CanadaVisitor

I'm probably going to do a Visa run by land. (Aprx 8 hours from Bangkok to the Cambodian border and back). Last time I checked immigration requires onward air travel booking and they didn't accept land tours or a booking on a speed boat (from Phuket to Malaysia for example)

Thanks @oliver17, but I haven't had to fill out any arrival forms for a few trips now. Usually immigration just asks to see your passport and boarding pass. Get your fingerprints taken and maybe a question or two..."How many days are you here for?" "Where will you be staying?" Etc. Yeah, maybe I'll just book something that is either super cheap or refundable that departs before my 60 days are up

Has anyone been required to show their return ticket at immigration to prove that they weren't going to stay longer than their Visa allowed? I'm now allowed to stay for 60 days under the Visa exemption agreement. I've never been asked to show my return ticket in 4 trips. On my last trip the immigration officer just asked me how many days I was staying. I'm going to spend almost 6 months in Thailand my next trip. My plan would be to travel to other countries/do border runs to make sure I stay legal. I read that immigration officers can tell if you arrived on a one-way ticket. That is the case for me this upcoming trip. I'm arriving on a one-way ticket because I was able to get it using points. My return ticket is also a one-way ticket with a different carrier but my departure date from Thailand is 6 months after my arrival. So if I get checked it would look like I am deliberately planning on illegally overstaying. It wouldn't be that big of a deal for me to buy an onward ticket and cancel it or to use the website that @katana57 and @pennybridge mentioned, but if I don't need to do those things I would rather not go through the extra hassle. So...has anyone been asked for proof of onward travel when arriving?

Sorry. I see now that the DTV is different from the LTR. (Even though the LTR has a remote workers category). So my comment above isn't really relevant to this thread.

The LTR (Long Term Residents) Visa is a welcome addition to Thai Visas. I have no desire to do "digital work" from the Kingdom, but also with the LTR program is a new 10 year retirement Visa and it sounds great. You don't even have to leave the Country every 90 days or do the 90 day reporting. Instead you just report once a year. Considering the 10 year (Platinum) Thai Elite Visa is 1,500,000 Baht, this is a much cheaper option if you qualify.

I've got my next trip booked and I chose this hotel again for 25 of my 29 nights. Four reasons for this decision: The better beds and bedding, the much better breakfast (even though I might only eat breakfast half the time), the Marriott Bonvoy points program seems to be the best overall fit for me, and I was able to negotiate a better nightly rate. The downsides are that it doesn't have a lounge for the freebie early evening drinks and snacks and both the pool itself and the pool area aren't that big. I will definitely do as you and @whiteshirt suggested this time...get the mini bar emptied and fill it with my own supplies.

Yes...I remember your posts on that thread were spot on and a MUST read for anyone planning a holiday girlfriend type of date.

If I'm doing an afternoon date I might mention the pool and that she can bring a suit if she wants to swim or hang out. Note...all my afternoon dates have been with girls from CIB and Cindy's. No one has ever taken me up on it. I think for 4 reasons: 1. They don't want to be in the sun and get their skin darker, 2. They don't want to get their hair wet, 3. They still have to work that night and need to go back to their room and get some more sleep and get ready for work. 4. They are sex workers and I'm just a customer for them. They don't really want to hang out after the job is done. It would be different if your date was with a girl from TF or whatever and not full time pay for play. Or if it was a long long time date. In Thailand I've found that almost all the ladies will take you up on going for a bite to eat either before or after fun in the room, but that's about the extent of extra curricular socializing I've experienced. Totally different from Las Vegas. If you ask a stripper to hang out at your poolside cabana, 90% will take you up on it.

I have found this now, but haven't stopped in yet. I did have an "aha" moment. The reason I can't remember walking past Leks before is because I probably didn't. When I'm walking down Soi 11 and am going to go left on Suk I never walk all the way to the corner. Instead I take the shortcut through the Ambassador to get onto Soi 13 which has considerably less traffic. Mystery solved.

I look forward to your arrival @Bwana_LB...just note that there have been a few changes here since I stayed back in April. They are attempting to be a lot more family friendly...they do not allow the weed trucks to park in front of the hotel anymore. They have also put up a railing in front of the hotel so that freelancers can't sit there anymore. That was a shame for me because I actually became friendly with one of the girls who posted herself there by the name of May. Haven't seen her so far this trip Also, breakfast is pretty bad now. They still have an egg station, but fried and scrambled eggs are waiting for you under a heat lamp. They still do omelettes to order and you can also shame them into making you fresh fried eggs. There is no coconut water like they used to have. And the buffet is now mostly halal. (I think I got that right...Indian food). They have 2 choices for western dishes and that's it. One day the choices were broccoli in cream sauce and fried tomatoes. Haha...not a potato in sight! And this is room dependent...even though the outlets should accept N.American plugs I found that I needed to use an adapter to make a proper connection. I look forward to your thoughts when you return. Cheers

Yeah, I might have been too harsh on this place after now staying in three different hotels. The beds and bedding at Aloft have been by far the best. Same with the breakfast...way better than Mercure or the Holiday Inn Suk 22 where I am now. They also have a free shuttle to Nana BTS and to Terminal 21. That meant that I didn't build up too much of a sweat when I walked the rest of the way to NEP or CIB. I might take some more contract work this year. If I do I would happily stay here again using those points. Shame they don't have a lounge though...I'm quite enjoying the 2 hour free drinks and snacks I get at the other hotel chains in the early evening.

Another final few points. The bed and bedding are very comfortable. The mattress is firm, but not too firm and the sheets and pillows are quite nice. The shower is big enough for two and the shower head easily adjusts to many different positions. The first time I tried sex in the shower was almost a disaster because the floor is too slippery. However it’s plenty big so it’s good enough to soap each other. And if you are determined (like I was) to have shower sex, just bring the bath mat in for traction.

@Rocco Yup, exactly! Even though it was frickin cold I did laps instead of the gym today. Hopefully things down there get back to normal by tonight. I was going to take a picture of the gym, but there were always some people in it. Never crowded (only 1 or 2 each time). Lots of the standard cardio equipment (treadmills, bikes, ellipticals...maybe at least 2 of each); dumbbells and weight equipment and enough space in the middle to do your thing...including a Bollywood dance that I just witnessed. Overall, this hotel is nice enough and in a good location, but I'm not sure if I would stay here again. I don't know how much they were asking for their rooms, but based on what they charge for everything else (if you want to buy the breakfast buffet it's 450 baht) it's probably not the best deal. If I have points again next year, maybe I would stay a few less nights at the Westin. Great location for CIB! Oh, and last point...if you watch TV, there are several channels to choose from and a surprising amount in English. I've only turned the TV on once just in case they were showing NFL football and sure enough they were.

Good tip about the mini bar, but at this point I'll just ignore the stuff in there as there was room enough in it to put my own supplies. Condoms were one of the items you could buy, 200 baht for 1, lol...definitely only for the desperate! Breakfast...the buffet is pretty good. Not sure how much it costs as it was another perk from my status. I find the buffets here in Thailand are exceptional compared to N.America ones. Fresh egg station, lots of western, and Asian choices. No coconut water though (that costs extra here), but lots of fresh fruit and the pastry section was pretty big. I don't usually eat any bread or baking while I'm here though. Laundry service...I was putting all my dirty clothes together until I realized it was going to cost 2500 baht, so screw that. I did let them dry clean my dress pants for the party tonight (400) and dropped the rest off at the laundry on the same alley as Cindy's (300). I'll review the gym next as it's overcast today and kinda cool outside to go for a swim. I did go do some laps yesterday and was uninterrupted for over an hour as I did my thing. I'm guessing the pool isn't heated, but the cold water shock quickly went away after I started.

This must be a fairly new build…everything looks pretty fresh and clean. Got to my room. They are quite small, but fairly well laid out. Downsides are that it has a mini bar with regular exorbitant hotel prices. I’d much rather an empty fridge and I’d stock it myself. It also only has one drawer and that’s located in the bathroom by the clothes closet. So storage is almost non existent. I’ve kept most of my crap in my suitcases and littered the tv stand with the rest. It’s also quite dark in the bathroom. Aside from those things it’s fine. Lots of electrical sockets and has modern hookups for the TV if you want to hook up your streaming gear. I don’t know how good the wifi would be for that though. I figured I didn’t get an upgrade, but it turns out I did. All the room’s except the suites are the same size. My room was considered an upgrade because it has a good view. Half of the rooms have a totally obstructed view because there is a condo very near to it on one side.