friendphil

My 6-year old daughter's U.S. passport has expired, and we need to get her a new one before taking the wife and her to the United States with me.  I'll be coming from the U.S. to stay for a nominal amount of time in Thailand, during which we will get to the U.S. embassy on day one or two of my visit to apply for the new passport, after which I would like to limit my stay.  The info on the web for American Services states that the new passport will be ready "usually in about two weeks." 

So I'm wondering how large a period would be safe.  Do any of you U.S. citizens have recent experience and remember how long it took?  We'll be up in Khon Kaen, so will probably have the new passport mailed to us there.

Thanks for any report on this issue!  

           "There ought to be a law."    The penalty for hit and run ought to be 10x the normal.  

I feel for the woman killed. and for her family... and the driver has his own hell to live with following this .

13 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Its possible to drown or choke on your own vomit whilst sleeping. This is often referred to as pulmonary edema .

 

Yes, this sounds like a strong possibility in this situation.  I was just reading about some singer who was about thirty years old when he drank himself under the table one night and went to bed to do this very thing. 

21 hours ago, Rob13 said:

 

i've noticed the same about people from a number of other countries as well.

 

I'm not even British (American, rather) and it takes something well-put and right on the mark for me to say this, but "Bloody good," Rob13.  Right on. 

On 1/10/2017 at 9:20 PM, NanLaew said:

 

The Pattaya bar busts have always claimed that  the presence of unused condoms is proof of prostitution taking place. I mean, what else are they going to be used for?

 

Working in China, we had big issues with Chinese-made dynamite disintegrating when left too long in waterlogged shot holes. So we bought thousands of local condoms, wrapped the charges in them before loading the hole. They were good for at least 24-hours.

 

Unfortunately, the Chief Driller forgot to empty his bag properly before flying back to Oz to see his wife on R&R. The fact that the condoms she found were cavernous enough for the average schlong made his claims'Honest Narelle, they're for me job' a real hard sell.

   You think if we believe you here on thaivisa, your wife will believe your story too?   Sounds a bit far-fetched to me!   But good luck! 

Thaivisa friends.... for the benefit of others reading this and less seasoned in the lingo, I would suggest the use of abbreviations only after introducing the term spelled out fully the first time.  This is very helpful in learning what the abbreviations or acronyms mean and doesn't exclude the ignorant.   In this case, "O.A." and "VE" are mysterious terms to me.  Maybe if I just thought about it enough, I would figure them out. 

Thanks! 

Sorry for this woman's misfortune. 

Many know that one needs to be vigilant to the right, the left, above and below when walking in Thailand.  It's not wise to trust stepping on this kind of thing.  I'd think Thais would know this instinctively.

Well, maybe when all the food vendors have been cleared off the streets, some of these problem spots will be fixed. 

Someone, please tell me: what benefit is obtained from minivans using bus stations?  Is this somehow safer?  Same question regarding GPS. 

How about more stringent driver licensing requirements, safety inspections of the vans, and increasing the farea a little to cover the expense?  If the only competitive elements driving these minivans are low prices and speed, that's asking for more disasters.  I myself would gladly pay twice the existing price to ride a bit slower in a safer vehicle, and have a better chance of arriving alive. 

And yet another tragic fall.  The frequency should be alarming to 'the authorities'.  Does anyone ever pause to think there might be a way to prevent some of these?  Perhaps a beginning could be for the reportage to include a description of how safe each of these balconies is.  Are they a safe height, so that any fall would have to be intentional, at least?  Reportage might include this kind of information in the stories. 

And might there be a way to intervene, or at least an attempt to intervene, by warning hotel guests with a safety sign on balconies, and a HOTLINE number to call for those thinking of jumping.   I know, this suggestion might seem laughable, but just maybe something could be implemented. 

May all beings be safe. 

7 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

guys seem to get caught when a body was found. would seem to me that holding onto the bodies is a mistake.

Yes.... we would best put that in our notebooks for future reference, should a similar situation come along some day.  Argh.

21 hours ago, jessy88 said:

Yes, same Shimon I knew in prison, except he won his case of murdering another Israeli over drugs deal and Shimon shriki took the fall. Shimon fought extradition not to be sent back to Israel for years, I know this as I used to write his letters for him as he couldn't write English or Thai...lot of different stories here. But I know his old case very well.

Oh, Really!  Sounds like you might be of service to the BIB, perhaps? 

On 11/10/2016 at 2:55 PM, metisdead said:

An off topic post about a road rage incident in the UK has been removed as well as a reply.  A post in which a member uses bold font quite often has been removed, please stop using bold font when posting. 

what's up with no bold font?  it's expressive!  and the tools are there to use it. More relevant to the incident, I agree that the guy should never have gotten out of his car.... I'm sure he didn't go to thank the driver of the Benz.... and did we see if he said something to the Benz driver?  I'm sure if he did it was not sweet words. 

I just love the journalism on this site.  That last paragraph is certainly a timely 'oh, by the way...'   Makes for an interesting surprise ending, doesn't it? 

Sanemax seems to have put together a reasonable scenario. "

11 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

 

IMO, they were having sex and he intended to kill both her and himself .

As they were having sex he put the rope around her neck with the intention of strangling her

She thought him off and received a bloody nose , he then had a heart attack and died .

She ran out the room

So, attempted murder and a natural death

 

 

I'll put my money (two baht) on that one.  Interesting tale.  But please, no more like this one, folks.  Lovers suicides should be firmly agreed upon, otherwise have the balls to just go it alone. 

Rest in Peace, poor chap. 

5 hours ago, Borzandy said:

This procedure to deliver baby is a standard procedure in Thailand. And the money compensation is also a standard procedure in Thailand. No one need psychological counselling when the baby comes headless..

Sounds like headless babies are not all that uncommon if standard procedures are such.  I suppose if that is standard procedure, counseling would be less needed, especially of the standard procedure money compensation is adequate, every body is happy. 

I'm so sorry to hear of tourists and expats, as well as Thai nationals, getting killed and injured on the roads of Thailand.

I wish, for their own sake, tourists and also expats would wise up about riding motorcycles. It is nothing short of stupid to be driving or riding them thinking that it isn't intrinsically dangerous, with Thailand having one of the highest (if not THE highest) fatality rates in the world. I see so many farangs driving motorcycles with no helmet... do they think they are supermen or something? I have compassion for those getting injured and killed, yes. AND it would be great it we warn friends of the dangers of renting cycles, driving them without some kind of training and without proper safety equipment.

In hope of a more heedful and safety-conscious community, farangs and Thai alike....

may all beings be safe

Excuse me for being ever critical of the "journalism" that typically shows up here, and the depth and accuracy of the reporting. Neither the post nor the story I read following the link disclose WHERE this sentencing took place. One might assume such and such....maybe. But anyone who's learned how to write a news story will remember: "who, what, where, when, why and how."

Anyway, mai pen rai.... We've come to not expect too much from the news here.

Incredibly tight security, isn't it?

I never heard of ths incident before now, and the story doesn't say when it happened. Or did I miss something?

I was watching an expat video on how it is surrounded by mountains and there is no way for the smoke to get out until the rains come. Wow really who would want to retire there? This sounds like a night mare. The air quality is bad enough down here.

Where is "down here"?

Good question!

Generally, my health has declined, and I find it more difficult to remain healthy here.

For one, I find it harder to eat well here. Good food seems comparatively expensive, in proportion to the relative value of things, and the affordable food is usually lots of rice, and a few veggies and a little meat. Also, coming from California to here, I truly miss the abundance of ethnic foods there, as well as lots of organic foods. Here it's hard to know what one is eating in that regard.

Weather-wise, the heat doesn't help my energy, nor my appetite, it seems. So I think I've lost a little weight that I didn't need to lose, and generally have lower energy--- especially when it gets hot (which, of course, is a lot of the time.)

Another thing I miss is all the hiking and out-of-doors exercise opportunities that are available where I lived before. Here, I don't get nearly the exercise walking and hiking that I did before. And my work in the U.S. was often outdoors, and constituted darned good exercise.

But, the good nature of many of the people make up for a lot here. So, it's a compromise, no matter where I am living.

I guess one might glean from this that a good alibi, should one be needed to offer Thai police, MIGHT BE to mention the night market at Thonburi. Seemed to work for him!

WHAT I found missing in this story were some details such as dates and time spans (re: for one, "after the new Act relating to drug suppression measures was enacted, 31,196 drug cases with assets of Bt17.3 billion were seized."), and who is/was "Kosin Chuchai"? (owner of a Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a Rolex watch.)

I did really appreciate the in-depth explanation of a motivation for drug dealers. : "Permpong said the wealth accumulated by drug dealers motivated them to take risks to make more money." (Do you detect some sarcasm from me here?) "No shit, Dick Tracey."

It's okay to piss in public,

but kissing not.

I crossed around 3pm on Friday coming into Thailand from Laos, no problems whatsoever.

It sounds like it is not the same for all people.

Are you Lao, Thai, farang or ??? thanks.