ChiFlyer Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 I moved to Thailand about 6 years ago and applied for a Non-IM OA Visa from the US. At the time there was no insurance requirement for an OA. The requirements between the O and OA were identical. For anyone who does not know, a Non-Im requested outside of Thailand is an OA and one requested inside of Thailand is an O. Yes one can request a 90 day O from outside of Thailand from certain countries, but back in the day the US was not one of them. It is now. A few years later, Thailand added an insurance requirement for OA Visas and grandfathered that onto any permissions of stay that were based on an initial OA. I have decent insurance grounded in the US. It will pay for ER and ER related inpatient within Thailand. Immigration will not accept that, but insists that one has to buy Thai based insurance. This is an obvious kick-back scheme IMO. The Thai insurance is very expensive for a person of my age and also useless for a person of my age. They do not cover preexisting conditions. At 73 I am nothing but a collection of preexisting conditions. I have gotten around this for 2 years buy buying pretend useless insurance from an agent for 3000 THB. I am a little concerned that as I approach 75 this may become a bigger problem. I have decided to convert my OA to an O and hope for the best. Step 1 was to renew my US Passport early so that I had more flexibility with regard to that. Mission accomplished. Step 2 of the OA to O conversion started today. Basically I am doing a border run to Viet Nam to kill my Thai OA Visa status. I have decided to go to Da Nang instead of Saigon. Part of me feels that I should go to Saigon in order to see the place that was central to the War that so influenced my life, but I feel that Da Nang will give me a better feel for Vietnamese culture. Tips on places to see from that perspective would be appreciated. We (TGF is coming with) will only be there for 2 non-travel days. I applied for a one month entry visa to Viet Nam today. There are a lot of ads to get one to spend more money, but I believe this link is actually owned by Viet Nam immigration. BTW - Russians are granted visa upon arrival, but Americans are not. Oh yeah, the war thing. https://vietnamvisa.govt.vn/ My visa request cost $51 USD. Good news is that I discovered that the TGF does not need a visa to enter Viet Nam. Some of the ads suggest that she does. I am assuming that my Viet Nam visa request will be approved within 2 weeks. I booked a very nice hotel for our stay using Marriott points. Anyone know this hotel and/or the surrounding area. https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/dadsi-sheraton-grand-danang-resort/overview/ Looking at the airfares on Viet Nam Air, 2 round trip non-stop seats (Economy) will cost about $250 USD for the 1.5 hour flight. Step 3 of the conversion will be to reenter Thailand on the new 45 day visa on arrival, or whatever it is called now, and the see my agent to extend that to 90 days and a 1 year extension of stay. I am expecting those steps to cost about 25,000 THB. Comments? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boydeste Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 3 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: Comments? Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 14 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: Da Nang I've been there more than a few times. Like it a lot. The 'hotel' beach is nice to walk along. The north end is more for locals and there's a street shopping district that runs perpendicular to the beach to check out daily life. Walk along the river in the evening or early morning. Check out the Dragon Bridge in the evening. Some great local restaurants. Food is inexpensive and delicious. Hội An is touristy but historically interesting. >> Watch out for scam taxi drivers at the airport. Use a 'taxi meter' driver. . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stillearly Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 I loved Hoi An , beautiful place to visit especially if you can time it for full moon ( they have a monthly lantern festival) I stayed at a place called the Palm Garden Resort , just outside the historic town and on the beach did a days cooking with Red Bridge Cooking School , in the morning you go out and pick and buy the ingredients, prepare it all and eat it afterward, beers / wine included 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiFlyer Posted August 28, 2022 Author Share Posted August 28, 2022 21 hours ago, ChiFlyer said: ...... I am assuming that my Viet Nam visa request will be approved within 2 weeks. I booked a very nice hotel for our stay using Marriott points. Anyone know this hotel and/or the surrounding area. https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/dadsi-sheraton-grand-danang-resort/overview/ ...... oops - I posted the url for the wrong hotel we are staying at the link below: https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/dadfp-four-points-by-sheraton-danang/overview/?scid=f2ae0541-1279-4f24-b197-a979c79310b0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiFlyer Posted August 29, 2022 Author Share Posted August 29, 2022 On 8/28/2022 at 1:35 AM, lazarus said: I've been there more than a few times. Like it a lot. The 'hotel' beach is nice to walk along. The north end is more for locals and there's a street shopping district that runs perpendicular to the beach to check out daily life. Walk along the river in the evening or early morning. Check out the Dragon Bridge in the evening. Some great local restaurants. Food is inexpensive and delicious. Hội An is touristy but historically interesting. >> Watch out for scam taxi drivers at the airport. Use a 'taxi meter' driver. . . . Thanks for the map marking the "Local Restaurants Area". After looking at the map for the hotel we are actually staying in, 🤔 it looks like it is about a 2 km walk into that area from our hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 28 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: Thanks for the map marking the "Local Restaurants Area". After looking at the map for the hotel we are actually staying in, 🤔 it looks like it is about a 2 km walk into that area from our hotel. Meter taxis are your friend in Danang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiFlyer Posted August 29, 2022 Author Share Posted August 29, 2022 (edited) A few questions, if anybody has the time. I noticed that the VND has a conversion rate a little under 25,000 to 1 to the USD. I have always thought that one is better off dealing, at least with regard to pocket money, in the local currency. I assume that (similar to Suvarnabhumi) there are ATMs in the Da Nang airport as one exits the immigration area. These ATMs must issue some very large notes value wise. Any suggestions on an amount to load up on for a few days visit, at least to get started? I have a Charles Schwab debit card so all ATM fees are refunded anywhere in the world. I would guess that the staff at the Shearton can point me to other ATMs. Any suggestions on a good bank to look for with regard to ATMs. A taxi from the airport to the hotel should cost about how much? I noticed the comment earlier on that one needs to make sure that it is a metered taxi. I have been sent an e-mail that I can hire a car (prepaid I assume) for $35 USD. Just trying to understand at this point. Been thinking about our activities for our 2 non-travel days. The GF will love the Dragon Bridge. I foresee a 2 Hr selfie shoot there. Probably another one as we walk back after sundown, after investigating the restaurant area that @lazarus pointed out. I think we will likely use the other non-travel day to hire a car to go see Hoi An. Edited August 29, 2022 by ChiFlyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 9 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: A taxi from the airport to the hotel should cost about how much? I noticed the comment earlier on that one needs to make sure that it is a metered taxi. I have been sent an e-mail that I can hire a car (prepaid I assume) for $35 USD. Just trying to understand at this point. Of course the hotel wants you to use their tran$fer. A meter taxi will be a lot less. Just have to walk out to the meter taxi area on the arrival level at the airport. 12 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: I noticed that the VND has a conversion rate a little under 25,000 to 1 to the USD. I have always thought that one is better off dealing, at least with regard to pocket money, in the local currency. I assume that (similar to Suvarnabhumi) there are ATMs in the Da Nang airport as one exits the immigration area. These ATMs must issue some very large notes value wise. Any suggestions on an amount to load up on for a few days visit, at least to get started? Start off with $100us = 2.5 million dong. There are ATMs around if you need more. Bring some US cash too as I believe it is still used (last time there for me was pre-Covid '19) 14 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: The GF will love the Dragon Bridge. I foresee a 2 Hr selfie shoot there. Ask at the hotel if it's a "show" night at the bridge...well worth seeing. There's some good restaurants on the east side of the bridge for dinner. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freee!! Posted August 29, 2022 Share Posted August 29, 2022 23 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: These ATMs must issue some very large notes value wise. Any suggestions on an amount to load up on for a few days visit, at least to get started? The largest I ever got out of an ATM was VND 200,000 (Nội Bài, Hà Nội and Móng Cái) in batches of VND 2,000,000 or VND 3,000,000 depending on the bank. The largest denomination is VND 500,000. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiFlyer Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 Next step completed today. I re entered Thailand on a 45 day visa exempt, which is a tourist visa IMO. Seeing an agent next week to start the 90 day Non-IM O and the subsequent one year extension to the Permission to Stay. Will get my situation to January 2024. Hope I am here to enjoy it. btw - Da Nang is a city that I like. Oh - the check-in agent at the Da Nang airport asked to see my throw away exiting Thailand ticket. I paid about $60 USD for it. Immigration at Bangkok did not ask to see it. I suspect that the Da Nang agent was trying to sell me a ticket. The Vietnam currency (the Dong) is a bit of a pain in the ass to deal with. It is currently about 22,500 to 1 vs. the USD. They have no problem with converting THB. I suspect that I was getting a series of small ripoffs. One needs to carry a calculator just to buy lunch and figure out what to tip. A few pics. Views from the hotel balcony (22nd floor) Lady Buddha Dragon Bridge 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted October 20, 2022 Share Posted October 20, 2022 18 minutes ago, ChiFlyer said: btw - Da Nang is a city that I like. Pre-Covid ... Da Nang was a regular stop for me... Lots to like. Great value. Nice people... Great food, the beach, and SYT massage girls at the local hotel "shops"... Time for me to get back there. 😛 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiFlyer Posted October 21, 2022 Author Share Posted October 21, 2022 (edited) On 10/20/2022 at 9:24 PM, lazarus said: Pre-Covid ... Da Nang was a regular stop for me... Lots to like. Great value. Nice people... Great food, the beach, and SYT massage girls at the local hotel "shops"... Time for me to get back there. 😛 This was my first trip to Vietnam and it was a short trip indeed for Thai border run purposes. We got rained out one day, so I did not see a lot. With regard to the "SYT massage girls at the local hotel "shops"", do tell more. 🙂 Edited October 21, 2022 by ChiFlyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiFlyer Posted October 28, 2022 Author Share Posted October 28, 2022 (edited) Completed the next step. I submitted paperwork through an agent for a 90 day Non-IM O retirement visa and an additional 12 month extension of my Permission to Stay. This will make me good through January 2024. This gets me out of the Non-IM OA insurance ripoff, at least for now. The Non-IM O submission required that my paperwork be sent up to Bangkok. I am being told that it should be 30 days before I get my passport back. I made a foto copy of said passport and so far that is acceptable for everything, except buying a sim (which I do not need). Bought a new phone yesterday. That is how I know about the sim requirement. Edited October 28, 2022 by ChiFlyer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom51red Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 On 10/20/2022 at 3:24 PM, lazarus said: Pre-Covid ... Da Nang was a regular stop for me... Lots to like. Great value. Nice people... Great food, the beach, and SYT massage girls at the local hotel "shops"... Time for me to get back there. 😛 Only been to saigon,a friend mentioned should visit da nang never had time,but imagined it as small kinda islands,not like in your photos,looks really big areas,syt massage girls sound interesting ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazarus Posted October 28, 2022 Share Posted October 28, 2022 1 minute ago, Phantom51red said: Only been to saigon,a friend mentioned should visit da nang never had time,but imagined it as small kinda islands,not like in your photos,looks really big areas,syt massage girls sound interesting ? Da Nang is a great base for exploring central and coastal Vietnam. There a lot to see and do. Beautiful beaches. The massage scene is mostly for locals. But if you've been in Asia for awhile and have explored 'below the surface' there's hidden treasures. A lot small hotels provide 'massage' services. Of course, YMMV. . . . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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