In a crackdown for illegal workers, Thailand is now tightening the rules on "visas on arrival". In the past, visitors from about 57 countries can enter Thailand for 30 days without charge. However, it is found that many of these "visitors" are actually owners of businesses or workers in Thailand. What has happened is that most of these "visitors" participate in what is called a visa-run every 28 days.
The new rules that is coming in place from October 1st 2006 is to limit these "visas on arrival" to 90 days over any six month period. So, anyone who stays more than 90 days will have to be out of Thailand for a period of 90 days before they are allowed to enter. However, if you have a proper tourist visa (which can be obtained from your country or neighbouring countries over here), you will have a chance of staying more than 90 days.
Each tourist visa that is issued by Penang or Kuala Lumpur is currently for a period of 2 months. However, nothing has been mentioned as to whether a visitor can continue to apply for a tourist visa every 2 months. This is something that is still unknown and not discussed.
There are many opinions about this matter and especially on how it will affect the tourist business in Thailand. My personal opinion is that anyone who wishes to stay here and work here should be legal. This means the person should apply for the non-immigrant visa and work permit and hence, pay the taxes to the government. However, I have come across many "visitors" who stays in Samui because of health issues, wanting to be with their Thai girlfriend or simply because they like the island. These will be the ones who will be badly affected by the new ruling unless they are allowed to renew the tourist visa every 2 months.
Any comments?
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Life in Viking Bar for the past 18 months
Time seems to pass by so quickly. It is already 18 months since we shifted to Koh Samui and took over the Viking Bar business.
When we started, both of us knew nothing about cocktails and alcoholic drinks. For me, it was a true experience in a new world all together - both in the business and also in the country. In all my life, I have hardly ever entered a bar/pub in Malaysia and my career was concentrated on software computing. Suddenly there I was venturing in the business of a pub in a new land.
Looking back, the experiences have been motivating and exciting. For the past 18 months, I have met so many different people from all walks of life and many different countries. It is particulary satisfying to see the same customers again after a few months or a year.
For our first Christmas and New Year, we served free food and had lucky draws for our customers. I still recall the difficult moments I faced with the menu for both the events. Since we have no kitchen in the pub, we had to provide food that is just easy to reheat with the microwave. We decided to offer the Swedish meatballs and pastries. To my horror, there was no pastry on sale at all on this island. Hence, I had to make all my pastries - from flaky pastry to the normal short crust pastry - from scratch. It was a hard task - trying to make 18 pastries for one event. Struggling with the water cuts and electrical cuts that was constant in this island, I ended up baking for about 30 hours without sleep just before Christmas. However, the result of seeing the happy faces on the customers truly makes up for the lack of sleep. This year, we will offer the same free dinner cum supper to all customers of Viking Bar for Christmas and New Year.
Today, Viking Bar is open from 1pm till 2am. We have also extended our menu to include coffee (expresso, cappuccino, latte), ice cream, shakes and popcorn. We are able to do so mainly because of the support of our customers.
We also have an extensive selection of Swedish and Norwegian music. Our customers are able to choose from our list and hear their favourite songs. Of course, there are times when we are overwhelmed with requests. In times like that, we play at least one song from each customer before rotating back to another choice of the same customer.
You can visit our website, www.vikingbar.net for more information about our pub. We have a good selection of photos of our customers since March 2005. Feel free to download any of the pictures.
When we started, both of us knew nothing about cocktails and alcoholic drinks. For me, it was a true experience in a new world all together - both in the business and also in the country. In all my life, I have hardly ever entered a bar/pub in Malaysia and my career was concentrated on software computing. Suddenly there I was venturing in the business of a pub in a new land.
Looking back, the experiences have been motivating and exciting. For the past 18 months, I have met so many different people from all walks of life and many different countries. It is particulary satisfying to see the same customers again after a few months or a year.
For our first Christmas and New Year, we served free food and had lucky draws for our customers. I still recall the difficult moments I faced with the menu for both the events. Since we have no kitchen in the pub, we had to provide food that is just easy to reheat with the microwave. We decided to offer the Swedish meatballs and pastries. To my horror, there was no pastry on sale at all on this island. Hence, I had to make all my pastries - from flaky pastry to the normal short crust pastry - from scratch. It was a hard task - trying to make 18 pastries for one event. Struggling with the water cuts and electrical cuts that was constant in this island, I ended up baking for about 30 hours without sleep just before Christmas. However, the result of seeing the happy faces on the customers truly makes up for the lack of sleep. This year, we will offer the same free dinner cum supper to all customers of Viking Bar for Christmas and New Year.
Today, Viking Bar is open from 1pm till 2am. We have also extended our menu to include coffee (expresso, cappuccino, latte), ice cream, shakes and popcorn. We are able to do so mainly because of the support of our customers.
We also have an extensive selection of Swedish and Norwegian music. Our customers are able to choose from our list and hear their favourite songs. Of course, there are times when we are overwhelmed with requests. In times like that, we play at least one song from each customer before rotating back to another choice of the same customer.
You can visit our website, www.vikingbar.net for more information about our pub. We have a good selection of photos of our customers since March 2005. Feel free to download any of the pictures.
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