Ajarn

They're pretty cheap, and of fair quality, in my experience.

Around Chiang Mai, the radio reception often isn't nearly as strong as ITV (I wonder who owns it? ), and the TV programming is better than the radio programming, I feel. ITV has some pretty decent news (not much negative about their owner though), and it's good listening practice...And no, I don't watch while I'm driving, just listen

It’s strange really; I have traveled over quite a large portion of the world and have enjoyed many places.

The first time I landed in Thailand I felt something different.

Not only the usual interest in the women, beaches, food etc, but a deep feeling of belonging.

I expected this feeling to subside on my return to the UK, but it didn’t.

After 3 months I found my self coming back and on arrival I found my self saying "it’s good to be home".

That feeling has never left me and I hope never will.

Now with a Thai wife and home in Thailand it really is HOME.    

mushy!  I know, but its true.

Edd

I know that feeling.....

In 1980, I was living and working in HK...A friend mentioned Chiang Mai, and only said it was a small city in the mountains, and you got there by overnight train....Something 'clicked'.

I'd never had that vibe so strongly before, and it continued to stick. After moving back to California, I decided that I wanted to live in a different culture outside of America...Chiang Mai clicked again, and the fact that it's completely on the other side of the planet from America was a big selling point, too...

I moved here cold in 1986. Made a beeline to Chiang Mai, settled in, and have never looked back.

I'd found my home, and I still feel the same way, if not more strongly, almost 20 years later.

It is not an Farang charge, it is Tourist price. If a Farang has a Thai Driving license and shows that at the National Park, he will pay the same Price as a Thai National.

If it was a Farang price then having a License would make no difference, but it does make a difference.

Not in my experience.

I speak Thai and can produce my driving licence but I still get charged the inflated rate.

If it is really tourists, then Thai tourists should pay as well!!

It's not about tourists, it's about residence...If you live in Thailand and have any of the documents I mentioned before, then you should be paying the resident's price at National Parks.... You have every right to complain to the authorities if you're asked to pay more. It is written policy.

  Bulldog, Are you sure about this? I have never heard of this one. I will try it very soon, because I will not pay more than a Thai on principal. They just automatically ask me for the extra. Has it worked for you?

Yes, it's true. The 200 baht fee is for non-residents, because people who live here and pay taxes help support the parks, so the theory is that non-residents should contribute more.... Something akin to the State universities where I come from charging a higher price for out-of-state residents, and even more for students from foreign countries...All about the Tax Payer....

Of course, this is not true for places like the crocodile farm or any other private enterprise that has higher prices for non-asian folks...This is pure descrimination based on race....I never go to them.

For the parks, a DL, WP, or Thai tax ID card is sufficient, but I've used my business card, too, to show I'm a resident. It also helps to speak Thai....as always

Who left?

because if you transgressed in Thailand or a different host country, you wouldn't be allowed to stay there, so a Thai police clearance for a farang is a contradiction in terms.

My thoughts as well.

The trouble is that the Brits don't realise the fact.

The Thai police do provide the service.

A Thai colleague was waiting to emigrate to Australia, the delay was that he was waiting for the Thai police report.

They've always had the service for Thais, but this is the first confirmation I've heard that it's available for farangs, too..

I learn something new here every day

Since you're in Chiang Mai, I'll give you a couple of good contacts for biker friends I've known the whole time I've lived here....

David Unkovich... [email protected] (check his website, too)

Maybe Thailands most experienced bike rider, and author of a couple of books on touring the north that any rider in the north should use as a bible... A wealth of information on anything bike related. An Aussie , but still a great guy, and my best mate here. He'll tell you anything for a beer at the Kaffe'  

'German' Joe...053-251-186

Owns 'Goodwill Bikes' on Soi2, Chang Moi rd. Been around town for 20 years, and highly thought of by every farang biker in CM in the know. The center of the German Biking Scene, for sure. Fixes bikes, makes bikes (building a 1400cc Trike at the moment), sells bikes (including the imported Jap ones), and is also a wealth of information. If you're looking to buy a bike of any kind, I'd suggest you check with Joe. You can trust his word.

I also have a few biker pages on my website... http://asiarecipe.com/larry/motor.html

I've also known David U for many years and agree that he should be able to give you some good advice on what to do about your bike.

Well, maybe anything except his bike....David's experiences with registering these bikes is the same as mine when we chatted about it a couple of days ago.....He also only knows of people whose registrations didn't pass muster when they moved....

hello, i'm a malaysian living in kuala lumpur, malaysia ... i currently ride a kr 150 cyclone (kwak) bike ... and i want to convert the fairing to either a honda nsr or a custom fibre fairing ... the choices here in kl are quite limited and expensive ... could anyone here recommend me a good workshop in thailand?? maybe somewhere in haatyai, bangkok or phuket ....

Peter Wirth is the Man in the South..He's been a southern biker for many years, and has great contacts throughout the South... [email protected]

In Hat Yai there are a couple of good shops that do work. Siri Racing is a big shop with a good parts supply and reliable service. They work on big bikes or small bikes and their prices are reasonable. They also do custom work. They might even have a bike for rent, but only on a case by case basis. Their phone number is (074) 233 484

The other shop is called Southern Big Bike. My friend Peter has had some problems with these guys, but I had good luck with them. I have found them to be the best resource for hard to find parts and they also do well in gerry-rigging as a last alternative and do great custom fiberglass work. The guys are pretty wild, all ride choppers and love Bob Marley, but then so did I...maybe that's why we got along. They never overcharged me and in fact, because they knew I was a poor university teacher, have actually under-charged me most of the time. I happen to like them, but they may not be your cup of tea. Their phone number is (handphone) 01-608-5758, and they're located at 2 Rajuthit Rd. in Hat Yai. They don't speak English at all....Unless it's a BobMarley tune

In Phuket, I think Big Jims is still in business at Patong Beach, but I don't have any contact info. A great place to find rare parts for old big bikes, and they also do custom work.

GRRRR How about taking some of that 30K to buy a scooter for around town. Use your Honda for the good offroad riding and in the meantime maybe try to sell it.

Yeah...that is what I'm probably going to do. My girlfreind mentioned this story to a friend and the friend has a friend that is apparently very interested in seeing/possibly buying the bike. Guess Thais are still not afraid to ride these illegal machines around town!

I'll continue to try to follow-up on this...

Thanks for your posts...apparently this is a misunderstood and continually evolving subject...

Yes, it's been a hugely frustrating experience over the years. I've followed sooo many leads, and everything ends as a dead-end or a question mark...This is what has led to my 'arrogant' attitude, perhaps , and the in-your-face challenge to anyone who thinks they know differently than my experiences on this topic...I fully accept I could be wrong, but, based on my many experiences, I won't accept that until I see some better proof, like the scrutiny I talked about. I really don't have my head up my ass, as some might feel

Since you're in Chiang Mai, I'll give you a couple of good contacts for biker friends I've known the whole time I've lived here....

David Unkovich... [email protected] (check his website, too)

Maybe Thailands most experienced bike rider, and author of a couple of books on touring the north that any rider in the north should use as a bible... A wealth of information on anything bike related. An Aussie , but still a great guy, and my best mate here. He'll tell you anything for a beer at the Kaffe'

'German' Joe...053-251-186

Owns 'Goodwill Bikes' on Soi2, Chang Moi rd. Been around town for 20 years, and highly thought of by every farang biker in CM in the know. The center of the German Biking Scene, for sure. Fixes bikes, makes bikes (building a 1400cc Trike at the moment), sells bikes (including the imported Jap ones), and is also a wealth of information. If you're looking to buy a bike of any kind, I'd suggest you check with Joe. You can trust his word.

I also have a few biker pages on my website... http://asiarecipe.com/larry/motor.html

Just a wild guess....

1-2 million baht if you get a Thai pool company to build everything for you, as in the first photo...I was quoted 600,000 baht for the cheapest pool one company in CM had, a small 12ft. oval pool...

500,000-700,000 if you supervise everything yourself... Lots of ways to knock up the price on tiling, sanitation system, water heater, quality of materials...You'll also need at least two pumps, and maybe two filters, I feel.

Mighty beautiful, especially the top photo

I just got off the phone with a friend who sells Harley's...

He said that it costs roughly 90,000 baht to legally register a Harley...It has to go to some Engineer for testing, and this is very expensive, along with the taxes...

He also said that he has some parted-out big bikes from Japan, and that he was able to get papers and a book...But was told not to move the registration from Bkk

He added that all such bikes must go through the same Engineer-done testing, and it costs him about 30,000 baht for the whole process, including reg fees...

I'll continue to try to follow-up on this...

I now have the precious piece of paper, and an official copy.

The Consulate section at the British Embassy replied to my e-mail to say that it was done by Special Branch in Building 20 at Police Headquarters at Bangkok (take the exit at the SE corner of Siam Skytrain Station). Consulate had tried to get more details from Police HQ, but failed. The Thai officer at Consulate said she couldn't get the details "as they just pass my call around".

The next time I went to Bangkok, I went to Building 20, and was directed down the road to Building 24 where there is an office staffed by civilian workers who accept these applications. They give you a form to fill in, and want 2 photos and a photocopy of your passport main page and present visa (which I went over to Big C to get). Then they do a careful job of taking two sets of your fingerprints.

They then give you a 'receipt' telling you, in Thai, to phone them in 3 weeks to see if it is ready for collection. I addressed an envelope to myself and left money with the man who was accepting the application to EMS the report to me. He phoned after two weeks to say he had it and was sending it.

It is an impressive certificate on plasticised paper with imprints that would be very hard to forge. It is numbered and dated and signed by a Police Major General. It says "This is to certify that Mr. Martin XXX XXX, of British nationality, so far has neither criminal record nor activity in our police files, which may endanger the public safety of Thailand."

I like the "so far" bit!!!!

What surprised me was that this didn't seem to be a well-trodden path. I would have thought that there would have been lots of Brit teachers who had gone through this mill when returning to Blighty, and that the procedure would have been common knowledge on www.ajarn.com and at the British Council, though maybe not at the Embassy.

So I downloaded the appropriate UK Guidance Notes. They say "Overseas applicants should be asked to provide such a document.....".  Also the UK employer wants "addresses for the past five years". So presumably if I had waited till I was in UK, and just put down the UK address that I maintain, I could have avoided having to get this certificate from the Thai police. Maybe there is a bit of a loophole.

But also anybody leaving Thailand who may want to teach in the next five years ought to get one of these certificates. Suppose you went back to Blighty to a 'normal' job, but wanted to go into teaching after a year or so. I doubt if you could get clearance for your time in Thailand without actually visiting Building 24 and having your fingerprints taken.

I will put this on ajarn.com also.

Martin, thanks for the education.

Good luck back in the UK...

Harley's are legal, I think...

and Honda's are not legal?

and hondas are not? You cant be serious

There are plenty of legal Honda XR 250's out there.

Most, if not all of imported bikes, are imported into thailand as spare parts.

They are then reassembled and sold. Problems arise when engine and frame numbers are not recorded on the import papers. As long as the import papers are in order there should be no problem in making the bike legal.

So says the theory...

As I understand things, Harley's and BMW's are exceptions, and are allowed to be imported whole, not in parts, so it would seem to me to make little sense to import a Harley as parts from a registration point of view. Admittedly, I'm not 100% sure, that's why I asked the poster why he thought the Harley was illegal. Obviously, you're not able to provide any information of use...

Nobody is parting Harleys in Japan and shipping them here, I believe.

/QUOTE]

Thanks, but I'm one of those 'au naturel' kinda guys, and that ain't a pretty sight. 

WOW !!!!!!

Sorry but you are on your own with that.

Yeah, I don't want to scar anyone's Psyche

Falong, what about the French guy who stole 100 baht of cheese and is still in prison (AFAIAA). Or the Brit who stole a hotel towel and was deported.

It does happen!!  If you are breaking the law then it could only take one cop to take a dislike to you and your time in LoS is up 

Those people are thieves.

If the french guy or the towel guy had been driving aroung chiang mai on an unregistered dirtbike they would not been deported or even put in jail.

From what I read, it seems the towel guy was bound to meet his Karma sooner, rather than later. If it happened over a towel, it stands to reason it could happen over anything, including riding an unregistered bike.

I can't think of any outrageous scenario that couldn't happen here. Such is the thrill and danger of life here, perhaps, for some

and pigs can fly

Shit Happens

When pigs can fly

A Chinese airline is doing “swine” after making a special flight from Denmark to Zhengzhou with a cargo of 500 pigs. The 65-tonne shipment of live porkers were taken to their new home in China in high......

Guys;

It can be done and I know that for a fact 100%. illegal bikes made legal.

My friend did it for his harley here in Phuket, cost 100,000 baht. new book and all, I know more than a few honds/yahahas done for less than 35,000

This is thailand and anything can be done and is done daily

Harley's are legal, I think...

What makes you think it was illegal?

This is thailand and anything can be done and is done daily

Some things, sometimes, yes. But not everything, and not always. Corruption can't really be counted on.

The scrutiny I referred to earlier is when you move your bike registration outside the area you got your book from....I've yet to here one confirmed case (regarding the type of bike already described) where they were able to move the registration without 'the numbers don't match' being told to them at the new place...

Again, think about the big money being talked about. Nobody denies that at least part of this is a bribe, and why should a bribe be needed, if it was a legal bike? As I said, corruption can't be counted on. Bringing us right back to square one...

Falong, what about the French guy who stole 100 baht of cheese and is still in prison (AFAIAA). Or the Brit who stole a hotel towel and was deported.

It does happen!!  If you are breaking the law then it could only take one cop to take a dislike to you and your time in LoS is up 

Those people are thieves.

If the french guy or the towel guy had been driving aroung chiang mai on an unregistered dirtbike they would not been deported or even put in jail.

From what I read, it seems the towel guy was bound to meet his Karma sooner, rather than later. If it happened over a towel, it stands to reason it could happen over anything, including riding an unregistered bike.

I can't think of any outrageous scenario that couldn't happen here. Such is the thrill and danger of life here, perhaps, for some

Falong, what about the French guy who stole 100 baht of cheese and is still in prison (AFAIAA). Or the Brit who stole a hotel towel and was deported.

It does happen!!  If you are breaking the law then it could only take one cop to take a dislike to you and your time in LoS is up 

So true. The unpredictability of life here should give everyone pause.... Life can change here for anyone, in an instant...It does happen to many, sometimes innocently, too.

GREAT  THANKS  when do you want to come for a swimm  

Thanks, but I'm one of those 'au naturel' kinda guys, and that ain't a pretty sight.

Above the text box, click on 'IMG'....

A diologue box will open. In the box will he 'http://'

fill in the rest of the address...

(the easiest way to get the correct address easily is to right click on the online image, choose 'properties'...Copy the 'URL' and paste into the IMG box)

Click on 'OK'....You'll see the coding in your text box.

Click 'preview' to see if it loads correctly. If it doesn't, the likeliest cause is the wrong address, or too big of an image

Hope this helps

My Webpage

This could be an easy and cheap way out.

Edd and the family

Istill can not put a photo onto this forum    

You bear a striking resemblence to the Late Ansel Adams. I worked in his lab as a teenager...

I have a number of friends in your financial condition, with thai kids...

When I recently asked at immigration in Chiang Mai about the visa issue, i.e., someone getting a pension, but not anywhere near the current requirements (2 friends support their Thai family on govt pensions of less than 20, 000 per month)

The officer I talked said the financial requirement was just for the one-year stamp. She said that if they could show a govt pension that's less than the requirements, they can still get a 90 day (or less) stamp from Immigration, meaning they would have to come back every 90 days (or less), but you wouldn't have to actually do a visa run...

It looks hopefull, but for sure you should be talking with immigration. ..

Good Luck...

The CoffeHouse quote was so right on!!

It attempting to guage the bottom, a falancy for sure, I signed up for TimingCubes service to get a buy/sell/cash signal when then model indicates. Their stats for the past three years are immpressive, but who knows when stats are involved.

I have tried maketvolume free for three weeks, and a careful reading of their mumbo-jumbo seems to indicated we are close to the bottom in QQQ, who knows.

QQQ has been more or less bouncing on a support level n the 32.5-33.5 for a couple of weeks, but August isn't over, volume is low and I don't expect the real action until after the pros get back from vacation.

The election is the real problem for the continutation of the recovery. While I am sure that will occur in the next year, getting in at the bottom is the problem facing me now. If I buy in to QQQ before the election, and the Democrats win, which appears more likely than before, should we not expect a temporary dip on that news? I would like to buy into that dip.

The last dip I bought on hasn't finished dipping yet....

Does anyone know if there are any good teachers in Doi Saket or Bo Sang?

Preferable some one who will come to the house.

Again thanks in advance.

Post an ad at http://www.chiangmainews.com/classifieds/

I guarantee you will get many responses. I did. Price varies from 100-300 baht per hour.

And don't forget, just because it's one's native language, doesn't mean one is good at teaching it...

salt water pools need a salting machine, these are automatic and save a lot of hassle, an aussie imported machine for a 10 by 6 met pool is about 80,000baht.

water is heavy and also when ppl jump into the pool that causes lots of shock to the structure.

most companies charge 12,000 baht per sq met to make u a pool.

with a reasonable size pool u will need footings every couple of meters, so if u want a 2 meter deep pool u dig down to 3 and half meters, once ur footings are in u can then lay the steel rebar and put ur plumbing in, u r now ready to phone up a concrete company to come and do ur pour for the base, now this is where u will probably go wrong as u probably dont know wot strengh of concrete to use and how many cms, thats why its best to use a company.

ok u got ur pour down so u can start on the outside breeze block retaining wall, next do ur rebar attaching well onto the floor rebar of which u have left an excess of 1 meter, the wall rebar needs to be double skinned.

ok interior breeze block wall needs putting up then it needs supporting using wood  then call in that concrete company again and do ur pour.

ok now its time for a rough render and tile it off.

Sure are a lot of experienced and knowledgable folks here, Ajarn or NoAjarn.

No flames, pleases. I'm just playin', na'?