richard_smith237

The ‘seat belt argument’..... [ I never wore a seat belt and I’m still here - ergo seatbelts are not necessary ]. Those dogs may be placid, or they may not be.... but people nationwide get bitten by stray dogs - if that didn’t happen, this thread wouldn’t exist. Thus, your anecdote is irrelevant - there are already scores of reports of people getting bitten by stray dogs.

Your existing passport is photo ID... Your Thai Driving Licence will have your Address in both Thai and English (on the back). Expect a ‘long wait’ for your renewal passport (i.e. 12 weeks or more according to reports). You will keep your existing passport in hand, but theoretically are not supposed to travel with it.

The rule put in place as a knee-jerk reaction....... Personally, I’d take my own booze and not worry about it - just enjoy a few beers or bottle of wine etc... Why was it banned ?... do you know the history ? Booze was banned because a number of years ago a train conductor got drunk, raped and killed a girl and threw her body off the train - the knee-jerk reaction was to ban alcohol.... Alcohol was the demon, almost as if that was the issue, not the fact that the State Railways made a terribly poor choice in employing said rapist / murderer.

I haven’t had a beer or any alcoholic drink since Monday... But, if I take a train journey I will certainly fancy a few beers to chill out with. What is possibly a ‘bigger issue’ about that ??? Its not that we ‘can’t go 12 hours without a beer’ - thats just your exaggerated projection, one which always surfaces on threads about booze.... “If you can’t even go one buddha day without booze you have bigger problems / are an alcoholic” etc... People like the Op, myself and many others enjoy a beer just as we enjoy nice food - thats it, its a preference not desperation.

No... Bill again, we have different concepts of the words we are using... People ‘nearly’ like you are the problem... You do better because you spay the females preventing further generations of animals which may suffer, at least of those under your ‘management’ (see what I did there). Or... in having the females spayed do you not think you managed, or even dominated the situation ?.... I would consider you managed the situation well, to the best of your capabilities with the space and finances you have available. Without your ‘management’ these dogs would be diseased, pest ridden, fighting, procreated, there would be 100’s more in a few years all suffering... you have prevented this. BUT... people who are ’nearly’ like you, those who believe these animals have greater rights than humans feed these animals, which attract more, then there is a scarcity of food, the procreate, multiply and cause more problems, for themselves and humans in the areas. Those ‘caring humans’ who are ’nearly’ like you Bill, do nothing to improve the situation, they make it worse, unless they can all spay the stray dogs to prevent suffering of further generations. And, Bill, just before you go there... these animals are suffering, otherwise they wouldn't need you to feed them in the first place. As I wrote above... Manage, and manage well. Dominate is your word... were you dominating the female dogs when you forced surgery on them and removed their natural ability to have babies ??... sounds like dominate to me IF I were to take your extreme use of the wording to suit my bias... but I would instead chose to state you managed the situation well. I do agree that I wish to manage my environment and provide myself with comfort and also security - comfort and security from not being attacked by uncontrolled stray animals which are not part of the natural habitat (not just dogs of course) - you wrote as such yourself, WE (humans) CREATED this “problem”.... We have done this throughout time... managed our environment to provide ourselves with comfort and safety... You don’t think animals nest Bill ???... we just do so with far more prolific impact on the environment, I do agree with you there.... But.. this discussion is about ’stray dogs’... by your own admission, soi dogs are part of the environment 'WE (humans) CREATED’... regardless of your thoughts as to how we impact the rest of the environment, the soi dog issue is something we (humans) need to control. I am not feeding soi dogs and encouraging them into residential areas. I agree, neither are you. But, as admirable as they are, you’re actions are a drop in the ocean, they do nothing to resolve the situation of people repeatedly being attacked by soi dogs.

99% eh..... does that fall within the 87.483% of statistics are made up ?

Unfortunately, Bill... that ‘solution’ sets you apart from the rest of us as being somewhat of an extinction rebellion nutter...

I agree... WE (humans) CREATED this “problem”... not so much by bringing all these dogs here in the first place... we didn’t ‘bring’ so many, what we failed to do was control their numbers. Thus, as we (humans) CREATED this “problem”, surely it is also up to us to resolve this problem and prevent tomorrows generations of hundreds of thousands of animals from suffering by dealing with the issue today. No one likes the solutions because there are no easy solutions - sometimes we need to rely on people to make hard choices. And no... I do not believe we need to share our town, city and village streets with stray dogs. Neither do I believe we should share our town, city and village streets with rats, or monitor-lizards or wild elephants... I do not believe we should share our town, city and village streets with over-grown weeds and uncontrolled growth of plants. ‘We’... you and I Bill, have a different understanding of share.... You seem to believe living in co-existence with other species means ‘doing nothing’... I believe differently, that for the benefit of not only ourselves, but these other species and living things we need to manage them, and of course ourselves, intelligently. Allowing stray dogs to run free and wild, procreating and increasing their numbers such that they become pests and ensure further suffering primarily as a result of their excessive numbers is not managing them intelligently - its allowing them to run amok, this favours neither species.

Anyone who has ever tried to or watched someone try to control and even stop a hover-craft may understand.... erm.. no way anything like this ever takes off... (pun intended). Drone delivery in build up areas is also another pending issue - rural area’s fine. In built up areas (cities and towns) there is simply too much that can go wrong - legislation will win.

I admire what you do Bill.... You put your money where your mouth is, you spay the females and feed numerous animals, you are in a remote area where the dogs you ‘look after’ are away from built up area’s. Unfortunately, this is not the solution for a nationwide issue - there are too many dogs and you can’t look after them all. The only solutions I see is to prevent further generations of animals. Either through culling - obviously a hideous solution, but sometimes solutions are tough. Or, through catching a spaying / neutering all animals caught, a more expensive option, but nevertheless doable with the right resources. The real issue - no one in any position of decision making power wants to be accountable and continued apathy towards a lasting issue simply enables the issue to continue... more children will be killed and mauled.

No... but expect a back-lash from those intolerant of utter tosh... Expect a 10 year old child to ‘stand up’ to a pack of soi dog ??? Expect any human to ? Packs of stray dogs are a danger... people like you who think all you have to do is go ‘alpha male’ on the beasts and they’ll run off are utterly ridiculous.

Nope... As soon as they become even remotely close to being a viable mode of transport they will be heavily licensed and legislated against to such a degree to make them utterly pointless. I simply do not see a near future with localised airborne transport being permitted without fully licence pilots, flight plans, restricted air-space etc. The idea that we could ‘pop out on an air-bike from our drive-way or front of condo building and land at an inner city shopping mall, either at the front or on the roof’ and beat the traffic is an utter pipe dream.

That might be true? However, I find it hard to believe that tourists visit the UK because they think that they are going to bump into the head of state on their travels. Of course they don’t.... but it adds the romanticism of the visit... People visiting the UK do so to visit the ‘package’... from Buckingham Palace, to the Tower of London, the London eye, the restaurants etc... and then of course the rest of the UK. I think France does have more to offer the UK, it has better weather and beaches, I suspect much of its tourism is those from around Europe visiting its beach towns and resort areas for there two week annual break. Thus when looking at the whole picture any suggestion that France has greater tourism than the UK in relationship to a past vs present monarchy maybe somewhat flawed.

GrabTaxi have a Pet Option... You could also have had your own car in Bangkok. Not to be overly critical of Taxi’s in Bangkok, the refusal thing is very annoying etc... But, at least there is an option to get home without being totally fleeced. What do the guys in Pattaya / Chiang Mai / Hua Hin / Phuket / Khon Kaen etc do when they go out for a some beers ??? Are there taxi’s available to take them home which aren’t going to fleece them ? I may be mistaken, but based on other discussion on this forum in these areas there seem to be a lot more foreigners drink-driving, those same folk may not in Bangkok due to the availability of taxis. So, while, I (we) complain about Bangkok taxi’s, it must be said, its better than in other areas of the country.

Keep yer head down.... this ones brothers might also still be looking for you !!!

This is how this goes.... Call Ranong Immigration... Ring ring... no answer... Try again... x 10 finally get through. Hello, Ranong Immigration, are you open ? no sapek enrish. Wait... GF / Wife speaks... ‘sawasdee (in Thai) is your border open ? Yes. Thank you. Op gets to Ranong Immigration... No, cannot, border open for Thai / Myanmar only. ------------- Aseannow is one of the best sources of up to date information when recent first hand experiences are offered. It was exactly the same during Covid with the onset of Certificate of Entry and the convoluted applications, then there was the Thailand Pass, again, initially with convoluted application process and of course the various hotels who did what, where, how etc... -------------

Try it... there is a Chinese guy called Lychee waiting for you to suck his nuts... He’ll be your Gik !!!

The musings of a 215 year old would explain a lot... Trink is perhaps a better stretch.... but perhaps closer to ‘The Blether’ of forums past.

Strange name for a Chinese fella...

I am. I love women. That was Eddie Izzard Claim well before all the gender pronoun bumf... ... a male who dresses up as a female but still wants to bonk females !!!... a lezzer !!

Lots of discussions... - An IDP is not required if the driver's domestic licence meets the requirements of the 1968 convention (and is in English). - The validity of an IDP is 1 year (usually), but as above, it may not be necessary. - There have been many discussions on the validity of an IDP after entry, a lot of people quote 90 days, although there is nothing official which states this. - There is also comments that the Visa status matters, i.e. a Tourist / Visa exempt is ok to drive on a Foreign licence (from a country which is a signatory of the 1968 convention), however those one Non-Imm Visas are considered residents and need to get a Thai Driving Licence - Again, written or official details on this are not clear. --------- Thus: Theoretically: IF coming as a tourist (from the UK for example) there is no need to get a Thai Licence. However, if living here long term, it makes sense to get a licence here. The reality - it all seems to be one big grey area and as long as you are holding ‘any licence’ it seems ok !!!... of course, insurance coverage matters so check that, and, also the BiB may have their own interpretation so and IDP or Local Licence removes any ambiguity whatever the law states because the BiB don’t actually know their own laws...

Your company booked your tickets... ... coming here to work ???.... shouldn’t your company get you a Non-Imm B Visa ?

Don't get it. Been taking my wife to KC once or twice a year since we've met 14 years ago. Even our two daughters wouldn't want to miss our holidays there. And I met her in a bar on Bangla road at 11 am. I was her very first customer. We boomboomed 3 days later. I know that's a bit precipitated for a Thai lady. Give these a read... you’ll get there... Quick Summary: Bob goes to a gogo-bar.. girl is with another foreigner, the other foreigner is old and has fallen asleep. Bob heroically saves this girl from the sleepy grasp of the narcoleptic old foreigner... she loves him, Bobs a hero.... Bob, amazed that this girl is wonderful and pays for her own stuff, takes her to Koh Chang, she’ll pay !!... Bobs pulled a rich girl, Bobs got game.... Girl wants money from Bob or her brothers will come and beat him up... turns out bob doesn’t have game !!!

Forbidden Fruit is always the juiciest. Now? Do you finally get the connection?? You sayin’ Miley is juicy fruit, Gamma ?

Or maybe this...