kirmizi

I got my five year license about 6 weeks ago. I went after lunch and was in and out in 45 mins. I had to do the eye and reaction tests, but no video. Maybe I was just lucky.

Air Asia weighed my carry on in Hong Kong and it was 4 kgs over their 7 kg limit. This was at check in and I told her I would remove water etc before security. She let me go and they never checked it again. I removed about half a kilo of water before security so I was still way over.

It's difficult for airlines to deal with this issue unless they plan to weigh your bags at the gate. People can always stash stuff with a friend until after check in so weighing it there is not effective. If they weigh it at the gate, they may have some ticked off or even stranded passengers as it's probably too late to check something in at that point. I've seen scales at the Air Asia gate but never seen them used.

Try the YMCA. It's right near Sentral so it's just a quick train ride to the embassy. You'll need to make a reservation online as they're often full.

I went yesterday after lunch and extended a one year license to 5 years. Had to do eye and reaction tests, but no video. Total time = 25 minutes. Needed health certificate and certificate of residency.

I'm renewing my one year license into a (hopefully) five year license tomorrow. I have heard that one needs to be there at 9:00 am or thereabouts but I think that is only for the initial license. Can anyone confirm that renewals can be done later in the day?

Ordinarily I would just go early to be sure but at this time I am busy every morning so I must go in the afternoon.

Thanks in advance.

Had the same problem in Patong. The letter carrier was stealing any personal looking mail. I now get all mail sent to me Post Restante. You have to go down to the PO to pick it up, but it's reliable. Go and ask your local PO about post restante. They'll give you the proper address. Remember to bring picture ID when picking up your mail. Also, they charge 2 Baht per piece when you pick up your mail. Another option is to get a box at the PO. Haven't done this myself so I can't comment on it. Good luck.

I live in Patong and would be interested in doing a language exchange. I know it's not the same as a course but if it suits your needs you can PM me and we'll get in touch.

Did you go between 12 and 1 ? Closed for lunch.

No. I know the hours and I checked back several times on Monday. It was definitely closed all day. It was open again on Tuesday and all went fine. I've heard that this particular office sometimes closes for no discernible reason. Anyone planning to use it would be wise to go a day or two ahead of time.

The title says it all. I went to the Patong Immigration office to do my 90 day report and it was closed. I'm not due until tomorrow so I'm ok for now. I know it's Veg. festival but I didn't know it was a government holiday. Can anyone confirm whether today (Monday) is in fact a holiday? Also, will Immigration be open tomorrow? Thank you.

Small selection upstairs in Bic C at Jungceylon, also Robinson might have a couple. Better go into the basement of Big C in Phuket Town. Much more selection.

Is this the one near Phuket Int'l Hospital or is there another one in town that I don't know about? Thanks.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. This morning I stumbled upon a good place in Patong at no. 153 Pisitkaranee Rd. 70B/100 pages. Don't know how I missed this place before. Thanks again.

I'm not illegally copying anything so Mods please don't kill this post. I have a large amount of photocopying to do. Does anyone know a shop that is cheap and can do entire books as well as can bind the copies with a simple coil binding or something similar? I'm in Patong and my transportation options are limited so any shops in Patong or close by would be best. Thanks in advance.

Report from renewal of 5 years car and motorcycle license at the transport office in Phuket today.

The woman at the information counter at first rejected to renew two licenses which is still valid for nearly 3 months and in Thai/English said “could expire one year”

I`m far from fluent in Thai and got a bit confused there. Can be the 5 year license can expire with nearly a year or it was here who had a bad day! I did not take my change on that one and show here my ticket out next week and with a return late May and repeated a few times that I even may have to stay longer time abroad and she finally gave in and after the movie I got my new licenses and they let me even keep the old ones!

What I would recommend:

First, come no later than 0900 Am. You will have to take an eye test and watch an hour long movie.

Documents she wanted for me was copy passport (photo page and page with Visa and latest entry; prove of address from immigration and your old driving license. She pushed back the medical certificate! 2 copies of each document for each license.

I paid 555, - for the renewal of the car license and 305, - for the renewal of motorbike license all with a receipt.

220, - for the photo session and processing of the certificate also with receipt for the 200, - No receipt for the 20, - but with a handsum when I walked out it was worth it.

Only five of us in the TV room so unless someone jumped the TV show, not busy regarding 5 year renewal. I don`t know the situation regarding expiration day on the licenses to the other foreigners in there.

Thanks for the info. Did the eye test include the colour test as well?

Thanks again!

What does the immigration want for the proof of address notification? Last time I used the income certification from my Embassy where my address is stated, but I mean to have seen they no demand a letter from the landlord. Is that correct?

Think it's called Residency Certificate. Usually need to show your house rental contract and letter from landlord/copy house paper.

Certificate of Residency. I got one a few weeks ago using only my rental agreement. 300 Baht. It takes about 5 minutes. See the people at the front counter at Immigration.

Been thinking about donating some blood. Are there any vasting requirements or other things prior to donating? Or can you just walk in and start bleeding?

When I used to donate in Canada they preferred you to have a good meal in you. They even served free cookies and soft drinks because they didn't want you donating on an empty stomach. I'm not sure of the medical reason for this but I suspect it has to do with blood sugar levels.

Just make sure you're not on any medication before donating. From what I remember, even an aspirin in the previous 24 hours can be dangerous to the person receiving the blood.

Thanks for donating!

I've experienced the same thing many times. After much reading online, it appears it's caused by jellyfish larvae. Apparently, they contain mature stinging cells, but only in very small numbers. They're also too small to see.

I got my shiny new DL today and I noticed that the eye test was a little different from what I've seen posted on here recently so allow me to update you on the new procedure as of today.

1. The reaction test is the same and is very easy.

2. The depth perception test was fairly easy and simply involves moving one bar to line up with a second one. You use a couple of buttons to move it back and forth. One machine was broken and there were a couple of strings you had to pull to move the bar.

3. The colour test has 2 parts.

1) There is a big card with a hundred coloured dots on it, but no number inside it. They simply point at individual dots and you tell them what colour they are. There were about 5 different colours but they only pointed at the red, green and yellow ones. I'm slightly red/green colour blind but managed to pass this as there were no tricky browns to confuse me. The biggest problem with this part was the fact that there is a window directly behind the card and a white building opposite. So if it is sunny like it was this morning, you'll have a very bright light in your eyes. This was a real problem for me since I have enough trouble with colours already. Also, there are 2 stations for this test. One has a shiny new card with clear bright colours. The other one (mine) has an old card that looks like it has been used as a doormat for a couple of years. You sit about 4 meters away for this test.

2) The second part tests your ability to see colours in your peripheral vision. This was more difficult and I saw one farang fail it. You have to put your face up to a device and stare at a yellow dot about 10cm in front of you. They then flash red, green or yellow lights at you from the side. They are at the extreme periphery of your vision and you must remain staring straight ahead. The red was easy to spot but the green and yellow were quite faint.

That was it for the eye test and despite being mildly red green deficient, I passed.

There's been a lot of discussion on Thaivisa about whether or not foreign licenses are accepted with or without an international driving permit. They accepted my Hong Kong driving license WITHOUT an IDP. They examined it closely and a number of people had a look at it before it was accepted. This allowed me to skip the written and practical tests and I was done by 10:30am with a new car and motorcycle license. I'm not saying this is standard procedure, it's just what happened today.

Worth mentioning is that if you fail the written or practical test, you can come back as often as you like for 90 days to retake that particular part of the test. There is no need to repeat the entire procedure. That was according to the translation I got from my Thai friend this morning. I believe it's pretty hard to fail these but if you do, it's no big deal.

Also worth mentioning is that the people working there were generally very friendly and during the eye test at least, were willing to forgive a few mistakes here and there.

As for documents needed, this seems to be the same as has been said in many other threads.

Copies of passport ID page and visa, health certificate and residence certificate. One of each of these per license applied for (ie. car and motorbike). You must sign all of these copies so do so beforehand to save time.

It was generally a very pleasant morning and everyone was very helpful. Good luck to all.

Got it. Thank you all!

Feel free to call me stupid, but I don't know Phuket town very well and couldn't find the driving lic. office. Could someone please post a Google Earth/maps link and put me out of my misery? Thanks in advance.

Carrefour has recently put up a sign in the alcohol area which seems to indicate that they will not sell booze during the prohibited times. However, I've bought small amounts of beer there today and a few days ago between 2 and 5.

I used to get bitten on the feet and ankles a lot and never saw what was biting me. Now I wear socks and hardly ever get bitten.

Skype had problems worldwide around Christmas time. Google it and you'll find all kinds of news stories about it. I believe they've fixed it now, but not sure. Mine works fine from Patong to Canada using TOT. Good luck.

Kirmizi,

Not many people have actually answered your question and it is one that I thought about for a long time as I am also red/green colourblind. I went to the test centre in Phuket Town a few months ago to try and get my Thai DL's. I waited in a massive queue to do the reaction test and then tried to do the colourblind test. I managed the first few and then the problems began. The woman was pretty good and gave me many chances but if you can't see the number then you can't see it. Was told to sit and wait til everyone else had taken the test in the morning session and then she let me try again. Once more I couldn't do it. She then pointed at some colours on a board from distance and I had to tell her which ones. They are all kind of green/yellow/red/browny so very difficult.

Again I failed this and she told me I was colourblind!!! Thanks! So I asked what I could do and she told me to come back again tomorrow. I never did though. Decided to send away for my International Driver's Licence and will do that every year. Looks like no Thai DL for me. However, I have my licence from my own country and an IDL so feel confident in having them.

Not sure if there are ways you can get around failing the test or not. It was a very frustrating day though. Best of luck in your quest and post any information that might be of use to others. There isn't too much about this on the web even though colourblindness is quite common so how everyone is driving in Thailand I'm not sure!!!!! On a sidenote, 3 young Thai lads also failed the colourblind test when I was there.

Cheers,

Emubob

Thanks for sharing your experience. Just out of curiosity, how bad is your red-green deficiency? Mine is mild so maybe I'll have a chance at the secondary test.

Cheers,

I'm not totally colour blind. I have a mild red-green deficiency which I'm told is not uncommon in males. I can still see traffic lights just fine, but I always fail those generic colour tests. So I'm wondering what will happen when I go to get my license and I fail the test. I'm thinking I could do a colour specific test at a doctor's before I go but would like to know exactly what I need before wasting a trip there.

Someone out there must have failed it. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

If they're any kind of ant, I have a different suggestion. There's a poison called ARS that's available in Carrefoure. I don't have the full name as it's in Thai, but it's got a pic of an ant with a line through it. It only costs about 50B and is a yellow granular material that comes in a small plastic box. You put this near an ant trail and let the ants eat it up. They take the "food" back to their nest to feed the family and before you know it, they're all dead. It takes about 24 hours from the time they find it to the death of the colony. The advantage to this is that there is no spray for you to inhale and you don't have to search for their nest.

I have used this many times and it's never failed me. Look for it upstairs in CF in Jungceylon with all the other bug sprays. Good luck.