Keith67

I admit, I complain a lot here, but here's a true story on the positive spectrum:

I had gone to the local outdoor market to buy veges. I must have unwittingly put my wallet down. Anyhow, I didn't realize it until I got to my home, several Km away. I went back out to all the places I had been that afternoon. No avail. On my way home on dark country road, a guy on a motorbike coming the other way, flagged me down. Apparently, he had been at the market, and people were gathered around looking at the photo-ID in my wallet, trying to decipher who it belonged to. The guy was someone who had fixed my car one day, 10 years prior, and he remembered where my house was. He came with the wallet to try and find me, but I wasn't home - so he flagged my down on the dirt road as we were about to pass in the dark. No money in the wallet, but nice to get it back.

A good story with a good result, the cash in peoples wallets is not usually the biggest value it is the bank cards, driving licence and other things we keep in them, it becomes a complete nightmare when lost in any foreign country. I also assume the cash would have been used for reward for the safe return of the wallet anyway.

My wife is shopping various domestic trips on all the discount airlines. Prices change daily, and we're looking about 2 weeks ahead. How can you be a world traveler & not know this? The single, most expensive way to book a trip: Wait till the last minute & book at the airport.

You are correct in what you say although a decade ago the cheapest way was to book last minute at the airport as the flight was about to leave, just shows how travel has changed dramatically.

No shark would loan that amount, unsecured.

there must be a guarantor somewhere along the line,ask her who it is,that way you might find out if she's telling you the truth.

No guarantor required if she borrowed it from the motorbike loansharks on the Honda CBR150's you see floating around, but the downside is they have no problems in taking her into the farms and making use of their fists, feet or motorbike helmets for non-payment issues, the lagal rate in Thailand is B5 per B100 borrowed but most paperwork will have no interest rate written on it that is done by word of mouth so no police proof would exist. Aso you should check to see if she is in fact paying the loan back monthly or just the interest as many pay the interest for years and still owe the amount borrowed.

i will leave the clubbing you into silence to you landlord when they find you are planning on leaving the country without paying your debt first.

May i remind you that you were the one that talked about respect and morality when you stated that

"Imagine going through life modifying your behaviour due to how you think others will judge you. How sad."

Maybe if you had done just that instead of abusing the good nature of you landlord and staff you wouldn't have to think up plans and schemes to remove your personal belongings from where you live prior to anyone finding out you are leaving or have already left. My opinion of you still stands unchanged.

P.S

I was taught many years ago, you have to respect yourself before you can respect others a position you should not find yourself in for a long time if ever.

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Since self-esteem is as fundamental to survival as air and water and food, I'm sure my capacities of rationalization and justification, as infinite in myself as the rest of mankind, will help me continue to soldier on.

I consider myself fortunate if these types of crimes against humanity are the worst I've inflicted on the world by the time I've shuffled off this mortal coil. . .

FunFon i have no will or no desire to discuss any further with you the way you have conducted yourself in the country you chose to live or the way you treated the people whom helped and allowed you to exist here, i am sure you will get your "just deserts" be it before you leave or after Karma can be a bitch sometimes as i am sure you will no doubt find out in the not so distant future.

Similar to theBlether last weekend.

Brake pedal went to floor at the entrance to Khao Yai NP. Crawled down the hill in low gear expecting the worst because I don't speak a word of Thai, it's Saturday and a holiday weekend and I'm a 2 hour drive from home.

Found a tiny shop, no inventory at all. He starts to work, takes the bad hose, off on his scooter and back in 10 minutes with a new one in the shrink wrap. Another few minutes, some stomping on the pedal to bleed the air and he's done.

Now, this guy has me by the short and curlies and I'm expecting to wince at the cost.

Tries to charge me all of 400 baht ($13). Handed him 2000, knowing it would have cost at least twice that "back home".

Actions like this are why many Thais overcharge us living here.

400 baht is a days wages.

2000 baht is a Weeks wages!

That's like giving a mechanic in England 500 pounds.

Please stop this.

are you crazy 300 bhat is the min wage, mist Thais make 1000 bath a day, they have work all day, they do something more in the evening.. you are fooling yourself, the Thais around you are not only happy, they have more money than you most times

Not exactly true: Tesco/Lotus pay thier staff B8,900 p/m a garden maintainance worker in Bangkok gets paid B250-300 per day a local village worker cutting sugar cane, picking rice or cuttin down eucalyptus trees get B200 per day maybe a slilled worker employed in a large company may earn B1000 per day, all this aside though most of the over tipping as people are complaining about occur in the tourist areas Phuket, Pattaya, Bangkok and Chiang Mai and as it's mainly restricted to bar areas that most expats only frequent occasionally i don't see it should be a real issue.

The Thais around you are making more money <deleted>.

There has been some great posts on this thread but your's is not one of them if you start thinking like that there is. no hope for you. Unfortunately for me when I have had a good time among these amazing people it's Santa Claus is back in town it all depends who you socialize with same as anyplace in the big wide world.

And I don't regret any moment if it apart from the sore heid in the morning.

PS,

Not only in Thailand but many places were the average person is poor,

I feel great about it I started of poor myself never to be forgotten .

To much wine before posting fair comment on wrong post.

Your post is fair.

Velly sorry.

No problem.

Well, few years ago i saw a bunch of guys splashing the thousands for lady drinks, picking up the ladies and getting in a argument at late night with a song-taew driver over 20 Baht..

Disgusting, if you ask me...

Personally as a cheap charlie, i think in Asia it's just foolish to pay more..But a tip can be appreciated.

I prefer not to splash the money, and i can choose to tip the hard working people when the service is good.

Priorities go out of the window when people travel to Thailand for holidays myself included when i used to come for holidays many years ago, you pay excessive amounts for certain things and complain about the prices of others, there is no justification for it it just happens, the reality of things tend to sink in when people come and live here i.e. make comitments to g/f and her family buy land, houses, cars and motorbikes, much the same as they do in any country after all when on holiday be it Spain,Italy, Thailand or any other country in the world people always have an excess of cash for entertainment but they go home after the holiday and still have electric, water, gas, loan payments to come form their salary, the main difference here is most people live off savings or pensions and unless you are among the fortunate minority who have neverending bank balances you have to budget also.

i will leave the clubbing you into silence to you landlord when they find you are planning on leaving the country without paying your debt first.

May i remind you that you were the one that talked about respect and morality when you stated that

"Imagine going through life modifying your behaviour due to how you think others will judge you. How sad."

Maybe if you had done just that instead of abusing the good nature of you landlord and staff you wouldn't have to think up plans and schemes to remove your personal belongings from where you live prior to anyone finding out you are leaving or have already left. My opinion of you still stands unchanged.

P.S

I was taught many years ago, you have to respect yourself before you can respect others a position you should not find yourself in for a long time if ever.

Thai airways online price is B10,395 and air asia is quoting B9,700 both 1 way so you will not get a cheaper flight at any agent i would assume.

The way i see it is, it's not about keeping Thais in their place it's more a case of finding an equal balance of kindness and not stupidty, by giving large tips yes it makes you feel good and you feel you have made the reciever of your generosity feel good too, not always the case it could be seen as belittling them because you have far more money than them and you can afford it and they couldn't, anyone who lives in a Thai village has probably heard the stories of the farang who has to show he's got big money, those stories are usually from the recipients of these large tips and payments that most assume is making everybody feel better.Just my opinion.

--

And I have no respect for anyone that would refrain from indulging in their desire to be (IYO over-) generous just to prevent the locals from thinking him a fool.

Imagine going through life modifying your behaviour due to how you think others will judge you. How sad. . .

-

-

You have no respect for my opinion although you owe your Thai landlord large sums of money for unpaid rent and staff that you could not

afford will not receive the agreed sevence pay or unpaid salary, You quite clearly state on here how you plan to return to your home country to repay the

debts you have accumulated over many years of living in Thailand with the debts you are now accumulating from borrowing money from friends and relatives from your home country or are these payment not loans more replies to the begging letters you sent?, You allowed yourself to outlive your bank balance with no concern for the Thai people you claim to admire so greatly PLEASE respect from the likes of you is something i would not require or need. You are a disgrace to yourself and your country wherever you are from.

I personally think the concept of Christmas is still the same but religion has changed dramatically over the past 2-3 decades as has most western religions i.e. Catholicism and Christianity basically due the bad publicity received by both churches, people do not take kindly to church hierarchy covering for child molesters and paedophiles within their communities hence the dropping number of church goers, this doesn't mean they are non-believers in the faith just in the ambassadors entrusted to promote it. The latest accusations being laid at the feet of the recently resigned Pope, people have to ask how he could be allowed to gain the highest position possible within the Catholic Church with the now proven knowledge of what he had done.

Similar to theBlether last weekend.

Brake pedal went to floor at the entrance to Khao Yai NP. Crawled down the hill in low gear expecting the worst because I don't speak a word of Thai, it's Saturday and a holiday weekend and I'm a 2 hour drive from home.

Found a tiny shop, no inventory at all. He starts to work, takes the bad hose, off on his scooter and back in 10 minutes with a new one in the shrink wrap. Another few minutes, some stomping on the pedal to bleed the air and he's done.

Now, this guy has me by the short and curlies and I'm expecting to wince at the cost.

Tries to charge me all of 400 baht ($13). Handed him 2000, knowing it would have cost at least twice that "back home".

Actions like this are why many Thais overcharge us living here.

400 baht is a days wages.

2000 baht is a Weeks wages!

That's like giving a mechanic in England 500 pounds.

Please stop this.

are you crazy 300 bhat is the min wage, mist Thais make 1000 bath a day, they have work all day, they do something more in the evening.. you are fooling yourself, the Thais around you are not only happy, they have more money than you most times

Not exactly true: Tesco/Lotus pay thier staff B8,900 p/m a garden maintainance worker in Bangkok gets paid B250-300 per day a local village worker cutting sugar cane, picking rice or cuttin down eucalyptus trees get B200 per day maybe a slilled worker employed in a large company may earn B1000 per day, all this aside though most of the over tipping as people are complaining about occur in the tourist areas Phuket, Pattaya, Bangkok and Chiang Mai and as it's mainly restricted to bar areas that most expats only frequent occasionally i don't see it should be a real issue.

The Thais around you are making more money <deleted>.

There has been some great posts on this thread but your's is not one of them if you start thinking like that there is. no hope for you. Unfortunately for me when I have had a good time among these amazing people it's Santa Claus is back in town it all depends who you socialize with same as anyplace in the big wide world.

And I don't regret any moment if it apart from the sore heid in the morning.

PS,

Not only in Thailand but many places were the average person is poor,

I feel great about it I started of poor myself never to be forgotten .

I don't know how you did that jocko, my coment is only the last paragrph in red but you made it all look like mine.

Similar to theBlether last weekend.

Brake pedal went to floor at the entrance to Khao Yai NP. Crawled down the hill in low gear expecting the worst because I don't speak a word of Thai, it's Saturday and a holiday weekend and I'm a 2 hour drive from home.

Found a tiny shop, no inventory at all. He starts to work, takes the bad hose, off on his scooter and back in 10 minutes with a new one in the shrink wrap. Another few minutes, some stomping on the pedal to bleed the air and he's done.

Now, this guy has me by the short and curlies and I'm expecting to wince at the cost.

Tries to charge me all of 400 baht ($13). Handed him 2000, knowing it would have cost at least twice that "back home".

Actions like this are why many Thais overcharge us living here.

400 baht is a days wages.

2000 baht is a Weeks wages!

That's like giving a mechanic in England 500 pounds.

Please stop this.

are you crazy 300 bhat is the min wage, mist Thais make 1000 bath a day, they have work all day, they do something more in the evening.. you are fooling yourself, the Thais around you are not only happy, they have more money than you most times

Not exactly true: Tesco/Lotus pay thier staff B8,900 p/m a garden maintainance worker in Bangkok gets paid B250-300 per day a local village worker cutting sugar cane, picking rice or cuttin down eucalyptus trees get B200 per day maybe a slilled worker employed in a large company may earn B1000 per day, all this aside though most of the over tipping as people are complaining about occur in the tourist areas Phuket, Pattaya, Bangkok and Chiang Mai and as it's mainly restricted to bar areas that most expats only frequent occasionally i don't see it should be a real issue.

If you have address, no problem. You must get letter from your Embassy or ''perhaps'' your local immigration will issue the letter.

Or get it from the local Amphur's office as I did with the help of my landlord when I lived up North.

OP it is not really a difficult procedure to get the car in your name and definitely worth the effort because it is yours 100% and you can sell it or whatever you wish in the future.

It depends a lot on the person on who s name it is now .

As we know not every one is dependable here in Thailand.

Incase of any doubts its defenatly worth the afford with a bit of luck you do the hole thing in a day .

Thanks for the info, I know that it depends but I have a very good idea of the variables thanks!

I don't know I the next is better to a new thread but...

I've been in the "transit office" the office that give the drive licenses to Thai citizens, my gf renew their license from one year to 5 years, we ask about if I can get an international license for she and for me, they said that for thai and farang they can give international license but first one year license later 5 year license and later some test and the international, but was not clear about the "tourist visa" they said that I 'should' have a non immigrant visa but was not clear.

in your experience, do you know if there are some shortcuts?? I know that probably my national license plus the expired international license will be ok for some countries of Asia but I prefer to have everything updated (I am planning a trip around Asia in car)

I have my ChiIean drive license ok, the international drive one expired and just thai tourist visa

Possibly the best person to help you with this is an expat named Tim Brooks he owns Siam Motor World in Bangkok he deals in cars and bikes and has a few available for sale but he also has a document check option so maybe you could talk ti him and see what he could do for you.

www.siammotorworld.com

The Moat at Chiang Mai is a prime example, down by Thapae Gate / Loi Kroh it's absolute pandemonium and it's more like a series of physical assaults than anything to do with a water blessing. The tourist contingent is the worst in my opinion but the Thais are not innocent either.

However at other parts of the moat things are far more sedate and dare I say friendly, yes you'll still get scooted but it's followed up with a big smile and an invitation to join in the party.

I would love to see more of the New Year Parades but quite frankly they are ruined by boorish and stupid behaviour, what should be a gorgeous spectacle undone by idiots that can't control themselves.

I saw a young Mum with a toddler trying her best to make a few baht for her family cooking fried chicken yesterday having a bucket of moat water poured over her and her food by a stupid female tourist. When it was pointed out what she had done she said sorry and skipped off, the little toddler started crying and quite frankly I could have easily joined him. What a shame that was.

I love Songkran but I'm boycotting Thapae Gate now.

Just sayin'

As it's the op's first songkran this year it maybe a little sedate even in the villages due to low rain fall and shortages of water in most regions, in the village that i live it is usually a good humoured affair with thousands of gallons of water being used in the name of fun, this year though very quiet and little water spraying, the only problem that arises from this is the excess drinking that takes place to replace the water fun and then the problems start to arrise, i have seen this year that the home police in most areas where i live have had to be increased as they have brought in music to replace the water spraying and the normal 15 - 20yr olds are sat drinking and dancing all day in the sun, inevitably trouble breaks out on several occasions and the older element of the village end up wandering back to their homes with an air of dissappointment about the day..

Actions like this are why many Thais overcharge us living here.

400 baht is a days wages.

2000 baht is a Weeks wages!

That's like giving a mechanic in England 500 pounds.

Please stop this.

-

Classic.

Tourists and wealthier residents willingly pay more than local rates because it makes them feel good, consciously being generous and kind. And you want to put a stop to it because you think it will help keep prices at the level you can afford.

Really?

Yes really.

You might have been able to pay your rent if it weren't for these guys being generous for their own feelgood.

So you would deny others the pleasure of generosity and gratitude to try and keep an entire nation in poverty so that you can maintain your lifestyle at their expense?

Not criticising, just trying to make sure we both understand the point you're trying to make.

SC

You're missing the point completely.

I think giving 100 baht tip is generous. 2000 is being ignorant of the value of money here adding to the Thais thinking that we are all stupid.

May as well give a masseuse a weeks wages as that I'd how much it would

cost in your home country.

Or 7 11 staff an extra 200 baht when buying cigarettes as that's what they cost back home.

We're lucky that we have people like you to redress the balance and keep the Thais in their place

The way i see it is, it's not about keeping Thais in their place it's more a case of finding an equal balance of kindness and not stupidty, by giving large tips yes it makes you feel good and you feel you have made the reciever of your generosity feel good too, not always the case it could be seen as belittling them because you have far more money than them and you can afford it and they couldn't, anyone who lives in a Thai village has probably heard the stories of the farang who has to show he's got big money, those stories are usually from the recipients of these large tips and payments that most assume is making everybody feel better.Just my opinion.

Actually we are talking about extension of stay - not a visa - there is no overstay fine if reporting on the first day after a holiday. And overstay is most surely illegal - normally a fine is imposed but there could be time in jail awaiting a judge if at a local police lockup and if unable to pay extra time in immigration lockup.

According to the Immigration official that deals with my visa and extension of stay (marriage visa) they told me at new year "if you cannot come into immigration until after new year it's no problem overstaying is not illegal but you will have to pay a B500 fine per day" those were their exact words not mine i thought it a little strange but we are in Thailand where nothing is the norm. Previously when i lived in Phuket i went to the local office to apply for an extension of stay for 3 days as i was flying to Australia 3 day after my visa expired (bad planning on my part) and was told there "don't worry just pay the overstay at the airport when you leave" this i did with no problems but that was 5 years ago and immigration laws have changed since then.

Strikes me as daft that Udon gave the OP an "under consideration" stamp which they should have known full well expired on a date when they were not open! Why on earth could they not have dated this stamp until the 17th?

I strongly suspect that the answer to that question is TIT!! However, I only hope that the OP isn't stopped by the BIB en route to his immigration office on the 17th and instantly hauled off to the slammer for overstaying. The fact that the overstay was technical might not necessarily make much difference in BIB eyes.

Although the chances of this happening are hopefully small, it is surely still a risk, is it not?

The law will not allow immigration to extend any visa due to public holidays this is the same rule worldwide, it is the visa holders responsibilty to ensure their visa is done prior to the holiday if the visa will expire during the holiday period. Also it is not illegal to overstay so nobody will be haules off to the slammer, When the op goes to Udon he should be prepared to pay an overstay penalty of B500 per days overstay. This was explained to me when my visa was due to expire on a public holiday at new year.