richard_smith237

Darn! You must be a very unlucky guy. As usual - in a rush to contradict you let your foot slip off the clutch too quickly and didn’t think about your comment.... .. my luck, or absence of, has nothing to do with reading reports of others getting hurt or killed on their motorcycles... On this forum alone.... at 4 or so per year... Maybe ‘time and time again’ is phraseology you are un-familiar with - it means we’ve seen this plenty of times before... certainly in far more elevated numbers than we are used to in our home countries. There is also a Facebook group called ‘dangerous driving Thailand’ in which we see far more reports of accidents etc than we get on this forum.... a lot of those can be quite gory - motorcyclists getting caught under trucks....

A copy of your passport and also photos on your phone (showing entry stamp etc) should be more than acceptable in the rare occasion that the BiB ask for your ID. To place this into perspective - I’ve been asked for my passport about 5 or 6 times in over 25 years. I’ve never had my passport on me and have shown my Driving Licence... only once was that an issue and the Police were demanding a Passport (I ended up phoning a friend in the BiB to back me up). So... while never 100% assured you won’t have a problem, the chances of being stoped and asked for ID in the fist place are minimal... Then IF on the extremely rare chance you are stopped and asked for ID it would be even more rare that a photo-copy of your passport is not accepted, particularly when backed up with Visa / entry stamp photos on your phone. The probability of losing a passport when out and about is far higher than getting stopped by the BiB. The hassle of replacing a lost passport is far higher than dealing with the BiB IF on the extremely rare chance they do demand a passport and nothing else.

Is any of that relevant at all ???? Was he really a tourist or was he living here? Completely irrelevant... Or would you be implying that if he’s a tourist he doesn’t know how to ride here and was the architect of his own demise ? Was it actually his motorbike or was it rented? Again... how is the relevant at all ???... Or would you be implying that if borrowed or rented motorcycle he doesn’t know how to ride here and was the architect of his own demise ? Did he have a valid license for driving motorbike in Thailand? Yes, relevant from a legal perspective - but does a licence or not relate cause of an accident? If no on the last one and motorbike rented, then they should jail the rental guy/girl. That was ‘supposed’ to be the law - can’t rent without a licence or an IDP - but businesses do not care. None of it is relevant if a motorcyclist is going to ride dangerously, OR, if he’s riding perfectly safely but another vehicle is on the wrong side of the road and hits them etc...

You speak for all the Thai’s now ???? This was someone going for a swim.. could have had cramp for all we know. Your comments, as usual... ’Thai good, non Thai bad’ is ridiculous, you’d have been beside yourself if the news was that this foreigner was British !!! .... But it still astonishes me how you can always ’spin a simple story’ into something negative and ‘anti-foreigner (or Brit) and Pro-Thai’.... Do you have nothing good to say of the other foreigners who recused this man ? & yes, of course, props to the Thai who also assisted offering first aid. What time does the lifeguards work day finish ??... it looks fairly light... I think it gets dark in Phuket at about 6pm... Lifeguards working until 5pm ?

Just a dash of reverse snobbery there !.... The chinese stuff on Lazada is utter rubbish - it may work up and down the soi. The bolt on stuff you linked to earlier, again.. bolt on stuff... Its kind like the difference between a tuk-tuk and a car... You can’t get Haibike in Thailand obviously, but they’ve been in the e-bike industry for a while now and make very good machines...... (or if you can’t afford them, toys for elitists )... https://www.haibike.com/gb/en/hardtail-mountain-bikes

I know what I'd do if I were conscripted and if it was shoot them or them shoot me I'd do the first option and <deleted> the morality. Run away and get shot for desertion, refuse to obey an order and get shot on the spot. Not many choices for a conscript. I think you missed that the point was about Russian's coming to Thailand to avoid conscription in the first place. Of course, they would now be forced to become perpetual tourists which makes like difficult.

It applies for Visa Exempt entries and those Entering with a Tourist Visa. Not for those entering with a Non-Immigrant visa.

Excellent if it goes ahead - it’ll cut down the ridiculous queues at the security check point. Last time I few out of the UK (summer) - the security queue were hours long (set 3 hrs+) Was 100% missing my flight until I was allowed to jump the queue.

Thats one of the facets of road safety here in Thailand. Road safety is not just about law enforcement, driving training and safety awareness, which of course are primary facets, but also about ‘road design’, how logical road layouts are, how clearly they are laid out, marked and sign posted.... But also ‘how safe’ the roads itself is with barriers, armco and as with this example, how close immovable objects such as power poles etc to the road itself.... There’s the ‘human factor’ which we can’t completely eradicate - thus, when the ‘human factor’ surfaces and there is a ’slip up’ a micro-sleep a distraction or moment of inattention a devotion from the ‘lane’ good, safe and well thought out planning and road design means there isn’t something ’solid’ to hit.... (in most cases)... In Thailand this aspect of safety is not even an after thought - hence, so many of these ‘power poles’ and 'light poles’ are impacted....

Correct - the 20,000 baht (or currency equivalent / 40,000 baht for families) is a requirement for Visa Exempt entries, its not a requirement for someone entering with a Non-Imm visa.

Obviously price matters, but more so than price is the reliability of the VPN to respond to the cat-&-mousing used by some of the geocached providers. BBC iPlayer seems recognises as lot of VPN’s as does Amazon Prime... we then have to switch server - it which seems successful (so far). Netflix used to recognise a VPN (if trying to access geocached content to watch something not available in my region) - sometimes a VPN works, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve found Express VPN to be decent enough for most of my needs.

Deep fried Mars Bars.... a culinary delight invented by our Jacobite neighbours north of the antonine wall !!!

England invented football. If we accept the Scottish origin, we would have to rename it footsheepsstomach. Kids have probably been kicking something about for millennia.... I’m not sure football was actually ‘invented’ rather it was an evolution...

Oh the irony... A corrupt corporation (association) accusing a corrupt country of corruption !!!!

1 in 4 people will have a thrombotic event in their life time.... The risk of Thrombosis is also increased when someone catches a cold Flu or Covid... primary a result of dehydration. IF blood clots are going to be discussed - the incidence needs to be placed in clear perspective to avoid singular bias.

So is a car accident.... to those who are involved in dangerous car accidents....

Gruesome... but those plastic helmets are pretty much useless except... Tests show that ’some’ decent helmets to protect, but that also depends on how heavy the truck is - but I’m not sure I can see Grab riders paying 10k baht for a good helmet. Very unlucky to fall directly under the wheels a truck - but we’ve seen it time and time again and it will continue to happen with very large vehicles and lots of motorcycles sharing the road while untrained on safety... I feel sorry for the poor lads family, hope he didn’t have any children etc.. .

The visa exempt should not be an issue at the DLT. But, you will need Proof of Address.... the ease with which you can obtain that varies. You need to provide more info for an accurate answer.

The Sweaties aren’t even in it !!!.... I suppose you’ll have to go for the Taffs...

It is good to know and I believe you. And yet, recent experience of a pal.. he needed 2xCORs when he bought a new vehicle, and sold his old one (Banglamung). Just asking for things unnecessarily, foreign factor? Thats when you put your foot down (politely) and suggest that it isn’t... I suspect various reasons why they may ask for documents not needed: - In many cases such as this the person we are dealing with do not know their own regulations, they have just copied what their mate (colleague) was doing etc so these legacy assumptions get passed down. - In other cases, they simply do not know and ask for everything they can think of to ensure they have covered their bases, they don’t want to get into trouble. ------ I’ve had similar issues before - not with DLT but with Immigration on arrival. 1) 5 yr Elite Visa / 2) Extension of stay based on Non-Imm B (I’d been working). The work had ended (while I was out of the country) so no chance to cancel WP etc. Extension of stay expiring day after I returned. Immigration officer wanted to stamp me in for 1 day (I’d have to fly out and re-enter on my Elite Visa). I protested and called a supervisor across, supervisor sided with Immi officer. I still protested, no way was this right - Senior lady came out and said of course I could be stamped in on my Elite Visa.... The two other Immi officers simply didn’t know what to do so made their own minds up - they were wrong. Thus: if we don’t get a decision which seems right from an official source (i.e. DLT clerk or Imm officer) its perfectly ok to press and politely question that. I this case it makes no sense whatsoever that proof of address is needed to sell - there is nothing being registered in your name. The opposite is happening.

You noticed the size ??? (small and medium) Last year I really struggled to get a 29’er mountain bike... pretty much contacted every dealer & shop all over Thailand.... closest I go was with Giant and a 2 month lead time on ordering. Finally found a Scott hard tail... Thus - the market for large frame (to fit us Westerners) is thin enough already - much more difficult for e-bikes I’d guess, even when the market does mature. I suspect Decathlon will be one of the first to bring in the e-mountain bikes... They have them in the UK - but not yet here in Thailand. Perhaps its worth a shot enquiring to Decathlon...

He drives fast into walls, barriers, other cars, and so on ... The door is open.... who’s going to step through.... ??? .... go on then..... perfectly suited to driving here !!!

Problem solved... ????????

If I had the time, knowledge, skill or inclination, I’d do it myself - I certainly wouldn’t worry about someone arresting me for working without a permit... It’s simply making adjustments to your house. Others may get tangled up in their own weeds, but this is stuff that really doesn’t bother me here. Doing jobs, renovating or building work on your own home is somewhat different if ‘helping out’ at a point of business etc..

Sadly no... I brew my own coffee. - At home with my own espresso machine. - When travelling with a Picopresso (hand pump espresso machine) - Or at work (Picopresso / French Press / Turkish coffee pot) - depends on how much time I have and what I want. I have a few different coffee’s but nothing that would offer worldly choice. I usually order from CoffeeCultureAsia - they have a decent selection, decent pricing and also offer taster sets (I usually go through about a KG per month). I don’t really recall being in a cafe in Bangkok thinking wow, that was an amazing coffee. Neither do I recall thinking, urgh... that was terrible. When out on the road, a long drive etc and I want a hit - I’d get a double espresso from Amazon coffee etc.. its usually pretty poor so I’ll add sugar and milk to ‘de-taste’ it and take out the bitterness. There - health benefits of coffee - staying alert on the road !!!