Kerryd

How many of you went directly to the Walking Street cameras to see if you could spot if your "teerak" was really just out visiting her "sister" ?

There is also an app that lets you see all (well, "most") of those Traffic Cameras scattered around the country.

It's called iTic.



Works better on a phone than a PC it seems.

After you open the app you see a map of Thailand. On the right side are 4 small squares (3 white, 1 black). Click on that and you'll see 6 icons. Each will show different information like the current pollution index (the AQI icon), gas station locations and so on.

The "Traffic cone" icon will show you all those Traffic Cams scattered around the country. Click on one and it will show you the live feed from that camera.

Note that it seems they are not (yet) linked to all the traffic cameras as I've seen a number of cameras on different roads that don't appear on their map so I'm guessing it's a work in progress.

Also, when I first installed it, I could click on the gas pump icon and it showed me literally every (major) gas station in the country. Doesn't seem to be working now for some reason. Could be the internet, could be the app.

It can be a handy tool at times. Like if you're about to head downtown and you see that it's wall-to-wall traffic jammed up at one intersection or you see it's pouring rain on the way to (wherever).

Would be nice if they could use it with Google Maps so you could change the language and use it for trip planning. Maybe one day......
 

So he "hid" for 19 years in the same city, undetected, that his mother lived in and the crime was committed in.

Makes you wonder why the police were questioning his mother at all after that long of time.

Perhaps trying to close out some "cold cases" before the Statute of Limitations expires ?

Note:
The Statute of Limitations for offenses punishable by (death, life imprisonment or sentences exceeding 20 years) is 20 years (in Thailand).
For offenses punishable by sentences between 7-20 years, the Limitation is 15 years.
For offenses punishable by 1-7 years, the Limitation is 10 years.

Take the case of the Red Bull heir (Vorayuth Yoovidhya).

"Wichian Klanprasert, a Thai police officer, was killed by Vorayuth Yoovidhya, grandson of billionaire Red Bull co-founder Chaleo Yoovidhya, in a hit-and-run incident in Bangkok, Thailand, on 3 September 2012.
 

Vorayuth, then 27, was charged with speeding, fleeing the scene of an accident, and reckless driving causing death, but has never been arrested.
The statute of limitations on the speeding charge expired in September 2013, and on the fleeing the scene of an accident charge in September 2017.

The statute of limitations for the reckless driving causing death charge will expire in 2027.
(Apparently all charges against him were dropped in July 2020.)

(No reason given for why the charges were dropped but basically he just has to wait for 3 more years and he too can return to a hero's welcome with no fear of being arrested.)

OMG !
He drove 500kms to see a baby hippo ! 

Surely Hollywood must be planning a major motion picture about this exploit ! 

"The man who spent part of a day driving to another province so his wife could see a baby hippo - and lived to tell the tale !"
(Sure to be a bigger hit than Joker: Folie À Deux !) 

Sheesh, I've ridden (motorcycle) over 600 kms in a day to visit an old bridge (over the Kwai River) in Kanchanburi and Khmer temple (Muang Sing) and then down to Ratchaburi to link up with friends.
Or 500+ kms in a day to visit historical parks in Khamphaeng Phet and Sukothai.

On one trip I rode close to 1800kms in 3 days from "Chon Buri" to Ubon, Yasathon, Roi Et, Surin (and other provinces) and back, stopping to visit old Khmer temples along the way. I visited 23 ancient Khmer sites basically in 3 days. (Many sites were little more than a few old stones sticking out of the ground or a lone Stupha/Chedi in the middle of a field so I didn't spend a lot of time at them.)

Just this year, I rode to Chachoengsao in the morning to renew my driving license. When I finished I looked at my watch, thought about what little I had to do (for the next 20ish years), got on the bike and rode to Buriram so I could wake up at 5am the next day and attend the Sunrise Ceremony at the Phanom Rung temple - and then rode back to Pattaya.

If spending part of a day driving in an air-conditioned car to go see a baby hippo at a zoo is a newsworthy accomplishment - then my "exploits" should be ranked up there with legendary figures like Leonidas and Heracles and Achilles !  

Remember, this is the country where a senior gov't official publicly chastised a well known (female) singer for doing too many "pelvic thrusts" during her performances.

Which basically caused a fad that still goes one with almost every singer doing a few at some point during their performances.

22 hours ago, Thungrat said:

And you don´t need a statement anymore, only a copy of this fixed accout passbook?

By "statement" do you mean the "bank letter" certifying that it is your account ? Or are you talking about "bank statements showing monthly deposits" ?

Yeah, you still need the "bank letter".
But you don't have to show a "statement" showing any activity on the account. Fixed Term accounts don't usually have a lot of transactions aside from the annual interest deposit.

In Jomtien what I do each year is prepare all my paperwork in the week before I have to submit my application.
Then the day before I go, I head over the the bank, update my bank book and get the "bank letter".

Then photocopy the first page of the book (that has your name on it) and the page with the updated balance, sign the photocopies and that's it.

It usually doesn't take more than 4-5 minutes when you sit down with the IO and they check your paperwork - if you have everything done ahead of time.

That's how I've been doing it for the last 13 years now anyways.

Note !
Some Immigration Offices may have different requirements.
It used to be that Immigration wanted to see a "savings" account with transactions listed (deposits and withdrawals) to show you were using that money to "live on" while in Thailand.

As that was the entire purpose of having the money in the bank - to make sure you had enough to live on for one year.

At Jomtien they didn't worry if it was a Savings or Fixed Term account or if there were any transactions on the account. So long as the money was there when you did your application they were happy.

And. Some Immigration Offices wanted people to update their bank books and get their bank letter on the same day as they made their application !

That wasn't really practical to expect people to wait until the banks opened, get their bank letter and bankbook updated, then try to get to Immigration and find there's already 300 people ahead of you in line and they've stopped handing out queue numbers for the day.

Note:
I am discussing different policies with my Insurance Provider now as I may change my motorcycle policy to something better this year.

They sent me this comparison chart. Note they have even more "classes" of insurance for a total of 9 !



Right now I have no idea what the difference is between Class 1 and Class 1 "Comprehensive Value".

The only difference between the two classes of "First Care 2+" seem to be that one covers you in the event of a terrorism event and the other one doesn't.

But each insurance provider may have different coverage amounts and different clauses in their policies.

So if you don't like the coverage or cost at one place, go to another.

The Human Rights Council is often made up of the worst human rights abusers in the world.

They get on those councils for the specific purpose of cancelling/deleting/deflecting any investigations or resolutions aimed at their own actions.

While usually being quick to heap blame on everyone else (especially Israel) for their alleged "rights abuses".

And - they can be bought. Easily.

Note that the same Human Rights council has almost never (or just "never") condemned Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, the Palestinians or even the Syrians for "human rights abuses".

But they have passed HUNDREDS of "motions" and "resolutions" and "reports" about alleged abuses by Israel.

Funny how that works ?

 

On my last trip from Canada about 5 years ago, I had packed some stuff including a "bali-song" knife and a couple brand-new Leatherman multi-tools in my checked suitcase.

I had stupidly bought one of those "special" suitcases that Customs has the "special code" for the combo lock so they can open your bag without having to cut the lock off.

I was sitting at the Departure Gate reading a book when 3 cops (RCMP) showed up looking for me.
When my checked bag went through security screening, they saw some "interesting" stuff and because they had the code to open the suitcase, decided to do some snooping.

They found the Leathermans - which were perfectly legal. And they found the bali-song - which was illegal in Canada.

So they removed the bali-song and put a printed page inside the suitcase to let me know that it had been opened by Customs.
After a 5 minute conversation with the 3 cops, they were satisfied I probably wasn't an Al Qaeda terrorist and left.

And of course, when I get home (in Thailand) and open my suitcase, I see the note - and see that the 3 brand new Leathermans had also gone missing along with the Balisong.

That's when I realised - the scanner had seen the Leathermans on the x-ray and they opened my suitcase to look at them and then found the bali-song knife. 
They wanted to keep the Leathermans so they took them, knowing I'd be long gone before ever realising they were missing.
They used the bali-song as the excuse for opening my suitcase.

If I'd used a normal suitcase with a separate lock on it, they probably would have skipped right past it. But knowing they could open the bag and "snoop" without me knowing it gave them the opportunity to do just that. 
And they did.

 

Water looks calm in that photo but the Gulf has had a lot of waves in recent weeks.

And an overloaded barge with a loose cargo that can shift unexpectedly can be a serious problem.

Lucky for them they were in fairly shallow waters apparently or that thing would have sunk like a rock in seconds.

The "M6" is a stretch of new highway, elevated in some places, that follows the #2 highway for a ways, starting on the west side Pak Chong district.
It splits away from the 2 at the East side of the Lumtakong reservoir and takes a more "northern" route to Korat.

It connects to highway 204 on the West side of the city of Nakhon Ratchasima.

I thought this was supposed to be some kind of "superhighway" when it was first announced but most of it just seems to be the same, lame, 2 lanes (each way) cement highway that will need extensive rebuilding every 3-4 years.

Wasn't this highway connected to the Chinese (owned/operated/profited from for decades) high speed rail project ?

For starters - look at the second picture. That is not a u-turn.

That is the overpass that starts at the Boonthavorn shop (heading south towards Sattahip), about 3 kms before you get to the Highway 332 intersection.

I just came back that way last night in fact, going the other way.
(Just after the rain in Pattaya stopped and the flooding went down.)

It appears that the one of the riders probably took the overpass lane and the other rider didn't realize it in time and tried to cut from the "old road" onto the overpass lane while speeding along and misjudged it, hitting the sign that points to the different lanes.

This is the exact same overpass but heading North. Google's image of the North lanes is dated June 2024 but their image of the South lanes (the Boonthavorn side of the overpass where the accident happened) is dated Oct 2023 when construction was still ongoing.

Both ends of the overpass are virtually identical though.




Maybe they call it a "u-turn" as there is a u-turn under the middle of the overpass.
 

I lol at everyone who seems to think that shipping "foreign foods" from (the UK, America, Europe or even Australia) is "free" and that Thailand wouldn't have any Import Duties and Tariffs on it.

Of course it's going to be more expensive ! Just like buying authentic "Thai" or other "foreign" foods would be back in your home countries.

If it's such a burden for you, simply send some money to family/friends "back home", have them run around and do some shopping for you and then mail it to you (don't use a courier like FedEx or DHL though).

Make sure you track what the item(s) cost "back home", add the postage/shipping fees and hope it slips past Customs without them tacking on (I think it's about 20%).

I recently ordered some very hot sauce from Amazon. Paid about $112.
Paid through the nose for shipping because it was shipped via FedEx (not by choice).

Paid through the nose again because FedEx was playing stupid games to add more fees to the invoice.

The actual Customs Duties and Fees on the order came out to almost bang on 20%.

So imagine a shop doing the same thing. Right off the bat they'd literally have to double the price of that sauce to pay for it, the shipping and Duties.

PLUS add on their own mark-up to pay for the shop's expenses and labour.

And maybe, if they're lucky, they'll be able to make a small profit.

While listening to everyone whine about why it costs so much more here than "back home".

Quote

the conflict began when Mr. Tosawat, accompanied by Mr. Sitthiporn, went to visit his girlfriend at a hotel in Soi Khao Noi.

Uh huh. Always take a buddy with you when you go to visit your "girlfriend" at a "hotel" (that probably has a "heart" and "Open 24 hours, rooms by the hour" sign outside it).

And she sounds like a winner. Has a guy in bed and two more on the way.
Makes you wonder how Mr Tosawat knew where she was.

And how it seems Mr. Thapakornkrit just happened to have a bunch of friends in a pickup very close by to come to his rescue.

Got to love how the suspects had to sit in the middle of a truckload of bottled water in the back of the police truck.
 

This is the second time in the last couple of months where it was reported that Indian "nationals" were working - selling food from carts.

Last time it was about a fight between different "Indian nationals" selling food from carts. This time it's an ice cream vendor.

I must have missed the announcement that made it legal for foreigners to work without a work permit or Visa, in jobs supposedly "reserved" for Thais.

Because neither article said a whisper about them working illegally and as we know, catching foreigners working illegally - or overstaying their Visas, is priority one for the BiB.

On one hand, assorted gov'ts in recent years have "vowed" to "get rid of the sex trade" (mainly in Pattaya for some reason).

And now on the other hand, they want to decriminalize it (I'm sure it's mainly so they can tax it).

So they don't "want their cake" - but they do want to tax it.

Just another day in "The Hub of Hubs".

Edit - seems the emoji is still there. Odd as I scrolled through the entire list twice and couldn't see it.

Come back  an hour later and there it is !

Necro-post !

I went to insert an emoji into a post and it seems it's been removed ?

It was the one of the smiley facing a fan and "something" hits the fan and sprays the smiley.

Been searching google and different "emoji" forums and sites but I can't find that one.

Lots of other (lame) emojis that are the same idea, but not the one with the InVision smiley.