richard_smith237

A Thai licence doesn't mean you are competent to ride. It only means you can legally ride. To be fair - that old thread is 10 years old... I'd imagine BritMan has a licence by now. But.. he's being very 'limited' with the facts and telling a very bias story of attempted murder. Over so many pages of this thread and he's continuing to refuse to discuss the trigger point, which lends to the suspicious that he's less than innocent for his part in any escalation which triggered another driver to be angry enough to want to knock him off his motorbike.

Questions such as this really give significant pause for thought... ...the mind boggles.... I'm left wondering what bit of humour I'm missing for this can't be a serious question, surely ?????

The trifecta then... Speeding, Alcohol, no Seatbelts. If these issues along with wearing of helmets for motorcyclists were resolved over night, the road fatality rates would go down to less than 25% in my estimations...

You can drive in Vietnam with an IDP (and your home country licence). The insurance is a different matter and individual to the rental company. If you are renting from a company that is not being forthcoming with the insurance policy, its perhaps wise to look elsewhere and perhaps go with a more known 'company' (such as Hertz, Avis etc). Usually with insurance there will be quite a high 'excess' unless you pay extra per day to reduce that.

Correct - he left the flight deck and successfully dealt with a medical emergency. Your criticism may be valid if there were only one pilot on the flight, but in this example, your criticism is moronic.

Way to go... brilliant... Shoe horning a negative out of an outstanding positive !!!... Its amazing the stretches people will go to not to be positive... such stupidity too. What do you think the Pilot or CoPilot do when they need the bathroom ????

It happens a lot in Thailand, some dumb rule is pushed through that raises concern. Then, once the impracticalities are realised whomever pushes said rule goes quiet and things just go back to normal. The rule is unreasonable, especially for those going on holiday... So just tell them, if you are going away and not to clamp your car. Leave the rest up to them - a reasonable juristic committee and front office staff should have no issue with this.

I think what happens is that people let their friends park their car or bike at their condo while they travel overseas etc. This takes up the space of residents, so to isolate those cars in use, they observe the movement. This is a lazy and clumsy way of monitoring this. I recall the juristic committee of condo I owned bringing this law in. The issue we had is that we'd travel overseas regularly 2-3 times per year for up to a month, it was impossible to move the car every week and I wasn't about to start. I just left a note with reception that xxxx is our car and is not to be touched while we are away. There were no further issues. Thus: IF the Op is in a Condo and his/her car is not moved within a week and they want to 'clamp' his car, then they are being unreasonable... Just tell reception its your car and not to be touched. If they do want to clamp it, take an angle grinder to the clamp, but realistically, those enforcing this issue need to see some logic.

Common sense 101..... love it... have you ever taken it ?... passed the course ? 1) How can you tell if a Cafe allows dogs (if there are no dogs in it already) ? 2) Do you walk into every cafe you've ever been to and ask.. is this place dog friendly ? 3) What do you do if you go to an empty cafe, then only find out after ordering that its 'dog friendly' ? 4) What if you go to an empty cafe, then someone comes in with a yappy dog, its ruined your peace and quiet and you are now struggling to read your common-sense 101 hand book ?

Agreed... But was this a 'Dog Cafe' ??? ... as in a cafe, which has loads of dogs for guests to interact with ( at a charge i.e. xx baht for 30 mins etc) OR, was it a cafe that also happened to allow people to bring their dogs to ?? Other outlets report the incident occurred at a "Pet Friendly Coffee-shop"... Thus: Its possible that the Brit thought he was in a 'normal cafe'.... i.e. he got there to what he thought was a normal quiet Coffee shop... Ordered, then someone turns up with a yappy dog spoiling the peace and quiet... and he flips out ??? I remember being in a restaurant (at the beach) in Rayong... We just ordered our food and a big dog came over.... I asked the owner who's dog is it, please take it away as there are young children in the group playing in the sand.... The owner said it was their dog and that dogs are a allowed there. OK.. my mistake, no problem then, cancel that order for about 16 people.... Suddenly the dog was put on a lead. The point there - I didn't want the children to be playing in the sand, running around with an unknown dog right next to them (no matter how friendly it was)... but, I was at a 'pet friendly restaurant'... I just didn't know it.

Imagine if this becomes big news... How many pi$$ed off GF's are going to slip a bullet in 'fumbling Freds' baggage.... And travelling with something in your baggage which shouldn't be there ?... Oops, I've done that a couple times. (A Marijuana Gummy left in a bag in the side pocket / A strip of sleeping tablets... zines or apams or something, can't quite remember)... Anyway - when travelling a LOT its easy to leave stuff in the luggage by mistake or just because we've become more complacent. I recently flew back to Thailand with a pack of Paracetamol with Codeine, it didn't cross my mind that Codeine is a Class 2 narcotic and illegal in Thailand without a prescription (which I didn't have).

Is this upon arrival in Thailand ? Or, it this upon departure from Thailand ? IF the bullet was found upon arrival in Thailand, its easy to understand how, especially with someone from the US who may be hunting / shooting regularly... a stray bullet left in his luggage - its hardly the crime of the century and I hope its treated with common sense intelligent discretion - i.e. silly boy don't do that again. IF the bullet was found upon departure from Thailand, then I'd be asking more questions as that is quite suspect... how could a bullet possibly get there if not 'planted' (either by someone close to him or by the Police themselves)... Of course, IF this were the Police themselves, then it would be kept quiet and a payout would be in place.... So, was he using Guns (gun ranges) while here ? but how could a bullet possibly get into his possession - in this case, a lot of questions need to be asked, particularly as to what was he doing in Thailand.

Why ? you think he wants someone to read the comments out loud ????

And what about the Brit who kicked the Doctor in her back while she stat on the steps of his rented house ???? .... He's not British you say ?... Oh... go back far enough and there may be some 'British' ties you can dig your teeth into... Nope... nothing to do with that... But a lot of Brits here in Thailand... and then the Media is very 'Brit-centric' simply because of it being in English... so anything about Brits is more readily picked up by the Bots digging through social media and media sites from which a lot of the news is extracted. So... the above... and the developing reality that a lot of Brit's are clearly d!<k#eads.... and this is becoming more and more difficult to dispute even when some 'Brit-bashers' are so obviously buried in bias !!!

Yeah... Fair point... The 'protest' would never have started in the first place had the 'kick' not happened. But, the media seem to enjoy turning this into a 'them and us' type response... when the 'kick' was actually more of a catalyst to reignite protests against private encroachment of Yamu Beach.... It does make me wonder... .. how many were protesting against the Swissman... and how many against encroachment... Perhaps, with a bit of nationalism protests were levied at both.

Incredible isn't it... As if the other 24,999 deaths are nothing... Also... - Harsher penalties mean nothing if the police are too lazy do catch those breaking the laws. - Heavier fines mean nothing if the police are too lazy do catch those breaking the laws. - Jail sentences mean nothing if no one goes to jail otherwise jailable traffic officences. Whenever there is an incident such as this, there is often a cry for more rules etc but the reality is more simple... The Police are ineffective as a a traffic calming measure becase the laws and penalties that are already in place are not enforced. Just count the amount of helmet-less riders who ride past a policemen who does nothing. Apathy is the problem, and the extent of the apathy is visible throughout the nation.

That depends... Was he encroaching his land onto the beach, which is what the other protest you are referring to was about, although deliberately misleading headlines and some foolish readers wanted to read more into and turn it into 'Thai hates Farang' Thai bash.

What happened is, he got annoyed at dogs barking and threw his glass at the woman. The outcome is irrelevant IMO - the actions of 'throwing a glass at a stranger in a public cafe' has already crossed a line. The apology means nothing - its empty and he only apologised to avoid further trouble. Yes, 100% he should be arrested, IMO.... That 'flash of temper' is not just a 'flash of temper'.... ... A flash of temper is something that happens in a our minds, to all of us on a regular basis... This guy 'acted on his flash of temper'.... Only one reason I'd have the police involved... thats very simple - to make sure our paths do not cross again so that if I am in the same situation again with my family I don't have to worry that the same nutcase is there ready to throw a glass when something annoys him. Nope.. get him out of the way - send him home. I'm not usually of the 'hangem high crowd' - but in this case I don't see any redeeming features of someone so ready to explode over something so innocuous. Props to you are a kinder and more forgiving person than I - I'd have ensured more definitive and exacting response.

In the original Op, BritMan claimed that the driver who hit him admitted to doing so deliberately and there was a statement to such effect.... Even though BritMan can neither speak or read Thai (in previous threads he's claimed, why would he need to?, he never has any intention of mixing with Thai's).... so I'm wondering how he know what was in the Police Statement made by the Thai Driver...

Seriously ??? you are suggesting that while out for a walk drivers have intentionally tried to run you down ??? Or... are you walking in the road and expecting them to stop or slow for you, meanwhile, they are expecting you to get out of the way (just as anyone else does in Thailand) and its only at the last second that you both realise neither of you are taking avoiding action so its suddenly down to you ??? Its the same crossing the road in Thailand... We'd step onto a pedestrian crossing and joke that the drivers would accelerate for us - the reality is of course different, in that the driver simply has no intention of slowing or stopping and is expecting us to run, dance, jump out of the way.... ... there is no 'deliberate intention to run us down' as you suggest... but just a very stupid act of being the bigger vehicle so expecting others do get out of the way. Have you truly witnessed a driver trying to run over human ??? I call BS on that. And, dogs do a better job of getting out the the way... Some entitled westerner walk down the road or cross it as they would in the West and get somewhat of a surprise. Always pays to be careful.... but we should also learn from factual situations and not half stories and incomplete truths that we sometimes get on this forum. BritMan is still refusing to discuss what triggered the Driver to try and kill him, but expects us to believe this murderous rage was triggered by a shopping bag harmlessly brushing part of a car and nothing else... which lends to a certain degree of skepticism on my part.

To be fair... If I were in a restaurant / Cafe and someone threw a glass at me, yes, I call the police and press charges. What is the alternative, go and kick the living daylights out of the offending party and risk facing charges myself ?... no of course not. So.. deescalate ? how do we deescalate with someone who has already crossed a line ?... I'm not sympathetic towards the sort of person who'd throw a glass at someone in any situation, it could be one of us with a member of our family and the glass hits one of our children etc... Thus, I'd sooner see anyone who resorts to such behavior removed from society... When a line such as this is crossed, a more calculated Machiavellian response is not uncalled for IMO - I certainly wouldn't be in any frame of mind to forgive.

You can get the Yellow Fever vaccination from a few places. https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/Knowledge/schedule-travel-vaccine.html This place (Thai Travel Clinic) gives the vaccine and the Yellow Vaccine book which is what Thai Authorities 'may' look for, particularly when checking in for a return flight from an African nation.

Agreed.... I can see that happening in many cases of road rage here. But, I'd also like to 'truthfully know' if this is what happened... There is an example in the past of some rich boy ramming a bus shelter full of people because something angered him (can't find the exact story)... So there are also a lot of highly unhinged people out there who'll react extremely to very minor situations.

Very true... it highlights what a varied culture it is that we live in... And while I don't judge others based on their appearance... I do judge based on their opinions and its often clear that those who claim 'we are treated like lower class dogs'...... are perhaps often treated this way for the most part due to how they behave. Perhaps not... But the person who goes around claiming all Thai's hate us, all Thai's are cheats etc... are very unlikely to approach each situation differently and on its individual merit and instead maintain the same patterns of superiority and bias... its far more likely that someones attitude, tone, stance, eye-contact, cross cultural socio-phonetics etc will betray an underlaying lack of class, education and manners that enables the onlooker to accurately place them in a the lower echelons on the pecking order.... ... these same people then cry 'mistreatment' without ever understanding how they placed themselves in the very situation the are in having completely failing to understand that the next person will be treated very well because they express more complimentary personality traits.. In short - these people never quite get the fact that its them, not the others who are the issue. I'm not suggesting this is true of BritMans accident - but he certainly gives of an underlying attitude that he cares very little for anyone else, ever.... so I can readily see a situation where he has reacted its escalated.... but he hasn't endeared himself to authorities either so they just see this as an accident and nothing more because he hasn't pushed for more.

This seems to imply that you think my posts are 'Thai Bashing'... which is a little odd given the flow of discussion...