Bangkok 19 May 2010 – Thai Army and Police, supported by Armoured Combat Vehicles (ACVs) and Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), plus water cannon military vehicles, moved from several directions overnight to assault the barricades and bunkers built around the perimeter of the anti-government Red Shirt protestors’ encampment covering almost four square miles of central Bangkok. [...]

6 May 2010 – the British Embassy have today lowered their warning related to “the whole of Thailand” citing reduction of unrest and violence outside the capital.  However, they are upholding their warning to avoid Bangkok other than for the most essential of travel. The update came in an email which included – A summary [...]

The British Embassy in Bangkok have issued their sternest level of warning to British nationals within, or travelling to, Thailand, with effect from 09:45am today, 27th April, ALL of Thailand is considered as a destination for only the most essential of travel reasons. In their email communique to registered expatriates and travellers, the embassy states [...]

Effective 21 December 2009, the application fee for a work-permit in Thailand rose by 600%. There are two fees to be paid for a work-permit in Thailand, an application fee, and a successor issuance fee.  The former is controlled and set by the Work Permit Section of the Employment Division of the Ministry of Labour.  [...]

Following the assault upon, and cancellation of, the “ASEAN plus dialogue partners” meeting of Heads of State in Pattaya, Thailand last week by the red-shirted followers of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai government announced, late on Thursday 9th April, that there would be a closure of all government offices on Friday 10th.

This unscheduled holiday preceded and joined with the scheduled Thai traditional New Year (Songkran) holiday occurring from Saturday 11th April to Wednesday 15th April. These dates included closure of all Government and Post Offices within Thailand.

Following the violence and civil unrest that broke out in Bangkok over the Songkran / Easter weekend, instigated by the same red-shirted factions, current Democrat Party Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva instructed, on Tuesday 14 April, that Thursday and Friday 16-17 April would be an extension to the national holiday, in order to give the government time to make central Bangkok safe for people to return to their workplaces.

eBay’s top Chiang Mai sellers and their SE Asian seller management team met at the Chiang Mai Holiday Inn yesterday (23 Feb 2009) to exchange information about the marketplace, its policies, and current sales performance.

Presentations were also given by international courier DHL and a new service for sellers to manage their multi-national sales marketing – Global MerchantRun. PayPal SE Asia also attended and presented information. A buffet style dinner was provided by the Holiday Inn for early arrivers.

Of the 30 or so sellers in attendance, approximately half were foreign expatriates resident in Chiang Mai and trading from here. This is a stark contrast to the eBay team’s last visit to Chiang Mai, in 2006, when they held a seminar for all levels of buyers. That earlier meeting was predominantly Thai attendees with only a handful of foreigners. Could this disparity in ratio be indicative that Thai sellers are not succeeding on the platform?

Having moved house, the law in Thailand says that foreigners must advise the Immigration Police of their new address within 24 hours of the move. The same time span applies to even tourists moving from one hotel to another, although usually the hotel takes care of that.

TOT’s mistrust of its subscribers is causing foreigners in Thailand to pay unnecessary costs, receive continued billing long after requesting service termination, and is leading to loss of property rental deposits.

Foreigners renting property in Thailand, a country which prohibits all foreigners from land ownership, are subjected to prejudicial policies and serious levels of punative charges when subscribing to the Telephone Organisation of Thailand’s (TOT’s) ADSL broadband internet service.