My new passport arrived on Tuesday afternoon. I need to get a replacement visa stamp so that I can exit Thailand (it looks like I’m on my first day’s overstay today). I was suffering from a nasty cold which mostly put me out of action on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday, I called the Bangkok Immigration to ask if I could get the replacement at my local immigration office, and he just said ‘I think so’ and gave me the Dan Sing Khorn immigration office telephone number. I phoned them and they said, ‘Yeah, bring your passport - no problems’. So this morning we travelled the 70km to Dan Sing Khorn. I showed them the new passport, and they pulled out my old one - I’d obviously left it at Dan Sing Khorn before I reported it lost! Then, they said they can’t do it there and that I’ve got to Bangkok to get a replacement visa! Another tank of petrol and another day wasted. It’s like this all the time trying to keep on the right side of Thai law - just one wild goose chase after another.

So, I booked a train ticket for tomorrow night. I get on the train at 10pm, sleep until about 5am, then catch a taxi to the Immigration office and wait for them to open. Get it done, and get a taxi back to the train station and catch the first bus home. I really don’t want to have to stop in Bangkok any longer than I need to.

When that’s done, I’ve got to send a photocopy of the visa to my lawyer in Samui, so they can extend my work permit, so that I can go and re-apply for another year’s non-Immigrant visa. That, and last year’s balance sheet for the company will probably take a few days, so maybe around the middle of next week I’ll have to head down to Penang in Malaysia to present my re-application to the Royal Thai Embassy there, wait another day or two for approval, then back home again. And when I get back, I’ve got to jump through a load more hoops to get the business moved from Samui to Prachuab and renew my work permit yet again. By the time I’ve done all this, and am back in a position to concentrate on work, my customers will probably have gone elsewhere. Thanks, Thailand!

Meanwhile, I’ve found a better lawyer (and accountant) to take care of the company for 2005 onwards, and I’m starting to look into my visa options. Having to go to Ranong every 90 days is a drag. We’re wondering whether or not getting married to Mee would make things any easier, although it looks like there are very few differences between the non-O marriage visa and the non-B business visa I am currently on - I will still have to prove I earn about 5 times the average Thai wage for a similar job to ‘support’ my wife. Ha! Support the greedy slackers in power more like. Still, by the end of this year, business should be brisk enough to cover that requirement.