digbeth

Grabcar Not GrabTaxi is just as illegal as uber, yet we haven't heard of single case of grabcar driver being harassed by the Taxi mafia, 

yet many occasion, posters on this forum reported that even when they order grabtaxi, unmarked car turned up and never uses the meter, and the quote price in Grab app is way out of line compared to other cities

How many people remembered when Grab first launched in Pattaya when price were cheap, almost meter-like , to use grab to go anywhere now it's at least a couple of hundred baht, almost as much as flagging the blue and yellow taxi down the road yourself

On 29/5/2560 at 10:43 AM, johng said:

Yes I think that's one of the biggest problems  made worse by the tour buses  and to a lesser degree SUV drivers and their me first attitude to blocking junctions....they should also re-instate the turn left on red ( if safe to do so)  at every junction,   not have  someone hiding around the corner fining motorists that turn left at the poorly signed " left turn waiting light" junctions that they change on a whim every now and again !

Also most junctions each directions only take one 'go' at the traffic lights, with right turns and all blocking the traffic coming in the other direction, they could have less right turns time and make the traffic flow in both up and down direction, like on Klang at 2nd road, they already do this, but not for 3rd or the Big C Extra (Arunothai) 

The traffic lights are poorly managed, for the same street going in same directions, traffic lights within 2-3kms of each other should be synchronized, they spent millions on consultant fee for traffic management under the previous mayorship, who knows what comes of that, but no matter how clever the system is, it falls to pieces when the traffic cop puts it in manual mode at the first sign of gridlock

I don't know where exactly is considered 'Boyztown' but soi 13/4 is the only one after Royal Garden Plaza that you can take a shortcut from beach to 2nd road without going all the way to Walking street

By the very definition of 'Best' in Pattaya, means if you can't find any better restaurant, the of course it must be the best

1 minute ago, tazly said:

Why are you detouring through boyztown?

It's either that or all the way to walking street/south road, I don't know what's worse, the parked baht bus on walking street or the narrow boyztown soi where you might scrape your mirrors on some gyrating posterior, But I suppose at 2AM it'd be quite tame by then

2 minutes ago, tazly said:

What about 2nd road entrance?

You could walk the length of the car park if you'd like, or stroll through the mall and out the front would be a better choice

Funny thing is that driving there late (after 2?) at night last week, the car park access from beach road is closed and not manned, you have to drive around to walking street or through boyztown to get back on 2nd road entrance and enter there, maybe Royal Garden Plaza have always done this late at night, I've never been there that late before, but it's very inconvenient and if I'm already down to South Pattaya, Friendship is just equally easy to get to

If they don't sort this out it's more than mildly inconvenient, burger king on 'top side' seem to be open 24 hours as well, when I went there both Foodland and Burger King is empty, and so is the carpark. They could make decent dough out of the crowds that come out when the entertainments closes

One of the roads that connect 3rd road with Buakhao is equally atrocious, the one north of what the Thais call soi 'Big 7(11)' around LK I think, have to be careful when taking shortcuts through there not to splash the masseurs lining the streets with water from the potholes  

35 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

So there's a back entrance from the car park in addition to the steps down from the Beach Road sidewalk?

No, only 'side' entrance as you walk down the ramp to where the old motorcycle carpark used to be, there's a big door that take you to the Took Lae Dee Restaurant, this side entrance is accessible from within the carpark and has a stair that leads up to beach road. So to get to Foodland from within the Plaza, you either take the lift behind burger king down, and walk across and down the ramp in the un-airconditioned carpark, or even more walk if you take the escalator which is further away

I suppose you could drive down and park in that area near the side entrance, just down of the ramp into the old motorcycle carpark too, When I went late at night it's mostly empty and is most convenient, but maybe during the day the security guards might not let you park there

19 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

How about access to Foodland from inside RGP? They blocked off the rest rooms behind the back entrance to Burger King and Bon Chon well before they started gutting the old motorbike parking area and I assumed this to be construction of stairs and maybe an elevator or escalator down to the new shop?

 

I fled sin city the evening before they opened.

That toilets are still roped off with no sign of work, but even if they managed to build something that lets people go down, it'd only dump people into the carpark with no connection to Foodland, the lift behind burger king just before the roped off toilet lets you go down to the carpark level and Foodland already

6 hours ago, johng said:

So they rather spend 2 hours driving from "Bangers" to Pattaya then have to find a parking spot + maybe an hour to get out of the of the parking spot and another 2 hours drive home instead of just getting a taxi or train to one of the many "Bangers Malls"

If only there is some sort of establishment where in exchange of money, people can get rooms and bed and can spend the night instead of going to their home, maybe with such a service, Pattaya could become, maybe a destination where people can come and spend their free time and go to places like beach and such

23 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

That may well be so but other ones I have seen have not been hidden in a basement. The one in Klang, for example, can be seen from the main road and the menu boards are immediately apparent even from the car park.

The steps down to the new Foodland are particularly uninviting, I find.

There's another set of steps still blocked off, just south of the one already opened, I asked and they're putting in an escalator, maybe that'll be the 'proper' entrance.

And on the North end where the steps go down diagonally, there's empty space with for rent sign on, just opposite the big entrance to the restaurant, who knows what the rent would be like

3 hours ago, snoopy21 said:

I am Chinese from Hong Kong staying at Pattaya. Whenever I want to have Chinese Dimsum, I will go to a Chinese restaurant called 御膳房 at Bangkok, Asok, Terminal 21. Even the selection is limited, and the service is not so good, the quality of the Dimsum is just like Hong Kong, and even better than Maxim's Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong, and they also offer discount on Monday to Saturday too. BTW, never go to Tim Ho Wan! Yes, the restaurant is originated from Hong Kong, but it is not so famous in Hong Kong as they propounded, and the ambience just like a fast food restaurant; they urge you to live the table after you finish eating. Though they get a range of Dimsum selection, but the quality of the Dimsum is just like the one made at the food stall in Hong Kong. But the price is pretty high too!

What floor is that Chinese restaurant in Terminal 21 in? Is it Royal Kitchen? 

I also don't get all the fuss with Tim Ho Wan, they seem to play on the fact that they have 'Michelin Stars' which is borderline dishonest as Michelin Stars applies to the one restaurant and not the whole chain. In Australia Tim Ho Wan is practically Chinese McDonald's now.

Well at least with the Pattaya Terminal 21, there'll be a Tim Ho Wan in Pattaya, 

1 hour ago, pattayadude said:

so in a nut shell, Uber IS legal  i.e. in the USA, England, France, Japan but illegal in Thailand.

Then how come  It's widely used in Bangkok?

It is still illegal but more "tolerated" then...

as I understand, it operates in  Bkk without such problems like in Pattaya.

The drivers are fined in Bangkok all the time, it's just that there's no singular big mafia taxi taking vigilante action like in Pattaya or Chiang Mai

A lot of things that is 'illegal' operate without problem in Thailand, 

On 21/5/2560 at 1:18 PM, pattayadude said:

Why am I having hard time understanding this?

Is Uber LEGAL in Pattaya(for pick-ups and drop-offs) and regular taxi operators just can't handle the competition?

or

Uber CAN ONLY drop passengers off that were picked up from outside Pattaya city limits and

CAN NOT do pickups

or

Uber legally can not EVEN ENTER Pattaya city limits, with or without passengers.

 

Someone who has knowledge of this, please enlighten me.

I am seriously confused.

Because someone will seriously get hurt if this boxing-in Uber cars continues as some of these members of the "taxi mafia" aren't scared or intimidated by the police or even being jailed when it comes to honor and feeding their family.

There are a lot of things that seems to be available and even advertised openly in Thailand but is yet 'illegal' and discussion of such activities in this forum is not even allowed.

Operating a vehicle for hire without an appropriate licence/registration and insurance to do so is illegal period.

Uber would probably claim that there is no such thing as an 'uber car' only independent drivers and passengers using the Uber app to 'find each other' yet is uber that sets the price and take the cuts for using their services, heck they'll even pay 'their' driver fines if the driver is caught and fined by the Land Transport office... is that clear enough about their legality for you?

Doesn't public (taxi) driving licence require a police criminal background check? does being held in a 'detention' counts as being charge and found guilty? Would these drivers be bought before a judge and sentenced or does the police have powers to arbitrarily detain someone? 

Seems like the headline were misconstrued from the fact that the taxi drivers were fined for being guilty of 'illegally detaining other people' ie:the uber drivers and his fare, and the taxi drivers only got off with a fine, no actual detention.

Otherwise they should lose their licence for life if they were guilty of criminal charge

There's a listing of AA type meetings in the local papers like Pattaya Mail, saw a posting for over eater groups that meets behind restaurant that serves great pizza... 

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

The legality of UBER has been questioned numerous times on this thread. 

 

If I'm not mistaken, the answer, UBER are both legal and illegal....  the legality is dependent on the type of registration the vehicle holds.

 

UBERx for the most part are illegal (White number plate background, with black script / numbers), these are private vehicles and not registered to take fare paying passengers. 

 

UBER Black on the other hand are for the majority, legal (White number plate background, with green script / numbers), these are vehicles which are registered to take fare paying passengers. There are also a number of UBER Black vehicles for which it is not legal to take fare paying passengers (White number plate background, with black script / numbers).

Green text on white background means it's a pickup truck registered for carrying goods

Green background with white text is for limousine, usually only registered by hotels and airport limousine companies but that is only for travelling to and from airports / registered business ie: hotels which means technically they could only pickup passengers to go to airports/hotels but not pickup and take their passengers 'outside' and go somewhere else other than their own business or airports

It makes sense for the hotel limousine that's sitting idle most of the time to be on Uber Black, but even then the law is still not on their side, and most of the time I use Uber Black in Bangkok, it's just random guy in a black (private) plated Camry or the odd mercedez

1 hour ago, johng said:

3

 

I saw reports that he was riding around in his home town Kensington/Chelsea ? in the same getup don't remember the exact place.

 

Haven't seen the other bloke on the "big bike" with suitcase and sound system for a long time....there is still the foreigner who walks in the fast lane of Sukhumvit from Wat boon to Tesco lotus South Pattaya everyday

how he hasnt been run over has got to be one of the "mysteries of the universe"

One time I saw him on a skateboard happy as larry on the inside (slow) lane of sukhumvit zooming along at a fair pace.

 

I saw the bloke with sound system last year, he changed bike from a big Honda CB1000 to a scooter, a Honda PCX or Forza now, the bike's still red and he still had a Macaw with him

didn't see him at all this year

1 hour ago, BruceMangosteen said:

Do you concur with the other poster, that you can buy your food inside the store and have it prepared and served to you at the counter?(Foodland, Pattaya Klang location). I've never seen this done. I have no idea how to even ask about it without coming off as some kind of cheap charlie idiot. Thanks and God Bless You. OO.

They charge around 50 baht to cook it, people do it all the time, selecting their own cuts of meat or fish and have them grill it up for you

That's gotta be a euphemism right?

Honey! can I play with your 'iPhone' tonight? No? Headache again?

The supermarket staff seems on par with Klan branch in niceness, 

Took Lae Dee restaurant in the new branch is nowhere near as packed as their capacity unlike Klang branch that's sardines at busy hours, maybe that's why they're still nice to customers, let's see how they are when the new restaurant is full

Wow, you managed to cross 2nd road into Buakhao?

not my own personal experience, but recently heard from an acquaintance that after having his half Thai daughter spent the majority of her primary and high school 'back home' and now the daughter has moved back to Thailand and now has some difficulties due to not having Thai ID card

The problem is that although the daughter has Thai passport obtained from overseas consulate, she hasn't got a Thai ID card, and problems do come up when applying for things from jobs to banks, she does have a Thai ID number on her passport, presumably she left Thailand before being of age that requires her to obtain a Thai ID then, having never had a physical ID card before makes things complicated

he is estranged from the birth mother, I didn't press on to ask what step he has tried, but how difficult would it be to get a Thai Id card in this situation without the need to contact the birth mother, presumably the daughter must have been recorded on the house register somewhere with her mother when she was born, and he managed to take his daughter overseas so they must have obtained a permission from the mother back then. 

Would in this case they need to obtain the testimony/verification of the local village head that she is indeed of the family somehow or can the daughter be moved in to a new tabien baan without having an ID card first?

what would be required if she needs to be verified at the Amphur in order to obtain a new card, DNA test? or just the word of local people? how successful would he be in organizing this without the mother's cooperation 

Overseas consulate can issue Thai ID card but only for those that has obtained one before, in this case she hasn't had one originally so they said she must come to Thailand where they can verify her properly at the Amphur

So now she is in a weird situation where she has Thai Passport with Thai ID card number but cannot get a Thai ID card

50 minutes ago, janclaes47 said:

 

So in your home country each supermarket has at least 50% of items that can't be found in the others?

It's like they're all selling foods or something