TheSiemReaper

How lucky you are. As a Brit who has lived outside the UK for four decades I quickly learned that our embassies and consulates basically dislike expats at best and detests us mostly. We get absolutely no service and they would no more think of coming to CM than fly to the moon. So be grateful for being and Australian.

This isn't entirely true. As a fellow Brit I completely agree with the fact that our embassies and consulates appear to dislike/detest expats but our ambassadorial staff do tend to get out once a year or so and mix with the hoi polloi in the provinces. They have to, not for the individuals but for the business interests that they are sniffing around to protect. Our embassies love businesses they just hate people.

the cops here make you take a piss test? Say what?!?! What kind of crap is that. Some cop comes up to a random foreigner and makes him pee in a cup? Is that what's going on?

And what is this about checking for overstayers? Who carries their passport when they're out at Zoe? And yes, most of them are just the passing through backpackers because Zoe sucks, and everyone here knows it's not worth going to anymore with 12 am closing times...maybe even earlier at times.

Random pee testing here has been going on for what seems like forever - it happens in China too. They aren't checking for overstayers, they're checking for compliance with Thai law on carrying your passport everywhere (seriously and no, a photocopy is not legally an alternative either). In Bangkok if you get caught without your passport - you get a free stay in the clink for 24 hours to reflect on why you should carry it... it's Thailand and that's how it works here.

Someone maybe should tell ol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri, spokesman for the Royal Thai Police.

https://asiancorrespondent.com/2014/12/thailand-police-foreigners-not-required-to-carry-passports-at-all-times/

Pol Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri, spokesman for the Royal Thai Police, has said tourists DO NOT need to carry passports at all times. His comment came when he was responding to the recent tourist shakedown reports in various media outlets over the past month. He stated that if asked to show their passports, tourists can produce their documents at a later time if necessary.

Maybe the Pol Lt Gen could tell the police? Anyone caught refusing to participate in what's expected of them by police in Thailand is in for a very hard time - newspaper articles notwithstanding. Quotes are lovely but they don't actually help people deal with the reality - which is the police can and do arrest you for not carrying the right form of ID. The rest is moot.

Except in the same article; "A spokesman of one law firm in Thailand said there were only two circumstances in which police are permitted to conduct searches in public places - if they have a warrant or if the officer has reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing."

the cops here make you take a piss test? Say what?!?! What kind of crap is that. Some cop comes up to a random foreigner and makes him pee in a cup? Is that what's going on?

And what is this about checking for overstayers? Who carries their passport when they're out at Zoe? And yes, most of them are just the passing through backpackers because Zoe sucks, and everyone here knows it's not worth going to anymore with 12 am closing times...maybe even earlier at times.

Random pee testing here has been going on for what seems like forever - it happens in China too. They aren't checking for overstayers, they're checking for compliance with Thai law on carrying your passport everywhere (seriously and no, a photocopy is not legally an alternative either). In Bangkok if you get caught without your passport - you get a free stay in the clink for 24 hours to reflect on why you should carry it... it's Thailand and that's how it works here.

No problems whatsoever getting trashed in the night bazaar area until gone 1 a.m... suspect it has something to do with the location - Zoe is awful, deserves getting rousted over and over and over...

It's all a bit purely random when it comes to buying stuff from outside the country. I've paid no tax with Lazada or Aliexpress. I've prepaid import tax from Ebay (Kindles because Amazon won't ship them here). I've had clothes come from a variety of places (usually in $150 order quantities) and paid from nothing (and once 7 baht) to 2,000 Baht on them on import.

On the bright side, I've never had a parcel go missing... so far.

You might want to read this leaflet from the British government before you do - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/354767/plant_product_leaflet_aug_2014.pdf

Also, it's unlikely that two plants will live in your luggage without sunlight for a week... particularly orchids which aren't the hardiest of plants.

Not a buffet but for 250 baht you can enjoy a massive Sunday roast at Pappa Rocks on the ring road at Mae Hia.

As for buffets I favour the Holiday Inn, but really enjoyed one at the Shangri-La a few months ago. 1,000 baht each and freeflow wine and cocktails (yes cocktails are included)for another 1,000 baht. They are open till 3pm so if you get there for 11.30 start you get more booze than offered at the Holiday Inn, though they are cheaper...hic...hah

I've found the Shangri La to be more hit than miss in most circumstances. Been 5 times... and it's been worse every single time. Started well in the Chinese restaurant but then just kind of fell off a cliff in terms of quality, quantity and service. Couldn't recommend it to anyone based on my experiences there. Shangri-La globally seem to be pretty random too - Dubai and Beijing, for example, are awesome but Chiang Mai and Shenzhen, for another example, aren't very good at all.

I bought mine in the Computer Plaza next to Icon Mall... I think I may have been the first big ticket laptop they ever sold; they even took photos of me opening the bloody box but the service was excellent and I will use them again. MSI dealer on the left hand side was who I used but they all seem to be interconnected in there as I picked it up from a completely different store...

I've eaten brunch in many 5 star hotel chains round the world - the Ritz-Carlton, Raffles, Dusit, etc. and I think the food at Le Meridien is above average (though not the best - that remains the Ritz-Carlton in Dubai) for both their Sunday Brunch and their Christmas Brunch.

As for the booze... half our party is teetotal, another barely drinks 2 glasses of wine, I don't drink wine and normally drink 3-4 beers, and I have one friend who sees the cocktail list as a challenge to his masculinity and tries to imbibe them all at least twice. We all think it's great value.

Oh and food is both Western and Asian with a light hint of "international" doused over the whole thing.

Le Meridien is excellent. It's about 1,000 Baht for food though and another 1,000 Baht for as much as you can drink on top. I think it's great value for money and go there once a month.

I think Brexit will cause the pound to plummet... it will be the final declaration that Britain intends to become a 3rd world nation and our currency will be valued accordingly. Leaving Europe is economic suicide for the UK.

at 97k bahts per application, better keep your money and buy you a nice condo with pool and jacuzzi.

Hunh?

Lego make some amazing stuff nowadays. ;-)

The Thais here don't seem to have any problem obtaining Thai citizenship - they just get born and it happens. Why would you want Thai citizenship? It offers absolutely no advantages over the passport that Westerners already carry.

You could buy and own a house and land!

No trips to Immigration.

No reporting where you are staying.

To list just a few.

Get an Elite Visa - no trips to immigration, no reporting where you stay. Oh and free golf games and spa treatments too - they don't give those away to citizens.

Learn to structure a lease properly and you can effectively own land anyway (and a house).

So, still not seeing the benefits.

Sounds more like a ponzi scheme than a pyramid scheme...

Chiang Mai is less polluted than Bangkok even in full swing burning season... much less outside of it. But only you can decide if it works for you - why not just come up for a week in May and see if it feels better before moving here? For me, I find Chiang Mai perfectly OK at all times but then I used to live in China and you'd be hard pushed to match Beijing, Guangzhou, etc. with a little burning and car smog.

The Thais here don't seem to have any problem obtaining Thai citizenship - they just get born and it happens. Why would you want Thai citizenship? It offers absolutely no advantages over the passport that Westerners already carry.

I wonder if there is a way to start a petition, or whether such a petition already exists.

You`re a Farlang, an outsider, a guest, how would you start a petition about noise levels in someone else`s country? We are under the thumb in Thailand, can`t say boo to a goose. The only way to oppose anything in Thailand is to get Thais to front it for us. The more prominent they are, the higher the chances of success. Otherwise starting a petition and getting a result can only be a pipe dream.

Petitions just don't work very well in face cultures full stop. It's a means of public embarrassment and thus instant loss of face. No well connected and prominent Thai worth their salt would start a petition - it's not the way things get done round here.

It's also worth noting that Thais aren't immediately dismissive of farang concerns either but they are all too often delivered in such a way as to cause loss of face and then the hurt feelings caused ensure a negative result. Though in the case of immediately opening a new airport or closing the current one at night - it's unlikely that anything than an order from the top of Thai society would effect such circumstances.

I figure in reality - everyone would report certain crimes and everyone would let others go. If you're going to start reporting traffic violations, for example, in Chiang Mai - you're going to have very little time left to say brush your teeth or dress yourself. However, walking away when witnessing a murder of an innocent would take a certain meanness of spirit too.

Grassing up bars for failing to keep a curfew imposed by a distant authority without their consent seems to fall in the traffic violations category; it's petty and mean spirited rather than morally virtuous. If you don't like bars being open while you're sleeping; do what I do and don't live near any bars. I picked my home location because while everything is a short tuktuk ride away - nothing is on the doorstep and it's also not on the flight path from the airport. It's really not hard to do that and it saves whining and pettiness later on down the track.

You can find them in the central section of Maya on the 2nd or 3rd floor (can't remember which but it's the same floor as Asia Books).

The shop's name was Darren. It is being mourned by its two door frames and 3 window sills that remain. RIP Darren. RIP.

No it wasnt Darren, ive remembered it was called house of potentially, did it move?

That was what people called it, not what it called itself, which was Darren. If it was the House of Potentially then technically it still exists in all possible universes except this one. ;-)

In truth, I have no idea at all whether it moved.

I find the optimal figure for a great life here to be around $5,000 a month. Any less and you have to stop drinking champagne everyday.

It's always good to squeeze as much racism as possible into a post... it's hardly the fault of the Chinese when the flights are actually running is it? As for the noise? Live with it or move somewhere less noisy. Demanding the immediate construction of a new airport is as ridiculous as expecting an airport to go to sleep just to suit you.