richard_smith237

I had an accident about 5 years ago.

I’m certain I was not in the wrong.

I was on Petchaburi road, in the right hand lane, turning right into an office building car park when a mini-van driver decided he was going to overtake me at the same time.

I took photos immediately after the accident.

Back at the police station I was told that I was in the wrong because I was the one making the traffic maneuver.

I pointed out the van was driving the wrong way in a bus lane while attempting to over take me which is also a manover.

The Boss of the Van company came along, the police gave him a nice big wai. Then I was told I should pay because the van had no insurance.

I told them I am not wrong and I am confident I can prove that.

This discussion went back and forth each time my photographs showed on way or another that the Van drive had been telling a little porkie.

The police didn’t want to make the decision of who was right or wrong. They were taking kick backs from the Van company to operate illegally in that area while at the same time I maintained that I was not in the wrong, it was a tricky one for them. We were referred to the head office, they looked at the car and made the decision that we are each responsible for our own part of the accident. I was told that as I had insurance and the other van didn’t and that this was the best solution as my insurance will pay for me, but not the van. I accepted this.

We had to go back to the police station the next morning to get the insurance document signed, while there the van driver wanted to change is story again. The police man stud up, shouted at him and kicked him out of the police station (after taking 400B procession fee off him). I gave over my 400B processing fee, the policeman shook my hand and told me it had been a very interesting case and that while is created a headache for him and more work, he respected my decision not to accept blame (this would have been the normal Thai way, accept blame quickly, go home for tea, insurance deals with the rest).

I left after an interesting incident, feeling as though I’d learned something about Thailand, seeing a side of things that one wouldn’t normally see. I also left with the feeling that sometimes a situation can be sticky but even in a situation like this the police can be as independent as possible. I have a relatively powerful friend who works in the police force at no point did I feel the need to involve him and cause potential embarrassment for those policemen who through out the proceedings never once postured to intimidate me or force my decision to suit their situation.

I left feeling ok about the event and with no fear that the system is against westerners, the system just likes to decide the simplest way to deal with things is to let the wealthier party cover the costs of an unfortunate event.

SBK,

My friends girlfriend had a very similar incident – She’s a Thai lady, and the motorbike driver demanded money off her. She called the police – at first the police said she should pay the guy. She refused. It ended up without her having to pay. If in the a similar circumstance I would also refuse to pay and be quite happy to politely maintain that point with the police. I think the outcome is often not the difference between right and wrong, its often just whatever the easiest decision to make. i.e. Poorer Vs not as Poor… (who appears that they would be hit less by the cost takes or is given the blame).

Driving around anywhere in Thailand is ok and easy to do. However, it takes far more concentration than in the west… for example passing traffic on a dual carriage way the car you are passing is quite likely to change lanes without any apparent reason or signal. I’d believe that westerner and Thai’s alike are at equally risk to being involved in an accident and simple bad luck plays a big part in that.

My friends and I have all been driving in Thailand for at least 5 years… I’ve had two crashes, neither my fault, they were harmless fender benders, my friend has had a crash and that’s it.

It’s the motorbikes you have to watch out for… its quite insane and I am still surprised that I have not hit one, sometimes they cut you up with such proximity missing them seems impossible.

In the city you have to be aggressive, nose out and force your way a little in order to make headway, its unnecessary to get annoyed although most people will at some point in any traffic.

Out of the city, less aggression is better and simply being very vigilant is the best way to drive.

Maps can be obtained, and getting around should be simple enough. Getting a little lost is also part of the fun. People are generally nice and will always try to help, in fact they love to help and even if they don’t know what you are saying or where you want to go you will very helpfully be pointed off in any direction with a smile !

Also – because of the distances involved, flying somewhere (i.e Chiang Mai) then hiring a car to drive around the region seems a logical way do to things, the same for other areas (i.e. North East). I’ve hired a car in Samui and dropped it off in Phuket before (this obviously costs a little more).

The real question is… do you trust yourself than someone you’ve never met before to drive you around. In the city taxi’s are fine. Heading out of the country some guys have no concept of consequence and that can be frightening. I’m much rather be in control of my destiny, but at the same time its tiring to be thinking all the time, what if they do that, what if this happens etc etc….

Its certainly not like as easy as a driving holiday in the west, but at the same time you don’t want it to be.

Also, the Jollies (Police, often referred to as BIB; Boys in Brown) like to pull people over for any reason. Being foreign can help or hinder you it just depends on the situation.

Deal with them politely they’re just out to make some small change, if you are certain you have done nothing wrong its ok to politely try and say that (you’ll probably be waved on because they don’t want to waste time trying to talk to someone they cant understand). However, some could be difficult and this could be testing, the police sometimes like to try and intimidate, but if you are relaxed this posturing does not last long. Paying tea money of B100 or B200 is quite normal, paying more than that would be considered excessive.

Hi there.

My first time in this forum. I have a question one in here might have a good answer too:

I am 36 years old. danish. retired by my government because of an accident. getting paid every month on my thai bank account every month now and basically live here as a retired guy now on my 3rd. year.

I can NOT get a retirement visa as far as I know, because I am not over 50 years of age. So I am here on a tourist visa and have to do these crazy runs all the time. This drives me nuts.

does anyone in here have a bright idea how I can handle this situation? I tried business visa for some time but its too expensive to pay all these lawyers, accountings, fees and stamps.

I am not gonna get married or make any babies in the near future just to get a long time visa.

what are my options? if any?

any help is appreciated.

thanks

martin

This is likely to get a negative reaction given the consensus of opinion in this forum on the subject. But... if your budget permits, look into the Thai Elite card….

Its pricey at 1.5MB, it gives you a 5 year SE visa (special entry visa – which is basically the same as a tourist visa) which is renewable every 5 years for the rest of your life (this may have recently changed to 30 years). It also has some other perks such as free massage, free golf, free airport transfer and a quick escort through immigration on departure and arrival.

The downside of getting this card is a biggie… there is varying confidence in the longevity of the service. It’s possible that the program collapses and you could loose that money. Equally so it may just last the duration, no one really knows.

hello i'm 27 years and from belgium i am planning to start a live living in thailand but with my age it's not so easy to do iff i don't marry a thai.

now i am looking for my options how to get a nice visa untill i marry in thailand and i cross over someone who told me about a

'' thailand elite card'' ( cost round 1.500.000 BATH )

i hear iff i buy sutch a card i can get a 5 year renewable visa.

my question is because i just hear about this and have no idee what so ever about the truth on this?

what for a card is this?

is it tru?

and how and were to get sutch a thailand elite card?

thnx

Hi Dennis…

I can only speak for myself… and I’m happy with the card.

I’ve had the card for a year purchasing it when it was 1MB.

I’m 33, don’t want to marry a Thai just for visa purposes and find myself in the loophole whereby I don’t work here, but live here and work overseas. I like it here and want to stay here.

I travel in and out of Thailand on almost a fortnightly basis.

I find the visa, the airport transfers and speed through immigration highly useful.

I used the free massage maybe 2-4 times per month (I wouldn’t massage if it wasn’t included in the card)

I play golf on the card approximately 4-6 times per month (and would pay to play anyway).

The rumors of being able to own land etc are a total myth.

For me it’s worth it and will pay for itself in 7-8 years.

The only issue I have is the insecurity over the longevity of the program. It says a life time membership with 5 year renewable visas. This is my only worry, will the program last? Nobody knows. If in 4 years time I cannot renew my visa or the program fails I’d be annoyed, but that’s the risk I take. If on the other hand it failed in 10 years I would have saved myself money. If ithe program doesn’t fail, then great.

The vendor partners (i.e. free golf, massage etc) are changing a little all the time, however the ones that are on the contract when you sign stay there. Even though some of the privileges are no longer offered to new members, they are maintained for older members. So as I see it you get what you buy, but also new privileges when they come are added to your membership.

I’ve spoken to the meet and greet Thai Elite personnel at the airport – and on average they have 20 people coming and going in any one day. I’m surprised by this as it seems busier than I would expect if the claimed number of 2500 or so members is true.

There has never been an issue when arriving at a spa or a golf course (I get approximately 10-20% discount off green fees for guests at golf courses too).

I’ve just had a full medical at Samitivej hospital. The bill was B16,000 covered by Thai Elite, we get 1 per year.

If I was looking at the card as a potential new customer the 1.5MB would be a large sum to swallow. But if I could pay that and not worry too much I wouldn’t hesitate. I have found the service excellent. BUT I do have a minor concern about the program lasting. My way of dealing with this is just to take the hit and accept the loss if the program fails. Any talk of compensation etc is great if in the event of program failure it materialized, I wouldn’t hold my breath or have any expectations of that happening.

I for one am a satisfied customer. I would say otherwise if I had any issues with the program.

PM me if you would like any further information.

Also you can either contact them directly (via the contacts addresses on the website http://www.thailandelite.com ) Or I can give you the contact of the lady I dealt with directly who was very helpful and spoke excellent English.

A taxi driver reversed into me a couple of weeks ago (I was stationary at the time).

The driver gave a story of not having enough money to pay for the damage to my expensive car and that he was not insured (private taxi). I realized that it would be more of a headache to go through the process of my insurance attempting to get money from him etc, so I just accepted responsibility and let the apologetic fellow (careless, gormless twit) on his way. Accidents happen and he didn’t do it deliberately so I just wanted the next steps to be as trouble free as possible.

As the crash was ‘my fault’ my insurance was having to foot the repair bills, I have an international permit but it was not in my car.

I presented only my UK permit to the insurance chappy, no problems my car is in the garage having the dent and parts fixed.

The insurance for another crash about 6 years ago was also processed with my UK license (police involved too), with no problem.

I would always advise having an international permit to avoid any issues in the event things become sticky, however I’ve not ‘needed’ to use mine so far (I have to get it renewed each year).

(I’d get a Thai license but I’ve been about to do that for the last few years)

The last few times I’ve ended up having a rant at the security when leaving Bangkok.

The first time it was my own fault, going away for only two days I decided at the last minute that as my baggage was minimal I’d hand carry. I only realized my mistake when I got to the security check. From my wash bag they took all liquids over 100ml. But the annoying thing was when I kicked up a polite stink after they’d indicated they must confiscate my (very sharp) nail scissors they changed their mind an let me take them through.

The small irony here was that I’d bought some hair gel at the boots in the duty free area. I’d told the shop assistant that I don’t want her to seal it in the bag as I wanted to go to the bathroom and use the gel. If I had enough forethought, I could have put all my other liquids in that bag.

The second time I got irritated was just last week, I’ve been carrying a small (75ml) can of Nivea deodorant for the last 6 months or so (about 20 flights) and never had a problem. This time it was confiscated because it is flammable. I argued that perfume or some spirits (i.e. brandy) are flammable but it’s ok to take those… I complained at the changing goal posts.

I also get irritated when driving into a hotel (normally the top end ones, i.e. Marriot) when I have to open my boot so that the guys at the gate can perform a visual security check (not the explosives sniffer type). A bomb inside a suit case is ok then ?

All across the board I do not see or witness an improvement to security, I just see the farce that insults intelligent travelers who can see through this performance of ‘appearing to do something’ to give the image of better security.

Sorry Oleg –

That sounds like rubbish –

Your comments are suggesting that as I am not Muslim, It’s reasonable for me to kick the S#$t out of a guy who greets me with ‘Salam wah la coum” because it might offend my religious sensibilities…

There is only one side to this story here so we can only go with that…

But the Op has stated that he made a friendly gesture and offered to buy the guy a beer… is that worth a beating? no religion or culture can use that as an excuse…

Regardless of the time, this seems like an unprovoked attack and mugging.

It doesn’t seem so organized… But as the Op has said.. some areas of Bangkok maybe becoming a little more dangerous than we are used to particularly after the witching hour.

We can’t go around making excuses for an unprovoked kicking.

Unless….Pauliepaul, (Op).. is there anything more to this?

We used to go to the Sukhothai all the time.

We used to stay there all day and be the last out, a group of us would sit there with our friends and girlfriends, sometimes on a table of 10 and just eat and drink all afternoon….until the food was cleared away, then continue drinking until one of use would realize that they were cleaning up around us. We’d move up to the bar area to finish our drinks, they’d often top us up while we were in the bar area. Absolutely wonderful service.

However, one time (with a booking) we turned up and were told with an apology that the policy has changed and we don’t get free flowing wine. We apologized and left, politely letting them know that the free flow wine was one of the reasons we were there. We called up and booked the Marriot and went directly there. We just didn’t rate it as much, the staff were also just that little bit surly, and we were kicked out at closing time of the buffet on the dot. We were also told, 15 mins before the buffet closed that there was no more wine, when I one of us spoke to the head waitress and suggested that ‘this is the Marriot hotel you don’t run out of wine, sorry but we don’t believe that excuse’… we were told OK, but this is the last one, no more after this (we certainly didn’t over do it)… We didn’t go back

After a couple of months, one of our group got a call from the head waitress / maitre d' of Sukhothai asking us ‘we miss your group’ why don’t we go there anymore..

They gave us a solution – we could take our own wine and not have to pay corkage. Last time we were there we left at 6pm after a great afternoon.

The Four Seasons and Marriot are good – but it feels like more of a conveyor belt buffet – get in, eat, get out…

We used to get great service at the Banyan tree, but the food was not up to the standard of the above three mentioned places.

One thing I have noticed is that service can make the difference between a good afternoon and a great afternoon. Its just nice to feel welcomed.

I’d also be very interested to learn of more good places (and A’la Carte) as the Op has requested, somewhere a ‘little’ different would be great….

I’m planning a quick romantic getaway with my girlfriend next week. As Pattaya is a quick 2hrs drive away it’s the most convenient (also has some watersports that we are interested in) so we decided to stay the Zign hotel which appears very well designed, it’s a little isolated while at the same time being close enough to town to head out for a beer etc in the evenings.

I e-mailed with the booking form and got a response to my reservation request from Reservations hotels.thaivisa.com that the hotel is fully booked on the days we want to stay.

However, my girlfriend had also made an enquiry direct with the hotel to see if they had any promotions etc… And they do – and they are not fully booked, In fact they had availability for any room and villa type except for the poolside villas.

Hotels.thaivisa.com suggested an alternative which is 2,600 B per night more… and stretches our price bracket. Needles to say we’ll go with the direct promotion which undercuts the agents internet based price.

Now, something doesn’t seem right that they’d respond that a hotel with vacancies is fully booked and then suggest an alternative that is quite a lot more.

I rarely use agencies over the internet, is this the norm? this just seems rather odd to me.

snorkels past the swimming backpackers

where the lesser spotted spondooly

i've got a very vivid

ly shaped spondooly, its so

Dacca, Bangla Desh

ps: IMHO a sport stadium is hardly a 'landmark' but again, IMHO...

Also, this is a very small stadium and as far as I can see, limited to cricket...?

LaoPo

Yes LaoPo. It is Bangladesh's national cricket stadium.... It's probably the only landmark in Dhaka…

(With 186 pages to this game already, I was trying to choose a city that I didn't think had already been done. On the same rationale, Would Wembley stadium, Old Trafford etc be considered a landmark? Airports ?)..

No.... For the City, think very recently… Very bad weather…

Sorry... Not Colombo...

Galle in Sri Lanka

Good try...No Cigar this time...

This one is a Sporting landmark.. in a City of very few landmarks….

Ohrid - Macedonia

Devils Dyke ? (I think Old Croc Just beat me to it)

My girlfriend has told me that the iPhone she has got me has serial #47, I gather this can’t be cracked and that there is lacking confidence that it can be cracked in the near future.

As per one of Damian’s posts, I suggested to her that she went into MBK and try and do a swap for an older model (She also had another one for sale and made a tiny profit which made it not worth the effort of carrying it back !). I had suggested to her that she might be able to make the swap and have to pay B4000. B1000 lower than Damian mentioned in his post…. I based this on the fact that she might get Thai price… Instead she was offered ‘Girl knows nothing about technology’ price and was told they would swap it for B7000. So no swap.

She still has my iPhone (Serial #47 !)… I’ll head back to MBK next week when I have time and try again.

I don’t think she walked around looking for the best swap price….Either that or confidence in the potential crack of numbers 46 upwards has faded.

Which shop did you swap your phone at Damian ?

Has anyone else swapped their iPhone for an already cracked version? And if so, where and how much?

Thanks for your recommendations…

Long Mynd, Shropshire, UK ?

I am interested in getting Insurance for my watches etc.

• 5 expensive watches.

• Cameras.

• Laptops.

• Golf Clubs plus other sporting equipment.

• Wine collection.

• TV

I’d be interested for cover for the above against accidental damage, theft, fire etc.

I only am interested in contents insurance, not house insurance etc. The quote form on Thai Visa does not suit my questions.

Does anyone have any idea who provides insurance for these items, and a rough idea of how much coverage is…

Thanks for the answers Damian....

I gather you use AIS ? is that with GPRS to roam the internet ? what is the contract like ? (i.e. Cost / hours online / speed etc)

Can anyone tell me - I have Itunes on my computer twinned with my IPod... is it simple to load the same music on an IPhone ?

I am realising how out of date with technology I am...

I’ve just found out that my girlfriend has bought me an iPhone for Christmas (she bought it Hawaii) I am assuming its one of the later ones (post 44 serial number) with the currently software that can’t be hacked (I’m away at the moment and cant check myself).

I know nothing about cracking them or any software. DamainMavis’ comments have made me think about this. When someone finds a shop in MBK, Pan Thip or Fortune that can crack the later version can they post it here?

Any idea how much the guys charge to crack the phone ?

What does bricked mean ? (crashed / locked ?)

Also, how good is the touch screen for sending sms etc?

I looked at the dopod HTC but as I’m so used to buttons I decided against it, my girl friend has an LG chocolate and I hated the feel of the (touch sensitive) buttons. What is the predictive text capacity like?

I’ve heard that the cracked phones still have problems and need re-cracking at MBK etc… this could be too much hassle for a phone. For those who have one in Thailand, any hassles ?

Ok - So I crossed a Politically un-correct line. But all the PC stuff is sometimes a little overbearing and makes me claustrophobic and I snap…

My girlie and I have discussions regarding such trivial matters as ‘Why are LV (Louis Vuitton) handbags so important ?’ , ‘Angelina Jolies adoption of baby Zahara’, ‘human trafficking’, ‘levels of human consciousness and self awareness’ and back to ‘food’ and ‘did you shower’…..

She gets very sensitive about the handbag issue !

When today we were talking and for what ever reason the topic of ‘babies’ came up, I suggested that why have a child when there are so many, wouldn’t it be a wonderful kind thing to do, to give a child who has no parents a chance… and on…

To make my point clearer, I used the Angelina Jolie example…

I even suggested it could be fashionable to adopt an African child (I know I know, I was starting to snap and get silly !)…

I then suggested what a wonderful idea it would be, to adopt and African child, we could paint the LV symbol on him/her in gold to make and even more fashionable look…

Now, of course I was never serious and understand the implications and potential cause of racial slur and harm it can cause. I know it was wrong to suggest such a thing, I was never serious and although very ‘un-PC’ it’s just part of the ‘shock’ effect in some types of humor (i.e. the episode of The Office where they have the fire alarm and can’t get the lady in the wheelchair down the fire exit steps so the leave her there – excruciatingly painful and so funny at the same time because we know its not real)

Anyway, onward and upward….

I’ve seen girls with the LV pattern on their finger nails. And, Real or otherwise LV handbags appear to be on every other 20-40 y/o woman in any shopping mall in Bangkok. It seems that there is an obsession with expensive handbags that I can only akin to guys and watches and their cars. If someone accuses me of having expensive watches and cars, that its materialism and a form of showing off, after the quality arguments etc I’d have to agree. However, surely a handbag is just a handbag ? it seems a little obvious almost like walking around with a 30,000 B wad of cash on their hand just to show they’ve got it. These hideous brown bags with LV plastered all over them can’t be that attractive can they?

So… Now she is not speaking to me because I’ve offended her and her liking of LV !

I thought the LV part of what I said would have been the least of my troubles !

The real joke is on me now though. She bought me a shockingly brown LV wallet for my Birthday and I have to use it now.

I have my ideas for answers to this question, which is that in such a recently developed westernized society money speaks and establishes a quick hierarchy… However I am still wondering… what is it with those damned handbags? And what is it with the way so many women thrust them around as if the quality of the bag is somehow indicative of the quality of the person?

(Rant over, apologies – comments welcomed !)

(Edit: LV is Louis Vuitton)