"how can they deprive them of farang helping them out around the wat?"

The monks were getting by without farangs long before you were around and likely long after you are gone.

Technically "no". If you're going to spend a couple of days there then its no big deal. It becomes a big deal when you take jobs from Thais.

Once you've become accustom to the Thai ways, it will make sense or at least you'll learn to accept that it doesn't make sense (there some buddha for you).

I have been doing remote IT work in Thailand for the past 8 years. Mostly I have been on tourist visas. When I originally started this journey I looked into the Elite visa and found it was about the same value as other visa options. At that time, it cost half as much as it does now. My math worked like, $2500/year for 10 years... I needed for 8 years.. over pay by $5000, Or $1,200/trip, 2 trips a year... Effectively the choices, did I want to travel a couple times a year or did I want an elite visa.

I went with the tourist visas option. Today there are a few other visa options.

Best of luck.

That does happen here. Worse, in some places the GPS will be off so it sends you all kinds of crazy places.

That's official.. There has a number and its by the "Authority of Visa on arrival".

What more do you want?

You can bet Pattaya will have an added requirement of tea money.

"I wonder if I would do the same" - Only you know you. But I suspect you already do... You own western goods? Cross Trainers? Microwaves? That comes to you by way of cheap labor. That's right some poor schmuck gets paid $10 dollars a day, lives in a dirt-floor hut, can't medicate his sick children so you could have a cheaper microwave. The difference between this scenario and the tourist scenario is only how close it is to you personally.

I often read Farang complain about the two-price system here. They complain that it's "unfair"... But considering income potential of the Farang, life is unfair. It's only the losers who complain about it.

You said it man... India was so bad I did it twice to make sure I wasn't imagining it.

They can deny you... Always. The question is, will they deny you?

I have been here 10 years, most of that time I have been on tourist visas... I could be lucky but I think it's more about Thai Immigration being pretty easy-going.

I think the options are a Visa or the minimum requirements for visa exempt. The requires would be something like proof of more than 20,000 baht, hotel stay, onward travel. You should already have to the first two and onward travel can be satisfied with a bus ticket.

@Graham *****

Thanks... Pattaya immigration kinda blows :)