SDM0712

Probably the most honest post on the issue for sometime. However, if drink driving/riding has nothing to do with "transport costs" - why wouldn't you leave your car/bike at home????

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I like to tell it as it is.

Ok, let's modify "nothing" to just " one of many factors"

But I think the answer must be because when we go out our intention is not to drink as much as we end up actually drinking. Another issue is that as expats we don't like the people offering the transport services and we don't want to be in their vehicles. It seems crazy I know, but I think if we're honest many of us would rather risk life and limb then give these guys any money at all!

SDM

In the meantime, setup a personal pickup and delivery, assuming you got arrival and departure times from guests.

This may cost extra money, but losing customers also costs money.

I can assure you that the above option is a fast route to serious, personal injury for my drivers!! In Phuket, each taxi service (legal or otherwise) have their own patch where they are allowed to pick up from., - they can deliver the passenger to any destination.

The agreed pick-up patch for my hotels is the airport and Nai Yang. The last time one of my drivers tried to pick up a passenger in Patong (on a return journey back to the airport), he was physically attacked by the local taxi drivers. (I have the PG and PW news link somewhere).

There is no alternative to using the ferry minivans, so shaming is really the only option. There is a choice of ferry services to use, so shaming may encourage the ferry company to improve its minivan service, or lose out to the competition.

As a fellow Phuketian (if that's not a real word I just invented it) I sympathise with you. If you are in business here it's really not worth causing a problem with the Tuk-Tuks, the Commuter Vans, or the Taxi drivers. It's one of the prices we pay for living here.

As an idea you could speak to the ferry company about providing your own transport if requested by your guests. You mentioned the problems about invading their patches, but the drivers do not get angry about their passengers being "stolen" it's about the money they are losing in lost fares. The only thing I can suggest is that you compensate the Ferry Company for what they lose by not transporting your guests and recoup this by charging your own collection and delivery charges to the guests. Maybe even top it up their tea money by 100 baht a case. Then your guests will have a choice and the ferry company/driver gets paid for nothing nothing.

I will ignore anyone who says it's not right, I know that already, but anyone living here knows we "not in Kansas anymore", it is what it is. We have to either accept it or go home where these problems just don't occur. Even when the Police come up against them they lose as anyone watching recent events knows !

SDM

Shame, RIP.

Many of us drive home after a night out, and we know we shouldn't. We only have ourselves to blame.

I don't think it's anything to do with transport costs, certainly has never figured in my decision to drive or ride home. It's more to do with the worry about leaving the car/bike over night and the inconvenience of coming back the next day.

I think we all know at the time we shouldn't do it, and probably wouldn't at home, but it seems to be more socially acceptable here and we just say to ourselves, " everyone does it, just take it slow"

SDM

I'm not racist. I hate everyone and I hate them all equally.

I remember when I lived in the UK telling one of my visiting Thai friends who had made a remark about the level of Indian visitors in the Bumrangrad that she cannot say things like this in the UK. She is not racist, and works as a lead research scientist for a very well known international company. But what it made me think about is how in the UK we must be so careful about what we say, and quite often the people upset by a remark such as this are nothing to do with the race being mentioned.

Again I repeat that I am not a racist, but when I return home I barely recognise it. Perhaps Enoch Powell was right when he committed political suicide with that famous speech.

Regarding the title of the topic, when I am out and I hear people having a conversation at the top of their voices oblivious to the others that they disturb around them, almost sounding as if a fight is about to begin, but in reality it is just normal conversation, I know there are Chinese tourists about even if I cannot see them. Maybe they all have to shout at home to be heard because of the massive population ??55 Rude ? No ruder than anyone else here, and the same goes for the Russians.

SDM

Wilcopops, you failed to justify your comments before with any kind of explanation, as such I think I'm as confused about your meaning as you are yourself. Back to your dictionary and armchair my friend. SDM

No mate - I'm not confused in the slightest....if you feel you have a point to make, read my posts.

In that case it must be just me, I have read your posts and to be specific once again

1. You made a comment QED, the meaning of which I do understand, I still remember my Latin from school, but not how you were attempting to apply it. When I asked you to clarify you made an even more cryptic response. From this I can only assume that you either do not want to explain, or more likely cannot. If you were able to explain you would do so because this would further cement your view.

2. You made a comment about "5Es". I have no idea what these are and asked you to explain, once again you did not, for maybe the same reasons as above.

I have just commented on what I have experienced with my own eyes, and stated as much.

I live here full time but I imagine you are someone who has visited here a few times and now thinks you are an expert. You hide behind acronyms and abbreviations that I personally believe you do not fully understand and use to make yourself appear more knowledgable than you are, otherwise you would be willing to explain them to clarify your position.

Incidentally generally when someone says " if you have a point to make", it is normally followed by " make it". To follow it with " read my posts" makes no sense, how is that me making a point ?

SDM

.............In order to get permanent residency you need a work permit and to have been working for 3 consecutive years on extensions of stay...........

Without wanting to start a new thread, what is your understanding of " permanent residency". Does this mean an "indefinite leave to remain " as we have in the UK, does it need to be renewed every year, or say every ten years, do we still need to do the 90 days registration at Immigration...what does it mean ? I'm at the 3 year stage, and it is annoying renewing every year.

I'm interested if anyone has "permanent residency " status and what this actually means, and if they had to give up nationality to their birth country.

SDM

Hi Jim

I don't think anyone can comment what the ECO will require as proof of address, but what I can tell you is what we would require as evidence of address when running someone through a credit check if they are not on the voters roll, and that would be any utility bill, including a landline telephone bill, bank statements. Personally since you are obviously concerned about this I would compile a file of say six months worth of original letters etc from as many official sources as possible.

Stephen

You should be in the electoral role for wherever you are living. However it is quite common for tenants not to register, but they will usually be registered on a property that they lived in formerly.

Normally the way around this is to show a utility bill in your name or perhaps a bank statement that has been sent to that address.

SDM

Wilcopops, you failed to justify your comments before with any kind of explanation, as such I think I'm as confused about your meaning as you are yourself. Back to your dictionary and armchair my friend.

SDM

There really are some people on this forum who just won't admit Thailand is a dangerous place. tal about having your head in the sand. LOS - thats a fallacy also

It would be interesting to divide these people into groups of those who live here and those who come for a holiday every now and again.

This is directed to my fellow expats rather than the armchair experts around the world. In my opinion and experience, driving outside the big cities and in the villages is nice and relaxing. However something seems to happen in the in the cites and highways to drivers, it seems as if their very life depends on overtaking the car/bus/truck in front. And it doesn't seem to matter what vehicle they are driving and it's infectious, I often find myself doing things that I would never risk at home, and I'm a London driver!

The tourist areas are worse and I put this down simply to visiting foreigners who have observed the Thais and want to prove that they can be even more crazy because they are "obviously" superior drivers. I see this a lot in my fellow Brits, but of course we are the exception to the rule since we are naturally and genuinely superior. (It's a joke!)

I've never been a believer in stats, I know how they can be manipulated, but clearly to anyone with eyes in their head Thailand is not as safe to drive in as most European countries. As I mentioned I live and work in Phuket and am our on the roads daytime in a big SUV and if I'm out in the evening on a 650CC sports bike. I see a lot of accidents and they can all be put down to driver error, driver stupidity, drunk or drugged drivers, a few to equipment failure (but the slim minority). Most are bike related, and most I see are farangs who are riding scooters for the first time or have hired 1000 CC + racing style bikes. To ride a scooter is challenging to newbies on a busy set of roads, to ride a 1000CC bike here is like trying to control a monster surrounded by thousands of flies.

Stats aside , expats who live in the country will have a very different view from those who live in the city or a tourist area. Personally I enjoy driving in both, maybe the country is a bit boring !!

SDM

PS No QEDs or 5Es please!!

No, to legally drive in the UK you need a permanent (5-year) license.

To be pedantic a 5-year Thai license is not permanent, nor a standard UK driving license either as they both are only valid for a finite period of time.

However in terms of what is a "full" license the Thai 1-year & 5-year both allow a driver to drive several vehicles without a licensed person to supervise and require passing of a minimum standard test whereas the UK provisional license does not. So I think it is an easy argument to make that the only effective difference between the Thai 1 & 5 year license is the period of validity.

My wife actually does have a truly permanent life time Thai license. I have been told that the Thais don't issue these anymore but I am unsure if they are only issued to Thais.

SDM

I'm pretty sure only a Thai DL would be acceptable as ID on a Domestic flight. For hospitals in Bangkok I would recommend either the Bumrangrad or a Bangkok Hospital.

SDM

I had an HSBC account in Thailand, set up from the UK for years before I moved here. Unfortunately HSBC now only offer business accounts here, but if you have a bank account with a bank that has a branch in Thailand and your own country then it should be possible. Not sure if you are in the UK but if you are you could try Bangkok Bank in St.Mary's Axe to see if they will do.

SDM

Jeremy Clarkson the man with the best job....in the World and soon to be called Jennifer Clarkson.

I think you mean that you wish to bring your wife, your wife's daughter and your son to the UK and that you are concerned that your current accommodation will be considered as over crowded by HM Entry Clearance Officer?

You then go on to say that your friend can rent a property to you that will be large enough to house your family as mentioned above.

Well, I don't think anyone can give a definite response as to how the ECO will view this, I suppose it boils down to whether he feels it is truthful. However I am pretty sure that you will need more than just having paid a deposit, you will need an AST agreement, (Assured Shorthold Tenanancy Agreement) signed, as regulated by the Housing Act. It will need to be signed by all parties and your deposit will have to be lodged in accordance with UK Law. I think if you can show your post dated and signed AST together with the Certificate that confirms the deposit had been lodged or insured in accordance with UK Law then it is clear that you have the accommodation secured and available.

As I said I cannot comment on what the ECO would say, although since I own an Estate Agency in the UK as well as Thailand, I would be pleased to provide you with a blank AST agreement. You will have to fill in the names of everyone above the age of 18 and get it all signed up of course. PM me if you want it with no charge and my best wishes !

SDM

To make things more complicated, the phrase "ใบอนุญาตขับรถชั่วคราว" on the ChaingMaiLTD website referenced gets translated by Chrome to "Provisional Drivers License."!

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The words "temporary " and " provisional " in English are interchangeable and mean the same thing.

However, as we all know, a UK provisional licence is available to anyone over the age of 17 and carries no driving qualification, nor does it allow the holder to drive without being accompanied by a licensed driver. The Thai Licence by comparison is only issued following the taking of a test (I'm laughing as I write that bit) and only issued after that test (still laughing) is passed that confirms that the driver is safe (still going) to drive. In short a similar process to the issuing of a full UK Licence. A one year Thai Licence might be acceptable with an IDP.

My wife drove in the UK for a year on her Thai Licence, with an authorized translation. This was accepted by the insurance company but she never had a producer so I have no idea what the boys in blue would make of it.

SDM

I got an IDP from the Driving Centre in Phuket when I only had the 1 year Licence. I planned to drive in Vietnam, but I didn't tell them that and I noticed that the same Permit listed the UK as one of the countries specifically that it covered. What the "rozzers" in the UK would say I cannot tell you but what I can say is that UK insurance companies would consider you a foreign driver and if you broke any driving laws you would not be able to pay a fixed fine and would have to go before a beak.

Give Avis a call in the UK and ask, even if you don't plan on using them, they will know.

SDM

You will lose the deposit.

Your stuff will be thrown on the street.

Best just break the contract , lose the deposit and leave in a civilised manner.

As a Real Estate Agent here I'm afraid I fully agree with this.

In the UK my Landlords would have to take you to Court and even the "accelerated " legal process could take 6 months to get you out, but over here what usually happens is that locks are changed and your belongings are put in bags (usually) and left outside the front door.

This advise is correct, just leave before it gets to this stage, Landlords do not play nice here. Your deposit is lost.

SDM

Also Thailand has relatively good roads - stop laughing - it has motorways and good wide highways where you can cruise at 120kp/h for hours, while Namibia from my limited understanding is mostly gravel roads, with very little traffic.

Can't agree with your assessment of Thai roads.

firstly they do have a lot of paved road these days which encourages high speeds, but unfortunately a "good" road requires a lot more than that. Camber, trees, billboards keeping facing traffic away from each other..etc etc none of these issues are satisfactorily addressed.

thai has about the highest car ownership in ASAEAN, but 70% of deaths are of motorcyclists.

I've done and do a lot of driving on Thai Roads, in a car and bike and I think it's fair to say the main highways themselves are fine, the problem I have with them is the U-Turns. Due to the poor (driving skill) education of many drivers they perform u-turns without, in many cases taking into account the speed of vehicles on the carriageway that they are turning into. Having said that I quite comfortably cruise at 120 KPH without incident and make good time on a long run.

In the early days of UK motorways we had U-Turns for Police use only, but these have all been closed off now because they are unsafe.

SDM

PS Wilcopops, would you reply to my questions directed to you asking for an explaintion of "the 5 es" and also to clarify your meaning of QED rather than just give me the dictionary definition ? As I wrote I understand what QED means, but not your application of the Latin phrase. If you could reply in plain English I will understand since it is my mother tongue. Thanks in advance.

At least his motor went to the beach. All new 997 GT-3s have been recalled by Porsche because they can burst into flames for no apparent reason and I'm pretty sure none made it to the seaside.

Vorsprung durch Technik*

SDM

* I know that's the Audi slogan so technically as irrelevant as the entire post.

To get back on track, have we mentioned road quality and systems as a contributing factor?

In Phuket we have several crossroads where the traffic light either have never worked or have amber blinking constantly, and not for a few days or weeks, but for years. That can't be safe!

Also, I was doing a regular trip over Patong Hill, AKA Death Mountain a few days ago. It’s always had a bike lane on the very left. Some forward thinking person somewhere has decided to widen this bike lane. A very good idea because impatient souls like myself ( I do have to hold my hands up to that) squeeze in between the slower moving bikes and the cars to get past. There is enough room with perhaps some spare to do this. But there remained the original white line in the middle of the now extended lane. Now as anyone who rides a bike knows it's not great to ride over lines in the road, they are slippery normally and even more so in the in the wet. They cause instability when we go over them and can be dangerous. Now most Thais must know this because they have all been riding since they could walk. It wasn’t really a big deal because the original white line was worn anyway. Here comes the “brilliance”, for whatever reason the road department no doubt wanting to rid themselves of the out of place white line, now in the centre of the bike lane, decided to paint it with lovely new shiny black paint rather than burn it off, making it very unsafe and its smack bang in the middle of a narrow lane.

A night or so later I took my Ninja into Patong and the mountain was jammed with stationary cars, normally a sign that another bus has lost control or some other calamity. It’s a regular occurrence. Anyway, the bikes were moving and as I got to the top I saw the cause, a bike on the road, an old Thai man covered in blood, his helmet a metre away and a young girl in tears trying to wake him. The odd thing was that no car had gone over the man or bike and clearly he didn’t start off in the car lane because of the angle of the bike on the ground. So one could surmise that something has caused him to leave the bike lane and fall off. Clearly either he lost control or someone else lost control and forced him over. We will never know if it was this new black line, there is a good chance.

SDM

...................Just engaging in a bit of Pom-baiting. ....................................

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Don't worry we are very tolerant with folk from the colonies, they are very young and know no better. (I haven't got the "emotions" but if I did they would be laughing!)

SDM

Simondan

It was the popsicle alright.

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I imagined it would be, now noted by his absense.

And about USA: luckily not everybody is authorised to have a gun in Thailand

Does that make a difference in reality ?

In my mind, and I'm not American, I think the main effective difference is that in the States a householder has the legal right to shoot dead an intruder they discover in their house, which I agree with personally.

Although not relevant to this thread, in the UK if we are deemed to show excessive force to an intruder then we will be the ones to possibly go to jail.

SDM

Simondan

I'm not really sure which of our "friends " you are referring to, but if it's Wilcopops I believe you have hit the nail on the head.

I think he/she probably is English speaking as a first language, but for some reason feels that need to enhance posts with phrases designed to create the impression that he/she is a more accomplished debater than he or she actually is. This a shame because here as in life there is no need for it. If someone has something to say then say it, we don't need icing on top. By the same token if someone has nothing constructive to add, then why bother for example making a post that merely copies another persons and then just adds a Latin phrase which is only really used in the main by academics today, especially when the phrase is used incorrectly in anycase.

Now that truly is QED!

SDM