Thai O-A Visa Renewal

This will hopefully be of benefit to people who decide after they have been here a year, to go for the second year of being here on an O-A (Long Stay or Retirement Visa). I learned that terminology can be confusing. This experience is for the Phuket office, and may be different depending on the office and the officer. I must admit that the Immigration Police Volunteers, dressed in white shirts and all foreigners, are incredibly helpful. They also have a counter set up that has all the blank forms on it, as well as the blue pens and sample forms for you to follow.

So I took a shower, put on deodorant, brushed my teeth, found my lone pair of long pants and a nice shirt and headed off. Not before I got questioned by Clive about why I was doing this dressing up routine. I explained that OI thought it proper when I went to a government office that I should be presentable. As I waited for the office to open; it closes for lunch from 1200-1300, I watched the collection of people assembling waiting for the office opening. I was particularly riveted to a group of men, all in a pair of flip flops and beach shorts, with 9 empty beer cans in front of them, as they all cracked open more, whiling their time to go into the office. I thought, maybe I am overdressed. But I am also seeing many instances of people who go out in the daytime for business dealings, still smelling like the booze they downed the night before, probably not having a shower, and in obvious cases, not being in possession of deodorant, and in their best beach attire.  I am also one who researched my documents, checks all the boxes in the right place, and rewrites a form if I made a mistake on it. I would attribute any time delays today to the people who do not research and hand in 1/2 done forms, thus holding many people back. They also seem oblivious to that impact. But then again they may be drunk and not notice anyway.

Thailand Votes 2011

Campaign Motorcade- Thai Style

Well we are in the middle of an election. And today is voting day. If nothing else, Thai politics can be somewhat confusing and outcomes somewhat even more confusing. On July 3rd the people will go to the polls. And this is very different than any other country I have been in when a general election is underway.

You would need a multi paged primer to be able to be up to speed on the history, the current situation, and the intrigue that is involved, and now the soap opera quality to the campaign. The Bangkok Post and the Nation newspapers are must reads to be up to speed.

There are 375 constituencies or electoral ridings/boundaries;
There are 4 main parties, fielding 125 candidates each
There are an additional 29 other parties fielding candidates numbering from 1 -125;
There are 53.5 Million ballots being printed.

Approximately 200 candidates have specifically requested and are getting police protection. There have been killings that are being associated to the elections, with gunning down of candidates or campaign workers. There are 150,000 police on duty today to provide polling station security through-out the country.

Becoming A Monk (Part 2)

In my previous writing I gave you an account of a ceremony I attended for a young man to become a monk. I thought that perhaps you might be interested in what this means in more tangible terms. There are rules and expectations that may not be known to people not familiar with the Buddhist faith as it is practiced here in Thailand.

I should start by saying that like many other religions, there are various sects. In Christianity as an example there are different faith practices; Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist etc. In Buddhism there are similar different sects. many people are familiar with the Dali Lama, a man who heads the Buddhist practices of Tibetan Buddhism. There is also Zen Buddhism and Soak Gaki International (SGI) Buddhism that is based in Japan, among many others.

In Thailand it is estimated that 95% of the population, practice the Theravada school of practice, with elements of Hindu and Chinese influence. So in some areas, such as the north where influences from Laos and Cambodia have been strong, the practices will be slightly different in some respects to those practices in the south.

As I said in the previous writing, every young man is expected to go to the temple and spend some time as a monk.

Waving Flags- Part 2

Flags for the readers from, Denmark, Russia, South Africa and Thailand. From now on as I welcome each country reader(s) I will put their flag on that post. As of today this blog has now been read in 21 countries. Thank you all!

Denmark

Russia

South Africa

Thailand