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What about people sitting in the open part of the pick-up?

Why phones? A knife was used to stab the boy, not a phone!

Why wouldn't a Thai/Australian go to a prestigious private school??

It seems from the article that he had been living here a while, so travel insurance probably wouldn't be appropriate. A good reason for people living here to have good accident/health insurance though.

Sadly, it's becoming more like the UK/USA.

Which school? Why isn't the name given?

These days, anyone can celebrate Christmas! It's the giving that's important, not the receiving.

Always gold. Always appreciated.

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Thanks. Yes N is a nightmare (too many teachers and students!). We did our annual extensions last month. Got a queue ticket at 8.15, and got seen at 3pm! A long day. I will take your advice and do the transfer before we travel. He doesn't have a Re-entry permit in the current passport, so we'll get that at the airport or at Rayong Immigration.

Yes, my work is Bangkok based, so all our extensions are done at CW (annoying!). Last time (5 years ago) we did the transfer at the same time as the Extension and it was a nightmare. We had to get a queue ticket for N2 for the transfer, and 3 separate queue tickets for N1 for the extensions. The queue for N1 went quicker than N2 which meant we couldn't do the extensions and had to get new queue numbers. I vowed to always do a transfer separately after that! In any case we fly to the UK for a holiday in April, and my thoughts are that it will be easier if he has a new passport rather than one expiring in 5 months from when we leave. I guess, he could travel with both the old (cancelled) passport showing the Extension and his new passport, if I want to put off the CW visit?

My son will get his new UK passport soon. I will need to transfer his Extension of Stay, as my dependant, at Chaengwattana. Does he need to be physically present for this, or can I do it for for him?

Some westerners seem to even rejoice in their freedom to ride without a helmet in Thailand! Cultural and economic excuses can be made for most Thais. For westerners it's just idiocy!

If a motorbike taxi gets stopped at a police check and the passenger is helmet-less, who gets fined?

Motorcycle taxis should carry a spare helmet. At least they do in Bangkok.

Why on earth don't you wear a helmet when using a motorcycle taxi?? Do you have a death wish?

I agree that such people don't seem to care about their life or their passengers. But I guess it's cultural and for economic reasons. In any case, it's not going to change any time soon!

Yawn. Another thread full of ridiculous generalisations!

Yes, ridiculously cheap.

How expensive are private buses?

Not that I'm aware of, but yabba is rife in the village. At least opium just chills people out. Yabba is a menace.

It's even worse in Laos villages.

What is a "wokeist" perspective?

I find it astonishing that so many foreigners ride motorbikes here at all! Crazy.

It's shocking, dispiriting and annoying, but not to most Thais, so it's not going to change. Life is cheap here.