Mister Fixit

just reading that coconut report its obscene!

Coconuts Bangkok IS an obscenely bad publication ...

THREE points I'd like to make.

1) In Vietnam, motorbikes are impounded for 48hrs if the drivers have no helmet. The bikes are released after a fine has been paid and they have a helmet with them

2) Ever noticed how often motorcyclists turn and look backwards, rather than use their mirrors. It only takes 2 seconds for someone in front to stop and pow!

3) What is is about NOT looking to the right before entering an intersection. Trust in a lucky charm maybe? Avoiding eye contact?

No 2. I always look over my shoulder after checking my mirror and signal before I change direction etc. maybe that can be seen as looking backwards.

No 2 is called a 'life-saver' in the UK. A quick glance to make sure no-one is overtaking you in your mirror's blind spot.

A very sensible thing to do and has saved me many a time when driving my bike here.

Thank God I didn't have to go through all this rigmarole. I went back to the UK in July for my mum's 96th birthday. She lives in Newcastle, near the Durham passport office.

Three weeks before I was going to be in Newcastle, I got my brother to call and make an appointment for me on a specific date so I could renew my passport and pay in person. They won't make an appointment more than 3 weeks before. He actually called them 4 weeks before and they told him to call back a week later.

Dead easy - take old passport, £137 in cash, (I wanted a 48-page jobbie), the completed form (I picked a couple up at a post office when there) and two photos (which was a problem later because I had them done here in Thailand - big mistake, see below). As I still look like I did 4 years ago, I didn't have to get the photos certified.

I had a 10 am appointment and was told to arrive 15 minutes early. I did and the office was packed. Four years ago when I did the same, it was empty, but the monstrous mess they are in now has made it bad, even in their regional offices.

There was a notice on the wall saying that I would be guaranteed to be seen within 20 minutes of my appointment time. Ha! I was seen FIFTY minutes late. The the photo problem raised its head - 'Have you have these photos taken abroad?' - 'Yes' - 'Sorry, I can't accept them, they're on matt paper, not glossy'. Great, trust the Thai photo shop to mess them up.

'You'll have to go to the photo booth in the corner over there and get new ones (4 for £5 - rip-off, I paid 100 baht for 12 (useless ones) here) - and I should really send you to the back of the queue'.

'Don't even think about it' I said. 'You promise to see people within 20 minutes of their appointment and you saw me at 10.50. It's now 10.55 and I am not waiting. Is there a manager somewhere?'.

She saw my determined look and told me to be quick, which mercifully I was because no-one else was waiting. When I left the booth there were two people waiting already. However, the photo booth was bad, because there were a lot of instructions given by a recording which was at very low volume and the background chatter from the waiting crowd made it difficult to hear.

Anyway, once she'd got some decent photos it went like clockwork, out in 5 minutes with apologies for lateness following me - they must have some targets for waiting times.

Told to come back at 3.15 pm, arrived at 2.30 expecting to wait. Was asked to show my receipt thing, and was immediately handed my new passport 45 minutes early!

Apart from the hiccup with photos, all dead easy. Note to self - if doing this again, don't get the photos done in Thailand, wait until I get back to the UK. That goes for any other Brits doing the same thing ...

Thanks for the info. So if going the multiple re-entry route it only makes sense to buy it at the same time as getting the permission to stay extended.

Precisely. Each time I extend my visa, I get a single re-entry permit. It's not likely I'll want to leave twice in a year, but if I do, then I just pay another 1,000 baht.

In your case, paying 3,800 baht for a multiple re-entry hardly seems worth it unless you are going to leave Thailand at least 4 times in the next 6 months.

There's a very good Thai guy on soi Buakhao called Nissan. His agency is called Cambodia Inter and he'll sort everything out for you - for a price. It's on the right after the S bend where the market is, coming from The Com, just after the Family Mart on the bend. It's a small frontage, but you should find it OK. He's extremely good.

PM me for a phone number if you can't find it yourself.

I went to Hong Kong a few years ago, for the second time. The first time was in 1990, under British rule.

The most recent time was, of course, under Chinese rule, and I was amazed at all the changes.

However, on the day we were leaving, at our arrival at the airport, I did the electronic machine check-in for us both for the return flight, but was accosted almost immediately by a Chinese employee (with poor English) of Air China (I am pretty sure) who we flew with. He demanded to see my passport, and told me that I didn't have a visa for Thailand so couldn't board. Thick idiot.

I showed him my valid for another 9 months visa and the re-entry permit, but he was adamant. So, then I told him it didn't matter if I didn't have a visa anyway, because I was eligible for a 30 day visa on arrival as I was a British citizen. No dice again. He really didn't get it.

I started to get really p!ssed off at him and we had to go through the rigmarole of explanation about 5 times.

Eventually I demanded he get his manager, to which his face fell. Initially he said, 'no need, no need', but I insisted. He made a phone call, there was a lot off yabbling in Chinese and he suddenly handed me back my passport and boarding pass and said 'OK, you go plane now'. Someone must have explained the visa requirements for Thailand to him, I hope harshly ...

I suspect that the airline needs to do some training with their ground staff. I can't remember now if it was Air China, or China Southern Airlines. I seem to recall it was Air China and the service was very good apart from that blip with the untrained or badly trained employee, who was pretty aggressive too.

It just HAD to be Phuket ...

K

Why are so many of you being negative? They are not here to change the world. They're here to provide students with exposure to a foreign language. Any exposure to the language is a good thing regardless of the duration.

TEFL teachers do that every week not just for 9. And we are being put through the ringer, many unable to meet the ever changing regulations and rules.

If you're really a TEFL teacher, what's the mistake in your sentence?

Educate me .. you know you want to!

I'm thinking you are referring to my typing 9 rather than nine!

But I will await your valuable input, obviously stressing the fact that THIS is an informal forum and not a Cambridge test.

'TEFL teachers do that every week not just for 9. And we are being put through the ringer, many unable to meet the ever changing regulations and rules.'

There are a number of mistakes in those 2 sentences, which should really be one.

1 No comma after 'week'.

2 Starting a sentence with a conjunction such as 'And' is usually seen as grammatically incorrect, although it

can be used for effect. This is not the case here. I'd probably start the second sentence with 'Also' or 'Furthermore'.

3 It's not 'ringer', it's 'wringer' ...

4 It would be better to add 'with' before 'many' in the second sentence, or add 'being' after 'many'.

Yes, I am a REAL English teacher, not a nine-week wonder - and I really hope you don't teach English here ...

More fresh meat for the conveyor belt ...

I hope they have the money for a return ticket home ...

But someone has to pay for the upkeep of these ostentatious temples and kickback revenue at national parks. Why should Thais have to pay?

Er, because it's their country and the buildings belong to them:-?

After all, why would a Thai have to pay for the upkeep of St Paul's cathedral? So why would someone from the UK have to pay extra for the upkeep of Wat Phra Kaew?

No-one minds a fair admission fee, but last I saw it was 350 baht at Wat phra kaew and that was 4 or 5 years ago. God k owns what it is now. Thais free, of course.

One price for all, I say

YES!!! Over the past several years in England the militants etc. have hidden behind the protection of the governments "politically correct" agenda. "Do not say anything to offend them", we are multicultural, why is it though that in their country there is no such thing as multicultural? well, it is too late, they have taken over I am sad to say.

p.s. It is a well known fact that by the year 2021 their will be enough muslims in the uk to vote in an islamic government....

Current Muslim population of all ages in the UK is around 5%, so how will their be sufficient numbers of eligable Muslim voters by 2021 to vote in an 'Islamic government'.

It has been estimated Muslims in the UK will grow to approx 10% of the population by 2050.

http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-will-britain-have-a-muslim-majority-by-2050/13690

Mohammed is now the most common christian name in Britain.

Mohammed? A Christian name? A Muslim name, more like. How can a Muslim have a Christian name? What an (oxy)moron!

I think you mean a 'first name' or 'given name' which is far more appropriate.

Can tourists on a 30 day visa exempt stamp extend for 30 days in Thailand, or is it still a border run? Any ideas?

You REALLY need to read the OP mate. Yes, you can now get a 30 day extension on your 30 day VOA/exemption IN THAILAND.

You have to go to Chaeng Wattana for it, and it costs 1,900 baht.

Wanna borrow my specs?

chefs of police,

What have they been doing wrong - cooking the books?

Israel has never been an ally of the UK, it has never sent troops to fight in any of our so called War's on Terror.

Quit being dishonest. It is no secret that Israel were not asked, so as not to upset Arab allies. They would have been there in a second if needed.

I have a Jewish friend, and a former regular 22 SAS member.

He was sent to train with IDF Special Forces by the UK Government when he was in the SAS (perhaps because he is Jewish). There's a lot of inter-country military training going on which we know nothing about.

Many US ex-military on TV will confirm that the UK SAS was also in the Vietnam war in a limited way. My old squadron Medical Officer (I was a reservist) was there at the time.

Central banks the world over have been competitively devaluing their currency as interest rates have been manipulated for 30 years toward zero. To the extent global economic growth has been the malinvestment of unrepayable credit, the inevitable deflationary (or hyper-inflationary a la Venezuela now, depending on the political control over the central bank) collapse will be global as well.

Yes, but now we see the Baht at artificially high levels. Demand for it seems to be coming from those who see an economic recovery. The recovery won't come with Thai products struggling to compete because of the high currency. Catch 22.

The Baht NEEDS to be at 33 or 34...then we would see a pickup ( maybe a pickup in inflation as well, but manageable)

I hope you mean to the US dollar ...

When I was in Swampy last month, en route to the UK, it was almost empty at 6 pm - a normally very busy time. There were a few hundred travellers max.

On my return a few weeks ago, it was the same, but that was at 1 am, so numbers down, but nevertheless, it was quite a shock to see so few people there.

17 to 25 is an inflation of almost 50%. I can imagine the frustration. I bet that most TV experts who criticized the students as being out of order would go berserk if their big LEO's go up from 50 to 75 baht a bottle!

I don't drink Leo, but where are you getting it for 50 baht? That's a bargain! I didn't think they sold it that cheap anywhere in Thailand anymore. Please tell us!

60 in the pop and mom nearby now ,

55 in my corner shop. 65 in the restaurant in the next soi.

I don't see Turkey on the list. I understand that Thais get a 30 day VOA or similar.

One way or another, he'll be right one day ...

When I pickup my 6 year old son from school, I see children that can barely walk - that's how fat they are already!

And when you see them, guess what they eat .......

Give me a clue?????

I thought eating too much caused obesity, generaly speaking, not what you eat.

Wrong. Too much carb and sugar makes one fat.

Wrong. Lack of exercise makes one fat. If you get the proper amount of exercise you can eat what you want.

Wrong again. Too many carbs and too much sugar (or too much of the wrong food generally) makes one fat AS WELL AS too little exercise

This is what the people who run the country want. Fat simpletons pose no threat to them! Can't run, can't think, can't fight! I learnt from a young age this Latin term - mens sana in corpore. It works well for me (most of the time!!)

Er, mens sana in corpore sano - a healthy mind in a healthy body ...

feel free to document how many are left to die on the hospital steps

Feel free to document how many farang are a burden to the thai state in public hospitals.

Again, quite so. I think you are on a hiding to nothing, replying to this one, jspill.

tell that to the thai hospitals that end up treating indigent farangs

'Hospitals in Thailand will often not operate without insurance or cash upfront.' - http://www.bangkoktimesonline.com/will-planning/

Quite so. Any foreigner can be treated at any Thai hospital - as long as they can pay.

There's no 30 baht or free treatment for foreigners here, or didn't the OP know that?