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1 - 15 April 2014
www.pattayatoday.net
Tips & Advice you may have to pay the exit fee which is not included in your ticket. Also Cambodian nationals sometimes have to fill in a form.
Visa fees at Vientiane Q: How much is the visa fee to enter Laos at Vientiane airport? A: It depends on your nationality – between US$20 and US$50. The Laos government recently announced that Russian visitors are to be free. Discussions are still underway to have joint visas with other ASEAN partners, but details are still unclear. Multiple entry to Cambodia Q: As I visit Phnom Penh several times a year, I am investigating the possibility of a multi-entry visa but I’m not making much progress. There does not seem to be any provision at the airport for anything other than singles. A: You could inquire at the Immigration Bureau opposite Phnom Penh airport, but most people contact one of the tourist and visa shops on the main tourist strip by the river in Phnom Penh. A one-year multiple entry will cost you just short of US$300 but no special documentation is required. However, the multi-entry is only available as a business visa (not tourist), so make sure you obtain a business visa for US$25 the next time you enter by air. If you buy a tourist visa, no can do, we are told.
Age limit for a retirement visa Q: I know the minimum age for a Thai one-year retirement visa is 50, but many people have retired from work before that time, so is there any plan to reduce the age barrier? To give one example, there is no such minimum age restriction in the Philippines. A: This is a commonly raised question, but there is no plan to lower the age in Thailand, according to the Immigration Bureau. They point out that the age dropped from 60 to 55 and then 50 some years ago. The easiest one-year visa for “young” long stayers in Thailand is probably the education visa, unless you are married to a Thai spouse. Arrest at the airport Q: I have a two weeks overstay here in Thailand and I am sick with worry that I will be arrested at the airport or that my name will be placed on a banned list. Do I have any alternative to put my mind at rest? A: You will not be arrested as long as you have the cash for the fine, namely 500 baht per overstay day. Nor will you be banned from Thailand. You could pay the fine at a local Immigration office but, in that case, you will need to buy a further week’s extension for 1,900 baht. The important point is that short overstays, of say a few weeks, can be sorted out by paying – period!
Airport question in Cambodia Q: I have noticed that you no longer pay the US$25 exit fee on leaving Phnom Penh or Siem Reap airport on your way out. This is because the fee is now included in your ticket. Yet the office to collect these fees is still open. Why is that? A: There are one or two budget airlines where
Waiting for passport Q: I dropped my passport in the washing machine and it is ruined. I have applied at my embassy for a new one but I will be in overstay by the time it is ready. Will I be liable for the fine as I have no choice but to wait. A: You are responsible for the overstay at 500 baht per day no matter what the cause of the problem. You could discuss with your embassy the possibility or otherwise of an emergency travel document which is usually a much quicker procedure.
Richard de Vere dies in Thailand One of Britain’s best-liked illusionists died in Chonburi General Hospital last month at the age of 46, following a heart attack and 10day illness while on holiday in Thailand. The star is remembered as a master of illusion at Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Mystique show for many years. He was cremated at South Pattaya’s Wat Chaimongkol with arrangements made by long-term friends Ray Cornell and Darrell Bevers who run the Venue Residence in the Jomtien Complex. Born in Bolton in 1967, Richard was the grandson of a former member of parliament for Bolton West. His interest in magic started at the age of eleven when he began doing tricks for his playground chums. He worked at Liverpool’s Royal Court theatre as a pantomime dame from 1989 and became a friend of the late comedian Bernie Winters who trained him and bequeathed his much-loved St Bernard, Schnorbitz. The animal accompanied Richard on many of his later stage appearances. Richard starred in his own UK-based show, Beyond Belief, from 2008 to 2013. He told a Lancashire newspaper in 2006, “With a lot of
practice, illusion becomes a skill and the key is to make it interesting for people to want to go on watching.”
Snap Judgment Conspiracy theories everywhere The mysteries surrounding the disappearance of Malaysian Airline flight 370 were tailor-made to fit any number of conspiracy theories. Actually, the North Koreans diverted and captured it to increase their leverage in world affairs. Or the Chinese themselves want to show everyone–eventually– that they are cleverer than the United States. Not to mention the likelihood that aliens from outer space did the dreadful deed as a precursor to their forthcoming invasion of planet Earth this coming Christmas. Even the current political impasse in Thailand is the subject of many conspiracy theories on the internet. One view says that the whole thing has been engineered by China (or America in some versions) to enable that imperialist power to take over the Thai state. Another theory speculates that the whole trouble has been engineered by the Thai military to produce such a dreadful mess that a military coup will scarcely be opposed. Still another postulates that the political conflict has been created by black magic or supernatural forces intervening to punish Thailand for its craven immorality and corruption. How do we explain the popularity of conspiracy theories, especially amongst devotees of the social media? Well, gossip is the world’s most popular hobby and there’s no better place to exchange it with your friends and allies than on Facebook or whatever. Trying to impress your contacts with more and more outlandish opinions is all grist to the rumor mill. We feel a lot better when we share our perspectives with other people. In fact, many conspiracy devotees hold flatly contradictory opinions at one and the same time. For example, people can believe both that Princess Diana faked her own death and yet also concur that the British royal family arranged her demise in the Paris tunnel. Those who believe Adolf Hitler escaped from his Berlin bunker in 1945 are happy to accept that he spent his final years on the moon or in Paraguay or in a Worthing tea shop, or even all three. The more the merrier. Most of us feel powerless in the world of today. It’s complex and there’s little we can do to change it except to turn up at the ballot box once in a while. But voting can’t be that important, said Mark Twain or it might have been Disraeli, otherwise the powers-that-be wouldn’t allow you to do it in the first place. Consequently, when a disaster occurs such as a terrorist attack, an outbreak of disease, or a missing airliner, some of us go hunting to find the malicious agent responsible for the whole thing. It doesn’t help much if your critics call you a crackpot. Contrary opinions only reinforce what you were thinking in the first place. Thus, if you believe that the anti-cigarette campaign in most countries is actually an excuse to reduce spending on health care by crash-strapped governments, you can carry on puffing in the glad knowledge that the weed isn’t doing you any harm at all. To give a contemporary Thai example, if you believe that Suthep’s street demonstrators in Bangkok are throwing giant fire crackers and grenades at each other to try and increase public sympathy for his cause, you will absolutely reject any proof that the other side was responsible for creating the almost nightly violence. Videos can be faked and selfies can be photoshopped. There is also the reassuring thought that some conspiracy theories are actually correct. The torpedoed Lusitania in 1915 did indeed carry weapons and shells in spite of contemporary denials. They are there for all to see scattered on the sea bed. Republican officials did indeed bug the Democratic headquarters at the insistence of president Nixon even though he went blue in the face denying the rumors at the time. And it’s certainly true that Queen Elizabeth the First was in fact a man. She went prematurely bald, employed a barber to shave her every day, and was sometimes observed standing up in the privy.