country, once a year you have to provide about 100 pieces of signed and countersigned paper including letters from the bank saying how much money you've got, photos of you in your house including the bedroom, the list goes on and on, and last time I filed it took 7 hours sat on a plastic chair to get my passport back.

Oh and if one of those pieces of paper is folded, or you used blue ink, or a photo is not to their liking, go home and come back tomorrow! Which means you need to go back to the bank and get new documents as immigration will now not accept them as they are from the previous day.

I suppose if you're retired, spending what amounts to a few days per year dealing with paperwork and constant grief might not be much of a concern. But if you have a job to go to, a family to take care of and stuff to be doing, you don't want to keep driving backwards and forwards to your local immigration because one of the photos you took is not in focus (my nearest immigration office is 90km away), despite the fact that they get the same photos each year.

Hence the reason for this thread, I am trying to gauge whether I would be happier hopping across the border but despite spending a lot of time reading this forum I am no closer to an answer. Probably will just have to try it and see.

I lived in TH for 6 years before. Wouldn't never go back to live there again. I miss some things from TH, but KOW has its own charm. Cambodia isn't for softies. Come for a longer holidays, and you"ll see.

Bubble T wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:56 am

pczz wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:32 ambet its a lot less than the bureaucracy thais experience when they try to go to the west. the thais are lax compared to most "developed" countries

This simply isn't true with regards to what happens when you're living there. Yes, western visa applications are harder, but there isn't a western country in the world that forces immigrants to fill out paperwork if they are planning on leaving their house for the night, and there would be huge uproar if they tried to implement such nonsense.

What tosh. At the moment in the Uk you have to carry a letter stating you are going to work to show the police if they stop you, and thats british citizens like my carer