dddave

When a close friend was hit by a car crossing at a Trapphaya Rd. crosswalk and later died from his injuries, the Pattaya police were very helpful. My friends family could not immediately come to Thailand so I stood in for them. The police assigned an English speaking officer to the case and he did everything he could to make sure the case moved forward. He and his supervisor were helpful and fair guiding negotiations with the driver and in dealing with the insurance company. There was never even a hint at a gratuity.

Love the Damian Hurst reference. For me, it was the elevation of the Starn Twins and their taped-together, out of focus mega scrap.

Interestingly, not a new thing. Sears-Roebuck used to sell catalog pre-fab home kits in the 20's and 30's. The kits would be shipped "Railway Express', mostly to locations in the mid-west and California. Some still stand.

I wrote a positive review of this service last year which I now will revise to "Thumbs Down"! One can no longer count on a 20 passenger mini-bus. My last two previous trips from Jomtien, while I paid the full B180 bus fare, a packed van showed-up: "No have bus today!" Not a pleasant ride. Also, I had specified getting off at On Nut which is listed as a stop. The driver refused to stop there, going ahead to Ekkamai. I tried again yesterday. This time a mini-bus did show-up. Packed with people and baggage. There is no baggage storage bin below the mini-bus so the bus aisle is packed with bags, in this case, many very large bags making it very difficult to get to the only empty seat, the rear-most bench seat. One also realizes one is trapped there should anything go wrong. Not a comfortable feeling The bus took the surface, truck route all the way into Bangkok, making it a terribly bouncy, nearly 3 hour trip. I think I had more air time than seat time. The driver did stop at On Nut as I had requested but getting out was like climbing a rock-fall. Never again! I'll go back to taking the airport bus from FoodMart then get into Bangkok using the rail link.

Udom Suk. Must be carry on luggage. You can also exit at On Nut, again, carry on only.

Agreed. I used to live in Phra Khanong and do know exactly what you are talking about. I used to walk down Rama-4 and cross near the bus stop as I didn't have to worry about the constant stream of traffic turning onto Rama-4 from Sukhumvit.

A good friend was killed crossing with the walk lite on Traphaya Road, Pattaya 2 years ago. Incidentally, the driver was a Brit, not Thai. A Russian man was killed last week crossing Jomtien 2nd Rd at a crosswalk, ironically by another Russian on a motorcycle so let's not put all the blame on Thai's. There's a crosswalk with a traffic light outside my building on Jomtien 2nd Rd and motorbikes and cars blow through that red light every single cycle. Many years ago when my home state of Massachusetts started to enforce crosswalk rules, also dramatically raising the fines from a few dollars to $200 when that was still serious money. It didn't have much effect until they started placing large cones at crosswalks with signs that read : "CROSSWALK VIOLATION $200 FINE" That got attention and drivers actually started stopping.

Once, about 10 years ago, I tried to count the number of CCTVs I was on from exiting the door of my rented condo in Phra Khanong to Nana Plaza via the BTS, about a 5km journey Even back then, I counted more than 30 CCTV cameras that I was aware of. Who knows how many others there were that I didn't spot.

Local police rarely get credit where credit is due, as in this case. That's a pretty quick apprehension.

My favorite was more than 10 years ago where an Eastern European on his Honeymoon chopped-up his beloved, wrapped the parts in towels, put them in a suitcase and deposited it into the Chao Phraya River. Such a potential floating treasure chest didn't escape notice for long and it was soon hauled to shore and opened. Didn't take the cops long to figure this one out. The towels the guy wrapped the select cuts in were embossed with the hotel name. Video revealed the husband huffing & puffing as he struggles with the suitcase on the elevator. Police had him Chop-chop.

In the US and most of Europe there are professional firms that specialize in title searches. I don't believe such a thing exists in Thailand except perhaps in the commercial property sector.

Just the other day I passed such a overloaded "Salang" on one of the Sukhumvit flyovers in Ban Amphur. At least 5 people and a dog in the thing and you could tell it was straining. The drivers often seem to think that every roadway is a country lane and drive accordingly. Not unusual to see them putting along at 20 kph in a middle lane of Sukhumvit.

A more telling statistic that will probably never be determined or released is what is the average medical school class rank of all Proctologists. Residencies in the top, most in demand specialties are hugely competitive. Only the top graduating students in the top tier medical schools get the best residencies at the best hospitals. Every medical school class has a bottom half of the class and that bottom half has it's ten lowest. The lower your class rank the fewer opportunities for top specialties. According to Google/AI, the least desirable specialties are family medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, pathology and physical medicine and rehab. The term Proctologist is no longer used for the specialty; Colo-Rectal Surgeon has become the proper term.

The most important phrase in Real Estate is "Due Diligence". Any honest Real Estate Attorney will stress, never sign or pay for anything without making sure every word of every sentence is understood and every property ownership claim is verified and documented. This case is far from the first time people have purchased or developed property from a distance and arrived to find out what they thought they owned, doesn't exist or that somebody else owned it.

Little late to this but the most "Artsy" Thai area I know in Bangkok is a neighborhood off Lad Phrow-92 called "Town in Town". I used to work in TV commercials and TV in Bangkok and most of the casting studios, production studios, sound studios and editing shops are in that area. It's mostly townhouses spread over 3 or 4 sq./km. Lot's of dance and music cafe's and small restaurants. Downside is very little nearby public transportation.

The police have been doing occasional checkpoints along Jomtien 2nd Rd on the Northbound side near Rimhad Condo, usually from around midnight until 0200, late in the week. Maybe 2 or 3 times a month. I always know when a checkpoint is in place because of the unusual quiet...no screaming bikes. Unfortunately, they only check for alcohol abuse and documents, no noise checks. Once the plod are gone, the racing resumes.

Usually not the actual counterfeiter that gets caught. Counterfeiting rings sell the currency on a black market. A buyer may pay 10 to 20 percent of the face value and then travel to places where they think it will pass. The $100 bill is the most counterfeited currency in the world. These guys obviously thought $50s would get less scrutiny. Sharp clerk at the exchange booth for catching it.

My condo overlooks Jomtien 2nd Rd. The Rimhad Condominium crosswalk on 2nd Rd. has a stoplight but both motorcycles and cars routinely just blow through the red light. Big Bikes use Jomtien Beach Rd as their own Bira Circuit all day and all night. Even on these nice cool nights, I have to tightly close my 10th floor balcony doors to lessen the sound of screaming motorcycles racing up 2nd Rd, then making a U-Turn and racing back down. I have gotten so I can recognize certain bike hat are regular offenders and predict where they will U-turn and come back. No police enforcement whatsoever. I wish it had been the biker that lost his life rather than the pedestrian.

There is precedent. Long timers here may remember the case, ironically also involving a Dutch victim. The victim came to Pattaya at the Millennium as a young man and quickly made a fortune. In 2000, local internet access was scarce and expensive and there was no easy access to home country news. He had the idea to get the rights to publish several UK and European newspaper main pages locally on the day of publication and sell them on newstands in Bangkok & Pattaya. It was a huge success. He made several other successful investments and was soon, the wealthiest expat in Pattaya. He had married a beautiful Thai girl and they built a huge mansion and both drove matching Mercedes. Everything was perfect, until it wasn't. His body was found bludgeoned in a field, half burned. Though sensational, the case was not solved, nobody was charged. The grieving wife collected millions of insurance Baht. It faded away. It didn't fade away for the victims family in Holland. They were relentless, pushing the Dutch Government to pressure the Thai Government into re-opening the investigation. Finally, a personal visit by members of the Dutch Royal Family to the Thai Royal Family during which the Dutch Royals brought the issue up with the Thai Royals resulted in the case being re-opened with a lot of money behind it. A couple of key confessions were obtained and it was discovered that the perfect wife had a scumbucket Thai boyfriend on the side. They lured the victim to the murder location and her uncle and boyfriend beat him to death. The wife was arrested, tried and finally, more than ten years after the murder was sentenced to life in prison.

Agreed. I ride Baht-buses frequently and the vast majority of rides are just normal, stop & start trips.

Last year, it was pretty big news when a Korean man fell off the back of a Baht-Bus, also on Soi Buakhao and died of his injuries. Lots of announcements of strict load-enforcement rules, not allowing standees and hanger's on at the rear platform. That lasted about a day.

Or a cigarette flicked out a front window and being sucked back into the rear, lodging in the seat. Used to happed frequently in the days prior to air-con. Not very frequent now but during this cool spell, I've been driving with all windows down. Not likely but possible.

Which is perhaps why the police aren't releasing any details. Suitable financial penalties will be arrived at and the case will quietly disappear from court agendas with no means for inquiring reporters to find anything else out.

Almost every US Embassy has what is called a "LEGAT", the acronym for "Legal Attaché", almost always an FBI agent. At larger embassy's like Bangkok there are DEA, CBP, ATF and CIA agents operating under various titles. Most other larger nations have exactly the same. They don't have the power to arrest but they just bring along a local cop for that. Interestingly, during the annual "COBRA GOLD" exercises involving US Navy and Marine personnel, in Pattaya, especially on Walking Street, American MPs seem to have pretty free reign to enter bars and clubs and demand ID's, pulling out anybody off limits.

A car doesn't actually have to be travelling that fast to create a huge amount of damage in a direct collision. A 1500kg sedan travelling at 50 kph (30mph) has almost 150,000 J of kinetic energy. That's more than enough to total any car.