keestha

Remember from my Amsterdam period that the local Hara Krishna community there offered free meals when you went to their place. It is part of the Hindu tradition that first the stomach should be filled in order to be able to receive the spiritual message, in Gurudwaras in India you also got/get a free meal.

Never mind these people....research suggests that young people joining a sect, on an average just stay in there for about 2 years.

If I would have written the opening post, the pic would have been of elderly scrubby looking farang men with a questionable visa status, drinking beer in the daytime sitting around a table in front of a mom and pop store in Phuket or Pattaya.

Mom&Pops seem to be a banoork thing, P&P have real beer bars.

Which they often cannot afford though.

does this apply to ONLY new drivers?

I have not taken the written test/driving test since 1988

Only Color, brake and distance

Yes only new drivers. You will have to refresh it every 5 years (in my case).If you already have a license then they only make a visual test (eye test with pulling a rope an item to the right place) and have to look a 45min Traffic-movie which explains traffic rules. Be advised that you will have to make all the examination if you license expires.

cool;

I have never seen the movie :-)

am sure u need do color and brake as well as it seems i need do those every 5 years

Depends on which Vehicle Department you have to go to. Last time I went for my renewal, in Takua Pa/Phangnga, they only made me read a small booklet about traffic rules, no tests carried out whatsoever.

Prices for dental work greatly vary......it is always a good sign when there are Thai people in the waiting room. It pays to shop around. Might also be good to let them know at the dentist's office that you are not a tourist, but live in Phuket.

Nice pic in the opening post, I presume it is taken at Koh Phangan the morning after. Nothing wrong with those kids, just coming to have a good time and spending a lot of money locally. If I would have written the opening post, the pic would have been of elderly scrubby looking farang men with a questionable visa status, drinking beer in the daytime sitting around a table in front of a mom and pop store in Phuket or Pattaya.

You mean if you are moving to another province, that the mail sent to the old address is redirected? I would inquire at the post office responsible for the old address, but in case they say they'll forward it, I certainly wouldn't count on this indeed being done.

By the way it is province and not provence....... the Provence is a high class alternative for Phuket at the French Mediterranean coast.

My inquiry was on behalf of somebody else. Was told to go to the vet's office accompanied by the cat at the most 1 week before departure, and then go there again 3 days later to pick up the necessary documents. The Veterinarian Department is in the cargo building, but the vet told me it was moved to a different place in there recently. Will find out when I get there, at the end of August. As a rule checking in with a pet you can go at the normal check-in time.

I presume this is the gun in question. photo taken from his face book page https://www.facebook.com/mark.coutelas?fref=ts I also see that he has time in Thai custody already.

interesting Facebook page. I guess now that border runs for visas have been stopped people like this guy will become an endangered species in Thailand

LOL.....maybe set aside a small island for them, and turn it into a national park.

There are a lot of Farangs staying at Wat Suan Mokkh in Chaiya, 70 km North of Surat Thani.

What Thai families eat at home, is often not such a well balanced diet. A lot of protein (meat, eggs, fish), but not much vitamins, they don't eat much vegetables.

Sure, and she's not the only one. Continuously I have to talk it out of tourist's heads to use the train as a means of transport to go from Bangkok to Khao Lak. The southern lime is often heavily booked, and advance train booking has become difficult since the online booking system is not in place anymore. And you have to get off in Surat Thani, and go on a long bus ride after that.. If she insists, she should take a somewhat later train (from about 18.00 on), in order to arrive in Surat early in the morning. Timetable can be found here

At Suvarnabhumi, there is a veterinary office which can issue health certificates needed for pets (like cats, dogs) going on international flights. Is there anything of the kind at Phuket Airport?

It is quicker and more convenient if she takes a direct bus from the Southern Bus Terminal (Saitaaimai). She should buy the ticket at the bus station and not at a travel agency. Buses are leaving early morning and in the evening. Tourists purchasing a "ticket to Phuket/Khao Lak" at a Bangkok travel agency are usually put on a bus to Surat Thani, where they have to wait for some kind of usually slow connection.

how neat, everybody can take a rest for a few days !! if they cannot survive they should have hired better managers,

Many people suggesting it should not be a big deal for a restaurant , shop or bar to close early for a few days. That is what I probably would have thought before 1985, when I opened my first restaurant (sitting typing this in the fifth one now)

Now I know all too well, that it is a big deal if you have to close for periods that you normally would have been open. You simply need the turnover to pay the bills.

Most of the profit in the restaurant/bar trade is in selling the business at some point. As long as you are running the place, you can live on it, but you really don't make that much money, because the costs are so high. And you make very, very long hours.

For those who seem to be so much against a somewhat liberal nightlife, in case you are living in Thailand, are you sure you picked the right country? Too bad for you Saudi Arabia and North Korea don't accept foreign retirees. Or maybe you want the nightly entertainment to be restricted to cocktail bars with a strict dress code, and a piano player performing on the stage?

One reason for the schools closure might have been traffic related: loads of demonstrators going home, there is far less of a rush hour when schools are closed.

Big cry babies...the amount of money they have squirreled away with their prices for everything over the years.....if they cannot hold themselves out over a few days or even weeks, then they should not be in business being such pee poor managers.

Bars will be most heavily affected by the curfew, and they have a hard time staying afloat financially anyway. Not realistic to think a Patong beer bar which charges 80/90 Baht for a Leo beer is a goldmine. Just compare it to a busy bar in your native country, where the barkeeper has to stop taking orders sometimes in order to rinse glasses.

Yesterday our daughter turned 7, so it is time to apply for a Thai ID card for her. What documents do we need, and at what office should the application be made?

Maybe the old Sarasin bridge, if it is still allowed? There used to be so many people fishing there, slowing down your passage, that sometimes driving I was irritated, thinking: Is this bridge a facility for hobby fishing, or for thru traffic? Many guys also dropping nets and pulling them up full of fish.

I would simply loose my passport and get a new one........

A virgin passport won't help. A brief burst of keyboard activity will tell the guy/lady at the immigration counter all about your Thailand entries till a long time ago.

Did a bit of reading up re travel insurance for tourists going to to a country affected by martial law. What I understood is that there will usually be an exclusion clause in the insurance policy, but it is up to the individual insurance company if they invoke this clause or not.

As a tourist, I would feel safer now that martial law has been invoked. The political upheavals have been widely reported in the foreign press all along. It makes stay away mainly Asian tourists. As far as Westerners is concerned, a brief online read up will convince them it is still safe to transit through Bangkok, or take a connecting flight to Phuket.