JingerBen

19 hours ago, CMHomeboy78 said:

Five-year driver's license renewal experience at the main [Hang Dong Rd.] office.

   I arrived at 9 AM at Monday, July 5th to find considerably more people than I had expected and was told to return the next day at 8 AM.

   Showing up on time and after about a half hour of queuing and being herded around I reached the information desk on the upper floor. My documents and photocopies were found to be in order and duly clipped together with my old licenses... car and motorbike. Then I was asked if I had passed the online test after watching the one-hour road safety video. 

   No, I had never heard of it.

   I was given a web address and told to return when I had a screenshot on my phone confirming that I had passed the test.

   The crowded, disorganized, and stressful conditions that I had been dealing with put me in no mood for this.

   After trying unsuccessfully to login, my phone battery was low and I left for home in a dreadful state of mind.

   In familiar surroundings I finally accessed the video and after a tedious hour of watching fast-talking Thais and small English subtitles that made note taking almost impossible I did manage to pass the test.

   Armed with the screenshot of my success I returned to the license bureau in the afternoon to find very few people and the remaining steps toward getting my licenses went well and were completed in a little over an hour and I was out of there and driving legally again.

   End of experience.

Does the online video and test apply to all applicants or is it related to age?

In other words, is it only for old people?

We've always had good service from TOT at our house in Chiang Mai.

   Out in the country at a small fruit farm we built a traditional Thai-style farmhouse but no TOT service available.

 The only option was 3BB and installation was fast and easy. Since last year there have been a few interruptions of service but the tech guys come within hours.

   No complaints so far.

Those of us who were here in the '70s will remember when the Chiang Mai IO was on the road to Mae Rim in an old teak building that looked like a police sub-station out in the bush.

   The laid-back atmosphere was only interrupted when the occasional farang would show up and the guys [no gals in those days] would snap to attention, put down their som-tahm and other snacks and greet you with broad smiles.

   Recently the Promenada IO seems to be taking a step back in the direction of those halcyon days. But you can bet the ranch that once the number of punters increases exponentially the bureaucratic system will buckle under the strain and revert to dysfunction.

   Only a slave-driver who knows how to crack the whip could handle the situation.

   Big Joke made a big difference at the main airport IO, but he didn't last long.   A return to the status quo will see many people paying for the services of agents.<removed>

1 hour ago, Artisi said:

Or a few Baht for a 2 hour massage. 

Or any one of the hundreds of other things that are cheaper and better here in Thailand.

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

 

That's only if other traders would accept the torn in two and taped together note. Many places don't. Most banks also don't accept such notes.

 

One possibility is that the farang customer involved normally doesn't give tips (many don't, several times I've eaten with farang who don't give tips and push their 'no tip' attitude on the other customers at the table), but somehow he ended with with a torn into two pieces 20B note. He realized that to offer the repaired note or offer it still in 2 pieces  at the cash register in say 7/11 of other shops (seen this before) it wouldn't be accepted so he decided that giving it as a tip would be the best way to get rid of it.

That's the most plausible explanation of all, based on my own experiences years ago in India trying to get rid of damaged bills.

   The old saying "It takes one to know one" comes to mind.

On 4/19/2021 at 9:46 AM, CMHomeboy78 said:

   The information provided by canthai55 sounds accurate but there might be some slight differences depending on where you live.

   We are near the Gymkhana Club and Wat Muang Guy just outside town.

   The Thai nanny who helped raise our two daughters became part of the family and stayed on with us after the girls grew up.

   In her 80s now, she receives a cash payment of 1000 baht per month plus total healthcare and other benefits mostly related to food subsidies.

   We provide her with a place to live, a small addition on the house, but the government assistance is welcome and appreciated.

   

Your point about gov't assistance being different depending on where you live is quite true. It especially applies to supplemental benefits.

My wife's extended family includes a number of old folks, no two of whom receive equal amounts of aid even though they may be the same or very close in age.

It varies not only from province to province but sometimes between different amphurs.

Incidentally, your post is a good example of how Thais have, traditionally, taken care of their own.

Changes in the society are ongoing, that's for sure, but the spirit of personally caring for family elders hasn't completely died out here... not yet, anyway.

8 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Your Point being what?  Traffic safety is wrong?  Allow lawlessness that runs rampant in this country to continue on?  I think they need camera enforcement for the sidewalks that get used by motorbike riders, and moto wins/Taxi bikes. Even better, start with the wrong way riders.  On my run this morning I just watched as the traffic police let the motorcycle taxi boys ride wrong way to pick up fares.....amazing Thailand.

No, that's not my point at all.

The Immigration Office at Promenada was where I did my last two 90 day reports.

Both times hassle-free, I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

The mall as a whole does have a strange deserted quality about it.

Many shops closed and very few customers like so many other places in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai has had more chilly evenings this year than I can ever remember.

   Something like this would be welcome.

When Makro [Nong Prateep] first opened back in the '80s there was a drive-thru car wash out in the parking lot near the super highway.

It seemed to be doing well enough but disappeared after a few years for whatever reason.

Since then I never saw another one in Chiang Mai.

Any old timers remember that?

Khao Soi Lamduan in Fah Hahm is usually recommended with good reason. It used to be said that they supplied Phuping when the Royal Family was in residence.

   My favorite is from a place that used to be opposite the Iron Bridge between Duke's and Rim Ping.  A couple of years ago the Sino-Thai lady who had run the place since the late '70s sold up and moved to a shophouse just past the Kawila gate in Sanpakoy Market.

   Try it, you'll like it.

7 hours ago, kenk24 said:

I sometimes miss the crisp clean feel of the chilly morning air... especially in the middle of hot hot season when the heat can overwhelm...

 

I never miss scraping the ice off my windshield in the morning... 

...or dropping dead of a heart attack while shovelling deep snow.