Travels in Thailand: Blogs and Journals | TonyT's series of Thailand blogs. | 3 months in and around Thailand and the Visa to stay in UK application waiting game.

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TonyT's First Thailand blog:
3-months in and around the country:
September 2013 to November 2013.

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This is by no means the first time I've been to and stayed in Thailand. My first visit was actually on a dive-related expedition in 2007, based mainly around the Similan Islands and off the coast of Myanmar (Burmah). Following this there were two one month stays in 2011 followed by three one month stays in 2012. I've never got around to writing blogs about these earlier visits.
This is the first of 8 blogs to date (2025). Links to the other sites can be found below as well as on the final (page 30) of this blog.


The other blogs of our Thai escapades which can be viewed at:
 TonyT's 2nd Thailand blog, early 2015
TonyT's 3rd Thailand blog, late 2015
TonyT's 4th Thailand blog, 2017
TonyT's 5th Thailand blog, 2018
TonyT's 6th Thailand blog, 2022
TonyT's 7th Thailand blog, 2024
TonyT's 8th Thailand blog, 2025

This one was written whilst in Thailand between early September and late November 2013. The reason for my being in Thailand principally was to support my Thai wife, Khemjira (aka Aom) in her bid to gain a Settlement Visa to the UK. She had already spent 6 months living in England with me under a Special Visitors Visa but the UK Border Agency rules that applications for Settlement have to be undertaken from the applicant’s home nation.
The application itself is done on-line answering a huge questionnaire. This was the easy bit.

    [NOTE: If you wish to become a UK visit visa sponsor, you need to prove your financial capacity to support a friend/girlfriend once he/she gets to the UK. At time of writing this was a minimum yearly income of 18600-GBP [it is now substantially more (2024)] . Your friend/girlfriend is allowed to stay in the UK for 6 months if he/she gets the visa. Doing the visa application by yourself is definitely an option if you wish to save some money, and, in truth is not that difficult but very time-consuming.]


A raft of support documentation had to be gathered including highly personal information from both Khemjira and myself. Official Thai documents and support letters had to be translated into English by a recognised translation office and stamped.
She had to undergo a lengthy medical examination primarily to check for TB.
In spite of the fact that her conversational English was already excellent, she had to undergo a 38-hour English Language Course at a recognised school in Silom, Bangkok, followed by a 4-hour written and oral examination which, in turn was followed by a 6 week wait for the results from Cambridge University in England. All this had to be paid for.
Once the online application form is submitted an appointment is made at VFS Global in Bangkok (the then commercial agents appointed by the UK Border Agency to vet applications). VFS had no say in the decision-making of visa applications, they were there to check the documents and see that the correct fees have been tendered in the form of a Bankers Draft. Once the application had been accepted by VFS Global it was couriered on to the British Embassy at Bangkok.
Applications for Settlement at time of writing take a minimum of 3 months for a decision to be made. The cost back then was also high at around £900; this was to fund the administration and processing and is non-refundable even in if the application is rejected.
*[Above-mentioned facts accurate at time of writing in 2013]

 So, I was resigned to stay with Khemjira whilst she waited for the outcome. It was good I did this as some of the additional paperwork could not have been completed without me being there in Thailand.
Furthermore, we had to stay somewhere within fairly easy reach of the British Embassy in Bangkok in case they wished to interview her or to query the support documentation. In this case, Pattaya fitted the bill as it’s only an hour and a half to two hours away by road, and we rented an apartment there for 3 months.
As it turned out, we need not have bothered as no such request was received from the Embassy.
Anyway, here’s the journal/blog:-

BANGKOK

Page 1

Wednesday September 4th:
Check-in at Manchester Airport; unbelievably simple; no queues... anywhere... at security-check didn't even stop walking through.
Subsequent two flights of 7 and 6 hours (with 2 hour gap at Abu Dhabi) was the usual draaaaag but got to Bangkok on time, through the usual Thailand Immigration which is never swift (15 booths with less than half manned); rapid recovery at baggage-claim carousel and then into a taxi and straight to the apartment at 7pm through the usual hurly-burly crazy Bangkok traffic.
Cases dumped, 20 mins shower, shave and out on the town for some relaxant liquid and a bite to eat.
I must say it was good to sample the Chang beer again and, as before, it did taste rather nice but the stuff does go rather rapidly to one's head especially after a jet-lagging journey; by the way it uses to be a healthy 6.5% ABV which was a touch stronger than the San Mig, Singha and Tiger beers, but the re-branded Chang is now 5.5%. Nice to see some old [lady] friends here again (Aom not too happy with one or two of them from my past though).

Thursday 5th & Friday 6th:
Two busy days.
Both of us at up at 6:30am on the Friday. I accompanied Aom on the MRT (Bangkok's underground metro line) out to Silom district for her medical examination. 10:00am back with a 100% OK and then we're off for breakfast.
Got down to completing the vast on-line application form (this took over an hour) but it took a degree of nerve to actually click the "SUBMIT" button, because any mistakes or omissions cannot be undone.
Next step: online again to VFS Bangkok to book an interview for Aom for submission of documents. This done for next Thursday morning. So we'll stay in this apartment 'til 12th and then get the bus/coach to Surin and chill out on the farm.
But already we've had a change of apartment after 2 nights. Same address in Bangkok but we've moved up to the 25th floor. Some minor-works needed doing to the old one on the 18th. Pretty similar but with a balcony and TWO panoramas instead of one (corner suite). A long way down I can tell you. Pretty wet and humid in BKK as well at the moment, and with a temperature of 31ºC. Not many mozzies this high up though.



ABOVE: a panoramic still view of the Bangkok skyline from our apartment in Sukhumvit, Nana.

BELOW: a short panoramic movie taken from the apartment veranda, including night footage.





       


       


       

  • TOP LEFT: The apartment bedroom in Bangkok with the impressive view out of the window.

  • TOP RIGHT: September is one of the wettest months in Thailand. This is one evening after one of the thunderstorms.

  • CENTRE: Bangkok street scenes. Note the two levels of the Sky-train or BTS.

  • BOTTOM: Other Bangkok streets. Bottom right photo shows a lively 'night-scene' in Soi Cowboy off the Sukhumvit Road.