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Photo: Tourists, hundreds of them, on a 'secluded' beach on Koh Phi Phi - one of the locations for the making of the film 'The Beach'. (Photo taken before the 26th December 2004 tsunami disaster). What's On This Page?
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Thailand - Tourist Thailand
There are many way to arrange a trip to Thailand and there are no rights or wrongs. If you have a desire to grow dreadlocks, wear a bandana and wander around in a pair of baggy fisherman pants that's fine or if you opt for two weeks in a five star resort on Phuket which isolates you from the real Thailand that is also fine. All that is important is making the right choice for you and also making sure that what you do doesn't have an adverse affect on other people or the environment. Besides holidaymakers and tourists there are a lot of foreigners living in Thailand permanently or semi-permanently. I don't know what the figure is but judging from the activity on expat bulletin boards it is quite high. The reasons for moving to Thailand are easy to understand and apart from anything else it is an incredibly easy place to live. As long as you have a source of income, which doesn't necessarily have to be very high, you can live very well in Thailand. Some people come to retire and others come to work. Everyone is different. Some adapt and accept but others find that certain things about Thailand make them want to leave eventually. I occasionally look on Internet bulletin boards at what expats are saying and sometimes there is a lot of negativity. There are many reasons for this but my view is that no one is forcing them to stay. If they don't like it they can leave. Thailand is trying to change and those changes don't suit everyone. The current Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) government are playing the nationalist card and that doesn't always bode well for foreigners. Thai law, and the visa laws in particular, can make it difficult for foreigners to stay in Thailand and as a foreigner you will never have the same rights as a Thai national regardless of how long you have lived in Thailand, how much you have invested, or whether you have a Thai spouse and children. Like the other types of foreigner in Thailand the expats are a mixed bunch and are here for different reasons. Some go to great lengths learning about the country, learning how to speak, read and write the language. Some come to retire and/or find a Thai wife. Others drink in the bars of Pattaya and Patpong. It doesn't matter as long as they are not hurting anyone else.
A couple of years ago I had been running around doing errands and, after a busy morning, started to walk back to where I stayed at the time. I saw a farang who looked as if he had just arrived in town. He looked a bit lost and was looking up at the buildings. People who are new to anywhere always look up as they walk around. I just walked past him, minding my own business, and without making any eye contact. As I did so I heard a voice call out, "You f*ck*ng c*nt." It took me a bit by surprise as I don't tend to hear much Anglo-Saxon in Thailand unless I visit Patong Beach. I looked round to see what was going on and who the remark was aimed at. I realised that I was the lucky recipient and on his face was the most hateful, glaring look I think I have ever seen in my life. At first it flashed through my mind to question the guy as to what his problem was but he looked psychopathic and I figured that any comment would only have invited trouble so I just walked on and let it pass. It wasn't my problem. He was the one with the problems and they were pretty major. Most of the time it isn't necessary for bitter and twisted farangs to actually say anything to prove how disgruntled they are because it is clear from the expressions on their faces. They wander around with huge chips on their shoulders, looking decidedly unhappy as if the whole world is conspiring against them. And this is not just one of my personal observations in Thailand. I have also read a number of similar comments on-line. So, what's going on? Thailand is loved by foreigners the world over. They visit and they can't wait to visit again. Many dream about living in Thailand so why do some of the people who actually live there look so pissed off all the time? Thailand attracts a lot of losers. In their own countries they have crap jobs, little money, no decent friends (just a few other losers), and their chances of finding a woman are about zero. They hear about Thailand, visit for a vacation and get hooked. Their next step is a more permanent move to the country. Unfortunately, these guys aren't the brightest of individuals and they can't figure out what is actually going on when they visit Thailand for a short vacation. They somehow think that the attention from the bar girls is genuine; they like the cheap alcohol and the lazy lifestyle; and they think that living in Thailand will turn around their fortunes. Wrong. The sad fact is that losers are losers and a change of geography doesn't make any difference. Even for these guys it doesn't take long after moving to Thailand to figure out the reality of the situation. They are losers so they don't have much money. The hookers that were affordable on a short vacation are not affordable long term. They need to find work to survive and the only option open to them is 'teaching' English. The only problem is they have little education themselves and do not actually understand anything about the language they speak. They certainly don't know enough about grammatical structure (and many can't even spell) to be able to land a good teaching job. They find work at places that are desperate for teachers and 'teach' students who don't have the ability - or are too apathetic - to question their lack of knowledge. Somehow they survive but they can never progress to a good job because they would be exposed very quickly. When they discovered Thailand it was their salvation - or so they thought. There was somewhere on earth where they could have an easy life, drink beer and meet attractive girls without having to be successful at anything they did. However, a few months after moving to Thailand they realise that actually nothing is any different. They still have crap jobs, little money and no decent friends. Sex with hookers is just that and they are unable to meet any decent Thai girls. They feel somehow as if they have been conned and that Thailand has cheated them. Of course, this isn't the case. It's just that they weren't smart enough to understand what they experienced earlier. The situation is bad enough but what makes things even worse is seeing other farangs in Thailand who appear to be making a success of living there. To quote from a contributor to Mango Sauce, "Bangkok has more bitter, disgruntled, rejected and dejected foreigners per square foot than any other city on earth." I wouldn't disagree and it's the reason why I am extremely wary of farangs in Thailand and why I am very selective about the foreigners I associate with.
In the late 19th century, greedy European countries were doing their best to claim colonies around the world and Southeast Asia was a key target. Thailand (Siam, as it was then known) remained independent despite the French having colonised neighbouring Indochina and with the British in Malaysia and Singapore. Both countries were suspicious that the other would try to make some kind of a claim on Siam and to complicate matters further, Germany also started looking at the Kingdom with greedy eyes. The Germans offered the Siamese money with which to build a peninsula railway but of course this wouldn't have been entirely free and there would have been conditions attached giving Germany a great deal of influence in the country. The British weren't at all happy about this and made some concessions to keep the Siamese happy. One of these included giving up extraterritorial rights over British subjects in Thailand. In a memorandum to the British Foreign Office, one F.S. Clarke described these British subjects as, "the riffraff of Burmah." As is often the case when dealing with history, things regarding human nature rarely change and since the advent of the Internet and commercial jet travel, the situation has only got worse. Every farang who doesn't want to work, has no respect for law and authority, and/or who is on the run seems to head straight to Thailand. It's most unfortunate but Thailand continues to provide a home for a lot of riffraff, or perhaps a better description would be farang scum. In his detailed journal, Dr Dan Beach Bradley (a well-known American Christian missionary in Siam during the reign of Mongkut, King Rama IV) wrote that a new breed of foreigner began to arrive in Siam after the opening of trade relations with the West in 1856. Even men that arrived as pious, god fearing Christians soon turned to drink and women. Farang businessmen who attended prayer meetings when they first arrived ended up purchasing mistresses and many died from drink. "Delirium tremens seems to have rivalled smallpox as the most common disease among Westerners," he wrote. One particularly vile character, John S. Parker, preyed on a young child named Lavinia, the seven year-old daughter of a Mrs Charlotte Dunn who was a widow. At first people suspected his interest in the girl was a method to approach her mother but they were wrong. Some farang neighbours watching him from their verandah one day observed Parker putting his hand inside the child's nightdress whenever her mother's back was turned. He was tried, found guilty and sentenced to a month in prison with a $1,000 fine. Bradley continued in his journal, "It was a sad day for the American community in Bangkok that such shame should be brought upon it by our countryman." This sick behaviour of foreigners in Thailand that we still hear about all too often is, unfortunately, not a new phenomenon. The good news is that the majority head for a relatively small number of locations and by keeping clear of those locations they are easily avoided. I still see the occasional example outside of those locations but whenever I do it's just a case of putting my head down and walking straight past hoping not to be noticed.
I like to think of myself as a kind of backpacker even though I don't carry a backpack (mainly because I don't want to look like a stereotypical backpacker). There are many people around who carry on in the true spirit of adventurous travel. Many of them, I freely admit, are far more adventurous than myself. However, in Thailand particularly, there are a lot of dossers who may think they are a free-spirit and adventurous traveller but they all do the same boring things that thousands have done before them. Watching the antics of these guys gives me hours of pleasure. Most of them show a complete lack of imagination and are totally predictable. They come in different flavours but there aren't too many categories. Their Thailand trip consists of visiting specific places on a well beaten trail and they tend to deviate very little from this path. In each of these places are a network of cheap guest houses where they can gather with others of their kind. The guest houses provide everything they need which is basically a bed, a place to buy beer, a TV to watch videos on to provide their evening entertainment and a travel desk to arrange the next leg of their journey. It's supposed to be a big adventure but what I see mostly are a bunch of wasters who are more interested in the image of being a free spirited traveller (or getting pissed each night) than people who want to learn anything about Thailand. Their appearance varies based on what type of backpacker they have chosen to be. The hippy types have obviously been stuck in a time warp for about 25 years. The first thing they do when they get to Thailand is to kit themselves out using tips from Lonely Planet. Making some kind of statement with their hair is very important. Ponytails, dreadlocks or shaven heads (convenient for prematurely balding males as they think it disguises their loss of hair) are popular. And of course a bandana is extremely important. If not a bandana then some other form of weird headgear, the big baggy rasta-style knitted tea cosies are popular with dreadlocks. Baggy Thai fisherman pants provide suitable leg wear and some kind of loose fitting ethnic shirt is good. A locally bought shoulder bag with the bag at the front of the body is handy for their copy of Lonely Planet. Footwear should be rubber flip-flops, of course. I was in Robinsons department store one day, a very middle-class Thai establishment, the equivalent of Marks and Spencer in the UK. In the food centre there were a group of fully kitted out hippy-type backpackers. I wish I'd had my camera to record the image forever but unfortunately I didn't. They were sitting there looking like something from a beach in Goa 30 years ago and around them were Thais dressed in everyday, normal clothes. It was a ridiculous sight. A bit surreal and amusing (to me at least) but ridiculous nevertheless. Robinsons in Hat Yai is very close to the train station and I bet they were staying in a guest house nearby. So for these guys 'travelling on the edge' this was their big Thai adventure - drinking cappuccinos in Robinsons and not venturing more than 300 yards from the train station. I bet the version they give to their mates back home is a little different. Some of the backpacking fraternity is made up of kids just finishing university ("Uni") who take a year out on Daddy's money before they start work. The subcategories of students include hippy types (see above), "Jack-the-lad" type males who favour training shoes, English football jerseys, baseball caps and designer sunglasses, and environmentally conscious girls attempting to save the planet by eating lentils and wearing organic sandals. Their lack of imagination is legendary. From the Khao Sarn Road in Bangkok they will probably go to Chiang Mai (by bus of course). The guest house they stayed at in Bangkok probably arranged the journey and their accommodation in Chiang Mai. In Chiang Mai they will go on a hill trek. If they head south from Bangkok there will be stops at Koh Tao, Koh Samui and Koh Pha-Ngan. Phuket has actively tried to deter backpackers in recent years so fewer will be going to Phuket but some still do. A much more popular backpacker destination is Krabi. Krabi is probably as far south as they will go unless they are going on to Malaysia in which case they might stop in Hat Yai. Koh Pha-Ngan is the location for full-moon parties, the highlight of any backpackers journey where they can get high on drink and drugs. Some will decide to go swimming in the sea afterwards and drown themselves. The more fortunate ones will just suffer from huge hangovers, some will get robbed and a few will get arrested. Whenever the parties take place hordes of backpackers descend on the island creating a demand for accommodation that outstrips supply so they sleep rough instead. Great fun. When's the next one? Or maybe I'm just getting old? They spend an awful lot of time in Internet cafés using Hotmail accounts telling their family and pals what a big adventure they are having. In reality most of them spend all their time in the Internet café, their guest house, the nearest backpacker bar and the local MacDonalds.
The Thais however see things a little differently and even have a special term for Westerners they regard as hippies. They call them farang kee ngok (ฟรั่งขี้งก) which means to be stingy. It's not an altogether complimentary term. Farang kee ngok are the backpacker types who always look as if they are dressed for the beach no matter where they are. They look unkempt and many are dirty which is something that Thais can't stand. One young farang I saw was walking around Hat Yai bare foot. His feet were disgusting as a result and he was totally oblivious to the stares he was getting from the locals. The only bare foot Thais I have seen in an urban environment, apart from monks who are a very special exception, are destitute people with mental illness problems. At some Thai ports of entry you will see an official government definition of a hippy hanging on the wall. I believe that these have been removed in some places but last time I was at Hat Yai airport the sign was still there. It's quite amusing and I'd love to get a photo but using a camera in the immigration section of an airport isn't a very good idea. The definition gives guidance on how to spot a hippy, that is, what a hippy looks like and how they dress. There is a good reason why the description is displayed where it is and that is because Thai immigration officials have the power to prevent entry into Thailand of anyone they suspect of being a hippy. It is most unlikely that anyone would actually be prevented from entering the country for being classified as a hippy but it could happen. However, if you're planning to travel around Thailand with a ridiculous ponytail, baggy fisherman pants, an indigo cotton farmer's shirt and flip-flops it might be an idea to at least arrive looking like a normal person and then make the transformation to Lonely Planet idiot after you get your passport stamped.
Some travellers have good ideas and don't just do everything in accordance with their Lonely Planet guide. I remember meeting an Irish lad in Langkawi who was on his way to Thailand and had heard about a regatta involving boats travelling from Langkawi to Phuket. He was looking for the harbour and was going to try to find someone who might take him on their boat. I thought this showed good imagination. I didn't find out if his search was successful but at least he tried.
They normally go to the Caribbean for their dose of winter sunshine but they thought they'd have a change this year. Sometimes they have to remind themselves where they are. All day they sit around the hotel pool or on the private beach and in the evenings eat at one of the hotel restaurants. The hotel kindly lay on all of their evening entertainment as well so they don't need to leave the safe confines of the resort. Instead of West Indians entertaining them with reggae and limbo dancing this year though there are Oriental looking people demonstrating Thai dancing. The Thai staff at the hotel are all extremely polite and respectable. The tourists do venture outside occasionally and to show they are worldly-wise start haggling with street vendors. They manage to get the price of an "I Love Thailand" T-shirt down from Bt600 to Bt400. What they don't realise is that the true cost should be about Bt80. Their sheltered experience of Thailand is an extremely pleasant one and they believe that everyone in Thailand is like the staff at their hotel so get upset when anyone says anything derogatory about a Thai. They spend a fortune, paying over the odds for everything, but still think it is cheap. They are made to feel very welcome. After all, they are exactly the type of tourists nice Mr Thaksin wants. Perhaps some of them may even shell out $25,000 for one of Mr Thaksin's Thailand privilege cards? Two popular destinations for this type of tourist are Phuket and Koh Samui although Khaolak is fast catching up. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, of course. It's great that people have enjoyable and relaxing holidays and even better that they spend their money in Thailand. The only thing that irritates me slightly is people who spend all their time at a luxury resort and then go on about how they loved Thailand. They may have enjoyed their vacation experience but it is very unlikely they learned anything about Thailand.
For people wishing to live in Thailand for a longish term without savings or a source of income from home, English teaching is about the only option. Great, eh? All you need to be able to do is speak English (which everyone from English speaking countries does anyway) and you are able to find employment in Thailand. This isn't quite the case. I did an intensive TEFL course that took a month to complete and found out very quickly that it takes more than just being able to speak English to be a teacher. To do the job well requires a good deal of learning, hard work and lots of imagination to make lessons interesting for students. Unfortunately not everyone sees it this way and there are good and bad teachers. Teachers who come to Thailand are motivated for different reasons. Some people really do want to make a difference to the lives of Thai people and it is a great way to integrate with the community and provide a life skill that will serve Thais well, especially in these days of globalisation where English is the international language of business. The motives of some people are quite different though and there seems to be a disproportionately high number of male 'teachers'. I wonder why that is? A story in the newspaper in early 2004 amused me. An American 40-something English 'teacher' had collapsed and died from a heart attack on top of a 19 year-old Thai prostitute while having sex with her in Chiang Mai. It must have terrified the poor girl. She called the police and explained what had happened. The police found Viagra and pills for a heart condition about the body of the deceased person. I don't know what he had told his family and friends about his reasons for going to Thailand but it must have been very embarrassing for them when they learnt how he passed away. Unfortunately a lot of foreign males who have come to Thailand for cheap and available sex have become English 'teachers' as that is the only thing they can do to earn money. Some are arrogant enough to believe that they are actually good teachers but most don't have a clue and unfortunately nor do the Thais who employ them. Compared to salaries in the developed world, farang English teachers aren't paid much (Bt20,000 to Bt30,000 a month, on average) but it is significantly more than most Thais earn and it is enough to live on in Thailand where the cost of living is low. English speaking Asian teachers such as Filipinos and Indians can also find work in Thailand but are paid less than white skinned teachers. Is this racist? Well, yes I guess so, but that's how it is. Working conditions and workload vary. The private language institutes are more commercially aware and tend to work teachers harder. Teachers working in such places may have to travel to clients and this can add several hours to the working week, especially if they have to fight their way through Bangkok traffic. This type of establishment may also require weekend working. State and private schools tend to pay lower wages but the working place is fixed, the atmosphere is more relaxed and there is no working at the weekend. Finding a teaching job is much easier if the teacher is actually in Thailand. Maybe it was me but I never even received acknowledgments to applications I sent via the Internet. Knowing how image is so important in Thailand they probably looked at the photos (which are always requested in Thai job ads), rejected me as an old fart and chose the pretty 20-something year-olds just out of college. For more information I've written a little about my experiences teaching English in Thailand.
I almost titled this section 'Sex Tourists' but that is neither fair nor strictly accurate. Also, even though I wouldn't put myself into any of the categories on this page, I am here as a single male myself. The guys I am referring to are the ones who, more often than not, have been left on the shelf back in their home countries. I sympathise with them and understand their situation. A lot of honest, decent men over a certain age in the West get treated with total indifference by their womenfolk. Most of the women aren't worth bothering with anyway as they have their heads firmly positioned up their backsides. To be honest, they're not really interested in men and anyway, last month's edition of Cosmopolitan told them that they don't have to settle for second best with any aspect of their life. They have a right to the perfect job, big house, fancy car, fashionable wardrobe and to that handsome, yet understanding man purely by virtue of the fact they read Cosmopolitan. They believe all this of course and have decided to wait for George Clooney or Tom Cruise to become available. There may be men visiting Thailand who go there for crude sexual acts or to have sex with minors but I haven't met any. Most of them just want a bit of love and female companionship but are unable to find it where they live. In Thailand they can get what they want, even if it is all an illusion. They go to places where there are high concentrations of girls wanting to take money from men like themselves - Pattaya, Phuket and the bar areas of Bangkok. They are in a hurry and can't afford to waste any time so don't take any chances about not getting a girl. It has been a long time since their last round of sexual activity, possibly since their last trip to Thailand. Ever since they booked their trip they have been ticking off the days and finally the big day has come. After a 12 hour flight they arrive tired but the excitement of anticipation gives them a new lease of life. They check in at their hotel, get showered, get changed and want a girl - NOW! A couple of years ago I returned from a trip to the Far East that included Thailand and took my photos in to get them developed. When I picked them up the guy serving me in Boots was quite interested in where I had been so I got chatting to him. It transpired that he was about to go to Thailand for two weeks and he couldn't conceal his excitement. I guess he must have been in his 50's and seemed like a decent chap. He told me that for the whole two weeks he was staying at the Nana Hotel in Sukhumvit. This one piece of information told me a lot about the purpose of his visit but good luck to him. What is ironic is that these men are most unlikely to find a Thai girl who would be good for them. By being in a hurry and mixing with bar girls and the like they will meet the most cynical, mercenary type of girls imaginable who are experts at extracting money from gullible, lonely men. Some of them do find good women but a lot get burned. It's sad.
I see quite a few of these guys around and some are more active than others. I believe that foreign nationals over the age of 50 can get a retirement visa fairly easily provided they can provide proof of a regular income and/or have a certain amount of money in a Thai bank account with proof that it was transferred from abroad. Some are widowed and some have never been married. I can't say I blame them for coming to Thailand, especially during the winter time. In Thailand they have sunshine, cheap beer and Thai women. It sure beats old-time dancing with a blue-rinsed granny on a cold, grey day in Blackpool. The bar girls are quite happy to go with these guys. Age and looks aren't important provided the men have some money. Rather than mess around with bar girls and the like, some men get married. The ones in poor health may just want a Thai wife to look after them in their old age. There are a lot of Thai women of a certain age quite happy to do this in exchange for some financial security. The women are past their best but that is of no consequence to the men - so are they. It seems to work quite well for both parties. These guys actually seem to do quite well most of the time. They don't bother with the 20-something beauties but select older women whose looks have faded or who were never that beautiful to start off with. By avoiding one of the major pitfalls with Thai women - that of falling for the young beauties - they save themselves a lot of grief.
Everyone's favourites. There's not a lot to say really apart from the fact they have a fairly narrow agenda in Thailand and probably aren't very interested in the Thai culture, food or language pages I have written. I don't see too many normally. I can spot them a mile off and avoid them like the plague. Most tend to go to locations where there are lots of bar girls and I steer well clear of those places except on the odd occasion. Some venture deeper into Thailand where there is less competition for girls from other farangs like themselves and where they hope to find girls who are cheaper and more naïve. It's a bit sad to see men in their 40's, 50's and even older behaving and speaking as if they were taking part in an American teen movie where their whole existence in life is centred around sex and female body parts. Birds of a feather flock together though and the majority end up with Thai females who have equivalent moral values and give as good as they get. The law of Karma always gets them in the end. I feel sorry for them more than anything. Some travel alone, some in pairs. Sexual inadequates with no social skills. When they come in pairs it looks like they have been plotting their adventure in the local pub for the last year. They traipse around with their bad shorts and replica football jerseys not taking in any of their surroundings. The culture of the country is not important. They will not learn one word of Thai and will feast on pizza and burgers. Tom yum what? Being in Thailand to experience being in Thailand is not what this vacation is about. They are on a mission and quite focused. There is also an on-line version of the sex tourist. They enter this site at the 'Girls' page after searching for 'Thai bar girls', 'prostitute Thailand' or 'Thailand girls sex' and then they leave. After all, what else of interest could there possibly be in Thailand?It's sad but true. Most sex tourists are fairly innocuous but there are a few I object to like the American guy found hanging around school gates in Chiang Mai handing out photocopied details explaining how he would like to befriend 15 year-old girls. Fortunately someone objected to what he was doing, called the police and he was taken away. I hope he spent some time in a Thai jail and I hope the other prisoners were told why he was there. Kids in Thailand grow up very slowly and 15 year-old girls are more like 12 year-olds. This kind of thing is really sick. The sex tourists visit during their vacation time while the sexpats make Thailand a more permanent home. Those who need to earn money can often be found 'teaching' English thus further sullying the reputation of teachers who genuinely want to teach. Their conversations among each other never include difficult grammar points or teaching methods but how many females they have in their classes and how many female teachers work alongside them. Very sad.
According to an article in The Nation on 21st February 2005, healthcare in Thailand is two to three times cheaper than in Singapore, four to five times cheaper than Japan and five to ten times cheaper when compared to Europe or the United States. The Bumrungrad private hospital in Bangkok is getting an excellent reputation worldwide but there are many such private hospitals throughout Thailand. The concept is that foreigners arrange to have operations and procedures carried out in Thailand at hospitals resembling 5 star hotels. They receive high quality treatment and then get aftercare from gorgeous, smiling Thai nurses which (believe me) will speed up any recovery. During all this they get a taste of Thailand and hopefully find time for a vacation before or after their hospital visit. The cost of all this, including a vacation in Thailand, should be less than having the operation done at home. Can't be bad. In April 2005 Bumrungrad was featured on "60 Minutes", an American news programme broadcast by CBS. It described how the hospital had saved the life of an American citizen, Byron Bonnewell, who needed urgent heart bypass surgery but who had no medical insurance. Surgery in the US would have cost him more than US$100,000, which he didn't have, but he got it done for US$12,000 in Thailand. Bonnewell was impressed with the skill of the Thai doctors (all of whom had practised in the US) and the nursing and aftercare. My experiences of Thai private hospitals, similar to Bumrungrad, have also been very favourable. More than anything though, this story says more to me about the United States than it does about Thailand. In addition to medical procedures, cosmetic and eye-corrective surgery is also widely available. I think the figure for 2004 was about 1 million health tourists but it is a market that has tremendous potential for growth. Thai doctors are very competent and professional. The medical profession requires a knowledge of the English language so most speak a very good standard of English. They keep up to date with the latest developments and have access to the best equipment and medication. While in Thailand I am taking the opportunity to get dental work done. My plan is to get everything done that needs doing in order to prevent future problems for the next 10 years. Thai dentists (the majority of whom seem to be female for some reason) are excellent and the work is dirt cheap. Look at any US dentists web site and in addition to information about dental procedures there will be a section about finance plans and how you are going to pay for the work. Dental work is cheaper in the UK but my dentists bills there always made a big dent in my bank account. That is just not the case in Thailand. It seems that some people only trust doctors and dentists from their own country and I hear the strangest things said about Thai health professionals but the comments are unfounded. They are excellent. I would suggest (but you would need to research first) that even if you have relatively little dental work to get done - maybe some root canal treatment and a couple of crowns or bridges - you could probably get it done in Thailand and have a free (or very cheap) holiday for the same price or less than you would pay getting the work done at home if you live somewhere where dental treatment is very expensive. March 2006 update: About two weeks after writing this (by complete coincidence) I bumped into a fairly elderly American guy who was back living in the States but who had spent a lot of time in Thailand in the last 35 year. He was in Thailand to get four titanium dental implants fitted. The cost in the US was around $45,000. It still wasn't 'cheap' in Thailand but most of the cost was for the titanium which is fixed across borders. The cost savings had made his decision to return to Thailand to get the work done a no-brainer. The only bad experience I had was while travelling one time when I needed to see an ear doctor to get my ear cleaned out. My left ear gets clogged quite frequently, especially in Thailand. He took a look and told me I had a perforated eardrum which came as rather a shock and ruined my trip. When I got home I saw another ear doctor who said my ear drum was fine. He cleaned the ear out, gave me some drops and everything was fine. There are a few poor doctors everywhere and, as we have seen in the news, rogue doctors (frequently Indians) turn up in Australia, America and the UK. There have also been doctors who liked to kill their patients but I have never heard of any in Thailand. Moral values among certain Thais - particularly politicians - can be sadly lacking but Thai health professionals have been some of the most decent, upstanding and morally good people I have ever met. I have had several consultations with doctors and dentists and not been charged. They really seem to be doing the job for the right reasons and money is not the primary motivator.
I'll mention this fairly briefly but don't want to dwell on the subject because (a) it gets quite complex, (b) there seem to be few fixed rules, (c) requirements vary depending on which country you are from, (d) the subject is covered extensively elsewhere on the Internet. A couple of resources you may want to look at are ThaiVisa.com and Ajarn.com. Ajarn.com is geared towards people who want to work as English teachers in Thailand but a lot of the information is quite generic. Your local travel agent or Thai Embassy/Consulate should also be able to provide assistance and information. Foreign nationals arriving in Thailand from many countries are given a 30 day stamp at the border - this is not a visa. This is sufficient for the majority of visiting holidaymakers and there is no charge. Nothing is required to be done before arriving in Thailand apart from making sure that your passport is valid for at least six months when you arrive. Your 30 day stay can be extended for another 15 days at an immigration office in Thailand for a fee of Bt1,900. However, if you are near a border, it's cheaper just to leave Thailand and come straight back in again whereupon you will get another 30 day stamp. Despite constant rumours about the Thai authorities starting to clamp down on people living in the country on constant 30 day stamps, it never happens and there is no limit as to how many times you can do this. For longer stays as a tourist, a 60 day Tourist Visa is available from Thai Embassies and Consulates outside of Thailand. Getting one is normally a formality as long as you have not been blacklisted by Thai Immigration for any reason. It's just a case of filling in a form and providing a passport photo and some cash. My last couple of Tourist Visas were obtained in Singapore where the fee charged was S$50. It takes a day to process so you drop off the paperwork and your passport one day (normally between 09:00 and 12:00) and collect your passport with its new visa the next (normally between 14:00 and 16:00). Once in Thailand, the 60 day Tourist Visa can be extended for another 30 days at a local immigration offices. The fee for doing this is Bt1,900 (Bt2,000 if, like me, you hand over Bt2,000 and they laugh in your face when you expect change). I thought that extending a visa in Thailand would be a formality but I received quite a grilling on the one occasion I did it. I applied straight away after arriving in Thailand so had almost the entire 60 days still remaining when I applied for another 30. Dealing with Thai officialdom is not exactly the most comfortable experience in the world. The process involved being vetted by several underlings before I got to see the man in charge so that they were happy I had all the necessary paperwork. When I did finally see the head honcho it was a real interrogation and I had to justify to him my reasons for wanting an extension. I never did get my Bt100 change but at the end of the grilling I was happy just to get out of the office. Thai Consulates and Embassies in certain locations (the ones nearest to Thailand, such as Penang) do seem to have a bit of a problem about how many Tourist Visas they will issue to individuals and if you already have three in your passport they may not issue another. If staying in Thailand long-term there are several different kinds of Non-Immigrant visa. Some examples are for study, work, becoming a monk, retirement, investment, if you have dependents, etc. People wishing to work normally apply for a Non-Immigrant B Visa. To get one of these a job offer letter is required and the single entry visa that is issued is valid for 90 days. In that 90 days your employer is supposed to apply for a work permit at the Department of Labour. Once your 90 days is up you can get the visa extended for a year by submitting the work permit along with whatever other documents they ask for. Regarding my point (b) above, if you look at various Internet resources you will find all sorts of conflicting reports. Visa issuance seems to depend on which Consulate you go to, who your employer is and how good their contacts are with the Consulate, what kind of mood the immigration officer is in that day, how you are dressed, etc etc. There are agencies in Thailand that deal specifically with foreigners trying to get visas. Some are quite reputable and if they have good connections can make the process run smoothly. Be careful though and avoid any agency that just wants your passport. If your passport goes on a holiday to the border by itself or an unscrupulous agency inserts a counterfeit visa stamp you could end up in serious trouble. Many people stay in Thailand for years on repeated monthly visas, just going to the nearest border once a month for a new stamp. There is currently no limit to how many times you do this but, regular as clockwork, rumours circulate every year about changes that are about to take place. One rumour will say that if you have three consecutive monthly stamps in your passport you won't be allowed back in and another will say that visitors will only be allowed to stay 180 days in any one calendar year (similar to countries such as Brazil). There have always been rumours about people staying on repeat monthly visas running into problems with Immigration and not being allowed back in but nobody seems to know anyone who this has actually happened to. I have to admit that I did meet a British guy at the Thai border on one occasion who had been blacklisted and who they didn't want to allow in but he looked a bit dodgy anyway and he may have been in trouble before. The authorities may assume that people staying in Thailand long-term on repeat visas are working and because they aren't allowed to work on that particular visa they must be working illegally. A future requirement may be that proof of income from abroad (or money in the bank) is required. I keep my ATM receipts as proof that my income comes from a bank account abroad and I am not earning an illegal source of income in Thailand. I have to stress, however, that all these requirements are purely speculative at the moment. I mentioned that for visitors staying less than 30 days an entry stamp is issued for free. It doesn't cost anything to enter the country but you have to pay to leave if leaving by air. At airports a departure tax of Bt500 is charged to leave the country and after you have checked in you will not be allowed into the departure lounge without showing your departure fee receipt. It's a good idea early in your holiday just to put Bt500 in your passport so that you don't forget later. From March 2006 the visa overstay fine went up from Bt200 to Bt500 a day but I don't know whether the maximum fine increased from Bt20,000. Visas have nothing to do with your entitlement to work in Thailand, contrary to what some idiot I met in Penang told me who "had been living in Thailand for 40 years and knew what he was talking about." To work in Thailand requires having a work permit. These are only issued if you have a Non-Immigration visa of some kind so having the right kind of visa is important but the visa itself doesn't give you the right to work.
Do You Want To Stay Six Months In Thailand As A Tourist? If you want to stay for half a year or more this is the easiest way to do it. Arrive in Thailand as usual and get your 30 day stamp. Within that time make a trip to one of the Thai Consulates in a neighbouring country. If you are in the north this might be Vientiane in Laos or if you are in the south, Penang in Malaysia. Another alternative with all the budget airlines these days might be to catch a cheap Tiger Airways flight down to the Thai Embassy in Singapore. At the Consulate or Embassy outside of Thailand (you have to do this outside the country) apply for a double entry tourist visa. In Penang this costs 200 Malaysian Ringgits and you will also need to find lodgings for a couple of nights. When you go back to Thailand your first visa will be activated giving you 60 days. After 60 days you can go to a local immigration office and get a 30 day extension for Bt1,900. Thus you get 90 days in Thailand without having to leave the country. When the extension runs out you go to a border. At the border you get a Thai exit stamp, you then quickly enter and exit the neighbouring country, before coming straight back into Thailand. When you reenter Thailand your second visa gets activated and you repeat the process to get another 90 days in the country without having to leave.
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