baabaabobo

Be aware of the Buga lows

And the bubalows...

Both SFX cinemas (Central & Jungceylon) show 3D movies (with the glasses etc)

Jungceylon has just opened a 4D cinema where the seats move too.

Seeing Red: A 'red plate' ready to be fitted. Photo by Pimwara Choksakulpan.

PHUKET: Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) Chief Kanok Siripanichkorn has told the Gazette that people driving cars with red license plates have just one month to get regular “white plates” on their cars – or face the consequences.

The warning for Phuket drivers follows Land Transport Department Director-General Chairat Sanguansue’s announcement of a "crackdown" on people illegally driving cars with red plates, which can incur fines of up to 10,000 baht.

Mr Kanok said that many people in Phuket drive cars with red plates, a clear sign that the vehicle has yet to be registered with the Land Transport Department.

He said he understood that some of these drivers were genuinely waiting for car registrations to be approved. The department will take no action against any law-abiding motorist whose car is less than one month old or has not been driven more than 3,000 kilometers, whichever comes first.

Many other owners, however, continue driving with red plates in order to suggest the car is brand-new, he said.

In other cases they are simply waiting for their preferred “lucky number” registration, won at an auction organized by the PLTO, to be approved.

That process that can take several months and regular plates must be issued for them during the interim, he added.

Red plates being used longer than needed costs the department revenue from registration fees not paid and makes it much more difficult to track stolen vehicles, he said.

Red license plates are issued to car dealers and garages only, so that vehicles can be driven on public roads temporarily in order to reach dealerships or be repaired, he explained.

It is illegal to drive cars with red plates at night, from sunset to sunrise, without express permission from the Land Transport Department. Such permission is restricted to a maximum of five consecutive nights, he added.

Driving a car with red plates at night without permission can incur a fine of between 200 and 2,000 baht. Driving a car with red plates during the day for personal business can leave the driver open to charges of driving an unregistered vehicle, he warned.

“If we find a car with red plates that was bought one year ago, it means the driver has no intention of registering the car. They will be fined between 1,000 and 10,000 baht,” he said.

Motorists who have been issued regular white license plates, but have yet to fit them to their cars, face fines of between 200 and 2,000 baht, he added.

Chief Kanok also warned motorists against using counterfeit red plates or modifying genuine plates – red or white – by covering them with images or enlarging them. Doing so is punishable with six months to five years in jail or a fine between 1,000 and 10,000 baht, he said.

“Only license plates that have been sold by [Land Transport Department] auction are allowed to have images on them.

“If officers find modified plates, the officers will take photos as evidence and file the charge in our computer database. The driver must pay the fine when he renews his car registration.”

In a bid to get more people to renew vehicle registrations on time, the PLTO has extended its normal office hours.

Chief Kanok said the sections that process the applications now start 30 minutes earlier, at 8am. PLTO staff now work through the traditional one-hour lunch break and finish one hour later, at 5:30pm.

Moreover, vehicle registration renewals are available every Saturday and Sunday at Big C from 10am to 6pm. The counter is on the basement level and can be reached by turning right after getting off the escalator.

– Pimwara Choksakulpan

The Phuket Gazette

Black Fortuners (on Phuket)

My 5 year old chihuahua died recently (still don't know how) so I feel for your loss. They are brave little fellows and leave a large empty space for one so small.

Hi Gerd,

I enjoyed it on many levels and I thought Di Caprio was very good. Love the idea of a dream within a dream within dream etc.

So did the yoghurt get spoiled?

The U.S. government on Monday announced new rules that make it officially legal for iPhone owners to "jailbreak" their device and run unauthorized third-party applications. In addition, it is now acceptable to unlock any cell phone for use on multiple carriers.

According to The Associated Press, the government approved a handful of new exemptions to a federal law that prevents the circumvention of technical measure that prevent users from accessing and modifying copyrighted works. The report noted that every three years, the Library of Congress' Copyright Office authorizes exemptions to ensure existing law does not prevent non-infringing use of copyrighted material.

In addition, another exemption was approved that would allow all cell phone users to unlock their device for use on an unapproved carrier. Currently, Apple's iPhone is available exclusively through AT&T, but unlocking it can allow for voice calls and EDGE data speeds on rival carrier T-Mobile.

Other exemptions announced Monday allow people to break protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws; allow college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy protection measures on DVDs to embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos; and allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices (dongles) if the hardware no longer works and cannot be replaced.

The warranty-voiding jailbreak process allows users to run software not approved by Apple, which has no plans to allow users to install third-party applications downloaded from outside its sanctioned App Store. Hackers have created their own custom applications -- many free, and some for purchase from an alternative storefront known as Cydia.

Apple has been criticized for its strict control over the iPhone App Store, requiring that all applications be approved before they are made available for download. The company has defended this practice, stating that it keeps faulty and potentially dangerous software from being made available, as well as banning unsavory content such as pornography.

In April, Jobs cited an unsanctioned pornography store available for the Google Android platform as a reason to not support unsigned applications. "That's a place we don't want to go," Jobs said, "so we're not going to."

In addition to allowing access to legitimate third-party software, both free and paid, through services like Cydia, jailbreaking can also be used to pirate App Store software, one major reason why Apple has fought the practice.

Hackers have been hard at work on jailbreaking iOS 4 since it was released in June. Though the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G have been exploited, the iPhone Dev Team has continued their efforts toward both jailbreaking and unlocking the iPhone 4. With Monday's decision by the U.S. government, their efforts are now considered legal.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/26/us_government_legalizes_iphone_jailbreaking_for_unauthorized_apps.html

Bavarian Sausage company. Google them and you will find all the locations in Phuket. The sausages are freshly made in Phuket and are wonderful.

There was a cheaper grinder at verasu a few years ago, only 1,500 baht. Been using mine for over four years, still going strong.

I bought that one but it was never any good. I now used my wife's multi robot which works very well.

"You're beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal...In God's name, you people are the real thing; we're the illusion." - Howard Beale (a character in Paddy Chayevski's film "Network.)

I posted this guy's number 4 years ago but believe he is still in business so to speak.

There is a charity called the Phuket Raum Jai Rescue Foundation which specializes in catching snakes (and other dangerous critters) FOR FREE !!!.

I used them once and they were very good.

Contact Khun Sayan Tammapant at 076-283346 / 076-355175

I believe he does not speak much English so get a Thai to call.

Love the title: Foreigners Who Want To Marriage In Uk Must Speak English

I know for a fact that the Tourist Police are looking for volunteers (one of them told me). Ask them at immigration.

Well worth it. A breath of fresh air to hear some some non PC humour. Not to be missed!

In Hong Kong corruption was rampant especially in the police until the Independent Commission Against Corruption ICAC was created in 1977.

The ICAC was created to root out corruption; unlike the old police Anti-Corruption Branch, the ICAC would be answerable to only the Governor of Hong Kong. Their tactics and methods were often crude and aggressive in the extreme, often swooping on a police station to take an entire shift in for questioning. Ultimately though their shock tactics were effective and as a result Hong Kong was transformed from a graft-ridden city into one of the cleanest places in the world, as recognized by international institutions such as the World Bank, the Heritage Foundation and Transparency International.

That was 37 years ago and despite a return to mainland China continues today. Maybe Thailand needs to look at a similar system for here.

Sorry that was to read Countries not counties. haha

Why don't you respond to the topic as intended? Pulling up OP's on spelling and/or grammar is not on.

Erm... that was the OP correcting himself.

Back on topic.

Yes many of us feel that Thailand is going through a bad spell but I think it will improve again and one thing these other countries don't have is Thais. I stay here because I love the people.

A living orchid

barn door, horse, bolted.

It's a buffneck keelback.

So let me get this straight.

The six main Red Shirt leaders include:

- A veteran politician who has twice served time in prison. Once for backing a failed military coup and once for insulting the country's monarchy. Despite this and being banned from politics for five years for electoral fraud in 2007 he is a red shirt leader.

- Jatuporn Prompan,who has parliamentary immunity from arrest.

- Nattawut Saikuar who failed to win an election again during the 2007 post-coup poll.

- Doctor Weng Tojirakarn who has a tendency to talk in terms of old Maoist guerrilla tactics , fled into the jungle after a student-led communist uprising in 1976, involved in"Bloody May and joined the anti-Reds "People's Alliance for Democracy"

- An ex- pop singer who led the Red Shirts to storm a regional summit in April 2009 and who dramatically escaped a Bangkok hotel by climbing down an electricity cable, claiming he had survived an assassination attempt.

- And the"Rambo of Isaan" a hard-core activist who attacked the prime minister's car .

I guess the saying is true in this case...The Sh*t really did hit the fan huh?

Excellent!

My guess: in a few months it will be ATV tracks, in use by the elephant/ATV companies who are alongside this road on government land already.

Exactly what has happened on the way to the Big Buddha not to mention the forest being torn down for restaurants etc.

Phuket will soon become unattractive to tourists as greed destroys the one thing it had going for it - natural beauty.

Hmmm ... very very poor April Fools story. Complete nonsense.

I thought it was quite funny