Author: Richard Barrow

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) would like to provide the latest update from Songkhla province on its measures to prevent and mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Effective from 6-30 April, 2020, Songkhla has issued the following orders:

People and all kinds of vehicles are banned from entering and exiting the province with the exceptions for medical treatment purposes, communicable disease control measures, logistics of necessity goods and supplies, as well as medical supplies and equipment, rescue and emergency vehicles, ambulances, and banking and finance vehicles. Any government officials or staff/employees of private companies with the necessity to travel to and from Songkhla are required to present proof of their journey. Members of the general public with the necessity to travel to and from Songkhla are required to seek permission from the local district chief.

The order covers all areas of Songkhla, including Hat Yai.

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WHO Thailand

I have always enjoyed travelling by train. I did it a lot when I was backpacking across Asia. For someone with long legs, train travel is preferable to buses. Not only is there more room to stretch your legs, but you can easily walk around too. I’ve done a few train trips in Thailand, but not much for a while. So, as part of my new year’s resolution for 2020, I decided I would set myself a challenge to ride all of the four main lines in Thailand within one year.

Thailand has 4,044 kilometres of railway tracks passing through 47 of 77 the provinces. There are four main lines: Northern Line (781 km), which

The popular “Concert in the Park”, now in its 27th season, returns on Sunday 15th December 2019. Like last year, the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra has announced that they will not be playing in Lumpini Park. Instead, they will play again at Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park in Phathum Wan district of Bangkok (see map). It’s a lovely location, but unlike Lumpini Park, it’s a bit of a hike from the Skytrain and metro. To walk there from either BTS National Stadium or MRT Sam Yan will take you about 15 minutes. There will be a total of eight concerts which are all free to attend.

Between December 2019 and February 2020 there

Last month I wrote a blog post called My first experience with an electric scooter in Bangkok. It stirred up quite a bit of interest, both on my blog post and my Facebook page. I ended by saying that I was seriously interested in buying an electric kick scooter but I needed to give it some more thought. Would I really use it that much? Can I use it on public transport? And how safe is it? My concern was that I would buy it and then only use it a few times. Which made me think that I should consider the alternative of renting one. Which lead me to the ride sharing service in Bangkok provided by SCOOTA. Would it make more sense to rent an e-scooter as and when I wanted to use one?

November 16, 2019

During the five years that they took to build my local skytrain station, I was busy planning all of the trips that I would do with my bicycle in Bangkok. Unfortunately, about a year or so before it opened, they banned regular bicycles from the train for much of the day. The only exception were folding bikes that could be taken onboard at any time. At first I was thinking about buying a Brompton. They are both stylish and convenient. They fold up small and are light enough for carrying. However, they are very expensive. Then I started seeing stories about electric scooters. This seemed to be a viable alternative to a folding bicycle. But I wasn’t sure if I would be comfortable on something like this. Apart from the fact that I would be a grown man on what looks like a kid’s scooter, I also

The Embassy of France in Thailand will open the French Ambassador’s Residence to the public as part of the “36th European Heritage Day”. This year the theme is “Arts and Entertainment”. The Residence of the French Ambassador to Thailand and the lobby of the French Embassy Chancery will be open to visitors on Saturday 21st September 2019, from 10 am to 4 pm. This event is part of cultural activities in celebration of the 333rd anniversary of the Siamese Envoy to France in 1686.

The original building dates back to the 1830’s, however it has been added onto extensively during the 20th Century. Then during the last decade, it went through another series

The British Embassy Cenotaph has been successfully moved from the old compound on Ploenchit to the front lawn of the British Club. The unveiling ceremony took place on Thursday 29th August 2019 in the presence of Admiral Anthony Radakin, British Ambassador Brian Davidson and Colonel Roger Lewis, the British Defence Attaché. The war memorial had to be moved due to the sale of the embassy compound to Central Group and its Hong Kong partner. The statue of Queen Victoria was part of the sale and will stay on site, however the ambassador’s residence wasn’t so lucky as it has already been bulldozed. Though, they say they will rebuild it in its original style in the grounds of the future shopping mall.

August 30, 2019

The hottest topic for expats over the last few months is the controversial TM30 form. This is basically a form for landlords and homeowners to report the presence of foreign nationals to Immigration police within 24 hours of their arrival. This form has been around since 1979, but up to this point it has only applied to hotels. Then, about 4-5 months ago, the Immigration office at Chaengwattana, started to insist that foreigners needed the TM30 slip in their passport if they wanted their stay in Thailand to be extended. No form, no extension.

Thai Immigration suggest that expat tourists “travel less” around Thailand if they don’t want to keep filing TM30 forms.

The bombshell then came last week at the India-Thai Chamber of Commerce meeting that I attended (see my blog post here). Senior Immigration officials were now saying that a TM30 form had

During a meeting at the India-Thai Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night, Immigration officials from Division 1 at Chaengwattana, made it very clear that a TM30 form has to be filed each and every time a foreigner (non-immigrant) goes away for more than twenty-four hours to another province in Thailand. This is in addition to when the foreigner returns home from abroad. The only exception are foreigners who hold permanent residence. Although this is an old law, not all Immigration offices around Thailand are enforcing it. But, this is the first time I have heard that Chaengwattana have an intention to enforce it now.

An example that they gave us was if you live in Bangkok but have a condo that you own in Pattaya. If you go away for the weekend, you must file a TM30 yourself as the owner to say that your new address