Calendar: Loy Krathong and Yee Peng festival in Thailand
Every year in November, the Loy Krathong festival is celebrated in Thailand. Loy Krathong (or Loi Kratong, Thai ลอยกระทง) is the festival of light and water. The Yi Peng Sky Lantern Festival in Chiang Mai. Yi Peng or Yee Peng is part of the festival of lights, a tradition in northern Thailand to pay respect to Buddha.
Thailand visa question: Immigration office in Chiang Mai does not accept the combination method
Today I was at the immigration office in Chiang Mai for a non immigrant visa O. But now they don't accept the combination of monthly income and bank. They indicated that they don't do that in Chiang Mai. Do you perhaps know an immigration office in Thailand where they do accept it or do I have to leave the country to an embassy or consulate?
Grab taxi service now available throughout South East Asia through the Booking.com app
Today, Booking.com is launching an on-demand taxi service in partnership with Grab. This gives users of the Booking.com app access to the largest chauffeur service in 8 countries in Southeast Asia.
The world's tallest hotels
For those who don't want to queue at the standard viewpoints, Trivago has listed the ten highest hotels in the world. And of course there is also a hotel in Bangkok.
Reader question: Money box full? Just switch!
If you are a good saver, then your piggy bank will be full at some point. How can I exchange the coins for bills?
Reader question: Who can tell me how to get a Thai tax number?
I am Dutch and retired, living in Thailand from 2017. In the Netherlands I have completely deregistered. The insurance asks if I have a tax number in connection with a benefit that I will receive.
Reader Submission: Her First Time (continued)
Our stay in the Netherlands has been behind us for some time now and my wife was a little nervous at first. How will it fare in a foreign land. But faster than I had adapted, about ten years ago in Thailand, she adapted to the Netherlands.
10 years of Thailand blog: Bloggers speak (BramSiam)
Thailandblog would not be Thailandblog without the bloggers who regularly write or answer questions from readers. A reason to introduce them to you again and to put them in the spotlight. Today BramSiam.
Important women in the Thai business world
Tatler Thailand published an article last year by 10 Thai women, each of whom is important to the Thai economy in their own way. Usually they do their job without publicizing it too much. You can meet these ten women, for whom Tatler Thailand wrote a beautiful bio. Also note the many social activities of these ladies outside their own world of doing business.
Hopewell claim: Ministry goes to court again
It's been dragging on for 21 years: the Hopewell claim. The transport ministry has to pay 25 billion baht to Hong Kong's Hopewell Holdings Company, but is trying to get rid of the claim with a renewed course of action.
Today I went to immigration in Khon Kaen to check that there is still 800.000 baht in my account. Presentation of passport and copy of first page and copy of visa stamp, bank book with today's update + copy of first and last updated page.
Thailand visa question: Passport validity and year extension
I am a Belgian resident in Thailand with a non-immigrant O visa. Extended with one year stamp valid until January 14, 2020. So I have to get a new stamp at immigration in the course of December. My passport is valid until June 30, 2021. Is this period long enough to get a stamp?
We are planning to emigrate to Thailand. My husband has an IVA benefit with a supplement from Loyalis. I cannot find out whether he can have his benefit paid gross-net in Thailand? Does anyone here have a clear answer to that? Or possibly a link with information?
Reader question: Which Belgian can bring a card reader for me?
Is there a Belgian among the Thailand blog readers who will soon return to Belgium or perhaps soon return from Belgium to Thailand and want to do me a favor? I have been living here in Bangkok continuously for 7 years and I regularly use internet banking. For this I have a card reader from ARGENTA in Belgium. But after about 7 years the battery has given up the ghost. And it is not possible to open it to replace the battery.
Winter in Isan (4)
It's time. Mornings with grass that looks fresh because of the dew on it, the green on trees and shrubs that stands up refreshed as if waiting for the first rays of the sun. Big crowds in those trees where birds chirp cheerfully and lizards secretly raise their heads. Ripe fruit ready for picking, inviting because of the large choice. Flowers that are beginning to open to reveal their splendor of colour.
Question to general practitioner Maarten: Is the excessive sweating caused by my blood pressure medication?
I am a man of 57 years, weigh around 80 kg and am 168 cm tall. I have been taking medication for my slow thyroid gland for several years, first euthyrox and later thyrox from the Netherlands. I had my values re-examined here at the state hospital because I couldn't get my medication here this was in May this year. Now I've been using Thyrosit since then (100 micrograms) and the values are pretty good and stable.
As a boy of 16 years old I went to work at a wholesale aquarium business, that's where my love for Thailand started. Every week we received boxes from Bangkok full of fish wrapped in newspapers, the language of which I did not understand. For example, I became a member of Het Aquarium, a monthly magazine of the Dutch Bond Aqua Terra, and there I read an article about Thailand, among other things. Fish that were caught, markets like I see now at the Weekend Market, full of fish and aquarium items. That's where my love for Betta splendens, the Siamese fighting fish, blossomed again.