richard_smith237

I guess, as lenient as they feel like it at the time, if stopped. IF you have your home country licence which is enforced for motorcycles you should be ok, especially if its also accompanied with an IDP... So... they’ll either be OK with it, or, if they are money hungry, they’ll hit you up for fine which they’ll want on the spot (i.e. a bribe). IF so, ask for the ticket (to pay the fine at the station)... There’s not much they can do these days as they are not supposed to take your licence of you in lieu of paying a fine, and they can’t anyway as you don’t have one !!!... If stopped, just be polite and roll with it, there’s not much else you can do.

.... it may have happened at 1:45 am instead...

Plenty of decent law abiding folk live here....... Of course... but Neeranam is still not wrong, if when referring to Pattaya he means areas of Pattaya such as Walking St. Soi 6, So Buakhao etc... These specific ‘areas’ of Pattaya attracts the type of Thai and foreign characters we read of in the news such as this.... The rest of Pattaya is of course just like anywhere else in Thailand with a higher than average foreign population..... but its still a stretch to call it a ‘family resort’. I know anything can happen anywhere... I recall reading of a a story where an expat living in Pattaya was driving outside Big (one of the main roads in Pattaya) and there was a gun-fight in the carpark across the road - his daughter in the back-seat (car seat)... a bullet penetrated the door and hit the metal buckle of his child's carseat... I recall reading that this trigged him to leave Thailand.... When things kick off in Thailand, it does so with a total disregard for anyone else around.... That said, in the UK we’ve had some crazies over the time (indiscriminate knife attacks / car attacks)... In Bangkok we’ve had a few Bombs win the past (Erawan). In area’s of London and area’s of Bangkok, area’s of Pattaya, Phuket et... I try to avoid with my family - because of those these area’s attract.

There should be no problems whatsoever at a private hospitals that have stock and are not fully booked etc. It would of course be best to contact the hospitals directly - i.e. MedPark and Bangkok Hospital have been the most reliable for vaccination of foreigners, but they also have a reputation for being the best places to get the vaccine privately and thus there may be a waiting list etc... Thus: Give the usual suspects a try as well... Bumrungrad, Samitivej etc.. As always, this forum is a good start, someone may have recent experience. Also note: Thailand does not yet have the latest & greatest vaccines which, if I’m not mistaken operate over broader spectrum / cover more variants. Final point: Influenza vaccine - I’m going to get this, this year - I havent had flu for years, and given the recent ‘lock-downs’ I doubt much of our society has had ample chance for evolve alongside the antigenic drive of influenza - Hence, this its well worth considering the influenza vaccine...

Any friends who’d keep it at their place? Where in Thailand are you located ??? Run some google searches - this one came up on the first page. https://www.bahtsold.com/view/motorcycle-storage-434610

We’re left guessing what you mean.... You rent at 150cc motorcycle for 4000 baht per month ? You can buy a 2 year old motorcycle for 40,000 baht - (which pays for itself in less than 2 years compared to rental). Costs of motorcycle ownership are minimal - Tax & insurance is very cheap, maintenance cost is variable and obviously dependent on what can go wrong. Best thing about buying your own bike... being able to chose something with ABS so it has better safety.

Agreed... But even when being so careful... I’ve nearly been hit a coupe of times. Attempting to cross.. cars stop.... another is slowing, then seems to decide he doesn’t want to stop and you have to ‘jog’ out of the way.... The way drivers in Thailand gamble with the lived of pedestrians infuriates me. --------- I recall a few years back... At a pedestrian crossing... Ekammai in Bangkok - crossing with my Son (5 years old). Two cars heading north stopped... reached the central reservation, 1 car heading south (left lane) also stopped.... Then a taxi approached as I was about to step out from the centre, taxi was still 50m away but accelerating and was hitting his horn so I waited... I shouted as he passed, the taxi skidded to a stop.... I reached the pavement and saw the taxi driver getting out of his car... looking at me very angrily. I was with my son so didn’t want anything to escalate, but... for a moment there I thought he was going to come at me... The taxi driver, sensibly changed his mind and got back in the car. Crossing the road - it doesn't matter how careful and safe we are when there are lunatics on the road it can still be ridiculous.

I hope your friend makes a solid recover. Thanks for the follow up - Shocking that it was a ‘foreigner’ accelerating through the red-lights... some people just go native.... ... Can’t pay compensation... I wonder if his insurance would. Not stopping at lights - surely thats also a criminal matter.

How do you get into debt with a Debit Card ?... PromptPay ?... LinePay ? TrueMoney ????

This is clearly caused by that guy who caught a couple of parrot fish and the guy who bought the whale bones...... Its a good job the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources are right on top of this !!! ????

There’s a huge and growing ‘middle class / middle income bracket’ in Thailand... Many foreigners still thing all the Thai’s are on the minimum wage, working in Bars or as Taxi / motorcycle drivers - because thats all they are exposed to. Whenever we travel outside of Thailand we always see loads of other Thai’s... Japan is no exception, whether its a ski-resort or Omote-Sando... Japan also made a very smart move and allowed Thai’s a 15 days visa exempt entry, making it very simple for any Thai to travel there.

A neat little run around.... I’m tempted to get something like that as second car... A good Plan C... the Wife mostly uses the car and when I can’t (don’t want to) use the motorbike (rain etc) something small and cheap would be a good option...

100% no need for an agent at all..... Thai Elite deal with everything already.... why add a middle-man ?????

Or perhaps you just think it was Thai Elite.... A lot of fake-mirror sites around and agents masquerading as official 'Thai Elite’. Even the Op had the wrong web-site for Thai Elite.

The driver may not have noticed that they hit a pedestrian ??? Come on, you really think thats possible... someone would need to be extremely drunk to not to notice they’d hit a pedestrian... Those who 'Hit-n-run’ really need to face extreme charges... So much is wrong with the roads here, so few <deleted>’s given by those is positions of decision making power.

Don't be silly.... Road safety in Thailand cannot be compared to road safety in the UK. IF foreign bodies, embassies and businesses, chambers of commerce etc applied pressurise on the Thai government to face these issues it may cause sufficient lost of face to trigger those in positions of decision making power to care. The ‘it happens elsewhere’ does not make ‘light jumping acceptable’... and it happens here in Thailand a lot lot more than in nations with effective policing.

Funny. Why would I do this? I was checked last year and only after making a call to friend/police in BKK, the control was quickly over. Same for me a few years back (>5)... Taxi turning left onto Sukhumvit at Asoke Junction, coming from from Rama IV. The BiB saw me in the passenger seat, so pulled over the Taxi.. asked me for Passport. Nope !.. I didn’t have it... I showed them my DL... Nope, they wanted my Passport. It was about 6pm and I was heading out to see friends for a beer. The BiB asked me to get out, I suggested he waits and takes the call I’m about to make. I call my phone-a-friend option... he talks with the BiB who waves me on. What did the BiB want ???... nothing good, thats for sure. I suspected they’d have had me emptying my pockets, peeing in a cup etc... and then when they find nothing trying to fine me for not carrying a passport - I don’t play those games. That said - getting stopped and asked is extremely rare... But some poster seem to believe it doesn’t happen... Other idiots suggest its because of ‘appearance’ !!!.. (i.e. those who get stopped are dressed poorly etc) - they can’t see appearance in a taxi - they [BiB] just see a white face. The profile a Westerner / foreigners and think they have a chance to get some cash.. Well, they used to anyway until those pulling these stunts in that area were stopped due to bad publicity.

I use coffee culture Asia - Phuket based but ship all over Thailand. They too are sometimes hit and miss and an order can be delayed - but there excuses are honest and decent... i.e. been extremely busy and roasters couldn’t keep up etc... which at least means I’m getting freshly roasted coffee (which I let sit for a few weeks anyway). https://coffeeculture.asia/category/coffee-beans-in-thailand/# Of the Thai Coffees I quite like the Khun Chang Khian and its relatively inexpensive. I also like the Doi Chang Peaberry - but it sells out quickly.

I disagree... we need factual reporting without any possible sensationalism otherwise we don’t know what to consider exaggerated and what is genuine. IF those writing these articles are specifically focusing on Covid-19 they are presenting a potential bias - just report the facts without any ‘exaggeration or emphasis’. I know it's not going to happen, but we need to see cause of death in these reports. This man may well have died of a heart attack and just happened to have recently tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week... Equally so, he may have been perfectly healthy and Covid-19 caused respiratory failure and death....

Well... SARS-Cov-2 is the Virus of which there are numerous variants... Covid-19 is the disease the virus causes.... COVID in caps is simply a form of sensationalisation... surprised they didn't use bold too.

Why are you defending an incomplete article ? Wouldn’t you like there to be more facts presented in article such as this?.... something with greater clarification so we are not making assumptions to fill in the gaps. Covid-19 is a highly emotive subject, whenever there is insufficient information people are jumping to all sorts of conclusions.... - In this case your conclusion is.... ‘covid was the killer’ - In this case, my conclusion is.... ’poor article, missing key information' You have jumped to a conclusion, I’m suggesting that we shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions because the information is incomplete - the article is very poorly written to the point that its clumsy. You seem to be of the misunderstanding that I want the cause of death not to be Covid-19. You are wrong - I don’t care what the cause of death is. My whole point throughout this ‘side-discussion’ of ours is that I think the article is very poorly written, its missing on key facts, it opens the door to assumption - you have happily allowed yourself to be guided through the door and made your assumption that Covid is the cause of death. Either the author has deliberately opened that door to assumption or he/she does not carry out any research before putting ‘pen to paper’. This is why I think the report is at best, very poorly written, at worst, deliberately misleading with an agenda.

Did you also know, the guy who in little Pattaya beer bar who told you this really was special forces before he retired...

Its not just the Op who is interested in the answers to this question. Those in ‘other situations’ may also wonder what is acceptable. For example; it ‘may’ be acceptable to carry your home country Driving Licence (as long as it has Photo ID)... perhaps others have experience... hence, the discussion of what else may or may not be acceptable, why we should carry ID in the first place... Is it an Immigration requirement? or a Thai Law Requirement? exactly what are the requirements? is it a requirement to carry passport or just ID ? etc etc... OR... perhaps you believe this should have been a two post thread... the question and your answer, anything else anyone else mentions is not what you want to read.

The leading article quoted in the Op is missing key information - thats not denial, its fact. If the article quoted that they all had a cold or flu would readers be jumping to the same conclusion that a cold or flu killed these people ? I would like to see these articles presented in a far less clumsy manner and read something along the lines of... "xxxx died at age xx, doctors reported that autopsy results showed the deceased suffered pneumonia and respiratory complications brought consistent with through brought on by Covid-19... " Or... "xxxx died at age xx, although the deceased tested positive for Covid-19 doctors as yet have not confirmed the cause of death..." Thus, the denial could be yours.. its seems you ‘want' covid to have been the cause, because thats the conclusion you have jumped to. Meanwhile, I simply want accurate reporting that isn’t misleading. Wanting factual and accurate information is not a conspiracy, its not denial, its not an agenda... Is simply wanting the truth. Recognising that key information is missing such than an accurate conclusion cannot be drawn is not a conspiracy, its not denial, is not an agenda... Again... its simply wanting the truth. The article is not telling the whole truth - perhaps because the author of the article doesn't know the full story... In its current state the article is incomplete and misleading... The only conspiracy I could be accused of is wondering if the ‘incomplete reporting is deliberate’.... that accusation levied towards me would be a fair one, one I accept.

I guess thats possible, but they have mentioned the cause of death to be ‘complications due to covid’... ??? - the article has simply mentioned that the deceased had tested positive for covid and leaves the reader to place their own dots and then join them... If they could pin the deaths down to covid, surely they’d have mentioned more... rather than... they were found dead and tested positive for covid. Agreed... but that not the case here. I’m not suggesting Covid was definitely not the cause of death, I’m stating that testing positive for covid does not mean covid caused their death. The only way to know for sure that Covid was the cause of death is for doctors to perform test / autopsy and check for covid related mobility and not other unrelated causes.