PHUKET: While Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was entertaining friends at the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, I was sitting in Phuket's Immigration headquarters for four hours, waiting for my ''criminal visa'' to be renewed.
On Monday, I spent three hours at Phuket Provincial Court, awaiting permission to temporarily regain my passport so I could present it the following day . . .
At the end of the marathon, about the same time as the drunks at the races were enjoying the deepest of slumbers, I was generously granted an extra months' stay in Thailand.
I will have to go through the ordeal all over again on December 3 and 4.
My precious passport remains the property of the Australian Government. It says so inside, in capital letters.
But the Australian Government is not prepared to fight for its rights the way that the British Government did earlier this year.
More here: Aussie Envoys Fail to Back Phuketwan Versus Thailand's Military - Phuket Wan