We long suffering farangs are resigned to the indignity of renewing our annual Thai 'visitors visa', for it is nothing more than that. Of course part and parcel of this is the quaint Thai habit of making arbitrary, ridiculous and ultimately meaningless rule changes. Thus I found myself stateless, the day before my 5th "O" visa renewal, for the heinous crime of maintaining my primary bank account in Thailand in joint name with my wife- as indeed I have since day one in this Land of Stoopidarsed government. The latest arbitrary rule change had apparently slipped under my radar.
A quick Savannakhet trip was necessary to get a two month visitors visa sorted, and thus some breathing space to organise a trip to Penang, to coincide with the visit of my oldest acquaintance, being Mum. And re-organise my annual visa. What a circus.
Not that it's a real imposition to get me back to Penang- I have very fond memories of the place, going back to my first visit in 1982.
^ The Mingood hotel, whilst by no means the cheapest available, seemed an Ok deal for 100 ringitt per night- which at the prevailing rate is about 980 bht. It's pretty much how it looks- an aging, slightly threadbare hotel, certainly no four star job- but neither a fleapit. It was fine, as was the location on the edge of the Heritage zone of Georgetown. What really sold me on the place was the fact they have a visa agency located at reception, which got the nod of approval from a fair few web sources. So it proved- I dropped in my passport and application the morning after arrival, and picked up my annual non-Immigrant 0 visa with multiple re-entry visa the following afternoon. For a total fee of 600 ringitt- of which about 550 is the actual visa cost- I'm certainly not complaining. You don't even have to turn up at the Thai Consulate.
http://www.hotelmingood.com/
Thats the business over with, so lets have a walk around Georgetown.