DualSportBiker

Hi, The web site now states a copy of your Singapore PR or Employment Pass. Was that in effect?

Thanks.

Singapore's PAP party did a similar thing; the one district that did not vote for them and installed an opposition MP was threatened with reduced services, expressly for that reason. The next, and last, election resulted in a significant drop in votes for the PAP and was accepted as a wake-up call...

Of course, the only similarity between Singapore and Thailand today is longitude. As for tomorrow, Mr. T has stated his desire to make Thailand like Singapore. What I understand by that is the desire to replicate the facade of democracy in what is a dynasty that controls government, shipping, airlines and airport, provident and sovereign wealth funds, and telecoms. Of course what might be called day-to-day corruption has been eliminated in Singapore - my take is that the dynasty does not allow people stealing from them now that they have the country by the balls. That is a model dictators in the making would love to replicate...

The first movie I saw in Thailand was some hollywood flic with a scene where a housewife offered a policeman a glass of tap water as it was obviously hot out... The Thai audience laughed, apparently because they understood that like them, the housewife did not like the police and she wanted to make him ill. The people I went with were shocked to hear that we drank exclusively from the taps in my family... I now drink both filtered tap water here as well as bottled... I did not go near tap water here when I first got here...

Thanks Joe. I have the tax receipts, but knowing there is a back-up that allows me to move funds in in less if a rush is very useful.

Thanks again.

I have been replacing my visa with successful applications in Singapore to date. I am now planning to extend my visa with citizenship in mind. I have 2 months and 3 days before my current visa expires and have not kept my balance above 400K. By the time I transfer money in, it will be precisely 2 months, or 1 day under. I do work for a Thai limited company of which I also own 49% and am a named director.

What evidence must I provide to demonstrate my income? Are bank statements showing regular receipt of funds a requirement, or can my company issued a letter? I have annual tax receipts for calendar year 2011 and 2012.

Thanks in advance.

Well, that is good news. Many thanks.

So I too have an annual multiple entry Cat O visa issued in Singapore. My Thai wife and I have owned a company for 3 years and I am now interested in the route to citizenship. It seems that I need a visa that does not require visa runs/reporting for 3 more years, and to be on a yellow house registration ++ to apply.

My question related to visas is, assuming that all my taxes and salary are in order, are there any reasons why I would not apply for my Cat B visa in Thailand, or am I best off returning to Singapore and applying there?

Thanks in advance.

I was hoping it would still be unpaved - I like riding tracks as much or more than roads. Although, the 1339 is pretty special...

Glad you like the vids - I try and film all my rides, especially when not alone. My next trip is May 2 to 5 with no real planned route beyond Mae Sariang. We will take all back-roads from just south of Suphan to Mae Sot and head through Mae Sariang to somewhere the following day. I did my visa run to MS last month and had a great time on the smaller roads. I actually only needed 45 minutes more than blasting up the highway... even allowed my GPS to take me on 20 km of unpaved roads north of Ban Rai

Anyhow, after Mae Sariang I might try and get West and try out the Na Haeo road - thanks for the tip. I rode the Nan loop which would be a northern extension of the road you suggest - hopefully it is similar because that was outstanding!

will take a blender for the bananas!

I am planning to take the 1339 and the ferry again first week of May. For those who want to see what it looks like, you can check out these vids:

Enjoy

You might be surprised to know that the great majority of recreational riders actually do understand the risks and consider the reward sufficient... It is not necessary for people who don't appreciate the rewards, or consider the risks too high, to continually bemoan the risks to those that understand them, experience them, and dismiss them as insufficient.

I have an order of magnitude more biker buddies than I have close friends, and yet have lost more friends to cancer, AIDS, and sleep apnea than buddies to bike accidents in Thailand. The roads here are significantly more dangerous than they should be, but that is no reason for us to stop enjoying what makes many of us tick. Not until poor eyesight, judgement, reactions and bad route selection/timing make the risks not worth the reward.

You might want to check the date on this story before getting outraged at the lunacy of the idea...

I stopped using the official channel for maintenance and support because they verge on incapable. There are better BMW mechanics in CM and Bkk than the reps and your mate is better off not having to deal with them.

I just wonder if the BMW execs know that the Thai BMW Dealers can ban someone from ALL of the dealers in Thai requiring repairs/adjustments that are required under warranty as has happened in CM. This happened to a friend with a new Beemer F800.

After 6 or 7 visits to his local "dealer" unsuccessfully to stop the clutch slipping he verbally vented his frustration at the service manager and was then banned/denied service at all BMW outlets in Thailand. A friend actually rectified the problem in less than 1 hour after reading the service manual.

I speculate that as the manual does not have Thai language it is completely ignored by the "service technicians".

One of many typical Thai ways to solve a problem. Even BMW will not be able to change this.

This is not Thai policy, large corporations the world over also have this type of policy. Many large corporations do not tolerate verbal abuse targeted towards their workers. Ebay, Paypal, Hostgator to name a few.

You say "verbal abuse", but we do not know what has happened exactly.

The companies you named all make their money with online services. Easy to stop answering mails or telephone. Real life is a bit more difficult. And selling an expensive motorbike, than not beeing able to do simple service and than ban the customer completely because he got a bit upset after waisting a lot of time... Sounds not like a clever customer service to me. Its hard for a thai to say "Sorry sir, we made a mistake". Especially if they didn't even have realized they made a mistake. But this is how good service for high price merchandise items should be.

You are right of course, customer service can be bad all over the world.

I love my 90 day visa run - get to ride my bike to Mae Sot and eat Moei river fish! Of course, that's just a weak excuse for a ride...

Thanks for the update Mac - I might consider this if the current run-rate is maintained...

Congratulations Mac! I am sure almost all

of the rest of us would love to be rid of

the whole Visa/90-day Report hassle!

There are a number of classic BMW bikes in Thailand, most are beautifully cared for and ridden sparingly at events like the GS GetTogether. The smallest BMW bike made today is the G450X, an enduro bike and the starting point for the bikes used in the Dakar and ridden by people like Simon Pavey.

In Thailand the most popular BMW is the 1200GS followed by the 1200GSA where A standards for Adventure. GS is short for 'on-road/off-road' in German... Thereafter the touring bikes are around (RS and RT)

Hope that helps.

มาตรา 33 ในการขับรถ ผู้ขับขี่ต้องขับรถในทางเดินรถด้านซ้าย และ ต้องไม่ล้ำกึ่งกลางของทางเดินรถ เว้นแต่ในกรณีต่อไปนี้ ให้เดินทางขวาหรือ ล้ำกึ่งกลางของทางเดินรถได้

(1) ด้านซ้ายของทางเดินรถมีสิ่งกีดขวางหรือถูกปิดการจราจร

(2) ทางเดินรถนั้นเจ้าพนักงานจราจรกำหนดให้เป็นทางเดินรถทางเดียว

(3) ทางเดินรถนั้นกว้างไม่ถึงหกเมตร

33 - While driving, drivers are obliged to keep to the left and not cross the centre divide except for the following exceptions:

มาตรา 34 ในการใช้ทางเดินรถที่ได้จัดแบ่งช่องเดินรถในทิศทางเดียว กันไว้ตั้งแต่สองช่องขึ้นไป หรือที่ได้จัดช่องเดินรถประจำทางไว้ในช่องเดิน รถซ้ายสุด ผู้ขับขี่ต้องขับรถในช่องซ้ายสุดหรือใกล้กับช่องเดินรถประจำทาง เว้นแต่ในกรณีต่อไปนี้ ให้เดินทางขวาของทางเดินรถได้

(1) ในช่องเดินรถนั้นมีสิ่งกีดขวางหรือถูกปิดการจราจร

(2) ทางเดินรถนั้นเจ้าพนักงานจราจรกำหนดให้เป็นทางเดินรถทางเดียว

(3) จะต้องเข้าช่องทางให้ถูกต้องเมื่อเข้าบริเวณใกล้ทางร่วมทางแยก

(4) เมื่อจะแซงขึ้นหน้ารถคันอื่น

(5) เมื่อผู้ขับขี่ขับรถด้วยความเร็วสูงกว่ารถในช่องเดินรถด้านซ้าย

*หมายเหตุ มาตรา นี้ได้มีการเพิ่มเติมเข้าไปโดย พ.ร.บ.แก้ไขเพิ่มเติม ข้อความใหม่เข้าไปโดย พ.ร.บ. แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมพระราชบัญญัติจราจรทางบก (ฉบับที่ 4)พ.ศ.2535 ใน มาตรา 6 ซึ่งได้ประกาศในราชกิจจานุเบกษา เล่มที่ 109 ตอนที่ 39 หน้า 44 วันที่ 6 เมษายน พ.ศ.2535

34 - In driving on roads divided into 2 lanes or more of the same direction, or where there is a bus lane in the left-most lane, drivers are obliged to keep to the left lane, or the lane next to the bus lane except for the following cases where driving in a lane to the right (of the left lane) is permissible:

มาตรา 35 รถที่มีความเร็วช้าหรือรถที่มีความเร็วต่ำกว่าความเร็วของ รถคันอื่นที่ขับในทิศทางเดียวกัน ผู้ขับขี่ต้องขัยรถให้ใกล้ขอบทางเดินรถ ด้านซ้ายเท่าที่จะกระทำได้

ผู้ขับขี่รถบรรทุก รถบรรทุกคนโดยสาร รถจักรยานยนต์ในทางเดินรถ ซึ่งได้แบ่งช่องเดินรถในทิศทางเดียวกันไว้ตั้งแต่สองช่องขึ้นไป หรือได้จัดช่อง ทางเดินรถประจำทางด้านซ้ายไว้โดยเฉพาะ ต้องขับรถในช่องเดินรถด้าน ซ้ายสุดหรือใกล้เคียงกับช่องเดินรถประจำทางแล้วแต่กรณี

ความในวรรคสองมิให้ใช้บังคับแก่รถยนต์บรรทุกส่วนบุคคล ที่มีน้ำหนักไม่ เกินหนึ่งพันหกร้อยกิโลกรัม และรถยนต์นั่งส่วนบุคคลเกินเจ็ดคน ตามกฎหมาย ว่าด้วยรถยนต์

*หมายเหตุ มาตรา นี้ความเดิมได้ถูกยกเลิกไป และมีการเพิ่มเติมข้อความ ใหม่เข้าไปโดย พ.ร.บ. แก้ไขเพิ่มเติม พ.ร.บ.จราจรทางบก (ฉบับที่ 3) พ.ศ.2535 ใน มาตรา 3 ซึ่งได้ประกาศในราชกิจจานุเบกษา เล่มที่ 103 ตอนที่ 180 ลงวันที่ 13 ตุลาคม พ.ศ.2529

I used to ride a Yamaha 650 in Bkk (93 to 98) and got stopped and 'fined' all the time, including for running with my lights on!!

Ah, ok. You were cited, 18 years ago, for driving with your brights/highbeams on or having misaligned headlights, something like that. Not for driving with your headlights on during the day.

That's not as I remember it... I had my normal headlights on during the day

So, faster than expected, here is a first draft translation of relevant sections of the latest amendments to the Traffic Act. There is now specific language to control where bikes should be...

I would argue that overtaking on a bike in a multi-lane road is permissible. I conclude this because para 3 of 35 actively states an exception by vehicle type. No such exception to the right to overtake in a righthand lane is stated in clause 34. I however believe this is ambiguous; clause 34 states all vehicles can use non-left lanes in the case of 5 exceptions, but clause 35 states bikes must stay left without any exceptions either way.

I think I will go see my local cop boss and see what he has to say. The same guy told me what the rules about trailers are 2 years back...

You are not wrong, on all counts.

I now have 2,700 lumens on top of my normal headlight. Back in 94 I was told quite clearly "It annoys car drivers." Cost me 500 outside the Sirikit centre, despite having no switch to turn it off!

I just got the latest edition of the Land Traffic Act and will translate the relevant sections in a day or so... There are some changes when compared with the translation you posted above, although they seem benign on first read.

Cheers.

I used to ride a Yamaha 650 in Bkk (93 to 98) and got stopped and 'fined' all the time, including for running with my lights on!!

I have read from other members here that they too were cited for driving their motorcycle with the headlight on during the day. This does seem to be one of those silly Thai laws that is counter to safety, especially considering that most bikes, big and small, do not have an option to turn it off without installing an additional switch. Most countries have laws which require the light to stay on at all times. Not Thailand though. I would like to read the section they are using to cite with. I have not been able to find it so far. Same goes for the "no tint on visor" law.

Disclaimer; I almost never ride in Bkk, always wear jacket, boots, reflective stripes, and mostly wear riding trousers... That being said, I have been pulled over, but have never paid a penny since I got my current bike 3 years ago.

I speak English or French depending on the skill of the cop in question, smile constantly, and make like I am being polite. Any 'international' gesture for money, like rubbing finger and thumb gets a "no" with a big smile. They let me go once they realise it is a futile exercise and other bikes are getting by or falling prey to their buddies...

IMHO Riding a bike big is not always a safeguard; I used to ride a Yamaha 650 in Bkk (93 to 98) and got stopped and 'fined' all the time, including for running with my lights on!! Now I ride a BMW 650 and get stopped only sometimes...

I also drive an old Series Land Rover with trailer; combined weight of 5 tonnes. I get pulled over almost every trip and never pay then either. I keep a copy of the Thai Highways Act in the glove box and pull it out as needed. Traveling with a Thai work crew I rarely get the chance to hide my Thai language skills which are strong... Being armed with the law works well and I think I will copy the relavant sections to carry with me...

Ride safe.

So, I just got my 4th consecutive Cat 'O' in Singapore without showing any money in Thailand. Due to general disorganisation on my part, I rode my bike to Mae Sot for a re-entry stamp only to be told my visa had run out and I'd be given 14 days... Then being inside the 21 day minimum needed to renew locally, I had no choice but to head back to Singapore and managed to ignore the fact my Thai bank account is running on vapour.

Anyhow, I presented a consolidated statement for a bevy of Singapore accounts with more than 400K Baht on deposit and it was not challenged or questioned on submission (unlike a year ago when they called me on the transaction report I presented). On collection the next day I confessed to my concern that as the funds where not in Thailand, my application would be rejected ; not a problem was the response, just as long as you do have the funds, but they don't need to be in Thailand.

I am not sure if that follows stated policy, is Singapore-specific, or any other factors. It is however what happened to me

As for the grumpy Singaporean lady, I just speak Thai to her and smile - she does not like it, but does not pester me.

Stratfor did not cover the event - nor is Thailand given extraordinary mention in their work on US strategy in the region; that goes to Singapore...

Can't help you with Phuket, but I have a Garmin Nuvi 550. There is a replacement model, but the key thing is that it is waterproof. I got a mount from SW Motech.

Consider extra lights. They do make a difference; less cars change lanes in front of you, and more make room for you in traffic. I posted pics of LED on a 650 GS here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/538784-fog-and-spot-lights-newish-manufacturer/

Ride safe

Be sure the statement you get has a balance on it. TFB issued me a statement which was actually a transaction report stating there was nothing else they could give me. Staff at the Sgp embassy told me they would not accept it next time, even though this was the 3rd Cat O visa they issued me in my current passport... I have a ways to go on this visa and will need to explore getting a proper balance statement next time. Might be an issue of my local branch not knowing...

I've always thought that if i have an accident, that it would most likey be a dog or a bike near a market at dusk.

ride safe...

This is Thailand. I have seen what hitting a dog did to my Ford Focus grill and what they call a front bumper when I was going about 120 KPH. What would happen if a dog runs in front of a motorcycle at 200 plus KPH? Instead of having all sorts of plastic junk left on the road, that would be you sliding down the highway.

A chicken tore the passenger side mirror off my friend's Vigo while he was doing under 90 KPH. I always watch carefully for dogs while riding at 70 KPH. Usually you can't see them until it's too late. You never know when the dog decides to do the doggy dart. Years ago I nearly hit an elephant while riding near Jomtien. There are NOT supposed to be elephants crossing the road at midnight but there it was. I guess it depends whether a rider is bullet proof and how lucky he feels.