Andrew Dwyer

Hissy fit appears to be coming from you and your obsession with location. Not looking for approval at all , am asking did i do the right or wrong thing, will accept both answers

I am not saying I did the right thing am just asking what others would do in this situation. Caught me on a bad day i suppose and normally I would offer 500 baht, if they insisted I would pay the 800 and spend the rest of the day angry at myself for not standing up to them.

Yes, i have heard of this before. My IO requested nothing only my passport and the filled form ……. oh and 800 baht !

Thanks, that makes me think I did the wrong thing.

Thanks for your answer, i think i overreacted, hopefully i haven’t caused myself any future problems.

Why is the location so important to you ? The question is: Did I overreact or what would you do in this situation ?

My own opinion is that I overreacted and any other day would have put 400/500 baht on the table before walking out.

Because that is what my DLT request for drivers licence renewal

Yes, but what would you do if they asked you for 800 baht next time ?

The location is irrelevant, my question was “ what would you have done in my situation ? “

So as the title suggests I was asked to pay 800 baht for a Residency Certificate ( for driving licence renewal ). 3 things stood out for me: 1) I was asked to enter a small back office with ( presumably ) no cameras and away from colleagues. 2) the residence certificate had nothing on it stating 800 baht or any other amount. 3) when i asked for a receipt I was given the “ no have “ reply. The reason i was given is that Residency Certificates should be issued by the Embassy and not Immigration and this service was not their obligation. Now i always understood ( rightly or wrongly ) that the issuing of certificate of residence was immigration responsibility, a free service which could take up to 2 weeks or an express service for a small fee ( 200 to 500 baht ). When i presented my passport and filled form I was told only to return after lunch, wasn’t offered any options and when i returned was ushered straight into the small office behind the IO’s desks. The IO gave me the cert in an envelope and said “800 baht”, i said “ i thought it was free “ to which he laughed and said again “ 800 baht “, i then replied “ i give you 800 baht and you give me a receipt, yes ? “. His face changed drastically and he answered bitterly “ no receipt !! “, at this point i knew i was going to stand my ground. I dug my heels in and refused to pay and was told that the next time I had to go to the Embassy for C of R. I left with the residency certificate, one of the office minions followed me out to explain in better English but was surprised to see my wife sitting outside and said more or less “ this time okay but next time go to the Embassy “, my wife thought it suspicious. I have had 2 residence certificates before but my memory is a little cloudy, more or less this: Dec 2016 : FOC and instantly issued at another Immigration Office. Dec 2018: maybe FOC but possibly a small fee ( certainly not more than 300 baht ) at my current IO. I understand your experience will differ as every IO has their own ideas so this is not about what they charge you elsewhere but what would you have done in my situation ?? So: Did i do the right thing ? Did i act like an arrogant Farang ? Have i set myself up for immigration grief in the future. ? Should i have put 300/500 baht on the table as a compromise ?

Cat saga ( part 2 ) So, after discovering the kitten was still inside the car ( much to our surprise ) we attempted to coax him out to no avail, 4 large salivating dogs were not helping !! Tried some cat treats which weren’t a success although those sneaky farkin dogs liked them ! Time was limited as the family funeral was imminent ( although it was more of a 7 day remembrance service as there was no body, donated for medical science ) so we just had to hope that he could hang on until we got back home. Just arrived home an hour ago and the mother was waiting, a few meows from her and the invisible kitten appeared from the bowels of my Seal. Apologies for the p1ss poor photo, didn’t want to get too close: No apparent ill effects after 30 hours tucked up inside and close to 40°c today . Just to inform you that kittens ( possibly puppies, snakes and rats etc also ) like the tardis like interior of the Seal and take some persuading to leave !! The moral of the story: If cats had the necessary ability to buy a car they would also choose the BYD Seal.

You were robbed !!

So, my cat saga continues !! At the beginning of May a stray cat ( who used to visit us and we would feed, so I take the blame !) gave birth to 4 kittens which took to climbing into the underneath of the car and would only come out with the mother’s call . Our daily routine was to encourage them out of the car by calling the mother ( with a cat audio sound on my phone ), who, feeling threatened would call the kittens out and take them to safety. This didn’t always work out and we realised that if they stayed inside we could drive locally and they would stay tucked inside . Until one decided to descend while reversing out of the garden and I ran over it (😞), felt terrible. Tried cat repellent, moth balls and mosquito spray but after the initial strong smell disappears they return and climb inside. Yesterday was a typical day, we coaxed 2 out but no sign of the 3rd, after an hour trying, the mother more concerned with protecting the 2 rather than finding the missing 3rd stayed away. Having to travel to a family funeral today some 210 km’s away we were determined to remove number 3 despite not seeing or hearing it and not 100% sure it was still in the car’s underbody. Then Mrs D had a good idea💡 and we visited the local Be-Quik, put the car up on the ramp and 5 or 6 employees started looking for the missing kitten in the front and back underneath trays. After 10 minutes or so we determined there was nothing there so set off. Yesterday afternoon I looked at my house cctv camera and saw only 2 kittens and the mother sat in the car port as if waiting our arrival. So, here I am at 5.00 am on a Sunday with a funeral shortly trying to coax a distressed kitten from out of the rear underneath tray of the car before one of the mil’s 4 dogs has it for breakfast . !! An hour coaxing, an inspection by several Be-Quik employees, a 210 km highway drive, a 20 km round trip during a thunderstorm and a night surrounded by 4 hungry dogs and now it makes its presence known !! More to follow !

What a load of verbal diarrhoea !! Do he ever get to the point ?

In the U.K. the majority of EV’s have a vertical green stripe on the license plate. I say “ majority “ because it is not mandatory and on my last visit i spotted many without the identification stripe, mainly Teslas. Seems like not making it mandatory is achieving nothing !!

This isn’t going to help the Tesla Cybertruck promotion in Thailand. Tesla issue another Cybertruck recall, the fourth so far. https://www.tesla.com/support/recall-cybertruck-accelerator-pedal-pad

If he could spell the word “ percentage “ he would get more respect …… nah, only joking 🙃

Recent events have made me think about my own demise . My Thai bil died last Sunday age 50, he had been in the ICU in a Nakhon Sawan hospital for around 3 weeks with a brain haemorrhage. We visited around 10 days ago and was told his chances were 50/50, on Sunday his heart failed and attempts to resuscitate failed. What surprised me and others in his family, including his wife, was that he had donated his body to a Chiang Mai hospital ( could possibly be the medical facility in a university) for medical research and any fit for purpose organs ( which later became known as eyes, ear drums, liver and kidneys ) to a hospital in Bangkok. After some family discussions, it came as quite a shock to some !, his wishes were acted upon. The Nakhon Sawan hospital removed said organs for transport to Bangkok and his body was transported to a hospital in Tak where the Chiang Mai hospital transport would pick up. A service will be held in his hometown ( near Nakhon Sawan ) 7 days after his death but the body will only be released for cremation 2 years later!!, I find this hard to believe and may have got lost in translation. A niece then announced she had donated her body to the Thai Red Cross. My wife showed an interest in doing the same, which I applauded, until her mother talked her out of it stating that she would not come back (reincarnation) if she did this !! Anyway, i understand this might be unpopular with many Thai due to their religious beliefs but could be a good option for foreigners, cut down the expense and trauma of a 3 or 4 day funeral with a good deed. A quick google search tells me that contacting the Thai Red Cross or your preferred university hospital is the easiest way to go. If your Embassy needs to be informed I am not sure ? Anyone else considering or have already made arrangements for this ?

Looks like my rat protection is working IMG_4211.mov …. now he’s just showing off !!

Why don’t you give that a try then ……… oh wait a minute 🤔

Just don’t let Mrs Owl know you now have around $100k going spare !!

Make sure you keep it clean, some reports that they are prone to rusting.

Yup, this is what the real men are driving !!

Clearly you have never been to Argentina, they are the most conceited of the South American countries. Brazilians don’t come close, even the Cariocas.