phitsanulokjohn

So long as they haven't removed the sign for the"Gentleman's toilet"then I'm happy.

Suspended 1000 euro fine.Commonsense prevailed.

After wikileaks,maybe the government needs to brace itself for anonyleaks.

The police investigation and proceedings were widely criticized for serious shortcomings.

I think we all know this is a gross understatement.

I had a ring of fire this morning after consuming the Thai curry wifey made me last night.

Note that submitting a false affidavit to the USA embassy or consul is a Federal crime punishable by 5 years imprisonment. USA Fed judges take a very harsh view of perjury.

Can only agree with the above post.I'm from the Uk,maybe it's more strict at the Uk embassy,but this looks all the way open to be scammed....Until you get caught that is.Just imagine feeling the full force of both Thai&Usa authorities bearing down on you.Not for me thanks.By playing it straight in all aspects of Thai requirements for almost 30 years,I've managed to get a good nights sleep every night...Nice feeling.

Well now it's official.The best deal on the table for all you overstayers,It's best you see them before they find you.

Uruguay has an excellent football team given the size of its population and I believe law makers there recently legalised cannabis.

Thailand could do far worse than follow the example Uruguay!

WOW!

Cannabis legalised and watching Luis Suarez play football.

How much is a 1st class ticket to Montevideo?

On second thougts,I'll travel economy and the savings I make can be put to buying a great big bin liner full of greenery and a 60 inch widescreen,to watch Luis perform his magic.

Lovely story and God willing will have a happy ending.I Wish a speedy recovery to you Lucy,lassie from Lancashire.

The gun has obviously made the guard intoxicated on power.

Well, what Angela wanted, Angela got.

She made her bed and now she must lay in it.

I hope the elephant is ok and will not be put down. Thai style, of course.

What a sick sense of humour you possess.You need to be sectioned.

Just wondering if you'd be making light of this,if it was your wife just been killed by the elephant and your 2 year old son injured and lost his Mother?

It's a God awful sad affair.R.i.p David.

You appear to be a decent hardworking guy.Nice gesture.God bless you.

Remember this guy is yet to be convicted of any crime.

He deserves the respect of anyone who is innocent until proven otherwise.

I agree,he deserves the respect of innocent till proven guilty.

Now I ain't a gambler,but if I was,I'd bet a pound to a pinch of s**t,he's far more guilty than the 2 Burmese.Don't see US homeland security getting it wrong.

That was a terrible form of punishment, having the offenders vehicles impounded for up to 7 days.That only leaves 51 weeks for the offender to reoffend.

Will those American folk ever move on from Cowboys&Injurings?

3505 people injured and 380 lives lost in the space of a week.Not to mention all the grief being suffered by the poor victims families,and all for the sake of a drink.Awful news.

This old chestnut again...

Bloody good post mate,full of common sense.

Shows that If you do everything by the book,you have nothing to worry about.Served me well for almost 30 years here.

I have worked in and around the Dive Industry in LOS for more than 20 years - the solution to preventing the problems in the OP are easy.

only work in accordance with the conditions stated in you work permit.

In other words:-

1. Only carry out the work designated in your work permit.

1.1 Have Dive Instructor listed as your main job description

1.2 Have teaching water sports added as another job description in the same work permit

The general rule for not falling foul of the your job description designation is:-

If you need to carry out other duties that are not obviously covered by your existing job description - then have them added to you work permit - your lawyer can do this for you.

2. Only work at the specific location listed in your work permit.

2.2 List the Dive Center as one location for Academics

2.3 List the swimming pool as another location. List Swimming pools at hotels as a more general location description.

2.4 List Andaman Sea, Koh Phi Phi, Gulf of Siam etc (as necessary) as additional work locations

If you need to work at locations not precisely listed in your work permit - then get your lawyer to add these additional locations

My own work permit is annotated above plus other duties have been added such as the repairing of scuba gear, compressors, engineering work that I often get called out to - It took a long time to slowly get my work and locations properly described in the WP and now results in zero hassles at all when inspected by the WP police.

As an example of how nit-picking the WP police can get - I was caught up in a raid of dive shop employees in a large dive shop spread over several shop units. It was a big operation with 153 Intern Instructors and 7 big dive boats out at the weekend. The WP police obviously sniffed the cash flow and sprung a serious raid with a mini-bus of peaked hats going over everyone and everything. Interestingly, they even wanted to check that each individual townhouse that made up the dive shop was listed in my WP - else 'big problems for me' They were. No issues.

Other obvious no-no's

Do not get involved in carrying boxes of dive gear or any other obvious manual labor in the public view - since manual labor by foreigners either paid or unpaid is general forbidden under Thai labor law, even with a work permit.

Ensure the Dive Co understands the rules (They will get fined a fortune too if you get caught) - convince them to pay a 3rd world laborer or the boat boy(whoever) hanging around on the peer 100 Baht to load the fkin boat, while you sit and drink a coffee with the customers. This is small money for peace of mind and allows you to give better service.

Now, from experience, I know the comments here will get poo-poo'd by the usual knuckle dragging tattoo faced scum bags who run many of the Dive Centers in this dear country - who know better - but gents(unless you have friends in the sky) you (as well as your instructors) will get fined or gouged for a huge amount of cash under the Alien Business Law (N.E.C. Announcement 281) so sort your sh#t out or pay the piper.

To close - Cheers - and have a great day diving.

This will be hailed a success,if this keeps up.

Trains,bikes,buses,boats&bicycles.

Is there any form of transport exempt from the total carnage we've come to know in Thailand?

Happy new year to you also and congratulations,keep up the good work.Alcohol is at best just about ok,but the key word is "Moderation".If one cannot drink moderately then it's best left alone.At worst it's the cause of deaths,accidents&the ruination of families.

Pleased for the young girl.Thai's will find numbers in everything.

Why doesn't the 2 words "COMMON SENSE" exist in the Thai vocabulary?

Shoddy work to say the least.