Waiting 2 Years to Post

Today's song is: Take the Long Way Home  ... Supertramp 69

I have been waiting 2 years to write this post. Two years ago, Thavorn and I decided to have Thavorn apply for a TRV (visitor's visa) to Canada and travel there for a month in the summer of 2016.  I checked on the Immigration website and there was a waiting period of about a week to process the application.

My choices were VFS.Global which appears to have won the business of many countries and embassies for outsourcing all there immigration applications, or applying online straight to Canada, which I thought would be much faster.

When I started to fill out the forms it quickly became apparent that our application did not fit the cookie cutter forms that I was filling out. They seem to be designed for a single person going to visit Niagara Fall, or the CN Tower for a couple of weeks.  You had to show plane tickets, hotel reservations and sufficient funds in your bank account to support yourself while in Canada. You also had to supply copious evidence that you had a reason to return back to your home country, such as having a job, owning a house, leaving family behind, etc.

I dutifully filled out the forms to the best of my 2 university degrees accrued knowledge, plus working at a high level job for the past 30 years.  I paid, the fee (about $500 if I remember correctly) and dutifully submitted everything online and received acknowledgement that everything had been received and the application was complete (i.e. I missed nothing).

Something, you have to realize, is that the application then disappears into the black hole of Immigration Canada, until some government worker passes judgment over it (with no recourse, but to file again). The week passed by and I waited, and waited, and after 120 days I received notification that the application was refused because Thavorn was at risk to stay in Canada. After all, she is a full-time care giver to our son Jaidan and does not own her own house. It did not matter that I had a retirement visa and enjoyed living in Thailand, as does Thavorn and that was the reason we would return. Basically, it evolves down to the Canadian government did not trust this Canadian citizen to abide by immigration law. Guilty before the crime and no appeal to the one person jury.

Basically, that is just wrong! I think a major reason why the government is so stupid about this is that the Canadian immigration system does not track when a visitor leaves, unlike most of the countries in the world. So when you get in, you are in!  That needs to be fixed IMHO.

Now, I am no spring chicken and I am running out of time, so I explored the other option to get Thavorn to visit Canada and that is through a spousal sponsorship, which involves all kinds of information gathering and more forms, all to be translated from original Thai documents with the originals submitted as certified copies by the Thai government. All told, it took about 3 months to put this information together with the help of a Toronto immigration lawyer and a total cost of about $9,000, of which, $6,250 was lawyer fees.

The interesting thing I found out was the lawyer told me I did not have a hope in hell of getting a TRV for Thavorn to visit Canada because we were married.  So the unwritten rule is your spouse is not permitted to visit Canada to meet the family or perhaps take a 'look see', if that is the type of country she may want to live in down the road. Go figure, but any clown can walk across the Canadian - US border and be granted asylum and put up at the tax payer's expense for years at a time.

The web site showed a waiting period of 1 year, but somehow, using the lawyer got that reduced to 8 months.  The really weird last issue we had was when immigration Canada asked for proof of some sort to show that we really planned on staying and living in Canada. I can only assume that some people use the spousal sponsorship which results in a permanent resident card that is good for 5 years and is renewable and is good for coming and going as many times as you wish as long as you accumulate 2 years in Canada out of the 5 years as a replacement for the TRV's that they refuse to award because they are afraid you will stay in Canada! Duh, is it just me but does that sound really just plain stupid.

A month ago we received notice that we were to send Thavorn's passport to Singapore for processing and are lawyer said that was the last step. We had to use the Thai VFS office to submit the passport to Singapore and that resulted in a visit to grumpy land with non smiling Thais, doing us a favor by servicing us.  That is teh danger of out sourcing  .. you get what you pay for.  Their web site stated they only accepted drafts or certified money orders to pay the 1,500 baht fee to send the passport off to Singapore. So off we went to the bank to get one, standing in line, paying for the fee and filling out the forms to submit the passport. When we get to the VFS office on Soi 13 take a number and wait an hour to submit the passport. The grumpy girl states they only take cash and I present a paper copy of the website that states they only take drafts.  Grumpy is unconcerned but unwillingly takes the paper copy to show to the office manager with my hope that the web site gets altered so future users of VFS do not waste their time. I don't think it made it past the first garbage receptacle.

We now had to wait for a month for the passport to come back. The Singapore office keeps us informed, about receiving the passport and the date they sent it back to VFS Thailand. It got sent back on June 21st and I had still not been informed by VFS Thailand that they had received it. It must be walking back, or I suspect, sitting on someone's desk waiting for them to notify us by email that we can come pick it up.  I check their website and see they have live chat so I use it but apparently the person manning it is sleeping or on a very extended lunch. No response after 3 hours:

So there you have it, a nice Canadian totem pole but not functioning. Next up, I will try an eMail to see how long it will take them to respond, or if they respond.

Credit where credit is due, they responded to my eMail in 90 mins and said Thavorn's passport was ready to be collected (pick up). Hopefully, everything went smoothly and we get back a passport with the permanent resident visa installed! It is late now so we will pick it up first things Tuesday morning  :-)

Well, VFS was very efficient with regards to getting Thavorn's passport to Singapore and back.  We picked it up during lunch hour in about 20 mins.

This is what we waited 2 years and spent about $9,000 CDN to obtain:

We have until April 18, 2019 to arrive in Canada and activate the permanent residence. If we miss it by a day, we start all over again. Needless to say we don't plan to mess up.  We are very happy today!

Some pics from the past week ..

Nuggets at McDonalds

The lovely Thavorn, just before we pick up her passport

Thavorn on Temple day

Thavorn and her friends go in a group and spend the day  ...

Great new group at Hillary 1

The newly renovate Country Road at Soi Cowboy

Maintaining the outdoor viewing area

While modernizing the interior

Unfortunately we lost 3 pool tables

Awesome new stage for the bands to perform

One of my favorite bars

TTYL

Party Time

Today's song is: House of the Rising Sun  .. by the Doors, instead of the Animals

and Kesha's verion

Harvey, my buddy from London arrives at 3 pm and we meet up at the new relocated Kiwi Bar just off of soi 8. The new Kiwi Bar is okay but does not have the same vibe as the old bar which featured a nice terrace outside that you could sit and watch the people walk by. The new bar is on the first side soi to the right as you enter soi 8 and does have a terrace, but there is no traffic on the side soi, so boring.  The great happy hour until 7 pm still exists but the new bar is quite a bit smaller than the old. Time will tell if it declines in popularity.

Today is Friday, typically a busy night in Bangkok, even in low season.

I received a strange eMail form an English bloke complaining about being ripped off by a bar girl from PopEye bar in Queens Park. Now, I am very familiar with that bar and the owner but I was surprised to receive the eMail so I queried back and the person said he picked my eMail off the PopEye Bar web site. It turns out a created a free website, hosted by Weebly, about 5 years ago for the owner and lo and behold, it was still in operation.

It turns out that the girl had agreed to go long term with him for $2,000 baht but took off about 2 am while he was sleeping. No big deal, except that she took 5,000 baht out of his wallet before she left. The person was not able to complain to the owner in person as he had an early morning flight out to Udon Thani and no doubt he mentioned this to the girl who thought she was good to go with a self helping from his wallet.

I agreed to follow up on this with the girl and the owner because the owner needs to know when her girls are ripping off her customers.  It will be interesting. I think I may approach the girl first to see if she will confess and pony up the cash if I don't rat her out. I doubt it as they usually rely on lying their way out of trouble.

On Monday night, the three kings are getting together to plan our Cambodia trip from July 4th to 8th. King John has been there in the past 6 months and will brief Arthur and I on what to expect, visas and how much $US cash we need.

July will see my buddy Shaun arrive in Thailand from Canada to start his new life teaching at an international school in Bangkok. It appears that his Thai GF will accompany him which is probably a good thing.

At the same time, one of my ex basketball players arrives to become the Athletic Director at the same international school and I am looking forward to seeing her after about 15 years and meeting her husband and 7 year old daughter.

TTYL

Trump

Today's song is: An Updated Version of Times Are a Changing (2018)  .. Dylan

I just watched President Trump speak at the Minnesota Rally and the Leftist PC politicians must be shitting bricks. Trump is getting so much better at reading and appealing his audience. When was the last time you saw people enjoying themselves at a political rally?

In contrast, watching the Dems try to hijack the investigation into the FBI and Justice department by the inspector's General's Report by making up fake news re the separation of children from their parents at the border is simply exposing them for the dishonest politicians that they are.

What is most scary about Trump is that he does not need the job as president. He is a successful businessman. In contrast most politicians need to toe the party line as they need to get reelected in order to pay the mortgage and feed their families. That effectively makes them creatures of the swamp.

Times are a changing and I suspect for the better.

The Democratic elite are exposing themselves for the idiots that they are. Peter Fonda, brother of Hanoi Jane, just proved how stupid he is. Hollywood and its hype is so far left to be irrelevant.

The mainstream media refuses to report on events such as the Minnesota rally. The fifth estate has been replaced by Twitter, Facebook, and Google. They just have not figured out that like the dinosaurs their time is over.

Nancy Pelozzi and Hillary have exposed themselves as swamp creatures who have lost track of what it is like to be a normal American. They call them deplorables and at the Trump rally the deplorables embraced that term as a rallying cry to rid Washington of swamp creatures.

It will be an interesting 3 years.

On a lighter note, my buddy Harvey arrives back to Bangkok from London tomorrow, for another couple of months in the Land of Smiles. He arrives on a Friday and I will be joining him for his first night back in the big Mango. It should be fun  :-)

The 3 Kings (Arthur, John, and James) are heading off to Cambodia on July 4th for 4 nights of fun. Perhaps Harvey will join us :-)

TTYL

Low Season

Today's song is: The Beatles  .. Ed Sullivan Show  .. Blast from the Past  :-)

Not much going on in Bangkok these days as it is low season. Many of the A Team ladies have taken a month's holiday back in the village, visiting their children and getting reacquainted with their families.  The number of Chinese tourists has also dropped and you see more farangs and Japanese in the bars and on the streets.

There have been a number of articles in the news this past week about human trafficking and the goal always seems to be to free the sex workers from their 50,000 baht a month salaries and send them back to work in a restaurant or 7/11 earning 9,000 a month.  Most of these ladies and young men, or lady-boys say they can never go back to their minimum wage jobs.

There is a farang saying stating that, 'You can't take the bar out of the bar girl' and I guess we can now add, 'You can't take the girl out of the bar.' I often wonder if these NGO's actually talk to these workers. I understand the need to be concerned for the under age (20) workers but the over 20 year olds usually know what they are getting into and have made a rational decision, often after many failed situations.  I hear stats such as their are 100,000 sex workers in Thailand but I would think most of these are in the second category.

The 3 kings are heading off for a week in Cambodia along with a couple of other expats to explore the expat life style in that country. Rumour has it, that is very much like Thailand in the 90's  I will let you know when I get back.

TTYL,

Kings

Today's song is: Dire Straits in Concert at Wembley Stadium

We three kings, Arthur, John and James are in need of a beer so we are meeting tonight  (Thursday) at Hillary 4 for a few beers. Sometimes you just crave guy company and want to chat about guy kind of things and also check to see how each of us are getting along with our Thai wives.

Hillary 4 has reduced their happy hour from 9 pm to 7 pm which I find annoying so instead of staying there for 2 or 3 beers, we will have one beer at happy hour prices and then move on for our second beer.  happy hour beers are 95 baht and non happy hour beers are 160 baht.

The best happy hours are on Soi Cowboy and usually last until 9 or 10 pm and some bars there have a drink of the night that is 99 baht all evening long. If a person makes judicious use of happy hours you can get pleasantly pissed and have a good night out under 1,000 baht.

It is low season and you would think the bars and ladies would drop prices to match the season but with Thai logic they usually want to charge more to make up the difference in traffic. Go figure. Some bars charge exorbitant rates for lady drinks, in the range of over 200 baht.  Now, if the ladies were truly fantastic in both looks and language I could understand that but that is not the case. These bars live off the one-time tourist, because the regular patrons know better than to purchase a lady drink. At this time of year you also experience the scam where the lady goes into the bar and comes out with a shot and a small soft drink glass. When you look at your bill a couple of hours later you find that you were getting charge 400 baht a round, 200 for the shot and 200 for the soft drink chaser. Beware of this scam and always tell the lady no doubles. Again this scam is usually run on the one-time tourist but the other day, a new girl pulled it on me and I am a regular at the bar and complained to the mamasan who immediately reversed the soft drink chaser and chastised the girl (albeit quietly) not too pull that stunt on regulars.

The last week Arthur and I were out on a Wednesday night and met a man from Iceland which is rather unusual and took him in tow to a few bars before we jettisoned him at the first opportunity. Simply a miserable excuse for a human being. He was not even proud of the fact that Iceland's football team made the World Cup whereas Canada and the US could not qualify. It sort of reinforced my assertion that 'If you can't have fun in Bangkok, then there is something seriously wrong with you!'

Tonight, Thavorn's friends are coming over for the requisite BBQ to celebrate her (Tacky's) Thai boyfriend's birthday. He is a typical young Thai man, who does not have a job, is not actively improving his job prospects, and seems unconcerned. I could not live that way.

TTYL

Sunday in the Big Mango

Today's song is: Alice's Restaurant  .. Guthrie

I am not sure how Bangkok gets it nick names. Either the City of Angels or the Big Mango, one seems a little positive and the other, a little negative. However, both are descriptive. The city of about 12,000,000 people has a huge number of beautiful women (angels) and at the same time is quite complex to navigate, the streets, the bars, the business, and the unwritten rules.

These unwritten rules means a city of 12,000,000 can get by without stops signs. It means that motorbikes can take to the sidewalks when the traffic gets congested, even though it is illegal. It means ladies can charge for their services although that too is illegal. It all seems to work and the rules are understood.

Lately, the government has been rounding up all the illegals and deporting them. In my eyes, I think this is great, because these illegals prey on tourists and make their livelihood illegally through drugs, ponzi schemes, human trafficking, extortion, etc.

In Thailand, illegals have no rights and IMHO should have no rights. After all, they entered the country illegally, or overstayed. For those of us who follow the rules all is good. I only wish Canada had the same rules.

The chaos on the streets is usually a result of idiotic youths riding too fast, while smoking and texting. Driving and drinking is also a huge problem. The unwritten rules for traffic work. Taxis get priority and 4 wheels look out for 2 wheels. The police are looking at instituting a demerit points system for traffic infractions but I am not optimistic that will be effective. However, it will generate jobs, but Thailand already has zero percent jobless. Everyone who wants a job has one.

The urban areas are very different from the rural areas and that is what cause difficulties for the government. It is hard to please both rural and urban voters and get reelected. This is perhaps one area where Thailand can learn from Canada. Regional disparity is something we have handled for years with some success.

But alas, 'You Can Not Always Get What You Want at Alice's Restaurant'  .. even in the Big Man

TTYL