Grusa

In my experience, the only time the traffic flow really smoothly is when the traffic lights fail completely. When they switched on the tls on the railway line in Pattaya, the traffic gridlocked completely in all directions, and including rail traffic! they have not been used in years.

At busy times on that road, at certain junctions,  there is often gridlock and it takes two competent and communicating policemen at each to tls. keep them flowing. These resources are however in short supply.

In UK, tls have traffic sensors, and are linked, so that traffic is managed in a joined-up algorithm. I have never seen such a system here.

I was once told...I don't know if it was true.... that there is only one man in Thailand, a Dutchman, who is capable of programming sequential lights.

Another major cause of congestion is the reliance on U-turns, especially for trucks and buses. Often at TLs right turns are banned,at peak times, forcing traffic to turn left and U-turn, thus increasing the congestion.

Factor in Thai impatience and total ignorance of lane discipline, so that four-way lights have to be sequenced so only one direction can be green at any one time...even if there is no substantial amount of traffic....no wonder the country is gridlocked.

Set up a Cambodian workers village nearby. The dogs will quickly disappear, along with rats, cats, etc.

In this case the guy was 86 and died of multiple organ failure following weeks in coma and several ill-advised resuscitations. I doubt anyone would be grateful for what's left over. A welcome release for all concerned.

Thank you for that, but I understand there should also be something for the monks, and something to pay for the wake? I also went to one where I was asked for ฿100 to help pay for the charcoal - even though it was a gas-fired crematorium?

I have to attend the funeral of a close family friend. I know that money is expected to change hands, but have no feeling for how much, to whom and when it should be paid. Any advice?

8 hours ago, A1Str8 said:

Yeah it's simple. There are dishonest, disgusting individuals and there are honest, beautiful people everywhere regardless of nationality, religion, skin color etc. Wherever you go, you will meet those, will be in relationship with those and be surrounded by those that are just like you. The world is just reflecting who you are. 

When you walk on the street, do you notice the clean paving slabs, or do you notice the chewing gum, the dog shit, and the broken slabs?

when you read the newspaper, do you read about a kind old lady who gave sixpence to a beggar, or about a monk who kicked him to death?

when you drive, do you notice the well behaved citizen who drives in a straight line, in the correct lane, at a steady speed, or do you notice the a....hole who weaves in and out causing danger to everyone?

Do you notice the bikers whose machine is standard from the shop, or the antisocial cretins with noisy souped-up exhausts, racing at 3am?

Sad truth, we only notice and remember the bad things in this world, we quickly forget the good. The only things that sell newspapers and TV are sex, violence, stupidity, and war. Anything else in there is just padding!

Thailand is the same as anywhere else, only two things float to the top. Sadly Thai society has rhe same problem as Pattaya Bay, there's an awful lot of turds have surfaced!

Make your wife a signatory to your account. Get her an ATM card, and tell her to clean it out at a Thai ATM after you die, but before she informs anybody. And to hide the money from the investigating BiB.

On second thoughts, maybe you don't even need her to be a signatory, that could be difficult to arrange without a bank visit. Just leave a set of instructions alongwith the PIN for your card.

4 minutes ago, CRUNCHER said:

For Jomtien no need to put money in. When you get your letter from the bank they will update your passbook. Never had a problem.

If the book does not show movement in the account - any movement will do - it is an "inactive account" and they will reject it: it has happened to me. They want to see a movement in the three days preceding the application. 

This has been so for at least 1 1/2 years! ( my last two renewals). One week ahead was not good enough!

30 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

Agreed, but they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they did.

 

A lot of married expats are struggling to meet the 40,000 baht per month requirement from their Pensions due to the current exchange rates. It would affect a lot of Thai citizens as well.

The income standards for foreigners are already quite high in comparison to average Thai earnings.

In the unlikely event you are married to a farang, the joint income required is the same as for a single person, likewise the "seasoned" cash sum, or combination. A joint visa, Two for the price of one! (Except the fees of course).

I don't know how this pans out in terms of independent travel, however, so have never risked it.

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

OP you made a silly mistake, you have to have the money in for a clear 3 months.

So you stupidly took money out, then back without doing your calculations.

For the future put the money in leave it in, immigration were correct in what they did, you created inconvenience for yourself because you didnt check things out correctly, next time you will know that.

You could still have a problem, because at Jomtien at least, they want to see it is an "active account". This means they want to see movement in the account in the three days preceding the application!  If you do nothing, account invalid, go away. If you take money out, not enough money, go away. So, you need to put a few thousand in, immediately before you get your book made up and the bank letter printed, not more than three days before you apply. Might be difficult if it's a holiday weekend, you have no margins for error! 

Imm might be kind and work on the basis of working days, not calander days. All depends on how much or how little they like the look of you, so dress up well, and on which side of whose bed the officer got up that morning........

Not that I am any kind of an expert, or even a mediocre speaker of Thai, I am surprised that no one has stated the glaringly obvious:

1. krap, however you chose to spell or phoneticise it, is a very impolite word in English, and causes huge mental hang-ups,

2. For that very reason many farang, myself included, choose to say "kap", which seems to be perfectly acceptable to the Thai, and I believe is regionally correct,

3. The use of Ka or Krap is frequently a marker for the .sexual orientation of the speaker.

I have no doubt those better informed will correct me.............

You can have the passport number changed on your drivers license.

I don't recommend traveling to anywhere without having your passport with you,. In the area where you live is not a problem. If you ever had a situation where they wanted to see your passport they could detain you until it could be shown. A drivers license and/or a copy of your passport would not be enough.

I am not saying that I travel without my passport. I simply refuse to use it to check into a hotel - never a problem, my DL is accepted, or often nothing at all!

Your passport number is listed in your green/blue motorbike/car registration books as well.

So are you saying these and the driving licence need to be changed? Or, are the various departments of government sufficiently joined up to make connections between old and new passport numbers? Seems a bit unlikely, IMHO.

What are the potential consequences of getting this wrong?

I have been living here for nearly ten years, and when traveling around Thailand I always use my Thai driving licence as ID, rather than my passport. The ID number on the licence was until recently my passport number, however when i renewed my passport, the number changed, so they no longer match!

Is it necessary to renew my drivers licence because of the change of passport number?

Is it acceptable to continue using the DL as ID with the old number?

With all the current controversy over carrying ID ( I always carry a photocopy passport) this could be an important issue.

And if I want to shoot pigeons? Air gun, BB, Co2, crossbow, etc? My mu baan is infested!

Have a trusted friend bring them for you, if you have one going for a trip.

1. Starbucks coffee sucks.

2. Starbucks staff suck

3. Starbucks prices suck.

4. Starbucks environment sucks.

So anything that closes them down, reduces their obscene profits, or changes their franchise model, can only be a GOOD THING,

What is todays' date?

Hah hah hah, very funny!

this might spoil your day/turn your stomach...........

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Food_Defect_Action_Levels

Or this from the FDA...

Average of 32 or more insect-damaged kernels per 100 grams

Rodent filth

( MPM-V15)

Average of 9 mg or more rodent excreta pellets and/or pellet fragments per kilogram

DEFECT SOURCE: Insect damage - preharvest and/or post harvest and/or processing infestation, Excreta - post harvest and/or processing animal contamination.

Significance: Aesthetic

Wheat Flour

Insect filth

(AOAC 972.32)

Average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams

Rodent filth

(AOAC 972.32)

Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams

DEFECT SOURCE: Insect fragments - preharvest and/or post harvest and/or processing insect infestation, Rodent hair - post harvest and/or processing contamination with animal hair or excreta.

SIGNIFICANCE: Aesthetic

In Pattaya (Jomtien), no problem. A friend can take your passport with last notification paper, now no need for any other paperwork as they have it all on computer. If they did not enter it all on computer last time, you need photocopy passport page and departure card.

They do not want sick, crippled or aged people clogging up their system, and the new notification paper is computer generated!

I recently needed to find 200 in cash. Shopping around, most banks were happy to buy Euros, but had none for sale. Eventually found one who had the notes, and presented them with the necessary Baht in a carrier bag of coins, which my wife and I had pre-counted and sorted into bags of 100 baht each. This was change from my pocket, dropped in a jar every night for the last tw years!

The bank was perfectly happy with this, but assigned two tellers to count it all, twice! It took over half an hour. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the bank was not busy!

Generally, 7-Eleven, Tesco Local, etc., are happy to take coins in bulk, it saves them having to get from the bank: they use more than they receive, but many lots of hundreds will be preferred to one lot of thousands!

The chauffeur, however, received no injuries as he was sitting on the bottom floor.---<deleted> ????

I assume they mean the "Driver" --and where else would he be

Perhaps they're trying to pin it on the upper deck pax being at fault?

If they had not been there, it would not have happened. So, it's their own fault. Maybe they should compensate the tour company, the owners of the steel beam, and the driver who will need ptsd counselling.

The airport was hard hit during the great flood in October and November 2011 with water covering the ground and damaging many aircraft. Some had to be retired from service, abandoned or sold for scrap.

I remember the various jets being parked sitting in the floodwaters at DM at the time. But I never remember hearing that there was sufficient damage to result in the total loss of any planes there????

A large number of private light aircraft were submerged up to their engines. Many could not be flown out because they waited too long, or were not permitted to fly for paperwork reasons.