forcebwithu

It just occurred to me that in all this back and forth with various immigration officials, I never once saw them reference a computer record of my visa status. Everyone did what I was doing, and that is looking at the date stamps and coming up with their own interpretation of my visa status. The reason I started thinking about this is because I realized when one re-enters the country, the admit until date has always been the permitted to stay until date on the current extension to stay, assuming of course a valid re-entry permit. In my case that would have been 16 Nov, 2015 and that was what was stamped in my passport. Any suggestions on how I can go about checking the computer record of my visa status? Since Pattaya Immigration didn't see fit to do this from the start, I'm not keen on asking them to do it now. Perhaps a visa service might be able to do this. Any recommendations?

I'm really in the dark on the hoops one needs to jump through to get a new visa. Because I don't know, I'm relying on the lady that handled the correction to my 30 day stamp to guide me through the process. And because I'm relying on her help, I bite my tongue while I sit in her office and witness her spending 90% of her working time watching TV, playing with her phone and chit chatting with her co-workers. That's what happened on Monday when I came back to collect my corrected passport. She hadn't done a damn thing with it during the 30 minutes I left it with her. So I had a seat and watched as another 15 minutes of my life was wasted until she finally gets around to opening the passport, drawing a line through the incorrect Admit Until date and rubber stamps a new date. BTW, this isn't a young person new to the working world, but an older lady approaching 40. The lady in question also wears a uniform with two stripes which implies a bit of seniority. So the saga continues... Today I made a trip to the US Embassy in BKK to get another income affidavit. On my return to Pattaya I made a stop at the bank to update my account book and then headed down to Immigration. There I presented the affidavit and bank book to the lady mentioned above. She had a look and pronounced them acceptable. She then asked for proof of address. Fortunately I came prepared with a copy of my True invoice for internet service, which was accepted a month earlier for the extension to stay. Well this time around the invoice wasn't good enough, instead I would have to provide a copy of my lease agreement. But she wasn't done yet with the hoop jumping. She then stated I would also need a copy of the house owner's Thai ID and a copy of the house book. No point arguing with her, she's holding all the cards and when she says jump, I smile and say how high. I'm now working to get the needed docs emailed to me from my landlady who lives in Bangkok. It's looking like it'll be Friday before she can get them to me. So hopefully on Friday I can find out what the next set of hoops my unhelpful immigration official has in store for me.

A few snaps of the construction progress from earlier today. Wonder what height restriction they'll have on the underpass. The trusses seem a bit low for anything higher than an SUV. Backhoe looks like he got stuck backing out of the way of the hole digger No worries though. Did a self rescue with a push of the bucket Can see in the background they're almost ready to concrete in another roof section.

Since an extension to stay is for a period of one year, my error was thinking that meant the new one would start when the old one ran out. Lesson learned and I won't be making that mistake again.

I just learned of a gotcha with the extension to stay and re-entry permit valid until date. Earlier this year I got a Re-Entry Permit with a valid until date of 16 Nov, 2015, which coincides with the permitted to stay date of my then current extension to stay. On 29 Oct, prior to my visit back to the States, I applied for and received a new extension to stay with a new permitted to stay date of 16 Nov, 2016. I then left Thailand on 4 Nov and returned on 13 Nov, 3 days before my Re-Entry Permit and current extension to stay was set to expire. Upon clearing immigration on the 13th, I looked at my passport and saw an Admit Until date of 16 Nov, 2015. I immediately went up to one of the supervisors and pointed out the discrepancy in dates. His reply was to go to Pattaya Immigration on Monday. So today I spent over an hour at Immigration while they passed my passport around to at least eight different people. End result is because I got a new extension to stay on 29 Oct, that basically invalidated my Re-Entry Permit on that day, even though it has a valid until date of 16 Nov. That also means my Non-O Visa is now kaput as I re-entered Thailand w/o a valid re-entry permit and I now have to go through the time and expense of applying for a new Visa. While at Pattaya Immigration I also pointed out that even with an invalid Non-O Visa, BKK immigration should have given me a 30 day stamp, not 3 days. Their response, I could either go back to BKK to fix their mistake or slip them 500B and they'd take care of it Pattaya. So let this be a warning to anyone contemplating a trip out of Thailand around the time their extension to stay comes up for renewal. You'll need to get a Re-Entry Permit at the same time or you'll be wearing my shoes.

Poster on another board had links to these articles on the construction here, and in Phuket. Sukhumvit-Central tunnel 15% complete Sidewalks repaired in Sukhumvit construction zone Phuket underpass tunnelling delayed by rains Steer clear: Locals plan on-site protest of underpass delays Work progressing slowly here. Pics from yesterday afternoon.

Progress on the underpass roof. And the view to the south.

Got the email notification.

I'll have to post something worthy of a reply to confirm.

I'm getting the board notifications, but not email. Checked my settings and they look good. Nothing in my email account's spam/junk folder. At least the more important and visible issue of hung posts has been resolved.

Good news. Never would of thunk it that the posting and email notification issue could be related.

Wish I had a suggestion or two, but never worked with board software. Sorry to add to your list of woes, but it doesn't appear the "Notify me when someone quotes my posts" is working either.

Testicle 1, 2, 3??? Edit: well hung, the post not the testicle

I competed in butterfly. Good prep for my life in Pattaya.

Construction update from this afternoon. Looking south at first glance, doesn't appear much is happening. But zooming in can see digging has commenced. And to the north, the rebar work continues. And look at the north end of the construction site.

Here's a suggestion. Organize a Pattaya Talk GG crawl with some sort of stupid challenge in each GG. Example: challenge could be whether the lady lands the ice cube from her pussy into MM's drink and then whether he'll finish his drink. Bet's are placed and those on the losing side of the bet throw the amount they bet into the "pay for the forum" bucket. With beer fueled ideas for challenges, we should have the forum costs covered in no time at all.

Just saw this link on another forum. Very good visual of earth's winds. http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-260.79,4.75,910

Perhaps the forecast was off by a day. http://www.yr.no/place/Thailand/Chon_Buri/Pattaya/hour_by_hour.html

On another forum a poster explained they're for post tension cables to pass thru. The cables, under tension, support the slab.

Another construction update. Pretty quiet to the north Work continues on the underpass roof Drainage dug, ready for the next deluge Anyone know the function of the silver flexible piping?

Maybe they'll cut Songkran in Pattaya from nine days to one... I know, never going to happen, but hope springs eternal.

What a difference two weeks and a tropical storm can make in lake levels. Here's pics from two weeks ago and from today.

Construction site looking damp today. No surprise there. Looking forward to getting snaps after they start excavating and a heavy downpour hits. Water truck brought in to wash out the rebar works. Most of the crew was occupied with clean up and pumping out water today. Not much to see on the north side of the construction site.

On another forum we've been speculating on the purpose of the concrete pad. Best guess is it's a blinding layer which the roof structure will be made on top of. Once made, the ground beneath will be excavated and the blinding layer broken up and removed leaving a smooth underside to the roof structure. So with curiosity piqued, dodged the raindrops this morning to get a couple of pics of the progress. More of the boards have been placed over the concrete pad and tacked into place with nails The boards are easy enough to lift, so I'm guessing some sort of plastic material Can't really tell from the pics, but the boards have a smooth, shinny surface which I suspect makes it easier to release from the concrete to be poured on top. Further down the work site looks like they're busy boring holes.

My understanding is it was finished and was being used to replenish the water in Mabprachan, that is until Bangkok started having water problems of their own.