HauptmannUK

Yes. Was going to use Bolt this evening and was shocked at the quoted price. A good 50% increase. We decided to walk and use a songtaew.

I'm amazed at the number of cannabis shops in Pattaya/Jomtien - they outnumber 7/11s. They can't all make a profit. Most seen quiet when I walk past. Couple of weeks ago my wife and I stayed in a hotel in Bangkok. There was a pungent smell of cannabis in the corridor. We complained and were told someone had been smoking it in one of the rooms and they were struggling to get rid of the smell. It certainly seems a lot more persistent than tobacco.

Around about this time last year I found a London embassy web page listing fees, with a fee of £150 for a non-O ME visa. So I basically 'played around' with my eVisa application until I found the ME option. Same this year. I can't remember the details of how I did it - it was basically 'click through everything until I find what I want'. I think there are more than a few mistakes in the system - e.g. I think the health insurance for the tourist and Non-O is a reference to requiremeNt for cover for Covid, which was dropped some time ago.

This road has been a mess of roadworks for many months. Very dangerous. The detours/lanes move around as the work locations move, and lanes are not properly marked.

Carjacking in the UK is relatively rare and a 70s/80s Japanese car would be an unlikely target! More likely would be random theft for joyriding. It would not be difficult to fit some simple security to the car. In fact the old trick of taking the rotor arm with you would be very effective. One of my cars back in the UK is a 2018 Aston Martin DB11 5.2 twin-turbo V12. Now THAT is a carjacking target. Its fitted with two trackers and remote control of engine management. Because of that risk, and various other reasons, I'll be selling it this summer.....

There is no UK immigration check on departing passengers from UK. Only the airline will check your passport on departure from UK. Show them you have a British passport if you want, but they are only going to be interested in the Thai one..... Moreover whatever you uploaded doesn't matter - its what you show at the airport that counts. That's the experience of my wife (Thai and British passports) with many flights on Emirates, KLM, Lufthansa, Thai, Qatar..

There's a guy (Scott) down at Haverfordwest in Wales buying older classic Japanese stuff in Thailand and shipping it to the UK. No idea which shipping agent he's using. His main business is industrial plant sales and the car imports are a sideline. His main website is causewayplantsales.co.uk but he doesn't have a website for the cars. You will however find his Facebook page ('Causeway Classics'). Anyway, contact Scott an he may be able to help you get your car to the UK. If doing it yourself you'll need to notify HMRC of vehicle arrival - its all got very complicated since Brexit and now there seem to be three customs systems running, NOVA, CHIEFS and CDS - I've now no idea how these work. Once taxes/duties are paid you'll need to do Individual Vehicle Approval for VOSA/DVLA.

If you show your British passport when leaving the UK you will be asked to show a Thai visa (for a visit longer than 30 days)! You should check-in at the UK airport using your Thai passport. Use your Thai passport to enter Thailand. When returning to UK use your British passport to check in and show the airline, but show Thai immigration your Thai passport.

I've had this multi non-O from London a couple of times and am currently in Thailand on it. Cost £150. Its clearly on the website. Showed money in a bank account and invitation letter from wife. No hotel bookings. Came through in under 5 days (this one was applied for in early Jan 2023). Had one last year too. Its not new.

Sad to hear of an elderly gentleman facing such problems. I've read about usufructs over the years but to me they seem almost worthless. Would you really want to hang around in the wife's village when probably over half the residents are related to her in some way. Would you feel happy and safe? My advice would be to get the hell away and deal with the situation remotely. Gather all important possessions and documents together and make a run for it when she's out. Head to Pattaya. Keep your location a secret. Decent rooms with A/C can be had for ฿4500/month (I know this for sure because my wife recently let out a couple of rooms at this price). BE CAREFUL though. Don't eat anything prepared by your wife. Wild yam ('gloy') is popular in Isaan but unless carefully prepared it contains cyanide and has been used to poison people. Several years ago an acquaintance of mine had a bust-up with his young wife of three years. He'd done the whole 'house, farm, pick-up truck' thing with her. He fled to Pattaya and stayed in a hotel. She followed him to Pattaya - ostensibly to work on a reconciliation. After not answering his phone for a couple of days he was found by friends. He was in his locked hotel room. Lying peacefully in his bed, quite dead. No sign of a struggle, no meds in the room.. He was a very fit 50-something fitness freak..... Never saw his case reported anywhere and never heard any post mortem results...

Try to make a weekly/monthly deal with a taxi/Bolt/Grab driver. I'm assuming you're starting a job in Huay Yai. You'll maybe find a co-worker who drives to/past Jomtien and will give you a ride in exchange for a contribution to fuel. Good idea to not get a motorbike. There may be some worse places in the world than Pattaya to learn to ride (Lagos? Jakarta?), but not many...

She failed it twice. During which time she was out driving in her D-Max too. Long trips (Udon to Bueng Kan and Loei). In the end it was go to the Land Transport building and wait in the ladies' toilet with ฿2000. Given the terrible driving standards the death rate on Thai roads is actually quite low.

I share a password from my youngest daughter in UK. Has worked well for the past few years. I can VPN to UK or US to get content from Netflix in those countries. Also have an Android box but to be honest don't use it much. Use mostly Netflix, iPlayer, Amazon..

Even a basic OBD2 reader will show stored fault codes and also live data. Live data will be things like coolant temperature and the pre- and post-cat O2 sensor waveforms. Generic (non-proprietry) powertrain fault codes take the form 'PXXXX' where 'XXXX' are four characters. P0300 is a random or multicylinder misfire. P0301 is a misfire on cyl 1 etc. When you get a code you can Google it. Before reading any codes for the first time be sure to clear all existing codes. Then run the vehicle until the fault occurs and read codes. My money would be on sparkplugs or ignition coil breakdown.

My wife is 100% Isaan and proud of it. Yes, she has loads of money - buys and sells land and property in Thailand and owns half a hotel in UK...... Lucky your wife has never pressured you over anything. That's not the norm with these women from my observations...

Around fifteen years ago when my wife was building some properties up in Udon we had a pickup and it was very useful for carrying construction materials etc. Made a lot of sense. Subsequently when I had work in Bangkok and my wife bought a condo in Pattaya driving it became an absolute pain in the rear end. We sold it and bought a Camry, still a large car but vastly more comfortable, better handling and more maneuverable. Last year my wife bought a Yaris and its a great little car for city driving, in fact I prefer it over the Camry - 'small' cars have really come on a long way in the last 15 years or so. Pickups get favourable tax treatment in Thailand so you do get a lot of metal for your money. Also I think many foreigners get pressured into buying them by their Isaan wives (handy on the farm and to carry the extended family in the back). The OP will no doubt lose a bit of money on it - but try a private sale first (FB, BahtSold etc).

About 15 years ago we were routinely importing from Japan. Not worth it now unless its something pretty special (weak GBP etc). Its certainly possible to import from Thailand and in fact there's people I know doing it. Mostly older Japanese classic stuff. Need to pay your taxes and duties and do the usual approval stuff (MPH speedo, rear fogs etc). Insurance might be more expensive... Actually I remember some years ago a load of new RHD Mercedes arrived in the UK from Thailand - there was a story to it, but I've forgotten the details.

I think this is the one with 8 spark plugs? The back set are a bit difficult to get at and get overlooked. Change them out if they've not been done recently and only use NGK or Denso. Get yourself an OBD reader so you can monitor temperature and view stored codes.

I can only speak from experience with ICE ZS in the UK market (although they are Thai built). These use a version of the GM/Opel SGE engine. Its not the smoothest but Ok. The same engine series is used in cars like the old Opel Adam, Chevrolet Cruze, Spark etc. SAIC (MG, Rowe etc are to all intents 'GM small cars China'). On earlier examples of the Chinese-made units the timing chains were made out of cheese and would quickly throw up a P0016 code (cam-crank sync error due to chain wear). Later ones had improved chains. The CVT autos were a Bosch designed unit but I heard that the latest ones are fitted with Aisin units - not been able to verify that though. My limited experience of driving them is poor steering and quite a bit of body roll. They are certainly built down to a price - evidenced by quite thin and hard plastic and thin paint in places. Its fair to say that UK used car dealers are not great fans of MGs. They don't wear their miles well and not particularly sought-after by buyers. Product support in the UK is poor - big issues with parts supply and very limited technical support. Possibly Thailand is better. IMHO there is absolutely no comparison between a Toyota or Honda product and MG. My general advice to buyers is that if you are not especially interested in cars and want something to get from A to B with minimal ownership hassle then look at the Toyota range. Toyota don't make many mistakes and when they do make a mistake they fix it very quickly.

The majority of trained and experienced bikers could probably ride for 100 years and not be killed. But a few will be. Its statistics, isn't? "Do you feel lucky?". Here in Thailand its 'the other guy'. Being quick-witted doesn't help when an SUV drives right over you from behind. My wife's younger son is currently driving around in a Ford Everest (belongs to his girlfriend's family). He has NEVER had any kind of formal driver training and never even attempted a driving test, let alone passed one. My wife's sister bought a brand new D-Max last year. Attempted driving test two times and failed both. Bought a licence for ฿2000. My blood runs cold every time I see her get in the thing.

"There are concerns that these new regulations could prompt Chinese travelers to opt for other destinations" There is a God!

Not just UK, but they seem to be the nationality with the connections that get them into the media for fundraising. My German friend had a very nasty accident on his 'big bike' and spent several months in hospital accumulating a huge bill. Didn't get reported in the media. Had to make a major call on family back in Germany. Sadly ended up with a severe and permanent disability and returned back to Munich. Another expat mate of mine was killed in Saraburi in October last year. Out on his bike on a Saturday morning and an SUV just drove clean over him. Its all too common. Almost exactly the same kind of 'accident' that killed my wife's uncle in Udon. I'm a lifelong biker and ran DSA Direct Access riding courses for a time back in the UK also was IAM Car and Bike Observer and Examiner but I stay off two wheels in Thailand - getting on a bike here is attempted suicide...

Basically some kind of bill/official document with your UK address on it. I used my driving licence.

I feel pretty safe in our condo in Pattaya. Wife has land and property in Udon Thani province and we do a visit up there from time to time. Don't feel so safe there and neither does the wife. Its a big family with some kind of local 'mafia' connections. Her father's brother was shot dead a few years ago. Father found out who the shooter was, followed him to a roadside eatery and blew the guy's brains out. Police took no action. Father sadly passed away at the end of last year (natural causes). One of wife's friends was involved in a love triangle. The jilted husband killed his wife and her lover. My wife was one of the first on the scene - pretty messy apparently and my wife was quite traumatised. Another incident was a young local girl found raped and beaten to death at the side of a main road. No proper police investigation apparently. Few years ago we were driving on the Udon to Kut Chap road and a youth on the back of a motorbike fired a gun at our car. I think it was just a bit of showing off though. Overall I feel most at risk from the traffic here in Thailand rather than from random violence. We do keep a couple of guns in the house up in Udon though. If the wife hears a noise at night she grabs a gun..