BuriramRes

Pattaya is the greatest city in Thailand, if not the entire world. Every resource available needs to be devoted to an immediate restoration of this paradise on Earth.

I trust you are joking?

Three years ago I had to go to the local Satuek Hospital with a serious injury caused by a power tool.

My sister-in-law was a senior nurse at the hospital and had me registered there. I subsequently received a health card.

Each time I have needed to visit the hospital I show the card and get service at the rate of a Thai national.

As everywhere, it is not what you know it is who you know! My number is 019-66-47.

They are not interested in show of transfers - you show a letter from your embassy of 40k per month or you show 400k in bank account in your name for two months and letter of account balance.

Or a combination of each, totaling 400k.

They are not unwilling to prevent gun violence. They are unwilling to violate the 2nd amendment and confiscate all the millions of guns that are already on the street. Nothing else would prevent gun violence and it is not going to happen in USA.

Why should we worry? If they are stupid enough to do nothing about it, as long as we do not live in the USA let the crazy people kill each other!

What multi-choice Test? Did not have to do it. I thought it was only for Thais!

Do they have to mention the 'head'? Unnecessarily graphic. Poor family.

Was he wearing a helmet?

As someone who has ridden a large bike in many countries, it would seem that they were both at fault:

(a) The sidecar driver who should have a helmet, but they never do. Also, he probably did not look for traffic before changing lanes

( The Kawasaki rider who, by the look of his gear, was riding at excessive speed and probably showing off

Never rode anything but BMW's overseas and would have my BMW here but for the ridiculous private import duties..

Make do with my trusty Yamaha 125 here sadly.

Went to my local print shop in Satuek. I have had business cards done there a couple of times, quite well as long as you proof read them first.

This time I was pricing a print run of brochures which I had designed & printed out using Microsoft Publisher.

Each time in the past I dealt with a pleasant younger (I assumed husband & Wife) team.

This time I encountered an older man, the owner & probably father of one of the previous team.

He said outright that he would not do business with me because:

I had insisted that they corrected a phone number which was incorrectly produced on one of the previously proof read business cards.

Fancy insisting on correcting a telephone number on a print of new business cards, tutt tutt!

From my experience, the first visa issued will be for 3 months, the following visas issued will be 12 month multi-entry without you asking for this.

It would appear that after you do the right thing first time they relax their rules.

Not in my experience. The first visa for 3 months. We went back to Thailand together and reapplied for another visa. They told us it was equal time, i.e. if you had a 3 month visa then you had to wait for 3 months before another one could be issued, and if the visa was for 6 months then there was a 6 month period before reapplying etc.

As it turns out they gave it to us 2 weeks later, but still only a 3 month visa not 6 or 12 months(which we had asked for). A friend of mine was told the same thing about the equal time thing by VFS.

We have never asked for a 12 month visa but after the first time they automatically have given it. We have never had to wait but then we have never stayed the full 12 months either. They probably have a rule that you cannot get continuing tourist visas. Most countries do that.

From my experience, the first visa issued will be for 3 months, the following visas issued will be 12 month multi-entry without you asking for this.

It would appear that after you do the right thing first time they relax their rules.

How much are you willing to pay in import tax ?

Why does this concern you? It does nothing to answer the OP's question. Just want to know his financial status?

It is very relevant as it will cost him about 300% more than the bike is worth. I looked into importing my 14 y/o BMW K110LT. The bike was worth about$7,000 but the fees I was going to have to pay to the Thai government was about $20,000. I did not take it any further (much as I liked my bike). Ended up selling it on ebay for $3,250!

Bangkok bank has a new card which is a debit card. You can use it to make online purchases and normal purchases. With 3 million in the bank why would you need a credit card, unless you wanted to rent a car, but to answer your question a friend of mine has a credit card with a 50,000 baht limit. He had to give the bank a deposit of 50,000 to get it, so not really a credit card. That was also with Bangkok Bank.

This is the only way you will get a credit card. I was given the same deal & refused but if you have 3M of deposits in a fixed term account I am sure that BKB would give you a credit card with a limit under your deposit account amount.

It is not really any value. Better to run on a debit card with your overseas credit cards as a backup. I am an AUS national as well & I simply use my AUS credit cards.

P.S. You being a Pattaya farang, the bank is probably wondering how long your 3M nest egg will last once the ladys get their hands on it.

Another sad, sad day for common sense.

I find it hard to believe that a farang could have an unsecured credit card with such a limit. I once enquired about getting a Thai credit card from my bank (BKB) and they said I could as long as I lodged cash in a fixed term account equal to the size of my credit card limit.

I politely refused as I could not see the sense in such an arrangement.

I would not have a joint credit card with my wife because it would reach it's limit in no time!!

I taught my wife myself. She then took up the offer of a policeman friend to escort her through the testing experience (cost 1,500B all up). She has now been driving the Fortuner for five years & is a very good driver.

Note: Some people can never drive adequately!

Last time I was in Chan Buri, went to a hotel that we normally had stayed at. The price was 450B, up from 400B last time (that was OK). Then they added 7% VAT which had never been done before, then 3% for using a credit card (again never done before). I felt I was being screwed for Farang prices.

Since this hotel had never been great & was getting worse on ever visit, decided it was time to make a change.

Finally found a really great place for 650B nearby (all inclusive). The said hotel will never be graced by my presence again! (We were regular visitors as we visit family members here frequently, but never accept the alternative of a tiled floor in gran's livingroom.

Two instances:

(1) Making a RH turn in the main street of Satuek, had a case of beer on the bike (a Yamaha 110cc). This clown was travelling at a rate of knots & decided to pass me on the outside. His footrest tagged the disk brake attachment on my front wheel & grazed my front ankle. The force of the collision fired me off the back of the bike & I landed on my backside on the road. The beer also landed on the road, but only 2 bottles were broken. The Thai simply disappeared into the distance. My front disc was workable but eventually had to be replaced.

(2) Last week my wife & I went to BigC. She was driving & stopped to let me off at the front door. I opened the passenger door just as a Thai guy with wife & baby decided to pass on the left. He was a mess, the Fortuner door only had a chip on the weld connection of the door. The Thai motorcyclist apologised whilst he tried to fix his bike.

Such is motoring in Thailand.

There is no combo method for Thai wife extensions of stay (which was the last suggestion to make it a lower bar).

Since when? Of course there is a combination of income & bank deposit!

It takes me around 10 - 15 minutes to get there on my motorbike.

I can understand your frustration at the rules and the inconvenience they cause for very little point. Perhaps you could leave the country every 90 days. I believe that there is no need to report if you don't remain in the country for 90 days. You would have to shell out for a multi re-entry permit and stlll do the annual renewal of course.

That's true, but my nearest border crossing is about 5km past Kap Cheong. There would be no point.

I spoke to them at Kap Cheong & they said if you go to Korat they would probably accept it there if you took your house registration, which I did once and it was ok. Didn't need the additional house registration. Last time I went back to Kap Cheong as I needed to pick up some mail from customs there.

Could be a scam, could be incompetence. Just as an example to show it works both ways, I bought a small item at the department store in Central a few days ago. I had been expecting to pay the sticker price which said 450 baht, which was itself reduced. But I was only charged 100 baht. I realised as I was being given my change that something was amiss and sure enough the receipt did show 100 baht. I thought of this as a little payback for all the times I have paid a "falang" price in Thailand (lots of sall things, 10 extra baht here, 20 baht extra there, but it adds up to a very big annoyance)...no intention of letting them know....I saw it as a sign of good luck.

More like dishonesty, glad to see that some farangs are dishonest,the same as some non farangs.I odnt buy the excuse also, 2 wrongs dont make a right.Do u drive on the pavement with a scooter,and say, well thais do it,do u drive on wrong side of the road for the same reason????

Yes, I regularly ride a motor cycle &/or bicycle on the wrong side of the road. Sometimes it is ridiculous the lack of u-turns.

In variability whenever I need to do a transaction at one of their ATM or passbook update machines they're offline. If I come to a bank of 5 different machines in a shopping mall, it one is down, it's the BB machine. Just my experience. Like a week ago, I needed to update my passbook for a one-year visa extension and the machine at the Bic C branch I went to had the red-screen of death.

The "Red Screen" normally means they have run out of money. It's normally a sign that they have had a heavy run (perhaps because of a Budhist holiday). A few years ago you had to have been in the country about 2 years before becoming a customer, but those days are gone. It does help if the branch manager knows you for getting internet connection.