mick220675

On 2/3/2019 at 9:16 AM, mick220675 said:

I'm just in the middle of trying to renew my driving licence, its not going very well.

 

I went to my local driving licence office (Prakon Chi, Buriram) on Thursday with existing 5 year licence (my 3rd 5 year licence), Yellow house book, Pink ID, passport with visa and photo copy's of every thing. The lady told me I needed a letter of residence from immigration.

 

I went to Buriram Immigration the same day. They asked why I needed the letter, then said I would have to go back to the driving licence office and get a letter requesting a certificate/ letter of residence.

 

Friday I went back to the driving licence office and requested a letter requesting a certificate/letter of residence. The lady told me that was not possible. My wife asked if it was possible to pay extra to do away with the certificate/letter of residence, the answer was no.

 

So on Monday I will go back to Buriram and try again. Hopefully thing will work out, but as we all know Thai bureaucracy follows no logic.

I have been to Buriram immigration today and talked to a officer who I have known for years. After giving him 500 baht I was given a letter/certificate of residence.

I went to the driving licence office gave all paper work to the same lady I had seen last week. She told me If I wanted my new licence I would have to resit the full test. My wife started shouting at the lady and 10 seconds later it was agreed I could renew my licence without resitting the full test.

I now have a new 5 year licence after days of jumping thru hoops. I witnessed the lady at the driving licence office being very difficult to other people trying to renew there driving licences. My wife concluded that the lady working at the driving licence office was a bitch.

My problem with Thai bureaucracy is nobody can agree the rules. What is impossible to one official is no problem to the next official.

The stress of renewing a driving licence could make anyone a alcoholic. The video I was made to watch said you could be fined up to 200.000 baht for drink driving, so I will not drive tomorrow as I am in need of a good drink.

I'm just in the middle of trying to renew my driving licence, its not going very well.

I went to my local driving licence office (Prakon Chi, Buriram) on Thursday with existing 5 year licence (my 3rd 5 year licence), Yellow house book, Pink ID, passport with visa and photo copy's of every thing. The lady told me I needed a letter of residence from immigration.

I went to Buriram Immigration the same day. They asked why I needed the letter, then said I would have to go back to the driving licence office and get a letter requesting a certificate/ letter of residence.

Friday I went back to the driving licence office and requested a letter requesting a certificate/letter of residence. The lady told me that was not possible. My wife asked if it was possible to pay extra to do away with the certificate/letter of residence, the answer was no.

So on Monday I will go back to Buriram and try again. Hopefully thing will work out, but as we all know Thai bureaucracy follows no logic.

The storm that hit our village a few days ago was as strong as I have seen. The hail stones were big, they damaged one of my solar panels.

Normally with the first drop of rain our electricity goes off. Thanks to recent upgrade work and despite all the rain, wind and hail the lights never went off.

Hola VPN works for UK TV and other restricted sites. But at the moment for BBC etc I watch on Teatime TV, it has Live and the last weeks TV on demand. For movies I use yes -movies.

A farang near me paid the immigration at the  same crossing a lot more than 3000 baht to get back in to Thailand after he served time and was deported. He now is illegally hear and pays the police to let him stay.

There must be thousands of people who have paid to get into Thailand and tens of thousands possibly hundreds of thousands who are living hear on dodgy visas. The situation will get worse as the government continues to make it harder to qualify for a visa. The immigration police will have many more customers willing to hand over cash.

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

Amatur ,part time,same qualifcations as a Thai sparky.

but the pump is working well, IS earthed so maybe better than a Thai 

regards worgeordie

Your wife could well be the most qualified electrician in town, the pump works and is earthed and no one died.

As a electrician I have seen some very scary stuff not just in Thailand but also in the UK and Germany. In Thailand I am constantly asked by Thais and farangs "could you have a look at this." It can be hard to tell some one who has just spent 2-3 million on a house build, that it is a death trap.

If you look at a Thai as they plug something into a socket you will see a little bit of terror in them, not knowing if there will be a bang. Westerners no longer worry when they use a electrical appliance, you turn it on and it works. But in Thailand if you do not know 100% your electrical system is safe its best to adopt the Thai way and be a little scared of electricity.

I have experimented with solar at my home in South Buriram. I have 3 x 300 watt panels connected to a battery via a controller. My swimming pool pump is feed from the battery via a 2000 watt inverter. The system works well and gave me something to do installing it.

Now my pool is powered by the sun my electricity bill has doped by 250 baht/month. If the system lasts 20 years It may cover the cost of installation, but I don't think so.

Electricity in Thailand is not very expensive, but solar panels, battery's and inverter's are expensive. Until something changes I think its best to forget about solar.

Now your wife is a electrical engineer give her the death trap neon screw driver and tell her to crack on. Hopefully next week you will be in a position to obtain a newer model.

57 minutes ago, Hupaponics said:

10 hours ago, hobz said:

law enforcement is useless in thailand.

 

 

You just don't get it, do you...

Only morons complain about "law enforcement". They don't realize what would happen IF the law was enforced throughout the country in EVERY area.

 

Chill mate, would you like to live in Africa?

In the area I live the police want people to brake the law. They charge 500 baht per farm for each sugar farm burnt. Any one transporting the sugar is stopped if the sugar has signs of burning they also have to pay. Lets face it Thai police need people to brake laws, its how they get there money.

When things start to get you down a story like this comes along and makes you smile. I love it in rural Thailand, its mad.

Over the last few years our village has been under attack by 3 ghosts on a motorbike, they have killed 3 people and are responsible for a number of bad motorbike  accidents. This year we had a scare crow that became a ghost, its getting very dangerous. 

Some times photos on Thai visa take a crazy time to open, it took 8 minutes after clicking on this thread before I could see the pictures. The horrendous advertising is destroying this forum for those of us living in rural Thailand with slow internet.

Yes it looks like a viper, I have had a few in my garden the same as the photo. Very beautiful but scary, hope it moved away from your home. Be careful doing the weeding.

The last time I renewed my Thai licence I was made to watch a video. It involved a man who drove fast and was aggressive, pressing his horn all the time. At the end he pressed his horn at a man who then shot a gun at him. The video was in Thai with no subtitles. From what I understood of the video it was trying to make people drive with more respect to others, or face being shot.

If the UK embassy is trying to supply its citizens with a video that helps them when driving in Thailand, then that is not a bad idea.

The ghost of the pidgin can not be silenced so easily. The PM should worry, if a red snake is found it will spell doom.

Living in a rural area with slow internet at times TV is almost unusable, like the OP says it can take minuets to load a page. Clearly advertising has become more of a priority than the content of the forum.

I think fewer people post now than in the past for many reasons. Personally I enjoy the way some topics spiral into completely irrelevant abuse. The beliefs of some people are amazing, BBQ dogs or machine gunning them to underage sex.

I particularly like the way some posters believe their sole purpose in life is winding each other up. Having said that TV is still a good way of sharing valuable experiences.

Any news Shaemus? 

All my wast water goes onto the garden, never had a problem. The waste water from the washing machine seems particularly good possibly down to the powder. 

I use a sump and then pump it out onto the garden when needed.