cheshiremusicman

Facebook went down! Everybody mobilise! It's a national disaster - bigger than the floods.

Maybe it gave the morons time to engage their brains for a few minutes, rather than sending stupid pics and messages to each other.

I refuse to be on a member of any of these so called 'Social Media Sites' - I will leave it to the brain dead legions!

Hope all this tax stuff does not turn Thailand into a welfare state like the USA is quickly becoming

If you think that the USA is as 'welfare state' try the UK; but NOT if you are born there! THAT would be asking far too much from the politically correct politicians, who will do everything in their power to keep their fat backsides on their parliamentary seats until they retire on their own fat pensions and sod the rest of you!

Karma, Karma, Karma....

All those involved in this injustice will come back as cockroaches next life.

Scandalous Justice that can't even be called justice...

Never liked cockroaches; even more reason to crush the little basxxxs!

Ludicrouse outcome; BUT I'm sure very predictable!

Anybody heard what's happened to the 'Red Bull heir's case' ????

Tourist can read...

Yes, But never get told! Were you told of the scams etc by your travel agent or government before you first came to Thailand - I think not! Not very good for business eh? Jet Skies come to mind, maybe we should start a 'Thailand Trip Warning Website' here on the TV forum full of sound sensible advice for the uninitiated tourists who can read and are willing to learn.

Why don't embassies just all put up jet ski warnings on their websites? At this point there's just no arguing the fact.

WHAT???? and loose face with the 'Kingdom'. Haven't you noticed how the BBC don't bother reporting the massive floods,plane crashes etc and people dying in Thailand? they will report the same for China,Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos etc, but seem VERY VERY reluctant to mention Thailand. Plus, of course we have to report every single 'Gun crazed American' shooting as though it's happened on our on turf.

Thirty people have been killed in floods that have hit four provinces in the Northeast, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said yesterday.

The disaster is that 30 people are dead despite being assured that they would be prevented from being flooded. The Mitigation is that they are only poor peasants, not important Bangkok people.

How true! All these fancy names for 'Departments' that do next to sod all for the people who really need their help. Very similar to the 'United Nations'; just another 'Toothless Tiger'.

Driving too fast, brakes crap,don't know how to use gears to slow vehicle down,

so no seat belts on that bus. RIP

regards Worgeordie

Requiring log books that record distance traveled as well as breaks would go a long way also. Of course then there's the enforcement part...

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

You could also limit buses to say 70 kmh ? I believe European rules require a rest every 4 hours ?

This is the one annoying thing about Thailand as I have lost a number of friends due to the dangerous roads

Yet another very sad accident and loss of life caused by goodness knows what?

One of the factors that I believe is contributory is the fact that many coaches and buses have been involved in previous crashes and a lot of them are driving on bent chassis's and you can see that they are 'crabbing' as you follow them. Goodness knows what happens when they have to brake, or take avoiding action especially when the road is wet! The same applies to lots and lots of the pcikup trucks and saloon cars that you see on the roads. There is supposed to be a record/check on vehicles that have been 'written off', but this would now appear to be a total joke. A friend of mine (who has worked in the motor trade for over 30 years and knows his stuff) bought a second hand Toyota about a year ago and everything appeared to be fine until he started to get 'seat belt tensioner failures'. When the second one failed shortly after the first he decided to strip it down himself and found to his horror it was full of rust and then the penny dropped; this car had been in the floods. He decided not to spend any more money on it after having the the seat belt units replaced by a dealership and traded it in for a new pickup. Three months after he had bought the pickup, the dealership came back and told him that he had traded in a car which had been written off and proceeded to sue him. He fought this and won eventually after some 7 months; proving that he had bought the car legitimately and had paid insurance, road tax etc on it in his own name and nothing buth nothing had been flagged up when he had done this. The only reason apparently that the dealership came up with this was because the person who wanted to buy the car from them had had to get a loan in order to buy it and it was the 'Finance Co' that came up with the 'written off' information. The total irony of this situation is; that even though this info came to light; the dealership eventually sold on the vehicle in the full knowledge that it had been flagged as 'written off'. Talk about 'double standards'. It makes you wonder just how many of the thousands of vehicles that were involved in last years floods are now on the roads with potential catastrophic failures awaiting them.

If less than six months remaining on the old UK passport, that time is added to the expiry date of the new passport.

Slightly wrong c m:

"Time left on an existing passport is added to your new one - up to a maximum of 9 months."

https://www.gov.uk/renew-adult-passport

Thanks for the correction.

I renewed my UK passport last year, as I was going to Malaysia and would not have had the necessary 6 months left when I entered. My passport was due to expire on the 18th November 2012, but when I received my new 50 page passport which had to be processed via Hongkong (and took about 2 weeks) it was renewed from 30th May 2012; so I LOST 6 months, which considering what they charge for it is a blxxdy cheek.

A right couple of morons. 500 baht fine for assault though is ridiculous.

I'd love to see the 'Stocks' brought back. Just imagine the 'total loss of face' for a Thai to have to endure having rotten fruit and rubbish thrown at them in the full knowledge that everybody their would recognise them. Great pity that this is not implemented around the world rather than the politically correct sentences handed out to do so called 'Community Work'. But of course we have to be kind to the perpetrators of crime according to the blxxdy physcologists, otherise they will be 'scarred for life', what a load of crap !

As an old USDA Forest Service Wildland Firefighter my heart goes out to those on the line. I know what it is like, they will need more than one beer when it is over.

Had the great pleasure of seeing this lovely area in Feb of this year and my heart goes out to all the people who have lost thier homes; just thank goodness that nobody has lost their life as yet. I wish all the very brave firefighters the very best of luck; you can put them down for a beer on my tab anytime!

I know people in this position already. I checked these facts with an accountant and with advisors of the DWP and Inland Revenue who confirmed they are correct.

That's not to say things won't change in the future.

I think it's a disgrace that UK state pensions are not automatically increased just because you later choose to live in Thailand or elsewhere.

From what I understand this could change in the near future.

I stand corrected on this , but wasn't this denial of "Pension Increase' taken to the European Court of Human Rights in the last year or two and eventually thrown out?

I am in the same position re no increases, but also had my UK pension reduced when I came to claim it, because I had been receiving non contributory N.I. contributions based on my low or non existent earnings because I had had to stop working due to ill health, which was verifiable and proven by my records of treatment at UK specialist clinics over the years prior to moving to Thailand on health grounds. I had contributed all my life from the age of 16 and had never missed a payment, but they told me that because I had chosen to live in Thailand for the four years prior to applying for my pension aged 65 that they would not allow any of these prior payments to be accepted as contributions. I argued that I had contributed more than the required minimum percentage to obtain the full pension, but they refused to pay it, but I was told, that I could pay an additional 3,800 pounds in order to receive my full pension entitlement; which I declined to do.

I, like many other people here on the forum, think that it is unjust that we have paid Into the Pension system all of our lives only to be shxx upon when it comes to our entitlements, whilst other people can roll on into the UK never having paid a single penny into the system and claim for all kinds of 'entitlements'. Political correctness gone mad!

I thank the other posters who have given valuable info re tax in the UK and the fact that you can remove your private drawdown pension into QUROPS , which I fully intend to do now that I know about it. I don't know how many bloody battleships I bought with the horrendous

amount of tax that I paid during my working life, but I have NO intention of continuing to contribute one penny more than I legally need to to the UK's so called government. We oldies have been well and truly pixzed upon from a great height.

Another very interesting point arose when I eventually received my pension and was still arguing the reduction. I was talking to a helpful man at the overseas pensions department and he suddenly asked me " Are you Married?" and I said yes! He then said well you've not claimed for her, to which I replied that my wife who is English is 7 years younger than me and there was nothing on the original application that indicated that this was possible - at least as far as I had seen. He said that even so I was entitled to claim for her as a 'dependent' and told me to fill in the forms and send them back. He also told me that I would receive this additional 55 pounds per week backdated to the commencing date of my state pension. It transpired, that this was not the case and it was only paid from the date that they 'GRANTED' this, some 10 months later; yet another case of getting screwed. Get what you can out of them and use EVERY legal avenue to ensure that you don't pay a penny more in tax than you have to. I will certainly be revising my options now!

If you still have a valid address you can use in the U.K, some prefer to draw their pension there. At least you still get the increments which are so unfairly disallowed if you draw your pension overseas!

• National Benefit Fraud Hotline 0800 854 440 – or 0800 678 3722 for Welsh speakers – Textphone users call 0800 328 0512

• Benefit thieves – It’s not if we catch you, it’s when
• A full range of penalties
• What is benefit theft?
• Benefit thieves going abroad
• Benefit theft – we want to hear about it
• Report a benefit thief online

Cymraeg

What is benefit theft? Everyone who commits benefit fraud is a benefit thief!

Many people assume that benefit theft applies only to those who are working for 'cash in hand' whilst claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. This is not the case. All benefit theft is crime.

Benefit theft includes deliberately not telling us:

• you are now living with a partner
• about any savings or not telling us the right amount
• children have left home
• you have started work, or about any earnings
• you have inherited money
• you are going abroad, living abroad, or have changed address.

There are no exceptions. People who knowingly withhold information or deliberately fail to report a change in their circumstances are benefit thieves. It is not ‘playing the game' – it is breaking the law!

You are responsible for keeping your claim up to date.

It’s not if we catch you, it’s when. And when we do, you could face a prison sentence.

Three square meals a day sounds inviting.

Yes, and don't forget the free gym and health service. No heating/lighting bills and no harassment from the wife!

Hua Hin, I have lived in many of the places you mention. But I have lived in Hua Hin, for the past 8 years, and for me anyway, its the best place.

but it depends what you want. There is evrything you need in Hua Hin, on your doorstep. But its not in your face.

If you like the babg bang of live music, its there, if you like a quiet drink , its there.

There is one soi, that is realy taking off with expats, thats soi 80, 5 minutes from town.

there are some good beaches,especially in Koh Takiab, and Koh Tao.

Superstores, markets, everything realy, and its all within easy reach from the town centre.

There are many condos, try this on Veerawan apartments soi 88. with swimming pool. A room will set you back 5,500 a month, fully furnished. Or a one bedroom big appartment for 9,000 a month.

5 Minutes from Soi 80, and 6-7 minutes from town. Great location.

Have fun !!!

OK, I live in Hua-Hin and love the place; but as a previous person said, "It depends on what you WANT to have in your life style".

As previously mentioned, there is a very fine pine backed 6Km beach at Koh Takiab / Kho Tao; granted we don't have the same 'blue water' you get in the south, but still reckon this is one of the nicest beaches I've seen here in Thailand. Lots of great restaurants of all varieties and prices, same with property either rental or purchase. If you into golf then we have at least 6 really good courses here all within 35 mins drive at the most. The area just south of HH is now one of the up and coming places and still only 10 mins drive into the centre of HH, with lots of development going on. We have excellent shopping and hospital facilities with a major Bangkok Superstore in the throws of building another Megastore here to rival or surpass 'Market Village' which is the largest mega store here at the present moment

With regard to the climate here, it is one of the driest/suniest places in the whole of Thailand according to the Thai Met website and we are probably the last place to get floods - we did have a cyclone sitting over us a few weeks ago, that gave some local flooding, but nothing but nothing like the flooding that we have been seeing/reading about in the other provinces and this 'flood' was gone within a day or so, causing minor inconvenience to most of the residents. We do NOT get the smoke from burning crops and I remember that I read that HH has got the reputation of having some of the best AIR quality in Thailand. We are two and half hours from Bangkok by road and now have a three times a week flight to KL. We are obviously on the east coast and therefore will not suffer from any problems from 'Tectonic Plate' problems and tsunamis. The overall climate here is obviously hot with the best months being from November to the end of February, but you can compare all of these statistics to other places that you are thinking of settling in on the Thai Met website

I think you can take it as read that the place must be a good place, as his Majesty The King has his summer palace here, as does Her Majesty The Queen. The fact that we have their Majesties as residents does obviously influence Hua-Hin to the local good as far as I am concerned and long may it stay that way. We wish there Majesties a long healthy and happy stay here in Hua-Hin.

We also have local fishing ports on the doorstep and are surrounded by pineapple growing fields; this being the biggest pineapple growing province of Thailand along with sugar cane. The internet facilities are good. I pay 670 B per month for a very reliable 10Mb connection and it does give me 10Mb download nearly 90% of the time, but 20Mb + is available if you need it as is 3G.

I hope that his has been of some help to you. If you want any more info please just PM me and wherever you decide to settle I wish you the very best of luck.

Any curry fans, you get the best Madras ever with a nam straight out the clay oven, only about 80 Baht, bottom end of Chulia at Little India.!!!

Thanks to everybody for the info re Penang. I am proposing to drive down early next year from Hua-Hin to spend about 4 days there. Can anybody recommend a reasonably priced hotel (I'm not into 5* stuff) that has car parking facilities. Would be interested to hear of places to visit in the area. I drove down to Malaysia last year for a four week visit, playing golf and enjoyed the courses very much, but didn't find many decent restaurants unfortunately apart from the one's that I would have described as being orientated to 'Indian' food which I enjoy very much. I found that a lot of the Malaysian places that my Malaysian golfing friends took me to served food which was very much 'sloppy noodle based'; maybe I was unlucky having stayed in KL a few years ago and found many very good places to eat at, where sometimes there were five different self service places under one roof.

One of the things that I found amazing in Malaysia was the very cheap price of diesel. I didn't see many diesel cars on my travels and someone told me that the diesel Fortuners (which I drive) are a bit of a rarity there. I only saw about 5 of them in my 4,500Km trip; all the rest were petrol versions. My Malaysian friends warned me to have extra security fitted (which I did) before going on my trip, but glad to say I didn't have any problems. The other thing; if you haven't driven in Malaysia before, is the great motorways they have; albeit 'toll' one's, but not expensive if the truth be known, think it cost me about 500 baht from the border to KL. The roads were so good that on my return trip I managed the 1240km fro KL to Hua-Hin in 13 hours including a long hours delay at the Thai border crossing.

I hope the above info is of some use to anybody that is contemplating driving down to Malaysia.

Thank you for the info, Bert. I will certainly be at the embassy on the Sunday and may make it upto Kanchanaburi.

I also hope to attend this year. I have been told that I could wear my late Father's medals, but I'm not sure if that is acceptable. It would be nice to wear them in his honour - he died in the Arnhem landings aged 23.

The problem is not only using seat belts, There is a BIG problem of the height of buses. They are top heavy and overturn very easy.

Oh well at least it wasn't a blown tire problem

Agree,and some of these are these newer style double decker buses that are way too tall for their width. These are just begging to tip over. The height to width ratio just looks wrong and are an accident waiting to happen.

Yes, very true; but they do look so nice travelling in a convoy with escort vehicles ahead!!!!!! As a previous person has said, they never move out of the outside lane.

Obviously the guys a certified 'Mechanic,' sorry 'Maniac'. Do these people have any PR assistants, or do they write their own drivel.

They really want to open up a 'Funny Farm' for all these experts in high places; but maybe they haven't got enough room to build one big enough to accommodate them all ?

The Chinese are considered the rudest among international tourists. Not a racist opinion , it is a fact and surveys and studies confirm it.

They may have money , but the hospitality trades are to be forewarned of some of the behavior.

Don't forget the 'Koreans' they rate pretty highly on this scale as well, particularly when they are on the golf courses. I was in Malaysia last year on a 4 week golfing tour and I can't remember how many clubs had notices saying 'No Koreans'.

Different countries have different laws and dealing with its legal system, In the U.S. it is a civil violation and is dealt with by who the police state was at fault, through insurance companies, or in civil court. In Mexico if you are in an accident and someone got hurt and you were at fault, it is a criminal offence and you could end up in prison..

In the U.S. you are innocent until proven guilty, in Mexico under the Napoleonic code You are considered guilty until proven innocence.

Before driving one must know something about that countries laws as it may be completely different than in your home country, Your home countries laws do not protect you outside of your home country national borders.

Insurance companies all over the world tried to minimize the liability payout for an accident, it is not a action only by Thai insurance companies, a case may seem to be an open and shut case, until someone claims they were injured by your recklessness, every one is covered by the legal code of their country their charges have to be fully investigated and could change due to their side of the story.

I made it a point when I came to Thailand to not drive on Thailand's streets because it could lead to financial disaster, just the mere fact that you drive a car in Thailand, increases your possibilities of becoming involved with the the Legal system. and bears a great deal of responsibility, as a consequence of hurting someone in an accident.

I advised my brother to sell his truck because of his reckless U.S. driving habits, tied in with his version of road rage and the fact that every time he drove me somewhere he would become involve in a fender bender, That he was bound sooner, more than later being killed in a accident or killing someone else in an accident because of his depth perception problems due to the loss of sight in one eye.

Transportation cost are very reasonable nation wide, I pay 200 baht for a round trip to the local hospital, 14 kilometers away, 750 baht for a 120 kilometer monthly shopping round trip to Nakhon Sawan.

Cheers:

Yeah right - try that in Phuket it will cost 200 baht to get out of your driveway with all the corruption here.

I concur with your advice to your brother, but you obviously don't get about much, or don't want to! I'm 70 and drive about 5 days a week, getting about to the shops, golfing, eating out etc. It would cost me a fortune to do this with taxi's. Please,please, don't suggest that I use a 'motorbike taxi'; I wouldn't be seen dead (pardon the pun) on one of them and another thing - I don't like getting wet!

So this was a dual carriage way and you were crossing into the lane going into the opposite direction when a bike hit you. Was she coming from the correct direction ?

Just don't really get what has happened here.

But the fact that she has no license and no helmet does not make her in the wrong automatically she could be right but I need to know more. But remember this is Thailand often the bike is protected against the car.

If you re-read the original statement he said that the woman on the motorbike came from the 'hard shoulder on the left' work it out for yourself which side of the road she was on and don't try and imply stupid excuses for these idiots that we all have to deal with day in and day out whilst trying to get around on the Thai roads and yes, before you ask I HAVE been driving here for over 6 years and have had two accidents where people have run into me and had to suffer the same Thai outcome i.e 'It's your fault'.. The vast majority of Thais on the roads don't give a shit about what accidents they cause, or the outcome of them, so why the hell should we? At least the vast majority of us are insured unlike the Thai's. Thailand is a great place to live, but you've got to accept that the so called LAW here is a bloody joke otherwise you'd go mad.

Keep safe on the roads all you people.

It is sad to see groups of people, even sadder if a couple, concentrating on their phone more than joining a conversation of the verbal kind. People who feel that the digital world is more exciting than the real world need to have a good look at their lives. Those changing their Facebook status whilst walking down the road, not looking, get a sharp " look up" for me. Sundays are my no phone day...if the world where to end on Sunday, I will have to wait until Monday to find out.

The world of 'Social Interaction' .e.g. SPEAK- LISTEN-THINK-RESPOND have now gone out of the window. I personally use the internet to communicate with friends around the world and use it to glean information/knowledge etc and would NOT like to be without it; as it is a brilliant 'tool' that allows us (fortunate to have access to it) to communicate almost instantly around the globe - sorry for the carrier pigeons, but life goes on apace, but I do NOT want to be a member of 'Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other so called 'Social Media Systems' that have mindlessly taken over peoples lives.

I would be very interested to see the reaction of the vast majority of the 'can't live without looking at their smartphone's every single minute group of people', if the communications networks were, for some reason, disabled for two or three days. I would imagine that the call for psychiatric help would implode because they couldn't bear to live without knowing what some friend had for breakfast, or when they last went to the toilet!

I can see the time fast approaching, when humans (sic) will have 'smartphones' implanted from primary school age and verbal communications become impossible because evolution has deemed that a mouth and vocal chords are no longer needed. Then we will all have to breath through our noses as was the original intent.

Unless I am seriously mistaken and ilierat, where in this article does it say that anything happened?

ILLITERATE ? yes ! . Mistaken; about what?

Banharn Silapa-archa, chief adviser to the agriculture minister, said Bangkok might be flooded for a day or two, though he predicted that the situation for riverside communities in Pathum Thani would be worse.


"They should be prepared," he said, pointing out that the Pasak Jolasid Dam needed to discharge a huge amount of water every day because its was already 110 per cent full.

Gotta admire this guy, multi-talented he is and and expert with figures. 110% jeez.

NO, NO, NO. He is not mathematically challenged! He just can't get out of the habit of adding the extra 10%.

Again...someone posted partial information...with no follow up... Considering the serious implications one would hope to get more information as soon as possible... I am raising the whole bottom floor by myself...and will try to block off my fridge and washing machine...30,000 baht worth... ...not to mention all the living room and office furniture....

Sorry to hear of your problems and I hope that all goes well for you and area. I'm in Hua Hin and the so called 'floods' here have almost disappeared as quickly as they came; suppose we are very very lucky living where we do, as we have one of the driest parts of Thailand according to the Thai Meteorological Statistics. Take care and good luck.

My wife tells me that they have started the advertising campaign for tourists on T.V already, the only problem is that it is in Thai and not many tourists watch Thai television.

Well there you go! PERFECTLY LOGICAL; to a Thai at least, but NOT to us. I wonder if they have got any more bright ideas?

Maybe one day someone will turn the light on, but I very much doubt it. Xenophobia at its Thai best.; they'd win gold medals for this event hands down!