Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Another visa-renewal option is to cross a land border. A new 15-day visa will be issued upon your return and some
short-term visitors make a day trip out of the 'visa run'.
If you overstay your visa, the usual penalty is a fine of 500B per day, with a 20,000B limit. Fines can be paid at the
airport or in advance at an immigration office. If you've overstayed only one day, you don't have to pay. Children under
14 travelling with a parent do not have to pay the penalty.
Foreign residents in Thailand should arrange visa extensions at the immigration office closest to their in-country ad-
dress.
Volunteering
There are many wonderful volunteering organisations in Thailand that provide meaningful work and cultural engage-
ment.
Volunteer Work Thailand
(
www.volunteerworkthailand.org
)
maintains a database of opportunities with grass-
roots organisations.
Women Travellers
Women face relatively few problems in Thailand. With the great amount of respect afforded to women, an equal meas-
ure should be returned.
Thai women, especially the younger generation, are showing more skin these days. That means almost everyone is
now dressing like a bar girl and you can wear spaghetti strap tops and navel-bearing shirts without offending Thais'
modesty streak. But to be on the safe side, cover up if you're going deep into rural communities. And certainly cover up
if visiting temples.
Attacks and rapes are not common in Thailand, but incidents do occur, especially when an attacker observes a vulner-
able target: a drunk or solo woman. If you return home from a bar alone, be sure to have your wits about you. Avoid ac-
cepting rides from strangers late at night or travelling around in isolated areas by yourself - common sense stuff that
might escape your notice in a new environment filled with hospitable people.
While Bangkok might be a men's paradise to some, foreign women are finding their own Romeos on the Thai
beaches. As more couples emerge, more Thai men will make themselves available. Women who aren't interested in such
romantic encounters should not presume that Thai men have merely platonic motives. Frivolous flirting could uninten-
tionally cause a Thai man to feel a loss of face if attention is then diverted to another person and, in some cases where
alcohol is involved, the spurned man may become unpleasant or even violent.
