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Kerryd

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Kerryd last won the day on October 14 2017

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  1. I suspect it's the same story as the Uzbek and various African hookers. They come here for the money, their "handlers" hold on to their passports, when they stop "earning" or get too "independent" suddenly Immigration gets tipped off on exactly where to find them and then they are someone else's problem. And the handlers simply make a call or text and a couple days later "new talent" arrives at the airport and once they've cleared Immigration they hand their passport over to the "handler" - probably unaware of the rules or what's expected of them and maybe after a party or two to "test" the new talent they get put to work making money. That stuff has been going on since the first civilizations started springing up and people in the "oldest profession" found they could ply their trade and earn better money in other locations.
  2. It's been awhile since I was in a go-go but I recall most of the ones I visited had signs all over the walls mentioning how much "lady drinks" cost and what "ringing the bell" meant. (It used to be that "ringing the bell" meant every person in the bar got a free drink regardless and many would take advantage of a bell ringer by ordering the most expensive stuff available, knowing it was unlikely the bell ringer would realize it until too late.) A lot of bars changed it to either just the "dancers on stage" or "just the staff". Some even have 2 "bells" (or a bell and a siren). That must have really killed the "balloon chaser" crowd who would (literally) patrol the bar areas looking for places putting up loads of balloons, indicating that a party was going to happen there that night. And the parties almost always included a lot of food - and a lot of bell ringing. I stopped having my birthday parties at the old FLB bar when I found out the manager would put out the word to all his buddies so they could come to his bar for a free night of food and drink - at my expense. Years later, a guy I sort of knew (friend of a friend) bought the go-go bar in the Center Condo complex and named it the "Wet & Wild A-go-go". It never did a lot of business due to it's out of the way location and lack of advertising. But they always had 15-20 attractive ladies and 5-6 staff. And "ringing the bell" bought the staff a shot of tequila, which was only 90 baht (and it really was tequila, not water). So on a "full night" when they had all the normal staff working, ringing the bell would cost you about 2,400 baht. And they would put your name in letters on one of the large mirrors around the sides of the club. I'm not saying I drank a lot or rang the bell a lot - but by the time the club was closed (when the cops found out how the owner was really making his money) I had 3 full rows on that mirror. (And dear old dad had his name up there 9 times as well the randy 75 year old bugger !) But I always knew what the cost was for the lady drinks and the staff would bring the new bin and show me how much it was so I knew the new total. In some clubs they gave you individual bins with each drink order and then totalled them when you were ready to leave (hence the "check bin" phrase - check the bins and total them). More updated clubs used computerized printouts and they'd bring a new, updated (and longer) bin with each new drink order so you knew the new total right away. I've never seen them not give someone a bin or purposely keep the bin cup by the cashier to hide it from the customer. Sounds like a load of crap to me. And whenever you see a case where there were 2 or more people involved but the other "friend(s)" left beforehand and were waiting outside - it's often a failed attempt to scam out of paying the bar tab. 2 guys drink, one guy leaves. The other guy pretends to get a phone call and starts walking away "distracted" by the call and "forgets" to pay his bill or "forgets" which bar he was in. I've actually WATCHED people try to do that. Some even tried to leave an (empty) cigarette pack and (dead) lighter on the table as "proof" they meant to come back. (I've seen service staff immediately check the cigarette pack and alert the guys at the door to stop someone from leaving - they've seen it all before many times.) Remember the case on Soi 6 when "security" put the boots to that guy ? Same thing, he'd been drinking with "friends" and they left before him. Then he tried to leave without paying, claiming he wasn't paying their bills (or was it he claimed one of the other guys had already paid the bill which was BS). All those "newbies" arriving everyday and a lot of them seem to think they know a sure-fire way to party all night for free. And probably got away with it a few times "back home". And think that the locals in Thailand won't be smart enough to figure out what they are doing until it's too late. And the "locals" are beating them with their high heels and manishly large feet.
  3. People sometimes forget that for every jaded, pence-pinching, balloon-chasing old expat in Pattaya, there are 500 "newbies" that have just arrived off the plane and have never been outside of their home region/state, let alone in a foreign country on the other side of the world. And despite how widespread and easily available the internet is - very few ever do a detailed search on their destinations aside from things like "where is the hotel and where is the beach". But they've heard stories. Hand-me down tales from cousins and uncles and that nice man who used to take you out to the shed in the back for naked "sword fights" when your parents weren't around. But those stories usually lack two important things. Relevant details and - reality. For example. When I was in Afghanistan and people found out I was living in Thailand, invariably there'd be someone in a group that "had a friend who went to Thailand and he rented a house right on the beach, hired one woman to do all the cleaning and laundry and another woman to do all the grocery shopping and cooking - and he was sleeping with both of them - and it only cost him $75 US a month !" Seriously ! Between 2003-2005 in Kabul I heard that same story, almost word for word, from 3 different people ! And it was hilarious to see the confused look on their faces when I told them the Vietnam war ended 30 years ago. And then had to explain that things haven't been that cheap in Thailand since the mid-late 70s. (Then ask who their "friend" is and invariably they'll have forgotten his name or it will actually be a "friend of a friend" and so on. Because what they are really doing is retelling an old wives tale that gets passed around in bars and schools and workplaces for decades and none of the people hearing the story ever question the details.) But then some people hear such stories, hop on a plane and arrive in Thailand - totally clueless about how things really work here. And then they go to a bar, thinking it's just like the bars "back home" except they seem to be full of young(ish), attractive(ish) women that actually seem to like them ! And they start thinking all those stories they heard are true ! Until they get their bar bill and that "reality" that was missing from those stories hits them. Some sheepishly accept their newly learned reality that things aren't as cheap - or easy - as they were led to believe. And some get into drunken brawls with ladyboys in high heels. And one day, maybe, 2 or 3 of the 500 (per jaded expat) will become older, wiser and equally jaded expats themselves. (Right about the same time they learn about ThaiVisa/ASEAN Now and join the rest of the "socks with sandals and wife-beater undershirts" brigade of expats.)
  4. Undoubtably this has to do with the vast amount of Chinese tourists passing through the airports. I too am a former smoker and I remember getting off a plane and zipping to the nearest smoking room for a butt before zipping to the Immigration lanes. Canada was actually one of the first countries to ban smoking on Domestic flights. And then they told airlines that smoking would be banned on any flight departing from Canada or landing in Canada. That was in the very early 90s. Some airlines even threatened to reroute flights to US airports instead so Canada softened the rule to flights that were less than 2 hours in duration. By the mid-90s though the ban was again on all flights. I remember flying on a charter 747 when we deployed to Croatia in Sept '92. Once we were airborne and out of Canadian airspace the smoking light was on. That deployment was also when I took my first flight to Thailand. Flew Lufthansa from Zagreb to Frankfurt to Bangkok. The plane took off from Frankfurt and you could hear the wheels retract and "clunk" into place and bingo ! The smoking light was on. I waited until I'd seen half a dozen other people lit up before I did myself. But when our rotation was over in Croatia in Apr '93 and we were flying back to Canada, the chalk commander declared it was a no smoking flight. We landed in Ireland for refueling and they let everyone off the plane. There was a mass rush for the smoking room and it was way too small. The chalk commander relented and allowed smoking only in the rear 8 rows of the plane. I swear that 747 flew tail down/nose up all the way to the West Coast of Canada after that because of how many people were crowded into the back of the plane so they could smoke. But when I took my 2nd trip to Thailand ('97) there was no smoking on pretty much any commercial airline And yeah, in SOME airports they have (or had) very nice smoking rooms. The Emirates Business Class lounge smoking area was a huge, well ventilated area above the main lounge area so the smoke never went into the rest of the lounge. The smoking rooms in the Taiwan airport were nice as well - when they weren't busy. But there was literally one room for the entire International terminal and one for the Domestic terminal and if you arrived at a busy time they'd usually be very crowded. The smoking room in the Bahrain terminal (Departure side) was terrible. A tiny room barely 4 meters by 4 meters with almost no ventilation. Whenever the door opened a huge cloud of smoke would fill the corridor. And it too was so crowded that people just started smoking in the corridor. I pitied the people who had to walk past there to get to the bathrooms. Swampy was a bit better - mostly because the smoking rooms were hard to find if you didn't know where they were already. But regardless of how nice or uncrowded the room is - you will still stink of smoke afterwards and your breath will still smell horrid. After I quit (13 years ago) I was shocked when I suddenly started noticing what other smokers actually smelled like after they'd had a cigarette and then I realized that I used to smell exactly like that as well. Then I thought of all the times I sat in a smoking room right up until my flight started boarding. I imagined a cloud of smoke following me all the way to my seat and hovering over me the whole flight. And then I imagined what my breath must have smelt like whenever I spoke to anyone just after having a cigarette. Not pleasant at all. And no, the smoke does not stay in the rooms because every time the door opens and people enter/leave, clouds of smoke usually escape. I remember finding smoking rooms in airports literally by smell. I could smell the stale 2nd hand smoke in a corridor and knew there had to be a smoking room nearby. And of course - the people who have to clean those rooms get exposed to the smoke as well. People getting cancer from 2nd hand smoke is what led to smoking bans in bars and restaurants in the 90s as well. But - there are 10s of millions of smoke-happy Chinese arriving every year and if they don't give them a place to smoke - you know they'll be doing it somewhere.
  5. I've transferred stamps at Jomtien twice now. Last one being in 2020. Filled out the one form, handed it in with my new and old passports. Came back the next day to pick them up. No charge (that I can remember), no hassle. I don't even recall having to make any photocopies of anything. I do remember it being quite a simple process which was nice as I thought it might be a hassle. And definitely did not have to show an updated bank book. They could have been checking to see if you still qualified for whatever Extension you were/are on ?
  6. I remember that. A birthday party. A birthday suit. A canine. (It was on WikiLeaks as well.)
  7. Note there is NO actual details about his "death". No date. No location. No circumstances. NO NEWS except for the copy/paste story in the original post. He allegedly was last seen on the 20th. I seriously doubt he died and has been decomposing in his room for over 2 weeks without anyone noticing. Also, a quick search found another group where someone who seems to have a lot of knowledge about his activities mentions he was actually seen on the evening of the 21st at ABUNdance Modern Fusion Club - which is a totally different place than the Abandoned Mansion Bar & Restaurant. That person said he was staying at the The Coach Hotel and checked out at 1pm on 22 Jan - and then says the hotel refused to check the CCTV. (That guy seems to have some pretty intimate details about the guy's activities for some reason.) And whenever you see one of these stories with NO details - but they've already had a "GoFundMe" type appeal set up - you have to wonder. And surely if a dead Brit was found in Bangkok it would have made the LOCAL news long before it appeared - with GoFundMe link - in the news "back in Blighty" don't you think ? Think about it. Normally a "foreigner" being found dead anywhere in the country makes the news, with media and cameras taking photos of the location the body was found and so on. Yet almost ALL of these stories originate from English garbage media sites like the Sun and Mirror - with NO local news about them. I've even queried Thaiger about incidents that supposedly happened in their back yard (Phuket) and there was NO news anywhere about it - except for the story copy/pasted from one of those lame sites in England that "pay people for their vacation horror stories". And ALL of those stories have the SAME clues. NO specific date. NO specific location. NO specific details about the incident. NO local news reports. Nothing that can actually be researched or investigated to see if it's true. Think about it. An Indian gets pickpocketed by a ladyboy - it's headline news. A Brit gets into a fight with bouncers on Walking Street - it's headline news. A Russian gets into a scooter accident in Phuket - it's headline news. But a missing Brit being found dead weeks after going missing ? NO news at all ? Just a convenient "GoScamYou" link in an article in a British media site. If you can't see through the Kwaii khee then maybe you should get some glasses. And keep in mind - this is not the first "news" story like this to be posted here. They literally scan those Brit tabloids daily for any "Thailand horror stories" and then cut/paste them into Thaiger and ASEAN Now - often without mentioning where the story originated from (i.e. a British tabloid site). Surely some of you have friends/relatives in Essex that could give the Sangwine family a call and ask when - and where - the funeral is. After all, they've already scammed - er- "fundraised" more than enough to fly his body home so the funeral should be pretty quick - especially considering how long ago he may have died. Wanna bet you don't get an answer ?
  8. Does having PR let you buy land ? No. Does PR let you pay the "Thai" price at hospitals ? No. Does PR let you pay the "Thai" price at National Parks or tourist attractions ? Some - but not all. Does PR let you skip out on paying taxes on foreign (or domestic) income ? No. Does PR mean you don't need a Visa/Extension to stay here all year ? Yes. Does PR mean you don't need a re-entry permit to go outside the country ? Yes. Does PR mean you will be treated any differently than any other tourist regardless of how long you've been in Thailand ? No. You will always be "just another farang". 190,000 baht fee if it's approved ? No wonder all the world's riff-raff flock to Canada. Spend 3 years in Canada pretending to be a refugee or "asylum seeker" (preferably from an African, Middle Eastern or Caribbean country) and so long as you aren't arrested (for anything serious) - you will be GIVEN full Canadian Citizenship at NO cost. The right to vote. No visas needed. Go anywhere, do anything with you shiny new Canadian passport. No need to speak English or French. No need to know about Canada's history. And now - no need to even show up in person to swear the "oath of allegiance" that you don't care about anyways ! Added benefit - as a refugee or asylum seeker living off of Canada's generosity - you can immediately start demanding that Canada change it's laws and regulations to suit you ! Meanwhile in Thailand - you will always be a "farang tourist". I'm betting that even if you were one of the very few that actually acquired Thai citizenship and you had a valid Thai ID card and passport - you would STILL be treated as a "farang tourist" 99.9% of the time.
  9. It is safe - if YOU follow the rules and meet the requirements. In other words - do what you are supposed to do to live here legally. There is no need to use an agent - unless you do not meet the requirements. An Extension of Temporary Stay costs 1,900 baht. That's it. Add a couple hundred baht for photos and photocopies every couple of years. I put my 800k in a Fixed Term account the year before I could apply for a Non-O (and then apply for an Extension). That money has sat there ever since. Doesn't earn a lot of interest but technically it earns more than enough to pay the fee for my annual Extension as well as those photocopies/photos and a Re-Entry permit or two. And I never have to worry about "topping up" the account or withdrawing "too much" or having to pay an "agent" to scam the requirements. I've done 13 Extensions so far with NO problems and don't use an agent. 15 years ago, my 77 year old dad who was dying of lung cancer was still able to go to Immigration to apply for his Extension - 6 weeks before he died. If he could do it - without an agent, there's no reason anyone else can't. Pro tip: It's the SAME paperwork and photocopies needed every year. THINK about it and prepare it AHEAD of time. Get your photocopies done, update your bank book the day before you go. Sign your photocopies. If you don't have a computer/printer, get extra copies of the TM.47 from Immigration and photocopy them and make extra copies of the required passport pages. Each year it takes me barely 15 minutes to update and print the TM.47, print the scans of my passport pages, attach a photo and sign all the paperwork. A quick run to the bank to update my bank book and get my "bank letter". When you arrive at Immigration all your paperwork should be 100% complete. It takes me maybe 4-5 minutes with the IO from the time I hand over my paperwork until I've paid the fee and he's taken my photo (with the "ticket number") and I'm heading for the door. Pro tip: Take a pen with you so you can sign all the pages you didn't bother doing beforehand or the photocopies you decided you might not need this time. Pro tip: SHOWER and wear CLEAN clothes before going to Immigration. Seriously - WTF are you thinking when you show up stinking of body odour and looking like you haven't changed your clothes in weeks ? And yes - I HAVE seen people sit down with an IO and hand over their passport and bank book - and then expect the IO to fill out the paperwork and make the photocopies for them. (And of course they are ahead of me in line every time.) And yes, there are always people who "forgot" to make photocopies or sign half their paperwork and need a pen. And yes, far too often I've had to stand in line with people who stunk so bad it almost made you retch. And it sucks when they are directly behind you and you approach the desk/IO and they see you and then get hit with the smell and think it's you. (I've even made eye contact with an IO, pointed at my nose and then behind me so he knew it wasn't me that stunk so bad.) I spent 10 years working in Afghanistan and you could literally smell them from 500 meters away if the breeze was right - and they didn't smell as bad as some people I've seen at Jomtien Immigration. And people wonder why so many of the Immigration Officers seem to be in a bad mood all the time. (Another good reason to show up really early - to catch them before their mood turns really sour !) Still shake my head when people claim they'd rather pay an agent 20,000+ baht to get their Extension for them - because they "can't be bothered" to spend 15 minutes to do the paperwork themselves and only pay 1,900 baht instead. Uh huh.
  10. Different Immigration offices have different procedures. For example, Jomtien doesn't synch-up your 90 Day report dates with your Extension application date. They treat them as two entirely separate procedures. At Jomtien: You need to drop off your: Passport, TM.47, Photocopy of Face Page, Photocopy of Visa/Extension page, Photocopy of Last Entry Stamp page, and Photocopy of your "Receipt of Address" notification slip. Pro tip ! TAKE a pen with you !! Save yourself time and effort as it can be hard finding one when you are there. Depending on when you go in, it can take 20 minutes or it can take an hour. They collect a dozen or so passports and take them inside. The next time they have a dozen or so more passports ready to go, they'll take those inside and pick up the batch they'd previously dropped off. They then call out the numbers in no particular order and regardless if you were the first person in line or the last. I have no idea why they decided to require a TM.47 and stack of photocopies each time now. When the 90 Day was inside the main building it was quick and easy. Even when the "90 day desk" was outside and we sat under the awnings. But ever since they moved into that new building, they've decided to make the process more complicated for some reason. They must have boxes of photocopies just from the trips I've made there in the last couple of years since they started using the new building. Major waste of time - and paper - doing that every single time.
  11. Always a laugh when you hear about different Immigration offices having their own sets of rules and procedures, different from every other office. But if you do a border run on Day 179, "leaving" Thailand and then re-entering an hour (or less) later - does that count as not being "tax resident" ? It would look a little off if you "left" the country on 1 Feb and "entered" the country on 1 Feb and then claimed you are not "tax resident" because you were only in the country for 179 days. (Maybe why Canada uses 183 days to determine if someone is "deemed resident for tax purposes" ?)
  12. "No matter how much evidence you show that proves the moon landings were faked, there are people who will still believe they were real. No matter how much evidence you show that proves the moon landings were real, there are people who will still believe they were faked." (I just made that up.) And yes, NASA DID lose the original photos and negatives from the moon landings. They were "accidentally" destroyed was the official explanation when people wanted to see them to find out things like why there are stars in the background of most moon photos. And why the shadows don't seem to match the objects in many shots. There's a wiki entry about the "missing tapes" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_missing_tapes#Search_for_the_missing_tapes And why was the flag they planted "waving" as though there was a breeze ? (NASA tried to claim they had the flag specifically made so that it would "look" like it was blowing in a breeze - on a moon with no atmosphere or wind.) And why is it that photos of Earth, taken from the Moon, appear to be the SAME size as photos of the moon when taken from Earth ? It is NOT "perception". "Perception" would be seeing two different sized objects in front of you at different distances and thinking the closest one is larger when it's not. The distance from the Earth to the Moon is literally exactly the same as the distance from the Moon to the Earth. But the Earth is SIX times larger than the moon so why doesn't it appear SIX times larger in photos taken on the lunar surface ? Here's a simple test. Take a basket ball and a softball (or a soccer ball and a tennis ball) and set them a meter apart on a table. Stand behind the larger ball and look at the smaller one. Now stand behind the smaller ball and look at the larger one. According to the NASA photos - they should appear to be the same size. But in reality, if you were on the surface of the smaller ball and looking at the bigger one, it would appear HUGE by comparison. I do have an image supposedly taken by a Chinese satellite that was scanning the "dark side" of the moon - so that the camera captured the (back side) of the moon with the Earth beyond that. Amazing how much different that is compared to the "looking at Earth from the lunar surface photos we've seen from NASA". Here's another oddity. The current Artemis missions. The stated purpose of the Artemis 1 mission was to "examine the conditions astronauts would face on the lunar surface". That statement made me sit up and gasp ! Excuse me ? 6 "crewed moon landings" between '69 and '72 and NASA doesn't know what "conditions" astronauts on the Artemis 2 mission will face ? What, did they lose all that information as well ? It's not like the moon has undergone "climate change" over the last 50 years so how is it they apparently don't know what the astronauts will face when they land on the surface ? And here's a laugh. The first "moon landing" was in July 1969. Diamonds are Forever was a James Bond film released in Dec 1971, just over 2 years later. But the script was written long before that, the sets produced, actors rehearsed and so on. Filming actually started in April 1971 but the script was approved long before that. And who can forget the scene where Bond is trying to escape from Willard Whyte's facility (controlled by Bloefeld) and he crashes through a wall - into the middle of a fake moon landing set with a lunar lander, "astronauts" on wires hopping around and - a lunar buggy ! (Apollo 15 was the first mission to use a "Lunar Roving Vehicle" and that mission landed in July 1971 - months after the Bond film had already started filming.) Makes you wonder where they got the idea in that film to create a fake moon landing scene - long before anyone even thought to question if the moon landings were real ! And they had a "moon buggy" (which Bond used to escape into the desert) - even before NASA put one on the moon ! How did the writers "guess" about all that ? Or get the idea that the landings were fake and include that scene in the movie ? Here is the image supposedly taken by the Chinese satellite. Note how small the moon is compared to Earth. As mentioned, Earth is about 6 times larger than the moon so it makes sense it would appear much larger in any photo. Now imagine you are on the surface of the moon, looking back at the Earth. This is the Apollo 11 photo taken in July 1969 from the moon: And this is the Apollo 12 "Earth Shot" taken on 19 Nov 1969. Isn't it funny how the Earth looks the same size as the Moon does when viewed from Earth ? Despite it being 6 times larger than the moon ? By rights - and the laws of physics - the Earth should appear massive in those photos. But even if you did fake a moon landing - there'd be a lot of people who would know about it, including the astronauts themselves. (Because they would have had to been in on it as they would have noticed something was off if they took off from earth and just orbitted the planet for a couple days while another crew "faked the landing" at a studio on Earth and then they just returned to Earth themselves. It could be done, but keeping everyone quiet about it for 50+ years ? They couldn't make them all disappear in "accidents". What has always got me though was we landed people on the moon 6 times and then stopped. And in the 55 years since then all we can do is put a ramshackle little "space station" in low Earth orbit and we can barely even keep it supplied or change the crew. You'd think the Shuttles should have easily been able to make it to the Moon and back if those tiny "lunar landers" and "command modules" could. The Apollo 15 Lunar Module for example was 23' high and 31' wide and weighed about 11,000 pounds including fuel, water, oxygen and - Lunar Roving Module. (The Apollo 11 Lunar module was similar in size but only weighed about 8,600 pounds.) The Space Shuttle was 56' high and 122' long. The payload bay was 60' long and 15' wide by 15' high (15' diameter). The Shuttle weighed about 172,000 pounds. Surely if they could figure out how to get Lunar modules off the moon and back into space, and then link up with the Command and Service module to fly back to Earth before dumping the "Service" part and using just the Command Module for the final descent. Yes, the shuttle was much bigger. And that means it could also carry more. They could have built the "space station" on the Moon's surface and used the Shuttles to resupply it. Instead they have a little ISS sitting 400 kms above the Earth. Then again - why bother ? It's not like they can grow anything on the Moon. It doesn't have any oil. (Or the USA would have been drilling and shipping oil from there 50 years ago !). No mention of them finding any precious metals (gold, silver, platinum or lithium) or diamonds/rubies/emeralds on the Moon either. So there really is no value in putting anything - or anyone - on the surface for more than a short picnic. And that's a pretty expensive picnic. I wonder if Artemis 2 will carry pre-made "waving in the breeze" flags like the Apollo moon landers did ?
  13. There is an "e-learning" app that you can do before you go to the DLT. https://www.dlt-elearning.com/forignerhome (Not MY spelling.) I renewed my motorcycle license last April. Resident Certificate. Medical Certificate. Passport. Application (done at the DLT). Fee - 505 baht (From the DLT website: New License: (Fee 205 baht for car, Fee 105 baht for motorcycle) https://www.dlt.go.th/en/new-license (Funny how it's more expensive to renew the initial license (105 baht) to a 5 year license (505 baht). Had to watch the video. Amused myself by making notes of all the mistakes. Did the tests (4 of them now). Reaction, Perception, Colour and Peripheral Vision (the new one) tests. And yes - it is still 2 separate licenses. More if you wanted to drive something else (like a transport vehicle or bus). I was told I if I made copies of the medical certificate and Residency Certificate, I could get both licenses issued that day. I had plans and didn't want to spend an hour running around trying to find a place to make copies (I was not in Pattaya at the time) so I just did the motorcycle license. I think it took me 2 1/2 hours in total, including the initial wait, the paperwork, the video, the tests and then getting the new license printed. In hindsight, I should have bit the bullet and got the copies made. Even if it took an hour it would have been worth it to get both licenses at the same time (but would have still been two separate cards). Pattaya is a nightmare though. Buddy of mine went there and they gave him an appointment time - for 3 weeks later - just to submit the paperwork. Old forum threads mentioned some people were given appointments 6 weeks down the road. I go to Chachoengsao as it's never so busy that you can't be done in a couple hours from walking in to walking out with the new license. My buddy gave up on Pattaya and went to a DLT in Rayong. Same thing, in and out in an afternoon. He used an "agent" - which basically just meant someone drove him to an office they are used to dealing with and then the agent waits while you do the video and tests. (They don't really do much at all except drive you there and back. Unless you need to do a driving test for your first license. Then they can take you to a "school" and have someone sign off on a paper saying you passed the test. A red note later and you are on your way to the DLT.) A lot of people will use an agent because they don't understand the paperwork or process, or even where to go. The "agent" is more like a guide, showing you where to go. But you don't really need one. Look at google maps for "Department of Land Transport" offices near you (and outside of major cities if possible). Go there with your (certificates mentioned above, passport, home license, certificate from a driving school if it's your first time). They'll usually have someone who can fill out the application for you in a couple minutes. They'll make you sit through the hour long, somewhat funny, video (with English subtitles) that you never get questioned on. Make note of how many people take a nap during the video. Do the (3 or 4) tests. Pay the fee. Wait for them to call you to get your photo taken and a few minutes later you'll have your new license. The tests are pretty simple. Standard colour vision test (differs from place to place as to how they do it). Reaction test (push a pedal on the floor while the "light" is green then SLAM on the brake pedal as fast as you can when the light suddenly turns red). Perception test (2 "light sticks" in a box 10' in front of you. Staff sets one stick in front or behind the other. You use a button to move the stick so it is beside the other one and they measure how close you got it. Repeat the test the opposite way.) Peripheral vision test. (This was a new one for me last year. There was a column on each side of the testing chair with a "light" around head-level. Instructor keys a light and you have to identify if it's red, green or yellow. Light might appear on your left or right side and be whatever colour the staff pick of the three.) Pro tip: the "testing chair" at the place I went to was inside a marked off square so you could move the chair forward or backward a bit. After you do the perception and reaction tests, move the chair back as far as allowable for the perception test so the lights are a bit further ahead of you. I had the chair fully forward and it ended up the lights were inline with my ears and hard to see. I could have moved the chair back almost a foot. First license is only good for two years. If I recall, unless you have a "yearly Visa" (i.e a Non-O or Non-B for example) you will only ever get a 2 year license. If you have a Non-O or Non-B (or other "long stay" Visa) then your first license will still be for 2 years but then you can renew it for 5 years after that. Also, fun fact, I recall that if you go to renew your license, do it around 11 months before your birthday. They will renew it to expire 5 years after your next birthday. So if your birthday is in November for example and you go to renew the license now, the new expiry date will be 5 years after your next birthday. Also note - it seems each DLT is it's own little "kingdom" with it's own interpretation of the rules. Just like Immigration, they have the laws and guidelines to follow, but the procedures at each place can be a little different. For example, one place might use a "colour wheel" for the colour vision test and another place may use the "traffic light" box. When I got my first (2 year) license, I didn't have to watch "the video). When I renewed it to get my 5 year license I didn't have to watch the video. But when I went to renew the 5 year license - I had to sit through the video. And just like a bank - if you have a problem getting a license at one DLT - try a different one. You can apply for your license - or renew it - at any DLT office no matter what your actual address is.
  14. Many years ago there was a bit of a scam with "private investigators". Guy meets bargirl. Agrees to send her "big money" every month so she "not have to work bar". Guy gets suspicious when he phones her and hears a guy's voice or "bar sounds". She says she's "just visiting her sister". Guy hires "private investigator". PI spies on the girl and when the time is ripe - propositions her. Either she sleeps with him (for free) or he tells her boyfriend that she slept with him (for money). Even if she wasn't working in a bar anymore. Then after she shags the guy - he tells the boyfriend that she slept with him anyways. So basically he got paid to bang a bar girl. And seriously - if you met her in a bar and are suspicious of her - break it off. You've already lost the "trust" test and you'll never get that again. From experience. If she says "she only work bar a few days" - it means she's only worked that bar for a few days and that she probably spent years working in other bars. If you are sending her money so she doesn't "have to work bar" - then it's likely that she's got the same arrangement with 2-3 (or more) other guys as well - and is still "working bar". Back in the early 00's there was a hot number working in the New Living Dolls 2 go-go bar. Her nickname was "56k" because that was how much her boobs cost (28k each and they were AWESOME). That was before every 2nd girl you saw had fake boobs. Turns out she had FIVE "boyfriends" sending her money every month to "not work bar" - and she was STILL "working bar". Her biggest problem was scheduling, trying to con different boyfriends into changing their travel plans so they didn't overlap. I won't go into 5 pages of details but I've known more than a few bar and go-go girls over the years and after awhile you learn to see the signs. The "going for coffee with her cousin" or "going to the salon" trips that last 5-6 hours - or they don't come back until the next day. The trips to their home village that they try to convince you not to go on because you'd be bored. Attempts to get you to change your holiday plans (usually because they'll be home "visiting sick momma" or something) - or they panic because you tell them you're going to stay a week or so longer than expected. (And suddenly they need to make a trip "home" and won't be there for that extra time.) Finding the 2nd "Facebook" page is always fun. Had that happen once when Facebook gave me a list of "friend suggestions" and one of them was the girl that was living with me. Except her name was in Thai and she was "in a relationship" with a guy she'd started seeing months earlier while she was living with me. Both profiles had a lot of the same friends but the other profile had - obviously - no pics of me or the places we'd gone to. Basically, if you met her "in a bar" and she speaks enough English to carry on a conversation with you then you can be sure she's been "in the game" for a long time and knows all the tricks of the trade. And if you hire a PI to "check her out" you can pretty much be guaranteed that the answer will be that she's "still in the game" - even if she's not (or wasn't - until the PI extorts her). And seriously - if you are suspicious - it's not like there aren't a million (literally) other options out there.
  15. So what, he punched a couple hospital workers and then ran away ? There's not mention of what happened after the initial assaults. Did they apprehend him at the hospital ? Is he running around Bangkok ? It looks like they got him at the end after the (security ? police ?) guy showed up. And if that was Canada you can bet the hospital staff and the (security/cop) would end up being forced to apologize to the guy and then there'd be an out of court settlement for "infringing on his rights" - even if he wasn't Canadian.

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