Eddy B

Good to hear that they did not ask for any tea money for the immigration officers who visited your home. I was instructed by the officer I dealt with to have 3K in an envelope ready for them. Again this was at a different immigration office than the one you went to. Happy it went well with no problems for you.

I still don't understand why we keep going from drought to flood each year and the Thai's seem to have no idea how to fix this problem. Their answer is always to send their planes into a cloudless sky with their magic powder to make it rain. Why don't they build some water retaining facilities so that when there is a lot of water they can use the trucks that with hoses can suck up excess water and store it in a water plant. When there is a lack of water they can then fill the trucks and send them out to fill the canals and fields. Not a completely silly idea but I guess to logical and of course not something that they think will make money. Oh well at least the Thai's enjoyed Songkran.

"A glass bottle was found in the woman's abdomen'???? What the hell??? Did he shove it up her ass?? Wow, this guy needs to be seriously locked up and a full history of his past travels investigated. He seems to be a serial nut job and I bet this is not the only case that has similar circumstance evidence. Crazy!!

We have a couple of Chinese cemeteries around where I live. Anywhere that has a high population of Thai/Chinese will have them dotted about.

You can get the stamp in your old passport transferred to your new passport and the cost is free. They should not ask for any payment but you might have to wait and fill out a form before they do it. You could also just carry both passports as long as the date in your old one is still valid.

No one should have to pay for a work permit. All people employed should be go to a labour office with their paper work to be put in the database and be given a card to provide their employment details. I think they are maybe hitting the Myanmar workers harder because they will not get any tax payments from them at the end financial year as they will not have earned enough money............so get as much up front. Children should not have to pay anything as for one they are not being employed but if they are then it is nothing more than slave labour/sweater shop tactics.

You need to go in the morning to apply for the tourist visa and the following day at 1pm pick-up a ticket from the security box to pick your passport up. It is a 2 day process so you need to be at the embassy/consulate near Pizza company at least by 8:30 am as the queses will be long after a long holiday. The 16th of April should be the first day they re-open so be there early!!!!

Thailand has this one now. http://blog.motorcycle.com/2014/03/25/products/yamaha-releases-tricity-three-wheel-scooter-in-thailand/

Hi guys

I will on the 27th of this month be driving to Mukdahan to enter Loas to Savannakhet. I have driven alot in Thailand but never this route before. It will be a long journey of about 680KM or at least 10-12 hours. I was hoping that guys who have done this trip could give me some advice on decent not too expensive places to stay in Mukdahan and also Savannakhet. Any advice is much appreciated, I will also be going with my wife and as we all know they like to have a good place to eat. Any info on good restaurants would be appreciated also.

Cheers Eddy B

Becareful that your house area does not become over-run with snakes as they will be looking for food and these frogs are what they like. We have them around my neighbourhood and yep they only start to sing in the rain or if there are pools of water for them to breed in.

Alcohol is available where I am in a northern province, I do know that the main area set up for the Songkran main activities have banned alcohol sales but otherwise it is a normal day here and will be during the rest of the holiday. It sounds like they are trying to squeeze some money out of your poor MIL. This is not an official Buddhist holiday so they have no rights to stop her selling unless she is in a designated no selling zone near a Songkran activity site.

The Indian man was robbed of a gold ring worth Bt15,000, a mobile phone worth Bt2,000 and Bt35,000 in cash. The robbery took place in front of Soi 7 off the beach road in Tambon Nong Plua of Bang Lamung district.

And from the original report:

Moments later a group of 5 young Thai men approached Mr. Rajoo and used pieces of wood to strike him over the head. He fell to the ground and the gang proceeded to steal 50,000 Baht and 2,500 US Dollars from his trouser pockets.

No, this isnt 'blame the victim' time, but clearly there is a large discrepancy between what the gang claim they managed to get their hands on and what the victim initially claimed he lost. I'll leave that to the detectives here at the Thaivisa Criminal Investigations Bureau.

This remains my favorite part of the entire saga:

Pattaya police chief Pol Col Sukthat Pumphanmuang held a press conference at 10:30 am to announce the arrest of Somchart Aiyala, alias Od, a resident of Surin.

..

Sukthat said police checked the footage of a security camera at the spot and found that the five men who robbed Rajoo were members of the Nipa Lord Intersection gang that is led by a leader known only as “Off the big foot”. Sukthat said Off is still on the run.

I realise that nicknames are an integral part of Thai culture, but we've got a thief named Od telling Police they need to look for a guy called 'Off' and they're both members of a gang whose origins are as specific as a single intersection ? I need a drink.

I was thinking the same thing. The crime details and the amount of money stolen from both stories do not add up. So who is telling the lies? The victim, the gang that did this to him or the BIB??

I am a smoker and I know that it is bad for me but that's my choice and if the worse comes I will have no one to blame but myself. If I am with friends and I know they do not smoke or do not like smoke around them I will go for a small stroll away while enjoying my cancer stick. For anyone living in bkk or any city with high road vehicle usage this is just as bad unless you are wearing a gas-mask. Since I have lived here I have seen tax shoot up hand over fist on cigarettes so of course the governments here and world wide do not want us to quit as they are making far to much money and if we did quit they would just find another thing to tax. Maybe in another 60-100yrs we will be taxed on of much oxygen we breathe per day. Now that is scary!!!

Nice. I am glad I will not be in Chiang mai for Songkran. I will stay at home during the day to miss all these unique ways to die and chill with a beer

Electrics most likely

I had to get a employment cancellation letter from my school when I was stopped at a border crossing a few years ago. They would not let me out without one being faxed to them as the border crossing was not just down the road for me. Luckily my girlfriend went to my employers, who then with the letter went to the labour office. Back to my employers with a letter from the labour office for the boss to sign and then faxed. Caused my hassle and 2 hours stranded in the immigration office at the border. I was not the only person in the same situation. By law I am sure that your employer must provide the letter if you request it. If they refuse go to the labour office and explain your situation and see if they can help you, take a Thai that you trust if you can. Good luck!

Next month the usual headlines "Drought in Thailand, we have no water for growing rice". Cry me a river.....................

No wind, no clouds, no flipping rain. I do not expect this to change tomorrow or the day after, this is the sweat-box month of Thailand.

This is another case of the police not seeing the tree because of the forest. They never go for the big time crimes because they are payed off or also employed by certain people...........but some one posts a silly non dangerous advert then they go into overdrive as if the person is a global criminal! Thai police are one of the worst public servants I have ever had to come across.............arrogant and completely useless!!

It is definitely a bottom feeder but the ones I have seen here are usually black. I once had one grow to at least 12 inches long.

The "Hub of morality"! LOL

It might be a good idea to start up like what the UK had years ago. YTS. Youth, training, scheme. Schools allow a jobs adviser to meet students who contacts companies around the area who other different kinds of occupations. When students are in high school, say M4. They are sent to meet the councilor and are offered one day a week, on the job experience at whatever jobs are available. This will give them experience and will also help them to choose a field that they are interested in to study at university and after a job that they will have experience in. That's just an idea.......................