Trujillo

Photos?

I would not take the first words of the authorities as gospel. The fact that the vehicle was stolen is irrelevant (a faulty LPG installation which exploded would not differentiate between a registered car and a stolen one).

Something doesn't quite jibe with this story. If this was a terrorist attack, why in a place unlikely to have many people (possibly no one around) and at such a late hour and in a contained space?

It could be a terrorist act, but an inefficient one. It could also be a terrorist act that was triggered by accident, and which was meant for a different location. Or, it could just be an LPG explosion in a stolen car and have nothing to do with terrorism.

Let's see where the investigation leads.

I have ridden a Vespa for 20 years in Asia and a scooter for nine in Thailand, plus travel destinations in between.

My advice is this: If you have never ridden a scooter or motorbike, be very careful and take it slow and easy.

The fact is that you can't live here without your own transportation, period (forget what other posters say about taking a songtao, tuk tuk or taxi. If you were here for a few weeks, I'd say okay, but longer? No way.).

The fact is that drivers here can be somewhat free-form, rude (by Western standards -- nothing compared to say, Egyptians) and simply bad drivers.

However, having said that, don't be dissuaded by people here saying how dangerous and life-threatening driving a scooter is. These are similar comments to those made, for example, by people visiting the wet markets and saying, "Oh my God! The meats are laying out without refrigeration! And the flies! This stuff is not fit for human consumption. Look at the cooked foods sitting there in the heat all day! OMG!"

The truth is that if you drive moderately, keep your wits about you, gain experience through practice, keep with the flow of traffic (don't go too slow) and relax, you will have no problem.

Obviously, you need to have all your paperwork/licence/registration in order and always wear a lid. ...and don't drink before you drive.

Biking is great fun and opens your horizons. Do it!

So let me get this straight. This thread is about evading a police checkpoint. (Avoiding police trap on corner of Huaykaew and the moat)

If you have all the proper documents and are observing the law(s) (wearing a helmet, not driving illegally, etc.), then being stopped results in no action by the police (other than slightly delaying you).

So this thread is for those people who do not have the proper documentation (license, registration, etc.) and who are breaking one or more traffic laws (no helmet, driving while intoxicated, for example).

This is a very odd thread. How can we break the law(s) and avoid being caught. ...something seems somewhat amiss here.

will the police accept a photocopy of my thai license

What lame-brain would even think to ask this. Will the police in ANY country accept a photocopy of your driver's license? Come on! Thailand is an actual country with actual laws. It's not a simulation.

The kind of masks you see 99% of the people wearing are useless, as stated before. Doctors wear these surgical masks so that they do not breathe on the patient any germs or contaminants -- they are not used for the reverse.

As you enter mooban Suan Non See, on the left is a very green house with signs of before and after male pattern baldies.

It's free to inquire.. . .

Baldies extol baldness because they can't grow a full head of hair. Like impotent people claiming that sex is highly overrated....

1. Placebo effect.....a fake treatment with no medical value, such as an inactive ingredient, given to the subject in order to deceive the patient into thinking there is beneficial qualities to the treatment.

That must be over by the Burmese immigration building, yes?

I have a 1956 Ford Prefect and would like to replace the Mitsubishi dash that was installed by the previous owner.

Anyone know of a shop that has custom ones or templates?

Thanks.

As Dave Barry used to say, "I'm not making this up," and actually, I'm not. It's totally true.

About (and here I am not quite sure since at the time it didn't seem something I would want to measure) three months ago, probably a bit more, I bought some smallish, red apples. Red Delicious maybe? They came in a pack of four or five I think. I like apples, but never think to eat one. So in some spastic, "I ought to eat something healthy, like a apple," I bought these at one of our well-known chain supermarkets.

They sat in the fridge for probably two and a half weeks, during which time I ate one or two. After a while I thought even if the rest were okay to eat, they'd probably gone pithy so I took them out and threw them at the squirrels in the back, except one. This one I put on my kitchen counter. Dont' ask me why.

Anyway, it didn't really change in appearance over the next month. Finally, impressed with whatever chemical preservative was used on these babies, I move the apple to the very back of the property, and put it on top of a white-painted concrete fence post.

And there it sat...even though the recent several days of rain.

I present a photo of it for your study.

It does not seem to be degrading in any visible way. As I said, it's probably coming up on about four months now, at least three of those unrefrigerated.

It is a marvel of modern food preservation. I am thinking of making a shrine around it and offering the locals a chance to make merit in the form of donations to the miracle of THE APPLE. Larger denomination notes make THE APPLE happier than smaller ones....

I hope no one in my neighborhood buys any. I hate those MFers...shrieking at all hours of the night...If I see a rooster in my neighborhood, and I can get to it, it's definitely going to be a "late rooster."

I assume you are going to get the visa outside Thailand since that's where you must be. I was refused a retirement visa about 6 years ago in Los Angeles because I have failed to get a police report (which my local copper in Thailand immigration said I didn't need).

Better to have too much than not enough.

I don't want to argue with uptheos, but there were agents in line this morning, some at least did have multiple passports with them. I don't know how you can prioritize yourself in an online first-come, first-serve set up.

For retirement, you can't just have someone submit your passport and re-entry form and you then pick it up later all ready to go. Unless they changed things, you could not even file for a re-entry permit before you received your new extension since without the new extension, there is nothing to use to re-enter with.

Of course if there is actually a service that can make all this happen and all you have to do it cough up money and come pick up the goods, please PM me with the contact details.

The agents do get places in line. Moreover, each agent has multiple passports, so a single person in line can take multiple numbers.

Trying to get a retirement extension, and find that the agents are lining up starting at 2am. A few foreigners come at 4am and others at 5am. If you come later than 3am you may not get a number. The office officially opens at 8:30am.

There is an emergency line, for those whose visa is up the same day or if there is some other kind of "emergency."

I'm not sure what to think about this. If I come to the office at opening time, I will never get a number. I could spend every day of my retirement going to the immigration office to be turned away, overstaying for years, dying at the door without a number.

For a country that supposedly puts emphasis on respecting the elderly, this situation is abysmal. Are 75 year old retirees expected to stand in the dark (and cold) at 2am in the morning to get a number five hours later? Then get another number some time after the office opens in another hour and a half? And then wait until your time comes...probably after lunch.

Time to do your immigration business in some other, less populated city.

"Don't pass Thapae Gate at night; ever."

You mean inside the moat or outside?

If you have a valid licence, are wearing a helmet and your bike is currently registered...and you have not been drinking, what the problem?

Over the years I've seen many posts where the poster wishes to brag about his Thai language ability. This is the only one I've seen where he got away with Thai script. I'm going to write him in for the Poster of the Year award.

First, I was not "bragging" about my Thai ability; that would be absurd.

Second, I disagree with this being moved to the language forum simply because it has Thai language in it. The original post WAS NOT about learning, speaking, spelling or pronouncing Thai, or derivations therein. It was about packaging in a supermarket known to cater to foreigners that was labeled without English (and being a product that could have been misconstrued).

Having said that, I don't understand being vilified for taking the time and effort to go to school (university) and learn to read and write the language of the country where I have made my home. Sure, I have pride in the fact that I actually knuckled down and did the work to get to the point where I am, but the level I have "mastered" is not that high, certainly not good enough to even consider "bragging" about it.

This thread should be moved back to the Chiang Mai forum since it is not related to the following: "Thai language forum. Learn to speak, and read Thai in a supportive environment." It's about labeling in a Chiang Mai supermarket.

Oh and thanks for the Poster of the Year award nomination....

If you go to BigC on the Superhighway (Chiang Mai Business Park) you will find in the pet section a stand-alone freezer that contains the same kind of meat in a colorful package with a drawing of a dog's head on it.

I did think of tasting the Rimping meat, but after I cooked it, it was clear it was the same stuff as in BigC. I did try it in the past; it tastes gritty and has a strange, "That's not ground beef" flavor.

Having said that, it's edible if you were in dire straits.

Maybe something like in Guangzhou, China?

High-quality units (made in UK?) at very reasonable prices, far under 10K, at Index Living Mall.

Ah, so it's an editing problem. I understand now. Pardon my earlier construction:

For those that don't read Thai I'd like to bring it to your attention that I was in Rimping (Meechok Plaza) today and saw at the front end of the frozen meat section a pack of what looked very much like a big lump of hamburger meat (3/4 of a kilo) for 45 baht. When I picked it up I saw, to my mild surprise (this is "Farang We Speak the English Supermarket") that there was no English on the label. It read:

"Bone appetit!"

Uptheos, thanks for sharing your skills at being snide.

I walked in there right after it opened -- I think the buffet was 250 baht then (could be mistaken) -- and it seemed that about 80 percent of the food was Indian.

I did see a few dishes that were clearly not Indian, but I'd be interested in what others think.

I didn't eat there, so I have nothing to comment on that. But I did think, "Uh, they must be from the Babylonian part of India..."

I was in Rimping (Meechok Plaza) today and saw at the front end of the frozen meat section a pack of what looked very much like a big lump of hamburger meat (3/4 of a kilo) for 45 baht. When I picked it up I saw, to my mild surprise (this is "Farang We Speak the English Supermarket") that there was no English on the label. It read:

"Bone appetit!"

You seem to know a lot about Rimping's customers, (Thank you) when did you do your research and how many people did you interview? (My studies are confidential but rest assured that the sample size was sufficient to allow me to obtain a confidence level of 95 percent, a standard deviation of 0.5 percent with a margin of error of +/- 5 percent.) I don't know which Rimping ypu surveyed, (Meechok Plaza) but at Nawarat branch most Thais have no farang 'significant other' (Really? When did you do your research and how many people did you interview?), whatever that is (You seriously don't know the meaning of "significant other"?). It it was interesting to learn that Japanese and South Koreans shop there because it is more expensive. (Not just because it is more expensive, but because they relate cost with reliability and safety. If something costs more, it must be worth more. Unpackaged produce lying loose without refrigeration at 5 baht a bunch compared to the same item packaged and perceived to have been washed and additive-free under refrigeration at 12 baht a bunch -- which is the "safer" option?)