Aussiepeter

Got stopped by the BIB on my last trip back to C Mai. I had an IDP and showed it to them, but it turned out the useless woman in the office I got it in in Oz had crossed out 'motorcycle' and I hadn't noticed. I have a valid NSW licence for both car and motorcycle. My fault - I should have checked the damn thing when I got it. It cost me $40 AUD for the IDP and another 600 baht when I argued with the cops. Later I thought about it and reckon I had a sweet deal - I drove in Thailand for 25 years, (previously had both Thai licences) but never ever paid the BIB a satang. At 24 baht a year, it was a bargain if one thinks about it !

"I don't know, but sometimes I get this really bad feeling, some of the things we did over here - I told the Padre - I like it over here, but" ('Bunny', a character (soon to die) in my favourite movie "Platoon". (PS - I've been married to my Thai lady for 20 years - I too trust her with my life & we have kids, but then I'm in Oz now, not LOS). "I've got a bad feeling on this one" is another line from that same movie, by the useless Sergeant "O'Neil". "I don't know if I'm going to make it out of here".  Maybe I'm a cynic. I lived in CM for 25 years - there was a village fund thing, but I thought it ended after Mr Chinaman ran away. Maybe I'm wrong ?

A Thai "not telling the truth" ? ha ha ha  (Give me a break), but as a comment - "I really love Pedro01's caricature of my favourite all-time UK comedian, Marty Feldman. How many out there in 'TV land' knew that Feldman owned the world's largest collection of Ford Mustang cars" ! Poor chap expired aged 49, so never got to drive them that much. (Hope you live longer, Pedro01) ! Down here in Oz, the virus has arrived, but they are pulling no punches about the possible effect on our economy, let alone our lives. The place is in lockdown. I doubt the Thai govt. is telling the real truth about this, somehow. 

My bet too - electrical. I only know old Hondas, which all needed spark to run. Does this model have a spark plug ? Broken spark lead would be my first look. I've had a Honda Dream turn over but not start - busted lead. Guess the mechanic will solve it !

Interesting State laws in Oz regarding crimes like this. Four years ago I was the victim of a cowardly 'one-punch-attack-from-behind', by a dole-bludging piece of trash in a pub in the country town I relocated my Thai wife and family to. I was then 64, sober and had just completed my first week of my second bout of cancer treatment. I only came in to use the betting facility. Why did he assault me ? Because I dared to back a 40/1 winner, having its' first start in a horse race ! He had backed the 'favourite' and lost, - (my family breeds thoroughbreds). The only other time I got thumped like this was also from behind, by a gutless farang drug-addict in the night bazaar in CM in 1996 - Thai BIB did zilch. This time I reported it to the (real cops) NSW police, as it was all on cctv and as it was the second time I had been hit from behind, I wanted some justice. The guy was charged - pleaded guilty and got a $50 AUD fine ! A thousand baht - that is a darn bar-fine ! Justice ? None ! Me ? The damn turd publican banned me from his hotel, for "daring to report one of his "valued" local customers (who puts his dole money in the guys' slot machines). This is in NSW - if he had committed this same crime 50 kilometres further north in Queensland, he gets a mandatory minimum eighteen months in prison, for striking a person aged over sixty. Now that is good law ! I doubt the BIB in LOS even give this old lady a side glance. 

Forget about the Malaysia scam thing. There are also people on here that support a former Chinese/Thai PM and his family. Amazing how quickly local people forget huge theft and corruption scandals in LOS. How many for example were in LOS and can remember when a company owned by that ex PM sold a satellite to the Burmese junta for $USD 750 million, but the Burmese only had a spare $250 million in cash, so that same ex PM and his government allegedly gave the Burmese a "soft" loan of $USD 500 million on the Thai budget, (which of course was paid to himself) ! I gave up trying to explain (in northern Thai) to local Thais, including my wife's family in C Mai at the time, how very wrong this was. They were all too thick to understand the meaning of 'theft from the common people', or malfeasance in office. I do not like the current PM either and, am amazed that anyone could actually say he has heavy support in the north - my wife's family are all Muang CM locals and can't stand the man or, his "democratically elected" government. As others have said, life is hard enough at the lower end of the swamp - they have more mundane things, like what food they will have to eat today, to think about.

The Tor Chor Dor (Thai border patrol) also has helicopters (including some older Uh1H models) and are not counted as 'one of the three armed forces' as their job is to 'patrol and enforce the border.' A Thai general explained to to me once that "you can not have an army patrolling your border, as it may appear threatening to the neighbouring countries" - hence the existence of the border patrol, which also uses some different weapons from the RTA. I have certainly seen one land approaching dusk, back in the "nervous nineties" when Thailand and Burma were 'squabbling.' Happily, it landed whilst there was still a little daylight. The border patrol lost a number of these mainly Vietnam War era aircraft back then. 

I take your point roo860, but mine didn't ! Now in her fifties, she is still slim model material even after having two kids and there are literally pages of her on the net. An interesting fact I did discover whilst there though, was that most (if not all) the ladies there shave a certain part of their anatomy daily and, it was not their moustache ! G'day !

Don't take people on here to heart Mr T Ban, as there are some bitter and twisted old cynics on T Visa. I actually have  good memories of my time visiting the Samoeng area back in the late 90's, (especially as I was getting my 'leg over' the lady I was with for free at the time) ! I hope you find someone to take up your offer or at least, get a caretaker. If I was still single and twenty years younger I'd give it a try - that is a nice part of the north, assuming of course that the air is better than CM. Cheers !

Re the army racetrack in C Mai. My Thai missus and I now agist racehorses (as well as her growing Thai fruit and veg) here in Oz and we have several good horses that race in SE QLD. In 1989 my then GF took me to the C Mai racetrack, inside the army camp at Mae Rim. I looked over the horses in the mounting yard and picked one I wanted to put my money on - (it was the 'favourite'). They have an interesting TAB there, with windows numbered from 1 to 12, each corresponding with the horse carrying that saddlecloth number. I wanted to back No 1, but as I approached window number 1 they slammed it shut ! When I asked <deleted> was going on, they told me that No 1 was no longer available as it had already been heavily supported ! "I was free to back any of the other eleven though". No thanks - but we watched the race and No 1 strolled home first easily. Later in the day I had a bet on No 5 and it clearly won, but the judge semaphored three other numbers, with No 5 as fourth ! (Imagine if they tried this on a real racetrack). The races in CM are all 1200 yards or thereabouts, with a permanently fixed barrier. No stewards and some of the dirtiest 'foul riding' I had ever seen - jockeys even trying to knock each other out of the saddle. These horses are not thoroughbreds per se, as it is 'illegal' to import any male thoroughbred (and thus increase the bloodstock). Most of these horses racing are descended from the 450 Australian Stock Horses (Standardbreds) supplied to the RTA by the Australian govt. under some aid deal in the 1980's. They do have a bar and food there and, you can even have "sidebets" (legal?) with many in the Thai crowd. Worth a look if you have nothing to do in CM on a Saturday arvo and like racing. You need to speak some Thai though, or take a pretty girl with you who does. There is a shaded grandstand and a 'members' part, which has air-con. You can also rent a horse to ride at the Cavalry Battalion at Mae Rim or at least, you could back then. It was very cheap, but only for those who are experienced riders. Don't try it if not.  

I suspect the Op is genuine with this offer, as I've been to Samoeng a couple of times in the late 90's (it is really just an area in a valley) and although quaint, there is very little of interest to speak of although it does have a hospital. Back then I met a BG who invited me to see the 'house' her last BF had paid for there. It was a simple block house with power (when it worked) and outside toilet on a dirt Soi. No running water (used the creek over the road). It is quite remote and is really dirt-bike country, or even a small 4WD. Apart from the main road, it used to be all dirt tracks back then. Usual small shacks selling booze, cigs, shampoo etc and not much else, except that December/January the area is the strawberry capital of LOS. Never saw another foreigner away from the tarmac. I had the same problem with a house in a remote area north of Chiang Dao with an ex GF. Couldn't even rent it out for 1k baht a month. We ended up just abandoning it. I would suggest that anyone considering this offer should have some command of either Thai or better still, northern Thai.

All you naysayers - my 98 y.o. father, an 8 times decorated WWII pilot and fighter ace (he was born in Oz from UK folks, but he only flew USA made P40 Kittyhawks and PBY Catalinas) just absolutely loves his Holden/Chevrolet/Isuzu Colorado pickup truck (ute in Oz) and yes, he still has a licence and still drives daily with no glasses, unlike me ! As others on here have already referred to though, they were really just an Isuzu, with a Holden badge added on - made in Thailand, as all Holden/Chevy Colorado utes have been since 2001. Great vehicles. I personally love real 'old' Holdens (pre 1978) as they go for ever. I clocked 589,000 miles in a 1971 Kingswood, whilst in the army - it and I went almost everywhere. This decision by GM has just added $5 grand to every old mint condition Holden in Oz. I am about to buy a 1957 Holden (real nice though) for $30K AUD, (if the old guy accepts my bid). For you Americans - it looks like its' big brother the '57 Chev, tail fins and all. Little 138 c.i. six cyl motor, "three on the tree" gears, but slightly smaller body. It is for my half-Thai daughter, who turns ten on Wednesday. Hope she learns to drive one day .... (not like in Thailand though) !

Thai missus says Penang neua (if beef) but for me, it reminds me of the years I spent in the enlisted mens'/other ranks mess in the army. Precisely the reason I got my Commission as an Officer as soon as I possibly could ! Veterans will get this - as an Officer you have to tour the enlisted mess when on duty and any complaints from the men must be written down. One day the food was 1000 times less attractive than the Ops' photo, so I asked the cook what it was and, where he learned to cook it - his answer ? "Whilst doing a ten year stretch in prison." Says a lot. (He was a private caterer, the Oz army uses them now, rather than the UK system which has real (army) cooks. It is a cost-saving thing by the govt.)

Their genuine birth/family names are usually quite long, as the Op says, which can be a nuisance at the best of times. Another Op has dissected the example given quite well. A lot of it is indeed Chinese in origin in many cases. Anyway, the majority of Thais are thus given a 'nickname' at birth (or soon after) and are usually known by this name by their friends and family. Which explains why there are dozens of girls named "Nok" (bird), "Gai" (chicken), "Noi" or "Lek" (little or small) etc. I must have bonked a dozen girls named "Dang" (red) over the very many years I was single in LOS (and still had a prostate gland). In more recent years, as Mr Orton has said, it has become popular to use new or more modern topical words - my wife has a relative with a son named "Golf" who has dreams of being the next Tiger Woods. I once taught the twin daughters of a senior CM policeman and his Mia Noi (minor wife), who had the names "Bim" and "Bomb". My all-time favourite though was a girl by the name of "Beer" and, she liked a few too !

We (the missus) had our beautiful 2 storey air-con 4br 2bath with solid teak doors house on big land with lumyai (longan) orchard in Saraphi (built it 2008) on the market for nearly a year for 2.5 mill baht. It was built to cyclone/typhoon safety standards and had high grade electrics too. Had many Thai lookers, but most were just tyre-kickers who wanted to see how a farang lives, or dreamers who had no money and could never get a loan, as they were already in debt to their eyeballs. We ended up taking 1.53 mill cash in 2013, which was a bargain for the Chinese-Thai lady manager of Singha brewery CM who bought it. (We had to sell, as I needed urgent cancer treatment in Oz). We still made about 100k baht profit, but it hurt to let it go so cheap. The lady re-sold it 4 years later for 2.4 mill baht. I went to look at it last year whilst in CM - the new owner had sold off the orchard which was now 6 tiny townhouses and, had repainted it bright red with gold trim - it looked butt ugly, almost like a temple. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it seems. Best of luck with your sale and move south. Cheers !