Who stays around Nakhon Phanom

[keda]

tx to all

[Norton]

Also can do in Mukdahan at the immigration office there. It's right across the street from the Ferry building.

[dave humphreys]

to renew your 90 day visa in nakon .
the immigration office , is directly opposite , the parkig bay .
where the lorries wait . to board the ferry for laos..

[keda]

Many thanks, will do the run in a couple of weeks.

[Aquaman]

I use to do all my 90 stuff over there.
Keep walking north and ask the boatmen to pick you up a few cases of beer lao while your there.

[dave humphreys]

Worked on the water plant there where there is nothing but small rice farms around. There is a college there but the age groop is not in your league. Never found a falang sort of bar.

there is a new bar , owned by a farang and his thai partner .
they are located , just down from the clock tower ,
and opposite the ferry jetty . to laos .
william and myyar , are both friendly people ,
and cater for thai and western folk.
and the times , i have been there , had a welcome drink .

not that i am tight ,
but times arrr harrd ..

[keda]

Will be there next Friday...do they have food, edible food? Is it the type of place to take the mrs, or a girlie bar?

[sjeng]

yes i found a builder, thanks to an other dutch farang who stays about 5 km from nakhon. good to have a guide around. have the same builder hho build his home for 8 years (it still looks good)
he build at a reasonable price. we got three offers from several builders on the same home plan,
whe i have to do my visa run i sertainly wil visit you in laos.
with regards
sjeng

[ThaiAm]

This thread is great help. I must do new VISA extension in Nakon Phanom as a result of the rule change this year. I have been using Nong Khai office for past 10 years but now must go to completely new city and get acquainted all over again. I appreciate the discussions and the map that shows where I must go for Immigration office.

Hate to change but rule now leaves no choice and I live as far away as you can get from Nakon Phanom. Wish me luck we make the trip tomorrow.

Thanks for the chatter.

[ralphinlaos]

Good luck, ThaiAm, on your visa run tomorow. Just wondering - if you live "as far away as you can get from Nakhon Phanom," why are you doing your visa run to Thakhek? What has changed after all these years which now makes you come to Nakhon Phanom/Thakhek for your visa re-newal?

Stop by and see us at "Sabaidee Thakhek" if you have time.

Ralph

[peterpan]

Planning a trip up around there soon Ralph, before the kids start school, can I unofficially go across to Laos or have to do the whole dog & Pony show with visas.

[ThaiAm]

Good luck, ThaiAm, on your visa run tomorow. Just wondering - if you live "as far away as you can get from Nakhon Phanom," why are you doing your visa run to Thakhek? What has changed after all these years which now makes you come to Nakhon Phanom/Thakhek for your visa re-newal?

Stop by and see us at "Sabaidee Thakhek" if you have time.

Ralph

Ralph,
Thank you for the warm welcome.

The change that forces me to use Nokhon Phanom is one that was made by Thai Immigration that says "You must use the immigration office that serves the area in which you live. Since I live in Sakon Nakorn province in a village called NaTae I have to change to use that office.

I tried to use the office in Bueng Kan which is just 60 km from me last week and they refused to process again telling me of the rule change. Their comment was that go ahead with the required process and it will change back again soon. It is inconcievable that you are no longer able to do anything except the 90 day address notification at every Immigration office but they have indeed gone backwards and force you to use the assigned office for your area.

Thanks for the invite to your place and for sure if we get done with the paperwork in time and have room on our schedule we will look you up.

Thanks again Ralph.

[ralphinlaos]

What do you mean, Peterpan? If you are outside of Laos, you have to officially enter - isn't that true of every country in the world? Unless, of course, you want to take your chances and wade across the Mekong at one of it's lower levels - That Phanom, for example. But I'd be kinda wary of that . . . watch your back!

ThaiAm - I'd never heard of that before. I have a one-year Laos visa and come and go as I please, anywhere, anytime. I've been in Laos for nearly ten years now and the visa regulations have not changed once in that time (not those regulations which effect me, that is - maybe other regulations have). And it seems as though the regulations in Thailand change at the whim of every new administration - how long will the present administration (and present regulations) last?

But Sakhon Nakhon is less than a two-hour drive from Nakhon Phanom, so it could be worse!

Ralph

[ThaiAm]

ThaiAm - I'd never heard of that before. I have a one-year Laos visa and come and go as I please, anywhere, anytime. I've been in Laos for nearly ten years now and the visa regulations have not changed once in that time (not those regulations which effect me, that is - maybe other regulations have). And it seems as though the regulations in Thailand change at the whim of every new administration - how long will the present administration (and present regulations) last?

But Sakhon Nakhon is less than a two-hour drive from Nakhon Phanom, so it could be worse!

Ralph

The change that I am talking about was implemented I believe in December of 2008 and is effective Feb 15, 2009. It is no longer Ok to go to any immigration office that you wish for visa extension. You must go to the office that is assigned to serve your home location. For us that means Nakhon Phanom because we live on the very edge of Sakon Nakorn province that borders with Nong Kha province. It is a difference of 60 km drive or as we found out today it is 200 km one way for us to Nakhon Phanom.

We took a very positive attitude and sense of Holiday with us when we left home at 7 am today. We found the Immigration office and was standing in front of a closed window at 10 am with a little old lady sitting in the lobby telling us that we have to wait for the staff to come back and open the window. So we dutifully sat in the lobby waiting for Immigration to open. After waiting about half an hour others arrived and proceeded to the closed window and banged on it and someone opened it right away and of course we ended up in a queue about 4 th in line because of our patience.

Proceeded to request of the lady that she change my support Thai wife to a retirement visa and she said yes she could do that after looking at my paper work. We were then told to go sit down and wait again. after about half an hour wait while they serviced everyone that got in line ahead of us we were finally called to the window. Because they have trouble reading English they misread the letter certifying my income from the embassy and read the passport expiration date as the date the certification of income expired. We got that straightened out and were told that they would have to see the original copy of the embassy letter. They took that and attached it to the application and gave me the copy and told me that I have to go to Bangkok every year to get a new letter of certification of income. That is very strange since I had used the same letter for 7 years without going to the embassy to get new one.

So far things are not going very good but we maintained a civil attitude even realizing that we would now have to make a trip to Bangkok every year and then return to Nakon Phanom for our visa extension. So now we have a real mess on our hands. They then told us to wait again and after a few minutes she called us back and gave us our passport back with a stamp extending my visy for 30 days and we must report back to their office again on April 9.

Our patient personality prevented us from exploding and we peacefully left the office very upset inside and frustrated at the backward nature of the changes that were implemented by Immigration.

We will do as requested and report back again to their office on April 9 but with much less of a holiday spirit than what we took with us today.

My wife and I were both very frustrated and of course the baby at 14 months could not understand any of it and was quite a handful.

So let it be said that we got out of Dodge as quickly as we could navigate the roads and did not even consider the fact that wife wanted to go to Laos and I wanted to come get some food at your place before heading back.

I think I have been to Immigration more than 50 times during my 10 year stay in Thailand and this was the low tide benchmark for worst experience to date.

So sorry we didn't have the energy to get to see you Ralph, but with how we were feeling at the time we would have been pretty shitty company anyhow. Sure hope that we end up with a better experience next month when we return but right now have pretty low expectations of the Nakhon Phanom Immigration office.

Hopefully things will change for our next trip in April and we will get time to stop for a bit and visit with you.

Thanks for the input and help that you have been because I am sure the experience would have been amplified for the worse without your guidance.

ThaiAm

[ralphinlaos]

Hi ThaiAm -

I've never heard anything similar to your story before, but then I have not had to deal very often with Thai Immigration.

I hope you are getting your problems worked out and that you and your wife (and baby) will eventually get to Thakhek.

Good luck!

Peterpan - what's happening with you?

Ralph

[TyeYorkie]

Hi Everybody! I know this is an expat forum, but I am a THAI "Alien" who was born in Thailand, but moved overseas due to my father's pasting when I was 8 and have only been back in the last couple of years. It has not been easy living in Thailand since my 1st language is English, don't speak very good Thai and don't read or write neither. My relatives think I am strange as I don't do things like them, so I am not sure where I belong.

Last year, I was in Nakorn Panom and had a bad fall at 9.30 pm in a Restaurant near the Riverside Hotel. Was taken to the town's only hospital and the resident doctor didn't know how to put a cast for my broken ankle and had to be taken to Mukdahun International hospital 24 hrs later to get proper treatment.

We have bought some land around Nakorn Panom, started a farm for the past few months and thought we would like to eventually live on a plot of 4 Rai behind Tasco, we bougth from KTB at a good price. Would certainly need everyone's advice on how to get it built.

But firstly, Would like to seek adevice on where medical attention can be seeked if I need it again as the experience last time was something I won't want to go through again.

[THORZEN]

Oh Ouch! That must have been painful! I think there are some clinics located around the middle of downtown Nakorn Panom, but they only open in the evenings and weekends as they are operated by Doctors in the local hospital, if I am not wrong. Sorry I have not been in NP for long so my knowledge would notbe as good as others who have lived there longer. Would love to be able to make a few friends in the area too. Welcome!

[Aquaman]

I use to go to Sakon Nakhon for medical stuff. Rath Sakon, right in the middle of downtown. There is a very good Japanese/Thai doctor that has offices in That Phanom and Na Kae. He is really good, doesnt throw you antibiotics off the bat and really checks you out. Family doctor, and good with kids as well, speaks fluent english. Nice family run clinic, no sign but close to the big gas station in Na Kae on the east end of town.

[THORZEN]

That's good to know that there is a good Doctor in Na Kae. I thought it's a shame to see that so much is needed to be done for the local hospital as the patients and their relatives have to sleep in the corridors and a new administration building is built next door.

Seeing that the bridge is being built - linking the Thai side to Los, meaning that Nakorn Panom will grow? I understand that many ppl from Los comes over for medical attention, one would hope to see a private hospital built in the future in the area, seeing that the nearest hospital is either in Mukdahan, Udon, or Khon Kean which means the journey would be over +1-2hrs drive.

[THORZEN]

Was wondering if anyone can tell me where to get a good selection of ingredients for farang food, other than at Tesco Lotus?

[tonann60]

[lived there for a year in 1991 beautiful city friendly people played tennis with the locales and met a lot of influencle locals.quote=sjeng;704473]In september we (me 57, wife 30) go stay in nakhom phanom city,
is there someone staying in the neighbourhood, who can give us some support we have a home yust 4 km from the airport.
we need some information about, reliable shops, car sale, building company aso
I hope( I am sure) I am not the only farang around there.[/quote]

[THORZEN]

Hi There Neighbor, WELCOME to the neighborhood! We have a farm 1 km from the "T" section of Highway 22 to Pa Pak, not far from the Army Camp.

We are not in Nakorn Panom all the time, but have made friends with a few people there, i.e. a shop that sells a lot of agricultural goods, products and medicine for our dogs, car repair - we keep our cars with a technician near the administration office right downtown. I don't think he speak any English though. If you need an intro, let me know and I will tell him you will be going to see him. For car air-con and other car needs, there is a good shop across Tesco Lotus that's very good and not expensive.

Will be seeking advice from sjeng when we build our place at the farm after the rainy season, so maybe we can get better deals if we compare notes.

[garye]

^ Heh !! Big tit town. I want to go there !!

[diaomaa]

Are you still in Thakhek?
Can you give me an update, is it still possible to go from NKP to Thakhek and back easily?

Thanks

[Marmite the Dog]

Are you still in Thakhek? Can you give me an update, is it still possible to go from NKP to Thakhek and back easily? Thanks

Ummm, Ralph isn't on TD any more.