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My understanding as told to me that you have to go to the U .S. Embassy in BKK.
If you hear of something else, please post.

No, you have to get ahold of the SS division in Manilla - you can get the phone number and email off the website for the Chiang Mai American embassy if you look. You have to fill out an application from them which they will email to you, then take it to the bank for approval. Now, since this is SS, be aware that direct deposits in Thailand go into a special SS account, so you can't use a debit card, you have to go to the bank. I was going to do this and avoid having to pay transfer fees from my bank in the states, but it was just too much bother, so I decided to just continue to make transfers by phone. There are better ways, but I have a small bank. A larger bank will let you transfer the money electronically (ebanking) into the New York Branch of Bangkok Bank which puts it into your own account. I doubt the other banks can do this.

Thank you for the info.

I wanted to say also that I did see a blog about going threw Manila for Chiang Mai, however the guy who gave me the BKK info. Stated that if you were in another area like Pattaya you can go to the Embassy in BKK directly to pick up your checks.
Again this was info. Passed on to me.