joepattaya1961

"We" farangs may have The impression that Thailand is a cash country, but Thais like to but stuff on credit. Or maybe better.....they mostly have to.

Getting finance on a bike is not easy. With a work permit it can be done (the employer will be seen as guarantor).

In all other cases you need 1 or 2 Thai guarantors OR maybe just maybe........if you are able to pay at least 50% of the bike cash they may finance the bike under your (OP's) circumstances

I returned to Swampy late on Saturday nite and encountered the metered taxi ticket machines for the first time too. They had some assistant there pressing the machine's button and handing the tickets to the travelers. The ticket directs you to the parking slot number for your cab. I got in and handed the ticket to the driver and said take me to Suk soi 24 and he turned on the meter and off we went. At the destination, the meter fare was about 225 and the 50 baht surcharge. I also tipped my rather aged driver another 100 baht, as he was a chatty old fella who was regaling me with stories about how he use to work with the American and Aus militaries during the Vietnam War days and could buy stuff cheap from the PX and peddle it at a high markup on the black market. Unfortunately, he said, this was no longer possible.

The system seemed efficient to me...I think you may have just got a bad driver.

Or maybe you have just got a good driver.

I stopped using the bus years ago as its got too busy and tbh couldn't be dealing with the <deleted>-wit passengers that it seems to attract.... which included.

1. Sitting next to a Russian woman who was so fat that she should have been made buy 2 seats. I had the window seat but she had slotted her big azz in there so i just sat on the edge,

2. Some indian dude sitting next to me loaded up his phone and spent 30 minutes calling up a list of bar-girls telling them he was coming to town... Obviously most of them had no clue who he was although was clarifying this by saying he was 'John' from England in a loud Indian accent.

3. Groups of indian males yapping noisily throughout the journey (this happens quiet regularly)

4.Also been sitting next to quite a few old creepy sex tourist types who try and spark up conversation (cue insert ear-phones)

4. Once he toilet was absolutely stinking of piss, I actually had to get a one of those inhalers out of my bag and stick it up my nose for the entire journey

I just use Mr T or Pattaya taxi now... alot less stressful to be dealing with that

That may be the reason that some bus-hostesses insist on silence in the bus and use the safety-belts

Seems to be another one of those silver vans. When I see one of them coming, I avoid them as I would an enraged cape buffalo.

There was no "silver" van involved.

This is not the first time this has been reported.

Many of my 90 report receipts have had something on the backside.

It is immigration's way of recycling paper.

Not only immigration's way of recycling paper......in most (Thai) companies this is normal practice.

I tried to explain once, that copiers and printers get very dirty because of the used paper (dirt and paper-particles) and the life-time of the equipment will be reduced significantly, but hey.........that's for tomorrow and saving 15 satang on a sheet of paper........that's today.

Obtain your ticket PTT-BKK in advance; usually no problem if you show-buy-go, but the chances of a sold-out bus are there.

Apart from that, great service, great material, safe drivers and a pleasant 1.40 hour drive.

I would not call Pro language school dodgy at all they are one of the top schools in Pattaya

Pro Language is certainly not dodgy, but the school probably tries to satisfy their students with a "no hassle" extension and therefore they use the services of an agent affiliated with Immigration or even some immigration officer direct and that'll cost.

If the 3000 baht is the actual fee......it's the same fee as a 30 day extension of a visa-exempt.....3000 baht. I guess that Immigration is somewhat dodgy.

Gotta be a relative of Mrs. Bouquet or was it Bucket?

Reading all the above posts makes me wonder why accidents happen anyway.......with so many clever, intelligent and smart thinking people around

I tried to buy a pack of ciggies once at Swampie on my way to a neighboring country (forgot where to..).

KP told me that I could buy the ciggies, but that they would be taxed at my destination.

In Pattaya Songkran is officially on the 19th.

From the 12th until the 18th you'll only be bothered in the bar-areas or maybe some lost kid with a water gun.

In order to be on the safe side: leave before the 11th and return after the 19th

2 possibilities:

- Lukdod Shop (try Google)

- a Chinese/Thai furniture shop on the corner of Sukhumvit - North Pattaya; Kalae (Google also)

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I believe they are all for sale for the right price

Not seen a beer bar for sale in the last 4/5 years

To profitable to sell if you are an owner(goldmine)

So all of them are for sale and none of them are for sale. Thanks for clarifying that. From here on in i'll just ask a ting tong from Issan get more sense from her than you 2 pelicans.

What the 2 posters try to tell is that most of the bars are up for sale for the right price, but maybe just a handful will be advertising their sales-intentions in order not to cause unrest among customers, staff and competition.

You could orientate yourself by browsing through "businesses for sale" on the Sunbelt Asia website.

Official school is better for your Visa. Well, it used to be.

The OP wasn't talking about a visa.

Since my ToT bill is only for the line it's 107 baht per month.

I pay per 6 months in advance.

What was going on in Pattaya around 7-9 pm?

Sukhumvit was partly closed

Pattaya Klaang was about to be closed down

So was Beach Road

Traffic from Soi Khao Noi was diverted onto the bypass

Some hi-so figure visiting Soi 7?

Go to any public school in the area. Ask for A Thai language teacher (kroo pasaa Thai) and ask him or her to teach you Thai in a private course at school or at your home. THB 250-300 per hour should do the job.

Beware: this hospital is a government hospital. It's also pretty new with several departments to be opened soon. Lots of people haven't found their way so far, but as soon as it is widely spread that PCH is up and running:

- the reception staff will be more stressed and less friendly

- the waiting times will be much longer

- the doctors will be more distant

- the cashier will work more efficiently

Wait wait........so all advertising from DTaC offering 4G is a hoax?

Amazing.......I was planning to rent a home in that village some years ago.

The village was 'proud' to be self-supporting with regard to the water-supply.

They had their own well and watertower..... downside: 1 m3 of water was charged at THB 30.

Guess who turned off the city-water-supply some 10 years ago!!??

they could always rename the city to RAT CITY

many rats in human form also available : jetsky, taxi maffia & hookers

Rattaya

I'm a bit fed up with the Bangkok traffic and would like to use the parking facilities at Suvarnabuhmi Airport while using the airport link into town.

Does anyone know about some kind of abonnement or "member"-card for regular users; I heard that this possibility seems to be there for THB 2,500 per month.

I'm using the Lad Krabang Airportlink station now, but the parking facilities are a bit spartanic

Take a high-quality German broomstick.......send it to China and let it be for a few days.

Someone will pick up the challenge and produce the cheapest broomstick you've ever seen with the same outlook as the German one.

As usual, there is only the 'good' news; what's not there are possible requirements e.g. medical insurance, financial requirements or maybe it is even only for foreign-property-owners........let's just wait.

Don't worry......as soon as construction on the Sukhumvit tunnel starts, problems will be solved..........won't they?

BTW........they are constructing something on the Pattaya Klaang - Sukhumvit T-junction..........anyone any idea what's going on? Preparations for the tunnel-building-activities?