It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. The new 60 day visa exemption on arrival kicks in soon, and unless they scrap the current 30 day extension and 1900 baht fee that comes with it, we're looking at two 90 day stays back to back after a border run. That'd make 180 days, so why pay for the digital nomad visa? A border run is about 4000 baht + two extensions @1900 each = 7800 baht. Do this twice over two years and that's a 360 day stay for 15,600 - 4400 cheaper than the nomad visa. Either someone hasn't thought this through properly or the Thai gov aren't telling us everything yet. Perhaps the new 60 days visa exemption on arrival will render the 30 day extension obsolete. After 60 days we'll have to do a border run, which will mean we get 120 days straight. After that, the Thai gov may make it compulsory to leave the country for a month or something before we're allowed to re-enter and restart the process 🤔

@Simon Orgulan Fair point 👍

@Duncan O'Neill https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/news/thailands-new-visa-rules-from-june-1-break-fresh-ground-461766

@Duncan O'Neill The report lumps air travel in with land and sea re 're-entry for another two months,' but that's misleading. We're currently limited to 2 border runs per year via land/ sea, but I'm 99% sure we can now re-enter Thailand as many times as we like via air. As long as there are reasonable gaps of course so it doesn't look like we're abusing the system. Common sense applies. If we keep flying out and back in on the same day or next day etc, immigration will no doubt pull us aside and ask what's going on. But if we stay 60 days, extend for another 30/60, then fly out of Thailand for a couple of weeks before flying back in to restart the 60 day visa exemption process, it shouldn't be a problem. Technically, foreigners who stay in Thailand more than 180 days a year will be classified as tax residents, but again, I'm 99% sure that as long as we're not actually working on the books in Thailand for a registered Thai business, it's not relevant.

@Jacqueline Fleming Hey. The expression is 'piqued my interest.' 🤓

@Jacqueline Fleming Ha. No worries. It's a very common mistake that only word nerds bother to point out. 🤓

@Patrick Harrison “If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.” Well said. Personal data is the currency of the attention economy.

I'd also add Sol Stein's adjective rule of 1 + 1 = 1/2 (rather ironic re Orwell, 1984). There are always exceptions of course, but in general, using two adjectives together in front on a noun diminishes rather than enhances the impact. For example, 'The big, bloated man waddled over to the door.' Choosing one or the other usually works better, especially if the two adjectives are similar. 'The big man waddled over to the door,' conveys all the information we need. 'Bloated' is unnecessary, as 'waddled' denotes it.

Interesting to read about your positive experience. I spent some time in Da Nang in 2022 and found it too quiet and isolating after six months in Thailand. I felt invisible in Da Nang to be honest. Maybe it was the off season or something but for me it lacked the same warmth and friendliness as Thailand. A typhoon also hit Da Nang during my stay and no one thought to tell me it was coming. Apparently this sort of lack of communication is common in Asia. The locals either all know what's going on so they assume everyone else does, or they don't speak English and wouldn't think to try and tell you anything. A 4pm military curfew was in place and by a fluke I found out at about 3:40 pm. Most of the stores were already closed and boarded up when i went outside. I had no food in my hotel room, the staff had all gone home, and the restaurant had been closed since covid. The army were out on the streets when I went running down the road in the rain like a maniac looking for an open store and luckily found a 7/11 that was still open. They were taping cardboard to the windows and most of food had been stripped from the shelves, but I managed to get a few things. It was pretty frightening because I didn't know how long the curfew was going to last, and I could've easily been stuck in my room for a couple of days with no food or drinking water. The experience certainly showed me that it doesn't always pay to be so switched off and disconnected from what's going on around me in a foreign country. Ha. By the way, did you notice the complete absence of seagulls at the beach in Da Nang? I didn't see a single sea bird at Krabi either. Maybe it's an SEA thing 🤔

@Les Blythe Indeed! I have so many strange and crazy travel stories that I really should write them all down at some point and turn them into a book 🙃